Larksong Grotto You're sweet, my dear

@Mireille

The wolf needed respite from the cold, and so the he felt lucky to have stumbled upon such a hidden gem among the rock and rubble. This grotto held life and foliage that were otherwise hard to find in this part of the world. 

Marcus peered down over the last steep drop for whatever footholds he might be able to use to reach the bottom. Never much of a climber, the loner didn't even want to imagine what it would take for him to scale back up the mountain side. He would worry about it after having a nice sit-down meal.

The man suddenly met with lush forest floor, joints bending ever so slightly so as not to lock up and injury himself on impact. He thought for a moment of the lady in red from a few days ago, and wondered if he was near where she stayed. He wouldn't mind if he was, although he couldn't say the same for her.

the scent of the man was painted thickly on all of mireille.
wordlessly she twirled beneath the open sky; she had meant to head off but found herself lurking near the grotto once more. perhaps she waited for kel.
perhaps she did not.
but the first stranger; she caught sight of him from a distance and grinned, unfurling a full cry into the wind that summoned his attention.
she stood against the skyline; mussed; wild; feral; burning, burning.

A woman's call erupted from the mountains. For a moment, the echos made it difficult for Marcus pinpoint her location, but soon his eyes found the fire under the darkening evening sky. It was her again. Shaking his head, the wolf turned to fully face her, ears pinned forward and toes pressing into the earth with anticipation. 

He was hungry, and he wondered if she might be as well. The man beckoned her to come to him, humming deep and low with a quick dip of his muzzle. Come with me. Marcus took to the ground, following the tracks of what appeared to be a rabbit that had made its way around here recently.

mireille was not hungry.
he wanted to hunt, to provide; she wanted only to taste what he had given a sign of the first time they had met.
but the stranger on the glacier had left her weak, scratched by teeth, her throat and shoulders bruised with the rough seduction she had wanted, had invited, had demanded.
she should eat.
mireille stopped in her tracks, sending her voice in a purr toward this man, wanting to see if he would turn away from his hunt or doggedly remain with it.

The scent of blood and another male hadn't caught his attention as he was upwind and had some distance from the female. She called to him again, this time soft and feminine. It made him stop in his tracks.

The man turned his head to the side, to see her standing behind him before he fully committed to turning around. The winds then shifted and drew her scent to him, but this time it was different. The scent of another male and blood mixed with her sweetness. It brought him back to unpleasant memories inciting a low rumble from deep within him. Marcus abandoned the hunt immediately and drew closer to her, head on a swivel, to see what this was all about.

The brute slowed his pace, coming to a complete stop not much more than a few feet away from her. She was tired. He looked over her wounds as best he could from his vantage point, met her emerald eyes with his own. There was no amusement in his face today. "You shouldn't be out here with those wounds." He couldn't help his fatherly instincts as he scolded her lightly.

"but i earned dem," mireille purled with a soft chuckle, and the space between them closed. she ran her shoulder along his own, down his flank, toward his hip, circling with her face afire.
"are you going to soot'e t'ese for me, monseiur?" the red wolf breathed, pulling aside before he could seize her. 
she had tempted the warrior on the glacier. she wondered what sort of temptation this man's desire would take. mireille had come into her own, and now stood with gentle command, fur riffled and inviting his interest.

She softened to him, but her words made him wish to recoil in anger. He didn't though, and instead stayed put. She was not his to lose. He swallowed hard as he felt torn between this moment of temptation and the regrets of his past life.

The pang of jealousy was familiar to him, but Marcus realized it was uncalled for. This was her life, not his. As she rounded to the other side of his flank, Marcus broke out of his trance. Greedily her followed her, nose to tail, mouth open to drink her in. 

"Are you going to stand still?" He snorted playfully, now circling the female as if he was sizing her up to look for her weakest point.

mireille flicked her tail and grinned, spinning as he did, hindquarters faced away from the stranger. she wanted to tempt, to flare his hungers. "do you mean for me to stand still?" she goaded aloud.
not recovered enough to run again, mireille at last dipped her head back to the trails he had indicated. her belly rumbled and she pranced lightly along the track, scarlet muzzle downturned. 
on a whim she changed her mind; mireille would live by whim for the next several days.

I don't know what I mean anymore.

Her youthful movements left him in the dust for a moment, but it wasn't long until Marcus found himself on her heels. He too took to pressing his nose to the trails, but made sure to give a few playful nips at the heels of the spitfire for good measure. 

Rustling of brush beckoned him off-road, splitting from the trail with no hesitation. The burning man's ears swiveled in hopes to locate where it was coming from. A young plucky squirrel foolishly took shelter at the base of a nearby tree, pressing itself flat in hopes of being overlooked. It was not so lucky. 

