His muzzle was to the ground, his pace slow as he prowled the old woods of the Wildwood. Long gone were the days of his youth when the forest’s beauty had once overwhelmed him; now most that remained were the sparse bits of foliage that had not been burned by the wildfire, while scarred and ragged trees bore the anger from the flames. The Hidden Tree pack den had not been far from here, but it was rare the tawny male would visit his birth den; his parents death and Hotei’s disappearance was cruel enough to bare day by day, he did not wish to see any form of their remains even if it was unlikely they would be there still.


Instead the day would be spent moving forward to his future, and as promised to both Kinis and Volkan, the regal male was far more serious about claiming territory than before. He had scouted for almost a year now, and he believed the only area he would desire to claim would be further north. Still, he found himself giving the forest one last sweep just to be sure.


What he did find however was something that turned his blood cold for a very split second. Her scent came to him far sooner than he could place it, and no sooner did he glance up did the regal wolf’s bright eyes fall upon the thin and disheveled Ranger. She stood before him, just as she had only half a year ago, though rather than feel joy as he had before, he felt nothing more than rage.

The swarthy female noted his presence then, almost just as quickly as he had realized hers. While the tawny wolf’s response was pure anger, hers was submission, and so Ranger fell to the ground. His eyes stemmed over her briefly, not so lost in his rage to notice that she was dangerously thin and extremely frail looking in that particular moment. Wherever she had disappeared to, it had not done her any good.


Tears formed at her eyes, and such a sight only a year prior would have sent the man to his knees in upset. A year before Ruiko would have fallen backwards to stop such tears from falling down her face, and yet now he felt nothing. A cold brush of wind bristled his pelt further, and as the girl before him cowered, Ruiko took one heavy step forward threateningly, his fangs bared dangerously. He could end her now. Tear in to her as her disappearance had to him. Make her regret the day she had even looked his way.


Yet his muscles tensed. For all of the fresh hot pain he felt just seeing her before him could not erase all of the memories. The inner turmoil of defeat caused a sneer to form upon his muzzle, and without a word the male turned, his figure sweeping back the way he had come.. and as far away from her as he could get, lest his teeth seek her flesh.

Her voice drifted to him; carried upon the cold breeze as the meaningless apology hit the preened ears of the tawny male. She was sorry. Ruiko felt himself bristle once more, his heavy paws ceasing their movement forward as his muzzle swung her way, his eyes searching to see the joke that must have been in her eyes; the silence clearly awaiting the punch line he expected her to deliver next. Surely such brief words had to have been a joke.


Yet the silence continued, and she did not crack the grin he expected. His gaze narrowed then, his tail jolting dangerously through the air once as he attempted to consider what she thought to accomplish here. “I stopped caring what you were the minute you walked out on us,” he clarified slowly, as if she didn’t quite understand.

His gaze swept over the tears, noting the cringe of her battered figure. In the past, the tawny male would have been horrified to have stirred such emotion within her, yet now all he could muster was a grim satisfaction. Perhaps she hurt now just as he had when she had left. Even so, the silence between them grew, and Ruiko’s patience slowly became hindered before the she-wolf finally spoke.


In truth, he cared little to think of the reasons she had left. Scenario’s as to why she had abandoned them before had played on his mind, and at first the regal wolf had thought something had taken her from them. Even days after the male had confirmed with his nose that all was well with the she-wolf (physically, at least) and her trail had ended along the brink of Relic Lore, the tawny wolf had still not fully accepted that she could just leave. But she had.


And as her reason cloaked over him like a hushed whisper, Ruiko felt his hackles bristle even more. She had left him. She had abandoned him because she had a nightmare. A bad dream. The fury at this knowledge faded from him, and the feelings the male had harboured at her betrayal washed over him once more. Numb. Nothing. She was nothing to him.


“I have only one regret in life,” he finally allowed, his rough tone rumbling across the cold winter air. “That I had ever introduced Kinis to you, and allowed him to grow close to and fond of someone like you.” With one last cold glance, the large male turned, this time his figure emerging back to the foliage and away from the ebony she-wolf who was no more to him than a stranger now.