'Mira... this does not need to be done.' The tender sound of her boyfriend's voice. Such a deep voice and yet at times it was capable of such tenderness, so much like his callused hands. Her brow pinched, as golden eyes lifted, a glint of awareness of what was to come. He claimed it was just an option that she used her powers on them, the people that once masqueraded as her pack. It was then that she felt the warm reassuring lips of her boyfriend on her forehead. She knew what had to be done, it didn't mean it was easy. A soft sigh escaped her, using the one being she could trust as her anchor. If there was any man who could face her once alpha without so much as breaking a sweat, it would be her boyfriend. She had seen it before, a glimpse into what Tetradore would do to protect those he cared for. Mira, nodded firmly in response. She was strong enough then to survive this but she was stronger now. She slipped her father's phone from her back pocket. It felt cold and weighted in her hand but she spared no time before the message and bait was set and with it that single realization that there was no turning back.

Her boyfriend had already begun peeling his shirt from his chiselled body, he was all muscle, a fighter's build. There was a reason he was undefeated in the ring and with just one look she knew. She couldn't help but admire him, more than just how he looked. It was how he carried himself, how he hardly flinched at what had to be done but merely found a way to tackle it head-on. Yet there was no mistaking that he was an attractive man that she was attracted to. It was hardly a surprise that she felt the soft prickle of warmth within her cheeks that had nothing to do with her lava. It didn't take long before he was bare and his clothes were tossed away just out of the clearing behind her with calculated measures to ensure a place where his clothes wouldn't be reduced to ash. A soft ping echoed from the now lit-up phone in her hand drawing the she-wolf's attention, she could feel it vibrate, bringing her gaze to it as she knew just who replied. He was coming. She glared at the phone, locking it before slipping it into her back pocket. The last thing she needed was to butt-dial him. To say she didn't feel the nerves begin to pressurize within her would have been a bold-faced lie. As if he could sense this, her boyfriend was there, claiming that everything was going to be fine. He cupped her cheek softly before his lips pressed to her own before stepping back. The calm before the wicked storm. "Be safe." Couldn't she have thought of something better to say? Like he even needed the words. Yet still, she said it. Even she could hear the slight waver in her voice. He took a step back as his shadows began to lick around him just then. Those final words of that plan uttered... Golden eyes met his in acknowledgement. She had been practising as if somehow subconsciously preparing for this very thing.. "I'll keep him from running." She said determined. Nolan wouldn't so much as be able to take a single step out.

He must have noticed the unusual tension in her usually confident body, his lips turned into a mischievous grin that he rarely wore. Try not to look so worried. He said. Did her face betray her that much, did it? Her lips parted to utter those words of protest only for him to vanish in a shroud of darkness that swallowed him, she swore she saw a tendril of the shadows that seemed to tease her too, a final whisp that curled before dissipating like mist. Maybe it was only just a play of the light. A grumble could be heard within that clearing, with no one to hear those words. Even amidst it she somehow found some humour from those words. Good to see he still had some humour even in the midst of this mess.

She lightly scraped the forest floor with her boot, alone in the middle of the woods. The she-wolf busied herself with assessing that clearing, distancing the trees in her mind's eye. Tetradore was nowhere to be seen, she had no clue where the man could have set up his own plan. Yet, the longer she spent in silence, waiting, the more she felt like a sitting duck. Every sound was a possibility that she was no longer alone. It sucked being bait. This was a terrible idea. She should have been there, with him. Somewhere useful rather than some golden carrot dangling on a stick. She didn't know how long it had been with no sign of Tetradore... Just as there had been no sign of Nolan either, or his men. Just the clearing in the woods and the clouds that concealed the stars. The clearing was a far cry from the safety of the non-flammable cove she had practised in. After all, the last forest did not... stand up to her so well. But there was no mistaking that she had come a long way since then. That was when she heard a distant crack of a twig, interrupting her thoughts.... Was it a deer? But then it was joined with the sound of incomprehensible voices, followed along by the trudging footfalls that signified their human forms. The sounds were distant at first, but unmistakable.

It didn't take long before they were close enough to lay eyes on. They were here. She didn't have to try too hard to make it known she had been waiting. She fixed an almost bored look upon her face. Not willing to allow Nolan to see had that sort of sway on her. Not even as he and the two men she did not recognize, flanked entered that clearing. Nolan looked the same. The exact same, wearing the same arrogant expression as always.

"Finally at a crossroads." He announced with a level of phoney grandeur like it mattered. She could see very well that they were there. He grinned at her and yet made no move to close the distance between them. "... and here I thought that you would be relieved to see me." There was something mocking to his tone. "After all.. you plan to settle your family's debt. Right? You wouldn't think to plan to play a nasty little trick on me now would you?" Somehow, he knew.. the bastard knew and yet it didn't really matter now did it?

"We will settle this." She stood proudly even though there was so much left unsaid.

