The world looks different from the flat of your back. A fact that Regan had never once encountered in her 16 odd years as a Were. She was a fighter. And fighters went down fighting. Not this. Not laying on their backs, bellies up, throat exposed and allowing someone, anyone, to wrap their jaws around it. The very notion went against nature and the instinct to survive. An ingrained trait that had kept a beaten, tormented and savaged little girl alive. That little girl never imagined that a day would come when she would ever willingly place her life into someone else's hands again. After all, the only family she'd ever known had become the very instruments in which her nightmares played, reenacting scenes from her childhood -- like a puppet-master pulling the strings of a thousand marionettes. Now, here she was, taking a chance and placing her tattered soul into the care of one Aiden Tetradore.

Will wonders never cease.

Anything that occurred in the time it took for Regan to fall back and release the unintended grasp of Tetradore's throat, is a total and complete blank. So when Regan hears the low throaty growl enimating from the emerald eyed panther, she shrinks back ever so slightly. As if anticipating his retaliation. For surely there is to be one. Everything Regan has ever encountered in life has taught her that. Nothing ever goes unpunished. With a sigh of expectancy, her lids slowly lower and obscure the violet of her gaze, until once again darkness sweeps across her vision.

Now she waits. Waits for the blow, bite, or whatever punishment he deemed fit.

And then she waits some more. The cruelty of the silence and the stillness is a torture all its own. One she knows too well.

A long moment passes and in the ensuing stillness, Regan slowly reopens her eyes. Immediately they fixate on the emerald stare, that happens to be only a few inches away from her own. Her pupils widen in surprise and a shocked breath slips past her teeth. Slowly, wearily, Regan reaches out once again and laves the punctures. Once, twice, thrice, before nuzzling the side of his mouth. Apology given, Regan lays her head back against the deck. She watches as his lips part, as the light glints off the points of his teeth and then slowly and steadily she can feel the pressure of his jaws on either side of her throat.

However, Regan never suspected the reaction she would have to feel of his mouth against her skin. The heat and dampness of his tongue, as his teeth exude a steady but not uncomfortable pressure. Oddly enough, she finds she doesn't exactly dislike his mouth on her. And that is terrifying for a whole different set of reasons. All too soon and not soon enough, the panther releases her. Regan is already moving to get back on her feet when his paw reaches out to nudge her. She hadn't needed any encouraging.

Her violet gaze follows him as he moves across the floor towards the wolf. Raven! How could she have forgotten about her? In a moment worthy of a mental facepalm, the tiger glided toward the pair and gently pressed her forehead against Raven's shoulder. Breathing into fur and dampening the skin beneath it. "I am happy for you Raven." Truer words had not been spoken. Well, sort of, if you take spoken a little less literally. Her friend had found a place that accepted her. A leader that understood her. What more could she ask for?

As if drawn to his gaze by some unseen force, the violet of her eyes meets the emerald of his. A low, broken, garbled chuff escapes her ebony lips before tentatively the tigress pressed her cheek against the solid warmth of the panthers shoulder. "I am truly sorry." A pause. The torment in her mental voice is obvious. "You...you are the one person I never wanted to hurt." Another pause, longer this time. "Can you ever forgive me?" A large part of her expects him to say no. But a small part, the hopeful side of her, hopes against hope, that this selfless man can find it within himself to forgive her.

Her eyes drift shut and she savors the silent strength radiating from the obsidian panther while she still can.