Even in her dreams, she couldn't escape the jaws of the wolf.

From the dark depths of her nightmare abyss, numerous hands reached, moaning, screaming, and crying her name in a single, gross amalgamation of limbs and flesh. Their fingers were ice-cd. Talon-like nails punctured her skin, tearing her into the dark void below.

As she sank into a tar-like substance, a slither of light glared from the moon above. She raised her hand. Prisms filtered though her fingers as she reached towards it, desperate to ascend.

Yet, still she sank deeper and deeper, drowning in darkness...

Just as she was about to be consumed by the abyss, she heard a growl; a deep rumble of a roar like an earthquake. She looked down. The hands were gone. Instead, in their place, was a wolf, rearing towards her on its hind legs like a great white shark. It opened it's maw, revealing fangs dripping with strings of blood as it leapt closer -

In a cold sweat she started awake, finding that same full moon of the dreadful night glared ominously down at her. Her fingers clawedat her hair. Death. So much death, all because of her. The weight of their souls crushed her like a heavy weight on her shoulders.

The message was clear: It should have been you not us.

She heard a spluttering sob. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw Tamer rocking back and forth, curled in a foetal ball, face buried in his hands. Despite insisting he needed some time to expose himself to moonlight to heal, he sat in the shadow of a gnarly tree, as far away from light as possible. He looked up at the sound of her commotion. A single red-rimmed eye peaked out the cracks in his fingers. As he rocked forward, the tear rolling down his cheek glistened. For the first time that night, his eyes were back to their usual brown, no reddened blood-lust, no supposed golden light of wolfish affection - just Tamer, drenched in sadness. Despite being the most comforting thing she'd seen that night, it did nothing to still her beating heart.

"Nightmare?" he said hoarsely.

She nodded frantically.

He shifted closer, taking a deep breath. He composed himself, determined to be strong for her.

"What did you see?"

She panted. "Just all the people that are going to die because of me."

The consequences of their actions weighed the air.

"Winter," Tamer eventually called in an attempt at a calm voice. His fingers walked across the woodland floor, giving a reassuring squeeze of her hand; she squeezed so desperately back that his knuckles turned white. "You were frightened and in the vices of death. Those people sacrificed you because they were the same. No one has any right to criticise anyone here. No one has any idea how they'll react in the face of death until they experience it."

He grimaced, letting loose a broken sigh before whispering, "besides. I was the one who cut you down. If anyone, I should take this burden."

"I don't like when you say things like that Tamer," she pleaded.

His features hardened. "I'm fighting for you because you deserve the right to live, to lead an ordinary life without pain," he said firmly. "In other words, I'm fighting so you don't have to, Winter."

Her heart was warmed, but the thing felt constricted, like it was being crushed in her chest. She really wished that he didn't have to do that. She felt so hopeless .

A cloud of mist sheared from Tamer's lips as he stared up at the star-speckled sky above them.

"But... I didn't do this just for you. I...did it for me also." A pained smile lifted his lips, tears sparkling in his eyes. "I don't know how to make you grasp how it is I who is truly dependant on you," he whispered. "I didn't have a family. And the other humans were so deeply afraid of me, I couldn't find any other companionship."

A weak smile dispersed his grimace. Clutching tightly at his knees, his hoarse voice softened with the tendrils of warmth.

"You're always the one who's kept me going. The closest thing I've got to family." She watched an incandescence fill his eyes as they began to glow, vibrant and hopeful in the bleak night. "To me you're like a sanctuary. A haven." Turning his body towards hers, he drew nearer. "The worse I'm hurting..." He glanced at her lips, settling simply on putting an arm around her. "The more I want to retreat into you."

Tears prickled at her eyes.

A thoughtfulness became his features; there was a certain dreamy quality that grew within his eyes.

"But, if I'm honest, I think it was you who helped me break out of hypnotism and save both of us. You looked up to the moon, and your eyes started...glowing. They were stiking..." Affection illuminated his eyes with a warmth like sunlight. "I don't know what it was about your voice, but somehow, it was able to challenge the order of the wolf King."

He embraced her, drawing pleasant feeling circles around her back while he murmured, "without you, I wouldn't be alive to have something to fight for in the first place."

She didn't know whether to smile or cry. She just buried her face in his chest. He was still shaking, and so was she. They held each other for awhile, clinging tight. A tear rolled down her face. He'd saved her. But now, what was the cost for him?

