I am so afraid.
This child between my jaws is in such danger. She is so trusting the way she calms herself at my touch. Would my own children had responded thus if they had been allowed to live? Who knew.. Seline had eaten them. No one would eat this girl. The fear runs rampant within me. It courses through my veins like an addicting drug, ratcheting higher and higher and I don't even realize I am headed towards the plains. They are the last place I want to go because memories of this place assail me and I skid to a halt. Sila begins to twist in my jaws and I try not to gnash them at her uncomfortable weight, not wanting to harm her despite how painful she is making it for me.
Is that her stench? A whimper rumbles into the scruff of Sila as I step back, fearful of going any further. I remember the way she had set her children upon me, her slick smile and the knowledge that I could not escape. She would kill me and perhaps I deserved death but this child didn't. I remembered, then, the meeting with the black lady who was scarred. Tick Tock - new Queen of the plains. She had been nice, she had been protective, and she would no doubt protect Sila. I set her down then with slow, gentle movements, my tongue raking across her scruff to try and smooth down the fluffed hair now where my saliva had stained her.