Stubborn (Jenn)

Blitz was grateful for his thick fur and larger form, and he struck mercilessly at Inferno, refusing to back down, as he knew Inferno would do as well. He wasn't sure if the other male was in the same mindset as himself when it came to going for the throat, but it soon became obvious that neither was willing to take the life of the other. He continued to attack tirelessly, his stamina proving to be a great asset once Inferno made a mistake. He instantly took advantage of it, pinning the other male to the ground with his larger size and snarling ferociously down at him, his claws digging into Inferno's flesh as his eyes shone with anger and dominance. "I will not kill you, Inferno." He snarled, refusing to finish the other male off like any other normal wolf would do. No, he couldn't do that, nor did he want to. Instead of biting down on the throat, his teeth closed down on the other male's muzzle, his grip tight and tightening as he held the other's mouth closed in a form of dominance while he kept him pinned down.

Cas swallowed hard as he watched the battle, now sitting next to Coven and remaining perfectly still and silent as his eyes ventured away from the fighting pair to the large male wolf whom he had risked everything to help. Did he have nothing to say in this? If he had never stayed to help Molly and Pravin, none of this would have happened. He had risked his own life to help two lives of a pack that he didn't even belong to. He didn't know what would happen to him, and he was honestly frightened, but soon his eyes made their way back to Laek's form, and he frowned, his ears pinning back as he silently hoped this wasn't the last time he'd ever see her.

Inferno growled in reply to Blitz's words. Blitz's response was a tightened grip. The coppery wolf was trying to decide whether or not to try to fight again, even from down here. It wouldn't be worth it as Blitz was in complete control, but though he'd lost, Inferno was not willing to submit to Blitz. He wouldn't, he wouldn't, he wouldn't.

An involuntary whine wheezed from his throat as his pain threshold was overcome. Fine, he would. The wolf wanted to glare back at Blitz, keep fighting, but he couldn't take this pain either. Begrudgingly, but not as slowly as he would have liked, Inferno flattened his ears against his skull and cringed, whining softly for a release. But what then?

Blitz knew that Inferno didn't want to give in, and he knew that he would fight it, so he held on, tightening his bite a bit further until he heard the involuntary whine. He held the bite still, watching the other male slowly flatten his ears and cringe, followed by a whine for a release. But Blitz didn't release him. Instead he tightened his bite even further, growling dominantly before dropping the copper wolf's muzzle and snapping aggressively at him, just barely missing his face as his teeth clashed together on air instead. Then he stepped off of him, spitting out some of his own blood to the side as he continued to growl dominantly and glare at Inferno. He didn't trust for a single minute that Inferno wouldn't attack again, so he kept an eye on him, panting softly and waiting to lick his wounds until he was sure the copper wolf had given up.

Both Laek and Pravin watched in terror as Alpha and Beta collided with their differences and took each other head on. The scene was set and it was terrifying. There wasn't much anyone could do; there was no alpha or beta to stop the fight. And no higher rank in order to calm them. Not even an omega, the lowest rank who was to silence arguments, was in the pack. All they could do was watch.

And watch they did. Pravin debated going up to stop the fight, but he felt he didn't have the power to do that, even as Head Warrior. Finally, Blitz had Inferno to the ground. It seemed like it was over as Inferno gave a submitting whine. Pravin slowly made his way over, limping, and went straight for the rogue and Coven. From his faraway position, Pravin could tell that it was not only a stray rogue, but the wolf who had gotten help and come back to help himself. He was the first one who had been almost-knocked out. But in that action, he helped Pravin get a hold of the bear. It were probably him who alerted them of the bear, through Molly, perhaps. Pravin gave Coven a nod and Casanova a respectful bow. Because as much as he didn't deserve it for crossing the pack, he also deserved it for helping a couple of members, including the already weak Molly. "Whatever happens," Pravin started quietly, "Thank you for helping me. If you helped Molly, thank you again. The bear was stronger than I thought." Pravin had been thinking that if it had just been himself, he might not have been able to come back.

