Soon spring would begin sweeping across the lands, melting the snow and feeding the rivers and lakes but for now winter still held them in its grasp. The snow crunched beneath Draven's paws as he walked so he chose to remain still, the only sign of movement was the billowing mist from his nostrils. He had grown to his adult size though he had yet to fill out as he would during his yearling time. He would eventually be long and lean, built for running and endurance but now he seemed lanky and his paws still disproportionately large.

The woods still felt as if eyes were on his back at all times like they had when he had accidently ventured too far into such a ghastly place. The trees were gnarled like their branches reached out to catch him and drag him deeper into their trunks to never escape. It was a place of nightmares, and with his pitch black pelt he looked as if he belonged here regardless of the fear he felt in his soul.

He had become one of them, one of the eyes that watch every movement in the dark, it was easier this way. If he stayed up all night he could be alert and aware until the daylight when the woods seemed slightly less threatening, only slightly so.  So he stood his post, waiting, watching. For what he did not know, but he waited and watched anyways.

His waiting and watching had not been for naught it would seem. His eyes had long adjusted to the dark of the night so as the small wisp of a wolf tried to manage her way through the forest. Mossy eyes surveyed her in silence, she appeared to be around his age older than him maybe but not by much though much smaller than he was. Her own pelt was dark enough that she too could have easily blended into the night if she hadn't been getting caught on trees and....talking to them?

Tilting his head slightly to the right the green eyes narrowed as he continued to stare at the strange woman. Suddenly realizing it may not have been the tree she spoke to the black fur along his spine rippled until it stood straight.  Draven did his best to stand perfectly still while his eyes strained to look about the area, was she not alone?

Breathing in as deeply as possible he tried desperately to find the scent of the woman's companion.  Perhaps this was why she saw his breath, the deep but practically silent exhale's caught the moonlight and shimmered around his nostrils and face before dissipating.  Her reaction caught him off guard and the already defensive pup's muscles clenched in panic, would her companion come and attack him then? He had smelled no one else but surely she had to be talking to someone.

Fangs flashed in the night as the pup barred his teeth, hopefully this would be enough to warn her off and if not perhaps the demons of this forest really had come to claim him. Would that be so bad really? Maybe then he could see his mother again, maybe she had sent him this so they could be reunited. But... that didn't sound like something she would want, she wouldn't want him to die in a place like this. With renewed fervor a growl rippled through his throat, he had to make it through the night.