Deep red eyes seemed peered at every pup to approach the group. In heartbeats he decided whether or not they needed his attention. There was only one wolf he needed to see at this ‘party’. He was so desperate to find her when his eyes locked onto a dark shape, hiding behind another, his head jerked almost unnoticeably with the force of his gaze catching.

His body and blood ran frigid. All the tension he had been trying to release from his skeleton was trapped in his skin. Slowly, the hackles of his neck started to rise. Fear started to rise in his chest. A fear that was not his and he could not understand. Eyes bore into her, this girl he had never seen, and suddenly something else wrapped around his mind. It was clear she was scared, the way she was hiding behind the other. Another, Zharko swiftly decided was not good enough protection. He knew he needed to be the one to protect her. Lurching to his dark paws he stepped toward her until something else cracked through to him.

Zh…. Zharko?

If his blood had been frozen before, it was nothing compared to the ice piering him now. At last! After seasons of searching, hoping, begging for a clue of her. She was here. But of all the places, and all the times… why now? When Blackthorne was there to see. Still, the relief he felt when he saw his sister made his legs tremble before he moved them again. He was by her side as swiftly as his legs could take him. Nose buried in her fur, checking her over to make sure she was safe, in one piece, as close to whole as she could have been when he left her. Each movement was still dominant, protective, though gentle when he touched her. Occasionally his eyes flicked up to Thorne, gauging the other male’s interest and making it clear Zafira was his interest. When at last he was convinced it was Zafira under all the dirt and the salt, he visibly relaxed. Even his intense eyes lidded slightly. It’s me. He whispered to her, his voice softer and kinder than it had been since he was first stolen from Iromar. I swear, I will protect you… For the first time since he had returned to her side, his attention was not on Zafira when he said the words. They had shot back up to the stranger. Seeing her again he choked with the need to be by her, say the same words to her and make the same vow. His nose twitched and he nudged his sister gently. Come with me… He looked into her blue-green eyes, begging her to trust him even in this case she had no reason to, since it had taken him so long to find her.

Hoping she would follow him, Zharko answered the need gripping his soul. Slowly, carefully he made his way over to the hiding girl. Small and (seemingly) non-threatening, he reached out to her already feeling better now that he was closer. He remembered the feeling he had when he first laid eyed on her. The fear he saw when she looked at him and Thorne. Zharko felt as though a piece of him would die if she were scared of him. He ducked his head low, casting a glance at the boy who was currently defending her. Words stuck to the tip of his tongue, but he needed to say something. Anything to assure her she could….dance….? Around him. He blinked in confusion at this thought, words and thoughts failing him. All he could think was to say the one thing he knew could be true. I won’t hurt you. He glanced assuredly back up at the boy the girl hid behind. Then his dark eyes snapped to Blackthorne and hardened immediately, fur on his neck rising again. This one was also his. Even if he needed to take a beating to have them.