Black Iron and Cold Nights / Jadd & Zero

[SanctifiedSavage]

It was dark by the time the slavers hauled Enthtia into their camp. It hadn't ever really occurred to her once she'd ran away that she might get caught in this situation. Were she a more proud creature, she might have been upset she'd not foreseen such a thing.

Or resigned herself that this was her fate.

Whatever the case, Enthtia didn't struggle and offered nothing more than a false name when pressed for it. "Enth" She didn't want them knowing, if they had any inkling, that she might be important or worth more than the pretty thing she was. It was better, she reminded, that she was taken as far away as possible.

Perhaps this was the way it was meant to play out.

The slavers had a larger camp she was brought to. A caravan wrapped around a large fire, where cages were hidden under thick canvas. Other slaves were chained up inside, encouraged to be quiet by guards wrapped up in cloth armor sporting pikes. Some of the tips already glistened in the dark firelight, indicating they'd been used to prod some into silence already.

The bulk of the men were around the large fire, and welcomed the returning group back with cheers and jeers in a language she wasn't entirely familiar with. A few gave her ass some pats before she was bodily hauled from the horse she'd been tossed over, and near dragged across the scruffy grass. Enthtia tried to walk, but they moved too fast.

Her small ears pressed flat to her messy hair as she heard the grate of iron. Cage doors swinging open. She knew that's where she was going, but it made her tremble all the same. It also hurt to be tossed in. More chattering in the language and she was pulled to the cold bars, where a collar was affixed to her. So even if the door was left open, she couldn't dash out.

"You stay. Be good." The first words she understood. The guard tapped the cage with the spear, laughed amongst his compatriots, and turned away. Leaving her in almost darkness with a couple other bodies chained up. She drew up her legs, trembling, and tried very hard not to cry. This was surely how it was supposed to be. As terrible and dark and awful, this was better... for her, for her family...

[Zero]

There were two other collared women in the cage they had shoved the newcomer. One had deep purple hair and sat quietly, head held high and staring straight ahead. If you didn't know better you'd think her a queen sitting on her throne instead of a slave in a cage. The other girl had hair so fair it was almost white, her legs were pulled up to her chest, arms around her knees, and face buried out of sight. It was not a dissimilar position to the one Enthtia had taken. She was also quiet, but she didn't hold the poise of her cage mate, she was clearly very tense.

Nobody dared speak until the guards had moved, and even then not above a whisper. "Quiet your sniffling. It is undignified." It was the dark haired beauty, scantily clad by Serenian standards, but rather typical for Essyrni. Her words were a scolding hiss.

"Oh piss off, Zimayi. We're in a cage, none of us have any dignity right now." The words were sharp and biting, but kept low with an anxious glance thrown towards the nearby guards.

"You are an ignorant, uncivilized savage, Amalia. There is much dignity in being a slave if you conduct yourself with dignity. Ours is as noble a purpose as any. Some are meant to rule and some are meant to be ruled. Learn your place." Zimayi shot back, glaring at Amalia. Clearly they were not allies in their mutual captivity.

"Ignore her, she's a lost cause. I'm Amalia. Are you okay?" Amalia was ignoring the hateful glare that Zimayi was shooting her way.

[SanctifiedSavage]

Her ears remained pressed flat, into her hair. It didn't even occur to Enthtia that the others in the cage would acknowledge her presence, let alone speak to her.

Not to say the first thing said in her direction was entirely welcoming... She flinched, as though struck, and murmured an apology that was drown out by the other woman – Amalia – coming to her rescue. It was that which made Enthtia look up from her own legs, hazel-gold eyes peering into the dark. Now that she'd had time to adjust, she could make out fuzzy, identifying traits.

Both women. Pretty. Certainly different. She didn't have to imagine where they were headed or what they might be sold for.

"I'm fine," she offered quietly, voice as soft as the rest of her. "Just shaken, I suppose... My name is Enth." Sharp laughter nearby made her flinch again, shooting a look at the canvas surrounding their cage. She waited a moment, almost holding her breath, before she asked, "How... how long...?" She didn't want to finish the question, but managed. "How long have you been captive?"

[Zero]

Zimayi made a sound of positive disdain, turning her face away from both of them and staring petulantly at the canvas. Her contempt for both of them was beyond question, and it seemed she was intent on ignoring her cage companions, as they clearly were beneath her. She really did look like some queen turning her nose up at some dirty peasants.

