:::not here for my _{confessionals:::}

Malignus' long legs ate up the ground as he galloped although, in an unusually empathetic turn of events, he slowed so as not to lose the female who followed behind him, her shorter legs struggling to keep pace with his adult ones. She was swift enough though, and he had no doubt that time would add to her speed and agility. Perhaps it was because females did not usually approach him out of their own volition, Malignus didn't know, but his heart swelled with an uncomfortable emotion as he moved out to the edge of the clearing, hunkering down into the grasses where he would be hidden from view. As he pondered such worrying thoughts, he caught a smudge of brown on the horizon and the panting breaths of his companion beside him.

The hunt was on.

In a honeysuckle voice, he complimented his hunting partner and waited for her to plan their approach, all the while fighting to keep his eager body under control, the heady aroma of winter thick on his tongue. The little female smiled and then grinned, speaking to Malignus with both excitement and anticipation clearly evident of her painted face. He returned her emotional display with a smirk of his own, listening to her proposition carefully. It was a risky plan, but he didn't see why it wouldn't work, even if it did involve him getting blood on his tongue. With a sigh and roll of his golden orbs, the male spoke, “Although I do not wish to harm you, dearest one, your idea is a good one and we hardly have time to come up with another. I will be as gentle as I can, try not make a sound.”

With that, he began to bite the female before him, his teeth sinking into her young flesh easily. He was careful to keep the wounds superficial, and his teeth pierced her skin enough to let blood well but not enough to cause her lasting injury. He kept most of his mauling to her neck area, only slashing once across her right side with his claws, leaving a swathe of missing fur and a shallow gouge. When he was quite finished, he took a step away from the female to admire his handiwork, “Hardly a mountain lion attack, but I think this will do nicely. Give me a moment.” Turning his back on the clearing, he moved deeper into the forest to a clear stream they had passed earlier, wading elbow-deep into the icy water and splashing it along his face so as to clear it of any residual crimson. Once he was sure he was clean, he moved back to the girl who lay in grass and settled beside her, body quaking, “T-t-the w-water w-w-was s-s-so col-l-ld. W-w-what n-now?” His eyes moved from the young face to the smudge of brown on the other side of the clearing, and a gleeful grin split his dark lips, revealing dangerous weaponry that glinted, white as the snow around him.

He was anxious to see what Widow had in mind.