- rescue me [Król]

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It was so goddamn cold out here.

For Król, who had seldom been this far north in his life and whose exhaustion had kept him confined to the northern lands for several weeks before he'd summoned up the courage to move onwards, such weather would have been normal- at least in his eyes- in the northern lands of Anikira, where the lands were ice-covered throughout the winter and creatures who weren't used to the winter chill were forced to hibernate through the season in order to stay alive. He'd been told tales of how brutal the northern lands could be once the days started to shorten, after all, and the Tundra brute had hardly been interested in lingering there once the snow had started to fall.

He'd thought that he'd planned his exit from Acerbus appropriately, trying to draw back into the safety of the southern lands before winter could cast its icy grip upon the continent, for although Król himself was fairly insulated from the winter's chill with his thick pelt, living in the southern lands meant that he didn't have as high of a cold tolerance as he normally would have. But something was wrong. Either winter was lasting far longer than it normally should have, or it was extending farther than he had ever seen it last before, for even as he passed into the lands of North Igneir (as far north as he had dared to go in his life before Sethos had fallen apart, before rage and despair had pushed him to run until he was physically incapable of running anymore) the snow continued to fall, even the brightness of the sun doing nothing to melt the snow or reduce the chill of the surrounding landscape.

It was almost enough to make Król's previous bad attitude that he'd held with him for so long return as he plodded through the deep snow, snorting snowflakes out of his nose with an irritated scowl as he looked around for any semblance of shelter. This was absolutely ridiculous- not only was he foolish for venturing out in such weather in the first place, but the snow had completely buried any recognizable landmarks and driven any native prey animals into shelter, meaning that he had no idea if he was accidentally treading upon claimed territory without bothering to announce his presence or not. And while the old Król likely wouldn't have cared about such a thing, finding excuses to pretend that it didn't matter or else getting into an altercation with anyone who dared confront him on it, the part of him that was slowly growing more mature realized that it would probably be beneficial to find at least some form of shelter and work out a game plan from there.

And if anyone came along, he could always make the excuse that the snow had managed to disorient him and he had lost his way. It wasn't entirely a lie, after all.

But when he found the trunk of a giant tree to nestle under- its roots branching into the sky like skeletal arms- and started towards it, his feet crunching in the snow- he thought that the snow must have truly managed to drive him crazy. Because when he looked under its trunk and saw that startlingly familiar silver pelt huddled up against the cold, saw those brilliantly blue eyes staring back at him, Król thought that he surely must have been dreaming. There was no possible way that Selene could be here now, so far into the northern lands, when he had searched for her for what seemed like months without turning up even the tiniest trace of her existence. It had to be a coincidence. Surely this was just a fever dream brought on by the cold, or a hallucination- he'd dreamed about her return so many times, dreamed about screaming words of hatred at her until she submitted, of telling her that he'd missed her, that she was the only thing still worth living for in his wretched life, only for him to wake up so miserably alone.

Even on the off-chance that it wasn't a dream, what could he possibly say to her? Surely she hated him now. Surely she'd fled because she'd realized that she deserved better than a mate who had murdered his previous lover, who was irredeemable in every sense of the term. Surely she'd left him behind because she'd realized that he was an utter failure, who would never amount to anything in his life. And he'd treated her so badly before that Selene would have had every right to leave, to seek a better life elsewhere. But he couldn't afford to run from his problems anymore, couldn't afford to leave her behind without wishing her well in whatever endeavors she tried to pursue from here. So instead of bolting like a part of him wanted oh so desperately to do, Król stood there, his posture so rigid as to appear intimidating and stoic without his knowledge.

"Selene," he grunted out, his words coming out a bit sharper than he would have liked due to his nerves. "What are you doing out here?"

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She looked up at him and smiled demurely, at first, and though Król's heart fluttered at the sight of it he was quick to convince himself that the expression wasn't genuine. Much like he had with her, Selene likely thought that he was a hallucination of some kind brought on by the biting cold, no more and no less. Why the hell would she have been genuinely happy to see someone like him, when he had done everything in his power to stamp out any semblance of happiness within her life? He'd hated her, hated how she reminded him of the wolf he could have been if circumstances hadn't been what they were, and though he hadn't been permitted to touch her while she had still belonged to Saul, Król had done everything in his power to try and rid her of such foolish optimism. And yet when ownership of her had been passed to him in turn, he'd been terrified of harming her, terrified of driving him away from her by fucking up in either his words or actions. His emotions towards her had changed, but hers had probably remained much the same.

