News of Scylla's whereabouts and condition was nonexistent from the moment she left Elysium, a fact that greatly bothered Saracyn. He knew he had no right to keep tabs on her, not after the way he'd scorned her, nor the way she'd sacrificed her happiness for his and left him with the care of their pups so he could have his happily ever after at her own expense. But Saracyn was not a reasonable brute. He was possessive and envious, covetous for what he knew he could not have. Scylla Klein had left her mark on him forevermore. He knew that she was at least alive from his father's report, but after that, it was as if the fae simply... ceased to exist.

That had been the status quo for quite some time. As the weeks crawled by into months and Saracyn busied himself raising his family, caring for his three children and Avacyn during her transition of power from alpha to family matriarch, rumors began to spread of a shift in the political powers of the world. Valta had fallen, abdicated by its reigning alpha to a new upstart who had taken it in the most unorthodox manner. Sara didn't pay the rumors any mind—until he heard the name of its new Sovereign. Scylla Klein had found herself in control of a pack. So, under the guise of diplomacy, Saracyn ventured from Elysium the short trek south to where their former allies had once been. He had to see for himself if the rumors were true—and if Scylla really had obtained everything she ever wanted.

Nearing the borders of what had once been Valta, Saracyn picked up the unmistakable scent of Scylla. He had buried his nose in her nape enough times to have her smell seared into his memory for all time. Her scent caused his heart to wrench, his stomach to churn with uncharacteristic anxiousness as he prepared to face her. The crimson brute stopped with his toes right at her border, peering into the lands as if there was an invisible force field keeping him at bay. For a long while, Sara debated on whether he should call her or not. She was clearly moving on with her life; maybe he needed to do the same. But that selfish, possessive part of him refused to just give up. And so, when his baser instincts won out, Saracyn tipped his head and called for an audience with the new alpha of these lands. It was do or die now.

"Saracyn Mendacium"

Of all the calls that could possibly come her way, Scylla hadn't expected Saracyn's voice to ring out of the blue. It stopped the cobalt woman in her tracks and she turned, looking over her shoulder in the direction of the call as though to discern if it truly was the red brute summoning her. In the end she turned and made her way towards the border.

As the foliage around the rapids parted, Scylla's black and blue eyes landed upon the familiar red figure. Yep, it was Saracyn indeed. She wasn't as emotional as most women, so seeing him didn't immediately rip open old wounds or bring tears to her eyes. Nothing like that. Seeing him wasn't the end of the world. A smile curled up the corners of the striped woman's maw that was both friendly and predatory. "Saracyn," she greeted with a purr, sitting on her side of the border marking just to be a brat.

Mismatched eyes roamed over the bruised strawberry blatantly. Openly. Lasciviously. She wouldn't be Scylla if she didn't do such things. Really, he should expect it by now, after all they'd been through.

One paw waved lazily through the air as she continued to speak. "I assumed your father would tell you that everything was fine. Perhaps he forgot. He was a little distracted when he left." Mischievous challenge sparkled in the Sovereigns eyes as she sought to get a rise out of the brute that she could have loved.

"Scylla"

Saracyn wondered if Scylla would show up to respond to his call or if she'd simply ignore his presence. He wouldn't blame her one bit if she'd decided to leave him standing on her doorstep like a fool. But as it would turn out, that wasn't what was going to happen. Instead, after only a short bout of waiting, Sara heard the shifting of foliage and turned his gaze to see the oh so familiar slate and cream form of Scylla step out into view. Their gazes met, cerulean holding ice blue and slate gray, and the Mendacium brute felt his breath catch in his throat. Scylla may not have been a very emotional wolf, but Saracyn was—he just wore a mask most of the time to conceal his feelings away from everyone else. Only Scylla and Avacyn had ever truly seem the wolf beneath the facade. Seeing her again brought back a rush of recent memories—chasing Scylla through the midnight rock garden, their bodies colliding, roiling, crashing together, sharp teeth and heavy breaths against his ear. Sara swallowed hard to repress the memories threatening to overwhelm his better judgment.

Scylla purred his name in greeting, still as sensual and enticing as ever. It twisted something in the dire brute's chest to hear her say his name. She smiled at him as if he hadn't hurt her and Saracyn had to pretend he wasn't thinking about that either. She sat across from him over the border, just teasingly out of his reach and squarely in her own territory. Her territory. Scylla had made it. She'd become the queen she was meant to be. Saracyn watched the way her eyes roamed over his body, salacious and proud, as if looking over each part of him she had claimed. And how she had claimed him... and her in turn for him. Sara's cool-hued gaze roamed down over Scylla's body brazenly, his body quivering with a tension as more memories of their moonlight coupling returned to him. If she weren't on the other side of that damn border...

