a low cry rose into the shadowland betwixt silhouetted mountains and the faintest remaining peach-glow of sunset. taltos stood upon a rise overlooking the rippled surface of the lake -- here he breathed in the night air as the searching echoes of his call reverberated across the range.

if @Luke heard, he would come. and if not, taltos would drink in the falling darkness and depart for home beneath its welcoming cover.

That morning he reflected at length, something he not often did and had not done since he first left his natal pack. By late afternoon he had departed from the south eastern fringes of the caldera and headed northerly. He left the dark cloud behind. It had no place above his head and he had no place where he was. He could not concern himself too deeply in the affairs of others. He could not stay his heart from caring, but he could defend himself against unnecessary gloom, and now as he strolled a bounce had been restored to his paws, and his tail danced behind him.

The lake loomed in the distance as the sun cast its last rays, and his ears perked as Lasher's voice was carried to them. His heart beat quickly, and he immediately hastened his steps into a run, grinning broadly as he spotted his earthen lover upon the rise. He barked, for his joy could hardly be contained as he bounced toward the plateau wolf, and his feet did not slow as he neared him. When he reached Lasher's side he all but collided into him, throwing a paw about his shoulders as he excitedly nuzzled the man's cheek and ears.

He was not at all happy to see Lasher, nope.

he was a pale ribbon in the nightveil; lasher rose to meet him with a low chuff and in turn wrapped his forelegs around the sinewed shoulders, his tongue and lips moving with abandon across the pallid, blue-eyed face. when their greeting had reduced itself from leaping flames to warm embers, the man smiled delightedly. "i am happy that you have come," he murmured softly. he had not allowed himself to expect luke's presence, and was pleasantly surprised that the man had arrived.

"what has occupied you these days?" he inquired, leaning forward to nip the bulb of one ear -- he was engulfed in luke's nearness, and maintained their physical aspect as often as he could in the moments that followed his question.

Luke's foolish grin was all that was needed to echo the sentiment; he was happy he had come too, that he had been near enough to hear the call. It was seldom that the social wolf had little or nothing to say, but this had been one of those moments. He was so joyful he let his actions speak for them, and his actions were every bit as lively, perhaps even more so, than words ever could be. He calmed only after a few minutes. He took a seat and now his tail buffeted the ground.

"Not a whole lot," he replied, but it was a half truth. He had kept busy by getting his nose buried in business that was not his own. "I've just been wandering around," that much was actually true. "What about you?" he leaned in and rubbed the top of his head against Lasher's neck. His ears fell back with the gesture. "You had something on your mind last time we met." But together, the two of them had found much to smile about.

"you erased those thoughts," lasher murmured, nudging luke's shoulder with his own. truthfully he knew not of what he had been thinking during their last interlude, and concluded it was unimportant. the wolf before him was living, and breathing, a rapt reminder of the joys life still offered taltos' very soul. "have you chosen a pack with which to reside?" the ecru wolf asked quietly. he would make it no secret that of course he wished luke to come to roost among his own kith, but would make no verbal bid.

the pale man was his own individual. 'twas one of the many things lasher was coming to love about the giddy spirit. luke would decide that which was best for himself, and taltos would respect it.

Luke drew back so that he could hold Lasher's gaze. He had come to expect this question would arise, and regretted that he did not have a more solid answer. Ever the optimist he was certain Harlyn would come to found her pack, but the timing was more indefinite now than it had been from the start. Even with the recruit of another, word that Mordecai was hesitant had weaved a string of uncertainty into fabric of that dream. He could not deny that his positive outlook had been tainted with a deepening lonesomeness.

He would answer truthfully. "I made an agreement with someone to join them when they were ready to found their own pack," he paused, searching the earthen male's face. He did not want to list names, for he did not know if Harlyn had spoke to her current packmates about her plans, and felt it was her place to do so. "It's been a while." Two moons almost. "I don't know when it will happen. Or if. It might not," Mordecai could say no. He sighed, and shook his head slightly. "I am a lonely leaf blowing in the wind. I was fine with that until now." He admitted. He was ready to settle, at least until the next time the wind blew or the currents drifted him to his next adventure. But the solo one he was on? It was time to close the book on it.

haha right? lol

if he was truthful within himself, he was disappointed at the pale wolf's answer. "alas," he crooned, flicking his tongue along luke's cheek. "but i respect that you intend to honor your word." he did not entertain the notion of asking with whom the man had cast his lot -- it was not his affair. only luke was that. he smiled. "it is the nature of our species to seek out gregarious interludes. i am happy that you seem to have found that for yourself."

nuzzling into the crook of luke's throat, lasher lingered there for a moment before a smile curved his lips. "i would like to see more of you," he whispered, baring himself suddenly before the whitefurred lover.

