The sound of the pups whining for her attention opened her purple eyes. She looked down fondly at the little bundles, nuzzling them closer to her belly. This feeling was indescribable, an amount of love that had no measurement. She knew in this very moment that this is what she was meant to do, to mother these little ones. She was going to teach them to be strong, and to fight and defend themselves. And above all, she would show them how loved they were. Mercy would not repeat what her own parents did, not once would her babies feel like they didn't matter. The sound of paw steps lifted her head, and she smiled when she saw her mate entering the den. He stepped in, the light blocking out his features. But she knew that it was him, that he had come back from hunting. He dropped the rabbit and settled in behind her. Pushing his cheek into hers, he let out a long sigh. "They are so perfect," She nodded her head. They really were. Mercy jolted awake, blinking at the sunlight that filtered onto her face. The weight of the dream suddenly hit her like a tree falling on her. She could never have that. She would never know thr true feeling of being a mother. She never thought that that is what she wanted, but now that she knew she couldn't have it... her soul yearned for it. It sat on her heart, and she started to cry. Forgetting where she was, and who was with her, a sob broke free. Her front legs rose, covering her face with them. They crossed over her muzzle, tears staining the short hair on her legs. Her form quivered with the force of her crying, and she felt like her heart was breaking in two. "SPEAK!"

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For once his sleep had been quiet and dreamless. He wasn't sure if having Mercy's form against him for most of the night kept his nightmares away or if it was just the utter exhaustion from his combined sleepless nights and the workout from the night before. Gethin's chest rose and fell evenly and calmly while he slept until something pulled him awake. Her sob made his ears flick and he began to stir, his ruby gaze blinking open. He slowly lifted his head, still groggy as his eyes fell on Mercy's frame. His brows pulled together when he saw her with her legs over her face, obviously crying. "Mercy?" he asked with confusion and concern, his voice still rough from sleep. He shifted closer to her and reached to gently nose her cheek, hoping she might come out from under her own paws. "Mercy, what's wrong?" Everything had seemed perfect the night before. What had happened between now and then? Had he done something? He wasn't typically the most caring wolf, and even now he wasn't stricken with worry over her crying, but he was pretty partial to this pale beauty now and this certainly wasn't what he had hoped to wake up to. "Talk" "You" Think

She startled at his voice, her body growing still for a moment. She blinked her own purple eyes open, and when she felt his nuzzle she dropped her legs from her face. Mercy looked up at him, almost forgetting that he had been by her side all night. She sniffled, a bit wide eyed. Her gaze was damp from the tears thst still flowed, her breaths shaky as she tried to pull herself together. He had asked her what was wrong, but she couldn't find her voice yet. Bottom lip quivered as she sniffled again, hanging her head downwards. "It all seemed so real..." she whispered, her voice heavy with emotion. Slowly she inched her head closer to him, softly brushing the crown of her head against his chest. "I had never thought that I wanted a true family, one mate and pups. I used to hate the very idea of it all, being with just one man. Raising little lives in this terrible, dark world. Plus... I never really got along with the whelps. But when I found out I was barren due to injuries..." Her voice broke, more tears gathering in her gaze as she quickly forced them shut. A choked sob left her clenched jaws, and while she longed for Gethin to hold her, she held back. She wouldn't be surprised if he wanted to leave after all of this. "It's all I can think about. I feel like my dreams were taken away from me before I even realized them... I feel so empty, Gethin." Was this really his vicious beauty from the night before? She scoffed at the very idea, she was like night and day. She wouldn't be surprised if she was bipolar, after all her mother was. Shaking her head from side to side she stood up, taking a few steps back from Gethin. Turning her face away from him, she pressed her nose into her own left shoulder, eyes still tightly shut. Her body quaked with the force of her held in cries, but she stayed silent. For now. "Looks like I'm a little more fucked up than you thought." she muttered, a half-hearted, broken laugh leaving her. "SPEAK!"

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Gethin's eyes found hers as she dropped her legs away from her face, ruby eyes meeting tear-filled violet. He let her lean toward him, her head coming to his chest. While she spoke he shifted more onto his side and lifted his foreleg, resting it across her shoulders in an embrace of sorts. He had to piece together what had happened from her broken pieces of explanations. A dream about pups then? A mate and pups wasn't something he had ever considered for himself. After how he had grown up it seemed like such a foreign concept. Something meant for normal wolves that weren't born from rape and raised to do the same. He looked up at her as his leg fell away from her form when she stood, following her movements with his eyes as she walked a few steps away from him, her body trembling with the weight of her own despair. He scoffed quietly at her comment and after a moment he pulled himself to his paws and padded over to where she was. He settled on his haunches next to her quietly, dipping his head down to gently pull her muzzle up and away from her shoulder with his own muzzle so his eyes could meet hers. "If anyone says they're not fucked up in some way they're either blessed or fucking liers," he told her, his voice quiet but firm. "I guess we're just a special kind of fucked up." He looked at her thoughtfully then, adding, "How did it happen? You being barren." "Talk" "You" Think

