She had succumb to a world of agitation, of resentment and silent seething. Even the reprieve of sleep she had long for was plagued by restlessness, stemmed from frustration that had eaten away at her during the waking hours. Was it so difficult to find peace even in her home?

Of course it was, when home was the very place where these irritancies came from. Over the course of a few days she had grown more wary of her mate’s time spent with their denmate. Undoubtedly it was out of a sense of obligation and care for the Jiryu, but in the back of her mind the Exultare could not shake the feeling that there was another reason for this. It was a vile thought to even entertain, but it was still there… the demons of mischief whispering obscenities in her ear to contest whatever rational thought she had hoped to conjure. Slowly they were sinking their venomous clutches into her, tainting her otherwise pleasant disposition.

Her patience for this was nil at best, nearing its tipping point each time she awoke without her mate beside her. Always gone of checking on Nayru, no longer waking her kindly as he used to. Was he getting tired of this now, she wondered. With the pregnant female growing more noticeable by the day, was this his way of confession to his aid in their existence? He may have played the part of a surprised man well enough, but his actions were saying otherwise. As if he knew he would be found out and like a coward he was hiding away, hoping she wouldn’t take notice or just continue to be the oblivious fool. Awaking again to an empty place beside her, the Nomad felt her temper rise and obsidian claws raked through the soft furs that made their bed. He wasn’t there…yet again! She struck the vacant place with a heavy paw, disheveling the tidy bedding to be strung across the floor.

X’yrin rose to her feet, marching irritably out into the cold afternoon. She needed air before she did something she regretted, a clear head instead of this jumbled mess of assumptions. She paused at the mouth of the den, suiting her form to equip with more able arms and legs as she looked overhead to the awning of naked branches. For a body just awakened it was quite giving to her wants, moving effortlessly as she grabbed for a thick branch above the den then hoisted herself up to ascend to a more comfortable height. Above the silent guardian watched as the irritable female proceeded to climb the thick branches up a little ways then situation herself against its trunk, her back braced against the bark as she straddled with width and attempted to recline. A moment’s peace among Nature was all she asked for before these dreadful thoughts got the better of her and she wound up cursing everything in existence. But was that too the fanciful dream of a fool in denial? Was this escape just a pathetic means to keep from confronting what was steadily pressing on her mind? No… this was relaxation and nothing more. A means to rid herself of that suffocating odor of their combined three scents. A proper rest undisturbed and nothing more…

“He is back…” the golden female’s eyes snapped upon at the alert of her companion, oblivious to her sudden doze until her eyes were again assaulted by light. “And?” the woman groaned moodily, bringing a hand to veil her sensitive gaze until it adjusted to the light. She needed run down and greet him every time he returned… but the silence of her companion suggested that that indeed was what she was meant to do. Sitting in a tree hiding would have just been childish even if that was the course she’d rather than take than confronting him, for now at least. Reluctantly, she swung a leg over the side of the branch then slid down to a crouch on top of a neighboring limb below. Carefully she maneured her way down to tree until she was again standing firmly upon the chilling snow. She said nothing as she looked into the mouth of the den and made no move to enter it. She simply stared at it, resisting its inviting warmth to remain rooted in the cold.

It no doubt took a while for him to realize that she wasn’t at home… at least if she was the one he was looking for. The very thought of it being their denmate as opposed to her infuriated her and the woman felt herself scowling at the dark maw of the den. But it wouldn’t have surprised her, really. He seemed quite distant to her lately so this little occurrence shouldn’t have bothered her as it did. But it had, none the less.

She waited patiently with her arms folded across her chest. Her wild mane bound into a single cord with its end busied by anxious digits. The strip of hide that fastened the braid was cut loose but a hastily claw, the mess of locks unwound themselves, but still she messed fervently with a captured strand. She needed something…anything to channel her frustration into at least until her mate gave a damn enough to speak to her. But when he emerged still bulked in form and planted himself on the ground, the Kozan felt herself growing all the more annoyed. That relaxed demeanor… his insufferable scowl. The sight of it all raised her hackles to stand on end and lips quiver with the onset of a growl.

