Verdant Basin she may have died; we're looking into it.

Artaax didn't move away, though she was on guard should he make any hasty movements. As she touched his cheek, she felt what she had perceived as cold, statuesque firmness give way into something much softer and gentler as he leaned into her touch, and lifted his head after trailing tentatively along her jawline to place a kiss on her brow. She growled darkly, but it was a fond, endearing sound rather than one of warning. It was a caring, calming sort of touch, not one that spoke necessarily of hunger or a need to possess- and she was lulled into a sense of security and warmth. This was the sort of touch Niamh felt every night before she went to sleep- and again as she woke, and part of her had dreaded that she would never feel anyone else touch her like this again. 

So for the moment, she was content to pretend that this wasn't wrong, and that she shouldn't be denied this sort of fondness and care. She crooned a soft note into the fur at the base of his ear, and nibbled her way along its pale outer edge with a gesture deft but gentle too- this was a language that Niamh had learned how to speak with Colt, and used her knowledge now to woo Artaax. She felt it was harmless- but decided still that it didn't mean nothing.

This was new to her- to feel so drawn toward another wolf the instant she saw him...With Colt, the attraction had been there- but the need for his proximity, and the want for his attentionhad formed over time as she'd gotten to know him. This new pull toward a wolf who was otherwise a stranger was foreign to her, but still she treated him with the warmth and tenderness of a wolf she might have known and loved for months. Part of her needed to express this sort of compassion, as it made her feel good to have another lean against her and want for her touch. Artaax, though he might have been no stranger to killing trespassers, had become warm clay in her hands, and she in his as well. She moved forward to preen the fur down the side of his neck and to his shoulder where his pelt thickened, teasing the hairs with her teeth and combing her canines through the dense layer of guard hairs down to the sensitive fur beneath.