Sleeping Dragon Trials by Fire

She looks back to him proudly with the rock in her mouth. He’s sure it doesn’t smell too pleasant being right under her nose like that. Though he comes only a tad close to her as she mentions their departure of this place. He thinks it’s a good idea considering the ground rumbling beneath them.

“Si, I think that would be our best bet.” He concludes as well. “Better keep up, cariña.” He chuckles deviously as he jumps out of the dissipated geyser.

He gazes back to her, smokey eyes gleaming with the thrill of a deathly run. Oh how he hopes the volcano will explode. With these thoughts swirling in his noggin, his muscled flex as he begins a slow jog waiting for the female to catch up.

The stink of Sulfur and phosphorus filled the air as streaks of fire shot into the sky, molten rock flying like deadly missiles. 
"Time to go." She yelped, skittering forward, holding the crystal tightly in her jaws as she ran like the devil was on her tail. A fissure opened in the ground, and she bunched up, leaping delicately over it, landing roughly on the other side, stumbling and tumbling over herself as pain lanced through her shoulder. She scrambled to her paws as a rock the size of her head landed heavily beside her.

Santi stands there bracing himself as the ground rumbles beneath him. His nose crinkles briefly at the horrid smell surrounding them. The hair bristling along his spine, he’s on edge, but that doesn’t stop the manic smile from returning to his maw. Yet he stands there waiting for the female with the threat of death lingering in the highly intense situation.

“Sí, hora de irse.” He comments deeply. 

His eyes go wide in fascination as the ground before them splits dramatically; the situation is escalating quickly it seems. He watches the female intently as she hauls herself over it, he watches just as interested as she tumbles on the other side. With a chuckle he takes it upon himself to hurry over to help his struggling companion. Then the bone crushing sound of the boulder that lands just a few meters from himself and merely inches from the other gives him a good spine thrilling chill. 

He races over and grips the other by the scruff in an attempt to help her up. He can tell she is in some pain so he assists her as much as he’s able to. After he gets her to her feet he ushers her further. 

“Come chica, we have to go.” He says softly but loud enough for her to hear as he rushes her politely. Although he’s not in too much of a hurry but he can tell the frightened female is. He begins into a gallop hoping the female can keep up behind him but, of course, keeping a tentative, silver eye on her.

He's there with her, and she couldn't be more grateful. She had no intention of ever coming back to this wretched place, and she quickly follows his lead down the mountain, trying not to put weight on her injured leg, running akwardly on three limbs. 
The intensity of the situation, the threat of a fiery, agonizing death is not lost on her and it urges her forward, all sense of charm abandoned as she scales down the wrinkled piles of dried lava flows and jagged edges of broken dragon glass. 
There is another shudder of the earth and her paws are now hitting loose gravel, then dried grass. 

She stands there, panting, splay-legged, the stupid yellow rock falling to her paws with a dull thud, eyes wide with terror. And then, her sides heave. A burst of laughter bubbles through her and she looks up at him in complete relief and exhilaration, the laughter now unstoppable. "That. Was the dumbest, most impulsive. Most reckless. And absolutely the most TERRIFYING thing...I have ever done." She pants, smiling up at him and nuzzling his neck. Now that she wasn't running on it her shoulder didn't hurt as bad- probably a minor sprain.

There they are, running for their lives. The manic laughter that he can hardly contain bubbles up I the pit of his gut. He finds the situation mildly inappropriate to laugh so hard he’ll cough up a lung so he suppresses it long enough to let it out at an opportune time. Though seeing as they’re dodging lava rocks and jumping over the rivets the quakes cause, he doesn’t see the opportune time coming anytime soon. 

Finally when they reach the bottom he lets out a sigh. His diaphragm raises and falls rapidly as he takes in much needed oxygen. His tongue lols out of his maw, over large sharp teeth and his breath comes out in plumes if mist. 

His white eyes meet the females own, the previously fear rattled expression now one of reassured bliss at having made it out of the situation alive. The stone she carries falls to the ground and the giggles that begin to leave her make an absolutely devious smile strike his maw. Her giggles turn into hardy laughter and boy is it contagious.

