There wasn't the euphoria that came with the ending of sex with Verando. This was a wave of guilt, shame, and heartbreak, Cas's words shocked me out of my delusion that I didn't just cheat on my husband. No matter what the cost, I should have found another way. At the end of it, I had given in to temptation. I missed him so much, but the reality was it had only been a couple of days since his disappearance. My excuses were minimal. 

"I..." What could I say? Those golden eyes don't fall on Randy, who looks just as ashamed as I do. They settle right on me, boring into me with ill intent. I knew him as well as Caspian did, did he feel like I took advantage of the emotionally fragile man?

"One wasn't enough? You had to stake your claim on both? Are you that desperate? Do you need to have that much validation that he's going to pick you?" The hurt was clear, despite everything, Cas was still hoping that Verando would end up picking him. In some universe, where I didn't exist, surely he would have. "You did this to bond the werewolf to you, right? Some... sick lycan trick?"

His body was shaking, unable to control himself with the change nearing. I feel the tingle in my own body, my wolf on high alert with the ancient creatures so close to their feral forms. "Ever think you're the reason he can't have relationships? That you doing this is what screwed this up for us? For me? That instead, he picked me and you were so desperate to make sure it was you, that bonding your wolves together like this is why he goes on to ruin every relationship after this?" Cas shakes his head with a shakey breath.

That rage settles on Randy. The gray-haired man looks conflicted, I don't expect him to come to my defense. I was ashamed, I shouldn't have done that, I should have been stronger, I should have been more persistent in finding a solution. 

"So that's it? Someone says some pretty words to you and you hand yourself over?" Clutching his fist, he slams it against the cage, making us jump. "Don't ever lie to me again and say that you tried, because you clearly didn't. If I'd known that's what it took to let me fuck you-" He flashes his teeth with a snarl, and for a moment I wonder if he will cry.

"What would your father think knowing his son takes it like a common whore? At least with me, you wouldn't have had to play the part of a woman."

Randy stands, stepping towards the cage walls only to be restrained by his shackles. "I'm done explaining how and why to you, Caspian. I'm not your pawn, I'm not your plaything, we're supposed to be friends. Could you not allow me one sliver of happiness?" It hits me so sharply in the recognition of his insecurities. 

He didn't want to be gay. He didn't want to entertain the idea of being submissive, of letting go and letting me please him in such a way. Verando and Caspian had been in an emotional war as much as a physical one.

Cas scoffs, rolling his eyes as he fastens one of his shackles around his wrist. "Cute that you turn this around on me. Do you forget how much I've done for you? How much I've sacrificed to help you time and time again, yet you keep coming up with these pathetic excuses for how you couldn't possibly love me? Some women would even feel obligated, but no, not Randy.

Yet you serve this man who'll come to kill us all in a few years once we go back. Let him have you like a wild animal while you mewl yourself into a stupor. You can erase my memories, fuck all with what you do, but if you think I'll forget that you've now taken everything from me, again, you're sadly mistaken."

Caspian had always hated me. From the moment he saw me he wanted me dead, he knew that Verando would fall for me, he knew that this was the potential for the future. If that was the case, then we had successfully sent them back in time. But did Caspian's memory not become erased? Did he truly have the ability to hold on to that much greed? I'm nearly euphoric with my epiphany, if only my soul mate wasn't going through a life-changing battle with his closest friend. 

Silence falls over Randy, I note the tremble but it's not from the cold. I couldn't comfort him, it was getting too close to time. I step out of the stall to lock them both in, placing the multiple padlocks in their assigned slots. "I can't believe you'd say that to me." Randy's voice is short, he glares at the ground, stepping back towards the other side of the cage as he flinches with the oncoming change.

