Lidiya was too caught up in it, and barked joyfully as Kodak dragged her through the water slightly, not really caring what he thought about it. Or how she looked longingly at the waterfall once Kodak had gone into the shallows, wondering what it'd be like if she stood directly underneath it. How wet would it be? Would there be anything behind it?

But once Kodak issued the challenge, she freaking took it. Secret princess indeed- she was going to catch Kodak. Growling playfully, she dashed after Kodak, out of the water, dripping wet but still not caring, and as Kodak made the mistake of looking back to see where she was, she bowled right into his side. Going far too fast to stop like Kodak did, she knocked them both over into a heap of wet wolf, Lidiya somewhat lying on top of Kodak's flank and stomach for a slightly awkward moment before she scrambled with her front paws to get up.

She may have paused a second too long before doing that, overcome by the feeling of simply liking being like that, but she discardd yet another useless thought again. Probably just another thing from her heat, she told herself.

The only problem was she no longer entirely believed everything she did with Kodak was solely due to that.

"Prince Charming apparently didn't run fast enough," she jokingly smirked at Kodak wihou any bite. She was simply enjoying herself, still in the moment with Kodak and nothing else mattering.

---

Unfortunately, "nothing else mattering" was changing very rapidly. Nikolai watched for a moment as a party of wolves seemed to pass along their territory.

He was smart enough to know that that was the path that Kodak and Lidiya had taken the other day. In fact, they were practically tracking it. Additionally, it didn't look like just stragglers hoping to recreate what Kodak and Lidiya did.

This looked like a war party. And war parties weren't good, not when their pack was right there. Even though this war party looked small, who wouldn't say there was a second one on he way?

Nikolai had no idea how true that statement was. All he knew, as he stepped out of the bushes and looked suspiciously at the intruders, that they were bad news. Not like how Kodak and Lidiya had come, but in a significantly different way.

"Who are you? And what business do you have with the Plumrose River Pack?" Nikolai kept his tone diplomatic, but as he surveyed the party, distrust raising his hackles, he didn't know if he could even trust their answer.