She doesn’t realize she’s in familiar territory as she moves through the thick pine forest, doesn’t realize her nightmares started not too far. She’d managed to get away from them in the long run and has avoided most encounters she could save except one rough looking loner she simply caved to out of fear of being hurt again. A pack kindly took her in and cared for her, no questions asked, and slowly she started to get better.
When their prey ran out and they decided to move, Siobhan hesitantly went with them. She was worried of travel and being caught, as her luck often puts her in the wrong place at the wrong time, and now she wanders without them. She gotten too far from camp, one night, unable to locate them or scents, and has scoured one territory to the next looking for them. Or for shelter, for a place that might take her in, as she continues in the bring of anxiety.
She was not alone in the forest.
The reaper watched from the shadows, as silent as the very stars that twinkled above - moonlight shone down and fell as broken shards of glass on the forest floor, but none could touch the man who was slinking betwixt the trees. He was a snake, slithering through the night with not a sound pooling from his blackened lips, senses heightened and gaze glittering with untold malice. The beast, it had awoken again. Dangerous desire had climbed out of his ribs, pulled them apart until he was far less wolf than he was monster; Tundra had done this. She had messed in a game that was not hers to play, and now he was hungry.
His vision flickered back and forth, tracking the movements of the stranger with the sinister curl of his muzzle. She was unaware of his presence, as far as he could tell, though it was as if he could smell the fear that hung thick in her scent, the paralysing anxiety that coursed through her veins with each step. His nostrils flared as he took in more of her scent from afar, but it was then that he made his move. Creeping down like a plume of smoke from the undergrowth, he slunk closer and stood stock still in her path like a boulder to cease her movements.
"Hello~"
After months of working, she’d finally opened out of her shell and trusted them enough. She’d worked just as hard as they did but the first time she’s really separated from wolves she started to consider her family, she feels as if she’s forgotten everything. They always knew how to get her out of trouble but this isn’t the kind of trouble she’d gotten used to in the last year.
Her ears twitch upon her head when she thinks she hears something, turning to her right to peer through the darkened shake of the trees. For a moment she stares in that direction, occasionally flickering in the periphery. When nothing comes into view, she turns back the way she’d been going only to gasp audibly and stumble back as a large, dark wolf blocks her path. Siobhan doesn’t register the greeting as her ears fall back flat against her ears and she steps back, slowly. Vengeance takes over the stranger’s appearance and she can’t choke out the words she wants.
“Wh-what do you w-want?” she asks of her tormentor, looking down to the ground at his feet.
She was far smaller than he, draped in a coat of the night and adorned with various scars - she appeared bruised and battered already, but in his mind's eye he could already see the places of more strokes he could add, like dazzling splatters of paint. His teeth could be his brush, and she would be his canvas.
The young man recalled how Lonzo had taken the sunny girl captive, forced her under his paws until she knelt to his command, submitting to his control; perhaps she would have served eternally as his slave if not for the arrival of her love and brother. A real shame it had been, to lose such a pretty thing. But no matter - she could be replaced, and far too much time had passed since the reaper had tasted blood of his own kind, savoured it as it pooled atop his tongue and dribbled down his chin. Her query went unanswered, the Svartell's body slinking around her own like a shark circling their prey.
"What is your name?" his voice was deep, the grumble of thunder that ripped through the sky on a stormy night.
A chill rolls up the curve of her spine, warning her against the brute that stands across from her. When she looks up, a shudder takes over. The way he looks at her is familiar and she picks up a paw. She remembers the grip to the back of her neck, the slam of her head against stone, the weight of his body on top of hers. Her shoulder aches from the memory, turning her head only when he starts to move. He doesn’t answer her question—he never does—but instead proposes one of his own.
He never cared what her name was before, instead calling her any and everything else he could to demean her.
She swallows a thick lump in her throat.
“Sh-Siobhan,” she manages, licking her lips and trying to find somewhere else to put her gaze, searching for a way out.
She was so timid, so afraid of him, and he had yet to even touch her. He had not brushed against her with his pelt, had not trailed his teeth along her spine, or the tender skin on her neck - he had not even pressed his leathery nose into her side. Siobhan, the girl says, stuttering as she fails to hide the fear that wove around her heart like the rough surface of rope. "Well, Siobhan, what are you doing in these words?"
