The snow around the message boards in the Plaza had been stomped into slush and turned into an icy lake deep enough to soak into everyone's boots. But, despite the frigid liquid pooling around their feet, it didn't stop the throngs of people from milling around to read the messages fluttering in the wind.

Merrie sat on the corner of the Obsidian Board. The ice pooled around her buttocks and the cold stung her labia, but the ache felt good. It was over two weeks since Rakin kidnapped her. She was surprised to find out Rakin had fucked her for three days solid before she freed herself, but the injuries from his brutality were still healing. Every time she moved, her torn muscles itched and her bruises ached. At least most of the scratches and cuts on her skin had been erased.

Her cloak wrapped tightly around her body, covering up the last of the fading bruises. The hole still remained from the magical blast during the fight. She felt a pang of sadness every time she saw the hole, the cloak was her master's though it had become her own. She tried shape-shifting and gathering energy until she ran out of energy, but no matter how hard she tried, the hole remained.

Merrie was anxious to try again, but the healers and Kirin forbade it. Her attempts to gather energy through sex failed after the first round left the sheets soaked in blood and Nir screaming in fear. Now, she was forced to be content with blow jobs and delicate fingering.

(They're afraid that you will swear off sex forever.) Tamin's thoughts were comforting. (Most people cannot survive three days of rape without their minds being damaged.)

Merrie smiled and leaned her head against Tamin. The hound's claustrophobia with the crowds burned along her senses but she knew better than to ask him to head into the Shadows alone. Ever since Rakin, he remained by her side even in the healer's room. Anyone who dared to even appear to harm her brought a quick growl from her protector. (I'm an Alpha. I couldn't give up sex if I wanted to. It is my power and my source, just as Rakin's magic came from his anger.)

(You haven't had a cock in you since Rakin.) There was a little wistful longing in his thoughts. (You need a powerful orgasm, soon.)

She rocked her hips, quickly finding the sore spots along her spine and hips. She couldn't wait until the physical pains faded. (I've come though, plenty of times.) Even as she thought it, she craved for a cock to slam into her.

(Nir's tongue is a poor substitute for a proper fuck. And she can't even fist you after that last time.)

Merrie sighed. She thought she was ready, but the look of horror on Nir as she pulled out bloody fingers still haunted her. She tore her thoughts away. (I've ridden your tongue too. Are you saying you aren't good enough?)

Tamin's thoughts grew warmer with lust. (No, my tongue is never good enough. I want to mount you. I want to ram my cock deep into your pussy and knot you like a proper bitch. You need to fuck.)

(And what about the healers?) Merrie nuzzled against his shoulder, (They told me not to have anything large inside me for another month.) Her thoughts were tinged with her own lust. She needed him as badly as he wanted her.

(You're my Alpha. You can take the pain and we both know how far you can go. A little blood can be healed by shape-changing. And your cunt is ready even if the healer doesn't think so.)

She buried her face in his short, black fur and moaned. Her pussy grew warmer despite the ice water rushing against it. She wagged her tail and swirled it through the slush. (Sounds good. Tonight?)

The heated lust boiling out of his thoughts warmed her even more.

Merrie squirmed and grinned to herself. Raising her head, she scanned the fluttering messages for the one addressed to her. It was Zeob's handwriting again with a simple message directing her to an inn outside of the city limits. She knew the place, it had a basement that was perfect for gangbangs in the middle of the week. No doubt, Eolis would be there to give her another thirty thousand marks to make it through the winter. She didn't know where the money came from, but he brought it every time they met. And he usually sent her out to fuck another customer.

Tamin's tail thumped loudly. (There are woods along the way. Very dark with lots of underbrush. A good place to run.)

She smiled broadly, her thoughts drifting and her body tingling with anticipation. (It's been a while since you hunted me, has it?)

He answered her by grabbing her by the shoulder; her cloak peeled back so his teeth dug into bare skin. Tamin didn't break the skin, but the flash of pain brought a throb of heat deep inside her. He knew exactly how hard to bite her and when to stop.

