It was the beginning of summer and the city celebrated well into the night, but it was not dark. The year's theme was Brilliance and Flowers and the illusionary gardens that hung over the streets cast everything in a rippling glow of spectral petals. It reflected off the windows and created a halo of sparkling pollen that swirled behind anyone who moved.
Merrie smiled as she crawled along the sidewalk. She left a trail of sparks behind her, but the colors leached out as her white tail swirled through them, leaving a pale trail in the bright colors. Her skin crawled and she felt vulnerable with exposing herself, but seeing how the illusions were corrupted by her magic brought a smile to her lips. She couldn't stop playing with them, just to see them fade into white.
(I don't like the light and I don't like the people,) muttered Tamin. The hound paced next to her, leaving no hint of his presence. The pollen and petals didn't reflect off his flat black body and there was no swirl to mark his passing. He didn't approve of her playing with the light, but he didn't need to form words to express it.
She leaned against him. (It's safe for just a few minutes.)
(You're exposed and vulnerable. We should be in the Shadows, not in the light.)
Merrie glanced at him and sent a pulse of love. (I have you, therefore I am safer than I ever been before.)
It had been five months since the beginning of winter and four since Rakin was placed on the armored wagon to spend the rest of his life in Abbinkey. For weeks after both events, Merrie expected someone to come for her and the dread hung over her like a cloud. But, nothing happened. No disturbances in the Shadows or even the hint of being followed. The hair on her neck didn't rise up and she didn't have the sense she was being followed. Everything had settled down into the easy pulse of sex and shadows.
When the prince mentioned her name at Rakin's trial, she was afraid that people would come hunting for her. They did, but not to kill her, but to slyly find out who “Bitch” was and what she did as a whore. The Guild chased off most of them, but her clientele increased substantially by those who found out she was a cropped bitch and found themselves intrigued into dominating her. Others drifted in after fleeing in disgust, drawn by the lure of her sexuality and their own hidden desires.
After Scorch's marriage proposal and the nightmares of Rakin's attack, Nir asked to be pulled off the streets. Kirin agreed and made Nir Merrie's personal assistant. Now, the teenage girl was responsible for coordinating the steady stream of customers for Merrie and keeping the accounting. Surprising everyone, Nir showed a talent and blossomed in her new role. She also catered to customers, but now it was in the protection of a guild brothel instead of exposed on the street.
(I like her,) Tamin projected, (even if she won't let me mount her properly.)
Merrie giggled and bumped against him. (Scorch would have a problem with that.)
(I will hump his face,) came the amused response, (and make him submit like the bitch he is.)
(He'd singe your dick and fur, silly pup. Don't worry, you can fuck me whenever you want.)
(Whenever?) he said with thoughts tinged with lust.
Merrie squeezed her legs together and shivered at the cum that dribbled out of her pussy. Like almost every visit with Eolis, he gave her a large hunk of money and sent her to someone who needed her services. They were men like Jacir or, in the case of that night, a bachelor's party for a noble's marriage. The night consisted of drunk men giving her orders, fucking her silly, and dressing her up like a bitch. It ended with a gang-bang and Merrie radiated with the afterglow of being filled with cum in all three of her holes. She managed to keep it in her head though after remembering Eolis' command.
(You're still wearing the collar,) came a sullen thought from Tamin.
Merrie stopped and tried to look down. She could barely feel light pressure around her neck from a fake collar made from a ribbon, but its presence had set off a series of orgasms that threatened to take over the city. She sat down in the middle of the sidewalk and stroked with the end of her arm.
It had been years since she wore anything around her neck. Her master never bought her one and no one ever put one on her before, even for role-playing. But, as she stroked the ribbon, her pussy clenched with need. She ached to have something around her neck, to remind the world and herself that she was owned. The impromptu collar, made from a ribbon, was a poor substitute for what she craved with every fiber of her being. No matter how much she enjoyed being a whore, none of her customers were the dominate she needed.
