Akela ghosted through the shadowy jungle, his steps light and inaudible against the chatter of birds and primates above his head. Dark ears turn this way and that as he listens out for anything that might seem out of place, something that might signal danger for himself and the herd. Since the birth of his daughter, Akela found himself growing more and more aware of the dangers that lay in the shadows of the jungle and less to the free time that he once found he had too much of. It had been part of what brought about Eeva. Thinking of the dark girl made him smile and draw his thoughts once more to her mother, his smokey silver mate. Well, he considered her his mate anyway.

He had been drawn to her from the beginning, the tears that stained her cheeks that day in the jungle still held tight in his mind, a tiny memory that he tucked away in a small safe place. She had been terrified then, scared and hurt. He had not known her, not known anything about her save for the sudden need that swelled in his soul. The need to protect.

His lips curl upwards at the thought of the tall gold spotted stallion that had come to take her away. Once more he relieves the urge to bite and kick and feel that stallion’s skin tearing beneath the weight of his body and his hooves. That stallion had come into his home, come into his father’s home, ignoring the borders and all for the sake of stealing away a mare that did not belong to him. Ears fall backwards in disgust but he gives his broad head a rough shake, sending obsidian tassels snapping audibly against the thick muscular curve of his neck. Golden eyes scan the trail ahead of him, searching and yet finding no scent of danger. No unfamiliar scents clung to the heavy air, no fierce eyes blinking in the shadows. For now, all was safe.

With a huff, he turns back from the trail and slips through the jungle that he had grown in. Easily he slides down an embankment and leaps gracefully over a small trickling stream. He did not need the clearly marked trails to mark his way, he knew where he was going and whether she liked it or not, he needed to reassure himself that she was safe. Their daughter was safe. His gait is quickened, but not fast enough that the unsuspecting herd might frighten at his sudden appearance. He sighs a heavy breath and ducks his head beneath the low hanging branch and slides effortlessly into the clearing of emerald green grasses where the small herd gathered in loose groups. Smokey blue ears perk forward as the stallion let his gaze cast over those gathered, his gaze searching. Tentatively he nickers softly for Bathsheba, his hormones on the rise once more. He needed her now.