A Love Like War

Manea didn’t consider herself an unreasonable woman and she was willing to hear Alastor out despite her own misgivings for this wolf that felt like an intruder in her life, but when she more or less accused Relm of sucking his dick and he jumped to the defensive instead of denying it or brushing it off Manea took notice. She sat a couple of feet away, facing away from him while he turned the situation back on her, questioning why she didn’t care. A hard retort hung on her tongue, but she bit it back, letting him continue even though she never looked at him while he spoke. If it had been anyone other than Alastor she likely wouldn’t have put her own ego aside to listen, but she loved and respected him enough to at least keep quiet while he spoke.

She knew that Alastor spent far more time with Relm than she ever had, but as soon as he began insisting that she didn’t know Relm the way he did it only made her bristle more. He went on, giving her all of the context and detail she had tried to give Relm the opportunity to present herself, painting the awful picture of her childhood and her abusive father. She didn’t feel guilt or remorse for how she had felt about Relm leading up to this moment since the pink marked woman did nothing to defend herself or state her case in all the time that she had lived with them, but Manea did at least reconsider how she viewed the other woman. It all certainly explained a lot of things and as much as her own dislike of Relm didn’t want to let her admit it she could at least feel bad for what she had gone through and be glad that Alastor had rescued her from that. She did her best not to bristle or get defensive at the edge to his last comment about how she would never be able to relate to him or Relm. She knew that at least in a way he was right, but she felt like she had at least done her best to be understanding for him in their relationship and if she had known even a fraction of Relm’s story she didn’t think that she would have been nearly as harsh on the woman.

She might have said as much or at least conceded that she had been harder on Relm than she should have been, but before she could gather up the will to overcome her own stubborn pride Alastor spoke again, mentioning how Relm hadn’t tried to blow him… yet. That sent her thoughts screeching to a halt and even though she still kept herself from turning to look at him her shoulders tensed and her brow creased. As soon as he admitted that he had sex with Relm earlier that day all of her small suspicions started to click together. Why he had disappeared for a length of time today, why his fur was wet even though he had supposedly only been patrolling, why he was so quick to defend her. He hadn’t gone swimming, he had bathed to wash that bitch’s scent and the remnants of their act off of himself.

Her hackles had bristled as he spoke and that initial hit of rage hit her system, but she managed to force herself to sit still and let that rage simmer until she was able to smooth the snarl that had pulled back her lips and got her fur to lay flat once more. Not only did she not want to put more stress on herself than she already did for the sake of their pups, but she had to remind herself that they had never agreed to be exclusive to one another. They had more or less agreed to share whoever they wanted to bring to bed, but apparently that agreement no longer held weight. She knew her fury at the situation was purely because of who he had slept with, not because he had slept around without her. She would have likely been disappointed or maybe a bit mad either way, but because it was Relm the situation was different. He knew how she felt about Relm and yet he did it anyway and that’s what bothered her most—that and the fact that Relm clearly meant something to him so this was no longer just a fun fuck for the hell of it. Then there was the icing on the cake of the fact that he had been with Relm only to show back up here and cuddle with her like nothing happened.

Manea was seething with quiet rage when she finally got up after a few long moments of silence and turned to face him. Her expression was mostly passive, but the fire in her aqua gaze gave away her true feelings. She stalked toward him, her tone low and dangerous as she spoke. "Did it feel good fucking her while I was out working for the pack, exhausting myself, carrying our pups, waiting here for my dear husband to return to me? Hm?" She stood looking down at him where he was laying, another snarl twitching at her lips. A growl formed in her chest and she lunged toward him, shoving his shoulder to push him onto his back as she quickly climbed over top of him, straddling him as she pinned him to the ground and pressed one of her large paws to his throat. She didn't know who was to blame for what happened, whether he had approached Relm or if Relm had seduced him, but she honestly couldn't care less. They were both guilty as far as she was concerned, but she put more blame on Alastor than she did Relm. The other woman was already near the bottom of her list so this offense wasn't even surprising coming from her. From Alastor though... this hurt her more than she expected it would.

Her chest ached, but it came to the surface as anger instead of hurt, her lips curling back as she leaned down to bring her muzzle to his ear. "How many times do I have to remind you that you are mine," she growled, punctuating her words with a tighter squeeze around his throat. She was furious and upset, angry and possessive. A less violent woman might have cried or questioned him or maybe even thrown him out of their den if not more, but that wasn't her. Her shoulders trembled lightly from the heavy emotions that sat on her chest and her ears flicked back as she stared down at him and only just barely remembered to let him breathe. "I let her live here because you asked it of me, I promoted her because I thought you would appreciate it. Is that not enough? What is she to you?" she demanded as she made herself loosen up her hold around his neck, though she didn't lift her paw away completely. The only thing that was bringing her any kind of comfort was feeling like she had some kind of control on him even if it was just for a moment.

"Manea Mendacium"