The more time that Chimera spent with Reila, the more the odd feeling of being conflicted rose within him. Before Aliana, he'd never had these feelings. Suddenly, he had a conscience. Having the desire to bed the newest member of the pack felt as though he was cheating. Being unfaithful. He was the king and had the right to bed whoever he wanted, but he'd chosen to remain true to his queens. It was bothering the man so much that he decided to straight out speak to Aliana about it. So, packing up a little picnic, Chimera obtained a pupsitter for their brood and took the clouded fae to the mainland, intending to utilize the refurbished dam that they'd all built together.

With a satchel of supplies slung around his neck, Chimera led Ali to the den. The evening was warm and a sweetly scented breeze blew in their direction. He passed the supplies off to his queen and began collecting firewood for the large pit outside of the den. It was easy to come by in a place full of beavers and soon he had not only a fire started, but a great deal of firewood set aside as well.

Chimera spread one of the thick, bison hides out on the grass near the fire and beckoned Ali to join him upon it. The weather was too nice to head inside just yet and he wanted to spend it with her. The man was a little anxious to begin voicing his concerns, but it needed to be done.

"Chimera Klein"

Aliana could sense the tension in Chimera from the moment he’d come to her to invite her out on a picnic. It wasn’t often these days that the two of them got to do many things together, the clouded queen staying busy tending to and raising their rapidly growing brood and Chimera running the pack and… doing whatever it was Chimera did. Lately, that had involved a lot of extended trips with the shipwrecked slave he’d rescued on their beach a season ago. Aliana would never outwardly admit to being envious or suspicious of Chimera or his motives, but it was impossible for her to not at least suspect something was going on there with everything she was silently observing from the sidelines. Still, she trusted her mate, and had full faith in him that he would be satisfied with what he had. She already hadn’t liked that he’d taken another lover in Erystotle, but she had understood. Chimera needed a man from time to time.

After their sons had been left in the care of a sitter, Chimera gathered up a picnic for them and led the couple out to the docks and the ferry, shuttling them across the strait to the mainland. Ali followed alongside her king every step of the way, taking in the beautiful Austerian spring sights as hey traipsed through the aspen forest bordering their island home until they arrived at the den they’d all built a season ago. While Chimera went to gather some firewood for them, Ali took to unpacking their supplies, including a massive bison hide and a smorgasbord of food.

Chimera lit a fire, flooding the area in orange light and warmth as the late afternoon sun began to sink below the horizon, shrouding the woods in long and heavy shadows. At his beckoning, Ali cast her king a sweet smile and sauntered over to drape her svelte form across the fur blanket beside him, long limbs stretched out in repose. Taking a glance up to his face, Aliana saw anxiousness in his handsome features very uncharacteristic of the giant brute. "Is there something on your mind, my love?" she asked in delicately gentle lyrics, lifting a dainty paw to rest over top of his black-toed foot while she studied his expression with tender concern.

"Aliana"

The pair moved about, each doing their own part to make the place habitable before they were laying together on the fur beside the fire. As Aliana lay beside him, Chimera used one big paw to pull her close to his chest, leaving his arm draped over her slender ribcage. The woman could read him like a book it seemed and asked if there was something on his mind. Chimera chuckled low and placed a kiss to one white ear. "A few things," he admitted.

Chimera gave the grey woman a squeeze and sighed. This likely wouldn't be easy for her to hear and he wasn't entirely sure how she would react. However, he cared enough about her to share his feelings and thoughts with her. Especially when they were such conflicting thoughts. Chimera didn't want to hurt her, but it was difficult to deny the feelings that were brewing within him. Feelings that were becoming stronger and stronger every time he was with Reila.

How did he even start? It all came down to having feelings for someone else. Wanting to fuck someone else. He was the king of Fenmyre and by that right, he could sleep with anyone that he wanted, but he was linked to Aliana. He loved her. Loved her enough to need to tell her these things. So, how did he start? Just like this.

"Aliana, I love you." His paw raised to her cheek, a dark pad sliding along pale fur. "You know me better than any other wolf alive," he assured her, pulling her even closer with the leg that was rested over her. "I like to think that we're not only lovers, we're friends." Perhaps that was cheesy, but he was on a roll. Sharing feelings wasn't his strong suit, so this was a rare occurrence. "Do you agree?"