Fallon let out an audible gasp as the fight broke out between Blitz and Inferno. Her ears flattened as she rose to her feet, forgetting anyone else for the moment, and began pacing agitatedly, eyes glued to the gold and white writhing ball that was what had been the pack's leadership. She froze as the fight ended, Blitz on top and Inferno working up to submission. Her tail twitched and stomach clenched as she watched, feeling more fear for some reason than she had felt ever since arriving in Silverlight.

Inferno's sudden yelp as Blitz chomped into his muzzle was piercing, and it jolted something inside his head. As soon as the alpha had moved off, the copper wolf was on his feet, disappointed in finding that he still had enough strength to have continued the fight, if not for that split second that Blitz took advantage of.

The wolf didn't make a sound, still shaken enough to keep quiet, but he wanted to. He wanted to return the glare he felt burning into his fur, and he wanted to walk out right then. Things had changed, and while Inferno had finally been let up to his feet, how was he supposed to do that in the pack when he so vehemently disagreed with how it was being run? There was no sense in trying to get over that anymore; he knew he was right even if the results of the fight didn't prove it.

He spent a while standing defensively, deciding what to do, but eventually lowered his head to gingerly lick his raw shoulders. Where would he go, especially like this, if he left Silverlight? He'd stubbornly tried to make it an option, but it wasn't. For now, he'd keep his head down and stay here, or whatever Blitz would allow. He would still die for this pack, but handling Blitz's leadership was proving to be different.

Coven returned Pravin's nod as the warrior joined him and Cas. With an eye still on Blitz and Inferno, the black wolf listened as Pravin spoke to the loner. His ears pricked with surprise, and he turned to look at Cas. In the flurry of the chase and the bear, Coven hadn't even put together that it was Cas who had warned them and brought back Molly, who he knew would never have made it on her own. Coven was glad Pravin thanked him, because he was still irked, but it was also true that the rogue did help out.

Blitz kept an eye on Inferno for a bit longer, finally deciding the copper male had given up fighting, and began to lick his own wounds. His white coate was now stained with blood, and although he had won the fight, Inferno had inflicted some serious damage as well. He panted softly and even growled under his breath a bit, but compared to his anger before, he was quite calm now. He wanted to figure out what to do with Inferno now, but he didn't have the energy or patience to consider all of this options at the moment. Plus, he was still pretty pissed off. So he put it off until later, settling for doctoring his wounds and catching his breath as the rest of the pack seemed to remain frozen around them. That is, except for Pravin, who strangely enough, walked over and....bowed to the loner? What? Now he was caught staring at Cas in confusion, his eyes moving from the head warrior to the lone wolf and then back, trying to figure out what had just happened.

Pravin noticed that eyes were on him now as he quietly thanked the rogue wolf who everyone had been trained to hate. Yeah, Casanova now had a different image in Pravin's mind after Inferno's initial description of him. Seeing Coven's interest and Blitz's confusion, Pravin looked around the den, letting the silence wind longer. With a careful turn, he gave a single nod and walked off. Limping away from the scene, and absentmindedly, he headed passed Eve at the Probationary den, and slowly began a trek to the lake.

Laek couldn't believe what she was seeing: Inferno had finally ended the battle, and Pravin was bowing to Casanova? Wait. Why was Pravin bowing? Laek had great confusion as she tilted her head and tried to hear what the Head Warrior was saying. A moment later, Blitz shared her confusion. Laek's eyes followed the form of Pravin walking away towards the lake, his leg obviously injured. He seemed not to care. Wary, Laek didn't know if it was safe for her to go see Casanova yet, but she took steps forward anyways. Ears laid back in near fear, she walked up to her mate and gave his neck a light nudge.

It was like a release when Blitz took his eye off Inferno and worked on tending himself. Obviously, the alpha was still angry, and so was Inferno, so after a short glance at the pack members milled about, the copper-hued male slunk off across the den site to go lay in front of one of the outer dens. He needed to be away from the pack and Blitz to cool off, but going too far felt wrong. This place was his compromise. With a low growl, the wolf started licking at his blood-matted fur in solitude.

Fallon stayed put, eyes still wide with shock, worry, and even a tinge of despair as she watched the wolves. Blitz, Inferno, Cas, and Pravin were all injured, but though she wanted to go and see to her own pack mates - especially Blitz or Inferno - there was too much tension in that area for her to handle it. She felt crushed at having just watched her two first friends in Silverlight turn so viciously against each other, and deep down, she feared that if she went over there, they'd turn on her, too. And there was no point in going over with Laek to see Cas - she remembered her first meeting with him and, not knowing how he truly felt for Laek, Fallon thought he was a sleeze-ball and would have nothing nice to say to him.