His own laugh finally bubbles up from where he refused to let it out earlier and next thing he knows is that is belly is rocking with a satisfying bout of booming laughter.  He chuckles extra hard when the female mentions the act being the dumbest, craziest thing she’s ever done. He definitely has her beat at that then. She nuzzles his neck and even that doesn’t have his laugh dying. He cranes his head over hers in a sort of hug and nudges her back his his own large head. 

“Was it now?! Then if you stay with me more often that won’t be the craziest thing you’ve done.” He boasts pulling back to look at her. “You have no idea the amount of crazy shit I’ve done, cariña!” He laughs shaking his head.

He's laughing with her, and it is the most beautiful sound in the world. 
for a moment they stand there, lost in each other's bliss, consumed by the laughter that only comes from surviving a near brush with death. 
He returns her enthusiasm and boasts of his own crazy experiences, and the words slip from her maw before she can stop them. 
"I don't think I would mind, getting in trouble with you. There's so much adventure out there, and you aren't terrible company." 
She suddenly wants to hear it, every story, every adventure, completely smitten with the crazy, rugged male in front of her. 
"Pack life is gonna be boring after this...it would be nice to have someone around to...stir things up." 

He chuckles at her statement and side eyes her deviously. “Would you now?” He growls lowly with a toothy smirk. “Now don’t start saying stuff like that, you might just get convinced that I’m not some horrible blood thirsty beast.” He laughs as he punctuates the end of his sentence with a throaty chuckle.

He tilts his head as he listens to her suggestion. Responding by walking just a tad further away and circling back around. He’s crouched and has the most sly smirk mixed with the usual deviousness that he carries. He’s stalking towards her.

“Oh yeah, cariña?” He asks softly. “I can definitely stir some things up alright.” He jokes with that same smirk on his maw as he gallops towards her and pounces on her. 

The move is more to gently knock her down. While he attempts to do it as gently as he’s able to he’s sure he still ends up knocking some wind from her lungs. His large body cages her in on either side easily making her immobile. He smirks down playfully at her and nibbles the fur along her neck. Though he can’t help himself, the urge to scare always kicks in at the most in opportune times and he smirks up at her from where his muzzle is buried in her fluffy neck.

While keeping eye contact, he opens his mouth wide, lying it over the front of her neck. His long canines poking her thick fur on either side of her small neck. He can easily fit her whole neck in his mouth and rip it to shreds if he wanted to, but of course he doesn’t. Perhaps she’d even like a bit of rough play he laughs to himself as he applies just a bit more pressure with his teeth. His silvery eyes never leaving her icy blue ones.

She smiles at his remark, her laughs dying down to a chuckle. "Oh but I'm already convinced, love. Under that big, mean, scary pelt is just a pup who wants love and attention." 
He circles towards her, that same sly grin on his features that she has already found so endearing, and springs. She topples with a gasp and a grunt and for a moment she fights the urge to fight back, a moment of panic as his fangs meet her throat. 
But no. She already knows he won't hurt her. She lays still, her Sapphire gaze soft and trusting. She flicks her tongue out, akwardly licking his cheek with a smile. 
" Ekeínos pou échei klépsei tin kardiá mou. Thief, Vagabond, Charmer." 
She practically purrs the words at him, not with any sexual undertone, before bracing her paws on his chest and shoving, causing him to fall sideways and now it is her standing over him, staring down at him intensely. "Pinned you."  She smirks.

He loves the light panic that crosses her soft feminine features before she relaxes and realizes he means no real harm. Her eyes gaze down to him in a soft, caring sort of way that he’s not quite used to. His eyes crinkle in the idea of a smile when the pink of her tongue darts out to lap his cheek. 

Then those soft words she speaks and bam, all of a sudden he finds himself on his own back. He’s slightly taken aback at how she did it but, he smirks and raises his brows, impressed by the not so subtle feat of dominance.

“Yes, it seems you did.” He muses, the fur along his jaw and neck framing his face as he looks up to her. “You still wouldn’t be able to beat me in a fight though.” He teases, side eyeing her.