"I'm not entirely sure. Weeks, I think. I don't know how much further we're going, but I'm getting out of here as soon as I can." Amalia's golden brown eyes were burning with determination. She wasn't broken yet and hadn't given up hope of escaping.

"The only way you will ever get out of here is to be sold to a master. If you try to escape I will tell the guards. You should accept that you are a slave now, hope for a good master, and strive to please him. I have known the truth of this all my life. You are pretty, for a savage. If you behave a master will treat you well." Zimayi still wasn't dignifying them with her actual gaze, but she felt compelled to give, what was in her mind, sage advice.

[SanctifiedSavage]

Enthtia's heart went out to the rebellious stranger who had spoken up for her. If there was anything she could do to help her in the future, she likely would. While it was probably Enthtia's fate that she be with the slavers, that didn't mean the other woman had to suffer.

And Zimayi? Well. She didn't seem to be unhappy at all. Enthtia curled her tail around her feet and didn't look at her when she spoke. Saying she would actively thwart their attempts. It wasn't a bluff, either. Enthtia could feel the truth of it, as she could when she felt the truth spoken.

"If there is anything I can do to help you, I will," she whispered gently. Amalia needed to know that. Enthtia sensed, too, that the woman wanted to be free. Needed it, in a way. The Oracle didn't feel like there was much she could do, now, but there might in the future. She wanted Amalia to hear, at least now in their initial meeting, that Enthtia would not be a detriment to her escape.

She would just need to be vigilant... Despite how terrified she was in that moment. Surely that'd wear off.

[JaddWard]

The attack came about an hour after the watch shift change. The camp had descended into sleep, and watchmen- all three of them, were tired, having been awoken from sleep for their watch, and the night had been quiet. Those awake and keen of ear might have heard a near silent Thththud-thththud-thththud of something heavy approaching quickly on all fours. There came the sound of tearing, and a wet, sucking ripping noise, followed by the sound of a body falling to grass as the first fell with nary a moment to be surprised

"AWAKE! TO ARMS! WOLF! WO-" The watchman who'd seen him rend the first found his voice, and earned a painful yet brief death, the cry cut short followed by the sound of gore, and a lot of it, splashing in the grass.The rest of the camp didn't fair much better, it was a loud, violent, harsh sounding minute and a half before it was still again. Not a single sound had come from Alexios.

Slavers. In his territory, trying to steal away with his new mates in the carriages. Scum of the earth. All of them. He'd scented them as they gave chase to the mate he'd been stalking, he'd almost ravaged them then, when he smelled more mates upon them and had to follow them back. He moved to the wagons and pulled away the tarp he came to, and earning some screams. He didn't care. He had to find his mates. A big sniff of the wagon told him it wasn't this one. He moved away to locate a round of keys before tossing it into the wagon. "Free yourselves and walk, you're about a day past the nearest town, take what you need from the camp." his voice was low and harsh, modified by the fact that he was in his hybrid form, almost towering over the tops of the cages themselves.

He moved to the next cart and ripped the tarp off it, again, more screams, Alexios didn't seem surprised, the front of him was covered in gore after all. Another large sniff, not here either. He drop another ring of keys into the cage then walked to the last tarp covered wagon, they had to be here.

And they were, he knew immediately that they were there, as soon as he ripped the tarp off he could smell them. "Ah, there you are." He hoped that it didn't sound menacing, but the nervous shuffling from inside definitely said otherwise. This wagon, unlike the other two, was filled entirely with women. His eye turned to the remains of the head slaver. A sex slaver, apparently. Alexios would have killed them anyway, regardless of if they had any of his new mates or not.

While many of the women within these cages weren't his mates, there was at least two. The one he'd seen them take and the one he'd smelled on the slavers. Taking a deep breath, he singled out their scent from the scent of the other women, most of whom had known the touch of a man, and could never be his mate. There was the first, another deep breath, there was the second. As he shifted his weight down to rend the door open, his nose singles out the smell of a third. Good lord, what a busy year he would have. With a rumble and a smile, "How fortunate we are to have all found each other tonight, let's get you out of there." and his claws quickly mutilated the gate lock, letting the gate swing open.

[Zero]

It might not have been physically possible for Amalia to purse her lips any tighter, the look she shot Zimayi at the bitch's declaration that she would tell the guards on her should have struck the woman dead if there was any justice in this world. She had learned to bite her tongue in these past weeks, because the frosty beauty from the desert could not be reasoned with and trying to argue with her was so frustrating and enraging that it actually hurt. The other woman was a slave all her life, and had been thoroughly brainwashed and conditioned to embrace the system that imprisoned her. If Zimayi wasn't so god-awfully unbearable Amalia would have felt sorry for her.