She just sat there, not daring to even look up at him. A part of her thought that he would just slip away, get up and walk away from her forever. She didn't want that, not one bit. But it was hard to imagine him staying. They had had a wonderful night, and then the damn dream had to come and ruin it all. When he scoffed her ears pulled back, thinking that that was his dismissal of her. She heard the sound of his paws on the soft earth, she swallowed hard. But then she felt his heat beside her, and his muzzle reached over to right her own. She quivered at his soft touch, slowly opening her eyes to gaze at his blood red ones. She looked from eye to eye as he spoke, a small smile pulling her lips upwards. Blinking rapidly to shake a few more tears away, she shook her head from side to side slightly. "You're amazing, you know that?" she whispered, searching his face. She had never been one to believe in fate, not at all. It would not be fate that she would thank for her meeting Gethin, but the joint joy of fighting and bloodshed that they shared. Without that, she wouldn't have met him. Mercy would not say that they were meant to run into each other again, but once more their shared interest. They were just too much alike to keep apart, and that was something she could believe in. This very odd, quiet man seemed to know just what to say. Gethin asked how it had happened, and she let out a sigh. "The healer who looked me over hadn't been able to determine the exact cause of it. She said it was from an injury, but whether from too many injuries in the same place, or just one bad one, I don't know. They had all closed up by the time I sought her out, so she wasn't sure. Either way, it would seem that it was my obsession with fighting that did it. I still have my heat cycle, but nothing can every come of it." That is how the healer knew that she wasn't born barren, otherwise she would never have had her cycle. She huffed, ears laying flat against her head. "There are a lot of pups running around in my pack, and for the first time ever I feel... jealous. I never thought I wanted that at all, not after hating my parents so much," she said with another sigh. "Maybe I just think I want it because I can't have it..." She mused. Blinking back into focus, she laughed softly, pulling her head back so that her chin was tucked into her chest. "Sorry for all of this... this wasn't really the way I had wanted to wake up. Last night was just so perfect, and I had to go and shoot that all to hell." Mercy said, rolling her still damp purple eyes. "SPEAK!"

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A little smirk touched his lips at her unexpected compliment. That was certainly not something he had ever expected to hear in reference to himself. Him? Amazing? Well, maybe if she was talking about him in some reference to sex he would believe her, but for anything else there was just no possible way. But... Somehow, as he searched her face in return, he kind of wanted to believe it. Was this what it was like? Caring enough about someone to want them to feel better? He listened while she explained what little she seemed to know about what had happened to her to cause her not being able to have pups. He watched her thoughtfully, trying to figure out what it must be like to actually want pups. He had gone out of his way to avoid risking getting anyone pregnant for so long that it was hard for him to imagine actually wanting them. Her apology pulled him away from his thoughts and he focused on her face again. He gave a little shake of his head and said, "Don't apologize. You can't control your dreams. I'm way too familiar with that to blame you." He paused, glancing away from her for a moment before bringing his focus back to her eyes once again. He was hesitant when he spoke, but he was truthful in his sentiments. "I've never wanted pups and I've gone to great lengths to avoid getting anyone pregnant. I just... I've never trusted myself to not be like my father. But... If I could give them to you I would." "Talk" "You" Think

He was quick to dismiss her apology, and she just rose a black marked brow at him. She grabbed on to the one part about him knowing what it was like, and even though she wished to question him on it she didn't. This conversation was already bleak enough without dragging more nightmares into it. He seemed to fall silent for awhile, and she just blinked at him from her stance. That's when she noticed that the blood from their endeavor last night still clung to his pelt. Untucking her chin from her chest she shuffled forward, gently brushing her shoulder against his chest. Bending her neck, she began to carefully lap at the wound, making sure that no dirt or anything else stuck to him. The coppery taste of his blood filled her mouth again, making her nostrils flare. Trying to push those thoughts away, she instead focused on licking his wounds clean. When Gethin spoke again, she stopped mid lick. Her head rose up sharply, almost clipping him in the jaw with her head. Blinking rapidly at him, Mercy's jaws opened and then snapped closed again. She wasn't quite sure what she could say to that, a simple thank you was not enough. He just offered her the world, if she was able to take it. Suddenly growing misty eyed again, she shoved the sadness away and pushed her chest flush against her own, her neck pressing against his. "I..." she started, having to clear her throat before going on. "I don't know what to say..." "SPEAK!"