"Randy." Caspian sighs, pulling on his restraints with a growl at the restriction. The fear begins to creep into his face, starting in the corners of his eyes with the slight widening of the realization that he'd said too much. A warlord scorned was not an easy creature to appease. It's easier for me to stay out of it, make no comments, continue to lock the padlocks, and make sure everything was as it should be. "I'm just... frustrated. We can talk about this afterward-"

Flashing his teeth, he glowers over his shoulder, the gray-haired man lets a feral snarl roll through his chest. "You've said plenty. You're not going to... liquor me up and convince me to side with you on this. That part is over. All of this-" He flinches, gritting his teeth and clutching his stomach. "I've got to make my own path. Even if that means leaving you behind. I'm not your punching bag anymore, Caspian."

Cas drops to his knees, screaming as he holds his stomach. I check my watch, seeing that it was only minutes from midnight. I shudder that my sensitive ears can hear their bones cracking, that I can hear the sinews stretching, their bodies changing. Turning my back, I mutter to myself that this will all be worth it as the unison screams threaten to shred me from the inside. 

My wolf reacts, hitting my mental cage, I put my fists against the lumber walls, trying to steady myself as the symphony of body destruction goes on behind me. It was how I felt for a split second whenever I shifted, agony, like my body was being shredded. 

The heat begins to rise, I feel it simmering in my throat as my head spins, much as I want to run away I know the safest place for everyone was for me to remain in here. I should remain with the mess that I caused, I should stay with the other unhinged creatures. The snarling beasts behind me send my other half into overdrive, I try and hold my body together as it slams against the walls of my mind to get out. 

"Stop. Stop. Please stop." I beg the creature, attempting to hold myself together.

Fangs, claws, inhuman, they were putting all their focus on getting to each other in a way we hadn't anticipated. Only now, it was too late to separate them. 

Metal screeches but holds, the welds would be strong enough thanks to making the diamonds too small to get their fingers through. Without something to grip onto, yanking the walls down wasn't an option. 

Making my way to the edge of the cage, I peer in, hoping for some sort of recognition. Yet the main focus remains on each other, eviscerating one another until there was nothing left. The anger before the change would have translated over, there was no room for anything else in such a primitive creature. 

It was for nothing. I didn't deserve him. Either of them. Could I truly not control myself?

The impact of something hard into my back sends me crashing against the steel cage. I cough, sputtering blood as I feel it again. As if a baseball bat was slugging me across the shoulder blades. The hot red liquid runs down my face as I slide to my knees down the cage. Both werewolves are staring, fangs bared, as I try to fathom what the hell could of taken me down. 

I hear the steady dripping, looking over my shoulder, I see Verando standing only feet behind me. In his hand, he clutches Caspian's hair, obviously having drug the bloodied man from inside the house. His body was graphic, covered in various coats of different stages of massacre. My heart drops, my eyes wide as I rotate into a sitting position. 

Licking the red from his lips, the black eyes focus on me as he seems confused as to what to do with me. "Nice night for a second coming, isn't it?" His voice isn't his own, darker, deeper, lacking any remorse. 

"Nic, get out of here." Caspian sputters through the discomfort as he drops the black haired man, stepping on the back of his neck to crush his face into the ground. 

"That's not going to happen. I need something from you." Taking a bag out of his pocket, Verando throws me the small sack of pills. "You're going to take one of those, you're going to send those two back. I like this future, I intend to make sure it stays this way."

Grabbing the sack, I consider my options if I could possibly use it to stop him. The spray of saliva as the werewolf hits the cage behind me nearly sends me over the roof. I jump, not daring to stand as the corner of Verando's lip twitchs. "Unless you need motivation. Looks like a past self might want a chew toy."

"Where's Xaiver?" I demand, blinking away the blood dripping into my eyes. 

Irritated, he pulls out a phone, I scan over his features, the dark circles under his eyes and the state of his clothes indicated it'd not been an easy few days. In a sharp moment, he selects a picture then throws it to me. 

The Siren, laying on the floor in a heap, possibly dead. Helen. Tyler. Echo. Tonic. Restrained centrally surrounded by the destroyed kitchen table. He'd created a pyer, he was intending to do away with them. But, I notice Landon and K are not in the picture. 

"In the background." He snaps. 

