[ She was not born a wolf. But the Red Room made sure she acted like she had always been one by the time she left.
They picked her, turned her, and trained her for years. A red wolf of Russia and one of the fiercest, quickly gaining notoriety wherever they unleashed her. She was a weapon first and foremost and she had been content with that life, content with the title. Or so she had always told herself. She was told she would have no mate, being a turned human. They have her tonics to keep her heat and fertility suppressed, saying she would breed when they wanted her to and not before.
It was only after being hunted down by a human named Clint Barton that she started thinking for herself again. He gave her the chance to live a life of her own. Help humans and wolves alike, not just kill. She thought it was a trap at first. But he dropped his weapons and give her the chance to take his hand. Years later, she can't believe he had done that.
For her.
No one had ever cared about her or wanted more for her. Not since her parents (and they had died the night they took her, claiming her as their own). It was all about the pack and Red Room. To join a different pack, to defect... They would hunt her. Kill her or try to. She vowed she wouldn't make it easy.
And she never did. Nick Fury was an old but reliable Alpha and Natasha grew to trust him like a father. She grew accustomed to life in America, seeing how wolves and humans co-existed for the most part. There were still certain designated areas in the larger cities but even out in the more rural areas, packs allowed humans to live on their land. It was new and different and something she never thought was real when she heard people talk about it.
When he told her to join the Avengers, to help in leading them - that Steve was going to need her help more than he could know - Natasha did as she was asked. Stayed with them, helped save more lives, fought more destructive packs and organizations. Sometimes they would spend months together as a pack and then go their own ways. Eventually, they ended up living on a compound Stark had made for them and life had been peaceful.
Until it all fell apart. General Ross wanted them to disband, not trusting the technology they possessed or the abilities some of their pack possessed. They were being called out for the damage they had done, it didn't matter if they had saved more lives than lost. The two Alphas of the pack butted heads about what to do. Steve wouldn't back down, neither would Tony. Natasha tried to keep the pack together, afraid of losing yet another family. But it didn't work.
Months later, after the Avengers was no more, Tony furious at her, Rhodey possibly permanently disabled, Steve and the others on the run, Natasha ran from country to country for a long while before diving into Hell's Kitchen. It would be the last place they would look. Back where it all started. She could still recognize some of the buildings from the fight with Loki. She cut her hair, dyed it blond and went about getting a job with fake IDs and numbers to complete the new identity. Small apartment, keeps to herself but not secretively. Still aware of her surroundings and anyone near her. Resists every urge to go running around in her wolf form no matter what howls she hears in the back alleys.
She's not looking forward to having to try pill suppressants for the first time for her heat but it's necessary. She's on her way back from the pharmacy with them tucked into her purse when she smells it on the wind. Normally, it's clogged with other smells. Humans, other wolves, cars, food, the sewers when she walks by one of the drains. But this... this is something she's never smelled before. Sweet and soothing, calming. She's almost in a daze as it gets stronger and she is trying to look around to see who, what, it could be.
Before she knows it, she's knocking shoulders with a blind man and she's snapped out of the revere, back into the real world, on a sidewalk in Hell's Kitchen. ]
[Matt has never been one to flaunt his suffering. It was obvious enough that he is blind. That he has it hard on a day to day basis. That's only one layer to him. Born a wolf, raised to be aware of his nature not by kin but by a callous old fuck called Stick. The well-meaning clergy at Saint Agnes did what they could to raise a man. There is only so much that can be done. Matthew Murdock had to do plenty of growing up and adapting on his own. That is the path of a lone wolf.
The way is paved by strife, violence and cunning. The world can believe he is feeble. His nose is more sensitive than any others. Ears more sharp. His skin can detect changes in the air most would never be aware of. What would have made so many become vulnerable, he's strong. Out of will or sheer stubbornness, he really can't tell.
Wilson Fisk is incarcerated. And another domino to fall is the Hand. Hell's Kitchen is his turf. Marked by each victory in the streets, won over with violence...yet mercy. Perhaps that was a duality he would forever be working around. A man and a beast. Matt Murdock is on the fence between the two. Karen could take the man but the burden of lie after lie in exchange for her blind faith was too much. Foggy's understanding was a little more generous. Both frowned at his bloodied hands.
Maybe no one would understand. Just as well. Heading home from court his head is a mess. Stay in and try to sleep or work out the restlessness that is trying to seep into his bones. He's off his game when his shoulder gets knocked. With it a burst of awareness is on him. The smell of skin, the sound of a designer cut of silken hair fluttering with movement and the crinkle of a bag.]
[ Natasha almost slips back into that daze when she finally seems to find the origin of the soothing scent: this man? No, a wolf. She can tell what he is even as they both walk about on two legs.
