Well I just wrote a whole lot of fluff. xD +479
It had taken her some time to build up the guts to leave clan lands for the first time in what felt like forever. Of course, the Centurion had scouted out in the vicinity of the sacked Boreas camp for signs of the enemy and anything else, but she’d never left the Dampwoods. Now she traveled south, for no purpose other than to ease the ache in her limbs from being cooped up in the territory. South had always meant safety to her; north was full of dangers such as Salsola or complications such as New Dawn and the ruin of Ichika no Ho-en. South was where she’d met Blind, too, although she had barely spared a thought for the girl she’d cared so much about. It wasn’t that the dear she-wolf was any less important, but she was a chapter in a book, and Ves had already flipped to the next.
The rustle of wings in the trees overhead gave her some comfort as she loped through the trails of the forest, not as familiar as the Dampwoods but still an old friend to be revisited with a new eye. Her head turned and her ear strained to compensate for her missing left, which could still pick up sounds but lacked the flap of skin to truly catch them. With Stark flying above her, she shouldn’t miss danger or opportunity.
But the bird did miss something that had Vesper halting in her tracks, her lungs heaving and her limbs splayed slightly for balance. The raven cawed something and circled back, but she shook her head and pressed on, her paws dragging her in the direction of the scent as much as she wanted to go away. It was powerful and full of hormones, bringing both fear and longing to the scarred hybrid—heat scent.
Ves was lucky enough to have a relatively subtle heat, no more than a bit of odor and itching or cramping and blood. She would have driven herself mad otherwise, considering her inborn preferences and her fear of a man getting too close. However, she still avoided anything to do with the event, until now, when the feral pulsing in the air grabbed hold of her nose with a firm hand and dragged her forward.
Stark flew out of sight as she stepped through the undergrowth, and she gave her head a shake, shifting the rosaries around her neck. Her muzzle lifted, and she recognized the odor underneath the cloying aroma. She couldn’t put a face or name to it, but it made her relax slightly as it did not fill her with any more fear.
Finally, Vesper came to a halt beside a shrub and glanced at the coyote hybrid, recognizing her at last as the one she’d sparred with. She hesitated, then let out a little yip to announce her presence.
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