Fox's Glade [M]Macchiato

The young wolfess blinked up at him, but there was something oddly unsettling about this encounter. Viinturuth lashed his tail, trying to decide if it might be the years between them that he found off-putting or if there was something else below the surface.

He looked at her, searching for fear, but did not find it. There was no clear enthusiasm for his touch, however, and a muscle in Viinturuth's jaw tightened. His thoughts ventured to the moonlit beauty he'd found in the mountains some weeks prior and how there'd been fierce want in the way she studied him, in the way she'd presented herself.

No she-wolf was the same, but this one seemed almost vulnerable. It was not in his nature to take advantage of that.

There was innocence in her question, that which made the ranger feel as though his skin crawled beneath his pelt. He parted his jaws and prepared to answer, to tell her to seek safety, when the appearance of another drew his dark gaze up. Viinturuth watched the ashen figure of a sour-faced stranger advance toward them, and the white wolf drew in a breath; the aroma that'd clung to Druid hung in the air.

Suzu, the boy said, but his amber stare was on Viinturuth. He knew the girl, it seemed, and the flagging of his tail made his nostrils flare but did not offend him. Instead of bracing to the challenge he gave the she-wolf one last glance then made to withdraw from the area, having acknowledged that it was wholly inappropriate of him to be there.