Heavy paws carried the massive brute back to the den that he shared with Ikigai, dragging the corpse of a white tailed doe by the hind legs to bring it up the mountain path. It was fairly late with the sun dipping down below the horizon and revealing the half-lit moon that was peeking out from behind a few scattered clouds. He had been out for nearly the entire day, hunting for most of it and talking with his sister for the rest of it. In reality he had gone out hunting for most of the afternoon, killing a buffalo calf with a random stranger and catching a lighter, easier to carry doe on his way back to have something to show for his day out when Manea caught him on his way back to the island.

The conversation had started normally enough, the attentive Matriarch checking in on him and seeing how he was settling in to the pack and how his relationship with Ikigai was developing. He didn't mind sharing his life with his sister and had never really had an issue with being the supporting role to her greater responsibilities, but it seemed that with the added pressure of the pack at her back it had Manea pressing him to choose a proper rank within the pack, pushing him to strive for a more prominent position within it, digging to see if he planned on giving Ikigai their family name... It all became quite grating very quickly. As he was attempting to bid her a goodnight and walk away before he said anything he shouldn't, she punctuated it all with the mention of how she hoped he would strive to be an equal rank with Ikigai at some point.

He hadn't particularly bothered himself with the structure of the pack or where he fell in it all at first. He had simply assumed that as the Matriarch's brother and someone in the direct bloodline of the highest the Mendacium family had to offer he would already be of some importance around the pack, but it seemed that wasn't the case. His sister had made the structure of their family and their pack separate entities and in doing that his new mate had landed in higher favor than himself. Something as trivial as that shouldn't bother him and he reminded himself of this as he dropped his kill near the entrance of the den, but it still itched at the back of his mind like a scratch he couldn't quite reach. As he walked into the cave he quickly realized the former princess was in fact absent and that only soured his mood further. With a low huff he picked up a bottle of wine that was tucked away with their other supplies that they had organized at the back of the cave and he came to lay on a fur that was spread out in the common area near the entrance of the den, sighing as he pulled the cork loose and took a long drink of the rich, red liquid, drinking it perhaps a bit too quickly while he waited on his to be wife to appear.

"Deimos Medacium"

It had been a rough day and Ikigai was exhausted. Not only had she helped a woman get through a miscarriage, one of the hunters had received a gash that she'd needed to sew up. The miscarriage was by far the hardest thing she'd had to deal with thus far in the healing field. The shock on the woman's face was something that the pale fae would never forget.

Iki had put away her things, tidied up the healing den, then went down to the water to wash the blood from her paws. She needed a bit of a breather before heading back to her den, so she sat at the water edge for a few minutes. Sometimes one simply needed to decompress after a long day and today had indeed been long.

Once Ikigai had regained her composure, the tired fae made her way back up the mountain towards the den that she and her mate shared. Obsidian ears flicked forward as she noted the fresh kill just outside the doorway. A word to Tanuki had the massive albino akita dragging the kill to storage. He was ever so helpful and she truly did appreciate the dog.

Into the den she went, placing a bag of supplies on one of the natural shelves. Work for later. For now, she was exhausted. Iki was still a little nervous around Deimos simply because they were basically strangers and yet he had already taken her maidenhead, as was his right. She would have preferred to move more slowly, but the alliance needed to be solidified. There was no going back now.

Silver marbled eyes fell upon the reclining form of the giant brute. Ikigai noted the bottle of wine in his paw and her brow creased for just a moment. She wasn't a drinker. She'd tried mead once but it had sorely upset her stomach, so abstinence was the best course for her. Besides, she preferred to be in control of her faculties.

Hesitantly, Iki padded towards the huge pile of furs. She nodded to Deimos then stepped onto the bed. With a tired sigh, the midnight and snow fae sank into the plush furs, the ache of the days work already throbbing through her body. She didn't turn her back to him, instead curling on her side so that she could face the violet man. She was so tired that her eyes refused to stay open, however, and she quickly began to doze off.

"Ikigai"

Deimos didn't move from his place on the furs within the main chamber of the den while he continued going about drowning out the voice of his sister with the wine that was currently clasped in his large paw. By the time that he saw Ikigai's pale, pristine from come around the corner and into their den he was over half way through the bottle and the warmth of it had begun to spread through his limbs, the fuzziness it gave settling over him and muddling his thoughts. It was a pleasant sensation that did at least accomplish what he wanted in dulling his thoughts to keep the repetitive nagging from continuing, but it did nothing to soothe his mood. If anything it only amplified it. He watched her as she moved to drop off a bag of supplies, the exhaustion clearly written on her features. What she could have possibly done to exhaust her so when she didn't fight or hunt was beyond him, but he never claimed to be the kind of understand intellectual pursuits. Regardless, he noticed the slight twitch in her expression when she noticed what he was drinking and the reluctance she seemed to have as she came over to lay beside him on the furs.

