Red Ridng (Closed)

[Erlind]

It wasn’t surprising that she didn’t understand. Her whole life she had been secreted away to protect her and even if she hadn’t been, this was a truth almost too incredible to believe.

“No one has lived in the village for hundreds of years Natalie. Those people weren’t wiped out though, they moved. The wolves and their mates spread out across the world hoping the world would forget who they were and eventually they themselves forgot who they were. The curse and blessing both were passed down from one generation to the next. You may have never been to that little village Natalie, but you’re tied to it. Something about you calls out to me, just like it did to Rafe, and I know.”

Dimitri was very aware of the soft young woman held against him. He listened to her breathing and could feel her heart beat. She felt so delicate in his arms, it seemed a miracle to him that Rafe hadn’t destroyed her, one way or another.

“For the longest time I thought our heightened senses let us smell something others could not, but that isn’t it. It’s something deeper than that. We’re connected in some unbreakable way, but I’m not here to force anything on you. I want to find my mate, but what I want more is to keep my girls safe. It’s what my ancestors first took this power for and I intend to fulfill their wish. I only want to keep you safe.”

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

"I guess it's possible that someone in my family's past resided there. " Natalie let her mind wander for a moment. As far as she could remember, neither her parents nor her grandmother ever told such stories. She looked up at Dimitri and gave a quick smile. It was strange that she found herself comfortable in Dimitri's hold much quicker than she had been with Rafe.

"And the hunter? How did you two meet? He mentioned you a couple of times."

 

[Erlind]

"Honestly, I'm not sure how much of the story is true and how much isn't, but I like to believe it," Dimitri admitted to her. When she asked about the hunter he found himself slightly annoyed, though at himself more than her. Regardless of his best efforts he'd never been able to learn much about the man that had acted as her father.

"We met by coincidence," the wolf explained, "I was hunting Rafe at the time and he was trying to protect you from him. I had tracked Rafe to somewhere near your home and the hunter almost shot me when he saw what I was. When I neither attacked nor retreated he realized I wasn't the same one hunting you. That short time we worked together against Rafe and for you was the only time I knew him though. Still, he was a good friend."

Dimitri had shared all he knew of the man. He'd only worked beside the hunter to get at Rafe and he felt confident that the hunter had only worked with him to protect Natalie. Otherwise, the man and his knowledge of the wolves remained a mystery to him even now. He'd been a quiet sort and had never really trusted Dimitri.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

So the hunter knew Dimitri's true nature all along? If he did, then Natalie certainly didn't read anything indicating such in the hunter's journal. Maybe she needed to read it again. If the hunter had been protective of her over wolves, why didn't he bring up the fact that he befriended the exact creature he despised?

She noticed Dimitri being slightly miffed. Perhaps Natalie was asking too many questions. She stayed silent for a moment, looking over the shelves and the rest of the office's interior.

"So...um...did you want to know anything about me?"

 

[Erlind]

"You're a beautiful young woman that has spent her life too alone. You recently escaped a monster to a place you can feel safe. You had a man that acted as your father and cared for you greatly before another man killed him and took you as his own to treat like garbage. You've spent your life in the forest and apparently are an excellent cook. I've known you and cared for you your whole life. What more is there for me to know, Natalie?"

The older man pulled Natalie against him as he spoke and when he finished he looked down into her beautiful eyes and kissed her. The kiss was soft and not too long, still the wolf wondered if his lupine brother had damaged her too much to let her enjoy it.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

Not all the memories with Rafe were bad ones. There were good moments shared but as her mind lingered on to the times of punishment and Rafe's constant loss of control caused her to frown. Somehow, the negative outweighed the positive memories she could remember.

Natalie was caught off guard by the kiss. Blushing, she scooted a little away from Dimitri as she tried to make sense of what just happened. The kiss pulled her back from lingering on the thoughts of Rafe.

Rafe.

Her feelings about the kiss bounced from confusion, surprise, and even flattery. A sense of guilt hung over her as instinct made her fear on what would happen if Rafe found out that another guy had kissed her, let alone someone he knew.

She scooted back to her original position, smiled and looked up at Dimitri, unable to hide the fact that his kiss caused her to blush.

"I'm sorry, Dimitri. I...I didn't see that coming."

 

[Erlind]

Dimitri loved the reaction he caused in his new girl. The way she had to overcome the instincts Rafe had instilled in her proved to him that she might make a good plaything after all. Her blush betrayed an innocence he assumed must have been destroyed long ago. Rafe must have put her through some brutal things, but somehow she had retained a spark of innocence, it was beautiful.

“You’re a beautiful young woman, Natalie,” the wolf told her gently as he swept dark strands of hair behind her ear, “are you surprised a man would want to kiss you?” Lips met her ear and gave a gentle kiss before continuing low suggestive whispers.