She sat silent, remembering how the flower crown around her head had started shinning before crumpling away.

"Your Father said the queen's order could challenge the king's," Winter said quietly. "Could there be some sort of connection between the queen and the Maiden? A descent."

Tamer just shook his head, at a loss. They were too emotionally exhausted at this moment to think.

"I don't know, Winter."

"Still..." Winter looked down at his hands. She couldn't not say it, she couldn't not bring it up, even if it was for her sake. So much red. Images of blood spraying in the snow like red splattering across a canvas; his eyes turning a bestial crimson - it flashed as quickly as Tamer ripping his father apart in her mind.

"You killed someone," she whispered.

Tamer's voice broke. "Yeah," he whispered. His fingers dug into her shoulder, voice hoarse. "Are you afraid of me?"

She didn't think Tamer would harm her. But God did she have huge anxieties about being eaten by wolves after being told all her life he would eat her.

The answer was no, yet somehow she could not immediately respond.

"Then I will be clear now," he said lowly. His claws curled through the dirt. "I don't want to kill. I feel awful for doing it, even to that shitty man I call Father. But do I regret it? No." Blood pounded in her ears as Tamer shifted. "You're all I have, Winter. You might as well be the only person in the world to me; a world I'll guard with my life." His gentle tone grew rugged as he gnashed his teeth. "I won't hesitate to turn on this entire world if it tries to harm the only thing that's made me happy within it. If that scares you, then..."

He gulped with a shaky breath, shadow immersing his features as he glanced down.

"You can leave," he whispered, huddling his arms around his body. "But please let me find a way to make you safe first."

There was no hesitation in flinging her hands around his shoulder; the action drew a muffled sob on his part. She wanted to live. She wanted to have the same right to existence. The right to happiness, the right to love just like everyone else. But she wanted Tamer to have that luxury too.

It was a terrifying prospect. Not just because of the strain she was putting Tamer under, but because she couldn't clearly say that all those people who'd groomed her for murder since birth and made a public display their suffering, were lives that should overvalue her and his own.

"You're damaged, Tamer," she whispered. It was almost a reminder to herself. He was a victim; someone battling the never-ending cycle of violence against his own will. "And that's okay. You're free now."

Tamer's bottom lip quivered. "Free," he squeaked, wiping the tears from his eyes.

But..." Her breath quivered uneasily. "It's not 'Tamer,' that scares me. It's this stranger before me. I've learned so much about you today, someone I thought I could trust... I hardly know who you are any more."

The corner of Tamer's lip twitched.

"I'm sorry," he whispered back. "I was worried you'd hate the real me just like everyone else."

"I never will," she assured him. "You're a beautiful person, I know you are. But I need to know who 'Tamer' is in his entirety to move forward."

He sighed, lying down on the grass. Winter decided to lie next to him, huddling up close. The glow of the moonlight shone upon them them like a blanket as he wrapped an arm around her.

He traced his finger over her open hand.

"Father fell in love with a she-wolf," he began quietly, drawing circles over her palm. "And Mother fell in love with a man. After fleeing my biological dad, she chose the life of a human. That was when the two met. He had no idea what she was - perhaps it wouldn't have mattered, love is always blind. Soon, she began to signs of pregnancy. She gave birth to me.

"However, one day, at a young age I..." He gulped, grititng his teeth. "Shifted... for the first time. He may have forgiven her for being a wolf, but half-breeds cannot shift. There was no way he could ever forgive her when the boy he'd been raising turned out not to be his own. Things went ...downhill from there. Rumours began to spread. Like a witch hunt, they suspected her on the basis of her constant absence on a full moon..."
Tamer's voice fell quieter than the breeze around them, sounding so out-of-place from someone his size and stature. "During the day, they..." He clenched his teeth, voice strained. "... shot at her with silver and killed her."

There was a silence. The bitten back tears rolled down his cheeks; quickly, he gashed his teeth, but sorrowful little hiccups left him convulsing. "Father lied and protected me, proving his own humanity and seemingly my own as a 'half-breed.' Things I couldn't control, he hit me for, like how I glow in the full moon, literally trying to beat the wolf out of me. Perhaps I'd like to think he was trying to save me. But more likely, he was establishing a hierarchy so that when I got bigger, he'd stay in control."

The sound of an owl hooted as Tamer gave a deep, remorseful sigh.

"I hate him," he whispered. "But at the same time, I'm only alive because of him. And yet... And yet...!"

And yet, you killed him because of me.

