Mara's Story

Mara wanted to kill someone. Again. Just like she had for the past year every single day. There was someone screaming, and she felt like a wreak. Her eyes were red, the irises glowing. She rolled over on the cot she had been given. She never said she didn't like the perks of fooling around with the staff. Even if it was a necessity. she fixed her hair and her dress, then slid on the heels next to the cot. The floor was dirty, and she was not about to step on it. There was blood everywhere on the ground, so there was that too. Only some of it belonged to recent occupants, but that was beside the point. "May I please get out of here! I want to stretch my legs! Its not like I can go anywhere!" she yelled, and smiled when a 'scientist' appeared and opened the small cell. He was one of her more regular 'visitors' so he didn't bother with cuffing her. He just grabbed her by the fabric at her side. He smelled, like beer and general grossness. It disgusted her to no end, but she couldn't help it. His hands ghosted over her body,and she let him. "Just remember, you have to wash the clothes and get me something else I want before you even dare go farther than that" She winked and turned towards him. He frankly was lusting for her, and going crazy. He was right where she wanted him. "Last week you were a bit more... lenient" he groaned, and she forced herself to remember the last week. "Last week I was not strong, I was not sated" She reasoned, and he asked her what else she wanted. She responded with a quick "a brush, so I can look nice for you" and he melted. Right in her pocket. She smirked, and he grabbed her waist, pulling her towards somewhere private. She groaned, but her eyes turned back to blue.






Cari dusted herself off from the floor, her fox-body shifting into her human one as she groggily stood up. Her cell was already locked tight, but there was a book on the floor and a steaming cup next to it-due to some pacts she made with a worker around 4 years after she got here-they knew she was no threat, she had been here longer than some of them. They had hearts, believe it or not, and a screaming 8 year old was something they didn't like. Now every morning she was allowed a nice steaming cup of warm white tea and a book of her choosing. She walked over to the sitting area, curled her body into a fetal position, sipped at the tea, and started another chapter of Bram Stokers Dracula. She sipped at the tea, blocking out the screams as she did so. When she finished the tea, she rolled the cup over to the side and laid on the floor, turning the page. "there, on our favourite seat, the silver light of the moon struck a half-reclining figure, snowy white... something dark stood behind the seat where the white figure shone, and bent over it. What it was, whether man or beast, I could not tell." She read out loud, to drown out the screaming. Lucy, Dracula, and Mina interested her so much more.

Mara straightened her dress and fixed a buckle on her shoe. "One hairbrush, babe" The man groaned and handed her a cheap-looking brush. Better than nothing. She walked out of the door and back to her cell-carefully avoiding touching it- and added it to her small collection before she walked back out. The man was still in the room she had left him in, but that didn't bother her. She looked around and pulled a small pen from the confines of her dress- she had stolen it a minute ago. Humans were so... inattentive. She pressed it into the door so it wouldn't close. The scientist walked passed her door, and she decided to have a little fun. She knew his fear- spiders. She laughed lightly and her eyes turned red again, and she saw what the man saw. Thousands of spiders coming for him. He screamed and started running. Mara laughed and turned back to the cot.
It wasn't long before she forgot him, and the spiders dissipated from his mind. He stormed back into her cell, his face flush with anger. "You little whore!" he shouted at her. She just clicked her tongue. "This place has a horrid spider problem, don't you think? You should get someone on it." She said, and he walked forward, like he was going to hit her. "Careful now" she tisked, and pressed her hand onto his meaty arm. "Only very stupid people would try that with me" she ran her fingers up his arm, and spiders seemed to crawl from her fingers onto his skin. More and more, until his arm was a mass of spiders. If she looked close enough, red hourglasses were visible on their abdomens. They bit into his skin. They were causing harm, yes, the things in her fear-realities did cause real harm- but not as much as the receiver thought. "Please, make it stop" he begged, and she laid back on the cot, tilting her head. A sadist at heart, she relished it. she drew her small knife and stepped forward, causeing the fake spiders to move around, then onto the floor. His arm was covered in tiny bites, each one swollen. In real life, it was more like little red patches, but no matter. She sliced down his arm, causing him to scream. She laughed, and then slashed his throat. "You weren't good enough" she said simply, and kicked his body to the side of the room.




