OOC:Breeding might occur! Be warned

Inevitably, her steps would lead her into the Vale once more, but it was without an air of pomp or enthusiasm. As if taking the steps toward her end, she had marched fairly slowly beyond its borders, welcoming the scent as if it were an old and bitter friend. She had loved the Vale and those that dwelt within it… but how easily she made to resent them by one. It was not their fault, yet she was accompanied with a manner of distance for the whole.

Of all the lands within the territory, she avoided the sacred tree, fearing that should she look upon its bark she would find the blood of her elder upon it. The blood drawn from vengeful fangs in his loss of another. She did not know whether the fragile female had been found. The warden had been gone since the following morning of the avalanche. Her duties to her brethren shamefully forfeit in lieu of pursuit to clear her mind. And yet, rather than the enlightenment and peace she sought, she was met with anger, hurt, and an overwhelming disdain for those that dared to call themselves wolves. She had been a victim of the senseless lust of another. Unmarred still, yet his scent was not easily masked by the pines, nor the mountain air for that matter. It clung to her as a mark of shame and as a reminder of the dangers that lurked beyond their borders.

Her encounters with the Creek had all but fallen from memory…

Days were passed in solitude for the female. When once she had looked forward to the warmth found alongside her companion and mate, she now dreaded crossing his path for fear of the stain that might mar his face. She had returned, yes. But she had left without a word to her own devices, wrought with an anger she did not understand and felt the weight of it still, pressing painfully upon her heart. She could not go to him in this manner… or at all, she feared. How was she to look into the eye of one she loved when the threat of her anger revealing remained at the forefront? How could she speak to him now after such time had passed?

Just before the setting of dusk, she returned to her earthen den fashioned from the roots of a dying tree. Her claws scraped against the earth, pulling away a little more to accommodate her bulk. Four days and nights she had spent hollowing this den, making a home for herself as she had intended to do the first day within the Vale.

Fatigue had settled into her mind before it overtook her body, yet when it had it was relentless, dragging her paws and belly to the earth near instantaneously. She hadn’t eaten since her return as her mind had been preoccupied with what to make of the Vale now that she had returned. Too fixed on avoiding the others and her mate, she had allowed herself to dwindle however subtly… shamefully.

As the brunt of exhaustion pulled her to the earth, she crawled into her den for seclusion, yet her eyes had not yet close before a call most familiar drew her ears to its entrance. She had yet not slipped far into the darkness of the den. A glimmer of fading light would have caught the dulling sheen of beige folds as she turned, enlightening the seeking eye that indeed she as present and had heard his voice. Yet her body was tired and her mind distant. She returned his summon with a permitting beckon of her own; soft in its tone yet played on tired chords. The wolf but turned her muzzle from the darkness to the entrance of the den. Her eyes downcast as she stared blankly at the dark paws of her mate. Her tail pat the ground in subdued greeting, but no word was uttered on her behalf.

She waited for his approached but with an unexplainable apprehension for his presence. Her heart had missed him. The sight, the smell of him, the feel of his warmth even in the midst of spring. Yet in the same manner she desired him, she was detoured from him by the savagery, the passion exhibited on behalf of another. Days had gone, an agreeable time to perhaps forget what had transpired, yet she was unnerved by it still. There were questions of her own unasked resting on her lips as they shook with uncertainty. Yet silence became her as she felt the air shift with the movement of his powerful form. The great distance closing between them as she felt the soft grace of his muzzle against her nape.

…then came his retreat. Swift and sudden that even her calmed mind reeled, pulling her head from its lying spot to rise and witness his alarm. Her eyes were wide as shock became them. Her muzzle shook with a soundless whine as she watched his posture stiffen and teeth bared at the sight of her. His nostrils were flared, indicative of all she need know. And to him she only lowered her head, turning her eyes to the earth as she braced her paws against the soil.

Soundlessly, she uncurled from her seclusion to stretch out with a single step to emerge from the darkness. Ignorantly, she had hoped the scent of the Ridge wolf could have faded with time, but even she had come to know that the charged scent of another was not easily extinguished. It remained as a mark, a brand, until otherwise overwritten. Yet she was not so unfortunate to have the brand embedded so deeply and permanently. Lethargic, she bore her flank to her mate, looking neither to him nor the earth as she stood still. Her tail flagged to the side as it curled high against her thigh. Her head dipped low and shoulders slackened in open posture, as she left herself open to his inspection of her fidelity.

She anticipated the fires of the beast to consume her. Be them be stirred by the accusations of what had transpired, or his rage for her return with the smell of another still deeply inlaid in her coat. She had seen his worst, she had seen the flash of his fangs against their leader. And had she learned anything from it, it was that none were spared the wrath of the beast when unleashed. She simply surrendered to the fact her turn was drawing nigh.

However she did not stand in her silence for long. An ear turned as he lashed, though her body would not flinch. Simply, she turned her muzzle toward him breathing in as she worn chords found the strength to utter a whisper of sound. “Do you believe my feelings for you are fleeting, my shadow?” Though she grasped for strength in her own convictions, it did nothing to mask the hurt in her voice. “…so easily swayed that I would another come near?” Slowly, she turned her tail to a relaxed posture between her thighs. Her muzzle turned toward his yet her eyes remained respectfully cast to the ground.

“It was not my choice…” she continued in broken verse. “…and I fought against it. My loyalty… all that I am, is only for you, my shadow. I would not have shared my desire for your pups if I did not intend to remain by your side. Do you think me disloyal? Untruthful?”

OOC: Mature things mind happen! Shield your eyes!

In his voice was no belief for her words, only the fire of his rage and the decision he had made for himself. They were finite, frightening, curling the claws of the female as they dug deep to anchor herself within the soil. Her body braced itself on instinct against the staggering rise of his impending fury. But she was not afraid- for fear meant she was guilty of what she had been accused. She was innocent, whether his crazed eye in that moment refused to believe it or not. Rather she be lashed for her honesty in loving and remaining loyal to the behemoth, than cower and further whatever dark assumptions he possessed. She would not fight against him should his fangs turn toward her.

And inevitably, it came to thus, though her convictions remained strong even as her body succumbed to the lacking nourishment and fatigue. Shamefully vulnerable, had her frame been more fragile than the thick bone beneath her flesh, she would have collapsed then from his sudden lunge and forceful clasp of his teeth upon her spine. The pain was unfamiliar and unkind as vengeful teeth slipped seamlessly through the russet ridge to puncture flesh. And though she cried in alarm and let her anchors release the earth, she did not make to flee from his grasp and endured his pain. Even as his front leg draped possessively over her back and bore a portion of his weight into her, she did not attempt to find the refuge of her den but a few feet away. She remained as still as she was able, head low and ears laid back in submissive fashion. Even her tail tucked from its relaxed posture to press within the crème folds of her belly. Her silence was her compliance that she would not act against him, but succumb to his will.