Mist had been all around as Snape raced toward the intoxicating scent that seemed to have control of his senses. His heart was pounding in his chest as he moved happening upon the river. The scent grew more powerful and the wolf more frantic as he came across what appeared to be a woman bathing in the water. He could see her lengthy dark hair and fair complexion. A low growl emitted from deep within him as he neared her. A heat was radiating off her that was driving him wild with need. It was reminiscent of when Hermione had been in his presence back at Hogwarts. The wolf grew more savage as it propelled him forward. Snape made his way to the water catching the attention of the female who's senses seemed to be heightened at his approach.
She launched herself out of the water and at him with fury he had not seen before. Snape responded in kind as the beast in him sought to dominate this unruly woman. They battled with her trying to slash him across the face with her nails. Snape tackled her causing both of them to fall onto the ground. She struggled against him trying to hurt him indefinitely. Snape's eyes took on the familiar red glow and he forced the unruly woman back to the ground. She craned her neck and bit into his cheek hard enough to draw blood.
"Ahhhh!" shouted Snape increasing his grip on her wrists as he pinned them above her head.
Her body arched into his as she continued to struggle to get free of him.
The scent continued to intoxicate him and before he knew it she had submitted. A low whimper came from her as she arched into him in a bid to increase the heated contact. Snape could feel his body respond without any effort on his part. He bit down on her neck sucking at her soft flesh making her moan in response.
The woman began to writhe beneath him.
Suddenly, a familiar scream filled his ears that made his blood run cold.
It shook him from the heated delirium that made him realize what he had been doing.
The submissive woman had not been a woman at all merely a 16 year old girl and she was in heat.
Again the scream shook his thoughts.
HERMIONE.
The Potions Professor's instinct to protect had kicked in canceling out the delirium as he pulled away from the girl who whimpered at the loss of contact from his body. She attempted to grab him and persuade him to mate with her but Hermione's screams followed by Potter's yelling caused him to tear away from her and break into a frenzied run leaving the whimpering female behind him.
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Elsewhere...
Hermione could do little more than watch as three strong brutes surrounded her and Harry. The leader an older looking man with a large muscular build not so unlike Greyback and one blue eye while the other was a white sightless ball with a scar running vertical across his left cheek growled at her. One of the younger males pinned Harry to the ground via a foot on his chest and looked up at Hermione with a wicked smile.
"Interesting company." said the one eyed leader. "One among you is a wolf and has chosen to mate with the female."
Harry looked at him baffled.
"What are you talking about nobody has "mated" with anyone." he said struggling to breath with the foot on his chest.
"Quiet mortal whelp!" shouted the male who had him pinned down. "You will not speak to Horik, you are unworthy!"
The leader known as Horik turned his attention back to Hermione. He took in the foreign scent that enveloped her.
"So one of ours has bedded a mortal." said Horik. "But he is young...freshly turned."
Hermione said nothing as Horik moved to grasp her about the neck as Greyback has done.
Before he could get anywhere near Hermione however, Snape came charging out of the woods and attempted to attack him. He was blocked by the other young male who found himself on the receiving end of a vicious beating. Snape had nearly killed him when the other young male took his foot off Harry and attacked the Potions Master.
Snape and the young male battled furiously before Snape's alpha abilities put an end to it.
"Bow." he snarled implementing the force of his will.
The younger male snarled but ultimately did as he was told. Snape turned his attention to Horik with murder in his eyes.
"You speak with the voice of the father." said the elder werewolf. "Surely Hircine has favored you...and curious as you seem to be a whelp."
"Get away from her." said Snape commanding Horik who strangely found himself obeying with a curious expression.
"You have a wild look about you whelp." said Horik studying him. "You didn't happen to run across Reka have you?"
Snape simply glared at Horik as Hermione made her way over toward him. He checked her for injuries and turned his attention back to the elder wolf.
