he needed to choose a strong mate for his young

There are so many great bits in here where you play up the biology of what was going on with Xander that day, but I just pulled that one out because it made me chuckle. This is, of course, what we pack animals do. *g*

Poor Xander. He really did get a whammy that day. Loved the way you explored that internally here, which we didn't get to see on the show. This was so well executed.