Malice, now both queen and widow, found it a good idea to leave her borders for once. She had done nothing but patrol, wanting to keep her now not so new pack safe. All she wanted, all she needed was in Phantom Hollow, even without Cogitemus at her side. Ruling with Sage had been more fun anyway, she kept telling herself, not giving in to her sadness deep down. She had come so far in such a short time, had accomplished things she thought were impossible. She had learned from others, even befriended some. Even Nemesis, who had been, well, kind of a bitch, had taught her how she wasn't the queen of the world. She had seen the sea, the mountains, but was only queen in Phantom Hollow. And that was enough. Now all that was left to do was apologize to the dark female. Perhaps she wasn't as rude as she had seemed.

The daughter of Lucifer strolled through the meadow, admiring the picture mother nature was painting with spring. Berries and a few flowers were already blossoming, leaving her to snap at some nice looking berries here and there. She knew they weren't poisonous, otherwise Veritas would've had them in her stash of leaves if they were here for the taking. Or at least, she hoped so. Soon, she was distracted by a yellow butterfly. It brought a smile to her face, knowing that the cold days were over, and she started chasing the fluttering thing. She probably looked silly, like a young pup maybe, but she didn't care anymore. She was alone here, no-one could judge her. Or so she hoped...

She had limited time to wander, as Burke seemed to depart more often from their territory as of late. She didn't question it, everyone needed their time alone and she was no stranger to that. Besides, everything appeared to be under control. No dire need for her presence nor excruciating circumstances that needed her attention. They would be fine on their own for a few hours. Now, her day would have continued to hold the same calm serenity it did when she woke beside her mate, had an unwanted sight make her freeze in her footsteps. It was Malice, of all beings, frolicking about after a.. butterfly. Her eyes rolled at the ghastly sight, making it quite obvious Malice was no longer that authoritative dark queen figure she had tired so haplessly to appear to be. What a fake, she couldn't help but to scoff and retreat the opposite direction. Good thing Burke had not accepted that silly "alliance" idea for this was not the figure of anything they would accept to be their companions, skipping after butterflies like a child. All previous thoughts about Malice were thrown out the window, as it was evident she was just some commoner with no dark prospects whatsoever. 

It did not come to her attention that Malice would ever want to apologize to her, and she frankly couldn't care less. She did not want her apology infact, and would spend even less time paying attention to the girl at all. What was done, was done and a few words couldn't take back the feeling of extreme hatred. Sure, it was bitchy, but she would not be her without it. You couldn't gain respect by trying to be kind, and she didn't want anything from the low life called Malice. So, she was an Alpha, although she was simply a pawn at the feet of commanders much greater and only when she learnt that, would Nemesis truly pay attention to her, or so she believed. Her avoidance was anything but smooth but she did not care, she was never one to hide her displeasure of someone when it was already evident. No matter, she doubted Malice even wanted to speak to her anyhow, and she continued on her way.

A sudden change in the air, and an illusion that the sky was turning darker made the queen stop in her tracks. She froze, pinning her nails in the soft, rich ground where plants could grow so well. She was being watched, said her subconscious, and Malice was one to trust her gut. Her eyes went from right to left like lightning, flashing a piercing glare to all bushes that set fire to it in her mind. Animal instinct took over, and she pulled up one lip in annoyance, not knowing it was the Dark Sister that had seen her do ridiculous things. She pulled up her left leg, looking behind her only to see the behind of someone she dispised someone who she found less nice. Under her dark fur, Malice blushed in embarrassment. Had she seen her? Oh dear, this wasn't good.

Malice turned around fully after rethinking her choices at this point. She could turn like she had, go back to Phantom Hollow, and pretend like this day never happened but also lose the perfect chance to say sorry. Or, she could go after her, talk with her, leader to leader and try to forget past mistakes. The worst thing that could happen was that the other female would attack her, which wasn't so bad. Perhaps Malice would get a cool scar from it, maybe one right over her eye or something like her father. Yeah, going after her was the stupidest thing she could do, so she was going to do it.

She trotted quickly to the dark woman, her nose wrinkling to adjust to the smell she was carrying. Oh how she hated the Dark Brotherhood's pack smell mixed with hers. She took a moment to breath, a fair distance away from Nemesis. Nemesis? She called out, a gentle but cold tone filling the air. Perhaps the Dark Sister would just ignore her, but Malice wasn't one to give up. Even if she needed to chase her down all the way to Blackfeather woods' borders, she would get to say sorry to her.

The shrill call of the she-beast behind her made her internally growl, her lip curling up in annoyance. Her muscles tensed, but there was no inclination that she would attack. Her head whipped around to meet her cold, intense eyes with Malice's. Her feral growl subsided when she realised Malice's tone did not carry any sign of aggression. "What do you want?" She snapped, although her own voice carried hints of confusion instead of anger. She was past being angry, but was purely annoyed by her presnece. Did Malice truly have nothing better to do than trying to suck up to her and the rest of her pack? It had been known to her that Malice was trying to win over Cicero along with Burke, of all people, although Cicero had only described her as "amusing enough" and nothing more. No, she couldn't just keep the hell away and spare everyone the waste of time, but put her face where it didn't belong. Nevertheless, she was quite intrigued to see what lies Malice would spew out this time.

"Do believe i've made it very clear to leave me alone," She scowled, her eyes peering at the female before looking past her to see if any other Moonhip wolf was lurking behind. The Gamma she had meet before had not been all that bad but the male was purely insufferable, and she hoped that he had been kicked out or mutilated in some way. She was unaware of Malice's mate's departure, but with that information she probably only would have rubbed it in the female's face that her significant other was in that perspective, also superior. Good thing they were not on sharing terms, for Malice's sake indeed. 

Malice, despite being scared of the dark sister, showed no signs of it. Not even when the other snapped rude sounding words at her did she move or change her her posture. She kept her tail lower than normal, her muscles relaxed, but kept an eye open for any dirty tricks Nemesis might pull. She had been warned by Cicero, and while he was a dark brother, she trusted the young male. He had helped her, and she had even shared a bit of her past with him. If anything, she wanted to befriend the weird-talking boy, not try to win him over and join the dark side, because we have cookies. The words that were spoken by Nemesis, while still rude, carried a slight bit of confusion with it. Well, that was understandable. Why would someone who you hate ,who was first chasing a fricking butterfly, walk up to you as calm as Malice had done?

The words that came next only made the dark female shrug, knowing that her actions were stupid. But if she didn't get this guilt feeling off her chest, she would explode. I've been rethinking past actions recently, and I think we have started off on the wrong paw. She started, keeping her gentle tone and trying to sound as serious as possible. Of all the things she was doing now, beside being stupid, it wasn't lying. Why would she lie just to make the beta of their neighbor's pack like her? Well, that actually made perfect sense, but it wasn't what she was doing here. She was here just to get rid off the guilty feeling she had in her gut, she couldn't care less what Nemesis would do with it. Perhaps she would throw her words in the fucking trash, but at least then Malice could say she had tried.

I would like to apologize to you. She started, not beating around the bush.