"I'd wager the delirium has set in." said the elder werewolf with a smile. "I heard that it is a thousand times more powerful in an Alpha than a regular wolf-born."
Hermione looked at Snape noting the strange changes in him as well.
"What's wrong with him?" she asked.
Snape let out a low whine as continued to glare murderously at Horik.
"Check Potter." he managed struggling against the beast inside him.
Hermione gave him one last suspicious look and then headed over toward Harry. The green-eyed wizard had been a little bruised but ultimately he would live.
"Mione." said Harry with an inquisitive expression. "is it true?...has Snape..."
"We need to get somewhere safe." said Hermione cutting him off.
Harry decided to save his questions for another time.
"Must be maddening." said Horik with a smile. "Even more so than when your lady friend came into your orbit."
Snape arched an eyebrow at this.
"So whelp how did you do it?" asked Horik. "How did you manage to not only win Hircine's favor but bed such a young witch without consequence or the backing of beast blood in her to save you from the wrath of others?"
"You are in position to ask anything of me." said Snape.
He narrowed his obsidian eyes at the elder werewolf.
A low growl emitted from deep in his throat and he got ready to launch at Horik, but was stilled by the familiar and overpowering scent of a female wolf. Snape turned his attention to the source and his eyes fell upon Reka, the 16 year old female that was bathing in the river.
"The delirium is quite a strong sensation isn't it?" asked Horik with a smile reminiscent of Albus Dumbledore. "Renders one such as yourself powerless to your baser desires."
"Father what is happening?" asked Reka noting her downed brothers and kneeling father.
"We've just met your friend." said Horik, "No doubt you two wish to become better antiquated."
Reka's dark eyes swept over Snape. Hermione narrowed her own amber eyes as she felt a wave of jealously pass through her. The young woman was clearly throwing herself at Severus and he was struggling not to respond.
"It seems we have gotten off on the wrong foot-wolf brother." said Horik in a pleasant tone. "Allow me to make introductions...I am Horik leader of the Frostmill pack."
"I am Reka, his daughter." she said introducing herself to Snape in a sensuous tone. "Those are my brothers Rorik and Tuck."
Harry and Hermione walked over toward Snape noting how the tension seemed to ebb away and the three wolves were talking.
"I'm Hermione Granger, student of Hogwarts." said the bushy haired witch hearing the introductions. "This is my friend Harry Potter, also a student of Hogwarts."
"And who might you be wolf-brother."
"I am not your "brother", werewolf or not and my name is Severus Snape." replied Snape rather bitterly. "Potions Master of Hogwarts."
Horik looked baffled by his title.
"A wizard?" he asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Yes." replied Snape. "You're point?"
"Well that settles why Hircine saw greatness in you." replied Horik. "My apologies for our earlier misunderstanding...I thought you were of Greyback's pack."
"Greyback?" asked Harry not liking the sound of that.
"He is our most hated enemy." said Reka.
"They are no more." replied Snape.
"Given your abilities I am incline to believe you." said Horik. "What of Greyback, does he yet live?"
"He does." interjected Hermione. "He's working with a witch back at Hogwarts."
Horik growled at the thought of his enemy escaping death once again.
"The aim is to kill him." said Snape is obsidian eyes shimmering with the glow of red.
"That is quite an aim." said Horik approvingly. "Quite an aim indeed."
Snape walked over toward Tuck and Rorik healing them both with his wand-less magic and then turned his attention to Harry Potter.
The green eyed wizard narrowed his eyes at Snape as if trying to come to terms with what the wolves had been discussing since he met them.
It couldn't be true that Hermione gave herself to the Potions Professor, could it?
"Severus." said Hermione stealing a moment with her lover.
Reka glared at them with a wicked smile on her face. It was clear she fully intended to pursue Snape wither Hermione thought highly of it or not. She didn't believe the bushy haired girl worthy enough of the honor to be mate to an Alpha.