I look closer. Xaiver, hiding behind Helen's unconscious form. "If you think for a second Verando-" I stop myself. He already had, they were beaten, bloody, Verando wasn't at the surface anymore. Cursing under my breath, I shut my eyes for a moment, if I could only just think, I could figure a way out of this.

"Stop talking and get out of here." Caspian snarls, struggling to climb to his one arm. Verando stomps on his back once more, I shiver at the sickening crack. 

"Send them back!" He barks at me, I flinch, trying to think, trying to come up with a plan. But between his presence and the barking, snarling werewolves behind me I was practically short circuiting. 

"I need a pool of water. I can't send them back on my own, I can't do it without accessing the dragon realm." I tell him shortly, my voice hard as I attempt to keep my cool. Knowing what I knew about the lore, it wasn't like Fenrir was a reasonable person. "Randy if you're in there-"

Producing a gun, he aims it at me though I see him twitch, only to curse and drop his hand. "Try that again and I'll blow his brains out." Instead he shoots Caspian who cries out as he clutches the dirt floor. The black werewolf rattles his cage, roaring in anger. Twitching the corner of his mouth, he shrugs off the displeasure of the creature. "A pool, hmm..."

Kneeling down, he slips the gun back into a holster in the back of his pants before slipping a knife out of sleeve on his calf. "I'm not a patience man, Nicolas. End of the world and all, I'm just covering my bases as you mortals say." Pressing the blade to the Spanish man's throat, I hold out my hand and attempt to scramble to my feet as he slices through his neck. 

Why did I want to defend Caspian? Maybe because he looked so frightened, maybe because I knew Verando was never going to forgive himself. The outward spreading pool of blood nearly made my stomach flick, Verando licks the overflow off the blade of his knife, slipping the blade back into it's holder as Caspian struggles for air on the ground. 

"What an unworthy form. I much prefer this body, if I do say some myself." Bloodied hands rest at his side, I hadn't seen this much gore since our time at war. My body was trembling, I was caught in flashback after flashback. Glancing at the growing pool, Caspian's still body, if I waited for it to dry it would be unuseable. 

"You gave yourself away when you cut off Caspian's hand, just like Tyr's." I shoot back. 

Verando glowers at me, the low snarl rolling in his throat. "Don't say that name. Don't ever say that name."

"Or what?" I climb to my feet. I just had to make it until the pool dried, if I could scare him off... or immobilize him, then I might stand a chance. Reguardless, I pop one of the enhancers in my mouth. I was going to need every ounce of help that could be spared, if nothing else, I had to do something to help my warlord. 

I could see the quiver of his body, the reluctance, the desire to help the now quiet man lying on the floor in his own blood. Verando takes quick steps towards me, the werewolf hits the cage and I use the distraction to dodge his attempt to grab me. Had we ever truly fought? We'd sparred but I'd always felt like he was holding back. I'd seen my husband in hand to hand, I knew what he was capable of. 

I just had to stay on his weak side. The thought process ends as the left arm grabs me by the throat, slamming me into the steel cage as I grip his wrist. Kicking him in the stomach, I might as well have kicked a brick wall. "Do you think that I feel the pain of my vessel? Do you think I care about anguish when I burned in the underworld for thousands of years?" His voice is harsh as he hits me against the cage. My body couldn't take much more of this. 

I cry out, kicking him again, attempting to hook my leg over his shoulder and twist out of his grasp as his hand tightens. "Go ahead. Keep fighting, the vessel bears the brunt while I reap the rewards of a knowledgeable form." The gray werewolf stands over me, bearing down on us, I can feel his hot breath on the top of my head as I glance to the side, spying the locks. 

He hits me into the cage again, and again. My world threatens to go black, was he planning to kill me or just exacting revenge? Was he simply enjoying my pain? "My my he loves you. Disgusting as it is to feel such ways about a man." Gripping my shoulder with the other hand, he digs his fingers in, puncturing the skin as I bare my teeth and begin to freeze his arm. 

