Blackfoot Forest Is it love if I take you, or is it love if I set you free

@Aries

No. No. No. No. No.

The word pounded in her mind as her paws hit the ground again and again.

Why him? Why now? Why him? Why now?

Every syllable squeezed her heart a bit tighter with each echo of the words spilling from her mouth. The fresh white snow only reminded her of him, and she growled, flattening her ears back, yet the growl was  trapped, broken, terrified. The dusk had spread out over the land, snaking fading light through the seemingly twisted trees. She had wandered aimlessly, the promise to Dakarai ringing louder in her ears and her heart shattered a bit more at each paw fall, knowing that she was breaking the last promise she made him.

She had caught his scent earlier, her very essence trembling with the abhorred familiar scent, yet her resolve pushed her forward, and the unseen drive to keep the ones she loved safe was pushing her to the man who haunted her every night, who weighed heavy in her mind every day, and whose voice echoed through her being. With a look of disgust and terror, she lifted her nose again, nostrils flaring then a loud huff as she caught it.

Snorting several times, she whined softly as her drive set her eyes forward. It was ripping her apart as her heart pulled her back. As she saw where the scent was leading her, her steps faltered, her legs barely holding her body up. A forest. Her trembling lips whispered into the fading light.

Why? Why there?

The three words were caught up by the wind, a hope, a hopeless plea that was spoken to the unyielding black forest.
Memories flooded back, and her breath came fast and shallow, a band of uncertainty tightening around her chest, stilling her step for only a moment. Yet her family's faces floated like ghosts through her mind, and she took another step. 

And another. One more into the forest of her nightmares.