Porcupine Ridge necessity

For @Taggarik

Terich-mir had gone and it left her heart with a hole in it – she had been unable to grasp his anger, and when he had left behind the pack lands, she had felt the devastation with her own ire at what had certainly felt like abandonment. He hadn’t stayed, to figure it out.. he had just left.
 
She had sought solace within herself – the heartache she had endured over the past few months certainly felt like a form of punishment, but she had not been able to determine what she had done to deserve so.
 
Brooding quietly, Capriccio was so wrapped up in her thoughts as she slipped forward along the Ridge that she had paid no mind to the changes within her own body – and the scent that permeated the air was one that should have been sought by only her newly acclaimed mate. Her stride was purposeful as she sought out Taggarik – her thoughts clouded as a tightness churned in her belly – something she related akin to nausea, from the recent displacement of her best friend.

The wind was at his back; for once, he allowed himself the freedom to travel with his nose out of the breeze. It was relaxing, meditative, and it afforded him the chance to rely on his eyes, to absorb the sight of the ridge as it came alive in the new season. Their arrival here had come in the dead of winter; and so now a whole new home was unfolding in front of him. It was a sight to behold, and he was thoroughly within his own thoughts, unpleasant though some of them were. He had sent the white she wolf away, and Terich had disappeared. Neither of these things sat well with him.

It was the movement of his alpha female in his periphery as he turned his head that caught his attention. Taggarik's tail swept from side to side in an animated wag as he turned to face her, and his mouth arched into a fond smile. He thought now would be a good time to discuss their lost members, but as the two met, and her scent wreathed his nose, he knew that was not the case. His breath caught in his throat, and he swallowed. That scent... but this time, from her.

"Capri," he murmured as he touched his nose to the base of her ear and kissed her forehead.

Naïve and inexperienced, not once did it occur to the girl that Taggarik’s interest in her was also spurned from her heat – the ability for her to officially produce offspring by the wolf she had chosen. Taggarik’s touch stroked a wildfire throughout her entire being, and she felt a gentle gasp leave her lips, unsure exactly what was happening. She murmured an incomprehensible greeting, her muzzle tipping upwards to draw a line along the base of his jaw to his nape with her nose, inhaling his scent sharply.
 
She burned for him – but she did not know how to soothe the flames, and she made to take a pace back from him, trying to pull herself back to the reality of what had just happened and disengage herself from the desire to be held by him. Her mate.
 
“Terich-mir left. He does not agree with our mateship,” she finally murmured, feeling the sting of her words as she practically flinched. Her best friend had left her – he had withheld everything from her, and then had simply left. The one man she had trusted above all others had hurt her far more than she had thought possible – and with it, her trust had gone with him.

She spoke, and he drew back, his brows furrowing, and his head tilting. Her companion had been a noticeably scarce presence upon the ridge, and the black wolf did not hold him in much favor for it. He had always suspected there may be more than just the love of a friend beating in Terich's breast, and so he was not surprised to hear that he disapproved of Capriccio and him, nor was he surprised that the man had left. It was not much of a loss to the black wolf or the pack as far as he was concerned, and his mind was elsewhere, on his mate and their future.

"Let me steal you away and take your mind off that," he said softly, passing his tongue adoringly across the bridge of her muzzle. He was not sure if she even realized the change that had come upon her. "Come with me," he whispered as he moved along side her, gingerly nipping her rump as he walked by. He would lead her away into the seclusion of a nearby copse of stately trees where they could consummate their mateship in privacy.