This new girl, she was more like Amalia, and that gave her hope. She gave her an appreciative smile when she offered to give whatever help she could. Maybe they could both get away. Amalia might have seemed wholly focused on her own freedom, but she wouldn't leave another girl behind to a terrible fate if she could help it. Since Zimayi didn't seem to hear Enthtia's whispered encouragement, she didn't dare give a verbal response. Just in case.

Besides, a guard tapped their cage through the canvas and told them to be quiet. Amalia knew they would use those spears to give an unruly captive a harsh poke. Silence fell and time passed. She didn't really sleep, but did sort of drift, lost in her own thoughts and thoughts of escape.

It was very late – or very early – when absolute chaos erupted beyond the canvas covering their cage. A shout was cut off, there were sounds, sounds that Amalia didn't want to think about, let alone try to describe. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she looked frantically at the other two women who shared the cage with her. She couldn't see their faces in the near total dark, but she imagined they probably looked as terrified as she undoubtedly did.

The wet, visceral sounds didn't last all that long, although it seemed like an eternity. Amalia's mind was racing a thousand miles a minute. Something terrible was clearly happening to their captors, and while the thought of those awful men being murdered in the most gruesome of ways was pretty appealing, she thought for sure all the slaves in the cages would be next. What if the cages protected them from whatever it was out there? Would they end up trapped inside this cage, left to slowly die of starvation or dehydration? It was a pretty terrifying thought. She wanted to be free, not to die slowly in this cage.

None of them had to wait long before new sounds started. Amalia's blood ran cold as the sound of a tarp being ripped away was followed by screams. She covered her ears, trying to drown out as much as the sound as possible. They were all going to die!

Amalia felt her throat seize up in a silent scream when their turn came. She pushed herself back as far away from the thing as physically possible. Her hands had a white-knuckled grip on the bars behind her as she stared in abject horror at the monster that was peering in at them. It was enormous and covered in blood and bits of what she could only assume were guards. If she looked past it, which was hard to do given its size, Amalia could see the carnage the thing had wrought. She could also see scrambling slaves trying to get away as quickly as possible.

It was talking.

Concentrating on words was pretty difficult, but it sounded like it had been looking for someone. Was it the new girl? It would be too great of a coincidence for this thing to attack the night that Enthtia was brought back by the slavers. She had ears and a tail like an animal so maybe that was it. What did it want with her though? Was she in danger? Amalia felt protective of the girl that said she would help her escape.

She winced at the sound of the cage door being broken so easily, the harsh metal sound hurting her ears a little bit. Amalia watched as the door swung open. It wanted to get them out of there? The first reason she could think of for it to want them out of the cage was so that it could eat them.

"G-go away." Amalia said as forcefully as she could, which was really barely a terrified squeak as she clutched one hand over her heart.

Zimayi had been silent the entire time, merely looking on petrified by the whole situation. Slowly she moved, crawling cautiously towards the open gate. The beast had said it wanted them out of the cage. If the slavers were all dead, then there was no one to sell them to anyone else. As far as she was concerned, that meant that this talking creature now owned them, spoils of his reign of carnage upon the camp.

[SanctifiedSavage]

Enthtia eventually fell asleep. She could only maintain how amped up she was for so long, before her body called it quits. Mercifully. Not that it was a restful sleep. With her back propped up against hard bars, her legs drawn up, and her ears twitching at every sound it was fitful and full of surface nightmares she wouldn't remember when she jerked awake.

At first, Enthtia thought her nightmares had followed her into wakefulness. The sounds. The screams. Then, she thought she was wrapped up in a particularly intense vision. Had hoped, really. Because the sounds of bone breaking and flesh tearing was... horrifying. She didn't want it to be real.

She let out a soft whimper escaped her when she heard the canvas from another wagon get tore off. Slaves screamed. She'd have been more concerned if this felt... if it felt like the end. Had she been motivated to leave her family and everything she knew, to be caught and killed in the dark?

No.

Enthtia didn't know how she knew that, but she did. In the same way she just knew some things. Tonight wasn't the night she died – but it still terrified her. Another sound of canvas ripping and a chorus of screams. Her ears pressed flat and she let out a soft, muffled one herself.

