The leap of my heart made my head shoot up from where it rested on my paws. It was not a sensation born of the dreams found in rest or from the thrill of a hunt. This emotion wasn't even my own - it was Haziel's. I hadn't felt something so strong from him in months, maybe longer. Blinking repetitively, I shook my head and breathed deeply. Was something wrong? I came very close to panicking, thinking someone might be attacking him and he needed my help. The thought went so far as to bring me to my feet until I realized it was an excited sensation that flooded through me. This realization calmed me somewhat, but it presented its own set of problems.

My brows furrowed - when was the last time I had even seen Haziel? For a time I had made a point of seeking him out on a regular basis - bringing him prizes from my hunts, talking with him and learning about his duties as hand to Eden. But the meetings had become less frequent as the months wore on. Haziel had seemed to withdraw, from me, from the pack, from himself. At first I had tried to wiggle my way into his life despite these changes, the roots of our connection too deeply entrenched within me to so easily dismiss the idea of spending time with him. Eventually, though, it became a fruitless endeavor. I missed looking at his handsome face and hearing his voice; I missed just being around him. But I had a job to do, and I couldn't lay around waiting for him to come visit. So I'd carried on with my life, throwing myself whole-heartedly into perfecting different hunting techniques so that I could maintain my status as the top hunter in Glorall (and Moladion, but there's no 'official' title for that). Ever since Ehiyeh had (accidentally) discovered the numbing effects of rays' barbs, I'd made a point of hunting unique animals and seeing what the parts we didn't eat might come in use for. It kept me busy. It kept my mind off of Haziel.

But now I could feel this elation, this pulsating excitement that could not be denied. Even though fate had deemed we were meant for each other, I had wondered to myself on occasion if there was someone else, if that was why he'd withdrawn from me. And even though most of the time I was able to easily dismiss the idea, it still festered in the back of my mind. My dark tipped tail twitched at my hocks, debating what I should do. And then I set off at a lope. Our connection, and general proximity to one another for the past six years, made it easy for me to hone in on his location. I moved swiftly, picking my way across the territory and growing steadily closer to him.

I slid to a stop in the sandy soil when I saw him. There he was, nose buried in the fur of some other female's neck. He practically engulfed her with his body, and I recoiled. I had never seen him be so...so touchy! Our touches had always been brief - filled with meaning, I thought, but brief. Who was this, that he would so readily plunge into her embrace? Some small part of me softly whispered in the back of my mind, go back, leave him be; the part of me that was so sad to see him with someone else when we were so obviously meant for each other. But there was a bigger, more consuming emotion that won out. Jealousy. It reared its ugly head within my heart and mind, made me want to rip them apart and chase the unknown shewolf from Glorall. So rather than turn away I moved forward once more, narrowing the wide distance between us. "Haziel?" Dammit. I had meant to make it a statement, to let him know that I was here, witnessing the embrace. But instead it came out as a question, a question that only he could answer.