"Chimera Klein"

As she lay beside him, Chimera moved to scoop her petite body closer to his, as he usually did when they went to sleep at night. It wasn't unexpected, and for the briefest of moments it made Aliana think that perhaps maybe her suspicions were getting the best of her—that everything was actually all right. But when she asked if he had something on his mind... well, that brought a look to Chimera's face akin to the ones her sons gave her whenever she caught them doing something they weren't supposed to. He kissed her ear and admitted to having a few things on his mind, but hesitated in saying them. instead, he squeezed her tighter to his chest and sighed. Ali peered up at him with puzzled aquamarine eyes, wondering just what was weighing so heavily on his mind that it had him acting so bizarrely.

That question would continue to linger far longer than she would have liked as Chimera started to do something very un-Chimera-like: he started beating around the bush. Ali raised a surprised brow as he started off strong, reiterating that he loved her. "And I love you," she responded, but Chimera wasn't done yet. He continued to touch her, stroke her, all while he said things that did the exact opposite of the soothing he was trying to do to her. Although Ali had never been in a relationship and experienced a breakup before, she imagined this was likely the feeling that often went along with it. Confusion, uncertainty, anxiousness while she waited for the other shoe to drop. She fixed Chimera with a sagacious smirk, piercing aqua eyes holding his gaze. "I can tell when I'm being buttered up, Chimera," she said as she reached a dainty paw up to tenderly stroke his strong chin and jaw.

She wanted to be able to say she thought of Chimera as a friend too, but if she was being honest, she didn't know what qualified someone as a friend. She'd never had any. So instead, Ali tactfully avoided answering the question directly, and instead said, "You've never asked me that question before. Why now? What's going on?"

"Aliana"

Aliana's words only served to rouse the uncomfortable feelings within him. Perhaps this was a bad idea. The brute grimaced when she essentially told him to spit it out. He didn't like this, but he'd brought her here to get a weight off of his mind and he was going to fucking do it.

"As of late, I've felt an attraction to Reila," he admitted aloud. "There's something about her that reminds me of my early days with Viper and a part of me misses that." He'd taken innumerable hunting trips with Viper. They'd hunted, made kills and fucked more times than he could count. It was relieving. Cathartic. He truly missed the woman at points even though she had irritated the hell out of him.

"But when I think of Reila, I think of you." The man had taken her paw in his and was now looking at them laying there together. His dwarfed hers in size. He dwarfed her in size. She was so small, his clouded queen, but in his heart she was gigantic. "I know this admission will bother you, but it seemed too important to keep a secret." Look at him being truthful. This whole conversation would most likely bite him in the tail, but he would rather get it out in the open. He was a king. There was no reason to keep secrets.

"Chimera Klein"

Aliana had asked Chimera directly what was bothering him, and the massive brute did not hold back. He admitted what was on his mind, and in that instant, all of the clouded queen's suspicions and doubts had been confirmed. Chimera was attracted to Reila, the veritable stranger on the island, in much the same way he had been attracted to Viper. He admitted so aloud to her and with candor. With every word the brute spoke, the diminutive fae's smile gradually diminished and slipped from her lips until she was simply left gazing up at the dire brute with an empty, impassive stare. Ali fell back into the habit of repressing any emotion she had learned as a slave; concealing everything she felt from Chimera in that instant. The walls went back up, the light dimmed in those bright aquamarine eyes as her brain worked to comprehend what he was telling her.

He explained how when he thought of Reila, he also thought of her. Somehow, that made it even worse. Knowing that he had her in his mind at the same time he was having these lecherous thoughts of the other woman who'd washed up on their shores from gods knew where felt more like a slap in the face than a compliment to his feelings for her. Aliana hid the hurt behind her vacant gaze, a talent she had learned well, and she knew Chimera would be too emotionally inept to dig for. A large paw took hers in his iron-like grasp, and Ali gazed down at where he held her for a moment, but she didn't feel the rush of joy she had in the past when he'd shown her such affections. This felt more like an attempt to soften a blow than a show of love. For the first time in over a year, Aliana wanted to pull her paw away from Chimera. She didn't though, instead letting him hold it for his own peace of mind. As upsetting as the revelations were, she just couldn't bring herself to do anything to hurt Chimera in turn.