They were next. They wouldn't die but they were next.

When the tarp was ripped back, she didn't look. Not right away.

How fortunate we are to have found each other tonight, let's get you out of there.

Fate was cruel. Caught by slavers to be found by... At that, Enthtia did look. She couldn't even begin to describe... That Amalia could even find words...

She scrambled back a little, her heart beat speeding up. No, no, no, no.... He looked monstrous, covered in blood and viscera. Something that had stepped out of her nightmares. Carrying with him the smell of blood and death and...

She wasn't going to die, but she couldn't handle it.

Sweet darkness swallowed her up as she fainted. Never in her sweet, carefully constructed life had she ever come into contact with something so... much.

[JaddWard]

Alexios paused and looked over the three women in the front cage, it was calming seeing his new mates so far unharmed. He took a deep breath just to take in their scent again as his eyes flicked over the three. They were gorgeous, more beautiful than goddesses to him, how he would worship them if they let him. But that had to wait, he had to get them to safety.

His eye, adoring them as it was, he also saw them as they were. One had fainted at the sight of him, the one he'd been tracking earlier actually, he hoped it was merely because he was covered and gore and not because she found his hybrid form so beastly that her mind couldn't stand it. The other, with lovely long ashen air pressing herself away from him. She'd told him to go away! He could appreciate her perspective, the fear she must be in. The fact that she said anything at all spoke of a great fire within her- She had been the surprise, not scenting her until he opened the tarp. Alexios loved her all the more for it.

The third, already crawling towards him, he saw her almost as a diametric opposite to the second. Dark hair and tanned skin. The smell of sun baked sand and the fact that he'd smelled her on the slavers told her that she'd been a slave for a very long time- and as much as he hated to do it, he would have to lean on that for tonight. He had no idea how he was going to get three mates back to his valley if they'd all resisted.

His clawed hands reached out to the purple haired new mate, his palms facing up as it moved to the metal collar around her neck, his claws never even touching her as he broke it open in his hands, giving no more resistance than if it had been a ring of stale bread. "Go find a set of keys, release the other girls on this wagon then come back to me. None of you are slaves any longer."

Reaching into the wagon, he broke the fainted mate's collar next, not even touching her other than to slide the collar out from under her laying form, then gently pulling her out to set her in the grass, she could stay there for the moment. Her tail and ears caught his attention for a brief moment. Racoon? No... fox. A brief smirk touched the corner of his mouth at the through of Red's reaction to that. He'd need to keep the shewolf occupied while they settled in.

Moving back to the cage, his eye fell on the white haired one, the fact that she was still pressing herself against the far side of the care, and the fact that he would have a very hard time fitting into said cage in this form. Lowering his head to her eye level, he tried to meet her eyes as he spoke in as gentle a voice as he could in this form. "I'm not going to hurt you, I could never hurt you. Please come forward so I can get that collar off you and take you somewhere safe."

[Zero]

The calm, collected veneer that coated Zimayi almost managed not to crack as those giant, bloody paws – and claws – moved towards her. She couldn't stop from sucking in a sharp breath, body tense and eyes wide with fear as they moved toward her neck. Her eyes closed tightly until the collar was snapped off painlessly. Zimayi couldn't help but let out a relieved breath as she relaxed, actually finding his instructions comforting. She was meant to obey. Following orders was something familiar and comfortable. The whole part about none of them being slaves anymore was conveniently pushed from her mind. She would always be a slave, and she climbed out of the back of the wagon, rushing to do as she was told.

Amalia thought her heart was going to jump right out of her throat as she watched all of this with abject horror. She might have hated the dark-haired bitch, but seeing her throat ripped out wasn't a pleasant prospect, and right up until she started scurrying away to obey the giant monster, Amalia had been quite convinced the other girl was about to die. When it reached towards the poor Enthtia, unconscious and completely helpless, she wanted very much to jump to the other girl's defense, but she couldn't make her limbs move. She was too frightened to even force out more words, though her mouth opened and closed as she tried.

Then it was her turn. Amalia could have sworn she saw black spots in her vision as that massive head lowered to peer in at her. Enthtia had the right of it, blacking out might have been easier than facing the mental assault of trying to process everything. That would mean becoming defenseless, and Amalia refused to be that, even if she really already was given her complete inability to do anything against that thing. It was talking again, trying to coax her out of her tightly held position at the corner of the cage farthest away from it.

