Silvertip Mountain Heating up

Not sure if anyone wants to ... but all welcome!

Zaria sat down in the snow before a small kill. Though she didn't look happy at all. In fact it seemed the female was fuming. She felt mad at everything! She wasn't sure why since she never felt like this before. The rabbit at her feet was the after math of her wrath. She had not killed it because she was hungry. In fact her appetite had been less too lately. Zaria growled at the rabbit and attacked it again. It was a mix of feeling frustrated and powerless. She didn't know where her agitation came from.

Zaria's mother had died at her birth, in fact Zaria was alive today since she had crawled tightly against her dead mother. Her grandfather that had killed her mother and siblings, missing her since her coat blended perfectly with her mother's. Not having a mother when growing up or ever experiencing a heat before it made a bit clueless what was currently happening to her body.

Steady was strolling along, in a rather neutral mood. It wasn't that he was in a bad mood, but he wasn't exactly exceptionally happy, either. Scarlett and her condition constantly ran through his mind, and it was taking a toll on him. He wanted so much to be angry, but he wasn't an angry wolf. He knew he needed to release this emotion, though, somehow.

The smell of fresh blood reached his nose and he headed towards it, finding a fuming Zaria sitting next to it. Steady's ears flattened to his head as he lowered it a bit, his tail hanging limp between his back legs. He knew what was going on, having females in his family's pack go through it, but he got the impression that maybe Zaria herself didn't know. All she knew was she was angry all the time. Steady wondered if he could use that to both of their advantages.

Instead of greeting her in his usual upbeat and smiling manor, he decided not to beat around the bush. You take yours out on me, I'll take mine out on you, he offered seriously. They both needed a good fight, and they could both withstand what the other dished out. What he was offering wasn't just a spar. They would both end up with wounds, hopefully superficial and nothing they both hadn't gotten before. It wasn't something to be won, just to get out their pent up frustration.

I was thinking Zaria would get a good cut somewhere along the fight so @Mason can look at it for his caregiver! :D

Zaria growled instantly when she heard someone come up, she didn't care who it was because she was just boiling over with all the hormones. She grunted softly when she saw Steady. There was already a bit of her scent coming from her. Zaria was just one grumpy mess until it would fully break through. Zaria wasn't sure what Steady would be angry about that he needed to let off steam but she wasn't going to let him tell that twice. Instantly Zaria charged forward at Steady with new found aggression. She tried to remind herself that this was just a playful fight but she felt so angry.

She bared her teeth, readied her stance and charged at Steady with her fast pace. The last time she went for his eyes, which was quite aggressive, and now she was actually quite mad so it might be even more dangerous compared to last time. Zaria kept low to the ground, not wanting Steady to grab the soft part of her neck. She swiftly turned and went for his hip with her bare teeth.

I think they're both going to need Mason after this! lol

Zaria didn't give a verbal response, instead coming straight at Steady, her head protecting her neck. He growled, none too playfully, letting her strike his back end but shifted so she couldn't get a full grip on it. Her teeth nipped his flesh open, but it wasn't bad.

Steady turned, his open mouth intending to go for the soft side of her abdomen. He wanted blood, but he reminded himself this was his Alpha, not an enemy. Maybe he would just try to return the scratch she gave him, unless she didn't move fast enough and he was able to grab more flesh.

Zaria tried to move along with Steady. When he moved away she tried to move from his jaws that went awfully close to her abdomen. Being close to her heat that part of her body was very sensitive. If her heat was successful there would be pups growling there. She got a scrape from Steady's teeth, but it only made the slender lady more vicious. Turning the whole deal from play to something that was quite like an actual fight.

Zaria instantly went for the side of his neck, wanting to clamp her teeth down on the side, so she would just feel his pulse against her teeth. This was all quite murderously thinking but challenging a female close to her heat might also not be the best idea, especially a fight lover Zaria was. She liked her attack to work but a plain attack at one's neck had not that much chance of hitting. A neck was always watched in a fight, so she readied herself for a counter attack from Steady. His tail flared up high, not scared of a real fight.