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He watched as she moved closer, his ears flicking when her shoulder brushed against him. She went to work cleaning off the blood that he had forgotten was there, the slight pain from her tongue cleaning the wound combined with the feeling of her fur brushing his started pulling memories from the night before back to the front of his mind. He pushed them away, but not without some regret. The sex, the blood, the desires. Those were the things he was comfortable with. Not this- these feelings and wants he couldn't really name. He didn't want to see his vicious beauty cry. He wanted to give her anything that would bring that keep that grin on her muzzle. When the last of his statement left his lips he felt her suddenly stop what she was doing and he had to flinch back a touch to keep from having her skull smack into his jaw. He watched her with mild confusion when she blinked at him before pressing her chest and neck to his. He had meant what he said, but he never realized how much that would mean to her. He had expected her to thank him for the gesture at most. He blinked with surprise and slowly he eased into her embrace, turning his head to rest it on the back of her neck in a hug of sorts. He never would have expected this when he walked into this clearing the night before. "You don't have to say anything," he replied softly. He was no hero, he didn't deserve this. After a moment of silence he pulled back so he could see her face again. He searched her face, his brows pulling together. He was used to sweet-talking women, convincing them of anything and everything, getting them to do whatever he wanted. Keeping them to himself till he was done with them and he'd move on to the next. He protected them for his own selfish reasons. He didn't feel those things when he looked at Mercy. "What do you see in me? Why are you staying with me?" he asked her quietly, truly confused by it all. He couldn't keep the slight, rough edge of emotion out of his words. "You're not nearly as fucked up as you think you are." "Talk" "You" Think

She felt him ease into her embrace, into her touch. A shuttering sigh left her lips, eyes sliding shut. She had never felt so at ease with someone, not like this. She was used to just getting what she wanted out of a guy and leaving. Sex, pain, bloodshed, or a mix of all three. The men she usually ran into were all more than happy to just leave right after, leaving smug as they got what they wanted. It made sex nothing more but a way to feel good, the next high she was looking for. It wasn't a sign of love or commitment, if that was the case... well there were quite a few notches on her belt so to say. But Gethin... he was different. He had asked her to stay, saying that others were foolish. But why? What did he see in her that no one else did? And why did she feel like this with him? It was only with her brother that she had ever felt like this before. Her ears lowered a fraction, no one had never come close to making her feel the way her brother did. Well, maybe Kyarst, but that was then. Mercy gave Gethin's scruff a few licks while she ran this through her brain, one thought being taken over by another before she got anywhere with it. He had told her that she didn't need to say anything, so she just enjoyed the silence for now. When he pulled back, she reluctantly allowed him, straightening herself up as he did so. He was searching her face, and she blinked rapidly at him. She was about to ask him a question when he took the words right out of her mouth. Letting out a gentle giggle, she smirked softly at him. "I was about to ask you the exact same thing," she said. Her smile grew at his last words, but she made no comment on that. She had grown silent again, trying to put everything she was feeling into words. He deserved that much, after everything that had happened between them. "Well... besides not really being able to walk after?" she started, a playful tone to her voice. "I... it's hard to explain. I guess you just made me feel, I dunno... different I guess. You wanted me to stay with you afterwards. You didn't reject me as soon as you saw want I was in to, which had happened before. You took me for me, and it was honestly the most fun that I had had in a long time." Her tone was more serious, losing all sense of testing him. "As for what I see in you, I kind of see myself. Is that strange? But I do, we both have so much in common that it's almost refreshing in a way. I don't have anyone to relate to on that level, my brother didn't feel the same way about my parents. In fact he has been rather distant lately," Her frown deepened, but that thought was neither here nor there. "And you offered me everything, even though you hardly know me. You didn't abandon me when I started sobbing. I think I would have left me at that point," she said with a snort. "But you didn't. You're here talking to me. You played my game but stayed after, which like I said, not a lot do. You're... different, Gethin. In a way I can't really place. You seem to have a closed off heart, a far away look and walls to climb. But like me, you seem to have a touch of a different side under all that rough and tough exterior. And... I've never met someone who makes me feel the way you do. Excited and afraid all at the same time." Mercy paused then, searching his face. She had spoken so many truths to him, more than her own brother knew. But had she given him the answer he was looking for? "SPEAK!"