Despite how frightened she was, Amalia forced herself to focus and think. All the slavers were dead, the cage was open, if she looked out of the cage she could just barely catch a glimpse of Zimayi opening other cages, and Enthtia was fainted, but unharmed. It had removed both of their collars without harming them. She very much wanted her own collar off, even if she didn't believe for a second that this thing "could never hurt her". Given the state of the guards that he had massacred she had no doubt in her mind that he could do all kinds of harm to her if he had a mind to, but for now he wasn't. Right now he was offering to take her collar off and take her "someplace safe". She didn't know about this safe place, but getting out of the collar was enough to entice her into motion.

It seemed like a long time, but probably only a minute or so passed from the time it asked her to come forward and when Amalia actually did as she was asked. She was hesitant, eyes darting here and there, like an animal expecting to be set upon by a predator at any moment. Zimayi had finished unlocking the rest of the cages and had returned to stand nearby with her hands calmly folded in front of her and head bowed as she waited for her new master to tell her what to do now.

[JaddWard]

The werewolf hoped that his posture didn't seem impatient, the human part of him empathized with the white haired woman after all. And when she moved forward, a knot of tension slowly unwound itself from his back. As daintily as he had the other two, Alexios broke the collar in his hands without so much as touching her, taking a step away from the entrance to the cave, the gentle wolf held his paw out to her palm up, offering her a steady hand to get down with if she wanted it.

Once she was down, he moved to squat over the woman with the animal features. He would really need to learn their names soon. "I am taking you three to my home, there is safety, food, and shelter. Safer than walking to the town with them." He nodded towards the group of newly freed slaves, "especially for women... untouched." He didn't say it, but he'd seen it before, this wasn't his first time freeing slaves. People weren't just sold into slavery, criminals were also given to slavers to ease the burdens on jails and prisons. Newly freed slaves tended to get drunk on their own freedom, things sometimes happened in those groups, unspeakable, awful things. Especially when they armed themselves with the weapons that dead slavers no longer needed.

"Is a few hours walk. Can you walk with me, or do I need carry you?"

[Zero]

If there was ever a moment in her life where Amalia thought perhaps her heart might explode – or maybe just stop – it was the moment where she closed her eyes and braced herself for those approaching claws. Maybe it had left the other two unharmed and had let all the other slaves, but that didn't mean it wouldn't decide to rip her apart like it had the guards. Time stood still for that moment, it felt like an eternity, but it was only seconds and then suddenly the collar fell away from her delicate throat. She took a shuddering breath and opened her eyes to see the creature backing away from the cage slightly.

Amalia stared at the outstretched hand (paw?) and wondered why this thing was doing all of this. It had said they were no longer slaves. Maybe it just hated slavers? She had heard of people that would fight against slavery and try to free slaves. Granted she hadn't been sure they were real stories and this was a enormous, monstrous creature, but Amalia was grasping to understand what and why in this confusing chaos.

Opting not to touch the creature, it was covered in gore, Amalia finally scurried out of the cage, dropping from the back to the ground as gracefully as she could. It was very difficult to suppress the impulse to immediately bolt as quickly as she could from the ravaged camp, but she shifted anxiously from foot to foot as she watched the thing lean over the still unconscious girl. If they were free then getting away right that second wasn't more important than making sure poor Enthtia was okay. She would have felt endlessly guilty to abandon her in such a vulnerable state.

Not fleeing was a decision she immediately regretted as the thing started speaking again, and what he had to say made her blood turn to ice. It was taking them to its home? Just the three of them, the three young, 'untouched' women out of all the others were being taken by this beast. She understood what it was implying when it spoke of it not being safe to travel with the entire group of freed slaves, but this didn't exactly scream 'safety' to her.

"We can walk with you, Master." Zimayi answered immediately, head bowing even further to the one she considered herself to belong to, and if he said the other two as well, then that was enough in her mind to mean that they were also his property.

"Like hell we can!" Amalia snapped immediately, backing up and looking around wildly. Could she run from that thing? It had killed all the guards so quickly! Her heart was racing and her breathing became ragged, clearly on the verge of blind panic. She pointed an accusing finger at the monster. "You said we were free!"

[JaddWard]

Alexios didn't move, his one good eye flicking down to look at the finger of the ashen haired girl who had once again found her fire. He was going to have to carry this one, he could tell. But, that didn't stop him from trying to be understanding and persuasive one more time.

