That feeling of being watched; Covet is attuned to it. Likes eyes were at the back of your head, and the hairs along your spine stick up. A sixth sense, perhaps. Some had it, honed it. Some.. didn't. Covet had learned to hone his, and had learned well to sneak. But it's usually the killers who can sense it, who can see with eyes that something is amiss. Covet knows he's been silent enough, careful enough. But if one had that other sense, then it was much more difficult to sneak up on someone. To watch without any detection. There was always room for improvement, and Covet accepted that fact as true. He went with it, he wanted to get better. And if these kinds of moments led to that, then good.

At least it was Ava. He doesn't doubt her abilities or even her sick sense of humor that would lead to what she was doing to the creature suffering. No, it's not that. He respects what she is and what she can do, but he can still feel that pull to her, that overwhelming sense of... something. It's not as bad as it had been, but sometimes he could still feel things. He couldn't help it, couldn't shake it. It pissed him off, yes. But there was nothing he could do about it. Something had altered though, and that had finally led him to seeking her out after catching her out and about. He was drawn to her, and now he would see if proximity would tell him more about the change that had occured this time. Worth a try.

It's in the little signs of the body that tells Covet that Ava is on to him. She's pretending otherwise, and she's good at it. But Covet is attuned to many of these tricks, and he won't be caught off guard if she turns on him. Yet he must get closer; the pull is too much right now, after so long. He watches as she turns her head finally, and he is not so hopeful as to think any greeting would be given to him. She doesn't seem to be the kind of creature that did those things with many. This wasn't a bad thing, though. Covet was not always that way, himself. Not often, actually. He was kinda on the fence about most of the wolves here, and usually upon a meeting he was looking for signs of weakness.

As she stares, he stares back. Bottomless black eyes take her in, and he is not afraid. He can't feel that, not from her. Maybe he would have, if she were anyone else. Or maybe he'd just be wary and not want to approach at all. It was hard to say, and Covet knows only what she was to him, what she had been. And there is confusion to what that all means now. He can't put a paw on that, can't decide how it has to affect him, but it does, for sure. In some ways. It might always be that way, he doesn't know. But there is no one like her, no one as perfect to him. This is not beyond his capacity to have in mind. Bothersome, irksome, a problem perhaps, but nothing he can fix. It is what it is.

She had broken the stare to look at the hare, and his gaze follows, considering. His eyes do not move from what he is watching unfold, and when she lifts the creature, tosses it to him, Covet does not remove his gaze from her, not even to look at the suffering thing near his paws. He does not move at all, he only waits and watches. He can hear the hare breathing, struggling a little. He knows that there is no surviving for the thing, but he still does nothing but keeps his eyes on Ava. It cannot get away, or it would have tried already. He knows that he will not lose it -- which he would not have allowed if it were able to get away, in case such a thing would displease Ava -- so he is at ease.

When she stood and faced him, his ears push forward for a moment, then go back to normal. Her voice when she speaks melts his insides, but he keeps his cool externally. He does not want her to see it. He does not want anyone to see it. Yet her words enter his thoughts. "Whatever you'd like." He responds evenly, nothing to show how he felt about it either way. When it comes to Ava, it's not about what he wants to do; it's more about what she wants him to do. Something that Covet cannot help, something he can't think to want to help, not really. Certainly not when he is this close to her. The connection is there, at least for him. It's not what it was, but it's enough. Her will be done, here.

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[ male ] [ three ] [ loner ] [ ava; severed imprint ]