Her hand was still around his neck, her grip neither loose nor firm. It was simply there in case the need to exert her control arose. It had been necessary the night before. It had also been overpowered for a time before her will reasserted itself. It was as though some horrid tragedy was played out, with two creatures of equally fierce and feral drive clashing in a test of strength that proved both - yet neither - to be the victor.

She bore the marks of his savagery as much as he wore hers - bruises, bite marks, red welts where fingernails had pulled at flesh. Each body was a testament to the beast that both had released during the course of the night. The pure anger that had been released had become something to be fed upon, to nourish the animals that so thrived upon conflict.

The two monsters had gorged themselves. They had raged at each other. They had overpowered, and been overpowered.



Acera felt his neck in her grasp as she came out of the world of slumber, and her fingers tightened only slightly at the remembrance of the previous night. She bared her teeth. With an impatient growl the Lupine rolled away from the body beside her, releasing her hold to throw her legs over the side of the bed while in the same motion rising to sit.

The once smooth skin of her back was a map of ugly welts and scratches.

"Get up."

The order, spoken with a voice that seemed to contain a multitude of others, was directed at the form which still lay on the bed.