He lunged immediately upon seeing the twitch of its tail. Pinning the rodent against the tree, the hunter sank his claws into it's bark for support. Fur, blood, and wood chips gushed into his maw and pushed against his gums. 

The prey was annihilated, both from the jaws of the predator and the bark of the tree. Presenting it to the woman, Marcus dropped the mangled meal with a snort.

a moment of play; a rush, his muscled shoulders carrying him past her. mireille drew up in time to see his jaws welter with snow.
food. and some primal part of her brain was sated by this, some new sense of probing knowingness that had inspected each male thus far. she ate with gusto and savored each morsel, preening her fur thereafter before her green stare reached for the man in quiet again.

The man felt his throat begin to close with anxiety and sadness as he sat watch. He had not provided for anyone in a long time. The last time he had was for his family, quite a few moon cycles ago. His priorities would always be his children, and yet here he was fooling around with this woman. Nothing against her, but Marcus felt a pang of guilt. 

Suddenly, his flame was quenched. She was looking at him, and he returned with his own glance. But instead of pursuing her further, the gentleman took a seat where he was a few tail-lengths away from her. He had lost his appetite.

she watched him seemingly deflate. mireille licked the last blood from the edge of her jaw and felt herself grow irritated. 
normally she might have spoken with him, probed for the source of his sudden mood. yet in this second she was only vaguely frustrated. if he did not want her, then she would not stay.
for the sake of his hunting, mireille lingered after she stood. it was clear that without a word to call her back, she would leave him here and seek deeper into the taiga.
quiet. watchful.

She was too young to understand, but he could not hold it against her. To act on impulse, to be a slave to one's own desires... this is what got wolves killed. She was ready, but did she really know what she was ready for?

She looked impatient, which was to be expected. This was about more than a free meal. The male stood to full height. He first looked to the ledge he dropped from to get into the grotto and then back to the freckled girl. The loner was not meek in his descent upon her, not waiting for permission. But instead of taking her haunches between his forelimbs, he aimed to cradle her. To slide against and press his flank next to hers, wanting to reach his head over her nape to lick at the wounds on her shoulder.

mireille might have bitten him had he been half so forward. she was tense all the same as he straightened to his stature and approached with purpose.
her teeth glinted in a small smile, a little sound of pleasure lifting into the air as his tongue soothed the wounds fetched by the glacier man.
this one, gentle as he had seemed during their first meeting; that hee assessment had been proven was enchanting.
the red wolf touched the lobe of his nearest ear as he offered healing comfort, nibbling gently at the bulb of it. her mouth roved toward the side of his neck where she found it easier to preen, enjoying the warmth of his body encircling her own.

The nibbling, he hadn't felt the sensation of tingles running down his spine for so long and couldn't help but squirm. The man chuckled darkly, as if he was a different person.

"You're bad." He praised, taking her fully by the nape of her neck and applying pressure in hopes of forcing her front half down. He wasn't sure how far he wanted to take this, but right now it was fun and a hell of a way to release some stress.

a laugh; mireille dipped gracefully, though she pushed her hips up into the curve of his body in a tease. a demand.
"an' do you be bad, monsieur?" she trailed through the air, bending but with one smoldering green gem of an eye turned upon the stranger in interest.
her body, an elegant red arch.

hopefully she doesn't hate him too much for this ^^;

She obeyed the command with no hesitation. The red woman enjoyed showing him every line and curve of her figure. She knew what she had and how to flaunt it. Marcus took her in for a moment, his sunlit eyes burning with an intense feeling of selfish need. She asked him a question.

"You're going to find out." The larger wolf hissed into her ear, standing over her for a moment before attending to the back of her nape with rough nips. He wavered for a moment, and just as he was about to lose his control, he got off. He did nothing. 

Circling around, head hanging low so that he could meet her gaze, Marcus flashed his teeth in a sadistic smile. He would tease her for now. Have her begging for more the next time they met. He wouldn't take her right after another male had had his way with her. "I'll see you around." 

The loner moved quick, retreating into the brush of the grotto and hoping to whatever higher being that this woman would not come find him and murder him. Hopefully, she could learn to enjoy the long game.

<333!

mireille was insulted.
slowly she raised her head, her blood hot. pounding, and watched the handsome stranger simply leave her where she stood.
embarrassment followed in a swirl that smoothed to anger. laughter followed the man, and her elegant form was unhurried as she too began her lope — opposite him.
twice she had given him a chance. there would be no third, not when there were others to engage her with the swiftness she desired.
a song of french now, to cover the sting. she meant to forget his face.