Chimera finished by admitting that he knew this would upset her, but he would rather be honest with her. Aliana's lips pulled into a tight line while she just listened to what he had to say. All the while, the monochrome woman just kept wondering how she'd been so foolish to think she'd ever be enough for him. When she'd been bought by Siren, Chimera had his sister and Viper, and they hadn't been enough. Then he claimed her, and then he claimed Dalila. How stupid she'd been to think that he'd be satisfied with that. The bitterness and envy ate away at her heart, foreign emotions that felt wholly unwelcome in her soul, yet she couldn't shake them. When she'd arrived, Chimera already had his other women, which had made it easy to accept his lifestyle. She was the new addition—the intruder, as it were. Then he'd taken Erystotle, and while Ali didn't exactly like him claiming more lovers, she understood the need for Chimera to have a man for his sexuality, and she'd accepted it. But taking another woman... We'll never be enough, she thought dejectedly. Not three, not five, not a thousand. Chimera would never be satisfied.

She didn't know how long the quiet stretched out after he had finished speaking. To be honest, she hadn't even been paying attention, so lost in her own headspace that time seemed irrelevant. She didn't look back up at him, turning her head to shift her gaze from their paws out to the crackling fire just to have something to look at that wasn't him. It was too upsetting and corrupting her thoughts to be looking at him right now. There were no words she could think of to say. Part of her wanted to apologize for not being enough for him. Another part wanted to pull away and leave him here. Instead, Aliana just murmured a single response: "Oh..."

"Aliana"

Chimera both saw and felt Aliana pull back from him. She pulled all of her emotion inside, he imagined where she felt that she was safe. The man's ears pulled back for a moment, knowing that he did this to her, that he was making her feel this way. Emotions... were difficult for Chimera to share. Having Aliana reject and withdraw from him when he was trying to be honest and truthful with her was... hurtful, in a way. It made him less likely to want to do it again in the future. Would he always have to hold others at arms length? Siren understood his nature and he assumed that Aliana would as well, but this apparently wasn't the case.

Her short, pointless response drew a low growl of irritation from the man. He released Aliana's pale paw and brought it to his face, rubbing the area between his brows where a headache had instantly started to pound thanks to his scowl. He didn't understand her. If she had begun to have feelings for someone else and she was smart enough to tell him about it, he would have commended her for it before killing the wolf in question. To Chimera, telling the woman that he loved about the conflicting feelings within him had felt like the right thing to do. He was showing that he trusted her. What a fucking mess...

Chimera stood, rolled his shoulders and began pacing. It felt better to move than to sit still beside the woman that was clearly judging him. Perhaps it was due to the lack of care given when he was growing up, but Aliana's reaction truly bothered him. He had never shared such things before with anyone other than his sister. This being his first intentional baring of his heart, it was definitely not going how he'd planned. Had he expected her to accept it? No. He had, however, expected something. A discussion... something.

"Would you rather I hadn't told you?" he asked, still pacing back and forth on the far side of the fire. "Would you rather that your input meant nothing to me?" They obviously had different views on this. Chimera felt that he was being honest and true to her, the woman that he held so dear. It was clear that she didn't feel the same and that truly bothered him. What the fuck did women want? He had three women beneath him already. Was it so far of a stretch to believe that he might develop feelings for another? He had welcomed Dalila into the fold. Had his love of Aliana lessened? Not an ounce. Was he asking for permission to fuck Reila? No. Chimera was simply being truthful. He didn't want to hide anything from Aliana. Another low growl pulled from the brute and his lips pulled back, teeth flashing in the flickering light of the fire for but a moment. He was frustrated, clearly. Perhaps he should just leave.

"Chimera Klein"

It wasn't that Aliana had intended to upset or hurt Chimera with her withdrawal of her emotions. It was all she knew how to do. When faced with a situation she had no control over and no desire to see the outcomes of, she simply became a passive actor in the background, staying out of the way and making herself as small as possible. It was her only means of coping with the disappointment, the hurt, the heartache. It was what had been expected of her as a slave and it was the only coping mechanism she had. Conceal her feelings and just let it happen. She couldn't tell Chimera what to do any more than she could command the wind to stop blowing. He was going to do as he pleased. He knew it, Aliana knew it, all of Fenmyre knew it. So while she understood why he was telling her and doing what he was doing, softening the blow didn't make it any less of a blow. He could lay of smorgasbords of feasts and create a palace of a campsite for her. In the end, he was still inflicting the same wound.