Shaking her head, too late realizing he has a cane and dark glasses on, she moves to gently touch his elbow, an offer of civility, a show she was no threat and didn't want to be. ]
No, it was my fault. I should've paid attention to where I was going.
[Her voice is low, warm. Matt is already reassured even with the earthen musk below the perfume and products. Being around so few like him, like them he is stunned. Are they allowed to recognize each other? Stick was not the best tutor in the social arts of their kind. Another lone wolf, a grizzly old fuck.
The touch to his elbow makes him relax his brow and jaw, he wasn't aware he had been tense.]
I should have too.
[A small smile on his lips.]
Thanks for being uh understanding.
[Instead of the uncomfortable overflow of apologies with the nervous, painfully anxious heartbeat.]
[ She feels herself smile at his words, shaking her head again on reflex, ]
It's alright. I'm kinda... glad I ran into you.
[ She's smelled other wolves around the city. But she often doesn't interact with them. Feels no need or desire to.
It must be her... Time making her lean in closer, still feeling oddly calm by him. Normally, she would just try to move on at this point, walk the other way. ]
[The turn of phrase makes it impossible for him to keep composure. So rarely is Matt literally run into and even more rarely than that someone is glad for it.
By reflex, by necessity with his level of blindness he ha not stopped scenting her since they collided. Wolf and woman. Feminine and lethal, wild. No danger clinging to the array of sensory flooding him.]
...you know we're supposed to lie whenever that question is asked directly.
[At least that is the extent of what he has known. The lawyer in Matt still presses to be true and to the point.]
Yes. I do. And you're asking because you recognize something.
[ Natasha can't stop the smile that spreads slowly on her face, still coy and soft, her eyes dark as her assumptions are confirmed. ]
We're the same.
[ Her hand squeezes his elbow some, her eyes closing, biting down on her bottom lip as her body seems to respond to the knowledge, too. The heat is building in her, flushes rolling from her head to her toes. ]
[The tempo of her heart and cadence of her breathing have him fixed to the spot. Her touch is incidental. Matt can visualize her stance, the way she is equally to the point with her words.]
Do you need help getting to your pack?
[No doubt her mate in that pack. Safe passage would be the most sense. And the exotic, sensual notes on her skin they're building. It makes his innards tense and his throat go dry.]
[ It's almost a whisper, and the emotion in her voice is more present than she would like. Because she did have one. She did. Just not anymore. The pain from that still felt too fresh. ]
I don't have a mate.
[ Another painful truth she's being forced to face right now, in a less than convenient moment. Not for a lack of wanting, either. She just... was never able to keep either or really have either. ]
Just for today. I won't trouble you for more than that.
[His shaded glasses can't hide his expression, the honest surprise. How can she not have a pack? She's young, healthy. It doesn't make sense as to what he knew or had known. And that isn't information to be offered up the same way Matt is closed lipped.]
Okay.
[The answer came before his awareness. Instinct and necessity of his own coming to the foreground.]
You're no trouble.
[That he knows he says for sure, smile quirked.]
Easy for me to say right now though.
[Being propositioned out here in the public, it's a dream. It's a fantasy. But this is now.]
[ Natasha nods and follows him, knowing his own senses are not like a human who is blind. She doesn't know just how much his senses are heightened, but she still feels drawn to him in a way she hasn't to anyone else.
In nearly every other case, she has had her suppressants in her system, or she's been able to resist acting on any kind of attraction. Here and now... she just goes along with it because she wants to.
Just like she leans in to press her nose and mouth to the side of Matt's neck once they are away from the street. Muffled into his skin, ]
[The long hours of the afternoon extend the shadows. And between the brickwork they're alone. Instead of being overwhelmed by the city, he breathes in her hair. Yes, a wolf. Yes, a she wolf in need.]
I know a place. It'll be quiet and private.
[The idea of taking her home, of coating the apartment in her scent is not just a tease to himself later but a disadvantage. She may not have a pack, she may not have a mate, there might be more to the story. Complications to himself later for simple solutions now wouldn't be fair.
Matt swallows thickly and his lips graze her shoulder, through clothes he knows her skin is getting hotter.]
[ She returns the favor in smelling his hair as he kisses her shoulder through her clothes, getting confirmation that he is a wolf. One that smells better than any other she's come into contact with before.
It's so strange... ]
I don't even know your name.
[ But she's smiling some as she says it, amused at how quick things are proceeding. ]
[Again his brain is moving slowly against his body, his impulses. He wets his lips and indulges in putting an arm around her waist. Smell, sound, heat, all the details that make him see with his world on fire don't need touch, he wants it.]
We'll go someplace private.
[Not the apartment. Fogwell's is shut down. They won't be disturbed and it has't been torn down. Not yet. And the thought of having a playmate in such a place makes his heart rate tick up.]