Lol, I think you are right! XD Everyone: Omg what happened. Zaria&Steady: We just had a fight, we are still cool. XD

They'll be so confused as to why they're fighting, but they're totally cool with each other afterwards. Also, it would be kinda interesting if anyone else jumped in the thread!

The fight was heating up as the two wolves realized this was not their normal spar. Each was out for more than just a play fight. What was interesting was that Steady and Zaria got along fairly well, and this fight actually had nothing to do with each other, other than the fact each could take a hit and they both needed to dish out.

Steady's teeth barely grazed her flesh. Had he been thinking a little more clearly, he never would have gone for her abdomen. But, his thoughts were hazy. Zaria went for his neck, and Steady tried to jerk away, but Zaria was fast. He felt her teeth grab his scruff and he growled. If he jerked, it risked tearing his flesh open. So, instead, he opened his jaws to go for her front leg. It stretched his skin a little since she grabbed it, but not as bad as if he jerked away.

Cameo'ing till required xD Feel free to skip me if I hold things up at all (no idea where this is in the timeline of Beta-wars so i will keep it vague)

There was someone at it again, sparring. Fighting was a part of life, Mason knew that, but he was not a massive fan. He didn't like pain at all and he had had a sheltered enough upbringing that he had never really dealt with pains besides accidental scrapes. And mental grief.

Mason's grey body streaked along the mountain and he found them fast enough to avoid death, but not enough to avoid it escalating. Zaria and Steady were duelling. He loved his Dad and Steady. He no longer loved Zaria but his Dad did. Mason therefore had a vested interest in both competitors. He stayed on the sidelines, some good few feet away to avoid any accidental involvement.

He knew Steady enough to know there would be no issues on that front. Zaria was a law unto herself. Mason's fur bristled to its fullest and he looked bigger than usual. He waited in a pounce-stance, ready and willing to involve himself if required. He would have no fatal wounds; there was enough blood and spit flinging around the place as it was.

Now who was that saying he wouldn't be a good Beta?

Haha, yes totally. Everyone would be all confused but after the fight they totally have more respect for each other! Haha. And Em, you are always welcome! :D It would be interesting for Mason too indeed!

Zaria was expecting an attack back, she had been going for his neck before. The female ended up grabbing his scruff instead of the side of his neck. Call it bad aiming or Steady just moving too quickly for a counter attack, Zaria couldn't tell. Normally she would have let go when Steady would have grabbed her but not this time. Zaria was frustrated, the steam was almost coming from her ears. When Steady grabbed her front leg, Zaria bit only harder in his scruff and let out a growl. Now she knew that if Steady bit harder down her slender leg that it could have more damage than she intended but her mind was hazy.

Mason went unnoticed by the female. Instead of being slightly unbalanced by Steady holding on to her front leg, she decided to relocate her bite. Steady was bigger and stronger and if he would try and push her over Zaria was not able to avoid a fall. She moved her teeth towards his ear trying to bite down there, before going lower to his muzzle clamping around her leg. This was probably weird but the pain that was coming from her leg was actually quite refreshing. It had been a long time since she had felt pain. This was the sparring she liked to do, not the gentle playing, this was how one would learn.

It was obvious Zaria didn't like his jaws clamped down on her leg, her own tightening on his scruff. He returned her growl, knowing he had to do something to break this lock they had on each other. He caught a streak of white in his peripheral vision, but he didn't focus on whoever was watching them. He just hoped they didn't get in the middle of this.

After taking a moment to think, Steady lifted his head, still trying to hold on to Zaria's leg, hoping it would throw her off balance and she would release his scruff. His movement was quick and swift as he put his weight behind it. He knew it was a risky move, and she could tear his skin in this position, but he did it anyways.

The two carried on. There was little in their movements to suggest they had seen him. Mason stayed where he was, tensed. The black swarthy male lifted up on Zaria's leg. Te agouti female had a grip on Steady's scruff. That was the way around he preferred it. An odd husky perfume drifted in a haze over the sceneand Mason found it enticing but h kept his head. He was over Zaria and the thoughts entering his head were silly. He concentrated mostly on Steady. 

Mason waited to see if the pawn would topple his queen.