She continued to run her wrist against the sharp edge of the ribbon. There was another collar that called to her, even in her dreams. Adamantite and terrifying, it was the bondage that she dreamed of. Rakin's final gift had been locked away in the guild's vaults, to keep anyone besides Monk from touching it. Even then, he wore heavy gloves in fear of accidentally getting blood on it. Neither Kirin nor Monk wanted to be Merrie's master and she understood why. There was a price to having an Alpha, one that her first master had learned with his life.
A tear rolled down her cheek. Tamin stepped forward and she looked up into his eyes. She could feel the Shadows around him, a cloud of darkness that enveloped her in icy comfort. She smiled and tilted her head up so he could lick the tears from her face. (Don't cry, Alpha.) She knew he was thinking about the collar himself; Tamin wanted to destroy Rakin's collar when they pulled it out of the hidden vault. As far as he was concerned, she had no alpha of her own.
Merrie leaned into him, letting his cold breath wash over her face. She kissed the bottom of his jaw, then lifted her head more to nuzzle the ridge of his muzzle. Her tail wagged slowly, shifting back and forth as she lost herself in his black eyes.
Wiping the tears away with her arm, she exposed her neck. Tamin moved with the silent command bit off the ribbon. She shuddered with the feeling of loss as she watched him toss it into the street where it was quickly trampled by passing wagons and horses.
With a sigh, she turned away and crawled down the street, letting her mind open to listen to the thoughts around her.
Fang held the hammer tight as he trudged down the street. He felt dead inside, as if all the life and joy had been extinguished in the years since she left. He wanted to go back and put up more notices, in desperate hope that someone had seen her, but he couldn't. He spent his entire month's paycheck on what he posted that night and there were no more papers to cut his fingers or nails to pound into the message boards. There was nothing but a well-worn hammer that his father gave him when he left for Franome City.
As he walked, he could barely see the sidewalk in front of him. He knew the route from the endless times he walked them as a guard, but it still felt like the final path leading up to a prison wagon when he went to visit the message boards.
He couldn't wait to get home. He had two bottles of the strongest rot-gut he could afford and planned on drinking until he couldn't remember her anymore. It was how he handled every festival since she disappeared, and it would be until he found her again.
Merrie jerked at the darkness in Fang's mind. The guard was a few streets over, slowly working his away against the crowds as he headed for his small apartment in the southern part of the city. She felt the despair around him, a shallow darkness compared to what used to plague Merrie, but it left an ache in her heart.
Getting on her wrists and knees, she crawled after him. Once she caught up, she paced with him but didn't let the shade spell drop. Like Tai, the city guards couldn't be seen with whores. It wasn't against the rules or laws, but it was discouraged to avoid showing favoritism with the guild. It also prevented the distrust from those who couldn't separate the personal life of a guard with their professional one.
As they made their way out of the celebrations, the streets grew quiet and dark. The storefronts became houses and then apartment buildings. Around her, she could feel a city celebrating but in more private ways: parties in hallways, fucking in bedrooms. Two of the Guild whores were having a suck-off with a party. Further down, she felt the thoughts of a man who was claiming he wasn't a whore, even as he was eyeing a pile of money and being fucked in the ass by a woman with a spiked strapped on. A blow job in an alley caught her attention and she smiled, she knew both people who were just enjoying the heat of the moment and a bottle of lager while guiltily thinking about both of their spouses.
Merrie tried to delicately reach into Fang's mind, to find the source of his despair. He wasn't shielded, at least nothing she couldn't break, but his mind was torn and ragged, a wound that was festering inside his head. It tore him inside and every time she tried to pluck her way through, it brought up new images into his consciousness. His depression grew darker and he began to think about the swords and knives in his room. Two years ago, he almost killed himself when the depression took hold during his attempt to drown himself in alcohol.
She pulled back, the guilt and despair leaking into her own mind. She didn't dare probe deeper, in fears of bringing forth her own despair. Rakin's anger had sealed it and she desperately wanted to keep it that way. She was dangerous to everyone if she let herself grieve.
