The White Hare

The Instructor Approaches

Laying by the fire, Nyxia continues to reread her old book. The duo had just come back after an extended hunt through hellhound territory. The buck had insisted on bringing every bone and pelt he could stuff in his backpack after arranging each set into a compact bundle. The fluency of which he could bundle each pile of bones into a manageable size was only slightly unnerving.

"Whatcha reading?" Nyxia jumped when Jack was suddenly behind her looking over her shoulder at the book. The bright flush on her face telling him all he needed to know. "Is that a romantic book?"

"N-No!" She snaps the book shut and holds it against her chest. "S-Shut up!"

Jack snickers and pets her, making her slowly loosen up. Snaking his hand under her he gently tugs at the book. When she lets it go he looks at the title and lays his smaller body on her back. Resting his chin on her shoulder as he looks at the book. It appeared to be old. The cover had some wear along the edges and the pages inside were slightly yellowed.

Handing it back to her he watches her hold it to her chest like it would be snatched from her forever.

"It's okay I'm not going to steal it or destroy it." He whispers to her as he pets her. The hellhound woman shakes a bit as she lets her face be led up to look at Jack. "I was just curious."

She sniffles. "Why the fuck are you putting up with me?" Tears start rolling down her face making Jack internally panic as he tries to stay completely calm. "I call you stupid and a dumbass and you just smile and call me little pet names. I-I've lashed out at you before and keep trying to hide shit thinking you're going to- then instead you just- Why-" She is silenced with a kiss.

"Sweetheart, Where is this coming from? Do you think I'd leave you?" She flinches at his words but nods. He flips her over so he can hug her fully. "There is nothing you can do to make me want to leave you." He watches her eyes fill with red tears and he gently wipes them away. 'She wasn't ready to confront members of her pack.' She was a tough hellhound. A powerful woman who beat whoever tried to challenge her for the past few years until she got sick of it getting worse and moved to the fringes of the pack territory. Before that she was a pup and then a young woman getting beaten and humiliated daily as almost a scapegoat for an entire pack with MANY members much more powerful than her. When it was one or two of them at a time she was fine but the moment you started adding more old faces of tormentors things started to change. Back in the dungeon when she first told him about her life in the pack she was now obviously downplaying just how bad it really was.

'We put down twenty-nine hostile members of her old pack. Half of them were people who had beaten her in the past from what I heard them saying.' He couldn't recall a single word uttered out of any of their mouths that wouldn't have been considered a taunt. And the ones that threatened to assault her in a different way were killed by a VERY angry Jack.

He wouldn't pretend to know her past but if half of the things they were commenting on in the past were true then Nyxia's past would have driven most people he knew to suicide. What precious few hellhounds that didn't fight them were too young to have tormented Nyxia. Out of them she only let four turned around and walked away without a fight. Only one ran with his tail between his legs after Nyxia kicked him in the chest hard enough to send him flying. She was large, strong and terrifying to fight against. It didn't change the fact that he caught her with her tail starting to tuck between her legs in the middle of some of the fights they were in.

"You wanna lay here or in bed?" He offers her. She looks like she wants to move but doesn't want him to let go. "I won't leave. I just want you to be comfortable." When she doesn't respond he sighs and flips the script. Instead he is picking HER up and taking her to bed. Eliciting a startled yelp from her. Pulling the covers over them he releases a large amount of heat from when he was making adjustments to the furnace. Filling the bed with warmth as he rests her head under his chin.