The shiver makes me stop, I can't hurt him, it was Randy I was hurting. "What if I just start pulling out your bones? How many limbs do you truly need to perform this spell? Hurry up and this can be done with." His fingers tighten, I feel my collar bone threatening to break. 

"Alpha. Help us." I demand, gripping the lock and freezing it sold, yanking it off at the door as the werewolf breaks free. I could only hope that the werewolf would feel the need to not kill itself, to keep it's future vessel safe. Alpha was smart, reasonable, and this was him in his lesser form. With a swing of his arm, Verando goes sailing across the small space, crashing through the thick tree trunks, through the barn door and out into the yard. The gray beast turns to face me as I slide to the floor. 

His nose quivers, sniffing me all over as those fangs near my face. "Alpha." I plead, turning my face to attempt to not incite violence. The slender tongue passes over my cheek, I can only hope it's not to see how I taste. With a gentle whine, the light eyes meet my gaze. I struggle to catch my breath as my body attempts to heal itself, my muscles screamed as they attempted to repair from the multiple impacts. 

"Don't.. kill him. Randy is still.. in there." I manage, covering my face as three bullets fire through the hole in the wall. One nicks my arm, two plunge into the gray creature who howls in pain before launching itself through the hole. I crawl quickly to Caspian, sickened as my hand slides into the blood. His eyes are dull, his body broken, Verando had been beating on him for a while. 

How long had Cas been standing outside? How long had this gone on? I check his pulse, Caspian would not be coming back this time. But, I note his clutched hand and carefully spread his fingers. "Tyr." The words were carved into the skin. 

A warning? Or an escape? 

Scrambling through the dust, I attempt to find the phone, ducking for cover as the werewolf comes skidding back into the barn and Verando follows behind him. A long shaft of steel pipe in hand, the bleeding man looks almost unrecognizable with the dark black spreading through his gray hair. 

The beast stands before me, blocking me from view as they collide once more, I'm shocked by how Verando contends with the creature, using the pipe to ward off the creature and block it's attacked. They knew each other, lycan against Werewolf, it was always a question of which was truly superior. Finding the phone, I quickly scrambled to press in the numbers to unlock it. 

"Landon. Come on Landon." I murmur, yelping as Verando grabs my heel, pulling me towards the blood pool. 

"Make the portal." He demands from me, in a sharp move he steps on my leg, shattering my femur as I hold back a scream. 

Typing out the text, I crush the phone in my hand. 

"Randy, stop." I attempt to demand, afraid to move, afraid of what my leg might look like under my pants. How was I getting my ass kicked so completely? The truth was, I didn't want to hurt him. 

Twisting his foot, I nearly black out from the pain before the werewolf is ontop of him once more, pinning him to the ground as it slams him into the hard packed dirt. Maybe that was the best way to help everyone. Sending Randy and Cas back? But with no erased memories... what would happen? Would it change everything? 

My leg is numb, surely broken. Slinging my hand, I freeze Verando's hands to the ground. He roars at me, enraged as I start to chant over the pool. It was a risk I had to take, but it had to be on my terms. If I was going to die here, if we were all going to die, then they had to go back than for no other reason than to still allow us this much time together. Perhaps they wouldn't make these mistakes? Perhaps somewhere, we were happily together and wiser than to allow this happen? 

I open the pouch, taking another enhancer. I only had one shot at this, I couldn't allow myself to slip. The werewolf bares it's fangs, sinking it's teeth into Verando's shoulder. I couldn't bare to think of what that meant, would he now be infected? Would there be complications? I keep muttering, my body feels like each word was pulling me further and further apart from my being. 

Had I taken to much? 

Kicking the werewolf, the creature goes sailing across the barn, smashing into Caspian's cage, breaking the door off the hinges. Verando stands, battered, cut, bruised and bloody as he forces the body to move. He'd sustained damage, his throat sliding streams of liquid down his shirt, his tattered clothes revealing various states of injury. 

Flinching, he clutches his head with one hand, I see the swirl of ice blue attempting to appear in one eye. "I was going to let you live." Verando seethes through his teeth. "Now I think I'm going to make him devour you."