Of Lovers and Of Beasts

A Teen Wolf fanfiction

"All that I am and everything I ever was and everything I could never be – it's led me to you. This monster! This bond! Her and yes, him too! It, it... she – me! I always come back exactly where I ended and exactly where I began. I always come back to you – to your wolf!"

Enjoy.

The white wolf ran, and the black wolf followed.

The forest loomed overhead, all life in the trees silent as the predators moved, underbrush thudding to the earth as small branches and sparse crags became mulch under their paws. They were swift, paths weaving as their familiar helix pace was set.

He was hers and she –

She was free.

The black wolf slid to a stop as he heard her back feet lift from the forest floor. His red eyes took her in carefully, consuming every inch of her – hardened pads, shimmering fur, ears flickering, neck lengthening as she twisted her body towards the sliver of moonlight she had found to dance within.

Paws over head, thin fingered hands splaying across the ground. The transformation was elegant, as always, one moment the beast was there and the next... the next belonged to the woman who made gods bow down before her.

Hair the color of the night tumbled down her back, heavy curls shivering with every movement. Her dark green eyes cut to him, the slightly parted lips allowing the faintest glimpse of fangs being caressed by sharp flick of her tongue. Full breasts, still bearing the marks of their lovemaking, strong shoulders, sturdy core, wide hips, long legs – he knew he had to imprint her visage in his mind, to burn it in, the sight of her searing every other meaningless thought bouncing around in there.

He shifted, rearing up as if he were a great black horse, feeling his skin and muscles tear apart in the instant they knitted back together. It felt strange, as it always did, as if he were willingly donning shackles. Being human – whatever that meant – was to shackle the beast inside the skin, forcing it into submission just underneath the flesh.

It always felt like his body, of course, just that he felt like he fit uncomfortably within his massive frame.

He hated the feeling sometimes.

She sucked in a full breath that sounded like it should have burst her lungs, exhaling it almost in the same moment with disgust. His eyes were steady on the slight grimace that came to her features, eyes flickering away for just a moment as she rolled her lovely shoulders, trying to shake away the ache that never left these bodies – lessen though it may, it just wouldn't ever disappear as long as they stood on two legs.

Silence shook between them, vibrating the air as they waited for that penny – tossed; into the air, the ether, the figment of clouds about their heads in the days gone by – to drop.

Every step since the moment of their meeting had come to this place, to the end of the long run. It could have been this clearing, or the next, or a beach in Boca. But at one moment or another, it would all have to change.

On one hand, it would be the past that would become the 'before'. Before the confrontation, before the conversation that would begin the end. There would be no going back. No do-overs. And once the moment was finally broken, after that, nothing would ever be the same.

"Stay."

Her ears twitched at the sound of his voice, tight and constrained. He often sounded like this, more and more as of late, now that he knew of her plans. She had never given much heed to his possessiveness, for they both were well-aware who possessed who. And why should they not? His submission was a hard won prize, borne in blood, fury and mud.

Now he was placing his challenging, standing his ground before her. The woman was surprised it had taken this long – he had been an ever growing thorn in her side since her resolve had finally set.

Stupid.

A lilting, almost chuckle of a reply, basking in husky undertones came from her, the two actually locking eyes for the first time as they wore their skin – eyes previously occupied as they took in each other, body and wolf. Her lips parted, corners curling upwards in both jest and threat, the single world spoken with thin restraint and bold malice, "No."

She turned towards the stream, her pace slow and languid as she waited for him to fall in line behind her, undulating hips carrying her forward. Her well-formed toes dug into the soft earth, the sensation of the mud on her pads exciting her with every footfall.

"I have made my peace with it, with the things that made me, the things that broke me and the things that saved me. But I can't continue forward without going back… though I am well aware you can never truly go back," the woman murmured, hearing his measured breaths just over her shoulder as she stopped on the bank of the slowly rolling river. "Once the words are spoken and the deed done, the whole understanding of what that was and what this is, is fundamentally changed. But that is not what you brought me here for."

The slow crash of infant waves against the lush bank distracted her for a moment, reminding the woman of the almost familiar sound that once rumbled about her.

Her scar ached.

The sigh that came from within her was pregnant with more emotions than she could put into words at the moment. "You want to know why. Of course you, of all wolves, would. And honestly, I just want to be able to live in my truth, in her truth, and know that I have won. I want the simple satisfaction of it."

