ooc: Way to ruin a moment!
He nearly flinched when X’yrin wrapped her forelegs around his shoulders in the embrace that was long overdue, but never forgotten. All at once he was engulfed in her scent, her warmth, the soothing palm of her presence, and it was like being taken back in time to a moment before everything had fallen apart. He squeezed his eyes shut tightly, and for once did not hesitate as his arms wrapped around her shoulders. For a moment he held her, pressing his cheek against hers, nuzzling, lost in the past for the briefest, but oh so sweetest, flash of time.
‘Brother and sister should never part,’ he expressed to her, with a high pitched purring growl that was more soothing rather than fierce, and a small nip to her scruff. A smile even replaced the grimace he wore earlier, and then he shifted, moving his head to say something when his eyes opened…
…and he saw X’ies…
A doggish rumble resonated in his chest and his half-lidded eyes flew open. He glared at the silver wolf and jerked back like he had been hit in the face. The embrace meant nothing with the serpent there, looking on. X’ies had been there the whole time, he had overseen his fall from grace, he had taken X’yrin away from him. He had poisoned the autumn sister into ditching her blood brother, her hunt brother, her puphood best friend, and he was still here to poison even this.
“No!” He jerked his arms away from X’yrin, a pang of hurt slicing his heart as he did so. It hurt to let her go, but giving in to this false promise would be ever more devastating. He pushed her; pushed her away from him, off of him, and if he had had no regard for the life that grew within her he would have shoved her ten times harder. He raised himself up to his full height again and stepped back.
“I won’t fall for this act!” he roared. “A hardened tongue and biting words are all I have left for you because we are not family! Not anymore! Not like it was! I will never be able to trust you again. My sister… my sister” he slapped his chest, “would never leave me. She would have stayed true to her duties and fought by my side for the rest of our lives. The X’yrin I loved would never have taken advantage, would never have disgraced me to the family like you did.”
He spat, then spun and marched away, stopping with his back to them. Every fiber was tense again, it was all he could do to keep from lunging at one of them.
“I worked to become a true Exultare, and I had to do it alone. And still that wasn’t good enough. And what was my reward? Blood that runs cold,” he motioned at X’yrin, even though he still had his back turned to her. “And the deepest disgrace. An Exultare… childless upon my fifth year… for playing by the rules… and look at you. I guess it pays to be…” he huffed. The insult wasn’t even worth his breath.
“This place… those pups… it won’t be long before everybody knows what a disgrace this little toy Family of yours is…”