Beauty was ripe within the beast. The moonlight made Tamer's skin glow with an angelic etherealism, but the red in his eyes was the most dominant she'd seen all night. He stepped aside, revealing the lines of fire that blazed upon the path before her, and together they began walking what looked like a boulevard straight to Hell.

The sound of the flames crackling rode under the hollow howl of the wind. Smoke consumed the frost-bitten trees and made her lungs, already exhausted from screaming, hack.

"Tamer!" she pleaded, finding herself tumbling to the ground as she resisted his pull. He never even flinched at her cries; her white wedding dress became smeared in dirt as he began dragging her across the forest floor. "Tamer, no! What the hell are you doing?!"

There wasn't any light in Tamer's eyes. They were vacant and soulless as he trudged forward, like a machine obeying orders. Purely a stranger inhabiting her partner's body.

Even if she could free herself from his brutal grip, a crowd of spectators lurked in the shadows to force her back on path. She simply couldn't believe this was real. Tamer, her mother -- everyone was responsible for the part they played in her murder. This was worse than nightmare material; this was a scene that could only be concocted by the devil himself.

"You monsters!" she hissed between sobs. "You fucking monsters! Tamer, I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

Her throat hurt from screaming. The journey lasted long enough for her entire soul to be ripped out of her fight, for her eyes to become glassy, deadpan with the consecutive blows that had been dealt upon her heart. She walked like a zombie through the black-heart of the forest, soon exhausting herself. Pain numbed her entire body until she could barely even feel Tamer's trembling grasp around her own.

A ghostly wolf face faded into sight as the black smoke shrouding the trees parted. Her feet stuck to the ground as a quiet gasp of horror escaped her, only for her to then realise it was a mask. The further they ventured, the more common they became. They began to follow like ghosts, clutching their bows tightly, as if itching for to use them the moment Tamer stepped out of line.

Soon, she could hear them whispering. In front of her, Tamer's face hardened. They were but a murmur to her, but his ultra-sensitive hearing most-definitely picked them up.

"I heard she's the wolf boy's... Well, if he's a wolf, does that make her a mate?"

They laughed.

"An hour into his punishment, when the moon began to rise, the boy screamed that everything was a lie. He did it to try and free her from the ceremony."

Winter's wide-eyes flickered to Tamer's back. She could see the wounds on his bare back underneath the cloak he'd pulled on. The blood of the punishment he had taken for her was still sleek and fresh in the hellish glow of the flames.

"Supposedly, they've been friends since they were children. They're so self-absorbed they'd kill us all if it wasn't for the Wolf King's spell."

"How ironic. God really does hate wolves."

A low growl vibrated in Tamer's throat. Those trembles were growing violent. That desperate grip, as if fearful of letting go, nipped into her skin as claws curled like knives from his fingertips.

Tamer stopped dead in his tracks.

"Shut the hell up." His red eyes trailed pointedly across the crowd, lip curling to reveal deadly fangs as he snarled, "if it is a beast you all want, then I'm all too happy to comply!"

His father stepped up behind him, eyes dark like a void.

"Tamer," he warned.

In no circumstances did she think she'd see the day when Tamer retaliated against his Father. But it seemed the sometimes meagre Tamer was at his limit, as if battling a shift at every instance like a wolf within was gnawing at his insides.

He reacted like a cornered animal. More than anger, he responded with panic-driven fear as his Father laid his hand upon his shoulder. Droplets of blood soared through the air as he tore his claws over his father's face. The man wretched with pain, blinking in disbelief as blood poured down the wrinkles in his palm.

"You little...!"

Tamer's eyes narrowed. Even his father could sense his tolerance growing thin -- it was a death wish to challenge a wolf under the light of the full moon.

"You're a lot smaller than I seem to remember you being growing up," Tamer said coldly. Winter had seen some brutal things between him and Tamer as a child. Now that she knew what he was, she was almost waiting for the moment he realised the power balance had shifted, that he could easily tear the man to pieces.

