Neither of them had stood down, both incredible forces of dominance in their own ways. Reaver bristled, his jaws snapping at the open air between them. He did not understand it, this pedantic, divining force whose decree means that he was on the losing end. For he would never surrender, prepared to battle on and kill this battered bitch. But with a flick of her tail it is determined that she is the victor, and as a silence filled with violence grows between them she turns and leaves. He does not pursue her, his mind muddled with rage and confusion, unable to comprehend defeat. He is not finished, he will return for her. Not for the lands, but for her life. As she moved away back towards whatever hole she crawled out of he turns back towards the plains. The loss of the lands will not affect him, for he will simply return to the shadows that he had dwelled within for so long before Jaidah had ripped the plains from the feeble paws of whomever had reigned there prior. But what is his will not remain here, the old female would not have them. A howl lifted from the lips of his white temptress, and immediately Reaver's form angled towards her. He would remove her from these lands by any means, whether she wished to go or not. Tick Tock would not have her. Tobias would not have her. She is his.

Other than his neck, his body is free from injury. The blood mats the fur along the midsection of his neck, and there is a stinging pain along the line of his jaw and down the front of his chest. The damage to the muscle along his neck is the only detrimental wound she had left upon him. And he ignores it as he moved steadily back towards the plains just as he had come away from them. Never is there any hurrying to the movement of his paws. After some time he nears their den, the smell of the pups and Jaidah floods his nostrils and all he can think is mine. When the white female came into view he saw only her, ignoring those that stood around her. With the same one track mind as he had approached Tick Tock he moves to Jaidah, though coming towards her hip rather than his neck. When he within range he reaches forward, jaws nipping at her flank in a commanding way. It is an order, not a request as he bites her again, more firmly, at the point of her hip. Move. They were leaving, now. He is not rushed, only firm in his resolve. The slight shots of pain down his neck were titillating, and he wanted her away from these other wolves so that he could work out his frustrations while draped over her back.

It is only after he has forcefully nipped at Jaidah's hindquarters a third time that he notices the other wolves who stand around her. His lips pull back as he looks at the female who stands next to her with an almost apathetic glance. But as his nostrils flare he recognizes the scent of other males and his emerald eyes flashed at the two others who stood off to the side. They will not have her, and a low snarl builds in his throat as severe eyes flashed towards first the smaller male who he did not see as a threat. It is the larger male that he knows could be an equal match for him, for surely he would not run circles around him like that flighty deer of a female had. But as he looked into that face of black, two emeralds shone back at him. Immediately he fell silent, simply standing and staring at the wolf. That night in the woods, fissures and cracks had run all along the blockades in his mind. Little snips of information had seeped through, and he had set to furious pacing, gnashing his teeth at ghosts that danced in his memory. Ghosts of two pups rolling in the red dirt of their home. And suddenly these things return to him in full force as he stares into the face of his brother.

The flood of memories is overwhelming - racing through the red dirt on short legs, always chasing a much smaller form of the wolf who stood before him now. Laying within the warmth of a den at the belly of a white wolf who gazed down at them both from eyes masked in russet and obsidian. She, who had instilled a fear of the one of black with eyes so akin to his sons. She, who had taken him from his brother, from his den, from the red dirts...far and away so that the black one could not touch him. She, who had abandoned him to fend for himself. She, who had christened him Alyx. Tobias, Elijah, Alyx. For so long he had blocked out the thoughts of her, to a point where these memories were not even within his grasp. No longer does the beast fear the black wolf with the green eyes. No, he knows him to be old. He has hunted with him and seen the way his fur threatens to grey around his muzzle as truly show that he was on the downhill side of his lifespan. Tobias no longer instills a fear within him, but as the memories flood over Reaver's mind he can say only one thing to the brother long lost who stood before him now. "He comes." The bitch had wreaked of his scent, and he was assured within his mind that Tobias would soon walk these plains. And if any residual fear of the male lingered within Elijah, than some far repressed brotherly instinct forced the words from Reaver's lips.

Without another word he turns back to Jaidah, nipping at her shoulder this time if she still stood amongst them. They were going. Suddenly he turns away from the other wolves, returning to the mouth of the den and leaning his bloody neck within to grasp a single pup by the neck an remove her. She is reality staring him back in the face, her venomous green eyes darting around her as her midnight form is pulled from the comfort of the darkness. Reaver cast her against the ground and she snapped out at him before rising to her feet and glaring around at the group as her siblings were just as forcefully removed. And then he begins to move, coiling back and forth as if he were herding a group of prey towards their demise. He snaps at the pups, as well as Jaidah, forcing them to move forward and towards the borders. He does not care where they go, they just must move away from here.

There is nothing about his movements that suggests he is fleeing. No, he is simply taking what is his, and leaving.

Reaver

EIGHT - 42 IN/216 LBS - ASTERAIA