There was darkness, moonlight, and then, there was fire. Caught between expanse of striking white and the faint illumination of flickering orange, Tamer was like a beast snagged between the threshold of heaven and hell.

The candlelight complimented the fire in his eyes, bathing his skin in a demonic light. But behind him, in a silver aura, the moonlight glowed ethereally like a halo.

Winter couldn't speak. She could barely even breathe. The efforts came out as ragged gasps before her. The fear of death didn't immediately come as ripe as the ache of betrayal; it hadn't kicked in yet – denial left her to only grieve the solid facts. All she could focus on was the beast before her, the creature she'd once loved.

"Tamer," she whispered. The first thing to hit her was the lie – what she'd blindly defended when all others wouldn't. All her life she'd known Tamer and yet, now it seemed she knew so little. "You're a wolf."

Tamer sucked in a ragged breath. He had his hands clasped over his ears and shook his head like some erratic caged animal. It was as if he was  trying to rattle that mind-control out of his mind.

Tamer's bottom lip quivered. "You don't have long left," he whispered. "If there anything I can do to comfort you in these..." He hiccuped. "F-final times then please, let me know..."

She wasn't listening. She wasn't processing. She couldn't even remember to automatically breathe. He reached out to touch her, but she shook him away. He retreated into the shadow, glancing at his hand then back at her with rising panic. She'd never done that before. She knew the mate bond could have calmed her, but she refused. The hurt on his face was ripe, but it wasn't a patch on the betrayal contorting her own.

"I loved you." The candle flickered in the breath of her words, drafting them in a cold darkness for second. "I loved them all." Her voice heightened to a shrill cry as another tear spilled down her cheek. "Why? Why me?"

Shame scrunched his features. Tamer stifled his sob with his hand before curling into a foetal ball.

"Simply because you are you, Winter," he stated eventually, hands tightening his knees. "Every twenty or so years, a baby girl is born on the same day that roses bloom in the snow. It is that child who is destined to be a sacrifice. No one really knows why, but it is the law set in stone by the king and has been for many hundreds of years. It is pure tradition, and purely punishable by death if you try and stop it."

She stared at him as if she was expected to believe that scenario. As if that was a reasonable explanation.

The fingers that hid his face opened a crack. Without the moonlight the fire in his eyes dispersed. For a moment, staring into his amber eyes, she could have believed that he was his normal self – that all that had happened between them was a sick, twisted nightmare.

"So mother." Her voice cracked as a constricting feeling tightened in her chest. "She knew? She knew I was to die all along?"

He grimaced. All Tamer could do was nod sympathetically.

"For how long?"

"I don't know," he muttered. "It's not like there's a ceremony announcing the matter. The maiden can spawn all over the world from unprecedented amounts of time – you're the first one ever in this country but records are hard to find. And some even say the king can erase memories. I know what I know though my Father's direct contact. Nobody even knows what the king looks like. If it was a while, perhaps she grew neglectful of the fact. People like to delude themselves into believing it will never happen until the time comes, that's the simple truth of it, that was probably how she coped – delusion. Escape is impossible with a beast like the king. I can assure you though, she was powerless to stop it."

"So there's a chance I was raised like a lamb for the slaughter?"

Tamer meerly winced.

You'd think she'd be more angry, but all she could think was that the argument between her and her mother was the last time they'd ever speak, and she'd slammed the door shut without even a goodbye.

She began to bubble. Tamer's first instinct was to hold her, but his extended arm wavered, the conflict clear on his face: should the one playing a part in her murder really be the one to attempt to quell those tears?

"And what good is it to kill me?" Winter spluttered. "What good could murder possibly do?"

Tamer's eyes narrowed, the sadness subsiding with a glare like sharpened knife.

"It is purely to please him," he spat. Winter could see the wolf inside him rear its head in his viscous snarl. "He is a beast who deals in flesh and blood. The supposed safe-keeper of the Gates of Hell. He is the King of Wolves, Cerberus."

Right then, Winter feared he would shift. His fingers tightened into a fist as he said the name. His eyes flared with a red as hot as his hatred -- she knew she wasn't imagining as his incisors protracted and sharpened.