"More importantly," He grumbled, icy gaze glimmering as his focus settled on her eyes, watching her intently; she would crumble at his stare, he knew it deep in his bones. "What are you doing here alone?"
She does not like the way he looks at her. Her stomach roils in anxiety, taking a step back and out of his circle in a careful step. If she hadn’t gotten lost from her pack, she wouldn’t be standing here in front of this wolf and with each passing second, his features begin to focus. It is not the dark brute that took her captive last year but it is still someone dangerous, sinister tone in each question.
Siobhan licks her lips anxiously, uncertain where to look, and she glances up once to catch his pale blue eyes. “I’m traveling with my pack,” she says, carefully, trying to keep her voice steady. “We’re moving. Th-they’re just ahead of me.”
I'm travelling with my pack, she said. But where were they? He idly reached up his muzzle to scent the air, but found no traces of other wolves that she could have had at her side - his nose hadn't betrayed him before, and the brute was certain that Siobhan was alone. He clicked his tongue at her, a low rumble erupting from his maw, large head swaying back and forth in mock disappointment. "There is nobody here but you and I, don't lie to me." That was a dangerous game to play, and he wouldn't have any part in it.
The only other wolves here were those taking part in the formation of the new pack, but Siobhan's wolves, if they had ever existed, were no longer slinking between these trees.
He clicks his teeth together and her heart sinks, leaving something hard and cold in its place. She’s seen the same acting disappointment from Vengeance and the other wolves. She’d make a mistake—something impossible for her not to do—and she’d pay for it. Siobhan swallows thickly and shakes her head, taking a step back. “No, no, no, I’m, I’m not lyin’,” she assures him, her stomach turning knots while she scrambles to save herself. “I’m trying to find them. I’m lost!” she repeats in panic, trying to keep it together. They’ll realize she’s missing, any minute, and when they do they’ll find her. They’ll look for her, unlike before when she had no one. No, this time they’ll come for her.
He watched as she swallowed uncomfortably, shaking her head in a feeble attempt to convince him. It did not work - it would not work. Aries eyed her, perhaps hungrily, but kept his place and allowed no emotion to cross over his expression. Only a cold, harsh stare. "Lost?" His head quirked to the side, masking the grin that threatened to spill across his rugged features. "Well... perhaps you can stay with me, then, until we find your friends again?" A fair deal, he thought, if you believed the implication that he would aid her in reuniting with her supposed pack; he wouldn't, only a fool would think otherwise.
The Svartell couldn't wait to push his weight against her own, watch as she stumbled and whined, only for him to sink his teeth into her flesh and observe as she wriggled pathetically away. They were always so scared, and rightfully so.
He repeats her words and his voice crawls beneath her skin, heavy with intent before he touches a single hair upon her hide. He knows well enough that she does not want to stay with him and yet he toys with her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the part that had lost the fight so much, tells her to go ahead and get it over with. Let him do what he wants with her body, to satisfy him to mark her body with teeth an groin, but she’d been shown another life and it keeps her on her toes.
“No,” she says, a little more stern. She shakes her head. “I can find them on my own.”
Her defiance was met only with a smirk, for he was confident in his abilities to catch her if she was to make a break for it, and his strength rarely failed him. The reaper raised a brow at her, amusement glinting like the sharp edge of a knife in his gaze. "No?" A grumble fell from his lips, tail flicking harshly at his rear. "Now that's cute, but, honey, you don't want to say no to me. Come on, you should follow me while you can still walk."
What would she do, now? She had a decision to make, and with it came the attitude in which he would greet her. Did she dare to test his jaws, dare to try and tempt the beast to do something most would regret? He would have no regrets; it would rather please him to have her pretty little limbs removed, or her eyes lining his den.
No?
Siobhan watches him, brain frantically trying to decide between the best options. She knows from experience that compliance will not always ensure she is not hurt, and that running away is sometimes worse. She has not been in his power before, whomever he is, and while she knew what Vengeance is mostly capable of, what does that mean for this wolf? Is he worse?
She swallows an audible lump in her throat and takes a step back, one foot hanging above the ground. Dark eyes are wide, uncertain, as she continues to battle with the decision. So, instead of doing anything, she does nothing. She does not get closer to follow, nor does she run. Everything simply shuts down and she lowers her head, closes her eyes, and waits for the inevitable.
Was the girl stupid?
