🌙 He woke up once again in the dawn, this time completely nude and missing the open wounds across his body. Instead, his face, neck and hands were covered in blood and gore; A desecrated animal sat not too far away, the head cleaved straight off and the chest and stomach were both torn open by horrifying bite marks. He threw up when he tasted the blood coating his teeth.

🌙 He would've never believed he'd become a werewolf had it not have been for the shitty camera system he set up in his safehouse. It captured every little nasty bit of his transformation and he watched it in pure horror as he became a monster.

🌙 He tried to keep himself inside of his safehouse, especially when he could sniff out gang members riding around the dusty plateaus in search of people to rob. Some months, he was successful, managing to chain himself up just enough to keep the beast at bay. Other nights... He wasn't as lucky.

🌙 When he initially heard the recall, he didn't allow himself to get his hopes up. He couldn't, not with what he was. Overwatch would surely turn their backs on him when they found out he had an uncontrollable wild side that came out to play every month. But when he woke up the next morning after a full moon to see he had taken out a Deadlock member that strayed too close to his territory, he got scared.

🌙 When he reluctantly relayed his "condition" to Winston who shockingly took it well. The gorilla was eager to help, citing that the base was equipped with specialized cells that even he couldn't break out of when he was in a rampage. It really put an ease in Cole's mind.

🌙 It was then that he saw you again. His world stopped moving when he saw you on the Overwatch base. And when your eyes connected? He felt something strange wriggle inside of him. It was the beast that lay just beneath his skin. Normally when he would feel it fighting to get out, it was out of feral rage. But now? It wanted you.

🌙 You had been with Overwatch when he was "initiated" in Blackwatch. He was very sweet on you back in those days, but you both really couldn't do much more than exchange occasional touches and flirt as both Morrison and Reyes kept you both on short leashes. Then there was the night during a New Years party where you both snuck away, only for Reyes to find you both kissing and pawing at each other in some storage closet.

🌙 You both hit it off immediately. It made him feel ten years younger again the way you both tried to keep it a secret only for people like Fareeha and Angela to snicker and catch you both flirting in the kitchen. You both fell into an immediate comfort with one another, and it made that odd feeling inside of Cole grow even hotter.

🌙 And then, he was cruelly reminded of his little problem when he didn't show up to your little date. You were supposed to have a picnic at night by the beach, but he was a no show. You went knocking on his door completely annoyed only to find his room was long empty. It was then that you grew a little suspicious on what was going on.

🌙 Cole felt absolutely horrible for doing that to you, and even worse knowing that you would most likely become horrified if you found out about what he really was. He couldn't afford to lose you a second time, especially if it was because of him. So when you asked him what the fuck was up about the other night, he lied through is teeth to you. He knew you didn't buy it, but you seemed to understand that something was wrong and he wasn't ready to tell you about it.

🌙 There have been times where you would almost see it. Cole didn't have the best control over it at times, especially when his emotions would get the best of him. Claws would come out, his eyes would give off a faint golden glow, and often times when he's all riled up and angry he can feel his teeth ache as they gave way to fangs.

🌙 It was always another bullshit excuse he would dish out. Hiding his hand in his pocket, rubbing his eyes acting like he got sand in them, even popping a cigar in his mouth and barely speaking as he smoked like a chimney to get away with you not seeing his sharp teeth.

🌙 And then came the night you finally found out. You had gotten fed up with Cole becoming dodgy every fucking month and completely ignoring you when you knew he wasn't out on a mission. You followed him, suddenly finding yourself in a weird part of the base you hadn't seen before, following far behind. You watched Cole enter one of the heavy-duty cells, and as it closed behind him, he caught a whiff of you. Turning to see you in the hallway, he became mortified as the door closed.

🌙 Despite your horrible cover being blown, you approached the door, ignoring Cole's pathetic pleas for you to leave before he was silenced by a horrifying crack of bone. Worried, you looked to the holopad screen beside the door only for you to witness that gory transformation. You couldn't pull your eyes away from it, standing there on wobbling legs as your lover turned into a monster. You only booked it when he slammed against the door, snarling and baying as his claws bit into the thick metal.