Indeed, it was the nature of the wolf to seek a pack, and while he had found one he also had not at the same time. He was, after all, still a loner. If he was not so impulsive, he would have taken the time to think, to ask more questions, and he may have decided that it was not in his best interests to be left waiting for something that may not be or may be so far ahead in the future. Harlyn was dear to him and he would like to follow her, but he needed a pack in the same way a trout needed its water. He would be fine of course, and he was still optimistic that it would all work out. He just hoped it would work out sooner than later.

Before he could make any more comment, Lasher pressed into his throat, and he sighed. The touch was enough to empty his mind of those thoughts, affixing him firmly to the present moment. The corners of his mouth lifted, as his tongue played along a dark ear. "Oh yeah?" he drawled in a whisper, silver eyes drinking in the sight of the other man. "What would you do if I went and hid from you, then?" The devil alighted on his face, for his playful and affectionate natures were close companions, and they were not keen to separate. His tail slowly beat in the air, challenging, teasing.

lasher gave a low chuff, pulling away from luke with mock reproach. "i would be quite heartbroken if away into the unknown you went," he murmured. it dawned upon him that indeed he would be hurt if luke disappeared -- understanding, but wounded. eismitte had done the same and taltos did not believe his heart had ever recovered. but the pallid male was not to blame for the sins of the past. the future belonged unto them, perhaps, studded with unsung dreams and desires.

he settled into the grasses upon his belly, their coolness welcome against his dark fur, and craned his head to look upon luke. "and if i hid from you?" he joked, knowing it was but a game -- he was easily found. "what would be your course of action?"

Luke's face softened at Lasher's comment. The devil slipped off his lips, replaced by fondness and radiant warmth, but he came back a few moments later when his companion flipped his game on him. The white wolf's ears shot up, and he feigned outrage. He huffed, morphing his countenance and wiggling his head and shoulders in a comically pompous, why-I-never display. "You wouldn't dare," he stated, continuing his charade as he turned his shoulder to the dark man and looked back over it. "But if you did..." The impish grin returned.

He sprang from Lasher's side, dropping into a very exaggerated crouch, slinking and prowling around the plateau wolf as a mountain lion might, and rather convincing was he with his supple body. His eyes narrowed unblinkingly upon Lasher. His blue tongue sneaked out to run salaciously along his lips. "I would hunt you," he rasped as he lowered himself even further, his shoulders shifting as if he were about to pounce. But he did not, he laid his chin upon the ground and became still, his predatory stare never once shifting, daring his lover to move.

taltos could not hide his grin as luke began his playful slinking, both amused and aroused by the rippling movements of the pallid creature's sinewed body. he met the direct stare, haunted pleasantly by the radiant moonlight of luke's eyes, and tipped his head to one side in faux mischief. "oh?" came his challenging croon. "and what would you do, once you had undoubtedly caught me?"

tongue lolling, he rolled to one side and reached with a playful forepaw to nudge luke. their banter was playful but the intent beneath was clear; his eyes narrowed with the championing of his cause. "perhaps i would run from you."

It was common for Luke to break his charades in the middle of them, unable to stem his laughter and amusement. Yet, he was able to retain this specific one in this specific one moment, for a familiar heat was spreading across his lithe frame, lending him a focus not unlike the one he had been mimicking. He hungered differently, but the earthy male was still prey, prey that was laid so enticingly before him, nudging him, encouraging him. His unwavering stare slowly shifted, to trail along the masculine contours he was so suddenly aware of.

What would he do if he caught Lasher? He stood, and moved to show him, as his heart chose a new, quicker rhythm to dance to, and the world shrank to encompass just the two of them. No other sounds existed but the voice of his lover and his own breathing. No other scents but their own. His steps were slow as he drew near, until swiftly he pounced, turning and straddling Lasher. His head bowed to nudge and roll the dark male onto his back, and then he settled down onto him, pinning him as he had been before, but this time he pressed closer, tighter.

His chest pushed into Lasher, and he brought his hips down, so that his lover was made to feel the growing swell he was responsible for. His eyes were hot as they peered into Lasher's own. Run from him? "Go ahead and try," he dared, and once more devilishness curved his lips.

luke pounced upon him; lasher chuckled, resisting only minutely before he gave in to the insistence of his lover's press, and rolled to face upward into the pale and lovely face. he spoke nothing, though his eyes darkened with desire at the sensation of their lower bodies gliding against one another. his own responded and he reached up to tighten his forelegs about luke's shoulders.

"mm, i seem to be pinned," he purled slyly, his tongue darting forth to trace the one pallid cheek. he writhed slowly beneath the silver-eyed man, teeth glinting in a mischievous grin. he rather liked the devil-light in luke's eyes; it was an erotic challenge and sensual answer to the rising desire in his veins.