Snape closed his eyes letting Hermione's touch soothe the storm swirling inside him. The scent of jasmine battled the scent of female heat as he gripped his witch with one arm.
"Severus you're burning up." said the bushy haired witch.
Snape simply growled as the sensations continued to run through him.
"Talk to me." she said.
Snape let out a low whine.
"Ache...this ache won't stop." he said barely able to speak any longer. "Please..."
"What do you need me to do?" asked Hermione.
"Want to pound you...my witch...now." he replied painstakingly.
Harry watched them for a long time noting the intimate contact between them.
"Is it hard to watch?" asked Reka observing him.
The green-eyed wizard looked at her confused.
"Is what hard to watch?" he asked.
"Your girl being in the arms of your Potions Professor." replied Reka.
"Hermione's not my girl, she's my friend and there's nothing going on with her and Snape." said Harry narrowing his eyes at the she-wolf.
"Are you blind or do you need glasses?" asked Reka.
Harry arched an eyebrow at this.
"H-How do you know I wear glasses?" he asked.
Reka smirked.
This kid couldn't possibly be this stupid.
"Snape's scent is all over her in...curious places." she said with a suggestive flicker of her eyes.
Horik shook his head.
"Enough Reka." he said catching on to her plan.
"I was just being informative father." said Reka. "It's only fair that the boy knows he can't smell like we can."
"That is not your concern." said Horik testily. "If the Alpha wishes to mate with the witch then stay clear of their union."
This did not escape Harry's notice.
"Mate?" he said. "Snape's not..."
Harry looked to see that both Snape and Hermione had gone from where he last saw them.
There was no way that Snape and Hermione were...
They couldn't possibly be...
The images of them being close prior to the attack and various notes in intimacy came flooding back to Harry.
"No." he said pushing the thought out of his mind. "It's nothing like that, she's just concerned about him...she feels responsible for him really."
There was no way Hermione was doing anything with anyone least of all Snape. There was another explanation for their sudden closeness, possibly because she was the only person that could reason with the wolf inside him and keep him from eating everyone that he's ever hated. Most of all Harry himself. The green-eyed wizard sighed. Hermione was definitely taking one for the team in having to deal with Snape for so long. He decided he would make it up to her when they got all this business with Umbridge squared away.
The poor witch's guilt at what happened to Snape must have really been eating away at her.
Reka shook her head. Apparently she had been getting nowhere in trying to sow a bit of discord in Snape's camp if only in a bid to get the wolfish-Potions Master into her clutches. She had not felt anything like what she felt for him before and she would be damned if she was going to let some unworthy mortal enjoy the fruits of her master's choosing. She felt that Snape, like it or not should be mated with another wolf, one worthy of his seed. It annoyed her to no end seeing the young witch clamor over him not at all knowing what she was doing in terms of pleasing a man of were-blood.
"Denial till the end it seems." she said in a bored tone.
The green-eyed wizard turned his attention to trying to figure out how they were going to get back to Hogwarts and once there, what they should do about Umbridge and Greyback. There was no way they could out fight the Ministry backed shrew, but with Dumbledore's help they might have a fighting chance.
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Elsewhere...
Severus Snape found himself awakening in the forest leaning against a nearby tree. There was blood all around him and the bodies of dozens of livestock all slaughtered by his hand. His chest and face were covered as if he had been in the grips of a madness. Guts and entrails of the fallen creatures littered his surroundings and he simply stared at the figure in the distance of a bushy haired witch with concern in her amber eyes.
What had he done?
Whom did he hurt?
Hermione approached him with caution but offered him a weak smile none the less.
"Severus?" she said studying him.
The Potions Master let out a low growl.
"Severus, can you hear me?" she asked. "Are you hurt?"
Snape blinked hearing the sound of the female's voice and the scent of jasmine caught his attention.
HERMIONE. The Female had come. The beast grinned rather wickedly as it turned toward her.