Wander

You'd never know it by looking at him, but Wander chafed listening to his packmates describe him. Charming, they said, or handsome or flirtatious. It was a compliment, he knew that, they meant it as a compliment. But deeply, within his very bones, he resented being the lesser sibling. His sister was the one loved most by Ephemera, the preternatural being with wisdom running through her veins. He was just a silver tongue set in a pretty face. They looked over him, even as he grew into an extremely capable hunter. His mother whelped three new pups, gave them family names and more love than she had ever given him and Aubade. He folded into himself, quietly, forcing himself to keep up appearances. To flirt with Juxtapose, because he always had, battling the confusion that came with his hesitance to genuinely reciprocate when other she-wolves flirted with him. To speak sweetly to Laconic and pretend to care about the herbs she slipped him. To do everything he had done in his youth, like everything was normal.

There was some reprieve when he was enveloped into the Inner Circle. Tainted, a bit, because Aubade was placed with them at the same time, but for the first time in his life, Wander was important. The Inner Circle provided all of the food the pack ate at the time, given that Juxtapose's pups were still too young to hunt (Wander remembered rolling his eyes at her giving birth to a full litter of 5, because of course the great huntress could have birthed nothing but a fully functioning hunting team). He was not a finisher, that honor went to Tranquil, his de facto sister, but he was the swiftest of the chasers, and for a time, that's what they said about him. Swift, strong, capable Wander.

All good things must fade. Juxtapose's pups grew, they split the prey between them. Scimitar was faster by a good bit, and gradually, his pack shifted back into their old habits. Handsome Wander, charming Wander. His smiles faded. In his youth, he had adored his gray eyes. A gift from his mother, one that would have secured a place of Alphahood for him if he had been a female. Now he half wanted to pluck them from his head, his silver tongue with it. But then... There was Adore.

Adore was a pretty outsider whom Ephemera herself had found lurking about their territory and subsequently deposited at The Looking Pool for Laconic to deal with. He was an adolescent then, and not one Wander knew well. As he'd grown, he had trained with Halcyon, and evidently become a damn fine scout, seeing as he was now working hand-in-hand with the Inner Circle. If he hadn't known Adore then, Wander wanted to now. His fascination with the quiet, handsome wolf was limitless. It was amplified by Adore seeming to reciprocate; each day, while Adore was heading out for his morning scout and The Inner Circle for their first hunt of the day, the scout's eyes would pass idly across the heads of his cohorts, before snagging to a stop at Wander. His grin would be slow and sincere, and if there was time, he'd pad forward. Their chats were typically inane, something about the previous day's runs, or the current day's weather, or sometimes even Wander's young siblings, just then learning to walk and speak.

Suddenly, Wander and Adore were always around each other. Their spare time was spent sunning themselves in the clearing, or if the weather permitted, splashing in the creek. Sometimes they spoke, but often they just spent time in each other's company. When they did, it nearly always brought heat to Wander's face. If Wander's tongue was dipped in silver, Adore's was dipped in honey. He waxed poetic about Wander; called him smart, kind, capable. Wander's heart sang, and as it did, his thoughts grew muddled. Wading through his emotions had never been his strong suit, and Adore caused him more emotions than he could even name.

It was a sunny day. Wander and Adore had been given the afternoon off, and they'd chosen to spend it sprawled out beside each other in the tall grass, chatting idly about the last month's Hyacintho. It had been an intense one, a bad injury to his mother had necessitated that they run to a neighboring pack and retrieve some salves. Wander and Adore had gone, of course, and almost as soon as they got there, a number of she-wolves were crowding around Wander's rust-pelted friend. It was left to Wander to retrieve the salves, and then to almost literally drag the helpless Adore through the crowd and back home. If there was anything Wander could tease Adore about, it was this.

"Are you quite certain none of them caught your eye? Not a SINGLE one you'd lie with?" Wander said, somewhat flippantly, tossing his head back to nose at Adore's head. He made a generally noncommittal noise. "Went home with the one I'd like to lie with." Adore said it very casually, the same way one might say it looked like rain that day, and for a moment, Wander's head blanked out. "Did... Did you just flirt with me?" Wander finally asked, incredulous. "I have been. For like four months. Where have you been Wander?" It was punctuated with those, deep, songlike laughs that brought heat to Wander's face, as was typical. Wander attempted to stutter out a response, but none came, his only thought being Adore, Adore, Adore over and over. The wolf himself came to the rescue, because Adore always did, and always would, rolling over to curl up to Wander in a distinctly open way. You can get up, it implied, Whatever you want. Wander wanted Adore. He curled right back into him in response.

They formally declared themselves a pair bond only a few months later, coming as a shock to exactly nobody. Shortly thereafter, a tiny, abandoned pup showed up in the great Mother Bear's den, and they adopted her without much fanfare, making Monochrome a grandmother and beating Aubade to the punch.

If you were to ask how exactly Adore would describe Wander, it was like this; The love of my life, the father of my child, a dense, fantastic, beautiful wolf I am proud to call my own. For Wander, there could not be a better compliment.