#tasm werewolf au

[blooming-violets]

Creature Like Me || Chapter One: Solo Hunt

[TASM Peter Parker!Werewolf AU]

Summary: Kraven and his guild of hunters have been tracking and quelling the werewolf population for centuries. The time has come for Aylin to complete her first solo hunt to prove herself to the guild. It was supposed to be simple. One wolf, one death, one victory. She never expected to end up with a secret hostage on her hands. 

Chapter One Warnings: depictions of torture and starvation, depictions of a violent death, use of a gun, blood and gore, is it animal cruelty/animal death if the animal is a werewolf?? 

A/N: This is an OC but please keep an open mind, read a paragraph or two, before you completely write off the story because it doesn’t have a “reader” insert character. Her descriptions are fairly minimal and her name is important to the story. Pretend you’re someone else for little bit and get lost in a world that’s not your own. Isn’t that what writing is for anyway? xoxoKatie

[link to chapter index]

The morning sun beamed soft, white light through the canopy of branches to illuminate the fog settled against the dewy grass. She watched the light push away the dark shadows of the forest as she plucked a handful of blueberries out of her pocket and plopped a few into her mouth. Mornings were never her favorite despite their inherent beauty. She preferred the tranquility of the night with nothing but the glow of the moon to guide her. She kept her love for the moon to herself. Those were thoughts she wasn’t allowed to have. Her guild worshiped the sun for it was the werewolf’s natural enemy. The wolves drew their power from the moon. It made them stronger, enhanced their natural abilities, and turned them into fierce warriors. As a hunter of the beast, her guild found safety in the light, but used the cover of the dark to hunt their prey. They saw the dangers of the night where she only saw serenity. 

“Aylin,” a deep, gravely voice fell over her shoulder. “Are you preparing for your hunt tonight or are you daydreaming again?” 

Aylin wiped the growing scowl from her face, replacing it with a passive smile, before she turned to greet her intruder, “Sergei. Good morning to you, too.” She shoved the ziplock bag of berries back into her pocket and stood up, brushing off her damp bottom from the rotten log she was sitting on. “I’ve been preparing my whole life for my first solo hunt. There is not much else I can do but wait.” 

Tonight was the night she would become a full member of the hunting party. At 21, those with the talent would be given a test. They were to track down and successfully eliminate a single werewolf on their own. Up until now, she had been hunting with a group. She participated in helping kill a total of five wolves so far. Now it was time to prove that she could be of use on her own. It was the highest honor a young person could receive in the guild. 

Sergei ran a hand through his long, scraggly beard. His dark hair reached to his shoulders and hung in wild waves framing his square face. The black pelt of a werewolf hung like a shawl around his shoulders. As leader of the Silver Colt Guild, he held the respect of everyone under him. The Silver Colt’s history dated as far back as the first known existence of a werewolf. They’d been around for centuries, culling the werewolf problem the best they could before it ever reached the public eye. Sergei, known by his enemies as his alias Kraven the Hunter, inherited the guild from his father. He ran with an iron fist to keep his people safe. They were the outcasts of modern society, taking on the burden of protecting those they would never meet from the horrors of evil that walked among them. 

“Being prepared does not mean you are ready to complete the actual task,” he chastised her. “Going one to one with a wolf is harder than you could ever imagine. In their wolf form, they are ten times stronger than you could ever be. In their human form, they are the master of manipulation. They would say or do anything to keep you from slaughtering them. The second you let your guard down, they will strike. There will be no help to back you up. Failing means death. A beast won’t hesitate to rip you limb from limb. Mindless, heartless killers. They are not guided by morals. They will not hesitate. I don’t want to lose you tonight.”

Aylin held her tongue for fear of talking back. Sergei always got under her skin. Still, she believed he deserved the title of their leader and, therefore, was worthy of her respect. He was easily the best hunter of them all. He could take out a wolf with nothing but his bare hands. No one else was able to compete with his sheer strength. At times, he seemed almost like an enhanced human himself. She often wondered where he pulled his abilities from, though she would never dare question him. He was a good leader but a boastful one. His hubris clashed with her humbled outlook. Aylin had no need for cockiness. She believed one’s skills should silently speak for themselves. There was no need to talk herself up. She knew what she could do and that should be enough. 

“If you are successful tonight then I could see you entering as the frontrunner to become my protégé,” he raised his thick brows at her, as if that was supposed to be the most enticing offer of her lifetime. “Don’t let me down.”

The leader of the guild would always choose the strongest new hunter to personally train. She would be forced to move into Sergei and his wife’s home to study his every move. Whoever was chosen as the leader’s protégé would one day take over as leader themselves. Some of her peers would slaughter each other for the chance to claim that title. Aylin saw it as a chore. Calypso, Sergei’s wife, was someone she’d rather avoid. The woman could easily stand on her own with her husband but didn’t possess an ounce of empathy. She was cruel, boarding on psychopathic, and the thought of having to live under the same roof as her sent a bolt of dread through Aylin’s nerves. She had no desire to lead anyone, either. All she wanted was to sit in her quiet woods, undisturbed, but there was no point in arguing over a centuries old tradition. If Sergei chose her then that’s what she would have to do. 

“I think I’ll be alright. You don’t have to worry about me. I’ve been tracking this wolf for some time. She works as a night security guard up at the old Eagle Peak Camp. I’m not entirely sure what she’s guarding there but, whatever is, I’ll be sure to report back to you with what I find. I think it’s where a pack has been meeting. If I can get information on them, our guild could potentially eliminate an entire group in one go. She’ll be an easy enough target for my first solo hunt. There shouldn’t be any civilians around and there's a lot of places to take cover. All my weapons are prepped and ready. I’ve been training for months. I will come back with her silver pierced heart in my hand. I’m confident in this.” She straightened her spine as she spoke to appear taller than she was in an attempt to see eye to eye with Sergei. He towered over anyone he stood in front of and she didn’t like feeling small.  

He gave a light hearted chuckle and slung his arm over her shoulder, pulling her into his side, and dwarfing her against his large body, “I believe you. I’m the one who trained you, remember? I know you have the skill. Doesn’t mean I don’t worry about you anyway.” The coarse fur of the wolf pelt tumbling down his shoulders tickled her cheek as he held her close. “Your mother is looking for you. She made you breakfast. Let me walk you back to town and we can discuss your strategies for tonight once more.” 

Even as she stood crouched under the shadows of a large pine tree, Aylin silently trailed her fingers over each of her weapons. She’d taken count of each one about fifty times in the last hour but it still helped quell her nerves. The tree she took shelter under protected her from the downpour of rain as she raised her binoculars to observe her surroundings. Eagle Peak was once a bustling summer destination for hundreds of children, aged 6 to 16, to attend a four week camp program in the mountains. Their days were filled with non stop fun canoeing on the lake, hiking through the forests, singing around a campfire, and making a lifetime of memories. That was until the wolf incident of ‘74. Three campers were found torn apart, their cabin broken into, and their bloodied bodies dragged out into the forest. Their deaths were chalked up to a pack of rabid wolves which had wandered into camp. While the pack was never actually found, the camp still closed down. Children being mutilated while they slept didn’t send out a great impression to other potential camp goers. The Silver Colt’s knew the truth. It wasn’t rabid wolves. At least, not how the public perceived it to be. One of the counselors was a beast in disguise. He was slain by Sergei’s father in the summer of ‘75. Sergei still wears the necklace of claws his father made after tearing them from the counselor's paws before he drove a silver dagger into the beast’s blackened heart. 

The camp had sat abandoned for years, left for nature to reclaim, until a private owner bought out the land. That was when the suspicion began. Hikers were going missing more often than usual. Strange howls could be heard at night. A heavy sense of foreboding hovered in the night air. The werewolves were making a return and it was up to Aylin’s people to stop them. Tonight, she would start their quest by taking out the guard and retrieving as much information as she could. 

From the outskirts she couldn’t see much. She’d been staking out this location for weeks. Besides the patrolling woman, she never saw anyone else move around the camp while she was there, but it was clear that there was something worth guarding. She would need to infiltrate closer to get a better look. While the night rain ruined her views, the sound would help mask her footsteps. Werewolves had particularly precise hearing. Sergei purposely chose a rainy night for her first hunt and she would take any advantage she could get.

Aylin mentally planned out her route. The main lodge sat in a large clearing overlooking the lake. A crack of lightning pierced through the clouds and reflected off the darkened waters. It was the only source of light she would have tonight as the moon was blanketed behind the storm. Surrounding the lodge on either side was a small office building and a nurse’s station. The lavatories were a little ways behind the main lodge and, down a wooded dirt path, held the bulk of the camper’s cabins. According to her old map, they used to refer to the cabin’s sleeping area as the Whispering Pines. A boathouse sat on the lake, still fully stocked with rotting canoes. That was thirteen buildings in total. She would have to search each one before she returned home. Once her target was removed, it would allow her the time she needed to properly investigate for any details on the pack that roamed these areas.

Sierra Molina was who Aylin was currently searching for. A 28 year old, gorgeous woman with thick, long black hair who moved to upper New York three years ago. She started out as a model in the city, gaining a good amount of success, when she suddenly switched career paths. A successful model in the big city to a solitary, private security guard for an abandoned summer camp in the Adirondack Mountains could only mean one thing. She was a wolf. She wasn’t born one, she was bitten. That was Aylin’s theory, at least. It would have been hard for a wolf to have a career in the limelight. Wolves and cities don’t usually mix unless they’re using them as a hunting ground. That would mean, at some point three years ago, a wolf managed to find its way into the city. It was growing its pack and Sierra was merely a victim of the beast. Victim or not, she had to die. 

There was not much luck for Aylin tonight. She had yet to catch sight of the woman. The heavy storm was probably compelling her to keep shelter in one of the buildings. A light was on in the back of the main lodge so she placed her bets on that. She wouldn’t be able to take her out with an easy scope shot. She’d need to get in closer. 

Aylin took a deep inhale, preparing herself, and stepped out from the protective shadows of her pine tree. Her old leather boots lost traction as she descended down a slippery slope towards the main lodge. The grass turned to slick mud under her and she silently cursed as she felt the cold, wet dirt coat down her side as she skidded to a halt at the bottom. If anything, the mud might help hide her scent too, though it made it harder to grip her weapons. She did her best to wipe her hands off on her black combat pants before continuing. 

She kept her body ducked low while she gave a light jog towards the lodge. There wasn’t much she could do about the squelching mud under her feet. All she could hope for was that the rain hammering on the roof was loud enough to cover whatever sounds she couldn’t hide. The second she reached the lodge, she pressed her back against the dark wooden panels. Her hand grabbed behind her to pull the crossbow from her back. She carefully loaded it with a silver tipped arrow, letting the rumbling thunder overhead mask the sounds. The crossbow was her weapon of choice. It was fast, powerful, and quieter than a gun. Unlike the colt revolver strapped to her thigh, she had more stealth advantages with this. The gun was for the final blow if she needed the added weight and her dagger was her very last chance of survival should things come down to hand to hand combat. She was no Sergei. Her strengths lay in long range and stealth. 

Aylin moved along the length of the outer wall until she was perched under a cracked open window. From inside, she could hear someone moving around. The smell of cooking chicken hit her nose. This must be the kitchen of the lodge and where her target was taking shelter. 

Sierra spoke to someone inside as she banged around the room, slamming cabinets in her wake, “I think he needs more food. The man is wasting away. Kateri hardly ever feeds him. I don’t know how she expects him to keep on giving her what she wants if he’s nothing but skin and bone.” 

She waited, listening for a secondary person to reply. When she heard none, it gave her the confidence to know that Sierra was still the only here. She was on the phone. 

“Yeah, I know it keeps him weak, but it’s also killing him. Call me crazy but I actually feel sorry for the bastard. I’m the one who ends up having to take care of him. He’s not my pet! If she’s so obsessed with him, you’d think she would actually take better care of him. It wouldn’t hurt to bathe him either. He’s starting to really stink. I wish Kateri would actually do something about that. The whole cabin is disgusting. I hate having to go in there.” The name Kateri was new to her but, the way Sierra talked about her, made it seem like she was the one who called the shots. The name of the pack's potential alpha. “Maybe I’ll let him run around in the rain for a bit. Let the storm hose him down.” Sierra laughed, “I’m joking! Calm down. I’m not going to let him out. He wouldn’t know what to do out of chains anyway. Kat’s got him fully conditioned to be her omega bitch.”

Aylin silently shifted her crossbow to get a better feel for it in her hands. Her curiosity peaked at the thought of who they were speaking about. It sounded as if they currently had someone hostage. She didn't dare peak through the open window for fear of being seen. 

“I cooked him some chicken. Kat can scream about it all she wants. He needs the protein. I didn’t even season it or anything. Just straight up dry chicken. What’s sad is that it’ll probably be the best damn meal he’s had in a year. Better than the dog food she’s been forcing him to eat.” The sound of her zipping up a bag reached Aylin’s ears. She was getting ready to move. “I’m going to even brave the rain for this loser. See? I’m not a heartless bitch after all. Who would have guessed? I’ll talk to you later, babes, once I’m back inside. See ya.” 

The sound of Sierra's footsteps disappearing followed the end of the phone call. This was her chance to move. Aylin crept around the side of the building, crossbow held up at the ready in front of her. She watched from the shadows as Sierra popped out the door and into the rain. Her peripheral vision was covered by the large, dark green hood of her rain jacket pulled loosely  over her head. She wore a black bag over her shoulder as she jogged towards the Whispering Pines. She had no idea that she was now actively being hunted.

Aylin’s  heart began to race as she trailed after her prey. When she joined the hunting party on their excursion to take out other wolves, they had already been in wolf form by the time she caught sight of them. Large, raggedy, snarling beasts. Blood had dripped from their jowls and matted into their wild, unkempt fur. They had been untamed, savage, violent creatures. It was easy to see them as a predator in need of putting down. They weren’t human. 

Sierra Molina was human. At least, how she looked now. A beautiful woman trying to make it big as a model. Her dreams of the future were snatched from her at the hands of true evil. She was dragged up to the mountains and forced into a new life. She ran through the rain, her shoulders hunched up in her oversized coat, her body shivering from the cold, to bring food to whatever neglected hostage her alpha had locked up. She was going against her orders to feed the poor soul. An act of kindness. A very human act. 

Her stomach ached at the thought of having to look this woman in the eyes as she killed her. She’d rather her be a wolf. It would be more dangerous but slaughtering an animal was better than murdering a human. The reality of what she was about to do came crashing down around her. The fear set in. 

Aylin slowed her pace, ducking behind a tree. Sergei was right, the rain would help easily conceal her from all sounds and smells. Sierra had no idea she was being followed. It felt almost unfair. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to do this anymore. She was born into this life. Raised to be a killer. It should be easy. She shouldn’t be this sacred. Fear and doubt were weaknesses. Those weaknesses should have been beaten out of her as a child yet they somehow still prevailed, stronger than ever. 

As her prey approached the last cabin along the path, the one tucked further back into the forest than the rest, Aylin raised her crossbow and took aim. There was no time for over thinking or panic. She had to act on instinct. This was her moment. It was now or never. She couldn’t return home without a wolf’s heart in her hand. She couldn’t fail her people. 

This was it. 

The familiar, loud thwip of the bolt leaving its home echoed off the trees. Before Sierra even had time to react to the sound, the silver tip buried itself straight into her lower spine with a sickly, crunching thud of bones being ripped apart. She dropped hard and fast. Crumbled to the ground in a heap, her bag slipping from her shoulders to fall beside her broken body. Her piercing howl of pain filled the air. Aylin made quick work to start loading up the next bolt while she still had the element of surprise on her side. 

“My legs,” Sierra cried out. “I can’t feel my legs! I can’t move them. Please. Help! Someone help!”  Her pleas for rescue were useless. There was nobody around to listen but Aylin. Her body flopped onto her side, teary, terrified eyes desperately searching for her assailant. “Who are you? What do you want?! What have you done? You-” 

Aylin approached, a black cowl mask hiding her lower face, and the end of the crossbow pointed at the other woman. Her target was in sight but she wasn’t ready to pull the final trigger just yet. She wanted her to turn. She needed to see the beast before she took her life. It was the only way she'd be able to follow through. 

Sierra caught sight of the golden, rising sun emblem carefully stitched into Aylin’s dark jacket. Realization flashed across her spasming face, contorting between pain and fury, “You.” Her voice lowered into a dangerous rumble. “You’re one of them, aren’t you?” Her words spit like fire out of her mouth. “That sun. You’re one of Kraven’s hunters! Kateri said you would come eventually. You have no idea how this will end for you. You have no idea what you’re walking into!” 

A low, threatening growl thundered in the back of her throat. It was followed by a quieter whimper like she knew how this was going to end for her. She was scared. A cornered animal ready to go down fighting. Death was the only future she held. Her pupils began to stretch, causing her tawny colored eyes to fill with a voidless obsidian until there were no remnants of her human soul. The growl grew deeper, more animalistic, as she started to shift. 

“That’s it,” Aylin whispered to herself. “Turn for me. Show me who you really are.” 

Like a firework bursting in the night sky, Sierra’s body exploded into a massive wolf with an angry howl, sending shreds of her green rain jacket and a spray of water droplets flying into the air. She nearly tripled in size. Silky, jet black fur, as beautiful as her own head of hair, settled down into place as her transformation completed. Saliva clung to her thick, pointed ivory teeth, black lips pulled back into a snarl, and her ears pressed flat against her skull. Steam puffed from her panting jaws, highlighting the chill in the air. She was savage. Desperate. Ready to kill. Her blackened sights set directly onto Aylin. 

This was the beast she was ready to hunt. This was exactly what she had trained for. Sierra Molina no longer existed. In her place was a raging, furious wolf ready to be slain. There was no more need for humanity for she was not human. A hunter and her prey. A tale as old as time. 

Sierra’s hind quarters remained crumbled under the weight of her body like a stray dog who had been hit by a car. They were as useless to her in wolf form as they were to her as a human. Aylin had managed to sever her spine with her first hit, rendering her weaker and taking away some of her power. It didn’t make her any less dangerous, though. She lunged at the younger girl, thrusting her massive body down the muddy path towards her as claps of loud thunder cheered on the upcoming fight. The muscular power of her front legs dragged her forward in jerky, pained movements, back legs dangling helplessly behind her. The coarse fur of her hackles stood on end. Teeth bared. She was ready to die fighting. 

Aylin released the trigger. The bolt shot out like a bullet and lodged itself deep into her foe's shoulder. The silver tip sizzled in her thick skin, the metal burning into her flesh. She doubled over with a howled cry, whipping her enlarged head back and forth in an attempt to reach the burning arrow piercing her skin with her long snout. While she fought with the pain, Aylin quickly tried to reload her bow. She had the arrow half way in, foot holding down the stirrup, and desperately trying to force the strong string back into position when Sierra noticed she was distracted. Ignoring the searing pain in her shoulder and crippled back legs, she lunged herself at Aylin. 

The force knocked her to the ground, tossing her bow off to the side, and pushing the air out of her lungs. The heavy weight of the wolf pressed down on her chest. The smell of wet dog filled her nostrils as Sierra leered down over her. Steamy, hot breath blew in her face. Black, leathery lips pulled back to reveal snarling teeth. For a breathless moment, Sierra thought she had the upper hand. 

And then a loud, cracking pop rang out, breaking the wooded silence, sending a flurry of terrified birds out of the trees and straight to the stormy sky.

In Aylin’s hand was the colt revolver, slipped out from her thigh harness, already prepped and loaded with silver bullets, now pointed directly under the wolf’s jaw. 

The bullet shot straight through Sierra’s thick skull, ripping through her brain, and forcing a bloody exit out the other end. A cloud of misty, hot crimson rained down onto Aylin’s face. Bits of fleshy brain matter scattered to the ground around her. A sharp fragment of Sierra’s rose tinted skull bounced off her forehead, slicing her skin, and tumbled into the mud. The wolf went completely still, the life snuffed straight out of her, as her heavy body slumped on top of Aylin, pinning her in place. 

The silence that followed was deafening. Not even the rumbling thunder or shower of rain seemed to dare make noise. All she could hear was the ringing in her ears. The echo of the gunshot reverberating inside her skull. 

Her heart was racing. Her lungs struggled to breath under the weight on top of her. Her mind desperately tried to catch up with the events that just unfolded. 

Her first solo hunt. Her first kill. 

A smile tugged at the corner of her lips, protected from the shower of blood thanks to her mask. The rain slowly washed the rest of the red from her vision. 

She had done it. 

She had killed a werewolf. 

She was alive. She was the victor. 

Aylin let out a grunt, grasping a fistful of Sierra’s fur in her shaky hands, as she wiggled her body out from under the enormous carcass. The slippery mud helped assist her as she slid her legs out of the furry prison. Her clothes were soaked through. Mud, rain, and blood all mixed together to seep into her frozen skin. She forced herself onto her feet and took a stumbled step backwards to examine her work. 

Sierra remained in wolf form after her death. They rarely ever changed back once their life was gone. Despite her blown open skull, she looked rather peaceful. Cute, even, if you looked from the right angles. Like a giant, sleeping puppy. They were beautiful creatures, werewolves. It was hard not to respect their strength and power. Sierra still nearly got the upper hand even with her paralyzed hind legs and silver burning her flesh. If it hadn’t been for the colt, she probably would have won. 

Death suited her, Aylin concluded. 

She turned from the corpse to pick up her crossbow off the ground and slung it back over her shoulder. She took a moment to gather herself, both her racing thoughts and her scattered belonging, before she attempted to continue. The adrenaline coursing through her veins made it difficult to think straight. The wolf was dead, the major threat eliminated, but there was still work that needed to be done. Cabins needed to be searched. Clues needed to be found. And a heart needed to be cut out as proof of her win. 

Aylin shuffled over to the bag Sierra had dropped. It lay at the bottom steps of the smallest cabin. A simple, faded, forest green wooden shack. While the other sleeping quarters looked like they could hold at least ten people total, this one could probably only handle four. She bent down to unzip the bag. A clear tupperware of cooked chicken, a bottle of water, and a ring full of keys were all that remained inside. Aylin glanced up to the cabin. That was where Sierra was headed to deliver the dinner. That was where they were keeping their pet. 

She snatched up the ring of keys and made her accent up the rotting wooden stairs. A screen door filled with holes stood in front of her. Behind it was another, solid metal door. It looked out of place, newer than everything else, as if someone had specifically installed it within the past year. A heavy padded lock bolted it shut. The kind of lock meant to keep something in. She tested out each key until she found the perfect fit. The lock popped open and she slid over the dead bolt, allowing the door to slowly creak open, unsure of what she would find on the other side.

The thick stench of musty sweat hit her nose as her eyes adjusted to the dark. It was pitch black inside. The windows had been boarded up and covered with heavy, old blankets. They would keep out the light and help dampen any noise. A set of two wooden bunk beds stood on opposite sides of the walls, built straight into the floor, but Aylin’s attention sought to what was chained between them. 

A man was naked, crouched on his knees, back curved forward, and head hung low. He was facing the blank wall across from her. His arms hung up above his head and stretched out to the side, forced into place by the bulky chains around each wrist. The sickly pale skin under the wide cuffs was rubbed raw. A trickle of dried blood caked down his forearm. His back was covered in a myriad of scars. Welts from a whip. Some new. Some old. All painful. She could see the perfect ridge of his spine protruding from under the scarred skin, each vertebrae clearly on display. The marks of a starving, tortured man. 

He head jerked to the side when he heard the creak of the floorboard as she took another step inside. His hair was down to his shoulders and hung in wild, greasy, matted stands. His skin was speckled with dirt and old, dried blood. Wheezing breaths struggled out his lungs. 

Aylin breathed through her mouth, trying to keep her nose blocked from the horrible smell wafting off of him. The closer she got, the worse it became. Not even her mask could help block the smell. He had been locked in this room for a long time, rotting away with no flow of air, no sunlight, nothing.  

“What have they done to you?” She whispered, horrified by what she was seeing. “Who are you?” 

The sounds of shifting chains filled the quiet shack as he came more alert. She stayed in the shadows behind him, just out of his eye sight while he tried to crane his head around to see who was speaking. This was a new voice, one unfamiliar to him. 

“Who are you?” He croaked. His voice was deep and scratchy like a rusty tool he no longer had any use for. 

“I asked you first.” She listened to the sound of the rain hammering against the wooden roof. It helped soothe the quickened pace of her heart. “Are you one of them? Do you…belong to them?” A pet. That’s what Sierra had called him. 

She had only been taught how to kill wolves, not what to do when she encountered a hostage they were keeping. This was new, uncharted territory. Sergei would probably want her to kill him and move on with her task, get home safe without any added baggage. Her mother would tell her to free the starving man and find him help, her humanity being more important than a flawless hunt. She chewed on her lip, silently weighing her options. 

The man gave a breathy, weak laugh. It sounded dark and ominous. 

“I…belong to them…yes.” He hesitated, defeat dripping in his tone. “Are you here to kill me? Please say yes.” 

Aylin swallowed, unsure. Was she? Her hand was clutched to the hilt of her knife. He could be dangerous. Or useful. There had to be a reason why a pack of wolves had him locked up. He belonged to them but was he one of them? It didn’t sound like he was part of the pack. A rival, maybe? Whoever he was, he wanted to die. He wanted her to kill him. Her heart sank in her chest. He looked so weak. His head had fallen back against his slumped over chest, his neck unable to support it upright for long. They had tortured him, starved him, until he was a broken shell. 

She took a deep breath and pulled her knife from the holster. He shuddered at the sound. She held it at the ready as she crept closer, ducking under one of his chains, to stand directly in front of him. He lifted his tired head to look at her. Her eyes widened at the horrors. Gaunt, pale cheeks caked in dirt. Untamed, wild hair like a mane framing his skeletal face. Dark, sagging circles embedded around hollow, red tinted eyes. His scraggly chestnut beard stuck out in all directions to hide his dry, chapped, pale lips. Every rib stood out against his grimy chest. She forced her eyes from traveling down any further, wanting to allow the naked man whatever shred of dignity he had left. 

“Well?” He asked again, watery eyes boring into her. “Are you going to kill me or not?” 

Aylin locked her gaze with his. It was the look of hope that softened his sharp features that simultaneously broke her heart and made up her mind. 

“No,” she declared. 

She couldn’t kill him. She didn’t care who he was or what he had done. Anyone chained up and begging for death deserved a second chance. 

A frown darkened his sweat dripped brow, “You're a hunter, aren’t you? I know that symbol on your coat. I heard you outside. You killed Sierra. That’s what you do. You kill werewolves.” 

Aylin nodded, “Yes.” 

“Then kill me,” he stated. The finality of his statement settled in the stale air around them. 

He was a werewolf. 

She should kill him. She should hate him. She should claim his life as a second victory. Two for one. It would secure her spot as Sergei’s protégé. She would be revered as a hero. A future candidate to lead the Silver Colts. Her destiny would be written in stone. 

Which was exactly why she wouldn’t. 

When she didn’t respond, he clenched his jaw, anger flashing across his broken eyes, “Kill me! I’m one of them! Do what you’re supposed to do and kill me!” He threw himself at where she stood, unflinching. The chains caught him before he could reach her and yanked him back into place as a sob escaped him. The fight immediately left his body. He was too weak. He curled up as best as he could with his arms hung weakly above his head. He let out a pathetic whimper. “Please…do it…please…” He whined. “Please. Help me. Make it end. Let it be over.”

He was a werewolf. A predator. A freak of nature. The one thing she was supposed to despise most in this world. Her enemy. The one she vowed to eliminate even if it cost her own life. She was raised to do this. Raised to be a killer. 

“No,” she whispered. 

It’s not a fair fight. He was too weak. Bound to chains. Already beaten into submission. She’d have to be a monster to pierce his heart now. He was supposed to be the monster. Not her. The plans of what to do next began swirling around in her mind. Crazy, ridiculous, unheard of plans. 

Aylin slipped her knife back into its holster. She had made up her mind. She was going to take him. Steal him from the pack. Bring him back with her. Hide him away from her people. Use him to get information. He was weak enough that she could control him. In the state he was in, his fragile mind could be easily manipulated. It was insane, yes, but it was her plan and her mind was set on it. 

The ring of keys were still stuck inside the lock of the door. She ducked back under his arm chain and retrieved them, starting to test each key until she found the right one, while he studied her with a quiet, sleepy, curiosity. She carefully unlocked each cuff, setting him loose. 

The wolf man fell to the ground the second his arms were free. He crumpled into the fetal position, chest heaving, unable to do much more in his feeble state. Aylin squatted down in front him. His knees were more raw than his wrists, almost worn down to the bone, as if he had to spend most of his time on them. It was then that she noticed his pelvic region. She only took notice because it stood out. While the rest of him was covered in grime, his pelvis was meticulously clean. Spotless. Perfectly cleared of any dirt, sweat, or blood. She couldn’t see anything more revealing as he tucked into himself but it was an odd observation, the kind that made her stomach lurch. Whoever Kateri was, she only seemed to care about one specific part of him. This hostage had a purpose. One she was going to take away from them. Cut off their supply and use him to lure them out into the open. 

He was the key to eliminating the entire pack. 

“What’s your name?” She asked softly. She could pretend to be nice, gain his trust, have him work for her. She could use him to bend her guild in the right direction. Think of all the information that could be learned by having an actual werewolf on their side. 

He peaked his eyes out at her, his lids hanging heavy like he hadn’t slept in days, “It’s-” He hesitated, having to think, to try and remember that part of himself. A part he lost long ago. “Uh, it's…Peter….yeah, that’s it. Peter.” Even though he was free, he made no attempts to move. Completely broken like an abused, unleashed dog sticking close to his master because he knew of nothing else. Kindness didn’t exist in his world. All he knew was pain and suffering. 

She reached out her hand, gently placing it against his cheek, even as he flinched and cowered away, she held steady, “I’m not going to hurt you, Peter.” She removed her hand from his scraggly beard and tugged down the dark cowl and mask to reveal the rest of her face for him to see, “My name is Aylin. I am a hunter but not to you. You no longer belong to these sadistic people. Now, you belong to me.” 

[Chapter Two]

A/N: A reblog will automatically put you onto the chapter two tag list. If you enjoyed what you read, please leave a comment! It would make this writer very happy and more likely to continue writing. I hope you have a lovely night/evening/morning/afternoon/day. 

Tag List: @liz-allyn @mrshipsmcgee @sincericida @moonyslove78​

[sincericida]

Andrew Garfield (in 2014/2015)

This is our sexy werewolf au, @blooming-violets

[imagine-silk]

Masterlist (Old)

🍮 My Favorites

AtSV

Peter B staring down Jess while hugging Autistic!Younger!Spider

Peter B taking Autistic!Younger!Spider to a meeting

DRAGON AGE

Dragon Age Inquisition characters finding comfort with you

Yan!Sera headcannon

Josephine Montilyet headcannon

Cassandra Pentaghast headcannon

Varric with a Noir Detective 🍮

Dorian, Cassandra, and Cullen finding out a Scout has a crush on Varric🍮

What if Sten was Pining

Vegas AU ideas

Okay hear me out... Trian and Alistair

Origins Fake dating ideas(Commenter has a great one for Shale)

DAI Modern summer events (Sera, Josephine, Iron bull)

You're a dark elf (Solas, Dorian, Josephine)

How they show affection (Varric, Cullen, Morrigan)

Their child is sick (Cassandra, Josephine, Vivienne)

Pining over a scout (Varric, Cole, Josephine)🍮

Days Recovering; One, Four

FALLOUT

Fallout Yan!Dudes with a courser s/o who left the Institute

Yan!Cait w/ Institute scientist Darling

Sole turns into a supermutant

Preston reacting to Sole w/ Auditory processing disorder (APD)

Yan!Girls Meeting your Assaultron Girlfriend

Yan!Girls w/ a tourist Darling

Reactions to terrifying super-ghoul

Super-mutant wing-man

Sole's accidental trick-shot

Sole painting companions in a surreal art style

Missing Sole turns up as a glowing ghoul

Girl companions meeting your ghoul parents

Sole sobbing uncontrollably when they come back from the Intitute

Modern!Companions comforting reader after a pet death (Not dogmeat's)

Cartoon door beat-up thing

Sole high on painkillers confesses (Deacon, Preston, MacCready)

Yan!Danse and Haylen react to Sole being former Enclave

Yan!Girls react to you saying you want to have a baby w/ them

Yan!Girls react to Sole leaving to hunt down an item and returning months later

Insults between dumb and dumber

Sole having four arms

Peaceful!Sole finally snapping at an ungrateful settler

Telling Yan!Girls you were once in the Enclave

Shooting Yan!Girls w/ a bubble gun🍮

Pouring your heart out to Yan!Girls

Companions gaining fire abilities

Companions (+Proctor Igram) react to a ripper doc

Life w/ Codsworth after the bombs dropped

Reader giving love-nips (Hancock, Nick, MacCready)

Scribe Haylen headcannons

Piper Wright headcannons

React to a magical girl w/ guns

Hancock, Deacon, Nick, and MacCready react to M!SS who shaves too much and ends up with a babyface

Companions react to Pacifist!Lycanthrope!SS who is stuck in werewolf form🍮

MacCready, Deacon, and Danse after a gore-y fight with blood everywhere🍮

X6-88's guide to cure love sickness🍮

React to the song Until I Found You by Stephen Sanchez

Chipper!SS breaking down after going to the institute

React to the song Glimpse of Us by Joji

Child giving them a friendship braclet (X6-88, Cait, Vadim and Yafim)🍮

Taking care of a Asian!Teen!SS(Travis Miles, Nick Valentine, Deacon)🍮

Deacon traveling with a Vampire SS(not romanced)

M!SS is protective over non-human companions (+Kent, Sturges)🍮

House husbands (Preston, Hancock, Deacon)

Favorite place to go for a date (X6-88, Preston, Hancock)

Yandere (Cait, Curie, Piper)

Having a trouble-making twin (Hancock, Nick, Piper, Deacon)

Yandere Preston, Gage, Danse

Relationship milestones (Deacon, Preston, Gage)🍮

Modern Companions

Modern Companions Love Interest/Ocs

You have a stutter (X6-88, Hancock, Piper)

When someone reacts negatively to them being a synth (With no interference)

What their kisses are like (Deacon, Hancock, Curie)

What are mornings like (MaCready, Cait, Preston)

Danse and Nate smut I wrote drunk

MARVEL🍮

Marvel characters being inebriated

Finding a portrait of them you painted

Secretary!Trilogy!Peter finding out he's in love with you

Natasha and sleepy kisses

Secretary!Spidermen; You doze off

Secretary!Spidermen; Winter dates i guess

Secretary!Spidermen (MCU, TASM, Trilogy, Peter B., Miles Morales)

Secretary!Spidermen; Getting you ready before a meeting

You're a Slime (Peter, Tony, Bruce)

Glass in my hands (Scott Lang/Fem!Reader)

DBH

Yandere husband!Hank + son!Connor x willing!Darling

Supernatural lore ideas

Gavin having a surgeon husband

"You're so cute." (Hank, Gavin, Chloe)

Hugging them out of the blue (Hank, Gavin, Chloe)🍮

You don't like androids (Simon, Luther, Markus and Carl)🍮

Meeting your parents (Hank, Markus, Gavin, Elijah)

Darling is very tactile (Yan Connor, Hank, Gavin)

Misc.

