His Frost Queen was absent. After a few days her lack of prescence worried him. When he patrolled he tried to find any trace of her scent, but only found traces. He did not allow it to deter him from his duties, but it did a hell of a number on him when it came time for him to sleep.
The assassin tried not to worry too much about it, he promised himself that he would give Cara a week more before he starting freaking out. She was old enough to take care of herself. She was an adult after all. There was no need to worry. Right? Right?
Cara was not ashamed to be gone.
Sure, stepping down from the pedestal she had fallen in love with had felt like a stab in the chest, but the hypothetical wound was healing rather quickly, especially since her mind was now occupied on something else.
Though she would forever be a queen in her head, another side of her, more specifically her body was persuing something else, that at her blatant young age would seem like something to think twice about.
But not for Cara.
Despite her young age, she had already proven she was able to handle tough tasks, she wasn't the best but she had fought hard through it all, ans she would continue to always fight hard. That's why it shouldn't have surprised the dark male when her pale figure appeared between the bushes, completely unharmed (at least physically) and with a intrigued look plastered on her delicate features.
That would be stupid. And extremely effeminate.
No, instead he turned his head towards her, speaking to her as if she had only been gone for a minute. "Ah, there you are." He eyed her form, searching for any type of physical harm. "Where have you been all this time?" Did you get hurt? Were you lost? Why did you leave me alone like that without a word?
An instant smile popped to her face as the man laid eyes on her, though he didn't say it and she didn't either she knew that they were both glad to see each other. He greeted her with no particular emotion, which was not a problem to Cara, she was not searching for his comfort anyways. At least not at the moment.
As he asked of her whereabouts with the most collected voice he could muster, she gave her tail a little shake like only she knew how to, "Missed me?" she barked while letting the fire in her hips do the magic in his brain.
Even if they had never formally voiced their feelings, and they had never bothered to clarify where they stood on the extensive ladder of relationships, they had uncounciously -- or maybe just secretly, signed a silent agreement which only they could understand, but apparently not explain.
"I need to tell you something" she barked calmly, even if her heart was beginning to thump inside her chest and crawl up her throat
She was content to hear him admit what already showed in his eyes. Truth was she had missed him too, but unlike him she would not confess to it unless he asked.
Like child finding a stash of candy, the yearling's face lit up, the curves of her lips uncocniously twisting in a pleased smile that made her delicate features come together in perfect symmetry, like a porcelain doll.
To be honest, she kind of felt like one too.
Though she felt little dents and fissures cover her body, she now felt the pieces had slided back into place, using his icy eyes as glue.
The first time had felt herself break, had been the day her father had died of course; the second time had been when her idolatrized Queen had crumbled, along with the empire Cara in one way or another had helped to build. TAnother deep gash was left in her heart, and if her face, when she lost the throne to Jinx's murderer, and now again as she turned in the broken crown that had weighted in her head for so long, yet so briefly.
"I am not Alpha anymore" she barked flatly, a stingy flavour running down her esophagus before piercing her chest and fracturing another segment of her porcelain heart .
Crack!
It was still hard to admit and to accept -- and it probably would be forever -- but she had ultimately made up her mind about it.
Now, she wished she could make him understand her reasons, and more hopefully agree with them.
The frigid expression that was always plastered on his face contorted into a sour,, dissapointed look. Cara, however, didn't let his visible discomfort by the news get under her skin. To her the reasons she had taken were valid and fair -- or at least that was what she was trying to convince herself of.
"A few days ago" she barked, her eyes not faltering against the icyness of his own. She did not bother to say the exact moment and time, and much less admit that she had been basically had to edge Mordecai into giving her the green light she had been waiting for.
It was natural that Kaname was shocked by the calm tone in her voice. He and her alike would have thought she would have preferred for her lungs to crash and her heart to stop before giving up the throne. It was true. Part of her, cried in agony while her other half tried to finally get through her thick skull that all of the choices made would be worth it in the long run.
