Regina warily glanced over her shoulder every few steps or so as she made her through the forest. It was dark, as usual, and she was cold, but she couldn't turn back now. She crossed their territory swiftly, doubling back a few times before making a straight beeline for the barrier. She paused just before crossing and sat down, folding her tail around her paws and waited. Come on already! She tapped her paws, hoping no one had noticed her absence. She didn't know what would happen if she was found out here like this.
Across the border, the shadows parted as the Dark Wolf emerged from the thick undergrowth. It ran to the barrier and stopped, getting as close as possible without touching it. Ruby was still connected to the magical border, and any tampering with it would alert her. The Dark Wolf wagged its tail. "Are you alright, Regina?"
"I'm fine." She moved a little closer and sat down again. "I would be better if someone hadn't kidnapped me."
"I saved you."
"From the earthquake you caused." She retorted. It simply stared at her, its gaze traveling over her again and again before settling on her stomach.
"Is it true? You are expecting again?"
"Why does that concern you? Why are you doing this?" She asked. "I don't understand. You wanted to destroy me and my family at first because it made you weak. And yet now, you're right, you saved me, you healed me...but you're the reason I was in danger and you're the reason I got hurt."
"I love you."
She rolled her eyes. "Don't start with this bull-"
"You are my mate, whether you like it or not. You mated with the Dark Wolf. Me."
"I mated with Ruby Lucas. You are a demon, a creature of darkness, that loves nothing but it's power."
The Dark Wolf scoffed, walking in a quick circle and letting out an agitated chuff. "Rumpelstiltskin has been the Dark One for over a hundred years. He is the only Dark One you know. I am not Rumpelstiltskin. He was a fool. I am not."
"You're pure darkness!"
"It doesn't change how I feel." The Dark Wolf roared. It walked back and forth, staring her down.
"Then what was all that bull about 'we have been made weak'? Huh? Attacking our kids? Hurting the people I love? That shows how much you care about me?!" Regina roared in return, rising to her feet. "All of this shit is your fault! This barrier was placed here because of you! I can't walk through my own territory because of you! My son, my nieces and nephews and godchildren can't walk the forest as they please because of you! Are you the one who cast that stupid fucking aging curse?"
"No! I don't know who did that. Why would I need to- never mind." She watched curiously as it laid down, its head on its paws and ears flat against its head. "Forgive me."
"You're kidding."
"No."
"Oh please." She scoffed. "You know we sent Mal and the others to get the fire to kill you. You just don't want to die."
"Of course I don't want to die. Because then I would leave you...and our children-"
"This child isn't yours."
"You don't know that." It replied with a sigh. "Out of everyone is this putrid town, you have the true heart of a wolf, of a warrior, of a fighter. You alone are the greatest thing about this entire world. I want to make a deal. My life for peace."
Regina snarled as she paced forth and back. This could all be a trick. You couldn't trust darkness. The Dark Wolf was the personification of that, it could not love, could not feel anything beyond the desire to make the world as dark as it was. She remembered when this all began. Ruby, even with the weight of the Dark One's power hanging over her, created a safe haven for her, for them, for their family. She remembered how much that family had grown and how they trusted in her to lead them, to protect them. And here was the threat bowing before her, begging for its life. It had hurt her family too much for forgiveness. It attacked the pups...that was a death sentence. Here it was, claiming to love her… All of it just...boiled over. The next thing she knew, she was attacking the Dark Wolf, trying to rip it apart. She knew she couldn't kill it, but she wanted to hurt it, to make it bleed. The Dark Wolf whimpered and cried, but it took her rage, it took the beating as she attacked it without mercy.
"Regina!" She heard someone calling her name, but she didn't register who it was. She grabbed hold of the Dark Wolf's neck. It tried to roll her over and she struck out with her hind legs, raking open its belly with her hind claws. Black blood was all over the ground. She could taste it in her mouth. It was like acid, but she wouldn't stop. "Regina!"
"Let her kill that son of a bitch!" Someone else yelled.
"Fuck that bitch up, Regina!"
"Please." The Dark Wolf whimpered softly. Regina released it and stepped back, catching her breath and the Dark Wolf bolted. She gave chase, catching it by its tail and savagely shook her head. The Wolf spun, batting at her face to get her to let go without hurting her, but she only let it go to grab the base of its tail. She shook her head again, throwing all of her weight behind it, trying to snap its spine. This bitch attacked her family, it almost killed her son. Her little miracle. Thinking about Jack falling off that cliff gave her a boost of rage and a rush of power.