Zaria found that her attack on Steady's ear wasn't working so well, not even his muzzle. The male soon found out that he could topple her over and Zaria instantly was thinking how she could use that to her advantage. She let herself drop with Steady lifter her. His teeth ripping her skin open in a shallow wound but it was worth it for her perfectly thought out counter attack. The female was close to under Steady now. Zaria used her speed to push herself up, going for the underside of Steady's neck that was completely open in her opinion. Everything went quite fast.

Zaria wanted to grab Steady like a prey animal. The cut on her side and on her front leg were bleeding, it looked worse than that it was since the wounds were only shallow. The bleeding would keep infections out. Zaria wanted to use the force of her jump to startle Steady too, so the bite on the underside of his neck, where his throat started, would be more aggressive and sudden.

Steady was successful in knocking Zaria over, but he hadn't anticipated her getting up so fast and going for his neck. She was quite a bit faster than he, and he wasn't able to jerk back fast enough to get away from her seeking jaws.

Steady held back a yelp as soon as her teeth grabbed the underside of his neck. He knew he couldn't very well pull away, she'd take his whole neck. Instead, he attempted to bring his weight down on top of her in hopes she would let go. It was getting difficult to take a breath as she was pinching the start of his air pipe, and he could feel her teeth tearing his skin. Steady finally whined his defeat.

Mason’s face contorted with horror and mild fear as Zaria was tipped over, and Steady stood over her. Blood was running freely now and its scent rocked his senses. Zaria reached up and snapped at Steady’s neck in a manoeuvre much like the one his Dad taught him as a pup. However the Alpha’s crushing jaws contained huge fangs, not the tiny pinpricks he had prodded at his Dad’s scruff with.

 

Mason took a step forwards as he saw his Alpha connect with his Uncle’s neck. Steady rocked at first, attempting to apply his bearing weight on Zaria, but thankfully he soon realised that it was futile because she had him in the typical death-grip.
 

When Steady whined, Mason padded another two steps forwards, his entire body tensed and ready to help. Zarialooked lost in blood-lust, which was freaky considering she was only sparring with her packmate. He couldn’t see that anything more violent had happened here. If she didn’t let go, Mason debated whether a bite to her nose or a tug of her tail would be more helpful.

Zaria let out a soft grunt in victory when her teeth were trapped around Steady's throat. The girl had done it again, but she was impressed by Steady's more vicious attacks. She liked this way of sparring better. It kept her sharp. Her leg was bleeding badly though. The moment Steady let out a whine in defeat Zaria released him. There was less than a second there of her letting go. She had too much respect for Steady to tease and mock him by keeping her teeth by his throat.

She pulled herself away from the the male but was soon returning to give a respectful nudge with her nose against his shoulder. "Excellent spar, Steady," she panted. She needed this. The female had to let off steam and this was a good way of doing it. Zaria then let her green eyes fall on Mason. "Hello Mason," she greeted. The last time they parted it wasn't on good terms but Zaria was not going to be offended by that. She expected an apology from his side since she was kind enough to help him. He had been an offended little boy that had been 'hurt' in the process, at least in her eyes. She sat down, attention turning back to Steady. "You almost had me," she grinned. "You got my leg good though."

His throat was released a fraction of a second after he whined, and for that he was grateful. An immature wolf might have boasted their win in his face, but Zaria had much more class than that. Steady plopped down on his side, panting from exertion from the spar. He nodded, And you, as well. I think we've been holding back in our other spars, he said.

His ears perked and his head swiveled when Zaria greeted Mason. Steady felt bad for not even realizing he was there, but he had been a tad distracted. Hey, Mason, he greeted, noting his nephew's tense posture. It's alright, he assured him. We were sparring. A more brutal one than they had before, but a spar nonetheless.

Blood dripped from Steady's throat and hip as he jerked his head to look at Zaria. Your leg?! he exclaimed. I can't see the wound on my neck, but I'm fairly certain you got me way more, he said with a grin. He had an inkling that Zaria never thought he had a chance at "getting her" in their spar. She was finely adept at fighting, and he was beginning to wonder where she had learned her skills from. Still, he didn't pry.