Cari turned the page of the book, her eyes slowly closing and then opening. She heard the cell door open and she lazily turned to see who it was. It was a worker of the fine establishment. His name was something like Luke or Jack. He walked over and injected her with something and she hissed. "Shift" he ordered, and she shifted into a small red panda. she shifted back, and blinked a few times, and then turned "What was that supposed to do?" she asked quickly, her eyes narrowing. "It was suppost to make your forms change. So you would be able to transform into better animals than just a stupid bear" he groaned, and started walking. She wanted to kill him. "What the hell is wrong with my forms!" She shouted, then started pushing him to the door. "Okay, okay! Sorry! More tea?" He asked, and she relaxed. Luke-or-Jack had been here just as long as she, and she sort of got along with him. Sort of was an exaggeration. She wanted to rip his throat out, but when she got mad he didn't think her temper was worth it and gave her tea. He was also the one who got her hooked on the stuff. "A kettle" she said, and settled back onto the cot. He brought back a small kettle of steaming white tea and some honey, and a plastic tea cup. "Thanks" she muttered. "anything not to appease miss fox. You would out-wit me and I would be flat on my ass in a second" he muttered touching a small scar on his face. He was referring to her temper at six, when she really couldn't sleep and she got really mad and started attacking. One guy dead, Jack-or-Luke scarred permanently.
He left, and she poured the tea into the cup and setting back in with Dracula. "I would take the castle any day over this" she muttered.


"

Mara sat on a stool in the center of her small cell, a man in front of her. "Why did you kill him?" He questioned her again, and she scuffed. "He tried to hurt me" she whimpered and stood up. The man shook his head and grabbed her arm. She smirked and leaned over, whispering in his ear. "5 years old, a clown, and a birthday. The clown died that day, a trick gone wrong. Scared you for life. You want to relive that?" She asked, and kissed the mans ear before taking door and pushing it open. It wasn't locked, thankfully. She walked around, then found herself in front of a man she didn't know. "First day?" She smirked, then saw the demon trying to get him out. "Need help?" She asked.

Roald tried to help once he saw the metal being wrenched away, but he was stunningly useless compared to the one doing it. She pulled it back with such ease... Was... Was that even possible? Once it was wide enough to get through, Ro didn't even stop to think about staying in that cell. He clambered out without delay and slid to the floor at the sight of so many people. Had he made the wrong decision? "Please don't hurt me," he sobbed softly, "I don't know what I did wrong and I don't know what's happening to me but I-- I'm sorry, please!" He held out his hands to show he was unarmed as if they didn't already know. God, there were so many of them and they all looked so strange... and young... Was he the oldest one there?

That, of course, is when he felt it happening again. Fresh panic swept through him as he began to lose consciousness. "No, no please, no," he murmurred before sliding to lay against the wall outside his cell. His body began to shift then, filling out his already tattered clothes and changing. Within half a minute a huge black clydesdale stallion lay where the man was moments ago, still unconscious.

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(OOC: If there's no second in command shifter Clark could take the spot, though he's really quiet)

Clark watched the man and the rest of the people around him with barely concealed anger. Damn, all of this noise and clamor. The guy was older than most of them, looked to be early twenties, fully matured. He was in bad shape, too, some sort of mental breakdown. Moret was the same way when he first came in, so the dude couldn't be blamed. He was foreign, English? Scottish? Irish? Something like that. And then he was passed out and a horse. That explained practically everything. He was a shapeshifter. But why didn't he know what was happening and why couldn't he control it? More questions. Done with the crowd, Clark shoved back through the sea of people and back to his cell, leaning against the bars and watching from afar.

