It didn’t take much convincing to drag Iggy to the mines. Perhaps she’d just gotten used to being dragged around wherever the Warlord pleased. He took her through the mile-high wods, and then out into the territory beyond. Together, they passed over the open fields before the mines. One of the many openings to the complicated system appeared before them, and he took a step inside. Feeling the cool, stale air brush through his nose. He didn’t catch the scent of wolf or predator.

He turned back to Iggy, and nodded for her to follow. “I’ve only explored some of these caves. Stick close, it branches in many places, and it would be easy to get lost.” He warned her, remembering her penchant for getting distracted by odd and interesting things.


"Basilisk Fatalis"

Despite Ignita's penchant for organizing and categorizing things around her, she was always excited to see something new. Her focus would shift from everything around her to consuming a new thing like it was better than breathing.

She never needed much convincing when it came to exploring new places, especially when Basilisk was the one dragging her along. As long as he was there with her, she felt the most at ease.

They crossed over the fields before the caves, the snows of winter piled high. They proved difficult for her to cross, and she took to hopping into Basilisk's prints until they reached the gaping maw of the earth. She shook the snow off her blazon pelt as they stepped inside and she caught a familiar scent. It was a particular scent that said humans had once frequented here. Oil, metals, tools, fungus, bones, all ancient and crumbling. This was fresher than the tombs she had explored as a child. It set her on edge, her childhood was lonely and full of neglect and bullying. But with Basilisk there this would be a new adventure.

She stepped forward, her nose questing through the air. The one thing she couldn't smell was Charlie, at least not yet. It had been some time before they noticed he was missing.

Her nose would continue to search, quickly darting from one side of the tunnel to the other, making circles around the Warlord but never more than 5 of her steps away from him as they continued inside. Would they find Charlie here? Did he even come to this cave?

"Basilisk" || "Iggy"

A fresh blanket of snow had long hidden any sign of where CHarlie had gone. He had hoped they might catch a whiff of him once they entered the caves - but the truth was, he could have taken any number of entrances. He could have found a new vein that Basilisk didn’t know about. It was possible that they could spend hours searching for any sign of him, and never cross paths with where he had been.

The best he could do was head to the mining site he knew about, and hope there was some sign of him there, or sign of where he might have gone. He led her carefully through the maze of the mines. Twitching a smile as she circled him to look one way or another, “If you need to mark any sections for later exploration, do so.” he advised her.


"Basilisk Fatalis"

She flicked her ear in acknowledgment of his comment, her laser focus overtaking all thoughts both from the new place to explore and her efforts to find any clues.

There were scents of other wolves for sure. Ignita swished her tail as she came across an old pickaxe. The handle was made of sturdy oiled wood, weathered and dry, but she could still smell the mineral oils and chemical polish over it. She moved on along the metal tracks, what were these for? They had interesting grooves and patterns that only humans made. The tracks were fascinating, how did they work, and why did they make these?

She was about to ask Basilisk about it, and even turned to him with her mouth open, when they came to a tumbled blockage in the tunnel. She snapped her mouth shut, her question was immediately answered as a cart was obviously half buried under the rubble. This tumble of rocks... The layer or dust and debris was considerably less disturbed than the other dead ends.

"Hang on." She called out, to keep Bas from moving on without her, "Something's not right here." The layer of dust wasn't as thick and settled as the other collapses. There were no crisscrossing tracks or trails of insects and prey around at various ages. There was maybe a few tracks that were only a few days old at the very least.
"This one's new." She said, pointing to the layer of debris, she looked up at the where the collapse originated above them, the hill of rubble would lead up to a new level of cavern above.
"Think I can get a look on the other side..." She mumbled before she started climbing the hill of freshly tumbled rocks.

"Speech"

Basilisk was remarkably less curious than his companion at the odd bits and bobs they passed. From the way the floor was patterned beneath them, to old tools left behind. He did however eye the collapsed tunnel with some interest. Even before she called his attention to it, he set his nose to the ground and scented cautiously sneezing away some of the dust as he moved from one end to the other, searching for any hint of their missing wolf.