🌙 The next morning, he didn't want to see you. He at first refused to leave the cell, only redressing himself before he sat against the wall and puffed away at his pack of cigarettes he squirreled away down there. Anxiety wracked his nerves as he mourned, the poor man was having a full-blown panic when the door opened with a groan, revealing you were standing behind it with a stoic look on your face.

🌙 He flinched away, avoiding your gaze, the cigarette butt crushed between his teeth completely flat as he heard you walk up to him. He didn't know how to feel; Somewhat of a mix of fear and anger and embarrassment amongst other emotions. Fear was the reigning champion, though, especially as you stopped right next to him.

🌙 So when you suddenly bent down and crushed him in a hug? He wasn't ready for it. The cigarette slipped from his teeth and he was left sitting there completely stunned before he finally willed himself to hug you back. His eyes burned with unshed tears as silent sobs wracked through his body as you held him.

🌙 He came to terms pretty quickly with you using dog puns around him. Most of your teammates didn't understand, but Cole would just eye you and puff on his cigarette, rolling his eyes playfully. However, if you ever said something like 'Good boy,' forget it. He's like putty in your hands.

🌙 He runs so warm. You don't understand how he's not burning up let alone melting in his clothes. You don't need blankets at night, only Cole, and he's a keen fan of just wrapping his arms around you, smothering your sleeping body with his scent and passing out.

🌙 Speaking of scents, he loves it when you wearing something of his. It does something to him, awakening something primal inside of him when he sees you walking around your shared room with nothing but your underwear and one of his large flannels wrapped around you like a robe. He can feel it getting as excited as he is as he tracked you from the bed.

🌙 He argues that he's nothing like a dog only to fall prey when you scratch him just right, especially between the shoulders where he can't quite reach. He's also a very big fan of head scratches. He doesn't know why, but just the feeling of your nails lazily scratching in his hair as you're both lounging does something for him. If you do it just right, he'll even growl softly.

“Cassidy!” Reyes called out for him.

The night ops commander tried to grab onto Cole’s arm as he fled, barely managing to snag a hold of the cowboy’s bicep by the skin on his teeth just before the fabric slipped from his fingertips. Cole fled down the hallway, scrambling around the corner quickly and retreated back to his room. He could hear Reyes calling out for him, telling him to hold up, but Cole needed to flee.

He nearly slammed against his door, hand shaking as he punched in his room’s pin number and almost fell inside when the door parted.

He felt like he was going to vomit.

He pressed his back against the door, hands flat on the metal and head pressing painfully against the cold slab of sliding steel. The room was spinning, tilting with every blink he rapidly took, the corners of his vision were starting to get a little dark. His eyes had started to sting again, the burning sensation flaring with every move his eyes made just like they did moments ago in front of that plant in Moira’s office.

He could feel the contents of his stomach bubbling, he could feel his organs twisting into sailor knots. His chest was tight, it felt like his ribs were going to all pop apart if his chest squeezed any tighter. It felt like he was getting pinned under Reinhardt’s hairy and very sweaty body again but ten times worse.

Cole stumbled away from the door, barely able to catch himself on his dresser’s edge as his legs nearly gave out from under his brawny weight. His hands clawed at the roughened wood, worn from him carelessly tossing things like his gunbelt to bottles to his heavy ass armor onto it. He pushed himself up, forearms flexing as his back started to burn from the stretch of his muscles. His arm Moira had just drawn blood from felt as though he lit it ablaze, like it had been blown off from the elbow down. His fingers felt numb, it was agonizing to bend it, all he could do was curled it underneath him and squeeze it against his stomach as he braced himself on his dresser.

