☪Even in the darkness, all I see are the stars☪

His immediate response was one of the negative. A repetitive series of two single syllable words where one was the immediate response, and the other was an emphatic. But even though in that moment he was so certain of the truth, so utterly certain he could not and would not have ever done such a thing as to rape another, only moments later he was pleading with his own mind, insisting that he would never… and there was doubt. There was that single, yet powerful seed of doubt that was crackling and weakening his defenses, hammering himself with questions, and even concerns that they might be the truth. Each second, she could see horror and fear across his face - something she had never suspected for him to feel, and it was then that she wondered with her there was something wrong with him -bsomething like her mother which caused him to question his own memories. Is that why he was so easily giving in to the thought?

But more importantly for Brie, if both of her parents had multiple personality syndrome… Didn’t that bode poorly for her as well? Not that that was important in the current moment, but it would most certainly be important later…

And then he was lunging at her, knocking her to the ground whether he meant to or not. She let loose a little shrill shriek of surprise and stuffed her tail as far as it could between her back legs, crumbling into a little heap of a ball - a reflex from when she was still Draven‘s plaything. And then he snarled at her as he sharply stuck his snout into her thick coat at her nape, and inhaled. She could feel her individual hairs being pulled on by his breath, and all she could do was whimper. Whimper and tremble underneath his touch. She knew that he would find no perfume other than her own - but would that work for or against her story? As the fear crept across the hessian’s face, she knew that he believed her, that he had done this terrible act, violated her in incredulous and horrific ways. And she whimpered again, but this time from guilt - she had no choice in the matter, but she still regretted having having been forced to hurt her own father. And now he thought that he had had sex with her… Which was only not as bad as it could be because he did not know that he was Brie’s father. If he had, or rather, when he found that out, it would be all the worse…

And then her whimpering was ceased by his own guttural snarls and gasps for breath. It was the strangest sound she had ever heard - halfway between a sob, a dying animals last breath, and a war cry. It was all of these things, and yet none of them. And it frightened the fuck out of her. And then he asked her how many times he had taken her. She shook her head but outstretched one of her paws so that would make a single paw print in the gritty sand in front of her. Just once. Once had been all that Draven had taken her… Only then, without her realizing it, she kept making more, and more paw prints in the sand. For her thought had been both incorrect and correct - Draven had taken her innumerable times… it was only this time that it had only been once. Now it was Brie‘s time to gasp for air, and she swept her paw across the sand, wiping clean the slate and hiding her account. Her gaze would not even raise to meet his, she was too ashamed, but she knew that he would register it as fear, pain, betrayal.

It was the sound of his jaw snapping shut that finally pulled her lavender irises toward him, focusing on him as he pulled his own teeth from the flesh of his limb, and blood began to flow freely down his forearm. She gasped, not understanding why he had done this, how he could have done this to himself. But to counter her confusion, Kershov became oddly calm, focused, stern. It was only two more words that fell from his lips, a promise, a vow, and an apology all summed up in four syllables, two words, one sentence.

‘Never again.’

Hesitantly, she stood to her paws, shaking. “It was not… It was not my first time.” It was something stupid to say - of course it was not her first time, and he knew it. He had walked in on her and Rogan, the rape that wasn’t a rape. She shook her head and then shrugged. “I guess I should… I should say… It is my norm? The few weeks here have been bliss . After all it used to happen a few times a day to me. And now?… It may sound pathetic to you… But I am relieved, if only because it has happened exponentially less frequently. I cannot say that I do not fear you, because I do. But what can I expect? This is all that I have ever known.” She wiped at her face to dry off some of the tears, and then turned her head toward the inward part of the pack, toward the ocean. “Now that you are yourself… Can you help me clean? I am too stiff and sore now to do it all myself.”

Ω Briseis Ω Chained to Draven Ω Infiltrative Spy of Uyaraut Ω Azura ΩTable Credit to Xathira