Baby Steps

Satira had been so sure that Ciná was pulling her leg with that obviously false claim that after she had pushed the bottle of rum over to him, she had fully just looked away out over the ocean as she considered her next round for him. That is, until her thinking was interrupted by the nudge of the bottle back against her leg. Blue eyes snapped down to the bottle, then to the giant red paw holding it, then up into the golden gaze of her lover. He wasn't smiling anymore. There was no joke or jest in his expression. Cináed looked deathly serious as he held her gaze and reaffirmed that he wasn't teasing her or lying to her. I love you. He said those words again and Satira's heart both leapt in her chest and dropped into her stomach. He was speaking again, rationalizing how this hadn't been their original plan and yada yada, but Tira had stopped listening. Her ears were ringing as she stared dumbly up at him. Ciná loved her? He loved her?! No no no no no no no, this couldn't be happening!

A panic and fear began to rise up in her heart and Tira's expression dropped from mirth to anxiety as she shook her head rapidly. "Take that back," she demanded him in insistent tones, shifting to roll and face him fully, still in his arms all the while. "Don't say you love me, Ciná. I'm not a good wolf to love. I'm not even a full wolf. I'm a mess of a hybrid with so many issues. I'm not worth getting attached to." Steel blue eyes that had been so resolute in her refusal of his admission suddenly looked worried, anxious, and scared. A petite speckled paw lifted to grab him by the thick fur on his shoulder, giving him a little shake as she repeated, "Take it back! You can't love me! Everyone who loves me winds up leaving me! My mom, my dad, my brother, they all moved on without me!" Tears had begun to spring up into the corners of Tira's eyes as she looked up at Cináed like he was about to disappear at any second. Her chest heaved with shaky stuttering breaths. Her paw stopped shaking him, but kept a hold of him still as she murmured in a weakening voice, "Please... I don't want you to leave me too..."

"Cináed & Satira"