It hadn’t been enough, had it? It was hard to tell for that creeping fog was still felt to linger at the edges of a mind. That aggression - a wolf’s ferality far from vanquished as it snarled relentlessly in his ears. An unending echo though this poison granted some small reprieve. Temporary submission that left one room to think, to wonder and hope that this twas not some cruel trick. Deep within there was trust that the herbalist had spoken true but with it came doubt. Had it all been a lie? Surely it was not meant to be this way. Surely the beast’s reigns were to be held much more tightly.

This wasn’t right. It couldn’t be. But it grew ever harder to focus, to dwell upon the wrongs as a body fought so violently to reject all that lay consumed.

Blood and bile painted the floor. Wolven chest heaving in desperation to gain decent breath between each fit where nothing more lay able to fall from slackened jaws discolored by remnants of that bitter tincture. One which tinted saliva in purplish hue as strands dripped freely from teeth and lolling tongue. Just how much of it had been absorbed? How much coursed through the hound’s veins before a moon could seize hold? Answers the goat did not hold but he could not ignore the near electric sensation that traced over skin, a persistent tingle that one could not shake as it collected upon the touch of forced expulsion.

August could only pray the dawn came quickly, that this was merely something to ride out until the morning light. But so long as this stole away the gnawing dread of a wolf, the terror of possibilities, it would all be worth. Though already did he hold regret. The usual excuses had not fallen from his tongue, work had not stolen him away - perhaps upon the vain hope that this would have worked better. That a mind would be wholly his own rather than still facing the razor’s edge. All he’d asked was that she remain in her room. Claims of unease issued from his tongue though could give her no reasons as to why.

He should have forged some lie. Made an excuse in hopes of convincing her not to stray despite having free roam of the estate any other night. He should have requested that Ajax take her away from this place. Bring her to the cathedral, to the safety of another’s home, bring her anywhere but here. Tell her he was sick, that it was all for the best. Tell her something, anything she may believe so long as she did not risk an encounter with a monster. For that is what he was, there was no other description proper for one who could not control their own mind.

And yet the hound could not find solace in what should have been said. He knew her to linger within these walls and one could only pray she did not wake. That the scrapping of claws against the tile did not shriek too loudly whenever fingers curled, that the air around her room would not be tainted by wolvish whines as that overwhelming discomfort surged anew. ‘Just stay in your room.’ A plea she would never hear aloud as it echoed on repeat in his thoughts.

Mr August? Fearful curiosities cast from the down hall brought a heart to sink. Alarm quick to fill the gleam of a creature’s rosen hues even as instinct bid them to stare. Quiver in a fight to find fixation against the cloud of toxins, dancing with an ever gnawing dread excitement that that voice would come within reach. Possibility flooded his thoughts, it brought ears to pull back in agitation, resentment of self before talons would peel from the floor. For while one mind may fret that of a beast stirred in its own desires, the thrill of a hunt denied only by that which combated it now.

All that fought against the rush, aggression dulled only by the poison forcing it into submission. Deadly traces of ferality still lurked beneath the surface as a constant reminder. This curse created monsters. Ones with fangs meant to snap and claws to tear away at the hide of another, power to shatter bone… to inflict the very same affliction upon others. Doom them to the jaws of a slavering beast who bore no control of their own mind. Such a fate would not - could not - be allowed to befall another by his hand.

Especially her.

Yet a hound could not trust himself for while a mind remained the pieces were fragmented, distant. It bid curving talons to peel from the floor, to sink against a wolven crown instead as if pressure and puncture of flesh would bring focus. That it would bid sounds to quiet and prevent senses from beholding the tones of one so treasured straying from her quarters as she had done so many nights before. An allowance that would never be taken from her and yet on this particular moon he prayed she would have remained in place. Just this once.

