The Wildwood Leaving California

@Zerxes

Peering through these charred trees the girl was torn. Torn between calling for a leader and just fading away. The burning feeling still coursed under her coat, her parted, panting jaws about all Victoria could manage to try and release some of this heat, short of snow-diving (but she didn't want to make herself so vulnerable with a pack right there). The wrong feeling, the hot feeling hadn't decreased with the failing light and with Savvy's disappearance there was nobody left to help her - what more was there she could do?

The snow wasn't enough, the shade wasn't enough, and so the only logical explanation Vic could reach was that she had caught some sort of exotic illness, and soon she would die. She wondered if perhaps she should just try and return to the reach, to say her goodbyes to her family... but she had told him she would come and so she had. Surely one whiff would be enough to explain why she couldn't stay.

Tucked partially under some hawthorn, she laid low and waited. A young tawny girl and her darker sibling had passed, followed by another earthen toned woman, much older than the almost yearlings. Maybe hours had passed and at some point, her eyes had fallen closed until a familiar scent beckoned her back to the land of the living. "Zerxes?" her voice was hardly above a groggy whisper as shaky legs tried to extract her from the bush, failing in their attempt at making minimal noise. She hadn't even managed to open her eyes until she tripped on a tree root and found her face buried in the snow. Her face grew hot with shame, she never was terribly good at waking up. With a shake warm eyes glanced about, was he really here or was it just a dream?

It was the most frustrating breeding season to date. Normally, Zerxes would carve a path through any female he could get his jaws around. Often, his...enthusiasm left little chance for pups to even come into the picture. And if he hadn't broken his partner during the mating itself, Z would damn well make sure he did before he left. But now he was part of a pack and expected to maintain a certain standard. @Kerberos was as watchful as ever and @Leotie and @Maera were wise enough to avoid him. Even when the women weren't, Z found he had the control after all to resist his baser urges.

But he didn't like it. The long game was his favorite, but at this price? It was torture!

So when the scent of another female's heat reached his nose, he risked taking the chance. If he broke this one...it was close enough to pack territory where his deed could be discovered. @Treyah could stumble upon it and ruin all that he'd worked to build. Shiiiiiiiiit.

As it happened, he knew this scent. Curiosity piqued, he moved forward into the woods, green eyes seeking through the underbrush for where she was hiding. When she stumbled out, fur mussed and eyes hazy, he withheld a groan.

"Little love," he rumbled invitingly. "Need some help there?" He would love to be of service.