Not long after she said the only word she could think of, Chimera withdrew from her in turn with a growl of irritation. Aliana didn't bother to look up at him. She didn't want to see his face or his snarl or his two-toned eyes clouded with anger and frustration. He released her paw, and Ali immediately tucked it in underneath herself along with the other, making herself as small as possible. Whereas Chimera thought he was doing good by being honest with her feelings, to the monochrome queen all he was doing was bringing her fears to life, manifesting them into reality. Chimera would never be satisfied. Not by her, nor Siren, nor Dalila, nor Erystotle, and Reila would be no different. Just another number to add to his body count, it seemed. It made her question everything he said to her, everything he'd claimed the last time he bore his soul. Aliana knew this was just Chimera's nature, which was why she wasn't angry, just bitterly upset.

She'd really thought (perhaps foolishly) in her heart of hearts that even after Viper's death, the three queens would be enough for him. Erystotle had been an outlier, a variable she hadn't expected, but ultimately one she understood. Reila didn't make sense to her. The once-slave turned the object of the king's affection just proved Chimera's fancies changed with the wind. How long would it be before he wanted to make her a queen as well? To breed with her and give her his children? How much importance could the title have if he handed it out to all the women he stuck his dick in? And even then, he wouldn't stop at four. She knew he wouldn't. Maybe he'd want another man. Maybe he'd want a dozen lovers. How long before he fell in love with one of them and she got pushed out? Just another name on his list, another notch in his belt of conquests, and all she'd have was a broken heart, bitter memories, and six children to raise on her own to show for her loyalty. Aliana began to wonder if perhaps she should start finding other brutes to fool around with as well, just to have something to stick to him. See how he liked the idea of someone he loved pulling bodies out of nowhere just to fuck with his head. It was a spiteful thought that surprised Ali that she had thought of it—but at this moment she truly didn't care. Chimera had hurt her, maybe he deserved to be hurt back.

When Chimera stood and began pacing, Aliana just kept her mournful aqua eyes set to the blazing fire. She wondered silently if he was thinking he'd made a mistake by picking her. Maybe he was thinking of how to best kill her and dispose of her body. She really couldn't predict Chimera anymore, it seemed. But despite her inner turmoil, Aliana didn't make a move to leave. Any other woman in her position would have slapped their offending man, berated him, or stormed off. Instead, Ali just lay there in silence. She didn't know what to do. She didn't know what to say. What was Chimera looking for from her? Approval? A fight? She just didn't know! Chimera spat a few more curt sentences at her, asking if she'd rather have not been told. She didn't know the answer to that either, so she didn't reply. Aliana was shutting down. It wasn't until he growled again that the clouded queen finally looked back up at him again. He was the picture of anger: muscles tensed, body rigid, lips curled away from bared teeth. This was the Chimera that Ali had known first. Volatile. Aggressive. Dangerous.

"I don't know what you want from me, Chimera," Aliana finally said, giving a defeated shake of her head and nothing more. "My input does mean nothing to you. You're going to do whatever you want to anyway. It's your right to do so. So what do you want me to say?" He was the king; he could do as he pleased. Aliana and all the others on the island were powerless to stop him. But it didn't mean that his actions were free from consequence, as he was swiftly finding out. So what did he want? What did he want her to say or do? Claim that she was happy he was falling for another woman? That she hoped Reila was as good a fuck as she knew Chi had been imagining? That she would be pleased to welcome Reila into their family? The more she put thought into it, the more anxious and uncomfortable she was getting, and it took all her resolve to keep as calm as she had been up to now.

"Aliana"

A soon as he left her side, Aliana curled in on herself. She was acting like a victim. Was she not a queen? Did she take her title so lightly? Again he considered just leaving, but that wouldn't solve the problem at all. It would only make things worse and that wasn't at all what the man wanted. He wanted a discussion, conversation, dialogue. It seemed as though he would have to drag the words out of the woman.

When she finally did speak, Chimera's lips drew back once more in a sneer, a scowl settling hard upon his features. Did she think that he was putting all of this out in the open for the fun of it? Did she think that he enjoyed hurting her emotionally? "If your input meant nothing, we wouldn't be having this conversation, you silly woman. I'd have fucked her already and you'd have no idea." He stopped his pacing, staring hard at the ashen fae from the other side of the fire. "But I haven't. Instead I thought that for some reason I should share such weighty concerns with my mate." That had been a mistake, but really, what was the alternative? To continue letting his feeling eat at him until he couldn't control himself around the woman? To keep this information from Aliana and let her hear about it from some little, chattering bird?

