MsAartByHeart: Thank you so much. Although I do like sometimes to read a bit softer stories of Sabretooth, but isn't it the dangerousness that we firstly like at him? That he's more of an animal who wants to dominate others and so on? To me Victor is a hard character to write, as I want to give him the softer side but not to OOC him or make him too soft. So I agree with you, it can't and shouldn't be easy to him to be gentler with his mate already at the beginning. He's not mentally healthy and he's not a gentle soul -at least not from the surface- as he had a lot of crap happened in his past, so being gentle even with his mate should be difficult to him.

WARNING! Dark things in this one!

EDIT: I'm having a bit insecurity towards the plot, how have I moved it on and how I have been handling the characters... Thoughts?

Hopefully you'll enjoy!

...Father hasn't been around for six days. There was still food and everything the child needed to survive until the feral man would come back, but...
This was the first time father had been gone more than three days. After two days of no sign of him Anna had ventured again down to the cellar.
The shackles down there were open and the spot where the woman had raged, was empty. There was no body anywhere. No blood.
The little girl had not heard anything from the cellar after father had guided her out of there and from the hysteric woman.

A thought of the fresh meat in the fridge made the child nauseated. She hadn't touched the meat after father had said he had things to do and so he would be gone for sometime.
"And you wait right here, understand? When the male is out, good females and cubs stay inside..."

The little girl swallowed nervously as she sat on the sofa in front of the dead fireplace, glancing now and then towards the cellar door. The memory of the hysterical woman down there sent shivers deep inside the girl, making her clench into smaller ball. She was starting to feel hunger, but she didn't want to touch the meat. That's only that there was, meat. Usually there was also something else but for some reason, now there was only fresh, neatly cut meat in there.
...The child got up and stood for a moment, fists shaking and feeling a cold clump at the bottom of her stomach.
A dangerous thought.
She could... She could leave. It was already six days. What if father was dead? What if he would not come back?
As the train of thoughts started, it wasn't going to stop.
And soon the little girl turned towards the outdoor, walking with increasing determination.

If she would just keep going, she has to come across some people. There was no doubt, there has to be people outside father's territory, has to.

Outside home, just picking up the direction, the girl started running on bare feet. The summer sun was high behind the trees. The wild life was calm around the running child.
She kept running, faster and faster, everything just passing her in blurriness. An odd lightness started in her heart as she passed the marked borders, claw marks on trees, of father's territory.

Then she hit onto something, hard, and the something seemed to be somebody, as they yelled in surprise.
Falling hard to the forest floor the girl scattered back up, turning in deep fear to see.
Father? No.
A person, a human.
They were a man, with a backpack and a rifle.
The gun and them being a strange male scared the child, but also as they were someone else than Father, made her nervous in different way.

The human rose while cursing angrily, grabbing their gun from the ground and turned towards the one who had suddenly rammed onto them.
Their anger however drained away as they saw it was just a kid. Just a little girl with shaven head, scars all over her body that was covered by worn tank top and shorts. It seemed like the child had been through hell, and was scared to the bone.
"Ummm", the stranger started, nonplussed by the sudden situation, and looked around like trying to find something. Or someone. Finally they looked at the petrified little girl.
"Hi... I mean, are you okay?"

Anna stared at the man who put down his gun on the ground, crouched and looked at her with deep concern.
She had found someone, a human. The question that they asked was filled with concern and the simple friendly gesture caused the child to cry in great relief. As tears filled the girl's eyes, she starting to wipe them away, the stranger was alarmed.
"Hey, it's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you", he said while getting up and hurrying towards her.
"And you won't."

The sudden different voice with deep, rumbling growling made everything stop.
The stranger halted right away, just a step away from Anna, his hand reached towards.
They both looked and saw the large, wild looking man standing there, hand leaning against a tree and long black claws sinking into bark. There was a dark look on the predator feral's face, green eyes staring deep into the human's eyes and just with the stare made the pitiful stranger to piss their pants.
"Shit", the stranger said, taking sharp steps away from the child and raising his hands in nonthreatening way.
"Ray, huh, please, I- I didn-"
Anna looked the man who was as deeply scared of father as she was. And he knew father's name.
"I didn't know she was your cub." the human said. "I swear, I'll-"
The adult mutant let out a short warning, the snarl silencing the human.
Like a giant cat the feral walked from the tree towards his cub, keeping eye on the still staying man with calm but threatening scowl.
Stopping next to his cub the predator placed wide palm on her left shoulder, the weight and the gesture making the girl wobble under.

