Having been alone for some time now, the brute moved about his newly acquired land. His scent was strong in the territory. He moved about it as he had owned it his whole life. Every now and then a passing fox or badger would enter his land and he was forced to kill them or chase them from what was rightfully his. Azul was an Alpha he did not wish to serve under. He wanted more for himself and for the life he chose to live. Taking the female from the pack, raping her and forcing her to stay within his den, he was still lonely. She was a captive to him for what seemed so short. For in the dead of night, while he was searching the grounds for more land to cover, she escaped. Perhaps it was on her own accord, although he doubted it highly. For she was beaten down, bitten, ripped apart little by little. The Alpha had a great hatred for the Omega, and showed it to her often. She learned speaking was something that she would not do, unless spoken to. It took her a long time to understand that. So now he was alone, walking to the edge of large rock foundation, called Satan's Edge.

The fog rolled over the edge, covering it in it's thick shade, hiding the true reasons for its name. But the brute was not a fool and he knew what lies behind the thick curtain of condensed water. Slowly making his way to the edge, he lifted his large black head, scanning the land with his silver hues. There he would stand, thinking of his new plan. Thinking of the female who had somehow captured his heart. Her rejection was the worst thing to have happened to him, but he would never admit it. Those emerald colored eyes were burned into his memory, forcing him to think of them constantly. Steele growled to himself, shaking his head of the thoughts of her, from the first time they met, he knew she was different. He did not love her then, but was completely unaware of if he loved her now. How can you love something when your heart is so black? How can anything love you when you wish for the worst on others? The great Alpha looked around him and slowly, he moved from the edge.

Lifting his head to the sky, his lips slowly parted as a deep and melodious howl slipped between them. He did not know who he was calling, or even why he was doing it. But the voice that laid deep within his skull, told him it must be done. The voice pushed him to call to her, to ask for her presence. So he did, just as he was told. How bad could it be if your own mind was telling you to do it? As he stopped the howl, he lowered his head and lowered his body to the floor. Lying on the cool ground, he watched, waiting for the fae to enter into his land. "Come to me Esmeralda," he whispered softly. He placed his head on crossed paws, waiting patiently for her to join him.

How long had she lie there, expertly hidden from any on comer's view, mind buried in indescribable issues? Satan's Edge had been the last territory to be explored, Esmeralda's scent already lightly covering the territory. Had Steele noticed, he'd most likely brushed it to the back of his mind, with his Omega now having vanished. The Omega had been the breaking point for the Beta's tolerance. Since his departure, her behavior had not been entirely parallel to its past radiance. How he effected her so, but, was it negative or positive? Esmeralda clenched her jaw, ignoring the pain which shot upwards into her skull from the harsh grinding, eyes hazed from the many thoughts which spun around endlessly in a mental whirlwind. He'd raped her. Raped her. Now the little bitch was carrying his offspring and no one one could tell her otherwise.

As soon as the ebony coat came into view, the demon stood from the shadows haven. As the howl echoed amongst them, a harsh wind announced her presence, the ash fae already standing behind him. The wind whipped her fur violently, but the demon embraced its Hellish ways, her very essence overwhelming behind him.

"Face me, you filthy bastard." Came the firm voice, neck inclined as highly as possible, tail curled to show the dominance Esmeralda had scarified so much for and knew belonged to her. "Now!"

"So I'm a filthy bastard now?" he asked with a chuckle. He lifted his head and slowly his body followed suit. Making his way towards her, he looked over her fur, then to those burning emerald hues. How he had missed their glare towards him, the fire that she shared with he alone. Looking over her, he spoke once more. "So what brings you to my land? I thought you rejected me, something about 'things tie me down here. Things I cannot part with.' Or something along those lines," he asked as he tried to hide the way he memorized those words to him. All the nights he played them over in his head. "If Genevieve needs you still, why do you come here? You are a long way from home and your 'family'. You better hurry before Azul believes you to be a traitor. Surely you don't wish to upset your Alpha." The large black brute wished he could say nicer things to her, but the rejection still lingered in his darkened heart.

