<blockquote>Jaysyek was quick to rebound; Borden didn’t even flinch as he took in her words. She had never been jealous. She merely wanted his affection for her own. The vexation in her tone made him stare at her, giving her the attention she required as she went on to say that her father had been a coward and had left a sort of poverty in the wake of his disappearance. She had and was doing all she could to prevent history from repeating itself. The way the older male was listening, standing at the edge of the lagoon, one might have thought he was braving the fires of hell. His brows knitted together and his eyes narrowed, but he remained quiet, taking in her side of the story.
She growled and Borden’s lips pursed in a sort of twisted scowl. The account in which he was that gallant (and, later, distraught and obsessed) father searching for his first-born son had had its run and the ex-leader did not bother to bring it up. The intense look in her eyes stared him down but he was not intimidated in the least. It was nice for a change, really, to see his beloved actually seeming to feel something other than sadness for once…
The topic shifted back to Vlarindara and Borden’s hackles silently rose. He had almost had it with her now, but with her revealing of the fact that Vlarindara had attempted to challenge Jaysyek’s leadership, he merely shrugged. It was disappointing to say the very least that the ex-Second had actually tried to officially vie for him. It had made the Hollow leader have second thoughts. Her voice softened now and his gaze flickered to the icy waters before returning to her face, looking somberly into her mismatched eyes. She continued further to turn the tables, to blame him for all the events that had taken place to bring her to where and who she was today. Then… she told him the pack was not his. His children did not know him, even now, and that she still doubted what she was… to him. And, finally, she had not asked for this – a pack, a family, leadership, and everything else in-between, he assumed. Hearing her rant made his brows furrow even more and as her ears folded back and she began to quiver, he looked away. Her voice, however, was quick to regain his attention once more.
She carried on, saying that she had filled in whatever pieces were missing in their story, namely how she had figured that Vlarindara had instilled within him some sort of agitation that led to Jaysyek believing he had wanted to mangle her.
He gazed at her eagerly, counting the seconds until she answered the question he had been wondering about these past few months. In fact, she <i>bit back.</i> Borden’s ears flicked forward before slowly lowering to their normal positions atop his skull. <i>Boy, she was good.</i> His eyes narrowed in scorn and he started to turn his head until he was looking at her from the corner of his eye. She had stumbled upon Kade not once but twice. At first, looking for him and Prosper. The second time they met Kade had requested entry into the pack. Hearing Jaysyek go on to tell him rather plainly that the dark-pelted man had been the perfect gentleman made him clench his molars together, grimacing all the while. Eventually, he looked completely away, still standing motionlessly. He had missed the sorrow that glimmered in her eyes and he stared out at the Lagoon. When everything seemed to have taken a grim turn she released what sounded like something that ought to have given him comfort… She did not want Kade to replace him; and, actually, <i>no one</i> could.
His eyes closed. The lump that had formed in his throat was hard to swallow but when he managed to down it, he met her gaze as she asked him what he would have done if he had been in her place. The anger that had distorted her features only moments before were gone and instead of a blazing fire burning in her soul and the depths of her eyes, a need for sincerity and all things related to it reflected back at him. The corners of his mouth had turned downward sadly and he slowly moved toward her. One step, then two, but for some reason or another, he felt afraid to take a third. He lurched forward anyway; his own anger pacified by how frail her words seemed and the look upon her face.
What could he possibly say? What <i>should</i> he say to the woman who still had every ounce of his love and respect? Wasn’t it given that if he had been her place he probably would have deteriorated along with everything they had shared? That he, too, would have suffered from a broken heart or something of the like? Hadn’t she realized she was the strongest of the both of them? He edged closer, shuffling his forelimbs until he had come within a foot of her folded figure. He opened his mouth to speak but closed it quickly to swallow the lump that had reformed at the back of his throat again. <b>“What… do you want me to say?”</b> he asked slowly, looking into her eyes as the last of his barricades crumbled. The sadness in his pupils now mirrored her own. <b>”Because whatever you want to hear is probably the answer I have in mind anyway. I don’t doubt it.”</b></blockquote>
Sex: Female![[Image: 9Py9751.png]](http://i.imgur.com/9Py9751.png)