What did Aliana really know about him? He didn't exactly talk about his upbringing, or lack thereof. Perhaps it would help to put some things into perspective for the woman. The two-toned made didn't continue pacing and the look of anger shifted into something else, something tired. "Siren and I were abandoned when we were younger. Our mother didn't care, our father was gone, our brother disappeared, our older siblings hated us," he began, his voice lacking its former anger. "We only had each other. Siren has always been sweet and accepting, but I shut everyone else out. I still do. There are very few that mean anything to me. Very few that have been able to rouse some sort of emotion other than sheer tolerance."

Crickets and frogs filled the silence as Chimera finally sat. He was tired both physically and emotionally all of a sudden. The giant brutes shoulders drooped and he once again raised a paw to knead the area between his eyes. "You are important to me, Aliana Klein," he informed the woman, even though she believed that she wasn't, which he deduced by her previous statements. "And you're correct; I'm well within my rights to do as I please, but I haven't."

Once more Chimera sighed and his voice grew softer still. "When I took you as a lover, do you think that I loved Siren any less? When I welcomed Dalila, do you think I loved either of you less?" He wasn't even remotely thinking about making Reila a queen. She hadn't proven herself. She hadn't put in the hours or shown dedication to his family. She had only shown interest in him. She had woken something within him that he hadn't felt since before Viper's passing. To the King of Fenmyre, that was something worth clinging to.

"Chimera Klein"

Chimera's renewed snarl drew a flinch from the recoiling fae on sheer reflex. The sight of his teeth bared in anger reminded her of the slavers, of how he had been with her when she'd first arrived to their family as a product and not a person. It was almost enough to bring her to shut down again, but Aliana forced herself to remain steady, no matter how difficult it was. Chimera stopped his pacing and stated that her input did matter, that if it hadn't he would have already had his way with Reila, yet he hadn't. Then he made sure to emphasize that he was sharing his concerns with his mate. That struck Ali right in the heart, and the flinch of pain that crossed her features was visible in the firelight. Chimera began to settle, just enough for him to begin sharing the deepest secrets of his past. His abandonment by one parent and the apathy of another, the revulsion of his siblings, left to survive in a world that seemingly didn't want them. Aliana looked up from the fire to meet his gaze as he spoke, giving him the attention he deserved for bearing his wounded soul like this. She'd never known about Chimera and Siren's past, and the little tidbits Siren had let slip had given away nothing. It explained why Chimera clung so possessively to the wolves he cared about. Secretly, Ali believed he was scared of losing any of them.

Aliana was glad that Chimera had shared what he had—because it meant he would understand clearly where she was coming from then. "That's exactly it, Chimera. You have very few you care about, yet you keep gathering more, like we're belongings to be collected. I don't have anyone... just you." Chimera and their children were the only family Aliana had in the world. Siren was growing to be a friend, and she had a sort of kinship with Dalila, but there was no one she really felt close to besides Chimera. "When Siren bought me for you, you had her and Viper. Dalila was already here, and I was the newcomer. I was the one disrupting your home. That's why it didn't bother me when you had me and Siren and Viper as your lovers. I wasn't even bothered when you brought Dalila into your harem because she had been here before me. I understood. I was the exception, the newest one, and I thought that was how things would be." Aliana stopped speaking, choking up on the hurt and the emotions knotting in her throat. She pushed herself up into a sitting position and fixed her gaze on her mate's, trying her best not to let her eyes begin misting up. "But then you kept going. You brought Erystotle into the group, and while it bothered me that you didn't seem satisfied with us, I understood that as well. You had... certain needs and desires that called for a brute. But now... now you're bringing yet another woman into your bed and I just..."

A shaking huff and quiet growl pulled the clouded fae's lips away from her teeth in a rare show of anger and frustration. "Where does it end, Chimera?! If we're not enough now, will we ever be to you? Will you never be satisfied with us? You love me, you call me your queen, but how much weight will that title hold when you have five, then ten, then what, a hundred lovers? Every one you add, you increase the risk of finding someone you love more than me. What happens if you love one of them more, Chimera? I'll have nothing left. Nothing! And you just... you won't stop! You make all of us wait on you and you just keep taking for yourself. You'll never be satisfied and I'll be left with more nights of going to bed alone, wondering who you're sticking your cock in that night and asking myself if I'm losing you." The tirade was more emotion than Aliana had ever let spill out before in her entire life. It was cathartic and draining, and it left the clouded queen quivering and shaking, fighting back tears and snarls alike while she fixed Chimera with a furious and heartbroken look. The fae was breathing hard, slim sides rising and falling with each breath to try and steady herself. It bothered her that he was so nonchalant about taking more lovers when he expected all of them to remain loyal to him. It bothered her that she could risk losing her stability and life with him when he didn't seem to care. But Chimera wanted a discussion, so she would give him what he wanted. She would be brutally honest.

