Chapter 7. Somewhere, Someday

"Girl I know you, think no one sees the weight on your shoulders. But you can't fool me. I know you're tired of standing so tall. Let me be the one to catch you when you fall"
-N*Sync, "Somewhere, Someday"

The She Wolf was angry, to say the least. She didn't like to be dominated or called a dog. She didn't just wanna bite Bane now, she wanted to ruin him. Maybe kill him once she turned him if possible! Canis felt her pace in her head, but she was quietly raging for the most part. As for Canis, she was in emotional turmoil. She wanted to hate Bane like the wolf did now, but it was hard. The betrayal in his eyes, it seemed so unsurprising, like he'd been suspecting it, but yet daring to hope it wouldn't happen. Who was she to do that? If she had wanted to see, she should've waited. Instead, she'd taken it off and now look where she was…

The silver was still in her blood. She could feel it, as the wounds itched and burned. Hopefully it would heal instead of killing her. He'd managed to take the bullets out, but had he done it in time? Sighing, Canis realized it didn't matter. Bane no longer cared if she lived or not so why should she care if she did? She was nobody. She had nothing and nobody. No home, no family, nothing. A wolf without a pack was either a survivor or a savage. She always thought of herself as a survivor.

Why did she even care what he thought? Wasn't he trying to kill her anyway? What did he ever care for her? Granted he'd saved her life, but now, he'd kicked her to the curb and all because she couldn't contain her curiosity. Back in the cemetery again, Canis lay down on the soft snow encrusted earth and closed her eyes, wanting nothing less than to die. His eyes, the hurt in them, haunted her. She wondered what he was doing now, even as she was there lying and waiting for death. Was he thinking of her, as she was of him?

"Bane…" his name came out as a small whisper only the wind caught, "Forgive me…please…I know this may sound odd to you, but I could hear everything you told me. You trusted me, which not a lot of people can say they have. I blew it, it was my fault, and I am so sorry. The wolf once thought" Canis smiled a little, "That I was falling for you. I refused to believe it…but now that I think about it, it wouldn't be hard to at least care for you which I actually find myself doing even now. I just wish you were here…I don't know why, but I just wish you were".

She closed her eyes and felt herself go numb as the snow continued to fall on and around her. If the silver didn't kill her, then the cold eventually would…

Bane hadn't left the makeshift room he'd kept Canis Lupa in for three days. He hadn't stopped thinking of her either. She had that drive to live, something that had initially impressed him. He'd followed her, watching her every action. With that fight with the hunter and his dog, she had tried to protect his coat, an action he hadn't seen coming. He grabbed it and looked at the faint blood stains. Her blood.

"Why?" he wondered.

Bane remembered how she held it so close, using her body as a shield for it. All for a coat she took multiple wounds, three silver bullet shots being among them. Why take a chance like that over something so insignificant? It didn't make sense to him. Frustrated, he let it fall to the floor.

At first, his intrigue was his motive to keep her alive. Then it was pride; he'd wanted to display his power over her, which he knew would be no easy feat against a werewolf. A strong part of him still wanted to fight her come the full moon. He'd always wanted a wolf as a pet, but if she was only a wolf for one night out of the month, he'd take what he could get.

But a small part of him, in a small voice, objected. She wasn't just a wolf, but a woman as well. And then there was that one thing she said that kept running through his head, burning into his memory: If I could, I'd take all the pain away…and not just your physical pain either.

"She cares for you" that part of him kept saying, "You could've at least acknowledged it instead of provoking her".

But he let her go. He could've killed her (and a part of him did want to, very badly) but he hadn't. And it wasn't because of his plans for her on the full moon. It was that one sentiment, that one declaration of her care that had touched something in him, something that hadn't been in years. Something he'd tried to bury, tried to kill.

His very heart.

Bane looked up at the table where she'd been under his care. He'd watched Canis heal and change before his eyes, her hair most notably. Many times he'd touched it, enjoying its soft and silky feel. But it would only last a second. He didn't want to wake her. So he'd made those few touches as brief as possible. But those few touches, those words, combined with the somewhat one sided trust he'd formed with her, it was only making things more painfully obvious.

Bane had grown to care for this girl. He was becoming weak and it was because of her. Bane picked the coat back up again and looked over the blood spots. No…he wouldn't let this…this…this DOG stop him! He couldn't, not when the full moon was so close. He couldn't afford this now.

"I will tame you, Lupinotuum. Even if it's the last thing I do…".