Moonspear Walk through a hailstorm

After her tryst with both Charon and Harley,  Althaia was thoroughly exhausted. She still felt guilt over her encounter with Charon, and fearful of were it might lead. It had occurred to her that she was, very likely, carrying pups. And that was even more of a scary thought. It elwas not that she did not want to be a mother,  far from that. For what would become of them, where they born here or out in the wilds? She was a slave, an inexperienced mother, with only Harley, or so she believed. The thought was enough to worry her, frighten her. What would the pack do?

The scent still radiated from her, a beacon. Now that she had a moment to think, she recalled the same scent around the territory, in twined with Amekaze's. Had the dark alpha been in heat as well? Did that mean that she might be carrying pups, in all likely good Charon's?  Her mind swam with unanswered questions, and rather then let worry consume her, she stood and slunk from her den. She plopped down in the clearing in front of her little den, sitting and simply enjoying the suns warmth,  trying to ignore the instinct of her body.

Stealing this thread! <3

Dash was blissfully ignorant of the drama that was about to unfold within the pack. He had been focused on finding Lazarus, so he was in and out of the territory. That may have been a good thing, as his nose caught a whiff of her scent. His body responded instantly, whether he wanted it to or not, but he knew he would control himself, no matter the urges.

He hadn't seen her in quite a while, knowing that Harley had been taking care of her. But, he altered his course now to head towards her den. Her form came into view, and he wagged his tail in a friendly greeting as he chuffed to get her attention. The smell of her was strong, and it called to him, but he knew he had no rights here. Dash had never been in love, had never mated, didn't even know what he wanted when it came to all that... But he knew his instincts needed to be crushed this time around. Hey, Omega, he said, using the name he had come up with for her, his voice light. How are you doing?

Harley sought out Althaia as soon as he was done with Amekaze, and it was easy to follow her scent around the territory and directly to her. Dash's scent was near too, and thanks to recent events, Harley couldn't help but quicken his pace. He held back the growl burning in his chest as he came into view of the pair, but approached at a trot with tail flagging and head raised, albeit a smooth coat and perked ears. He was only being careful, was all. Instincts were a son of a bitch, as he was clearly learning this week. 
                     "Dash."
His tone was friendly, and acompanied with a smile that did reach his amber eyes, but he went directly over to his mate. With a sniff and a lick to her face, he decided to just hover around her for now.

She was not alone for long, and a flash of dark fur had her heart racing. Shit. It had to be Amekaze, coming to murder the crap out of her, but after a moment of tense silence, she noted the scent to be Dash's. Relief spilled over her, but then slight trepidation. None the less, she was glad to see the friend she had not spent time with in quite a while. Maybe she could jus ignore the scent? Thoughts of Harley, Charon, surged to mind, but she pushed them down. It was hard to ignore her body. 

"I'm doing...fine. What about yo-" Her sentence was interrupted as Harley came into view, planting a kiss on her cheek and greeting Dash. Stupid Harley. Now she wanted to be alone with him. She was not totally ignorant of the obvious tension in the air, and planted her but firmly on the ground to mute the scent. "Hey, Harley." she hummed happily. It was a downplayed response, something she hoped would calm the cloud of hormones within her. "Are you doing better, Dash?" she asked, desperately trying to steer this situation into more...normal grounds.

He hadn't realized it would be this difficult to fight what his body was telling him to do. He wanted to give in, but he knew that would be wrong. Then, he wanted to turn and leave, but he had already greeted her. It would be rude at this point to turn and walk away. He assumed she was about to ask how he was, but a movement in his peripheral view caught his attention. It was Harley. 

Harley seemed friendly, and Dash returned the gestures. Hey, Harley. It was mostly run-of-the-mill conversation, until Dash watched the other male lick Althaia on the muzzle. It seem like a familiar gesture, one that he did all the time. Dash cocked his head, and decided to question the obvious. Is there something going on here? he asked with a smile, Althaia's question temporarily ignored. His voice was curious, with maybe a little laughter and happiness mixed in. While Althaia was technically a hostage, Dash had always done his best to treat her as another pack member, just one that didn't move up in the ranks. The fact that it seemed she and Harley were friendly with each other didn't strike him as something that shouldn't be allowed.

It was Dash that responded to the wolfdogs affections, and quite honestly Harley didn't care anymore. Althaia was his, and the world would know it from now on. His smile spread into a grin, and he nodded to the only real friend he had. 
                    "We're mates." 
Charon could lick the darkest part of his rear end if he thought he would ever do THAT to his wife again. If anyone ever dared, in fact, he'd likely not hesitate to fight that one.

Dash's question had her pause, fearful, but nothing malicious was behind the tone of the question. Harley, with his straightforward answer, surprised her, and her cheeks felt heated as she glanced at the earth a moment. But after getting over her surprise, knowing that Dash and his intentions were not malicious, she smiled and glanced up, nodding her head in the affirmative.

Harley confessed that the two were mates, and Althaia’s nod confirmed it. Dash smiled, That’s great! I’m happy for you two! He had no knowledge of their plans to leave here. His only thoughts were on Charon and Amekaze and what they would think of this. But, he didn’t see anything wrong with it, and didn’t think they would, either. However, he had no idea of the drama that would unfold, either.

He did know, though, that Althaia’s scent was strong, and his most basic urges were getting stronger and stronger. It was nature, pure and simple. His happy expression changed to regret. I, um, would love to stay and out with you two love birds, but… I’m pretty sure I have somewhere else to be. Dash sucked at lying, but he didn’t want to come right out and say what was bothering him either, fearing it would make Harley and Althaia uncomfortable. See you two around, he said with a smile as he turned to leave. He would make sure to steer clear until Althaia’s heat had well passed.