"Fucking bitch, you want mercy? After everything you've done?!" Regina threw the wolf as hard as she could, sending it barrelling into the side of a tree, shaking the trunk and causing leaves to shower them from above. She shook them off and chased after the Dark Wolf again. The pack ran after her, keeping pace but choosing not to intervene. After all, their alpha had the upper hand and she was more than pissed. The Dark Wolf ran like the devil was on its heels, but an angry Evil Wolf Queen was much worse. They burst out of the trees and the Dark Wolf threw itself off the cliff and into the canyon it had created from its earthquake. Regina skidded to a stop at the edge before immediately looking around. She was too tired for a spell, even one as simple as teleportation. She spun around at the rest of the pack. "Marie, Shang, curb stomp for me." She said, choosing a piece of rock that was sticking out over the edge. "Right here."
"Regina, are you insane?!" Ruby yelled. "You're pregnant-"
"Now!" Marie and Shane both jumped, landing with a resounding thud on the rock. They leaped back but Regina remained on the rock as it fell into the chasm below. She leaped off, landing in a roll and got back to her feet. It was much darker down here and the ground was covered in water, some of it pouring in from the sides of the walls that were laced with the gnarled roots of trees. The Dark Wolf was limping away, but it wasn't limping fast enough. Regina snarled as she sprinted after it. It looked over its shoulder before taking off.
"You're crazy, woman!"
"And you're dead!" Regina dug her paws into the softened earth, pushing her aching muscles as hard as she could go. The Dark Wolf was going to remember this night. It was going to feel her wrath, whether it wanted to or not.
/
Emma sighed as she walked back out of the pawn shop. Lily looked up while Mulan was on her phone. "Someone trashed the place, but Gold is fine. He still has his heart too."
"Then we should call it a night." Lily said. "Go home and cuddle." She kissed Emma's forehead and nuzzled her neck.
"Someone's very affectionate."
"Mom said it's a side effect of being pregnant." Lily replied.
"Guys, we have to go." Mulan said.
"Why?"
"Take us to the divide and find out." Lily obeyed in teleporting them there just in time to have the pack run past them.
"What the hell is going on?" Lily demanded.
"Gina's got the Dark Wolf on the run!" Shang called as he dashed past after his sister.
Emma looked over the edge of the cliff and saw the pair of dark shapes racing down the bottom of the canyon. "What the hell, Regina?" She shifted and followed after Lily and Mulan as they took up the chase as well. Regina overtook the wolf and the sounds of snarling and growling could be heard all the way on the cliff. "What do we do?" She asked, noticing that none of the pack was moving to help.
"It's not fighting back." Ruby growled deeply.
"We still have to do something. What if it does?" Emma pleaded. She looked at Lily. "Regina can't defeat it on her own."
"You want to try and break them up?" Lily snickered.
"This isn't a laughing matter." Emma hissed. She looked over the edge. The sounds of battle had ceased and the two were simply looking at each other, possibly talking but she couldn't hear anything. "This is terrible."
"You worry too much." Lily scoffed, licking her cheek. "You should take a vacation. With me."
"Is this really the time to be discussing this?"
Lily shrugged her furry shoulders. "I'm sure Regina doesn't mind right now."
/
Regina sat down in the water, panting and thoroughly exhausted from her efforts. The Dark Wolf groaned softly as it healed itself. "Do you feel better?" It asked. She backhanded it, breaking its jaw that almost instantly clicked back together.
"Don't. Just don't. After all this, do you get it? Do you get how much it hurt to have to watch the people you love almost die fighting you? After this night, you can understand an inch of the pain I felt, watching my son fall over a fucking cliff! MY ONLY SON! My nieces and nephews, my family." She growled, wanting to attack the wolf all over again.
"Forgive me." It said again.
"Why? Why me? You haven't asked anyone else for forgiveness. You haven't arranged to meet anyone else in the middle of the night."
"I already told you. I don't give a shit about this world, except the fact that you are in it. I admit, upon separating myself from Ruby, I thought she had ruined me. All of this love stuff." It spat on the ground. "Until I thought about you. And our child. Jack was born from my power, he has my darkness. This is a fact. He is my blood. And you are my mate. You are above all of the others." It stood up and gave its pelt a shake. "You betrayed me numerous times. I could've killed you for that and I didn't."
