Unmistakable sounds of approach goaded the hybrid woman to absolute alert, her golden-yellow eye staring forward and blazing into the underbrush, seeking out the source of that horrid scent. Her ears were cocked to the noises, but they were strange—too light, far too quiet to be made by any adult wolf, certainly not one as large as Inferni. The silver-furred coyote was beyond amazed to see a child emerge from the forest floor, dark as the shadows of the forest with strangely ethereal blue eyes. This was not a threat, but she was still the source of Haku Soul's scent, and Kaena did not trust this child.
Small or not, there was that scent there, and the quiet child simply gazed forward and then smiled, a strange bolt of fear striking through the silver-furred coyote's heart at this. Her head shot up and she immediately peered around, inhaling for the scent of Haku, wondering if he lurked close by. It did not come; there was only the faded scent of him clinging to this darkly-colored child's pelt. Immediately the Centurion's attention returned to the wolf-child, tilting her head to the side. "You're alone?" she demanded, absolutely focused on ascertaining her own safety before she considered anything else.
The Dahlian wolf had made the silver-furred coyote paranoid, driving fear into her and reawakening girlish notions and nightmares she thought she'd buried years ago. What separated him from Kairo? There was no difference between Haku and Kaena's half-brother; both derived the highest pleasure from harming others and demeaning them, and both had taken something from Kaena, stripped her of dignity and pride and made her feel rotten and weak. She'd lost weeks of her life to Haku, gallons of her blood, the sanctity of her very womanhood—and she was determined not to lose any more.