"Aliana"

Aliana spoke her piece, telling Chimera exactly how she felt. She didn't believe that any of them would ever be enough and he couldn't say that she was wrong in that, but he saw it from an entirely different perspective. The man sighed and kneaded the space between his brows once more, a headache beginning to dully thump within. She compared the wolves in his life as belongings to be collected, but he saw it as caring for others in every way that he could; as giving himself to the few that he cared about in ever manner that he was capable of giving. He wasn't sure if anyone had noticed, but he collected the broken, abused and discarded souls of the world. How could anyone avoid emotional connection when working over a period of time to heal someone from past trauma? Especially someone like him, who knew what it was like to not have love and affection. All of it made complete sense to the black and white man, but it obviously didn't make sense to the clouded woman.

He could see the emotion in Aliana's blue eyes and feel the sense of turmoil and hurt rolling off of her. He didn't know what to do about it. The man had believed he was doing the right thing in telling her about the developing attraction between himself and Reila. This whole situation felt like the one between himself and Viper and everyone knew how that turned out. Anxiety flared in the giant man and he growled again. He was a king. There was no room for doubt and anxiety in a king.

Aliana spoke again and the dual-toned brute got a better understand of her worries. She didn't want to be replaced. The woman was worried that he would eventually love someone more than her. Chimera sighed, leaning his head back and pointing his muzzle towards the night sky in an act of obvious frustration. She really was a stupid woman. It baffled the man that she could even doubt his feelings for her. She needed reassurance, that much was evident.

Coming around the fire, the giant brute pulled the woman into his embrace whether she wanted it or not. He unwittingly pressed her cheek against his heart before angling his chin downwards to that he could place a gentle kiss upon her crown. "Aliana Klein... I have never loved a creature more than you," he admitted. It was common knowledge that Siren had always been the most important being in his life, but the clouded fae within his arms had surpassed even his sweet sister. "YOU hold the key to my heart," he informed the upset woman. "I don't think I could ever love anything as much as you." Again he placed a kiss upon the top of her head.

How could he explain his viewpoint to her? As he held the woman, his voice was soft. "I give pieces of myself to others because I know that I can. Each wolf in this pack is under my care and I give them what they need. You worry about Erystotle and Reila, but loving those who have never known love, who have never been shown understanding or affection... it's a rewarding thing." His paw brushed across the woman's ribcage lightly. "You were like that, though not nearly as broken." Both Erystotle and Reila had been emotionless husks. He had somehow brought life back into both wolves. He was teaching them that they could be their own wolves without being under the thumb of a master. Their choices and actions were their own. Seeing the pair of them blossom into free wolves... it moved the Fenmyrian king. "Both associated sex with duty, abuse and pain. They're rising above that. They'll be able to have confidence to choose their own lovers soon." Was he making any sense? Was any of this getting through to her? Casting his gaze downward, Chimera looked upon the clouded crown and the soft white ears of his mate. He hoped she could understand.

"Chimera Klein"

The more Aliana spoke her mind, the more frustrated she could see Chimera becoming. He rubbed his temples, he groaned, he sighed, he threw his head back in exasperation and stared up at the sky. It almost made Ali want to stop taking and clam up again for all the good it seemed to be doing; now she was just annoying him. Somehow the once-slave found her courage to persevere through and say what was weighing on her heart. Whether it did any good or not was entirely up to however Chimera took it, but at least she hadn't held anything back. No sooner had she finished speaking, the dichromatic brute was rising to his paws and stalking towards her from around the fire. Aliana very nearly recoiled from his approach—partially out of habit from when the slavers would come at her as such, and partially from the memories of a younger Chimers approaching her like this just before he savaged her. But instead of teeth and claws and blows, Ali felt strong arms pulling her up into his form, wrapping her up tight in an embrace she couldn't have escaped from even if she tried.

