Slumped against the wall, Mariah's grey-greens were focused across the cave toward the adjoining tunnel. Her flawless countenance was a blank slate; her tousled coffee-hued curls tumbled haphazardly around her face, shoulders, and upturned lapel. Both gloved hands were, per usual, in the pockets of her worn leather jacket, and one booted leg was languidly crossed in front of the other, lending to the eighteen-year-old's casual air.
Across the cave, just to the side of the tunnel, stood a man β tall, with close-cropped mahogany hair and a pair of smoldering cobalt eyes. These eyes were on her.
Mine
... His back rested against the wall of the cavern, thick muscular arms folded over his tapered, chiseled torso. He was clad in perfect fitting, army-issued trousers, a loose-hanging red sweater, and a pair of recently shined black boots. His name was, is Vauhn Locke-Delaney.
Mariah lofted her chin slightly, gazing across the cave at the other, a ghost of a smirk on her full lips. Haughtily, a brow β her left β rose in silent taunting. "Ge' over i', pith'suk," drawled the femme lycanthrope after a heady moment of quiet. "I'm no' let'in' y'go jus' ye'..."
Vauhn pushed away from the uneven rock wall, and strode leisurely toward the younger. Halting just a foot from Mari, he replied just as arrogantly, "Oh? Is that so?" A self-assured grin appeared on his bow-shaped lips.
"Yeh, tha's righ'," the eighteen-year-old slurred, her left eyes narrowing subtly. She lifted her chin scant degrees more; even such, she looked awkwardly up at Vauhn, who was just over a foot taller than her.
"Why?" It was a taunt, a singular syllable spoken to urge honest rebuttal. "Why won't you let me yet?" This last word was heavily stressed.