Mara sighed, then began to talk. "Shows over! I'll go get Cari to deal with him. He's a shifter" she sighed and turned back to the stallion. She leaned down and touched him, sending a nightmare into his subconscious. He would wake up, the dream was that terrifying. She pushed her way through the people, and to the head shifters cell. She saw a man being taken out by a group of other men, fresh burns on his face. Celeste was in there, too. "You are needed. The new guy is a shifter" she turned and walked back out


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Cari sighed and looked over to Celeste. "I'll be right back" she said, and followed after Mara. She pushed through the people, and sat down in front of the horse. It was the shifter they were talking about.

Roald stayed sitting on the bed and lay his head in his hands, rubbing tiredly at his forehead. Even his fingertips hurt, particularly his middle nail. Well, a horse's hoof was an evolutionary advancement where its middle toenail hardened and grew... So he was a damn horse then. God, what else was going to happen? Apparently he still had another form to discover. For now he was fine trying to remember. "I was walking," he said, voice the strongest it had been since he'd arrived in this nightmare. His accent was a deep Scottish to tint his rich tenor, yet the whole thing was so... solemn. Like he'd given up already. "I was on Winter break, just finished up finals for the semester and went out to the countryside for a while, thought I'd give camping a go again. It'd been awhile... The snow was so pretty..." He sighed forlornly and dragged his hands down his face until his chin rested on them. "I had pitched camp and decided to take a hike. Middle of nowhere, really. Kilometers away from any town to speak of. It was nice, y'know? Quiet...

"Something happened then..." the hysteria edged back into his voice but a shaky breath and a couple sobs forced it back down, "I don't remember fully what it was, but I blacked out... It hurt a lot, more than anything I've ever felt, like... like everything was shifting, stretching..." He took another breath and was silent a minute as tears threatened to overcome him again. "I-I-I woke up in a completely different place, clothes shredded and in the most..." He fell from his hands and was forced to regain his composure for a minute or two. "I called Dad, but... but he didn't pick up. Within half an hour, lost and... and cold, I felt something hit me in the back of the neck and passed out... I woke up here..."

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Clark nodded at Cari and ran off, boots clomping on the cement floor. He had worn them only because Roald needed something he could relate to, but the guy had bigger feet than him. Making a quick stop at his own cell, Moret changed into his sneakers and moved on to find Mara.

Cari nodded solloumly, imagining what that would have been like, to have a life, a mom, a dad, for so many years. She didn't know what that felt like, but she could imagine. "You will learn to control your shifting, and then you'll be able to call on it whenever. Though I don't know what peace and quiet is, as there is not to many quiet moments here, sadly. Sorry" she sighed, looking at the cell door. "But the people are not bad. But that is beside the point. You need to stay calm. You like to read?" She asked, taking Dracula off the ledge and holding it up. "Dramatization extreme. My vampire friends act nothing like that" she laughed lighty.


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Mara curled up on the cot, looking at the wall as she ran a brush through her hair, making it silky soft. She sighed and fell back on the bed, pulling the small blanket over her body and groaning. She flipped the brush over in her hands quickly, focusing on the ceiling as she did so.

Roald didn't laugh, but the glimmer of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. It never quite reached his eyes. "I love books, Stoker in particular. Shot a vampire movie for a project last semester, Dracula meets Twilight. That was fun..." A shot of emotional pain and longing tore through his chest as the smile fell. "May... May I..." No, it was her book. God only knew she had little enough as it was. He would be the adult for once. For some reason "vampire friends" made the book seem less friendly, along with this place. One smartass comment managed to shove it's way to the forefront: "Hope they don't like O pos."

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Clark eventually found Mara in her cell and knocked on one of the bars twice with a knuckle. He didn't tend to like her, granted he didn't like hardly anyone in this hell hole, but Mara was more tolerable than most. Except for when she prodded at him. Nearly gored her a year back on a bad day, granted it really wasn't her fault. He knocked twice again and raised an expectant eyebrow.

Cari tossed the book to him. "I've read it twenty times. We only have a few books here, after all, and the only way to get more would be to sleep with someone, and I am not doing that. I don't know, I don't think that they have a prefrence. Watch your neck" she laughed, looking to the door. She smiled and turned her head back to him. "So tell me about the movie" she said quickly. She found it interesting, considering she couldn't remember ever seeing a movie at all. "Also, what's twilight. I've never read it, or heard of it. It isn't like I get out much..."