Pravin broke from the group, followed soon by Inferno who headed in the opposite direction. Hm, Pravin seemed to have the right idea. Staying in one spot wasn't helping her any, so why not move? Fallon bounded quickly after Pravin. Trying to mask her almost-breakdown over the fight and also trying to come up with a good reason to be bugging this reserved wolf, the female asked (a little too chipperly concerned), "Are you alright? I'm not sure you should be walking on that leg...maybe you should go to see Rayne. Is anything else hurt? Thanks for saving Molly, by the way." When stressed, Fallon pretty much could only find release in talking, and she was doing much more of it than she anticipated, though by the end she had snapped enough out of her grief to realize that Pravin really was hurt and should probably not be walking...

Coven flicked his ears back in surprise as Laek came up and greeted Casanova. It was strange to see, even though he'd known. Still standing, the black wolf glanced over at Blitz, wondering what was actually going to happen with Cas, whose name Coven still didn't know.

Blitz ignored Inferno as he slunk off, honestly glad he had. When Pravin took off as well, soon followed by Fallon, the alpha sighed. Then he spotted Laek approach Cas and nudge his neck. At this point, he saw no harm in it, but he wasn't going to leave them without supervision. So he laid down where he was, licking his wounds and watching them while pretending to be occupied.

Cas nodded to Pravin as he left, and when Inferno finally slunk off, he was grateful to see Laek approaching. His tail wagged slightly as she nudged his neck, and then he licked her nose affectionately. "I'm sorry, love. I had to come back. I had to make sure you were doing alright. I worried about you every day and night we were appart. How are you feeling? You didn't fight that bear, did you? You could have gotten hurt. You didn't get hurt, did you?" He rambled, shooting question after question at her while ignoring his own injuries to look her over to make sure she was ok. He had no idea that Blitz could hear every word. He was much too concerned with Laek at the moment. Finally he calmed slightly, settling with just nuzzling her and grooming her fur affectionately. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have come back here...but I just had to see you again." He repeated, scooting closer to her, grateful that Blitz hadn't chased him away for getting close to her.

Xerxses finally moved closer to his brother as Inferno left, laying beside him to help lick his wounds. He said nothing, which is what he knew Blitz preferred right now, and instead let himself evesdrop on the conversation with Laek and the stranger as well. Every once in a while he looked up at Inferno to make sure he kept a good distance, but other than that, he ignored the copper wolf.

Noises from outside of her den woke her, but the scent of blood was unmistakable. As it filled her nose, Molly lifted her head slowly, getting to her feet with surprising calm, and limped from her den where Rayne had left her alone. As she stepped into the sunlight, she was greeted with the sight of a bloody alpha and beta. Damn. She knew this was going to happen eventually, and as her eyes fell on Cas, she knew exactly what had set it off. "You damn males. It's a wonder that your combined egos haven't set the forest to fire already!" She growled, ignoring the fact that she was still recovering and walking immediately over to Inferno to tend to his injuries. "You two are fools." She growled softly to Inferno as she laid beside him, but as she began to tend his wounds, her touch was gentle and soothing, rather than repremanding and frustrated. She wasn't an idiot, and even though she was still weak, she knew that both males were still angry and neither knew what to do at this point. So here was where she took charge, and she wasn't going to put up with them sending her back to her den, either.

Pravin walked away from the scene, hoping to get some time alone. Staying there wouldn't have helped him, or helped anyone. But he had his trip cut when Fallon came bounding to him. His ears flicked up as he heard her, not heeding her warnings. He continued to walk to the lake, no matter how awkward it was to limp on a back leg. "I'm fine." he said shortly, not necessarily wanting to say more. "And I didn't save her. It was the rogue. I only defended her." He added quietly as they approached the lake. The top ice had begun to melt long before, so he only bent down to take a small drink. Turning around, he lay down, careful about his leg. He just looked up at Fallon, wondering what else she could possibly want from him.