She heard those armed steady their bow. There was no real reaction from Tamer. She wondered if he truly cared anymore, even in such florescent moonlight, there still wasn't a single sparkle of life within his eyes. Yet, he did eventually grow aggressive from their stares, beginning to pace like a starved lion.

He wore the wounds he'd taken for her like a medal. No normal human would even be conscious after such a beating. A few of the archers gave a nervous tremble; she wondered if this group of twelve or so people was truly the advantage it sounded like.

His father's eyes widened with a fearful kind of awe. He watched the light rip from Tamer's clawed fingertips. It wasn't so much the fear of a man faced with a dangerous beast, but more like the realisation of a man with a vengeful god staring him down.

"Don't entertain them. Don't you dare make me regret allowing you to live, Tamer," his father said lowly. "We need you to complete the ceremony. You are no wolf. You are at risk if we do not comply to Cerberus' demands just the same as everyone else. Don't you dare prove them right in what they say about you."

Heavy, ragged breaths tore from Tamer's chest. Winter begged him to snap - any defiance on his part was good for her - but the boy pulled a dark cloak over his bare shoulders, head tilted into the ground.

"Tamer," she begged, her blue eyes desperate with tears.

"Tamer!" his father warned.

"Don't push me, I'm warning you," Tamer said quietly. "My tolerance has completely gone. Watch what happens when I stop playing the victim."

The father's voice was low, but still somehow managed to capture the ears of everyone in the woods.

"You heard the boy!" he hissed.

The arrows were withdrawn reluctantly. Perhaps desperate to hold her one final time, or maybe just irked at her slowness in her movement-restricting clothes, forcibly Tamer gathered her body up in his arms. She hissed and kicked, already feeling humiliated enough as, rather ironically, he lifted her into a bridal carry.

He trembled as he walked. Was it conforming to be held like this, or was it just plain insult, the picture of irony itself? She wondered if it was less about control and simply the desire to hold her. She knew something was amiss when he stopped. She could feel it in the air, the tension; the electrical surge of anticipation from the crowd that breathed chilling goosebumps up her arms. Pressed against his chest, she could hear Tamer's heart now beating as frantically as her own.

His eyes widened. Winter twisted her head to follow his gaze, and immediately, her stomach churned.

A gigantic wooden tower stabbed the sky before them. So tall it was built that it touched the moon's sinister face, its tip shrouded in darkness as black smoke spiralled around it. Two flaming torches stood on either side.

It didn't take a genius to figure out they planned to burn her alive in that thing.

"No," she said. Pure animalistic fear consumed her and a suffocating feeling constricted her lungs. She grit her teeth, feeling the sheathed knife press against her thigh. She couldn't get it out without him noticing like this, nor did she have any idea what would happen after, but she couldn't simply lie down and take this.

"This is barbaric!" she howled.

She trashed and kicked, pushing her tired limbs to their limits. But Tamer didn't even notice. It was like the tower called to the wolf within him. His red eyes were fixated to the heavens, too sinister and bestial to be his own. The orange glow of the traverse flames ignited his features in a hellish light.

His movements were slow, nearingly robotic as if he were possessed like a force bigger than himself magnetised him toward the tower.

She doubted Tamer was even listening as his father's voice rumbled around him. She hardly was too. She acknowledged the sound but did not process the words. The pathway of fire that surrounded them bit and scorched her skin even at a distance. She didn't want to think about the agony that would ensue as it burned her alive.

"As a sacrifice to a make-shift God, she can't have a partner to put it nicely," the father said, low but gentle as he placed his hand on Tamer's shoulder. "As such, you need to sever any feelings you have for each other, Tamer."

The reflection of the flames danced in Tamer's eyes. "You mean I have a choice in the matter?"

The sound of arrows being reached for murmured throughout the forest.