Mason’s eyes tracked Zaria as she let go. On realising she was out of the moment, he immediately relaxed. He didn’t verbally acknowledge her greeting, but he watched her carefully through his wide-set orange eyes. She didn’t give him much thought, anàd moved on to Steady, despite the fact her leg wound was dispelling blood like there was no tomorrow. Just like her, what an idiot, he thought.

“Hey Sted,” the boy murmured as his Uncle also greeted him, and he allowed himself a smile. Mason stepped forwards, keeping his distance from the Alpha for as long as he could as he moved towards his dark Uncle. “Yeah your neck is pretty bad” he answered Steady’s joking comment to Zaria with a serious response.

Mason looked around for some sort of moss or plant to press against the wound to staunch the blood. It would heal itself fine, but blood-loss in this weather was bad thing as food was already scarce. Mason spotted some nearby rocks and he hoped there would be a bundle of moss underneath.Zaria lay between him and the rocks, though.

Mason stepped forward, avoiding Zaria as though she were a magnet with an opposite charge and repelling him from a certain distance; he moved around her, and passed at a decent distance. Once behind her, the boy started to overturn the small rocks with his paws, peering at their bellies in the hunt for padding material.

Zaria quirked up her lips a bit. She was ready to make a very inappropriate joke of having to hold up Fitz on her back, indicating they were very much intimate, and needing all her four paws to keep him up, but then Mason's voice spoke before hers. Zaria looked at Mason and how serious he was talking. Steady would be fine. But what stirred her the most was that Mason didn't have the maturity to greet her back. Zaria found that she had been very nice to even greet Mason in the first place, showing Mason that she was mature about these things.

Then to make matters worse, and piss off Zaria's ego more, Mason started acting like she wasn't even there, avoiding her. "If you can't even greet me normally you can forget about being Beta," she hissed. Sure, Zaria was reasonable enough to realize that Steady's neck might need more tending than hers but there was no need for this pup to ignore her. Zaria let out a growl towards Mason, a definite warning for him to better change his behavior towards her, or at least apologize sincerely. She needed to be able to trust her Beta, like she would with Steady, but if Mason was going to act like this she wasn't inclined to give him any recognition of any higher ranked role, in fact, she would love to kick him down to Omega as punishment.

Uh oh. xD Zaria's ego is pissed off now.

Mason seemed to go right in to caregiver mode, looking over Steady's wound before going and trying to find something. Steady didn't even notice he gave no mind to Zaria until his nephew returned and acted like Zaria had a disease that distance would cure.

"Play" time was obviously over as Zaria spoke her mind, warning Mason that if he didn't mature up, his dreams as Beta would never become a reality. Steady had yet to tell his nephew that he had already been appointed Beta, and hoped they could hold position together. If Mason made the wrong move now, the Beta position would be solely Steady's. Many wolves might have felt pleasure in that, but Steady was not that kind of wolf. He wanted his nephew to succeed, even if that meant sharing the position with him. Tensions were high and Steady waited with baited breath to see how Mason would respond now.

Ok to make timeline sense this is now going to have to  be set  after before Mason spoke with Steady, which means Steady is a Beta in this thread but Mason doesn't know? xD
 
Zaria may have spoken to him, but she had promptly ignored him and turned her back – hardly giving him a chance to reply. Her pissiness was clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black. Mason stopped his rummaging and slowly turned to look directly at her chest, his ears flattening against his scalp. She was the queen of low blows if nothing else. It astounded Mason that someone so childish could have won his Dad’s heart (conveniently forgetting at the moment she had won his own, as this had only been a case of puppy-love crushing) and elevated herself to leadership.
 
His heart thrummed a heady beat, and his vision swum with a mixture of emotions – anger, hurt, disappointment, confusion. Steady was just watching him, probably expecting he could manage this himself, or maybe not wanting to draw fire onto himself; Mason couldn't blame him.
 
Hadn’t Zaria also approved of him being a Beta? Why was she being so cruel, playing mind-games like this? Where was the sweet woman who had told him she would always be there if he got into trouble. Their relationship had gone from close friends and unrequited love to utter hatred in a few sour months.
 