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Mara smirked and stood up. "You finally come to visit me, Clark. And here I thought you didn't like me" Mara laughed, walking to the door and pulling it open. The pen was keeping it sort of open. "How can I help you" she purred, looking the man up and down, leaning against the cell door. "Or, how can you help me. You wouldn't want me to starve, would you?" She raised her eyebrows, her lips in a pout. She knew she wasn't liked by him, but hey. He was cute and she could try, right?

Roald instantly regretted saying anything. It was natural for him to discuss shows, but these people were cut off from all that. He'd dug his hole and now he had to lie in it. He tried to catch the book, but his hands were too shaky. The pain was returning, trying to force him to change his form. Distraction. Instantly he began to talk, "It, ngh... It was a book ser-series that came out about vampires that sparkl... sparkled in the sun, very dramatic and pointless, but the movies h... hh... had good camera wo-work." Ro gasped in pain and doubled over. Keep talking, keep talking, "Mo-Movies," he continued, struggle severely obvious in his voice, "are like... like stories on a screen. Ma AHah ah... Magic, in a sense. Actors play the characters and--ngh, and it's stored and played for peopl... pep- people to see everywhere."

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Today had been too long to deal with this bullshit (no pun intended) and Clark needed a release. Badly.

Fine. He could play.

Allowing a small sultry smile to spread across his face as if hypnotized, Moret slowly moved towards her until only inches away. He then whispered carefully into her face, "Do me a favor. Go screw yourself." WIth that he slammed a hand against both bars on either side of them to make a loud bang before backing up with a glare that clearly meant "Don't you fuck with me again." With a beckoning jerk of his head he walked off for Cari's cell.

"Think thumbs. Thumbs are good, thumbs are nice. Think of human things. Think of the movies you watched recently, or the... Video... Games... that Clark told me about. Or books. Animal eyes are not made to read books. Think of the emotions animals don't normally express- mourning, revenge, wrath. Think of human arms, human legs. Do not stop talking though." Cari jumped from the ledge, walking over to him and sitting on the cot. She grabbed his hand, and held it in her smaller ones. "Remember, if you shift, you would probly kill me, in such close proximity. Don't kill me, please" she said, looking at him. She didn't really know what to do, but she was doing her best. "Umm.. Tell me about movies you like."


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Mara jumped, then collected herself and glared at him like she was going to murder him. "How would you like it of I burned you alive? That would hurt, right? Don't fuck with me either, Ox." She hissed and glared at him, but she followed him nonetheless. He never came to socialize unless it was important, even if she was pissed at him, it was important, and she couldn't ignore that. "What do you need me for? You quite frankly don't seem to like poor old pitiful me" she said, tapping her finger along her crossed arms as she kept pace with him.

The man was sweating now as he gasped for breath and thought of thumbs and books and movies, trying to shut away the adrenaline threatening to overcome him again. Her touch was helping, Roald could feel his hands, feel her hands, it was good, it helped. He wouldn't kill her, even if he couldn't control the fact he shifted... or did he have a choice after? He had been able to look around and to think when was a... well, when he changed, maybe--

A fresh zing of pain threw his thoughts away. Talk, think of human things, "Ah, ah, movies, mov-movies... I-I saw The Hobbit... with Martin Fre-Freeman... He's... He's really good--ngh... Good actor... The camerawork was grah... great, it was brilliant, there was a nice dissolv-ve fade and frame slow during the escape scene, lots of fancy locations and equipment... I'd kill to h... to have filmed that..." Ro grinned and wheezed out a laugh. It was working.

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The mention of burning alive sent a slithering shudder down Clark's spine, but he let nothing show. Both of his forms had an instinctive terror of fire and he had never been too fond of it either, not since his parents... Now wasn't the time. He smirked at her second comment. At the mention of the "pet name" he'd been given he knew he'd gotten to her. Clark:1 Mara: 0. For a "Dumb Ox" he had a way of outsmarting demons and most others in this institution. "Rodeo Champ, need I remind you? I can hog tie and sterilize in eight seconds. Be pretty bad for you, missy."

