"Mate!" The voice that hadn't been used for a long time, save for growling, was raspy and unpracticed. However, the happiness in the tone could not be denied. "Mate!"
"Ah!" Laris was hugged. Despite being sudden, he still noticed that the Wendigo reduced his strength by a lot whenever handling him. He didn't know that he was capable of doing so. Laris took a deep breath, and then decided—until his wound has healed, he'd have to get along with this person. Whatever plan he has for escaping would need to wait for that time, as plans always depended on present factors. But generally, the plan mostly revolves around getting better then running away.
Sensing his thoughts, his wolf felt restless. Laris quickly diverted his attention to something else. He couldn't have discord with his own wolf now. It might even affect his own healing capabilities. He knew very well that his own wolf was cunning. They are one and the same after all.
Since he decided to stay though, he had to focus on recuperating here for a while. He also needed to get along with his mate. Judging by the way the Wendigo handled him, he isn't totally incapable of learning. Could he be taught?
Laris lifted his hand and waved at the Wendigo, who shifted his attention to it. Then Laris pointed his hand to himself, and said, "Laris." He pointed at the Wendigo and waited for whatever reaction. However, he didn't react.
Wait, did he even have a name?
"Mate", the Wendigo said while mimicking Laris' notion of pointing at himself.
Laris covered his mouth.
Oops, he almost smiled. That could have been dangerous.
"Since you don't seem to have a name, let me just give you one. I'll call you Atlas."
Atlas, the one who bears a heavy burden on his shoulders. You, who carries the sins of your ancestors, like the myth in those books say, should at least have your own name.
"Do you like that name, Atlas? How about you try saying it—Atlas." Laris mouthed patiently per syllable.
"At...At?"
"Atlas", Laris repeated, pointing at the Wendigo.
"At...las?"
"Mm", Laris nodded. He pointed to himself again, "Laris."
"La...ris. Laris. Laris!" The Wendigo mastered Laris' name in no time, leaving Laris slightly speechless.
Laris made him repeat his name a few times until Atlas finally reacted whenever Laris called Atlas by his new name. At first, Atlas thought it was simply a way to get his attention, but then after a few more interactions, Laris seemed to only use it whenever Laris called for him.
Atlas was happy. His mate, Laris, didn't leave him! Laris is even calling him!
Laris couldn't get out of bed for more or less three days. In the beginning, his whole waist was extremely sore and if he moved even by a little bit, that stinging pain made it impossible for him to sit up, much less get out of bed. Any plans of checking the surroundings were postponed.
Atlas had been busy hunting a lot of animals to feed his mate. He used to discard the smaller fur, but since there was Laris to think about, he saved and cured every piece of fur he got from hunting. Using a small fire by the mouth of the cave, Atlas would cook the cleaned meat and later feed it to Laris.
Try as Laris may, he couldn't completely say that this didn't move him. However, having been fed grilled tasteless unevenly-cooked meat for three consecutive meals, he was a little disgusted with meat by now. Thinking he'd have no choice but to eat for the next days, he already felt queasy at the thought of eating it. He couldn't even avoid it even if he wanted to! Atlas would force him to eat out of love and anxiety.
That's why, on the third day, Laris strived to get out of bed, even when his legs were shaking, and his back was protesting. He could at least stay at beside the fire and cook the meat!
Looking at the fire, Laris pointed at the branches and said, "Can you bring me a bigger branch?"
Atlas tilted his head then run away. Afraid of having his mate leave, Atlas returned promptly with medium sized sticks for burning. Laris looked at the white expanse of snow outside. He pointed to the tree while making sure that Atlas was look at the same direction as him.
"I want that branch."
Walking over, Atlas studied at the branch as well as the tree. He looked at Laris, confused. To encourage him, Laris showed an eager expression the closer he was to the branch. When Atlas moved farther away, Laris began to frown. Seeing this, Atlas became alert and slowly back to where he was. When Laris smiled a little, he stopped moving.
Laris patiently waited, but Atlas didn't moved. Thus, Laris frowned a little. Atlas began to panic again and grabbed branch. Laris perked up. Atlas also perked up.
He looked at the branch he was holding onto and then at Laris' expectant gaze. He let go and saw Laris deflate a little. He quickly grabbed it the big branch with both hands.
Inside his mind, Laris couldn't stop snickering. What is this? It's like when teasing a junior who doesn't know how the world works yet.
When Atlas finally broke off the branch and gave it to Laris, the latter smiled sweetly and gestured for Atlas to lower his head. Atlas only hesitated for a second to understand what exactly his mate was asking him to do. With the top of his head lowered that Laris who was sitting on a tiny boulder, Laris patted Atlas head.
"Good job. If you do what I ask you to do, I'll pat your head like this again as a reward, alright?"
"Laris!"
"When did my name become synonymous to 'yes', I wonder?" Laris laughed to himself.
Caught up with the amusement, Laris forgot to conceal his smile and laughter in front of Altas. Seeing the opportunity, Atlas stood on his knees and leaned over to bite Laris' lips.
"-Nngh, ow." Laris covered both their mouths. "Is biting all you know?"
Atlas whined. He made his mate angry again. And he already laughed before this! What went wrong again now?! Wasn't it already alright to do more things like that? He was allowed to bite the face but not the lips? Why?! How unreasonable is this!
Laris was somewhat amused at the aggrieved expression he saw Atlas showing him. When did this big wolf learn to do this?
Laris swallowed unconsciously. He didn't know what came over him, perhaps it was his wolf taking when he heard himself say, "Here, I'll teach you how to properly kiss." He grabbed the sides of Atlas' face, his thumb pressing Atlas' lower lip to open his mouth.
Atlas briefly wondered why his mate was trying to eat him, but when he felt his mate's tongue playing with his own, a spark got lit along with a shiver that when down his spine and into his groin. From being the passive party, Atlas quickly took over the lead. Laris wasn't even aware that he had lit something inside Atlas, almost as if he had opened a new door for him.
Laris got kissed and kissed until his lips got swollen. Unfortunately, even after teaching Atlas how to kiss, he'd still occasionally bite is lips, but it wasn't as hard anymore to the point of breaking skin.
"E-Enough already", Laris panted, pushing Atlas' face away. "I'm...I'm hungry. Can't you find something else that I can eat? Do you know any fruit here?"
"Fru?"
"Fruit." Laris spent a whole while describing what a fruit is to Atlas. He even took a spare branch and tried to draw a few that he'd guess were growing in the western forest.
There are mostly four great untainted forests in the continent--the eastern forest of Garath, the beast infested forest of Jurell in the midlands, the southern forest of Taine that was beside the great Akuserta Desert, and lastly, the western forest of Isgard, where they most probably are now.