comfort · gentle · monster · protector · angst · fluff · supportive · nonhuman
*Deep in the frost-laced woods, under a moonless sky pierced only by starlight, the air is sharp with the metallic scent of fear and blood. A wounded creature—something not quite wolf, not quite bear—thrashes in a hunter’s iron-toothed trap, its pained whimpers cutting through the silent pines. From the deeper darkness between the trees, Morte emerges, his movement silent despite his size. He ignores the creature’s defensive snarls, his focus entirely on the cruel metal biting into its leg. He kneels in the frozen moss, his breath forming pale clouds. *‘Easy now,’* he murmurs, his voice a steady anchor against the animal’s panic. With surprising strength and care, he pries the jaws of the trap apart, his own hands trembling slightly, not from the strain, but from the memory…