Scylla made a passing comment about how his father was supposed to tell him that she was fine, along with a thinly veiled comment about how she had fucked his sire again. How many times had the little lecher had her way with his father? It actually stirred something inside the brute—envy, possessiveness? It gripped at his chest whatever it was in ways that made his claws rake at the dirt. His lip quivered as he resisted the urge to growl. She was showing off her prowess, a prowess he was well aware of. "He did tell me, actually. Although he left out the parts about you two fucking." Sara's blue eyes blazed as he held the challenging look in the eyes of the fae that could have been his soulmate. Play nice... you're here to be friendly. "I wanted to see for myself. I'd heard you'd laid claim to a pack. I guess I had to see what Queen Scylla looks like in all her splendor." He flashed her a grin of his serrated teeth; he was teasing her back now. Two could play at this coy game.

"Saracyn Mendacium"

Saracyn's words brought a soft gasp from the small fae, mismatched eyes going wide. One nimble paw raised to her chest and she gave the most innocent look that she could muster. "How crude," she chastised. "I didn't say anything about fucking him." In truth, she hadn't fucked Alastor. The mood had been too... sullen. The topic of their conversation too heavy. That wasn't to say that she didn't want to fuck him. What could she say? Scylla was a sucker for handsome, older men. Daddy issues, maybe? Did Chimera not hug her enough when she was a child? Hmm...

The red brute went on, teasing her a bit about her new position. He called her 'queen' and Scylla gave a low, husky chuckle. A tsk sounded and she shook her head. "Queen is such a boring title, don't you think?" One brow lifting as she sighed. Her expression shifted a moment later, lips peeling back to flash a sweet little grin. "You're speaking to the Sovereign of Obscura." Lifting a paw, she swept it outwards, indicating that he should follow. "Care to have a look around?"


"Scylla"

Saracyn squinted down at Scylla with scrutinizing eyes, finding it difficult to buy her surprise at his crude remark of her relations with his own sire. "You didn't say you didn't fuck him either," he pointed out. Omission of the truth did not make it any less true. Saracyn knew Scylla well—too well, sometimes. He wouldn't have put it past her to pursue a fun time with either of his parents for that matter, and given how salacious his mother and father were... well, they might have even indulged in her appetite. But he would pursue the matter no further. In fact, he wasn't sure he truly wanted her answer on whether she had fucked two generations of Mendacium men.

Scylla was quick to rectify that her title was not Queen, but Sovereign. To Saracyn, it all sounded the same. Titles, ranks, stations... none of it had ever meant a thing to him. He hadn't spent his life pursuing goals of lofty positions in Elysium. He had only ever followed the beat of his own heart. Too bad his heart was a fucking uncertain asshole that kept getting itself hurt or twisted up. "Sovereign Scylla," he corrected himself, still trying to mind his manners. Scylla wasn't an Elysium wolf he could speak to however he liked anymore. She was the alpha of her own pack, and he had been given strict instructions to behave himself. Perhaps it showed on his face how much he disliked being leashed. Scylla beckoned him over the border to look around and the dire brute stood to accept her invitation, striding into Obscura's lands to join Scylla on the other side of the border. "Obscura. Interesting name. Where'd you come up with that?"

"Saracyn Mendacium"

Sara mumbled about not saying that she didn't fuck his father and Scylla shrugged, one striped shoulder lifting. She'd leave that up to his imagination. Would he see her in his minds eye, splayed out beneath his father? Would it get a little anger from the red brute or would it ignite a little lust? For Scylla, it would have filled her belly with heat to know that such a taboo event had taken place. She wasn't exactly your typical wolf though. Her tastes and kinks were quite a bit different from your basic bitch.

Once within the territory, Saracyn walking beside her, he asked how she'd come up with the name. An amused little laugh bubbled up from Scylla and she shook her head. "Sounds mysterious, doesn't it?" Still grinning, she shrugged a bit, paws dancing along the ground as they continued deeper into the territory. "I'd rather others didn't know what we do here, so we'll remain as vague and mysterious as possible." Even if they didn't do anything particularly bad, it was no ones business but hers.