“Did you find what you were looking for?” she inquired with surprising calm, gesturing with a flick of her muzzle toward the direction from whence he came near the mountains. “Or will you need to run away again to make another pointless trip?” Even to her own ears her words made little sense, but to a mind ruled by speculation, the message was easy enough to decipher. ‘Have you decided to stop hiding and tell me what I need to know? Or are you just going to prolong this until I see the pups for myself…?’ She hadn’t uttered a word in regard to her assumption, never even relaying the words in her head made her livid…irrationally so. She grit her teeth impatiently. “Well?”

Once before she had heard that tone of his voice, when they had first met. Too new to each other to even fathom their tendencies but were lead by instinct through aggression then into an inevitable climax that sealed their fate together. Perhaps another time when her mind was not so consumed with aggression, she would have looked fondly on this memory, smiled even as she looked to her mate with this recollection. But there was no such elation to be found, only a surging irrational violence that unsheathed her fangs and parted her perilous maw. Slowly she female released her arms, careful to make no ill favoring motion to set off his aggression. If anyone was to make the first move, it would be her… and she rightly felt she deserved it.

“Oh Saluce…” her voice feigned the coo of endearment. “If this is your attempt to have me say the truth for you, then you are truly pitiful.” Challenge resonated with every word that was spoken, daring him to prove her wrong. “Why not be responsible and make your own confession…Be honest.” ‘Admit it, so I won’t have to… Admit you run so you won’t have to tell me.’

Boldly the she-wolf lowered to the ground to be level with the accused. Her form remained as it was, balanced upon two legs and bristled with anger. Why he was forcing her to make the confession for him was absurd. Clearly he was capable of inseminating life, so why not own up to it than continue to bury the truth. She just wanted her definite resolution was all… the truth and nothing more. And she would pry it from him until it fell from his lips if she had to, by whatever means necessary. “If not, well... I'm sure I can find someone more willing to be a little more candid with me. ”

A jab back would have been better than his seething. All she wanted was the truth but it looked like she wasn’t getting it. A heated stare would be her answer, and she wasn’t at all pleased with that. But she said nothing else or rather she couldn’t. Whatever sting was held on her tongue was choked back as the body of pure muscle charged into her knocking her back flat into the snow. Her outrage was withheld instantly as sharp incisors tore at her face filling her mind with pain and red.

The searing pain was made minimal by the flood of adrenaline throughout her body, with instinct driving her to retaliate. But she could smell the blood and felt the fine rivulets stream down her face as clearly as she felt the snow seeping into her back. Hastily she brought an arm up to guard her wounded maw, snarling from behind its cover as she aimed a slash with her free arm across his face in ward of the beast’s attack.

Her claws made their mark, but it was a short lived victory as again his teeth honed in on her and grabbed her by the wrist. She snarled in pain, more in disbelief than anything that he would assault her like this. However she wasn’t at all innocent in this act as well. She pulled with all her strength to pull her captured arm from his maw, but it only worsened the wound as his teeth sank deeper. She hadn’t felt pain like this such a long time, she had forgotten its pain, the unbiased breech of fur and flesh, the stench of blood as it invaded her nose.

Despite her defiance, her anger, she felt the complicated relief when he released her. His massive form backing away, staring hard at her wounded face. The throbbing ache of her arm was noise to her senses as sight garnered her attention and was fixed upon the damage to his face. She hadn’t meant for this to come to blows and it pained her to see the result of it; that he’d rather scrap then just tell her the truth. And leave, by the look of it. His words still wrought in anger kept her frozen in place, immobile as the meaning worked its way into her brain. Done with her? Just like that.

It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. She couldn’t let it happen like this. “No…” her voice trembled with rage, the adrenaline seeped from her veins and a new wave of pain engulfed her muzzle and arm. But she’d be damned to tend to them now. Hurriedly she scrambled to her feet to catch him before his retreat, keeping the wounded arm close to her chest. “N-no… this is not done! You’re not running away from this!” She darted around to his front, bringing herself to her knees in an attempt to halt his steps. “I’m asking you to tell me the truth. You say my assumption is wrong, then tell me what it is! I need to understand!”