Being unable to search his thoughts drew her closer to him. She was curious to know what haunted Fang. She also hoped that she could give him some relief, like she did with Jacir and others. Her body warmed at the thought and she continued to crawl next to him, moving in the silence of his shadow.
Fangs lived in the poor part of town, in a twelve-story apartment complex with each flat barely five meters across. There were hundreds of people in his building, packed in tight and brimming with emotions. He didn't pay for his apartment because the landlords knew that having a city guard on the premises would save more in bribes and insurance payments than the loss of a single apartment's rent.
He lived right inside the entrance, on the first floor. With a sigh, he unlocked the door and stepped inside.
Merrie held back and watched as he closed the door. It was a sense of privacy, but she also knew that most people screamed when they noticed her appearing in their private rooms. She smiled at the night when she surprised Nir in the guild apartment, though the night ended in blood and rape.
Her cloak reached up, forming a huge, malformed fist in its folds. It pounded on the door twice before sliding off her skin. The fetid air of the apartment swirled around her naked skin as the cloak wrapped itself around Tamin.
(Alpha, be safe.) Tamin sent his love before he and the cloak faded into the darkness.
Fang's door creaked open. “Come on, it's late…” his voice trailed off as he stared into the nearly empty hallway.
Merrie dropped her shade spell and drew his attention to her.
His brown-green eyes focused on her. For a long moment, he stared at her in shock, and then he inhaled sharply. Guilty thoughts flashed across his mind as he looked down the hallway and out the door. Leaning forward, he whispered to her. “What are you doing here? I paid you and the others! I don't owe you anything.”
She drew her wrists up to her neck and begged. The floor was sticky underneath her knees as they spread apart, but Merrie had fucked in far worse places. She smiled and barked softly, bobbing her head as she did.
He looked back again. “I can't be seen with you. I'm just a Truste, I'm not allow to have a whore.”
Merrie barked again, reaching out with his mind to find the lust. She found it, buried underneath his despair. With a little push, she let it drift up through his thoughts.
Fang groaned and clutched the door. “A-Alright, but keep quiet, okay?”
She whispered her bark before crawling into his apartment. She looked around as Fang closed the door. It was filthy, with food containers stack up high and dirty clothes everywhere. A path had been cleared out between the door, his bed, and a small kitchen area. Ward spells covered the room, to keep away the maggots and smell, but they were cracking under their age.
The door clicked loudly behind her. “Sorry, I don't usually… ever let anyone in here.” Guilt burned in his thoughts as he circled around her and lead the way toward his bed. “I really should clean up, but…” (I was planning on drinking myself to unconscious. Why is she here? Did I forget to pay something? Why tonight?)
Merrie saw his hammer on a kitchen table along with a small stack of papers. She continued down the path to his bed.
His apartment reminded her of her master's mansion. When she first arrive, it was a mess with paths leading from one place to the other. The smell was the same. The only difference was that her master collected gold and diamonds and Fang simply didn't clean up after himself. The similarity hung a cloud over her, a pain of memories and longing.
He grabbed a cleaner blanket from a basket by the bed and draped it over his bed, smoothing over the bumps before gesturing for her. “I… I don't have enough money this week. Not for even a blow job. And,” he looked around with a sheepish look, “I can't exactly run away here.”
She nodded and crawled on the bed. It sagged underneath her weight as she circled around three times, because he thought she would, before getting into a begging position. She looked up through her white hair at him, smiling as she felt the lust boiling inside him.
“I can't afford this,” he said in a whisper. He wanted it, he craved her body, but he also knew what would happen if he didn't pay.
Merrie shook her head. (Tonight, it's free.)
He jerked as if she stabbed him. (Oh, dear Madock, I'm going insane.) Panic burned in his mind, but Merrie suppressed it. It was the same panic that most people had when first encountering a telepath.
(It's okay, you aren't going on insane. I just can't talk. In fact, I'm going to bark right now to let you know that.) She barked softly, a smile on her lips.