"Good, keep talking. Tell me about your school" Cari prompted, taking a deep breath, calming herself. Your aspirations- once you get out of here" she said quickly, thinking for a moment of her own. Publish a book, maybe. Go to school. Learn how to correctly fight. Get a house, find parents. She had never really thought about what would happen of they got out, really. Suddenly the thought scared her. This was all she knew. She had been thought by the workers how to read and talk, her alphabet, and by Clark sign language. By that really nice kid who disappeared 11 years after her appearance. That kid was even younger then her. She had learned so much from her. But, she didn't know anything of the world outside the walls, and that scared her.

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Mara hissed and stepped forward, grabbing his arm. Fire seemed to illuminate her hand as it transferred to him. It wasn't real fire, of course, though she could have done that. She didn't want to really harm him though, just give him a fright. He could feel it like it was real though, see it burn his flesh. She could see it both ways- the burning of flesh and the reality, light red patches, like someone held his skin to long. Not even painful in reality. What made it even better was the fact that she could have done it for real of she had wanted too, and that made it all the more real.

Roald nodded while taking deep, deliberate breaths. After a moment he began again. "I g--... went to a univers-sity in London to study camerawork and o-nguh... operation. Best in my class," he laughed softly, eyes pained but very determined. "96 on m-my final exam. Did a nature do-kh... documentary in the-in the snow. Took a week to camp and ge-get my footage. Researched all the animals I filmed so I-I could... so I could narrate..." He stopped and looked down again, tears threatening to break through once more. He squeezed Cari's hands once and continued.

"I... I had dreamed of working with cameras and... and animals... for a long time. In the end I settled on film, b-but there's animals in theatre. Never really trusted myself to take-ngh... to take care of any lives, always afraid I'd do the wrong thing." The last segment seemed to hold more meaning to him than anything. A fear of failure. Of being more than just ordinary. Of letting others down.

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Clark cringed and yelped before clamping his mouth shut. The barrage seared more than his arm, but his mind as images of fire flashed across his vision. Mom screaming as the burglar's footsteps retreated, Dad yelling something about gas. The next thing Clark knew the house was on fire and he was the only one to make it out. He had shifted within seconds, a huge black bull standing where the boy had moments before. With a trumpeting bellow, he swung his horns around to slam into Mara and send her away. He turned, favoring the leg she had "burned," and stared her down, head lowered and ready to charge.

Celeste had left a while ago to go talk to the caretaker that sewed everyone's clothes. She was now fully clothed and happy to be.
She smiled as she turned the corner as the scent of bull trail into her nose and the sound of a yelp made her frown . Her eyes flashed open to see a huge bull in the hallway staring down a demon she thinks her name is Mara.

'shit i have to help her' Celeste thought as she ran at the bull. She jumped over its huge frame for it took up most of the hall and she landed right in front of it. She turned around and stared down the bull, her reddish violet eye's changing into her wolf's blazing gold ones.

"That's nice. The film world sounds like a wonderous..." Cari trailed off, hearing a yelp and then a sound she knew very well- an angry bull on the charge. She mouthed sorry and rushed out into the hall. She saw Mara and the charging bull, and she wanted to kill her. The girl didn't know when to stop. "Mara, stop it! You made him angry!" She hissed, shifting into a small red fox and ran for the bull, off to the side. She barely registered Celeste as she pushed her way forward. She thought about her options, but she knew fighting was off the table. Her side was burning with every movement. She knew what would be better, but would almost definitely hurt her. She essentially wasn't a rodeo champ like Clark, though he had told her of it once and showed her the ropes. She saw her chance- and she hopped onto the bulls back, shifting back into a human as she did. She threw her arms around the neck of the animal, carefully avoiding the horns. "Please don't hurt her, you would hurt me" she whispered, holding her eyes shut. It was a stupid plan, but she couldn't fight and it wasn't like she couldn't get off quick enough.


