Horizon Ridge Out where the lightning splits the sea

The rain seemed to be washing away whatever indignation she felt, leaving her feeling guilty for embarrassing her mate. "I'm so sorry, Kisu. You're right," she whispered, her eyes lifting as he walked toward her. Her heart skipped a few beats. At least he wasn't walking away from her. "I just got caught up in the moment. I forgot myself and basic decency. I didn't mean to embarrass you... or myself..." She looked down at her paws, feeling exactly like a misbehaved child now. Maybe he hadn't been so off base treating her like one.

But there was nothing childlike about her when a still-agitated Kisu positioned himself behind her and pulled her hips toward himself. Halfheartedly, Pied blurted, "Kisu, don't you want to..." She'd meant to say, Don't you want to go somewhere private? However, her instincts took over just as completely as before and propriety was lost again. Evidently, her passion was as undying as a phoenix, rising like a fireball from the dead ashes that had resulted from Kisu's anger and the pouring rain.

Suddenly, thunder crashed directly overhead and the world lit up like the negative of a photograph; everything was in stark black and white. The wind began to whip and howl, churning the waves and sweeping the storm up and over the beach. The sudden onslaught of rain pounded the sands with such force that it stung their exposed bodies. The roar of the tempest drowned out the primordial sound of Pied's mating cry as she arched beneath her mate's embrace.

But they couldn't possibly continue in this downpour, even with impetuous instincts driving them. Pressing her shivering, soaking wet body against his after rising and breaking free from Kisu's grip, Pied yelled, "Let's find some shelter!" and gave her mate's wet cheek a lick that was still tinged with apology. She then scrambled toward the foot of the ridge, the sheer rock wall offering only sparse shelter from the elements. After Kisu presumably caught up with her, she dashed deep into the nearest glade of trees.

With the rainfall greatly reduced here, Pied shook out her pale pelt and then rushed to Kisu's side, pressing into him for warmth. "Some storm," she murmured, speaking not only of the actual and unseasonable thunderstorm washing the lands but also of the freak storm that had broken out between them. "It'll pass, leaving everything fresh and clean in its wake," she said as if to herself, pressing a lingering kiss to the side of Kisu's muzzle.

"If you will still have me," Pied said after a time, "I would still like to make babies with you." She smiled weakly, feeling somehow barefaced and vulnerable, as she gazed imploringly into Kisu's golden eyes, which were sweetly, achingly familiar to her once more.