rumor has it!

[Kinkade]

[html]

Disquiet smothered the dame as she broke free of the stillness, too adverse to simply sitting in silent waiting. Yanking herself from the ground, she began to pace, assaulting the earth with clipped, forceful strides. Kinkade was so utterly consumed by her protesting thoughts, that the arrival of the alpha she’d summoned caught her off-guard. Startled, she leapt back and landed with her talons grasping the moist silt, defenses thrown sharply about her leggy frame. Those wild, ocean eyes raked Zalen with apprehension and distrust -- but at last, she snorted indignantly and forced herself to calm. Tension still rippled through the sinew coiled rigidly around her bones, and she regarded him with a stiff nod. “Kinkade,” she retorted, appraising him with a dubious stare. The silence stretched between them, as uncomfortable and merciless as the unyielding posture that swathed the pearlescent rogue. She was unaccustomed to anything but loneliness; her manners had never been particularly ladylike or welcoming, and as she peered upon the leader of the territory in question, she felt knots tightening in her chest. “I’m alone,” she admitted finally, though it was perhaps less forward than one would’ve hoped. “I found your borders, and… well, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to see who was in charge around here.” It sounded nearly as lame in her head as it did aloud, and she cleared her throat awkwardly after she’d pushed the words from a reluctant tongue.


It was rather obvious (painfully so, in fact) that Zalen was the reigning male -- he held himself in high regard, dominance rolling from his demeanor in waves. Kinkade felt as if she was choking on the blatant display, and her own assertive nature kicked, screamed and clawed madly beneath the confines of her stoic form. Slowly, unwillingly, she allowed her tail to fall -- inch by agonizing, debilitating inch. Her pride, and everything confident and authoritative that completed who she was, ached in the small show of submission. Beneath the ears that slowly rolled back and pressed against her crown, and her lowered tail, the heart of a rebel beat furiously against her ribcage. Kinkade’s eyes met his with that relentless fire, the indomitable strength of a limitless warrior.


Word Count: 369