Ravensblood Forest light of my life, fire of my loins [m]

<style type="text/css">q {font:13px Georgia; color:#9E0853; font-weight:bold;}</style>Horizon Ridge had been quiet of late. This suited the Mambo well, who had taken to lying in the den she had constructed in the roots of a sequoia to hold her assorted items, most of them unimpressive. It had given her wounds time to heal without the daily interruption of wolves asserting their ranks, so that the scratches on her nose itched rather than stung, the wound in the supple curve of her neck ached dully but had scabbed nicely and without infection, and her ribs had mostly lost their soreness... All but the one, which still seared with pain whenever she lay on her side. Even that pain had lessened, leaving Jinx a sore, but healing, woman.

But there was disquiet in her heart, as well. Akhlut had not been active for some time. She wondered at the Alpha's scarce presence, and felt the thrum of familiarity when the word abandonment entered her mind at times of weakness. Nanuq had abandoned Jinx, and so had Styx and Katrina. Jinx had abandoned her wolves (albeit for reasons she considered wholly justifiable), but her wolves had also abandoned her. Now, she was beginning to get the feeling that Akhlut had also abandoned her... And if that was the case, then she would not hesitate to seize his throne.

Still, she could not do it now. She was weak still, and knew none of the Horizon Ridge wolves were like to follow her, and certainly not the Delta. She would be forced to bide her time, bite her tongue, and maintain her hold on her rank with an iron grip, so that when the time came, there could be no question of who deserved it. It never occurred to her that Akhlut might merely be busy, and would be back to his usual Alpha duties in due time... She was already set on usurping his crown, when his followers also began to question his lacking presence.

Jinx had been consumed with these thoughts, in between her daily patrols and whispering words of encouragement into Ira's ears. Encouragement for certain behaviours: dark behaviours, the sort that would please Sos and the Loa. Pied had already made clear her children would belong to Atka, if any God, so it was Jinx's job to raise one for Sos. Perhaps she would yet consume one of the Delta's young when they came into the world, and offer its still-beating heart to her deity... But it was far off yet. The catnip might yet work its magic and prevent young altogether.

She was wrapped in these thoughts and others when she came upon the bloodied shaman. Her heart seized in her chest when she saw him prone against the trunk of a wizened tree, but it also cracked and bled with betrayal. Even Lecter had left her side, taking his deranged and untrustworthy daughter with him. Her ears flickered forth and her face twisted into the scowling visage of a figure of authority, whose heart and essence had been stung by him... And when she drew close enough to brush her nose against his matted ruff, she was stung by it again.

Whooo? she hissed, drawing back from him as though his rank odour had the damaging capacity of acid. On Lecter's coat lingered the fresh scent of another... Someone other than Clarice, and someone who was not Jinx. She was hurt; who would he dare follow, if not herself?