Please I need this Bagginshield ending

Yandere Elliott

Yandere Sam, Sebastian, Emily

Star Trek: Next Generation; Having a crush on Data (+Socially awkward)🍮

Overprotective!Yan!Parvati/Nyoka + trying to escape

Parvati romance headcanons (still ace)

[sweetronancer]

i love how i can start posting about any of my ronance aus and you all just roll with it. like my werewolf au and then my rdr2 au and then my tasm au and like the cycle just repeats like those are the only aus in my mind ever (but im thinking about a dunmeshi au now help me)

[marveloustimestwo]

Spooktober 2022 Masterlist

And that concludes this year's Spooktober event! Thanks to all those who sent stuff in this time around, and apologies for being a bit late on the last few.

The prompts I used can still be found here if you still want to see them! You're also welcome to use the prompts if you give some credit or reblog the original.

Also, the dividers I used for this event can also be found here!

Marvel

Peter Parker

Witch! Reader who's embarrassed to admit she got scared from watching horror movies with Peter

Vampire! Reader

Natasha

Platonic!Vampire!Nat with Reader who's in their 20's

Steve, Bucky, and Peter

Cult! Au

TASM! Peter

Peter with a ghost!Reader

Zombie!Peter in the zombie apocalypse

Star Wars

Anakin Skywalker

Cult Au! Anakin where Reader is his favorite

Arcane

Silco

Silco with a werewolf! daughter. Cult Au.

Viktor

Viktor with a Mage! Reader

Hunted Down Au with a child!witch!Reader w/Jayce

Jayce

Hunted Down Au with a child!witch!Reader w/ Viktor

Avatar: The Last Airbender

Zuko

Zuko with a Fairy! Reader

[liz-allyn]

hello it’s me again I knock upon the metaphorical door of your asks i thought I’d review sugar and vice in detail now that I have more time I have a question to ask first was our honey kidnapped by Peter or his rival gang? I have a confusion about that other than that like I said really excited about part two it’s going to so fun watching Peter be torn apart on the Inside about wanting to keep her away from him but wanting to be near him all the time I’m a slut for pining and angst which I have a feeling you will offer me in a feast the way he feels that she is the sweetest thing in his life and that he has to push her away because of the kind of life he leads ahhhh so good and such a Peter thing to do also anther confusion I has what did Peter do with tod? And hmm what else love the inclusion of Felicia and miles very curious about how the spider man thing comes into play with the mob boss thing I also hope you have jealousy in this fic it would be so funnnnn also your ideas for werewolf Peter Parker along your murals HUGE LOVE PLEASE DO IT . It would so COOL 😎 the forbidden love and you know woloves mate for life and it would spicy and cute ahh anyway that’s it for now toodles love 🌌

Milky Way anon! My beloved!

Don't ever feel like you're sending too much - I love answering your asks! I just have a 7-month-old baby so I need time to use free hands.

Hopefully, Part Two manages to answer a lot of these questions! I like weaving mystery and plot details throughout my stories.

And OMG the werewolf au prompt. My dear @blooming-violets (katie) and I have been messaging about it and we are also THURSTTTY. I'm so glad you like the idea too! She creates TASM fantasy AUs that I could never come up with— her vampire au and her forest nymph au are a few examples!

[bitchyfoxymama]

Bitchyglitterfox Masterlist

All of my Fics are Reader Insert

Last updated: April 24 2023

** - Indicates Smut

My Recommendation List

House of The Dragon/Game of Thrones

Rhaenyra Targaryen

I Wanna Ruin Our Friendship

Alicent Hightower

The Queen's Secret **

Daemon Targaryen

Moon of my life **

Dragon Riders

Ser Harwin Strong

Coming Soon

Ser Criston Cole

I'll Gladly Be Your Whore **

Aegon Targaryen II

Bath Time

He May Be A Beast Or A Troll

Helaena Targaryen

My Sweet Helaena**

Aemond Targaryen

Little Dove **

Jacerys Velaryon

Remember Me

Christmas Cookies - Modern AU

Go Get'em Tiger

Multiple Characters

Dead Girl Walking

Decorating The Christmas Tree - Modern AU

Series

Survive - Zombie Apocalypse and Modern AU

Marvel - Cinematic and Sonyverse

Moon Knight

Moon Boys Go To Knotts

Rise Once More

Doppelganger

Traditions

Down Bad For Teacher **

The System As College Professors

Sour

Kpop Groups I Think The Moon Boys Would Be Into

Who The Hell Is Moon Knight

Pegging The Moon Knight System**

Jack Russell

Dia De Los Muertos

Champurrado Kisses In the Moonlight

Sorry I Couldn't Save You

Sex Pollen**

Bucky Barnes

A Love Through The Ages

Dancing In The Moonlight

Don't Ever Call Me Doll

With You Til The End Of The Line

Steve Rogers

Travelin' Soldier

One Last Dance

NSFW Alphabet**

Wanda Maximoff

Valentines Day

Moonlight Sunrise

Pietro Maximoff

Angel

Stephan Strange

Anal Play**

Fate

Tony Stark

The One That Got Away

Clint Barton

Marry Me

Peter Parker

Petals and Bullets(TASM)

Always Second Best(TASM)

Full Moon(MSM) Werewolf AU

Multiple Characters

Happy Birthday - Various Avengers

How They Are One Your Period** - MoonKnight and Jack Russell

What I Think My Favorite Characters Smell Like - Moon Knight and Jack Russell

Werewolves and Moon Knights and Magic! Oh My!** Jack Russell and Moon Knight

Incorrect Quotes

#1

#2

#3

Series

Blinding Light** (Hiatus) - Avengers

The Sun Will Shine On Us Again(Hiatus) - Various Avengers

The Sun Will Shine On Us Again Pt 2(Hiatus) - Various Avengers

Dirty Little Secret** - Moon Knight

Stranger Things

Robin Buckley

The Siren And The Fairy**

Stuck

Steve Harrington

Amnesia

First Snow Day

Eddie Munson

Oopsie Daisy

Feeding Time

Christmas Movies

After Concert Treat**

Nancy Wheeler

Coming soon

Jonathan Byers

Breathe Play**

Argyle

Coming soon

Multiple Characters

What I Think My Favorite Characters Smell Like - Eddie Munson and Steve Harrington

Series

Star Wars - OG!Trilogy, Prequels, Sequels, and Shows

header: @nightxval on pintrest

Anakin Skywalker

In Another Life

Luke Skywalker

Shower Sex**

Din Djarin

Forever and Always

Poe Dameron

Hey There Fly Boy

Slashers

House Of Wax

Relaxation

Saviors

Halloween OG and RZ

The Boy

Save Me

Texas Chainsaw Massacre

Showing The Hewitts How To Season Their Food

Multiple Characters

Suckin Off The Slashers**

What I Think My Favorite Characters Smell Like - Sinclair Brothers and Thomas Hewitt

Series

Triple Frontier

Santiago 'Pope' Garcia

Coming soon

Frankie 'Catfish' Morales

Belly Lift

Will 'Ironhead' Miller

Coming soon

Ben 'Benny' Miller

Coming soon

Multiple Characters

No One Gets Left Behind Or Forgotten

Series

The Last Of Us

Clementine

Multiple Characters

Series

COMING SOON

COD: Modern Warfare II

König

Silly little Thoughts

Simon 'Ghost' Reily

Coming soon

John 'Soap' Mactavish

Coming soon

[blooming-violets]

Creature Like Me || Chapter Four: Hard Truths

[TASM Peter Parker!Werewolf AU]

Summary: Kraven and his guild of hunters have been tracking and quelling the werewolf population for centuries. The time has come for Aylin to complete her first solo hunt to prove herself to the guild. It was supposed to be simple. One wolf, one death, one victory. She never expected to end up with a secret hostage on her hands.

Chapter Four Warnings: some brief suicidal talk and mentions of deceased older brother and father, a lot hate talk towards one group of people (werewolves) but the way its said is meant to replicate the way assholes talk about groups of people different from them throughout all of history - the same “these people are different from me so I hate them” kind of shit

[link to chapter index]

She woke up to the soft pitter patter of rain bouncing off the camper windshield. 

The peaceful scent of wet, earthy soil wafted in through the crack of the open window beside her. She was surrounded by lush green no matter which way she looked. Raindrops chased each other in jagged lines down the slick glass. For one beautiful, fleeting moment, everything was perfect. 

Until she remembered why she was even here in the first place. 

Aylin stretched her legs the best she could. She had fallen asleep curled up in the passenger seat. She meant to make her way back to the bed eventually but was too tired to complete the short walk. Peter was back outside on the hammock. He said the camper felt too claustrophobic to sleep in. He had been locked up for so long that all he wanted was to see the sky. She could just make out the top of his head through the trees. He didn’t seem to mind being rained on while he slept. 

Last night he had finished off the entirety of her mother’s dolmas and proclaimed they were the best thing he’s ever eaten in his entire life. She had to take his praises with a grain of salt as he hadn’t experienced proper food in over two years, but it was nice to hear him be appreciative of her offerings. They hadn’t spoken much after that. It was late and Aylin was tired. Peter could tell something was bothering her but he kept his questions to himself and quickly retired back to the hammock. They ended their night on civil, friendly terms. She was starting to really enjoy his company the more relaxed he seemed to become. He was starting to lose the terrified, traumatized daze he’d been carrying around with him. There was a slow trust beginning to be built on an already rocky foundation. 

She popped open the passenger door and hopped down. It was a lovely, light rain outside. More of a cooling mist that gently dewed over the top of her dark hair instead of soaking it through. She was still in her attire from the party. Eventually she would have to go back but, today, she thought it would be best to lay low. 

Aylin gave another stretch, followed by a stifled yawn, and then started down towards the pond where she could see Peter laying. He had yet to change out of her gray joggers and was still shirtless despite being given clothes. He seemed comfortable so she didn’t mind. 

The pooling rain glistened over his chest and beaded up on the tip of his nose. His hair was slicked back and wet from having been outside longer than she had. It must have rained harder in the early morning than it was now. He looked healthier than he did yesterday. A little decent food, water, and some rest did wonders for the human body. Not that he was entirely human. She knew werewolves had regenerative abilities that acted far faster than the average person. Soon enough he would be as good as new. 

“Rise and shine, wolfboy!” She called as she ducked past him towards the water’s edge. 

She stood at the dirt bank to admire how peaceful and still everything was. A bullfrog gave a loud, moaning croak and leaped off the rock beside her to hide under the dark waters. A water strider darted effortlessly over the glassy surface, leaving tiny ripples in its wake. Across the way, an elegant doe bent over to quench her thirst. All of nature, living together in a peaceful harmony. Aylin decided right then and there that she didn’t think she wanted to be a hunter. She didn’t want to kill. Her bloodlust was rapidly dwindling. All she wanted was to stand on the edge of a forest pond, the morning rain cooling her sleepy skin, and admire the view. Then again, that was how she had always felt whenever she got lost in the beauty of the forest. It was nothing new. 

Peter shuffled up next to her. He was closer than she was used to. His bare arm brushed against the sleeve of her cardigan while he sluggishly scratched at his beard. 

“Mornin’,” he mumbled, the lingering sleep turning his voice raspy. “What’s the plan for today, boss?” 

Aylin glanced over at him, admiring his features. The soft rays of sunlight struggled to push through the gray clouds to illuminate over him. He got caught in a single beam causing his brown eyes to light up, giving off a warm, glowing appearance. She could get lost in that view if she wasn’t careful. 

“Breakfast,” she stated. “I brought half a sleeve of sesame seed bagels. There’s nothing to put on them, unfortunately. I didn’t really have a lot of time last night to get much. I just grabbed whatever was within reach.” 

Peter gave her a lazy, tired smile, “Bagels sound great. I’d eat anything you gave me. I’ve lost the ability to be picky about food.” Through half closed, sleepy lids, he took in the sight of her. He seemed to get lost in his own thoughts for a minute before he started speaking again,  “The morning sun looks nice in your hair. It softens you. Makes you look less scary.”

She found herself wanting to blush at his statement but kept her face as neutral as she could manage. She wasn’t used to flattery. 

“I’m not scary,” she grumbled. 

He cocked a crooked grin, “You’re a little scary.” 

“If you tell me I should smile more, I’m going to gut punch you.”  

Peter turned his grin out towards the pond, admiring the deer still gracefully grazing along the water's edge. They watched her in silence until an unknown presence spooked her into running back to the safety of the trees.

“The other day,” she kept her attention on the water softly lapping against a nearby rock. “You said that you couldn’t turn into a wolf even if you wanted to. Why is that?” 

He gave a small shrug like it should be obvious, “It takes a lot of energy to shift back and forth. The weaker you are, the harder it is to do. When your body is slowly starving to death and hanging on by a thread, shifting would push you over the edge. I wouldn’t have survived it. I thought about turning many times in that cabin…putting an end to it all…finally getting to rest. I couldn’t ever seem to go through with it, though. I guess I’m not a very strong person. That’s what you’re for. To do what I couldn’t.”

She rolled her eyes, “Glad to have a purpose in your life as your designated killer. And, for the record, choosing to not your kill yourself and keep going is the stronger option. Especially with what you were dealing with. You’re not as weak as you think.” 

Peter smiled, raising his brows up at her, “Is the mighty huntress giving me, a pathetic werewolf, a compliment?”

Aylin huffed, turning her head away from him to hide her smile, “Shut up. It was a fact. Not a compliment.” She spun on her heels and started back to the camper. “Enough talk, wolfboy, it’s breakfast time! Do you want to come inside and eat?”

“...Do I have to? It’s nice out here.” 

She gave a breathless chuckle, “No. We can eat outside. I’ll go get the bagels. Wait here.” 

They laid on opposite ends of the hammock, her feet resting by his shoulders, as they silently ripped apart their food. The bagels were dry and starting to get stale but she didn’t care and neither did Peter. The toes of her boots clapped together happily as she listened to the birds singing away in the trees above them. A faint rainbow had formed in a wide arch over the pond as the sun continued to push away the gray clouds. This was the sort of morning that was meant to be savored. She wanted to bottle it up and keep it with her forever. 

She turned her sights onto Peter as he devoured his bagel with an animalistic hunger. In the light of day, she could see how terrible of a cut she had done to his beard and hair. It was almost laughable. She’d have to attempt a better job in the next few days. 

Although, why should she even bother? What was the point exactly? Her body felt heavy with dread at the thought. There were too many open-ended questions for her to be able to properly relax. Her world felt like it was being tipped on its axis and she was desperately trying to hold onto anything concrete to keep her from tumbling off. Gravity was failing her. She didn’t like not knowing things. She wanted to feel like she had control again. She missed the safety she felt before she went on her solo hunt. 

“How did you get the name Aylin? It’s pretty. I’ve never heard it before,” he asked softly, almost like he was afraid to break their comfortable silence or intrude on her own spiraling thoughts. It was as if he could pick up on her changing moods and wanted to catch her before she fell. 

She picked at the sesame seeds on top of her bagel, flicking a couple off to the curious chipmunk eyeing their food below them. She watched it grab at the treat, stuffing them into its cheek pouches, and scurry up a tree trunk. 

“It was my grandmother’s name. My mom grew up in Turkey. Her mother passed away when she was a teenager and her father decided to move their family to America for better work. I guess her and her mom were really close before she passed. I got to carry on her name when I was born.” 

“Is your father Turkish, too?” He asked. 

Her shoulders tensed at his question and she gave a short shake of her head, replying with a curt answer, “No. He grew up here in the guild.” She didn’t like talking about him much and Peter picked up on her hesitation, abruptly ending his line of questions.  

Everytime she would start to get comfortable and enjoy the moment, death would always find a way back into her thoughts. She found herself becoming irritated. One death would lead to another and then another and another. Soon, the memories of that girl in the cage came crashing through to slap her across the face. She could still hear her piercing screams as she ran away from the crowd. They echoed in her ears like a wailing ghost and left a sour taste in her mouth. She tossed the rest of the bagel onto the ground for the animals to pick at later. Her tightening throat couldn’t handle swallowing any more dry food. 

“How many werewolves do you know?” She asked. She wished she had gotten the girl’s name. She wanted to know more about her. Where did she come from? Who was she? Did she belong to anyone? Someone must be missing her. 

Peter finished politely chewing his bite before speaking.  

“Personally as friends? Not many. Just as people I’ve met? Still not very many. We’re a very elusive sort of people. Why?” He was on his second bagel now. 

She hesitated in asking the next question but her curiosity for information was too strong, “Do you know any younger ones? No older than 18 or 19. A girl. Short, dark hair down to her shoulders. Really green eyes. Tan skin. Very petite and tiny. Ring any bells?” She wasn’t sure what she wanted his answer to be but she just wanted something. 

Peter hesitated, carefully eyeing her, then shook his head, “No. Sorry.  Did…you see someone like that?” There was an underlying tensity to his tone like he was struggling to keep his voice level and light. The voice of someone who was lying or had more to say but was biting their tongue.

Aylin narrowed her eyes, trying to read past his carefully constructed, easy going expression. She didn’t answer his question, sensing that he was holding something back, and tilted her head to stare up at the trees instead. She didn’t like being lied to. 

She wanted to believe that the girl was somehow bad. If she could paint her as something evil then her treatment would be easier to digest. But, in her heart, she knew that wasn’t true. Her people had killed a teenager for simply existing in a way that they didn’t approve of. She was even more scared to think about what had happened to the girl before she was brought out to die. The marks on her body resembled those on Peter’s. Deep, scarring wounds. Fresh cuts. Dried blood and skin painted with bruising. One of Aylin’s own had inflicted that. From the looks of it, the girl had probably been held for a long time. 

They were supposed to hunt the wolves and quickly eliminate them. Not keep them and torture them. This went against everything she had been taught. 

Aylin picked at a stray thread on the sleeve of her cardigan and worked up the courage to ask, “What do the werewolves think of us? Of the Silver Colts, I mean.”

Peter gave an unfavorable snort, “You’re asking me what Lycans think of Kraven the Hunter?” 

Kraven. That was the name Sergei was referred to by his enemies. She’d only heard it said a handful of times. In the guild, they used his proper name, Sergei Kravinoff, as a sign of respect. For some stupid reason, she still felt the need to protect her leader’s honor despite what she was learning about him. It was so deeply ingrained in her that she found Peter’s tone to be far too disrespectful for her liking. 

She gave him a light scowl at his newly found impudent attitude, “Yes and you don’t have to be rude about it.” 

Peter finished off his second bagel, wiping the crumbs from his beard, and taking his time before he brought his eyes up to give her a hard stare. The hammock gently rocked in the breeze as he tried to calculate what kind of information she wanted to hear. When he got nothing off her calloused expression, he let himself unleash years of pent up hatred. 

“How do you think the wolves view Kraven and his cult of assholes? You’re a bunch of violent murders,” His tone was no longer as soft and kind as she was used to. He lost the submissive air about him as anger darkened his features. His muscles tensed and bulged under his skin. 

The way his eyes hardened, losing all their light, and flashed with danger caused her heart rate to spike. For the first time since she met him, she felt like she was getting a glimpse into the wolf lurking under his surface. He showed no signs of backing down. She’d almost forgotten who she was with. Wolves were unpredictable and dangerous. She had let her guard down too quickly around him. 

Her defenses immediately went up and she drew her legs up to her chest, sliding into a sitting position across from him. The once peaceful hammock now felt like an unstable net keeping her from moving quickly, like being a fly trapped in a giant spider web, unable to easily flee her rival. A frown was carved between her brows and she cursed herself for not bringing any weapons out here with her should the situation turn ugly.

Never trust a wolf. 

“We are not a cult!” She spat at him. It was the only thing that she was able to get out as her mind was already calculating all her potential exit strategies. There was a rock not too far from her with a nice pointed edge. It would fit easily in the palm of her hand. She would run for that if she needed a quick weapon. She feared what would happen if Peter decided to turn in such close proximity to her. He wasn't as weak and starving anymore. 

Never befriend a wolf. 

He mimicked her position, tossing the hammock back and forth as he moved, never once taking his sights off her, “But you don’t deny being a murderer?” He looked like he was out for blood. A spider ready to strike. 

“I never said that!” She huffed and masked her growing fear of being this close to him with anger. “You best remember who you’re talking to, mutt. Know your place. We’re not murdering innocent people. We’re killing monsters! We’re a guild of monster hunters.” 

Never listen to a wolf. 

He laughed, a bitter, humorless laugh, “Monster hunters? Is that what Kraven’s brainwashed you to think? Is that what that teenager with short, dark hair and green eyes was to you? A monster? Did killing her make you feel better about yourself? Did it make you feel strong?” 

Aylin’s eyes widened. He knew. 

“Yeah,” he continued, venom dripping with every word, ready to make the killing blow. “I heard her screams last night. They echoed throughout the entire fucking forest. You better hope there were no hikers or stray campers nearby. If my enhanced hearing could hear her five miles out, imagine what someone closer could have heard.” 

Her stomach dropped at the realization. He had known the entire time she was here. She wondered if that’s why he had been crying when she found him. He had heard her people murdering one of his own. He had the upper hand now and they both knew it. 

Never turn your back on a wolf. 

Aylin threw her legs off the side of the hammock and shoved herself to her feet, marching back to the camper, as she ignored every single one of Sergei’s carefully crafted rules. All wolves were the same. Awful, miserable, belligerent creatures with no respect for authority. Disgusting freaks of nature. She saved his pathetic life and this was how he dared speak to her? She hated him, despised his very existence, and wanted him out of her sight. They all deserved to die. Every last one. She ripped open the side door, climbing inside, and slamming it closed behind her.

The silence of the camper muffled against her ears. The forest backdrop faded away. She was breathing heavily as her contempt for Peter slowly sizzled out now that he was out of her direct eyeline. These walls provided her with the illusion of safety. The moment she was behind them, her defenses crumbled. Hot, shameful tears burned her eyes and blurred her vision.  

She was the liar. Even her own thoughts lied. Her hatred of Peter was nothing more than a thinly veiled attempt to hide her own anxiety. She feared returning back to her guild to face the wrath of Sergei and she feared being here with Peter. He was dangerous too, she had to remember that. She saw the way his eyes flashed with hatred when she mentioned her people. He was not her friend. He couldn’t ever be her friend. He was only here because he had nowhere else to go. They were on opposite sides of this invisible war. This could only ever end in death. 

Wolves will lie and manipulate to get what they want. That’s what Sergei had taught them about werewolves but that’s what he had done last night. He lied and manipulated the crowd to spin a more compelling, horrible story of her hunt. Peter was dangerous but so was Sergei. She’d rather take her chances with the wolf. At least she’d know what to expect. It felt like the lesser of two evils this morning. 

Three days ago, she thought she knew everything. Today, she knew nothing.

An overwhelming sadness gripped her. Shame and heartache filled her numbing body. You’re a bunch of violent murders. Any outsider would have watched the events from last night and thought the exact same thing. Savages. That’s what they looked like. She tried not to think about the way the caged girl had looked at her. The hate in her eyes. The terror. Aylin was a killer. A murderer. She may not have murdered that girl but she didn’t do anything to stop it. She ran away like she always did. Even now, she was running away from Peter because he was speaking truths she didn’t want to hear. 

She didn’t hate him. She hated herself. The realization was too much for her to handle. 

Aylin crawled into the bed tucked away in the back of the camper. Her face buried in a pillow as she curled the blankets around her. If she was a murderer then what did that make her father and brother? They hunted more than she had. What about her mother? Was she an accomplice? She made no attempts to stop the events last night. She’d stayed silent while it happened. Her family was supposed to be good. They were good people. They weren’t a cult of killers. They were killing werewolves. Monsters. They were saving people. She couldn’t look at the graves of her father and brother and see them as anything other than heroes. She couldn’t.

Yesterday evening had broken her. She had no idea what Sergei would think of her now or what he would do. She knew she would be punished for disobeying his orders. He would take her act of defiance as an attempt to humiliate him in front of his people. He would not react kindly to her refusal to kill on command. She worried that he would take it out on her mother if she wasn’t there. He had been known to have raging tantrums when things don’t go his way. 

Can a good person do bad things or does that make them a bad person? What if a bad person does something good? Does that equal out the bad? 

Her scale of justice was starting to wobble and she was afraid of what would happen if it ever fell.  

The creak of the door alerted her to the fact that Peter was now inside. He was quieter than she gave him credit for. She couldn’t even hear the sounds of his footsteps. She rolled onto her side away from him. He no longer frightened her. She was more scared of herself than of him. 

“Kraven is not a good man. He’s not a leader you should be following.” 

She could feel the baritone of his voice inside of her own chest. It acted as a comfort despite what he was saying. A part of her believed she could listen to the sound of his voice forever. He sounded more reserved than he had on the hammock like he’d also given himself time for his anger to dissipate.  

“He killed-” Peter paused, unable to finish his thought, changing his direction. “He’s hurt a lot of people. Innocent people. People who had never hurt anyone in their entire lives. You call us mutts, or werewolves, or whatever like it’s the most repulsive, vulgar thing you could ever think of. You treat us like we’re all the same. Like we’re a group of mindless, bloodthirsty animals. When the truth is, that’s who the Silver Colts are. Lycan are not people who want to destroy the world and ruin all of humanity. Most of us just want to live our lives, away from everyone, away from civilization, and be with the people we love. Most of us didn’t ask for this ability. We were born into it. We have families. Friends. People we care about. We are no different than you.” 

Aylin was silent as he spoke. She closed her eyes, letting a single tear sneak through her lashes and slide down her cheek. She still remembered the last time she saw her father and Emir. They were getting ready to go on a hunt with Sergei. Just the three of them. It was supposed to be easy. No one was worried. No one knew that would be the last excursion they went on. No one knew they would leave and never return. She had a family, too. People she cared about. Until she lost them to the wolves.

“You killed my brother. My father. You killed them. Ripped them apart. We didn’t even get to see their bodies; they were so badly mutilated. We didn’t get to say goodbye. My mother was so heartbroken. She lost her first born. Her child was murdered! Her husband was taken from her. She lost her whole world in a single moment. She didn’t speak for an entire year. Do you know how lonely that was? I felt like I lost her, too, during that time. My whole family. Everyone I loved…gone. You say you’re not killers but you killed them. Do you know how earth shattering it is to have the people you love be torn from your life like that?” 

She could feel Peter taking a tentative seat on the edge of the mattress behind her. 

“Yes,” he whispered. She could hear the genuine heartbreak in his voice and knew it was real. She had heard that same sound in her own voice countless times over the last five years. No one could hide that strong of grief. “Yes, I do. And do you know who inflicted that pain on me? Kraven. But I killed your brother and father just as much as you killed the people I love. Don’t blame me for your family's death when I had nothing to do with it. I don’t blame you for my friends dying. I blame Kraven because I watched him do it. I know he is the one responsible. Only him. Kraven is not you, just like I am not the wolf that killed your family. Stop acting like all Lycan are one big hive mind. Everyone is different and, yet, everyone is the same. We all feel pain, Aylin. You’re not special.” 

She took a slow breath, trying to center herself, and rolled over to face him, “Why do you keep calling yourself a Lycan? I haven’t heard that word before.” 

Peter frowned then rolled his eyes, “You hate us so much and you don't even know our real name. Lycanthrope, or Lycans, are what we call people who have the ability to shapeshift into a wolf. Your people created the term werewolf forever ago but that’s usually not what we call ourselves.” 

She let that new information sink in. She wondered how much Sergei knew about werewolves but never told his people. She was beginning to realize that the more he kept them in the dark, the easier it was to feed their hatred of the unknown. The less you know about someone, the easier it is to hate them. 

“If you claim to be so innocent, why do you turn people? Sierra was becoming a successful model in the city and you stole that from her. Now she’s dead.” 

Peter sighed, clearly trying to keep his exasperation at bay, “Once again, it’s the use of the word ‘you’. I did not do that. You are clumping every Lycan together. Just like in life, there are good and bad people. Kat has an agenda which involves growing her pack. She was hunting for the right people to bring in. Sierra had what it would take to be a wolf. She was strong willed and sound of mind. That’s why Kat turned her. She liked her. A lot of her pack were either already born Lycan or asked to join. Sierra was one of the few forced into it. And you’re the reason she’s dead. Not me. Not Kat. You. You pulled the trigger. No one else.” 

Aylin sat up now, her stomach in knots, and rested back against the wall, “Who’s Kat? Is she the alpha? Was she that big, black wolf standing in the street when we drove away?”

Information. That’s what she could handle. The more she knew about the wolves, the more she could form her own opinion. She was desperately trying to grip onto the threads of anything that could lead her back on the right path. She could channel her hate into Kat. That was something it seemed both her and Peter had in common. A neutral ground. 

He nodded and shifted to get more comfortable on the bed, taking note that she was more willing to speak with him now without insulting him. “Yes. Her name is Kateri Deseronto and she leads the pack of wolves who had me. She's tough. She’s got a dried up, hardened, cold heart. Empathy is no longer something she possesses. She’s not…a good person…but her actions are understandable in a sadistic way, I suppose.” 

“What do you mean? What happened? Why did she have you, anyway?” Aylin whispered. She was suddenly very tired and overcome with a pounding headache. She rested her chin on her knees and hugged her arms around her legs. 

His jaw tensed, “I don’t wanna talk ‘bout it.” 

She allowed that answer to slide for now, not wanting to rock the boat any further. She was pleased they were speaking on more civil terms again. She liked him, trusted him, and wanted him to feel the same way. Her hot head often pushed people too far. Damage control was never something she excelled at. 

Aylin let a comfortable silence settle around them. She closed her eyes with a sigh. She wasn't sure why she wanted Peter to like her so badly. It was that same need she had to always be the teacher’s pet growing up. She wanted to be top of her class, the best hunter, the best with a crossbow, the best shooter, the best of the best. She wanted the people she admired to think she was capable and worthy of their attention. 

Peter was a strange entity. She grew up hearing ghost tales about his kind. He was supposed to be a mighty, powerful beast. He was supposed to be so strong that it would take three grown men to overpower him. He was who she grew up fearing and hating…and admiring, she realized. Werewolves, while terrifying, were also magnificent. She used to lay awake at night wondering how an entire wolf fit inside of their bodies. She couldn’t understand how a human could physically transform into something else. They were a mystery that no one around her seemed to want to solve. 

She wanted Peter to like her because she saw him as a worthy opponent. Someone admirable. A foe worth figuring out. A mystery to be unraveled. It was her own ignorance and hate that kept muddling up the playing field. If she could share a hammock with the powerful, elusive werewolf, what else could she be capable of? 

She wanted to win him over just as much as she used to want to win over Sergei and her father. 

“I’m not in a cult, you dick.” 

That made a tiny smile tug at the corner of his lips, “That’s what people who are in a cult always say. Don’t drink the Kool-Aid.”  

Aylin squared off her shoulders in defiance, “We have free will. We’re not worshiping at Sergei’s feet.” Even as she said that, she thought about last night. She would be punished for acting on her free will when she returned.

Peter could see the sinking realization dawn on her face. He could tell some of what he was saying was starting to get through her thick skull and causing her to panic. 

“There were eight people in Kat’s pack,” he offered to save her from drowning in her own self doubt by providing new information. “You killed two of them. They’re all women. I don’t think Kat trusts men. She certainly didn’t trust me.” 

“I trust you.” The sincerity of her confession burst out of her with little warning. The heat of embarrassment creeped up her neck. She wasn’t sure why she said that. She didn’t even know if it was true. Ten minutes ago she was actively searching for the pointiest rock to crack open his skull should she have to. Now, she was openly confessing to finding him trustworthy. 

Peter blinked in surprise. Neither of them had been expecting that response. 

“I mean,” she quickly tried to cover how flustered she was becoming. “As much as I could trust a werewolf.”  

He gave her a soft, sad smile, “Remember your promise, Aylin. When you’re done getting what you need, you know what you need to do. Remember? You promised. I’m counting on it.” 

Kill him. 

She didn’t think she would be able to do it anymore. She didn’t think she had it in her to take anyone else’s life. 

The sickening crunch of Sierra’s severed spine haunted her whenever she closed her eyes. The sound of the gun shot still rang in her ears. The warmth washing over her as blood rained down from the sky. A fragment of Sierra's ripped apart skull bouncing off her own forehead. Fleshy brain matter spewed around them.

What a terrible way to die. Peter was right. The Silver Colts were the monsters lurking in the shadows. She was the monster. 

How was she supposed to kill him when the thought made her stomach churn? How could she look him in those beautiful eyes and pull the trigger?

Why did he want to die so badly anyway? 

“How are your knees healing?” She asked instead of every other question clouding her thoughts. If she thought about death any longer, she might end up crying in front of him, and that was the last thing she wanted. 

Peter rolled up his pants to show that they were still covered with the gauze pads, “I don’t know. I haven’t checked. I get used to the pain so I sometimes forget if I feel it or not.” 

Aylin scooted over and rolled off the bed. She motioned for him to toss his legs over the edge as she knelt on the ground in front of him. Carefully, she peeled back the gauze. The skin was still raw. Spending most of his time on his knees over old, rotting wood had cut away and worn down his skin too deep. They would always be scarred but the wounds were showing signs of heeling. Her thumb brushed over the top of his knee, absentmindedly brushing through his soft leg hair, as she gently observed the healing process. When she was done, she pushed the gauze back over and smoothed out the tape. Next time she came to visit, she would make sure to bring her first aid kit to change the bandages. Her hand lingered on his knee as she turned her attention back up to him.

Peter was staring down at her through sad, longing eyes. He seemed to be holding his breath. An air of intimacy had settled between them and she quickly averted her gaze. She cleared her throat, breaking their strange, little moment of connection, and snatched her hand off of him. 

“I should go,” she stumbled up onto her feet and turned her back to him. “And you should put on some of the clothes that I brought you. See if the shoes fit. You know, in case someone walks by, it’d look more normal if you were properly dressed.” 

She was talking only for the sake of covering for how uncomfortable she felt. 

Peter stood up behind her, he was blushing, and scratching at his beard as a way to fidget with his hands, “Okay. When will you be back?” 

Aylin suddenly spun around, coming face to face with him, “I didn’t kill her.” 

His eyes widened at how close she was, trying to take a step back but was blocked by the bed, “What?”

“That girl you heard screaming last night. I need you to know. I didn’t kill her. It wasn’t me. I…couldn’t do it. I didn’t know she was even going to be there. I don’t know where she came from or how long she had been there. We never had wolves in our town before. Not that I knew of, at least. That’s never happened. It’s not a usual thing that we do. I don’t know what you think happened but I didn’t- it wasn’t- I didn’t do it, alright? I didn’t hurt her.” 

His eyes softened back into their sad, dull state. He gave her a half hearted smile, “Okay.” He didn’t offer her anything else. 

She was still a part of it, though. She still belonged to the group who had killed her. Peter knew it just as much as she did. As long as she associated herself with the Silver Colts, she would not be blameless. 

“I don’t know when I’ll be back. I think I might be in trouble for refusing to kill that girl. Sergei’s not going to be happy. I don’t know when I’ll be able to sneak away again. I’ll leave you my bag. It’s got water bottles and a box of granola bars. You still have whatever is left of the bagels. I saw a blueberry bush down by the pond. You should be okay for a bit. You’ll…still be here when I do come back, right?” She brought her watery gaze up to meet his. There was a twinge of sad, pathetic hope in her voice. They both knew it would be better for him to run while he could. 

“I’ll be here,” he promised her. Again. 