A low, pained groan forced its way past Cole’s lips, his mouth hanging just barely open as his temples throbbed. It felt like someone had put his thoughts into a blender, making nothing but incoherent nonsense as the sound drowned out from his ears. All he could hear was his heart beating all too quickly in his chest, each pound was like nails on a chalkboard, the hairs on his body standing straight up as a cold sweat doused over him.

What the fuck was that plant?

Was he poisoned? He had to have been.

Cole’s eyes fluttered open, wincing at how much the room was still spinning. He felt like he had just downed an entire bottle of the cheapest liquor the harsh American desert could off, something that could really cut through just about anybody with just one touch on the tongue. His stomach curled and coiled like it had just happened, too, acting as though it could purge itself at any second now but the feeling never bubbled over and onto the rug beneath his boots.

He spied the small standing mirror that he had on top of his dresser and snatched at it, quickly bringing it up close to his face with trembling hands.

His eyes were their usual shade of honey brown. They were wide with fear, the whites had been bloodshot, but they were human. They were some sick shade of acidic yellow, they didn’t give off some sort of glow like this was some stupid fantasy movie. They were just normal, boring and brown.

He dropped the mirror back onto the dresser as he exhaled the breath he had been holding in.

Cole forced himself to stand up on wobbling legs, leaning himself off of his dresser until he managed to stand on his own two feet without falling over. His steps were messy, heavy and slow like he was trying to walk on a tightrope to his bed. It looked like a cloud sent straight down from heave in his eyes. He kept his arm still tucked up against his chest and stomach, nursing it as he eyed his bed with exhausted eyes.

Sleep.

That’s what he needed: Sleep. He would sleep and he would feel a whole lot better when he woke up. It had to work. He couldn’t risk going to Angela with this and expose himself that he snooped and he sure as hell wasn’t going back to Moira with her office full of poisonous plants. If sleep would help his hangovers, it should help this.

It felt as though time had dripped on like hardened honey, every step felt like it took forever in his distorted vision until he finally reached his bed.

He collapsed against it, legs giving out on him once again as he basically fell face first against the covers. His body felt suddenly warm all over, the thick flannel beneath him cradled him like he was a baby, softly soothing his hazy mind until it had switched off to darkness.

Your scent that drowned his entire body was like a sweet mother’s lullaby, dulling the pain of the day as his senses quickly shut off.

Cole suddenly opened his eyes. He was freezing cold, almost as though he had been dunked in a bath of ice cold water just to wake him from his slumber.

Except, he wasn’t sure he was sleeping… At least in his bedroom.

Cole’s eyes opened up to see the stars above. Trees had speared upwards toward the sky from the corners of his vision, tall pines like spikes against the night blue sky. The full moon sat directly over his head, shining brightly, burning at his eyes the more he stared up at it.

He sat up with a short shout, his bare hands snatching up the soft grass that pillowed beneath him. He rubbed his arms against himself, hugging his body as it shivered in the night’s cold kissing breeze. Looking down, Cole found that he was not in the uniform he was wearing just as he collapsed on his bed; Instead, he was in his usual sleepwear consisting of a well worn t-shirt and thin flannel sleeping pants. No wonder he was fucking freezing.

Cole looked over his shoulder, doing his best to ignore the biting cold and how his breath puffs out like smoke before his eyes, looking along the trees that surrounded him as though they would suddenly produce answers with worried eyes. How did he get here? Why was he in different clothes?

Was this a dream?

Cole felt his heart pounding all over his skin, his ears were full of static as his blood roared in his veins trying to keep him warm. His fingers were starting to feel a little tingly as he tucked them under his armpits for extra warmth.

He had to get out of here… wherever here was.

Cole finally found it in himself to stand, his legs wobbling as he slowly stood up. He winced at the tightness all over his body, his joints popping and his head started to throb at the temples again.

He started for the trees, managing to get past an overgrown root poking out of the earth when he felt something shift in the air.