Aquamarine eyes blinked while her clouded brow furrowed in bewilderment. Out of nowhere, Chimera had just scooped her up in a hug and wasn't letting her go now. With the way he held her clutched to his chest, Ali could hear and feel the steady rhythmic thumping of his heartbeat, and his lips placing soft kisses on her crown frustrated and infuriated her in her tempestuous state. Her king started to speak, starting with the soft utterance of her name, then reassuring her that he had never loved another as much as he loved her. Then he admitted he didn't think he could love another as much as her. That was what it took to finally break down the tiny queen's hardened walls. Aqua eyes screwed shut and she began to tremble with quiet sobs, letting all the anger and worry and resentment flow out of her soul. What she had heard was that Chimera loved her—but she had also heard him confess to not knowing he could never love anyone more than her. That meant that her fears had a very real possibility of someday coming true.

Chimera explained to her the method behind his madness: he gave pieces of himself to the wolves that needed to be healed under his protection. Erystotle and Reila were shown love because they had never known any and it was what they needed. She had needed his love too, though he admitted she hadn't been as broken as they were. Aliana hated how much she loved the way he held her and touched her as he stroked her side, trailed his claws over her ribcage, kissed her forehead. It made the confusing emotions all that more confusing. She didn't want to be mad or upset at Chimera. She didn't want to feel so weak and out of control and emotional. With her eyes still closed, Aliana pressed her head further into Chimera's broad chest and luxurious coat, sniffling back the sobs still making her body tremble in his hold. "Please don't love anyone else more..." she mumbled between shaky breaths against his skin. "You're all I have, Chimera. You and our sons. If you stopped loving me, I'd... I'd..."

I would die. She wasn't brave enough to speak the words aloud, but the clouded queen knew the truth. Ali didn't want to keep her mate from doing what brought him happiness, including taking his additional lovers to "heal". But when Chimera said she hadn't been as broken as the others, that hadn't been true. Oh, she had been—just not in the ways he saw with Erystotle or Reila. Aliana had known nothing in her life. Not her parents, not her siblings, not a single friend. She had existed as a ghost, floating through each day just surviving because it was all she could do. It was how she was able to take all the abuse she had; all the bitings and beatings, the ratings and defilings. Now that she'd seen what living was like thanks to Chimera, losing that would be like losing her soul. She'd rather die than go back to how she was before. Which was why she knew the harsh truth of her reality: if Chimera ever loved another more than her and took her as his queen instead, he would have to kill Aliana in the process as a mercy.

"Aliana"

Aliana melted into his embrace, whether out of love or exhaustion, he didn't know. Still, as she began to sob against him, the man held her, comforting her as he could. He continued to gently stroke her silken fur with speckled pads, dragging his claws lightly through her clouded pelt. She cried and he held her as though he would never let her go, which he wouldn't. Of his queens, Aliana was the only one that held such insecurity. Not all wolves were the same and he wouldn't blame her for that, but he wished she held more faith in him.

As the woman pressed her head into his chest and spoke through her tears, Chimera's neck curled and he looked down upon her. Never stop loving her? As though that was a possibility. "You silly woman," he gently chided, wrapping her up within his legs and pressing their bodies together as though he was comforting a crying pup. She was so small that it was easy to handle her as he pleased. Chimera positioned his woman with her side against him, cradling her with one thick foreleg while the other draped over her as he balanced on his haunches.

"Aliana Klein," he said her name again. A name that he had given her. "Of all the wolves that I love, I love you the most." The brute snuffled the top of Aliana's clouded crown, his tongue running over the back of one pale ear. "You, Aliana. Do you hear me?" He kissed his way down from ears, to forehead, down the length of her muzzle. "You hold half of my heart," he assured her. The rest of it had to be shared between his lovers, children, family... He was spread thin most of the time and this sometimes made him come off as cold and uncaring, but there was always warmth in him for the clouded woman in his grasp.

The brutes pink tongue gently lapped the tears from the woman's face and he removed his draped paw so that it could touch ground once more. Gently, still cradling Aliana safely, Chimera lowered both of them to the fur beside the fire. Laying flat on his side, cheek nestled in the fur, he held the woman close, forelegs wrapped around her and one hind leg pulled up over her hip. His tail curled down, tucking between both of their hind legs, embracing her in every way that he could. Encompassing her within him. He was trying to show her just how much he loved her. Love that she either doubted or hadn't been aware of its extent. He wanted her to never question that love. She had begun to hint that without him there would be dire consequences, but that went both ways. Without Aliana, Chimera would lose everything and all would suffer as a result.

"Aliana & Chimera"