Saklah ⚜️

On her best days, Sáklah tells herself she is alone because she is too independent to obey another wolf.

On her worst days, she knows it is because her Pack found her too difficult to keep around.

Her sisters had been the beautiful ones, the even-tempered ones, the ones satisfed with staying where they were in life. Sáklah had never been them. She could never simply have rolled over and bore her belly.

She's grown to love the solittude either way. The forest calls to her in a way that the dusty sands of her homeland never did. She is at peace alone, deep within the trees.

Sometimes, though, peace is broken.

The noise catches her attention immediately, her lip curling into an immediate snarl. She knows the scent of fellow wolf and she is tasting it now, on the wind.

Worse, she knows the scent of alpha wolf.

By the time the strange wolf steps out of the clearing, her hackles are raised.

"You are trespassing," he tells her, his tail flicking in irratation.

"I am free to roam," she challenges, lifting her own tail high. She knows, deep in her soul, that she could not hope to win this fight. She is claws and spite and this male is brute and force.

Never will she simply lay down and bear her belly, though.

"You are a lone wolf?" He cocks his head at her.

"I am free," she retorts. She does not tell him that she is lonely. That is her secret to keep.

"Do you want a pack?"

Yes, she thinks. "No," she snarls.

He regards her coolly, that tail of his swishing back and forth. "Very well," he tells her, disapearing back into the brush.

The next time they cross paths is several Moons later. She scents him in the air long before he arrives.

"Hello, Trespassor," he greets. She huffs in annoyance.

"Leave me alone," she says, returning to the matter between her paws. A small field mouse that she is in no way ready to share.

He approaches regardless, his paws crushing brush. She bristles, ready to bite, when he drops a small chunk of meat next to her.

"What is this?" She asks warily, scenting it. It is the meat of a deer, that she knows. But it is not hers. It is his and therefore should not be in front of her.

"A gift," the male says, nudging the chunk of meat even closer to her. "I am Silvos."

She simply glares. Eventually the smell is too strong, though, and she devours the offered meat.

"Leave me alone," she repeats.

This time he does.

The infuriating alpha continues to gift things to her, though. He continues to greet her like a mindless puppy every time their paths cross. He licks her wounds when a hunt goes bad. He reminds her to howl the Moon to fullness. He tells her fond stories of his own Pack and ignites an emptiness within her.

"I am Sáklah," she finally tells him.

"You should join my Pack," he returns.

She cringes, thinking of her own Pack from long ago. The one across the sands. She is too difficult to keep around. That she remembers. That she knows.

"I am not a mere pupsitter," she snaps at him.

"No," he agrees. "You don't posses that spirit. You are a fine hunter, though."

"I am disagreeable," she tries.

He nods. "That is true."

"You still want me?"

"I do."

She huffs in annoyance. Also, secretly, joy. That is her secret to keep, though. "Very well. Bring me to your Pack."

"Our pack," he corrects.

Secretly, she likes the sound of that.