Bearclaw Valley [m] Take care of the sense, and the sounds will take care of themselves

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dated for 4/16

@Aventus had consumed most of her waking thoughts since the day in stillrift; she was worried about his head injury and about his mental state. She couldn't shake the fear that she might lose him the same way he had lost his father; it sat in her stomach and sent tendrils of dread reaching for her heart. The picture of him falling into the rift and laying crumpled on the ground wouldn't stop intruding on her thoughts at random times throughout the day, only adding more fear to the writhing pit in her stomach. 

Because of her constant worry, she didn't necessarily think it odd that she woke to a burning need for her husband. Arielle just assumed it was because she was desperate for anything to assure her that he was here and wasn't going anywhere. 

But as the bruin-heart went about her morning, taking advantage of spring in the valley and finding plants to bring back to mosskeep, the burning in her veins only grew. By late morning, she could barely think of anything other than the bruin-jaw. She loved Aves more than anything that existed but this felt more intense. 

When she could no longer think of anything other than finding her husband and stealing him away to their den for the rest of the day, she abandoned her work. The healer started to make her way to mosskeep, following the channel north until it curved to the west. Hopefully he was in the first place she looked; searching for him any longer would be excruciating.

The pondwater was frigid on his tongue, but Aventus lapped it without thought, eager to chase the taste of blood from his mouth. He savoured it when it came from prey or foe, but this came from nowhere. It happened now and again since his fall in Stillrift. At first, he had worried it meant something bad for him, but there was no trace of blood in his saliva as far as he could tell. It was simply his head playing tricks on him. It did that a lot lately. Some of his memories from that day had returned, but others were still dark voids in his mind.

Deciding that no amount of water would chase the phantom taste from his tongue when the cold made his head hurt, Aventus padded away from the pond and Mosskeep both, but froze and stood bolt upright when his nose caught the scent of his mate. He recognized the spice to it from earlier in the spring, though this time it was all her own. Familiar and warm, yet utterly enticing. Every nerve in his body tingled and his loins ached with an immediate need that far eclipsed anything he had experienced with her before.

He needed no further urging to send him in Arielle's direction. When he found her heading his way, he made a beeline for her, drinking her aroma off the breeze and feeling his head swim with desire. It was all he could do not to hook her into his legs right there, but he displayed some small amount of propriety and a vast amount of self-control by not seizing her the moment he reached her. He wound around her in a tight, possessive circle instead and was unable to silence the wanting whine that crawled up his throat.

Every cell in her body was suddenly on fire when she saw Aves heading to her. He was a sight, her mate; all muscle and beautiful dark fur. But his moonlit gaze was her favorite; it was as though he was the night sky given form. The look on his face alone was enough to make her explode, being that she was on the verge of it already. She couldn't stand even waiting the small amount of time it took for them to finally reach each other. 

The bruin-jaw encircled her with his entire body, and she could only watch at first. But the whine seemed to awaken her more than she thought was even possible. Her nose found his neck and Arielle nipped him, urgency in every gentle snap of her teeth. She didn't want to wait another second; every brush of his fur against hers, his scent surrounding her, the possessive way he dominated her space—it overwhelmed her senses. But she wanted him all to herself, and that would not be possible while out in the open. 

So the bruin-heart danced forward a little, delivering another nip as she moved. She looked at her husband from over her shoulder and then took a few more steps, urging him with her scent and heated gaze to follow. Mosskeep was close, and there they could get lost in each other; they could pretend like nothing else existed, which was something she knew they both desperately needed.

When Arielle's teeth brushed through his fur, Aventus lost all semblance of control. He reached out to encircle her in his arms, but she danced lithely out of reach. With a frustrated growl, the Bruin-jaw padded after her, butting up against her hindquarters and trying once more to pull her into his embrace. Once more, she danced away. The smoldering eyes she made at him screamed that she wanted this. Her scent wrapping around his muzzle intoxicated him even more than her beautiful body already had. He parted his jaws to drink it in and felt his hips rock of their own accord. No matter how many times he tried, however, Arielle refused to let him have her until they were in the dark of Mosskeep.

When they were hardly past the entryway into the cave, Aventus let his patience wane entirely. He grazed his teeth roughly through the red fur at the back of her legs, drawing her scent in so that he could practically taste it. It overpowered his senses and demanded him to act. He had no idea what she was doing to him and no idea of the consequences; he knew only desperate desire. Aventus hooked his arms around her and pressed his muzzle into the fur on the nape of her neck with a shaky exhale, granting her a few precious seconds to get settled.

His growl vibrated through her body and made her sorry she had moved away. She was having trouble remembering why she put space between them in the first place until she caught the mesmerized glint of his silver gaze. Hers. She wanted to be the only one who knew what Aves looked like when consumed with passion. So she moved away again, even as she felt him against her hips and the contact sent a blinding flash of need through her body. Her possessiveness won out every time. 

She was as desperate as he was, and once they were within the walls of mosskeep, she stopped and watched him take in her scent; she didn't know why it had changed and she didn't have the presence of mind to look very far into it right then. She went willingly into his arms, his breath against her neck sending a shiver down her spine. She needed no time to adjust, so she impatiently pushed back against him in the hope that it would spur him into action. 

