Standing at water's edge, my lady moon high in the sky, caressing me with her silver fingers, I can smell it on the warm wind as it washes over me. The call of the night, awakening the animal in me. My body tightens in anticipation, muscles dropping low as I fall into a crouch, readying myself. My fingers ache, the shift already beginning in minutia that which will all encompass as my lady moon wills it.
My breath comes in shallow pants, feeling the craving start to build and I can taste it now. I let it roll over the back of my tongue, savoring its bitter tang. A dark, rich flavor, spiced with heat and smoke, giving texture and taste to the emotions boiling in my blood, each one unchecked. Loneliness, hope, fear, love, and hate all unleashed to wreak havoc where they may. Yet underneath it all...the sweet smell of a desire long forgotten.
The scent of freedom.
Freedom. To no longer cage the animal inside. To feel it rise up, swelling beneath my skin, itching, aching to be granted release. To burst upon this night like a predator pouncing on its prey. My whole body shaking now, I clench my fingers deep into the moist soil letting its musty scent permeate my senses, reminding me of who I really am - what I'm really capable of.
Something that's not this tamed creature they've forced me to be. All to placate their own sense of supposed superiority. I make them nervous. And I should. If they knew...if they knew what I was really capable of...what I've already done...things from their worst nightmares...things I enjoyed. If they knew...they'd never let me out. So they can never know.
They can never know.
It is time.
My lady moon calls me. My animal answers as a low growl claws its way from my throat. We are two entities in one creature, my animal and I, co-existing uneasily until I am called. Only then are we of one mind.
Have to get away. Have to run.
Running...running...running...
A branch in the face. Rip it off, toss it away.
Leap...up...over...down...land...keep moving.
Have to get away. Have to run.
Running...running...running...
Clouds hang heavy on the hot, damp air, swirling along the ground twining around my legs, trying to slow me.
Ignore them, push the thoughts away.
Have to get away. Have to run.
Running...running...running...
Trees begin to close in. Doesn't matter. I can see everything. Hear everything. I am everything...in everything…and everything is in me...
Have to get away. Have to run.
Running...running...running...
Darkness on all sides now save for my lady moon's ghostly light. She gives me all that I need. She is my everything. I run as she wills it. Until she bids me cease.
It is time.
Muscles trembling, limbs unable to function, lungs burning, I collapse to the ground in the same spot where I started. I roll my face into the upturned soil where my fingers clawed it free from its earthly confines.
Breathing in its very essence, the rich scent calms me, bringing forward my desire for pack. I can feel the pulse of the earth itself in against my palm. A living thing. To be treasured and protected. Mine. My territory. My...another scent on the night's wind.
I lift my eyes slowly towards the absolutely delicious aroma making my skin tingle in awareness. I see my mate watching me, unmoving. My mate...as of yet unclaimed.
It is time.
"Marie? Whatcha doin' out here so late, kid?"
I smile slyly at him, "Just enjoying the moonlight."
"By rollin' around in the dirt?"
I shrug. I try to pull the animal back inside, but she's unwilling to go completely. I can feel her heavy within me. My lady moon still calls her. Can he hear her too?
It is time.
She's insistent, and I deny her no longer.
Giving over to my true self, my animal shines through my eyes. Sensation fires my body as she takes her rightful place in me. Settling comfortably in my muscles, sinking heavily in my bones. My limbs tremble as I pull myself up to kneel in the dark earth, hands planted palms down in the dark, sweet soil. My eyes as he watches me shift. I don't know what he sees...but I can smell his reaction on the air between us.
Staying on my knees, I tilt my head to the side, showing my neck, baring the pale, deadly skin to the moon's caress and his hot gaze. I present myself to him, the pure picture of subservience, and wait. He accepts my submission as his due, as he should, the Alpha he is letting him do nothing less. I am his as I have always been.
It is time.
His nose and lips twitch and he scents the night on me, the wildness of the chase, and the emptiness left behind of a hunt unfulfilled. He knows. He knows I'm like him. He should. He made me this way. His gift to me, one given freely and never regretted. We are the same he and I, both of us answering to the same call.
He walks to stand in front of me. "Mine."
"Yours," I whisper back, rubbing my cheek across strong legs as I rise up fully, still on my knees. My hands grip his thighs as I pull myself up, my cheek presses into his hip and a low moan escapes my lips.
With a growl that sends shivers all through me, strong hands grip my arms and pull me to my feet, pressing me against him, and I breathe him in, his scent washing over me, marking me as his. "Watch me."
Opening drugged eyes, I see him quirk an eyebrow. Wild hazel eyes take on a glow that I all too easily recognize, having seen it reflected in my own while staring down into the depths of the lake this time of night. Our lady moon calls his animal.
It is time.
I feel him shift...into something more, more fluid, more powerful, more graceful, more wild, more dangerous. White hot desire licks at my skin, tiny lashes of painful pleasure as he becomes what he is meant to be, holding me fast in his grip. He is more personified.
His nostrils flare as he scents the air around me and he growls, "I can give you more."
Our lady moon gives him to me. And me to him. My head drops a bit, and I look up at him from beneath hooded eyes, reveling in the tightening sensation low in my abdomen. "Yes."
He leans in, his fingers curling in reflexively, and the night is split with the slow scrape of metal against bone as his claws emerge. His eyes drift closed and brings his face within inches of mine, scenting the air around my face, my hair, my neck. I can feel my own heartbeat pulsing in my eyelids as I sway hypnotically towards him.
Lifting his hand, he slides the blunted edge of a cold claw over my cheek, trailing across my neck and down into the 'V' of my breasts, marked with dirt and sweat.
Shivers of desire and longing shoot through me, and I hear a low growl of approval rumble deep within his chest.
It erupts into a single, deeply growled command.
"Run."
So I do. As fast as I can. For as long as I can. I will run until I drop.
Knowing he will catch me.
And when he does...
...when he does...
...then he's mine.
The Wolverine & Rogue Fanfiction Archive
Barely Legal Since 2000
Story Notes:
Ever listened to a piece of music and just suddenly had an image pop into your head that you couldn't shake? That's what happened with this one. No idea where it came from, only intrigued that it did, and not entirely sure what it means. It's...different. The title is the same as the song that inspired it.
Not beta'd. My beta was sick when this one came up.
Not beta'd. My beta was sick when this one came up.