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Gethin could only watch as Mercy began to speak. He had to grin a little at her comment about not being able to walk after, but other than that he just listened in quiet amazement. When she began to describe all the things he had done he honestly couldn't believe she was still talking about him. He knew it had done all of these things, but he had never heard them described from someone else's point of view. He was gentle and kind when he needed to get others to trust him so that they would stay with him longer, but he hadn't felt that way acting this way with Mercy. He had done it all without much thought. Like it was natural to care for her and try to make her feel better. A slight smirk touched his lips at her last description of how he made her feel. Excited and afraid. She was more right than she knew when she spoke of his walls and closed off heart. He was quiet for a moment, his smirk fading. He didn't want to be so serious when she had been chuckling and grinning as she spoke, but he just felt like he had to get her to realize just what kind of wolf he was. "I've never treated someone like I've treated you... Not honestly anyway." He sighed as he pulled his words together. "It's like a game. To convince women that I'll keep them safe and show them a good time if they stay and let me do what I want. I learned to do that when I was young because if my father told me to go fuck a certain woman and I didn't he'd drag them back to the cave we lived in by their scruff and made me rape them. And if I refused he'd do it himself and then tear into me as punishment." His ears flattened against his skull, the toes of his forepaws curling and digging his claws into the dirt. He had never talked about this before to anyone and he wasn't entirely sure why he was talking about it now. "So when I say you're not as fucked up as you think you are, I'm being completely serious." He gave a little shake of his head and looked down at the ground between them. "If there's anything left under this exterior I certainly don't know where it is... I don't know if I've ever seen it." "Talk" "You" Think

She perked up at his smile, happy to see that her words had made him feel good. But her smile faded with her own, blinking slowly. What... what changed? He looked like there was something on his chest, and she fell silent. Concern bubbled up in her chest, had it been something that she had said? Her weight shifted across her front legs, and she felt like he was holding her breath. When he started to speak, her ears pulled back against her head. She listened to everything thing that he had to say, flinching at the part about his family. After he had said everything, the silence spread between them. Mercy really needed to gather her thoughts, to make sure she said this right. But at the moment, words failed her. So slowly she pushed herself forward, brushing her nose against his jawline, nibbling the point where both jaw bones met. She tugged at his fur, trailing kisses down the side of his neck, licking at his wounded shoulder again. Memories of last night tugged at her brain, and she hummed softly. "Gethin... You didn't treat me like that. You matched me blow for blow, there was no convincing to be had. Just because you don't see the good doesn't mean that it's not there. I saw it, and I see it now. You're trying to warn me about you, that you're not a good guy," she said slowly, pausing to plant more tender kisses around the base of his neck and his chest. Righting herself, she looked into his ruby red eyes. "Just because you've done something in your past doesn't mean that it's going to define your future. You make it what you want to, and push away those things that try to change you. I turned my life around, dropped my last name and made a new one for myself. I chose not to let my family and my past weigh me down, and somehow that led me to you as well. I've never felt stronger, and even though I feel like a piece of my heart is missing... I'm still kicking," Mercy said, her voice almost tender. She fell silent again, searching his face as she gently pushed her nose against his for a moment. "I... I don't want to push you, Gethin. Or say something that you don't want to hear. But," she cut off, turning her head and looking away from him. "I can see that part of you. You make me feel like never before. I trust you even though we've only met twice now. After one amazing night, you treated me like I've never been before. There was a tenderness in how you held me last night, and now how you're trying to tell me that I'm not crazy. Even though you know... I am a little bit crazy," she said with a smirk, still not looking at him. "There's something special about you, and I just can't place it. But there really is..." She peeked at him out of the corner of her purple eyes, offering a sheepish smile. "SPEAK!"

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He honestly had expected her to be disgusted with him after what he told her. He thought she'd get up and leave at the very least. He stared at the ground while the silence stretched on, the seconds ticking by beginning to feel like hours. His ears flicked from surprise when suddenly her nose brushed his jaw, her teeth nibbling at his cheek. What was she doing? Why wasn't she leaving? He finally pulled up his gaze when she kissed at his neck and chest, the feeling making a soft murr resonate in his chest. It wasn't often that he got little signs of affection like that. He showered women with licks and nibbles all the time when he was with them because he loved to pamper them, but he felt like it was very rare for him to get the same treatment. She straightened up and his eyes met hers once again and he searched them desperately for any sign that everything she was saying was a joke or a lie. He wanted her to start laughing and say that it was a joke and that she was going to leave and go home to her pack now. He wanted her to shun him and leave. But that wasn't what happened. She kept insisting there was some good in him and that he didn't have to follow what his past had set out for him. He felt like his own chest was strangling him. The only thing that gave him any relief was her touch as she leaned forward to press her nose to his. A shuddering sigh left his lips at her slight touch before she began to speak again. Her head turned away and he wanted to reach out and press himself to her, but he restrained himself while she continued. His lips twitched with a smirk when she mentioned that she was a little crazy despite his insistence that she wasn't. They were both crazy. He saw her glance toward him and the slightest curve of a smile touched his lips in return. "No one... No one has ever said anything like that to me before. I've never been... special to anyone," he rumbled after a moment of hesitation. He finally gave into his craving to touch her, leaning forward to brush his muzzle and cheek against hers, leaning his head into her neck and nuzzling his face into the fur there. A sigh of relief passed his lips and he closed his eyes for a moment. He had always used sex and physical touch as a coping mechanism or a distraction, but this felt different. He couldn't put a name to this feeling... This pure relief and... happiness? Was that what this was? He nibbled at her scruff and nuzzled her neck as he shifted closer, his chest pressing to hers. "If there really is anything left in this shell of a wolf you can have it... I'm still not sure I believe that its there, but if you can see it then it must be true. If you want what shreds of me are left then I'm yours." "Talk" "You" Think