Speaking as gently as he could- which unfortunately wasn't very in this hybrid form, he addressed her accusation. "Are you in a cage any longer? With a shackle around your neck? Without a hope of escape? To be sold by men who would profit off your body?" He paused, trying to think how to word this. He was hesitant to call them his mates, somehow doubting that would help the situation.

"As the one that just rescued you, I don't particularly want to see something happen to you, Any of you. I'm taking you three somewhere where I know you will be safe. Now will you walk with me, or do I have to carry you?" He was quite thankful for the dark haired woman's compliance, biting back the disdainful thought that it was probably many many years spent as a slave that beat it into her. Whatever, it served it's last purpose tonight, he could work on trying to undo all of that and find her individuality with time. At least now he could get all three of his lovely new mates home.

[Zero]

Was this thing serious? Just because they weren't in a cage, or because they didn't have collars on now, did not equate being free. If they weren't allowed to decide for themselves where to go, then how could he call them free? Amalia felt like the jaws of a trap were closing in on her, suffocating, crushing and it was unbearable.

"So you rescue us and now that somehow means you get to decide what to do with us? You've just killed the slavers that took us and replaced them with yourself!" The amount of venom dripping in her voice would have been fatal if words could kill. Amalia felt so angry. It had lied to her! She hadn't trusted for a moment that the monster's intentions were truly benevolent, but it still felt like a deep betrayal somehow. Why did any of this have to happen to her? She shouldn't even be here! Her own father had done this to her, had subjected her to this fate.

"You should not speak to Master that way!" Zimayi hissed at her with a glare, but Amalia ignored her.

There was only one thing that Amalia felt like she could do. She turned on her heel and ran as fast as she possibly could. It didn't matter that the thing could easily outrun her if it wanted. Part of her hoped that it would focus on the other two women and just leave her alone. Another part of her hoped that if it did come after her that it would just kill her. She didn't want to die, but it seemed better than being held captive by a beast.

[JaddWard]

Watching her turn and run, it felt to Alexios like the world slowed, vision focusing on her fleeing form- barely ten feet away yet still, his focus had narrowed to the sight of her, the sound of her unshod feet hitting the ground with each step. Inside his head, there was a low rumbling, unsure if that was coming from his own chest or his inner wolf, Alexios continued to watch.

'One of your new mates is quite fiery, Arlukilos. She'll make a fine mate when she surrenders to you, look how powerfully she runs. You should run her down before she does something stupid and hurts herself. Or even better. Take her here and now. In front of the other two new mates. Show them their place.' The werewolf's whole body tensed as the thunderous voice of the wolf filled his mind, Alexi hated it. Hated what it asked of him to do, hated the very idea of it. But his inner wolf had a point. His mate was running, god knows to where, but it was away from safety, away from paradise, and away from him. He couldn't have that.

Springing into action, he leapt over the unconscious mate, past the subservient mate, running her down in mere seconds. One hand reaching out two wrap around her waist, his large hybrid handpaw wrapping most of the way around before he- as gently as he could, lifted her off the ground and tucked her under his arm, like he was carrying a book. A very angry, struggling, resisting book. Perfectly normal.

Making his way back to the other two mates, he gently lifted the unconscious one to his shoulder and nodded in the direction the last of the former slaves were to walk. "Let's go home." He told the purple haired one, hoping she'd been honest in her intent to follow him. He was quickly realizing that he didn't have enough arms for a second resisting mate and an unconscious one.

[Zero]

It wasn't like she didn't know running was ultimately futile. Amalia didn't think she could actually outrun that giant monster. She just couldn't not run from it. Her heart was pounding and her mind screaming to escape. The blood rushed in her ears as her feet hit the ground as fast as they could. For a moment it didn't move and for perhaps a fraction of a second she dared hope that it actually wouldn't try to follow her. It did have two other women, why put up so much trouble for a third?

Amalia felt that small hope die as she heard that thing coming after her. She felt like there was barely a breath between when it began moving and when she felt one of its great clawed hands seize her around the waist. Screaming was also useless, no one was going to help her, but she screamed anyway. She screamed as loud as she possibly could. It was amazingly strong as it carried her under its arm. No amount of kicking and thrashing seemed to so much as loosen its grip. There was nothing else she could do except struggle and curse the creature with every breath as it returned to where the other women were left.

Zimayi hadn't moved from where she had been standing, her head was still bowed submissively when her master returned with the wayward brat. She did lift her head when her master addressed her.  The girl bowed her head to him again and moved to follow him. "Of course, Master. I look forward to seeing your home."