"I would not perceive it as such," his father warned. "You will be killed if you disobey, and she will still be sacrificed anyway. The only difference is if you disobey and the king does not get the sacrifice he wants, we will all be killed. Incase she truly is your soul-mate, you must reject her. At this point, it could likely be the case as your obedience to the king's orders is shaky at best. The only instance where a wolf can disobey his king is if it contradicts with the will of his mate - that, or an order from the wolf queen. But since you are not in what you would consider a fully-fledged relationship, your emotions are all over the place. Thus, you cannot fully obey either. I have done my research on your kind. You can achieve a literal tearing of your souls by biting her for each year of your life you've known her, then all spiritual and emotional ties will be severed."

Tamer gazed down at Winter, his brow creased heavily. Winter said nothing. It took her all her might to cast the most hate-filled gaze back at him she could muster, as if seeing the hatred in her eyes would change his mind.

"Why don't you?" she whispered. "Perhaps this way at least one of us can end the night without a broken heart."

Tamer hung his head to the ground, letting shadow immerse his features. "You might as well ask me to tear my body in two. It would be far less painful than what you currently ask."

"Tamer, she is as good as dead either way!" his father snapped. "Either way, you are going to end this night in heartbreak, so you might as well get it over and done with!"

Pleading wasn't working. So she began to taunt him instead. Winter raised her head to whisper in his ear, "the pain you inflict as my lover is far greater than any pain you could inflict as my enemy." Her lips curled into a snarl. "Perhaps it is time you put me out of my misery and end this delusion you call love. Go on. Just kill me already!"

The elongated fangs her words gave birth to in Tamer proved she'd enraged him - just like she'd intended. He clenched his jaw, angry tears filling his eyes.

"You're right," he whispered. "Every moment you're alive is a moment you're in pain because of me." He glared back at his father. "I'll be doing this round the back of the tower where no one can see. I've been humiliated enough -- no one needs to bare witness to this."

Reluctantly, all his Father could do was nod.

The moonlight laid a silver aisle on the ground for them to walk, and Tamer carried her down the world's most hellish wedding aisle.

Tamer was a renowned hunter, and Winter finally understood the look in an animal's eyes right before he plunged a knife through its heart. She felt the rawest, most panicked form of fear of fear she'd ever felt in her life. Her heart was beating a hundred miles a minute, as if trying to fit in an entire lifetime's worth in the final moments she had left.

"Beasts," she whispered, manic tears spilling from her eyes. "Beasts. I curse you all. I curse you all to Hell!"

Before she knew it, she was pushed against the tower by Tamer. Roughly half his size and a fraction of his strength, he could be forgiven for underestimating her. He undid her hands, pressing her with his body so she couldn't escape. Only for a second did he drop his guard when moving her so she could be slipped into the shackles of her would-be gravestone.
But it was a second that would cost him dearly; Winter didn't know where the speed had come from -- it was as if she was possessed by adrenaline.

She seized the knife around her thigh and plunged it through his heart. Just like he'd asked.

It was feeble to expect that to kill him in the full moon. Knowing there was no chance of escape, more than anything, it was simply to fight back.

It would have killed any ordinary human. But then again, Tamer was no ordinary human. She was about to learn how godly, or perhaps down right bestial, he truly was.

His eyes widened as blood spewed from his chest. The lull, however, was only momentarily. In a sudden eruption of silver, he drew the strength of the moonlight; a static glow collected where his blood flowed. Winter screamed with horror as the wound began to heal over the knife. She knew he was going to be strong, but nothing like this. He hit it out of her hands and pushed her against the tower, pinning her arms.

Those eyes weren't his. Tamer was completely under someone else's control. Tears streamed down his cheeks endlessly, a picture of his true self caught mangled within the maw of the wolf. His chest rose and fell rapidly as his fangs grew to the longest they had been all night.

Seemingly unable to look at the betrayal on her face a moment longer, tears splattered from Tamer's eyes as he shook his head.

He sunk his fangs into her shoulder.

Warm blood blossomed on her skin. Sure, it hurt, but that wasn't the source of her pain, the bite wasn't too deep considering -- bloodloss wasn't going to be the end of her. Images of her and Tamer's first meeting flashed in her mind. A small white pup politely sitting before her as she ate at her sandwich. A tear rolled down her cheek -- she hadn't even known that that was Tamer. Then it filtered away, like sand between her fingers. It took her a moment to realise that it wasn't the memories she was losing, but all emotion behind them. Any feelings of affection, even as mild as they were as the first bite only signified the first year of their lives, became eradicated. 