It was likely that she still thought of him as some mindless brute, or that she was still terrified of him deep down inside. How could she still think there was some semblance of good in him, after all, when he'd done absolutely nothing to prove that there were any redeemable qualities he possessed?

Sure enough, as he spoke Selene was quick to flinch away from him, her muzzle working as though she was trying to respond but could not find the words- whether it was due to fear or trying to overcome the cold, he couldn't say, but his heart sunk at the sight nevertheless. While the old Król wouldn't have cared about another wolf being terrified over the sight of him, or would have relished in it, the new him that was trying to move past his old behaviors and grow wiser acknowledged that he had already managed to fuck this up, somehow. Either through his tone or his actions, he had managed to intimidate the silver-pelted female enough to draw such a reaction out of her, and it was enough to send a hot wave of shame rushing through him as she practically threw herself at his feet right then and there. She spoke of leaving Sethos, but not necessarily him, for fear that Far would kill her, and the implication that whatever had happened to her had been her fault sent needles pricking at his heart, stabbing and reminding him all too painfully that he could have been there to protect her during those times.

He was quiet until she mentioned Kharak of Kalsa, at which point the Tundra brute's massive head swung up, an uncharacteristically savage look entering his expression as the hair along his spine bristled. He'd already thought that the alpha of Kalsa was an arrogant son of a bitch, but to hear it being implied that he was more or less forcing females into having sexual relations with him was enough to make Król's blood boil as he stood there, his voice coming out tight with anger. "That bastard," he hissed, his entire frame trembling with rage as his eyes flitted over Selene's form, looking for any sign of injury or other trauma that might have been inflicted. "Did he touch you? Did that son of a bitch...I swear, if he laid so much as the tip of a claw on you, I'll-" He broke off then, fearing that he would sound overly possessive of Selene if he continued- something which was not his intent at all- but still trembling with pent-up emotion, and it took the span of several moments to calm himself down to the point where he felt comfortable to listen to Selene's words without over-reacting once again.

To think that Selene could have been treated like a piece of meat, at the whims of Khalsa- she didn't deserve that kind of treatment, any of it. And he could have been there to stop it. Instead of blindly thinking that he could resurrect Sethos from the ashes, and then running like a coward when everything had fallen apart on him, Król could have followed the one individual he still cared about into the wilds, to ensure that she was protected and that no form of evil could possibly harm her. It was knowledge that would haunt him for the rest of his life, no matter which direction this encounter ended up going in.

She sobbed and shook in front of him, practically begging for his forgiveness, and though Król tried to stay stalwart in the face of it, her calling herself a coward was what finally broke him. Lowering his head as though he had been physically struck by the words, he carefully lowered himself into a seated position so that he might be able to better look Selene in the eye, his words uncharacteristically soft. "Selene. Selene, look at me." The command was nowhere near as biting as it had been in the past, and if she looked up at him she would see nothing but shame and regret swimming in his gaze. "You're not a coward. You're not. You survived. You are so, so strong, and it took me so long to see it, and...if anything, I'm the coward," he wheezed out, his expression taut with pain. "I stayed in Xisyn because I thought I could...I thought I could fix things, I thought I could fix Sethos. I was angry, angry at you and everyone else for leaving, and in the end I...I realized that the problem was me, and then I fled and I didn't look back and...I didn't even try to look for you."

His ears had flattened against his head the longer he went on, in a surprising show of vulnerability from such a monstrous brute. "And I know you're likely expecting me to drag you back, or hate you, or scold you. But...but something changed. When I was up north. And I want to try and explain. Just hear me out, and after that, I swear you can do whatever you please. You can leave, or stay, or goddamn hate me if that's what you want. I'm tired of forcing things on you. You don't deserve that." Król didn't dare to meet Selene's gaze then, for fear of the emotions that he would see swimming within it- instead he resolved himself to face whatever was coming without fear or judgement. He would stay just long enough to say his piece, long enough to see what Selene's decision was, and then he would either go or stay as she saw fit. It was the least he could do for her after all that she had endured, after all.