[JaddWard]

If any of the other former slaves had been lingering, lulled into a sense of safety by the fact that the creature that had made such quick work of the slavers had not hurt a single one of the slaves, the sound of the woman's sudden, frantic screaming changed that. Slaves that had been picking through the remains of the camp for supplies suddenly bolted in random directions- idly reminded Alexios of a warren of rabbits he'd snuck up on. More stumbled across when he was still figuring out how to hunt.

'Those rabbits tasted so good, Arlukilos. Remember how they shrieked when you took them in your jaws? The lovely noise they made as you crushed their neck? They way their hot blood flowed down your throat. It had been your first meal in days, Arlukilos. Remember how good it felt?' It had felt good. Catching anything- that is. Alexios had been a terrible hunter, only getting better in recent decades due to necessity- he had mouths to feed other than his own now. But the wolf was wrong. The memory of the eating? The killing of those poor, little innocent rabbits? He'd hated that. 'After you return your mates, you should come back and hunt these rabbits! They'll be just as tasty, Arlukilos!'

"Shut up!" Alexi gruffly barked, shaking his head to clear the resonate sound of the Wolf's voice out of his head, not realizing at first that he'd said that aloud, he walked on for a moment before looking down to the white haired mate, the attempted escapee. "We have a long way to walk and if you scream the whole way, you will only succeed in losing your voice."

[Zero]

Zimayi was content to follow along behind the giant beast that had claimed them. He was certainly not a master she was expecting, but a master was a master. It was her purpose in life to serve her master, whoever that may be. She did wish that the shrieking banshee would silence herself. What kind of slave behaved in such a disgraceful manner? A bad one, that's the kind. She couldn't fathom how anyone could conduct themselves so shamefully. Resisting and denying one's place was a fool's errand. The only way to achieve happiness and pride for oneself was acceptance!

Being barked at to shut up was startling enough to get Amalia to quiet for a moment, golden eyes baleful as she glared up at him from her position tucked under his arm. Did he expect her to be as meek and passive as that simpering desert bitch? Was she supposed to just placidly accept that they were being kidnapped by a giant monster for an unknown reason? For all they knew it was only keeping them alive because it liked its meat fresh! It could be keeping them alive until it got hungry! Or even worse, as it had made mention of them being untouched. She shuddered just thinking about such a loathsome thing. If it came to that Amalia thought she might prefer death to being violated by such a demon!

"What do you care if I lose my voice? If you want me to stop screaming then let me go!" The stubborn girl hadn't stopped struggling in that mighty grip, even if her shouting had ceased. Amalia wasn't sure what fueled her more, anger or fear, but she continued to squirm despite her exhaustion. She had not been able to sleep more than a few fitful minutes at a time since being sold, and the slavers didn't exactly feed them well. They were all dirty and underfed – except Enthtia, since she had not been there long enough to be adversely effected by neglect and abuse.

Amalia felt like her skin was going to crawl off her body at any moment. She had to get away. What had she done to deserve any of this? Were the gods punishing her for some crime in a past life? Whatever the reason for this added horror (as if being sold into slavery by her own father had not been enough of a horror), Amalia refused not to fight whatever cruel, depraved fate had been determined for her. She had managed to find his clawed fingers and began trying to pry open his grip. Of course she knew that even if she did manage to wiggle out of the monster's grasp he would easily be able to just grab her again, but maybe if she made herself annoying enough he would either stop trying or end her.

"Oh – ow!" Maybe trying that hadn't been the smartest idea ever. Amalia hissed in pain as she felt those devastatingly sharp claws slice open her hand and fingers.

[JaddWard]

"If I let you go, you'll run. And I can't have that." Alexios reply was simple, and monotone. Walking onward as his grip proved quite immovable. Occasionally he would look back to make sure the purple haired one was still following him- which she always was, thankfully. At this rate, it would only take four hours to get them back to the caldera. Maybe if he got the purple haired one to climb onto his back, he could run and get them there in little more than half that, but running on two legs as hybrid was very awkward and he didn't want to risk falling. Not with three mates and especially not with one unconscious mate.

