Sara stared at the huge New Species in front of her in horror. This fine, proud male was reduced to a thin, mangy, and wild version of himself. It hurt her heart to look at him. She can't remember him but somehow she still recognized the beautiful gold of his eyes and his strong, if not slightly strange, features.
This male, Leo, terrifies her and she is afraid that she will die at his hands. I thought Tiger said I would be safe? That he wouldn't hurt me, she thought to herself. Obviously both of their judgements were skewed and now she will pay the price for it.
I hope my death will be quick, she prays in her mind.
A loud roar rips through the entire room. Leo is pulling at his restraints with all of his strength. Sara is momentarily taken aback by how even his diminished muscles were huge and flexed with all of his might. Oh my God, she thinks, he's going to get free.
The hideous groan of metal bending sounds and she takes shaky steps back, breath stilling in her lungs.
She watches in horror as the bolts attaching his restraints to the wall are ripped out. The thick chains fly forward and he lunges at Tiger.
"Fuck!", Tiger growls.
Tiger is a big New Species and very strong but they both know that he is no match for the wild lion attacking him. Leo knows this too.
A scream tears from Sara's throat as she watches this take place. She is no longer in control of her mental faculties and has no idea what she is doing as her hands fly to her face and her nails rake down it, leaving bloody tracks there. She feels no pain though, just numbness as her nails continually drag down her cheeks.
The large lion in front of her completely stops what it is doing and tilts its head back, lifting its nose in the air. From behind the species, Sara can see its lion's mane and the top of its face pointed upwards. The nostrils on the wide, flat nose flare for a long second and a roar is ripped from his throat.
This time she is frozen in fear and falls to her knees, her legs too shaky and weak to hold up her weight anymore. Her vision starts to go blurry-from tears or out of faintness, she is not sure-and her head begins to spin.
A moan escapes her and she wishes she were more in control of herself in order to remain silent but this is not the case.
The species takes one look at her and roars again, sounding pained. Sara cannot figure out why this lion man would be in pain but she cannot hold onto the thought long enough to contemplate it. She begins to feel bile bubble its way up her throat and she gags slightly.
This is how I am going to die. Die. Die. Oh My God, she whimpers in her head, starting to feel the pain from the grooves that she created on her face.
Her vision goes grey and she loses the precarious balance she had while on her knees and her upper body slamms to the floor.
Within seconds, warm hands grab onto her and she is pulled onto a hard body. The stabbing coldness of her body dissipates as the one against hers feels like a heater.
Her brain is foggy and the pain of her wounds and the recent events causes her to be unable to concentrate on any thought except feeling better. This body against her makes her feel better.
A slight growl rumbles through the chest she is pressed against and shs startles, too terrified to do much but whimper almost silently. At the sound of her whimper, the growl immediately cuts off to be replaced by a soothing purr. The purr starts all the way in the belly of the person holding her and spreads up to his chest where it is released in a calming rumble from his throat.
The sound causes her to try and burrow her head into the thick neck of the male but a large paw stops her. She fights it slightly, trying to get closer to the source of the sound but is no match for the strength of the male. The male pulls her head away from his chest slightly and runs his nose along her hair, letting out an even more deep and rich purr.
Sara sighs contentedly and licks her lips, tasting blood. A tear escapes from her eye and she realizes that the lion male must have hurt her. It must have driven its claws down the length of her face in an effort to get a taste of her blood. That's what lions do on nature documentaries, a thought popped into her head. At least this male saved me from him. My savior.
Her musings were interrupted by the feel of a rough but soft tongue dragging down the side of her face. She shook her head, trying to dislodge the tongue from her face but her head was still being cradled in a large hand and she was unable to move but a millimeter.
The feeling was painful at first, the cuts on her skin reacting to the tender touch as though it were fire, but then it began to feel soothing. The purr continued to pour out of the male's chest and the body surrounding hers tightened against her. She had never felt more safe in that moment.
The other large hand of her savior stroked down her hair and onto her back. She was further calmed by this and began to feel sleepy. It reminded her of her childhood when her mother would lull her to sleep by doing the same thing. She would have a warm blanket wrapped around her and a children's story would be told to her, As she became more tired, the words would meld into an incoherent dancing of waves.
That is exactly what was happening now. The species lovingly cradling her was lulling her to sleep with a new rendering of her childhood.
"Mine", a deep voice purred, and Sara briefly recognized the voice but was too tired to pinpoint where she knew it from. All she knew was that she was safe and loved.
Yours, she confirmed in her head, and maybe outloud but she could not be sure. With that confirmation, she slipped into sleep and let the rumbling waves of purrs deliver her into dreams of her savior.
Continued:
Leo looked down at his sleeping mate with a confusing mixture of pain and love in his heart. One made him feel complete and as though his happiness were impenetrable, and the other made him feel as though he were being dragged into hell.
Now that he is sane, he knows what he must do.
He has to let his delicate and beautiful mate go.
He was trying to protect her but his actions caused her to harm herself. He looked at the now cleaned, but still bloody, grooves that she marred her skin with. My fault, he shamed himself.
He tried to be her protector but now he knows that she needed protecting from him. His heart felt as though it were being stabbed with ice but he tried to ignore it. The only way for him to protect her was for him to leave her. For him to never see her beautiful face again.
He felt a tear slip down his face and he ground his teeth together. It is not about him. It is about her. He must protect her at any cost.
At this, he sets her down on the floor and has to tear his hands away from her, in fear that if he didn't do so in that moment, he never would.
He glanced at her stunning face and couldn't focus on it through the blurriness of his vision. Perhaps that is good, his mind reasoned, if we know her less then we might miss her less. He knew this wasn't rue but he tried to fool himself anyway. He had to leave. His beat roared at the thought but even he knew that they would only continue to cause their mate harm if they stayed with her.
He leaned down against her and placed his nose against her throat, breathing in deeply, trying to commit her scent to memory so that he could have it always. Or at least s long as he lived.
Before he straightened, he placed a gentle and shaky kiss against the place where her throat met her shoulder and he realized that it was the first real kiss he ever gave her. He placed another against her jaw and finally, one against the corner of her mouth. He knew he disgusted her and she would not want him to kiss her. That is why he refrained from touching his lips fully against hers. I will only cause her more harm if I do, he told himself.
He closed his eye, trying to block out the pain, but it only intensified. It swallowed him whole until he was nothing but walking agony.
He trailed his nail against the edge of her shirt and ripped off a small portion. He grabbed it tenderly with both of his hands and breathed in her scent once again. Now he will always have a little bit of her scent and of her with him.
With one last glance at his mate's body, he straightened and sprinted out of the room. He paid no mind to his surroundings or the people who parted for him, not wanting to get in his way.
All he knew was that he had to get away from her. He had to protect her. He had to leave his Sara. His mate.
Before long, he was inside of the woods and he neared his home. When there was no one else around, he let out a roar full of agony, longing, heart-break, and pure hopelessness.
He hoped everyone heard his pain-filled expression so that they knew to stay away from him, to let him wither in peace.
At that thought, he collapsed to the dirty, leave-covered forest floor and curled into himself. His tail wrapped around his middle and he sobbed, remembering how his little mate loved playing with his tail. How his little Sara loved even the most ugly part of him.
He brought the small piece of cloth that was clasped tightly within both hands to his face and tenderly ran it against the hard planes.
His beastliness ruined his mate. All he had left of her was her memory and this tiny piece of cloth. Tiny like his Sara. His mate. Mine, he thought, before seeking relief in the cold arms of nightmare-filled sleep.
Little did he know, but his sleep would be no redemption of peace, it would be filled with more pain than the life of the living.