A branch snapping somewhere in the woods had Cole turning on his heel, eyes pinned on the direction the sound had come from just on the other side of the clearing. It didn’t take a second glance to see a single yellow eye cutting through the darkness to scare the shit out of him. It felt like he had just been drowned in another ice bath just from looking at that one eye sitting amongst the tall pine trees.

He watched in horror as a large dog-like foot broke from the darkness and stepped into the clearing, dark claws churning up the dirt and grass as it put its full weight onto it. It slowly stepped out into the clearing, the rest of its body slowly being exposed in the pale moonlight. Cole backed up further into the trees himself, for the one step the monster took towards him he took five back.

It looked a lot more different than their meeting in Washington.

It looked sickly. Its fur was matted and caked in what Cole could only describe to be dry blood and possibly pus. Some parts of its body were hairless, completely missing patches while others had thinning fur across the skin, almost as though it had mange. It looked a lot skinnier and more lanky like it hadn’t been eating. There were more scars on its body, especially its face. The muzzle on that thing had horrible scratches carved in, some of its fangs were missing as it snarled at him in the trees. But it was still missing its eye and Cole could spot the bullet he had shot into its shoulder just barely missing where the throat began.

Cole nearly choked on his spit as it just stood there watching him. Why wasn’t it attacking him? Why wasn’t it trying to maul him like it did just last month? Why wasn’t it trying to finish the job? His entire body had curled up like a tight coil, at the first sign of that monster lunging at him he would book it through the woods.

Instead, it just continued to look at him with that fucking creepy ass eye that Cole really couldn’t look away from. He knew the second he would look away, something would happen though.

Cole found it suddenly hard to breathe the longer he stood there glaring at the beast in front of him. He wasn’t freezing cold anymore, in fact, it was the opposite. His skin felt as though it was burning in the sun despite it being nearly pitch black where he stood.

And then he felt his heart sear inside of him.

Cole choked on his breath, eyes widening as the air had been suddenly sucked out of his lungs. He tried to shout in pain only for nothing to come out. It felt like he had been stabbed in the heart, right in between his ribs as his lungs ached like they had been punctured. His legs gave out under him, falling to his knees as one of his forearms caught him before he faceplanted into the plush grass. His fingers snatched up the grass, tearing it from the hardened dirt as his back arched and his mouth hung open in a silent scream.

Another throb of his heart, another stabbing feeling-

But this time, Cole found the air to cry out in agony.

He felt miserable.

Gloved fingers rubbed at exhausted eyes, pinching at the space between his brows as a soft groan emitted from the back of his throat. His mouth was drier than the dusty desert he once called home, his head was foggier than a night on the beach after it rained. There was still a dull pounding at the back of his skull, his temple still flared with pain when he grit and ground his back teeth. From how much he’s been clenching his jaw, he was surprised that his molars hadn’t cracked under the pressure yet.

The noises of the mess hall only made it worse. All of the talking and laughing and the scraping of metal utensils on ceramic plates, it grated at his ears and dwindled down his thinning nerves. Why did everything feel so loud all of a sudden?

Cole pulled his cup of scalding hot coffee closer to him by the rim, nearly splashing out the dark liquid from how rough he was. Coffee was probably the last thing he needed right now save for the cigarettes he had just smoked right before coming in here, but he needed something to keep him up after the nightmare that had woken him up in the middle of the night.

It felt too real for comfort. Cole swore he could still feel the stabbing pain in his chest whenever he would move a certain way, especially when bending over. How could a dream do something like? How could a pain like that still linger? His chest felt sore, it was even worse when he woke up in an awkward position all tangled in the sheets by himself. It felt like someone had split his chest open and was tugging at his ribs.

He blinked slowly, moving his hand away from his face as he looked around the mess hall filled to the brim with Overwatch agents. He knew most of them, obviously, but it felt like there were more packed in today than ever. He could make out the few key members mingling with the regular soldiers, but he couldn’t quite make you out in the crowd just yet.

