She was growing impatient as she stalked after it. The mixture of scents overwhelmed her at first as she trailed after her prey. Practice would have told her to slow her pace, to keep it steady. Overwhelmed senses screamed however to charge after it, that she couldn't wait. Brush kicked up behind her, bushes cut through pushing against that fur like hands trying to keep her back.
It only served to make that hunt feel all the more intense, her mind racing as she cleared fallen logs and paused only long enough to catch the scampering steps. She'd been able to pick the creatures steps out from the others - but inside everything screamed she had to find it now!
Other creatures were scrambling to keep clear of her, those paws pounding their only momentary warning before she'd burst through a space. Much to their relief she never lingered unless to catch sound or scent of her target.
He was only ever a few paces behind her, as she was growing frustrated he could catch it in the scent left on bushes. This was getting out of hand, further then he cared for when it came to her. No creature was allowed to give her such grief as he saw it. It started low in his belly before it cut the air startling those around them. That howl of warning, clearing the space they charged forth towards and beyond. This would keep those curious away for now.
It was like a freight train as he powered after her, circling hard to the right to attempt to cut her off. This would require out maneuvering her - one of her exceptional skill sets. One though he knew she hadn't used in sometime and hoped to leverage to his advantage as she tore through the underbrush.
That warning was on deaf ears as her focus had her centered on her target, thus rendered her little aware of his interception of her. His tracks cut before her fast enough she skidded to a halt suddenly. Sliding across the dead brush that coated the earthy floor below her. Kicking up older scents they filled her nose now, and he stole her senses back as he moved around her.
It served to anger her for the moment, growl rumbling in warning as she stabilized her self attempting to face him. Part of her unaware of what he was doing - confusion still rolled upon her like the tide upon the shore, too many questions and not enough answers. All that seemed capturing the creature could fulfill.
Hackles raised as she sought to find him in the shadows of the coverage that was cast over them now by trees of ages. Only now did she see - she knew this place. It was somewhere she had been before.
His focus was her alone, as she skidded to a halt he kept pace around her - circling her to keep her attention. He knew that look in her eye, it was the motion she was looking for and he'd do what he could to keep it to bring her back to where she needed to be.
The hunt was not his objection - it was her less then skilled choices in the path she rampaged through after it that did. As she raised those hackles he began to close the circle in on her. She wasn't the only one who noticed where they ended up at - he dare not take his eyes off her, knowing what it would signal to her if he did.
His pace slowed, stalking carefully around her as he saw the space her sudden hunt had brought them to. It was a place where pain of a former struggled marked the thick trees that remained. The ones she couldn't destroy the last time they had visited this place bore deep gouges from claws as she tried to rend them down in her fury. In this moment his heart ached... to know that something new had brought her back here.
He'd finally slow to a stop, right before her with his head carefully positioned to protect his own neck and keep his eyes locked to her.
Ache blossomed in her - an ache she'd forgotten existed as she saw those weather worn marks that still remained. He was not the first to break eye contact - it was her. An emotional monsoon was brewing as she looked those marks - memories flashing fresh in to her mind from the places they had long laid sleeping. Fangs were bared as she suddenly roared.
Rage born anew in her chest as she found that hurt still remained - she felt the soft earth breath below parting for her claws as her vision snapped back to him. Muscles tense, hackles fully up as that tail whipped furiously behind her. It was not him he saw in this moment - but the past. The pain that still lingered with in her colored her vision as she struggled against it.
Her clumsy of a hunt had brought her suddenly back to a place she had been avoiding. One she had been ignoring. She had shut from memory to let wounds heal, but in this moment - as she saw the broken stumps, weathered marks that left no tree in the clearing untouched. She remembered. Those wounds had not healed, they had simply lingered - deepening.
He saw the hurt on her face and knew this wasn't a time to comfort her, comfort wouldn't be welcomed. As she broke contact he bowed his head, slowly lowering him self to lay before her. This was anger he had raised in her originally - this place wouldn't have existed without him and it was not his place to comfort her. It was not his place to bring her down... at least not right now and not here.
His ears folded back as he laid his head on his paws, prepared to take any blow she might deliver as he saw those old aches flashing through her - he could see in to her in this moment. She was left raw and revealing in her fear, anger and hurt. This wasn't a place she never wanted to be back at - yet something curious had managed to bring her here. All he could do right now was be here for her.
Sometimes when we try to protect those we love, is when we do the most harm to them.
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