Frost blanketed the ground in a thin veil, pearls of whitish-silver in the mid afternoon sun. Tye stood at the front of his den on his haunches, tail lying carelessly in the snow behind him. His pelt was sprinkled with bits of snow on his upper body, legs and around his muzzle and nose. He had been hunting before so this was a result of the hunt along with his prey. A dead hare lay in front of him at his paws, its neck broken. It was a big, fat one. The biggest one he had found. The large wolf gazed down at the hare, his countenance seeming less hard than usual. His pelt, resplendent in black, gleamed a lighter shade. A softer shade. The hare was a tiny, tiny creature while he was a towering massive muscle-bound beast with a rough, shaggy pelt and a scarred ear. He bent over, opening his jaws and carefully closed them around the hare. His teeth fit around them perfectly. Releasing the hare and straightening to his full height again an image of a black pup with light blue eyes staring into his own reflection in a partially frozen river appeared in his mind. This was surreal. He hadn’t really expected Teren to give his permission without some kind of catch. Maybe there would be one in the future but for now, things were okay. He? Fathering pups? In his mind’s eye the hare morphed into the pup. It was so strange. He stared down at it. How could something so tiny and easily breakable come from him? From him and Cliché? He could fit his whole jaw around it. What if it was a female? He could teach a female how to fight. That was no problem. But he didn’t know if he was strong enough to see his own daughter get hurt or worse, killed. Shaking his head, he looked away towards the trees surrounding the dens. Mating season was in full swing now. If truth be told, he only wanted one thing. Her. Her and only her. He was personally glad that there was no one else in the area at the moment. Not that he was embarrassed or anything. Nothing like that. But it was slightly awkward if someone asked. He wanted to make Cliché feel good so he hoped he could. He would let his natural instincts take over. This was the time to give into all those desires wasn’t it? He straightened even more if possible, his stance becoming dominant and confident.

His jaws parted and he unleashed a long, deep howl into the air making sure Cliché would hear it wherever she was. It climbed higher and higher, tapering into a tenor. It was rich, succinct and perhaps the most open that he had ever uttered. One that allowed all his feelings to show for only one and one only to see. Desire and tenderness. And if one listened very carefully, pints of excitement and happiness threaded in the undercurrent of each note. Tye wasn’t one to express his emotions often. He was more or less calm in most if not all manner of things and processed each situation before reacting and finding out the best way to approach it and then and only then, would he act without hesitation. Sometimes he’d even find a way to make a well-timed quip. Sarcasm was his method of coping. It was his mask to the world, a mechanism to distract himself from pain or to defend himself at a time when he couldn’t do it physically or when he felt like violence wouldn’t help. And the only one who he’d let get past it was the only one who’d understood it when he’d first come to the pack. After a while he let the howl fade away until it trickled into faint echoes. He placed a paw over the hare and chuckled to himself when he saw that it covered the creature completely. This was going to be an adventure for the both of them.

As he waited, listening intently for the sounds of paws rushing across the ground (he could always tell when it was her from the sound of her paw-steps). It was one of the things that he loved about her, her absolute love for life though he had never said it aloud. He could never put his feelings into words. Not really. He wasn’t one of those wolves that knew how to be romantic and express their feelings by saying charming words or giving some grand speech of love. But he could be sincere. And he knew as much as the sun rose every morning that she drove him crazy. In a good way. So when he saw her appear, he felt his heart skip. His ears perked, tail raising. And he started to rise to meet her, his expression seeming to light up. He would never get tired of seeing her. Because she was the only one that made him feel completely, totally at ease. Love, he had reasoned, was a tricky thing. It unravelled him and made him twist and turn in the wind. She made him feel that way. Like a leaf in a hurricane. Yes, he wasn’t completely unshakeable. Not when it came to matters of the heart. Oh on everything else he was a certified mountain in reacting and taking the brunt of things. A mountain of indomitable strength. The calm in the eye of the storm. And when had mountains ever fallen? He glanced down at the hare, eyes skating over it to check again if it was healthy and ripe. It was. When he looked back up she had reached him, noses inches apart. He stared at her, ice blue eyes light and open. Almost vulnerable. But glowing with strength. Then his tongue slid out, licking her nose affectionately and teasingly. Just her being here made him feel better than he was feeling. Less calm in a way because he could joke and speak freely with her. He closed his eyes happily when she came together with him, feeling the weight of her head on his chest. When she spoke, his heart sang. She sounded like clouds. Fluffy clouds and honey. And he liked how cute she looked when she looked up at him.  