This time she believed him.

[Chapter Five (p1)]

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[sincericida]

Andrew Garfield with his beard.

I’m simply addicted to posting pics of Andrew with this look to suggest @blooming-violets to develop a plot about certain werewolf...👀

[blooming-violets]

CREATURE LIKE ME || CHAPTER FIVE (part one): YOU'RE IN A CULT

[TASM Peter Parker!Werewolf AU]

Story Summary: Kraven and his guild of hunters have been tracking and quelling the werewolf population for centuries. The time has come for Aylin to complete her first solo hunt to prove herself to the guild. It was supposed to be simple. One wolf, one death, one victory. She never expected to end up with a secret hostage on her hands.

Chapter Five Warnings (spoilers): mild sexual exhibitionism (fondling an exposed breast) in front of an unwilling person, being unknowingly drugged

[link to chapter index]

The familiar scent of pine soothed her worried soul as she stepped through the threshold of her home. 

Their little, brown cabin, with its sturdy fireplace of stacked, gray stones, and pine needle covered roof gave off the illusion of a safe haven. She might be back in her guild’s territory but this was her house. Her home. Here, she could find respite. 

It was quiet as she stood in her cozy living room. Everything was still. By mid day, her mother would have been in the communal kitchen preparing meals for anyone who might want to stop by for a free lunch. Their guild supported their members and made sure no one would ever go hungry. They functioned as a bunch of tiny parts all moving in unison to form a single, powerful behemoth. They worked on the bartering system and the good will of their neighbors. If something was taken, something else would always need to be given. 

Mrs. Harkner, down the road, gave her time to teach the children academics, in return, the children would pick the crops from her garden so her focus could be spent on lesson planning. Mr. Jacobson, at the other end of town, couldn’t aim a gun to save his life, but was an expert in construction and could fix any housing issue that arose. In return, the hunters would make sure he was always provided with fresh game and a well stocked freezer. Eight year old Christopher Lennings would sell freshly made apple juice from the apple tree in his front yard every Saturday morning and all it would cost was the coolest looking rock you could find. Everyone had a job and everyone was taken care of. 

As long as they followed the rules. 

Aylin had formulated a plan during her five mile hike back home. She knew she would have the house to herself at this time. If she could quickly pack her car full of gear, staying out of sight, then she could head back to Peter for the next few days. During that time, she would get every bit of information she could about Kat’s pack. When she finally returned back to the guild, she could trade that information as an apology for not completing her ritual to become a full time hunter. Trading was how their guild functioned. Information could be traded for a lighter sentencing. Sergei would be more focused on taking action against an entire pack than dealing out punishments for her defiance. She could right all the wrongs before the situation got too out of hand. 

It wasn’t a perfect plan but it would have to do.

The old floorboards creaked under foot to alert the only available member of the household to her presence. Her large, sleek black cat lazily rose his head off the sofa to see who dared to disturb his nap. When he caught sight of Aylin, his ears perked up and he gracefully leapt to the floor to greet her by weaving between her legs. He gave a piercing whine, begging for attention. 

“Yes, yes. I missed you, too, Kedi.” Aylin bent down to scoop him into her arms where he proceeded to be carried like a baby up the stairs to her bedroom loft. “Has mom been worried about me? Have you been looking after her?” 

Kedi purred, his golden eyes squinting up at her. It was a rarity to find him inside their cabin. He preferred to be out hunting for his next meal or clawing his way up the highest tree. Finding him willingly behind walls meant that he knew something was wrong. He had probably spent the night curled up next to Nesrin. Sometimes Aylin swore that he was actually a person trapped inside the body of a cat. She imagined him to be a grumpy, old man who would yell at innocent children to get off his lawn but secretly loved the attention they gave him. He was fearless, tenacious, and a ferocious serial killer of all rodents. 

A family of killers. Is that all they were?

Peter’s words from this morning still buzzed around her thoughts like an annoying gnat that refused to leave her personal space. 

“We’re not in a cult, right? I’d know if I was in a cult,” she mused down at the cat in her arms. 

He responded with a deep, guttural purr that vibrated his entire body. 

“Sergei isn’t Jim Jones or Charles Manson. He has a reason behind what we’re doing. There’s a purpose. A meaning. We’re helping people. We’re…” She paused and gave a long sigh. “My father wouldn’t have been best friends with a cult leader. He was smarter than that. He was a good man. Peter’s wrong. He doesn’t know us, does he, Keds? He’s a stupid, low life, pathetic, disgusting werewolf. He’s-” 

She stopped to listen to the words falling from her lips. No one was around to hear them and she was still holding deep prejustice for a man who had done nothing but show her kindness and grace despite her attitude. 

Lycans. That’s what Peter referred to himself as. Not a werewolf. A lycan. A person with the ability to shift into a wolf. 

A person. Not a monster.

Good and bad people. That’s what Peter had said. There were always good and bad people regardless where you stood in the world. 

Which one was she? 

Aylin carefully dropped Kedi onto her bed so she could pack a bag, trying to pull her thoughts away from Peter’s grasp and focus them back onto the task at hand. Some extra clothes, camping supplies, her crossbow, and more food would be on her list of needed items. She quickly changed out of her dress and into something more practical for forest living. She began tossing clothes out of her drawer and into the waiting duffle bag. As she turned around to pack them more neatly, she stopped to see Kedi curled up under the growing pile. 

“You’re not helping, Ked. You’ll suffocate under there if I zip it up,” she smiled softly down at the stubborn cat who merely squinted back at her. He was always able to lift her mood. “Okay fine, you can stay but I’m going to keep packing around you.” 

She grabbed an unopened pack of spare toothbrushes and ripped it apart. Carefully, she glanced over the colors, selecting a red and blue striped one for Peter. She felt like he would suit those colors…and he really needed to brush his teeth. It had probably been a while since he had a toothbrush of his own. 

With some basic grooming items taken care of and a duffle full of spare clothes, Aylin shooed Kedi out of the way to finish her getaway bag. He followed as she made a handful of trips from the house to her car, filling the trunk with everything her and Peter might need to survive for the next few days. She slammed the full trunk closed, tucking her keys into her pocket, and put her hands on her hips. A sense of determination settled over her. 

“There! We have a camping stove, some canned food, extra water…I think we should be all set for a couple days,” she spoke down to the cat waiting patiently at her feet. “If you would like to come with me, Keds, I would be more than happy to bring you. I don’t think Peter would mind the extra company.” 

Kedi’s fur raised along his back, his ears flattening, and he gave a long hiss before darting to the safety of the darkness under her car. 

“Wha- he’s not that bad, jeeze,” she frowned at his sudden change of attitude, wondering what had set him off, when she heard the crunching of footsteps making their way up her dirt driveway. 

“Going somewhere, Aylin?” The familiar baritone voice caused her skin to erupt in goosebumps. Her heart leapt into her throat as a wave of nausea overtook her. She suddenly felt faint.

She wasn’t fast enough.

The only other time she had seen Kedi display fear like that was when a black bear broke through their screened in porch one afternoon to try and grab a bite of his cat food. Even then, he had darted back out from under the safety of a chair to claw the bear across the snout before running away again. Today, he stayed hidden. 

Aylin straightened her back, attempting to fix a warm smile onto her lips, and turned around to face Sergei standing in the middle of her driveway. He was dawning his signature werewolf pelt draped over his shoulders and giving her a grin that was stretched far too thin to be anything but forced. The sight of the pelt made her sick to her stomach when she thought about the person who it once was ripped from. Barbaric. He might as well be wearing a pelt of human flesh.

Where was she going? She tried to steady her fluttering heart as a million potential answers swirled around her panicked thoughts. 

“I’m planning on going to the Catskills to hike along the Devil’s Path like I do every year,” she lied, thinking quickly. With the way her trunk was currently packed, it easily resembled a hiking trip. She could fake this scenario. 

“Isn’t it a little early for that?” He raised his scraggly brow at her. He was starting to get flecks of silver among his dark hair. The silver stood out more prominently against the midday sun and made him look closer than usual to his age. It was rare to catch signs of him aging. He seemed to always be in his prime despite how many years have passed. “Don’t you typically do that hike closer to the summer?” 

Aylin shrugged, trying to play it off like it wasn’t a big deal, “Last summer was too hot. Thought I’d go early this year.” 

“In the rainy season, I imagine parts of the hike would be really dangerous?”

She held firmly onto her bluff, knowing he was trying to break her, and kept her eyes locked with his to help sell the lie, “Sure, but isn’t that part of our training? To overcome difficult feats despite the challenges that face us? Besides, it’s not called the Devil’s Path for nothing. It’s meant to keep you on your toes. I think I could use a good challenge. ” 

Sergei squinted at her with a hard glare, “Yes. About that. I think we need to have a talk about exactly what challenges are facing you. Something seemed to bother you the other night, did it not?” 

She could tell from his tone that he was carefully keeping his voice steady. Under the surface, he was boiling. He wanted her to pay for the other night. There had to be consequences. Aylin had not only gone against his direct orders but, in her defiance, belittled his authority in front of the guild. If there’s one thing to never do to Sergei, it would be to embarrass him. She was now caught in an unwanted game of cat and mouse and she was terrified of losing. 

She widened her eyes like it was a shock to hear that and not a conversation she had been dreading, “Oh? You mean when I ran from the ceremony? I’m so sorry about that. Really. I must have eaten something weird. Probably undercooked meat. I got really sick. I spent the night on the toilet. I had to run before I had an accident in front of everyone. You know how it is. When you gotta go, you gotta go.” 

He took a step closer, a dreadful smile flicked at the corner of his lips, “Really? I stopped by your house to check on you later that night. I wanted to make sure you were okay after that shameful display you pulled in front of everyone. Your mother told me you weren’t home. Poor woman was worried sick about you. She thought you might have run off and done something stupid.” He paused, closing the gap between them. The cold metal of her car door pushed against her back as he towered over her. He propped an arm against the roof of her car to pin her in place. “Well? Did you? Do something stupid, I mean.” 

Her stomach flipped with nerves as she shook her head. She was going to lose this game. The cat was ready to pounce and she had nowhere to hide, caught in place, forced to face her demise. Sergei went in for the kill, sensing he was gaining the upper hand in their silent standoff, and threw a heavy arm around her shoulders. He had her locked tightly in place against his side and gave a loud, dark laugh as if that would expel the thick tension between them. She couldn’t run. Couldn’t hide. He had her exactly where he wanted. 

“Why don’t you come take a walk with me, Aylin?” He started to drag her down the driveway. “Cal made rabbit stew earlier. We can have some tea and lunch and discuss our futures. I have a proposition for you. What do you say, kid?” 

Despite his question, there was no choice to be had. She was going to be coming with him even if he had to throw her over his shoulder and carry her there. 

“Uh, yeah, I guess that’s okay. I should go leave a note for my mom so she knows where I’m at when she gets back…” Aylin tried to dig her heels into the dirt but got shuffled along like she weighed nothing. Any resistance would be futile. She had lost the game. The cat had caught the mouse and was now boastfully parading her squirming body down the road as he carried it proudly between his salivating jaws. 

“That won’t be necessary. I’ll inform her exactly where you are should she come asking. There’s nothin’ to worry about. You’re safe with me. You know that.” The weight of his words hung over her like a rapidly approaching storm. There wasn’t a single ounce of truth behind anything he said. 

It was only a matter of time before the cat clamped down, piercing her flesh with his razor sharp teeth. 

The Kravinoff residence was the largest house in their town. A two story cabin with breathtaking floor to ceiling windows to let in all the natural light. The eaves of the red gabled roof were decorated with ornate wooden details. They had been handcarved by Sergei Sr. when he rebuilt the Kravinoff home many years ago before his passing; his final gift to his spoiled son.

Their kitchen was larger than the floor plan of her entire house with brightly painted, red cabinets to match the color of their roof. A pot of yellow sunflowers brightened up the room to soften the red and create an inviting atmosphere. Calypso lounged against the double wide, walnut island wearing nothing more than a skimpy, silk robe. Her dark, tight curly hair haloed around her head and she flashed Aylin her infamous, pointy toothed grin. 

“Ah, the weakling has returned, I see,” she slinked over to the younger woman, standing tall in front of her. “Such a disappointment you gave the guild last night, was it not? I don’t know why Sergei holds you in such high regards. You don’t look like much to me.” 

Sergei placed a possessive hand over Aylin’s shoulder, “Now, now, Cal. Enough teasing. Everyone makes mistakes. She says she wasn’t feeling well. Ate some bad meat. Happens to the best of us. Aylin is our guest and should be treated as such. She’s here for a chat over drinks. Why don’t you make us some of your special tea?” His eyes flashed into his wife, giving her a silent command. “The kind we save for our very important guests. Aylin needs to be reminded how much her community values her.” 

Calypso smiled and bowed her head, “Of course, dear.” 

Aylin was led into the dining room with the sounds of Calypso rustling through the cabinets following her out the door. A long, black cherry dining table, lined with tall chairs, greeted them. At the head of the table was a throne, carved out of the trunk of a tree and adorned with giant wolf claws at the end of the legs. Kraven sank down onto the pelt covered seat. He looked like a true king of his castle. He waved a large hand for her to sit in one of the normal chairs beside him. 

She took a hesitant seat, having stayed quiet this whole time, terrified that speaking the wrong words would get her further into trouble. It was better to play defense with Sergei. Let him take the lead so she could match his energy. 

“It’s been a while since you’ve been in our home,” he mused, lazily scratching at his beard. “You used to visit all the time with your father. I believe the last time you stepped foot inside these walls was when you were merely 16 years of age.” 

After Samuel and Emir’s funeral. 

Sergei had held a repast at his home after the burial service. Everyone in town had attended, each bringing a dish of food or drinks, to show their support for the fallen members. Nesrin was too busy weeping in the bathroom to know her daughter was getting wasted off some stolen liquor. Aylin had snuck away from the guests with her bottle in hand to hide in one of Segei’s guest rooms. The rest of the night was a blur but she distantly remembered him finding her tucked away in the corner behind a bed and holding her while she cried. Everything after that was dark. That entire year had been dark. 

She remembered a time when she felt protected in his arms. His presence used to come with a warm safety. Now, it came with a foreboding sense of danger, like stumbling upon a sleeping rattlesnake. If she was careful enough, she might get away without a fight. If she took one wrong step, all it would take was a mere second for the snake to strike. 

“Things got bad after-” She stopped. She didn’t need to say anything else. 

Sergei gave a solemn nod, “Yes. I can imagine. Sam was my good friend. He was an important, valuable member of our guild. It was hard for everyone.” 

He was studying her face, trying to read every micro expression she held, but she kept her features stiff. She should have left sooner. Maybe if she hadn't spent so much time doting on Kedi, she would have escaped before Sergei arrived. She wished she was already back with Peter and wondered how long he would stay in her trailer before he started to wonder if she’d ever return. 

“Who’s Peter?” Sergei asked with an air of innocence, as if he had directly read her mind, but kept a close eye on how she responded. He was carefully studying her every move. 

Aylin’s eyes widened in shock for only a split second before she softened her face but there was no doubt that Sergei had caught it. Had he read her mind? There was no other way he could possibly know about Peter…was there? Her stomach churned with nerves at the question but she raised her eyebrows in feigned confusion, “What do you mean?” 

He shifted on his throne, leaning towards her, and placing his arm on the table, “When I came to pick you up, I heard you say ‘I don’t think Peter would mind the extra company.’ So, who’s Peter?”

That’s what she got for speaking out loud to a cat. She should have kept her mouth shut. 

“He’s my friend,” she lied, thinking on her feet. “Works at the gas station a few miles out. He works nights. I’ve met him a few times and we got to talking. He enjoys hiking as much as me. He was planning a trip of his own so I invited him on mine. I thought we could both use the company.” 

“Is he your boyfriend?” Sergei’s tone was light but his tense shoulders gave off the impression of a possessive, jealous lover. Aylin was beginning to see him as an overgrown child who refused to share his toys with others. She felt like she was nothing more than his property. 

She repressed a gulp, refusing to let her eyes wander from his, “No. He’s a friend.” 

He ignored her statement. “After Leah Rivera, I thought you might not be not interested in men. It’s good to know you appreciate both sides,” Sergei leaned back to give off the illusion of someone who was casually lounging instead of someone fishing for information. They were both playing a difficult game of chess, each crafting their next move, while simultaneously trying to find their opponents weakness to exploit.  “Cal swings both ways, too.” 

“He’s not my boyfriend. He’s just someone who enjoys hiking as much as me,” Aylin’s jaw tightened, giving him a stiff reply. She desperately hoped the heat burning behind her cheeks wasn’t outwardly noticeable. Her racing heart spiked at the mention of Leah. That was a name she hadn’t heard spoken aloud in years. “I don’t swing any way. Leah was nothing more than a friend, too.” 

Liar. Leah was more than a friend. She was Aylin’s childhood best friend, her favorite person, her first crush, her first love. Leah used to be her everything. 

Until she was nothing. 

“Right, right,” he chuckled. “Cal and I were just friends once. I get it. But, Aylin, you know how this guild feels about outsiders. You can not trust them. It’s best you let that friendship drift away before it’s too late. I don’t want you going on a trip with that boy. It’s too dangerous. Cancel it. Stop seeing him. There’s more than enough eligible men here for you to attach yourself to. I can think of at least three off the top of my head who would love a chance. Stay within the guild.” 

She had tried to stay within the guild until Sergei caught on about her and Leah’s relationship. She remembered his eyes flaring with hatred when he saw them share a quick kiss behind the school house one afternoon. Neither of the girls could understand why he would care what a couple of sixteen year olds got up to. It wasn’t long after that Leah’s entire family disappeared in the middle of the night. One day they were there, the next they were gone. Banished. No explanations given. No goodbyes said. Their empty house was demolished, as per tradition, whenever someone leaves the guild. Erase everything and build back up from scratch without the tainted memories. They were to never speak about the Rivera’s again. Every ounce of Leah’s existence in Aylin’s life was gone overnight until it was almost as if she never existed at all. If it wasn’t for the pictures hidden in a shoebox in the back of her closet, sometime’s Aylin might wonder if she dreamed up the entire thing. First, her best friend disappeared, then, her father and brother were slaughtered by wolves. Sixteen had not been kind to her. 

But that was years ago. Leah was gone and so was the person Aylin used to be. She didn’t want Peter to become another pained memory added to the ever growing pile of forgotten people. She would protect this one. She wouldn’t let him be another soul for Sergei to steal from her. 

Even if that made her a traitor. 

She fixed a pleasant smile onto her face, “You’re probably right. I don’t know him that well anyway. I was just looking for a hiking buddy. Not a big deal and I’d better be safe than sorry. You never really know what those outsiders are like. Although, I do think I would be able to overtake him if it ever came to that. I’ve taken down werewolves. I think I can manage to get the upper hand on a random gas station employee. You’ve trained us well.” She threw Sergie her best attempt at a cheeky wink despite the anxious tightening of her throat. Her desperation for him to believe her was suffocating. 

Outsiders. Traitors. Banishment. 

Maybe Peter was right. She might be in a cult. 

The truth hit her hard. She forced a smile onto her face despite wanting to slide under the table and crawl away. 

Canceling fake plans with an imaginary boyfriend was easier than the truth of her deception. Outsider Peter was better than Werewolf Peter. One was a simple mistake at the hands of a lovestruck young woman. The other was direct treason against everything she ever knew. 

He didn’t look impressed with her response.

Earthy, herbal smells wafted out from the kitchen door. She caught notes of lavender and chamomile mixed with some kind of sharp spice she was unfamiliar with. Sergei noticed her analyzing the scent. 

“It’s not something we grow here in the mountains,” he remarked, blatantly ignoring her attempts to butter him up. “Calypso has family in Haiti. They send her all sorts of home grown products she can’t get here. She likes to think of herself as a bit of an alchemist when she’s in the kitchen. She makes the most wonderful tea. You’ll love it.”

As if on cue, Calypso burst through the doorway with a tray in hand. A clear teapot was placed on the table in front of them. Bits of loose herbs floated around inside the amber liquid. Skinny, swirling trails of hypnotizing white steam rose from the spout. She lifted the pot to pour out the delicious smelling tea into the delicate china cups. Aylin was handed the first one. 

“For our guest,” Calypso smirked. “Made with love.” 

Aylin ignored the snarky edge to her words and gave a polite smile. She took a small sip, happy for the distraction. It burned her tongue but slid smoothly down her throat. It was like nothing she’d ever had before. Warm and cozy with a sharp tang of spice as a lingering aftertaste. She took another big gulp as it gave her something to do with her fidgety hands. 

Calypso perched on the thick arm of Sergei’s throne as she watched her guest drink, “How is it?” 

“It’s wonderful. Thank you,” she feigned a smile. She wasn’t lying. It was delicious. She just struggled to make her voice sound genuine when her and Peter’s lives hung on her every word. 

“Pleased to hear it.” 

Sergei patted his wife’s thigh, “Aylin was just telling me about her gas station boyfriend. An outsider. They’re already planning a trip together.” 

Calypso leaned against him, running her fingers through his hair, “A gas station boyfriend? Even she can do better than that.” 

“He’s not my bo-” She was cut off by Sergei. 

“I already told her that it would be best to let that relationship fade away. I think we could find her someone better. One of us. I would be doing Sam a disservice if I let his daughter run away with an outsider.” 

Aylin bit her tongue and refused to mention that her mother was once an outsider. The longer they stayed on the topic of her lie, the more anxious she became. She didn’t want to have to keep thinking on her feet. It was exhausting her psyche. 

“I said I would. It’s not a big deal,” she huffed, taking another sip of her tea. “He means nothing to me. I just thought it might be fun to have someone to hike with but I prefer being on my own anyway.” 

Calypso smirked, “That’s what I like to hear. Outsiders are nothing. They don’t deserve your time of day. You have everything you need right here.” She shifted her body to lean forward, her deep brown eyes penetrating into Aylin’s very soul. “We’re all you need.” 

She was most definitely in a cult. How could she have ever been so oblivious? 

She might be the stupidest person alive. 

This would be her downfall. The people she loved and fought to protect were the one’s holding the knife. They would be the ones to fatally stab her. Not the Lycans. 

Before the realization could overtake her, Calypso’s loose robe had fallen open when she moved and her right breast had pushed its way out from the silky material. The sight of the woman’s freshly exposed skin caused her spiraling mind to halt. Sergei’s arm wrapped around his wife to grasp onto her breast, absentmindedly flicking her dark nipple with his thumb, as they both stared in her direction. Aylin’s ears heated up with a mixture of disbelief and horrific embarrassment. She quickly averted her gaze to the table. She got uncomfortable watching people kiss in public. Watching someone blatantly fondle his wife in front of her made her want to claw out of her own skin. They had always been overly affectionate with each other but it had never been as in her face as it was now. This was different. New. It was like they were challenging her. Like this was some kind of sick test she’d have to pass. From the moment Sergei showed up behind her, she was being tested. Her every move was stuck under a microscope and picked apart with a watchful eye. 

These were not the people she once thought they were.  

A new found hatred wrapped around her like a warm blanket. They were toying with her. Teasing her. Playing with her. They were getting off on watching her squirm. They liked this. 

This was who they really were. 

Aylin focused on her tea to keep herself distracted. She heard Calypso stifle a laugh under her breath. They were getting off on her discomfort. Her head was starting to feel dizzy and her heart felt like it was pounding in her ears. She suddenly felt very sweaty like there was a fire igniting in her stomach and spreading up her chest towards her throat. She hated them. That much was clear to her now. The guild was not a safe place. It never was. It had only felt that way because she was drinking the Kool Aid along with everyone else just like Peter said. Her whole life she had been fed a lie which she happily lapped down. Her world was crumbling down around her. Piece by piece it fell with deafening crashes and she was beginning to suffocate on the smokey rubble filling her lungs. 

A headache was rapidly growing and her vision blurred for a millisecond before she blinked it back into focus. 

“Ms. Aylin was just about to tell me what happened last night,” Sergei spoke, still massaging Calypso without any hint of embarrassment. His tone had flipped, losing the fake lightheartedness from earlier. He was serious. There was no more time for games. “She was going to explain exactly why she refused to kill a wolf in front of her entire guild.” 

She was?

“For someone who claims to have killed two on her own, without any proof, you’d think a malnourished, caged bitch would be easy,” Calypso remarked. “It sounds to me like there might be a little white lie hiding somewhere in your story, dear girl. Don’t worry, darling, you can tell us. We won’t judge. We just want the truth.”  

She took another sip of the tea to avoid having to answer them right away. Was she the only one drinking? Neither of them had touched the stuff. 

Aylin didn’t want to look in their direction to check. She didn't want to watch what they were doing. They were making her uncomfortable on purpose. A power play. A way to prove that she was nothing but inferior to them. She didn’t want to be here. Her head felt like it was swimming with a million thoughts but none of them were making it to her lips. Her body was refusing to function. She couldn’t make her mouth and brain work as one. 

“I, uh,” she stuttered over her words. “I…” 

Her mind was starting to feel like it was slowly filling with sand. An hourglass at the verge of tipping. Her mouth felt dry so she downed the rest of her cup. 

“That girl- she…she…was just…so…so young…” Aylin gave a slow blink, her chin bobbing down to her chest before quickly steadying her head back upright. “I…feel…”

She was suddenly exhausted. The empty tea cup slipped from her hand to shatter into pieces across the floor. She finally turned her attention to the couple, fearing that she was coming down with an illness. She was seeing double. Their forms wavered like rain in a puddle. 

“Something’s not right,” she whispered.

“That would be the tea,” Sergei spoke, his voice steady. “Don’t worry, my dear. You’ll be fine.” 

He pushed himself up from his throne to walk over to her. Aylin slumped into his arms, feeling paralyzed, as he easily lifted her to his chest. He cradled her there while he moved through his house, each room flashing slowly before her lagging eyes, until he stopped in front of a large bookcase. 

“Wha-” she tried to speak but words were useless to her. 

Sergei kicked his foot at something hidden against the side of the bookcase, tucked away from view, where the wall meets the floor. 

With a low grumble, the bookcase slid slowly to the right to reveal a set of wooden steps leading underground. They creaked underfoot as he carried deeper into the abyss. 

The musty smell of mildew and copper hit her nose. 

“No…” Aylin managed to whisper, in a last ditch effort to protect herself before the drugs completely captured her mind. 

“Sleep now,” Calypso purred over Sergei’s shoulder. “We have some important business to discuss. You’ll need your strength. Shh, drift off, little one. We’ll keep watch over you. Sleep.” 

[CHAPTER FIVE (part two)]

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[blooming-violets]

CREATURE LIKE ME || CHAPTER EIGHT: PYRRIHIC VICTORY

[TASM Peter Parker!Werewolf AU]

Story Summary: Kraven and his guild of hunters have been tracking and quelling the werewolf population for centuries. The time has come for Aylin to complete her first solo hunt to prove herself to the guild. It was supposed to be simple. One wolf, one death, one victory. She never expected to end up with a secret hostage on her hands.

[link to chapter index]

A woodchipper. 

That’s what her body felt like it had been shoved through. 

She had been wrapped up and pushed through the spinning blades until she was nothing more than bloody pulp. 

“Fuck me,” she groaned. 

Aylin forced her stiff, heavy lids to open. A layer of sleep crusted over her lashes, making it difficult to see. She rubbed at her eyes with the back of her hand to clear them. When they finally came into focus, she was nose to nose with wide, golden eyes staring expectantly back at her. Black, sleek fur rubbed against her forehead as her cat, Kedi, rammed face first into her head with a long, drawn out whine. 

“Yes, good morning to you, too,” she grumbled. 

“It’s actually evening. You slept almost 16 hours. Thought you might not ever wake up.” 

A familiar voice popped up from behind her. 

Aylin rolled over, wincing from the shooting pains electrifying her body, to find Peter sitting on the edge of her bed. Except this wasn’t her bed. She glanced around the small room and recognized it as the same motel she brought Peter on the night they met. She could tell because of how cheap and ugly the decor was; like it had been redecorated once in the early 70’s then never touched again. It had the same musty smell of mold and stale cigarette smoke that she remembered so well. The thick, avocado green curtains were drawn closed so the only source of light was the flashing colors from the television. He had kept it on silent, probably so as not to disturb her sleep, and he was sitting as far off the edge of the bed as he could without being on the floor. She noticed the only chair in the room was propped up under the door knob as an added line of defense to keep anyone out. 

Peter was wearing one of her brother’s old, navy blue sweatshirts and gray joggers she had brought him to try on a few days ago. A pair of run down work boots lay tossed against the back wall as if he had nonchalantly kicked them off his feet after he got settled. Her brother’s borrowed clothes seemed to fit well enough. It was strange seeing him wear Emir’s things. It had been over five years since anyone had donned them. It was about time they got put to use instead of collecting dust in his bedroom tomb. It was also strange to see Peter wearing a shirt, regardless of who it once belonged to. Since she met him, he had always been shirtless.  

She sort of missed the view. 

Aylin glanced down at her own self to see what sort of disheveled state she was in. She had been respectfully covered with the hideously floral bedspread but, underneath, she was still in the same attire she’d fled in. Underwear to cover her lower half and tightly wrapped bandages to cover her top half. Nearly naked and covered in blood, dirt, and sweat. Funny how their roles had been reversed since the last time they had taken refuge in this motel. 

“Why is Kedi here?” She croaked through dry lips. She was in desperate need of water. 

Peter looked between her and the cat perched at her shoulder, “I’m guessing that's Kedi?”

She nodded. 

“Before you passed out, you were really upset about not being able to find your mother. You didn’t want to leave anyone behind when we ran,” he gave a sheepish shrug. “I assumed that meant taking the cat, too.” 

She raised her brows in surprise, “He let you pick him up and put him in the car?” 

Peter gave a weary glance back at Kedi and shook his head, “It didn’t go as smoothly as you’re making it sound…” He raised his arms to show off a myriad of red scratches clawing down his skin and pointed bite marks sunk into his hand. The cat had put up a good fight but it seemed Peter came out victorious. 

Aylin gave a soft chuckle of amusement, “Yeah. That sounds more like it.”

She looked over her shoulder to smile fondly at her cat, happy that he was safe with them, then turned back to Peter. “How’d you pay for this room?”

He shrugged again, chewing on the hard bit of calloused skin next to his thumb nail, “You had your wallet in the car. You also had a bunch of stuff packed into the trunk. I brought some of it in after I got you settled in bed.” 

She struggled to prop herself up onto her elbows to get into a sitting position but the pain was too much. She collapsed back onto the stiff mattress with a muffled whine. 

Peter scooted closer over to her and held out his arm for her to take, “Here. Let me help you.” 

He heaved her up with ease and held her steady until she was sitting on her own. His eyes raked over the red stained bandages wrapped around her chest and covering her back. She could tell it wasn’t the first time he had taken in the sight of her injuries but it still made him uncomfortable. He quickly averted his eyes when he noticed her watching him. 

“I knew something was wrong,” he whispered, avoiding her gaze. “I don’t know how I knew it but I did. I kept telling myself to give you time to come back. You said it might take a while. But then it got to be past midnight. It’s almost a full moon, you know. In two nights. Everything feels stronger when it gets closer to a full moon. Maybe that’s how I knew. I felt some kind of intuition. It was like I was being pulled to find you. I still waited, though. I told myself it was just in my head. That I promised to wait for you at the camper.” He swallowed, sounding as culpable as she felt. “I should have looked for you sooner. I shouldn’t have let you go back there at all. I knew how dangerous Kraven was. I should have kept you safe. What happened when you went back? What did he do to you?”

Guilt rained down on her as the memories opened from the dark cloud above her head. Murderer. She had killed the Lycan girl. Stabbed her straight through the heart. Ripped her life from her without ever knowing her name. She was a murderous Silver Colt, born and raised, destined to be nothing more than an oven for her leader to stick his seed into. A plaything, perfectly groomed to his liking. Was any part of her real? Or was she entirely constructed to be the person he wanted her to be? 

She could feel Kraven’s hands all over her body. They lingered and clung to her skin like an unshakable memory. It made her feel sick. Dirty. She would have gladly taken Calypso with the whip over ever having to be in the same room with that man again. Calypso may have broken her body but Kraven had shattered her soul. Whatever dreamlike bliss she’d felt upon waking in the safety of this motel beside Peter had sizzled out faster than she could blink. He had become a beacon of hope for her to cling onto and a pleasant memory for her to dissociate to. 

But he wasn’t real. The Peter she dreamed of in that basement lived only in her labyrinth. The one sitting beside her was someone else. He was his own person. Not a perfect figment of her imagination. He felt liable for her safety only because she had saved him his captive fate. He was in her debt.  

She felt a vacant, numbness settle into the depths of her blackened mind as shadows crept around her sharp edges. Her escape from the basement was a pyrrhic victory. 

“Nothing happened,” she mumbled, her words sounding mechanical in her ears. “I’m fine.”

Aylin felt constricted in her every move. The dried blood, splattered over her, pinched at her skin. The wraps Calypso had done felt too tight. Her underwear was crusty and hard from the blood that dripped from her back and soaked through the fabric. Her hair was stiff and sticking to everything. She felt suffocated inside her own body. Not even the tall walls of her labyrinth were a safe place to linger for long. It had become polluted with the toxic chemicals Kraven had spilled over every part of her. She didn’t know who she was anymore. 

She needed to crawl out of her own skin. 

“I need a shower,” she stated. 

Peter’s eyes darted between her and the bed spread at his legs like he was afraid to keep her in his gaze for too long but equally afraid to have her out of it. She knew he didn’t believe a word she had said. She obviously wasn’t fine but he was either too shy, or too smart, to confront her on her claims. 

He nodded slowly as if every move he made was calculated to keep the peace between them, “What, uhm, what’s under the bandages?” He quickly added, trying to play it off like it was nothing more than a nonchalant question, “Just because it might hurt to put any wounds under running water. Are you sure you don’t want me to check on them first? Just to be safe?” 

Aylin ignored him and shoved herself to her unsteady feet with a grunt. Peter stood in sync with her, keeping a hand out to catch her should she fall, but not actually closing the gap to physically touch her. He kept his sights on his bare feet. He looked terrified to disrespect her by staring at her in just her underwear. He still didn’t know where he stood in her allegiance. The last time they spoke she had vacillated between being his friend and cursing him out with little warning. He wasn’t sure what wrong move he could make that would get him in trouble this time. 

She gave him a sad smile in the hopes to ease his concern. He didn’t need to be frightened of her. He had saved her life. He had done everything to erase his debt. She no longer considered herself a true Silver Colt. She would never be able to return to her home again which meant that she had no more use for him. No information he could give her would ever erase her knowledge that her entire life was a lie. He was free to leave whenever he wanted. 

“You don’t have to stay anymore, Peter,” she muttered under her breath, stopping halfway to the bathroom with him still hovering at her side. “I think we’re even now. I saved you. You saved me. You’re a free man. You’re not a prisoner. I don’t need you for information anymore. I’m not going to kill you. I refuse to. Our deal is over. Nothing matters, anyway. It was all for nothing. You can go.” 

Aylin leaned down to collect her duffle bag from the floor beside the television stand. It was sitting next to a case of water bottles and some camping food, her bucket of first aid supplies, and her crossbow. He had brought in everything that she could need for when she awoke, including a weapon to protect herself with if she felt the need too. When she tugged the strap of the bag over her sore shoulder, she straightened up to stare back, forcing herself to make eye contact with him.