Recoiling by a few mere feet, the serpent withdrew it's forked tongue, having drawn enough information from the scene. In silence the words perpetuated the thick skull, sinking in deep. As the previous words of the actress was returned, the haunting chuckle from the ashen muzzle vibrated the air, and almost the very ground, amongst them. The intense tension was accompanied by an oncoming storm clouds, as if they had caused it themselves, the clouds hovering above.

"From the first time we met I titled you as an imbecile, and here you stand, upholding my views. You truly think those were my words? Fool, they were nothing but sweet tones hummed in to entrance and manipulate. Then and even now I've been planning my own reign. Followers come and go but I do have my own; even that Ember until that cretin lost her memories."

Jutting forward, the neck was inclined to meet his height, though there was not a dramatic difference, emerald orbs clashing with silver ones. "What brings me to your land you ask? Your land? I permitted you to have this land. And to answer your foolish question, I will reply truthfully. I come here to see you, only to see an Alpha silently wallowing in desperation. Perhaps it I but someone holds your heart at bay, tugging the strings and causing them to nearly break from the intense pressure. Despite our merry go round in the past, I'm tired of games and prepared to clash with your imperceptible skull head on. Right now. Come, we both know whom plaques your thoughts, dreams and every whim. Admit it to me, not in your charming tone or over confident aura, but as a male worthy of my presence."

Rage was the first thing the male felt. Listening to her vile tongue, he could feel the hairs beginning to stand on edge, ready for the rest of his body to follow suit. His tail held a curled position over his spine. This was his land and no fae was going to "allow" him to have it. The very thought of that forced the brute to become angered even more so. As hazel eyes clashed with silver, he did not pull away from them. He would not stand down. "I am no imbecile, bitch!" he snarled and yelled into her face. Saliva sprayed her ashen fur, covering it in his horrid breath. His temper flared inside his body, demons he had buried deep within himself, clung to the walls of his insides, trying to rip themselves out. "I care not of the lies you fed me. Those treacherous lies..." he grumbled as he pulled himself away from her. He knew not what to tell the fae he held so high in his mind. As she mentioned it, there was a female who had plunged her teeth into his beating heart, forcing her maw to strangle it until it cared for her alone. The heart. Such a deceitful little organ, one which produced feelings he could not ignore.

Turning back to her, cooling himself down, he retook the place before her. His eyes burned with adoration, lust and hatred for the fae, staring into those hazel fields, fresh with spring and free, free to grow where they wished and capture any creature within their gaze. "Nobody permits me to my land. I left the pack and have marked this whole area and many others as well. This belongs to me. Not Azul, not you, or anyone else may take it from my grasp. I shall kill any traitors that wish such a thing to occur." But as she continued to speak, he could not help but feel stunned. If she knew a female had controlled that last thing he knew to care for anything other than himself, then how many others knew? Was she the only one to know? Did he somehow let her know his intentions were more than foul towards her? Thinking back to their previous arguments and issues, he could think of nothing.

"So you know a fae has taken my attention? How did you phrase it? 'Holds my heart at bay, tugging the strings and causing them to break or something?' What makes you think I have any female in mind? Perhaps it is the season's blessing bestowed upon me to have my mind frazzled and watching every female rear which crosses my path. As an Alpha I can and do as I please, nobody to hold me back now. If you so wish..." Cutting himself off, he decided to slow the rant down and actually ponder upon her words. She was correct. As much as he hated to believe it, Esmeralda had him pinned, mentally. There was no flight or fight from this. He would have to tell her and himself the truth, a truth he had been holding secret deep within all that made him Steele. Without a change of expression, he looked over her, then back to those bright eyes he adored so much.