Cole raised the mug of blazing hot coffee that was literally just made not even two minutes ago to his lips and knocked back at least half of the bitter goodness before setting his mug back down on the table. His throat burned but he really didn’t care. He needed to be awake; If he was awake, he wouldn’t have nightmares like last night.

Right?

Wrong. He knew shit like this can only get worse if he avoided help. He’s seen it in Deadlock and especially here. Nightmares from whatever the poor soul witnessed right in front of their eyes, hallucinations of pain where they had been shot or stabbed, seeing things that really aren’t there. Cole had two out of three already, and as he eyed the mess hall, he couldn’t help but wonder if his sanity had already started to dwindle. Hell, his eyes changing to that sickening yellow color had to have been a sick vision, right? Except, Reyes saw them, just the sight alone got him to shut up and that fucker never stops talking.

Cole raised his mug again, quickly swallowing the rest of its contents before placing the mug back down and leaning back in his chair, pushing the empty mug to the center of the table to deal with later.

His eyes wandered to the long line for food only getting longer as most of the soldiers went back for seconds by this time - Reinhardt was probably on his fourth plate by now as he watched the walking mountain slap the tray down on his table while his other seat-mates looked on in either disgust or intrigue. His stomach turned and twisted at the sight of steaming hot food piled onto plates. He felt ravenous as though he hadn’t eaten in days, but just the thought of eating made him feel sick to his stomach. The smells alone really weren’t helping him at all, but the coffee machine in the Blackwatch wing was currently out of order and Angela’s med bay was packed full of sick or injured soldiers so he couldn’t bum off of her machine.

Some of the smells toyed with his nose, smelling like heaven served up on a silver platter. He wanted to so badly devour something right now. Maybe a steak, bloody rare with mashed potatoes and green beans. Just the thought of a big juicy steak made his mouth start to water. The thought of a blue rare steak briefly crossed his mind, then a raw one. Just the thought of a freshly cut steak that was still bleeding made his mouth water and his stomach to cry out for food.

Another mug of steaming hot coffee was placed right in front of him by a gentle hand. Following the striking blue Overwatch uniform sleeve up, Cole found you attached to it. You had your own cup in your other hand, a soft smile spread across your face.

“Mind if I sit with you, cowboy?” you hummed.

“Please,” Cole’s voice was soft, barely audible over the ruckus that surrounded you both.

You sat across from him, stirring your coffee with a spoon as you eyed him with worry painted on your face.

“Didn’t sleep well last night?” You weren’t there, you were on a later shift stuck doing paperwork all night long. Cole missed your presence in his room, in his bed. His heart sank when he woke up and you weren’t there pressed up against him. “Do you wanna talk about it?”

“I had a bad dream,” he shrugged.

“I’m sorry, cowboy, I should’ve stopped by after your appointment with Moira.”

Cole looked back up at you from the new coffee cup to see you had a look of regret on your face. His chest twisted at the sight of you looking so sad.

“Don’t be. Morrison’s been runnin’ ya ragged. If ya stopped to see me, he woulda blown a gasket.”

You paused at his words, knowing he was right.

“You’ve been having those bad dreams lately. Did you tell Angela?” You hesitated before asking the question you knew he wouldn’t like. “Moira?”

Just hearing that woman’s name made Cole’s skin crawl. He still couldn’t get over what happened yesterday. He spent a good ten minutes looking in his bathroom mirror when he woke up, staring intently at his eyes to see if they would do it again but they never did. What was that fucking plant and why did it do that to him? His grip on the coffee cup tightened, threatening to crack the piece of cheap porcelain.

“No and hell no.” Cole sipped at his coffee. “Angela’s busy, I don’ wanna bother her.”

“She’s worried about you.” You stopped stirring your coffee. “I’m worried about you.” Your words made Cole’s heart sink in his chest to his stomach. Your hand slowly reached out across the table to place itself on to his own. He couldn’t help but look up into your eyes, really seeing how worried you are. “Are you okay? I know you don’t want to talk about what happened, but I know this is all happening because of it. Right?”

