Yey! ^^ figure this can be backdated a little, to maybe the day the storm stops or the day after?

Keeping herself together had been a nearly impossible task these past days. She had truly thought that things could not have been worse than they already were, but then the storm had come and some of the pack had become cut off from the protection and warmth of the mansion. Among them her little cousin Tony, her sister Parker, but most importantly, her beloved mate. The two had never truly been apart from the start of their relationship. Even if they had not been together at a particular moment, they each knew where the other was and that they could easily go to them if they wanted. This was different. She was stuck inside, and Mati was stuck outside. For all she knew, her mate could be dead out there and each time that thought crossed her mind she choked on her sobs and crumpled to the floor. Cambi could not live if that were the truth. She just could not.

Sleep had not come easily, but somehow she had drifted into unconsciousness at some point in the night. She did not know that the storm had stopped, did not know that others were already clearing the entrances of the manor of the deep snow that had blockaded them in. If she had been awake, and known this, she would have been on the front lines, diving blindly into that strange white world to find the woman who held her heart. But she was asleep, small nightmares torturing her silently.

When she heard her name on that voice, she thought it was one of these awful dreams, devising a new and vivid way to prick at her bruised heart. But then it came again, closer, louder, and her eyes shot open. Eyes tired from crying looked at the door wearily. "M-Mati?" Her aching organ pounded in her chest as she stood and walked swiftly to open the door, hoping upon hope that her eyes would see what she thought they would. And there she was. Wet and cold and as beautiful as she had ever looked to those sea green orbs. Cambria leaned forward, clinging to her mate as tears sprung anew from her eyes. "Mati!" she cried as she buried her face in the fur of her lover's chest. Her slender body trembled and she cried, never feeling such relief as she did in this moment.

Let's do that then

Falling into her mate had been a reaction that she could not have stopped, even if she had had any desire to keep their bodies in any way separated. Cambria had been falling apart ever since the night that the hunting party had not returned to the manor. A ceaseless sense of panic and fear had settled into her chest and kept the woman constantly on edge and filling her mind with the worst possible scenarios. Whatever small bit of strength she had retained through her sister's fall, her brother's disappearance, and Anu's sickness had been instantly swept away at the realization that Mati was stuck out in the elements. It had brought the Marino to her knees.

She felt those comforting arms encircle her delicate body and hold her close, their strength the only thing keeping her from falling to the floor. The words of her love touched her ears, but it was some time before Cambria could find her own voice, all of her worries flooding out of her so violently while relief filled her equally as fast. She took deep, shaking breaths, filling her lungs with the needed oxygen and with the even more crucial scent of her mate. It brought the warmth back to the blood in her veins, which has been running cold for days now. Her true, full heart had just been restored.

The soft yet strong touched on her neck finally gave her the strength to compose herself, her face finally revealing itself again as she looked up at her love. "I thought I might never see you again...it ripped my heart to shreds," she spoke quietly, her lower lip quivering. "Being safe in here while I knew you were out there in the storm, it was torture. I just wanted to be with you, even if it meant both our deaths." For surely it would be better to die together than to be forced to continue to live while the other perished.

<333!

Cambria hadn't been worried for herself during the storm. The only slightly worrying moment was when the firewood had run out, but a solution to that problem had quickly come about thanks to her sister and Oak. It had never even occurred to her that the manor might be in danger of falling to the might of the winter snow and winds for such things seemed simply impossible. Haven Manor had always been there, and surely always wood. It was an immortal monolith and the heart of Crimson Dreams. Nothing could ever happen to it. No, the only thing that had worried the Marino during the storm was the welfare of her family that had been stuck outside in it, none so more than her mate. She couldn't even say which night was the worst, the first one she spent alone in their empty bed or the ones that followed it.