It made his ear flick and a slight twitch of a snarl tugged at his lip. She laid down silently with just a nod and immediately began to go to sleep without a word. He scoffed softly and took another long drink of his wine. "Nothing to say, princess?" he muttered as he sat the bottle down off to the side, sitting it on the stone floor of the cave with a clink. "I'm sure you had a long day of making me look like a fool, but you could at least acknowledge your mate when you come into our den." His voice held a slight growl as he spoke, his gaze narrowing a bit as he turned his gaze toward her. He reached out a heavy paw, wrapping it around her sides and pulling her close, easily handling and manipulating her smaller, lighter frame. She felt like she weighed nothing to him, even easier to move than the deer he had hunted, and he got to his paws with a slightly unsteady sway to pull her body underneath his own. He kept her belly to the furs while one foreleg wrapped tightly around her waist, settling his weight over her own as he pulled her hips back into his.

He growled against her ear, his claws digging into her hip roughly while his other paw held him above her slightly, digging into the fur with pent up frustration. "I gave you your gentle love making, I gave you a home, brought you into my family... And this is how you repay me—by making my sister compare me to you," he growled against her ear. He leaned back a bit then, that large paw finding the back of her head and shoving her down into the furs with more force than than he really intended to, holding her pinned to the bed while he kept her hips aloft against his own. In his current state he couldn't make himself care, his thoughts far off and distant as he used her delicate form however he wished. The first time he mated with her he had been entirely lost in her, giving her everything she could possibly desire to make her first time a positive one. This time, however, was far from that. He forced himself on her, joining them together as he used her flawless form for his own desires, feeling a sick sort of satisfaction for having a power and control over his own life for even the briefest of moments. She might have more sway and power within the context of the pack, but within these walls she would belong to him.

"Deimos Medacium"

His first words held a sting with the title that he used and his second statement brought Ikigai's head raising, her silvered gaze staring curiously at him. "I'm just tired. I've been in the infirmary all day," she explained softly. Iki had no idea why he was in such a state, nor what she'd done to make him look like a fool considering she'd only seen one person today and hadn't spoken to anyone else. "What's wrong?" she asked, one brow raising in question. He didn't answer verbally, but Deimos showed his ire and annoyance physically. One powerful foreleg hooked around her, pulling her in close. Ikigai's claws instinctively dig into the furs beneath them and she struggled a bit, but it was all to no avail. He was so much larger than her. So much stronger. In moments, he had her pinned beneath him, his hips grinding into her own.

Deimos continued to speak through a growl, his claws finding her skin which elicited a gasp from the pale fae. Making Manea compare him to her? The woman was entirely lost. What was he even talking about? "I haven't spoken to Manea," she squeezed out, being pressed beneath him as she was. "Tell me what's wrong." Again she tried to get him to explain to her the reason for his temper, but she had barely gotten the words out when he placed his paw upon her and slammed her face down into the furs. A rough gasp of pain pulled from Iki as soft, obsidian lips caught her teeth. She could taste the blood within her mouth instantly and fear began to surge through her.

From behind, she could feel the hard length of him against her and the slender fae began to struggle. She wasn't ready for this. In the back of her mind, she knew that she would take whatever was given, but she didn't want this. No one would want this. "Deimos, please!" She begged through a sob as he ignored her and oh so roughly joined their bodies. A strangled whine eked its way from her throat and Iki was left gasping at the pain that cut through her lower body. Tears instantly filled her eyes and all she could do was bite into the furs to keep from screaming out and alerting others. She would do anything to maintain the alliance between Ashen and Elysium. Even endure this.

"Ikigai"

Whatever words she attempted to say to him as she questioned him and tried to understand his anger fell on deaf, ringing ears. His own drunkenness and anger blinded him, leaving just his base needs and lusts sitting on the surface, a desire for revenge that even he didn't fully comprehend boiling under his skin. Somewhere in the back of his muddled, foggy mind he knew that this wasn't her fault. He knew she wasn't conspiring against him or ganging up on him like Manea had done. Still, with nothing else in his life that he could control she became the outlet for his rage and the personification of the imbalance he had faced since his birth. This uphill climb as a Mendacium male that had been drowned out by chasing after highs and searching for relief in what was certainly all the wrong places came to a fever pitch. She wanted him to tell her what was wrong, but he wasn't sure he could put it into words even if he tried and he doubted even more highly that she'd understand.