As he did so, Ignita’s attention was on the higher point of the rubble, clearly invested in seeing if she could climb it. “Ignita…” He growled out in warning as she started to pull herself onto the tumbled debris. “Remember what happened last time you climbed something?” He warned her, already moving into a position where he could catch her if she started to fall. His extra height would come in handy if he needed to grab her.

"Basilisk Fatalis"

She clambered over a boulder, always trying to get higher, when he reminded her of her unfortunate mishap just last season. She froze with one paw resting on her next step, calculating a path up to the top. Calculating an emotional political step should she decide to continue. His growled warning was laced with his concern.

"I-I know." She replied hesitantly, looking back at him imploringly. Her golden eyes shifted between his cautious darkened blues. He meant it, she knew, but...

"If I can see if there's an opening to see the other side... or something, then maybe we'll know..." If he had a chance to escape... If he even came this way. She decidedly continued her ascent, carefully testing each purchase before putting her weight on it. But her efforts were in vain, she didn't have to climb much higher to get a look at the top of the collapse. Maybe there was an opening above them, but the tunnel behind this collapse was thoroughly sealed. And there were no other prints that said anyone else climbed up to the next level.

She shook her head. She didn't want to give up but she couldn't help a heaviness enter her paws as she started her way back down. Something was telling her that they wouldn't find Charlie today, if at all.

She looked at Bas again, "I had to try." It wasn't an apology.

"Speech"

His attention was dangerously fixated on her as she continued her climb. If another predator stalked these tunnels, he wouldn't hear them coming. He watched as she reached the top and peered through. The shake of her head told him everything words could have, and he slowly relaxed his stance as she climbed back down. “I know.” He said, and perhaps he could have left it at that. Perhaps he should have. 


“I won't replace one wolf for another. I won't get him back at the cost of another life. Especially not this life, not you.” He said, his voice a warning growl before he turned his back on her and continued through the deep. They weren't far now from the source he knew if and had been using for the pack. Still no scent of Charlie, or any other wolf in the past few weeks caught his attention.

His tempered gaze was all she needed to feel like he would catch her if she fell. She kept glancing at his eyes watching her as she descended back to the ground. Hoping he wouldn't admonish her too severely when she was back within his reach.

Instead his growled words made her heart leap into her throat and her breath catch behind it. Especially? He turned away as if he not just ripped his heart out of his chest and shown it to her.

Truly?

Her dainty careful paws were frozen to the spot as he walked on. The seconds stretched onward as the halting static ran through the scratched record in her brain. Finally she broke free of it and skittered to follow behind him.

How could she be... As important as Charlie? Basilisks family? A working, fighting free, now missing, member of Armada? Wasn't a slave like her dispensable? Owned to do the dirty dangerous grueling jobs? Granted she wasn't asked to do the dangerous jobs... Even warned and protected against those.

But especially her? Was their night embrace more than just a slip of judgement and physical desire?

"Its just because I'm useful." She mumbled to herself, kicking a stone away from her. It had to be it. Nothing more, she was just exceptionally useful.

He flattened his ears and looked back at her as she muttered a few words and sent something skittering across the floor. The echoey hallway was not an easy place to hide a whisper and he stopped. Waiting until she had caught back up to him again. Better not to give her the space to find trouble to fall into. 

He was not… always cautious or wise with his words around her. He tried to chew on the one in his thoughts for a moment. Speaking it did not change the situation, surely would not make the one he had forced her into easier to bear. Perhaps there was a cruel streak in him, to voice this truth. “If I did not have a mate I owed my love and loyalty to, I would take you to bed. Not once, not to dally with. But as a partner.” He told her. Holding his gaze to her, feeling that heat smoulder through him again. The long abandoned mine, far from the wolves they knew, was not the wisest place to respark that heat. His hungry eyes rested on her for a few moments longer.

She had said it out loud. Her words had tumbled out of her mouth when she thought she had kept that one in but it echoed back to her. Why did she tend to answer her inner monologue aloud?

He had stopped, and she avoided his gaze until he drew her attention up to his eyes with the words that would sink into her fur like water from a boiling spring. Thrumming, humming, roaring all went into her ears as the skin under her white fur bloomed rosy and vibrant, easily evident through her pale fur. A tightening between her legs and a heat threateningly roiled within.

