While she had yet to ask Alastor what all had ultimately happened between him and Relm, it wasn't difficult to pick up on the fact that the pink woman's scent was no longer anywhere in his fur or that he had been spending a noticeably higher amount of time around their family den. After what had occurred she had assumed there was only two real paths for that relationship–forgiveness and reconciliation or further fall out. It seemed that it had gone the latter and while she couldn't say she was disappointed, she did understand that regardless of her own feelings on the matter, Alastor would still be hurting and upset. Now that their youngest pups were more than old enough to be looked after by their other children and family members she wanted to get her husband away from all of it for a bit. Perhaps some distraction and return to what their relationship had been sparked by would do him some good.

She had sent her ravens out the day before to do a bit of scouting to make sure they wouldn't be making the trip for nothing so when they crested the hill, keeping low as to not draw attention to themselves just yet, and saw the group of buffalo grazing on some dried grass and shrubbery she wasn't really that surprised. Still, it meant they were in for some fun and a good meal tonight. She glanced over to Alastor who was at her side with her shoulder lightly leaning into his, a little grin lingering on her lips while she turned her head to nip playfully at the edge of his jaw. "You pick which one you'd like to hunt, handsome. I'll be right behind you." Whatever was happening back on the island didn't matter right now. All that mattered was the two of them and the hunt that awaited them and she was more than excited for it.

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"

Alastor had indeed not been in the best headspace lately after the implosion of his relationship with Relm. He still didn’t know entirely what had soured to make everything go wrong so suddenly, but the pink bitch refused to level with him or work with him to try to salvage what they shared. Her contentment to let these bridges burn had hurt, had made Alastor feel like all the time, effort, and struggle he’d poured into their relationship had been for nothing. That he would never be enough. The dark-coated wolf never wanted to let himself feel that way again, so he’d cut Relm off cold turkey. But like any junkie going clean in an instant, the pain of withdrawal was a tough beast to contend with.

Thankfully, his magnificent wife was there to pick him right back up and support him, as she always did and always had done. Manea really was the greatest thing that could have ever happened to him; he don’t know how he had ever lost sight of that. Even when he was sulking about the den, she was trying to comfort him and cheer him up. She had come to him and instructed (well, more like commanded) him to join her for a hunt on mainland Boreas, and who was the violence-inclined brute to deny his mate her wish? So the two wolves set out from their home for a little romantic getaway, crossing the snowy lands of winter Boreas until they arrived at the snow-dusted plains of Buffalo Knolls. Alastor smelled the big oafs before he saw them. The stench of the giant prey animals hung heavy in the crisp air, luring the wolves in. As they crested the hill, the herd came into view, grazing on the dry grasses unaware of the danger that looked nearby.

Alastor studied the herd with Manea at his side, his predatory instincts rousing and coming to life while obsidian eyes watched their movements and picked through the group of buffalo. There were plenty of adult bulls and cows, all healthy and lean, with a few plump calves milling about between their parents. A little thrill of delight rippled up Alastor’s spine when he felt Manea’s fangs nip at his jaw, the dire brute turning a salacious grin over to his mate. "Keep doing that and I’ll be thinking of hunting some more dangerous prey, my violet fae," he rumbled in response, his flowing tail flicking out to give a playful smack to her thigh. Ah, but they had a task at hand first… Ordinarily, Alastor would have picked one of the weaker calves to target, but right now his psyche couldn’t stomach the thought of killing a baby, so he instead pointed out one of the cows grazing at the edge of the herd.

"Her." Motioning with a flick of his head, the ebony brute led his violet fae down the embankment of the hill they were on, using the rolling terrain as concealment to creep closer to the herd. With their vibrant fur, hiding amongst the white snow would not be easy. He slowly led the way up until they were as close as they could get to the herd before they would need to charge. Giving one more look to Manea to make sure she was ready, Alastor tensed his body, thick cords of muscle rippling in eager anticipation beneath his long fur.

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"

Alastor's comment about moving his attention to more dangerous prey after she nipped at his jaw brought a sly, knowing grin to her lips, chuckling softly and returning the teasing flick of her tail across his thigh. She would have been more than happy to derail their plans and forgo their hunt in favor of letting him do just that, but she knew her husband and how much letting off some steam with a real hunt would do him some good. There would be more than enough time later to revisit that thought. Alastor looked over their options and Manea did as well, noting a few silently to herself that seemed like good targets. The calves would have been easy choices, but that didn't feel like nearly enough challenge for them to have fun with. This hunt wasn't particularly to make sure they came home with a good load of meat–this was purely taking them back to their first year together when they painted Boreas red leading up to their first litter.

