Sam's face burned as her head violently shock. Her ears were ringing as Tom was shouting, his arm still extended. Sam fell to her knees and looked up to her attacker. “Don't you dare forget you're MY BITCH.” Tom said with a snarl, revealing his yellowed canines underneath his emerald eyes. He began to undo his pants. “Time for you to do the one thing your good for.” Sam began to cry. Tears rolled down from the hair around her eyes to wet the scarring along the left side of her face, neck and shoulders. She was shacking, not only from the buffeting she received which still burned. Tom chuckled. “Dumb bitch... can't even find my cock.” With that he grabbed her by the hair on her head and jerked her to kneel beneath him. ---- Travis was sitting with Tyler at the colleges cafeteria. The friends made an odd pair. Travis was a slender framed fox an inch or two shy of six feet with dark onyx eyes; Tyler was a mountain of a bear, even by bear standards, measuring well over eight feet with pale blue-gray eyes. Where Travis had a slender frame, Tyler was missive in every regard, paws bigger then dinner plates, arms bigger than most people's legs, legs like tree trunks, and a rather round midsection. The odd thing was, Travis stormed about clumsily, stepping on people's feet by accident and bumping into people, a most ungraceful spectacle; and Tyler tip-toed like a ballerina, graceful and deliberate, being incredibly dainty every time he reached for something, always in mortal fear of accidentally crushing something or someone. “I haven't seen Sam in months.” Travis blurted out sadly. “I miss her too, she's a great friend. We should visit her.” Tyler said with a smile. “I've tried. She's avoiding me.” “Why would she do that? In high-school you two were as close as peanut-butter and jelly!” “Cause I noticed some bruising, and asked her about it. She got really really nervous and has been avoiding me ever since...” Tyler go pale, and clenched his plate. “Bruising? What bruising?” “I'm not sure... it started after she was getting serious with that wolf, Tom...” Tyler's eyes narrowed. “What are you saying?” “I think he's been hitting her.” Travis looked on in surprise as he heard a plate snap and saw Tyler shacking and gritting his teeth. Tyler looked down at the broken plate, then tried to calm himself down, closing his eyes and trying to breath slowly. “Are you sure?” The shock started to wear off of Travis. Looking dejected he said “I can't be sure of anything with her anymore...” Tyler spoke, desperately trying to calm himself: “We've got to find out... I can't... she... can't be allowed to suffer like that.” Travis nodded, still looking at the floor. ---- Travis was walking to his dorm that night. He stopped, and smelled the chill in the air. Autumn was in the air. He looked at the door and swipe pass and clenched his fists. All he could do was utter “Sam” under his breath and he stormed off. He and Samantha had been friends since grade-school. The first day at school, the other kids picked on him for being a bean-pole. Samantha was the only one to come over to him and be nice, even as the other kids made fun of her. Travis asked her years latter why she did that. She had nearly forgotten, and chuckled that Travis had remembered it. “Those kids were jerks... and you didn't seem to be a jerk” she said with a smile. Travis loved the way her smile used to light up a room. But Travis couldn't remember the last time he saw her smile. Just before high-school started Sam was taking a trip with her father. She adored him so, and he was always doing things with her. The pair was inseparable. There was an accident. A truck caring construction supplies was improperly loaded, and its cargo spilled into traffic. Sam's father died instantly, Sam was impaled through her shoulder received some rather bad lacerations to the left side of her face. During high-school everybody stared at her or whispered as she came by. She only had two close friends, Travis and Tyler. Her senior year she meet a pack leader, Tom, who told her she was 'hot.' Never before having a boy take interest with her she flung herself into the relationship. It was down hill from there on out. Sam, thought Travis, you don't need him to tell you you're beautiful. You are, and I should have told you that. I shouldn't have left you to him... Travis made it too her dorm, and fiddled with the call box for a bit. He got Sam's roommate, Sarah, on and asked if Sam was there. She said no. Travis introduced himself “I'm an old friend of hers. Can I talk to you, it's important.” Sarah came down, a perky little rabbit who's ears barely reached the top of Travis' head. She took him into the lounge and she seated herself cross-legged on the couch. Travis sunk into an worn out arm chair. “What do you need to talk about” Sarah asked with a little bit or worry in her voice. Travis sunk his face into his hands nervously for a