Fang stumbled back, an incredulous look on his face. “Y-You can… I can hear you.”
She nodded and giggled softly.
“I can handle this. It's just like listening to Gail, right?”
Merrie brought up the memory of Tai's lover and found the same comfort Fang had with her. She was a Guard Observant as much as Tai was the Guard Vigilant, both higher ranks, but Fang was used to hearing the telepath's thoughts in his head.
“You're a telepath too?”
She nodded.
“Why don't you use it all the time? I've seen you with Tai and Gail more than a few times. You are always barking… wait, are you talking to them in your head?”
Merrie shook her head, but didn't project any words.
“Why don't you speak? Or project all the time.”
She shrugged and wiggled her shoulders, causing her breasts to shift. His eyes flickered down to see them and then back up to her face with a flush of embarrassment. She wondered it herself, but she didn't like to project outside of her connection with Tamin. It didn't feel right to speak up when she was suppose to be submitting.
Fang rubbed his head, his fingers trailing through the wispy hair. He started to think about balding even more and dropped his hand. “Y-You said, free? You mean a free fuck? Not just a blow job?”
Wagging her tail, she nodded and barked.
It only took him a few moments of hesitation. Mind brimming with guilty thoughts, he stripped out of his clothes and tossed them to the side. He wasn't in the peak of his health, but the city guards required at least a certain amount of fitness to remain a street guard.
Underneath the slight pouch of his belly, his cock stood out straight. She remembered it from the alleys but he didn't know that she could see in the dark. She moaned softly as she stared at it in lust, knowing that being exposed in the light would add to the excitement he felt rising in his belly. His cock bobbed with his thoughts and pre-cum oozed from the tip.
His doubts radiated from his mind and she could feel it start against her thoughts. (I'm ugly. She's going to run away now. She would never give me a free fuck if she knew what I looked like.)
Merrie licked her lips and let out a soft growl of desire. The effect was immediate, his cock bobbed a sudden beat of his heart and the doubt melted away.
Lowering herself and raising her tail, she crawled over to the edge of the bed and opened her mouth. With a soft gasp, she rocked her hips back and forth and let her tail swirl around her.
He inched forward, aiming his cock for her mouth. It slid past her lips with a flush of heat and the slick taste of pre-cum. He released his shaft and it bumped against her lower lip. Trembling, Fang stroked her ears and pushed his entire length into her mouth.
Merrie moaned at as he teased the sensitive ridges of her ears. His fingers trembled as he held himself there, afraid to grab tightly. She sent out a mental command and he unconsciously obeyed, grabbing her ears tightly and thrusting forward.
With a groan, he pulled back. She clamped her lips around his length and traced out every ridge of his pulsating cock. As his glans teased her lips, he held himself still and looked down. He gasped at the sight of his cock between her lips, the warmth of her mouth seeping into his burning skin. Despair rose up inside him, guilt and fear. He pushed into her mouth, watching with wide-eye fascination as his length disappeared into her mouth.
She moaned softly and wiggled her ass, encouraging him. She remembered the taste of his cock, thick and musky, but also sweet. She bobbed when he faltered but soon Fang was pounding her mouth with hard, desperate strokes.
His grip tightened on her ears, crushing them in his fingers. She moaned at the pleasure and pain, squirming as she felt an orgasm rising up inside him. His cock pulsed as it slid in and out and she tightened the ring of her lips to give him more resistance.
It was enough and he froze as he came. The cum poured out of his length and pooled on her tongue. She moaned with her own orgasm as she felt the heated liquid spreading out and then sliding down her throat. She sucked on his length, bobbing gently until he pulled out with a gasp.
He didn't say anything for a long moment. Instead, he stared down at his bobbing cock. The only sex he got in the last few years was from Nir and Merrie. He felt guilty with every orgasm, as if he was betraying some memory.