He chuckled openly, seeing her turn towards him and raise an eyebrow at his sudden shift of emotion.

"Is that what all of this is about?

"Here I am, thinking that you wanted revenge, or – or yet another covenant drenched in blood. And you, the very worst of us, haha! You, the big, bad wolf are going halfway across the country because you want nothing more than to rub his face in it –"

There should have been the expectation there with his sneering words that she would not be amused. As freely as they walked this life together, he should have known his place. He should have been prepared for her hand to come around his throat, long black nails digging into his skin, her eyes burning into his as she lifted him onto the tips of his toes, just to let him know she could. Because she always could.

She could rip him limb from limb at any moment she chose, and he was fairly certain he would let her.

"Honey, I could rub your face in my shit and you would smile."

Her voice was sweet, her grip tighter and tighter as her smirk spread, though any warmth there was icy-hot at best.

"You've become too comfortable with this. Maybe that's my fault," she murmured as she suddenly released him, watching him immediately reach up to wipe away the blood from underneath his chin. Her gait was smooth as she began to walk back the same way they came, allowing the remnants of their scent to guide her. Once again he fell into step, her shoulders relaxed even as she felt his eyes on her back, knowing that he took in her every movement just like they watched their prey. "In response to your question, this is all about her. The wolf inside of me is yearning, waiting as she always has for a howl that has never come. The woman in me has made peace with it, but she is still searching. She is always searching. I just can't live with it anymore."

He smelled the fire burning ahead, reaching out to wrap his hand around her upper arm as he forced them to still. The woman tensed for a moment before looking up into his steely blue eyes, feeling the heaviness of the moment in ways the human heart could never imagine.

Her hand raised, cupping his cheek, feeling his stubble-covered skin yield to her touch, "You know that if I could just stop, I would. You know that if I could have stopped a long time ago, I would have. Had I known the pain that moment would cause you and me and all of them, I would have laid down and died at your feet. The love and the hate tangled for you the same way it tangled for me. And I wouldn't have wished it on you, not on my best friend nor on my worst enemy. I've never apologized for it –"

"Nor should you. Since when has the sun apologized to the crops for showering them in heat, whether it wilts or strengthens up," he asked in a murmured tone, folding his free hand around the fingers that held him close. His bottom lip trembled slightly, knowing that when the morning came she would go. Too many times he had wished her dead for putting him underneath her in the same moments he had willingly placed her atop a pedal stool. It was the years together that compelled him to follow her, his wolf always close to answer her call. "Let me come with you. Just to be near. I promise not to interfere or, or..."

She sighed at that, letting her hand drop to her side as she shook her head.

"No. No, I need you here – the others need you here. You know that they come first."

"And should you fail to return?"

The hard edge entered his voice one more as she turned her back to him once again. "Then she is to lead," the woman murmured, his hackles raising slightly.

It wasn't if he didn't already know – he just wanted the confirmation to pass her lips so that he could keep it in his mind, the knowledge almost too much to bear. "Even after all these years, you still won't trust me. Its why your wolf never rests. Its you, Maia, not him."

She growled, the sound rumbling low in her chest, his ribcage vibrating slightly under the hateful timbre.

"As I said, you've become far too comfortable with this. I have only kept you close because your madness would consume you otherwise. You are a monster of a wolf and of a man; and because of that, you will never be fit to lead. Not at my side or the moment of my death."

He wondered if with those sharp lupine ears she was able to hear his heart break. If she did, she made no acknowledgement of it, standing silently as she waited for his retort.

Heavy footfalls came from her left, the man's towering shape moving into her line of sight slowly. He only reached out to tilt her chin up, watching the pillow lips he knew so well part and beckon him nearer. Those lips were dangerous and the teeth behind them even more so – it would take her a fraction of a second to let her wolf take over and tear his throat out, only a fraction more to sever his head from his shoulders.

And yet again, he knew that even as his mind drifted there to his mortality and her betrayal, he would fall to his knees and let her do as she pleased.

Their lips met and he felt his body bow to Maia's, her long arms lacing themselves around his neck, her legs pulling up to wrap around his hips.

"Let's just have tonight," she purred softly when they broke for air, hearing him chuckle humorlessly to himself. "I demand it of you."