"I don't owe any loyalty to you." Regina scoffed. "I don't owe you anything."
"If not for me, you wouldn't have the life you live. You would be wasting away in that mansion, begging that pathetic boy to love you and sleeping with that married buffoon. Ruby may have saved you from becoming the Dark One, but I saved you from yourself. Because of me! Everything I have said about everyone was true. You know it was, but do you think I cared about that when I formed this pack? No. I did this! Not that poor excuse for a wolf, Ruby."
"Don't ever disrespect my mate again." Regina growled deeply, shaking with fatigue and fury. "You didn't do shit. All of this, this pack, this territory, all of it, including me...is Ruby's."
"Is that so? How about-"
"How about fuck you?" Regina snarled. "How about go to hell? How about you stay away from me and my family. I don't want to have this discussion again." She turned and looked up, searching for a way out of this place. There was a soft clang behind her and she turned around to find the Dark One's dagger laying at her feet. "What is this?" She looked at the Dark Wolf, who simply held her gaze. "So you entrusting me with this will erase everything you've done?"
"It will be a start. Let me show you what I am. Take down the barrier, let the children run and frolic. Walk through your territory. You have nothing to fear from me."
"Of course not. In a couple days, you will be dead. Trust me, I'm not afraid." The Wolf sprang towards her, suddenly flipping her on her back with a large paw on her throat. The water on the canyon floor covered her head, preventing her from breathing. The Dark Wolf held her there for a long minute before releasing her and she immediately sat up and buried her fangs into its throat, savagely shaking her head. There was another scuffle, but it didn't last long. The Dark Wolf backed away and she growled, fur bristling and teeth bared. The creature the dagger at her again and teleported away. She grabbed it in her teeth and turned back around, looking around for a way out. She found herself being teleported away and reappeared on the cliff next to Jack.
"Mom, that was amazing!"
"Yeah, Gina, you kicked the shit out of that wolf!" Benjamin yelled.
"Regina, you are so badass!" Marie added.
Regina wagged her tail at their praises and nuzzled each of them. The rest of her pack piled in with licks and nuzzles of their own. In the end, she sent them back to the den and faced her mate, who hadn't moved since her return. She sat down in front of Ruby, not really expecting a welcome from her lover, knowing that she had put their unborn child in danger. "I should've told you."
"Yep."
Regina scooted closer. "I shouldn't have lost my temper."
"Yep." Ruby huffed. Regina scooted closer until they were almost chest to chest and nose to nose.
"You're upset."
"Yes and I don't need you being cute right now. What did you talk about?" Ruby growled.
"I asked the Dark Wolf why it was such a bitch and it replied that it loved me and wanted to live in exchange for peace so I told it that it could go fuck itself and proceeded to kick its ass." She licked Ruby's nose and Ruby got up and walked away. "Ruby, wait. Please." Regina quickly followed her mate and rubbed against her. "I'm sorry. I just got so angry and I didn't think."
"You put our unborn child in danger. You put yourself in danger, knowing that you can't kill it." Ruby snapped, rounding on her. "If anything happened to you, I would lose my fucking mind, do you understand that, Regina?"
"Of course I do! But every time I do something you don't like, you can't shut me out, Ruby." Ruby refused to look at her. "Please."
"I don't know what to say right now. What if you had got hurt? What if it killed you? You went to meet it alone, with no backup. No one knew you were out here. You could've died, our child be lost, Jack would lose a mother. I don't trust that thing and I don't want it anywhere near you."
"I know. I get it, okay? Believe me, it wasn't planned, I just reacted."
"Why did you even agree to meet it?"
"Because I wanted to hear what the thing had to say."
"And you couldn't have told me?"
"You would've said that it was stupid and I shouldn't bother. Now, wouldn't you?"
Ruby still refused to meet her eyes and attempted to leave again. She whimpered and rubbed against her mate again, but the she-wolf growled and pushed her away. It hurt to have Ruby ignore her, even worse to be rejected by her. Especially since Regina had given up everything for her, for this pack. "Are you really that mad at me?" She asked.
"I just want to be alone right now." Ruby growled over her shoulder.
"You know, maybe I should go back there. Maybe the Dark Wolf will treat me a little better. For all we know, it is the other parent to my pup." Ruby growled deeply and spun around.
