Wolf RPG

The journey back was brutal. He felt cold. His toes and paw pads were raw from scraping over ice and rock for days.
Valette and the others at Easthollow had been kind enough to the prince. Though he hadn't stayed for long, the respite from the elements and the long trail had been needed. After what had happened at the lake, he knew that without that brief stay, it was unlikely he would have been standing at all.
As Taikon found himself on the familiar border of the forest, he looked up toward a black bird. It grumbled quietly at him, dancing on anxious, spindly feet upon its perch. He looked down, scrunching his brow, feeling a familiar burbling heat in the pit of his stomach. He retched, but nothing came up aside from a bit of saliva. He swallowed, hard, licking his lips, hoping the illness would pass.
He was late. Takiyok had likely expected him to be back days ago, but shuffling over the border after dark was the best he could do. It was not the romantic return he had planned on. He had hoped to be back early and bring her a worthy gift, either in the form of food or even something pretty from Easthollow. Instead, he came back with only his own unfit body, barely able to keep going. He pushed through whatever pain he was feeling. He hoped she wouldn't notice how bad it was, for the punctures in his back leg and his neck were not large.
The messenger of the Ivory Rose did not realize how much his neck and throat had swelled with fluid. During the extra days it had taken him to move from the incident at the lake to Blackfeather Woods, infection had started to set in. Astraeus had brutalized him when he was not fit enough to properly defend. He knew that even if he'd been in better condition, the boy was younger and stronger. Taikon was lucky to be here at all.
He did not howl for @Takiyok. Instead, he made his way as quietly as he could toward the comfortable den he had shared with her and Taktuq. Part of him hoped that she was not there, and he'd be able to crawl in and try to sleep.
Having not eaten in at least five days, his stomach was sucked into his ribs. His fur was poorly, and his snout reeked of bile. The fluid gathering in his neck and the abcess forming on his back leg were putrid and vile, though no blood was present. Taikon had promised her that he would come back alive. He'd kept that vow, but only just.

Of course, it didn't take her long to find him. Despite his discomfort and violent nausea, her white figure felt like a safe, warm place. A small smile came over his features, slowly and surely as she found her way beneath his chin, a signature that he had missed more dearly than he could say with words. He didn't press against her like usual — the illness was too great, his stomach too weak to bear too much touch.
Astraeus, he answered softly, knowing it had always been a possibility that Mahler's crew would somehow find him. He hadn't known just how much hatred the scarred boy held, however. He should have retreated faster. He shouldn't have gone to the lake.
He followed her guidance without speaking, knowing that now, it was her turn to look after him. The wounds hadn't seemed so bad when the attack had first happened. They had bled a fair amount and the bruising felt awful, but he hadn't thought much of it. Under the skin, however, the muscles had been shredded. Despite his best efforts, fluid had built up and the wounds had festered in the prince's race to return to his new family.
Taikon nodded, following alongside her, staying as close to her as possible. Her scent was so much a comfort that he wanted to bury his face in her and sleep, but he knew that she had other plans. No cougars this time; just hormonal boys, he joked, managing to do so despite feeling like he might throw up every time his mouth opened.

Even though he could tell she was angry, he felt apathetic to it. Normally, he might have tried to calm her. Normally, he might have ensured that she didn't act rashly, or at least offer an alternate perspective. Instead, he just nodded. Okay, he relented, wandered into the water with her, and knelt down. He struggled for a moment as he bent, the weight causing pain to his joints, overtraveled, overworked, angry.
Taikon placed his head onto Takiyok's fur, and when he did, her scent came full into him. Woods. Soft wind. Moss. The comfort he had felt before flooded to his senses. He breathed. After a lengthy sigh, he relaxed and let the weight of his head fall onto her. Water rushed against the old wounds. It hurt, but the hurt felt okay. He just came at me. It was so sudden. I didn't expect it, he continued, trying almost defensively to explain that it wasn't his fault.

He didn't stop her from being angry. He neither had the energy to do so nor wished to reduce the spark she had long carried. He would have been more worried if that flame ever went out than if she continued to burn with it. She went on, and he relaxed into her fur like a big pillow. Blinking softly, he shook his head lightly when she asked why.
He's just a kid, he said. Like Zephyr. Like all of them. I'm the perfect lightning rod for whatever troubles he's got, he struggled, wincing as a pain sharply pulled at his neck. It didn't matter to him that he'd been injured. His only concern was that of Taktuq, and of the children they planned to have. Putting them in danger was out of the question.

She was right, of course. But he said nothing to her. What he'd said was not meant as a defence for Astraeus but merely an explanation for the behaviour. Like all of their boy leaders, Astraeus was young and dumb and stupid, lacking the context necessary for making rational decisions. Taikon was reminded at once that he had joined a pack so that they might find peace, but knew quite well that all of their "leaders" were equally stupid. None of them had the sense. None had the wisdom. He could not guarantee the safety of Takiyok's future babes with such leaders, and he resented it.
The water is nice, he answered, though it did not directly answer what she was asking. Taikon didn't know if cool water would help. It would not be long before these waters were frozen over anyway except where they ran fast enough to escape it. It'll improve, he said, with limited confidence. The wound had already festered and ballooned beyond what he had thought normal, but he didn't know what to do. He would either die or he wouldn't, the way he saw things.

Taikon did not catch the flash in Takiyok's gaze that signalled her will for vengeance. Turned away from her, he felt only good that he could feel her and smell her. If he had been blind entirely, he would have been just as content.
Nor I, he answered rather formally, playing on his long-held speech patterns of nobility. He felt her against him, and responded in turn despite the pain, brushing his nose along her cheek as she moved. There was a wondrous beauty in the softness of her, in the strength of her. He enjoyed the curves of her features for the brief moment as it passed, and a warmth pierced the cold cruelty of his injuries for just a moment.
I'll make it up to you. There were strange tears threatening him as they welled. I promise.

Though she told him that he owed her nothing, he felt had though he owed her everything. Since coming to this godforsaken place from his homeland, it had always been her. He remembered when they had met. He remembered happening upon her by chance. He remembered the feeling of comfort and strange familiarity when he was around her.
The progression to partner or mate seemed natural for anyone else, but for him it was abnormal. Their agreement was strange, for he was not attracted to her at all and likely never would be. This went against everything he had been taught, and everything he knew about love and desire.
She, somehow, accepted him as he was. You should rest. He nodded slowly. Rising from the water with delicate attention, Taikon moved to their shared den. He hoped Taktuq might greet him, even in his bad way. He curled within the den's warm hollow, pressing happily against the woman he had missed most of all.
And then the fever set.