Laek let Casanova ramble and ramble; he obviously cared about her to go through the trouble of the pack just to see how she was doing. Glancing over at Blitz and his brother, she gave a small smile at Casanova's worry. "I'm doing just fine. And I did fight the bear, and I'm still fine. I know how to take care of myself, Cas. I'm doing just fine here." Laek kept reassuring him that she was okay, as she nuzzled back. She felt like he needed to let him know. Truthfully, she'd been worrying about him too. She knew Inferno was getting angry about him wandering the lands, and was going to get him sooner or later. If only she'd had time to warn Cas, she would have.

Cas frowned at her as she said she had fought the bear. "But love, what about the pups? You need to remember that it's not only your life you're putting in danger by doing these things. Please promise me you'll be more careful?" He asked, his voice more hushed and concerned after learning she had fought the bear as well. But even as he questioned her, he grew light-headed and faint again, only now remembering the blow to the head he had received from the bear, with proof of it on the side of his head where blood still oozed very slowly.

What Blitz didn't understand, was why this rogue had never sought acceptance, especially if Laek had caught his eye like this. What had stopped him from joining the pack? It didn't seem like he was scheming to break it apart, or to attack it, it seemed more like he was interested in only Laek and now their pups. But why not just join?

Laek sat down and leaned forward to lick away the blood seeping slowly out of Cas' head. "I know." She whispered, "I know what I put myself through. But I'll watch out, okay?" She was perfectly aware that she was carrying pups when she jumped onto the bear, but the bear couldn't have done much damage. There were three other wolves on her! If it had just been Laek, she never would have attacked. She truly believed she knew what she was doing.

Molly needn't have tried to hide her face, as Inferno wasn't looking. He turned back to his leg and worked at it, only acknowledging that Molly left with a flick of an ear catching her unsteady footsteps retreating. There was no reason to waste energy feeling bad for snapping or trying to empathize with Molly. She was not his friend and never had been. Instead, she had convinced practically every newcomer that he was a callous porcupine who should be given a wide berth. Well, it was true now. Inferno closed himself off to all other conversations, sounds, and actions of the pack, pinning his ears to his head, and drew into his own world, for the first time in a long time, to focus just on himself.

During Molly's ordeal with Inferno, Coven had stepped back from Cas as Laek approached, but he listened and watched their interactions curiously. By the time Molly appeared at his side, Coven's reaction toward the two's relationship was disappointment, almost disgust. How had Cas managed to win Laek - fastest wolf in the pack, one of the greatest hunters, an awesome friend - over? The black wolf still viewed the loner as ridiculously weak, and now "pansy" was the word that was coming to mind. Laek deserved way better than that, he thought.

Molly's sudden presence snapped him out of his disapproving analysis, and he looked down at her in surprise (he'd been that engrossed in watching Cas and Laek), followed closely by a small smile. "What's up?" he asked casually, as if that could undermine the tension still charging the air from the fight. Then he noticed her expression. Lowering his muzzle to hers, the black wolf tilted his head and gave her a long, searching look. "Molly? You alright?"

Laek laid down with Cas, and continued to lick his head wound as Cas placed his head in her paws. "Enough of me. How are you feeling? Doing alright?" She already knew the answer though. He looked pretty beat up from both the bear and the Inferno's hit, neither of which she really knew about. She never saw him fighting the bear, and she never knew of the chase. But he still looked terrible. Was Blitz going to allow Molly to treat him, or was he going to be left bleeding to death?

Pravin watched as Fallon began to pace in front of him, and at the same time, spewing out her thoughts on the events that have happened recently. He tilted his head and listened calmly, processing her thoughts. She kept a lot inside, he saw. And she cared a lot about this pack. He both knew, and was told, that the fight between Alpha and Beta had broken her. Anxiety was riding up her back, and it didn't seem like it could end well as she continued to talk. Pravin got himself to stand, and slowly walked over to the panicking Fallon. He gave her a soft nudge in the direction of the lake. "Take a deep breath, calm yourself, and go get a drink of water." He continued to try to push her to the lake, "Then take a seat, or lie down. Take another deep breath." Even after strange experiences with the smaller hunter, Pravin wanted to help Fallon. But mostly, it was to get her to not talk so much. She was already venting so much to him.