Why? How could he be so... Cruel? Was it cruelty? To want her and push her away. To capture her and keep her from such indulgences, to forbid her from pursuing it entirely.

Her eyes danced between the triangle of his eyes and mouth. The unknown gaping before her again. Why would he bring this up here of all places? Far far and again from anyone that could interrupt or intrude. Far from curious eyes and ears to feed gossip.

What did she want? What could they do? Was he proposing a trist?

"Is this a test Bas?" She asked, her voice barely above a whisper, it softly echoed around them.

His eyes slid across her form. Wanting, and taking what his physical body could not. It would be so easy to take that step forward, to swear her to silence and hide the scent of sweat and Ignita that would coat him. But it would cost him, too. Even if Hazel never found out, he would know it. Could he bear that?


He licked his parched lips, and answered her question. “It's the truth. It's who and what you've come to mean to me. Why I can't let you go, and fight to protect you. You keep letting your importance slide away, as if you think you don't matter to me.” Frustration licked his tone. “Your slave in rank, but I value your opinion and thoughts above most. Dammit, Ignita. You matter.” He growled at her. He started to take a step towards her but caught himself at the last moment. He turned the motion into a turn. “We still have a wolf to find.”

She could practically feel his darkening eyes feasting upon her. Her heart beat against her ribs like a bird in a cage. It felt like a rope clasped around her and bid her to draw nearer, nearer, nearer. She resisted, she held her paws still against the stones.

She stood before him. Her head inadvertently bobbed up and down as he licked his lips.
Her eyes of molten gold looked up at those lips with both hope and dismay

She trembled as he spoke, from fear, from change, from anticipation. She looked away as his tone grew frustrated and sharp. Her breath shuddered as she bit back a surprised sob when he told her she mattered.

There it was. All laid out before her.
She swayed after him as he turned away remarking on their initial reason they were here. She closed her eyes tight and tossed her head to the side, shaking it with consternation for a moment before she followed. The scent in his wake sending ripples of mixed emotions in a wildfire through her fur.

Cruelty, for them both perhaps. She didn't know what to say, what to do. He was danger and comfort all rolled up in a titanic entity. He loved her, he said in more words than that but it boiled down to he loved her as much as he loved Hazel. She was no dalliance to him, an equal in his heart in all but rank.

If they encoiled in such a trist, and she fell pregnant, what then? The pups would be bastards, would Hazel then take it on herself to run Ignita out or even... Kill her?

She stumbled over the metal rails, she let out a sharp gasp when her ankle twisted while it was caught and she crumpled. A mild sprain, but her heart was in agony.

"How could you do this to me..." Not the sprain, no her clumsy paws were too wrapped up in her own head, "How could you say as much, knowing it would rend me apart? Would it be her right to shred me to pieces if we...?" Her eyes glassy as she looked up.

Agony, she too felt torn. Would he deny her the blossoming affection she had for his hier as well?

Basilisk turned instantly at the sound of her gasp. Taking a few steps back to her, careful not to touch her as he bent down and looked at her ankle. “What have you done now.” He growled softly. He looked up at her expression, kneeling to look at her paw as he was, he actually had to look up for once. “I didn’t mean for this to happen…” He told her unhappily. “I’d intended to prepare you for the part of organising for the pack, and release you from slave to find your own path in the Armada. Now… now I don’t want to let you go.” he brushed a paw across her ankle, whisper-soft. “I want you.” He let his paw drop away, but didn’t move from his position, crouched before her.

“I don’t know what to do, Ignita. I won’t hurt Hazel, I can’t. She’s been hurt everywhere she’s turned in life. Her own father tried to kill her.” But the affection he felt for Ignita had bubbled up unbidden. He thought he could push it into a category of caregiver, but the heat inside of him had shown that for the lie it was. Not for the first time, he thought of what it would feel like to take her.


"Basilisk Fatalis"

A sound escaped her throat as he softly admonished her with a growl. She turned her face away as he inspected her twisted ankle, her ears pinned ashamed against her skull, her eyes trying to hold back another wellspring of tears. She was so tired of crying over one thing or another. How weak of her to leak over every little thing.

