Totoka River 그 안에 숨겨진 비밀을 알게된 것 같아

For Coelacanth, the game had no rules — whether she was splashing or being splashed, snapping at droplets or dashing away from them, she was blissfully happy. The handsome wolf lunged — a creature made for battle, his jaws rang together with a resounding crack that surprised and impressed his worshipful audience — but although her nimble paws danced instinctively, harmlessly out of reach, she knew no fear. He had promised not to snap at her and so he would not; that was how promises worked. A soft, toneless whine piped innocuously from her lips as his mahogany eyes blinked dazedly; was he all right? She tipped her finely-sculpted head to one side, then the other, as though regarding him from a different angle would decode the new fascination she noted in his stern visage. Craning her neck, she glanced behind her and then down at her body, where his eyes seemed to be fixated. The paleness of her flesh against her atramentous fur could not hold her interest; she saw nothing odd or amiss, and she looked up at the taller beast without guile.

The inky ingénue did not back away, but Marbas’ sudden nearness bade her to conserve her breath, measuring it out in unhurried, undulating waves. She had not dared to cross such a threshold with him, but she reveled in it now. Her bright eyes roved eagerly over his hard muscled body and its uniquely patterned fur: the odd tufts of thick, chocolate brown fur that accentuated the slope of his shoulders and neck; the cloak of charcoal that darkened and lightened under swaths of shifting shadow; and the granules of salt and sand that, despite their vigorous play, remained tucked close, buried in the undercoat beneath his inky guard hairs. Timorously she lifted her gaze to meet his, seablue just barely caressing russet before heat swept up through her cheeks and she turned her gaze downward to find a more tolerable point of focus.

When he stepped away from her, she felt a strange mingling of disappointment and relief. His question was not a difficult one, but she found herself grasping fruitlessly for a reply as she glanced out at the brilliant sky, painted in the pinks, purples, oranges, and yellows of dawn. In all the world, there was only one other creature like her — for Selkie, unbeknownst to all except her human companion, had been spayed — and even if she had not, Crosscurrent was the leader of the Corten wolves now and would not abandon his post for a life as a loner in the Nanaimo seaside. Licking salt from her lips, Coelacanth shook her head. Her brother, she thought, was a far more unique creature with his vivid coloring — but she did not know how to make that clear to Marbas without introducing the two males. She tried, catching the mahogany gaze and nosing at her chest with a toneless bark, then flinging her head toward the horizon with a second bark. She repeated it, but it all felt futile. Even if she had wanted to mouth the word “brother” to him, she could not fathom how — she had never spoken, and so she had never learned to shape the syllables. Shrugging helplessly, she looked up at him and shook her head once more.

No. There were not many like Seelie.

Were there many like him? she wondered, intensely curious about him and bursting with questions she would never be able to ask.