700+, Private
He had taken care to avoid the stronger traces of the marked female’s aroma. Truth was of course that the scent was somewhat a drug to him as they revived the scene of a night with two bodies entwined together so tight. The Lilium of Dahlia de Mai was a simple creature with a hollow heart, so whenever these rare moments where a light flickered and made his heart beat happened, a teasing echo remained to remind him of what he could never have. Usually he had discovered it was more the thrill of the hunt that intrigued him, and not the reward itself. The cocoa male was actually not sure any longer. He and Firefly had collided so often lately. There was nothing left of what was sacred, if it were, he was sure they would break it. He held the largest portion of the blame, but Haku could not change what he was. The poison had dug deep into the relationship with his mate, and he was far from a medic. Haku did not fix things, his way was to trash them to the ground and eliminate the obstacles. Such a tactic could not be used here, and it steadily increased the general feeling of frustration the male was collecting these days.
He had approached the velvet female’s fresh den as silent and unnoticed as a prowling cat. The odd obsession about Cwmfen nic Graine seemed to find its strength in the night. His paws had danced around in the snow on the way to the female’s home, choosing their path carefully to not accidentally crack a hidden twig, or make a dump sound in fresh and slightly sodden snow. He was a black silhouette in a scenery pained in white and black with puffy snowflakes doing pirouettes all around him. His ears flickered gently and sought the back of his chocolate skull. The cottage where he had come from was cold. Firefly was merciful and left him be, and he was grateful. The snivelling devil of a child was acceptable company, but safe asleep snoring like a whale in the room she had claimed as hers after he had made the mistake to lock her in there the first day when she had arrived in Dahlia. Haku did not know how to act around her, to be honest, because he knew little of how to truly act like a parent. The word parent and puppy was worse than any curse word. He was in the middle of it all.
A slight crack from above sent his face up to gaze into the dark branches of the guilty tree. That was right; Cwmfen had a little feathery pet, did she not? Even though his eyes were remarkably efficient in poor light, he could catch no movement. His hackles rose slightly as a chilly breath from the wind made an attempt to get under his skin. It was cold, even for the man with the arctic genes. Fair enough, the male could survive stronger cold with ease, but he preferred a decent temperature a few grades above that of this chilly night. This was foolish. It was an odd time of the day to show up at her doorstep, and he was actually not certain that she was here at all. The brown and vanilla coated neck stretched slightly as he lowered his face to gaze down into the darkness of the den. His nostrils flared as the strong scent seemed to cluster his arteries painfully together with additional anticipation. Anyone home? The male’s voice was nothing more than a whisper, only slightly bolder than the silence that ruled the sleeping land. He should not have come.
The air between them had been cool enough during the pack hunt, but Haku always looked for more. If he could not detect it, imagining it could be a possibility. He gave a mental sigh at himself, because truth was he did not know why he was here. There was nothing right about this. It was just a question of time before he lost control over his swollen up mate, but with a large belly and later children, he assumed she would be relatively easy to have under control. He had halfway forgotten what they once had had, so he cared less of what would become of her than he should. Right now nothing mattered but this.