"So the point of your visit?" She cast him a side-eye. "Did you just want to see if the rumors were true?" The pair followed the curve of the river leading towards the largest and loudest of the rapids. "Or did you miss me?" She asked, a mischievous glint in her eye as the raucous rapids ate up her words.

"Scylla"

Scylla's silent shrug when he pointed out how she hadn't denied fucking his sire was even more infuriating than if she had just admitted to the act. Now he was left wondering if the sordid little fae had tangled herself with his father. The mental images that played in his head stoked something in Saracyn's belly; a smoldering envy and urge to reclaim her as he thought of his behemoth sire plowing the mother of his children into the ground. But it was unjustified. Sara held no claim over Scylla, she was not his soulmate nor his wife. She was free to fuck whoever she wished, even if that struck close to home. The way Sara's blue eyes flashed with a jealous anger or the way his lip quivered in a silent possessive growl wouldn't be missed by the perceptive fae, nor would the glow of his facial marking growing brighter with his pounding heart, but he couldn't help it. That's just who Saracyn was.

Trying to move on from the mental image of his father breeding with the Klein fae at his side, Sara focused instead on the conversation they made while they walked. He gave a rumbling hum of agreement when she mentioned it sounding mysterious. Giant paws crunched through the blanket of snow, more akin to marching while Scylla's danced through the wintry powder. "And what is it you do do here?" Sara inquired with a raised brow to her. What was the point of Scylla's ascension to power? For fun? For conquest? To prove a point? Or just because she was bored?

When asked about the purpose of his visit, Saracyn was direct and withheld nothing. "You displaced the leader of one of Elysium's allies and usurped Valta. You should have expected a visit from their allies to understand what the hell is going on here. Be grateful I didn't come for your head." That was the official answer as far as everyone knew. But there would be no hiding the emotional wince that came over Sara's expression when Scylla asked if he missed her. Saracyn tried to hide the glint of pain in his eyes while they rounded the corner to come nearer the rapids. Yes. Saracyn missed the hell out of Scylla. He had missed her every single day since she'd left. Every time he looked at their children he was reminded of the sacrifice he had made to have them. He'd broken Scylla in the most selfish way to get what he wanted, and now that he had everything he desired, he couldn't escape his own guilt. They could have been magnificent together.

"I wanted to know..." Sara trailed off. What did he want to know? That she was okay? That she was moving on? That she'd thrived despite how he'd fucked up? "...what you were up to." What she was up to? Saracyn, are you fucking dense? Even he cringed a little at his awkward attempts to deflect from his own feelings. He didn't want to hurt her more by exposing his emotions to her again. The last time he had, she had opened herself up to him too, and how had he repaid her? By tearing her heart up and using her body to grow his children. He was a monster. But even monsters had hearts, and Sara's was broken for what he'd done to Scylla. The selfish bastard brute just wanted to see her again and make himself feel better seeing her thrive in spite of himself.

"Saracyn Mendacium"

Of course she did notice his reaction. The glowing mark on his face made it impossible not to. Scylla showed no reaction that she had noticed, however. They both knew that she did, so why make a point of showing it?

As they walked, Saracyn asked what she did here. Blue and grey eyes opened wide for a moment and Scylla shrugged. "No idea." It wasn't a lie. She hadn't been alpha long enough to formulate some kind of game plan as to the direction of her pack. All of the members, save her own family, were former Valta members. She had nothing against the previous pack and it would have been wrong to displace them. Until she learned who they were and what she could trust them with, the point of Obscura was up in the air.

Saracyn's explanation as to why he was here brought a sidelong glance from Scylla, her gaze icy. Come here for her head? "Do you think you could? I seem to remember you being beneath me more than once, Strawberry." What did he even think happened to allow her to take over Valta? "Allies or no, I won fair and square. Nothing was usurped, as you so delightfully put it. Kotori challenged me, he lost, I won." The little minx flashed a grin, sharp teeth glinting in the natural light of the world. "If you had come for my head, well... that would be very unbecoming for someone who owes me for the lives of his children." Yeah, she went there.

The conversation shifted and Saracyn showed a little sheepishness as he informed her that he wanted to see what she was up to. Oh boy. The look on his face let her know that he realized just how cheap and silly that sounded. What a silly man... Sidestepping, Scylla reached up and placed a kiss upon the black and red brute's cheek, hoping to snap him out of his weirdness. "Just doing what I always do, Strawberry." She pulled away, moving into a graceful lope as she called back over her shoulder. "Whatever I want." Had there ever been a wolf more free than Scylla Klein? She doubted it.

"Scylla"