"Esmeralda, Beta of the bunnies and rainbows pack, you are correct. There is a female I have been very interested in for a very long time, since I first laid eyes on her, and smelled her scent much before the time of spring had arrived. Her voice is like a goddess, drenched with wisdom and intrigue. Nothing gets by her intellectual mind and her wit. But even so, after she made a mark upon my fur, or attacked me with her vile tongue, I still adore her. I love the fire she has, the feelings she possesses, whether they be of strong love or hate, which I have seen more of the later." Focusing on her eyes completely, lowering his tail a tad, and relaxing his muscles, he finished his little speech to her, "Esmeralda, I have loved you since first we met, from the very first time you snapped at me, watching you defend others you knew nothing of. If you could care enough like that for a complete stranger, then I could only imagine how much you could actually care for someone who loves you. Would you, Esmeralda, be my Alphess? The Alphess of Erenyx?"

This time there was no holding back. Before he had only given her reasons to join him, to be a member of his pack, but he never told her the feelings he possessed for her, and her alone. He was captivated by all that was her, unable to see any other female as anything else other than a fae.

They dug, scraping the inner walls, fueled by more ignorant statements. Feelings began to diminish, the level of respect and those fleeting dreams withering. When would the male stop acting like this and save her the trouble by growing up? The saliva seeped into spiked tussles, the foul breath causing her ebony nose to twitch in disgust. "Believe whatever soothes your aching, childish heart." Esmeralda believed herself to have given up more to flawlessly lead her own, unforgettable, reign and a child's outburst to a harsh truth hardly scraped her nerves.

"Stop repeating my words, I ought to know the things I've said. Do not play ignorant before me, I've seen the look before, though I'd like to believe yours is purer than the other fools whom attempted to use my hide for pleasure." His mention of gazing at other females irked her, an outrageous feeling to say the least. Esmeralda snarled quietly to herself, angered at her own jealously, and again considered killing him where he stood. But at her muscles quivered, preparing for the action, Esmeralda halted, seemingly frozen, remembering why she was here. Steele's absence had caused great turmoil in her mind, the hollow Beta den seemingly vacant. Mere days, weeks, flew by and Esmeralda had judged the situation as a test from the head of demons that ruled her. But perhaps it wasn't a test, perhaps Steele was meant for something on her path?

The next proclamation from the ebony muzzled tyrant began to, ever so slowly, remove brick by brick of the built walls. Even as he did not move, Steele began to thrash through the thorned enclosure, the demons' outstretched hands burning on touch, their figures quivering away. And soon he broke free, having braved the demons and standing before the one whom he'd chosen from the crumbling world amongst them. The moment had come so quickly, Esmeralda was given no time to prepare and so she stood there, bewildered, gawking.

"You know Esmeralda..." The gnarled wolf lie beside the star gazing child, "Someone once told me...'love is like the wind, you can't see it but you can feel it'..." Emerald orbs flew over to his relaxed form, dazzled in confusion, "Why tell me that, Daedalus?" His laugh was brief, expression a mixture of seriousness and amusement, "I don't know. I just thought, maybe, it'd help you out one day during that one moment, when your mind is clouded, confused and entirely swept away."

The emerald eyes disappeared behind her lashes, a low breath released while a small grin grew upon her muzzle. She'd wondered back then, what he'd meant by being swept away, what would cause such a thing...Now I know.

His ears held their alert stance, listening to her every word, lingering on the reply he wished to slip from her agile lips. She was definitely not going to be an easy beast to tame. He probably would never come close to taming her in all his life. But for some reason, he was alright with that. Delilah had served his purposes, the desires he wished and the anger he could take out on her. She was easy, like mud, able to be molded and shaped how he liked under his wicked paws. She was a toy, a tool. While Esmeralda, she was something else. She mattered to him, greatly. He was going to do what he could to have her, but if she were to reject him once more, he did not know how much he could take. The little of his heart which he held open for her was closing, possibly closing its doors forever. "What look do you speak of? I have given you many looks..." he went on, then stopped himself abruptly. He knew the look she was talking about. It was deep and strong, nothing that he wished to use for evil. He had never looked at a fae in that way, or any wolf for that matter.