As she knelt there in front of him trying to read his face for a tell, she only say blood; the damage done by her claws on his face. Her own throbbing muzzle was ignored, each pulse of the wound lessening her anger little by little in an attempt to calm herself, following the example set by her mate- or could she even call him that now? Bile rose to her gullet at the suggestion the title would be dismissed. That the bond that held them together had been torn apart by fang.

But it had been for the sake of the truth, which was at last given at her demand; the circumstance as it was spoken as if the very notion was ludicrous. X’yrin sat unable to move when he spoke, her ears were poised forward and attentive at the start of it all, the steadily lowered with each passing second. The anger that poisoned her face ebbed away as guilt and shame surged forward, forcing down her gaze from the male before her to seek a deliverance from his anger by the snow. Yet even its innocent white had been tarnished by the red dripping from her muzzle; a punishment invoked by her own senseless jealously. “I just…” She just what? Wanted to understand? But at what cost? At the cost of making herself look like an ass? Of hurting the one she loved after accusing him of the unthinkable? She could blame it all on ignorance, that her reaction was a result of her failure to understand the individual complicated bonds that at times wove others together. She could say it was the fault of the Nomads for never instilling that paternal nurturing for her to recognize. She could say it all and it would have been true…

And yet, it was nothing more than an excuse to her own ears. As one that upheld rationalization over violence she should have just come out with it calmly and asked him about it… why he spent so much time with their Alpha than his mate. She should have just asked as soon as the inkling crossed her mind instead of letting it fester and rot. It never should have come to this. But it had, and she had lost him because of it. How could she have let it get this severe?

X’yrin felt the energy drawn from her body, dropping the female down to her rear in the show. Shamefully her tail slipped between her thighs and curled against her stomach as she curled down within herself, feeling utterly small and ashamed. “I didn’t know.” The sound of her voice was so terribly low and distorted, it could hardly have been said to have sounded at all. “I didn’t know. I just… I thought you were hiding… that you were going to leave me. I was angry... and I was scared.” Trembling hands combed through the wild mane and latched onto the base of her ears needing something, anything to grasp onto as this new, unbearable pain ravaged her heart. “But you are leaving now…aren’t you?”

The wait was more wrecking than the words themselves, she imagined. Had they come swiftly it would have been less of a burden upon her heart. But the longer the silence wore on between them, the soft crunch of the ice beneath those massive paws as he moved, she came to the premature conclusion that only silence would be her answer and that he would walk away from her as intended. And she wouldn’t have blamed him. It would have been her punishment for acting so foolish and destroying this relationship in its infancy by her misconstrued jealousy.

Warm breath neared her muzzle then a rasp across her stinging maw. Her ears jerked from their imprisoning grip as she sadness of her features were overthrown to shocked. Her eyes lifted, amber eyes searching the cold blues of her beloved’s, again seeking understanding until his voice caressed her ears. Forgiveness. Her tail withdrew from its pathetic capture between her legs and fanned the air behind her. Rather than ask him of his certainty, she took him at his word too relieved to question it. She didn’t rejoice outright, not with her body differing from his. Her taller form gradually caved in size, shifting sinew and bone in a matter of minutes to adorn a body more fit to lavish him with her apology and gratitude.

Dropping her rear to the ground with tail still excitedly swaying, she raised her front and draped her forelimbs on either shoulder as she dropped her muzzle and ravaged his wounded muzzle with an apologetic tongue. Each taste of his blood elicited another mournful whine and even then when there was only the cleaned flesh and fur, her voice quivered with whimpers, repeatedly expressing her sorrow whilst drawing herself closer to him. The woman had done him such a wrong, she couldn’t think where to begin to make this right. But he wasn’t leaving her… he was forgiving her. She could at least start with that.