"Tamer," she panted, having never seen such a side of him before. "You're scaring me."

His head sunk. She could tell he couldn't stand to hear such a sentence from her lips. The sharpening of claws that was his instinctive response to protect her yet here he was now scaring her instead.

That realisation left him vibrating with anxiety as he tried to fix this. He had to reach, to comfort her hurt as immediately as possible, but the realisation of his greatest fear –that he could be a danger to her – distorted his movements with an erratic panic. He accidentally snagged the skin of her neck with his claws; Winter screeched in pain, Tamer emitting a horrified gasp.

"Winter!" he pleaded. "I'm so sor..."

His eyes widened in horror two beads of dark blood trickle down her neck. The crimson on white mirrored his own eyes; it was like he became captivated by the sight.

Her heart began to intensify as he drew close. Goosebumps rippled over her where his breath cascaded her skin. His eyes shut as the scent of blood drafted his nostrils. She felt his lips part in the soft release of air that tickled her skin.

"Winter, you're bleeding," he muttered.

Winter's heart stopped.

"That's all right," Winter said quickly. "It was an accident, you were stressed and panicked, you didn't -"

"No, it's not all right," he replied sharply. "I was careless, those things can poison you. It's unlikely, but I have to clean the wound just to make sure."

Her stomach knotted with fear at the initial mention of poison, but the feeling boiled into anger as she realised she was doomed either way.

"And why do you care?" she said, her voice breaking, "you're just going to kill me anyway!"

He grimaced, the pain her words inflicted clear in the glisten in his eyes.

His voice softened. "This is the last thing I can do to love, heal, and care for you," he whispered with an agonised expression. Hanging his head, his nails raked across the floor with an ear-splitting screech. "Before I'm brainwashed into harming you."

Tamer got to his knees. His gaze seemed to catch on fire in the moons fearsome glow, his eyes filling with torment and red light.

"Please don't," he whispered. He bit his lip as another trickle of blood spilled from her neck. "Please don't believe that I want this. Please don't believe for one instant that this isn't utter agony for me."

A breath of his enticed the hairs of her neck as he drew in closer to her. He shut his eyes, tilting his head so his lips could fit in the small space beneath her jaw, and softly licked the blood from her skin. Winter didn't know why she'd been expecting anything else when a wolf had told her he would clean her wounds. His tongue was really soft. And warm.

Normally she wanted to lose herself in her drug and retreat to the safety his touch, but this wasn't him –or at least, it wasn't the person she thought she knew. Miraculously, his mouth made her skin heal over. He gave a deep, breathy sigh as he cleaned the remainder away with a slow rake of his tongue.

He appeared distressed by her wounds, but she couldn't tell if he simply enjoyed the taste of her blood. She pushed him away. Tamer recoiled.

"Tamer." Her pale blue eyes gazed into his own, changing the topic swiftly. "How long have you known I am to die?"

He couldn't look at her. "I didn't know until earlier," he muttered, wiping away his tears with his sleeve. "I thought we were going to get married too, you know?" He sighed and balled his fists, a tear pouring down his cheeks. "I thought this was going to be the happiest day of my life."

The statement caught her like a knife through the heart.

"Tamer, you aren't powerless," she said firmly. "You can help me escape."

"I can't." He gave a weak shake of his head. "You will never be able to understand but, as a wolf, I cannot betray the king. His law is an order; it is like mind-control – a wolf cannot defy his alpha. It is simply not within my psychical capabilities to help you under this pain just like it is not within yours to grow wings and fly."

In her fear and her denial she couldn't accept that her loved one would just stand and watch as she died. She grew enraged at it all. Tamer ended up taking the brunt of that stress, anger, and delusion.

"You're right Tamer, I don't understand," she snapped. An angry tear rolled down her cheeks as she gritted her teeth. "Because to me, it looks as though you haven't even tried. "

"Winter, I have," Tamer said lowly. "Earlier, I.."

"No you haven't!" she hissed, raising her voice. "You haven't even tried to break me out of here!"

"Winter, I can't! I can't, I can't!"

The volume of his cry made Winter flinch. A stunned silence fell. Tamer had his fingers clawed through his hair. As he looked up, frustrated tears burned in his eyes. He grit his sharp, wolfish teeth, shaking his head over as if trying to wake from a nightmare.