The reaper watched almost in disbelief as she did nothing but lower her head and avert her gaze, submitting but not following his words. What was she trying to accomplish here? Aries growled deeply, tail raising irritably as he strolled closer toward her and put his face right in front of her own, hot breath billowing out like that of a dragon's. Did she think he would let her go, if she hid her face and ducked her body, just like that? No, he was harder to please than that. Scowling, he blew into her eyes and allowed his lips to curl up in display of his fangs.
He waited there for a moment before shaking his head, body coiled and ready to spring if she made a break for it. "You are foolish. Come, now."
Her heart pours out of her chest as he gets closer and she knows she has to make a decision. Pain or more pain. She swallows thickly and lowers even more as he approaches, towering over her trembling form. Maybe he will take what he wants from her and let her go, or her own wolves will come looking for her, or maybe she’ll continue to ignore the heavy stone in the pit of her stomach.
Siobhan takes a step closer, forcing her body to act against logic, and shakes her own head. Somehow, she moves to follow, but it doesn’t go without a whine and a quiet plea.
When she refuses his demands again, something deep within his chest snaps angrily. All the pent up frustration, defiance, it builds up in his stomach and rises like flames to lick at his throat, releasing a snarl from betwixt his jaws. The beast eyes her viciously, gaze of ice slicing through the air only to pierce into her own, body shifting to shove against hers. His neck is stretched forward, jaws opening to clamp tight around the back of her own neck if she did not avoid it in time. If he was to succeed, he would push with her weight and force her to the ground, sinking his teeth in and drawing blood from beneath the skin of her scruff.
If you do not listen to me, I will have to punish you.
It is not enough to satisfy him and in a blurry of grey he rushes upon her. Facing him makes it easy for him to latch onto her scruff well before she can even think to pull away and, when she does, only tears further. His body hits hers hard and she drops to the ground like a ragdoll, legs crumpling beneath her. Teeth puncture into her skin through each added weight until she’s splayed out on the ground at mercy to his powerful jaws.
He was in control, now. She was weak at his jaws, slumped on the ground pitifully, like the broken corpse of a rabbit, and he felt a wave of satisfaction that she crumbled beneath him. She was not like Tundra - though whatever had occured with that woman was another story entirely, and something about her intruiged him to no ends. She matched his challenge, but failed to anger him enough for the man to snap. He was determined to see her downfall. Feeling angry again, he looked down in disgust at the woman at his feet, slavering jowls hanging above where her body lay. He could end her life right here... right now, by simply capturing her throat between his fangs, physically tearing the breath from her and watching as she faded away into nothing; he did not.
"Listen to me, and do not forget it - you belong to me now. Whatever I say, you do, got it? If you misbehave you'll find yourself in trouble, and we wouldn't want that, would we?" A sickly grin breaks away on his lips, smug in his victory and feeling empowered enough to place a paw on her back, pressing her to the ground further.
Siobhan closes her eyes tight as he presses her into the ground. When he releases her scruff, she does not move; she knows now there is nothing for her to do. Her eyes open and she stares at his feet, head flat on the ground between either of her front paws. His words strike more terror through her body, holding her breath unless he puts his paw against her back and pushes her down, forcing it out. Frantically, she nods her head and thumps her tail apologetically, trembling beneath the added weight.
His breath snakes from his lips, twinges of satisfaction tingling up his spine; perhaps his actions were to be frowned upon, but the young man cared little. He had long ago learned that to gain what you desired, you would have to be bold enough to simply take it - not to let others stand in your way with their words, their fangs, their foolishness. Thoughts of his mother trickled into the front of his mind, and for a moment he wondered if she was disappointed in him for accepting what he could not care to change, the darkness that swirled like a storm in his chest, but he recounted then his father's words and the anger returned.
All Svartell men have a darkness inside them.
But perhaps it was that very knowledge that gave them their monsters, the plague that wove itself into their soul until they were naught but beasts themselves? Maybe. Even if it was true, he had fallen too deep into the night now, had lost himself to the black dreams. Maybe it was his father's fault.
The reaper eyed the girl, morbidly pleased by her display of submission, and only then did he remove the weight from her back. She was frightened, and had bowed to his presence - that was all he had desired, for now. Aries' head quirked, gesturing for her to follow in silence. If she would listen, then the man would lead her deeper into the woods, dissolving into the shadows.