But, Merrie didn't want him to stop. She moaned at the pricks of pain and discomfort. Her pussy grew hotter with the need to submit to her hound, but also at the thoughts of him biting harder until blood ran down her shoulder. Rakin had turned her on with his brutality and fucking, awoken the submissive hunger inside her. But, Rakin's rage and self-control had terrified her. There was a painfully thin line between beating and killing. And he crossed it when he tried to smash her face into the bricks.

Tamin's growl shook her body. He increased the pressure on her shoulder and the teeth dimpled the skin. (I will never truly hurt you, no matter how hard I bite. I will protect you until the day I die.)

His teeth broke the skin and a trickle of blood ran down her shoulder. She closed her eyes to enjoy the heated tickle as it oozed down the curve of her breast and then traced its way down her belly before splashing into the ice below.

She couldn't find the words to project. Instead, she looked over into his pitch black eyes. The Shadows boiled behind his gaze. He wasn't the hound that she bonded with but he was all she had left. He died once for her just as Merrie would have died for her master, if she could.

Tamin's jaw dug deep into her shoulder, stopping the dark thought before it came up. She shuddered at the helplessness of it and gasped softly.

He burned with love and lust as he tugged her away from the board. (Heel.)

Merrie's pussy clamped at the order. She stumbled as he dragged her away, her body half sliding through the ice and slush. She felt the heat boiling inside as she pawed playfully at him, the severed end of her arm helpless to stop him.

She could force him to stop, they both knew, but Merrie needed to submit. She craved the hunt and fuck, damn the healer's concerns. As much as he hurt her, he would never hurt her more than she could heal with shape-shifting and time.

(You're about to get more than scratches, bitch.) Tamin's growl shook her to the core and she squirmed with the heat boiling inside her pussy. He pulled her free from the crowds beyond the message boards before releasing her.

Merrie slumped to the ground and smiled. Her breath came fast and her breasts dipped into the slush. Crimson stained the ice beneath her, blossoming out from the love bite. She smiled and looked up at him, her tail wagging as she felt the moisture of her sex prickling against the icy wind.

He growled and pulled back his lip. (You should run.)

A flame ignited inside her pussy as she scrambled to her wrists and knees. She didn't need to look at him to feel the lust filling both of them. Digging her wrists in, she shifted into a hound and raced toward the southern gate of the city.

A moment later, Tamin burst into movement with a snarl that frightened the people around him. His heavy paws slammed into the ground as he accelerated into a sprint. He wasn't going to be gentle for her and the promise of pain sent a bright burst of lust dancing across her mind.

Merrie ran as fast as she could, ducking between legs and racing along the sidewalks. Her paws slammed into the slush, splashing bystanders as she raced away.

Tamin burst out of the Shadows and bit down. His teeth snapped centimeters away from her throat with a wet chomp.

Coming hard, she dodged to the side and jumped across to the Shadows. A moment later, she came back across and ducking underneath a wagon. Her furry back scraped against the bottom planks. She planted her feet to the cracks and used that for purchase to shoot out from the shadow and across the street.

He bounded over the wagon and slammed into her from above. The massive weight drove her to the ground and she had to brace herself to avoid smashing her chin against the ice-covered cobblestones. Her muscles strained to keep herself from being crushed. But, just as she was about to slip, he planted two feet on the ground and shifted his weight so she was only pinned without being crushed.

Merrie flailed out from underneath him. Her tail smacked against his legs as she dug into the stones for purchase. Her ass rose up against the long, hardness of his cock. Feeling the thick member along her tail, she let out another moan and her heart beat faster. The weight bore down on her from the base of her tail along her spine and almost to her shoulder-blades. She moaned and tried to remember the last time it was buried inside her.

Tamin loomed over her as if he was mounting her. His hips drove her forward into his snapping teeth, but she managed to duck underneath his jaw. The snap of jaw painted her with drool and hot breath. (Keep running.)

Reluctantly, Merrie crawled out from underneath Tamin and raced forward again. Her heart pounded loudly as she dodged another attack. She didn't try to attack or slam him back. She was prey that day and there was only one thing that would happen to Tamin's prey: they ran until they were caught. There wasn't a question if she was caught, only where he would be savaging her willing body.

He howled as he raced after her, the sound of it echoing against the storefronts. He didn't bother diving between legs but just barreled his way through people. There were screams and cries of surprise as he tossed people left and right in his efforts to catch her.

