Blackfeather Woods A New Beginning?

When she reached the lake she stopped for a minute to rest. Her legs we aching and her breath trembled. The sharp pain she felt somewhere around her paws forced her to lay down and lick away the blood that was slowly dripping onto the ground. Although physically she felt like she could sleep for the rest of the year, her mind was on alert.
It must have been a few days since she last ate something but she was too afraid to hunt right now. The rotten squirrel she ate was still making her feel sick. "Get yourself together. It's nothing. You're fine, a little exhausted but fine", she said to herself.

The sun was burning down on her, although it wasn't summer yet she felt like jumping into the cold lake to save herself from the sun which exhausted her even more. After a few minutes - or has it been hours? - she decided to get up and slowly walked up to the water to drink. The cold wet felt just right inside her hot body and she stepped a few meters into the water until her sore paws were completely soaked. The pain was still there, however the cold of the water helped.

Suddenly the wind turned and she was terrified. "No, that can't be. Not here!" She tried to convince herself that the next pack should still be hundreds of kilometers away. But the scent she smelled with her sensitive nose was definitely the smell of wolves. She couldn't stop panicking and started running away, however the scent got stronger with every meter she ran. "Calm down. You wanted to join another pack sooner r later anyway. Everyone knows you could never survive on your own. You're too scared to hunt a bloody deer!" Thinking about her fear of hunting, she got angry about everyone that made her be afraid. She wouldn't accept fear anymore, that's what she told herself. No fear, no feelings.

When the wolf scent was so intense she couldn't ignore it anymore, she stopped. With wide eyes she looked around. "Did I hear someone? Must have been the wind ...", she thought.

@Burke @Meldresi

Summer was coming, and her children were growing. In four months, they would be official members of the pack, adults in the eyes of the Wilds. For her it was a sobering time, but it was going to come eventually. That was the point of raising children after all, to see them grow into something better than you were.

Now that they were out and about in the world, she did not have to lurk in her den for hours at a time, watching over them. She had a chance to go into the woods and patrol her territory for the first time in months. The winds were howling tonight, and on the tip of her tongue she could taste it, a storm, rain was coming. The Night Queen decided to turn back before the storm broke, for they would wash away the border scents, and she could renew them in the morning. But the wind swept in a strange, unfamiliar scent as she turned away. A wolf.

The priestess melded into the shadows, her indigo eyes glittering in the darkness as she stalked towards the smell. A female was there, her eyes as wide as a deer being chased. Meldresi breathed her scent in deep. There was the tang of blood on her, and whether it was hers or another's was unknown to the Queen. But she supposed she could find out. With one step, she flung off her coat of shadows, and into the light, for the wolf to see. "What are you doing out here? A storm is about to break." Her tail was lifted with authority, but her tone was gentle and sultry as ever. "Are you hurt?"

I'm going to imply Burke was with Mel. XD

Burke had left the den earlier than Meldresi this morning. He had a training session with Damien which he couldn't really cancel. Although secretly the tank of a male would rather be in the den next to the dark queen. He then realized that he could refer to him as the dark king. That title suited the large male. His docked tail wiggled briefly before it took its normal upright stance to display his dominance. After the training he realized that Meldresi had gone out herself too. 

Burke, being still a bit of a workaholic, decided that he should patrol the borders too, and if he happened to stumble upon a prey then he might catch it too. But no such thing happened. He did however locked into Meldresi's trail and followed it. With a light trot he caught up with his mate and nudged her in greeting but it was only a short one because they both noticed the stranger. He let the dark female go first see how she blended so perfectly with the shadows. He followed behind her not bothered to hide himself at first. His immense frame would be difficult to hide and his fur was a lighter charcoal grey. 

He stepped next to Meldresi. "Hurt or not, she shouldn't be here, not this close," he spoke. While Meldresi's voice was sultry and gentle Burke's voice was more strict, yet entirely calm. One could not read on his face or the tone of his voice if he was angry or not. Meldresi would know, she could read him the best. 