Peter had a look that was hard for her to read. Apprehension. Dismay. Melancholy. Rejection. Confusion. They all flashed across his warm, brown eyes while he processed what she was saying. It hurt to see him like that but he deserved to be free. He didn’t need her. She was useless to him. 

“No,” his assertion was evident in his tone. “I’m staying.” 

Her heart sank with sorrow and an anger rose in her chest. She didn’t want him here. She didn’t want him to look at her with those pity filled eyes. She didn’t want to be responsible for another unnecessary death. Kraven would hunt her down and find her. He would slaughter anyone she was with. She would never be safe from his hold. People don’t get to leave the guild without consequences. She knew that now. Peter was better off on his own. 

“No, you aren’t. You’re leaving. Go,” she shot back. “I don’t want you here anymore. Thank you for getting me out and bringing me here but I no longer need you. You repaid your debt. You balanced the scales. You can go.”

He shook his head in defiance, “I don’t care. I’m not going anywhere.” His arms crossed over his chest and he planted his feet firmly against the worn out, red carpet as if daring her to try and move him.

Aylin stomped her foot with annoyance, “There’s no point in you sticking around! You’re only going to get hurt. I bring death wherever I go! I’m the reason they’re all dead.” Her voice cracked but she kept her chin held high. “My father, my brother, probably my mother and Leah and her family, Sierra…that wolf girl…I’m…cursed. I’m not a good person. I’m a murderer. A fraud. I’m not anything you should be around. I only bring pain. It’s not worth it. Just go. You’ll be better off. ‘M gonna go wash up and when I come out, I hope you’re far, far away from here.” 

She turned on her heels, refusing to look any longer at his perturbed face stinging with rejection, and slammed the bathroom door behind her. The bag fell from her shoulder to the tiles under foot. Aylin nearly collapsed onto the edge of the sink, holding herself up with the palms of her hands, and hanging her head. 

She didn’t want Peter to leave her. Not really. He was the only friend she had in this world. He was the only one who could ever even attempt to understand her but she still felt the need to push him away. She was toxic. Every bit of her was shriveled up and soured. When she lifted her head to stare back at her reflection in the mirror, she didn’t recognize the woman on the other end. A stranger. Dark bags encircled her barren eyes. Red stained up her cheeks and over her lips. She pulled back the corner of her mouth and tilted her head to see the gap in her teeth. The top, second molar from the back on her left side was now nothing more than a bloody hole. She poked her tongue up into the gap, feeling the smoothness of her gums, and pressed it in harder to feel the jolt of pain. 

Pain was starting to become the only feeling she could accurately recognize. Everything else couldn’t be trusted. 

Aylin pushed away from the sink to strip herself from her soiled underwear. She kicked them into the trash before turning on the shower to heat up and taking a tender seat on the toilet. With the sound of the water pounding against the tub, she could no longer hear Peter standing outside the door. He had been pacing back and forth only moments ago but now there was nothing but silence. 

A pang of anxiety settled into her stomach at the thought of him actually leaving. There would be a chance that when she left this bathroom, she would be alone. Truly alone. She wasn’t sure exactly what she was supposed to do then. Try to find her mother? Make sure she was safe? She couldn’t live in a motel forever. If she did end up finding her mom, they’d be homeless. It’s not like either of them had any work experience or life outside of the guild. She didn’t even think she had a social security number or was on any government records. Aylin didn’t exist outside of the Silver Colts. 

After she finished up on the toilet, she washed her hands the best she could. Her pinky and ring finger on her right hand were still tightly bound together and held straight by the splint. She was missing three finger nails on the same hand. The soft nail beds stung as she applied soap to them in an attempt to clean the blood. With her hands still dripping with water, she dug her toothbrush and toothpaste out from her bag to brush her teeth, careful to avoid the few in the back that ached with pain whenever the bristles got too close to the missing tooth. She desperately needed to rid the taste of Kraven from her mouth. She gulped down the water flowing from the sink to satiate her thirst and finally turned to the shower. 

Before stepping in, she wanted to remove her bandages. Everything needed to be cleaned. It wasn’t like Calypso washed her back before she threw the salve on it and bandaged her. Her body needed to be completely sanitized for her to feel human again. From looking behind her shoulder in the mirror, she could see where the end of the wrap was tucked into the middle of her back. She tried again and again to manipulate her arm around her back to grab at the end piece but it evaded her reach every time. Her shoulders were too sore from holding her body upright for hours. They ached with sharp stabs of pain each time she tried to reach the end of the bandage until tears pricked up in the corners of her eyes. 

All she wanted was to be clean. 

Aylin let out a frustrated yell and threw herself to the floor with the dramatics of a toddler throwing a tantrum. The tiles were dirty and cold under her bare bottom as she draped herself over the edge of the tub with her head cradled in her arms. She couldn’t do it. Everything she knew, her home, her people, her entire history, was ripped away from her. She had nowhere to go. Her mother was missing. She had no way of knowing if she got her note and escaped. There was no way to contact her. They didn’t have cell phones in the guild. They were cut off from society. Her mother could be anywhere. She could be in trouble and Aylin would never know. There was nothing left. 

She was an outcast. Banished from her people. A traitor. A pariah. 

She wasn’t part of the Silver Colts. She wasn’t part of the Lycans. She wasn’t part of the normal, human institution. She was no one. 

Loud, heavy sobs shook through her chest and blubbered out her mouth. Hot, fat tears poured down her cheeks and splashed to the floor. She had never cried like this before. She had never felt so vulnerable and lost. Even when her father and brother died, she had never been this broken. 

Adrift in the void of stray souls with no one to turn to. 

The bathroom door creaked open. Peter padded up softly behind her. She couldn’t move to look at him. His presence only made her cry harder. He should be gone. He should have run. His loyalty was misplaced. He was confused. 

She felt him quietly kneel down behind her and gently untuck the bandage from its hold. He carefully and silently unwrapped it around her until it lay in a bloody pile at her side. The tips of his warm fingers ghosted over the slashes from the whip as he took in the sight for the first time. She tried to gain back control of her sobs but it was useless. The flood gates had been released. 

Her wet eyes squeezed closed at his touch. So soft. So careful. He had no right to be this gentle with her. He should hate her for who she had been associated with. 

Peter’s hand landed on her shoulder, giving it a delicate squeeze. 

“Get up,” he whispered. “Let’s get you clean. You’ll feel more like yourself then. Trust me.”

Trust him. 

Aylin did. She trusted him more than anyone. She wiped the tears from her cheeks and allowed him to grip under her arms to help her stand. He guided her into the tub, keeping his eyes politely averted from her naked form, and waited until he felt she was stable enough before pulling his hands away. Slowly, he pushed the shower curtain closed to give her privacy. 

“You okay?” He asked. 

A fresh wave of tears hit her and she doubled over with more sobs under the weak stream of water, “Y-yeah.” When she heard him start to leave the bathroom, she called back out, letting the panic take over, “Wait! Peter…can you…can you stay with me? Don’t go…don’t leave me. I-I need you.” 

She could practically hear the smile in his voice.

“I was never going to leave. You can’t get rid of me that easily.” 

He flipped the toilet seat closed and settled down on top of it. His long legs extended out to perch his feet on the edge of the tub. She could see the shower curtain pull tighter where they rested and felt a sense of calm settle in her mind now that she knew he was with her. 

Maybe she didn’t have to be alone. Peter was alone. They could be alone together. 

The water cascaded down her chest. She placed her face into the stream to scrub at her cheeks with her hands. Brown, dark blood washed from her body and circled around the drain. She was afraid to turn her back to the shower, knowing how badly it would hurt when the water hit her wounds, but she needed to wash the blood from her hair. 

“Are you alright?” Peter asked when he heard her muffled wince of pain as she turned around. 

Aylin smiled woefully to herself, lathering her scalp with the cheap motel shampoo, “It just hurts. I’ll be okay.” A few more lingering tears slipped down her face to mix in with the steaming water. The water pressure was weak but at least it was hot. Her guilt clung to her tighter than the steam clouding around her face. “Peter?” 

“Hmm?” 

Her eyes gazed down at the sun seared into her thigh. It was blistering with angry, red lines outlining the rays of the sun. The mark of a Silver Colt, the mark of Kraven, festering with a growing infection. “I’m sorry. For everything. I’m sorry I was a bitch to you. I’m sorry I was a part of the group of people who hurt you. I’m sorry I kept you when I should have let you go the day I found you. I’m sorry for promising to kill you and refusing to go through with it. I’m sorry for being a Silver Colt.” 

He was silent for a long time. She tenderly washed her body with the soap provided to her as she waited for his response, grazing over her wounds the best she could, and letting the water carry away her filth. With each passing moment under the stream, she cleansed herself further from Kraven. 

“I don’t blame you,” Peter finally whispered. She could hardly hear him over the shower. “You acted within the parameters you knew. You saved my life. You showed me that things could be different. I didn’t have to live the way I was. There was still something more out there. Everything was hopeless until I met you.” 

Was it no longer hopeless? 

She felt hopeless. Directionless. She couldn’t see the same vision he did. They were moving in opposite directions. 

“I don’t want to die anymore,” he stated with finality to his tone. 

She did. 

Aylin turned the knob of the shower to shut it off. The water sputtered to a halt, leaving her wet, dripping, and quickly chilling as the warm droplets cooled on her skin. 

Peter shuffled behind the curtain and soon a white towel poked through the side. She gladly took it, gently wiping herself dry. 

“I’ll be in the other room,” he said. “I’m going to set up the first aid kit for when you come out. Take your time. I’m not going anywhere. I’ll just be on the other side of this door.”

She listened for the light click to indicate the closing door before she pulled back the shower curtain and stepped out. Condensation clung to the mirror. She whipped it away with the palm of her hand. She looked rough but there was a glimmer of Aylin staring back at her. Underneath all that blood and sweat, she was still human. Her red trimmed, puffy eyes stayed locked onto herself as she scrunched the water out of her long hair with the towel. 

There was still softness in the world despite what she had gone through. Peter was proof of that. He had stayed. He didn’t run the first chance he got. He wasn’t helping her because he felt like he was forced to. His compassion was able to extend further than his trauma. 

He didn’t want to die anymore. 

She wondered what caused that change.

Aylin knelt down to dig through her bag. She grabbed a pair of clean underwear and some loose fitting workout shorts. Anything else would rub against her brand. She was worried about the infection that was beginning to form around the edges and guessed her back was probably looking the same. After quickly getting into the clean bottoms, she held the towel against her bare chest to keep herself somewhat decent before stepping out of the bathroom. Putting on a shirt before she wrapped her back wounds would be pointless. 

Peter was standing at the edge of the bed with the bucket of first aid open in front of him. He had laid out some gauze and bandages on the bed spread and was reading the back label of a yellow tube. He casually glanced in her direction with raised brows, “Is Neosporin what you need? It says antibiotic ointment. That’s probably good, right?” 

She gave him a quiet nod. He was beautiful. Forgiving. Tender. She had the urge to be held by him, cradled in the safety of his arms, with her face nuzzled into the crook of his neck. There was a newly found desperation growing where all she wanted to was to feel loved by another person. By him. Anything to make the pain go away. 

His eyes wandered back over to her, slowly toying down her body then back up to her face. She didn’t mind and found herself blushing under his obvious ogling. He gave her a lopsided grin, “Who knew there was an actual person under all that grime?”  

A smile broke out across her face, cracking through her hardened exterior. Her first real smile since she left him at camp. Those were the same words she had spoken to him the night he shuffled out of the shower the last time they were here. Their roles had been completely reversed. 

For a fleeting second, they held onto each other’s eyes, finding a common place between them. An appreciation. A care. A yearning.

A love. 

He was the first one to break the moment, hoisting the bucket off the bed and patting his hand on the mattress, “Come lay down. Let me look at your back.” 

Aylin did as she was told, happy to let someone else, someone she trusted, take control for a little a while. Once she was face first on top of the bed, she pulled the towel out from under her chest and rolled it up to use as a pillow. It was wet and cooling on her cheek as she closed her eyes. Her hair was tossed over her shoulder, away from her back. She could feel Kedi pawing at the dripping ends before he flopped over and dozed off. 

She wasn’t alone. 

There was life in this room besides her own. Life that she cared about. Life that she wanted to protect. 

Peter leaned over to examine the damage then looked back to the small tube of ointment, “I don’t think this will be enough.” 

Aylin cracked her eyes open to stare at him through half closed slits, “Does my back look infected? If not then I’ll use it on my thigh instead. That definitely needs it more.” 

She watched him glance down to the back of her thighs which were parted in a wider stance to keep her skin from touching. He chewed on the inside of his cheek. 

“Yeah, about that,” he spoke with a timid inflection. “What exactly am I looking at? When I brought you in from the car, I could kind of see it. It was all blistered but it looked a bit like it was spider shape or something. I didn’t want to push your legs apart too much to get a better look, not that you’re not nice to look at or anything, you were just sleeping…and I was…I was just…trying to…see…and make sure you were okay…” 

Aylin rolled her eyes and cut off his anxious rambling, “It’s a sun. Half of one. Kraven burned it into me to prove I was still a Silver Colt. That I was still one of them. That I was his.” 

Peter took a delicate seat on the edge of the bed beside her. He raised one brow with a look of mild intrigue, “Kraven?”

She huffed, her voice dripping with sarcasm, “Yes? You remember him? The guy who ruined your life?”

“I know who you’re talking about.” A smile danced across his lips. “It’s just, well, you’ve always called him Sergei. The last time I brought up Kraven the Hunter you got all pissed off and had a look of death on your face like you’d kill me for disrespecting him by calling him that. Suddenly, he’s no longer Sergei. He’s Kraven. That’s what all the Lycan call him. You flipped sides.” 

Aylin let out a long breath, her eyes stared emotionless at the bare wall across from her, not finding the same amusement he clearly did, “That’s me. The traitor.”

Peter flopped down on his stomach next to her. His arms curled up to form a place for his head to rest as he stared, nose to nose, at her. He was becoming more comfortable around her by the second. She enjoyed the change. 

“I like Aylin the Traitor better than Aylin the Cult Member,” he muttered with a grin.

He was so close. She wanted to kiss him. She wanted to feel something besides guilt and shame. He was so delicately handsome. 

And he was still here despite everything. 

“My entire life was a lie,” she whispered back to him, needing to share the burden of her life with someone she trusted. “Everything. He wanted me before I was even born. He wanted me to be his perfect…” She didn’t know what. Wife? Baby mother? Side piece? “He wanted me to have his children.” 

Peter’s brow furrowed, his joy fading, “What do you mean?” 

“Him and his wife. They couldn’t have children. He wanted an heir. They decided that the best way to do that was to create the perfect person from scratch. Someone loyal and obedient. Someone they could manipulate. Someone who would do whatever they asked,” she felt the tears pressing back up. “Someone as pathetic and naive as me.”’ 

She let out a dark, humorless laugh, “And the crazy thing is, if I had never met you, I would have done it. Without a second thought. I would have willingly agreed to it because I trusted him. He would have known best. If that’s what he said I needed to do to help our people, then I would have done it. It’s only because of you, I knew better. I’m so fucking stupid.” 

Peter’s hand reached up to capture a stray tear rolling down her cheek with his thumb. He gently wiped it away, letting his fingers push back through her hair, and lacing them against her skull. 

“You’re not stupid,” he murmured. “You were manipulated by a very bad man. If your life is full of isolation, then how could you ever know anything else? You did what you had to do to survive in the environment you were given. It’s not your fault you were born into a life like that. It’s what you do once you find out the truths that show what kind of person you really are. Look at you, Aylin. You’re not dead. You’re still here. You escaped. There is still more life out there. Don’t be like me. Don’t give up yet. You have no idea what kind of person you’re capable of becoming. Your life is just beginning. Mine is, too. We can still start fresh. They don’t deserve you, anyway.” 

“I killed her,” Aylin breathed. If he wanted to start fresh with her then he needed to know the truth. There were already too many lies in her life for her to keep anymore. “Remember that night I came to the camper and you had heard a girl screaming? They had wheeled out a young girl, a Lycan girl, inside a cage. They wanted me to kill her. I couldn’t do it. I ran back to you. I thought…” She swallowed at the lump forming in her throat. “I thought they would have killed her themselves after I ran.”

She buried her face into the towel, breathing in the scent of the motel shampoo, and closing her eyes to block out the memories as she spoke, “When I went back, when Kraven found me, he locked me in his basement. A torture chamber. It was hidden underground behind a secret bookcase. I wasn’t alone. That Lycan girl was there. She was still alive. He-” She took a deep breath. “He made me kill her this time. She was so weak. They had tortured her so badly. It was horrible. Her body was already shutting down. I think she would have died on her own had I just held off a few more hours. But I did it. I killed her. I didn’t even know her name. She wouldn’t tell me. She was young. Couldn’t be any older than 19. It was me who killed her. No one else. Just me.”

He entangled his hand from her wet hair, much to her heartbreak, and went silent. She could feel him breathing softly next to her as he mulled over what she had said. He still had the choice to leave and walk out if he judged her to be too irredeemable. 

After a quiet minute ticked by, Peter finally spoke, “I killed Kateri Deseronto’s son. He was only little. Five years old. That’s why she had me locked up when you found me. I’m responsible for his death. She wanted me to give her a new child. It was some sick, fucked up power play fueled by her grief and resentment. She lost herself the night he died. It’s hard for me to hate her, despite everything she did to me, because I felt like I deserved it. Her child is dead because of me. You said earlier that you bring death wherever you go. That you were cursed. That everyone was dead because of you.” He shook his head in disagreement. “I thought that, too, about myself. But it’s not us. I didn’t murder Kat’s son with my own hands. It was Kraven’s men who killed him. They were there because they were hunting me but I didn’t kill her son. If you look close enough, every string of blame leads straight back to Kraven the Hunter. He’s the source of everything.” 

Aylin peaked a curious eye out from the safety of her cave. Peter had propped his head up onto his hand, leaning on his side, as he looked down at her with a quiet contemplation. Suddenly, another puzzle piece fell into place. 

“Wait,” she said with a realization. She had heard that story before. She quickly sat up, forgetting she was topless, then hastily threw the towel to her chest when she saw Peter’s eyes widen. “When was that? When did the thing with Kat’s son happen?”

Peter thought for a second, his ears reddening from embarrassment, not quite understanding the gravity of what he was about to say, “I don’t know. Five years ago-ish?” He could tell by the paling look of horror on her face that something wasn’t right. “Why?”

Aylin filled her lungs with a gulp of air to try and settle her nerves, “The night my father and brother died, the night Kraven left them to die, the three of them were hunting you. Kraven told me in the basement that they had found you along with a woman and a little boy. He said that you were trying to regrow your pack after he slaughtered your last one.” 

Peter’s jaw clenched at that statement but he remained quiet. 

“He told me that they found you, he said…oh god…he said Emir ran after the woman and her son while he fought with you. He said that after he stabbed you, he fought with my father. Then he shot Emir. Then he left them both to be killed by a wolf.” Her voice lingered down to nothing but a mere whisper. “By you.”

Peter sat in a stunned silence. His eyes slipped closed and he brought his hands up to massage at his temples. With one hand keeping the towel in place, Aylin reached out with the other to gently caress his knee and drag his attention back to her. 

“I don’t blame you, Peter. It’s not your fault,” she muttered. “They were Silver Colts. They attacked you first. Like you said, everything leads back to Kraven.” 

He frantically shook his head, “No. That’s not how it happened. I told you. I never killed your family. I didn’t know…I didn’t know that was them…but I didn’t kill them. It wasn’t me. I was bleeding out after Kraven attacked me. I could barely move. Kat killed them.” 

Aylin’s eyes widened as ice froze her veins. The memory of running from the pack of wolves with Peter bursts behind her vision. A large, towering black wolf. Hunched over in the middle of the dark, slick wet, rain covered road. Heavy, smokey breaths puffing from her saliva coated jaws. She didn’t chase the car speeding away with her captive. She only stood and watched. Waiting. Plotting. 

Kat was the wolf that had killed her family. 

“Because Emir killed her son,” Aylin stated. 

He gave a solemn nod. 

Her stomach sank. She loved her family. She thought the world of them but, in their death and her grief, she had memorialized them as saints. She had stopped seeing them as people with flaws. They were people who could do no wrong. Frozen forever in her mind as the perfect father and big brother. 

But, like everything else in her life, that wasn’t always the truth. 

The world wasn’t black and white. People were all shades of gray. The people she loved and admired were capable of doing bad things. They were capable of doing wonderful, nobel things, too. They were complex, layered people. Emir could stand up for his little sister and protect her honor down to his last breath and he could also murder someone else’s child because they were associated with a Lycan. He had grown up in the same cult as she did. Generation after generation, the cycle of violence and hate would continue. 

It stopped with her. 

“Why were you with Kat and her son?” She asked. 

Peter gave a small shrug, keeping his sights set to study her face, trying to read her emotions through each little detail he could find, “She found me. She was running from her husband. He was Lycan and had turned her when they got together before she even really knew what that meant. She was young and in love with him so she ignored all the warning signs of him being an abuser. After their son was born, he got worse. Finally she decided to run but she didn’t have the experience of being a Lycan around normal people. She didn’t know how to care for her son as he started going through changes. Her husband had kept them sheltered for years. She didn’t have friends or anyone to go to. I guess she heard that my people-” He cleared his throat, struggling to speak about his pack. “She heard that I was alone. She wanted help. I told her I could help her. I told her I would try to keep them safe. I shouldn’t have done that. I knew Kraven was hunting me. I shouldn’t have had them so close but…I suppose lonely people do stupid things.” 

“Were you in love with her?” She wasn’t sure why that was the first question she asked. A strange sting of jealousy poked at her heart at the thought of him loving someone like Kat. 

A small, sad smile tugged at his lips, “No. The woman I loved is dead. Her name was Gwen. She would have wanted me to help a lost mother and her child, though. Maybe that’s why I did it. Her voice was in my head begging me to do the right thing.” He gave another shrug. “It only served to get a kid killed and look where I ended up because of it.”

Aylin licked her drying lips, “I think the person I loved is dead, too. I think Kraven killed her and her family. I thought they just left in the middle of the night but…I don’t think anyone leaves the Silver Colts without consequences. I think Kraven did it to punish me. Her name was Leah and she was beautiful. She would have liked you. She was always a bit of a rebel while I was always straight laced. She’d be amazed to know I, of all people, befriended a Lycan.” 

Peter smiled at the thought, “We are two very fucked up people with freakishly similar backgrounds.” 

Her sweet chimes of laughter filled the space between them. It felt good to laugh. Healing. 

“I think I was meant to meet you,” she breathed. “I think-” 

She stopped herself from saying what she really wanted to and shook her head to brush away the thought. 

I think you were meant to be mine. 

She rolled back onto her stomach and balled up the towel into a pillow once more, “I think you should help me put as much Neosporin as you can onto my back and then wrap it back up.”

Peter stood up to stand at the foot of the bed and clapped his hands together, “I have a better idea! I know exactly what can heal you in no time. Forget about ointments and creams. I’ve got all the cure you need right here in these veins.” 

Aylin shook her head and grimaced, “Absolutely not. I’ve drunk enough Lycan blood for one lifetime, thank you very much.”

Peter’s head jerked over to stare at her with an incredulous look, “Drank? Why are you drinking blood?”

She frowned, “That’s how Kraven is getting his superior strength. He’s drinking Lycan blood. I got only a few drops in my mouth when I killed the Lycan girl and it almost gave me a heart attack. I’m not doing that again.” 

His nose scrunched up in disgust, “Nasty. You don’t need to drink it. It’s much more effective to go blood to blood. Like, I cut my wrist and let it drip directly into your wounds. Straight to the source. It heals so much faster. I assume drinking it would take more time for it to get absorbed and lose some of its potency. Not to mention, it’s also disgusting and wrong on so many levels.” 

A tiny smile crept onto her face.

“So you’re telling me that Kraven and Calypso are gulping down blood when they could actually just be injecting it straight into their veins for better and faster results?” 

He shrugged and nodded. 

Somehow the thought of their stupidity made it more humorous. The Silver Colts really didn’t know the first thing about Lycans. All that hatred for a species they never cared to research further. 

“I still don’t want your blood. I almost died last time and then I slept for 16 hours. It was horrible,” she said. The sleeping part wasn’t actually horrible. She needed it. It was all the other stuff before that, that she’d rather never experience again. 

“That’s because you were panicking.” He said this like it should have been obvious to her. When he saw no light bulb go off over her head, he explained further. “When a human is given Lycan blood, it enhances everything. Physically, it makes you heal faster, you’re stronger, you have better eyesight and hearing and smell, your endurance and agility heighten, faster reflexes…you get it. But it also enhances your emotions. Whatever you’re feeling when it’s in your system gets enhanced. Seeing as you were running for your life through the woods, half naked, and covered in blood, your heart was racing. It would have been racing without the blood and then, suddenly, it’s going twice as fast as it ever should. You were scared and panicked. Thus, the blood made those emotions worse, which made your heart beat faster, which made it almost explode.” 

Interesting. 

She remembered how frantic Kraven’s hands had felt as he lusted after her like he could scarcely control his desires for her. She remembered how each whip from Calypso was harder and more violent than the last, like she was feeding off her own hatred towards Aylin. She remembered how scared she felt when she tumbled into her mother’s bedroom to find her missing and how the panic had felt like it consuming her every pore. 

It would make perfect sense that Lycan blood was heighting more than just their physical abilities. 

Then she remembered something else. 

“Kraven said something strange when we were in the basement. When you were fighting all those years ago, he cut your throat, and your blood landed in his mouth. Once that happened, he felt like he could no longer kill you. He walked away from the fight and left you there. Then, when he was drinking the girl in the basement's blood, he told me that he nor Calypso were able to kill her themselves. They had to wait for me to do it. He said it was like a mental block that happened.” 

The Lycan had already been dead once Aylin got a taste of her blood so she hadn’t experienced anything Kraven had described. 

Peter nodded, “I’ve heard of that happening. Figured that’s why Kraven walked away that night. I don’t know how or why it happens. It’s not like there are books that study our anatomy. I think it’s probably a last line of defense. If someone is using our blood, we become a part of them while it’s in their system. Killing the wolf that’s living temperarely inside of you would be like suicide, I imagine. I doubt it would literally kill the person but that’s how it would probably feel. You have an instinctive need for self preservation, which now includes the wolf inside of you, so you can’t bring yourself to kill them.” 

Peter’s blood is what saved him the night Kraven attacked. 

She wouldn’t mind having a part of him flowing inside her veins for a little while. 

“Promise it won’t be as bad as last time?” She asked. 

He smiled, “We’re in a motel room. You have your cat. It’s just me and you here. There is no danger. No one knows we are here. We can put on the tv and watch something chill while it works its magic. You have no need to be scared or panicked. You’ll feel heightened senses but as long as you keep your emotions calm, you’ll be okay.” 

Aylin thought it over then gave a final nod, “Fine. Do it. Whatever can heal me faster, I'll take. You and I have a lot of planning to do.”

[CHAPTER NINE]

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[blooming-violets]

CREATURE LIKE ME || CHAPTER SEVEN: MURDERER

[TASM Peter Parker!Werewolf AU]

Story Summary: Kraven and his guild of hunters have been tracking and quelling the werewolf population for centuries. The time has come for Aylin to complete her first solo hunt to prove herself to the guild. It was supposed to be simple. One wolf, one death, one victory. She never expected to end up with a secret hostage on her hands.

Chapter Seven Warnings (spoilers): this chapter contains a SA scene and a depiction of a murder

[link to chapter index]

Aylin leaned her shoulder against the stone wall and watched with a placid detachment as Kraven carried the naked wolf girl over to the table. He laid her limp body down with a sort of tenderness Aylin wasn’t used to seeing from him. The wolf girl’s eyes remained closed. Though, her dark, wet lashes clumped together as if she had been silently crying only moments ago. Through the thick layers of dirt and caked over blood, her body was painted with a myriad of scars. Old and new. Knife slices, whip slashings, bruises, bite marks. Aylin could make constellations out of the red marks of abuse hidden among her black and purple galaxy skin. Whatever she had experienced down here, the wolf girl had experienced much, much worse. 

Her death was the last piece of the puzzle for Aylin to gain her freedom 

Her life would amount to nothing more than a final sacrifice. One life traded for another. Her death meant Aylin could live again. 

And Aylin didn’t even know the girl’s name.

Kraven took a step back from the table and observed the young girl with a quiet contemplation, “Don’t ever mention this to Calypso but I think I’ve grown a bit fond of the wolf. She was a fierce fighter for being such a little thing but, alas, everyone gets broken in the end. Look at her now. Wasted away to nothing. Her blood has served me well. Even now, it still courses through my system. They only last a few hours inside of you depending on how much you drink before the effects start to wear off. I tell you, it’s like a power you’ve never felt in all your life, Aylin. Truly an addicting substance. It’s no wonder the wolves fight so hard to stay alive. They must feel incredible all the time.” He paused to glance down at the girl, rethinking his statement. “Well, not all the time.”

Aylin pushed herself off the wall and padded over to where he stood. Each step shot an agonizing, fiery pain up her thigh. She had to position her legs further apart than usual so her thighs didn’t rub together. Even with Calypso’s special salve covering her brand, it still seared red hot and angry. 

“Why are you telling me this?” She muttered, standing at his side. “What you and Calypso are doing is a direct betrayal to the guild. You’re consuming the blood of the enemy. You’re drinking wolf blood. Does that make you a werewolf, too? Are you one of them now?” 

The guild had no prior knowledge on how Lycan were made as far as she knew. Wolves kept their secrets close to their chest but the Colt’s always assumed it had something to do with consuming their blood. Peter only mentioned that a person could be turned or born into it. He never stated how that transformation took place. It seemed like blood would be a key factor in it, though. 

Kraven gave her a side eye and shrugged, “Who are you going to tell? You’ve been branded with the Kravinoff emblem. You’re one of mine now. If I go down, you go down.” 

Kravinoff emblem. This symbol of the sun belonged to the entire Silver Colt guild. It wasn’t something only for him to claim. Her mother wore a golden sun pendant around her neck. Her father had it tattooed on his shoulder. She had it embroidered into her hunting jacket. That didn’t mean they were all claimed by Kraven. The sun united them together against the moon worshiping Lycan. It didn’t claim them. Her brand meant nothing to her except a physical reminder that she lived a lifetime of lies. Her sun, charred into her skin like a farmer’s cattle, did not signify anything other than a sun. She gave it no power over her. No matter who manipulated her body, her mind would never belong to anyone but herself. 

Unless he managed to sever what little grasps of sanity she was still desperately clinging to down here.

“We’re not werewolves,” he stated. “Neither Cal nor I have experienced any change besides feeling stronger and more youthful than usual. We’re not one of them. We’re just enhancing our bodies to be better hunters. Clearly, blood isn’t what transforms a person. We were wrong in our assumptions.” 

The Silver Colts were wrong about a lot of things. 

The broken, naked wolf girl laying half unconscious in front of them was one of those things. 

They were two abused, degraded women confined to a torture chamber with a hot-headed narcissist and his psychopathic wife. It didn’t matter where either of the girls originally came from, only that they ended up in the same place, at the same time. While one’s story was going to end in this room, the other’s was just about to begin. 

Aylin stepped forward when she noticed the girl shivering. She had no comfort to offer her, no blanket, or clothes for warmth. All she had was herself. Aylin placed a hand over the girl’s forehead and gently stroked it over her hair like her mother used to do for her when she was ill. She could tell the girl had a high fever from the heat radiating from her skin and the cool, clammy sweat clinging to her forehead. Her body was starting to shut down. 

"Give me your shall, Sergei,” she demanded. 

Kraven shrugged it off and passed it over. Ever since he branded her, he’d been much more compliant to her wants. It seems she had him fooled. When he told her she would want for nothing if she agreed to his terms, she didn’t think it would happen so quickly. As long as he still believed she would give her body over to him, he seemed to adhere to her. 

Aylin draped the Lycan shall over the girl’s torso. She was so petite that it nearly reached from her shoulders to her ankles. Aylin rubbed her hands down the girl’s arms to help warm the chill in her bones. She hoped that maybe the feel of Lycan fur against her skin might be of some comfort to her. She was so out of it that Aylin hoped she wouldn’t take much notice of the morbidity of the pelt. 

“You’ll be home soon,” she leaned down to whisper in her ear. “You’ll be welcomed home by the ones you love. Think of your mother. Your father. Anyone who brings you comfort. Imagine their faces smiling back at you. They love you so much and they’re so excited to see you again. Your pain is all gone. It’s all over. You did so well. You were so strong but now it’s time to rest. You’re ready to go home.”

The wolf girl gave a quiet moan, her brows scrunched together, and then relaxed as a small smile graced her chapped lips. It wasn’t much but it’s what Aylin would have wanted to imagine as her last thoughts on this plane of existence. She’d want to be thinking of the people she loved most in her world. In times like these, she missed her big brother. He would have noticed she was missing. He would have come searching for her. She wondered what Emir’s last thoughts were as the bullet lodged into him and blood poured from his stomach. She wondered if he thought of her or their mother right before the wolf’s teeth sunk into his flesh. 

Peter’s teeth. 

She couldn’t think about that. She had to push that thought away. All this time she had been searching for reasons to hate him to make killing him easier. Here it was. Right in front of her. The perfect answer to all her problems. And, still, she couldn’t find a single ounce of hate left in heart to aim at him. He was too soft. Gentle. Caring. Sad. Those big, grief-stricken solid brown eyes. 

She didn’t hate him anymore than she hated the girl in front of her.  

Aylin could feel Kraven’s stare burning a hole in the back of her skull but she refused to turn around. This was between her and the girl. If she was going to kill her, she was going to do it her way. Her freedom came with a heavy price and she wasn’t going to pay it lightly. 

“What’s your name?” She whispered down to the girl. 

The wolf mumbled out some pained, unintelligible sounds. Her dulling emerald eyes cracked open into tiny slits to look up at her. 

“Stop delaying the inevitable,” she croaked out. “My name will not save me. You don’t deserve to know it. It’s all I have left that is mine and only mine. I’ll take it to my grave.”

She was right. Her name would not save her but it would soothe a piece of Aylin’s frantic mind. It would give the girl an identity she could hold onto after her death. A name to remember her by when she thought of her in the future. She would not have to be the nameless Lycan ruthlessly slaughtered at her hands. She was also correct in saying that Aylin didn’t deserve to know. Knowing that bit of personal information would only be used to serve Aylin, not the girl. She would be dead whether Aylin knew it or not. She didn’t care how her memory stuck around with a Silver Colt. She had the right to keep the last of her secrets even if it left a heavy weight of guilt and unsolved answers on Aylin’s mind. 

She reached her hand behind her back, “Give me your dagger, Sergei. Let’s finish this.” 

She felt the hilt press into her hands.

“I don’t want blood all over my sh-” Kraven started to speak but Aylin cut him off. 

“It will wash out.” 

She was hyper focused, zeroing in, on where she assumed the forever nameless wolf girl’s heart was under her chest. She wanted to be as precise and quick as she could to make it as painless as possible. 

This was going to happen. She was going to take her life. Right here. Right now. It was suddenly too real. 