She only used the Shadows to jump across busy streets and duck through alleys. Everywhere else, she enjoyed the thud of her paws on the streets and the rush of the wind against her face. Her heart sang out with hunger and she came every time she felt his hot breath on her skin or when his teeth snapped dangerously close to her body.

It took them twenty minutes to reach the southern gate of Franome City. They left behind a trail of destruction and upset people. Merrie didn't care, though, Tamin had brought her to the edge of excitement and they weren't even done. At the gate, she charged through the opening. She felt the wards that protected the city but she stepped aside and flickered by in a flash of darkness and icy wind. She landed on the far side and raced up the hills toward the thick woods.

Merrie couldn't wait to lose the Bel Dark form in the woods. She needed to be naked and human. She craved the helplessness. She smiled and bounded up the hill, keeping to the Shadows for the last few hundred meters.

When she was out of sight of the city, she jumped from the Shadows. A large ice-covered bush surprised her–it wasn't old or large enough to have a presence in the Shadows. She dug her wrists into the snow to stop herself, but she caught a root and flipped over. The memory of landing in the Rakin's cell slammed into her and her transformation slipped away. It was a brief moment of horror, but then she remembered that it was a lover that chased her, not Rakin.

She clawed herself out of the bush. Her lips were parted with lust and she gave little whimpers as she imagined the sounds Tamin's prey would make. Her cloak snapped free, but she didn't look back. Tamin would gather it when he stepped back across. Her naked skin crawled from the icy wind that blew past her. The ice and snow burned at her breasts and stomach; she pretended that it burned her instead of the icy comfort from having Shadows in her veins.

She climbed up a short hill and slid down the other side. Fresh scrapes caressed her body, but it only added to the flames that seared her insides. She was prey and she couldn't wait to be caught.

Tamin's howl echoed off the bare trees. She knew he found her cloak and circled around, sniffing the ground despite knowing exactly where she was. He was playing his role just as she was in hers.

Merrie made it a few hundred meters before the hound came bounding after her. His snarl was sharp and terrifying. She spun around to see how close but then he was on her.

Teeth flashed as he bit her thigh and flipped her over. An arc of blood flew up in the air and Merrie cried out at the sudden pain. She hit the ground with a gasp and fought the surge of pleasure that sang in her heart. She was slick and hot and ready.

(My prey has arms and legs,) projected Tamin, (act like it.)

Merrie froze for a moment, then she felt the force of his will slamming into her. She had to obey him. Pulling on the command, she added the hazy memories of the days when she had limbs. Everything mixed together along with an illusion spell. She let the calligraphic spell spread out across her thoughts and the spell grew dark with power. With a gasp, she released it and threw it on herself.

Her skin crawled as the spell took place, filling her with ice and setting the ends of her wrists and legs on fire. Shuddering, she looked down at her body. Her breasts were flecked with snow and ice. As they rose and fell with her pants, she could see her limbs healthy once again. Two bare legs shivered from the ice, toes curling as she remembered doing before. Blood stained the ice beneath her own leg, but otherwise she was as whole as the day she was kidnapped.

Merrie gasped and lifted her arms. Her fingers spread out as she remembered how to move them. They were foreign to her now, something that was no longer part of her body, but she was driven to remember the days before being cropped. She panted faster as she stretched her fingers to their limits, remembering the ache of stretching the webbing between the digits. She could grab something, if she would just reached out. The ice, Tamin's fur, even the hard touch of the bark.

Tamin's teeth chomped down on her illusionary left arm, biting clear through the spectral flesh right above her elbow. A spray of blood spurted from his mouth and he tore the arm from her body.

For a moment, neither moved. Merrie struggled with the intense sensation of agony. She had been cropped… again. She sobbed at the memories that came back, of a giant wolf biting through the flesh and how the pain turned to pleasure.

Clutching the bleeding arm to her chest, she felt down with her other hand. Her fingers, clumsy after not using them for years, reached for her pussy. They slid between the soaked lips, but the sensations came from her parted lips not her fingers. Her hands weren't real, they were just an illusion for her role. But, the ache of her labia reminded her that she had a role to play.

She sobbed at the feeling of loss, then crawled on her hand and knees. She rushed away as fast as she could, listening to the sickening crunch of the hound chewing on her arm. She knew it wasn't real, but it didn't matter. It felt like reality in that moment.