“Darlin’, ‘m sorry.”

“You said you were going to tell me what happened, but you never got the chance to. Either you get pulled away or I do. I’m really worried about you Cole. You’ve been acting… weird.”

Your words made the knots in his gut tighten more. He never did get to tell you what happened, how he was basically a human squeaky toy for a big hairy monster and how he’s been having nightmares and weird cravings and all of this weird shit. What even would you say? What could you even do?

“I know, and ‘m so sorry pumpkin.” Your eyes were so full of worry and love that it felt like Cole had just gotten punched in the stomach. “We’re here now. I can tell ya.”

“You don’t have to, I’m just worried is all-”

“No,” he stopped you. He looked around the mess hall, his eyes locking on Moira who was already looking in his general direction. He saw the way she eyed between the two of you, eyes narrowing in thought. It sent shivers down his spine being in her sights. “Let’s go back to our room, I’ll tell ya there.”

Cole stood up from his chair and offered you his hand which you took quickly. He lead you out of the mess hall, weaving through people and dodging chairs and tables before you both broke free from the noisy crowd. The walk back to your bedroom was mostly silent, just the sounds of both of your boots connecting with the metallic flooring filling the void until you reached his door. Once the door slid open, you both walked in and sat down on the bed next to each other.

Cole felt like he was going to throw up. Not from pain, but from panic this time. How was he going to explain this to you?

You picked up on his unease, placing your hand right back onto his own as it grabbed at the edge of the bed. Just your touch alone soothed him, his shoulders stopped tensing.

“What happened in Washington, Cole?”

You gave him the beginning, all he needed to do was give you the middle and the end.

“Talon was usin’ an old base for somethin’. Overwatch was investigating but they needed to bring us in. When we got there, it was like a ghost town. Even saw where they set up camp, but it was a wreck. We had to go on foot to the base and it was in worse condition. We all got separated and…” Cole had to stop. His throat felt dry again, and a little scratchy too. “I found ‘em. I found ‘em all.”

“Overwatch?”

“And Talon.”

Your eyebrows were thrown up as shock overtook your features.

“You don’t mean-”

“Dead. All of ‘em. The entire Overwatch team and probably all of Talon in that base.” Cole felt sick to his stomach as he thought back. All of that blood splattered across that entire room. All of the gore flashing in front of his eyes like he was still back there. You squeezed his hand, reassuring his racing heart as it pounded in his ears. “I found what killed ‘em all.”

Shock quickly replaced itself with fear on your face. You knew exactly what he meant by ‘what’ not being ‘who.’

“What was in that base?”

Cole shook his head, his throat feeling like it was closing up as the nightmarish memories haunted his vision. Those wicked claws, those crooked teeth, those putrid yellow eyes. And the smell. Oh God, the smell.

“Some kinda monster they made got out. Killed ‘em all then came after me.”

Cole wanted to kick himself right in the ass. Why did he say monster? The horrified look on your face said it all. He caught you suddenly staring at his shoulder that he got bit on before looking back at his face.

The reality was starting to settle in Cole’s gut.

Was it really a werewolf? Was he actually bitten by a werewolf?

Fear stabbed right through him just like in his nightmare as the terrifying thought crossed his mind: Is he going to turn into one?

No. There’s no fucking way. Werewolves are just a myth, a story, a made up thing to put in trashy monster movies. They’re not real. Whatever it was that attacked him was not a damn werewolf. It’s impossible. He’s seen the reports that come out Talon and how they experiment all of the damn time on poor and innocent souls. He’s seen how Talon changes people whether its through powerful concoctions of steroids and craziness or by genetic experiments alone. Hell, you’ve even seen them too. Why wouldn’t that freak of nature that used him as a jaw workout be any different?

He felt your hand caress his face, stroking at his stubbled jaw before turning his face to look at you by his chiseled chin. The moment your eyes met, Cole felt that raging fear in his heart start to quell. You knew exactly how to calm him down.

