Horizon Ridge Out where the lightning splits the sea

This post is so dramatic... :o

When Kisu spoke again, his sharp words now directed at her, her amorous mood fell away abruptly, completely and, perhaps, irrevocably. She blinked, then took a step back from him, her ears flattening. He'd never spoken to her that way, rebuking her as if she was a misbehaving child. Confusion, humiliation and even a touch of anger flooded her. Her lips moved, yet she didn't know what to say in her own defense, as she'd never had to defend herself from her mate before.

He gruffly told her to meet him at the den—again, as if speaking to a child he was preparing to spank—but Pied didn't move. She couldn't move; her limbs froze. She looked at Kisu and didn't recognize him; he'd never been angry with her, so his was the face of a stranger. She backed up another step. This was supposed to be their moment, when they'd come together, swept up in their emotions, to start the family of their dreams. It was supposed to be romantic, passionate and wondrous. Instead, he was rejecting her. Worse: he was shaming her.

Sensation returned to her body, leaving the Gamma trembling and weak, as if her bones had turned to jelly. Her entire body shaking, Pied sank to the sand. Lightning still lit up the sky at her back, yet if there was thunder, she didn't hear it; she heard only the pounding of her own blood in her ears. She lay there, shaking like a leaf, as rain began to fall in earnest. This time, it snuffed out the final embers of her ardor, leaving her ice cold, soaking wet, trembling and more than a little dejected. It also hid the warm tears that began to slide down her pale, sodden cheeks.

"Kisu..." Still at a loss, Pied wondered if he'd even hear her pleading voice above the sound of the rain. "Kisu..." she repeated. Despite the way he'd spoken to her, Pied was suddenly terrified that he'd walk away from her, leaving her a broken mess on the beach and refusing to conceive with her. "I'm sorry..." Although he'd beaten down her mood, she didn't know what else to do or say, so she did the only thing she could think to do: apologize to her husband, the man who was to be the father of her children. Their ability to start a family mattered more than her pride anyhow. "I didn't—I was caught up—please, Kisu..."