He came for her again a few minutes later. The thud of his weight cracking through the ice. His growls shook the air. Each one pushed fear and lust into an intensity that she never wanted to stop. Her imagination fueled her efforts to crawl up the side of a hill, her bloody arm slipping as she pushed her way past the illusionary pain. The trail she left behind was bright crimson, but she wasn't sure if it was real or not. All that mattered was the hunt.

Her pussy dripped with her anticipation. She ached to be filled. She wanted to be forced, pounded into the ground and ripped open. Her body craved him, but it was the hunt that made the submission sweeter.

Tamin's teeth clamped down on her back leg. The teeth dug into imaginary flesh and he pulled her back down the hill. She lost her balance and landed face-first in the snow. It tore at her face and breasts, scraping her senses and leaving her shivering with hunger. She clawed at the ground, leaving a trail of crimson and finger trails as the hound pulled her down to the valley.

Merrie tried to flip over, but he wouldn't let her. One thick paw slammed down on her back, pinning her to the ground. She flailed helplessly even as she was sending a strength spell through their connection. It burned brightly in her mind and she clamped her legs together as an orgasm shuddering through her body.

He grabbed her leg and pulled. There was a wet ripping noise that flooded her veins as he tore off her imaginary leg. A flash of crimson splattered against the snow. She still wasn't sure if it was real or not, but her pussy clamped at the idea of being cropped again.

She reached down with desperation, she had to masturbate. But, Tamin had other ideas. He grabbed her other leg and picked her up. With a grunt, he began to shake her.

Merrie's hair whipped back and forth as she was cracked like a whip. The spells that fueled his strength reminded her how helpless she was. She couldn't do anything besides cry out pitifully and reach out blindly into the air. She was coming, coming hard and fast, and the world became dazzlingly white from the orgasms.

Tamin launched her into the air. She flew high over the hill before slamming into the snow. Flipping twice, she slid along the ground before coming to a halt underneath a wagon rolling over her.

Merrie saw the surprise on two farmers as she peeked under the edge. She panted with need as her illusionary blood spread out on the snow beneath her. She couldn't wait until Tamin caught her.

One of the farmers was female. “What—”

She barely got a word out before Tamin came rushing out of the darkness. He slammed into the wagon before crawling over it. Two wheels lifted off the ground from the impact. As he reached the top, the cloak spread out into two black wings and he jumped off the far side for her. The wagon crashed to the ground and the farmers screamed as they struggled to remain on the bench.

Merrie sent a pulse of fear into the horse pulling the wagon and the equine squealed out before charging forward. The wheels rushed past her and she was briefly blinded by the gray light of winter.

Tamin caught her one good foot and yanked her off the ground. Spinning around, he threw her further into the woods. But, his teeth didn't release her foot and there was a wet popping sensation as it tore from her leg.

She cried out in pleasure as she flew through the air and landed hard on the ground. She could feel the pulse of her imaginary injuries, the idea of bleeding out gave her a rush. Rolling to her belly, she crawled away from the road knowing that Tamin stalked her.

His icy body loomed over her, a pitch black silhouette. She felt the cold breath against her back and the drool that splattered on her shoulder.

Sobbing, she crawled forward as the tremors coursed through her. It was time for the kill and she felt the anticipation burning bright. The inferno inside her could melt the ice as his cock brushing against her buttocks. There was no way of pretending he was going to do anything other than rape her.

Tamin growled deeply, shaking the air. More drool splashed on Merrie's shoulder as he reached down with his jaw spreading wide.

She cringed, knowing it would hurt.

He hesitated with her thoughts.

(Bite!) She ordered, her thoughts burning with desperation and need.

He obeyed and clamped down on her shoulder, piercing flesh until his teeth scraped against bones. It hurt but it was a good pain. She arched her back in an effort to escape, knowing that she was bringing her soaked pussy in line with his hard cock.

Tamin's shaft speared into her. The wedged tip easily punched into her sex and slid deep. She felt her insides stretching around his thickness, from her nether lips straining as his knot pounded against her entrances to her inner walls straining to engulf his hardness.

She cried out and buried her face in the snow. She lifted her hips to give him more access to her willing, injured body.