“You’re a free woman now, Natalie, able to pursue anything you want. Tell me what you want. Tell me what wants twist deep inside you, so I can grant them.”

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

“Are you surprised a man would want to kiss you?”

"I-it's not that Dimitri. Well...maybe. It's just the last time a man ever spoke to me---"

But Dimitri left her no room to speak as he dragged his lips on her ear. Natalie couldn't help but feel like melting whenever he would whisper to her in that manner. While Rafe often used a controlling and threatening approach, something about Dimitri's method made the moment much sensual.

A part of her felt a bit conflicted. Dimitri was the hunter's acquaintance. Although he was younger than him, the situation itself was a bit strange.

Her fingers slowly ran through his hair. She shifted her seating position so she was facing him.

"Teach me how to not be afraid." She whispered with a slight quiver.

 

[Erlind]

"Alright, I will," he promised her softly. Dimitri leaned in and kissed her again, but this time it was nothing brief. He found her lips and met them in something utterly sensual that seemed to go on and on. Something about Natalie did entice Dimitri in a way he had not found in the other girls. They were all unique, but something about Natalie set her apart and the wolf wanted to know what it was. If that meant patience and a facade of caring he was more than willing.

A soft whisper followed when the kiss finally ended, "Climb into my lap, Natalie. However you feel comfortable, but I need you close for this." The words were a gentle command, not meant to cause fear, but unquestionable.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

Another kiss. Natalie thought that this kiss, too, will be brief. But the longer the kiss went on, Natalie found herself enjoying it. From his hair, she stroked down his face with her fingers. It was slowly getting easier for her to forget that Dimitri was an acquaintance of the hunter's . When he pulled away, she looked up at him, her fingers still on his face.

For a moment, she was curious and a little cautious on what Dimitri was going to do to her. She scooted until her shoulder touched his. Her legs stretched out on and rested on his lap like a foot rest. She rested her head on his shoulder with her eyes still on him.

"What are you going to do?"

 

[Erlind]

“I’m going to teach you,” he told her smiling softly as he did. It was both a truth and a lie wrapped up in something else.

“I just want you to focus on me, Natalie,” he instructed her calmy. He ran his hand along her hair almost like she was a pet.

“I want you to forget about everything else for a little bit. Forget about Rafe and your life before now. Forget the manor. Forget the other girls. Forget the room we’re in and even this couch. I want you to push everything else out of your mind and just focus me.”

Dimitri kept his voice soft and lulling, almost hypnotic as he spoke. His hand found her back and gently rubbed trying to make her as calmed and relaxed as he could. The beast inside of him wanted so much more, but Dimitri knew if she could forget her fear then it could have all it ever wanted from her.

"Can you do that for me?"

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

How was this therapy session going to help Natalie? Maybe Dimitri used similar tactics towards the other women that came before him. Remembering the other women in the manor, maybe she too would eventually come out a little better than what was.

When Dimitri asked for her to focus on him only, Natalie wondered how she would be able to pull it off, especially wirth Rafe. Rafe, who's unstable feelings often had her cowering. She couldn't help but slack a little while Dimitri massaged her. Alongside his soothing voice, she hoped this unusual feeling of bliss will not cease anytime soon.

"I can try."

Relaxing under his caress , Natalie slowly began to cleasr her mind. Thoughts of the cook, the other women, and the events slowly pushed its way to an uninmportant. Thoughts of today, the manor, and the roof faded away. When Rafe entered her thoughts, she cringed a little. It took a while than the others but thanks to Dimitri, she was able to clear her mind off of Rafe for the time being.

Memories of her past life, the forest, then the hunter...they too soon were cleared.

She looked up at Dimitri, concentrating on him.

 

[Erlind]

Dimitri watched her as she let the world wash away from her to instead be filled with him. For all the young woman had been through somehow she retained a beautiful innocence to her. The wolf ran his hand along her back and listened to her breath calmed himself by how focused she was on him in this moment.

“Natalie, I told you the story I did, because I wanted you to know in your heart that I am here to protect you. I need to know something though. Here with me tonight, so focused on me, are you feeling any doubt or fear? You can trust me.”

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

She didn't answer right away. Her eyes shifted slightly to avoid directly gazing at Dimitri. Natalie rolled her tongue around inside of her mouth, reluctant that the words that would come out of her mouth may offend him.

"Yes." She replied in a shaky voice.

Knowing that he was going to expect an explanation, she added, "I'm afraid for the day you will lose yourself to your beastly instincts and try to kill me."

 

[Erlind]

She struck at the core of everything with those words. Those scant scared words from such an innocent youth tore him down inside. Dimitri fought with everything he had to retain control. The damn was breaking and a flood was coursing in him with no place it could go. The man that had been so composed nearly all his life took a sharp breath and looked away from her. No one had ever cut so deep with anything other than Miranda. A day and a glance and she knew who he was. Every other was too lost in their own fears and by the time they realized they were his and could not stray.