He didn't mean for this to happen. No, of course not, neither did she! Maybe when she was half delirious with hormones from last season when was thoroughly in heat, did she suggest such a plan or make it an option then? Was this all her fault? Was she the one to put this in his head?

His intentions were now waylaid, his greed to keep her close was all that kept her enslaved. At the soft touch upon her sore ankle, she finally looked a him. His blue eyes were below her for the first time. Which must have taken some effort for him.

His whisper stole her breath, her chest heaved below her chin and urged her closer. A single despairing tear wet her cheek as she tilted her head at him. The blooming inferno within her was as hot as the bonfire in the Col.

"Oh Hazel... how awful..." to have him here, so close, "We can't..." She could nearly taste his breath. Her strong paw slowly inched forward toward one of his saber teeth to lightly brush the enamel. She remembered the thrill and the fear that had shivered through her spine when he had pressed this saber against her cheek the day he claimed her for Armada. Would he claim her for himself today?
"There must be..." another way, something else... "Give me away..." It would be the only option. "Send me away... for a little while..." Her voice was barely above a whisper, her eyes pleading with him. Pleading to send her way or take her, she didn't know.

"Ignita"

Basilisk may enter her threads without warning.

He closed his eyes as he felt her paw brush close to his mouth. He wasn’t accustomed to this feeling of wanting. He hadn’t ever dreamed he would have such emotions for a wolf other than Hazel. He hated himself a little for it. He wished what he felt for Ignita was… different. That he would still want to keep and protect her, but that the relationship that closer to a father figure than this. This was.. Torture.

At her words, he reached out and wrapped his paw around her uninjured one. Pushing it into the earth beneath them. Holding her there, so easy to do with the differences in their size and strength. “I’m a selfish bastard, Ignita. I told you I won't let you go easily, and I meant that. I will never give or send you away. Perhaps, in time, these emotions will wane. But I will always keep and protect you. This is your home now. The Armada, me. No matter how difficult at times that might be.” Was it a promise, a warning? He wasn’t entirely sure. But no matter how difficult this made things between them, he couldn’t imagine not having her a stone's throw away. Seeing her bent over her parchments, building plans, or throwing out some crazy thought he had never even heard of before. He clenched his paw around her’s a little tighter. “Mine.” He growled


"Basilisk Fatalis"

Her breath stilled as he wrapped his massive paw around hers and pressed it into the cavern floor. So easy for him, a mountain of a man. Her thoughts drifted away from her paw... would it hurt? Maybe a little, maybe a lot, she had never tried. She had been abused and tossed and teased and bullied... but never taken.

He was selfish, there was no escape. He would never let her go, he would never forsake her. Maybe, maybe, these feelings would wane in time, but they were here, and they didn't feel like they would go away any time soon. Him, he was home, and the stale smell of the cavern that once reminded her of dusty tombs would now remind her of the older and empty rooms of the Armada. Of him.

"Home... is wherever you are..." She replied to him quietly.

He clenched his paw over hers and growled his ownership confidently. Sending a thrill of fear and need within her so deep that it could not be quenched, a tightening to her girdle and a shift in her pose responded as if without her.
"Mine." He growled
"Yours." She whispered.

Assenting to whatever happened next. Her breathing was heavy, her golden eyes half lidded against him. She had no more suggestions, questions died on her lips as they tasted her tongue. Words she promised him echoed again in her mind.

"I am yours... you are my Lord, my Liege, my Keeper. I'll not be anyone else's..."

Her own battle of need and wanting overtook her cautions, her curious nature fueled the bonfire within.

"I am unsullied before you, my Liege." She whispered, leaning forward. For some reason, the thought of them being a girl's first always gave them a thrill. She knew this only from the boisterous parties of her past. Would he take what was decidedly his? If they dallied here and he partook of her would their wanting be released?

"Ignita"

Basilisk may enter her threads without warning.

They were so close now. A mistake, he knew being this close was a mistake. Her scent enveloped him, and he could taste the changes in it on her tongue. Taste her want and need in the small spaces between them. He leaned closer, lips parted as he breathed in deeply. He rose up a little from his crouched position in front of her, digging his teeth into the underside of her neck. Not enough to hurt her. The motion possessive and controlling. He fought the urge to dig a little deeper, just enough that she would whimper. He could every motion of pulse beneath the skin, her life and next breath utterly at his mercy.