Eventually he pointed out one of the cows, mirroring her thoughts and choosing one of the ones at the edge of the herd that she had been eyeing as well. "Works for me, handsome. Lead the way," she told him quietly before beginning to make her way down the slope with him, following close as they carefully kept out of sight so that they wouldn't alert the buffalo to their presence. That was always a bit of a task with their coloration, especially in this weather with the stark white of the snow below them, but they were masters at their craft and worked in tandem so well that it wasn't much of a task at all in the end. Once they were as close as they could be, Manea cast a quick glance to Alastor, aqua meeting obsidian, as their muscles coiled and they readied themselves to charge in. She gave him a quick grin before she focused in on the grazing cow, waiting for the moment that her husband sprung out from their hiding place to follow suit, rushing forward with long strides to quickly cover ground between them and the buffalo with a snarl.

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"

Once they were both in place and as close to their prey as the terrain would allow, Alastor waited for Manea to give the signal that she was ready. Once he had it, the ebony wolf wasted no time in beginning their hunt. Tightly coiled muscles exploded with tensed energy, and like a bolt of black lightning he sprung out from behind the knoll and raced across the space between the predators and prey animal. Snow burst in clouds of fine mist as massive paws tore across the frozen ground. Obsidian eyes narrowed in deadly focus, mouth agape with heavy breaths and lips turned up in a sinister grin as he advanced on the unsuspecting cow. The buffalo looked up from their grazing to spot the wolves and immediately began to bellow in panic, but they ere large and ungainly creatures; turning to retreat would not be a graceful maneuver for them. But for avid hunters, this would be a cakewalk.

Alastor veered to the right around their chosen target, leaving Manea to maneuver left and cut the buffalo off from the rest of the herd. Darting around to the right side of the cow, Alastor snarled and snapped his jaws to corral the frightened animal around in a circle and prevent it from gaining any momentum in its attempts to flee. He left Manea the task of making sure none of the rest of the herd tried to double back to fight the wolves and save their lost member while he distracted their quarry, zipping side to side so the confused and scared creature had no idea where the attack would come from. But as he made a feint attack to the left and opened up an opportunity to lunge in from the right, Alastor noticed something he hadn't before. Tucked beneath the cow was a cowering newborn calf, bleating in panic.

Alastor hesitated in his attack, dark eyes widening as he jumped to the side to avoid a trampling from the mother's massive hooves. Any other time he would not have second guessed his decision. Any other time he would have gone for the kill and taken the calf and mother at the same time. But in his emotionally fragile state, the last thing the dire brute wanted was to see more children dead—prey or otherwise. The calf's presence was unexpected, but being the keen hunter he was, Alastor knew he could use it to his advantage. The buffalo was only thinking of protecting her child—which meant she wasn't thinking of protecting herself. With a stage snarl, Alastor dodged another trampling of hooves and jolted swiftly to the cow's side, rushing in to lunge and leap onto the giant animal's side. Sharp ruby claws dug into supple flesh, tearing through skin and muscle as he hung from her side, drawing blood and bellows of panic from the buffalo. The calf took the opening to begin fleeing back to the rest of the herd, abandoning its mother to her fate with the wolves.

Alastor grinned triumphantly. Now there would be nothing holding the two hunters back.

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"

As Alastor charged forward toward their prey, Manea did as well, the two of them moving with well oiled accuracy as he moved wordlessly to the right and she shifted to the left to flank their prey. She trusted Alastor to handle the cow while she focused her attention on the rest of the heard as the panicked bellows began to go up around them and the pounding of hooves filled the valley. One of the bulls initially tried to rush at her with a swing of large horns, but a rush of her own with violet fur bristled and furious snarls from her made the bull hesitate and a hard bite on its ankle made it reconsider what was worth saving. The bull made a clumsy turn back toward the others as they began to make a retreat, abandoning the cow and leaving her to her hunters. Just as she was about to turn and check on Alastor, she had to dodge out of the way to avoid being knocked into by a fleeing calf and she blinked with momentary surprise as she watched it go.

Turning her aqua gaze toward Alastor, she quickly pieced together that Alastor had purposefully let the calf go–perhaps even scaring it off before he went to grapple with its mother–but there wasn't enough time right now to really dwell on it. For now she needed to help bring this buffalo down. Pivoting back toward their target, she darted around with a few long, graceful strides until she could find an opening near the cow's front legs. She made sure to go for one on the opposite side from where Alastor was currently grappled on her side so that when the leg crumpled it wouldn't send the cow down on top of him. Sharp tiger-like claws swiped out and cut clean through the tendons at the elbow joint in the cow's leg, making it immediately buckle under its weight with a pained cry. She easily danced out of the way to avoid the falling buffalo, their prey hitting the ground with a heavy thud, and she quickly moved around to its hind legs to made similar cuts to its hind legs so if it tried to stand it wouldn't get far. It would have been easy enough for her to go right in for the throat instead, but she wanted Alastor to have this. He needed this kill and this whole trip was for him so she stood at the ready to help him as he finished off the kill.

