Bearclaw Valley tetelestai | (it is finished)

she'd been so caught up in herself that she did not hear the fox approach so close behind.  she heard her husband's clamoring but his scent came to her easy, so she remained rooted to the spot as the symptoms came and went.

she melted soft and desperate into his embrace.  it had not been so long since THE DARK MAN had touched her and she had not forgotten, but the one thing she needed right now was xan.   she did not want to think about her quarrels or her pain, she just wanted to go back to when it was easy between them.

with troubled eyes she turned to him, supplying his chin with a bouquet of kisses.  she grazed her body alongside his, their touch electric.  it had been so long!  and then unceremoniously, she flopped on the ground before him, fat belly up in the air as her wrists turned to her narrow chest.