“We don’t have to be like that. I don’t have to be … I thought I could help you, but I can’t. Tens years doting at my side and you would still hold that fear in you.” A stark realization. He should have never taken in someone who understood what it meant to be a beast. Rafe had done more than scar her, he had taught her. The wolf stroked her hair as if it might provide some small comfort to her in the face of what came next.

“Your fear will spread to them. They will see it in you. I’m sorry Natalie, but while that thought of me finally ending your life lingers you cannot stay here. I know Rafe. He will find you and he will take you until you are no more.” Dimitri didn’t move. It was taking all he had not to tear into the girl this very moment. Her dead carcass so soon would be impossible to obfuscate. The other girls would all die or scatter. If he remained a man at all he would have to start again.

So, on the surface, the wolf remained cool and calm with Natalie in his lap. Raven haired beauty sat in the clutches of a beast yet to be.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

She realized a bit too late just how hurtful those words came out. While Natalie did not intend to offend Dimitri, it dawned on her soon after that she had insulted him. After all, he didn't take advantage of her when he brought her to his home.

Natalie hung her head low in shame, especially at his comment that if she continued to hold on to that fear, then she couldn't stay. He was right. Even more so, where will she end up going? Chances are that if she left, Rafe will find and kill her. Psychological fear of wolves since childhood had forced her to believe that all wolves are created equal and were out for the kill.

Maybe this time it will be different.

But she saw the look on Dimitri's face. Although he didn't appear angry, Natalie was always taught that it's not so much of the face that conveys feelings but the eyes.

Silence.

She was not sure what to say at first. Will it only instigate more trouble?

Natalie slowly climbed on to Dimitri's lap, leaned up against him, then wrapped her arms around him in a hug.

"I'm very sorry, Dimitri," she whispered. "I just wanted to stop being afraid."

Natalie ran her fingers through his hair before she buried her face on his shoulder. She loosened her arms a little in case he wanted her to leave or get off of him.

 

[Erlind]

Dimitri take a deep calming breath and then grinned while her face was buried in his shoulder. Natalie’s outburst gave the wolf a thought. He gently patted her back and held the girl. Then the wolf began slipping dark dangerous whispers into his prize’s ear.

“Hush. Hush. If that is your only desire, little girl, then there is a way. You have to decide right now or I have to send you away. There can be no hesitation in you. The only way I can have you in my home now is without fear. If I let myself be consumed and you willingly stayed to be prey for that beast then I would know your place in my house. I protect people, no matter how far I’ve gone, that has always remained true. I can’t promise you won’t be hurt, but I would never take your life.”

Dimitri released his hold on Natalie and putting his hands on her shoulders to guide her he pushed her back so he could see her face again. It felt good to see such a desperate face. He felt more in control now, but that might have simply been the knowledge that one way or another that hunger would soon be sated.

“There is a key on my desk. Take it and either lock me in alone or lock us in together. Either way this fear in my house ends tonight.”

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

When Dimitri pushed her away, Natalie was almost tempted to cling on, thinking he wanted her to get out. But when he mentioned the key on his desk, she slowly got up to retrieve it.

"Take it and either lock me in alone or lock us in together. Either way this fear in my house ends tonight.”

Not once did she look back at Dimitri as she was lost in her own thoughts and the position she was in. She wanted the fear to be gone, something that Rafe often fed off from her. There is a good chance at some point that she will end up encountering Rafe again. If that happens, Natalie didn't want to cower in fear.

She stood by the door with her hand on the doorknob. A part of her recalled the memories she shared with him that almost made her wish she could go back.

But those memories were clouded with a lot of bad ones. Her first encounter with him after the hunter died...how he tricked her and subjected her to rape.

She opened the door, then slammed it shut out of her own anger. She used the key to lock both of them in. Returning the key to his desk, she sat on the edge of the surface.

 

[Erlind]

Dimitri watched his new trophy lock them in, giving herself over to him. He crossed the room, stalking her like prey until he stood against her at the desk. Gently his left hand found her cheek and he kissed her ear.

“Such a brave young woman,” he told her, but as his left caressed her cheek, Dimitri’s right hand was becoming covered in fur. Soon a powerful clawed hand slammed into the desk next to his Natalie, carving deep gashes in the before unblemished wood. He pinned her there, kept her there as he changed.

