There he was, that horrible beast who’d taken her to the Lagoon nearly two years ago.
Miriella’s adrenaline sang as Vadim crashed across the gap between them to stop her from marching away from him. She had to stop herself from smiling, even as the pain burst behind her eyelids as his teeth snatched too many strands of her hair to tug free, but enough to force her to a stop. An offended squeal barely left her parted lips, ears flicking and pinning backward as her eyes rolled, but it was really all an act. She’d been knocked off her gait and then pulled to a halt by the large stallion, and she snapped her jaws at him when he finally released her, snaking her long, graceful neck toward him and seeking to bite at his well-muscled chest. It’d hardly hurt him, the bastard, but it felt good just to put her lips on him again.
That same surge of energy flooded through her veins as she did, and Miriella almost wanted to bite him again, just to feel it some more. His large hoof stomped pointedly into the ground and Miriella glared up at him, slowly lifting her somewhat-dished face. Pride held her chin high as always, not wanting him to see the truth. If only a part of her could cry out with how happy she was to see him, press herself up against him and let him hold her as she sobbed and told him how lonely she had been and how much she had missed him.
Instead here she stood, pretending to hate him, pretending to be angrier at him than she was. Miriella’s tail snapped high off her haunches and she blew a frustrated breath at him. “Were you having fun with your little desert princess? So terribly sorry to see your romantic time cut short.” Her tone implied the very opposite. She wasn’t sure what she was going to say when she started talking, but of course it was the envy that took hold of her tongue. Miriella could not give Vadim a place among a territory, or a herd to look over. “While I sat here freezing my ass off on this stupid island,” she seethed further, ears pinning back again as her blue eyes glared fire at him. In truth, Tinuvel had been rather lovely during the summer and even somewhat in the beginning of autumn. It had just been when she was beginning to think the island wasn’t so terrible when the storms had rolled in, and now she was cross all over again for how long she’d been forced to live here.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure Parvati won’t keep you too long, and then you can go back to your new life and have fun with your new family. I’ll find someone else to occupy my time with.” She concluded smartly, although that was entirely untrue. Miriella could look at no one other than Vadim, but he couldn’t know that. He couldn’t know how much her heart was dependent on him. “I think there was an interesting offer from a stallion who lives here already,” she continued, tone becoming thoughtful. There had been no invitation, of course, but she wanted to put the idea in Vadim’s head; she wanted him to think she was wanted elsewhere too, so he could know how bad it hurt her to watch him be wanted and want someone else in return.
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