The gradual change that Autumn brought among the trees and plants was both intruguing and worrying for the pale yearling. While she found this to be the prettiest of all seasons, she also knew that it represented the calm before the storm. If the Spine wolves didn't get their act straight, this Winter would be hell. That was probably the only concern she shared with the bitch in power.
As some of the russet tainted leaves of a tree swayed with the wind, barely hanging to the branches, Cara galloped across the Wilderness, her paws crushing the dry leaves that had been laid out before her, like a red carpet fit for a Queen. the queen she carried herself as She stopped quickly before she raced past the mouth of the Ouroboros, only to restrenghten the borders with her own strong scent, then with her ears pinned back and her nose close to the ground she continued to search for her right hand. There were many questions circling the young Beta's mind, and little answers.
Though things had been tense, she felt like the mere sight of him would help her release some of the built up anger she had stored in her chest. "where'd you go" she whispered to herself, as she slinked past some trees that held his musky perfume.
Most of his time was spent on hunting. Autumn was here, which means that winter was fast approaching. Fall was one of those uncertainly short seasons. You never knew when a winter chill could hit early, therefore, Kaname made sure his pack was prepared.
And he was successful for the most part. He hadn't brought down anything big yet, but he found several herds roaming through the valley. A few pine martens, squirrels, rabbits. Small creatures that could help in the hunger moons. He held a brace in his mouth as he dug into the cache, but paused when he smelled a familiar scent wafting from the border. He dropped the prey in the cache and covered it quickly before trotting over to the white female standing near the trees.
Though the leaves were falling and the little critters of the forest had begun to pack their bags and ready themselves for their temporal slumber, Cara still saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Despite it seemed they were merely beginning to enter the murky waters of uncertainty, the girl still held hope; her soul was still in one piece, maybe because her pampered life had always shielded her from the crude reality of starvation.
Quickly the male's brown frame appeared before her, his icy eyes iradiated calmness, which was greedily absorbed by the worrisome girl. "Ah, there you are" she greeted with a sly smile and a slow sway of her hips.
Before bombarding him with questions and requesting advice, she wanted to greet the male properly. Their last one-on-one encounter had had an ambiguous ending, though they had certaintly strenghtened their bond in a way still confusing to her they had not spoken of it again --nor would they speak of it soon unless he brought it up..
"What've you been up to, uhmm?" she barked lightly, it was funny how her personality and demeanour in general could change so much depending of who she was with.
"Nothing interesting. I'm just hunting for small prey now, to bulk up the caches." The assassin sat back on his haunches, feeling the dead leaves crunch underneath him. It was hard not to sit back and relax during autumn; the air was cool after the hot summer, the smell of crisp leaves intoxicating....but winter was always lurking in the shadows. Waiting. You had to be aware of that or face the consequences, that being death. "Why were you looking for me?"
Like a pithon, the Queen moved forth, taking little steps that slowly cut the distance between them. She only stopped once they stood no more than two steps from one another. hough she could not hear the voice echoing in his head she could tell the distance bethat her little waltz was driving him insane.
She knew it, and she loved it.
As her pale eyes stared into his own, the corner of her lips began to curl, planting a condescending smile in the girl's lips. "Well that's more interesting that what I've been up to" she barked, her tail swaying like the crimson leaves in the highest branches of a tree. After the male took a seat, the girl flicked the tip of her tail as she fell delicately besides him.
"Because I have to talk to you" she barked, slightly more serious. There were many things that she wanted to say, so many she didn't know where to begin. Should she start by asking again his opinion about how to deal with the fake Queen? Or should she ask if he knew where the ex-Spine wolves had run to? And last by not least, if the young cassanova had been among them.
He breathed an internal sigh of relief when she stopped her waltz at sat down beside her. He hated that she had figured out his weakness so quickly, but then again he didn't do much to hide it either. The assassin raised his eyebrows at Cara's answer."About what?"
As she made herself comfortable beside him, the girl rested her eyes on his face. Though the age difference was notable between them, Cara felt at ease with him, more than with other of the younger males she had been with. Though he had not really caught her attention when they had first met, now the girl relied on him as if he were one of her own paws.
