There is a joy within my soul as I run up to her, as the distance between us closes and the invisible rope that binds me to her shortens. It flares abruptly within me, stealing my breath, stealing everything from me. I can't stop though. I won't. I need to see how she is, to see if she will run from me or run WITH me. While I had stayed away from her, I had noticed that she had done the same. Not once had our bond grown tighter or warmer in the absence of each other. Not a word spoken and yet I KNOW her. I can almost feel her breath in the air as she grows alarmed and curious and excited as well. She is scared, just as I am, and together we fuel the other, but maybe it is just fear of what is to come. What may happen the moment we actually utter our first words together. This experience would be so much more than that, I thought.

My paws strike the ground as if it has held me back from her this whole time. The moment our fur touches I can smell her. She is around me, in me, she IS me. How have I resisted so long? I want to groan, low and deep, but I am without breath as I nip her. There is elation in my heart but it feels like it will explode or stop. I cannot tell which. I nip her and the yelp has my own heart kicking up a notch because I know it is not pain that drives it but her own fear coalescing and releasing. For one breif moment I turn my head and my silver-blue eyes lock on the yellow of her own and I feel as if the earth falls away beneath my feet. It doesn't. So I turn back and I run.

To my extreme pleasure I feel her more than see her as she picks up her pace behind me. As she joins me in the thing that will bind us, I think. It is her howl that makes me slow, makes me spin around as she races towards me and I dance to the side. Will I float away? If I do I think she will come with me because I am CERTAIN something has us tied together. I release a soft, short howl that answers her own, beckoning her to come closer and to ask. Freely I would tell because I don't think I can hide anything from her. We are an enigma to each other yet I can feel her. Everything she feels I feel - is it the bond or is it that we are alike? "I think you are a piece of the moon and a piece of the darkness of the owl but you move like a gazelle. What are you?" The words roll off my lips but I am not embarrassed. It is my way of speaking at times, flattery and questions and metaphors. Some crazy stuff as well.

I don't stand there complacent. I step towards her boldly, reaching out so that I can sniff her muzzle, so that my dry nose can brush across her own. If I crowd her then so be it, it cannot be helped. This force between us demands it and I won't be satisfied until I have it. Her. "I think you are magic. A witch of some sort, but thats okay, I like witches. What is your name, souldbinder?" My words might seem flippant but there is an edge of breathlessness as I turn my head once more, nose moving up her ear and down her neck, ears flicking back to catch any sound of her voice.