I am providing this book for free here on Royal Road because I love my fans! If you wish to buy to support me, or want physical media, buy books from my Gumroad shop (some are free!), or support me on Kofi. It would be so appreciated! I want to make a living off doing what I love.
----------------------------------------
Willow smiled, rolling her eyes at him. She'd noticed his staring, and huffed humorously. Finbar looked away nervously, trying to pretend he had not been taking in her every detail.
The girl smirked and paused, giving him a mischievous look, to which Finbar perked up his ears in surprise.
“Come on!” Willow shouted playfully, rushing past him. She darted down the hill, kicking up snow with every graceful bound. Finbar shot after his friend, catching up with her rather quickly; males were always faster than females.
In his galloping, the snow crunched under his massive paws, and his gait began to match hers. Finbar’s tongue lolled out of his mouth, over his teeth, and his ears pinned down against the back of his neck to make his body more aerodynamic.
Looking over at Willow, he locked eyes with her, grinning happily. She smirked at him, a hint of pomp in her body language. The light-brown wolf-dog hopped over, quick as a hare, in front of Finbar, skidding in a half circle down the slope; once she reached the end of the half circle, she would skid the other way, and vice versa.
She ended up getting far ahead of Finbar.
‘Wow… she’s so skilled at this,’ he thought, watching her prowess. It reminded him of things he had seen on the television, cars drifting on the raceway. He began to feel confident enough to try what she was doing.
The white wolf-dog increased his speed, claws digging into the ground and propelling him forward; once he was satisfied with how fast he was moving, he leaped up into the crisp air and ‘skied’ with his feet down the hillside, accompanied by a slush sound.
It went well at first, and Finbar was gaining on his female friend, but pretty much immediately he realized that he did not possess the same level of control and maneuverability as Willow did—he was rushing straight for her, and felt unable to avoid hitting her in time.
Everything in Finbar’s brain shouted at him to not ‘mess up’; he absolutely had to get this right. The wolf-dog absolutely needed to impress her; he wanted all eyes on him, because everything in his blood told him to. This was a process he couldn’t put to words, it was something that was only felt and desired.
At a moment’s notice, right before Finbar would have crashed into her, Willow in her grace launched up into the air, far above him as he passed by below, then came down and continued her ‘ski’.
“Good job!” he barked, watching her behind him.
This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.
“You too!” she responded, then leaped forward to be side by side with him. “Let’s see what you’ve got. Quick, dodge!”
Finbar had been spending so much time focused on Willow that he had not noticed the big tree in front of them on the hillside slope plunge. She drifted out of the way, and Finbar, forced to adapt in the blink of an eye, did as well.
He surprised himself with his newfound quick reflexes—maybe he was capable of even more than that, too.
The two wolf-dogs met up again, side by side, but this time at a bit of a distance between them. They kept track of each other with side glances here and there, but kept focused on the vast expanse of slope and valley ahead of them which was whiter than the moon on a dark evening.
Willow let out a high pitched groan as she leaped up in the air, capturing Finbar’s attention. She twirled around like the most beautiful dancer in the world, shifting with a lissome magic like an ice skater, a flurry of snow kicked up and followed her back paws in a whirlwind motion. With that, she came back to the ground unscathed, continuing her peaceful venture down the slope.
Finbar felt compelled to try something. It might get him hurt again, or cause him to tumble like an idiot, but a male never knew how far he could go until he tried.
The white wolf-dog again ran forward as swiftly as he could, then jumped up in the air with all his might, using his back legs like springs and the ground like a board. He soared over Willow to land semi-gracefully on the other side of her.
She watched him carefully.
He slid forward as planned, but a less ideal bump in the terrain caused him to lose balance. He fought for stability and found it, not having severely ruined the rhythm of their snowdance.
A smile crested over Willow’s lips.
Finbar, panting at this point from the exertion, refused to stop; he ruled over his body’s signals telling him to rest, and leaped back over Willow with a twirl midair. Her amber gaze followed him.
For the finale of his elaborate dance, Finbar made a very risky move, egged on by his brazen adoration for Willow. He jumped in front of her but flipped around 180 degrees nose to nose, still sliding fast enough to stay ahead without tripping the female.
He grinned, beaming with an affectionate resoluteness. The light-brown wolf-dog giggled and licked his snout, a kiss which he returned. Suddenly the ground fell out beneath them, and they were both tossed down a small cliff, no taller than a very big human man. It did not hurt.
Tumbling over each other, they became a tangle of warmth and fur. Hitting a pile of packed snow, their dance came to an end, their hearts beating a million miles per hour as Willow laid on top of Finbar. Frosty breath emitted from Willow’s mouth as she exhaled after gasping for air. Same for Finbar.
The run had taken its toll on both of them.
“You were amazing,” Finbar complimented her, sniffing her forehead.
She lifted her head up high, shaking herself off. “Thank you. As one should naturally expect from the daughter of the pack alpha. You did pretty good too.”
Finbar smiled, feeling all giddy inside. “Yeah?”
Willow seemed flustered in such a wonderful way, being on top of him. “Yeah.”
There were very few words that could be shared between them; the only language they needed now was non-verbal. Finbar, bold as a male could be, licked her lips passionately, and then her neck.
Willow, for the first time since Finbar had met her, shuddered. The female of noble blood, highly respected in her pack, trembled upon the outsider. She licked his ears and face, and he could clearly hear her charming heart pound for him.
It was a beautiful winter day on which a deep-seated love had come to maturity, like a seed that was planted in the cold times and bloomed in the warm.