A shadowy memory rose up, of a woman, but then he buried it before Merrie could focus on it. His thoughts were raw and his despair was still too deep. Merrie could feel it rising up but he struggled to control his thoughts. She could feel the ache in her own heart as she tried to find some way of giving him relief from his sorrow.
She rested an arm on his hip and barked again.
Fang stirred himself from his thoughts. “More?”
She nodded and barked.
“I-I'm a bit sensitive,” he gestured to his cock, “but, do you think I could maybe do something for you?” A curiosity rose up in his thoughts, he wanted to know if she was clean enough to lick. Not only her pussy, but her ass. He never did it before, but he was afraid that she would have a shit-covered hole.
Merrie nodded and rolled back. Sinking her body into the sagging mattress, she rolled over on her belly and brought her knees underneath her.
“No, I was thinking on your…” The words trailed off as she lifted her ass and presented herself, giving him a full view of her ass and pussy. She was clean, the cleansing rune ensured that, but she was also slick and wet with excitement.
The mattress sank with his weight. “I-I've never,” he gulped and sighed, “I've never done this.”
She wiggled her ass for encouragement.
It took a long moment for him to bring his mouth to her sex, but when she felt his hot breath against her labia, she moaned. He leaned forward and gave her a delicate lick. She giggled and spread her legs further, parting her labia to her sex.
Encouraged, Fang licked firmly. “Y-You kind of taste taste like alcohol.”
Merrie remembered the ethereal smell that surrounded her master. She couldn't smell it anymore, no doubt because it was part of her. She moaned and nodded.
“Kind of nice.” He licked again and thought about drinking himself into a blackout. The tip of his tongue found her clitoris and he traced one of her inner labia up to her ass. He hesitated at the puckered opening, but she let out a moan and pushed back until his tongue caressed her ring.
She almost came as he lapped. Pulling back, he gasped. “Is this okay?”
She bumped against him with a moan.
Fang returned to her asshole, caressing it with his tongue. She could feel his surprise that it was as sweet as the rest of her. His saliva soon coated her opening as he traced each fold as it aimed for the opening before circling around. He gave a hesitant push at the sphincter and then lapped harder at it.
Merrie moaned and shivered, her severed arm and nipples rubbing against the blanket as she writhed. For a newcomer to rimming, his explorations felt good. Her tail wagged back and forth until he grabbed it and pushed it aside to get more access to her tight anal ring.
His other fingers drew up to her pussy, sliding one digit into her soaked sex. It sank clear to the knuckles and she moaned even louder. He lapped at her asshole, lubricating it as he dreamed of shoving his cock into there.
She came at his ministrations and bit down on his pillow, enjoying every pleasure as he lapped and fingered her into two more quick orgasms. Soon, her pussy was dripping with her excitement and she needed more than tongue. She held off, though, until he got his fill of rimming her.
Pulling back, he panted with excitement. “That was amazing. I've never… I mean, I've always wanted to do it.” He groaned as he wrapped his dripping fingers around his cock, the hardness aching to be buried into her hot body.
Merrie rolled on her back and spread her legs. With her arm, she made a come-hither gesture.
Fang didn't need a second invitation. He crawled over to her. His eyes roamed her shortened limbs, painfully aware that she was cropped but it wasn't a turn-on or turn-off. It was just simply part of the Bitch he knew.
He grabbed his cock and aimed it for her pussy.
Merrie lifted her hips and his cock brushed against the ring of her ass.
Fang froze and looked up with desperate hope. “Are you sure?”
She barked with a smile.
His cock speared her asshole, sliding deep into her tight opening. Merrie moaned loudly and reached out for him, pulling him into her body as he sank his length into her. It was hot and tight. She could feel every ridge of his length as it slid deep, lubricated by his saliva and his need.
Her hips rose and she hooked her knees on his hips, giving him more access to her body. Her tail wagged back and forth, tickling his balls with every movement. She could feel the play of muscles trembling along her body as he continued to sink into her.