Mason managed to bite back the words ‘Well look at how ignorant you are, and you still managed to become an Alpha’ just in time. Instead he spoke quietly, and his voice cracked with clear humiliation, defeat and upset. “You started talkin’ before I could…" Mason cut himself off and started again: "Would you like me to dress your wound Zaria?”  Her name came out woodenly, and Mason turned back to the rocks to try and extricate some of the moss, before they could see the tears that had begun to dribble down his face.

Every time he felt good about life, someone crapped on him.

Omg Poor mason. My heart.

Zaria had turned herself to Mason. Yes she might be strict and harsh but she wanted to clear about certain things. Often that made her the bad guy but Zaria knew she wasn't. She loved herself and that was not something that she was going to stop doing. "Well a nod or anything would have been fine. You just bluntly ignored me," she pointed out stubbornly. She wanted to argue that she only helped him the last time and that she herself couldn't see anything wrong with what she did wrong in Mason's eyes.

A long sigh came from the female. "No. You can tend to Steady first," she spoke, but then she realized that Mason was crying. She stepped back and scrunched up her nose. Coming from the culture she did she had never seen anyone cry, well except slaves... and when she cried herself that she was nothing. Zaria was a bit clueless what to do but then she did remember the time she was crying and that Mason was coming to lay next to her. With another sigh she pushed herself towards Mason and sat next to him. She was not going to say sorry, she never did. But she could give comfort somewhat. She didn't even know why their relationship went so astray. Zaria looked at Steady. He was better at this. She looked at the black male with a confused expression, not knowing why he was crying.

Steady had chosen to stay quiet, hoping Mason would acknowledge Zaria in a positive manner. Mason seemed to come to his senses and asked if he could tend to Zaria, though Zaria declined. The pair could have gone back and forth about what could have been said, or what could have been done, but Steady was relieved to see Mason, and then Zaria, let it go.

And then, Mason turned, but Steady could feel something was off. He was crying. Steady's ears flicked in worry as he stood. Zaria moved to Mason first, so Steady stayed where he was, at least until Zaria looked at him confused. She didn't know why Mason was crying, but Steady did. Walking over to his nephew, he tried to nudge his neck softly. Hey, Mason, why don't we go look for something to stop this bleeding? For all I know, Zaria hit something important and I'm bleeding to death, he said, trying to add a little humor. His main purpose, though, was to get Mason away from Zaria as quickly as he could. He looked to his Alpha, hoping she understood enough that the males needed to be alone.

Mason didn’t have anything to say. He knew that anything he might say in response would turn into an argument so that she could have the last word, because that was just Zaria’s way. He sniffed softly when she fluttered over and seated herself carefully next to him. There was something unusual in her scent; he couldn’t quite put his paw on it. He willed his thoughts to still tjemselves. He had stopped himself thinking of her in a romantic way – he didn’t want to start again just because she was being nicer to him. And anyway it was only perceived niceness in comparison to her usual prickles that jabbed him.

Steady saved the day. Mason’s ears tipped back to listen to his Uncle’s calm voice and his tail gave an unperceivable twitch of a wag. He felt a nudge to his neck and Mason snuffled a sigh of relief. He didn’t give Zariamuch of an option to say no, as he wanted out of this place. “Yeah… I need t’find something better than moss.” Probably not true, but Mason’s quiet voice told a tale of woe and clear need to escape.

“Bye Zaria.” He bade her farewell;  Mason would of course be unwilling to ever not greet her again now, out of fear for his position in the pack than true respect. The pale boy stood and sidled against his Uncle for a moment in silent gratitude, then began to walk off. Any direction would do.

Zaria looked at Steady who gave quite a clear sign that she should fuck off. Well, he said it in a nice way but Zaria was not looking into that in that way. She let out a soft huff but without further word she let Mason and Steady go. He was better at dealing with the emotional pup. "G'bye," she spoke in return. Zaria moved back to their den. She would need to lick her wounds herself then. She had liked the spar but she had disliked what happened after the spar. Mason was all over the place and she still wasn't sure if he was ready to be beta at all. Alas, it didn't seem that she had something to say about that currently. She just hoped that with Steady's counsel it would work out.

-Zaria Exits -

Feel free to continue here or make a new one! :3