Word Count :: 443 :: Thanks! I was so happy I got it, so nice of the SA people. And ho snap, Zalen just laid it down on Lucia. XD
Zalen watched in horror as the tranquil smile that alighted upon her features so delicately faded and were replaced by remorse and pain. She slipped from his grasped and crumpled into a wet heap on the ground in front of him. He watched in shock as she looked up with him and spoke words that did not match the glint in her eyes. What had happened to this girl? He would kill them! He would rip them apart whoever they were, for hurting her so. This beautiful, sable girl, how could she be so broken? He wished he could pick up her pieces and put her together. He knelt beside her quickly and took her paw in his own.
“Lucia… please…” He looked into her emerald eyes with his apple ones, pleading with her not to say that this would be their only encounter. “I am alone here… I have no family, no burdens, I don’t even had a den yet. But I will remain in these woods, I will always be here.” His ears drooped, nearly touching the ruffled fur of his head. He suddenly felt inadequate; he had nothing to offer her. It was no wonder that she thought it best never to see him again, what use would he be to her?
Ashamed, he stood, the burning sensation now dulling in his veins to a prickly buzz. He didn’t want her to leave, she made him feel whole, more so than he had in a long time, more so then he had felt since he was with his mother, when she still lived and breathed. He looked down at Lucia, like a beautiful onyx statue on the ground, cold and lovely. Zalen was suddenly aware of the lack of her heat, her smell so close to him, though it only had been moments since they had released their embrace. “If it were the right time… I would have you as my mate. But it cannot be so now.” He was shocked at the words he had just spoken, but realized they were the truth. Lucia was everything he wanted, but he was not ready to have her. He was not established here and had nothing to offer her in mate-ship. But he felt determined to be there eventually. Eyes bright with a flame that spoke of dedication, he looked at her and held up a paw to help her from the ground, “If you do not return here to find me, then I will seek you out. I will not let you go Lucia… You would have to fight me to keep me away.” And this was also the truth.
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