"Yes.. yes we will. I have something for you, its..." His voice was cut off by a distant scream. She had never been so happy to hear a scream before. It meant that Tetradore was out there somewhere and he was ok. Nolan looked around. One of his men asked what that was like he needed it spelt out for him. "Just as I suspected. Fuck this. Just grab her. We have what we came for. I get to decide how this will go. Take her to the bunker and then I will deal with him if he has the balls to show himself." His arrogance was just how she remembered. Then he looked to her.

He turned around.. "I hope you know you will pay for this little wolf. One way or another, you will... so will your family and your little alpha from the city. I think I will take his car after I have taken you." She frowned, her stomach churned. She knew what he was doing... Distracting her while his two men overpowered her. They began to close in on her like wolves to the kill. "Now you fell into my palm just as easily. Just as I knew you would." Nolan laughed cruelly. "The perfect script and you followed your part so well."

"Over my cold, dead body." Was all she said before she saw the two men that were heading for her. She took a few steps back before she planted her feet.. "Do not touch me." Mira warned the pair that closed the distance. The man to her left laughed like he took great pleasure out of the suffering of others. They ignored her warnings, just as she thought. She felt her powers rising, her body heating, her palms warming as she readied herself.

"I would think twice, little wolf." Nolan's voice chided. Strange he didn't bother to come after her himself. Was he scared of what she had become? Or did he think her so little of a threat? Although his opinion mattered little what he thought of her. Especially not now.

The biggest man to her left lunged first like a wolf would, but instead, it was his hand that bit.

"I warned you." She uttered under her breath tightly. Her wrist strained under his manhandling grip. If she were human, he could have snapped it. She was certain. But one thing she knew for sure was that she was going nowhere with them. A minute later he screamed. Her powers to incinerate came to her aid and he seemed to notice it a moment too late. It wasn't easy to simply set fire to someone with so much moisture in their body. But his shoes would do... she started with that... It took no effort at all before the insults rose as she honed in on that skill. The pain forced him to release her. This ability was far more crude than even her lava. It did not discriminate. In just a few seconds those flames, it was more like something hungry.... It swallowed him whole much too quickly. It was enough to send his partner wide-eyed and fleeing into the forest, she let him go. Those screams that once filled the air would haunt her memory. It was one thing to set fire to an inanimate object and wholly another to take a life. The smell of it was enough to make her stomach churn. She refused to look at the now pile of ash that remained on the forest floor, her heart beating in time with its own racing tempo. Yet she stood strong.

Nolan stood, for a moment wide-eyed as if he hadn't expected it... But instead of worry, that face turned into something far more agitated. At first, he didn't move. He merely watched her with calculating eyes for the first time, viewing her as a true threat.

"You know that won't work on me." Nolan said carefully, his dark eyes not leaving her as if even he wasn't certain of this fact..

Mira straightened her spine, eyes burning, looking like a window to the lava that heated her body. Whatever it was that he saw when he looked at her, he didn't like it. "Maybe. Maybe not." That flippant response only caused his anger to boil over, he exuded it, all the way to his clenched jaw. She heard a howl in the distance and she fought to turn toward the sound. This only caused him to smile.

"Enjoy that victory, Mira.. It's short-lived." He used the name Mira this time no longer the pet name he decided to call her.

What she did not expect was for him to back up.. To try and retreat to most likely to join his wolves... of course he had no problem sacrificing them as long as he got what he wanted in the end. She called upon her power to incinerate. She chose the best trees, three to be precise. The one behind him halting him in his tracks. She was glad for the damp ground from a recent. Immediately, those trees burst into flame. It created ash and embers that she could control. The fire was a beast she could not... but the ash she began to swirl about her and them like a tornado and they were in the eye of the storm.

"Is this how you want to do this then?" He hardly seemed bothered. Nolan then shifted, faster than she had seen anyone else do so in her life. She tried to incinerate him too. To put an end to this once and for all. But it didn't work. Just as he said. What the hell? She tried again, it only set the ash swirling more into a heated frenzy of glowing embers. He stalked toward her, larger than she remembered... she hated that in that moment. She thought she might not be able to stand against him... that this might all be over before it even began. Her powers still caused that ash and glowing embers to continue. Not quite the fire wall that her boyfriend wanted but just as good. Just like that, he threw back his lupine head and he howled and then she wasn't able to move. The sound caused a tremor in the earth that traversed beneath her feet and all the way through her very bones. Just as before, he was all bite.

That's when she could feel it.

Nolan's first attempt to force her to shift, using that brittle pack connection that Tet all but shattered with his own. It didn't stop Mira from feeling that metaphysical assault. Could feel him, like he was nothing but a fist banging on a wall he seemed determined to break down. He seemed annoyed as he attempted to shatter that bond. But he was weak to the fact that no trace of him remained. But it didn't stop him from trying. Her hold on that wall around the clearing nearly faltered as she felt it, strong and overpowering. She might not have been able to move but her powers seemed to work just fine, at least, for now it did.

He raced for her then just as her lava came to her call, even if it moved more sluggishly than it had before. Too slow. It suddenly became a race. A race it was looking like she was going to lose. She cursed but she didn't relent.. She wouldn't go with him quietly. Not without a fight.

mira ramos