The large femme's hard eyes narrowed as he mentioned the skins that lay scattered still, back on the white. She gave a quick, full throttle snarl deep from her entire body and glanced upon him in a most disagreeable way.

"Drive me away..? Hah." Her cool, cold laugh broke the one sided conversation and, enriched with a fine mockery all her own, the DarkWolf countered Aranok's coldness with her own, turning her shoulder to him, she slid over to glance over the edge of the cliff face, looking down onto the town that now lay in a twisted mess of chaos and mystery. Oh the rumours and high tales the dogs were probably telling one another. NightTracker grinned and turned back to him.

"Omara would not dare take my home. She is to kind hearted. I do not go because that is not my pack. Your pack is not my family." With this she gave a twitch of her thick tail and rolled her shoulders in a shrug. The bitterness in her voice never faded, but if possibly, only grew stronger with such a venom one could wonder if she held any possible compassion at all. With those frozen pools, she watched the yellow fire of his own and somewhere there, held herself. They were almost identicle. Sun and Moon, Yin and Yang. So much heart ache. So much sorrow. The DeathBringer had not been able to protect her family. In a way, she felt an intolerable envy for Aranok. She wanted to lash out and shout at him, instead, she only woofed, though still tinged with malice, it was softer, even a little bit sad.

"Atleast you still have your family."

She brought her head back up, and snuffed toward the Dog wolf and shook herself. She couldnt shake the feeling of fearing he would just turn away and leave. Leave her alone, alone again to wander aimlessly in her past and to pace endlessly in her desolate isolation. Endure.. indeed. She endured, alright. And what exactly was she enduring? Her seclusion? No, she was being ruled by her anger toward herself. She was enduring her own fears. Damn this wolf! He was, unbeknownst to him, bringing very bitter thoughts to the surface. She wanted company, a pack. She wanted that safety, that love, that tenderness. Though she doubted anymore she could feel such strong emotions. She wouldnt blame him if he went away, look at how she was treating him, but.. she didnt want him to. And thinking back again on his question of why she had not accepted his Alpha's invitation, she told the truth.

"I lead, Aranok, I do not follow."

If this caused her to walk alone until eternity, then so be it, but the Dark femme was not one to grovel, beg, pin ears and tail or whine at another's maw. She almost wanted to ask him if he wanted to stay with her.. to start the pack she so dreampt of sometimes at night when she wasnt plagued by nightmares, but as loyal as he was to Omara, Hell itself would freeze over before he left such an allegience, and NightTracker felt herself a great fool for even thinking of such a thoughtless thing to ask. And now, she knew not how to go on with this, and so, stood watching him, with an idle twitch of her sharp sonids, pressed forward and alert atop her wide head, and her tail inching this way and that, straight out behind her.

She'd never felt so confused in all her life, and it was all due to the yellow eyed black dog before her. How wonderful her life was.

~NightTracker

--- In TheAuroraBorealis@yahoogroups.com, silverdraiko <no_reply@...> wrote:
>
> The late afternoon was slowly but inexorably fading to evening. The
> sky turning to a deepening blue and the first and brightest stars
> twinkling silently in their lonely brilliance. The evening breeze
> held a frigid chill and Aranok was grateful for his thick pelt. The
> town of Nome was clear from here, a festering blight on an otherwise
> wondrous landscape. The manhunt had awakened something within Aranok
> that the huge black wolf had been ignoring for so long. The victory
> had been hollow and none of his fallen pack mates had returned. He
> was the protector of the pack but there was no protection form humans,
> they appeared to be experts in dealing death wherever they went.
>
> He was drawn form his reverie by the heady scent of the wolf who had
> joined him in the hunt. He heard her growl and snarl, but he did not
> look around, his body, always ready for attack, did not move and only
> when she spoke did Aranok turn to regard her. His gaze was steady,
> piercing and critical, it was the gaze of a wolf who is well used to
> finding and anticipating threat. She truly was an unusual wolf,
> Aranok had never encountered a male to match his size and yet here was
> a female that did just that. The only differences between them, those
> of male and female.
>
> "Your land?"
>
> His voice was deep and his tone was even, there was no mockery or
> mimicry in his voice.
>
> "You are a lone wolf NightTracker the remnants of your pack lie strewn
> and torn alongside an overturned sled. I know you are formidable in
> battle, I have hunted with you, but if our pack chose to take these
> lands do you think you could fend us all off?"
>
> He shook his head, Aranok had never been a very comforting wolf and
> some might think him cruel, but with everything except himself he saw
> what was there and not what it was believed was there or what was
> wished was there.
>
> "So the question you should really ask is. Why are you still here?
> My alpha offered you a home and a family and you refused it. Is it
> some self imposed punishment you compound upon yourself, no wolf is
> made to be alone so I do not believe it is something that you enjoy,
> but something that you endure."
>
> And why was he here? Aranok had come here to try and deal with his
> grief. He had always used it to feed his rage and hatred, but now it
> seemed pointless and so his grief, unheeded and un-experienced for so
> long was causing him great pain and no matter how much he wished to
> draw himself from it, it bogged him down and clung to him. He knew
> that if he did not search within and find something upon which to
> fasten then his heart would break and he would be lost in a selfish
> wallowing of his own devising.
>