Her heart was dead. She could feel it beating, but it felt so incredibly empty. It had to be dead. Her worst nightmare was coming true.
Hidden behind a pile of empty crates, Willow watched her lover kissing another woman, kissing her passionately, hungrily, needily. His hands were all over the blonde's body, cupping her breasts, her butt, pulling at her shirt.
The bitch's hands unerringly went for his crotch, squeezing him through his pants.
Suddenly, Oz pulled back, panting harshly for air, his face suffused with blood and lust. "I can't do this," he growled, shaking his head and pushing Veruca away.
"Yes you can," she replied seductively, swaying towards him as he backed up. "You feel it too, the need pounding inside us, the call of our blood. The need to mate."
"I...have a mate," he ground out.
Veruca scoffed, putting her hands on her hips. "That silly little thing? She's nothing, mortal, a momentary distraction."
"I love her."
"I don't care." Veruca turned her head and glanced out the window into the early evening sky. "The full moon is tomorrow night. I'll be here...waiting for you. If you insist on caging yourself, your true self, I'll join you." She headed for the door, throwing one last comment over her shoulder. "We were meant for each other, Oz. We WILL be together."
As the blonde werewolf headed up the stairs out of Giles' basement, Oz clenched his hands into fists and howled mournfully.
Tears flooding her eyes, Willow stepped from behind the crates. Startled, Oz stared at her, eyes wide.
"No..."
"I knew...I knew you couldn't resist her," Willow sobbed. "She's right...You need a mate that's your equal." As she spoke softly, sadly, she walked over to where he stood, apparently frozen in horror and guilt.
"Will...I...I'm sorry. I just lose control." He thumped his fists against his thighs, trying to make his muddled brain work, to explain why he needed Veruca so much.
Even though he hated it.
"It's the wolf blood," Willow whispered, her hand brushing over his chest. "I...never wanted to believe it would pull you away from me."
"I can't mate with her, Will," he ground out. "I don't want to. I don't want her."
"Yes you do. It's in your blood, the imperative to mate."
"Stop being so rational," he yelled, totally uncharacteristically. "If I sleep with her...if...Willow, we're wolves..."
"And wolves mate for life," she added sadly, then raised her fist and punched him in the mouth.
Oz staggered back, stunned at the amount of force behind his girlfriend's punch. Raising one hand to his mouth, he was surprised even more when he saw blood dotting his fingers. "Will?" He looked up, shaking his dazed head, and her fist cracked across his mouth again, knocking him to the floor.
Willow followed him down, straddling him, and hit him again, driving her knuckles into his mouth.
One canine gouged her ring finger.
Moaning, Willow flung herself off him and curled into a ball, reaction setting in immediately.
Shocked and in quite a bit of pain, Oz slowly rose to his knees, using the hem of his shirt to dab at his bleeding lips, his mind slowly realizing the truth. Horror flooded him and he grabbed her shoulders, turning her.
One bead of blood dripped down her finger along the back of her shaking hand.
"No..." He shook his head hard, trying to deny what she had done.
For, it could have only been on purpose. He knew her too well.
"I won't lose you to her, I won't, I can't," Willow babbled through her harsh sobs. "You're mine. I fought too hard to win you back to lose you because of this." She flung her arms around his neck and sobbed against his heaving chest.
"Oh God...Willow..." Oz stared blankly at the top of her head, desperately trying not to accept the consequences of her actions. He didn't want to believe, couldn't believe... "NO," he howled, tears flooding his burning eyes.
"Yes," she yelled back, clutching his struggling body to her. "I'd die for you, Oz. This is nothing. This is...right."
"No, no, no." He managed to pull free of her, jumping to his feet and backpedaling across the room. "I've destroyed you," he whispered numbly.
Swiping the tears from her cheeks, Willow rose to her feet and held up her bleeding finger. "Sacrifice, Oz. If I'd give up my body, my soul for you, what is three nights of the month?"
"You don't know what you're talking about," he replied hoarsely.
"I will...tomorrow night." She straightened and gave him a proud look. "You're mine, and tomorrow that bitch will find that out."
"She'll kill you," Oz cried, panicked at the realization that since Veruca was determined to claim him, the only way for Willow to drive her off was to fight her.
"She may have been a werewolf longer, but she doesn't have a slayer for a trainer."
Backed against the wall, Oz just shook his head, numb to the bone. "You...can't understand what you've done, what you've condemned yourself to."
"If I went to Hell...would you follow me?"
"Yes," he answered immediately.
Willow nodded and smiled softly, slowly approaching him. "We're the same now, truly meant to be together." She stopped in front of him, then reached out and ran her bleeding finger down his cheek.
"Willow..."
"Shhh, no more talking." She leaned forward and brushed her lips over his.