"The bitch has driven many away from us" she bagan, completely blaming the disappereance of various members upon Ptarmigan's shoulders. Though her presence might've not triggered directly the departure of the Spine wolves, it was useless to say it hadn't given wolves such as Meldresi the final push out the Spine's door.
Cara's eyes turned serious as she awaited for an answer, hoping that as well as her, the assasin had also noted the missing wolves among their ranks. She was concernded that in the end no one would be left. The witch, Tyrande had dissapeared without a trace, as well as her only friend Vectra.
And though the empty space left by these two females stung the Queen's heart, what truthfully made her head itch was Keith. The guy seemed pretty interested in her, and on the pack as well. Had the guy chickened out once he began to see things go downhill?
He didn't fully blame the disappearance of many of their numbers solely on Ptarmigan. It was Jinx's sickness that started to cull their numbers. Then Ptarmigan came along, killed their queen and deposed the heir. That was when things really got bad. "Unfortunately yes. Where they have gone I'm not sure. Some of them seemed like they would have stayed, like Tyrande and Vectra. The others...I'm not sure."
He hadn't scented any of them recently, except for Meldresi, the older dark female that had caught his eye for a moment. He found her scent recently, east of here. And it was a fresh scent too. "I have found traces of one of them, Meldresi she was called. Dark fur, dark blue eyes?"
The unspoken fear that laid beneath the girl's words hung painfully from her chest as he simply assured her greatest worry. The Spine was running out of wolves, and at the worst time possible. When it had been one or two, the pale yearling hadn't even turned her head, thinking that those who had left were better off away; who'd want weak cowards anyways. Then when more and more had begun to vanish, the certainty that something was not right crashed against her skin like a bullet.
It was then that the idea that maybe the ones that left were really better off away began to settle in her mind. Had they down all along that after the brusque changes in leadership everything would go down in ruins? Had she been blinded to it all by the hopes of returning to the throne and making the Spine flourish?
The girl's heart churned as he mentioned the two same females she was thinking of. Tyrande, the witch that had been appointed to carry on with Lecter's legacy; and Vectra, the first friend solid friend she had when she first recieved her crown. They were all gone. Without a trace, or a sound.
Though one of her questions was yet unanswered, she held her tongue and listened to his last comment, if one of them was still hanging around there was a chance the others were too. And though Cara would never be one to beg, it could be an option to locate them, either to drive them off or to reel them back in. There was no point in hiding the obvious, they needed fresh recruits and fast.
"Yeah, the weirdo, I remember her" she barked, her eyes sliding from his face to the floor. "What about that other dude, " she began, her eyes rising back to his own orbs. Though she was sure his reaction wouldn't be pleasant , she felt the need and urge to ask, "Keith?".
He stretched out his paws, laying his head on his forelimbs, staring ahead as Cara answered him. The weirdo. Yeah, he supposed he could call her that. A hot MILF weirdo. But he wouldn't admit that to her. That he could keep to himself. He had another thing to worry about: Cara was wondering about Keith.
"The white-furred boy? I saw him once before he left. He was being very impudent to me. I had to put him in his place." He wasn't lying to her. He was putting Keith in his place when he had drowned him. His place was at the bottom of a river, with the fishes. "Maybe he left because of me."
Though she knew the topic of conversation wasn't Kaname's favorite, it was innevitable for her to leave it aside. When their numbers were running thin, every member counted, even if it was disliked or not. Her eyes met his briefly as he suggested that his departude might be linked to a pressumed squabble they had.
And even if she was not a stranger to the white boy's arrogance she was oblivious that not only his attitude was what made Kaname act, she as a whole had weighed in that decision. "Was this before or after Ptarmigan?" she asked. Truthfully she hadn't seen much of the boy after their steamy encounter by the Hot Springs.
She needed to know if he had even stuck around after the throne had been ripped from her hands, if not her theory of him being just a worthless coward would be confirmed.