You can slip away whenever you want.
[Whenever. Well. After. There has to be a before and a during. No after!]
[ She's still smiling, running her teeth along the shell of his ear when he lifts his head back up. She's never seen Fogwell's so this is just another way of discovering this seemingly endless city. ]
I'm Natalie.
[ He doesn't need to know anything else. Not when this is all they will have together. Why make it more complicated than it needs to be? This is simply to give her an outlet -- and he gets something out of it, too. ]
[The way words form around her smile, another means of being stimulated for Matt. His ears, nose and senses are keen. Does she know the appeal? Living as a blind wolf he can only imagine. He was told he doesn't need anyone or anything. Natalie in her warmth, spreading through her body and clearly building and aching for release, he can't resist.]
Let's go.
[He shivers at the touch of teeth, his fingers indulge to curl into the ends of her hair for a little tug, nothing harsh. Matt snickers like a naughty school boy.]
I think you'll like it.
[For all it's age, the charm is there. The open ring, the ropes the privacy and showers too.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
wolf au | for fightlikehell
They picked her, turned her, and trained her for years. A red wolf of Russia and one of the fiercest, quickly gaining notoriety wherever they unleashed her. She was a weapon first and foremost and she had been content with that life, content with the title. Or so she had always told herself. She was told she would have no mate, being a turned human. They have her tonics to keep her heat and fertility suppressed, saying she would breed when they wanted her to and not before.
It was only after being hunted down by a human named Clint Barton that she started thinking for herself again. He gave her the chance to live a life of her own. Help humans and wolves alike, not just kill. She thought it was a trap at first. But he dropped his weapons and give her the chance to take his hand. Years later, she can't believe he had done that.
For her.
No one had ever cared about her or wanted more for her. Not since her parents (and they had died the night they took her, claiming her as their own). It was all about the pack and Red Room. To join a different pack, to defect... They would hunt her. Kill her or try to. She vowed she wouldn't make it easy.
And she never did. Nick Fury was an old but reliable Alpha and Natasha grew to trust him like a father. She grew accustomed to life in America, seeing how wolves and humans co-existed for the most part. There were still certain designated areas in the larger cities but even out in the more rural areas, packs allowed humans to live on their land. It was new and different and something she never thought was real when she heard people talk about it.
When he told her to join the Avengers, to help in leading them - that Steve was going to need her help more than he could know - Natasha did as she was asked. Stayed with them, helped save more lives, fought more destructive packs and organizations. Sometimes they would spend months together as a pack and then go their own ways. Eventually, they ended up living on a compound Stark had made for them and life had been peaceful.
Until it all fell apart. General Ross wanted them to disband, not trusting the technology they possessed or the abilities some of their pack possessed. They were being called out for the damage they had done, it didn't matter if they had saved more lives than lost. The two Alphas of the pack butted heads about what to do. Steve wouldn't back down, neither would Tony. Natasha tried to keep the pack together, afraid of losing yet another family. But it didn't work.
Months later, after the Avengers was no more, Tony furious at her, Rhodey possibly permanently disabled, Steve and the others on the run, Natasha ran from country to country for a long while before diving into Hell's Kitchen. It would be the last place they would look. Back where it all started. She could still recognize some of the buildings from the fight with Loki. She cut her hair, dyed it blond and went about getting a job with fake IDs and numbers to complete the new identity. Small apartment, keeps to herself but not secretively. Still aware of her surroundings and anyone near her. Resists every urge to go running around in her wolf form no matter what howls she hears in the back alleys.
She's not looking forward to having to try pill suppressants for the first time for her heat but it's necessary. She's on her way back from the pharmacy with them tucked into her purse when she smells it on the wind. Normally, it's clogged with other smells. Humans, other wolves, cars, food, the sewers when she walks by one of the drains. But this... this is something she's never smelled before. Sweet and soothing, calming. She's almost in a daze as it gets stronger and she is trying to look around to see who, what, it could be.
Before she knows it, she's knocking shoulders with a blind man and she's snapped out of the revere, back into the real world, on a sidewalk in Hell's Kitchen. ]
no subject
The way is paved by strife, violence and cunning. The world can believe he is feeble. His nose is more sensitive than any others. Ears more sharp. His skin can detect changes in the air most would never be aware of. What would have made so many become vulnerable, he's strong. Out of will or sheer stubbornness, he really can't tell.
Wilson Fisk is incarcerated. And another domino to fall is the Hand. Hell's Kitchen is his turf. Marked by each victory in the streets, won over with violence...yet mercy. Perhaps that was a duality he would forever be working around. A man and a beast. Matt Murdock is on the fence between the two. Karen could take the man but the burden of lie after lie in exchange for her blind faith was too much. Foggy's understanding was a little more generous. Both frowned at his bloodied hands.