His movements were relentless, riding the high of this futile grasp at power, until the strangled whine and her plea for some kind of mercy hit him in the gut. That sound cut through the haze just enough for it to make him stutter and hesitate for just a second, a slight snarl of frustration pulling at his lips as his aqua gaze looked down at the pale woman beneath him, just seeing the back of her head under his massive paw and her dark ears pinned to her skull. The metallic tang of blood fresh on the air caught his nose, but his thoughts were too far gone to really connect what that meant. He panted heavily over her with his hips still held tightly to hers, a low growl rumbling in his chest. His bear-like paw started to tighten on the back of her head, squeezing down around her skull that felt so small and delicate in his grasp, and briefly it brushed through his mind just how easy it would be to end all of this before it even began. He could just cut his losses and disappear into the night before his sister even noticed and he could go back to fucking his whores and ignoring his family's responsibilities and values.

The thought only lasted a moment, a breath and then it was gone, and his paw released her head and instead clawed deep into the fur bedding near her head as he leaned down over her body. With one paw gripping the bedding and one paw wrapped almost painfully tight at her hip, he grabbed her scruff roughly between his teeth and held her steady as he picked up the pace with the hard rolls of his hips once more. That was the only small mercy he showed her as he continued on toward the height of his own pleasure, taking this woman that he had chosen to be his mate and claiming her entirely as his without regard over whether this was what she wanted or not. The pleasure he found was physically satisfying, sending trembling shivers through his massive form while he continued to drive himself into her, but once he had hit that zenith very little else felt resolved.

Deimos held himself there over her for a long moment when he was done, panting hard as he slowly began to come down from the high and the room spun around him slightly from the rush of it and the alcohol still doing a number on his body. Eventually he rolled to his side, his heavily muscled forelegs around her with one at her waist and another at her chest, pulling her smaller frame back into his own with her back against his chest and stomach. He refused to consider the bitter regret that threatened to eat away at this lofty pleasure he was reveling in while he pressed his face into the side of her neck and held her tightly to him. "You're mine..." he muttered softly in a drunken stupor against her skin with slurred words, holding her just a bit too tightly. "You're all I have... You're mine..." he managed, a hint of desperate emotion lingering on the edge of his voice. That's all he got out before unconsciousness pulled him under, still clinging to her with his head against her neck, his body curled around hers possessively.

"Deimos Medacium"

As the abusive brutes hips continued to slam roughly into her own, Ikigai did cry out into the furs, though she tried to keep it as quiet as possible. It was impossible not to make some sort of sound when he kept slamming against her with such force. Deimos squeezed the back of her skull with one giant paw and Iki tasted fear on her tongue. Was he going to kill her? Surely he wouldn't do such a thing... right? Thankfully, he released her a moment later only to latch his teeth in the back of her neck instead. As he pulled her head back, a slight whine eked between the woman's clenched teeth. She just had to endure. He couldn't last forever, then she would be free from the pain and torment.

Claws dug harshly into the tender flesh of her hip and Iki was certain that he'd drawn blood there as well. His pace became staggered and she could tell that he was close. Just a little while longer, she told herself, willing him silently to finish so that this could all end. The battered woman could feel Deimos shudder atop her and she knew that he was spent. Finally, it was over.

Iki expected him to release her and fall asleep, but instead he wrapped himself around her and pulled her down onto the furs. Her whole body felt bruised and battered. Deimos held her almost tenderly as he muttered against her silken fur. His words startled her and Ikigai instantly felt conflicted. It... sounded like he cared, yet his actions moments before spoke otherwise. As she lay there, silently sobbing, the woman tried to understand what might have been running through the purple brutes mind. What was he feeling that made him react in such a way? Was it all the drink? Would he regret it in the morning? Well, she didn't plan to be there in the morning. Once Deimos was truly and deeply asleep, Iki extracted herself carefully from his grasp. She then collected some heavily scented soap and a few dry skins and made her way out of the cave and down to the water. She would have to wash away the evidence. The wounds on her face, however... those couldn't be washed away or hidden beneath heavy perfumes.

"Ikigai"