Some nerve you have To break up my lonely And tell me you want me Mercy slowly turned her whole attention towards him, her purple eyes forever searching his ruby gaze. Why was he so special? Why was he able to just climb over the walls that she set up around her heart? No one had ever been able to breach them all, not even Revenge. There was still parts of her that her own brother had not been able to reach, and yet after one night he had found a way to unlock every door to her true self. For so long she had been covering herself up with anger and hate, keeping away the pain and emptiness that filled her very soul. There were holes around her being, patches of herself that she hadn't been able to find. But now with him, it felt like they were starting to get stitched together. Slowly the strings were being pulled taunt, temporary patches keeping her from falling apart. Who was this Gethin? What made him able to do this to her, to make her heart race in her chest, her breath catch in her throat. She had always thought that Revenge was the most important wolf in her life, that no one could ever be regarded in a higher light. But Gethin was raised on a pedestal, one so high that she could hardly see him sitting atop it. A small smile spread across her lips, and for the first time in a long time, it felt like she was actually happy. Her world had been flipped upside down when Gethin walked into her life, and she didn't want to ever lose him. It was something that scared her, really and truly terrified her. She had never depended on another wolf before, she had always been okay to be alone. But now... why could she not picture her future without him in it? She hardly knew him, and he didn't know the kind of wolf she was. But then why had they said what had been spoken? Why did it feel like on some level, they really did know each other. It was all so confusing, so knew to her. Mercy wasn't sure how to really orginize all these thoughts and feelings, or how to express them. So she just looked at him and blinked slowly, her smile steadily growing as she stared into those eyes. She felt like she had already traced every feature on his face, knew every hair that covered him. But she did it again, purple eyes following the flow of his fur, the curves of his brow and muzzle. She felt like she couldn't breath, the breath rushing out of her lungs in one foul swoop. How dare you march into my heart Oh how rude of you To ruin my miserable And tell me I’m beautiful Her eyes grew misted when he said that no one had ever said something like that to him, and she understood just what he meant. No one had made her feel this special, or like she really mattered. There was no doubt in her mind that they were drawn together at some other level, one she never knew existed. It was like there was a cord that connected them, pulling them close. She had a feeling that if it was ever severed, she would lose even more of herself. He had burrowed his way into very being, with little effort at all. Had she even been resisting? Fear gripped at her heart like sharp teeth at the thought, a shuttering sigh leaving her constricted chest. She hadn't barred him out like she did with every other wolf she had ever met, offered no counteraction. They were too much alike, too much history had been followed. In their journey of life they had walked down some of the same paths, and yet they had never crossed each other until now. To show each other this kindness that they had been lacking in their short lives. A sweet tenderness that most children grew up with, something they had both been yearning for without their knowledge. Gethin leaned forward, the tightening of their cord growing taunt as he touched her. Sparks of electricity fired through her at every glancing caress that he offered her, his nose and cheek brushing against hers. His warm face found a nook in the crook of her neck, and it sat there like he was always meant to lean on her. Her breathing grew heavy, ears tipping back somewhat as she fought to control her fluttering heart. She was not able to resist her own taste of his fur against her, and her head tipped down until her forehead rested just behind his ear. She breathed in the very essence of him, his scent filling her nostrils. Purple eyes slipped closed as everything melted away from them, leaving just the two of them in this very moment. Mercy never wanted to leave this piece of time, and subconsciously she clung to it. His teeth grazed across her scruff, an involuntary shiver running down the length of her spine. Her breath caught in her throat, eyes flying wide at the sudden hum of energy. The soft fur of his chest molded into her own, and she shifted until she was leaning into him. Mercy could feel his heart beating against her own, their beats finding the same rhythm. They in-tuned in every way possible, and nothing could be more intimate. He spoke again, and this time her whole body grew ridged. He was offering himself to her, laying down like a lamb to slaughter at her paws. It may seem a morbid comparison, but that is how it felt to her. He didn't know what she could do with that now, he had rolled over and exposed his belly to her. Gethin was showing his soul to her, baring everything he was and ever would be to her. Mercy's eyes grew watery, her lips quivering as silent tears slipped down her black marked face. He didn't know her, and yet he was literally giving her everything he was. But why? Why? Cause I wasn’t looking for love no Nobody asked you to get me attached to you In fact you tricked me And I wasn’t trying to fall in love but boy you pushed me "Why?" She asked, her voice quivering slightly as she broke the silence that had fallen. Her voice was hoarse, and a muffled, garbled laugh bubbled in her throat. "I never asked for this, I didn't expect myself to fall so hard. I... we don't even know each other, Gethin," she cracked. Even though it burned her like fire, she forced herself to stand up and take a few shaky steps backwards. She looked at him, her tears falling steadily down her face. She sniffled, slowly shaking her head from side to side. "I don't deserve this, this kind of attention and devotion. I've run from everything and everyone that has ever dared to get close to me. But you... why are you so different from everyone else? You found your way into everything without even trying," A strangled cry left her maw, and she shuffled back a few more paces. Her ears were flat against her head, a single leg raising as if she was unsure of herself. "I didn't do anything to merit this. I'm not a good wolf, I'm broken and torn apart. How can you care for someone like that, or even trust my words?" It burned her throat like acid as it came out, and Mercy began to feel ill. "But... I can't lose you. I so selfishly want to hold on to you like my life depends on it. I always thought I was never meant for love, I've been hurt too many times." So all that I’m asking Is that you handle me with caution Cause I don’t give myself often But I guess I’ll try today Even though she had taken steps away from him, that rope that connected pulled at her soul. She stumbled forward, until she could stand it no longer. Leaping forward she aimed to close the distance between them, pushing against Gethin until he flopped over onto his back. Standing over him she let out a growl, her jaws parting as her head twisted towards her own left. Lowering her neck she closed her jaws around his neck, but her bite was weak. Her teeth just brushed against his skin, not even close to causing him any real harm. Letting out another suffocating wail, she held her pose until her body gently collapsed on top of his. Her legs were bent, most of her weight staying on her legs as her belly brushed against his own. She buried her face under his chin, her tears soaking into his fur. "I could kill you if I wanted, you trust me too much," she whispered, her form shuttering with each cry. "But I can't. I can't lose you, even though I know I don't deserve this, or you. Why, Gethin. Why did you chose me?" She asked, desperation in her voice. She left her parents, betrayed the woman who raised her from that point on. She left her brother to his own devices, only coming to him with healing needs. She slept around, fucked anyone that she wanted. But him. He changed everything. She didn't know how to love, how to even begin to let herself be truly happy. But she was ready to try. "SPEAK!"