It's a shame that the white haired one was so keen on fighting and running, if he'd been able to trust her, he'd shift to his full wolf form and let the two conscious ones ride on his back, keeping the third unconscious one in place, and he'd have them home is less than an hour. Very few of his mates had gotten that treatment coming into the caldera for the first time- most had either passed out in the taking- others screaming and resisting, others yet still to terrified to do much of anything but be held. He'd won each of his mates over- and sure, he wasn't intimate with all of them, that didn't matter to him. But they all knew he could be counted on to take care of them, all of his mates shared some small affections with him. That, is all he wanted from his new mates, to be save, and protected, and maybe share some small affections here and there. If they were willing to show him such affections. He'd wait forever to receive it if he had to.

But, there would be time enough to explain it once he got them to the absolute safety of the caldera. He was driven, on a mission now. He had to get them safely to Caldera Elysium.

It had maybe been five minutes of walking before he heard the white haired one exclaim in pain, then smelled the blood. Body tensing, the fur at the base of his spine bristled as he turned around, head scanning the area. Who the fuck had just hurt his mate?! Seeing and smelling no one else, he moved to lower the mate with the tail and ears gently to the ground, then equally gently, pulled the mate with white hair and set her feet on the ground, kneeling before her- but keeping his hands at her hips, holding her in place in a fairly loose grip.

"Where are you hurt? Show me and I will do what I can to treat it." Even for as rough as his voice was in this hybrid form- it was hard to mistake the concern laced through it. Before she could answer, or react, he sighted her hand, blood dripping from it. One of his clawed paws moved to take her wrist, pulling it before him. He then looked to his claws, noting the small drops of fresh blood. A soft whine came from his chest, before he let got of both her wrist and her waist. "Give me just a second.."

Taking a half step back, he shifted. Losing almost half his height and mass, it was quick- and incredibly painful. The sound of bones breaking, then snapping back together as his physicality was completely changed. Alexios didn't cry out, he was far too used to shifting, but in the five seconds it took to go from hybrid to human, his teeth grit the entire time. Replacing the hybrid was a large man, thick of arm and of chest- a shaggy head of hair and a full- surprisingly trimmed beard. Far more prominent in this form was the face that one eye was permanently shut, the scar of three claws tracing a pink line over the eye- his other eye was a soft grey. Also on prominent display- was his manhood. Clothes didn't survive the shift from human to hybrid earlier in the day, so Alexios was very much naked right now.

"Let me take a look at your hand, make sure you don't need stitches." Unlike his hybrid form- his voice possessed no edges to it. no graveling rasp of talking in with a physiology that wasn't used to supporting speech. Though it was very deep. He hadn't made a move to grab for the ashen haired mate yet again- he really needed to get their names soon -but he was poised to snag her wrist if she tried running again.

[Zero]

The physical pain of having her palm split open by its claws was nothing compared to her sudden panic about what it would cause it to do. It could clearly smell her blood, and the way it growled sent a chill down her spine. The carnage this monster had inflicted on those slavers was still a vivid image in Amalia's mind, what if her blood would incite a bloodlust or frenzy in the beast? Was she about to be torn apart the way those awful men had been?

Even as it put Enthtia down and she struggled against his hold, at least until it put her on her feet, causing her to nearly freeze in terror once again. Amalia only just had the courage to lean back away from the monster as it crouched down in front of her, still holding her so that she couldn't run away from it. It had said it wouldn't hurt them, but she didn't believe it and thought for sure she was about to die. If it ripped her throat out at least it should be a swift death. That was surely better than whatever else it planned to do to them once it got them back to where it lived.

Amalia had squeezed her eyes shut again, not wanting to see death coming, but it didn't attack as she feared it would. Instead it was talking to her again in that gruff, harsh voice that it possessed. She cracked one eye open to look at the beast. The thing wanted to treat her scratch? Why even bother? It was going to eventually eat them anyway, right? She was still convinced that a violent death was in their future as it seized her wrist so that it could examine her bleeding hand.

That was when things truly to veer into the mind-numbingly horrifying. Amalia couldn't have described the sounds coming from that monstrous form. It was sickening; the way bones cracked and rearranged themselves. The sounds were gruesome enough, but adding the sight of the transformation was enough to turn her stomach. She was too paralyzed with shock and fear to realize that it wasn't holding her any longer, that she had a chance to try to run away from it once again. Amalia felt her head spinning as the beast was replaced with the form of a man. Somehow that made it all the worse. If it was not simply some abomination of an creature, but some part of it was actually human and it had been capable of doing that to people, even people as evil and deserving of death as slavers...

"W-what are you?" Her voice was tiny and high pitched as she attempted a single step backwards, only to feel her legs give out as all the color drained from her face. "Why are you doing this?"