Aylin’s vision blurred but she fought off the tears. In another world, it could have been Peter laying here, half dead, with her dagger raised above his chest. This was what he wanted from her. He wanted her face to be the last he saw. He wanted this death at her hands. In another world, she would have never hesitated. Now, she couldn’t see past the haze of tears clouding her sight. The lump in her throat grew heavier with each passing second. 

All she wanted was to go home. 

“Once I do this, I can go?” She asked, her voice thick with heartbreak, seeking assurance that this won’t all be for nothing. “I get to walk out of here and go back home to my mom?” 

Kraven paused for a beat too long. His silence was deafening. 

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up as all the alarm bells started ringing in her head, “Sergei? Answer me.” 

When she got no response, Aylin whipped around to face him, overcome with dizziness at how fast she spun. Whatever numbing drugs were in that tea earlier had all worn off. She could feel every twinge of pain branching out through her entire body. Her knees felt weak like they were struggling to hold her own weight. Her rapid heartbeat sent shockwaves of anxiety penetrating through her chest. Kraven’s dark eyes bore into her with a look that told her all she needed to know. 

She was not going home. 

Ever.

“After you complete the ritual, I will bring you upstairs. I will bathe you, Calypso will reclean your wounds, and then I will bring you to bed to rest for the remainder of the night. While there, I will have you tied. You are not to be fully trusted. Not yet. You will not experience this basement again, as long as you behave, but you will not have the freedom you seek. You are mine now, Aylin. You made a promise to me. We will care for you, treat you kindly, but you will not leave until your deal is done. You have promises to keep and debts to fulfill.”

There was no freedom in her future. She was still a prisoner. She was naive to think she’d ever be anything other than that after experiencing this basement. This was going to break her mother. She wouldn’t ever be able to understand the weight of what Aylin did to get in this position. She would never understand where her daughter went or why she disappeared. Peter would think she abandoned him. He’d think she chose her guild over him. He’d never know just how alike they really were or how much comfort the memories of him brought her down here. He’d never know how much she fought just to keep him safe. She trimmed off parts of her soul for him and she’d only be remembered as another disappointment in his life. All the pain she suffered through was for nothing. All hope was lost as the reality of her situation took over. 

A single tear slipped through her tight hold to carve a path down her bruised cheek. 

She swallowed at the lump in her throat threatening to send her into hysterics. She was so weak, in so much pain, and so tired that her willpower to keep upright was draining. She bit down on her bottom lip to keep it from quivering and turned around to face the girl. 

Her death would truly mean nothing when there was no hope left to be had. There was no escape in sight. 

Aylin wished they could trade places. Death was better than what Kraven had in store for her. She wished she was the one on the table instead, waiting for the dagger to hit, waiting for it all to end. Death was the only escape from Kraven. The girl had helped to grow her fire and give her hope when Aylin was at her lowest. Now, there was only darkness. For both of them. 

Give ‘em hell. 

The time for hell giving had passed. She had missed her shot. Even with Kraven’s dagger clutched tightly in her hand, she knew she couldn’t overpower him. The drugs had worn off. She could hardly hold her own arm above her head. Her shoulder muscles trembled as she wrapped both hands around the hilt and hovered it over the wolf girl’s chest. 

At least she could end the girl’s misery before Aylin’s own life was lost to Kraven. She’d be a murderer but at least the girl wouldn’t have to suffer any further at the hands of a Silver Colt.

She could have the freedom Aylin dreamed of. 

“I’m sorry,” she mouthed, mostly as an apology for herself since the girl’s eyes were closed. 

I’m sorry it had to be this way. I’m sorry I was a part of a life that caused you so much suffering. I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough to get either of us out. I’m sorry it was all for nothing. 

A massive portion of her carved up soul would be shed with this futile murder. 

She wasn’t sure how much soul she had left to hand over. 

Kraven placed a steading hand against Aylin’s hip, “We’ve wanted her dead for some time but something about having her blood in our system made it impossible to kill her ourselves. It was like that with Parker, too, all those years ago. Like it’s their last defense against death. We figured we might as well keep her around until someone took care of it for us. Your failed solo hunt was a perfect opportunity for that. Or so we thought.” He grazed his nails up her side as he molded his pelvis against her bottom. “All will be set right soon enough. Pierce down with enough force to break through her sternum then use the curve of the dagger to pull downwards towards her stomach and rip her open.”

Aylin could feel his cock twitching against her ass as he spoke. He was getting off on the thought of mutilation. She let her hatred for him blaze through her and push out the hopeless numbing that had taken hold. He ruined her life. He had a hand in her every move even before her own conception. He had lied and manipulated and murdered and tortured until he got what he wanted.

Well, he did it. He got his prize. Here she was, branded and claimed by him, doing exactly what he wanted like his obedient, little pet. She’d kill for him. She’d spread her legs for him. She’d birth his children. She’d lose every bit left of herself because he gave her no other options. Groomed until she was nothing but a shadow of who she once was. She wasn’t just killing the wolf girl today. She was killing herself along with her. 

Aylin steadied her shaking breath and closed her eyes. She mentally placed herself on the table instead. She looked down into her own hazel eyes and hated the woman she saw staring back. Her hair was clean and waved around her soft, rounded cheeks. There was no blood or bruising painting her skin, only an air of innocence written all over her face that she no longer recognized. There was sadness and grief too but nothing like the hollow emptiness she felt now. This was the woman she was before she left on her solo hunt. This was the woman who she had been before she found Peter and learned the truth. A woman kept in the dark and living a life of lies. 

She could never be this woman again. She could never go back. That Aylin was gone. Forever. 

With a rage driven, exasperated, feral scream ripping from her throat, she drove the dagger straight down with every bit of declining strength she had left in her body. Her stab landed true. The wolf girl never even opened her eyes to watch the incoming blow. She never cried out in pain. Her body simply jerked into itself at the sudden attack but quickly collapsed, listlessly, back against the table. 

A spray of warm blood splashed against Aylin’s face. It splattered across her clenched mouth. Without thinking, she instinctively licked at her lips to remove it, tasting the copper there. She stumbled backwards into Kraven in shock. Her legs gave out. She collapsed onto the floor. She couldn’t finish the job. Not yet. She was too weak. It had taken everything she had in her to make sure she killed the girl with a single strike. Her body was failing her as the adrenaline flooded through her veins. The clotting wounds on her back ripped open. Her blistering thigh rubbed with a searing fire against her other leg. A flash of horrified agony ricocheted through her body. She was unsure if the pain was physical or mental. 

It didn’t matter. 

The wolf girl was dead. Aylin was dead. She had killed them both. 

Murderer. 

Kraven was crouched by Aylin’s side. He was scooping her limp form into his lap as he sat on the floor. His hands were all over her. Grabbing at her ass. Groping her chest. Pushing against the thin fabric protecting between her thighs. Pulling back her underwear to probe his finger inside of her. His tongue was bathing over her blood splattered lips. Lapping it up. Licking along the blood on her cheeks. Pushing his blood stained tongue back into her mouth to forcefully tangle with hers. She could taste the metallic as it mixed with the salt from her flowing tears. She couldn’t move to stop the assault on her body. Her hands were shaking as she openly sobbed, losing all control, while he molested her. 

He was moaning into her mouth, “You look so sexy covered in blood. I’m doing everything in my power not to fuck you over the table but you need to finish what you started. Soon…soon…I can have you soon.” 

He was collecting her in his arms and pushing them to a stand as the basement spun around her. She couldn’t catch her breath as the whirlwind of spiraling emotions overtook her. Her vision fuzzed black around the edges. She felt like she might vomit except there was no food in her stomach to bring up. All that was there was the taste of acid burning up her throat. 

Kraven steadied her in front of the dead wolf girl, holding her upright by clutching onto her hips. There was a desperation of longing in his voice, “Now finish the job. Get her heart. Throw it in the fire. And we can finally put this behind us.”

She could never put this behind her. She would never shed herself from this guilt. 

Murderer.

Aylin stared down at the dagger sticking from the wolf girl’s chest. Dark, fresh blood soaked over her small breasts and trickled in thick, slow lines down her side to pool over the table and sink into the cracks in the wood. There was no name to remember her by. Nothing to memorialize her with. There would be no loved ones to mourn for her. No happy memories shared between old friends. No last goodbyes. They would burn her body until there was nothing left but the polluted memories Aylin held. She was gone with nothing to show for her sacrifice. 

Peter was right about the Silver Colts. 

They were a bunch of violent murders. She included herself in that group. She deserved everything Kraven did to her. She deserved to be punished for her crimes. 

Her slack hands were being placed back on the hilt of the bloody dagger by Kraven. He wanted her to finish this quickly so he could get to fucking her. 

She couldn’t move anymore. She was only remaining upright because his arm was wrapped around her waist. Everything about her was limp. 

“I know you’re weak but just a little more. We’re almost done. I’ll help guide yo-”

He was cut off by an ear splitting shriek from upstairs. 

They both froze and whipped their heads towards the sound. 

“Sergei!” Calypso was shouting. There was fear evident in her voice. It was an unusual, alarming sound to hear from her. From the look on Kraven’s face, it was one he didn’t hear often. They listened to her hurried footsteps banging above their heads as she ran towards the bookcase door to throw it open. “We’re under attack! Fire!” 

His brows furrowed with confusion and he pulled away from Aylin, “Wait here. I’ll be right back.”

She tumbled against the table, holding herself upright with her forearms, and watched as he leaped up the stairs and disappeared from view. 

A hushed, breathless silence fell over the basement.

Aylin stared down at the wolf girl then back to the stairs. She was alone. Uncuffed. 

Her heart leapt with a sense of hope she thought was long lost. 

She could hear a frenzied commotion happening above her. Lots of bewildered shouting. Lots of stomping footsteps back and forth. 

Aylin pushed herself up and away from the table. She took a few stumbling steps towards the stairs before collapsing at the bottom. Her knees cracked against the concrete floor but she was shocked to find that there was hardly any pain as her bones made contact with the hard surface. She stretched out her back, waiting to feel the terrible sting of her wounds, but felt merely a light tickle. 

Her breath began to grow rapidly as a wave of warmth spread throughout her veins. She could feel the liquid fire traveling down her arms and into her finger tips. It spread throughout her chest and coursed down her legs as it consumed her entire body in its bathing glow. Aylin squeezed her eyes shut then reopened them, searching around the basement as if she was taking in an entirely new sight. What was once dark, damp, and dreary was now exploding with colors she never noticed before. She could make out each varied speckle of gray and brown and tan in the cobblestone walls. The light from the still burning fire raged in beautiful hues of deep orange and vibrant yellows. Light danced across each surface like a delicate ballet for her eyes to savor. 

A strength flowed through her. A power unlike any she’d ever felt. Aylin had never been a weak person apart from when she’d been tortured into submission. She had always been physically strong and capable. But this…this was different. This was an inhuman type of strength. Something was happening to her body. A change was taking over. 

She stared down at her bloodied hands in front of her, able to make out every line of her skin with a rapidly improving vision. She focused in on the different tints of red, some dark, some lighter, that stained her fingers. It wasn’t her blood. It was the wolf girl’s. 

Lycan blood. 

Aylin’s eyes widened as she staggered to her feet. She had tasted Lycan blood. It had only been a few drops but clearly that was enough for it to have an effect. It was morphing the very fabric of her being with each passing second that ticked by. Her strength returned to her in a way she never thought possible. 

The unmistakable smell of smoke reached her nose to drag her attention away from her shocking, new developments. Her sight darted up the stairs. The bookcase had been left open. Thick, gray and black smoke was starting to billow through the door and creep along the ceiling down the stairs. She could hear the blaze of roaring fire as clearly as if it was in the room with her. She could hear Kraven and Calypso moving in a panic above her. The accuracy of her acute hearing allowed her to place them directly in the kitchen. They were distracted. 

This was her one chance. 

Aylin paused for only a moment to take one last look at the Lycan girl, nodding her head in her direction as a silent sign of respect, before she darted up the stairs with a remarkable agility for someone who could hardly stand only moments ago. The last gift the girl had given her was that of her blood. It was a gift she would not waste. She would get out of this hell. She would regain back control. She would enact revenge on both their behalf. The Lycan would not die in vain. Aylin would make sure her death was not wasted. 

She burst across the Kravinoff hallway, emerging from the basement like a gazelle escaping a lion. Her elbow slammed into the opposite wall to break her stride. She wasn’t used to being able to run this fast. Her body surged with power and speed. It electrified her skin. Vibrant colors flashed across her vision, swirling around her, as she stumbled down the hallway. She could hear every panicked breath the couple took in the room beside her. The heavier, deeper one was Kraven’s, panting in anger, as he tried to douse the growing flames. The lighter, more birdlike breathes were Calypso, desperately spraying water from the kitchen sink hose. She could hear their every breath even over the sounds of the roaring fire. Through sound alone she could visualize the fire crawling up the kitchen curtains and licking at their house made of wood. If they weren’t fast, it would quickly eat up everything in its path. Smoke rolled out into the hallway and slithered with thick layers of black over her head. She crouched down to keep under it. Whatever had started the fire had been her saving grace. She may have killed off her old self in that basement but she would be reborn again thanks to the flames. A phoenix emerging from the ashes. 

Aylin made her way down the hall with a near silent stealth in the opposite direction of the kitchen fire until she landed at their backdoor. All it took was a quick switch of the lock for the door to push open. 

She leapt into the chilly night air and broke out into a sprint back towards her house. 

Running for her life.

Running for her freedom. 

Her lungs expanded and filled as she drew gulps of air into them. It tasted sweeter than honey. The night had never looked so bright like she was gifted with her own personal night vision. She would have guessed it was morning if it weren’t for the explosion of stars plastered in the sky through the treetops. They were brighter than ever before as she neared a clearing in the overhead branches. Beautiful. Stunning. She could have been looking at a photograph straight from the Webb Space Telescope. The sight was so mesmerizing, her frantic sprint slowed to a light jog. She couldn’t pull her eyes from the vibrant milky way splitting across the sky. 

She could stare at its hypnotic beauty for hours. 

The sounds of screams drew her back down to planet Earth. Her head darted around to search through the woods for the alarms. Through the trees she caught sight of another blazing fire down the dirt road from Kraven’s cabin. Behind that fire was another breaking out. Three different houses were ablaze. Distraught shrieks of chaos erupted in their little town. She could hear people running into the woods, running towards the destruction, all trying to extinguish the flames before their entire forest went up like a box of tinder. The Silver Colts were under attack. This was no accident. Those fires were intentional. They were being targeted. Houses were being set to burn while everyone slept. 

Her newly eagle eyed vision set straight towards her own home. They lived on the outer edge of town. It was quiet and dark in that direction. Her mother would still be safe. Aylin left the chaos behind her and sprinted, barefoot and nearly naked, through the forest towards her chance at freedom. 

The mossy ground under foot hardly touched her soles before she was pushing off again. Her heart pounded wildly in her chest. Her hair blew out from behind her like a cape as she took flight. She sprinted like her life depended on it. She ran from that basement with every ounce of strength the Lycan blood allowed her to have. Every smell consumed her, every breath felt like ice in her lungs, every sight swirled in pools of color around her until she no longer felt human. 

The spirit of the wolf soared beside her and carried her in record time to the one place she thought she might never see again. 

Her charming, humble cabin with its peeling, painted brown wood and faded, white trimmed windows. It had never looked so perfect, so dreamy, so inviting in her life. Tears flowed freely down her cheeks as she jogged towards her safe haven. Pine needles softened her tread under her bare feet to welcome her home. 

She slammed open the front door, accidentally ripping it from its hinges, and stumbled inside. She was drunk from the overwhelming power flooding her body. 

“Mom!” She screamed into the quiet house. “Mom! Wake up! We have to go! We have to get out! 

A small, black shadow darted out from under the couch and past her ankles in reaction to her cries. She jumped back with a shocked yelp, ready to pounce and attack the intruder until her sights settled on the frightened cat lurking under a table leg and eyeing her suspiciously. 

“Fuck, Kedi. Scared the shit outta me. Fuckin’ cat,” she mumbled, holding her hand over her chest.

Her breath was catching in her throat. Her heart was racing. She was finding it harder and harder to breathe the longer she stood still. Her body needed to run. Move. Jump. Climb. Fight. Anything. Her emotions all tumbled together along with every new smell. She could smell the sweet scent of lavender vanilla from her mother’s body lotion clinging to every surface. She could smell Kedi’s dander in his fur. She could smell the spinach and feta filled gözleme her mother had eaten for dinner still lingering in the air even though hours had passed since it was last cooked. 

“Mom!” 

The sound of her own voice was too shrill in her ears. She could hear a battering ram chorus of moth wings hitting against the porch light. Every pur rumbling inside Kedi’s chest, as he slinked out from under the table to rubbed his side across her legs, vibrated in her own head. Her heart beat was thumping in her ears at an unnaturally rapid pace. 

“Mom! Wake up! We have to…have to…go…” 

It was too loud. Her skull was cracking under the pressure of her own voice. The smells were making her dizzy. Colors blurred together and swirled in front of her spinning eyes. 

Aylin stumbled through the living room towards her mother’s bedroom door, shoving it open, and collapsing onto the cold, hardwood floor. 

Her bed was empty. The sheets were pulled back and tossed to the side like she had run from a sound sleep. Her slippers and robe were missing. She must have heard the commotion in the village. She must have heard the fires and gone to help. 

Except that Aylin would have met her along the way. She would have seen her running in the opposite direction. 

Something wasn’t right. 

Aylin’s breath was picking up speed into quick, short bursts. Her knees and forearms dug into the wood under her as she pressed her throbbing forehead down to the floor. Her entire world was shifting, tilting back and forth, until she felt like she couldn’t hold on any longer. What was left of her fingernails, clawed into the wood in a desperate attempt to try and keep her balance. 

There was too much stimulation piling on and suffocating her from every angle. There was no place she was safe, nowhere to hide, when it was her own body fighting against her. 

She clasped her palms tightly over her ears and let out a deafening shriek, curling tighter into herself, and begging for it all to be over. 

An arm snaked around her neck and a warm, strong hand tightened over her mouth to silence her.  

Her eyes shot open. She could hear everything but she couldn’t hear her attacker approaching.  In an instant, she scrambled out of the hold, flailing onto her back, to violently kick up at her assailant. 

Kraven had found her. He was going to drag her back. He was going to hurt her. He was going to-

Peter caught her ankle in his grasp before she could make contact with his chest and lunged on top of her. He pinned her to the ground, hand covering her mouth to keep her from screaming, and fastened his knees over her arms as he sat on her chest to stop her from striking him. 

“Shut up,” he hissed. “It’s just me.”

Aylin blinked up at him in confusion. All her senses that had been launched into overdrive, redirected themselves onto him instead. The edges of his outline waved in front of her bloodshot eyes but his face was as clear as it could get. His chocolate brown eyes had always seemed so dark and solid of color to her before. Now, they were flecked with specks of lighter caramels and circled his pupils with a honeyed bronze. They were nearly as bewitching as staring into the night sky. 

Her lips parted as she stared, wide eyed, up at him. Frozen in place. Mesmerized by the details of his face. His thick eyebrows raised in confusion. The way his nose dipped into a perfect slope. His succulent bottom lip peeking out from under his scraggly mustache. Every freckle over his tanned skin and every soft hair on his head was crafted with a transcended beauty. 

He was back. 

He was still here. 

He hadn’t left her. 

“We don’t have a lot of time,” he hurried her. “We have to get out of here. We have to-” He paused as he focused down on her face. “Are you okay?”

She shook her head ‘no’, still unable to pull her attention away from his eyes. They were like a cup of steaming hot coffee on a cold, rainy morning. Comforting and safe. If she dared to look away, the overwhelming senses would flood her again. He was her anchor keeping her from getting lost in the thrashing waves.  

“Your pupils are blown out. Your heart is racing. I can smell the adrenaline sweating out of you. Your skin is on fire,” he rolled off of her in horror, taking in the sight of her injuries and dried blood, slowly connecting the dots, “You look like…are you…” 

“Lycan blood,” she breathed. “I can feel everything and nothing at all. I’m falling and flying at the same time. I’m broken and whole. My brain is on fire. I feel like…like….’m gonna…” 

“Have a heart attack? Because that’s exactly what’s about to happen,” he hissed through worried, clenched teeth. “Your heart is about to explode if you don’t calm yourself. Not everyone is built to handle wolf blood, Aylin. It’s going to kill you if you can’t calm down.”

Her skin was tingling and breaking out a cold sweat. An uncomfortable, squeezing pressure gripped at her chest as her heart raced. Her breath felt constricted in her throat. Waves of panic rocked over her. 

Kraven was going to find her. 

Her mother was missing. 

She killed the Lycan girl. 

Murderer. 

“Peter,” she whimpered. “‘M don’ feel good.” 

“Fuck,” his distressed eyes darted around the room before landing back on her paling face. “Okay. I need you to listen to me, Aylin. You need to calm your body. You over stressed yourself. Pushed yourself too far. I’m gonna sit ya up, ‘kay?” 

He wrapped a protective arm behind her neck to avoid the wraps covering her back and helped her into a sitting position. He carefully leaned her back against her mother’s bed. He knelt down between her open legs and gently grasped her face in his large hands, covering her ears to help muffle the overpowering noises hitting her from every direction. 

“Follow my breaths,” he whispered. Even with her ears covered, she could still hear him perfectly. “Breathe with me.”

Peter pressed his forehead against her sweat drenched one, locking his eyes with her, as he demonstrated taking a deep, long breath. She held onto the intoxicating color of his eyes like a drowning person clings to a life preserve and followed his lead. 

Deep inhale for four seconds. Hold it for seven. Exhale for eight. 

Repeat. 

Inhale. Four. Hold it. Seven. Exhale. Eight. 

Peter continued the process until the sounds of her pounding heart started to slow back to a normal rhythm. The adrenaline leaving her body caused her to slump over with her cheek resting on the cool floor as he gently released her from his hold. She curled herself into the fetal position. 

The weight of Peter’s heavy hand, his palm pressing against her forehead, feeling her temperature, gave her the tiniest warmth of comfort. She let her eyes close and leaned into his touch. He would protect her. If Kraven came calling, he would keep her safe. 

He belonged to her. That’s what she had told him right before she dragged him from his confinement. Peter Parker was hers. She was safe with her Lycan but he wasn’t safe in the Silver Colts territory. They had to leave before the fires were put out. They had to get out before Kraven noticed her missing. Their time here was limited. 

The fight was leaving her body. She felt like her entire soul was draining out of her pores as exhaustion replaced the adrenaline. 

“I have to find my mom,” she muttered through sleepy breaths. “I have to get us out of here.” 

He swallowed, his attention flashing between his concern for her wellbeing and keeping an attentive eye on what was happening outside of the cabin, “I think the Lycan blood is leaving your system. Your heart has calmed down. You’re going to be okay. The worst of it is over but you’re going to crash once it’s completely gone. It’ll suck out every last bit of energy you have left. I have to get you out of here before you’re out cold.” 

He wasn’t listening to what she was saying. 

“My mom-” 

“How much blood did you get?” He asked, interrupting her. 

“Jus’ a drop or two,” she murmured. “Peter. My mom. Hafta find her. Gotta get’us out. All of us.” 

“Well, she’s not here, is she? We can’t go looking for her or wait for her to come back! There’s no time!” He shot angrily in her direction. He pushed himself up to his feet and paced anxiously around the room. “Where are your car keys?” 

Aylin tried to lift her head off the floor but was overcome with a nauseating dizziness.

“Left ‘em on the table on the porch before…before…he…”

She let her words trail off, unable to finish her sentence. 

Peter darted from the bedroom in search of the keys. She groaned. He wasn’t listening. He wasn’t going to look for her mother. He couldn’t be seen out there. She couldn’t be seen here. There was no time. Nesrin would have to find her own way out but she knew nothing of the true horrors lying under the surface of this guild.  

Aylin pushed herself onto shaky legs. She clutched onto her mother’s mattress as the room spun. Her eyes squeezed shut until she was able to steady her vision once more. When her eyes reopened, they focused in on Kedi sitting quietly on the mattress in front of her, gazing at her curiously with wide, amber eyes. He got up and headbuttted the top of his head into her arm as if willing her to keep moving. 

“Thanks, bud,” she whispered down to him. “‘M okay. I’ll be okay. Jus’ hafta go away for a little while. I got’ta warn mom.” 

She gathered what was left of her strength to shuffle towards the door and out into their small kitchen. Through the smudged, glass window over their sink, she could see out into the dark forest. Her sight wasn’t as vivid as had it been when she first ran from the basement. It was already settling back to its normal state. A blazing fire in the far distance illuminated through the dark trees. There was only one now. She couldn’t tell who’s house it belonged to but, whoever it was, there wouldn’t be much left once it burned out. The entire village would be focused on helping their neighbors but, once the fire was under control, they would be out for blood. A hunt like never before would begin. The village had never been directly attacked like this before. The Silver Colts would not take this lightly. Her and Peter needed to be as far away as possible. Any Lycan within the area, or anyone seen conspiring with one, would have their head on a spike. Literally. 

She wondered if it was Peter who started those fires. 

It must have been. 

With a surge of unmistakable devotion, Aylin reached for the empty grocery notepad left hanging on the refrigerator. She grabbed a pen from the kitchen drawer and scribbled a quick note. 

“Take dad’s truck and get out. Don’t speak to anyone. Trust no one. Pack as little as possible and run as fast as you can. Go to a hotel. Somewhere with people. Not safe here. I love you. I’ll find you again soon. -A” 

Peter had saved her. He had given her a way to escape. He had taken her from the clutches of her prison just like she had done for him. He did not abandon her and showed up when she needed him most. Her infatuation for him was growing. 

Maybe she was wrong. Maybe he didn’t belong to her. They belonged to each other. 

Aylin took a step away from the note and stumbled backward. The pain was starting to return. She was so tired. So broken. Her legs couldn’t hold her up any longer. Everything was draining just like Peter said.  

Her sight blackened around the edges as her knees gave out. 

Before she could hit the kitchen floor, Peter wrapped her up in his muscular arms. The last thing she felt was the feeling of safety as he cradled her to his chest, his voice echoing in her drifting mind. 

“I’ve got you. You’re okay. I’ve got you.”

[CHAPTER EIGHT]

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[blooming-violets]

CREATURE LIKE ME || CHAPTER SIX: KRAVEN THE HUNTER

[TASM Peter Parker!Werewolf AU]

Story Summary: Kraven and his guild of hunters have been tracking and quelling the werewolf population for centuries. The time has come for Aylin to complete her first solo hunt to prove herself to the guild. It was supposed to be simple. One wolf, one death, one victory. She never expected to end up with a secret hostage on her hands.

Chapter Six Warnings (spoilers but important to read anyway for this chapter!!): childhood grooming, abuse of power with sexual intent, nonconsensual touching, major age gap, talk of forced pregnancy through grooming behaviors, being forced by circumstances to act in a sexual that they otherwise would not chose to do, descriptions of heavy dissociation, mild descriptions of torture wounds from chapter 5, heavy descriptions of branding with a hot iron, death talk/murder of father and brother, this chapter is full of dark creepy sexual predator undertones meant to make you feel uncomfortable - this is your warning

[link to chapter index]

“Give ‘em hell.”

The wolf girl’s words rang in her ears as the gears to the bookcase alerted them to Calypso’s impending return. 

She watched the girl sink back to the bottom of her cage and curl into a ball to not draw any further attention to herself. Talking as much as she had clearly worn her out. Whether or not Aylin took her life, she probably wouldn’t make it until morning in her condition. 

Give them hell. 

Aylin couldn’t move. She couldn’t hold her own head up. If there weren’t chains attached to her wrists, she’d be laid out flat on the floor. She was too weak. Too broken. Too tired. There was no hell to give when she couldn’t ignite the fire in her chest. It had burned out to nothing but simmering coals. She couldn’t even stop the silent tears openly flowing down her cheeks. 

She didn’t want to kill the wolf girl. 

She didn’t want to kill anyone. 

That’s all everyone ever wanted from her. Her life was spent training to be the best. The fastest, the stealthiest, the deadliest. Train, fight, kill. Three things she was supposed to do better than anyone else. She’d never once stopped to question if there were any other options for her until she stole Peter from his captors. Going against everything she was ever taught, her every instinct, allowed her to grab a tiny morsel of what free will tasted like.

Now that she had it, she didn’t want to let it go.  

Aylin closed her eyes, listening to Calypso’s slow descent down the creaking wooden stairs, and imagined that she was standing at the edge of the forest pond. She tried to imagine the sound of croaking bullfrogs as the morning mist was pushed across the still waters by the rising sun. The light breeze rustled through her hair and tickled her nose. She felt no pain here. Her body was healed and she was happy. Peter was behind her, splayed out on the old hammock, rocking lazily back and forth as he tried to befriend a curious chipmunk with a scraps of bread. Mourning doves cooed in the trees above them. Peace. True peace. She let the warmth of the daydream envelop her. 

When she had first found Peter, he had been tortured for months. He had been beaten, broken, and abused. He had endured so much and there he was, tucked into her memories, beside her at the pond. It wasn’t a fantasy or a far-fetched dream. It had been real. It had happened. Peter survived through his torment to make it to the pond with her. He’d survived long enough to find a new moment of serenity. He made it out of his chains and got to taste freedom once more. 

Aylin focused on the warm coals in her chest. They weren’t completely doused cold. Not yet. She could still grow this fire. If Peter could break free after all that time then she could survive a few hours. His strength could give her strength. She would find her way back to him. 

Give them hell. 

A tiny spark of hope ignited. 

She opened her eyes with a new found sense of determination. There would be no more tears. She would feel no more pity. She would do what she had to get herself out of this basement. She was the daughter of Samuel and Nesrin. She was the sister of Emir. She was a fierce warrior with the soul of a raging sun. 

She was Aylin the Hunter and she would not be broken by her people. 

She would not let her own guild take her down. 

“Give ‘em hell,” she whispered under her breath. 

“What was that, dear?” Calypso quipped as she stepped into the light with a tote bag draped over her shoulder. She had finally tied her robe back together to cover herself. Not that Aylin cared anymore what the woman looked like. She stunk of evil regardless of what she was wearing. 

Aylin stared her down, putting her emotionless mask onto her face, ready to play along with the sick games. She would say and do anything she had to make them trust her. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of the wolf girl smirk before she quickly hid her face in the crook of her arm. She knew her words had hit home with Aylin. 

“Nothing,” Aylin gave her a tight, closed lip smile.  

Calypso crooked her brow but shook it off, “Sergei will be down soon. He has some words to have with you. Let’s get you cleaned up before he arrives.” She dropped her bag to the ground and, with one sweeping motion, pushed the scattering of tools off the table onto the floor. A bone saw slid towards Aylin’s feet and she was thankful it was one tool that hadn’t been used on her. 

“I’m going to let you down and lay you on your stomach on top of the table to tend to your back first,” Calypso said. “I’ll stop the bleeding and wrap you up.” 

She pulled a little brass key from her robe pocket and stepped over the saw to reach up towards the chain cuffs. With a quiet click, Aylin’s wrists were sprung free. Her legs immediately gave out and she tumbled backwards. Calypso caught her in her strong grasp, slinging Aylin’s arm over her shoulder, and dragged her towards the table. 

Everything hurt. 

Her head was dizzy from the fog of the pain. Pins and needles spread throughout her arms as the blood rushed down to her fingers after being denied it for so long. The torn up skin on her back cried in agony with every flex of her muscles. She forced herself to think about her and Peter’s pond. She desperately tried to remember the sound of the doves in the trees and the smell of the crisp morning breeze after a night of rain. She willed her brain to focus on the memory of Peter in the hammock instead of on the torment of her body. His shaggy, wet hair from laying under dripping leaves…the white scars across his pale, sun deprived chest…the way he nuzzled his cheek against the strong swell of his shoulder muscle as his long lashes fluttered closed… 

She couldn’t recall the exact moment Peter had grown into her source of comfort down here but he was becoming all she could think about. Maybe it was her lack of sleep and waning sanity? Maybe it was because being with him at the pond was her last brief moment of happiness before she ended up in this basement? Maybe it was the fact that she actually was starting to appreciate everything he had given her in that short amount of time since knowing him? Her entire world view shifted the moment they met. Her path switched its course. Her life changed. Was it worse? Better? She didn’t know. All she knew was that the longer she was away from him, the greater her heart began to ache to have him back.

Her body felt like a floating feather as Calypso hoisted her with ease onto the table.

The wood was warm under her shivering skin. The burning fire against the back wall had done well to heat the surface. She let her eyes close and allowed the warmth to absorb straight into her aching bones. Between the memories of the pond and finally being horizontal, she was certain she could fall asleep within seconds. She could already feel herself drifting. 

A glass cup being placed against her lips jarred her from the clutches of her inevitable sleep. Aylin’s eyes shot open and she instinctively jerked away from it, sending shooting pain down her back, as she shoved it away. The last time something was unexpectedly pressed against her mouth, she had lost a tooth. Her body was on high alert, ready to fight with whatever little it had left to give. 

The smell of fresh herbs filled her nostrils. The amber liquid was hot and steaming. Despite the enticing smell, she had fallen for this trap before. Drinks from this woman could not be trusted.

Calypso grabbed the back of Aylin’s head and shoved the cup towards her again, “Don’t be so dramatic. I only drugged you to get you down here and, since you’re already here, I have no more use for that tea. This is a different concoction. It will take the edge off the pain. Not a lot but enough so that you won’t keep passing out whenever you move. Sergei needs you awake and able to stand.” 

She tipped the contents down Aylin’s throat to little resistance. Whatever fight she thought she had moments ago, disappeared faster than it arrived. She was too tired. It had been a few hours since she last had anything to drink. Her throat was dry and her tongue felt like rough sandpaper. She gave in and greedily gulped down the entire cup. It felt instantly numbing as it slid over her sore gums. She welcomed the feeling.

“Good, good. I’m glad to see you’re finally starting to cooperate,” Calypso remarked as she gathered up Aylin’s sticky, blood soaked hair off her back and draped it off to the side. “Maybe there’s hope for you after all.” 

A mason jar with filled honey colored salve was placed next to her head. The jar popped open and Calypso dug some out onto her long, slim fingers. She gently smeared it across Aylin’s back with precise, soft strokes. She had been expecting it to sting or cause pain like everything else Calypso did, instead, she felt a cooling sensation spread throughout the wounds. Her pain was beginning to fade the more salve covered. She closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the brief moment of peace. She imagined herself back in the hammock with Peter as their gentle rocking lulled her into a state of bliss. 

A Silver Colt and a Lycan, squished together in a single hammock. What a strange pair they made. 

The ghost of a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. 

“Feels good, doesn’t it?” Calypso stated. The sound of her grating voice put a damper on Aylin’s daydreams. “I use this on Sergei whenever he returns from a nasty fight. It clots the blood and soothes out the pain for a bit. Now, if you had just behaved in the first place, we wouldn’t need to be using this. You could be home with your mother, enjoying the benefits of being a proper hunter. Instead, you’re covered in blood, and in need of repair. You made a real mess of yourself down here, kid. I’ve seen men torn apart by wolves look better than you.” 

Like Aylin had a choice in what happened to her. At least she hadn’t given up Peter. He was still safe. That’s what mattered. 

If he was even still at their camp. He could have been long gone by now for all she knew. If he had any wits about him, he would have fled the moment she left him alone. That’s what she would have done if the roles were reversed. 

Except that wasn’t true. 

She was lying to herself. 

