<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman'">Heat rolled out from the open door in a near mist, radiating sweat and hunger falling like sludge off the steel and into the street. Reno could feel it crawling in her veins the minute she entered the vehicle. Cigarette smoke swelled in a cloud from somewhere in the backseat, and a half-dozen empty cans rattled at the feet of every passenger. There were far too many of them for the cramped space, and among the hulking flesh masses, Reno's petite figure easily got lost. Hands twice the size of hers reached out from all direction, swallowing her into the void of thirsty tongues and eager fingers. Collin had never been one for sharing his treasures, but there was an air of anger about him now, one that was pleased to release her to the hounds. The moment had caught him up in a scornful glare, intensified by the alcohol that he took yet another sip of as he settled into the driver's seat- his throne. Reno sunk into the smoke, into the back seat. <br/>
<br/>
Little Reno, absorbed, paper thin arms scrambling for something to hold onto, legs kicking until subdued by the will of a man much stronger than her. A net formed around her, composed of hands and shins and grips intent on snapping her. Panic overwhelmed her, quickly and with ferocity. <br/>
<br/>
Muted whimpers slipped through the fingers tightened around her lips, "<i>Please, please, please let me go- Collin- please-" </i>Inaudible. Whispers for no one. Laughter drowned out her mewls and pleads. Her voice, small and frightened, was replaced by flesh, fingertips like hooks in her mouth. Their hands found other places to land, wandering across her body in search of the places that made her flinch. She tensed in their hold, but her struggling ceased not long after it began. Reno wasn't a fighter, and she knew what would happen if she bit back, or tried to. It had happened once before, with Collin- as her face faded into a deep cobalt, his weight around her throat, she had beat fists on his chest with a twinged desperation. At first it made Collin smirk, the helpless punching- but as she hit harder his own features dulled into a red, the same red he was seeing now, and he had retaliated with knuckles. Baby bird blue, all over all over. <br/>
<br/>
Baby bird and her backseat blues. <br/>
<br/>
Foreign warmth tangled in her hair, slipped under her skirt. Sticky breaths melting into her neck, trickling down her collarbone. Her heart slamming again and again into her ribs, they could feel it, and it made them high. They delighted themselves with thoughts they didn't need to vocalize for her to hear. How many of them would it take to fill her up, how many would it take to split her down the middle? How long could she last before she bled? And fuck- what would that blood taste like, smeared on their tobacco-stained gums, teeth slathered in her essence? <br/>
<br/>
Castle Gray appeared, a minuscule glimpse just barely visible beyond the headrest of Collin's seat. The house glowered, its foreboding grays seeping out into the freshly cut lawn, driplets infecting the road. Oh lovable crypt- Reno couldn't be more terrified and more relieved to see it. Would Volk be there, waiting for her? Would he pry her from the traps Collin had set on her? <br/>
<br/>
Could he?<br/>
<br/>
Reno was crying now, balmy tears dampening the skin of those who accosted her. Her labored hyperventilation drew spit to the palms of the boys' hands, and they reveled in it. Her sobs were fuel for their fire, which by the time they skid into the driveway, was blazing. Collin was the ignition in it all, his half-drunk grimace a menacing shadow that stretched across the pavement, into the lawn. Reno had seen it herself after he emptied a flask on the turnpike that overlooked the town, she had seen it in his unkempt room in the confined spaces of his unmade bed, she had seen it as he forced her against his kitchen counters when his parents weren't home. She had seen it, in shades of lust, in shades of orange- but she had never seen it like this. There was an inexplicable <i>fury</i>, a rage that she hadn't witnessed. There was passion, laced with rum and with ill-intent, lurking in the milky hues of his deep brown eyes. He paid no mind to Reno, squirming and weeping among the horde- no, he wasn't here to torture her. Her submission was an easy win, guaranteed- no, he didn't want it from her, not today.<br/>
<br/>
