The Wildwood Seeing Red

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<b>”Patience… calm. Patience… calm.”</b> rang the southern tones of the large onyx male. The sun was rising from behind the mountains in the distance, illuminating the small flecks of silver which hugged the young brute’s large torso. He sat with his back to the beautiful sky, his dull silver eyes were kept in darkness as he repeated the phrase over and over again.
His patience was wearing thin. He hated waiting. He hated the feeling that nothing was going his way, that his plans were taking too long to come to fruition, that he was no closer to murdering his sister then he had been months ago. A small growl erupted from him at the thought.

<b>”Patience Rhysis… calm.”</b> he scorned himself sternly. He needed to get a grip, to calm his red raging thoughts which had haunted him all night. Rhysis had yet to sleep, he’d been unable to turn off the switch in his brain and had spent the entire night replaying his miserable life in his head, over and over again. Rhysis needed to chill, to unwind and rid himself of the built up angst before he set off on his daily operation. Eat. Sleep. Gather Intel. That was his life and for a young male, it was becoming tedious.

He had dreams of being king, making his own rules, having his own land, a pack to call his own and he would have that one day… but one day was too far away and he was growing tired of waiting.

He had to stop. Rhysis took a deep breath and turned his head to face the sunrise at last. He allowed the red rays to lick at his fur and skin and warm him from the cold. A deep breath finally silenced his dark thoughts and with composure in place, he stood tall and headed off in the direction of the sun- time for breakfast.

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Aisling wandered slowly and silently through the trees. The only hint of her existence in the slowly brightening forest was the occasional grumble from her stomach. Every so often it would make that horrible sound, and Aisling would cringe, and pause for the longest fifteen seconds of her life, making sure no one had heard her. After her journey over the mountain, she was exhausted. Rocks were not her preferred bed, and even one night of sleeping on them, without the cover of trees as there had been in her hiding place in Riddle Heights, had left her sore, cold, and more tired than she had been before.

The grass was soft, though, very welcome underfoot, and Aisling rolled her shoulders. While still quite uptight, as she had yet to run into a wolf on the ground yet, she was still quite happy to be back amongst the trees. Her ears swiveled atop her skull, and she paused again, feeling that odd turning sensation in her stomach before it growled, and she cringed again, her back leg pulling upward as she braced herself for the sound of another, or some paw sound. <b style="color:#388d10">"speech."

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There was a slight breeze licking the air, carrying scents of the woodland around him. He’d grown fond of this area, it was quiet, desolate and generally empty, his kind of place, that was for sure. Despite his foul mood this morning the sight of the barren forest helped to calm him, to clear his dark thoughts and refresh him for his day of deception.

The breeze whizzed past him once more, but this time it carried the scent and faint sounds of another wolf. He paused his steps and took a moment to inhale. He didn’t recognise the scent and there was just one, so it didn’t appear to be a pack wolf- he’d had his fill of those for the moment.

His grey gaze narrowed slightly, brow furrowed to block out the sun which was directly in front of him so he could better see the shadows around him. Someone was out there, he was certain of that. Then he heard an odd sound, it sounded much like his stomach when he was hungry… but he was certain it wasn’t him that time as the peculiar bubbling sensation didn’t accompany it like it would normally. No, someone else was out there and they were hungry. Pah, good luck to them- not much lived around here. Still, he couldn’t dismiss the wolf, they might have valuable information for him.

Instead, he cleared his throat and said, quite loudly. <b>”Who’s out there?”</b>
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Aisling had no <span class='word'>mettle</span>. The pale female, at this moment in time, was merely a spineless creature, jumping at the slightest sounds, even those that she herself had made. And so she stood, curled inward slightly, just waiting to hear at she'd been discovered. Not that she had any reason to hide, but she would much rather find a friendly face rather than attract a wolf that would probably take advantage of the weak state she was in, given up by the loud rumblings of her stomach.

And she had been found. In her silent position, she heard the sound of a cleared throat, and then a voice. From the booming sound of it, the wolf was actually quite close. It was a miracle that she'd been able to sneak past him without being heard before her stomach had given her away. <b>"Uh...um...me?"</b> was Aisling's answer, uncurling herself to look around, finally spotting the wolf through the backlit trees.

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The sound of a female voice rang in the air. Using his ears he located the direction of the voice and his pearly grey eyes locked onto the small figure of a female not too far from him. How on earth had he not heard her? Though looking at her small, skinny framed he doubted that she even weighed enough to make a noise upon the hard floor. He might have felt pity for her, were he a nice guy. Still, there was a routine when it came to meeting a new wolf and she was no exception.

He turned to face her then directly, so his chest was in line with hers and he took a few bold steps forward. He had a fully belly, he was full of <span class='word'>mettle</span> and had no qualms approaching the smaller female, though he left a few feet between them. He had to look down slightly to meet her eyes, she was much shorter then him.
He allowed his nose to inhale her scent, it wasn’t one he recognised but it was a singular smell, that meant she wasn’t a pack wolf.

<b>”And you are…?”</b> he asked in his strong southern drawl.
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A look of utter terror came over Aisling's face as the larger wolf approached her. He was so big. The fur along her spine rose, clearly intimidated by him. Thankfully he didn't come too close, and she let out a slow breath, allowing her bright amber eyes to lift up and look at him. Her black nose twitched, curious to his alliances, but she smelled no sign of Swift River or Grizzly Hollow. Aisling was thankful. They would be strangers.

<b>"Aisling."</b> She answered, ears twisting back and eyes casting down again. <b>"I-I'm sorry for bothering you,"</b> her pale brows arched as if she wanted to look up, but didn't bother. It felt odd still not having commentary in her ears, helping her, giving her courage. Now she had nothing, absolutely nothing.

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Rhysis saw the terror in her eyes and he came forward. She seemed a little taken aback by his sheer size, many were. With his young age he still had more growing to do but he was a very tall wolf and used it to his advantage often.
Still, she was brave enough to offer her name. At least she wasn’t too scared to speak, Rhysis hated that. Wolves should have a spine, no matter how intimidated they might feel.

<b>”You’re not bothering me.”</b> he replied before he lowered his rear to the floor. Sure, he was over confident but he didn’t feel like this female was much of a threat, he felt safe enough to park his backside. With his head tilted, he added. <b>”I’m Rhysis, by the way.”</b>
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