Anna stared at the forest floor, feeling every second worse and worse.
She knew how this would end, but it still... Shocked.
"I didn't saw anything Ray."
The girl looked in deep hurt at the stranger, feeling the panic inside getting deeper, her animal completely petrified by the great predator's presence. She tried to say it, tried to show it, but it was like the stranger completely ignored her signals.
The beast man didn't say anything, his sharp claws pressing but not breaking the child's skin through fabric. His deep green eyes kept glaring at the man who was starting to loose his hope.
"Please, please I won't tell anyone! No-one will come, I promise! I have a kid too Ray!"
"So you are ready to leave this cub here", the mutant said, glancing down at his upset cub and then back to the pitiful human. "Even though she clearly wants your help? You save your own skin?"
"Please..."

Anna swallowed as father stepped towards the human, who kept his arms as shield against the approaching mutant. The stranger couldn't even turn and try running because of the fear.
"No, god..." he started crying. Then screaming. Then gurgle as the blood started pouring from his mouth. Bones snapping, skin shredding like paper and flesh cut like hot butter.
Anna watched as father took his time to maul the stranger in complete calmness. The man was ready to leave her with her father. Did he even have a kid?
Bitterness blooming inside the girl clenched her palms and felt her face grimacing in anger.
The feeling however diminished, for now, as father turned, covered by blood.
"Now", the mutant male said with a friendly smirk, voice warm and like he was half-joking, his movements completely relaxed as he got up and approached.
"What did I say about good cubs staying inside?"

The child got down to her knees, bowing her head and feeling weird numbness overtaking her body. Her mind closing as it knew what to except.
This was after all familiar. The pain was familiar. Father was familiar.
"I am sorry, father. You were gone for long", came the little girl's voice out in disturbingly even tone. As she saw the clawed toes in her view, father stopping in front of her, she closed her eyes.
"I know. I'm sorry... But cubs still need to obey their fathers."

Knocking at the door woke Anna, she peeking from under the blanket which under she had crawled.
After shower she had gone through the bags Victor had brought, finding suitable clothes, convenience food and medicine things to patch herself up. After eating she had fell asleep quickly on the bed, with new clothes on and wounds treated, painkiller taking care of aching.
The stranger, with someone else judging from sounds, outside knocked again.
The woman didn't move, staring in the darkness at the front door.
No way it was Victor, he wouldn't knock at all.
Listening Anna heard the two people.

"No-one is opening the door."
"Did you see that guy? Who ever was screaming in there is more likely dead."
"Lets go telling the manager."
"Yeah."

They left. Anna rose to sit and thought through the situation.
The puss was not here, yet. Either the police, that they would likely call, would come first and get killed or Victor would take her away. Or kill her, which ever the cat man was now preferring.
Sighing Anna thought what to do.

The runt was sick again. Really, really sick this time. The winter's coldness was something that Victor couldn't fight back, nor the sickness, and the little abandoned structure the brothers had inhabited this time was doing nothing to keep the cold away. He had tried to keep his little brother warm, steal clothes and good food, but it was not helping.
Jimmy's healing ability was still so weak.
The runt needed medicine and fast. But medicine was expensive, Victor not able to get anyhow the money in time. If he would kill too much people they would soon sniff him and Jimmy out and Jimmy was not in any condition to travel.

So, in the end, Victor had tried to steal the medicine, after the shop was closed and lights out. He broke in and looked through shelves in lantern's light. He didn't know what medicine to look for though, the boy cursing and in fit of fury punching his fist against a wall. The jitter made the near shelf to jump and one of the bottles dropt. He didn't catch it.
And didn't get away in time.
He was already half-out through the basement window when he was suddenly grabbed by feet and dragged back inside.

Now the boy had a chance to help his brother and keep the pharmacist quiet of the breaking in.
The price however would make the young mutant sick.
"Now", said the middle aged human man with glasses, sitting on wooden chair while watching the glaring boy in dim lighting that lantern created. "What I can tell about what you told me, I have the medicine. But it's not cheap. And you broke my window."
"...", the boy kept glaring, feeling knot in his stomach.
"Well?"
"...Sorry." the mutant mumbled, fists shaking on his sides. The man, holding a handgun, tilted his head.
"Speak louder boy, or there's pain to be have!"
"I'm sorry", Victor said much louder and clearer, staring stubbornly the man right into his eyes.
"Good", came the overly pleased tone. The hand holding the gun moved, tapping the pipe against the man's thigh, Victor's eyes glancing at the weapon. Gunshots were hell to suffer and he didn't want a bullet again inside his head. Would take days for it to get out. And Jimmy needed him.