"Then go!"
"HEY!" They both turned as Jack marched out of the bushes. "What's going on?"
"It's nothing." Ruby said curtly. "Just a little discussion."
"This isn't a discussion, you're just trying to hurt each other. How the hell are we going to beat anything if you two are at each other's throats for no reason? If you have to, start over. Drop all the past mistakes, the hurtful words, have a shot of vodka, go have sex, it doesn't matter. Do what you have to do to get back on the same page. We can't do anything without you two. You're our leaders and you two are perfect together. Act like it. I love you both." He turned around and trotted off and Ruby sat down with a huff.
"Well, we know who he takes after." She muttered.
"I know, couldn't be prouder. Even though I'm getting reprimanded by a child." Regina said. They looked at one another for a long moment. "He's right."
"I know. I love you, Regina. No matter what I've ever said or done. Just the thought of losing you completely terrifies me. All of this began with you, it was for you and to think that thing could take you away from me in any way is…
"Hey." Regina moved closer to Ruby and nuzzled her neck, letting Ruby rest her chin on her head. "I'm not going anywhere. The Dark Wolf isn't going to tear me from you. Nothing can. I'm sorry for what I said, or implied."
"Me too." The pair sat in the darkness for a long while. Regina silently listened to Ruby's heartbeat over the sounds of the forest. Ruby gave the top of her head a couple licks. "Come with me, I want to show you something." Regina nodded. She went to grab the dagger on the ground and followed her mate back across the border, but Ruby didn't head towards the den. She teleported the dagger away and sped up to match pace with Ruby.
"Where are we going?"
"Something I've been working on." Ruby replied, her tail wagging a little bit.
"You know, Ruby, after this is done and the darkness is defeated, I think we should sit down and talk."
Ruby immediately stopped walking. "Talk about what?"
"More kids." Regina flattened her ears against her head and looked down. "That's if you want to. We have one on the way, of course, but since I can have my kids now, I kinda want...a lot." When Ruby started whimpering she looked up and was almost mauled with kisses and nuzzles. Ruby rubbed herself against her and over and happily pulled on her ears. "I'll take that as a yes." She laughed.
"Fuck yes! Of course we can have more kids. Jack would love 10 more brothers and sisters."
Regina sat up and wiped off her head. "But we have to focus on winning this war."
"Yeah, totally." Ruby turned around and walked up to a tree. She tapped it with her foot and moved some plants out of the way to reveal a hidden entrance. "Follow me." She scrambled into it, kicking up dirt as she struggled to get in. Regina slid in easily and rearranged the plants outside with her tail. She followed Ruby through the small tunnel to the large den-like room. It was mostly bare with some small braziers, a bed of furs and a small crate filled with food and liquor that seemed to be enchanted to protect against rot. "Before all of this darkness nonsense, we were working on a system of bolt holes throughout the territory. There are a few near the den that actually connect together through a tunnel system, but most of these are unfinished." Ruby supplied, changing into a human. Regina followed suit and lit the braziers with some fireballs. "It was just for emergencies or if we needed to get through the forest faster, but they can be used for private rooms too."
"Impressive." Regina sat down on the bed and watched Ruby go to the crate and pull out a bottle of vodka and two shot glasses.
"I say, we take our son's advice. We need to get back on the same page and stay there until this threat is removed. After that, we can talk about whatever we need to, discuss whatever we need to."
Regina nodded and accepted the shot glass. Ruby poured them some vodka and they both downed it. She scowled as the harsh liquor raced down her throat. "I hate vodka." Luckily for her she could drink liquor without problems. Her new beast blood made sure that only nutrients made its way to the cub in her belly.
"Well, on to the better part. Let's have sex."
"No." Regina said, moving to exit the den.
Ruby whimpered in shock. "What?!" The she-wolf quickly followed after her. "No?"
"No." Regina replied simply.
"Why not? Personally, I think our son had some good advice and we should follow it. Especially the sex part."
"No. I'm tired." She said, pausing when she felt the intense gaze on her. Not far away was the Dark Wolf, standing just across the border. Ruby growled and quickly moved between them, shielding Regina from view. The she-wolf put a hand to Regina's back and almost ushered her forward until they were out of sight. As they walked back to the den, she could hear the Dark Wolf's mournful howl in the distance.
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