"Esme.." he paused as she stopped speaking and seemed to slip into some alternate universe. Her body was still, her eyes closed. Perhaps she was thinking of the words to reply to him with. He stood there, still, almost mimicking a tree trunk. His silver hues rested upon her face, watching her closely, waiting for her stance to change or words to possibly appear between them. Did she fall asleep? He sure hoped not, but it was uncertain. As he watched her, he noticed the slight tug at the corners of her lips. They were being pulled into an upward position. Tilting his head to the side, he watched her, her smile growing wider. What was he going to do now? He couldn't just stare at her, what if she opened her eyes, revealing those emerald diamonds she contained beneath her eyelids and he were staring? What would she think? What would he do? A large knot of saliva became lodged in his throat, trying to force it down, he tried to discover the reason for such a thing. Without thinking about it, he took a step forward, breaking the invisible border between them both.

As he studied her, his breathing became heavy and his heart pounded fiercely against the bones of his ribcage. His tail wagged from side to side slightly, still confused on what he was going to do and how he was going to do it. He had never done anything like this before. In the past he would rather kill someone than show any kind of affection to them. His heart, once black, was now turning to a warm red. Although the brute could not see his own organ, he knew the blackened tar which focused all of his feelings to flee, was shifting from the surface, drowning by the emotions she brought to him. The ashen fae and the midnight brute. Could they be one? There was only one way to discover the response. Almost touching her muzzle with his, he looked over her once more. Opening his maw ever so gently, he spread his tongue softly against her muzzle. Pulling it back after one stroke, he looked to her for a reply. What would the Beta do now?

"Esmeralda-" "Don't call me that! Don't, don't, don't!" Paws stomped the ground angrily, the malnourished form coming to a halt immediately. Her eyelids squeezed shut, forcing the tears to be withheld, the approaching paw steps were inevitable. Gradually the sounds rounded until they too came to a halt, in front of her. "Esmeralda...Esmeralda...come on now, open your eyes. Come on, open them. Somebody really wants to see them. Silly, you can't keep them shut forever..."

Ever so delicately the shut out emeralds emerged, their journey slowed due to the surprising, though accepted, touch of another. When they finally opened, muzzle slightly agape, Steele had been pulling away, his silver stones simply awaiting for her to speak once more. The light crimson tongue cleared her muzzle before, hesitantly, returning the gesture. Not a word had yet to be spoken as the ebony nose caressed the Alpha's, how odd that title sounded in her mind, own raven black tussles. The gentle touch continued, ashen paws taking baby steps to lie her head on the awaiting withers. Centuries went by.

Oxygen flew in immediately at her sudden breath but it was held for some time before finally released. "I've been through so much," her voice tumbled out in an unsure whisper, "their actions often haunt my dreams and send my body quivering, cries flowing aloud. It's often why I sleep with Genevieve. Like my mind's subconscious fear of water, another weakness which I am unable to meet head on flaws my impeccable ways. I cannot say how many times I've attempted to awaken, to take control of the dream, but the mind always wins and, if I'm not woken, I suffer through their touch again. Then, their actions did not falter my resolve, my teeth simply ground together, awaiting their fun to be finished. And when I took their lives for their sins, I felt as if a weight had been lifted, yet their souls still remain, taunting me." Her growl emitted slowly and she could feel the vibrations upon his back. A breath similar to earlier was taken before Esmeralda spoke again, "It's irrelevant to our time now, but if I'm to be with you, you ought to know my own demons."

Abandoning Steele, Esmeralda weathered the short distance to the near edge of Satan's Edge, her behind sitting comfortably on the plant covered stone. "I still have many questions and I'm still angry at you somethings, one in particular, as you can imagine. And should you disappoint or betray me, I'll rip your throat out and display it at the border, not to mention use your hide as a lovely den ornament. But..." seemingly distracted by the stars, Esmeralda looked above, having not noticed until then that night was upon them, "yes, I'll be your Alphess, Steele." Her head inclined backwards at him, "For, I love you too..." Esmeralda's voice arose, surprisingly gentle, caressing the air around them, though it was only to be indulged in for a brief moment, "but don't let it go to your head."