He drew back and slammed it home again. His knot, as large as a full-grown man's fist, slammed against her labia. The pain and pleasure was intense and she was shoved deeper into the snow.

Merrie's eyes opened wide and she reached out with her one good illusionary arm. She strained for freedom, not wanting it but needing to continue her role as the helpless victim.

Tamin pulled back, his teeth grinding down on her shoulder. She was helpless underneath his crouched form, helpless to escape, helpless to avoid her fate. She tried to shift to the side, but the thick cock buried in her pussy kept her helplessly pinned in place.

She sobbed with need and shoved back.

Her furry lover clamped his forelegs over her arms, pinning them to the side. She was forced to balance on her knees, with the teeth holding her up. He drove into her, his cock angled up and deep into her pussy. It speared deep until the knot splayed her lips apart. She could feel his cock bulging her belly.

Liquid heat flowed through her veins as she clamped down. She was losing the illusionary spell but she didn't care. She was already caught.

With her pinned, Tamin pounded into her with the ferocity of a feral animal bent on breeding. His hips slammed into her buttocks as his cock drove deep. The knot, already swollen, crushed her labia with every stroke until she felt her opening stretching around it. Each thrust drove it deeper and his cock rammed against the entrance of her womb with every blow.

It hurt, but it was also pleasure. His brutal thrusts re-opened scratches and cuts, but she didn't care. She begged for more, the whine of a bitch in heat and not prey trying to escape.

The spell faded and her illusion slipped away. Her flailing arm disappeared in curls of shadow and left behind the smooth end of her wrist. The other bled from the bite he gave her, but the gouge was only deep enough to make the blood real. She reached back and clutched at his head, holding him tight as he mounted her body.

(Knot me. Knot me like your bitch!)

He responded with harder blows. The knot punched her entrance, tearing it open. For a moment, she didn't think she could handle his girth or strength.

And then his knot was forced right at the cusp of entrance. She felt it painfully holding her open. As he withdrew, she clamped down and pushed it out. With the part of her mind, she prayed he wouldn't be gentle with his next thrust.

Tamin wasn't. He drew back completely out, leaving her pussy gaping from the girth that once impaled it. With a growl, he yanked her back as he drove home. His cock punched into her pussy, sliding along her juices, and the knot slammed into her. It tore through her, stretching her to the limit before her body finally accepted it. With a slurp, it slid deep inside her.

She was stuffed from one end of her sex to the other. His cock was hot against her cervix and his knot held it into place. Every centimeter of her sex was tightly stretched around his pulsating length.

He tried to yank it out, but her body refused to let it escape. She jerked back, but was halted when he ground down on his teeth. For a moment, he stretched her out between teeth and knot, before driving his hips deep into her again.

Tamin didn't slow. He continued to fuck her, pounding her cervix with every blow. His knot slid back and forth, slamming against her entrance before bulging out her belly. She would have been yanked back and forth, except he was holding her tightly with his teeth.

She couldn't escape nor did she want to. She cried out and clutched him tightly with both hands, balanced on her knees and held by cock and jaw.

His thoughts slammed into her mind, a primal need to breed her. He pictured her as a bitch in heat. His cock swelled inside her, stretching her to her limits. The knot grew inside her as it churned her pussy. Each thrust drove the thickness deep before drawing it back to her entrance. The heavy thud of his knot against her inner entrance brought a flash of pleasure coursing through her veins.

Merrie cried out as orgasm exploded inside her. She couldn't escape it anymore than being mounted by Tamin. Her entire body tensed up, clamping down on the massive cock dominating her sex. It was agony and pleasure, an intensity with a rawness of being tortured. The hoarse cry died out as the explosion burst out of her mind, radiating out with a rush.

It rippled out into the world and she held her breath as she waited for the submissives of the city to respond. Moments later, the wave of pleasure struck the city and it lit up with a thousand bright points and then a thousand more. More minds responded to her pleasure than ever before. The intensity of her orgasm had caught more than the submissives in the city, it spread out to almost every adult mind inside the gates.

And each of their orgasms sent back a ripple of pleasure back toward her.

She tensed as the first ripple struck her mind. They sparked against her senses and she came again. Her pussy squeezed down on her lover as she writhed in ecstasy and whimpered for more.

