He doesn't even react, he doesn't even care! With each passing moment as she stares into his hellish pupils Malleah grows more fevered with anger, her words louder and her actions wild. She wants him to hurt. To feel the sudden onslaught of feeling that she is experiencing so that he, too, will know what it is like. It is almost as if he gets pleasure from her torment for while she could rile him up with a slant word here or there, her screaming causes the opposite effect. He settles down into an apathetic gaze, content to gaze upon her without utterance as a reply to her verbal assault. It is only when she grows to the peak of her fervor and scratches him beneath the eye before darting away that Carnifex is a burst of motion. Ah, if only her love did not come with fear. She could never tell what he would do - would he strangle her in retribution for her slight against him? Would he maim her and then take her, a passionate beast? She could never tell with him and maybe her heart thrills at that but for now she is in a panic.

Malleah flees with haste, slender legs eating up the ground and lungs screaming intensely at the abuse they take. STOP! Her body demands she stop, her instincts demanding she submit and cower but her mind furious. She wouldn't stop - she would die or he would control her. It is a bittersweet poison, his touch, deriving from her the very need to please him.

The sudden weight of him crashing down on her causes Malleah to yelp out in surprise, her tiny figure collapsing beneath his like a rag doll, and her spine slams uncomfortably into a rock as they roll, a whimper escaping as they finally settle in a tangle of fur and limbs. He is so much larger than her and her body aches with the impact from both him and his crushing weight slamming her into the earth. Slowly she lifts her head so that her pink eyes stare at him as he stands over her, a pharaoh lording over his kingdom, and she remains silent lest she spark some killing frenzy in him.

A flash of guilt across her face is all that she gives him when he begins to hint at his knowledge of her own betrayal, her ears flicking back and eyes twitching so that she does not glance away from him. Malleah is not a clever liar when faced with such things - she can twist things if needed but only if the situation wasn't so direct. So she remains silent as his soft words come out, somehow fearing that worse than anything. "No!" She gasps out softly, legs slowly pushing beneath her so that she rises with wide eyes, in disbelief at his words, her heart rocking against her chest. "It is not a lie, Carnifex, I do love you. But can't you see that I was afraid to carry your children? I was afraid and stupid and I shouldn't have gone back on our deal. Please..." she says, thinking that he would leave her there after such an admission. Leave her when suddenly she heard what she had most wanted to hear.

But it is worse because the moment his threat falls from his lips she sinks down, body trembling, eyes wide in horror. "No, no! You do not have too. I will stay with you willingly, please. I will carry your whelps this winter, I swear to you, if only I can stay by your side. Do not do this Carnifex, do not." She pleads, her voice harsh and tremulous all at once. She steps towards him now, still low, reaching out to press her nose beneath his scruff, desiring to touch him, to sway him. "You are mine. You cannot know how jealous I was," she whispers, feeling both safe with him and scared at the same time. Carnifex, her beast, who both hated and loved her, and he held her in this moment - her life in his jaws.