Common

She was still with him.

Like Zjeena, the woman of starlight and shadow played in the recesses of his mind, brought to life again and again by the wolf that craved the dark glitter of her gaze. She hated him, despised the creature that he stood for and still in that hate came such a furious passion and hunger that neither the wolf nor himself could give her up. She is like a ghost in the darkness or a wraith in the mist, at once there and then again gone. Rougaru spent months searching for her, venturing to the island of Luthien when his desire ran hot and his blood boiled but still every trace of her was gone.

Night after night he found himself wondering where it was she could have disappeared to, wondering if she was really one of the starlight horses and returned again to the galaxies above. Night after night, it felt more as though the fanciful stories his mind created could have been true. Did that mean the product of their union was now immortal? Was she a goddess? Had that been why the wolf and himself felt such an attraction for her? Never able to release her grip from his mind? Perhaps.

Day in and day out he found himself searching for her without meaning to. His trips to the common island were in search of new herd members, or so he told himself, but deep down, deep down the wolf longed to find where it was she hid herself. Each day he returned to Paradise with no wiser an explanation. Days turned to weeks and weeks into months, always she lingered in his dreams but even now the memory of her was beginning to fade. No longer could he recall the precise pattern of her black and white spots that he had once been able to retrace with accuracy. No longer could he remember the exact shape of the star on her brow of which angle her obsidian tresses fell only that they always seemed to caress her cheek. Long had he forgotten the flavor of her scent or the exotic curve of her body as it bent against his own but never did he forget the thrill that thrummed through his soul. The wolf remembered the boil of his blood and the thrum of her heart as it beat against his own. She was disappearing from his thoughts, but never from his memory.

But that changed today.

Small ears perk at the sound of a mare’s call. Multifaceted eyes of emerald cloud in confusion as somewhere deep down he recognized the sound of that voice. It is not Zjeena, her tones were much deeper in tenor and neither was it the sound of any mare in his herd. Monster had a much fiercer voice and Vanya could just be plain high pitched when she really wanted to be. This voice, it was like a faded memory and it played with the mind enough that curiosity was what drove him forward more than anything. He had no true desire to add another member to his herd, not that he would object if he found one appealing enough, but it is more that he had to know how it was that the voice came with such familiarity to him even though he did not recognize it immediately.

That realization hit him like a cold wave of ocean water as he broke past the barrier or dried leaves and skeletal branches that had obstructed his view. For so long he had longed for her, ached in the very core of his body and there she was standing in all her ethereal glory and grace. Ripe for the taking. The beast howls its pleasure, its golden eyes gleaming in the pale sunlight of morning, its eyes fixated on one creature alone.

He had forgotten just how beautiful she was. For a moment he stays where he is, framed against the backdrop of tall pines and sparse leaves of low hanging branches. Zephyr’s winter chill billows around them, swirling the ends of his cream and caramel mane and causing her own obsidian tresses to dance and swirl. Sunlight dapples her already dappled flanks, allowing him to appreciate the supple womanly curve and the dark patches that stood out against the blanket of snow draped over her rump. Even in the distance between them, she tastes exotic and familiar, the urge burning through his blood as he draws himself closer, unable to resist her pull.

A single lobe twitches as her voice rings out again, this time audible in the distance between them. ‘Faylainne’. The name sounded foreign on his tongue but opened the door for which the wolf longed to use. A feral grin curves across his ash dusted features as he saunters forward with a sly grin. However he is not alone in the discovery of her. Emerald eyes darken as the young painted stallion appears in a flurry of movement. Anger arises in the throaty growl that echoes deep within his breast as the boy dared to place his mark on the forest queen’s shoulder. The rage both startled and surprised him, he had always known that Titania did not belong to him, that she despised him or so she claimed, however that fire and that burning of desires was not one that he could forget, even if he was the last one on her mind. He would save her if only it meant bringing her back to his doorstep for another game of cat and mouse.

However his intervention is not the only one.

Small dark ears perk as his steps falter for a moment, watching as another spotted woman makes her appearance with ears bent back and words of threat on her lips. Her eyes are fierce and threatening but there is a newness that clings to her skin that screams of inexperience. Were she wiser, she may have avoided this area, even at the summons of a stranger. Two for the price of one. A sadistic smile curved across the wolf’s dark gray muzzle as the beast licked its lips hungrily. Rougaru however, does not forget the reason he is here. Multifaceted eyes trace the curves and contours of Titania’s face, renewing the memories that had haunted his thoughts over the past seasons. The beast longs to touch her skin, to savor the aromatic flavors of crisp aspen and silver birch that entwined themselves in who she was. He longs to see the crimson of his blood as it painted her lips and taste the metallic tang as it overpowered the air between them. He wanted to see that fire in her eyes again and without a doubt knew that the very sight of him would cause her to bristle in fury and hatred. The wolf smiled a sadistic grin.

Another mare joined the small conclave in a flurry of movement. Momentarily his gaze shifts from the woman of starlight to the gray mare who planted herself firmly between the mares and the bachelor stallion. Three against one. The odds were not looking favorable for this boy. Despite himself, the stallion found a hearty chuckle rising in his lungs as he closed the distance between them, dipping his broad head slightly towards the gray woman whose battle scarred body screamed valkyrie. A mare of the peaks. No longer she had come running the moment the lagoon boy’s stench became apparent. A single chocolate lobe tilts towards the stallion, muscled neck arching as he fixes the boy steadily in his rough green gaze. ”I would say you are quite outnumbered here boy. Run along back to the Lagoon with your tail between your legs. You men do no good unless you are packed together.” he remarks with a roll of his shoulders, his proud head shaking. A mischievous grin slides into place as he turns his attention to his starlight woman, a single brow arching as he tilts his head towards her, peering beyond the woman of gray as though she were invisible. ”Not lost ANOTHER child now have you Titania?” he asks, his deep baritones tainted by sarcasm. Ash dusted lips part as he clicked his thick tongue against the roof of his mouth, emerald eyes shining brightly as he settled himself with the cock of his hip. ”I must say that does not say much of you as a mother my dear…” he begins, his cream and caramel tail flicking idly against his hocks with slow and calculated motions resembling a cat toying with its prey. Dark ears pitch forward as he smirks, shifting his gaze towards the treeline as though his searchin eyes might manifest the little creature that his starlight woman called to. ”But that is what you have me here for.” he adds, a cheshire grin sliding easily into place as he returns his emerald gaze back to her. ”My daughter…. “ he rumbles, more to himself than to those gathered around. Muscular neck arches as he shudders the dark mahogany skin along his spine, ”Good thing I am here is it not? I will find her for you and together…” he jeers with a smug toss of his head, ”We can return to Paradise.”