The wrong she had done to him was rhythmically being soothed away until blood no longer stained her tongue and she tasted only his fur and flesh. When finished, she looked down at her work sighing with some satisfaction before she was abruptly pushed down into the snow. The heavier of this complicated pair came to rest partially on her side to keep her down with her forelegs exposed and stretched out before her. She didn’t bother about the cold again seeping into her side, for the tender ministrations brought forth a recognizable warmth to her previously troubled heart.

Elated tail continued to rap on the ground as he tended to her wound, then beat faster still when her fears of their situation was dispelled. This wouldn’t be the end of them, she was overjoyed to hear. They were still bound, their love shaken and tested but not broken. “I will not forget, I promise you,” she reached for his paw on her reply, her fangs lightly grasping for the thick appendage to tug then release. Her uninjured limb rose to bat the brute on the nose, hinting with a shuffle of her lower body that she wanted to be free to stand. But knowing him and his comfort he wouldn’t move unless he wanted to.

He wasn’t going to let her go that easily, at least not without a little torture. His body had no intent on moving, told by the surveying nose prodding into her form, nudging through the fur to the sensitive crevice that but her in a fit of giggles. He never played fair especially when he had her down like this, unable to move and at his complete mercy. She could only hope he would let her breath this time before turning her body into his personal chew toy.

None the wiser to his ploy, believing this all to be the prelude before their play, she rolled to her stomach when directed, lifting her tail and swaying it tauntingly as a flag yet to be captured. But his voice did not hold the teasing octave when engaged in play. Instead it was taken by a well known tone all together, laden with a sensual intent she had come to know so well. Her tail lowered slightly as her head craned back to look at him intently, but the appendage raised again at the cold touch of his nose nearly thwacking him in the head in the process.

“Different?” she whined softly. Confusion creased her delicate brows as she attempted a reason as to why that might have been. A bath was in order, most likely. All the time spent sulking in the den, it was a wonder he hadn’t told her of it sooner. The stench was all over the interior of the den and even out in the open air she had noticed but was too distracted to do something about. But from where he’d touched her, it seemed unlikely a bath would rid her of the pungent scent. And then a thought struck, stilling the female in place. Recalling this was not the first time she was tailed by the scent, understanding soon lightened her eyes as they caught the mischievous glimmer of her mate’s. “Oh.” Was all she managed to utter, still fixing her gaze upon the male. No wonder she had been so agitated lately. Among the Nomads she would have been able to channel this agitation in the form of a series of spars until the course passed and she was of rational mind again. This was the first time she had no outlet, no means to burn off the pent up energy. “Well…we could spar if you’d like,” she suggested innocently. “At least until it’s over?” She didn’t know what else he expected her to do…

X’yrin didn’t know what to make of his humor to her suggestion, only that she was quite surprised when he was laughing at all. Was that not what he wanted to do? Or like everything else, she was apparently missing something crucial? Patiently, she waited for his laughter to subside, keeping the male within her passive gaze until his head came down to rest alongside hers. Freed from his hulking form and revelation in her ears, she brought herself to stand whilst letting this new information digest. What she hadn’t know could have been seen as a crime against her gender, having suppressed this necessary time in her existence.

She thought of the many occasions wasted through sparring when it could have been an opportunity to breed. And had kept her from doing so was all a matter of timing and protocol. Perhaps had a mate been chosen for her, she would have been made aware of this change and the opportunity it entailed. But like all matters within the Nomad confines, it was strictly a need to know situation. And apparently, she hadn’t needed know…til now. She felt ashamed for her ignorance and it showed through her depressed ears and subtly dipped head. “I didn’t know that,” she confessed, waltzing listlessly around the male as he lay. But of course she knew now…

Her ascend tail took measured sweeps of the air as she circled the lain form, her body occasionally vaulting over his width when it seemed another around about him was too tedious to complete. “How do you suppose I have them though…” the golden she-wolf took careful steps away from the grey male, leading him with a beckoning whisk of her tail away from their shared and presently occupied den. “…if you keep lying on the ground?” The left the question for him to ponder on while increasing her pace to a leisurely trot, poorly concealing the growing excitement in her gait.