Golden eyes gleam behind emerald ooids as the wolf watches in silence from where he stood. Like most, the young mare is clearly exhausted from the labors of birth but even that does not quell the urge to protect and guard her newborn from the potential threat that his presence offered. The wolf found amusement in the way she curled herself protectively around the damp newborn, as though his very gaze might harm the child. A smug smirk tugs at the corners of his ashen lips as she peels back her lips in warning and hisses her threats, regardless of how weak they might be. If she only knew the picture of blood that the wolf painted in his mind, the grotesque images that he wanted to leave on her father’s shores in warning. Rougaru reined the creature in, but it did not stop the feeling of satisfaction he felt at the images regardless of how monstrous it made him appear.

A single fluted lobe tilts backwards amid the tattered ends of his cream and caramel mane as fierce gaze meets hers through the shadow, jade colored eyes blinking unphased. She replies with tones void of emotion and the wolf cannot help but to growl within him. Calloused. Heartless. Cowardly. Worthless. Over and over the words echo themselves in the beast’s voice, dark and feral as the sharp ivory teeth that spoke them. Solomon had betrayed him, betrayed him with his bond to Faolain and betrayed the fragile strings of their alliance with the ultimate theft of Chelle. Not that the mare of fire and ice had been worth the effort to keep, but still, the wound to his honor had been a fierce one. One that hit deeper than any thorn or scrape. This wound continued to fester and build with each day until even he smelled the stink of the betrayals in his own home. His lips curl upwards in displeasure but before he can even speak, Annubis appears.

Dark ears disappear into the curls of his mane as he lifts his proud head dominantly, casting his emerald green gaze down upon his golden eyed son. For the first time in a long time, Rougaru took notice of the taut muscles that ripple beneath the young stallion’s molten silver hide and the fierce determination that shines in those feral eyes that stare back into his own. Unlike before, there is no reservation in his tone as Annubis speaks up in her defense, reassuring him that Vihar was not her father and therefore not to be held accountable to his crimes. He wanted to protect her even against his own sire’s anger. ’His loyalty is like his mother…. Only as deep as it benefits him.’ somewhere deep in his mind the wolf murmurs, its golden eyes void of emotion as it stared down into Annubis. A guttural voice draws from his lungs as his dark brows furrow and he takes a step forward, his whiskered lips a breath away from the ashen muzzle of the younger stallion. ”You taint our blood with his. The blood of your ancestors. You have shamed us all!” he snaps, his thick cream and caramel colored tail snapping against his large legs as he glares past the silver buckskin stallion to the white and gray mare.

It seemed that Annubis’ presence was enough reassurance she needed to risk rising to her feet. She does not dare to step forward to meet him as Monster or Vanya might have done, but stands close to her mate’s hip, her intense sea-green eyes fixed upon the wolf. At her side, half shadowed by darkness, Rougaru catches his first glimpse of the small foal. A colt, its tiny tail flicking back and forth wildly as noisily it sucked with animated energy. For a moment, he and the wolf find themselves focused on the colt, remembering when Annubis himself had been that small and hungry for the world. Somewhere deep within himself, he feels the first tugs of warmth in his soul for the grandchild that now stood living and breathing before him. His grandson.

Vihar spoke again, and Rougaru dragged his gaze away from the small pale colt to meet her fierce eyes. Flutes tilt backwards at her words and the Paradisian king stifles a growl in the concaves of his throat as a smirk slides across his lips. ”Just because you didn’t… doesn't mean you wont.” he purrs, his husky voice dropping in octave as he meets her gaze with a tilt of his own proud head.”Your father did that. He said he was an ally to Paradise and yet he turned against that alliance at the false words of a single mare. He struck out at me for a mare that I won in right and then dared to use his harem of women to hide her from me. He is allied with Faolain. Their treachery goes beyond measure.” he snarls, inhaling a deep breath to let the words fall away into silence.

”Not that it matters much I suppose. You can be mother to my legacy and still be a captive here if I think the need arises or if your sire gives me reason.” the smile on his lips grows now as he shifts his gaze, letting his fierce multifaceted eyes roam shamelessly over the feminine curves of her body. ”Yes… a bargaining chip perhaps if the need arises.”

He gives his proud head a toss and turns to glance at Annubis, a single brow raising, ”Keep them close. Never know what shadows lurk in the dark.” he adds with a thick chuckle before shouldering past Annubis to disappear into the shadowed jungle beyond.