He felt the subtlest of movements between them, and felt the blood rush, keenly aware of the throb of his own pulse as it did, to meet the desire that the intimate friction was invoking. He preened the fur on his lover's chest, steadying his own breath as it threatened to run away with hot need. He was not ready to engage. He had questions, curiosities, and he wanted to draw this out and savor it.

He was perched on top of Lasher, perched in role he was accustomed to. His actual experience was not as extensive as his confidence would suggest, and aside from his last interlude with Lasher, had been gained entirely from women. Women who could not provide what he wondered at: what it would be like to receive, to be pinned, to be dominated and taken out of the traditional role.

A thought of Peregrine flickered in his mind, but he extinguished it quickly, pressing his lips against his lover's muzzle. He was drawn to him, and yet knew so little of the man. He sought insight. "Is that what you prefer?" he murmured softly, touching his blue nose to the base of Lasher's silken ear before moving to capture his gaze.  

likewise, lasher found his role in lovemaking to be one of subservience, even when with a woman. he found that his actions were guided by her wants; he took nothing that she did not freely give. it was more comfortable to him to be in such a position, quite literally beneath luke in this moment. a sly grin passed over his features. if he was the other's first male lover, then the pallid beast had never been covered.

thusly, lasher gave a surge of strength and sought to pull himself from beneath the pale man. his teeth flashed in a gentle clip first toward luke's ear, and then sought the flesh of the other's nape. taltos intended fully to drag him into a submissive pose, or stand to wrestle for dominance.

It was as if Luke's thoughts hummed through the air, and rather than answer to his question, Lasher responded to them. The man had been to him so far an eloquent, gentle lover. There had been nothing in his disposition to lead the white wolf into believing he had a dominant streak in him, and thus Luke was caught off guard when he maneuvered out from under him. He felt the clip of teeth on his ear first and then strong grasp on his nape. His breath hitched, surprised.

"Lasher," he breathed, as his heart pounded in his chest with the excitement of being treated to a side of the man he had never before seen, to a fantasy he entertained but had not expected to come to pass so soon. The strength of the wolf pulling on him demanded he give in, and oh, he wanted to, but Luke also wanted to see and feel more of this assertion, of Lasher.

He planted his haunches on the ground and braced himself so as to not allow himself to be dragged or manipulated so easily. He pushed against his lover, turning to bring his muzzle along side the man's ear. He wore a roguish grin, his voice breathy, low. "Come on then," he coaxed. "Dominate me." He growled, urging. "Take me."

luke's surprise was delicious, and moreso was his resistance, and the salacious words that followed. "minx!" lasher hissed, snapping his teeth within a hairsbreadth of the pale earlobe as he released the man if only to seek another hold more tightly around his throat. as powerful as his jaws were, nary a tooth would scratch luke if he so willed, which he did not. a growl fluted from his chest as he gave a savage yank -- he released the pallid wolf and reared to fling forelegs aggressively about his opponents's neck.

"down," he snarled in the voice of one who had learned to give direct orders. murkwater eyes blazed with the verve of their erotic game; he would punish luke for this insubordination, and sought greatly to press the pale wolf down upon his plush chest in the grasses.

His ear jerked with surprise as jaws snapped next to it. He had not expected the change to be so sudden, so complete. Lasher was no more the soft spoken and tender lover, and Luke's breath caught in his throat teeth closed tightly around it. He had never felt more vulnerable than he did now, but also never as hot. His heart drummed so rapidly in his chest that he could still hear the blood rush in his ears over the sound of dark wolf's growling. His body lurched as he was yanked, and dark legs encircled his neck before he could make a move; not that there was a move to be made. The white wolf was thoroughly entranced by the raw, masculine power of his lover.

He was commanded down, with Lasher's weight pressing down on him. He bared his teeth, folded his ears back and and made only the quietest, deepest of rumbles as his chest was pushed to the ground. His hips remained suspended, and his tail curled between his legs, submitting to Lasher's dominance and hiding the appearance of his swelling arousal, concealing the drip of his wanting. His rumble grew in volume as snapped at a dark paw, seeking to provoke, but not harm.  

luke's flashing teeth earned him the controlled swat of a paw along his blasphemous -- lasher controlled his strike, of course, and then busied himself with the lascivious glut of the pallid, wanting hips, the rising scent of arousal in the atmosphere roundabout them. with lust exceedingly hot within him, taltos growled, thrusting aside the feathered veil of luke's modesty, and glossed slowly with tantalizing maw o'er the taut cullions.

all at once the earthen man hissed with choked desire the name of his lover, embracing his trim waist with trembling forelegs. his hips moved forward until he was fairly seated against his quarry; but he would not stir again until consent was clearly given.

