Give me a direction

Besides a scoff at her thanking him for helping her when Viper attacked her, Chimera was noticeably silent throughout everything she said. However, she noticed how the flicking of his tail had stopped and when she looked up at him he seemed to be studying her for a long moment. She never knew what to expect from Chimera, especially not when she approached him like this with so many topics that she would have normally liked to avoid, but it seemed like she had at least avoided making him mad so that helped calm her slightly. Her blue gaze followed him uncertainly as he rolled to his feet and gave himself a shake, having to lift her head to be able to maintain eye contact with him now that he was standing. Her immediate instinct as he moved closer was to back away, but she made herself remain sitting where she was as he began to speak.

Him stating so plainly that he knew about her sleeping with Siren caught her off guard, making her eyes widen with surprise. What surprised her more was the fact that he said he didn't care. He wasn't the type to hide how he felt about something so she didn't expect that he was lying, but it was still somehow hard to believe. He seemed so protective and possessive of his sister, at least from her perspective, so she had assumed that he wouldn't be so accepting of the things that she and Siren had done together. But that did make her realize that she was the only one that seemed to not be able to accept sharing the wolf she loved with others. Chimera clearly loved Siren and he had at least some kind of relationship with Viper and Aliana. Aliana and Siren at the very least seemed to accept this situation fairly easily - Viper was an outlier in most regards so she didn't care to think about what the smaller woman thought. If they all could agree to this why couldn't she?

A small part of her had kind of hoped that Chimera would simply give her a command to follow or declare what she should do, but instead he told her to figure out her own direction unless she wanted to become his slave again, seemingly respecting the fact that she had been freed by Siren. As strange as it was, the thought of being his slave again wasn't immediately tossed out as a possibility. Facing so much indecision and choice only caused her to spiral out of control and the possibility of having things decided for her again felt appealing. The only thing that made her hesitate was the fact that Siren had paid so much to buy Aliana in order to buy her freedom in exchange. It felt like giving herself back to Chimera would be an insult to Siren and as hurt as she felt she didn't know if she could do that to Siren.

She remained quiet and thoughtful as he spoke, considering it all. She was surprised when he mentioned how he was planning on them leaving here soon and forming his own pack, but didn't comment on it right away, listening as he went on to remind her that she should take happiness where she could get it. He was certainly right in the fact that things didn't always go as planned even though she really hadn't had a plan. She had just taken things as they came and all of that had landed her in this position. If she had put more thought and foresight into things she might have been able to prevent herself from growing so attached and from allowing herself to love the way she did, but it was too late for that now. She frowned a little with thought, her ears flicking as she thought of how happy she had been to be at Siren's side, taking care of her all this time. Even though nothing had turned out as she expected and even if she couldn't have what she wanted, she wondered if there was still a way to have some of that happiness back.

She was pulled out of her thoughts, refocusing on his face as he admitted that he shouldn't have treated her the way he had even if that's why they had purchased her, getting the closest she would probably ever get to an apology. She was stunned by it and she thought to herself that maybe Aliana had been right about him after all - especially as he begrudgingly offered her a hug, raising his foreleg to welcome her into his embrace. A little smile twitched at the corners of her lips, mostly from the disbelief that Chimera of all wolves would offer such a thing even if it was out of a feeling of obligation. As awkward as it was, she felt like it would be even more strange for her to deny the olive branch he was extending so she rose to her paws to cross the small space between them and lean into his embrace for a moment. It was certainly strange and unexpected and perhaps even a bit uncomfortable, but she couldn't deny that she appreciated the effort he made.

She only lingered there for a moment before she stepped back again. "I will come with you to your new pack," she assured him with a small nod. Even if he hadn't given her any direct answers or commands like she had originally hoped, he had given her a different perspective and one that was far more firm than her own and that was almost as good. "I don't want to offend Siren by agreeing to being your slave again after all she did to buy me away, but I do appreciate how direct you are and if there is anything you need of me I would rather it be a command than a question." Perhaps with him as the alpha she would do better as a free wolf in his ranks than she had in Ashen's. Only time would tell if she could learn to adapt to a new way of thinking about things or if she would just fall back into the same pit falls as last time. Thinking about Siren still made her chest ache, but she didn't think that anything would relieve that any time soon. Making herself think about relationships differently would take time, but she could take Chimera's words of finding happiness where she could find it to heart.

"Dalila"