She is gone. At least for now, there is no trace of the stoic silent beauty that had won his trust and adoration. No more is the soft spoken queen that met his fierce emerald gaze with tender eyes and an understanding nod. She was his first hope on these islands. A hope that there were others out there, others that would see the wolf and accept him for who he was, flaws and all. Zjeena. She had not been pleased when she was won in battle. He had viewed her as a captive, but a captive he was destined to protect and care for. Though he could never be sure at what point it was that he felt the beast welcome her. He could never say when it was that his heart first began to long for her but it was in the moment when she returned to the Bay that he truly recognized it for what it was. He needed her.

But she is gone.

Death screams from her gaze now as she lunges for him. Pearly white teeth bite hard into his shoulder for the first time and it is more than pain that bloods from the wound. Sorrow. Hatred. Anger. Fury. Like the tidal waves that roll over her own pale skin Rougaru can feel them begin to rise. Multifaceted eyes of emerald fixate upon those dark near black pupils of her own, ashen labrums peeling back from his own yellow-stained teeth. Like the venom from a snake he can feel the rage that tore through his body with each blow landed. A loud grunt slips free, a guttural growl following in his wake as the wolf jerks at the chains holding him down.

His words as thick with emotion. There was an inner war always that played within his soul. Mother had once told him of an ancient proverb, one that she never knew until the day father had claimed her as his own. "Two wolves war in every heart, love and hate. It is only the wolf who is fed the most that survives the struggle." In this moment, Rougaru cannot help but to feel mother had gotten that wrong, at least with him. There was not two wolves.... there was only one. A feral creature, bound by loyalty and dominance. It was this creature who felt each emotion as they come but could never grapple the concept of more than one at a time. Perhaps that was why he struggled so hard in this moment, perhaps that is why sweat poured from his skin, mingling with the droplets of rain that darkened his coat and matted the thick curls of his mane against his muscular neck. He had to feel them both at once. Love and hate.

Until she sets him free.

It is not the Zjeena that he knows that speaks the commandment, it is the monster that Liland created. Her small muzzle lifts high, dark eyes meeting his own and a sinister smile draws those once tender lips upward. Go.. burn the Bay. Bring me Liland's head!

With a snap the chain is broken and the gate swung wide. He was free. Golden eyes gleam behind green as the beast shivers into its own skin, its claws digging deep into the earth to feel the ground give way beneath him. Nostrils quiver as a feral growl roars from his lungs lending life to the creature that surged to the surface. Bloodshed. Malice. Chaos. Death.

Rougaru knew that the Zjeena he knew would never want harm to come to the herd that Liland collected. Not to her eldest daughter who as far as he knew still remained with her sire. But that is not the Zjeena that freed him now. He wheels away from her, saliva dripping from parted lips as he lunged through the underbrush, not bothering to use the familiar paths he did not need them. He felt no pain. He was free.

Muscular haunches dig deep into the sandy soil as he charges into the surface. It was time to bury the Bay beneath his hooves and see Liland's bones bleach in the sun. It was time for Zjeena to have her revenge and it would be his strong teeth that brought it to her.