Instead, he released her, his own breathing heavy and raspy and warm against her. “You…” He whispered softly “Make a mess of my self control.” he moved his teeth, biting lightly into her shoulder, her back, his teeth digging little love marks across her skin. Twice, thrice, he bit her. At no point breaking the skin, his tongue rasping against her coat. “Mine, and only mine.” He snarled at her, before he pulled his head back. His eyes wild, and showing whites. His own need obviously in his scent and form as he looked at her with so much need… and backed up two steps. Gasping soft breaths before he turned his back on her.

"Basilisk Fatalis"

He grasped her throat, she closed her eyes, and a whimper escaped from behind her teeth as her life force pulsed against his ivories. She went limp as he held her, her mind consumed with the feel of him against her pulsing jugular. Electricity fizzled wherever their skin met, stinging like nettles under her fur. He could kill her then, and they'd both be released from the agony of this venture. She was tranquil between his teeth, only her panicked shallow breathing gave him any idea of her fear. She was resolved to endure this. Until the day he released her from her servitude, she was his to do as he liked.

Then he released her and her head began to swim with a buzz as her breath was given back to her. A light sudden simpering moan escaped her as he bit into her fur. Was that her? Did she just... and then, again, a soft sound came with her sudden exhale when he grasped her flicker marked fur between his teeth. Waves of sensations cascaded through her fur and she... liked it. He bit again and the sound was louder as the cascading sensation settled heavily in her belly, stoking the lustful desire to be utterly consumed. She pressed her head into his chest as he rasped his tongue over her fur, her paws digging into the stone as she experienced these new feelings and stimulations over her skin. His words, mine, bid her bloom beneath him, she could smell his own need, a heavy scent, wet and earthy.

Then he was gone, her breathless voice began to choke as he turned away from her. She was a slave, her own need for release was inconsequential. She sat where he left her, her eyes on his back. Still, she yearned for him, a throbbing deep within her, an itch she could not reach she'd never felt before. Does she love him? Does she love him more when he can hold himself back? Her heart was so full of him. She craved him like she craved for air.

"I look at you, and it terrifies me. It terrifies me what I would do for you." She said into the empty space between them, echoing into the void of the labyrinth of caves around them. She would just as easily steal the stars as launch herself into the sea if he bid her.

"Ignita"

Basilisk may enter her threads without warning.

He looked back at her as she spoke, and it was clear the distance had done nothing to quench the desperate need behind his eyes. His raspy breathing was slowly beginning to settle as he wrestled control back over himself. He couldn’t help but question his own control. What if he let slip, just once? Would it be so bad, if these tunnels held their secret…

“I feel the same way.” He said, a hint of sadness encroaching on his tone. What had developed between them never should have come into being. But it was there now, something the world was holding over them. He would fight for her, even when doing so might cost him. She was not simply a slave, she was not disposable to him. “I don’t want these feelings to damage the bond that’s formed between us. I like relying on you, Ignita.” He admitted, shaking his head, frustrated at everything, frustrated that there was nothing he could do about it. No way to relieve these emotions. He held out a paw to her, an offering, of sorts. “Will you try to navigate this with me?”


"Basilisk Fatalis"

The fire was just as evident in his eyes as hers when he turned back to her. Her own breath finally steadied with him as she watched the rise and fall of his blue flame licked back.

The hint of sadness in his tone that echoed her sentiments surprised her. She cast her gaze away from him, to the private rocks around them. Her mind started to come back to her. His admittance didn't surprise her though. She also didn't want their bond to change, they had worked hard to tear down the walls between them to build a trust... but perhaps they delved too deep, knocked down too many walls with her insatiable curiosity.

She looked at his offered paw, her mind now dancing over history and promises and... What if they're doomed by destiny?

"Of course, but... to what end?" She said, gathering her paws up from under her. Her sprain would make her mildly limp toward him. She placed her injured paw in his. "What is the outcome you wish?" Just placing her hand on his made her inhale to take in his warm and protective scent.

"Ignita"

Basilisk may enter her threads without warning.