The powerful man grew. Coarse fur grew to cover his skin. His teeth changed, sharpening. Elegant clothes began to tear and split under swelling muscles and hulking frame. Dimitri clawed at the shredded remains of cloth that clung to him, tearing away the last illusions of the civilized. His head reared back and let a howl into the night, a howl everyone would hear. When his eyes centered back on her, the brown and white of his eyes bled into only yellow and black. The last of the façade that he was a man was gone. He was an animal. He was a beast. Dimitri was a wolf.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

She tilted her head sligthly to the side to rest on his hand. Natalie did not notice that he was in the process of changing in to his beastly form until he slammed his right hand near her. His claws managed to go through part of her dress, keeping her in place.The sudden action caught her by surprise.

Natalie watched as Dimitri changed in to a wolf. There was not much she could do except wonder and anticipate what will happen next.

Her hand slowly reached out and scratched behind Dimitri's ear as a means to try to calm him down.Or at least she hoped.

 

[Erlind]

It had not been this way with any of the other girls except possibly Miranda. Every time one of them encountered Dimitri as a wolf his actions were deliberate and controlled. He would act to hurt them and put them in their place or pleasure them as reward for their behavior. Not matter how wild the encounter may have seemed to them Dimitri’s actions were calculated. Even with Miranda, almost every time while the actions were often motivated by baser emotions they were carefully weighed and chosen. Natalie was different.

The wolf carefully eyed the girl’s hand as it reached up to his head. He bared his teeth and started to growl, but stopped when she actually began scratching his ear. The beast almost smiled and a low happy growl could be heard in the room. He leaned his head into her hand. As she scratched, a heavy clawed hand slowly found her chest. Black claws sunk into her dress until they pushed through and into the bare flesh beneath. There was no malice or rage, the wolf did not even watch her shoulder as his claws broke the skin beneath her dress and slowly sank in creating shallow wounds to rest in.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

As she ran her fingers down from his ear to his neck, a sharp pain shot through her shoulder. She let out a shriek, afraid to move in case his claws ripped more in to her flesh. Her fingers grabbed tight on his neck. Though it was not strong enough to choke him, her fingernails dug in to his flesh. Never in her life had she had something like this happen to her. The closest was when she had been scratched by Rafe's claws when she was a child.

"It hurts," she whispered, referring to the pain in her shoulder.

 

[Erlind]

The wolf was about to growl at her for clamping her nails into his neck when Dimitri smelled blood. He looked down and realized what he had just done. If it had been malicious or even out of anger the owner of the manor would have felt no remorse, but this had been an actual accident. Allowing instinct to guide him, he’d torn into his little prize without meaning to. Slowly Dimitri slipped his claws from her flesh. She was really hurt, but stopping now could be worse than just having her body injured.

“I know,” he told her and while his voice was a deep snarl there was a softer almost sad quality to it. Slowly and carefully Dimitri pulled back from her, mindful not to make things any worse. The wolf turned away from her.

“I’ve hurt many people even my girls, and killed those that threaten us. All of those actions were deliberate and calculated though. I don’t like being out of control like this.” Losing this girl was a personal failure to Dimitri. All his life he’d done whatever was called for no matter how unseemly to take what he deserved. All he needed to do was to loosen the reins for one night, a few hours, and he would have this too. Worst of all, there was still a primal part of him that didn’t want to stop.

 

[Lyssa_Marie]

The fact that Dimitri didn't like to lose control and give in to the beast struck Natalie. Even so, she was quite conflicted on how she could help comfort Dimitri. If she gave in to complete submission to him, who knows what his wolf side would do to her. Maybe the wolf side would kill her while Dimitri's human side wouldn't be aware.

Still, she knew she couldn't change him or get rid of the beast entirely. The best thing she could possibly do is tame or calm the beast enough.

Something she had no idea of how to do.

Natalie reached for Dimitri's hand. She leaned forward and planted a few kisses on top before she kept her hold on it.

"It was an accident." Natalie said about her shoulder. "I think you didn't mean to do it."

 

[Erlind]

The feeling of her soft lips giving gentle kisses to the back of the very hand that had just torn into her filled Dimitri with a strange warm feeling. Natalie was so fragile next to him, but she was still so brave and that made him feel like everything might be alright. Suddenly her words shattered that feeling.

“I don’t make mistakes,” he bellowed, swiftly turning on her with eyes alight with fury, “Accidents aren’t allowed to happen! If I can kill a man by accident does that keep it from being murder? If I truly lost myself to the beast and destroyed everything I’d worked so hard to achieve, does it all come back because I didn’t mean it? I’ve watched Rafe become so lost he spent years where I’m not even sure he knew he was a man. There is too much at stake for accidents for me, little girl.”

Dimitri advanced on her, physically forcing her back as he screamed and snarled at her until she was pushed back against the desk. The wolf was furious, but the part that didn’t make sense to him was she should already know all of this.

“You know all of this already, Natalie. You’ve seen what someone like me is capable of. How are you able to trust me with yourself?”