She would have stayed. She would have waited for him in the hopes that he returned. Because, despite their heated arguments, she would want to see him again. To make sure that he was okay. To look him in the eyes and know that he was safe. 

She prayed he was doing just that. She wanted to see him again. She needed to. She needed this torture to be worth something. 

He had to be the light at the end of her tunnel for any of this to make sense. 

Calypso wiped her hands off and reached back into her bag for some clean dressing just as heavy footsteps descended down the stairs. Aylin turned her head to watch Kraven’s hulking form emerge from the shadows. Every time she saw him, he looked bigger. 

Or maybe it was her confidence shrinking. 

Calypso sighed, “She's not ready yet. I’ve barely started.” 

Kraven’s eyes widened as he stepped closer, taking in the sight of his captive, “What in the Helios have you done to her, Cal? I told you to shake her up and scare her. Not mutilate her. She’s a Colt, not a wolf.” 

Calypso gave a satisfied smile, admiring her work, “She was a tough one to break. Strong willed. It needed to be done. I think she got the message, though.” 

He placed a hand over the top of Aylin’s head, patting her hair like his favorite dog, as he looked around the room, “I’ll hose down the blood while you get her wrapped up. And reset her broken fingers. They’ve turned blue.” 

Aylin’s shredded bra had been discarded but the bandages tending to her back had been wrapped around her chest to keep her somewhat decent. Kraven had insisted to his wife that she give Aylin back some of her dignity by covering her breasts with the wrap. As if she wasn’t still laid out on a table in nothing but her blood soaked underwear. She knew it was another play to present himself as a kind hearted gentleman. The good cop, bad cop routine was blatantly obvious.

When Calypso had finished caring for Aylin’s back, she set her broken bones and bound them together in a tight splint. Kraven had placed a heavy hand over Aylin’s mouth, as his wife snapped the bones back into place, to stifle her shriek of pain. His murmurs of attempted comfort in her ear did little to soften the blow. 

She was now resting with her cheek pressed against the table, eyes closed, and dozing in and out of consciousness while the other two spoke softly in the corner. Their low voices were lulling her into a trance and beckoning her towards sleep. With the worst of the pain being dulled by the medicine, Aylin decided to let herself drift off until they called on her. Her body was exhausted. 

She allowed the sleep to take her.

“Have a nice rest?” 

Kraven’s voice jared through her hazy dreams. She struggled to open her eyes and saw him lounging in a wooden chair at her side. Calypso was no longer in the room. Alyin felt a breath of relief to be rid of her dominating presence. Kraven scared her but she still felt more familiar with him than his wife. He was more predictable and easier for her to get a read on. He was less likely to strike without baring his teeth first. She tried to push herself up, feeling stiff and achy. Some of the drugs must be starting to wear off because there was pain radiating across her wounded back whenever she moved. 

He quickly stood up, putting a hand under her armpit, to hoist her into a sitting position, “There you go. Nice and slow. Cal really did a number on you. I had a talk with her about it. I didn’t realize she would go that hard.” 

A statement. Not an apology. She kept her face placid with a hint of affection towards him. She needed to play this game to perfection. He was the weaker of the two when it came to her. If she was going to win anyone over with her feigned charm, it would be him. He was going to become her well loved, revered leader once again. She would worship at his feet if it got him to trust her. All she had to do was play along enough to get out of here. 

Whatever it takes. 

Kraven grabbed a jug of ice cold water by his feet and lifted it to her lips, “Drink. Get hydrated. You’ve been asleep for a couple hours. It’s about two in the morning now. I’d let you sleep through the night but I don’t think the bitch will make it that long.” He jerked his head back to the wolf girl who’s shallow breaths were slow and few between. Her time on this Earth was almost complete. “How are you feeling?”

She shrugged, flinching at the pain following that movement, “Been better.” 

He nodded as if he truly understood the depravity she’d been through. His dark eyes studied her face. She could feel dried blood caked to her cheeks and she shivered a bit under his watchful gaze, wishing she had a blanket wrapped around her to shrink into. She wondered where they were keeping her clothes and if they’d ever return them back to her. 

“Are you cold?” He asked. “Would you like to sit closer to the fire?” 

Without waiting for her answer, Kraven stood up and helped her to her feet. He kept her steady with one arm and grabbed the chair with the other. He walked them closer to the open, wood burning stove. The orange glow danced over her bare skin and encircled her legs with warmth. It felt nice. Not as nice as being clothed would feel but it was better than nothing. Kraven placed the chair on the ground and sunk into it. He wrapped a restraining arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap. Aylin stifled a yelp of shock and quickly forced her widening eyes to relax. Her thumping heart did nothing to help her growing panic. She had not expected that move. 

She felt his chest rumbling with amusement as he chuckled to himself under her. 

“Something the matter?” He asked with an air of innocence. He was purposely pushing her past her comfort zone. He knew exactly what he was doing. 

But so did she. 

Whatever it takes. 

Aylin shook her head, “No. It’s warm over here. Thank you.”

“Good.” He relaxed into the back of the chair and draped both her legs over his so her side was cradled against his chest. “Is that comfortable? I don’t want to disturb your back too much. She really ripped you up back there.” 

She swallowed, willing her heart to steady, “Yes. It’s fine.” 

It was not fine. 

Kraven’s hands wandered over her muscular thighs, his nails picking at the dried blood crusting there, “You could use a long shower. Cal might have dealt with your injuries but she sure as shit didn’t do much to clean you. You’re a dirty, little mess.” 

Showers and Kraven in the same sentence made her body want to physically revolt. Her jaw tightened at the thought. She tried to force herself to relax. She wasn’t a physically affectionate person before she was brutally tortured and she definitely never wanted to be sitting on this man’s lap while practically nude. 

But, if this was what he wanted, then it was what she would give him. She only begged that it go no further than this. 

At least the fire felt nice. She tried to imagine what it would be like to sit in Peter’s lap, instead. She replaced Kraven’s face with her Lycan. She’d been dissociating for hours. This would be no different. 

She just simply…wasn’t here. 

The real Aylin was gone. Lost inside the winding labyrinth of her mind. Snuggled in a warm hammock with her friend. Her body could do the acting for her. Her true self was locked up somewhere safe. 

Far away. 

Someplace where freedom and fear of the unknown walked hand in hand. Someplace kind and soft. 

She wasn’t here. Everything would be okay as long as she wasn’t here. 

Whatever it takes.   

Aylin placed a soft smile on her face and leaned into him like he was her long time lover, “I’m hoping this can all be over soon. I’d like to get back to how things used to be as soon as possible.” 

Kraven patted her leg, “I don’t think we can go back to before. I don’t want to. I’d like things to be different. They need to keep moving forwards. To keep evolving. I had plans for you, you know? Important plans. Plans that involve the delicate future of this guild with you at that center. You see, Aylin, you're more important than you even know. I chose you. The moment you were born, I chose you. I knew you would be the one to save us from extinction.” 

She had no idea what he was talking about but she played along by softly nodding as he spoke.

He paused, lifting his hand to gently grasp her chin between his fingers, and brushed his thumb across her cheek,  “Would you like to know why?” 

It was too soft of a gesture. Too loving. Everything felt wrong. 

Her stomach ached and she felt nauseous. 

Aylin put a soft, confused look over her features to make herself look more innocent and forgivable than she felt, “Of course, Sergei. You know I’d do anything to help our people.” 

He gave her a warm smile and leaned down to kiss the tip of her nose. 

Her breath caught in her throat. 

Her father used to kiss her like that when she was a child.  

The grief filled memory crashed through the fragile walls of her labyrinth. She had forgotten that memory. Once it was lost to time but now it was back with vengeance, ready to plague through her delicately crafted daydreams. It flooded her vulnerable mind like a broken dam unable to hold back the building pressure.  

She had to fight back the lump in her throat in an attempt to survive as the memory came crashing down around her until it was all she could feel. She was no longer exposed, broken, and forced to be affectionate with a man she despised. Instead, she was small and tucked away safely into the warmth of her childhood bed. 

She was five years old again. Her father was climbing the steep stairs up to her bedroom loft. He had to hunch over to stop from hitting his head on the slanted, wooden ceiling. The smell of sweat, cigars, and the fresh, night air clinging to his thick flannel appeared before he did. He had missed bedtime but he never went to sleep without kissing his children goodnight. 

Kraven was speaking behind the wall of memory. He was stroking her blood hardened hair. His arm was wrapped tightly around her waist and the calloused pad of his thumb was rubbing circles into her thigh. He was too close. Too touchy. His hands roamed freely over her body like he owned every inch of her flesh.

Maybe he did. 

Maybe she was nothing but his property down in this basement. She had no right to her own body. 

His words sounded far away like he was speaking through the opposite end of a long tunnel, “I knew before I married Calypso that she could not bear children. We both knew it but I married her anyway because I loved her. She was my soulmate. The woman of my dreams. The only trait she lacked was the one thing that would keep the Kravinoff line going. Despite my elderly father’s warnings, I didn’t care at the time, because I was young and reckless. I didn’t realize the weight of what it meant to be a leader. This guild has been passed down for generations to the eldest son or daughter. We are raised to take charge. We have much pride in becoming the leader the Silver Colt’s deserve. It is our destiny from being born a Kravinoff but I didn’t realize exactly what that meant until years later.” 

Could not bear children. 

Bear. 

Bears. She was reading about bears. 

She wasn’t listening. She wasn’t here.

She was still awake, hidden under her covers with a flashlight, and flipping through her Zoobooks magazine about bears. When she heard her father coming, she quickly tossed the magazine out from under the covers and shoved the flashlight under her pillow, plopping down on top of it and fake snoring. 

Samuel had chuckled as he peeled back the covers to expose her face. She remembered trying so hard not to smile but the reign of tickles that he attacked her with caused her sleeping facade to drop in a fit of giggles. 

“There came a time when I started to realize that I truly would not have an heir. I began to panic. I knew I had not made a mistake in marrying Calypso. She was everything I could have ever wanted and more. But there would always be one thing missing from my destiny. Something that was integral to the guild’s survival. I needed a child of my own. It was Cal’s idea for what I had to do next. I needed to find someone who would give themselves over to us and let us create the future together.” 

Kraven’s sour words blended in behind the smooth words of her dead father. 

“You’re supposed to be asleep, Linny. Your mother is not going to be happy with you,” he whispered with a teasing smile. “Don’t worry. Your secret's safe with me.”

Safe with me. 

She wasn’t safe. Not here. 

“We searched through the women of the guild. Most were married off already. No one satisfied the needs we had when choosing a mother to bear the future leader. She had to be of good stock. Someone strong. Someone capable. Someone who could pass on their strength to our child. When we couldn’t find that woman, Cal suggested we wait. We train up someone from scratch. We could make someone perfect.” 

Perfect like her father. 

He perched on the edge of her bed and glanced down at the crumpled magazine on the floor, “What were you reading?” 

Alyin rolled onto her back and smiled up at Sam, “It’s about bears. Emir was reading it to me earlier. He said he’s a better reader than me and that I take too slow and only know a couple of words and that I keep making up all the rest.” 

Samuel rolled onto his side beside her, propping his head in his hand as he scratched at the stubble dotting his chin, “I don’t think Em is wrong. You only know how to read about ten words so far.”

She gasped in indignant shock, “That’s lies! I know thirteen words! I counted them.” 

He chuckled, “My deepest apologies. How could I ever have been so far from the truth?” He cupped his daughter’s chubby cheek in his large, warm palm and leaned down to plant a kiss on the tip of her nose. “Do you forgive me?” 

Far from the truth. 

Through the pull of her memories, she tried to piece together what Kraven was implying. Everything was jumbled. His words and the words of her father blended together into one weaving web of confusion. She was struggling to separate the two scenes playing simultaneously. There was a dull ringing in her ears. Her vision couldn’t focus. 

Her heart was crying but her eyes remained dry. 

“I looked for the strongest, most dedicated member of our guild. I knew exactly who it would be. My oldest and dearest friend. At the time he only had a son. I remember him telling me once that he only wanted one child. But I took him out hunting. I talked to him all about his love for Emir. That man raved about this little toddler like the sun shown straight out of his ass. It didn’t take much convincing on my part. All it took was a little nudge to push him in the right direction. ‘Have another kid, Sammy. Look how happy you are with the one. Add one more to the mix. Grow that happiness to one more.’” Kraven huffed with amusement. “It was easy. He had no idea what I was after. Cal and I both waited, hoping that he would give us a daughter. And, sure enough, there you were. A perfect little ball of feisty energy. Cal and I worked it out. I would train you to become the best of the best. You would grow to outrank your father in skill. You would be the best hunter the guild had to offer. And, when you turned 21, I would claim you as my protégé and lay down my offer for you to take. In return for my years of hard work making you who you are today, you would repay the debt by bearing my children for the guild. I would require, at the very least, two. It’s always best to have backup options should one heir not make it to adulthood. Although, if you’re enjoying yourself too much, we could have as many as you’d like. I could give you an entire brood if you wished. Cal and I would treat you like royalty during that time. You would never want for anything again. After two children, the deal would be up, if you’d desire it. You could be free to marry whoever you please and continue on with your life. The deal would be complete. You would have completed your duty to the Silver Colt’s and to the Kravinoff lineage.” 

The fire in her soul flared with a burning heat of anger. She willed her mind to focus on what he was saying. She needed to take it in. She had to understand to unravel the mess of lies that was her entire existence. How could she have ever been so far from the truth?

He wanted her to…to…

But with every heightened jolt of emotion, she was tugged straight back into her childhood bedroom with her beloved father, like a knight swooping in to protect the vulnerable princess. 

Aylin gave in, grinning at her father with a gap toothed smile,“Yes, I do forgive you, but only for right now. Tomorrow I might not because tomorrow I might know fifteen hundred words and then you’ll look silly for thinking I only knew ten.”

“That’s a lot of words,” he nodded in admiration at her willful determination. “If you suddenly know how to read fifteen hundred words by tomorrow then I will buy you an entire library full of books about bears. Promise.” 

She held out a tiny pinky finger to lock with his, “Deal.”

Deal. Deal. Deal. 

That word meant nothing to her anymore. 

Her mind was reeling. It couldn’t stay focused. It was drifting. She was both lost in her labyrinth and stuck in the present. One foot clinging to the miserable reality of her life and the other in the grave beside her dismembered father. 

Nothing was real. 

Her body was betraying her with the sting of tears pressing at her eyes. She had to lean her head against Kraven’s chest, the fur of his Lycan pelt shall obscuring her from view, as she willed the tears not to fall. They weren’t tears of sadness but of unadulterated rage.

He could claim her? He made her who she was? Repaying her debt?

Her eyes landed on the fire poker sticking out the flames of the open oven. A potential weapon. She needed to locate all the weapons close at hand. He would stop her before she was able to lunge forward to reach it but, if she could somehow break free from his hold, it could be a viable option. Kraven always had his signature curved dagger holstered to his thigh, too. That one was much closer but she would need to distract him before she could snake it out of its sheath without him noticing. 

She could be that distraction. She just had to shed herself of the fear clutching at her throat. He scared her. He was stronger than she was. She was so weak compared to him. The realization of what she would have to do to distract him was becoming clearer and she hated her options. 

Whatever it takes. 

Whatever it takes. 

Whatever it fucking takes. 

Get out of this basement, no matter the cost. That was the goal. She’d sell her soul if it meant getting to taste her freedom once more. She could lose one part of herself in order to gain another. 

She knew exactly what she had to do. 

Samuel gave her another quick kiss on the forehead and pushed himself off the bed, “Alright. I have to get to sleep myself. No more reading for tonight, little lady. I don’t want you being a cranky kid for your mom tomorrow.” He ducked back out towards the stairs. 

“Baba,” Aylin whispered back to him before his head could disappear down the steps. “Did you know that black bears are omy-whores? That means they can eat everything. Even trash.” 

Samuel gave a booming belly laugh that filled the quiet house with his joy, “Omnivores, Linny. Omnivores. And that’s why we have to be really careful where we keep our trash. We don’t want any bears wandering into camp.”

She didn’t know what was so funny but she always liked the feeling of making her father laugh. She beamed at him, pleased with herself, “Sergei will kill them if they get too close. He’ll keep us safe.” 

Samuel winked, “Not if I get to them first. Don’t forget, I beat him in every contest we’ve ever been in. Don’t doubt your old pops. You and I, baby girl, we’re stronger than anyone can ever imagine. Don’t count us out.” 

“Then why is he in charge instead of you?” She questioned, too young to grasp the weight of his response. 

“Because,” Samuel stated with simplicity. “His father was the leader and his father before that and so on and so forth. Sometimes a leader is born instead of earned. Being named a leader doesn’t make you worthy. He’s no better than you or I. He’s just a man.” 

He’s just a man. 

Sergei Kravinoff was just a man. 

And men can be manipulated. 

A wicked smile grew across Aylin’s lips. Her fire had consumed her. She was nothing but blinding light and passion ready to burn down anything in her path. 

Don’t count her out. 

She would not dissociate anymore. She would not let herself disappear. She was getting out. She was getting back to Peter. 

Aylin softened her brows to appear with a mild curiosity as she sat up straighter and angled her body to face Kraven the Hunter head on. She would not fear him. 

Whatever it takes. 

“Did you really choose me for that kind of honor? I would have thought you’d want someone more inviting like your wife. I’m nowhere near as attractive as her,” her voice remained soft and sweet like a young girl vying for her teacher's approval. 

A smile tugged at Kraven’s lips, “You’re more alike than you think. And I told you. You were born for this role, Aylin.” 

No.

She was born to be his downfall. She was born to destroy his dynasty. She was born to be the last face he ever saw before his life was cut short. This was her story. Not his. She was no one’s puppet. Not anymore. Her strings were cut free and there was no one that could stop her now. 

Her fire would never be snuffed out again. She may stumble but she refused to fall. 

“And my father never knew?” She quipped. “You never told him? I would think he’d be thrilled to allow me to have such a high ranking place in our guild.” 

Bullshit. 

He would have murdered Kraven without hesitation if he knew. He would have never allowed this to happen. Anyone who dared to prey on Samuel’s children would be slaughtered. He was stronger than his friend. He would have won the fight had he found out what Kraven was planning. He never would have stood for such an ominous scheme involving anyone in the guild, nevermind, his own daughter. There was no way he could have ever known. 

If Sam knew, he would have attacked Kraven. He would have won the fight.

Unless…

Kraven’s silence was damning.

Aylin faltered, “Wait…did my father find out?” 

Kraven shrugged as if it was nothing but a mild annoyance. He was watching her expression carefully. She wouldn’t let her mask slip no matter what he told her. She had to be strong.  

This was not the story she was told. 

Samuel and Emir were killed by Lycan not by Kraven. 

They were killed by wolves. They were ripped apart so badly that her and her mother weren’t allowed to see the bodies. It was Lycan. It was always Lycan that caused their death. 

“He may have found out, yes, but he wasn’t, as you put it, thrilled. It doesn’t matter, though. It wasn’t up to him. He had no power over my ruling.” 

Samuel knew. 

He had found out what Kraven was planning to do to her. 

And then he was dead. 

He had gone on hundreds of hunts and came back without so much as a scratch. Yet, the one hunt he goes on with no one else but her brother and Kraven, they both end up slaughtered with Kraven as the only survivor. 

Something wasn’t adding up.

Kraven’s hand wandered up and down her side, hesitating just under the swell of her breast, before traveling back towards her ass. He was becoming more bold with his movements. He was testing the limits to see how far she would let him willingly go.  

She couldn’t even feel what he was doing to her body anymore as the puzzle pieces began to fall together. She didn’t give a shit where his hands went. They could claw up inside of her and she wouldn’t budge. Her mind was too busy reeling with all this new, damning information. 

“Why would he be upset? I’m shocked. Why wouldn’t he want such a bright future for me?” The words felt acidic in her mouth as she forced herself to say them. She teased her unbroken hand up to tangle into Kraven’s beard and trace a sly finger along his jaw. She had to gain control or else she’d spiral into the oppressive fear crouching just below the surface of her mind. She needed that dagger at his hip. “I would think he would feel nothing but pride by getting to see his child be given over to such a strong and affluent man.” 

Aylin leaned in closer, flashing her best attempt at bedroom eyes at him. He raised his scruffy brows with an enticing curiosity in her pursuit to seduce him. She carefully pulled her leg back to stand up, wrapping it around his thighs instead, to straddle his lap and face him. Her arms snaked around his neck to pull him closer. 

Distract and steal. That was the new goal. She had to push her family's death to the back of her mind so she could focus on what was currently important. Her father and brother would still be dead. She couldn’t allow herself to follow them, yet. 

Get out of the basement.

Whatever it takes. 

“I wish you had told me about your plans for me sooner,” she purred in his ear. “I wish we had skipped over this bullshit and gotten straight to the truth. I kept no secrets about this Peter Parker wolf from you, Sergei. Calypso saw to that. I had nothing but the truth to feed her. I’d never heard of him before you mentioned his name. I’m sorry I couldn’t be of more help to you there in that regard. It is true that I lied about why I ran from my ceremony, though.” Her lips grazed over his hairy cheek and hovered over his parted mouth. “I was scared to kill the girl because I had never seen a wolf presented like that before. It startled me. I panicked and I ran when I should have stuck to my training. I should have trusted you and the Colts. I had a lapse of judgment where I saw her as a young girl instead of a mutt. I know that she wouldn’t hesitate to slaughter everyone in our camp if she had the chance and I hesitated in ending her. It’s my biggest regret. I was embarrassed and so afraid to tell you because I knew I had let you down. I failed you and I’m so sorry. I never meant for that to happen. Let me make it up to you. You’re the most important man in my life.” She brushed her lips softly against his, cutting off a part of her soul in the hopes that something new could grow from the bleeding wound. She would give up little parts of herself until she could shed herself free. She would burst from this basement half the woman she once was but she would live. Remove the infected limb to stop the infection from spreading. Do what she had to in order to stay alive. “I worship you as my leader, Sergei. Let me prove it to you.” 

A low growl rumbled in the back of Kraven’s throat to let her know that her plan was on the right track. His eyes slipped closed at her erotic touch. She could feel a thick tightness twitch in his pants below her and she subtly ground her hips against it to keep it growing. 

It was working. 

She was gaining the upper hand. Horny men were weak men. 

Her eyes dared to glance down at the curved dagger sheathed against his right hip. It was held snugly in place by a brown, leather strap wrapped around the hilt. She’d have to be stealthy and precise with her every move to not alert him to her deceit. 

She trailed her fingertips down his chest, inching closer to her prize. His eyes opened with heavy lids to gaze down at her and she halted her descent. He needed more. 

Aylin released a soft whimper to imitate someone who was in need of being ravished, “Please, Sergei. Let me serve my guild. Let me serve you. I accept your deal.” 

A devilish smile spread across his lips. He grabbed at her hips to roll her against his bulge.

“Do you feel that?” He murmured. “That’s what a real man feels like. I can do things to your body that you never even thought possible.” 

She forced back a gag of disgust. 

Whatever it takes.

“If you accept my offer,” he continued, “then you have to be a full member of the Silver Colts. Your ritual isn’t complete just yet.” 

Aylin’s eyes flashed over to the wolf girl. She was half expecting to find her staring back but the girl was practically gone. Kraven followed her line of sight then tilted her head back to face him, not wanting to share her looks with anyone else. 

“Yes, she’ll need to be dealt with, but there is one more matter to settle first.” The moment he finished speaking, he crashed his lips on top of hers, hungrily grasping at her hips to push her tighter against his cock. 

Her entire body physically revolted. Vomit burned up her throat. She could feel her nerves desperately attempting to claw away from his grasp. Her brain was screaming at her to fight back. It went against every nature in her being but Aylin leaned into the kiss with a ferocity. She pried her tongue into his mouth despite the repugnant taste. She tangled her broken hand into his hair. She angled her body to perfectly grind against his bulge to give him exactly what he wanted.

All so her left hand could sneak down to his hip unnoticed. 

With a blind silence, she slipped open the leather strap. Her fingers curled around the hilt of the dagger. She felt the cool weight of it in her palm. 

Whip it out. Lunge back. Slice it across his neck. 

Three simple steps was all it would take. 

Her heart was racing. Her mind was nothing but static. Her body was playing the part she had casted for it to perfection. He was distracted. He was vulnerable. All she had to do was follow through. 

One…two…thr-

Kraven’s eyes snapped open before she could even attempt to move. They burned into her with a predatory lust. She genuinely couldn’t tell if he wanted to fuck her or murder her. The sight frightened her, making her feel like a tiny rabbit backed into a corner by a hungry wolf. Her hand instinctively slipped from the dagger as he suddenly stood without warning. 

Aylin tumbled off his lap. She was being slammed back down onto the wooden seat. Her back howled in pain as the slats of the chair rubbed against her bandages. Her breath was knocked from her lungs as confusion clouded her thoughts. 

Had he felt what she was doing? 

Kraven gave a nasty smirk. He sank down in front of her and forced her knees wide apart, grinning as he gained a shocked gasp from his captive. His imposing body pushed between her thighs to keep her spread open. 

No. He hadn’t felt her stealing his possession, he was just switching to new positions before she had a chance to remove the dagger. 

The panic flooding her body was becoming too much. Her arms felt numb as tingles of lightheadedness spread across her skin. She wasn’t getting enough oxygen. Her brain was suffocating itself. She didn’t have the upper hand from this position. She wasn’t in control. The dagger was too far away.

She was too late. He was going further than she was comfortable with. Her shifting reality was becoming undeniable. She didn’t want this. 

“Wait,” she breathed through shaky gasps. 

“Hush, little one. Don’t fret.” His breath trailed over her inner thighs as his beard tickled her skin, leaving trails of kisses down her leg. “This isn’t what you think. Not yet, at least. We’ll have time to discover each other later. We don’t want to rush things. Don’t worry. No, no. You have something else in store for you.” 

Aylin watched his every move with a careful intensity, doing her best to keep her rapid breathing steady, as he leaned back towards the fire. Her brows knitted together in confusion when he grabbed the long metal poker sticking out from the depths of the flames. 

For a brief moment she felt an overwhelming relief at being spared the horror of having him eat her out. She could handle kissing and grinding as long as she felt like she commanded the situation. As long as she was able to focus her mind on her ulterior motives then she was able to keep calm. The second he flipped the script, her resolve failed her. She would have had zero control in the position he had placed her in. She would have had to endure his desecration of her body without anything to show for it. The thought was enough to break her. It had become too real. She was flying too close to the sun and her wings were bound to get singed. 

But she would not break down. Not yet. Not here. 

Aylin forced that ‘what ifs’ from her mind and instead geared her attention to what he was holding.

What she originally assumed was fire poker was something else. The end that had been sitting in the flames all this time was formed into a shape she couldn't quite make out at this angle. Though she didn’t need to make out the shape to understand the implications of what Kraven was planning on doing with it.

He was holding a branding iron. 

She vaguely remembered seeing a scarred sun against Kraven’s forearm once but she never thought much of how he acquired it.

Kraven looked towards the iron with admiration, “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” He turned the front towards her so she could get a full picture of the design. 

Through the bright yellow halo and sizzling white smoke, a semi circle stared back at her. Along the circular arch were about ten straight lines sticking outwards to signify the rays of the sun. The ends of the rays were already starting to turn into a deep, glowing orange. The entire design was roughly four inches wide and modeled after the Silver Colt’s sun emblem. She could feel the intense heat radiating off the iron and melting her forehead into beads of sweat.  

Kraven tugged up his shirt sleeve with his teeth and showed her his forearm where a fully healed, white, scarred sun was etched into his skin, “Got this when I turned 18. Every one of the Kravinoff’s get branded to prove our loyalty to this family. The night we got married, I branded Calypso before we made love. She claims it was the most erotic and sensual experience of her life. She has hers right about here.” He held the iron away from Aylin’s face as he leaned forward, still pushed between her thighs, and slipped a finger into the top hem of her underwear next to the dip in her pelvis. “She wanted it tucked away where only my eyes could find it.” 

He smiled and flicked his finger back out, letting the elastic waist snap against her skin, “If you’re serious about our offer like you claim to be then you need to prove it. You join our familia ranks and then finish out your ceremony by cutting the heart of the wolf and tossing it into the fire. Two easy steps to prove to me that you can be reformed. This is your test of loyalty. Cal warmed you up but these are the end steps. By branding you with this sun, you are becoming a part of the Kravinoff family. You will give me children. You will become a full fledged hunter. You will be one of us. Forever. So, I ask you now…do you fully accept?” 

Aylin swallowed. Whatever relief she had felt about not being sexually assaulted had only been replaced by a heavy feeling of dread. This was going to have to happen. In order for her to keep playing along, she would have to say yes. More pain would only push her closer to her end goal of escaping. She would do it.

She just had to know one thing first. 

“Did you kill my father?” Aylin asked, her voice unwavering, as she held perfect eye contact.

A lopsided, proud smile tugged at the corner of his lips, “Not…directly.” 

She could feel the blood draining from her face, “But it was your fault? He found out about your plan and then what? How did they really die?” 

“I told you the day it happened,” he stated. “A wolf ripped him and Emir apart limb by limb.” 

Aylin shook her head in disbelief. A single Lycan wouldn’t have been able to overtake both her brother and father without there being more to the story. 

“The whole story, Sergei,” she demanded. “I want the whole story. Tell me and then I will say yes. I will take your deal. I will let you brand my flesh. I will kill the girl. I will give you children. Whatever you want. But not until I know the truth.” 

Kraven sighed, rolling his eyes. He scooted out from between her legs and tossed the sun end of the iron back into the flames to reheat as he stood.

“Like I said before, you and Cal are more similar than you think. Both stubborn as they come and refuse to do what I ask of them before I give you something in return,” he chuckled quietly to himself. “I clearly have a type for admiring strong willed women. You’re not going to like what I tell you, Aylin. You cared for your family. Their deaths are not as noble as you were led to believe.” 

“I don’t care,” she replied, telling him everything she knew he wanted to hear. “I want the truth. No matter what you tell me, I’ll still comply with whatever you want. I’m still a Silver Colt. This guild is my home. It’s in my blood. You’re my family. I belong here. Now tell me what happened to my father and brother.” 

She held her breath in anticipation for the truth. 

“Emir must have overheard me speaking to Cal about you. It was around the time I saw you with Leah Rivera. Every part of our plan was going perfectly until that moment. While you could still give me children if you were gay, it wouldn’t be the same. I wanted you to enjoy the process, not be forced into it. You were meant to be a willing participant. We had to make some fast changes to get you back on the right track.”

Aylin bit down on the inside of her cheek to refrain from showing any emotion. Had he killed Leah, too? Is that what really happened to people who “left” the guild? Did everyone’s death fall back on her shoulders?

She didn’t want to be herself anymore. She wanted to be anyone else but Aylin. 

“Emir had stopped by to pick up extra crossbow bolts and must have overheard the conversation. I’m sure he ran straight back to daddy to tell him all about his newly found gossip. Anyway, that night we had a small, planned hunt. A few months prior, we had wiped out a pack.” Kraven stopped to give a scowl in her direction. “Peter Parker’s pack. He was the only one who managed to escape and I needed him dead. I couldn’t live with myself knowing that I had let one get away. I had received some intel that Parker had been spotted with a woman and young boy about thirty miles out. They were not a part of his original pack. We didn't know if they were already wolves he joined up with or if he was turning new people to grow his ranks. Either way, they were compromised and would be taken care of, as well. Women and children don’t matter when it comes to werewolves. A wolf is a wolf and they all need to be wiped out. 

“I had previously planned to take just Sam and Emir to eliminate the wolves. We wouldn’t need any more than three hunters to deal with them. Too many of us would have been too obvious. Sam had said nothing to me the night we left but I could tell Emir had already told him what he heard. They were both simmering with a silent hatred the entire ride out. Everything had changed so quickly between us. I knew it wouldn’t just be a fight between Parker and I that night.”

Aylin watched as he leaned back against the stone wall and crossed his arms, waiting for the ball to drop, and the truth to be revealed. 

“We tracked them to a small cabin in the woods. The woman and her kid tried to flee. I remember seeing Emir chase after them but they weren’t my target. I knew exactly who I was there for. I managed to single out Peter. Our fight was long and difficult. At one point, I lost my balance and tumbled down a hill with him bounding after me,” Kraven gave a long, low sigh. “Then he was on top of me. He was stronger than I anticipated. I don’t like admitting that. He was the strongest wolf I’d ever encountered, the first time we met, and now he was driven with his need for revenge. Apparently, me slaughtering his minions was his driving force behind killing me. I may have started to lose my upper hand. Parker was winning the fight. I was pinned under him. I was going to lose my life. And then I saw him. Samuel was standing at the crest of the hill looking down at us. He could see that I was losing and he wasn’t doing a damn thing to stop it. He was directly betraying his leader and his oldest friend all because of something his stupid kid overheard. I let the rage consume me. In one last attempt to get out from under Parker, I grabbed at the dagger by my side. I stabbed it into his neck. As I laid under him, his wolf blood poured from the wound. It got in my mouth. I could taste him on my tongue. And then…” 

Kraven paused to relish in the memory, “And then I felt amazing. I felt a power like I had never felt before. It was new. Beautiful. Addicting. Parker’s blood coursed through mine and suddenly I could wield a strength I never knew possible. I was a God with that kind of power. Parker was wounded. I was able to kick him off me. I was able to walk away from a fight that was meant to claim my life thanks to this glorious new drug coursing through my veins. 

“I walked straight towards Sam. That bastard had left me to die. I shoved passed him as Emir stood by his father’s side. They looked between Parker bleeding out and myself. I had waited so long to kill the mutt but something changed when his blood entered me. I couldn’t finish the job. Like having his blood in my system was a mental block. Like it wouldn’t allow me to hurt him any further. So, I walked away. 

“But Sam wasn’t done. He didn’t care about Parker. He cared about me. He shouted after me. He asked if it was true. I could see that hatred in his eyes. Nothing I could have said would have mattered. He’d already made up his mind. He was ready to fight to the death for your honor. He started after me. He managed to get me to the ground but I was too strong with my newly found power and easily got a hold of him. I could feel his neck starting to snap under my grip. I was so fucking strong. When Emir tried to step in to help, I shot him in the stomach with my colt. That was all it took for Samuel to cease the fight to run to his side. I could hear everything in that moment. I could hear the quick heartbeat of a wolf rapidly approaching us. I may have stabbed Parker in the neck but never underestimate a wolf. What would kill a human, would only slow a mutt down. I’m sure he was clawing his way over to extract revenge but, by then, I was already on my way back to the truck. I could hear Samuel sobbing over Emir as he gargled on his own blood. I could hear both their final screams as the wolf reached them. I don’t even think Sam fought back.

“And I never once looked behind me to check. Not once. I got in my truck and drove to the nearest gas station. I waited until morning before driving back to collect their bodies. I was very careful about who I let see them. Those who did, never dared to question the obvious bullet hole in your brother’s stomach. The silver bullet hiding there mysteriously disappeared.” He gave a quick wink in her direction. “Their bodies were so mutilated by Parker that it was easy to have them covered when it was time to burn them. I wouldn’t want your poor, grieving mother to have to witness such horrors.” He took a long, drawn out breath to finish his tale. “So, to answer your question, no, I did not kill your father. The bullet wound would have killed your brother eventually but, I think, Parker finished them both off before that played out.”

