HTML Testing

The solitude of her new life was short-lived.

Greyhound had known that it would come to an end, that a stallion would inevitably arrive to stake his claim. It was the natural order of their kind, a custom so ancient that it had been bred into their very bones - as was the instinct that held the pale mare in its thrall when she drank in the dark male's scent for the first time. She could feel the warmth of him as he drew nearer, a stranger cloaked in the shadows of the night. Their muzzles brushed in an exchange of breaths, and the last remnants of her regret were consumed with that kiss, as liquid fire began to spread beneath her skin. Her eyes still luminous with unshed tears, the white woman studied the stallion in the light of a thousand stars. Come with me, the silent language of his body seemed to speak. Come home.

But the ghostly creature shied from his touch, the silver sheen of her tail lifting high as she danced a couple steps away. It was a tango as foreign to Greyhound as the world that surrounded her, but the steps came to her as naturally as breathing, and as fluid as the flow of air to and from her lungs. Unbidden, a memory of her sister crept from the darkness of her thoughts, veiling her eyes with a vision of Bloodraven laughing and twirling with a different man beneath a different moon. An eternity might have passed since then - it had been seasons since she last saw her sister's face, years since she had left her standing in the shallows with saltwater streaming from her pale cheeks.

It would take longer than a lifetime to forget the sound of her voice, the sensation of her touch. Bloodraven had been a part of her, as vital as her lungs, and they were already beginning to ache for her absence. Abruptly, Greyhound stopped, surrendering herself to the stallion willingly. He could not claim her heart - it would always belong to Bloodraven - but for tonight, she would allow him to claim her body.

She would sell that much and more to feel complete again - even if it only lasted a few moments.

GREYHOUND
unbowed. unbent. unbroken.