She scanned the dark woods. No, it must have been the wind. It just must have. She didn't have the time or energy for meeting them yet. She felt like sleeping for the next few weeks and her stomach was empty. Her coat was still wet and although her paws started to feel a l ot better, she was getting quite cold now as she noticed a storm coming up.
Carefully and being as silent as possible she took a few steps into the direction of which she expected them so be. Her eyes were slowly getting used to the darkness but she still couldn't see any living creature. Weird. Where she came from there were countless squirrels, deers and whatnot ... but it didn't matter. ,,The past is called past for a reason. It is passed, it does not matter anymore!", she convinced herself.
Suddenly she saw them. She lost focus for a second and there they were.
One of them was extremely well hidden. Her - is must be a ,,she", or a quite lanky ,,he" - coat was pitch black to which her eyes created a very unusual but harmonic contrast. She was looking directly at her and Ayana started shaking. The look of the wolf was perforating, yet soft, which was another unusal thing she noticed.
The other one must be somewhat naive - or very confident ... he seemed naive, though - as he didn't make any effort to hide. She didnt't know whether he looked at her or not, he didn't seem very surprised or angry although Ayana was very close to their territory. Must be a quite young wolf, still. Maybe she was something like his mentor?

The next moment, the black wolf stepped into the light and Ayana immediately took a step back. She jumped a little when she heard her tender voice asking Ayana about her condition. Why did she care? It wasn't her problem, was it? Ayana was strong enough to survive on her own, she didn't need help from a female with kind of scary - yet beautiful - blue eyes and her .. assistant, student, whatever he was.
However, the pain her paws were causing and the upcoming storm worried her a little.
,,Why would you care? It's my business isn't it? I don't even know you. I am fine, thank you." Secretly she hoped that maybe, just maybe they could help her out. She definitely needed a place to stay for the night and their territory just seemed like a good accomodation.

Burke tagged along, announcing his arrival with a gentle nudge before she had spotted the wolf. When they approached her, he did not bother to hide himself. Brash, as always. They were a contrast; good cop, bad cop, as they spoke to the lightly colored female. She liked that contrast between them, the calm, kind looking queen and her gruff, muscular mate.

The storm rumbled in the distance, dark and looming from the west. Meldresi's eyes flickered to the storm, then back to the younger female, who was right now refusing her help. "Packs do not always offer help to loners such as you." She said, gently again. "I would be grateful for such a thing, especially with the storm approaching."

Ayana clenched her teeth. The female was right. Of course no pack would offer help. Of course not. But what was she supposed to do? Give in? Admit that she's in pain and can't hunt? Well, she could, maybe... maybe not.
Her thoughts drifted around while she was thinking of a reply. Was that thunder she heard? Or just her stomach? Probably both... what was the last thing she ate again? ,,Okay, stop it, Ayana! You need to decide.", she thought. The wind felt so cold on her wet coat and she started trembling.

,,I know. I do not know if I can trust you, though. But my paws ache, I was wandering around for a while and I would take it very kindly if you offered me a place to stay ... just for the night, maybe?"

She couldn't believe what she just said, but she felt like it was the right thing to do. The black wolf did seem very nice, although she still wasn't sure whether she could trust them or not. However, she was willing to find out.

@Ayana Remember the posting order! I get that you like to post but the order is; Ayana, Meldresi, Burke. :P

Burke wasn't pleased how disrespectful the female was towards his mate, and even him. By the way she was looking at him he didn't feel like she was respecting them. His immense frame stepped forward and then growled. "You should be thankful that my mate is even kind enough to offer you shelter for the storm. If it were my decision alone I would have left you on your own devices," he huffed and let out a snort in disapproval. Meldresi was the dark queen and she would let the other talk to her like this? Burke was far more hotheaded that her, even though he displayed a calm demeanor most of the time. 

The dark king held his docked tail raised and his pale blue eyes on the other. "Meldresi, I don't think we should offer her one night. We are not some hotel for loners. We are Black Feather Woods we are feared throughout the lands. If she wants shelter she submits to us now as their leaders or we will chase her out if she don't. We are the one pack that is the home to the dark brotherhood. Assassins and Spies take their home with us. We should not offer a free meal and comfort to females that don't even have a clue about who to be respectful," he spoke, staying just as calm as he was before. 