Winter quietened as she watched a crystal tear roll down his cheek.

"Tamer," she whispered.

"Don't look at me!" he hissed.

The sound of his sobs set Winter off. He seized his chest and began to wail. Soon hopeless tears streamed from her own eyes.

All she could do was watch.

"Tamer, help me," she pleaded. "All you need to do is untie me."

She didn't believe him that he couldn't do anything. Or at this point, perhaps it was a delusion; she just wasn't accepting that this is the end, her death at her fiance's hands. This was a nightmare but the man who made her feel secure would aid her. She'd wake up.

Awkwardly with her hands tied, she shuffled towards him.

"We can escape," she whispered. "We will run away – just like we always wanted." She smiled. "We can actually get married and love each other as much as we want. All you have to do is untie my hands."

Taner gnashed his teeth. "Do you know what happens to a village when Cerberus doesn't get his sacrifice?"

"No, I wasn't aware I was going to die until a few moments ago," she snapped.

"He will wipe the entire thing out," Tamer replied as if he hadn't heard her. On all fours he crawled towards her like a hunter on the prowl. "He will kill every single person just because he didn't get what he wanted. Could you really live with yourself knowing so many died for your single soul?"

Winter scoffed humorously. "Would I really care about a bunch of people who want me dead? They never accepted us, nor you. And they would publicly watch me die."

A gruesome smile played at his lips as he sat close to her.

"I like your thinking, love. Your soul is worth more than a thousand to me." Anger furrowed his brow, but his voice was was meek. "All they ever did was ostracise me and treat me like an animal..." He shook his head. "But even if I were able to save you, I don't know if I could live with such blood on my hands..."

"And yet, you seem to be content to live on with my blood on your hands."

Tamer's lips curled as he stared at the ground, voice but a whisper. "I don't know that I can, actually, Winter."

Winter's breath caught as she watched a tear crash to the floor.

This wasn't just about her anymore. She was worried about what he would do when she was gone, if the ostracised wolf really could live without his mate.

She had to push him. Suddenly, she was less angry about her own death but instead what would happen to Tamer if it was allowed to go though.

"I just can't accept that," Winter said. "My best friend  –my fiancé even – has known I am going to die, and he's not going to do anything about it? Everyone wants me dead and you expect me to just sit here and be quiet?"

"I can't do anything," he said firmly.

She couldn't break his heart, his mind, in letting her own death happen.

"You can try."

"You don't understand!" he shouted. "I can't!"

His volume startled her. The silence that fell was only accompanied by the sound of his panting, as if it was psychically tiring him to keep the wolf that sharpened his features at bay.

But Winter wasn't ready to give up so soon.

"Can't you at least show me something?"

She understood where he was going. He took a deep breath, this time, handling her with care. His rough hands wandered longingly over the bare skin of her arms, reminding her of familiar times where she never knew what he was and what was to come.

As his hands wandered up to cup her face, his eyes burned into hers.

"Please don't think I don't care about you," he whispered. His bottom lip wavered. "And most of all, never believe that this isn't absolute agony for me. I need you in my life so I can live on in mine."

She let him kiss her, hoping that it would remind him of what he was fighting for  – a love triumphs all scenario. That was where the desperate state of her mind was at. Believing that love could set this all straight

His tongue drew a delicate line of pleasure over her bottom lip. Her breathing hitched. When her lips parted in surprise, his fingers twisted through the ends of her hair and tugged, delving his soft tongue deeper into her mouth. Fireworks like clusters of butterflies exploded in her stomach. When she didn't refuse, he took hold of her again, kissing her  ferociously like a wolf devouring it's prey. His fingers dug into her skin with desperation.

Tamer pulled away, gazing into her eyes with a curious look in his own. Winter stared back, not sure what to say, what to feel.

Sighing, Tamer rested his head on her shoulder. He squeezed her so tightly.

The two of them were silent for what felt like an unusually long time.

"You were supposed to be my bride tonight," he whispered.

Her heart broke. Winter said nothing. She thought about what could have been.

"Do shape-shifters mate for life like ordinary wolves do?"

