Jacquez continued to smile at her feeble attempts to upset him. She had tried this time and time again -- if she was in a bad mood, she wanted everyone else around her to be equally moody. "Why waste my talents?" was his simple reply to her 'sword' comment.
"Apparently I am better looking -- I don't need to rape anyone to get women," he replied cockily, tilting his head at a rakish angle. Haku Soul was so far below him, that blue-eyed bastard was barely on his radar. If they were ever to meet, sure, the king would not hesitate to crush the wolf's skull. He had enough reason to consider him an enemy. But a rival? Not in the least.
Then, knowingly or not, Firefly struck the one raw nerve that could ever make Jacquez fly off the handle. He had already split his knuckles open on the face of the punk that dared ask for Ruri's hand, and that mangy coywolf was lucky he was only outcast, not skinned alive. The hair on the nape of Jac's neck prickled and rose dangerously as Firefly went on, her sharp voice piercing him with every word she uttered. Then the king roared in inarticulate fury, smacking his arm against the foot of the bed, sending the furniture skidding across the floor with Firefly still on top.
"Ruri has a life because of me!" he spat, livid. If she hadn't twisted her ankle chasing after Heath, the monarch would have surely hunted the fleeing mongrel down and made him pay for his transgression. "I have every right to choose who she loves, how she lives, whether or not she continues to breathe! She is mine, and you're a stupid bitch for thinking you had any influence over her, or me!" His handsome features were twisted dark with rage, fangs bared and ruff bristling.
"Any other packmate can go rut in a ditch with whomever they choose, but they lay a hand on Ruri and I rip it off and beat them with it. That's how it's always been, and nothing will change that!" His tail lashed in agitation, his chest heaving raggedly. He wasn't one to beat women, but Firefly was suddenly pressing her luck, needling him this far. He felt like he was about to suffocate, imagining his beloved ward being violated in such a way, romantic or not. It was an extreme double standard, that he could mate with anything that moved but she could not even have a crush. But his mind saw things in black and white, right or wrong, and it was wrong for Ruri to lose any of her innocence.