Fang's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he focused on his senses. He shuddered and fought the urge to come. He gripped her thighs tightly as he forced the length of his hardness into her ass and held it there. Gasping, he struggled against his own body before drawing out. He only made it a few centimeters before he drove it back into her, nearly folding her in half with the force of his thrust.
Merrie moaned loudly from the sensation of being impaled. She rocked into his thrusts, squeezing down so the tightness clamped around his cock.
He began to take deeper strokes, sliding half of his length out before slamming it in. His orgasm was rushing up faster than he wanted, it had been too long since he had sex and never before in a woman's ass. He whimpered as he struggled to pull back, to stop it, but it was too late. With a cry, he came inside her ass, soaking her rectum with his hot, slick cum.
His face turned purple as he held himself there. And then, with a loud gasp, he slumped into her. “Thank you.”
Merrie smiled and hugged him tightly, holding him into her as she enjoyed the afterglow.
Fang was sitting in Commandant Pidor's office, with two Vigilants standing next to him. One of them was a muscular man armed with two swords. The other was a short-haired woman who introduced herself as Tai, but she seemed more disgusted by his presence when he offered his hand. That was seconds before he was ushered across town into the commandant's office.
"Truste Fang, do you know why you're here?"
He did, but he couldn't say it. He knew that he was abusing his privileges as a city guard, not to mention asking favors from anyone who could help. With a deep breath, Fang shook his head. "I'm sorry, sir, I'm not sure."
The muscular Vigilant snorted.
The commandant shook his head. "We don't lie to each other, boy. This is serious. You've been tying up guard resources for this search and we can't afford to have you and your friends looking around for this woman—"
Fang stood up with a cry. Both of the Vigilants grabbed him by his shoulder and shoved him back down to his seat. He gulped to calm his emotions before he spoke. "It isn't just a woman, it's my little sister. She was kidnapped, I know that. She was on that street when it was teleported away!"
"We are still investigating, Truste."
"You know where the bodies are. You arrested those two men! Just let me look! Let me see if my Sama is among them!"
Merrie jerked at his thoughts. The name swirled in her head, Sama. Tensing, she held Fang tight and delved into his thoughts, spreading out to suppress his despair as she ceased to be subtle about her probing.
In her grip, Fang whimpered, but Merrie threw herself into his memories as they welled up in his mind.
Fang felt as if his heart had been ripped out. After three hours of looking through the corpses, Sama wasn't there. He didn't know to be relieved or saddened by the fact. He shook his head and leaned against the door.
“I'm sorry,” said Tai as she handed him a steaming cup of tea. The spells that kept the corpses froze ached his skin, but he didn't realize that until he held the cup.
"Thank you, Vigilant."
“What are you going to do?” She looked sad as she looked into his face. He could see the compassion and sympathy in her, both now and when she spoke for him in the commandant's office.
"Keep looking. What else I can do?"
Tai patted his shoulder. "Your job?"
“Well, yeah,” Fang chuckled and sipped at the drink, "but what's the point? I couldn't even save her when I needed to. The whole reason I became a guard was to protect her."
"She isn't dead, Fang. You know that."
He shook his head. A month's paycheck went into purchasing a spell to find her. The seer couldn't identify where she was, but at least he knew she was alive. Somewhere. He knew she was in trouble. He needed to save her but he there was nothing he could do. He didn't know where to run to save her, who to fight, where to do anything. A sob rose up in his throat and he fought it.
"Join my team."
He looked up with surprise.
Tai gave him a comforting smile. "Gom and Snick could use some company. We're up in a slightly fancier part of town, but then you can do your job. And… if you need to take a few hours off here and there, I won't tell the commandant."
Fang tightened his grip as he buried his face in her shoulder. A sob ripped out of his body as he clung to Merrie. “Please stop. Please stop making me remember.”
Merrie pulled back and let her thoughts drift in her mind. She held him tight as the tears ran down her cheeks. (I know her.)
He stiffened. “What?” came his muffled voice.
Merrie was shoved up against the girl and ordered to stay. Three guards surrounded them. Merrie turned to the girl and whispered, "Hi."
