His heart leapt in his chest as the other half of his soul did not run, but stopped in her tracks. It was with hope that he leaned forward onto his front legs and stared even more intently, his flecked violet eyes boring into her back so firmly that he was sure he could burn a hole there. This wolf was who he had been looking for. She could be his companion in life. However, he found that his own needs were insignificant compared to whatever the red she-wolf might need from him.

When she turned, and he saw the surprise in her bi-colored eyes, he at first thought her afraid. Not meaning to cause her any more terror than she had already seemed to feel, he leaned back upon his haunches and tried to restrain himself from bursting forward to curl himself around her and shelter her from whatever had urged her to flee in the first place.

Finally she spoke, and her voice was the sweetest he had ever heard. A pleasant look rested on his face. In this moment, he was totally content. His silky black tail ever wagging, he responded to her in the gentlest tone his deep voice could manage.

“Gaia, I am so pleased to meet you. I’m Zaqar. Tell me, why were you running?”

With that his head cocked slightly to his right, and he looked not at all like the fearsome Demon his mother had wished him to be.