Snarl rose unbidden, banishing that stricken cry as anger and pain demanded a host to remove the claws that curled so tightly against their skull. Spinning thoughts hoping for silence, to be rid of the way toxins coursed and weakened. How they wished for a girl to turn back, to not stray further than the sliver of light streaming down the hall from the crack of a door. Part of him wished for one to leave, ignore all that carried on down the hall, another part ached for steps to draw near. Mimicry seizing hold of stained lips, animalistic features contorting as a tongue shifted awkwardly against razor fangs.

A mockery of human speech as it slurred upon snarled phrase, “Get back to your room.” Lyrics holding a strange familiarity to them even as they dripped upon morphed tone. ‘Please. Please go back.’ Phrases which never rise as fangs snap against one another, halted by the presence resting beneath the surface. By the strings of tinted saliva that streamed so freely in a body’s attempt to banish all one had consumed.

Nothing but silence graced his ears. A reprieve Augustus could only pray would last until the sun may rise. That there would be nothing to spark the ire of a beast nor tempt it further. Already there was panic in the way one’s piercing gaze stared unblinking down the very halls another hid. The bestial hunger behind those eyes something he could not hide. A predator ever watchful even as it stirred beneath the subdual of toxins.

Those which dulled the usual brightness - the friendliness - of rose-tinted gaze, made motion more sluggish, left a body feeling drained. But it wasn’t enough. That wolf was still there. It still made itself known in waves of appalling notions, in whispers that were increasingly hard to ignore as the night pressed on and the initial dosage threatened to ebb.

Another drawn out whine as fingers curled more harshly, driving talons ever deeper as new tides of crimson fell in steady rhythm against the tile. It was restless that creature. Unrelenting. It will never work. It will never be enough. Dread surged upon the wolf’s words, fangs snapping more of fear than true aggression.

‘Go back. Go back. Go back. Just get back to your room. Do not move too swiftly. Do not make a sound. Do not…’ Worried phrase cut painfully short as rapidly ears would rise upon the clatter of silver. The only blade she was known to carry sounded out as if it twere the squall of a injured beast. At this point it may as well have been for even after all returned to silence another’s panic still laced the air.

Where breath may still and falter the wild strumming of a heart rose above it all. And no matter how one may hope to prevent the senses from picking up on it… there was no banishing instinct. It could not be pushed away or ignored. It was a beacon for the desperate as claws peeled from where they hooked against flesh. The shuffling of an overgrown hound no longer contained to the room ahead as finally it strayed after the beckons of the hall.

Horned crown held low as talons clicked ever nearer. The faint glimmer of those eyes regrettably searching for one known. Tracing over flickering illumination of still creaked doorway, chasing the light which carved a path through the darkness, toward the undeniable thrum of another’s heart.

Stained lips curling in the unconscious flash of fangs the moment fixation was found. There was enough of a mind to bring recognition, there always was for the cursed moons could never find pity enough to drown that out. No. It forced one locked beneath the surface to register all that occurred outside of their control. And yet that was something that could not happen now, one undeserving would not meet the fangs of what was felt to be a shared body.

A mind stuck in overdrive. The instinct to lash out fought with every ounce of his being, forever unknowing on just how long it could last. Uncertain on if poisons truly would prove enough to keep a beast at bay. Knowing that teeth alone were not needed to bring about harm.

There was nothing I wanted more than to ignore the hammering rhythm of her heart, the unmistakable scent of fear which radiated from her very being. And yet each where a sign of prey, each drew the mind of a beast in and sparked that sickening thrill. One that could not be fully ignored as it clawed to the surface beneath the haze. It made my stomach lurch far more than the swill of toxins taken to keep such notions at bay. A bitter taste that numbed the tongue, bleared the mind, and yet did not blot it all out completely. I had hoped for more. An undeniable sense of control unlike all those moons prior. This was nothing like what was promised. The foretellings of a witch not blossoming into fruition. It’s debilitating, she’d said, it will subdue the howling of a beast within.

