She waited for his approached but with an unexplainable apprehension for his presence. Her heart had missed him. The sight, the smell of him, the feel of his warmth even in the midst of spring. Yet in the same manner she desired him, she was detoured from him by the savagery, the passion exhibited on behalf of another. Days had gone, an agreeable time to perhaps forget what had transpired, yet she was unnerved by it still. There were questions of her own unasked resting on her lips as they shook with uncertainty. Yet silence became her as she felt the air shift with the movement of his powerful form. The great distance closing between them as she felt the soft grace of his muzzle against her nape.
…then came his retreat. Swift and sudden that even her calmed mind reeled, pulling her head from its lying spot to rise and witness his alarm. Her eyes were wide as shock became them. Her muzzle shook with a soundless whine as she watched his posture stiffen and teeth bared at the sight of her. His nostrils were flared, indicative of all she need know. And to him she only lowered her head, turning her eyes to the earth as she braced her paws against the soil.
Soundlessly, she uncurled from her seclusion to stretch out with a single step to emerge from the darkness. Ignorantly, she had hoped the scent of the Ridge wolf could have faded with time, but even she had come to know that the charged scent of another was not easily extinguished. It remained as a mark, a brand, until otherwise overwritten. Yet she was not so unfortunate to have the brand embedded so deeply and permanently. Lethargic, she bore her flank to her mate, looking neither to him nor the earth as she stood still. Her tail flagged to the side as it curled high against her thigh. Her head dipped low and shoulders slackened in open posture, as she left herself open to his inspection of her fidelity. |