The brunette looked at her, tears rolling down her face, whispered back. "What is going on?"
"I don't know. I'm Merrie."
"Sama. I was just going to visit the museum for the day. Why are they doing—"
Fang slammed his hands on either side of Merrie's head. “You know Sama!? You saw her? Where? When!?” There was such pain and desperation in his voice that Merrie flinched.
(Yes, she was on that street with me.) She sent the images of being teleported and the first day as they were shoved into wagons and taken across the countryside to the dairy farm and then later to the Puppy Mill. The memories came in a rush, ending sharply before she remembered how Bass raped her in front of the mill house.
He grabbed her shoulders and his cock slipped from her ass as he got on his knees. Naked hope clutched his thoughts and his eyes were a mask of desperation. He dug his fingers into her, almost breaking the skin, and pulled her close. “What happened to her? Where is she? Tell me!”
Merrie hesitated and then gave him her memories, from the first time she met Sama until the final one she had of her body.
Time stretched slowly and Merrie continued into a spiral of despair. She felt her thoughts growing dark with depression and she realized she was berating herself. To her mind away, she pushed herself to her knees and wrists. Careful to circle around Bass, she pushed her way through the grasses and past the burial markers. She didn't know where she was going but she had to be somewhere.
And then she came on Sama's body. The sheet had sunk against the corpse and Merrie could see Sama's tail and her limbs outlined by the stained fabric. A lock of hair stuck out one end and her toes from another.
Seeing Sama, sorrow welled up inside her. Merrie bit back a sob and backed away. She let the grasses bounce back between her and the body, a shield against the death she was responsible for.
Merrie stopped. She couldn't back away, not after failing Sama. With tears in her eyes, she inched forward. The grass cut along her nipples and side as she crawled through it. Reaching Sama's body, she looked over the prone form and realized she would never lick Sama's cunt or ride her face again. They were strangers only a few weeks before, but she was part of her life now, her pack, her bitch.
“No,” Fang said with tears running down his cheeks. “No, no, no!” He yanked her up and slammed her down on the bed. A spring snapped underneath her and the metal dug into her back. He cried out again and slammed her again, each word punctuated by him pounding her into the bed. “No, no, no! It's a lie!”
With a growl, he threw her down and slapped her hard. “She isn't dead! She can't be!”
Merrie tasted blood on her mouth. She held her mouth shut, unable to do or say anything to stop the rage that burned him.
Fang cried out and punched her, his knuckles catching the side of her jaw. The blow almost cracked bone. “No, no!”
Shadows surged and Tamin slammed into him. The impact threw the guard off the bed and into the wall. Magic poured off the hound's as the Shadows peeled back and the strength spell burned in his veins. His pitch black eyes were locked on the guard and his lips were pulled back in a snarl.
With a groan, Fang slid out of the cracked wall of his apartment and hit the ground. His cock, still dripping from his cum, scraped on the floor but he didn't even cringe. Plaster poured down around him as he looked up. “Why?”
Merrie looked up at her protective hound. She pushed Tamin away with a thought, but the dog resisted before she pushed harder. (Sit.)
Tamin sat down heavily but didn't stop snarling.
She got on her knees and rubbed her chin. (Because of Grange, he wanted to get back at Bass.)
“No,” Fang said as he stood up. There was a rasp of metal on leather and she realized he had pulled out his sword. “Why did you live? I saw your memories. You could have saved her. You could have killed that man before he killed my sister.”
(Alpha, he is going to attack.)
(Don't hurt him,) she commanded.
(He hurt you. He must—)
(Sit!)
Tamin shuddered at the command.
Unaware of their mental thoughts, Fang rushed forward. His sword flashed out and Merrie saw it coming for her. She flowed out of the side, shifting barely out of the way.
The blade slammed into the mattress, slicing through the blanket and snapping rusted springs.
Merrie reached out and pressed the smooth end of her wrist against his. A quick spell rose up and she froze his arm, preventing him from pulling his sword out.