"Now I can give you the medicine, to save your... What was his name? You didn't tell me your little brother's name."
"...Mark."
"Mark... Pretty manly for a young boy. But I guess we all start from somewhere", the adult chuckled, Victor feeling his claws lengthening. Feeling like a cat in a bag. Something was off, and it was not that gun. He wanted out. Fast. But he needed the medicine.
"Yes, if you want the medicine to your baby brother, I can give it to you. If you help me in turn."
The boy was cautious, feeling the knot in stomach getting tighter as the man looked with a crooked, friendly smile. The silence kept lengthening.
"...How?" the young mutant finally asked.
The pharmacist raise his gun, making the boy tense up, but then pointed towards rope hanging on the wall.
"You do exactly as I ask you to. You don't bite, shout, struggle... Claw me, as I tell you to do something for me. After we are ready", the man spread his hand with a warm smile. "I let you go and you can save your little brother's life. Simple as that. After all, I can't just give the medicine away."

Victor swallowed. Feeling sweat forming on his forehead. The man pointed the gun at the boy and rose his left brow sharply.
...Jimmy needed him. The runt didn't have anyone else. Victor didn't have anyone else. The runt needed his big brother to save him. Damn the price, Victor was gonna save his baby brother no matter what.
The young mutant moved towards the wall.
"Good, I want you get your clothes off before putting on the rope."

Victor startled from the sudden memory with a roar that echoed and shook the nearby trees. The anger, that had taken over him and darkened his mind as the need to get the pressing intangible thing out of him had grown to painful level, left him.
It still lingered but it wasn't enough to keep the shock away after the deeply buried memory had just surfaced in the middle of Sabretooth's animalistic rampage.
He half groaned and panted on his knees, the only clothe on him shredded around his legs, he staring into the insides of someone he had jumped on in his anger and teared into pieces.
Now he wished for more, teeth bared and claws digging deeper into the bloody mess as he felt more memories coming up.
Growling viciously the feral man rose and throw the poor hiker's body to a tree, lunging after it and tearing it more and more.

"Wh- What did you-"
Young Victor glanced to his little brother who was staring at him in horror. The dying stranger under the feral mutant twitched and let out soft, hideous voices now and then.
"Jimmy, breath", Victor growled, getting up and reached towards the runt. The boy however flinched when seeing Victor's bloody hand. The older boy glanced and wiped the blood to his clothes, crouching in front of his scared brother.
"He was going to kill us, Jimmy. So I had to kill him before that. He needed to die."
"But-" the black haired boy looked back to the body, but Victor grabbed his chin and made Jimmy look only at him.
"It's kill or be killed. He was a human, you and I are different from them. He would have killed us right away. Jimmy, it had to be done."
Dark eyes looked into the scared ones, something twisting awfully inside Victor.
"Jimmy", he growled. "You understand, do you?"
The younger mutant took a moment but then seemed to accept the situation, nodding to his older brother.
"Good, now help me drag him away. No-one can see the body."
As they did it, Victor couldn't shake off the bad feeling of seeing Jimmy so scared, so shaken, by him and his doings. Even when they disposed the body, Victor sensed it.
He didn't like it.
Maybe it would go away. Jimmy would grow to understand how this world works. You have to be the strongest to survive, even if it meant doing things that were wrong. It didn't matter, as long as you were the strongest.
...Jimmy would grow to understand. They were brothers, they didn't have anyone else beside them. They had to stick together.

But in the end... They didn't.

More human like than animalistic shout echoed in the forest.
Victor kept gasping as he felt his clenched arms breaking from the purely force he used to hit the side of a boulder. With sweat on forehead Victor leaned against the rock, letting its coldness chill his face. His broken arms fixing themselves in a second.
The moment of pain let him get back behind the wheel and shut that fucking sentimental door back tightly.
Turning around, sliding against the rock onto ground Victor let his breath calm down, watching the destruction he had made in his rampage. Broken trees, shredded vegetation, thrown large rocks and couple of bodies. Some humans and some kind of animal. A badger, by the smell of it, the body was too mushy to identify.
The sight of this small destruction somewhat calmed Victor down, he sighing with a half-smile. Better. He felt much better now.
The smile was however gone as he remembered why he was here in middle of nowhere in the first place.

