there's a crack in my soul you thought was a smile

”I think you should be the one coming out, darling, as you are in the cave and I am not.” The echo of his voice is slow to fade and brings a wolfish grin to her mouth, toothy and vicious. She slips quietly from the cave, her golden eyes roving over Blackthorne with quiet appreciation as the grin stretches wider, transforming her soft features into something more sharp, more feral. ”So literal,” she drawls, stepping closer to him in an equal show of dominance, testing the boundaries between the two of them.

She wonders, who would break first if it came to that?

”Few wander these parts alone.” She cocks her head, looking at him quizzically as if she might stare right into his soul, to the heart beating like a bird between his ribs. It isn’t an easy thing to recruit followers for the purpose of destroying a pack; too many loyalties overflow like water from a cup, spilling into even the loners that wander packless. Even they have loved ones, and some of them might be loyal to Pine.

But it must be done. She cannot take them on alone, however much she might like to.

”I can only assume you’re either very brave or very stupid,” she purrs, allowing a beat of silence to fall between them before her golden eyes snap back to his, something sinister stirring there as the wolfish grin spreads once more across her grey-stained mouth. ”Or perhaps you are a monster?”

She takes a step closer, ignoring the thunderous beat of her own heart - indulging in it, even, as adrenaline pumps through her blood in waves. He could easily sink his teeth into her face, her legs, her throat. Something about the thought sends a thrill through her like electricity vibrating in her bones.

She hopes he is a monster. She could do so much with one.