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The simple feeling of having her form pressing back into his was all it took ease all of his anxiety. He still couldn't put a name to this feeling he had with her. It wasn't something he had ever felt before. It tugged at his chest and strangled is lungs. It hurt worse than any bone breaking bite, yet at the same time it felt more wonderful than anything else in the world. His whole body hummed with this indescribable feeling. If he could keep his body pressed to hers for the rest of time he absolutely would. It brought him so much comfort and confusion all in one hit that knocked the air from his lungs. He was no stranger to craving and yearning after someone, but this was so unlike anything else. Nothing else around them mattered. Only Mercy mattered. In the span of one night she had become his whole world, his whole existence. He didn't know how and he honestly wasn't too inclined to question it. His whole life had been a constant chasing of a high. This was the first time in his life some part of him actually felt content for even a brief moment. When she questioned him and stepped back from their embrace it felt like someone had ripped off one of his limbs. His ruby gaze fixed on her face with a kind of burning desperation he didn't realize was possible. His jaw tensed and his claws dug into the ground under his paws again. He knew she was right. They hardly knew each other. They had a total of two interactions, most of which was simply filled with blood and sex. He didn't care. She spoke of how she didn't deserve this, about how she was broken and torn. He didn't care. He couldn't answer her when she asked why he was different and why he trusted her. He didn't know the answers either. He wished he could find an answer for the both of them, but none of this was logical. All he knew was that he needed her more than he needed air in his lungs. It felt like she somehow had the power to pick up his shattered, broken soul and piece it back together into something worth seeing. They were both broken and missing pieces of themselves, but together he felt like they could be almost be whole again. He only watched as she moved toward him again till she was launching herself at him. He didn't have a shred of resistance in him. He fell backward onto his back with a heavy thud and he stared up at her tear stained face before her violet gaze disappeared from view. A moment later he felt her teeth on his throat. He felt no fear. He didn't care if she ripped out his throat. A small voice inside him wished she would. At least it would stop this painful, constricting feeling in his chest. This feeling he couldn't comprehend. But she didn't. He felt her teeth leave his skin and her head press into the crook of his neck, her tears falling into his fur and seeping through to his skin. He reached around her then, bringing up his forelegs around her and hooking them around the back of her neck, turning his head so his cheek pressed to the top of hers with a shuddering sigh. She spoke of him trusting her too much and he realized there was not a truer statement in the world. He had given up his life and soul to her. He entrusted everything to her. How could he possibly describe this feeling that had buried itself deep in his chest? How could he describe this desperation he felt to be hers? What few words he could think of died in his throat before he could speak them. He moved then, rolling with her so that their positions reversed. He caught himself on his paws so his bulkier form didn't all rest on hers, but he could still feel the length of her body against his. His gaze landed on hers and still for a long moment he was silent, his lungs refusing to let enough air into them to let him speak. "Do you understand what you're doing to me?" he finally asked, his voice no more than a rough whisper. His eyes searched her face desperately, hoping that he might find some answers in her black-marked expression. "I've never... This feeling..." He shook his head, a growl rumbling deep in his chest as his eyes squeezed shunt and his head fell onto her chest, pressing his cheek into the soft fur there while he listened to her heartbeat. ""I don't deserve you. I don't deserve to be alive after everything I've done. I'm not just broken, there's just nothing left of me. But you-" His head lifted so his gaze could fix on hers again. "You... You see something that I can't see myself. You make me feel like I might be worth something. Even if it's only to you. If I'm only ever worth anything to you... That's more than I ever expected to be." He had never felt so vulnerable. He had always kept everyone in his life at a distance, firmly on the other side of all of his walls. Even his brother, who until this moment had been the most important wolf in his life, rarely saw more of him than his protective, brotherly side. He realized he hardly shared much of his life with his brother. He had actually hidden most of it from him, not wanting to subject him to the things their father had done. Mercy was the only one that he had ever felt like he could bare everything to her. "I didn't choose you," he finally added, realizing he had never answered her question. "That implies that I had options. I gave myself to you because you're the only one that has ever seen me as more than someone to fuck you. I told you about my past, that I'm a murder and a rapist, and you still say that I don't deserve you. Mercy, I'm the one that doesn't deserve you. I can't tell you why I trust you like I do, but that doesn't change this... this suffocating feeling in my chest at the thought of not being with you." He slowly rolled them again till they were both on their sides so he could pull her tight against his chest. No one had ever been so important, so precious. "What is this feeling called?" he asked softly as he buried his face in her scruff again, breathing in her scent like it was the thing that would keep him alive. "Is this what love is like?" "Talk" "You" Think

