Hushed Willows Lost in the forest of this heart

@Warbone

The smell of rabbit was strong in this particular spot Kunik realized, turning her nose down to sniff the trail of footprints that appeared from the underbrush. Her good ear swivelled to listen for the mammal, eyes scanning for any indication of it as her body lowered into a crouch. 

Her mind focused on the task of securing dinner, she pushed aside the smells of other wolves. The scents were fresh; one male and one female. The female wasn't quite wolf though, it smelled more like a dog than a wolf. Her mind shoved the thoughts aside as she followed after the rabbit's scent. 

She all but flattened to the ground when she spotted it, the small creature was hardly moving. Its nose twitched as it scented the air and Kunik cheered silently that she was downwind. Creeping ever closer, she was soon only a few feet away. She rose halfway to her feet before launching herself towards it in a burst of speed. 

The poor rabbit was caught off guard, barely shifting to run before Kunik snatched it by the scruff. It struggled for a moment before Kunik bit into its neck hard with a sickening snap. The rabbit fell limp and the female sat, noticing for the first time the extremely fresh scent of other wolves.

Sorry he's being a douchebag D: But he's got a "no stranger" policy for these woods

The long vines of the willows trees danced softly on the breeze, casting the ground in shifting, dappling light as the possessor of these lands passed through on militant paws. He followed the scent of an intruder; and he did not need amassed followers to punish a single wolf for their (likely unwitting) transgression. What was worse, she had killed something here, and the fresh scent of blood encouraged the maddened wolf into a full gallop.

What staved his jaws was a mixture of things— her gender, his need for capable bodies, and the fact that she smelled distinctly alone— but he skidded to a mighty halt before her, massive and bristling with his ears felled and his lips peeled into a vengeful grimace as he hissed at her. "You have come into my asylum, without invitation and have sought to take food from me and my own. Do I not have the right to strike you down now, as the trespasser and thief that you are?"

Kunik may be a prideful creature but she was not stupid. The male who came plowing into the small clearing was larger and more muscular than she, more so he seemed to have some claim to this land that she did not. She fell into a submissive stance, eyes lowered to the ground. 

Her voice was but a wisp when she spoke, quiet but steady. She would show no fear nor weakness to this man. "My apologies. I was not aware anyone had claimed this area, I assumed you were loners like myself," her words were remorseful, she truly hadn't smelt a border anywhere. 

She snuck a glance at him, he was as large as he had seemed at a distance and had a thick coat of silver agouti. She could not tell his eye color for she dared not look into them, such might end her life. Even now she could admit he was attractive for a male, but that mattered little. She was on his land, with his food, being questioned by him. His good looks meant nothing in this situation.

She nudged the rabbit in his direction repentantly. "Keep it if you wish," she told him. She could always catch other food elsewhere, she valued her life more than a meal.

Her immediate submission steadied the beast enough that he was willing to hear and accept her apology with deliberate slowness. Warbone eased out of his ready pounce and instead took to standing resolutely before her— an impassable bronze mountain, to the sweet, brave doe. He looked down at her, watching silently as she edged the rabbit forward, appeasing to his avarice. The wolf snatched the rabbit with a snarl, and lifted it up proudly above her head. He displayed his new trophy for but a moment, and then he sat heavily on his haunches, and dropped the catch at his own feet. "I will take this, but I fear it is not enough to atone for your sins, love," he cooed. "But I will spare your life— I will even protect it to my last breath— if you bind yourself to me," Warbone spoke succinctly, matter-of-factly, too cool to actually be threatening her, but this seemed to make it all the more menacing. All the more of a promise. "Serving me will not be so bad," he continued, enticed, like how the snake whispers to Eve. "I wear the crown, but I do not own a whip. I only ask for your devotion, and in return you will live grandly beside me."

But let us not forget: "if you refuse, I suggest you run." 

She regarded him not with fear but with curiosity. She had to physically restrain herself from rolling her eyes when he snatched up the rabbit and dangled it above her like she was a common house pet begging for a treat. She saw no point in his childish taunting, she had already offered the rabbit back to him. 