Slowly her initial weakness passed and she took some of her weight and pressure off of the Church woman. Now that she was thinking more clearly she felt guilty for throwing herself on Mati like that; surely the bronze wolfess was extremely tired and fatigued after her ordeal. Cambria should not be putting more on her that way. She could see the glimmer of regret and remorse in her lover's eyes and she wanted to wash it away. Mati shouldn't feel guilty; she had done nothing wrong. The only thing to blame was the damnable weather. That was the thing that had torn them asunder and made her stresses worse, nothing more. It was only natural that she would have worried so terribly for she loved the other woman so much.

It had been perhaps an overly dramatic statement to make, but the Marino fey truly felt that way. She did not want to live if Mati were torn away from her. It would be too much to bear. Her mate was right though, there was no need for such morbid thoughts now and she nodded her head slightly, eyes looking down for a moment before returning to connect with the violets. "The others are okay too? Parker and Tony? And Cypress?" Now that she was assured of Mati's well being she could focus on the other souls that had been with her. "Do they need attention? Do you?"

Cambria could not help that her mind had still been in the dark place that it had dwelt since the hunting party's disappearance. As much as she had not wanted to think of the worst things that could happen, her thoughts had immediately turned there without warrant. Those thoughts were what had thrown her into such a state as she had been in, crying almost constantly and unable to be of a help to anyone, least of all herself. Of course she had continued to look after Artemis and brew Anu the tea for her cold and infection, but they had been mere mechanical actions. Her normal heart and drive had not been in them for her heart was lost out in the storm with her mate and all of her thoughts had been sucked up in there as well. It was the closest to lifelessness that she had come since her accident with the drugs as a pup.

Another sigh of relief was issued for the others that had been trapped with Mati, her little sister and cousin among them. She could only imagine the joyful relief that Ghita and Jazper would meet him with...and the harsh scolding that would undoubtedly be soon to follow. Tony easily could have fallen victim to the storm, even with Mati's best efforts to keep him safe for he was so small. It was her gut reaction as the pack's Medicus to ask if the other members who had been stranded outside the safety of the manor needed her, but as Mati responded the Marino was happy to stay. She could see in Mati's eyes and heard in her words that now that her own fears had been lifted away, it was her turn to do her mate the same service. There was no where else that Cambi wanted to be but by Mati's side.

"Then I'm here," she said softly, lovingly. A hand reached up to gently stroke the Church fey's cheek and her lips met her mate's in a soft and reassuring kiss. "Let's go in." Into their room, their sanctuary. The place where nothing could touch them or pull them apart.

Failwait DX

It was her duty to the pack to attend to those who were ill or injured, and her duty as one of the elder children of the Marino family to make sure the younger were kept safe. The most important job she could have right in this moment though, was making sure that her beloved was taken care of. The others could be looked after by her sister for now. Amata may not have been a Medicus yet, but Cambria trusted her sister's skills as much as her own. The only thing she wanted right now was to be with Mati. To heal that pain and distance that had kept them apart during the horrid storm. No one else could help Mati in this, and Cambria would not allow anyone else to help even if they could. A little bit of selfishness could be granted to both of them at the moment. No one could blame two mates for needing each other after being unexpectedly torn apart for days time.

Cambi guided her mate into their room, and the wrongness that had previously settled there with the Church fey's disappearance evaporated. It was once again the place they shared together, and not one that reminded the Marino that she was without. Their hands were clasped as they walked, and their bodies remained close out of instinct and need. Through that connection she could feel that fatigue radiate from her lover and knew now how truly tired the taller femme was. Physically she had been through a much more difficult ordeal and she needed warmth and rest, rest that surely could not have come out there in the raging elements.

The cocoa wolfess followed Mati to their bed and watched as she sat down heavily upon it. Her mate's guiding hands were met with no resistance, and as that head topped with wavy locks rested against her chest, both her hands moved to be lost in those tresses. Fingers softly rubbed the back of the other woman's skull and her eyes closed contentedly. The Marino was silent as they let all the ill that had inhabited them both be purged by the sanctity of their reunion, true peace returning to their hearts.