Tamin's cock exploded inside her, a rush of icy liquid that poured into her pussy. It filled her quickly but it kept coming. Soon, it sloshed as it bulged her belly and forced its way up past the barrier of her womb. The knot at her entrance sealed it inside her quivering body.

The sensation of being filled with ice and Shadow triggered another orgasm. It quickly burst out of her mind. Moments later, it slammed into the city and she felt almost the entire capital light up with orgasms as a hundred thousand people suddenly came. It didn't matter if they were submissive or not, in that moment, they had submitted to her pleasure and she felt their ecstasy as a storm.

Merrie whimpered as she felt the reflected pleasure of an entire capital city rushing back at her. It was too much to handle and it frightened her. The first ripples struck and she cried out as it pushed her into another orgasm and then another. The waves slammed into her and she reflected it back, sending a stronger orgasm across the city. She couldn't stop it, it was too much.

Tamin crouched over her, pulling his body tight to hers. His thoughts delved deep and she felt the protectiveness wrapping around her. (Give it to me,) he ordered.

Merrie closed her eyes tightly and opened up her mind. As the pleasure crashed into her, she fed it into her alpha. His body shuddered and his cock exploded inside her. It poured through her, scraping against her senses and pushing her into another orgasm, but Tamin accepted the inescapable pleasure. His cock continued to surge inside her, adding to the pressure as he kept coming.

She felt his mind begin to crack under the pleasure. It was too much for either one of them. With a gasp, she stopped channeling the energy into him, but then it quickly built up inside her. She whimpered as she realized she was about to explode with another orgasm that would consume the city. Desperate, she channeled the energy into a blind spell.

The forest around them froze as the shadows came plunging around them. It spread out in pitch blackness before the entire forest was ripped into the Shadows. At the same time, she transformed into a hound and back again.

In the darkness, the pleasure no longer assaulted her but it still burned darkly inside her. She gasped and slumped down, sobbing from the intensity. She was full, filled with cum and cock. Gulping, she giggled. (Kirin is going to kill me.)

Tamin panted against her. (… bitch.)

Merrie moaned. She burned with power, the very core of her submission throbbing with endless power. It filled every part of her and all she wanted to do was obey an entire city. She wanted to be everyone's bitch, everyone's alpha.

But, she couldn't. She had bonded to her master and she would never forget him. Sighing, she closed her eyes and started to transform again. This time, she swirled between two forms, taking on both hound and human forms and then switching until her body blurred between the two. Her injuries, the ones the healer was hesitant to heal, were erased with each transformation. Even the scratches and cuts from their fantasy disappeared. She kept her pussy clamped around the cock, using it as an anchor to avoid losing her sense of self and submission.

Around her, the Shadows boiled and grew more intense. She reached out for it, finding comfort in the shifting world that was becoming her second home. Creatures appeared in the darkness, summoned by her power. She saw the rats and small creatures that patrolled the darkness. They gathered but even more came. The shadows of wolves, deer, and raccoons came to watch her with pitch black eyes.

Merrie let the energy bleed out of her. She used what she could to create more mental crystals of stored pleasure, but her mind couldn't keep more than half a dozen before they began to crack. She set the energy aside and continued to shape-shift.

As she did, a pool of liquid darkness spread out from her body. It poured along the roots of the trees and grasses. The slumbering plants withered and crumbled, the life being sucked out of them until there was nothing but a black circle of dead world around her.

More shadow creatures came, neither living nor dead. They sat on the edges of the black pool of her magic.

(There is a reaper.)

Merrie peered through the darkness to see a reaper, the giant cat with tentacles, standing over the crowds of creatures that watched in silence. It wasn't the same one as before, but the sight of such a fearsome creature skipped her heart.

The shadow creatures watched in silence. She felt like a queen in some silent court. A thousand eyes watching and waiting. There was no fear or hatred in their eyes, just blind obedience to her. They sat in the growing pool of darkness, untouched by the corroding effect of Shadows.

More creatures came from a distance. Every shadow of every creature that ever suffered or struggled outside of the city. The ancient imprints of creatures that died. Each one came silently to sit down around her, forming a growing circle of her dark court. She saw the cattle who lived their lives in sun and the birds that died in the darkness of the leaves. Humanoid figures joined in, the thieves and farmers that toiled in the bright and died alone. Each one sat down as they waited for… something.