She regarded him thoughtfully. This one was trickier than any other males she had met, more of an equal than one of the mindless hounds who followed her about back home in the hopes to stick their organs between her legs. "If you wish to scare me, you will have to try harder, love. I don't frighten easily," she smirked. 

"I accept your offer. It sounds more...appealing than my other options. And you interest me. That is not something easily done, you have my devotion," she assured him, eyeing him with keen intrigue.

"Oh I do not bother to tease with fear," he rumbled. "I was stating a fact. You do not need to be frightened to run. Sometimes it is simply... the wise thing to do." His mouth curved into something that was not truly a smile, given how terribly dark his grey face appeared. She accepted regardless of her misleading backtalk, however, and Warbone became mildly curious of why she would say such contrasting things. "Good," he hummed, leaning down to pick up the rabbit, as he returned it to her. "Eat. You will need your strength before I begin to show you our boundaries that you missed the first time," he decreed, settling in patiently for her to have her catch. "I am called Warbone," he said after a while. "What is your name?"

"Kunik," she told him. She might have mentioned it was a pleasure to meet him but that would be a lie. Nothing about their first encounter made her conjure the thought that he was pleasant to be around except for maybe the part where she had found a pack, if that's what they were. 

She cocked a brow at his name,"I have the strong feeling your father named you, if that is your birth name." It was not meant as a slight, her tone light and teasing. She made no inquiry of his real name, perhaps it was private. 

She tore off a chunk of the rabbit, happy that she would get some of it after all. Perhaps life in these willow groves wouldn't be so horrible.

The wolf made a low noise in his throat, some semblance of a chuckle, and he watched her in slack amusement. "He did name me, but not Warbone." The beast blinked languidly, waiting, and relaxed now that he was no longer in the midst of a violent act. "That is my title, Kunik," he said, ignoring the tease in her tone. "I earned it, and everything that it implies." Why should he feel humble when there had been work applied to be in this very moment? He did not attribute his survival to something as thoughtless as luck or fate. He was a wolf of his own making, and his newest follower would come to learn that his pleasantness did not come in attitude, but in action. The things he would be willing to do for the sake of his kin— his wolves.

"You are a fine hunter," he commented lightly, having begun to look elsewhere, observing his surroundings out of habit. "Will you be seeking it as a trade?"

"Fair enough,"she mused, a smile on her face despite his stern tone. Kunik was nothing if not amiable to all, even those who could turn their emotions on the point of a knife as her new Alpha did. She knew not to pry, she could guess that he was volatile and even she was not so stupid as to poke sticks at a bear. 

She nodded humbly, "I thank you for your praise but there is much to learn. I am young yet and there are better out there than I. I would like for it to be my trade, that alongside my interest in poison." She watched him for any reaction to her words. Perhaps he would find a Toxocologist handy, perhaps he would think of her as dangerous. She doubted the latter, Warbone didn't seem to be a type to fear any, least of all a small woman like herself.

You can archive here or fade with your post :) Thank you for the thread/interest!

His ears flicked faintly in a mild show of his interest, and he looked at her keenly. "Poisons, hm?" he mused pensively. She was turning out more and more interesting by the second, and he was glad she had pledged her life to him. "A minx wishing to dabble in the art of toxins... I shall have to keep my eye on you," he rumbled; but though it was a joke, it was hard to tell with his deadpan tone and stringent gaze. He couldn't imagine her ever poisoning him, but the thought crossed his mind regardless. "I hope to enjoy seeing you rise in your craft," he purred, noting that she was (nearly) finished.

"Shall we?" he growled after a moment, rising to his feet so that he might lead her through the willows to become better acquainted with the boundaries of their home. He would explain to her the cave she would share with himself and the other recruits (so far): Nova Rose and Flora. And he would further tell her that Hushed Willows, their Keep was to be talked about cautiously and only to those that seemed worthy of even knowing about it. He liked their seclusion, and he intended to keep it as such for a long as possible.

Their walk and their important chatting went on for several hours before he finally left her to her own devices and her new home.