He can detect the tone that exists within the air this eve. Understand it, feel it, perceives the agitation in it as it rises within the females present as his deadened gaze simply flickers from one to the other though he offers no words, that vile, fractured mind incapable of understanding the lengthy spar of verbal revolt that occurs between his imprint and prisoner fairly one this day. She has defied him for so long, his Jaylah, refusing to bow to his yearling form so long ago and yet to his mind no time has passed, to his mind he exists still within those same days, unable to see the land has changed, he has changed and Jaylah herself no longer stands before him but a distant relative his mind has fixated upon and warped to resemble the one he remembered. He cannot perceive now or then, nor the ravage of time upon his own form. He is not the creature he once was, his prime has past, his pelt grown grey and yet perhaps it is both blessing and curse to behold a mind such as his own. He does not feel age, for he cannot comprehend it, does not know he is slower, older nor understand that so much time has passed and so much and so many have been lost- for he feels no emotion, is unchained and untouched by such ravages as that. A blissful existence perhaps- to belive he is as he always was, existing simply to exist and yet…..perhaps it is not so joyus as it would seem.

He does not understand stiffness to his form, foes not perceive the injury to his leg, merely grows frustrated with the limb itself for daring to defy his orders and commands, trapped within a mind that cannot comprehend the changes to an aging form and grows only frustrated, hateful and spiteful….towards himself. He is older now, approaching his sixteenth year and yet despite this, despite so very much it surly cannot be denied that he has outlasted most, that despite all he has suffered and all he has survived he is a power still, forceful still, capable of forcing others to their knees if only because he refuses to be conquered and until the day it is so another tears the life from his throat it will simply be as such, until he body is no longer capable of following his command he will stand above all- for he is infallible in so many ways. Will alone- it would seem, capable of adding to his strength and power and preserving it longer and longer still, a fit and perfect physical specimen and as such he will remain for as long as fate allows it.

Perhaps- one day, Jaylah will rise, perhaps one day she will seek to take the plains he calls his own and yet even if it is so she should mange that defeat, perhaps, he will afford her some slither of respect for her effort and yet that is all that will ever be achieved. Nothing more. Nothing less. He does not understand his leadership of Alpha position anymore then he understands the words exchanged between the female pair. For he has always existed as leader of Moladion within his own mind, has walked through any pack he desires whenever he desires and as scuh will continue to do so from his den within the free lands that he returns to still. His pack, his land- as always been his, the official laws of this land applying to all but he, he cannot lose what he does not know he has. Yet….perhaps one day Jaylah may seek to rise in other ways, perhaps it may be another pack she takes, a pack she will raise to rival his own, to force him to acknowledge her position as…..equal- a word that holds far more meaning to his mind.

She answers his question, deadened eyes held upon her still as she speaks, head tilted though whether he understands what is said cannot be known, her words scratching against the inside of mind as his lip curls upward in disdain, parting as if to speak, as if to……answer her question. Until she yells, that single word shouted at him like a spark to a powder keg. No. No. A sinful, hateful word in a tone he finds displeasing, a word he has loathed since his earliest days as his imprint takes her leave and as such does not witness the scream of outrage that explodes from within his worn throat, teeth lunged at ‘Jaylah’ with a renewed fur, attacking now from her blind side, shoulder thrown against her own as teeth seek her ruff- aiming to knock her down, to bite into her else unbalance her entirely and shake her like a petulant child before releasing and pulling away to hiss and snarl and spit like a viper in discord. He is dominant here. He has defeated her this very day and she is foolish to attempt to defy him still. He has proven his right to be above her and he will accept nothing less then her submission to him.

“I understand.”

It is perhaps the most complete sentence he has ever offered her, eyes of reptilian green fixated upon her own with maddened fury and yet somewhere within them exists a clarity so rarely seen it is surely a shock to that red and white creature- his voice a harsh and hoarse sound like rasping within his throat as he turns from her sharply now, his stride limping still and yet he forces his paw more firmly to the earth, striding into the falling rain and coming darkness to disappear for several moments, heading outside the pack- before returning. It dangles from his jaws like a broken child’s toy, limp body still loose and bloodied, yet it has been dead for some time, stored somewhere outside the pack and yet close enough to be retrieved as he does now. A puppy- or what remains of it, a snack he has saved and yet drops before her now with ribbons of saliva clinging still too it’s small body as it slumps at her paws on that muddied earth and his heckles bristle once more.

“Food…..for Jaylah.”

His face remains expressionless, blank, devoid of emotion and yet those vile eyes of emerald hold firmly against her own, unblinking, cold, dead- yet perhaps somewhere within them remains something…..an understanding, a sickening game of revenge he is seemingly determined to play. She has…yelled at him. He does not like that. She will eat his food or she will eat nothing at all for two weeks. Perhaps he does not understand much in this life, mind a broken wasteland and yet somewhere within that obsidian King exists a dark, dark humour……