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Mara screamed, loading her focus on makeing the fire real, and it disappeared, leaving only the red marks on him. She saw the wolf dart in front of her, and she instantly felt sorry. She would get hurt and it was all her fault. She saw the girl- Amanda or something, jump onto its back, and she stared at her like she was nuts for a second before starting to run backwards down the hall.

Roald smiled at her before he heard the noises outside and perked up instantly in curiosity. That was a bull. Cari dashed off with a mouthed 'sorry' and left him alone. He instantly missed human touch. The pain intensified a bit as the "shift" tried to overcome him again, but he refused to allow it. He thought of thumbs, wonderful, human thumbs, before remembering the book. Dracula. Ironic and maybe not the best idea at the moment, but Cari's words echoed in his head: "Animal eyes weren't meant to read." The book was in Ro's hands instantly as he shut away the screams, the shouts, and the trumpeting bull. It worked wonders. Books always took the forefront of Roald's mind, and Dracula had always been one of his favorites. Reading away, he began to forget the world he'd crashed into.

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Clark tossed his head at the wolf in front of him and snorted, burned leg still off the ground. A little harder and he could actually hit the obstruction. Then he could get to Mara. That would teach the bitch not to do that fire-y bullshit on him. This was the first time any of the demons had actually tried it and quite possibly the most violent reaction he had ever had in his life after when he had found Rico back at the boys home beat all to hell. He was in the same mindset either way: murder. He steeled his eyes and lunged back when he felt something land on his back. Unable to maneuver, he tossed his head wildly and jumped around the best he could, trying to shake the rider. Rodeo champ went both ways, fuckers! But then Cari's voice whispered in his ear and he settled nearly instantly. The rage boiled within him as he saw the damned werewolf run off. She'd pay yet. He would show her not to do that goddamn shit ever again. Slowly he lowered his head so the head shifter could slide off, shifted to human with a "You're dead, bitch!!" shouted down the hall, ran past the wolf quickly (he couldn't fit as a bull and he wanted to shift again seeing as how this form tore his clothes apart) and shifted once more, running the fastest he could. Damn, it felt good. The bitch was just a bit ahead of him. He wouldn't kill her, just show her not to fuck with fire around him again. A good scare did wonders. The hall cut off most of his motion and he scraped against the sides, but with his horns up he didn't risk hurting her.

Cari slid off his back, mumbling. "Don't do this, please" as she watched him run off and shift again. He didn't look like he was going to kill her now, so she decided the girl could use a good scare, and it wasn't her problem. She had other things to attend to, far more important things. "Just don't kill her!" She yelled and shifted back into a fox, ignoring the pain in her side as she rushed back to her cell. She saw the man reading the book, and she jumped onto the cot, not shifting back yet. If Clark went over the line, she would have to go quickly, and didn't want to bother with shifting. Besides, her shirt was officially beyond repair and she wasn't going to show off more than she wanted. She padded over to the pillow and laid her head on it, her fox-eyes darting around the room.


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Mara huffed, running out of breath as she neared the end of the hall. She had pushed it to far this time, and now she was paying for it. Not even the workers were coming to her aid. She turned and her thoughts churned in her head. She didn't really want to hurt the man, and she wasn't about to try the fire again, that would just piss him off more. So she tried to distract. "I thought you needed my help..." She whimpered, yelling it behind her.

Roald was vaguely aware of an animal coming onto the cot with him. Completely lost in the world of Stoker, he absentmindedly reached over and patted the furry thing. It was completely involuntary and natural, he didn't even know it was a fox, just that an animal had given him the trust of staying nearby. He had grown up with animals around him constantly and he enjoyed their company. The Scot continued to pet and read, deaf to the world around him.

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Clark huffed out an amused breath, head held high and running turned to more of a prance as he slowed to a canter, a trot, a walk, and then stood. That should be enough. The bull's instinct forced him to sharpen his horns against the wall while waiting for the bitch to come back, but he wasn't going to hurt her now. She had learned the lesson he was going to teach. The guy behind him was unfamiliar, but obviously not new. He seemed unfazed. With a hard exhalation, Moret swung his head around to face the male and nodded slowly with a wink. No use letting Mara know he had no intentions on hurting her any more.