"I think so, yes."

"How do you know when someone is your soul-mate?"

"You don't generally. You can be strongly connected with someone without being soul-mates; there's a variety of compatible partners for everyone and there's an act that officially ties you, although some can do it without. Usually it requires a full moon to be completed; as you can see, the moon has strange effects on us."

"Just like that? It happens just suddenly like that?"

Tamer scratched his ear and looked away. "Well, no..."

"Then how?"

His face burned; his eyes averted from hers. "The act that ties you is sex. But if neither of you desire it, long times of exposure to each other can trigger the emotional side of it. Basically what we have."

"O-oh. I see..."

"Yes..."

Something occurred to Winter.
"Wait a minute. If tonight is a full moon, and tonight was going to be our wedding, does that mean that you were planning to be... like that... with me?"

Tamer's face reddened even more. Flushed, he looked away quickly.

"If it happened, I wasn't going to be unhappy about the matter. In fact, I'd be overjoyed."

She felt his love like a warm caress. Winter smiled, but her downcast eyes betrayed her sadness. Perhaps he was genuine in his words; maybe it was useless to ask for his help.

"One moment," he said, rising to his feet. He began rummaging through his pocket and pulled out what appeared to be a folded sheet of silk. "This is actually yours."

It was nearly transparent and seemed to hold a layer of something that glittered. When the fabric unfurled Winter recognised it immediately, despite the fact she'd never seen it in her life.

"Is that...?"

He nodded. "It's the veil of your wedding dress."

She ran her tied fists clumsily upon it, relishing its softness. However, the sight put a downcast expression on her face. With her options and time growing thin, all it was was a reminder of a life that could've been.

The next thing he did caught her completely off guard. Tamer took the fabric and held it between his fingers, placing it over her head, covering with it any urge she had to hurt him.

The fabric was mostly translucent, but still a shimmer of silver covered her eyes. He took her tied hands, pulling her into the direct beam of moonlight. The two of them became immersed in a silver glow. The white moonlight made Tamer seem radiant where as Winter's veil shimmered.

Tamer lifted the veil off her face, clutched her face and sealed the fake marriage with a kiss. The touch of his lips was faint, much gentler this time, as it were something fragile, but still communicated great affection.

They embraced, clinging tightly to each other as if in defiance of what was to come. She wanted that embrace to last forever.

"Winter," he whispered, slicking his hand up her back and through her hair, squeezing unbelievablely tight. "if you get the chance, please use that knife on me."

She couldn't speak, unable to process such an idea; realising then what exactly Tamer was going though when he was forced to kill her heart.

She cried into his shoulder while Tamer attempted to comfort her by circulating his hand around her back. Grasping her face, he kissed away her tears.

She wasn't sure how long they stayed like that. Embracing one final time. But after such a kiss, she wished she'd have the power never let him in her heart again.

Because it only made that moment where he unwillingly betrayed her all the more painful.

The door slammed open. Tamer quickly pulled away from her, looking alarmed. His father stood in the doorway, his brown eyes narrowed in determination and his features grim.

"It is time," the man said.

Tamer looked around frantically, seeking inspiration on what to do as if he'd never expected this moment to actually come. He remained rooted to the spot, face and body like a statue.

It was his father reaching out to grab Winter that ignited emotion; Tamer pulled her back instead, shooting a sudden glare.

"What?" His Father snapped.

The billowing wind blew the door further open bringing with it a harsh moonlight like a florescent beam. In it's glare, the blinding illumination spread red like a bloody wash through Tamer's eyes. They were glassy. He shut them, taking a deep breath and shaking his head in a feeble attempt to rid himself of the mind-control.

It failed. When he opened them again, he seemed like a different person. A lifeless machine built to follow orders.

"I'll take her," he mumbled flatly, not wanting his Father anywhere near her.

He took her hand and squeezed it; she felt him shake. She trashed and called his name, heart hammering like she was taking some sort of fit.

Tamer couldn't even look at her. From the side of his face she saw a red illuminated tear slip down his cheek.

The next thing she knew, Winter was pulled out to a world of flames and pitchforks, surrounded by a cluster masked people who wanted her dead.