moment. Shaking he started “I'm...” taking a deep breath, “I'm worried about Sam.” Sarah looked at the carpet. “Tom...” Travis turned pale and looked directly at Sarah. “You must be Travis. So spoke a lot about you. Must've been good friends. Form what she said about you the first week I thought you were her boyfriend... That was until that mangy wolf came by...” “Has he been hitting her?” Travis said. “He's a piece of trash. Eye's you like a maggot... I don't know...” Sarah stood up and started pacing the room. “She's been wearing long sleeved shirts and pants, even to be... she's always comes back from the showers fully clothed... she's been wearing a lot of make-up.” Sarah sighed. “One night, coming back from a date with Tom I noticed she had a black eye. She claimed she tripped... but...” “You know she didn't trip...” Travis said coldly, looking at the floor. “I think Tom's been hitting her.” Travis put his hand to his mouth as his eyes watered. “She got those scars the same day her father died. People used to make fun of her... She's so beautiful... but she thinks that no man alive could love her because of her face... and it's just not true...” Sarah looked at him and smiled. “You should have told her the truth in high-school. Maybe she wouldn't have gone out with Tom.” Travis looked at Sarah. “I told her that she was beautiful... I told her that she would find the right the right guy...” Sarah chuckled. “No... you should have told her the truth... that she was loved by the man who would have treated her right.” Travis sunk his paws into his scalp and dug in. Sarah rushed over and grabbed his paws and pulled them into his lap. Crouching next to him she said “You don't chat up a perfect strange for a week about someone unless their special.” She put a paw on his check. “Nor do you bear your soul to a stranger when you think your friends hurting unless it's tearing you apart, unless you care about them more than life itself.” Travis closed his eyes and looked down to the floor. They talked for about an hour until Sam came walking by on her way to her room. Sarah jumped out of her seat and greeted her. “Sam, guess who came to visit?” Sarah gently steered her into the lounge. As soon as Sam saw Travis, she shied away the right side of her face and nervously ans stared to tug her sleeves down. She forced a nervous smile. “Travis, what a surprise!” Sarah left the lounge. “I'll leave you two alone, ya got a lot of catching up to do.” Travis looked at her and blurted out “Are you wearing make-up?” Sam flinched like she had just been pricked. “Yeah, new eye liner. How have things been for you?” “Tom's hitting you...” Travis blurted out. Sam stared at him blankly, then forced a nervous chuckle. “That's ridiculous.” Travis stood up and walked over and touched her arm. She yelped in pain and pulled back. “My God... the bastard...” Sam glared into his eyes “You promised I'd find prince charming... this is all I have...” “Prince charming was a wuss...” Sam got mad. She through all her might into Travis and hit him with both hands. He landed on his back and looked up to her. She turned so that he wouldn't see her cry, and ran down the hallway. Travis threw himself after her, finally over taking her, he grabbed her hand and pulled her to face him. Sam balled her fists, and in a storm of tears started to strike him about his chest. He grabbed her hand and pulled them down to her waist and pined her between himself and the wall. “He's a bastard... you're better...” Travis gasped half panting. Sam whipped her head around. “No! No I'm not...” she cried, “that's all I'm good for... to be someone's bitch!” She was shacking violently as her checks glistened in her tears. Travis put his snout near hers and spoke with a cracking voice. “I was a wuss... I... no it's not. It's not the only thing your good for... your good for whatever you want to be...” Sam turned her face to Travis, their noses almost touching, feeling his hot breath. “You are loved...” Travis brushed his lower lip into Sam's mouth. She flinched in shock. He gently put his lips to her lower lip again, and it was like electricity through her body. Her lips greedily begged for his as she whispered his name. She looked into his eyes, praying that he would press his lips to hers again. He moved his snout in, but instead of their lips meeting he pressed the side of his snout to hers and whispered “Your so beautiful... I should have told you...” He kissed her scar gently. “I love you...” the words were nearly inaudible and he buried his face into her neck and softly sobbed. Sam felt his tears on her flesh as he pressed himself into her and released her hands. She was stunned for a moment, but taking a deep breath she threw her arms around him and pulled him close. She never felt anything like this before and was terrified by it, but at the same time she was greedy for it, it felt so natural being pressed into him.