"mom!"
her voice sounds shrill to her own ears, nose to the ground as golden eyes flicker frantically from right to left. sleep has not come to the wolf in a while, though something drives her on, on, on. her head throbs, as if her heart has migrated up her throat and into her skull, and taken violent residence there.
drool seeps down one side of her muzzle, wicked away every so often by one of the odd, swift flicks of her muzzle. she forges on, hearing somewhere the drone of a river and knowing only that her mother's scent lies thickly here -- a final chance, before inevitably the sickness will come. she needs to see her, needs to say goodbye, even as darker, stranger impulses begin to wrap thorny tendrils around her intent.
Her ears perked up quickly as she heard a familiar voice come from the borders and the woman let a soft whimper release as she couldn't leave her pups so she let loose a quick howl for
@Connor and once he would show up she'd bolt out the den.
she saw her daughter and something felt off and she stopped a few feet in front of her. "Moonshine!? What happened to you? Are you okay??" She questioned framtically
He was simply making the round around the border as per usual, nothing out of the ordinary as of lately - but he stumbled onto a haunting sight. A young woman who seemed sick, signs and symptoms he had seen too many times before in his time traveling and Hiero was not about to sit back and watch as this individual crossed into Kaistleoki borders. Even worse so, one of their members were already on site.
Moonshadow, step back!
He commanded in a roar, running in to try and stop her from walking any closer to the individual he assumed was someone of importance to her. Putting his body between the black female and the outsider. She is sick, very sick. Don't go anywhere close to her.
And he was absolutely serious about this... he wasn't even certain on how to deal with the situation as his heart drummed wildly.
How can he keep this threat from his home without putting himself in danger? I'm sorry, but you are going to have to leave.
he turned to speak to the unfortunate soul, hoping they would listen and give him time to inform Ira that it was time to put someone down before it became a endemic.
"mom!"
and then suddenly, there she stood. the girl stilled, though her head swing like a sluggish pendulum, held just below her shoulders. "I had to go, mom. I missed you --" muzzle curves into a grin as a glob of drool manages to find its freedom, swinging free from her jowls and meeting the earth.
she approaches, tail wagging. for a moment, the swaying stops, the moves to plant a kiss on her mother's cheek. for a moment, she feels love.
and then there stands someone between them, speaking of sickness and leaving. horror, first. denial. then her hackles flair, and her lips curl. "no no no I'm -- still got time! I'm not --" her muzzle begins it's anxious swinging again. "mom! tell him, mom, it's ok." fear, panic, now.
"I missed you so much." She felt her daughters touch before a wolf put himself between them and she knew he outranked her but this was her daughter and she looked at her daughter with fear and sadness in her eyes. "Please we can't help her??" She pleaded
Shit! He thought, seeing that the child had landed some kind of contact on the nightshaded woman, a kiss shouldn't be fatal and dangerous, was it? The skin had to be broken from his knowledge... She had to be watched carefully now too, just in case. His heart ached for the child and the mother, and yet, he couldn't break. There was no reasoning with this, it had to be done.
As the child swung around and bared her teeth, even if she didn't snap and lunge, Hiero pushed back in hopes that Moonshadow would allow them more space between Hiero and the child, clearly unwilling to let Moonshadow go and get closer to the sick individual. Was there contact? He couldn't tell... someone would have to look him over and make sure there were no lacerations that could infect him now too.
His heart beat wildly in his chest.
This was beyond dangerous.
I'm sorry Moonshadow,
He didn't dare to take his eyes off of the young lady. This is one hundred percent fatal, and if she bites you, well... you would be in the same boat as she is.
And it went without saying that Moonshadow had her own newborn to take care of, it was not worth the risk or a brief goodbye. Please? While you can, turn away? You don't want to bring more down with you, do you?
he pleaded, clearly uninterested in getting violent in order to force her away.
"not fair," she murmurs, under her breath. a snarl cuts across the last of the man's words, and for a moment the girl has the overwhelming urge to cut her fangs against his face, tear the lips from his mouth and with them, his lies. lies, lies, lies, she's not going to hurt her mother, she's going to rip out his windpipe, she's fine, she's going to pluck out his eyes.
breath comes fast, stress mounting. it is chance (a roll of the dice, really), ultimately, that allows sane thoughts to form. strangled whine slips from her throat, and she turns tightly away, trotting, then running. her head pounds, desperation and frustration and rage fuel her onward, but ultimately she is diverted from the herm she could have caused today.
She whined at his words especially as she hard the word fatal and watched her daughter fight with whatever was going on in her head and then she watched her run off and tears fell from her emerald eyes as her daughters form disappeared. Moonshadow felt her heart break as it grew silent.
No, it's not. I'm sorry.
It took everything for him not to openly weep for the young lady, with a life cut so brutally short in one of life's most cruel ways. Her fate was sealed, the distance between herself and anyone was of the utmost importance for everyone else's safety as her own fate was already decided. Go in peace.
He didn't hate her, and the youngster was already in immeasurable pain, he gave his farewells with the most respect he could give her, thankful for the decision to leave.
Turning this attention onto the dark woman, eyes filled with remorse. I'm sorry Moonshadow, it had to be done. Do you want to talk?
He couldn't imagine either of their pain, all he could do was try to ease it in any way he could without risking another life.
Her baby was gone and she was left with the man who drove her out. As much as the woman wanted to be furious with him she knew he had no choice. She glanced up at him but couldn't say a word as her eyes drifted back to the ground. "I tried so hard to protect them and I couldn't." She said as she inhaled deeply