Well it didn’t do it enough. I’d rather be dead than hold the disgusting ideals of a beast now. It was wrong to feel this, to hold the desire of tearing another to shreds without a second thought. I didn’t want this. I’d never asked for it and she did not deserve it nor the repercussion of dwelling with a monster. I wanted nothing but the best for her… and fangs seeking to devour flesh was far from the promises of sanctuary made. She did not deserve to feel inescapable terror within her own home. No anxiety over a creature’s return to spur her from all I wished for her to have, anything I could provide.

But after this I wouldn’t blame her.
One could not be faulted if she chose to leave, to withdraw ever further within herself. The opposite of what I hoped for her though it hardly mattered what I wanted. It was her. Everything was her decision to make after tonight. So long as she survived this… no, when she did. Ajax was home. Surely he heard the commotion. Any moment now he would whisk her to safety and leave a deranged mind to rot. Where was he?

Question left unanswered as time seemed to stretch for an eternity. Paws refusing to cease their unsteady patrol as a hound’s mind fixated upon the feast, the taste of blood that may soon pool over a tongue and spill between teeth. Stop. Keep away. Let her escape. And yet a monster held inklings of where she hid. No matter how I wanted to stop, to ignore the subtle shifting of cloth. I could not. Though in an instant the quiet is broken as a vase flies across the spaces between us and shattering glass echoes in my ears. Scattering pieces bidding focus to shift, to rove over all that collected and clinked anew as they found a new home upon the tile.

Yet even as paces began toward it there was something more which drew him back. Fractured breath, the sound of feet darting in the opposite direction filling my ears when the ringing stopped. It became inescapable, intrusive in the way a monster’s desires claimed the mind. I wanted to ignore it, to keep focus upon the glass and let it find my tongue. But a will is weak beneath the moon’s change and with a dry heave turned snarl, eyes turned upon her. Nails a clicking beat against the floor as beastly frame darted in efforts to block her from the light of her salvation. Leave space for nothing but confrontation.

Slavering jaws parted in heavy pant, a strain for a body to move as it did while poison still coursed through the veins which fueled it. Never enough. It was never enough to silence the call of aggression no matter how I hoped that any moment now it would be. That some missing piece would snap into place and steal away that wolven mind, silence it beneath the promised afflictions of wolfsbane. Yet such reprieve was hardly granted as unfocused stare hoped to register upon another. Fixation upon unsteady breath, the terror which tugged at the rhythm of her heart. It excited, it terrified.

It bid a wolven mind to tear that girl limb from limb. Only for temporary haze to mask such notions as the perfume of powdered toxins claimed senses a new. Yet I’d heard the cry which fled her lips… the very calling entirely undeserving, especially now. No matter how pride, emotion blossomed in my chest it could not be relished in. It felt wrong. No guardian, none who bore such a title should place one cared for in such danger. Nothing - not even a curse of blood - should bid one to wish violence upon their kin.

And yet mine did. A stumble in once assured step as nerves came alight with the smooth puncture of silver through flesh. The very material I’d insisted a blade lay crafted from… and yet a death blow this was not.

She should have pierced my throat.

Followed the tender curve of it toward my chin and driven that hook like a stake into the very jaws which thought to grip her. Seal a mouth closed with nothing more than a blade so that they could not bring about harm.

But her aim was not true. Perhaps resolve had faltered, maybe she did not wish to kill but instead subdue the very beast which frightened her. All of it heard within her pulse, in the very ways she screamed for one to listen. Get your ass out here Ajax. Whisk her away before this could go any further. Seal her behind the safety of closed doors. Insist another would tend to a beast’s remains, remove it from their home… just get her out of harms way.

Though until that happened, ears would pin. Stained lips curling to reveal ivory fangs, a threat carried out even as it ground muscle further against a blade. Brought it to scrape to bone and sever paths of nerves, a numbness not yet felt against this maddening haze. Only for a limb not pierced to swipe out, hoping to shove her back and bring that frame into better view so that razor teeth could snap in place of talons.