He paused for a moment, thinking back to the encounter. "It was right before Ptarmigan came. If he lingered a bit around afterwards, I did not see him." He replied, firmly holding onto his alibi. The dark male did not care much for the bastard anyway: if he was alive, he would have run him off again, despite Cara's supposed attraction for him.
"But, don't you think we should find new blood instead of old?" He tried to steer the conversation away from the northern boy. He was dead, gone. They no longer needed to concern themselves about him. "We could go outriding. Mention Ouroboros to any loners we come across, especially the desperate starving ones."
His calm voice was enough to erase all worried from the girl's mind; even if she was usually a mistrusting being, Kaname's ice blue eyes were enough to silence the especulations forming in the back of the female's brain. He had never lied to her before --not that she knew of-- so she didn't find a reason to why his words should be questioned.
With her concern for the young princeling out of the way, she fell blindly into the wagon of his manipulative rollercoaster. Her eyes sinked into his as he suggested going on a scoutig trip to bring new members into the Spine. That idea had also been lingering in er mind, and though she would've protested about recruiting starving mutts, she knew that considering their current situation they didn't have much choice.
"We cannot both go" she mused, suspecting that their absence would give Ptarmigan the excuse to plant terror into the Spine's ranks and brainwash the few members that remained.
"She'll fuck it up if we give her the chance.."she barked through gritted teeth, her pale eyes suddenly searching comfort in the icy wastelands of his eyes.
She sought comfort from him. Cara would gaze into his eyes, trying to find something in the cold tundra. The assassin nuzzled her muzzle, trying to smother her anxious fires. "We will not give her that chance." He stated firmly. She was right, Ptarmigan would use their continued absence against them, to somehow pull Ouroboros to her.
"If we stagger our missions, they would be less conspicuous. If I leave tomorrow and come back a day later, then you would leave a few days after that, two or three. And we would have to stop those missions for a week or two just to slip her up." The mischievous wheels in his head were turning yet again. He was eager to see how this would work out, and if Ptarmigan would even catch on to what they were doing. It would all be very interesting.
The female recieved his gentle touch with no protests, though she was not blind to the ulterior motives laced under such gestures she had not yet decided to act on it or not. Though now that the Northern Princeling was out of the picture (assuming he had ever been in) the choice was pretty much taken.
"Sounds like a plan" she barked while reaching out her muzzle to trace the dep chocolate edges of his cheek with her nose, she had no objections to his plan-- it was flawless in her eyes. Just like her decision of talking to him. His words had not only soothed her mind but had re-strenghtened her intentions of healing the voids left by the traitors.
"Bring back the very best" she whispered into the base of his ear, silently assuming that he would take the first turn and leave in the next sunrise. "I trust you with my life" she added softly, while cutting the distance left and burying her nose into the assasin's neck. If it weren't for his support, she might've never reached what she had today.
She approved of the idea and so, the next morning he would go out and search for loners, wolves that could come and place Ouroboros back on the map. But for now, he would be content to be in Cara's embrace.
Her nose traced his cheek, slowly making it's way to his ear and then to his neck, burying into his fur. The assassin returned the gesture, licking her neck softly before laying his head gently across the base of her neck, half on top of her head. "Of course.." He whispered back.
The little outbursts of electricity that travelled through their skin as they held each other was almost as intense as the fluttering butterflies inside her stomach. She allowed herself to melt into him as he used the deep rumble of his voice to rid her mind from any worry.
She closed her eyes while still leaning against him, even if she knew that he must go rest for his journey she would not be the one to pull away.
They were both prideful creatures that weren't easy to persuade, but when merged together, they made a high-voltage explosion that was not easy to put out.
The assassin allowed himself a few moments of bliss. He rarely went a day without his thoughts racing through him, whether it be his plans for hunting or patrolling, or just the occasional insane murmurs. He hadn't been in a place like this in a long time. He pressed against Cara's soft fur, practically feeling the sparks.
He did not want to pull away, but he had to go out, sadly. They needed the support of others if they were to survive the winter. The dark wolf slowly pulled away from his Frost Queen, giving her one last lick on her muzzle before beginning to stand.