juno. she haunted him. she consumed him. even in his dreams. calling for him. perhaps this was because he thought her a damsel in distress that needed his saving. his lover was resourceful. if there had been a way out, a way to him he did not hold doubts that she would have long since found it. this belief unsettled him more than the fantasy that she needed him to save her. he could not even imagine the horrors they threatened her with to bid her to stay. this angered cesario worse than any other plausible explanation he could come up with. yet, in his dreams he did not think these things. in his dreams they were reunited. his lover — small next to him yet built with iron in her bones and fire in her veins, as if she were crafted just for him was in his arms once more. the taste of her fur lingered upon his tongue where he peppered her with sultry kisses. “i love you, cesario.” she would murmur against the crook of his neck. he desired to ask her why she did not come to tempest moor. why she did not join him at his side. yet, like every night the butcher never got the chance.

instead, he woke up disappointed and disoriented. it took a slow moment of a frantic sweep of his gaze to get his bearings. a slow, deep breath was taken and slowly he rose, stretching his stiff muscles. he had to keep moving forward, he knew. he did not think they would take his juno this far but there wasn't much that cesario wasn't willing to put past her possessive alpha. no doubt the jealous man would take juno to the ends of the earth if it meant keeping her away from him.