Fallon spun around at Pravin's nudge, fur fluffed up and eyes wide, mostly because of how she'd riled herself up. What was he doing here? Oh, right. What was he saying? It had nothing to do with Blitz or Inferno...she frowned as she tried to come up with the connection. In the midst of trying to put it together, Fallon allowed herself to be directed by him and eventually ended up following his suggestions, ending up laying down and looking up at him with a tilted head. Pravin had succeeded in getting her to not talk as he moved her around and kept repeating phrases, like chanting to her ears. She liked the sound of 'take a deep breath'. She liked doing it, too. It was helpful, and she was no longer gasping for air (the not-talking part helped with that, too).

The female sat in silence for a while, blinking slowly and continuing to try the 'deep breath' thing. Upon discovering that it was almost as soothing as yelling...actually, probably more soothing, her tail began to wag, and her face broke out in a smile. "Wow, Pravin, that really is great. I would never have thought about that breathing thing...who knew it could work out just as well? I bet that's what you do all the time - breath a lot. That's why you never talk. Are you stressed out all the time?" And thus she forgot to breathe.

"No, it doesn't," Coven agreed, glancing over Molly's head at the solitary figure of the long, lean wolf. It was odd that Molly had gone over to Inferno, as those two naturally rubbed each other the wrong way, but it was nice to know that somewhere deep inside Molly still felt sympathy toward the other male, even after everything they'd endured at each other's expense. Coven had heard all about it.

Against his body, the black wolf felt Molly's own start to slump tiredly. With a sigh - though an almost amused sigh, not an exasperated one - Coven licked at Molly's ear gently, prepping her for his suggestion. She never took this well... "Should we go back to you den? It's warmer in there...?" He tried in vain to come up with some excuse to take her back that didn't sound like he was noticing that she was still sick, which she was, but somehow that was always a sore spot for her. "I'll grab us some food, too - we have a lot of it now, you know." He grinned and winked to lighten the mood, reminding her cockily that his group had gotten the best kill the day before.

Laek stopped licking Cas as he lifted his head and said they were better off separated. Her ears slowly fell back as she considered his suggestion. It was a crazy suggestion, after they'd had to sneak around to be with another. And now he decides to suggest this? Was it the intimidation of the pack that made him suddenly change his mind on their relationship? She looked at Cas a bit funny. "Cas. But do you really want that?"

Pravin nodded as Fallon listened to his instructions. He lay down next to her and listened to her breathe. She seemed happy about it, and it seemed to be working. Then she started talking about and realizing how well breathing worked. He looked at her sideways as she asked him a question. He shook his head. "No. Not necessarily. No."

"I can brag to whoever I want," he retorted with a laugh, padding after Molly toward the storage den, "not only my competition." Inside the den, he tore off his chunk of meat and stepped back to curiously watch Molly. The black wolf stood at the mouth of the storage den and watched without comment as the healer took a slab of meat to Inferno, who stiffened and become even more engrossed in licking at a wound in his flank. Coven's mouth was full of meat, so Molly got the pleasure of having a quiet walk back to her den. Once he had settled down beside Molly and swallowed a first bite of food, he turned to her and asked, an ear cocked questioningly, "So, what's up with you and Inferno? I thought you didn't like him." Actually, he knew she had strongly disliked him for a long time. Where had this change of heart come from? Coven certainly wasn't feeling it, and he hadn't ever even disliked Inferno.

Fallon looked up at Pravin, waiting for more of an explanation. She shrugged when it didn't come and lay her head on her paws, feeling drained of anymore desire to question or yammer on. Her fear and anxiety had been forced out of her by the exertion caused by her rant (as planned), and now she was left with only the sadness of what she had witnessed. Head still on her paws, she turned to look over at Pravin. "Are you happy here?" she asked suddenly, just curious. She'd been happy here, but right now she was miserable. Silverlight had become her family, and it was like a tornado had just ripped right through it, leaving so much destruction and even some death behind. It was impossible for her to be happy at the moment in the midst of that wreckage. But Pravin didn't seem miserable now, and she was suddenly worried that he wasn't sad because he hadn't actually been happy. Maybe his problem could be fixed; she knew for sure that hers wouldn't be any time soon.