She tried to think of what to say. Sorry seemed almost condescending, yet, she couldn't say nothing. In the end, she nestled closer into his side.

"It's so unfair," she whispered.

Tamer shook his head. "Doesn't matter, you're here now. You and Lorelei... you're all that I need."

But she wanted him to have more.

"Do you know your real dad?" she asked after a while.

She could have sworn not only Tamer, but the entire forest, went silent. A gruesome smile played on his lips.

"Perhaps."

Tamer appeared angry all of a sudden, a hardened glower blazing from his eyes. She noticed his claws were suddenly reared, curled through the earth.

It appeared he was going to force her to ask. Taking note of how he'd said his driving force was her, she felt a strange premanation in her stomach.

"Is it... Someone who's a threat to us?"

He grimaced, nodding.

There was only one real person who that could be.

"Could it... N-no, there's no way it's the King right?"

Body jerking, he stared at her with fear in his eyes, as if she had announced she was the offspring of the king of beasts.

She knew from his stunned silence, that she was right.

"How did...?"

"I was just guessing, I didn't actually think..." She shook her head, fear clutching her heart like an icy hand. It was insane to think the blood of that beast ran through Tamer. "Your step dad. He said he was scared of your real dad the most, and Cerberus appeared to be the thing that terrified him more than anything. Plus you're just... Far too powerful from what I'd even expect from a normal Lupine."

Tamer had the most wounded expression on his face, like out of everything tonight, this was the most painful blow.

"It's okay," she said, reaching her fingers behind the back of his head and encouraging him to look at her. "It doesn't matter who created you. I truly believe in your ability to make the right choice."

Or Tamer's choice, that is - the human part of him. She wasn't entirely sure about the wolf inside who, after all these years caged and beaten, was starting to break free and had grown aggressive. But, just like she could soothe Tamer, if the wolf was part of him, she believed she could tame the beast also.

Or at least, she hoped, because, knowing how godly strong this man was, she knew she'd stand no chance alone against any other Lupine. Him dependant on her and her dependant on him -- it was like she was caught between the jaws of two waiting wolves.

He nodded.

"Have you met Cerberus?" she asked.

He shook his head. "No one even knows what he looks like."

"C-can he... can he really slaughter an entire village? Like surely, if those people run, he can't catch all of them, right...?"

"I don't know, Winter," Tamer said darkly. "The way people talk about him - they seem to act as if he's a benevolent god. I've heard rumours that he's a beast who somehow gained the power of a god. Most of the sacrifices who've existed in the past, and all those who relate to them... Records of them seem to vanish. Perhaps they exist in the Lupine World, but no one knows where that is."

"What do you know about him?"

"I know that I was actually a wanted pregnancy. My mother basically kidnapped me when I was in the womb."

"For... an heir to the throne?"

Tamer shook his head. His brow furrowed; from the expression on his face, he seemed more conflicted on this part than any other.

"I actually already have an older brother. I've only met him once, he chose to seek me out, but we don't actually get along well enough for me to tell you a lot about him." He bit his lip, stating lowly, "from what I know from my stepdad, the King appears to know who I am, but for whatever reason, is simply choosing to leave me be. I don't know what that beast created me for."

Such should have been obvious given that he knew she was the girl born on the same day as snow roses, but still, knowing the enemy knew there exact location, simply choosing not to move for whatever reason...

Her eyes darted around, as if expecting the king of beasts to appear at any moment.

"I-I see, " she stuttered.

"Winter," Tamer called quietly. "Human and wolves don't get along. So its easier for me to take the burden of killing them than it is for you. However... If it hurts you so much that these people might die because of us, then we'll find a way to save them. First, however, we must save ourselves."

Lying on her side, she stared deeply at the man emblazoned in such beautiful silver light, like the moon itself had fallen and carved itself into human form. From the uncertainty in his voice, she wasn't sure even he himself believed they could be saved. Yet, Tamer's dependency on her was so immense, she also knew he would attempt to find away. She didn't want herself to be his only coping mechanism, but knowing how much she depended on him in a world that had seemingly turned its entire back on them, she bit back her disdain; that was a conversation for another day.

Right now, she had no choice.

Shutting her eyes, she still saw his angelic halo burn through, and she wondered how something this pure, this angelically beautiful, could be so perfectly built for to kill.

"One last question." She tucked a strand of his hair behind his ear to stare longingly at his aureate eyes, mirroring the reflection of the stars above. "What exactly is a mate bond?"

