[ P ] something to hold onto

Nylah is suddenly sliding to a halt with such a rapid change in momentum that there's no chance in hell of Kieran matching it. He slows, but passes her in the process, allowing Nylah's teeth to meet their mark in his ankle. Rather than rip free of her grasp, he pivots his haunches, both stepping into her grip and swinging to the side in an effort to drag her head further down and twist her into the mud.

His forequarter is moving as well, every part of him swinging like a well-oiled machine that knows how to fight better than how to breathe. Kieran's jaws surge forward, attempting to grab ahold of the loose ridge of fur and skin just behind her withers; despite the aggressive precision of his movements, he isn't trying to grab hard enough to break skin, only to gain the upper paw and drive Nylah to submission.

i've seen the day's fading begin

code // art

you're in the dark
just you and anger

your oldest friend
your closest lover

How quickly it becomes a dance, a seamless back and forth, tit for tat. Her teeth snag on his ankle, however he doesn't pull it from her, he doesn't stumble. Kieran leans into it, spinning his mass with more grace and speed than she would ever have given him credit for. She's almost impressed.

Almost. She releases him immediately, refusing to be drug further into his grasp. She rears back, setting hard on her haunches still. She aims to head butt the underside of him jaws, eager for the satisfying click! of teeth on teeth, as she sits up.

There is a lethal enjoyment in engaging with her husband, in his barely contained restraint. Its a game she finds herself enjoying, watching him with perceptive eyes as his carefully constructed facade crumbles in her capable hands. Its a rush in her veins, in the rapid beat of her heart, in each ragged breath.

"speech"

code // art

Kieran doesn't need to think. This is a dance he's known the steps to all his life, no matter the partner. With his head already lowered to the point of his shoulders, when Nylah rears back, he doesn't follow her up. Instead, he ducks further down, attempting to bully his skull between her elbow and chest, hoping to push her over backwards. Were she an enemy, he would use the same underhanded, dirty tactics to get what he wanted—but he would be trying to break their ankles while he was at it.

Throughout it all, Kieran is silent in a way that many wolves aren't during a fight. He wastes no effort on intimidation, only ruthless accuracy—and though somewhere in the back of his mind, he's impressed with Nylah's tenacity, the only driving force right now is an adrenaline-fueled precision, honed to win or die trying.

i've seen the day's fading begin

code // art

you're in the dark
just you and anger

your oldest friend
your closest lover

She would die before admitting that she may have underestimated Kieran. He presses forward with a silent savagery that leaves destruction in its wake. It’s fascinating to watch, to see him come undone. A second later, he was diving under her, shoving her up and over, when she slips, a paw giving out from her under in the damp earth. Twisting, she lands on her side with a wet thud, followed by the whoosh of her breath from her lungs. Sucking in a sharp in a breath, Nylah is now mostly covered in mud.

She also finds herself looking up at Kieran. A dark smile curled her lips, a bold faced challenge that she promised to backup. Pastel eyes glittered, even in the dark of night, full of intrigue, cataloging every detail about him. Survival, as well as her father, taught her to observe everything, to tuck away anything and everything. She was a sponge.

She takes in the strong lines of his face, the way his eyes weren’t quite so guarded. He is in his element, whether he likes it or not. But it’s something she likes. For now, it’s something she can’t quite put her finger on why.

Shameless, she lifts a muddy forepaw, flinging mud at him. She’d need a bath after this… the cold wet feeling was seeping in through her coat.

"speech"

code // art

She yields in such a satisfying way, tumbling back in a manner that suggests she hadn't anticipated such a move from him. Nylah's body hits the forest floor with a slight splash, and his forepaw lands on the other side of her torso, leaving him standing over her. His chest is still huffing in rapid breaths, and the fur along his neck and shoulders is raised, but Kieran makes no further move towards aggression now that Nylah is where he wants her.

If her intention on this "run" had been to lower his adrenaline, she's failed miserably at the task, leaving Kieran every bit as on edge as he'd been earlier. There's a slight trembling in his muscles, a frenetic energy that he's still fighting with, wrestling it back from the surface. Then Nylah throws a wet glob of mud at him, landing with a squelching smack on his neck; Kieran's response is immediate, nostrils flared as his head snakes forward, attempting to nip at her retreating toes.

"What do you want, Nylah?" he rumbles on a low growl, his eyes shifting towards her face. The fact that he can't get a read on her frustrates him—and whilst he would never take advantage of her uncertainty, Kieran wants desperately to know why she rejected him earlier only to goad him right after. Surely, she knows she's dragging more out of him than pure aggression—doesn't she?

i've seen the day's fading begin

code // art

you're in the dark
just you and anger

your oldest friend
your closest lover

TW: alludes to past SA

Standing over her, he cages her in between his forelegs, trapping her in his muddy embrace. Adrenaline that would normally feed panic, keeps it at bay, her defiance working in her favor as she drinks him in. There’s a slight tremble to his muscles as he stands there, his hackles raised to attention and she can only watch. Kieran struggles, grappling with the finely tuned control he always has a grasp on. Nylah can’t help but pick at it, testing him, testing his resolve like she expects him to snap. The mud she flings at him lands on his neck and she smirks at the way his nostrils flare in response, almost like he’s annoyed. But all he does is nip at her retreating toes. The gentle savagery of their game is confusing, Kieran looks on edge but he doesn’t even attempt to smother her with aggression, there is a temperance to his retaliation. Why? It makes her suspicious.

What do you want, Nylah?