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"

In the midst of the thrill of the hunt, it was easy for Alastor to lose himself in the chaos and carnage of primal nature. He was a predator and the buffalo his prey. Sharp gemstone claws carved through the thick, fatty flesh of the cow while she bellowed and bucked, desperately trying to throw the wolf from her. Alastor's muscles rippled as he fought to keep his grasp on the prey animal, snarling like a feral beast while he clawed and clambered his way up the buffalo's side, tearing through skin and sinew until trails of blood flowed down the bison's side. No matter how much the buffalo tried to throw him off like a rampaging bull, the dire wolf clung tight to it, eventually managing to climb his way up onto the animal's back, biting into the tough skin along its backbone to hold on while his quarry thrashed about. Thanks to Manea, he was left one on one with the bison without the aid of her pack long enough to begin wearing down the cow's stamina, and by the time his wife came in with her artful crippling blows to the animal's legs, the fight was all but over.

Alastor felt gravity shift around him as Manea cleaved the bison's legs out from under her, sending the heavy creature toppling over with a bellow of pain and fear. Crawling along the buffalo's side as it hit the ground, Alastor repositioned himself and regained his momentum, springing up in a blur of tightly coiled muscles releasing all their tensed energy as he lunged up the length of the buffalo's body to reach its throat. Deadly jaws opened wide as the dire brute moved like a bolt of ebony lightning to bite down around the panicking animal's throat. And just like that, the hunt was over. The final sounds made before the knolls went into deathly silence was the ferocious snarl of the dire wolf and the last cry of the cow, and then Alastor's jaws crushed down around her windpipe, smashing her trachea and ripping through arteries and veins. Hot blood gushed into his mouth, pouring down his chin and neck like a geyser as each beat of the bison's heart spurted more and more of the warm, viscous liquid into his maw. Alastor gave a little shudder of grim delight as the taste of copper and iron coated his tongue, making dark eyes widen with ecstasy and pupils shrink to pinpricks as the feral instincts fed at the dying cow. Hooves scraped weakly at the ground while the bison slowly died, its strength sapping away with each panicked beat of its heart until the straining muscle could pump no more.

Only once the struggle had stopped did Alastor release the buffalo's throat, breathing heavy and quivering with delight from the thrill of the successful hunt. Blood dripped from his fangs and mouth, each hot exhale forming a cloud of steam at the end of his bloodstained muzzle. The dire brute wore a macabre grin on his face while he reveled in the high of taking a life, a thrill he hadn't felt like this in some time. Sure, all the hunts he participated in had the same excitement, but never to the degree that a hunt for sport on a massive animal like this did for him! Raising his head high above his prey with his tail curling up over his hips in a show of dominance, Alastor gave a giddy laugh to no one and nothing in particular, feeling a buzzing high he had missed. Then the brute's gaze turned, snapping to Manea where she stood at the side of the kill, looking at her with this euphoric gleam in his obsidian eyes. His beautiful wife, his greatest supporter, she had made this happen for him. Without waiting for her to say or do anything, Alastor hopped down off of the buffalo carcass and closed the space between them, moving to capture Manea's lips in a hard, heated kiss that poured all of his love and gratitude for her into this one motion.

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"

After the cow went down it was only a matter of moments for Alastor to quickly crawl across the buffalo's side, latching onto its throat with lethal intensity. Manea very briefly looked for a point where she could help to keep the buffalo pinned or assist with its demise, but there was no need. She stood back and panted lightly with a smirk on her lips as she watched her husband at work, letting him have this moment of catharsis while he crushed down around the cow's windpipe and ended the hunt as quickly as it began, coating the snow dusted ground around their kill with deep red crimson. He was truly at his best when he was in the heat of a hunt or a fight, his whole body rippling beneath his ebony, fire-marked coat. This was the brute she had been so immediately attracted to, the male she had known immediately would be her soul mate. She adored seeing him in his softer, more tender moments with their family as well, but this was the side of him that truly drove her wild like nothing else.

