March 11th; Evening, after sunset; Partly Cloudy; 26 ° F, -3 ° C.

It was actually a shame. After his little romp with Enoki, he actually possessed the lack of tact to approach his beloved, just to see if she would rise to his taunt and succumb to jealousy or insecurity. When it came to the bottom of it all, Skoll had actually reasoned with himself that it was better this way: Hecate should trust him, just as he trusted her. That was how a relationship worked, right? This was how Elettra kept Angier under her paw for so many years, right?

His muzzle wrinkled as if he had been perplexed by the idea. Maybe he had been going about the 'love' thing the wrong way. He thought he could have controlled Piety; obviously, that was not the case. She had run away anyway. At the very least, he still had his son when she could have taken the cub with her without even a whisper of additional defiance to him. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that Morganna was right and that he ought to have heeded his decisions from before.

What was gone was gone. After all, it wasn't like the bodies of the men he had killed could rise up from the dead or, at least at this point, Piety was going to come running back to change her mind about him. He had already moved on and, when he fully opened up to the idea, he was smitten with someone else.

Thinking of which, his nose twitched as he stretched out his neck and stared at the nearby trees. In twilight they were already turning blue with the sun's descent; with the snow beginning to melt, their leaves were beginning to sprout and in the air was the potpourri of fresh foliage and the feelings of being able to start anew... along with other curious scents, like those entering the rites of passage as adults and soon-to-be mothers.

If Skoll was going to be honest, he had been on edge since he had left his thicket. Morganna's stink lingered here and there, littering the Ridge in criss-crossing paths that intersected with those of his family. Being related to her, it made his hackles bristle and he wanted nothing to do with any of it. If Renier or any other chap was going to make their advances on his sister, tonight, Skoll was pretty willing to let them. He had other things on his mind.

The further he went into the forest in the west, sauntering through the trees that separated Whisper Marsh from Hush Meadow. His heart was caught in his throat. He was almost certain that she had gone this way.

As much as he wanted to call out for her by name, he figured he would wait for a bit. He assumed that she had been leading him on, playing something like a wolf-and-deer sort of chase as to draw him well away from the grasp of his relatives and the choking shadows that consumed him in the depths of his hideaway on pack territory. Instead, with his inability to deal with the anticipation of meeting her, he stopped at the mouth of the abandoned caverns that had once belonged to Princes Yuka and Titan and let loose a warbled howl.

The two large pointy ears drew skyward as he waited, anticipating her call. She didn't and he was greeted instead with a rather demure sentiment. A low rumble in his throat and chest told of his pleasure as he turned about to face her. It was obvious that he was tense, however. He stood too stiffly in his place, his tail held too straight out behind him. Even his eyes seemed to be unable to truly focus on her, trying to ensure that everything was all right, because it was already too clear that she was, perhaps, waiting for him.

"Oh," he sounded, attempting to match her level of reticence. "Just... looking for a special someone. I thought she had come this way." He met her eyes now, "Have you seen her by chance?" His tail finally gave in to a low-sweeping wag. "She has these lovely green eyes, like fresh ivy and these..." He wondered if he ought to say it, finally admit it to her face, "Lush curves that are very pleasing to the eye. Like she was built to spar and scout."

Beneath that pitch black fur he could have been blushing; at least, his face felt too warm in her presence. Piety had been like a dying star, but Hecate was the sun he had held fast for. "She's also got this daisy white coat that's just beautiful at day's end; and, in the moon glow, she compares to no other."

She told him that she had possibly seen the lass he had been looking for, moving in such a way that held every ounce of his attention. Then, before he had even realized it, the space between them had closed. He held absolutely still, listening further as she scolded him for his reservations. In his mind he had to keep telling himself that the comparisons to Piety had to stop; if this was not enough to prove that to him, then what she said next ought to have convinced him. His dove did not dare coo or tell him he was out of place; his little bird of prey did not hesitate to call him out on what he was keeping from her. Not only had he tried to not seem as affected as he was by her teasing, but she had caught on to his little dalliances. A 'kiss' to his temple did nothing but rile him up further, especially as she stepped back so she could see the fullness of his shadowed face.

"Familiarizing myself with the other creatures of the night," he admitted, wondering if she would press on for more. "Wondering at their beauty and finding for myself that they do not even come close to my kestrel. They're a bit too common for my taste." His breaths drew even at last and his lips parted enough for wisps of moisture to lift off his lips. "The magpies are too adventurous, the doves too delicate and dumb, the cardinals too nosy, the ravens too... like-minded..." A smirk finally found its place on his muzzle, wondering if she would understand that he had meant the three other women she might have met or not met, their coat colors easily matched to the type of bird he compared them to.

He withheld whatever else he had wanted to say about the others; if she wanted to know, he would hope she would ask. Otherwise, it would be a secret she would have to earn with him. He took a step forward, advancing on her with his shoulders squared; it was not an invitation to play or to spar, but it told her without words that he was beginning to tire of being wordmongerS rather than doers. He was going to try to cut to the chase already. "I'm sure you've been doing the same?" he questioned in kind, having caught a trace of his brother's musk on her fur at least once before.

"I hope y'know I trust you." She let him know first and foremost that their relationship was still mutual in most aspects. He regarded her with half-lidded eyes and a bored expression; while he had been expecting this sort of warning, he wasn't at all interested with conversation anymore. Half of him was ready to walk away and test her skills in persuasion and assault. He really wanted to see if she could do as she just said: bring him to his knees... He turned his head so that he could look at her from the corner of his eye. One midnight black paw lifted in suggestion that he was going to move to one side and see for himself if her wants were as heady as his.

"Skoll Archer," the enunciation of his name made the ear closest to her rotate to face her straight on, "y'should know by now that yer the only man for me."

He found that he could not help but to face her again. "Oh yeah?" this was only half of what his usual taunts sounded like. There was more guile and inquisitiveness rather than accusation. His gaze even flickered past her to her ivory tail as he pressed himself to her again, curving his neck over her shoulders in an attempt to further mark her as his own, "Prove it to me then..."

His eyes clinched shut as her tail swung his way, batting him square on the nose. The breath he had been holding captive in his chest escaped from him as though his lungs had collapsed in on themselves. A low growl, that was more excited than aggressive, served as his only reply. Where she had moved to snake along his side, he moved in such a way as to counter her - almost to a T. His steps brought him along her side, so that they stood with his shoulder to her hip.

Skoll chuffed as he grazed his teeth across her side, something that was not even close to, say, a 'play bite.' So much for trying to get to the root of it all... nevertheless, he swung his left arm over her rump, then waited, half-hoping that the weight he was placing on her would be enough to convince her that he had already succumbed to this bout of lust. He moved forward so that his arm laid across her back just below her shoulders; all he had to do was shift over to claim her.

"I've had enough of this," he hissed and rumbled enticingly in her ear. "Haven't you?" A small nip to her ear and a nuzzle of his temple to her neck and he was practically begging for it. "Give in..."