His hot breath tickled the fur on her face and suddenly she was faced with a question she didn’t have the answer to. Her expression would smooth, a forepaw resting lightly on his chest as she considered his words. Kieran was uncharted territory and he brings with him unknown possibilities. It’s ironic, he is both the wildcard and the lifeline in her chaotic life. Her entire past is shrouded in darkness and violence, she doesn’t know the kindness he offers. The choice he lays at her feet was never an option, not when what remained of her innocence in this world was ripped cruelly from her grasp. The one thing she does know is the shimmer of lust in a man’s eye, but this time it’s different.

Without realizing it, her teeth worry her lip, her thoughts racing, thumbing through all the possibilities. But how does one prepare for the unknown? “I don’t know.” She finally breaths, forcing the words out with a quiet huff. To his credit, he’s been patient this entire night. But she still doesn’t trust it, him. Kieran has yet to give her a reason not to trust him. Yet. Lightly, she presses against his chest, push him back, rejecting him again. No matter how intrigued she is but whatever this, she’s not quite ready to completely hate him when this facade finally cracks.

"speech"

code // art

Her paw against his chest is a grounding weight, despite the subtlety of it. Kieran's heart is thundering beneath her palm, proof that it's the iron shackles of control keeping him in check, even as he lingers in a position where it would be so easy to take advantage of her. But he wants her to look at him with this tenuous trust instead of hate, wants her to know that whatever brink she drives him to, he controls his monster, no matter how close it may come to the surface. No matter how much it wants to play.

Kieran's head tilts slightly as Nylah's expression sobers, so many emotions and memories flickering across her features right in front of him for him to see. He watches with a sense of fascination, desperate to dig into the marrow of her and understand the things she's hiding from him—because Kieran wants to know her, despite himself. Ruarc would say it's his right to know, that he owns every part of her, but Kieran sees a person where his brother sees property; if Nylah decides to unfurl her petals for him, he would consider it an honor.

He wants to pull her lip from between her teeth when she drags it across them in thought, but he doesn't move, stayed by nothing more than the gentle press of her paw against his sternum. "I don't know," she admits at last, and he nods slightly, his beast slipping a little further away from the surface. Nylah's paw presses a little harder against him, nudging him back, but he doesn't immediately retreat. Kieran shifts, leaning back slightly to relieve his foreleg of his weight; his paw lifts to catch Nylah's, pulling it gently from the plane of his chest and upwards so that he can lay a chaste kiss upon her toes, and then another on her wrist.

Then Kieran does pull back fully, disengaging and giving her space to get up, though he extends a paw in offering in the process to help her off the muddy forest floor.

i've seen the day's fading begin

code // art

you're in the dark
just you and anger

your oldest friend
your closest lover

TW: alludes to past SA

Kieran simply nods. He doesn’t push and pry, he doesn’t demand more, he doesn’t try to bend her until she breaks. He just stands there, looking down at her like he wants to know all her secrets, like he wants to cradle her demons and make them his own. Her expression is guarded, unsure of his motives. Since her first marriage, her secrets have always been hers, her demons are the ones who keep her company in the dark of night. There has only been her. And her sister. But could anyone else truly understand? No. Only she knew what it felt like to be sold off, to be given away with a care for the consequences, all for the sake of having a man at her side, like she couldn’t stand on her own feet. But her father had created her to do just that, to stand at the head of their family and lead. Too bad he still felt the need to tether her to another, regardless of how he treated her behind closed doors.

Pushing against Kieran, she was met with resistance. He didn’t budge. It made her stare sharpen. That fight or flight instinct tried to take over, rising to the surface in preparation to save herself. But he does lean away, shifting his weight back and giving her space to breathe, such in a sharp but muted breath. What he does next though, Nylah could have never prepared for.

His lips graze her toes, kissing her fingertips in a light touch. Nylah could only watch. Pressing his lips to the delicate skin of her wrist, his touch is warm, gentle, patient. Her eyes widen slightly as the feeling travels up of her arm. Only then does he take a step back, releasing her from her cage that is him. With an outstretched paw, he offers her help, evidently not one to just leave her on the ground after tossing her there. Hesitantly, she placed her paw in his, letting him help her to her feet. Mud caked her fur to her skin, plastering it against her side in a way that made her itch. “I need a bath now.” She grumbled more to herself than him. Giving herself a light shake, mud and water flew in all directions, and she didn’t even warn him. Kieran could wear a little bit of the mud he tossed her in.

"speech"

code // art

Kieran notices every subtle change in her that tells a story Nylah is unwilling to speak aloud to him yet. She doesn't scream 'battered woman', not like his brother's wife, but there are some similarities he's taking notice of, tension when she finds herself in certain positions with him. He says nothing about all the things he's noticed tonight, but he tucks them away for safekeeping, a collection of puzzle pieces he hasn't yet slotted together.

She'd once implied a prior marriage, and though it bothers him very little that she has a former partner, it does lead him to wonder why she always looks so shocked when he offers her a kind gesture. It makes him wonder—and it makes him a bit angry, to think it's so foreign to her. That emotion is thoroughly in check, however.

Once Nylah is back on her feet, she shakes off the excess mud from her pelt, adding to what stains his own. Her complaint of needing a bath makes Kieran chuckle softly, a brow quirking. "You started it," he reminds her with a slight smirk, and then gestures for her to follow him deeper into the woods. There are a few places that branch off the river and pool into small pockets of crystalline water; it's cold as hell, and only suitable for use in the warmer months, but it is clean, which is all they need right now.

exeunt kieran

i've seen the day's fading begin

code // art