Aryn had sent Veigar away not long after stepping foot back into the Nook. Whatever was to be the result of her running away and returning home, the orphaned pup would not be there to witness it. Aryn was not so stupid as to think that Recluse would accept her back with loving arms, understanding of the sickness that had touched her mind and forgiving her without so much as a scratch. She'd be punished today, perhaps enslaved or worse. Aryn was as prepared as she could be, and with a resigned sigh she tilted her head back and gave a wobbly, nervous howl to summon her alpha.

Oh hell no! Aryn had come crawling back, and Recluse was absolutely not about to let that happen without proving a fucking point! The woman was all righteous fury, all bluster and anger, and angles, and as she raced down the mountainside with an energy not seen since before she'd fallen ill. In her mind she didn't exactly have a plan, she was operating on pure anger and instinct so when she saw the woman, Veigar's trail leading away she knew she could not be stopped. The boy for whom she was doing this was gone, good, he did not need to see this. With a growl ripping from her throat the woman charged Aryn, aiming to bowl her over and pin her to the ground.

Speech

Art by MrRendy

Recluse was running at her. Aryn's tail tucked between her legs, her head lowering submissively as she tried in vain to call out to the alpha who charged her. "Please, Recluse, I was sic-" Her words were cut short as the heavy weight of Recluse collided with her smaller form. Aryn had never been attacked before - not like this - and there was not a shred of muscle memory in her body to defend against the assault. The wind was knocked out of her hard and she gasped like a fish out of water, struggling to find her breath beneath Recluse's strong form.

The pin was achieved quickly, and Aryn tucked her legs in tight to her chest as she stared up at her alpha's snarling jaws. "I'm -" She coughed. "- I'm sorry, Recluse. Please." Sorry's wouldn't do much, but Aryn wasn't sure what else to say. There was no excuse more true then simply her mind had been lost to the illness, and she'd been too afraid to return once she grew healthy once more.

((PP allowed by Koala, who is almost certainly enjoying this too much))

Aryn crumpled under her, the woman clearly had no real instincts to protect herself and she caved under Recluse's weight. She quickly pushed a paw at Aryn's head, forcing it towards the ground and holding her down while also keeping the woman from biting back at her. Not that Aryn even tried, she was attempting instead to explain, to apologize. Recluse felt her irritation only grow. "We were all sick!"  She snarled, her fangs hovering dangerously close to Aryn's muzzle. "Your packmates were sick, I gave birth with a fucking crystal growing from my eye. Veigar was sick." The last bit was said slowly, carefully and dripping with all the malice she could summon.

"And you abandoned him." She pulled her face away then, and observed her. "So what do you think your punishment should be hmm?" It wasn't really a question that Aryn could answer, but Recluse wasn't about to not enjoy herself a little bit.

Speech

Art by MrRendy

Recluses paw came down upon Aryn's muzzle, forcing it into the ground. It wasn't as if Aryn was about to bite her, the act was unnecessary aside from as Her one eye squeezed shut to protect against the dirt while the other squinted against Recluse's proximity. Her ears pinned hard against her skull as her alpha spat her venomous reply. "I would not have faulted you for your crystal growths, they were a symptom of your illness." She murmured, her voice near a whimper. "My running away was a symptom too, I was sick in the mind not of the body. Please, believe me, I would never have abandoned Veigar had I had the clarity to think."

Recluse's face pulled away, and Aryn's squinting eye relaxed a bit with some extra space away from those jaws. It was not a question Recluse expected a real answer to, it couldn't be, could it? She shrank into the ground, watching Recluse carefully sideeye but not replying further to her question for risk of escalating the punishment with the wrong answer.

((Just a heads up warning for depictions of physical torture, I don't think I get too graphic but read at your own discretion, PP permission carried forward))

But Recluse was done listening to excuses, Aryn could claim all she wanted, Recluse had seen first hand what the Paranoia had done to her son and she wasn't in the mood to hear her try and explain what she'd done away. The pack had needed her, Veigar had needed her and there was no greater sin in Recluse's mind than hurting that boy. Aryn would not get away with just a warning. The pale woman reached her head out suddenly, grabbing Aryn's left foreleg which she yanked out from under her roughly. Then with her own right forepaw, her left was still pushing Aryn's face into the ground, she slammed down hard on the other woman's toes, spreading them. Then the process really began. She gently, at first, gripped Aryn's closest claw in her teeth, right near the root. Then with some twisting and pulling and biting she pulled the claw free from the end of the toe bone, not enough to permanently remove the claw, no it would grow back in time, but enough that it would be painful for Aryn to walk for some time. This she did for each claw on the woman's left forepaw. When she was done she rose back up to her full height and spat at Aryn. "This is for trying to run."

But Recluse wasn't done. She released Aryn's paw but didn't give the woman much time to recover before she was roughly shoving her over, laying her flat on her back, her forepaw now pushing the woman's head back so the crown of her skull was pushed into the ground. Then she took fangs to Aryn's chest, right where her heart aught to be, pulling and rending flesh and fur. Not enough to kill her, no killing her wasn't a very good punishment, her desire was to leave a lasting scar, a reminder. When she was satisfied with her work Recluse pulled back, finally releasing Aryn's head. "And that," she licked the blood from her maw as she spoke, "is for hurting Veigar. Everything you do from now on you do for him, you belong to him and if you ever hurt him again I will rip your heart out next time." She started to step away. "Now get up and get yourself tended to by a healer, you start working to redeem yourself tomorrow."

And with that, she would leave, satisfied.

-Exit Recluse-

Speech

Art by MrRendy

While she'd done her best to talk down the infuriated alpha, Recluse was not willing to budge in the heat of her anger. Aryn's pinned maw gave the barest of whimpers as she felt Recluse's paw come down upon her own, splaying her toes into the dirt and holding them there securely. Instinct had her attempting to pull back from the forcefulness, but there was no use against Recluse's weight and preferable position over her. "Please, Recluse." She begged once more, her tone barely a whisper.

Recluse's answer came in searing pain as she felt one claw firmly grasped between the alpha's jaw and wrenched. Her unpinned limbs contracted hard, her body fighting against the hold but to no avail. A wave of nausea washed over her, followed quickly by the urge to faint. Aryn heard screaming, wondered why Recluse did not pause in her punishment to attend to the dying wolf, and then realized it was her own voice. Recluse made quick work of their removal, but every moment beneath the alpha's teeth felt like an hour as Aryn's claws were roughly pulled free from the bone.

Panting hard and fighting the shock, she hardly noticed when Recluse finally stood and spoke. Her head felt heavy in the dirt and her tortured paw throbbed with such pain that Aryn wasn't sure there even was a paw left there anymore. A wave of cold washed over her and she eyed Recluse blankly as she was shoved hard onto her back. It did not take long before the albino's paw was back upon her head, but Aryn did not have the strength remaining to try and fight it. The fog in her head grew stronger, like something was dragging her under into a deep, healing sleep.

White hot pain brought Aryn back to attention, her head sharply rocking forward - but hitting the strength of Recluse's paw instead - in response. Something was carving out her heart, was there any other explanation? It, too, was over fast, but the lingering pain seemed only to grow as Recluse pulled back and spoke once more. Aryn hardly heard her words, tucking herself into a small ball on the ground and whimpering loudly against the pain until fighting the nothingness became just too hard.

-exit via unconsciousness-