He jerked back, wiping his hand over his mouth, his eyes full of sorrow. "I taste like her."
"Taste like me." Pressing against his chest, Willow kissed him again, delving her tongue past his lips, imprinting her own taste on him. Sighing, Oz surrendered to the kiss, his hands sliding around her waist to caress the sensitive small of her back. With a mutual whimper, they sank to the floor.
*****
Buffy was shocked into silence. Xander was horrified, one minute threatening to kill Oz, the next, nearly in tears at the thought of his best friend suffering for three nights a month.
Giles was surprisingly stoic. He went into the kitchen to make tea, and Willow followed him.
Willow watched him fill the kettle and turn to the stove, his back to her. She had feared his disappointment the most, but... "You were expecting this, weren't you."
Taking a deep breath, Giles turned, nodding. "I believed it was only a matter of time. Werewolves, like natural wolves, mate for life. They're driven to find a mate who can be their match, who can provide them with offspring. A male will often turn a human female if she is the one he's attracted to and he cannot find a werewolf female." The clinical detachment disappeared and he took off his glasses, rubbing his nose. "I didn't expect it so soon."
"We were...pushed."
"Are you certain that this was your only choice?"
Willow nodded, totally confident. "He is attracted to Veruca. He can't help it. And, she was pushing him. I was..." She took a deep breath, her gaze wavering from him. "I was afraid that the wolf inside him would make the decision, outweighing his heart and his mind. Physically, as a werewolf, maybe she is his perfect mate, but he's only the wolf for less than thirty hours a month. He loves me. Oz, the man, loves me," she finished confidently.
Giles sighed and busied himself setting up the tea tray. "As their population has declined, fights over potential mates have grown more common." He looked back over at the determined girl standing in the doorway. "Can you defeat her?"
"I have to. If I lose...well...I die, which, naturally I don't want, but I also condemn Oz to a loveless life."
Giles nodded and the kettle whistled.
*****
Nothing had been decided. Xander had left, angry and upset. Giles remained calm, but deeply concerned. Oz paced in the basement, unable to stay still, blaming himself.
Buffy found Willow sitting in Giles' courtyard, watching the sun set. She sat down across the table from her.
"Are you still freaked?"
"...Yeah," Buffy replied truthfully. "I never thought you'd do this."
"I never wanted to do this. I never thought I'd need to. I...tried to pretend that he'd never meet a female werewolf." She sighed. "I was being delusional girl."
"Will...this is such a big thing you've done."
"I know that. I didn't do it on the spur of the moment. I have thought about it before. I knew we could never truly be together forever if I stayed human. Even if we married and were together for the rest of her lives, I'd never have all of him." She looked up as the sun dropped below the horizon and a cool breeze blew across her.
"Aren't you scared?"
Willow nodded, but smiled at her friend. "Excited, too. Now I can share this last thing with the man I love." She caught Buffy's hand, squeezing. "Be happy for me, Buffy."
"I'll try."
Willow stiffened slightly and cocked her head. "She's coming. I can...smell her." A grin crossed her face as her senses fully awakened, and she jumped to her feet. Buffy rose as well and they hugged tightly. "I'll see you in the morning."
"Will...we have to bar the door behind her. You'll all be trapped in the basement until dawn. Are you sure..."
Nodding and smiling in reassurance, Willow replied, "Yes. I have to do this. I have to defeat her." Turning, she hurried back into the apartment.
*****
"Bitch," Veruca screamed on entering the basement, not even noticing the door slamming behind her or the chains being drawn across it from the outside. "What have you done?"
Willow stepped in front of Oz, her arms over her chest, her face calm and hard. "What I had to do. I won't lose him to a skanky whore like you."
Snarling, Veruca paced across the floor, tossing her head. "You have no experience, no ability, no idea what you're doing, you stupid twit. I've been a wolf all my life. I'll take you before you're even done changing," she boasted.
"Love conquers all." A cliche, but she meant it with all her heart and soul.
Veruca howled, and Oz joined her, as the change began.
*****
Dawn rose to find two lovers curled in each other's tight embrace, neither wanting to loosen their arms for fear of losing the other. As they woke, shy smiles breaking across their faces, they ignored the whimper of pain and fear and loss coming from a far corner of the basement.
Unabashed in her nudity, Willow rose to her feet, tugging Oz with her. His hands cupped her hips and he pulled her against him, nuzzling her neck which bore the marks of his possession. He licked at the healing wounds, then kissed her mouth gently.
"I love you," he pledged. "Forever, for always."
Tears sprang to Willow's eyes and she purred against his neck, "My mate...Mine."
End
Damn Joss and his evilness to a fiery Hell... Laure, Chief of Counter-intelligence of the Joss Mutilation Brigade