Tamer rolled on his side, close enough to count each and every single one of his eyelashes.

"It's love," he said gently, his golden eyes imbued with it as he slid his course, yet somehow stimulating, hand over her cheek, "at least, I think. Sometimes, it's more like an lust-driven insanity. I think the word to best describe it is eros. In a soul bond, you swap a fragment of your soul was another. Your pleasure. Your pain. Your happiness. Your sorrow. Everything is shared."

His eyes heated with a warm, glowing gold yet there was a tinge of maddness swirling within. "If someone wants to hurt you, then I'll fight them. It doesn't matter if I destroy my very humanity in the process. As long as it is an action that keeps you safe, the animal in side me is content, even if it pains the human part that my step dad was right about me. Within Winter..." His voice lowered, ever so slightly cracking. gently drifted his finger over her bottom lip, parting it with longing in his eyes. "There is no pain. No memory of even this wreched night, of killing; no past, future. Just you, consuming all hurt and hatred in my mind in place of a happy feeling."

Her heaving chest bumped against his, but her breath was also a little uneasy. Tamer's erotic, yet slightly unhinged eyes made her dizzy, his beauty almost hypnotic. Backlit by a halo of moonlight, blazing with a pair of eyes like molten gold, she grew rather hot.

These words hurt. Already, he was slipping beyond the person she knew.

"Can this feeling transfer to human's too?"

He nodded.

"Tamer..." she called his name somewhat uncertainly but still with a gentle lilt, hand gliding across the sharp ridges of his shoulder-blades, "If we are to have a relationship, I need to know what you feel to understand if we actually can be together."

Tamer shut his eyes for a moment, simply enjoying the sensation of her hands winding around him. Heat ravaged his stare when he opened opened. Her lips parted as Tamer's hand wandered over the curve of her hip; the breath of his words set her alight with tingles of desire as he whispered into her neck, "I will stop at nothing to have my right to be with you, Winter, and let you live a normal, happy life. That is the insanity they call a mate bond."

She plunged into that supposed haven free of hurt. Driven by the hunger of a wolf about to devour its prey, pleasure consumed her as his lips melted against hers.

If the sensation of their torn souls simply drifting into contact earlier had made her feel electric, nothing compared to the feeling of them beginning to merge back together again. The brush of Tamer's lips massaged the ache in her heart. The soft wind of his tongue caressing hers brought them closer together. She could feel his tears touching her cheek. Their fingers intertwined as he pressed her harder into the ground, kissing her madly without the slightest intention of ever letting her go. It was almost as if his soul was filling her up; gentle pleasure cleansed the wounds in her heart, just like when he'd licked her into healing earlier.

Tamer's lips were like a void. A rabbit-hole of maddness that sucked all reason from her mind. There was no past, no future, no remorse for all those that could die because of her. There was no pain within the safe confides as this kiss -- truly a haven. Everything else was obselete, for no emotion, not even the wretched pain of being betrayed by her village, was as powerful as this.

Her stomach filled with longing like nothing else she'd ever felt. The re-spiritual bonds that had been severed in the biting beginning to retie, making her heart feel as though it was glowing. After everything that happened, after all the wounds inflicted, she couldn't think of anything more appealing than to be tenderly nurtured and have her wounds licked clean.

Tamer tore away; from the way he shook his head, it appeared to have been a struggle. Lips still fallen open, his breathing shivered. All the tension in his body seemed to have dissipated after the kiss. Exposing the smooth ridges of his collarbones, he tilted back his head, giving a ragged groan like a quiet howl to the moon.

He panted. "But until you're safe, even if you want to, we can't commit to such a bond. If I have to fight, you'll share my pain. I can't have such a thing when I swore to keep you safe.

Winter nodded though without much passion to it. She was left shaken. There really was no remorse in that moment. Calling it a lust driven madness was no overreaction.

This was what Tamer was feeling.

Tamer's gaze softened. He scooped her torso up in his arms.

"Come on." He squeezed her palm. "Let's take you to Lore-"

Tamer's words drifted away suddenly. He appeared to pinpoint the sound before she did.

Winter's stomach sank.

A howl sang in the distance.

She watched dread eclipse his features in the pale of his skin. Then, Tamer's face contorted with anger.

"Speak of the fucking devil," he spat.

Seizing Winter's hand in a tense grip, dread sank her entire stomach when she felt his claws curled around her wrist.

He appeared to be readying himself to fight someone.