Duck Lake Reflektion

She and Avery had split up, and she'd moved further west. Now Violante found herself at a small lake, and she moved towards it for a long, cold drink. When she'd had her fill, she sat back, scenting the air... Avery had agreed with her - they would try to form their own pack. First, they'd need to find a good place to settle, hence why they'd split up. Second, they'd need followers, and that meant making friends, which was something the Cruor woman had never been good at. Slowly, the melanistic wolf began to circle the lake - her thoughts flowed better with movement.

Aventus traced the sloping wolf's neck with his eyes, the neat peak of her shoulders, as black as any shade in the night and glossy as a crow's wing. She looked almost exactly like Astara from this angle. That was why he remained at a distance, watchful, with his mouth feeling like it was full of sand.

Astara was dead. He had seen her body. He had seen her skull removed from it and grinning in his father's possession. Yet he could not will his paws from the ground for Violante's resemblance to his dam. The most he could do was frisk his tail side-to-side and stare.

Should Violante turn in his direction, she would see a pair of wide silver eyes fixed on her void-like features from a gaunt and expressionless black face.

She could feel the stare - it made her neck bristle, and as the stranger's scent reached her, Violante stiffened. She turned to face him, her black eyes boring into his silver ones. She thought about teaching him manners about not sneaking up on people, but then decided, she really didn't care. Shaking out her pelt, Violante called out, "Are you just going to stand there and stare?"

Slate was in heat.

She hated this time of the year, she hated being in heat. She had never in her life had the maternity instincts, she didn't want children, she could not figure why anyone wanted children. Sure they looked cute, but that was a lie. Their grossness factor wasn't what set her off, it was the responsibility, the whole "look after them for life" thing she hated. She clearly couldn't take care of herself (just look where she had ended up)

She found herself in constant agony at this time of the year, she felt her body longing for company, while she herself had not control over this and felt repulsed by it. As a loner it had been easy to avoid contact with other males at this time of the year, but now she was in a pack... A pack with males.

She had left quietly where the others were camped, she wanted to avoid contact with the rest of the pack. She had to get away from them before they scented her heat. She headed for the river and felt herself being uneasy.

Only problem at the river was, she wasn't alone. She stiffened as she saw someone, someone not from Ursus standing by the river. She then loosened up as she scented them. It was a female. She came closer, not worrying too much about them not being from Ursus, and then she heard her call out to someone else.

Slate turned and saw the black male. She stiffened and put her tail up high, on alert. She looked pleadingly at the other female for help and scooted closer toward her. She could scent the man was from Ursus, the familiar scent was all over him, but that only made things more problematic for Slate. She didn't trust those of the bear clan. Not one bit.

She tried to play it cool, tried to hide herself downwind, but to not avail. Soon they would both scent she was in heat. She ignored her own body. "Who are you?" She asked the strange female. She wasn't in the mood to be pestered by her body. She had lived with this for years and avoided motherhood, she would do so again.

The spell was broken just like that the moment Violante's eyes met Aventus'. They were twin black pits that swallowed all light, nothing like the fathomless indigo of Astara's gaze. He watched her shake out her fur and pricked his ears when she called out to him, but did not deign to answer. He would have taken his leave right then and there if not for the sudden introduction of a tantalizing scent in their vicinity.

Aventus had been through the season before, but he was still just a boy then. The scent of a bitch in heat had elicited some confusing feelings in him then, but they couldn't hold a candle to the sucker punch of immediate arousal he experienced when Slate appeared. It twisted his stomach into such a tight knot that Aventus grappled for a time with whether he was feeling hungry, sick, or something else, during which Slate scooted closer to Violante.

The melanistic wolf no longer held any of Aventus' attention. It was all on Slate and the pheromones she was giving off. Aventus tipped his nose into the air and drank it in hungrily, but when he dropped his eyes back to her, it was not Slate he wanted. It was not Slate's face that swam drunkenly through his mind.

It was Arielle. Sweet, fierce Arielle with her slender muscles and her sunny yellow eyes, always so full of warmth and acceptance. Arielle with her easy smiles and inviting demeanor. Arielle, the scent of crushed herbs in her pelt, the gentle fragrance of alpine slopes, and that certain spice that was all her own.

Aventus did not realize that he had drifted closer to Slate and Violante while daydreaming about Ursus' Bruin-heart, but when he returned to himself, he recognized the shorter distance and pulled his lips up in a warning snarl. His body wanted nothing more than to hover close to this woman with her scrumptious scent, but his heart wanted to return to the valley and seek out the medic. He had never truly shown how he felt about her, and now—

Aventus took one last look at the pair, turned tail, and ran for the valley.

Exit Aventus unless one of them stops him for some reason!

@Slate

Violante gave the stranger male no mind, save for when he drew closer to her and the other female; she bared her teeth and growled in warning, not caring that he did the same. He would leave them be soon enough, and when he did, Violante moved away from the other female, eyeing her closely. "I'm Violante Cruor, new to the area, but seeking to make it a home with my mate. Who are you?"