The way she felt, she thought they could do this all day and night and she still wouldn't feel sated; she was more than willing to test that out. She would stay in mosskeep and give herself to him for however long he wanted. After all of the shit they had dealt with lately, it felt right to be here, just the two of them; for these moments, their love was the only thing that mattered.

In the aftermath, Aventus grinned sheepishly and rumbled a quiet, sorry.

It all happened so quickly. Normally, he had more self control than that, but this time they hardly began before he was spent. Everything was different, so much more intense, than it ever was before. His wildest fantasies about her couldn't hold a candle to the effect Arielle had on him. Even now, the Bruin-jaw was far from satisfied. After a mere five minutes apart, he felt the familiar stirring again. Mosskeep was filled with their scent, most of all hers. He shoved his muzzle into her pelt and pulled in a deep breath, letting it out with a prolonged rumble.

What're you doing to me? he groaned against her ribcage, pressing his lips and nose feverishly to her flesh and peppering her with adoring kisses.

Don't be, she told him softly. Her nose found his fur, too, and she nuzzled into him. She wanted to be closer but she was already pressed completely against him. 

His question made her smile, a soft, amused huff filling the space between them. Arielle reveled in his affection. I could ask you the same— she froze as she suddenly realized something. The fog of need had lifted just enough for her to put the pieces together. The change in scent and his reaction to it finally clicked in her mind. Her heart started to thump erratically in her chest. It was too late to go back. She suddenly feared he would be angry with her. Aves? Her voice was shaky. She swallowed. I think it's my heat, she told him. Her eyes met his, afraid of what she might see there. I'm sorry; I only just realized. Everything had been such a mess, she had no idea how he would feel about having children; they had never really even discussed it. I could be...um, pregnant now. She looked away, feeling like a complete idiot. She was a healer; how had she not seen this for what it was?

Arielle's words were a pleasant fizzing in his head, drowned out by his want for her. His parents hadn't exactly prepared him for this eventuality. Astara could not speak the words and Merrick would not, so he knew nothing about how a woman's scent changed when she was fertile. He knew only the intense arousal it stoked that only Arielle could cool.

For a brief moment, her words did get through to him. It was like being submerged in ice water after spending hours in a sauna. His stomach fluttered — what if she was? He didn't want children. He had no desire to bring young into this fucked up life they lived.

Then he shifted and her scent enveloped him again and turned his stomach to magma. Nonsense, he soothed, convincing himself in an instant that what he said next was true, because the alternative was unfathomable and because he did not want to hold himself back from her now: I am sure you have to want it for it to happen. Let's just enjoy it, mm?

He wanted to have her again, and again, and again, forever until they burnt down to embers. In the pursuit of that, he shoved all thought of possible consequences from his head. Surely it could not happen if they wished against it, and oh, how fervently he wished.

She didn't know if she wanted to have children; it would have taken a lot more thought than she had to offer currently. The times she had entertained the idea before, she had always thought fondly of bringing the next generation of Bearclaws to Ursus. But recent events had changed her; she was less trusting of the world and more easily angered. She had become violent. She certainly wasn't fit to be a mother. 

Aves had seemed stunned at first, just as she had. But then his features relaxed and he spoke to her in a soothing tone that did things to her. The burning was back; she could feel it everywhere and now she knew only the bruin-jaw could make it go away. She didn't think what he said was true. What they wanted surely had no bearing on biology, right? 

Her brain was foggy again, and all she wanted was her mate; she didn't want to think about anything else. 

Arielle reached over and nipped his jaw. Her tail waved a few times against the ground, saturating the air with her scent. It was amazing how easily she forgot all of the negative emotions from just seconds before, but the burning in her blood overwhelmed her again. She just wanted Aves to take her again, and this would be obvious in the impatient grunt she offered as the bruin-heart nudged his chin with her nose. She didn't want to talk anymore.

He was prepared to offer further reassurance that nothing bad could happen if they didn't want it to, but there was no need to voice them. Aventus should have known better. His entire life was a cruel demonstration that bad things happened no matter how much you wished they wouldn't. He was foolish to think this would be any different.

But right now, here, he didn't care. All he knew was scorching love and desire for his wife. Arielle urged him to pull her to him again and Aventus obliged at once, letting her consume him entire, feeling his every vein singing her name, all while locking that forbidden concern far away in the darkest corner of his mind.

She viewed this as a gift she could offer Aves—a way to momentarily wipe away anything that caused him pain; when she looked at it that way, it was easy to forget everything else. She was desperate for the escape, too. She chose to believe that nothing bad could happen if they loved each other this much. 

Her mate didn't make her wait, eagerly pulling her close and taking everything she had to give. Eventually, Aves was the only thing that filled her mind, and she was happy to let it be that way for as long as possible—well into the next day if that's how long it took for the intensity of the burning to die back down and stay that way. 

fade here?

The pair melted into one another until they could burn no more. In the end, two little embers were all that was left. They would become a problem for another day.