Merrie's heart pounded in her chest. She had summoned them with her power, but she didn't know why. She could feel a purpose, a need to draw them closer, but she couldn't do anything besides pull more to her. The liquid pleasure of endless orgasms dribbled out of her and she slumped to the ground. (Tamin, why?)

(They come.) Tamin wasn't speaking of the creatures but something far more terrifying.

There was a swirl of darkness and the Lord of Shadows appeared. A moment later, the second one crawled out of the darkness. Both Lords were utterly alien as they spread out across the gathered shadows in dark clouds of power and darkness.

The gathered creatures held still as they began to burn. Black smoke rose up from the animated shadows of a thousand creatures, rising into the air. The Lords of Shadows drank in the power, consuming it like they consumed Merrie's master.

She lifted her gaze up to them, watching with growing anticipation. She could feel it, the power beating in the air and the way the shadows faded around her. The Lords weren't coming for her, but the shadows around her. They were feeding on her power.

The silent court of darkness burned away in a cloud of darkness. The two Lords swirled into it, sucking in the smoke until they were black on black. The shadows of trees wilted and crumbled away, leaving nothing behind but ash.

And then the blackness faded. Where there were two Lords, there were now four. Four alien beings that she would never understand. Three shot out into the darkness, disappearing before her eyes could focus on their shifting forms.

The fourth Lord, the original, looked down at her for a long moment. She could feel the alien thoughts swirling in the black-on-black. Obsidian claws flexed and dug into the ground less than a hand-span away from her. It dragged back, leaving a deep rent that would never heal. (… GIRL…)

She shuddered at the single intense word that slammed into her. It was trying to speak to her, but only the single thought was understandable in the alien thoughts. The fact she understood both frightened and excited her.

And then the Lord faded away, leaving her a black burning of afterglow. She looked down at the rent in the ground. With a trembling limb, she reached out and touched it. It burned and she yanked back. She had gotten dangerously close to being killed like the others, turned into the food of the Lord.

Fear pooled in her gut, fighting with the afterglow of her orgasm.

Tamin's cock slipped out of her pussy. A flood of juices jetting out, the pressure of his orgasm no longer bound inside her body.

She moaned at the sensation of draining. Rolling over, she squelched through the cum and held out her arms. She felt raw and shaken to her core. (Hold me. Please? Just hold me.)

(Forever,) said the hound as he sank into her. He didn't mount her, but simply held her tight with his body as the tears and cum poured out. His cold body was comforting and she buried her face in his short dark fur.

Underneath the skin, she listened to his heart. It was a rapid-fire pounding that shook her. It took her a moment to realize it wasn't the heartbeat that used to run through his veins but something else. It felt like the slams of his cock from moments before. She never noticed that it didn't have the strange double-beat like most hearts but just a ferocious pounding of animal sex.

(That is what keeps my heart beating. It isn't blood that flows through my veins but Shadows. And the beat I hear is the same rhythm of a hound mounting a bitch.) He licked her shoulder where the shape-changing had completely healed her injuries. (It is the same beat that I felt the day you gave me thoughts and you bonded yourself. It is the connection that reminds me that I'm yours, until the end of my life.)

Merrie lifted her gaze and felt sadness filling her. She couldn't dare ask, but she knew that Tamin's thoughts weren't anything more than a promise. She was heading toward something that would put both of their lives at risk. And, when the time came, he was going to die for her.

She sobbed and buried her face in his chest. (I'm free though, aren't I? Rakin is in jail. And he won't get free, will he? There isn't anyone else. Bass won't come for me, I won't go back. Is the Lord…?)

Tamin rested his large head on her shoulder and curled around her. (I don't know. I can't know. All I know is that it doesn't matter if it is days or years or decades. I will be by your side as long as I can. And, when the time comes, I will kill your enemies and protect your life with my own. I love you with all my heart. You're my Alpha, you are my love, you are my bitch. Forever and ever.)

Merrie sniffed and clutched tighter to him. (I'm scared, Tamin. What's going to happen to us?)

(I don't know.) He sighed. (I don't know.)