At this, his eyes drifted down. One would’ve thought he was nervous. Maybe he was. He wanted to do a good job after all even if he had never done this before. Feeling her against him, breathing in her scent only incited him more and slightly harder to think. But he liked this feeling. He would always like this feeling. He was silent for a moment but his expression conveyed everything she needed to know about what he was feeling. Elation, a twinge of apprehension with excitement but above all, love. Inside he was practically exploding with happiness. But on the outside he was still utterly calm. When he responded to her it was in a low, husky rumble,“I’m…well I asked for mateship for us from Teren and he granted it.” He paused, chuckling,“Miracles do happen.” He started to grin. His tail swept the air once, giving a little flick. There was some of the emotion coming out more.“So I called you because I want to mate with you. You’re the one I want to make a family with. There’s no one else I want to mother my pups, to have a future with. You want to know why? It’s because I love you Cliché.”      

“Oh yeah and this is for you,” Tye said, nudging the hare towards her with his paw. He coughed, one ear folding over and looked at her with a lopsided half-smile that made his eyes soften, “I caught it for you.”He added, saying it with pride. It was only a hare, easy to catch for him but he had sought out the best one. The one which he had discerned to be the healthiest. Usually, that wasn’t the normal thing to do but this was a special occasion. He said,“I thought you might be hungry.”

He couldn’t help but growl in pleasure as her nose nuzzled his lower jaw at frequent intervals. Her touch, no matter how small, sent tingles down his spine. He could smell her scent, mingling with the one that was in the air. It was so close to spring time that he could even smell the tiny fragrances of heat in the winter air. Tye couldn’t wait to get inside the den. To make love with the wolf who he had met that day on the mountains. And when he thought about it, had possibly started to fall in love when he’d first seen her. Though he hadn’t known entirely about her personality or anything of the sort at the time but he’d started to see what it was as he’d spent more time with her. And he’d liked it enough to imagine a future with her. He shifted, his muzzle coming to rest onto the back of her neck affectionately. She smelt like earth and home. It was a smell he’d become accustomed to. Her scent. He had never thought earth could smell so good but it did. They came from earth after all. Earth was natural. A part of nature. And nature was unyielding and unrelenting. Straight-forward without any pretences. If nature wanted to make the tidal wave it’d make it. If it wanted to make the earth move it would. And it would find a way because no force could take it down. It was how Tye functioned as well. In his mind once he found something he liked doing he’d work towards it and that was how it was. The same thing applied when it came to love. It was simple for him in one way. He knew that he loved Cliché. So he’d asked for mateship. He’d confessed what he felt to the one who he had these feelings for. That was the logical thing to do. In the back of his mind he’d felt apprehensive but he couldn’t show it. Not in front of his Alpha. Not in front of someone like him. That would’ve given him too much satisfaction and Tye had his pride.

He looked down, confused at hearing her grumble while she was huddled closer into him when the wind came. He wanted to ask her what was wrong.  When she looked into his eyes he couldn’t help but feel strong and powerful. Like he could move the moon from the sky. He laughed, relieved there was nothing wrong and growled,“Yes. A family all by our own. You’ll get to see miniature Cliches and Tyes running around.” When she answered he was felt a wave of euphoria wash over him. A feeling unlike any other he’d experienced so far. And his smile turned into a wide grin. Happy. He was happy, truly happy for the first time in a long time. Lifting a paw, he waited for her to go in first. It was the polite thing to do. His eyes widened, surprised but happy as she put her forelegs on his shoulders and licked him. He smirked, rising on his hind legs and wrapped his forelegs around her shoulders. He pushed off with his hind legs and while he was unbalanced, used his weight with aim of making her fall down with him while she was underneath him. He would stop before he fell onto her by pressing his forepaws into the ground to cushion the landing in one smooth, controlled motion barely an inch apart their noses touching one another. So close that they were in the shadow of the mouth of the cave with the waning sun shining down on them making his fur gleam dark brown-black. The smirk remained, unashamed and proud. His tail wagged excitedly, high into the air like a banner. And he would whisper into her ear, voice deeper than usual,“I love you too.”