When Alastor finally released the throat of their prey and she saw his signature wide, bloodied grin on his lips it made a sly grin of her own pull across her muzzle. She already knew what to expect from her husband when he was like this and she was just as eager for that as she had been for the hunt itself. As soon as his endless obsidian gaze shifted to lock onto her she knew she wouldn't be disappointed. He hopped down off of his kill with a pride in his movements that he had sorely been missing and she met him half way as he moved toward her, her lips locking with his with a low, growling sound of desire. She tasted the tang of the buffalo's blood on his tongue as she kissed him and met every bit of his lecherous desire with equal measure of her own. This trip and this hunt had been solely focused on him and bringing him back from the depths of his heartache, but perhaps this was really what they both needed–a reminder of where their relationship began and how fathomless their love and desire for one another really was.

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"

Alastor knew that Manea's libido would be at its peak in the aftermath of their bloody hunt. The two wolves were alike in so many ways. It was this exact kind of violence that had bound them together in the first place, the day he had met this drop dead gorgeous violet fae slaughtering a dire wolf. He had known in that moment that he had been lovestruck by her, and every moment like this since had solidified that in his heart, soul, and mind. He and Manea were soulmates—more than just the Mendacium belief of the concept, but in every conceivable way. They were meant for one another, created for each other, destined to be together. She brought out the best in him, supported and comforted him, and indulged him in all of his violent and salacious tendencies. Manea made him the better version of himself, and he owed her his life for the love and joy she had brought him.

Seeing that sly grin on his wife's lips as he approached her told him everything he needed to know. Manea would know what was coming, but Alastor would hold nothing back from her. The primal side of him had been released, and now that his bloodlust had been slaked, it was time to satisfy his more carnal lusts. Manea did nothing to resist his advances on her, their lips locking with growls of desire from his mate. The dire brute responded with lustful growls of his own as his tongue wrestled with hers between their maws, allowing her to taste the rich bison blood on his palate. Alastor kissed his mate deeply and with a smoldering passion for several long moments, making out with her until they absolutely had to pull apart for a breath. Shooting a heated look at Manea with a lecherous grin on his bloodstained muzzle, Alastor swiftly ducked his body beneath Manea's and swept her off her paws, carrying his violet queen the short distance over to the bison carcass and tossing her onto the thick, warm body like a giant mattress.

In a move reminiscent of their first time together, Alastor pounced on Manea, pinning her down to the buffalo while he kissed her deep and hard again, tasting her with growling moans and deep murrs of delight and need. Giant ebony paws pressed down on either side of Manea, trapping her beneath the bulk of his muscular form while he broke their kiss with a playful nip to her lips. A predatory grin painted on his visage, Alastor's lips met Manea's throat just beneath her jaw, slowly trailing kisses and nips down her body, moving inch by inch lower and lower while he gradually worked his way down her form. She had brought a life back to him that had dimmed in the wake of the tragedy of his bond with Relm, and now he would make her sing her love for him to the whole world as he ravaged her again and again.

- fade -

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"

There was no concept of time as she made out heavily with Alastor in the rush of adrenaline and lust that followed their hunt, getting lost in her mate easily as she always did. She was obsessed with him, maybe now more than ever, falling deeper in love with him every day that they spent their lives together. When their lips parted she gasped softly, her smoldering bedroom eyes fluttering open with a grin playing on her lips. She had already known that this was how their hunt would end when she brought him out here and she was certainly glad to see that she was not going to be disappointed. Her eyes widened slightly with a bit of surprise when he suddenly ducked beneath her, scooping up her lighter frame with ease and pulling a delighted laugh from her as her grin widened. Just as quickly she was being tossed down onto the carcass of their still warm kill and as she landed with her back on the buffalo's side, she looked up at Alastor with a lecherous grin, already panting lightly with eager desire.

She was reminded heavily of their first night together as his body eclipsed hers, claiming her lips again as her paws slipped up around the back of his neck and her toes curled and gripped onto ebony, crimson streaked fur. There had been no doubt in her mind that this was the brute she had been destined to find back then and every day since had only reaffirmed that fact. There had been challenging moments throughout their relationship, but nothing that they hadn't come back from stronger and closer than before. No matter what was ahead of them she knew that would continue to hold true. As their lips parted once more with his playful nip, Manea returned his grin, reveling in the absolute lust that they had for one another. As Alastor's hungry affections began to trail down her throat, her head tipped back to rest on the buffalo with a heated gasp, her eyes rolling back while that grin remained on her lips, her paws that had been around his neck now resting on the top of his head to encourage him onward while he made his way further down her body. The knoll was quickly filled with the sounds of their lecherous delight while the two of them rekindled Alastor's spark and brought it roaring back to an all consuming flame.

-fade-

"Manea & Alastor Mendacium"