There was no doubt that his icy eyes could pierce through her in endless ways. They had read her emotions numerous times and had calmed her restless heart a million more. But although they could now see the pain that hid underneath her eyes as she pronounced that she was no longer Queen, they failed to see the enthusiasm bubbling in her chest for the news to come.
However, she would be relieved he asked about her wellbeing before asking the dreaded and anticipated question of 'why'. "I'm well, Kaname," she barked softly, allowing a small smile to trace upon her lips as she looked at him. "Not super, but well -- I will be super in time" she assured him -- this was not the end of her.
If things went right, it'd be only the beginning
"You're such an obdurate woman, Cara. I really should have expected that of you, instead being so sad." He smiled back, though his was not as bright as hers. And it was now that he called her a woman. He felt that she had grown up.
Truth be told, Cara had never sinked after she renounced to be Alpha of the Spine. She had not allowed herself to do so, she did not want to feel again the devastating nostalgia piercing at her throat as she watched herself fall to rock bottom -- where she had laid after her beloved Queen's passing.
The pain was there, she just didn't allow herself to feel it.
Instead she masked under the excitement fluttering at her chest as she prepared to let the cat out of the bag and tell Kaname what really lied behind it all.
"I'll take it as a compliment," she musedm while slightly tipping her head to one side while batting her eyes in a playful manner at her dear assasin and her most intimate friend.
"There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you've paid for" she mused again, she had had to grow up under the eyes of her two ruthless sisters. She had been molded by their fierceness, it had been her only choice if she were to survive -- if you can't beat them, join them right?
He flashed Cara a small smirk, "Indeed it was." She responded with in a nigh-flirtatious manner, tilting her head and batting her eyelashes. He didn't mind it, but drunk it in silently. She was younger than him, nearing the prime of her life (to be honest it seemed like she was already was), while he was just leaving his. "Oh, just what do you mean?"
His question froze her into place, and for a moment she was not able to determine whether he was referrig to her last comment or if he was indeed asking what the purpose of the conversation really was. She fixed her eyes on his own, unsure if it was the appropiate time to uncover the secret she had been so carefully guarding.
"I was the one to hand in my spot, Kaname", she barked, not answering the real question he had intended to ask. There would be time to talk about her odious sisters later, now he just needed to understand what she was trying to suggest, and for that she needed to explain her recent actions.
"The reason I did it is because I want to be something more than a Queen" she barked, her stomach filling with butterflies as she prepared to finally drop the news to him.. "I want to be a mother" she breathed, feeling a strange nervousness flood her body as she waited for his answer.
This was the closest thing to a proposal she could get to. Even if in theory it was the male's job to do such things, the bold female was not restricted by her gender, She wanted him to know she was ready. And that she hoped he was ready too.
He smirked in a semi-flirtatious way, already knowing the answer to the question he was posing. "And I suppose you would want me to be the father?" Really, there was no other answer to that question. She did come to him and she did lead the conversation to this point.
Cara's explanation of it all was direct and concise, 6 simple words that would alter her life and Kaname's if he chose to get on board with her plan. She waited anxiously for his reaction, her pale eyes peering into the icyness of his own. She was 99.9% certain Kaname would not turn her offer down, though the uncertainty of his silence made the little hairs on the nape of her neck stand on end.
She would've undertstood if he had asked her to not take such decision lightly. She knew she had done nothing but prove her inmaturity throught her early days in Silvertip as well as the Ouroboros, but she had her mind set. And by now he should've known that once her eyes fell on the prize, there would be no worldy power that could stop her.
Truth was that she could not yet picture the image of little fluff balls nibbling at her stomach, but she would get used to the idea in time.
Finally, the assasin's mouth curved into a smirk, which Cara soon mirrored as he quipped his little retort. His answer was far from poetic or even charming, but for Cara and Kaname there was no need for romance, as their eyes said it all.
"Would you like to?" she teased, knowing the answer had been written across his forehead almost since the moment they met.