Aylin stared at him in silence. Her eyes were dry and cold. Her limbs were numb. The ringing in her ears was getting louder. 

The truth was finally out. 

But it didn’t match with what Peter had told her in the camper. 

I killed your brother and father just as much as you killed the people I love. Don’t blame me for your family’s death when I had nothing to do with it. 

He told her he never touched her family. Not that he knew what they looked like or who they were but he still made it sound like was innocent. According to Kraven, Peter was the one who stole their lives. They were two conflicting statements of the supposed truth. 

Her trust in Peter was stronger than that of Kraven. There had to be more to this story. 

He may have taken the final bite but Kraven had been the one to pull the trigger. 

Kraven the Hunter was the one to blame. 

“Brand me,” she stated through her impassive tone. 

Aylin held her legs apart to give him easy access to her inner thigh where he was clearly aiming to mark her. 

Kraven raised his brows, impressed with her response, and silently reached for the iron. He knelt down at her knees and aimed the glowing sun towards her inner thigh. She didn’t stop to think about how unsanitary the entire process was going to be or how much it was going to hurt. She didn’t care what the outcome would be. She only wanted to welcome the pain with open arms to push away the growing numbness threatening to steal what was left of her severed soul. 

Aylin closed her eyes as the metal touched her skin. The faces of her father and brother flashed across her vision. They were followed by the haunting face of Peter. For a blinding moment, the metal almost felt frozen against her until her brain registered it as heat. Lava seared into her flesh. Kraven clamped down on her leg to keep her from instinctively jerking it away from the source of pain. A scream got caught in the back of her tightening throat but she choked it down. She would not scream for this man. She would not scream for the one who murdered her family. He didn’t deserve the honor of hearing her cries. 

The horrid stench of burned flesh filled her nose and made her gag. It was a putrid, sickly sweet and sour, nauseating smell. Leather tanning over an open flame mixed with a burning metallic and corrugating blood. She could see through her half open lids that Kraven had already removed the iron but the fire still felt like it was engulfing her leg. Her nails dug into the palms of her hand deep enough to draw crescents of blood. She felt faint. Dizzy. She tried to gasp for air. She could taste the smell of burned flesh in her mouth. It was all consuming. 

Kraven was pouring the jug of cold water she drank out of earlier over her burned skin. A tiny waterfall of coolness helped soothe the angry mark. She bit down on her bottom lip and leaned her head back against the chair as she focused on her breathing. Her entire left leg was trembling uncontrollably from the pain. 

At least her numbness was being replaced with the familiar feeling of blinding hatred.

“You did good,” he said. The sound of his voice pushed away the pain and fueled her fiery rage even more. “I’ll put some of the special salve Cal brought down on it. I probably should have properly cleaned the area first. I just got a bit turned on with how you demanded it. You sounded just like Cal.” 

She wasn’t listening to his words. Her jaw was clenched together in determination.

Step one of what he wanted was done. Step two…kill the wolf girl. 

The taste of her inevitable freedom was nearly as sweet as the sickly smell of her burning flesh. 

[CHAPTER SEVEN]

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TagList: @theorgansarerotting @ssecret @sincericida @moonyslove78 @lazyxsquirrel @liz-allyn

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[blooming-violets]

CREATURE LIKE ME || CHAPTER FIVE (part two): HELL

[TASM Peter Parker!Werewolf AU]

Story Summary: Kraven and his guild of hunters have been tracking and quelling the werewolf population for centuries. The time has come for Aylin to complete her first solo hunt to prove herself to the guild. It was supposed to be simple. One wolf, one death, one victory. She never expected to end up with a secret hostage on her hands.

Chapter Five p.2 Warnings (spoilers): this chapter is dark, serious depictions of torture (breaking bones, loss of finger nails, tooth extraction, use of whips, being held by chains) with lotta blood/gore mentioned, alluded reference to SA, emotional manipulation with gaslighting

Note: "anne" is Turkish for "mom/mother'',

This is the second half to chapter five. I decided to split it in half so it wasn't super long. Happy reading<3

[link to chapter index]

Clinking chains rattled in her ears. 

The sound swayed gently back and forth above her head. 

There was a tight, aching pain in her shoulders which throbbed with each slow beat of her heart. 

A quiet moan whimpered from her chapping lips. 

Her feet were dangling on unsteady ground. Her toes were just barely scraping the surface as she tried to keep her body from the constant sway. 

She felt like she was bobbing along the gentle waves of the ocean. 

Lost at sea. 

She had been dreaming of her mother. 

“Ah, welcome back, Aylin.” 

She knew that voice.  

She forced the sandbags from her lids as she struggled to open bleary eyes. 

“Mom…anne…”

Her words sounded foreign in her ears. Scratchy. Deep. Like they came from somewhere other than her own lips. 

A wavering face of a beautiful woman appeared in front of her. 

Her jawline could cut through steel. Soft, full lips that were stained with a juicy red which shimmered under the dull overhead light. 

Aylin focused in on the color as a drop of crimson trailed down the woman’s chin. 

“I’m not your mother, little one. Though I could be with the right persuasion.”

Calypso dabbed at the drop of red with her finger, sucking it into her mouth, and pulling it back out, clean, with a pop. She threw back her head and let out a laugh that echoed off the stone walls. 

Aylin flinched away from the venomous sound as it pierced her ears.

Panic started to overtake her senses the more they awoke. 

She was dangling upright with her arms outstretched above her head. Heavy, rusted cuffs locked her wrists in place with a chain descending from a thick, wooden beam of the ceiling. The tips of her bare feet just brushed against the cold, concrete floor. She was stripped of her clothes apart from her dark sports bra and matching underwear. A shiver wracked through her scantily clad body. 

“No!” Her panic seized in her throat, forcing her to shun away the grogginess grabbing hold of her mind, and flood her with horror. 

They were going to hurt her. 

She was in danger.

“Mom!” She screamed out, her shrill voice echoing off the walls, her desperation evident in her pleading tone. “Help me! Anne! Help me! Someone help me!” 

She thrashed at the chains holding her, her careful balance losing grip, as she spun around like a fish dangling from a line. Tears burned behind her eyes and spilled down her heated cheeks. 

She was scared.

Terrified. 

Left feeling like a little girl shrinking into her covers at the shadows dancing in the corner of her dark bedroom. 

The terror of the unknown was taking hold of her quickly draining sanity. 

“What are you doing? Where are my clothes?” Aylin cried. “This isn’t right! Let me go!” 

Sergei and Calypso both stood side by side against a large table opposite her. They watched her futile attempts with stone cold expressions. 

Finally, Sergei rolled his eyes, and stepped forward to halt her growing madness. He placed a large hand over her bound wrists to stop her spinning out of control. He held her steady with an exasperated sigh. 

“Enough.” His stern voice cut through her panic and made her hold her tongue from further outbursts. 

Her lip quivered in response, biting back another whimper. Her eyes darted around the room in a desperate attempt to take stock of everything she could see. 

Calypso was lounging against a large table behind Sergei’s back. She still donned her skimpy robe which did nothing to cover her body. It hung open to expose her large breasts and red, laced panties. She had never been one for modesty and used her beauty as a tool to command the room. Here, she was using it to keep the other woman in a constant state of unease. Aylin caught a glimpse of ominous looking tools scattered across the table’s surface behind the deadly woman. Nothing good could come from those. 

Her eyes sought out the wood burning stove glowing orange with dancing light against the back wall. It cast a wave of oppressive heat over everything it could reach. The chill of fear Aylin had felt upon waking was replaced with beads of sweat glistening over her bare skin. The glow from the fire was the only other light source besides a single, dull bulb dangling from the ceiling. 

The floor under her scraping toes was stained dark. Horrifying splattered stains trailed down to an old grate in the middle of the floor. Old blood stains. The implications of what she was looking at, and where she was placed, made bile rise in the back of her throat. 

This was a torture chamber. 

Hidden underground.

Away from the guild’s prying eyes. 

She had no doubt her screams would be muffled by the earth surrounding them. 

She had lived here her entire life and never once heard the cries of those who’d been unlucky enough to pay a visit down to the depths of this hell. 

No one knew where she was. 

No one would hear her. 

She was alone with two sadists. Two people who she once admired and wanted to be like. Two people who she used to trust with her life. Two people who had worn their masks so well, she never dared to look further. 

She could see them clearly now. 

They wore no masks down here. 

All she had was herself. 

A rustling noise over her shoulder grabbed her attention and she quickly craned her neck back to see a familiar, silver lined cage pushed into the far corner of the basement. 

Aylin’s heart leaped in shock.

The girl from the ceremony. 

She lay, curled into herself, at the bottom of the cage. Her naked body was caked with dried blood. Her hair was greased back from her dirt covered forehead. She had a fresh, openly bleeding wound leaking from her wrist onto the filthy concrete bottom of her cage. Her dull eyes rolled back in their bruised sockets as her head lulled against an outstretched arm. 

She was still alive. 

Barely. 

But she was breathing. 

They hadn’t finished her off the night Aylin ran. 

Though, a part of her wished that they had. The miserable, young girl looked to be in terrible shape. She might have been better off dead than trapped here. Aylin should have just killed her. Put her out of her misery. Now look at where she was. Right back where she probably started, trapped in a torture champer, covered in her own filth. 

Sergei hummed with approval as he allowed Aylin to quietly observe her surroundings. The sound drew her attention back to the man towering before her. A brushing of red stained his lips much like his wife’s. Aylin glanced back at the fresh cut on the wolf girl’s wrist. It was thin and precise. The curved dagger hanging at Sergei’s side was tipped with the same colored crimson.

Wait. 

No. They weren’t. They couldn’t be. That would go against every word they ever preached. It was impossible. It was…absolutely what they were doing. 

That was the wolf girl’s blood on their lips. 

They had been drinking her blood. 

Lycan blood. 

Aylin couldn’t recognize him anymore. He was no longer her revered guild leader but a stranger masking dark secrets. Secrets her dazed mind couldn’t even begin to unravel or comprehend. She couldn’t remember what made someone a Lycan. There was definitely some lengthy process that merged human cells with that of the wolf. But, blood drinking…that was…she didn’t know what it was. She didn’t know what it meant. Her body ached and her brain was in desperate need of a long sleep. Whatever they were doing, it couldn’t be good. 

He was no longer Sergei Kravinoff in her eyes but had made his final morph into Kraven the Hunter. This was her enemy. 

The caged girl let out a soft moan of pain. The sound of her rustling against the bottom of the cage filled the room as she tried to curl tighter into herself. 

“She’s not dead,” Aylin croaked out. “You kept her.”

“Surprised? We had a deal, don’t you remember?” He released his hand from her wrists and watched as she desperately tried to find purchase on her tiptoes to stop from swaying. He leered down at her like a puppet master pulling the strings of his doll. “You were supposed to bring me a heart. I sent you on a mission like I do with all new hunters. Go out, away from the safety of your party, and take out a single wolf all on your own. Return with their heart as proof of your kill and be welcomed with open arms into the big leagues. An honor among the Silver Colts. A tradition as old as time. Should be simple for someone who has trained their entire life with us, should it not? I sent you out with the highest of expectations. I even gave you additional orders to bring back important information on the pack. Anything of value we could use. You claim to have killed two wolves yet returned, a day late, with nothing to show. No information about the pack. No heart. Empty handed with nothing but a story.” He gave an exaggerated sigh. “I gave you the benefit of the doubt. Samuel’s daughter would never dare weave an elaborate tale to her leader. I helped train you. I’ve been on hunts with you. I’ve seen what you can do. I know that you can kill. I’ve seen it with my own eyes. I wanted to believe your story, Aylin. I really did. And I do think that there’s a truth to it. I think you really did kill a few wolves that night but, I think, you’re forgetting something…important. Is there some little detail you might have forgotten about? Anything you might want to share with us?”

She adamantly shook her head, keeping her jaw locked tight, and pleading at him with her eyes. 

Kraven took a thick finger and traced it down her jawline until it landed under her rounded chin. He lifted her face up to his to study her imploring expression. 

“Such a beautiful girl,” he mused as the pad of his thumb brushed over her bottom lip. “You look just like your mother. There’s hardly a trace of Samuel in your features but I see his spirit in your soul. That fire burning behind your eyes. That hatred flowing through your veins that’s aimed in my direction. That, right there, is Sam. You’re the daughter of one of the best hunters this guild has ever seen. Apart from me, of course.” He smirked down at her. “You have talent. Purpose. Your future shines so bright here. So, what I can not seem to understand is why you refused to kill that pathetic creature-” his head jerked over her shoulder to the girl in the cage “-in front of everyone. I was giving you an out. A way to prove yourself to everyone. You fumbled the mission but I gave you everything you needed at that ceremony.” His voice was starting to rise as his temper grew. “I was handing you your new position in this guild on a silver platter! Why didn’t you follow through? What the fuck happened in that camp? What did you see out there, Aylin?! What changed you? Tell us!” 

His hand tightened painfully at her jaw and she flinched as specs of spit flew from his lips to hit her face. 

“Nothing!” She tried to advocate for herself by making her voice sound steady but it only came out as a wailing cry. “I swear, Sergei! I would never lie to you. I just got ambushed. I was overwhelmed. I was in the process of extracting that wolf’s heart when the whole pack showed up. I had to run or else I would have been ripped apart. I’m so sorry.” 

He gave her a smile though there was nothing warm behind it, “Oh, see, I believe that part. I believe you were ambushed. But none of that would explain why you refused my command in front of my guild during your ceremony. It was so easy, Aylin. Your future was right there. All it took was gutting that whore and giving me what I wanted. Any hunter should have been able to accomplish that! Even the new trainees who haven’t yet seen their first werewolf could have done it! If this was last week, you would have ripped her heart from her chest without a second thought. Something happened the night I sent you out to that camp. Something changed. I want to know what it was.” 

She swallowed. 

She didn’t know what to tell him. 

She had no answers for him. Any hint of the truth would be treason. Truth or lie, she was still the one chained up and begging for her life. She would be tortured either way. She’d be punished regardless of what she said. The only difference that would be made was Peter’s freedom. If she held her tongue, he could escape with his life. If she told the truth, he would be hunted down. 

But isn’t death what he wanted? Isn’t that what he had been begging her for all this time?

But it wasn’t what she wanted. 

And, right now, she was the one hanging from the chains. Not him. She was the one who still held the power over his life. If he was going to die, it would be at her hands. No one else was allowed to touch him. 

“I-” her words floundered. “Nothing…nothing happened…I just…wasn’t feeling well…” 

“Bullshit,” he spat back at her. 

Peter would live. She had made up her mind. She didn’t give a shit what he wanted. He was going to live whether he liked it or not. She refused to get tortured for someone who was just going to die anyway. No. He was going to stay alive as payment for whatever she was about to endure. That was the least he could do. 

Her jaw tightened with determination. They could do anything they wanted to her. She wouldn’t let her secrets fall. 

Calypso must have noted her change in attitude because she turned around to carefully examine each tool thrown onto the table before her. She appeared at her husband’s side with a pair of heavy, thick pliers and a daunting smile plastered to her lips. 

For a brief moment, as Aylin’s eyes landed on the tool, her resolve faltered. Fear flooded her veins. This was going to happen. This wasn’t a dream. This was real.

“I can get her to talk,” Calypso mewled in Kraven’s ear. “Let me give it a try. I’ll get whatever you need out of her.”

His eyes glanced from Aylin, down to the pliers in his wife’s hand, and he took a step back, crossing his arms, “Well? What do you say, kid? You can let us in on whatever it is you’re hiding or I can leave you alone with Cal for a bit. Hmm? Now is your chance. Forgiveness is still on the table. I just want the truth.” 

Aylin gave a soft, defeated sigh. She wasn’t going to talk. Whatever would happen, would happen. She gave up her control and resigned to her fate.

A look of genuine disappointment flashed across his face, “That’s a shame. I had such high hopes for you. You’re just like your father. Another failure. Another disappointment.” 

She didn’t understand what he meant. Her father had always loved him like a brother. They were best friends. Since when did he ever look at Kraven with hatred? He loved him. Just like she had loved him. Something wasn’t adding up in the story she was told. The webbed lie of her entire life went deeper than she could have ever imagined. 

“We can still fix you, Aylin. You just need a little rehabilitation to get you back on the right track. Don’t worry. You’ll fall in line soon enough.” 

Without another word, he turned with a stiff back and walked up the wooden stairs. The sound of grinding gears followed as the bookcase locked itself back into place.  

A silence fell over the room. 

The rickety breaths of the young wolf girl were all that filled her ears as she stared down Calypso. 

“Why do you still have her?” Aylin asked, hoping to potentially derail whatever horrors were going through Calypso’s mind. “She’s practically dead already. What more purpose could she have?” 

A pointy toothed grin flashed before her eyes. 

“She was your gift. A peace offering from Kraven, the mighty hunter, to his favorite protégé. A gift you threw back in his face.” She trailed the cold tip of the pliers down the inside of Aylin’s arm and over her armpit, enjoying the sight of the chained woman squirming beneath her. “Ticklish?” 

Aylin responded with a grunt and narrowed her eyes, “I thought we’re supposed to kill wolves. Not torture them. Why is she still here?” 

Calypso raised her thick, curved brows, “Because of you. You were supposed to be the one to kill her. Or did you already forget why you’re hanging by your wrists?” 

“I thought someone else had done it when I left,” she squeaked out. Shame washed over her. Whatever happened to that girl now was her fault. 

“We let whoever stuck around after you ran have their fun with her, don’t you worry, but her heart is yours. So, until you take it, she will be stuck down here…rotting. Waiting. Wishing for her demise.”

It was like Calypso could feel the guilt drowning Aylin because she flashed her a giddy smile. She dragged the pliers slowly down her bare side and over her hip, toying with her, drinking in her remorse. 

“That bitch has been here a long time, though. Long before she was meant for you. She’s served her purpose. We drained her of everything she could give. Her last hurrah, her final offer to the guild, was all for you. And you blew it. Want to tell me why? I’m starting to feel a little pinchy,” she clicked the pliers in front of Aylin’s face. 

With a heavy sigh, Alyin let head dip, “I told you. I wasn’t feeling well. I had to run home.” 

Home. The thoughts of her mother filled her vision. Nesrin had no idea where her daughter was. She hated whenever Aylin would disappear. She’d be putting on a fake smile and going about her day but her worry would be consuming her every fiber of being. This guild was never a place she belonged. She was weaker than the rest. She wouldn’t survive losing another child. 

Aylin should have been more thoughtful. She should have gotten her mother out before she escaped back to Peter. Her family should have been her first priority. Nesrin was her only flesh and blood she had left in this world. She shuddered to think what Kraven would do to her mother if Aylin didn’t cooperate. It was no longer just her or Peter’s life on the line. 

“And we already told you,” Calypso’s sultry voice cut through her building sorrows, “we don’t believe you. You’re a terrible liar. You and your gas station boyfriend. Peter, was his name? We watched you grow up. We know you better than anyone. You would never speak to an outsider, let alone, invite them on a camping trip. No, no. I think you did something stupid. Reckless.” Her eyes widened with a smile. “I think you took something or found something…or someone…you weren’t supposed to. I think you stumbled on more than you’re giving us. It wasn’t your fault.  You couldn’t have known what we were sending you into. We haven’t been entirely honest with you much like you haven’t been with us. It’s our fault for assuming that you’d be loyal to your family, to the people who raised you and loved you, and that you’d come back with important knowledge that Sergei’s been seeking. Your solo hunt was meant to be more than just another initiation. You were meant to become something great. You were meant to give your leader important information he’s been so desperately trying to find. He knew that pack was harboring secrets, he just needed confirmation from you to tell him what they were. Or, rather, who they were.”

Aylin’s breath caught in her throat. 

They knew so much more than they let on. 

The glint shining in Cal’s dark eyes told her everything she needed to know. 

“Ah,” Calypso remarked. “So he was right. He had a hunch that a certain wolf was being given refuge in that pack. Sergei believed they were keeping him hidden, safe from our prying eyes. It’s unusual for a wolf to split from one pack to another but I wouldn’t put it past that conniving bastard.” 

Refuge? Safe?

Maybe they didn’t know as much as they seemed. She had to be careful with every word she chose to speak down here. 

“Tell me, Linny, did you find what Serg wanted? He wanted intel. He wanted someone he’s been hunting for a long time. Were his sources correct? Did you find someone special at that camp?” 

“No,” she whispered. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t know who you’re looking for. The entire pack showed up in wolf form. I have no idea who they were. I didn’t stop to ask for their names when they were lunging at me. They could have been anyone. All I know is that I killed Serena…Selena…Sierra…whatever her name was, who was my initial target, and then another white wolf. If the person you’re looking for was a white wolf then they’re dead. If they’re not then I don’t know what to tell you.” 

“And, yet, somehow Sergei just so happened to overhear you mentioning a Peter. Do you know who Peter is? Peter Parker,” she spat at the name. “The only wolf to ever outsmart my husband. The only one to ever escape his grasp. He’s been hunting him for years now. It’s his little obsession. His white whale, if you will. He wants that creature's head mounted on his wall. Human or wolf, it doesn’t matter to him. A trophy is a trophy, after all.”

“Peter is a very common name,” Aylin covered. “There are probably so many Peter’s living in New York right this very second. Why the hell would you think I knew anything about that specific one? I told you where the Peter I met is from. I don’t know his last name. It wasn’t on his name tag and I never cared enough to ask. Go take a drive. Check out that gas station. He’ll probably be standing behind the counter, bored out of his mind, and definitely not turning into a werewolf. The dude just wants to ring up your lotto tickets and Slim Jims and get on with his life. And, if, on the very rare chance that he is that same Peter you’re looking for then, by all means, kill him. I literally do not care.”

She sounded so convincing that even she almost believed what she was saying. It would be a shame if anyone did actually go check out the gas station as the chances of a young guy named Peter working there, at this exact moment, were fairly slim. 

Calypso clucked her tongue to the roof of her mouth in annoyance. Her jaw ground back and forth as she mulled it over. 

“You’re still lying. You went to that camp as a killer and came back as a newly found pacifist.”

“I’m not a pacif-”

“Shut up. You’re hiding something.” She lifted the pliers to Aylin’s eye level. “You’re going to give me an exact play by play of your every move, every little detail, of your solo hunt. The second you leave anything out, or the moment you don’t give enough substance to your story, I’m going to use these. There’s so many fun things one can do with a pair of nice, sturdy pliers. Do you want to hear a few spoilers? First, I’ll use it to break your delicate, little pinky finger. A fun and exciting start to get your heart pumping. Then, we can move on to your nails. Ever had each individual nail ripped from its bed? Painful. Not deadly but just painful enough to get you squirming. Or, we could skip right over that, and go straight for your teeth! That would be fun! It’s not like you ever smile anyway. Your permanent scowl won’t miss a couple of teeth. After that we can go back to breaking some more appendages. There are ten fingers and ten toes, afterall. We have a lot to work with. Or we could skip to another tool to spice things up if it starts getting too repetitive. I am quite fond of a whip. If you’re good, I’ll even let you decide your fate. Don’t worry, kid, we’re going to get you set back onto the right path in no time.” 

Aylin refrained from showing any emotion despite the tears desperately wanting to form. Her shoulders were already switching from a dull ache to outright screaming in protest from holding most of her body weight. She closed her eyes in an attempt to help her mind dissociate. Before she could let it wander anywhere, they snapped back open when she felt Calypso’s hair tickling her cheek. The woman had pushed her way against Aylin’s side, snuggling her face against her neck like a lover going in for a kiss. She brought her lips to brush over the other’s carotid artery, letting her nails trail up her spine until they tangled in Aylin’s long hair, painfully jerking her head back with a crack. She whispered against her, her breath heating up her skin, and sending a flutter of shivers through her stomach. 

“I can hear your pulse. Feel it, quivering, under your skin. It’s a faint sound but I can make it out,” Calypso let out a soft moan as if the sound was turning her on, flicking out her tongue to trace over Aylin’s pulse point. “It’s delicious. I can hear so much now. Every little flutter of your heart. I can smell your fear radiating off your body. You’re scared. You should be. I can tell when people are lying to me. I can make you talk. Only the dead can hold secrets.” 

She placed a soft kiss against Aylin’s neck.  “Now it’s your turn to shine, little hunter. Tell me exactly what you did the day you stepped foot into that camp.”

She wished she wasn’t screaming. She wished she was strong enough to swallow the sound entirely. She wished she wasn’t giving Calypso the satisfaction of hearing her pain. 

But it was too much. 

This witch of a woman was true to her word. 

If Aylin dared to even pause in her rendition of her solo hunt, she was met with swift punishment. Three of the nails on her right hand were now scattered on the floor at her feet and her pinky and ring finger were snapped into an unnatural shape, bent at the knuckles, each pointing in two different directions. Her hands had gone completely numb apart from a dull, throbbing burn. It was probably a mixture of the torture being inflicted on them and fact that her blood was struggling to make the climb upward as they hung above her head. 

She’d hadn’t even reached the part where she killed Sierra yet and she hadn’t even had a chance to lie either. Every punishment was simply because she tried to take a breath between words. 

Calypso was diligent. When she said she wanted every single detail, she meant it. Every thought that Aylin had in the moment, every sight, every smell, every damn step she took, she was meant to recall with perfect accuracy. 

“And then what happened? Tell me the entire phone conversation you overheard.” 

Aylin was hiding outside of the main lodge under the open window to the kitchen. The rain had soaked through her hair and was cold against her scalp. It obscured her vision as the drops clung to her lashes. Sierra was inside cooking. Chicken. For Peter. She was talking on the phone to someone about Kateri and the way she was keeping Peter. She hadn’t liked the way he was being held. He was in terrible condition. His body was starting to fail. She was trying to feed him despite whatever Kateri had told her. That’s why she was cooking. Not for herself but for their prisoner. 

Because she wasn’t a terrible person. 

Aylin couldn’t tell any of that to Calypso. Anything with Peter had to be subtracted from the equation. 

A quick, biting slap to her face shot her head sideways. Tears blurred in her eyes but she managed to keep them from falling.

“You do not pause,” Calypso shouted at her. “When I ask you a question, you answer without hesitation!” 

“I was trying to remember…” 

She had been using that excuse the last few times without success. The state of her hands should be enough to determine that “remembering” something was not allowed. She was supposed to speak without thinking. The truth was harder to fabricate when you had no time to ponder.

“Sierra was inside,” she blubbered back through trapped tears. “She was on the phone in the kitchen. Cooking chicken. I could smell it. I don’t know who she was speaking to but she was gossiping about a woman named Kateri. Sometimes she called her Kat. I could gather from the way she spoke that Kat was their leader.” 

“And what exactly were they saying about her?”

“I don’t know!” Aylin cried. “I don’t remember every word! I think she said that Kat was a bad leader. She said she disagreed with the way she was running things. She didn’t like how she had been acting. It sounded like Kat was a bit of an asshole and Sierra was fed up with it. I could only hear one side of the conversation. I don’t know what the other person was saying. It was a short conversation. I only caught the end of it. Then she hung up, grabbed her stuff, and she went outside. That was when I followed her. I-”

Calypso caught Aylin’s jaw in her tight grasp and forced her head to look up at her. Her eyes were flashing with an accusatory distrust, “What did she do with the chicken?”

Aylin blinked, “I…I don’t know…she brought it with her, I think. I didn’t look through the window for fear of being spotted.” 

Dark eyes narrowed down at her, “She left the comfort of a warm kitchen with a dining area to do what exactly? Walk through the pouring rain with a plate of freshly cooked chicken? To go where and do what with it? Why would she leave the lodge at all after preparing a meal she’d been making? Why wouldn’t she sit down and start eating it herself? You said it was pouring rain. Why would she leave a warm kitchen? Was she taking it to someone? You said the camp was empty apart from her.” 

Fuck. Leaving Peter out of the narrative was creating holes in the story. 

Her pause was all it took to be labeled guilty. 

A precarious smile spread across Calypso’s lips. A look of glee settled onto her sharp features. Her long, pointed nails raked into skin as she clamped down harder on the other’s jaw. She had caught Aylin in her first lie. 

“Ah, do you hear that?” She teased. There was a sing-song undertone to her voice like she couldn’t be more pleased to catch her prey in her web. “That would be the flutter of your heart. The skip and the beat of someone panicking. It seems someone isn’t telling the whole truth. That’s very interesting. What could you possibly be hiding? Hmm?” 

Aylin tried to shake her head from Calypso’s grasp, her eyes wide with fear, “No! It’s not a lie! She was probably bringing it to her cabin! I killed her before she got to her destination! I never got a chance to see where she was going! I-” 

The pliers were against her lips before she could pull away. Her jaw was being crushed under Calypso’s tight grasp, bruising her skin, as her nails cut into Aylin’s flesh, drawing up beads of blood, to pry her mouth open. She was unnaturally strong as she forced open the young woman’s jaw as she desperately tried to thrash out of her hold.

“I told you what would happen if you lied,” Calypso grunted, her breath rapid with building adrenaline and excitement. Her eyes were flashing with elation as if she was getting high off the torture. “I laid it all out for you. I told you exactly what would happen. This is entirely your fault. Not mine. All you had to do was not lie. It was so easy, you silly girl.” A haughty laugh bubbled out her throat. “Now, which precious tooth should we grab to add my collection of trinkets? Eeny, meeny, miny, moe…” 

Alyin kicked out her legs, feeling the sole of her foot connect with Calypso's shin, but the woman didn’t budge. She kicked and thrashed her body around, the sound of the chains violently rattling above her, with no success. Aylin was the weaker of the two. She couldn’t win this battle. She let out a strangled cry as the cold plier gripped onto one of her back, top molars. A tightness enveloped the tooth. She could feel the ridges of metal digging into her gums. Her eyes widened with horror and she struggled her body as hard as she could against her captor. 

But Calypso was stronger. 

With a sickening crack and an inhuman strength, a blinding pain scorched through Aylin’s every cell, as a piercing scream ripped from her throat. Roots were ripped straight from her socket in one fluid motion like her tooth didn’t give any resistance to Calypso's physical prowess. Thick, warm blood flooded her mouth and choked out her airway, cutting off her screech with a horrid gargling gag. She sputtered out a mouthful of blood, splattering it across Calypso’s face. Her vision blurred as the pain overtook her. A sharp headache split down her skull like a crack of lightning. Her body went limp, the weight of her being supported by her weakening wrists. Her chin bobbed down to her chest as her neck gave out. Blood gushed from her lips and hung in congealed strands of saliva being pulled downwards by gravity. Her entire head was nothing but agony. 

Calypso admired the red, dripping tooth still clutched in her pliers. She didn’t seem to mind the splattered blood across her face. She let out a proud, entranced smile.

Aylin could barely hear her through her fading mind as she started to drift off. 

“You know, I think this tooth is perfect for me. It can be a prized charm on a necklace. Yes, yes. This will do wonderfully…”

The crack of the leather whip echoed off the stone walls as it slashed through Aylin’s bare back. 

By the tenth hit, it had split through her sports bra, which now hung loosely in tatters at her chest. It wasn’t like the thin fabric had much to cushion the blows, anyway. 

By the thirtieth, she had lost consciousness again. It was her body’s way of protecting itself and conserving her energy.  

Calypso would stop for a few minutes, allow the pain to radiate throughout her body, let her take the time to really feel it, and then continue with her flogging. Short, quick, fast slices through her ravaged, chewed up skin. 

She had no idea what number she was up to now but it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered. 

She wasn’t even screaming or fighting it anymore. That’s how she knew it was bad. Once her body couldn’t even work up a scream, Aylin knew it was starting to fail her. Her heart beat was getting slower. If Calypso didn’t stop soon, she’d whip her to death. Maybe that was her goal? Maybe she was never supposed to leave this basement alive? She hoped it would happen quickly. 

The smell of rusty copper filled her nostrils. It was all she could smell now. All she could taste. So much blood. It felt like it was consuming every part of her. Her eyes only saw red. She was aware of the blood trailing down her back and soaking into her underwear but she couldn’t feel it anymore. She could hear it dripping from her lips, too. It landed in nearly perfect circles at her feet like drops of rain. 

She felt nothing and everything all at once. 

There was nothing but pain and nothing but emptiness. 

She didn’t know how long she’d been down here. It could have been hours or days or weeks. Time did exist in this basement. 

Only torment. 

She hadn’t even noticed when Calypso stopped her assault. It was only when she took a step in front of her, did she realize there were no more cracks from the whip. She was starting to shiver. Full body tremors shook through her despite the heat from the stove filling the room. Her teeth chattered together sending waves of pain through her jaw and up into her skull. She was losing too much blood. 

Calypso looked down at the broken girl with pity. She brushed her bloodied hands off on her robe and placed them tenderly against Aylin’s sore cheeks. Her head was being titled up until she was forced to make eye contact. Through wavering vision, she could make out a look of feigned compassion. 

“Oh, you poor thing. Look at you. What will Sergei think when he sees the mess you’ve become? He’ll be heartbroken. His favorite little toy, all broken at his feet.” Calypso caressed Alyin’s cheek with a soft touch that could be considered loving had she not just experienced the ravenous torturous side of her. She bunched up her robe to gently dab at the streaks of tears and blotches of blood along her face. Aylin was too weak to reject the soft, warm touch. She didn’t care if it was nothing but a ploy to screw with her fragile mind, she craved any kind of empathy she could get right now. Her bottom lip quivered. She wanted her mother. If she closed her eyes, she could pretend it was Nesrin caressing her cheek, instead. She could pretend it was backed with love instead of malice.

“Should we get you cleaned up before he comes down, sweet girl? He doesn’t want to see you in this state. Let’s fix you up, honey. Cal will make you all better.” She ran a soothing hand through Aylin’s hair to push it out of her face and tuck it behind her ears just like Nesrin used to do. “You’ve made a nasty mess of your back. Shredded it to pieces straight down to the bone. There’s an awful lot of blood. Don’t worry, I’ve got a wonderful homemade salve from my personal collection that should help put a stop to that pesky bleeding. I like to think of myself as a bit of an alchemist. No one else can create my little potions better than me. I know just to think to help with the blood. I’ll be right back. You hang in there.”

She shook the chains holding her up, sending an agonizing, shooting pain through Aylin’s entire body then placed a gentle kiss on her forehead and disappeared from sight. 

A whimper fell from her raw, bloody lips the moment she heard the gears of the bookcast close. 

She was finally alone. 

Hot tears slipped down her cheeks to carve a path through the blood and sweat. Her wrists could hardly hold her weight anymore but they had no other choice but to keep her physically upright. The metal dug into her flesh causing the skin to start to chafe away. A fire was spreading across the slashed, open wounds of her dripping back. Her hair had soaked into the blood and stuck to the ravaged flesh. Every time her head bobbed, her hair would drag through the wounds and bring a fresh wave of pain. Her jaw ached in irritation at the bloody hole in her battered gums. Fingernails and broken bones were the least of her concern anymore. Her circulation no longer reached the tips of her fingers so they remained cold and numb. She’d rather have her every finger broken, one by one, than have another tooth extracted or endure the long, thin biting of the whip. 

She hadn’t even spoken in hours. Calypso was no longer trying to extract information from her. She was merely trying to break her into submission. She was teaching her what it meant to be a Silver Colt. 

Judging by the state she was in, Calypso had won. Whatever fight Aylin felt when she first woke up down here had floated off into the ether hand in hand with her waning sanity. 

She was broken. 

Her body and her spirit.

