It was not that she expected him to cower away from her in fear. It was not that she wanted to see the pain etched like tattered scars across his face. It was so much more than that. Nyimara needed to feel the fire burning in his own soul, the same fire that awakened the dormant beast long silent. She needed to see him feel the same range of turmoil that coursed through her veins. Anger, rage, hatred, sorrow, loss. Like some great tidal wave she felt them all.

There is a moment that flashes in his eyes, a moment that does not miss her own. Shock. He had expected her hurt, expected her to crumple at his hooves like the others and wail a pitiful melody. He had not expected the tiger that tore free of that onslaught with chaos and death in her eyes. For a single moment he is taken aback.... and the moment passes.

Her teeth upon his skin is met with a guttural scream. Powerful muscles bunch beneath his skin as those piercing blue eyes flash ablaze with renewed anger. He lunges for her now, his touch no longer that of a lover's lust. He is the bear now, the creature risen awake and forced from winter's slumber. It is the bear king who lunges for her now, sharp fangs pierce the soft flesh of her skin and she can feel the flesh tear beneath her lover's grasp. In that moment she feels it. Perhaps it was in part to the heat of autumn that coursed through her veins. Maybe it was a desire to strengthen her bond with the smokey stallion, drive their relationship into something beyond any that he had with the other mares that he had collected over the seasons past. However, it was the look in those pale blue eyes, the fierce creature that screamed defiance. She felt him.

Ears prick as he snaps at her. His words bite venomously. He accused her of being gone and she could not help but to balk. Teeth bare as thick silver white tail snaps audibly into the space that separates them. "I did it for you!! I did it for us!" she bites, fighting back the tears that threaten the break beyond the gates of her gaze. Ears snap backwards as she ingresses upon him, stopping a breathe away from his own muzzle. Small teacup sized maw quivers against the whiskers of his own. "I did it to keep father and Warsaw from your doors. To stay here with you. I fought in your stead." she murmurs blinking evenly into those hard icy eyes that bore into her own.

But it was something he said that started her. Something that was spit in anger but words that did not escape her thoughts. "Why were you gone? Why weren't you here with him?" Rationality began to slowly seep through her skin. A plan began to form, the tiger pacing with claws unsheathed and fangs bared. She would get Sigurdr back, but she must see that bear king arise.