Let the bough break, let it come down crashing Let the sun fade out to a dark sky I can't say I'd even notice it was absent Cause I could live by the light in your eyes They landed on the ground with a loud thud, her belly flush against his. Her jaws parted around his neck, her breathing rugged and heavy. She was nearly panting, a pained expression on her face. This would be so easy, she could rip out his throat and he couldn't even stop her. In fact, he wasn't even trying to do anything. Her black marked brows pulled together as saliva dripped from her fangs onto his neck. It joined the puddles of her tears, a mangled, garbled laugh leaving her maw. He was just laying there, he either had way too much trust in her or he didn't care what she did to him. Was he signing over his life to her this easily? Not putting up any resistance to her jaws that could so easily end his very existence. She pressed her teeth against him a bit tighter, pinching his skin. Mercy's jaws quivered, and then she broke away. Her face pushed into his fur as she dropped down on him more, the sobs heavy as they left her maw. Tears pooled down her face faster, and she inhaled his scent. Her nails dug into the earth around him, so many emotions flowing through her so quickly. She felt like she was losing her mind, and her head spun. It was too much too fast, all of these things within her. Never before had she felt this way, or felt so completely vulnerable. Mercy felt like she was cracking and breaking apart, ripping from the seams that had been holding her together. All of this from one male, one night. How earth shattering this all had been. I'll unfold before you What I've strung together The very first words Of a lifelong love letter His arms coiled around her, holding her closer against him. She gave up on supporting her weight and pushed all of herself against him. She felt every one of his breaths move through him, his heartbeat hammering through her. After she spoke, she felt gravity shift as he rolled her onto her back. Mercy was left blinking up at him, her purple eyes reflecting every emotion. She was generally a lot more closed off than this, but her emotions were so raw that she didn't know how to block them. Gethin's red eyes fell on hers and the silence spread between them. All she could hear was her own ragged breathing, the pounding of her heart singing along with the off set beat. She looked between each of his crimson pools, begging him to say something, anything. When at last he spoke, a rush of air burst free of her lungs. His words pierced through her, rooting her to the ground. Her jaws opened slightly as she listened, his words doing nothing to calm her tears. So she was not alone in these strange feelings? His head dropped to her chest, and she just laid still for a moment. Slowly, she lifted up each of her legs and draped them across him, gently applying pressure to his back. Sniffling slightly, she felt completely stunned at what he was saying. How clearly did their feelings mirror each other? Her head shook softly back and forth, her ears pulling back slightly. "I... I feel exactly the same way. It looks like we fill the holes in each others lives," she whispered, leaning forward to bump her nose against his. Mercy had never thought that she was going to fall for just one wolf. Her father never settled down, neither did her mother. Her litter mate was the same as her as well, she just thought that it ran in her blood. But now, now she couldn't imagine being with anyone else. That had always been such a huge part of who she was, and she always thought that it would be. And then Gethin entered her life, and changed everything. Nothing would ever be the same from this day onward. Tell the world that we finally got it all right I choose you I will become yours and you will become mine I choose you I choose you Gethin kept talking, and that is when she felt like her world stopped. Her breath caught in her throat, and she felt like she couldn't breath. Her heart fluttered against her rib cage like it was about to break through, and she was at a complete loss for words. She just stared into his ruby gaze, feeling like her very being was melting. "I... I don't know what to say," she whispered. She had never felt so lost, and yet found at the same time. She couldn't figure out her emotions, or anything really. Her mind was mush, as was everything inside her. "But I don't want to go anywhere without you. I don't want to be apart from you, and that scared me so much. I've never known anything like this, or thought that I deserved to have someone treat me like this, like you have," A small smile touched her lips, and she pressed a kiss to his cheek. Her eyes expressed her need for him, a desperation to never have him leave. That is what struck her with the most fear, the fact that she knew she would be empty without him. She had a pack, and two mentors to worry about. She didn't need this as well, she hadn't come here looking for it. But she did, she found so much more than she had ever hoped for. There was a time when I would have believed them If they told me you could not come true Just love's illusion But then you found me and everything changed And I believe in something again They rolled until they were on their sides, and she wiggled out her arm from under him. Gethin pulled her against his chest and she let out a sigh, her front legs tucked in front of her. She placed her head under his chin, rubbing against the underside of him before nibbling at his throat. He spoke again, and she let out a garbled laugh. That was, until he said that one word. Love. She felt like she couldn't breath, her eyes wide. One puff of air squeezed through her lungs, huffing out until they were empty. Mercy had never said that before, to anyone but her brother. He had just gotten comfy, but she straightened her legs so that she pushed against him, meeting his red gaze. "L-love?" she asked, another shuttering sigh leaving her mouth. "I can't tell you..." she whispered, looking down for a moment. Clearing her throat, she looked up to meet his gaze once more. "But... but I feel it too..." My whole heart Will be yours forever This is a beautiful start To a lifelong love letter "SPEAK!"