“First time being tortured?”

A soft, feminine voice startled Aylin. Her cloudy eyes sought out the sound of the young woman locked in the cage. She had forgotten she was there. She’d been too absorbed in her own plight that no one else in the world remained to exist apart from herself and Calypso. The wolf girl had managed to push herself into a sitting position against the bars. She stared back at Aylin through emotionless, hollow eyes. Aylin wondered if hers looked the same.They’d both been broken down here.

“You didn't do too bad for your first time. Held up pretty well. Didn’t give away anything they wanted. But that was just the beginning,” she muttered. “She'll clean you up so you don’t bleed out then she’ll send in Kraven. He’s even worse.” 

What could possibly be worse than what she’d already experienced? 

Aylin couldn’t form any words to reply. The chains clicked against each other as she tumbled backwards, losing her precarious balance, her arms outstretched in front of her as her head lolled back. She’d forgotten what it felt like to be on sturdy ground.

“You’re one of them so it might be different but I doubt it,” the woman continued, watching Aylin fight to stay conscious. “I thought I was strong until I spent weeks down here. I gave them everything they wanted and more. I gave up my entire pack, my family, my friends. I gave up everything I ever loved. The thing is, it’ll just slip right out of you. Whatever secrets you’re holding, it’ll come out before you can stop it. It’s not something you think about, it’s something your body just does. Call it self preservation, call it weakness, whatever it is, she’ll get it out of you if you don’t get out of here.” She paused to let out a series of hacking coughs. Splatters of dark blood dotted her lips. It was miraculous she was even able to speak. 

“The woman is worse than Kraven when it comes to physical pain but Kraven…” Her voice lowered. “He tortures you in ways that break your psyche. He’ll take whatever he wants from you, whenever he wants. Trust me, there’s nothing gentle about that man. She breaks your body and he breaks your mind until there’s nothing left for you to give.” 

Aylin’s stomach churned with nausea but she was too weak to force anything up. All she could do was blink slowly in the woman’s direction. She already had nothing left to give. No words. No apologies. Nothing. 

All she had was a low, rickety groan as her body failed her. 

“Eventually, they’re going to make you kill me. They’ll make you take my heart to prove that you’re still one of them like you were supposed to do before. She’ll clean you up, get you strong enough to stand, then make you prove your loyalty. Hopefully that’s sooner rather than later. But, when that time comes, I need you to do it. Make it quick.” Her eyes closed as her head rested back against the bars. Her gaunt cheeks and blackened eyes already resembled that of the dead. “You better not fuck it up this time. My death is long past overdue. Play along with their game. Make them think you’re reforming. Kill me. They’ll give you a knife for that. Then-” she paused to hack up some more blood. “-then you’ll be the one with the knife and they’ll be the ones with their guard down.” 

She gave Aylin an exhausted, blood smeared smile as her eyes closed to rest. 

“Give ‘em hell, hunter.” 

[Chapter Six]

Tag List Requirements: 🌒A reblog of this chapter will automatically put you onto the next chapter tag list. If you no longer wish to be put on the next list, simply don't reblog this chapter.🌔

Tag List: @theorgansarerotting @ssecret @sincericida @liz-allyn @moonyslove78 @lazyxsquirrel @lxinesux @101maverick @moonyslove78

A/N: Please remember that writers love to listen to every tiny, little thought you've had about their work. If you liked a certain line or enjoyed a particular part, let us know! We're desperate attention whores who crave your feedback. It's what keep us writing. It makes us happy and feel appreciated for sharing our work.

[blooming-violets]

Sorry this is gonna be a bit of a rant since it’s something I’ve had strong feelings about since joining the AG/TASM fanfic part of the internet, and you’ve provided me a great opportunity to talk about it.

As a trans person, I am BEGGING fanfic writers to stop writing Marauders stuff. I’ve seen so many people defend it with “separate art from the artist” but like it or not they are still supporting JKR. Separating art from the artist only really works when the artist can’t profit from it. She has done SO MUCH harm to trans people and particularly trans youth in the UK and it’s so fucking disheartening and gives me such an ick when I see TASM writers also write for Marauders because it truly comes across as “I love and support the trans community except when it comes to this because I like it.”.

Even if you ignore the transphobia and holocaust denial (YES IM SERIOUS, she’s denied parts of the holocaust at LEAST twice and she literally did it a second time the other day), the original writing is so fucking problematic. Things just off the top of my head being;

The goblins being stereotypes of Jewish people

The fucking racism with characters like Cho Chang and Kingsley Shacklebolt

The last Fantastic Beasts movie’s plot literally being trying to make WW2 and the holocaust happen

This point needs to be taken with a grain of salt since this was some bullshit Joanne said after the books came out, but werewolves in the universe being meant to represent people with aids. Which is so fucking awful considering one of the two werewolves was attacked by the other as a CHILD

The most ironic part of this is that if Andrew is truly the person he presents himself as, he would probably fucking despise being associated with HP, even if it is just a fancast. But yeah all this to say fuck JKR, fuck Marauders fans but also thank you so much Katie for that last anon answer because I genuinely don’t see that enough in this corner of the internet.

Even Daniel Radcliffe, Harry Potter himself, has spoken out against her and continues to loudly support the LGBTQ+ communities. When your own beloved Harry doesn't even want to stand by your side, you should know you fucked up. Sadly, she does not, and instead leans harder into her bigotry and hatred.

I've always been someone who is very loud and opinionated when I see things that I disagree with, which I know can rub some people the wrong way, but fuck it. I don't like to whisper about my issues on the sidelines, I like to confront the problem head on by being very clear about where I stand and how I feel. I'm not gonna sit around and let someone align me with JKR just because I'm writing a stupid werewolf and Peter Parker fic that exactly 5 people are reading lol. It's not even a popular fic like get out of my asks jfc. Esp when I can tell this person has not read a single sentence of my story and is completely basing their judgements on my header image of AG's face next to a wolf gif.

In this past week I have seen both a Steven Harrington werewolf au and a Daredevil werewolf au cross my dash. Do we think they're getting called out for supporting HP?? No. Because their actors weren't "fan casted" as something years ago. Fan casts don't even mean anything! There was never a movie about them. AG was never casted or played this role. It's literally nothing but a bunch of fans agreeing that they like his look for a fictional character.

Anyway, I'm also ranting back at you haha. You can rant to me anytime. I love a good rant and I agree with you 100%.

Werewolves were not created by JKR. Andrew Garfield has nothing to do with Harry Potter. Don't make make snap judgments about a person's character based on a picture you saw. Support your trans community. Don't be dick.

And, if they actually read my werewolf au, they would see that it's literally about learning to overcome your own hatred and biases of people different from you and learning to love those you were taught to hate. Crazy concept, I know! 🙄😉

[blooming-violets]

Creature Like Me || Chapter Three: All Kinds of Gray

[TASM Peter Parker!Werewolf AU]

Summary: Kraven and his guild of hunters have been tracking and quelling the werewolf population for centuries. The time has come for Aylin to complete her first solo hunt to prove herself to the guild. It was supposed to be simple. One wolf, one death, one victory. She never expected to end up with a secret hostage on her hands.

Chapter Three Warnings: disturbing depiction of young captured woman, forced female nudity, mention of torture, mention of a deceased father and older brother

[link to chapter index] 

“Welcome to your new sanctuary.”

Peter carefully walked around the abandoned 70’s camper. It had sat parked in the depths of the forest about 5 miles from Aylin’s home off a dirt service road. The road hadn’t been used in years thanks to a few fallen trees. Her car was parked at the top of the road and the two of them had made the slow walk down the overgrown path in silence.

A creek trickled behind the forgotten vehicle and emptied out into a quiet pond. It was hot and stuffy inside, the air feeling muggy in her throat, and sweat beading up on her forehead. A gnat buzzed in her ear which she lazily swatted at.

“You can open the windows if you want,” she offered. “They don’t open up very wide but any air flow will be better than nothing.”

Peter nodded, giving her a timid look, “Is-uh-is this yours? I mean, is this where you live?”

Aylin smiled, finding his questions humorous, “No. This is not where I live. You are not allowed to be where I live. My poor mother would have a heart attack if she saw a werewolf enter our home.” She gave a sigh and slid into the moth eaten, yellow plaid dinette booth. She motioned for Peter to sit across the table from her. In another world, they would have resembled nothing more than two people on a camping trip. “My dad bought this camper for us when I turned 16. I think it was supposed to be my birthday present but also something for the family. We-” She hesitated, quickly adding. “-never ended up using it. I parked it here a few years ago and used it as my own personal getaway from everyone. No one but me knows that it’s here. It should be safe.”

“It smells like you in here,” he whispered.

Aylin frowned. All she could smell was the forest after a night of heavy rain wafting in through the open door. It was one of her favorite scents. It brought the comfort of home.

“Well, like I said, I’m the only person who ever uses it. There’s a bed in the back. It’s comfier than it looks. Pillows and blankets are there, too. You might want to give them a shake outside to scare off any spiders.” She thought about what else she could add to the conversation. “It no longer runs so don’t even try to get it started. Some mice moved into the engine and chewed up a bunch of stuff. But I like to sit in the passenger seat with the window down, stare out at the pond, and listen to the forest talk to me.”

Peter’s eyes drifted to the front of the camper, scanning through the dirt streaked windshield. A soft, peaceful smile rested on his lips.

“It’s perfect,” he sighed. “Anything is better than staring at a dark wall.”

“So, about that,” Aylin chewed on the calloused, hard skin around her thumbnail. “You’re not a prisoner here. I mean, technically you could leave at any point. I’m not going to chain you in or anything. But, if you do choose to sneak away, you better be careful. These forests are crawling with hunters. They will find you and it won’t be a pleasant death. You’re in their territory now. You saw the drive out here. There’s nothing around for miles apart from the Silver Colts. If you stay here, though, I can keep you safe. I can feed you and make sure no one heads out in this direction. You can live out the rest of your days in relative comfort, admiring the view, and eating nice food until I have what I need. I’d say it’s the better option of the two but that’s for you to decide.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Peter said as if it should have been obvious. He was sticking with her. His mind was made up.

She gave a steady nod, “Good. There’s no bathroom in here but you’re an uncivilized animal so I’m sure you’re used to going outside.” There was a sharp edge of prejudice to her tone.

Peter flinched at that but stayed silent with his eyes locked on the skinny table between them. He would not bite the hand that fed him.

“I have some books in the cabinet beside the bed you can read if you get bored. If you can even read. Uh, there’s an old rope hammock down by the pond. It’s always a gamble if it’ll still hold your weight or not but it's a nice spot to relax if the camper gets too hot. As of last year, there were no leeches in the water so feel free to use it as a way to clean yourself and cool down. I’ll bring you food once a day. Probably around the evening or early mornings. Whichever I can manage. Today you’ll have to go hungry because I know I won’t be able to leave tonight once I return back to the guild.”

He gave a nonchalant shrug, “Used to it.”

“And no making fires! That’s basically signaling to everyone around exactly where you are. Just stay calm, relax, sleep, go pick some wild blueberries, roll in the dirt…I don’t know what you dogs like to do. I’ll be back tomorrow. Don’t wander too far.” She should probably attempt to be nicer so he’d be more likely to stay. “Please.”

He smirked at the grumble she made after. Like being kind to a werewolf was the hardest thing she’s ever had to do.

“I’ll be here,” he promised.  

“Oh, thank the sun, you’ve returned!” 

Her mother, Nesrin, leaped from her spot on the couch. She had been dozing off with a half knitted scarf in her lap. She would only ever knit when she needed to soothe an anxious mind.  Her wooden knitting needles bounced off the hardwood floor and rolled after her as she ran towards her daughter. She hadn’t properly slept since Aylin left. 

Seeing her beloved mother after everything she went through nearly brought her to her knees. Aylin crumbled into her warm embrace. She felt like she was five years old again and searching for her mother’s comfort after a scraped knee. The pressing defeat of failure in her task finally came crashing down around her. Without the heart, she had no proof of her kill. She wouldn’t be able to complete the ritual. 

“I think I messed up,” she tried to hold the tears back but her voice was thick with sadness.“ I couldn’t get the heart. It all went wrong. There was no time. Sergei is going to be upset. I couldn’t finish what I started.” 

“Hush,” Nesrin soothed her. “Don’t mind that now. None of that matters. All is well. You are alive. You are home and in my arms. Come in. Take off your jacket. Are you hurt?” 

Aylin sniffled, reluctantly pulling back from the hug, and wiping her eyes, “No. I’m okay. I’m not hurt. Just a failure.” 

“No child of mine is a failure,” Nesrin scolded. 

They both knew once Sergei caught wind that she had returned, she would get no time to rest. Her mother, with her thick, long raven colored hair, the hair that Aylin knew so well, ushered her into the house. Not even time could steal the rich color from her locks. Aylin admired the way stray pieces flailed out behind her when she walked like she was creating her own breeze wherever she went. She was happy to finally be home. 

“My lips are sealed, Linny. No one will get their hands on you until I’ve deemed it time. I’m going to draw you a bath. I’ll wash your hair just like I used to and you can tell me everything that happened. After that, I am going to tuck you into bed and you are going to nap. Only after that will I allow anyone to know of your return.” She gave her daughter a light swat against the bum, urging her towards the bathroom. 

She couldn’t help but smile. Leave it to her mother to try and put Sergei in his place. 

“Alright, alright,” Aylin laughed. Her mood was already changing. Nesrin had that effect on people. She was the sun to Aylin’s moon. “I’m going.” She turned around, walking backwards, with a glint of excitement in her eyes. “Guess what? I killed two wolves yesterday. Two of them! The whole pack unexpectedly showed up and tried to rip me apart but I got out. I survived. Even if I didn’t get what I went there for.” 

Her mother gasped in horror, placing a hand over the golden sun pendant dangling on a delicate chain around her neck. It was an old Christmas gift from Aylin’s father. Nesrin never took it off. 

“You are going to be the death of me, child. Come into the bathroom and tell me all about it.”

“Our mighty huntress has returned from her first solo battle!” 

Sergei’s voice boomed out over the crowd. He stood on top of a wooden platform in the middle of their small town square. A large bonfire roared in front of him. Warm orange glowed over his face, creating a dance of shadows and light to give him a hellish, demonic look. He looked massive up there. Powerful. Almost godlike. 

The guild members stood in a wide circle around the fire as they watched their fearless leader. Tables had been set up off to the side with drinks and food. The live band silenced their instruments to allow Sergei to speak. A party was always thrown after a trainees first hunt, if they survived, that is. It was a right of passage. A celebrated sacred honor. Their traditions date back centuries. 

After her nap and a home cooked meal, Sergei was alerted to her return. He spent the rest of the afternoon one on one with her, going over every detail of her hunt. He wasn’t as disappointed as she thought he would be about the lack of heart. In fact, he seemed to be the complete opposite. Almost as if he was glad she failed. When she mentioned the whole pack suddenly showing up, he insisted that she had done the correct thing in getting out of there. She told him everything exactly how it happened…minus the existence of Peter. She had surveyed the camp, stalked Sierra down, severed her spine, watched her turn, then took her life. The sound of her gun shot must have alerted the pack to the danger. They came running. She had just enough time to get back to her car, killing another wolf as a distraction, and managed to escape. She spent the night at a motel to get some sleep before returning home. That was it. The entire story. Most of it, anyway. 

“Did you manage to see anything else while you were there?” He had asked. “Did you find any of their secrets? Did you have time to look around? What did you find?” His questions were backed with an impassioned, deliberate intent. She thought of Peter and wondered if Sergei knew more than he was letting on.

“No,” she lied. “Nothing at all. There was nothing else there. It was just an old camp.” 

Sergei had clasped his heavy hand on her back and gave a booming laugh. It had a hollow sound to it and she got the impression he was putting on a show to mask his disappointment. He had expected her to find something important at Eagle Peak. 

Or someone.

He gave her two hours to herself before the party would begin. During that time, Nesrin had plaited a thick, single fishtail braid down her daughters back and tied a black bow to the end. She tugged out a few strands in the front, giving them a loose curl to help frame her face. Aylin chose to wear a simple, black midi dress that hung down to her mid calf and sat snuggly around her waist. She paired it with a gray cardigan and her favorite chunky, black platform boots. They made her seem taller and helped downplay the outfit to be more casual. 

“I wish you’d try wearing some color for once,” Nesrin huffed as she looked over Aylin’s appearance. “The black darkens your beautiful eyes. It takes away some of their light.”

“I’m still in mourning,” she replied with a dull voice. 

Her mother rolled her eyes, “That was five years ago, Lin. The dressing like you’re in mourning period is over. Are you sure you don’t want to borrow one of my sweaters? I have that beautiful deep red one. It would just pop against your skin. Or the yellow. Oh, you know how I love that yellow one.” 

Aylin rubbed her fingers over her temple. The party was already giving her a headache and they hadn’t even left yet. She hated crowds. Even the idea of them was enough to bring one on. 

“I’m positive.” She wondered what Peter was doing right now. She sort of missed his company. He was quiet. She enjoyed that quality about a person. 

“I’ll bring the red one just in case you change your mind!” 

Now, as Sergei stood on the stage, Aylin surveyed the crowd around her. Her mother, standing next to her, still clasped the red sweater tight in her arms as if her daughter would suddenly change her mind. She looked from face to face, person to person. These were the people she knew all her life. Their guild had their own school. She wasn’t allowed to attend a public one. They rarely ever went into the nearest town unless it was absolutely necessary. The more secretive their guild was, the easier their existence. Their job was to stay quiet, out of sight, and take care of the werewolves. If someone breaks the rules, they’re thrown out. Either their family disowns them or they disappear with them. The people who leave never return. If she was caught with Peter, she would be thrown out. Her mother would come with her, that she knew. Nesrin would never leave her daughter’s side. But the guilt of forcing her mother to leave their community would eat her alive. This was what they knew. These were their people. Their family. 

Sergei was still speaking. He loved to hear himself talk. 

“From the moment I welcomed Samuel as my second in command, I knew the Silver Colts were in for a successful year.” 

Aylin’s stomach dropped at the mention of her father. Sergei rarely brought him up anymore. Her mother’s back straightened, her head held high, and her hand clasped around the necklace. She was trying to appear stronger than she felt. 

“He proved time and time again to be a dedicated hunter and a loyal friend. My best friend. But, more than that, he was a dedicated and loyal husband and father.” Sergei turned to where they were standing to speak directly to them. He placed a hand over his heart and showed his sorrow on his face. Maybe it was the flickering of the bonfire messing with the lighting, or maybe she was still exhausted from her hunt, but Aylin swore his sadness didn’t reach his eyes. It felt more like he was putting on a show than speaking from the heart about his fallen friend. It was the same feeling she got when he was asking her about the hunt. Something felt off. “I know Samuel would have been so proud to be standing on this stage tonight to honor his daughter. I still remember how he held back tears the night he got to honor Emir. Both of them, gone too soon.” 

Her cheek twitched as she locked her jaw. Her teeth ground together in annoyance. She glanced over at her mother who was now openly weeping. Five years and the pain still felt as raw as it ever had. They were still in mourning. No amount of time could change that. The mere mention of her father and brother could send Nesrin into hysterics. She hated that Sergei even brought them up. Her mother was trying to be strong in front of the crowd but Aylin could see her resolve starting to fail.

His eyes settled on Aylin. They bore into her with a strangely profound stare. She felt as if he was trying to peel back her tightly guarded layers and read her mind. His gaze made her uncomfortable like she was standing naked in front of a crowd. He knew something she didn’t.

“Tonight, in place of those we have lost, I will honor young Aylin as the newest huntress to the Silver Colt Guild!” 

The people erupted into loud cheers. The sudden sound made her flinch. Her headache intensified. She felt dizzy. Her mother gave her a tiny shove, pushing her towards the stage. That was her cue to start moving. She took a deep breath and made her way up to stand next to Sergei. He completely dwarfed her when she stood beside him. It felt like every time she saw him, he got a little taller, and gained more muscle. 

He grasped tightly onto her hand and held it up to more applause and hollers from the rowdy crowd. Sergei let the noise wash over them, basking in the cheers as if they were meant for only him, and then settled everyone back down 

“Now, tonight’s ritual will go a little differently. When I spoke to Aylin this afternoon, she gave me a detailed report of what happened yesterday. To put it plainly, she was ambushed. Those vile creatures knew she was coming and they sacrificed one of their own for a chance to tear apart one of ours! As she was trying to cut out the heart from her slain foe, the pack surrounded her.” 

A slew of horrified cries followed. 

“Poor Aylin had unknowingly walked straight into their trap and we were the ones who sent her there! They have no morals. They do not care if one of their own must be sacrificed as long as they get to draw blood. Our blood! But, even though she was surrounded, Aylin did not fret, for she had her father’s blood running through her veins and no more of their families blood needed to be spilled at the hands of the beast!” His voice boomed. It echoed off the forest trees as his enthusiasm grew. He had everyone gripped by the throat and hanging on his every word. Everyone except one. “She fought her way out! She slaughtered two more of those foul creatures and managed to escape by a hair! Three slain wolves on her first hunt. She is the true definition of what we stand for! She is the true leader of our tomorrow!”

Her stomach ached. He was exaggerating the truth to make it sound more daring and risky than it had been. He made it seem like the wolves had planned the entire attack like they knew she was coming before she even arrived. It was a calculated move to push his guild’s hatred in the right direction and it was all a lie. He was lying straight to these people’s faces without a hint of fabrication in his voice. Like it was the easiest thing in the world. Like he had been doing it his entire life. She had never seen him from this angle before. She felt like she was getting a sneak peek at the slimy, barnacle ridden underside of a mighty ship. She kept her eyes staring straight ahead. She would not question him. Not here. Not now. 

“Our traditions and rituals state that the successful hunter must toss the heart of their first kill into the blazes of the fire. But Aylin does not have what we need.” He paused, a smirk peeking out from under his untamed beard, as he held his breath for a dramatic beat. He was a showman putting on the performance of his life. “Luckily, I intend to make things right. She deserves to finish the ritual. She deserves to rip the heart from her slain beast!” 

It was then that Aylin’s resolve fell. She looked up at Sergei with confusion. There was no way anyone would have been able to travel all the way to Eagle Peak Camp to retrieve Sierra. There was no way her body would still even be there. Surely, her pack would have moved her and Lorina by now. They never left them where they fell. They had their own rituals of dealing with their dead. There was a reason why the public never stumbled upon bodies of giant wolves. 

Sergei gave her a wink, lowering his voice just for her, “Don’t look so frightened child. I have another wolf for you. Another heart to pry from its chest. Show these people you are Samuel’s daughter. Show them you are Emir’s sister. Show them what you are capable of.” He motioned behind him with a wide, swinging arm. “Calypso, my beautiful wife! Bring out the beast!” 

Her heart leaped into her throat and she spun around to see where Sergei was pointing. Her eyes scanned through the dark, searching for the face of who she was terrified to see. Calypso pushed a tall metal cage on wheels out in front of the stage. It was covered with a thick blanket to hide whoever was inside. The cage was big enough to fit a human, not a werewolf. Whoever was in there was stuck in human form. She bet the bars were lined with silver to keep the prisoner from breaking free. 

Her heart was racing. She could feel the panic rising. Had they found Peter? He was only five miles out. He was close enough that his capture could be possible. If they found him, if they knew she had brought him, she would be banished. Was this all a show to shame her in front of her family? She stared at the blanket covering the cage, trying to mentally will it to fall so she could see who was locked up, and dreading finding her friend on the other side. 

They were not friends. 

They were not friends. 

They were not friends. 

Calypso fanned out her wild, unruly mane of thick hair over her shoulders. Her bralette, made of a light tan werewolf pelt, hardly covered her large chest. Her tightly toned stomach was on display as her wide hips swayed with each step. She knew the men were all staring at her and she was soaking it up. She loved the attention as much as Sergei. Maybe even more. 

“Cal, my love,” he motioned down to his wife. “Would you do the honors?” 

She flashed him a dazzling white smile. Her teeth were sharper than average. Aylin often wondered if she filed them into points. 

She gripped onto the blanket as Aylin held her breath, terrified of who she was going to see. With a flashy flick of his wrist, Calypso tossed the blanket aside. The crowd burst into angry, insulting jeers towards the unveiled prisoner. 

Relief and horror flooded her all at once. 

It wasn’t Peter. 

He was safe. She was safe. They didn’t know about him. 

In his place, however, was a young woman. Aylin hesitated to even refer to her as a woman. She looked no older than 19. She was stripped naked. Her dignity ripped from her body to leave her vulnerable like it was done with the sole intent to shame her. She was smaller in size and huddled up in the corner of the cage. Her eyes were filled with fear. Her body trembled in fright. She almost resembled Peter in weight, being severely malnourished. She held the same look, too. The one that screamed of someone who had been tortured for longer than their body could  handle. Someone weak and broken. This girl was no threat to them. She would put up no fight. 

Sergei did another one of his booming laughs as he soaked in the sights before him. Someone in the crowd threw a half empty beer bottle at the cage. It shattered, spraying glass and beer all over the poor girl. 

That’s how Aylin viewed her. A girl. Not a wolf. Not an enemy. A scared, young girl. Aylin’s eyes sought out her mother in the crowd. Nesrin had vanished into a dark shadow under a tall pine tree. She was clutching onto her necklace, a frown etched into her wrinkled face, and shaking her head. She didn’t like this anymore than her daughter. Her mother wasn’t a hunter. She was just the widow of one. 

Sergei slid a long dagger out from his belt loop. It was curved into the shape of a claw. He thrust it into Aylin’s hand and shoved her down the steps towards the caged girl. His hand stayed tightly on the back of her neck, keeping her from looking anywhere but at the cage. 

“What do you say, Colts?” He addressed the crowd. “Are you ready to see how Aylin takes after her father? Are you ready to see if she has what it takes to be a leader?”

They cheered and whooped and hollered. The band was banging on their instruments. This was nothing more than entertainment to them. The noise was too much. Too loud. She felt sick. 

“Who is she?” She whispered to Sergei. “Where did she come from? What did she do?” 

He chuckled, “It doesn’t matter. She didn’t do anything. She’s a wolf and wolf’s deserve to have their hearts ripped from their chest! There is no humanity in her. She’s nothing but a repugnant beast. She has no soul. Go on! Show me that you belong here.” 

He took a step back, joining the crowd circling around her and the cage. It occurred to her that they weren’t going to release the girl. She wasn’t going to get a fair fight. She wasn’t going to get a chance to defend herself. Aylin was meant to murder her through the bars. Human to human, not hunter to beast. 

She slowly walked up to the cage and peered through the bars. From up close, the girl looked even worse. She had been a prisoner of someone, marks of torture speckled her skin as unspoken words of her time in captivity, and Aylin had a sinking feeling it wasn’t at the hands of another wolf. 

“Who are you?” Aylin whispered to her. 

The girl turned her head, glaring at her with whatever strength she could muster, and spit directly in her face. Her action only served to rile up the crowd further. They were calling for her death, begging for it to be drawn out slowly and painfully. They wanted to watch her suffer. 

Aylin wiped the glob of saliva from her cheek. Unlike her peers, it did not anger her. It only made her sad. A cornered animal, with all her defenses ripped from her, using the only fighting tactic she had left to try and mask her fear. It could have so easily been Peter inside this cage. This was her punishment for lying to Sergei. A punishment for taking Peter. Whether or not he knew of her misdeeds, something had changed in the air. He knew more than he let on. He knew that she was weak. 

The young girl’s emerald eyes faded into Peter’s soft, honey hues the longer Aylin stared at her. 

The dagger fell from her hands. 

She couldn’t do it. She wouldn’t. Not like this. She refused to kill someone not in their wolf form. 

Aylin turned on her heels, elbowing her way through the crowd, and making a direct line for her house on the outskirts of their town. She blocked out the sounds of the disappointed crowd. She blocked out the sounds of Sergei calling after her. She blocked out the screams of the girl as someone else finished what she couldn’t even start. 

She blocked it all out as her swift gait eventually turned into a full sprint, forcing herself as quickly and as far, away from the caged girl as her body would allow.

“Peter?” 

The camper was dark and quiet. 

She had run home but knew that she could not stay. Sergei would surely follow. Her mother would be asking questions. They would each demand a different kind of answer and she had none to give them. She couldn’t stare her inevitable failure in the face. Running was easier. Hiding was simple. She packed a bag and left on foot. Cars were for people who didn’t let down their entire family. Failures deserved to walk the five miles through the dense forest, in the pitch black, to her sanctuary. 

The only safe place she knew of that still felt like home. 

She pushed her way into the back room, anticipating Peter to be asleep on the bed, only to find it empty and untouched. 

Her heart sank. 

He wasn’t here. The camper was empty. 

Of course he wasn’t here. 

Why would she ever expect him to stay? 

He had lied to her. Everyone lies. Herself, included. Everything is one big show. A giant performance to better achieve one’s own desires. 

She had freed him from his chains, brought him to safety, and he had told her what she wanted to hear until he was left alone. Why would she ever believe that he would sit around and let her kill him after she was done interrogating him? She was a fool to believe such a thing. Werewolves couldn’t be trusted but, she was finding, neither could her guild. Sergei had set her up. She wasn’t entirely sure how but he knew there was supposed to be something in that camp. Something he wanted to get his hands on. 

And the only thing she saw of value was Peter. Who was now gone. 

She wondered if Sergei knew the pact would be close by. She wondered if he really had willingly sent her into a trap or if he even expected her to come back alive. “They have no morals. They do not care if one of their own must be sacrificed as long as they get to draw blood.” That was what he said about the wolves but she now wondered if he was referring to something else. She had the strangest sense that she had been used as bait. 

She was starting to ask a lot of questions. Questions she had no answers to. Questions that only lead to more questions. 

Aylin kicked open the camper door more violently than she intended. She stalked out into the night, filling her lungs with the familiar forest air. Her chest felt tight. Anger, anxiety, annoyance, and confusion all gripped at her throat. 

But it was the disappointment tinged with sadness that worried her the most. 

The absence of Peter caused her more inner turmoil than what had happened at her “party”. She shouldn’t be this upset to lose a werewolf. She should be relieved that he was no longer in her care. He wouldn’t have to be something to worry about anymore.

And, still, she felt the weight of his absence like a sinking stone of sadness. 

She followed the creek down to the pond. She was hoping to see the moon shining through the canopy and reflecting off the still water. It was one of her favorite sights. The moon and her forest brought her a comfort that not even her mother could compete with. Seeing the moon would make her feel better. 

As she pushed her way between two overgrown bushes, she stopped short. Instead of the moon, she saw something else. 

There, fast asleep on the old rope hammock, was Peter. 

She was afraid to blink, terrified that if she let him out of her sight for even just a second, he would disappear from her life again. She didn’t want him to disappear. She didn’t want him to go. She didn’t want him dead. 

There was something about him that endeared to her closed off heart. He had a tender soul. A quiet softness. Like a light, summer breeze on a lazily evening. It was silly to think such things about a werewolf but it was how she felt. Seeing that young girl in the cage was too much. Her entire life she believed she was on the right side of history. She was helping to save the public. A silent protector of the world. But murdering a defenseless, naked teenager locked in a cage was not right. It was not a heroic act. Killing her would have saved no one. 

Aylin was no hero. Not a mighty huntress or a future leader. 

She was scared and sad and confused. She craved the wisdom of her father, the strength of her brother, and the safety of her mother. She craved whatever strange comfort Peter was starting to bring. She wanted to understand him, to unravel him like a mystery, until she found all the answers she sought out. 

She wanted to be his friend. 

That was it. 

That was all that she wanted. Nothing more. Nothing less. 

Friends. 

He hadn’t left her. He hadn’t lied. She felt she could trust someone she met hours ago, someone who was supposed to be her enemy, more than the person she had known her entire life. 

As she moved closer, she could see streaks of dried tears carving a path down his cheeks. His long lashes were wet and clumped together. He breathed quietly through parted lips. His arm rested under his head as a makeshift pillow. She could make out the strength of his muscles under his skin. Not even nearly starving to death could steal them away, it seemed. The mystery of the wolves clouded her thoughts. They were the Silver Colts sworn enemies and, yet, they hardly knew anything about them. 

 Despite his dried tears, Peter looked peaceful as he slept. 

He didn’t look like a monster. He looked like a man. Just like the wolf in the cage only looked like a scared girl. 

Maybe they were wrong. Maybe werewolves weren’t as terrible as they thought. 

And then she remembered her father and brother. 

They had been torn apart by a wolf on a hunt. Their bodies had been so mutilated, Sergei refused to let her mother and her see them. They died at the hands of someone like Peter. 

She didn’t know what to think anymore. Two days ago her world was black and white. Good and bad. Heroes and villains. Today, it was all kinds of gray. 

Aylin took a step back away from Peter, hoping to let him rest without bothering him, when her boot crunched down on a stick. The snapping of wood caused Peter’s eyes to shoot open, wide with fear. He sat up too suddenly. The hammock rocked violently under him. He tried to catch his balance but it was too late. The hammock flipped over and he was thrown onto the ground. His sleepy body splayed out over the dirt, bits of leaves clinging to messy hair. 

She tried not to laugh. She really did. But she couldn’t stop it. 

Her laughter filled the quiet, night air. It lightened the chaos of her mind and soothed her anxious soul. 

Peter scrambled to his feet, his face blushed scarlet, and shook the leaves from his hair. 

“Why are you here?” He asked, voice caked with sleep. “Are you okay? Are you hurt?” 

She steadied her laughter with a deep breath, “I brought you some food.” 

“You said you wouldn’t be able to until tomorrow.” He looked up at the sky, the moon telling him it was only around midnight. “Why are you out so late?” 

Most of the humor she had still tumbling around inside of her dried up at the memories of earlier. She swallowed, giving a shrug, “Couldn’t sleep. Come inside. I brought dolmas.” She made her way back to the camper with Peter falling in step behind her. 

“What’s that?”

She raised her brows in shock and glanced over her shoulder to look at him, “You’ve been missing out, wolfboy. This one is a mixture of rice, meat, and herbs stuffed into a grape leaf. You’ll love it. My mom made them this afternoon. She’s the best cook in our guild.” 

She wondered what her mother was thinking right now. She had left without seeing her. Without saying goodbye. It wasn’t the first time she had run away without leaving a note. Nesrin was probably used to it. 

Aylin held the door open for Peter, “After you.” 

He gave her a gentle smile, nodding his head in thanks.

“I also brought you some clothes. Clothes and food. See? I’m a wonderful host.” 

Her brother’s old clothes. It wasn’t like he would need them anymore. 

She slid into the seat across from him and pulled a tupperware of food out the bag she left on the table. She happily watched as Peter ripped it open and carefully examined the contents. He only lasted a few seconds before digging in. His eyes widened and then closed, savoring his mouthful. It was strange to watch a werewolf enjoy her mother’s cooking. She felt a sense of pride. She wondered if her mom would like Peter as much as she was starting to. 

Aylin had no clue what tomorrow would hold for her. Sergei wouldn’t be pleased. Her mother would have questions. She was witnessed refusing to kill a wolf in front of her entire guild. It wasn’t going to be easy. She didn’t want to think about it. Instead, she would focus on tonight.

Tonight, she would watch Peter eat his fill of dolmas. 

Then, she would try to sleep. 

Today, right now, this is what she chose to focus on. That was all that mattered. 

Tomorrow was tomorrow for a reason.

[Chapter Four]

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