He thought his coat might erupt into flame, such was the intensity of his desire, how hot he burned for the man who dominated him, for the control Lasher had taken. His curiosity had not been misplaced. Each interlude before had been slow and gentle. He had lead but never possessed in the way the dark male possessed him now. It was a feral, powerful thing, and he was lost to it. He knew even now this would not, could not be the last time he engaged in this way.

Lasher teased him. He trembled with a steep rise in his wanting, and where he once growled he now whined, begged. He felt his lover's legs close about his waist, and heard his own name hissed with passion. He arched against him with held breath, expecting to taken, claimed. He felt the close press of Lasher against him, but no more. His lover waited, and Luke - with desperate need - half growled and half whined as he rocked back against him. "Lasher," he said shakily with the breath he had held. "I'm yours."

the pushback of luke's hips inflamed lasher -- he gathered the pale wolf closer and gave a firm jolt of his loins forth. he controlled his motion, however -- he would be gentle for a moment, as luke acclimated to the leap of male weaponry deep within his body. his breath trembled; he was loving, kind to the as-of-yet untried form curved under him, but intensity coloured his movements.

teeth flashed; he grasped hold of luke's nape almost savagely and began a faster rhythm, one that climbed inexorably toward a fiery zenith. the man strove for control, for the balance of domination and tension, and with effort drew himself back from the brink, teasing luke with smaller assailments upon his vulnerable person.

He braced himself. His teeth were set against each other, prepared for his lover to take him with force; but though there was hunger and power in Lasher's thrust, there was control born of experience and of care. He gasped despite the gentle moment he was spared, to adjust to the new sensation, to the slick, hot feel of their union. He shifted beneath the dominant man, and his eyes closed so that his senses could focus on nothing but this.

Though there was mild discomfort it was short lived, for he had been ready and wanting, and Lasher tended him carefully. Just as he began to be lulled by the gentle rhythm, he was seized by his nape, and he could not bar a groan of intensified pleasure from escaping as he was claimed in the way he had been anticipating. His feet were planted; though he felt compelled to rock back, he did not, for total control was given to his lover.

Lasher brought him so close. He felt his entire body contract, but then he was brought down. Teased! He breathed heavily; he was overcome and whined for his release. "Please," he begged.

he rutted luke with fierce leaps of his hips then, fired by the desperation in the pallid wolf's voice. stars threatened to erupt behind his eyes but he dragged himself again from the delicious precipice, rearranging his forelegs to grip the slim waist more closely. lowering his muzzle, lasher reached forward to lie his cheek against the side of luke's face, painted with ecstasy as it seemed to be, his own features wreathed in blinding pleasure.

"you will remember me by this," he hissed haltingly against the velvet bulb of one ear, feeling luke's ribcage contract pantingly in his embrace, and for a final tense moment he held himself there, upon knife's edge, before surrendering to the nova that had built scorchingly within his loins.

he could not help himself; he cried out with the reverberation of it, punishing luke with thrusts grown savage in the light of his zenith. at length their bodies chained one another; he continued to move, their sensitivities most heightened at this moment, he knew.

when their natural bond had slacked, lasher slid heavily from his young lover and fell upon the grass, panting, but with delight etched indelibly across his face.

He cried out as the rhythm intensified, and pressed tightly against the cheek that came to rest against his own. Lasher's control was unfathomable; that he could ply them back from climax even now he delved into Luke with abandon, assaulting him with hard, fast strokes. He owned Luke in this moment, possessed him wholly. His mind, his body, all of it belonged to the earthen male. He was lost to him.

Lasher hissed against his ear as they stood on the edge together. The muscles in his legs had tensed to the point of pain and he was the first to fall, barking his lover's name before he growled and clenched his teeth against another final assault, the most feral yet. He quaked beneath the dark man, who did not cease the dance even as they were bound. Dizzied, inflamed, he whimpered and whined, for the sensation, the pleasure, was more intense than he knew possible. It was almost unbearable, it almost hurt.

Indeed, he had experienced pain in this, but even as they separated and Lasher slid from his back, he knew it was a pain he had relished in, a pleasure he was now drunk on. He collapsed where he had stood, trembling, panting. He looked to his lover with grin and pulled himself to him, tucking his muzzle beneath his jaw, against his throat as his tongue lolled.

he slung a foreleg around luke's shoulders and began to muzzily preen him, the air roundabout their bodies rampant with the mingled scents of their pleasure. recovering slowly from the ecstasy of the past moments, taltos paused to sigh into the pale fur -- would luke find himself at the borders of the plateau, perhaps to seek entry? enamoured as he was of the other's lithe body and eager, willing nature, his heart had pulled luke into its trance and a deeper seed of affection was blossoming there.

but he did not speak upon it -- the earthen wolf held his pale paramour quietly, eartip flicking as he caught the cadence of luke's heartbeat. all was still around this moment; his breathing was gentle, his eyes seeking that of the pale man with a smile decorating his lips.