Art by endless-adventure

He had never dreamed that he could feel this way about anyone, anything. He never dreamed that he would this was a possibility so dark and broken. As they laid there in the middle of the clearing with Mercy tucked tight against his chest he couldn't possibly imagine his life without her. Oh how much life could change in the blink of an eye. When she spoke a small smile touched his lips. Their feelings really did mirror each other. When she mentioned being scared by her own need to be with him he knew exactly what she meant. They had gone crash landing into this situation head first and he was still wondering if he was ever going to come up for air. His brows raised when she pushed against him, seemingly shocked by his naming this feeling between them 'love'. For a moment he was worried he had crossed some boundary, if there was any left between them at this point, but his worries were eased when she told him that she felt whatever this was as well. His gaze met hers and another smile tugged at his lips as a similarly shuddering sigh left his mouth. He could take a bit of comfort knowing that whatever this feeling was, whether it was love or not, they both felt it and they both wanted each other just as badly. He never wanted this moment to end, he never wanted her to part from him. Just as that want, that need, crossed his mind he remembered the pack that he could still smell lingering on her fur. A pang of selfish disappointment hit him when he realized that he would have to let her go... if only breifly. He chuckled softly after a moment, bringing his muzzle down to kiss the top of her head. "For someone named Mercy, you sure haven't given my emotions any mercy," he joked with a little bit of a smirk on his lips. After all of this turmoil that their emotions had been through he was sure the both of them could use a bit of a breather and maybe a laugh or two. He didn't want to think about the fact that she would have to go back to her pack soon. He didn't want to think about the fact that they'd have to part from each other, no matter how breifly. He just wanted to pretend that this moment would go on forever. Unfortunately, he couldn't have that no matter how hard he wished. "Can I escort you back to your pack? Whenever you decide to go back?" "Talk" "You" Think