Maybe no one would understand. Just as well. Heading home from court his head is a mess. Stay in and try to sleep or work out the restlessness that is trying to seep into his bones. He's off his game when his shoulder gets knocked. With it a burst of awareness is on him. The smell of skin, the sound of a designer cut of silken hair fluttering with movement and the crinkle of a bag.]
'Scuse me. Sorry.
no subject
Shaking her head, too late realizing he has a cane and dark glasses on, she moves to gently touch his elbow, an offer of civility, a show she was no threat and didn't want to be. ]
No, it was my fault. I should've paid attention to where I was going.
no subject
The touch to his elbow makes him relax his brow and jaw, he wasn't aware he had been tense.]
I should have too.
[A small smile on his lips.]
Thanks for being uh understanding.
[Instead of the uncomfortable overflow of apologies with the nervous, painfully anxious heartbeat.]
no subject
It's alright. I'm kinda... glad I ran into you.
[ She's smelled other wolves around the city. But she often doesn't interact with them. Feels no need or desire to.
It must be her... Time making her lean in closer, still feeling oddly calm by him. Normally, she would just try to move on at this point, walk the other way. ]
Can you tell what I am?
no subject
By reflex, by necessity with his level of blindness he ha not stopped scenting her since they collided. Wolf and woman. Feminine and lethal, wild. No danger clinging to the array of sensory flooding him.]
...you know we're supposed to lie whenever that question is asked directly.
[At least that is the extent of what he has known. The lawyer in Matt still presses to be true and to the point.]
Yes. I do. And you're asking because you recognize something.
no subject
We're the same.
[ Her hand squeezes his elbow some, her eyes closing, biting down on her bottom lip as her body seems to respond to the knowledge, too. The heat is building in her, flushes rolling from her head to her toes. ]
I--I need your help.
no subject
Do you need help getting to your pack?
[No doubt her mate in that pack. Safe passage would be the most sense. And the exotic, sensual notes on her skin they're building. It makes his innards tense and his throat go dry.]
no subject
[ It's almost a whisper, and the emotion in her voice is more present than she would like. Because she did have one. She did. Just not anymore. The pain from that still felt too fresh. ]
I don't have a mate.
[ Another painful truth she's being forced to face right now, in a less than convenient moment. Not for a lack of wanting, either. She just... was never able to keep either or really have either. ]
Just for today. I won't trouble you for more than that.
no subject
Okay.
[The answer came before his awareness. Instinct and necessity of his own coming to the foreground.]
You're no trouble.
[That he knows he says for sure, smile quirked.]
Easy for me to say right now though.
[Being propositioned out here in the public, it's a dream. It's a fantasy. But this is now.]
Come with me.
[Back toward the alleyways. More quiet.]
no subject
In nearly every other case, she has had her suppressants in her system, or she's been able to resist acting on any kind of attraction. Here and now... she just goes along with it because she wants to.
Just like she leans in to press her nose and mouth to the side of Matt's neck once they are away from the street. Muffled into his skin, ]
Thank you.
no subject
I know a place. It'll be quiet and private.
[The idea of taking her home, of coating the apartment in her scent is not just a tease to himself later but a disadvantage. She may not have a pack, she may not have a mate, there might be more to the story. Complications to himself later for simple solutions now wouldn't be fair.
Matt swallows thickly and his lips graze her shoulder, through clothes he knows her skin is getting hotter.]
no subject
It's so strange... ]
I don't even know your name.
[ But she's smiling some as she says it, amused at how quick things are proceeding. ]
no subject
[Again his brain is moving slowly against his body, his impulses. He wets his lips and indulges in putting an arm around her waist. Smell, sound, heat, all the details that make him see with his world on fire don't need touch, he wants it.]
We'll go someplace private.
[Not the apartment. Fogwell's is shut down. They won't be disturbed and it has't been torn down. Not yet. And the thought of having a playmate in such a place makes his heart rate tick up.]
You can slip away whenever you want.
[Whenever. Well. After. There has to be a before and a during. No after!]
no subject
[ She's still smiling, running her teeth along the shell of his ear when he lifts his head back up. She's never seen Fogwell's so this is just another way of discovering this seemingly endless city. ]
I'm Natalie.
[ He doesn't need to know anything else. Not when this is all they will have together. Why make it more complicated than it needs to be? This is simply to give her an outlet -- and he gets something out of it, too. ]
no subject
Let's go.
[He shivers at the touch of teeth, his fingers indulge to curl into the ends of her hair for a little tug, nothing harsh. Matt snickers like a naughty school boy.]
I think you'll like it.
[For all it's age, the charm is there. The open ring, the ropes the privacy and showers too.]