He could smell the coffee on your breath, see the exhaustion in your eyes, feel the warmth of your skin on his. Just being here with you felt intoxicating.

There was that sweet smell again, that smell that was like heaven on earth that Cole swore up and down that it had to be your perfume. It lulled his tense nerves, it fogged up his rattled mind. It smelled of the most luxurious chocolate out there in the world, like the sweetest of wines, like the most delectable fruit that he wanted to sink his teeth into.

He suddenly pressed his lips against yours, shocking you but you didn’t pull away. Cole’s hands found your waist and tugged you in close, your hands reaching out to grab ahold of Cole’s uniform for support at the edge of the bed. He nearly pulled you onto his lap before rolling you until your back was on the mattress. He hadn’t made the bed after his fitful sleep from last night, the flannel blanket was a rumpled mess beneath you as he straddled you by the waist. You broke from the kiss, placing your hands on Cole’s broad shoulders to stop him before he could swipe another kiss from you.

“Don’t you have stuff to do today?” you worried.

“They can wait,” was all he said before his hungry lips found your once again.

You moaned as his rough stubble scratched nicely at your skin, how his hands fumbled with your chest and squeezed your breasts through your uniform. God, he wanted to rip it off of you so badly. He wanted to take you right here and right now but he couldn’t. You were right, after all. He didn’t know how much time he had until someone came to track him down, but holy shit, he wanted to lay into you so badly. He wanted to hear you cry out in pleasure, plead for him, beg for more. He wanted to feel your warm, wet walls clench around him, to feel you come apart underneath him.

Your hands snaked up to Cole’s hair, knocking off his hat onto the bed and snagging a hold of his hair. Your fingers carded into his thick locks, tugging on the strands that needed a cut, scratching lightly at his scalp as he growled against your lips. He sank his teeth into your bottom lip, begging you to let him in which you graciously offered. Your tongues collided and danced together as he tried to explore your warm mouth. You’ve taken both his tongue and his dick so many times, and every time felt like pure perfection. Cole snarled into the kiss, deep and guttural, vibrating through his chest better than any engine could. Just the short, cut off noise you made from him nearly turned the tide, nearly allowed him to come undone and fuck you into the mattress until you only remembered his name. He wanted to hear you chant it so badly.

You couldn’t help but buck your hips up, getting another rise out of Cole. He felt his cock start to tingle with life, slowly starting to press up against his boxers the more you moaned and whimpered and sighed as you made out with him. To keep his calm, Cole snatched at the headboard with one of his hands, his nails biting into the wood as his other hand remained on your breast, kneading it passionately and pinching at your nipple to pebble it. He wanted to lick and bite at your tits so badly, to feel their soft warmth and weight in his hands, to pull such illicit moans from your mouth for him to swallow. He wanted to hear that noise come out of you again, and he was damn well inspired to make it happen.

His hand started to cramp up from how tight his hand clamped against the headboard, his fingers started to ache. He felt his fingertips start to seize up and get hot. It felt like something had splintered through his fingers and dug under his nail beds, stabbing right into his fingers and digging in deep.

A firm knock on the door startled you both, Cole’s head shooting up to stare at the headboard in front of him and looking directly at his trembling hand clamped over the wood while you tried to calm your breathing.

“Cassidy, you in there?” It was Reyes, now, at a very, very bad time. “Cassidy, we need to talk. Get out here.”

Cole went to unlatch his hand from the headboard only to find that his fingertips were hard to remove, tugging back when he pulled on them until they popped out. Fear had quickly shot right through his entire body at the sight of long nails at the end of his fingers, slightly pointed and darker than his natural nail color.

Claws. Fucking claws. Was this another sick, twisted hallucination his mind was playing with? He could see how red his nailbeds were, he could spy the blood thinly hugging his cuticles. His hand trembled in the air as you clung to him by his chest, burying your face into his shirt none-the-wiser, most likely out of embarrassment for getting caught once again with Cole by Reyes. Cole balled his hand, wincing as the nails cut into his calloused palm as he sat up on his knees and faced the door, desperately searching his mind for an escape plan.