It was then that Reno's gaze fell on Volk- all black leather, dressed up again, too perfect for the shit remnants of this damn mountain town. Gleaming like his bike, light reflecting off his edges in all the right places. Here he was, aglow in the harsh headlights of the Blazer. She ached for his hold, suddenly- it was somehow less horrifying than the unsolicited clamber of Burning Bear boys. She saw him, and her bawls worsened.<br/>
<br/>
"Oh, poor baby wants her big brother.." the snickers echoed off the steel walls. Collin slammed the door behind him as he approached Volk. <br/>
<br/>
"Why don't you call out for him, babygirl?" they chortled, all together, "oh yeah- that's right-" and his <i>fucking nails </i>digging into her cheeks. She let out muffled wails. She shouldn't have, they all grinned madly, hands grabbing and <i>grabbing </i>again and <i>again, </i>trying to get their fill in before they were summoned to release her from the secrecy of the back seat.<br/>
<br/>
When they did, they carried her, arms hoisting her just above the grass. When they neared Volk, heat and pink and worry flushed over Reno. Volk's deathly glimmering eyes settled on her, her and all her vulnerability, and she froze. Skirt hiked up, lipstick smeared, mascara running, skin reddened where fingers and teeth had sunk in. Oh silly girl, struck with drowning self-consciousness and embarrassment, suddenly more fearful of Volk seeing her like this than being ripped to shreds in the first place. Could he see the lightening, lilac bruises Collin had given her before? Before tonight, before Volk reappeared? <br/>
<br/>
The cool evening air against Reno's lips felt strange after having been suffocated. Trembles shook her, and she was sure that if the howling coyote had not been holding her after allowing her feet to find the ground, she would collapse. <br/>
<br/>
With her own hands free, Reno hurried to recollect some semblance of stature. Yanking at the hem of her shirt, her skirt, readjusting to again cover all the wounds and scrapes and exposed pieces. She was wobbling, a newborn foal, a kitten taken from its mother too early. Strange, such a pure little thing, somehow filthied and deserving of the attention of ravenous beasts. Blushing bird- <i>brother don't look at me, don't look at me</i>. It was all she could muster not to say it.<br/>
<br/>
Reno was halfway through putting her garments back together when the words came, blades in her chest, piercing her heartbeat into a stagnant thud. <br/>
<br/>
<i>Ever fuck him? Collin says you're the kind.</i><br/>
<br/>
Collin knew Reno from the inside out. He couldn't recall her last name or her favorite things but he knew what made her ache and what made her scream. He may have not been one for sharing treasures but he shared everything else- how often had she skulked out of his house just for him to call up his friends, tell them what kind of mess he turned her into that night? Recite to them what kinds of sounds she made? Sure, he knew where he could squeeze to get her to whine like a beat dog, but <i>what the fuck did he mean by that? </i>That she's <i>the kind</i>? <br/>
<br/>
Rosy cheeks became a roaring maroon. The coyotes were indefinitely pleasured by her humiliation. It didn't matter if it were true or not- just that he had <i>said </i>it was enough.<br/>
<br/>
Reno's knees gave out beneath her, but it didn't matter. She was gripped at both ends by too-tall boys with too-wide shoulders. She didn't look at Volk, anymore. She couldn't. She spoke to him sideways, instead.<br/>
<br/>
The yard had become silent, as if they were all expecting her to answer.<br/>
<br/>
"I- I tried to tell them- not to come- I'm sorry, I- I'm so sorry," Flustered sputters, her eyes wide and her lips in a pout. <br/>
<br/>
They were discontent with her answer.<br/>
<br/>
“So we’ll take that as a yes, then?” The speaker was rallied by hoots from his friends.<br/>
<br/>
Reno replied with anxious shakes of her head, back and forth, as if it would make a difference. They already had their minds set on shaming her, regardless of the truth. “No- no, <i>no, </i>stop- please- I haven’t-“<br/>
<br/>
One of the others sneered, interrupted her. Instead of further interrogating Reno, he looked at Volk. Stormy glares meeting, like lightning, the Burning Bear brute challenging the runaway prince.<br/>
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“Yeah? And tell me, Volk- is she any good?”<br/>
<br/>
Yowls, a myriad of echoes that reverberated off the pines and shook the earth, mingled with the one noise somehow louder- Reno crying.<br/>
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