The assassin stepped forward as Cara responded to his teasing question with one of her own. The Beta licked her forehead gently, then pressing the bottom of his jaw onto the top of her head. "Gladly. I just can't see you with anyone else, and I think everyone would agree with me." He wondered if any wolf would challenge her for right to mate with her. Had any male taken a fancy to her? Even if they did, he would retaliate with swift and brutal retribution.
Everything Cara had proposed to him had not been as premeditated as he would have thought. Though it had been her own internal clock which had planted the idea of expanding her lineage into her mind, not Jinx or the current season had weighed upon her choice.
Just as it was his instict -- laced with his feeling for her -- to accept to be the father of the Spine's next brood. She recieved the soft gesture he laid on the top of her forehead with a smile which only happened to broaden as he made an insinuation that in her mind could only refer to making things official.
She stopped to look at him, her mind suddenly fleeting to the image of the white-eyed male that had taken off so many months ago. He had been his real only contender if he were still here.
But he wasn't.
"Are you asking me to be your...mate?" she barked, with the same smile bubbling up again across her snout. She knew that asking him to father her children would not be well welcomed by some, and while she had no issues with keeping it that way she didn't have any oppositions against doing it in the old fashioned way.
The former Queen stood motionless, absorbing his affection with unbiased attention. Though she was not accustomed to physical displays as the one he was treating her with, something about Kaname's gentle touch made the usually tenacious female accept it all without fussing.
That until, the male showed her he was one to follow tradional ways above all.
While marriage, or mateship, was not frightening for the impulsive female, she wondered if the label they would require to place above their heads would change either of them. Even if things would be forced to change now that they had taken the decision of joining together, she still held onto the hope their act as the Spine's dynamic duo would not be damaged by the compromise they were about to make to one another.
It can only make it stronger, she mused in her head as she nodded soflty, giving the most unromantic response to his dull marriage proposal. It was a good thing neither of them seemed bothered by the lack of lovey-dovey words.
Cara had given up on fairy tales a long time ago, and Kaname was not the type of prince charming that you read about in the books.
He was a completely different kind of charming.
"Kaname, don't do it as a favor" she teased while nibbling at the fur on his cheek. Aside from having a sickening desire to rule over everything and anything, it seemed the pale yearling also possesed an impediment to express all heart-related matters clearly.
While it was utterly impossible for her to say the words 'love' and 'you' in the same phrase, her egocentric heart did not mind hearing it form others.
"Do it because you want it, because you want me" she insisted, tilting her head so that his eyes of pure ice and her eyes of gold could sink into each other.
He had no idea that she desired to have the words love directed towards her, but if did know, he would have done it regardless. "How about I do it because I love you, hm?" He smirked teasingly.
Cara's diet did not only consist of meat.
Inside her, a hungry monster paced through the halls of her intestines, demanding recoognition and praise from everyone she met. And though the monster had notably been starved since she had stepped down from leadership it was mostly Kaname's words and gestures what kept it alive.
And as much as she appreciated this, she had not expected for him to pronounce his next words -- which to the monster were a banquet to feast on.
It was not that she didn't want them, or that she doubted of their legitimacy, it was quite the opposite really. She somehow knew they were real, and it was exactly that realization that despite all the trouble she had brought onto herself and the Spine she was loved what caused the yearling to lose her breath and almost crumble under his icy gaze.
Without saying a word to retribute his own, she brought her nose against the base of his lips, and with the chill of the Winter winds wrapping them together she allowed herself to melt into him. After smearing a good few kisses on his snout she pulled away and turned around, swaying her hips invitingly as she slipped into the shadows, expecting him to follow.
Cara did not respond with words, but with actions. He didn't need words to see how his proclamation of love affected her. He saw it in the way she lost her breath, the quick and fluttering kisses that he could barely reciprocate.
He tried to match Cara's kisses, planting a few on her muzzle before his Frost Queen drew away and invited him into the shadows, swinging her hips as an indicator for him to follow. His tail waved in the air happily for a few beats before he melted into the shadows after her, meeting and hopefully exceeding her expectations.