Scowl settling to his face Sabretooth growled.
What the hell happened to that woman there? It was just like when she had freaked out about the jacket or when Victor had sneaked into her bed. The frail had issues, but... Seeing the destruction in front of him made the feral chuckle. Like he didn't have a package of his own. Bigger than Anna's.
But, he had more years behind to deal with that kind of bullshit. The woman was still a cub compared to him, and it was clear the female was new to... Everything, lived her whole life in that shitty cottage and in that shitty village, being the only predator in the territory after her shitty father.
Of course she would freak out when there was someone stronger than her, showing her she wasn't the baddest around after all.
Sabretooth had that kind of effect on everyone.
But now as it was about his mate...
There was bitter taste in the mutant's mouth. As he thought through the whole happening in the bathroom again, and again, he didn't understand. He should have picked up something to be wrong right away. Should had.
And the fuck he was giving to her, releasing his whole animalistic onto her, shouldn't have made her freak out like being suddenly attacked by a stranger in a dark alley.
She should fear from angering him, but also trust him as her mate.
Rubbing his head with a groan Victor decided to throw the caution out of the window. He had to be more firm with the mate.

Looking at the two things on both of her hands, Anna was thinking this through with her brows hunching deeply over her light colored eyes.
She didn't know when the police would come. No-one had come knocking onto the door anymore. They were probably scared. Any human and weak mutant would be scared of the puss.
She just hoped he would get back before the police.

Not wanting to give any extra time for the female do any stupid things, the half-naked feral man hurried back to the motel and immediately sensed something was wrong.
Wasn't just his instincts, he saw the manager peeping through a window when they thought he didn't see.
...He and Anna had to get away. Now.
Running to the paid room in the ground floor Victor broke the door down without a key. In there he saw the woman under the blankets.
"Get up", he commanded while approaching the bed. She didn't move. Feeling something cold and nasty on his back the feral man reached and tore the blanket away, hovering over the laying female. "A-"
Body first petrifying and then going completely slack the beast man slumped onto the bed, his mind turning into haziness. Being stabbed into your head may have that kind of effect.
Victor didn't however go unconscious, even if it was a bit hard to understand what he was sensing around him.

Heart thumping in chest Anna got up and out of the bed after successfully stabbing the predator, him laying on the bed while his knees resting on the floor.
For a moment the blond haired woman stood next to the bed and the feral. She hadn't been sure would the plan work but she had done it. Now, she wanted to take the knife with her, but as she watched Victor clumsily swaying his hand towards the plunged weapon, Anna rethought.

In a bit big but comfortable clothes Anna turned and started limping towards the open front door.
She had hoped the car wouldn't be far away, but it was still bit of pain to get to it. Clicking the car keys, that Victor's jacket on the floor had contained, Anna opened the driver's door and hopped in.
A confession: Anna had limited knowledge about driving a car. She was more of a running type.
But, thanks to Joseph, she did get the car started and clumsily turning the wheel she backed up and drove fast away from the motel, just taking one of the direction at the highway.
Taking a deep breath and then letting it out Anna tried to remember what else the old man had taught her about driving cars.
Thank god this low red car was manual.

After many attempts the feral predator finally got a hold onto the knife that the reckless bitch had thrust into his brains.
Giving for it a yank it took only couple of blinks and Victor was fully recovered. Pushing himself up with one arm he looked down at the weapon in his other hand while dark, furious look deepened on his face.
A thunderous, pissed off sound pierced the air and made everyone shook in fear in any hole or corner they had tugged themselves in nearby.
Impulse of wanting to throw the knife away came but Sabretooth decided against it. He was going to give it back to the bitch. He had to teach her some rules as it was clear she needed them.

Still half-naked with ripped pants the feral beast marched outside, folded knife in his on hand and looked at the direction he tracked the woman driven to.
But then Sabretooth smelled something, that didn't make him right now happier. He actually didn't have time for this, him, now.
Though Victor knew his little brother better.

He glanced to the other direction at the highway, seeing someone on motorcycle driving with full speed towards him.