@Ayana Make sure you keep to that rule while you're on here; its very important that you maintain the posting order, even if someone takes very long. And also, you don't have to tell me that here in this thread. Read here about that, but to sum it up, you can just PM me. It messes up your post count for this thread, which you need for archiving it. I suggest that you delete that post when you respond formally. :P

 
Meldresi's ear pricked at the grumbling sound emanating from the girl's stomach. She was hungry as well, lovely. The Night Queen said nothing as the girl was blatantly rude to her, and nothing as her mate stepped forward and snapped at the female. He was right, of course. She should at least be grateful that a pack was offering help.

The Queen met her King's eyes calmly, silently agreeing with him, but then focusing her gaze on the loner. "I can tell you're hungry." She said, eyeing the woman's skinny frame. "You're injured, and with that kind of injury on your paw, you won't be able to hunt." The woman pushed past her mate, and met the woman's eyes. "I am offering you the chance to live, if you join my pack."

Join the pack? Was that what she wanted? Well, eventually she would have to join another pack as she was too weak to be a lone wolf any longer. But this one? Although the female - which must be the alpha - and her mate seemed just right. Not too nice or foolish but still kind. They were the sort of wolves she respected. Ayana knew she messed up, though, and was impressed that she still offered her the chance to join the pack. She would give in. It was her only choice.

,,Are you sure? I would really appreciate joining your pack. I am sorry for disrespecting you ... I just ... Yes, I would like to join. A lot.", she said. She automatically looked down to the floor and lowered her tail in between her back legs. Hopefully that would please the wolves more. She did respect them now tho, if only a little.

,,Thank you for your kindness. You are very right, it is unusual for wolves to be so open. I owe you a lot."

It seemed Burke's reverse psychology worked to push some sense into the female, add the fact that Meldresi and him were perfectly in tune with the good cop/bad cop tactic too. Burke quirked up his lips a bit. Though it did look a bit to him that Meldresi was finding a new subject to take care of now her pups were starting to head out on their own. Burke was slightly amused by that but he wouldn't comment on it. He wasn't going to publicly embarrass her. 

"And you better work hard once you are healed to show your gratitude for our kindness or well, my wife's kindness really," he pointed out. Thunder crashed through the sky, so loud that the ground seemed to tremble. Soon afterwards the dark forest was lit by the lightning that followed. Winds already picked up and Burke would rather be in his den with Meldresi instead of standing here outside. "Let's find shelter before we have our coats drenched by the rain. Meldresi, Do we put her in the infirmary or?," Burke asked. He would not allow the stranger in their alpha den. And at least the infirmary would be dry. Plus Meldresi could look at that paw of hers.

Her heart started to beat faster again. She wasn't too sure how to feel about it. She was so bad at dealing with what happened.. was it time for a new beginning?
,,Calm down. How many times do I have to tell myself that the past is in the bloody past. You can't change it, you just can not. Get that in your little head, Ayana!'', she thought.

With her head and tail still down, she took a few steps towards the wolves. She didn't know how far they'd let her get to them so she stopped some meters infront of them. The dark forest seemes like a really good place to stay. As dark as her past. As dark as ... ,,For goodness' sake, Ayana! Stop!"

She scanned the forest a little more. There were mysterious looking plants she had never seen before. It was cold, but a different way of cold. She was excited but also very nervous. What would her fellow pack members say? Could she prove her obedience and her appreciation? She was willing to find out.

She dared to give the big black male a glance. She was really impressed by the aura he expressed. Calm, yet strong and dominating. He fitted perfectly in the dark woods. Just like his wife.

Not sure why Meldresi isn't replying but we can wrap-up this thread for you!  Welcome to BFW! :D

Burke let his wife decide whatever she deemed fit. He wasn't one to argue with her. Plus even though he might have approved he was still Beta and not alpha. Meldresi probably would let him become alpha if he wanted to but he actually liked being Beta. It showed the pack that he hadn't mated the female to become alpha, he was adapt to his role in the pack and respected his wife as the ruler of their pack. He would be the leader when she would need to do other things, which was fine with him. He was happy here in these dark woods.

The large tank walked inside their home with the two females, he went to the alpha den feeling it would be better if Meldresi could just do her thing with the rescue she kind of adopted. At least that was how it felt towards Burke. "Welcome to the pack," he wished before he set off, leaving the two ladies.