[trigger warning – threat of assault]

“No, Marius. Please!” August shrieked. All of the monster’s weight was pressed against her as he fumbled with his belt, and she attempted to wiggle out of his grasp. But his hand was huge and clamped into a steely grip on both of her wrists.

“You’ve changed me, witch,” Marius snarled, so close to her ear this time. “Don’t you think it’s fair that I take something from you in return?”

“No! Please—I didn’t know,” the fight in her deflated into hysterical sobs. “I didn’t know!”

Marius roared in frustration behind her. “Calm the fuck down! I can feel your fear. It’s pathetic,” and he let his belt be to slam her head against the wall again, pressing her harder there with his huge forearm. “You disgust me,” he growled in her ear, and when he reached for the waistband of her pants, she flailed and flittered like a fish against the wall, making herself slippery and difficult.

“Get off me! Get off me!” she shrieked. Dormant memories of a similar encounter came raging to the surface of her mind, and it seemed to throw Marius off balance. The tunnel of her memories collapsed around him, trapping him in a suffocating room from years ago. It was dark and violent and horrifying, and Marius shuddered as he felt it like his own memory.

At that moment August was a mirror, and Marius saw himself from the perspective of his prey for the first time. The horror of his own actions was twisted back on him in a grotesque reflection of himself. He loosened his grip on her as he watched himself, felt himself, hurting her.

For perhaps the first time, a glimmer of awareness—of empathy—arrived in Marius’s dark eyes as he stared back now at his intended prey who had flipped herself around and staggered away from him. His body jerked with the urge of a predator to pursue when she stumbled and fell against the floor, still backing away from him as tremors of fear raked her, but he just stood there gaping at her. She was terrified. She was terrified, and he felt the terror shake him to his core. Was he really about to violate her in that way?

And then he remembered what she took from him. His essence. His wolf. That must be why this pathetic weakness had taken hold of him. He growled, and August saw the twitch of movement before he lunged. She turned over to launch herself off of the floor, but he was too fast. He quickly caged her under him and flipped her over.

“Why?” he spit, pressing himself against her. “Why am I linked to you this way? What did you do to me?” The anger was back, and August heard herself whimper under him. Something hungry flashed in his eyes at the noise, and his gaze snapped to her exposed neck.

August grabbed his face to push it away, but he only shook his head in apparent amusement. And then she was roaring—clawing at his face in anger and frustration at again being in this position of the victim, at again being subjected to someone with more physical strength than she had.

Marius groaned and reeled away from her long enough for August to scramble up and run off balance through the living area and out onto the deck. She looked either way for something to fight him off with, but seeing nothing and hearing him stumbling through the room after her, she shakily climbed up onto the railing, lifting herself finally onto the roof.

“What are you doing to me, witch?” she heard him yell desperately after her. Rather than the calm and calculating Marius she had met at the outpost, this man sounded completely unhinged. She saw him run out onto the deck below her and then slowly lift his face to where she was.

“Do you plan on flying away?” Marius growled below, and she didn’t pause to see how quickly he could get himself up to where she was. August turned and ran to the wide trunk, pulling herself up on the limbs that offered themselves to her as leverage. This was no plan, she realized. But then, there was no escape. She kept climbing without looking down, and she heard Marius laugh tauntingly below her.

When she finally reached a point where she knew she wouldn’t be able to go any further, August hugged the trunk desperately, trying to calm her heart. Trying to will herself to become one with the rough bark under his hands. She could hear Marius below her on the roof now.

“Here kitty, kitty,” he called, but he didn’t seem to be following her up. It suddenly occurred to her that everything unfolding was similar to one of the sick fantasies she had spied from him at the outpost. He would stalk her and take his time before finishing her off.

“What are you doing here?” Marius’s wicked voice had shifted away from her. Panting against the trunk, August finally gathered up the courage to look below her, but she didn’t see anyone there.

Down below, Marius jumped off the roof to where Sam was standing looking up at him. “Where’s August?” Sam asked calmly, scanning Marius’ face to see the scratches that had appeared there.

“Sorry, I don’t share, farmer Sam,” Marius growled.

“Where is she?” Sam asked again, not breaking the calm demeanor.

“She’s mine,” Marius snarled suddenly. “No one else’s.”

Sam’s eyebrows shot up in surprise. The possessiveness of that statement caught him off guard, and he let out a small chuckle. “Yours?”

“Did I stutter?” Marius’ jaw clenched as he glared at the younger lycan in front of him.

“Yours for what?” Sam cocked his head to the side and crossed his arms in front of his chest expectantly.

“For whatever I want, Samuel. She’s a witch,” Marius spit.

“There’s no such thing as witches, Marius. Only ignorant pieces of shit like you.”

“No such thing as witches? You have no idea what she’s done!” The rage began rolling off of Marius again, and he raked a hand through his hair. “How did you even realize I was here? I masked my scent waiting for you three to leave.”

“Fortunately my father taught me that trick,” Sam replied cooly. “But it leaves another scent behind.”

“Ah,” Marius realized, “you picked it. Well how unfortunate for me,” he raked a hand through his hair again, realizing that he wouldn’t be able to shift into his wolf to defend himself.

“It’s over, Marius,” Sam warned.

“She killed my wolf, Samuel. You want someone like that in our pack? Or Goddess forbid, leading it? If you take me in, I’ll tell the elders. She’ll be hunted by more than me,” Marius hissed.

“What makes you think I would take you in? So you can get locked up and then released again? No,” Sam smirked, “I don’t think so.”

Without the patience for further discussion, Sam tore out of his human form and into his wolf. He tilted his head, red fur ruffling in the breeze as he watched the man in front of him frozen in place, aware of what was coming. And then Sam lunged forward and plucked Marius’ head from his body as if he were picking the bloom off of a dandelion.

After shifting back, Sam jumped onto the roof and scanned the tree. “August?” he called.

August recognized the rich porter of his voice from earlier. “Sam?” she called back shakily.

“Yeah—it’s me. It’s safe. Are you needing help getting down?” he asked.

“Uh…” she loosened her hold on the trunk, slipping slightly as she evaluated the limbs below her. “Maybe?”

Sam looked down at the carnage on the deck below him, realizing this was no ordinary sight for someone like the girl clinging to the tree. “Are you good for a minute? Maybe I can clean up down here first,” he called.

Clean up? “Sure, sure. Go for it,” August answered quickly, suddenly terrified to see what awaited her down below, and she hugged the tree tightly once again.

Sam jumped down, returning to his wolf form to complete the job of removing the traces of Marius from the treehouse by burying him in the woods. For a human, the job would be a long and torturous one, but it was quick work for the lycan who tossed Marius’ parts off the steps and then hopped down himself to retrieve them.

Sam carried the body and its severed head swiftly to a good spot where he dug furiously and nudged them in to quickly cover the hole back up with mud. His huge red paws patted the earth down securely in place, leaving no trace of loose or disturbed soil.. It was quick, flawless work that was easily accomplished, and in no time he was back to his dressed human form on the roof of Graeme’s treehouse coaxing August down.