Fang grunted and pulled at his weapon. When it didn't slid out, he batted her wrist away and tried to use both hands. Merrie's spell kept him pinned in place.
(Fang, I didn't have that power. I was a Beta then, I had no master.)
“I don't care!” He screamed, “You killed my sister as much as those other bitches did. All of you could have saved her, but you let him rape her!”
(I couldn't stop him.)
“Horseshit! I saw those memories. You wanted to get fucked. You wanted it every time that he rammed his cock in your fucking holes. You were begging just like that Sable bitch!”
Merrie shook her head. She hated Bass, he raped her. There was no joy for her at the mill. (Tamin?)
The hound glanced at her. (I don't know what he's talking about, Alpha. I've seen none of that.)
She forced her mind into his, pushing into his thoughts. Strange, alien memories rose up in his head: of her longing for Bass, the tender moments in a bathtub, and even the tear-filled goodbyes. They were false memories, but there was no way Fang could have faked them. Not with the intimate sensations of flesh and bone, of sex and pussy. They felt like her memories but they couldn't be real.
“You killed her,” he gasped as he sank to his knees. “You killed her just as much as Grange did. You and the others at that… place.”
She couldn't respond as the guilt crushed her. She couldn't separate the memories of what she had become, the Lost Alpha, with her time at the mill. She knew she had power, but if she had just come into force earlier, she could have saved Sama. She could have stopped Grange from taking her. The memories came rushing back, reflected off Fang's thoughts. She opened her mouth but then closed it.
He sobbed as he buried his face into the blankets. “Why did she have to die?”
Merrie reached out for him, but stopped centimeters away from him. The pain and anguish rolled off him, surrounding her thoughts in a cloud. The guilt from Sama's death burned in her mind, reminding her of her own failures.
Even as she stared at him, she could feel the happy memories of the mill crumbling. She didn't know why, but it came with the same sense of loss she felt every time she left Lady Anasome's perfume store.
Pulling back her arm, she reached into his mind. She found the rising despair and cast a spell against it, letting it run its course but preventing him from killing himself or drinking himself into oblivion. She survived the agony of losing her master and it hurt almost as much as Fang's pain of finally losing his sister.
(I'm sorry.) Her words came with the full force of her guilt and regret. She failed him and Sama that night, she just didn't know it until now.
Her emotions were lost in his agony. She knew she could force him to listen, but it was wrong. Pain and loss had to be eased out, just like Jacir and Pris. She didn't expect the intensity of his emotions but she knew it too well.
A memory rose up from Sama's childhood, of her older brother kneeling next to her as Sama clutched her broken arm. He had the same color hair but there were scratches on his face. It was his words, not clearly remembered but the intent came through. He was telling Sama what happened when he broke his arm, the pain but also how the bone-setter put it back. He went into detail about his healing and promising she would be healed in the same way. It gave her hope that the pain would end.
Fang tensed up.
Merrie closed her eyes and showed him her pain. She kept the worst of the agony filtered from crushing his mind, but she brought him through the moment of losing her master to the moment she knelt on the edge of the bridge, ready to kill herself. Every pain, every moment she broke down, she gave to him. It was a painful to remember and she feared breaking the seal on her despair.
It was almost morning when she finished. Fang rested against the bed, sobbing as he stared at the floor but saw nothing.
(I loved her with all my heart. She was my pack, my friend, and my bitch. If I could, I would have killed myself to save her. But, I couldn't.)
“S-She was my sister.” Fang's voice was hoarse and cracked.
She sent a wave of love toward him, wrapping his thoughts.
Fang shuddered and curled up against the floor, ignoring his own nudity. “Just… just go away.”
Merrie closed her eyes, the dismissal striking like a knife. She nodded once. (Come find me at the Guild if you need me or any of us. Ask for Kirin and tell her Bitch sent you.)
He said nothing.
With a heavy heart, Merrie melted into the shadows.