The next bite came far more agonising than the first. A young boy hiding in the foliage, steadying her arm as she aimed her bow at a pigeon. The further the years went on the more intense their feelings for each other became, so it was only natural that with each bite that signified each year, the pain would become more intense. The flashbacks were a garbled mess of her soothing a crying young Tamer with a bruised face and then one of him smiling.

Finally, she caught an image of her and Tamer sneaking a first kiss beyond a glittering lake, and she let loose a gutteral scream. Colours flashed before her eyes and blood poured from her lips.

She twitched. Pain. All there was was pain. Pain, pain, pain, and the withering warmth of a dying love.

It took time. Ungodly amounts of time. An eternity of torture within her final moments.

No one she didn't care about could hurt her this much. She recalled Tamer once saying that a mate-bond was when you shared a piece of your soul with your partner. The pain she felt from being ripped apart from him could only be equal to that of a being who shared the same heart, the same soul, being ripped in two.

Tamer may have barely flinched when she stabbed him, but when that twelfth bite came, he cried as though a stake had been drove directly through his heart. He withdrew, clutching his chest. Tears spilled from Winter's eyes. She felt as though she herself was about to go into cardiac arrest.

It was long since had they forgotten about the existence of the others around the back. The process was so painful that it had taken forty minutes for them to get to this point. It was equally as painful to listen too.

"Tamer," she whispered hoarsely, blood and drool rolling from her lips. She'd long since forgotten about the sacrifice. In her eyes, this was a far greater torture than being burned alive could ever be. "I can't..."  Her voice was weak. She didn't have much strength left, not because of the state of her body, but the state of her soul being slowly torn from his.

Eyes rolling upwards to the moon above them, it's light was almost energising. The more she looked at it, the less pain she felt. It sparked something within her; a warm, energising heat glowing within her stomach.

Just then, the white roses upon her flower crown began to shine. They withered away to a sparkling light that vanished into her temples.

The words pouring out her lips didn't even feel like her own. Some kind of magic was gushing through her veins; she was speaking in a voice that wasn't hers, layered and powerful like a spell.

"Stop this. Now. Please."

"W-Winter?" Tamer breathed.

Her eyes flashed a luminous silver. She scowled. "Listen to me."

Locking eyes with her, Tamer started as a spark of life returned to his own.

"Who...?" The red in his eyes diluted as he returned to his former self. He glanced around with some confusion, clutching at his chest. Suddenly, he began rasping. "I feel so hollow. So wrong. So empty inside..."

His eyes widened at the blood on her neck.

"No," he whispered, the panic in his voice rising. He wiped the blood away from his mouth and shut his eyes, licking her wounds in a desperate manner, like a young animal trying still trying to revive to a dead relative. "Come back to me. Please. I feel so lonely with your soul nearly gone from my own. I didn't realise what I had in you until it's almost gone... "

Tamer gasped. Suddenly, those vacant eyes erupted with golden light. Winter's eyes widened as something electrical surged through the air; it made goosebumps rise on her skin like someone had breathed life into her wounded soul.

"That's right," Tamer said. Fire danced in his eyes; instead the flames of something reviving. "It took my soul nearly completely separating from yours for me to realise, but maybe we're... meant to be."

His shaking grew more violent by the moment.

"Tamer?"

"What am I doing?" he asked, dragging his hands down his face. "What was I thinking? I don't care if Cerberus slaughters a million people. You're the other half of my soul, the most important part of my life. They don't care about me, so why should I care about them? No one else has ever cared. How did it even get this far?"

His pupils dilated. "I don't know what you did but I think... I think I can stop now."

Hope lifted Winter's heart.

"If you can bare the blood on your hands as well as mine, then... "

His upper-lip curled, baring stark white fangs. "Just give me the order and I'll save you or die trying."