She chukles softly, shifting her weight to let him up. 
"I wouldn't want to. I don't need physical violence to unsettle you. I've already proven that." 
She picks up her rock again, a smile on her features, a playful sway in her hips as she turns towards the river. 
"Come home with me, Amor?" 

He hums as a response, contemplating exactly what she speaks of. She snapped at him when they first met and he recoiled. Maybe he is getting soft. He thinks absentmindedly, silently hating himself for it. He wants to keep himself the way he’s always been, he wants to stay a cold calculated killer. Though he knows life isn’t always about killing, at least anymore. 

“Yes I see now that it is true.” He murmurs with that smirk of his. “I’m getting soft.” He comments more to himself than to his companion. 

He watches her climb off him and already longs for her to come back. Rolling himself to his feet he chases after her. “Since you ask so nicely...” he teases and smirks, coming to walk beside her. “I shall accompany you to the borders of your territory, cariña.”

Then he leans down, breath tickling the sensitive hairs of her ear and neck. “Maybe I didn’t want you to get off me back there.” He snickers near her ear, accent rich and voice deep.

He muses to himself about 'getting soft' and there is something so defeated in his voice when he does so. 
She whirls at him, her eyes meeting his soft yet fierce. "There is nothing to be ashamed of, having a heart. Even if it's only enough heart for one particularly vexing shewolf...." She chuckled. "Your past is your past. It doesn't have to be your future. Even if you can't help yourself completely...or even don't want to...You can use it. You would make an absolutely brutal warrior."  

There is a pang of longing for his touch as soon as she leaves it, and she shakes her head. Silly girl, falling too fast, too hard. He emphasizes again that he is only walking her to the border, and her ears flatten. "It would be nice if you could join....I quite like the time we've spent and- and I quite like you." Had she not been forward enough? Had she not suggested the possibilities, not talked enough about the future? She was no fool, and knew he could not love her right away, but... surely...? 
His words are velvet in her ear again and she can't help the shiver of pleasure they send over her body, the low moan that escapes her lips.  "You'll have to stick around long enough for next year." 

He agrees with her to an extent. Sure, his future doesn’t have to be akin to his past but even though his past was littered with so much pain and suffering that’s all he’s ever known. He chuckles at her reply though.

“I would be quite the guerrero, no?” He chuckles at her comment of him being a fine warrior. He definitely agrees with that.

He’s slightly taken aback by the forwardness of her confession. He’s not surprised, he can see the way she looks at him. He likes it to say the least, but he feels incomplete to reside in a pack. Or to do it just yet really. The experience could wait he decides. He wants to explore and take his own claim. Though what the female speaks of and promises of this new pack life is convincing, but he’s always been hard to please.

“Lo siento, cariña.” He begins softly. “I cannot join your pack. I have so much to discover yet. I do believe your pack might not be the right one for me.” He chuckles. “So docile, I’d presume?” He quirks a brow at her. “The only way I can be led by someone other than myself is for them to prove to me that they can lead. Physically and mentally. As you can tell I like to be my own leader. It’s just how I am.” He finishes, his tone forgiving yet hard all together. 

He brushes against her and side eyes her with those twin moons of his. “You never know where I might be next year.” He suggests at her last comment.

His voice is soft, the rejection gentle. 
She bites back a sigh in frustration. "I can't mate with a rogue. It would be a scandal. I don't mind adventure or fun...but I can't..." She pauses, realizing how desperate and childish she again sounds. She takes a deep breath and collects herself. "Good luck. Wherever you end up. And if you ever change your mind, I'll be waiting." 

He chuckles at her idea of mating with him being a scandal. “Why? Because you are a pack wolf? And I’m not?” He suggests with a raised brow and half lidded eyes as he slides beside her and brushes her side. 

He continues walking and nods. “I too enjoy some fun.” And as if on clue he gazes at her, that playful glint in his eyes. “My fun is dangerous though, niña.”

Then his features soften and he faces her. “Oh I’ll need it.” He comments sadistically, regarding all the trouble he’ll potentially get into. “I’m glad such a beautiful wolf would be waiting for me then.” He charms, smiling softly at her.