But as Reyes pounded on the door once again, he knew he had been boxed in.

It was dark, nearly pitch black outside save for whatever light the moon gave off. She hung above the two of you, sitting fat and happy in the sky, the pale white light barely illuminating the woods around you both.

He could smell how wet the woods were, the fresh rainfall on old and mossy trees and the mud squelching beneath your pairs of military boots muddled his nose. He was craving a cigarette, for the stench of tobacco to clog his nose and distract him from the woods standing tall around him. He felt caged standing in the towering evergreen, they cast odd shadows into the small clearing you both found yourselves in. His throat burned for a cigarette, swallowing thickly as he dream of being able to light one up right now and compromise whatever mission it was that they had to send the two of you out on together - a rarity but it had happened twice now.

He could hear the rumble of thunder in the distance, the sky lighting up in the east as thunderclouds rolled away from you both, leaving you two cold and wet, shivering out in the middle of the woods alone. The wind still blew harshly, shaking branches and threatening to take down the smaller trees completely. Hell, he even had to keep a hand on his hat to keep it from blowing off of his head.

Cole turned to look at you. Your normal blue and white Overwatch uniform was muddy and torn a bit from the snagging branches. The flowing coat almost every higher up Overwatch agent got was all snagged and torn, leaving you barely anything to keep warm or shelter you from the rain that had just fallen. You were probably soaked through to the bone, you shivered and held your gun tightly in both hands, your tired eyes keeping watch at the trees. Your hair was messy and your face even had some mud and scrapes on your cheek and chin. You were drained, not really able to keep up in case something did happen yet you still kept worried eyes on the trees. You looked terrified and you looked miserable.

Why the fuck were you two even out here alone and with no supplies? Hell, not even a damn compass. Cole turned around a bit, looking at the skyscraping spruce trees and how they blew roughly against the wind. The winds were howling, the trees looked as though they were going to snap at any moment should the winds become too rough. He couldn’t even make out stars from where you both were, the dark clouds still loomed over but they were peeling away. Cole tried to fumble in his pockets for his communicator.

The communicator he and Genji had weren’t as fancy as the ones Reyes had or the medical one Moira was given, it really was just a glorified flip phone from the early parts of the century just reused for them to probably save money. He felt the familiar box in his pocket, managing to pull it out and flip it open. The screen was cracked but it still relayed the holo-image of his boss. Pressing the button to dial Reyes just sent it to an unavailable tone.

Cursing to himself, Cole tried again and again and again. The unavailable drone the communicator gave off only raised Cole’s heartrate.

He tried Captain Amari, praying that the saint of a woman would pick up. Scrolling through and finding her image and pressing dial seemed to work at first, giving in two rings of a dial before cutting out and giving you both the unavailable drone.

Angela? Angela had to answer. There was no way he would even call Moira for help, even if it was life or death. Cole pleaded for the angel to pick up only to be met with the unavailable tone immediately.

Genji’s contact did the exact same thing. Reinhardt and Lindholm’s didn’t even let him access a call and Oxton and Sojourn left him on a long-going dial tone.

He was becoming desperate, running out of people to turn to and call.

Morrison! Morrison had to answer. He absolutely had to. Cole clenched his jaw, ready to take an ass chewing verbal beat down Morrison was about to put him through for fucking up the mission and getting lost in the woods with you with no supplies and blah blah blah. Pressing the button dialed. He kept his eyes glued to the little holo-screen with its cracked glass. He was pleading internally to the holo image of Morrison’s overdone Overwatch portrait with all of his medals pinned to his chest.

One ring. Two rings. Three rings. Four rings.

“We’re sorry. The number you have dialed has been disconnected or is no longer in service.”

“Fuck!” Cole sneered at the communicator. Turning back to you, he could see you frantically going through your own communicator, a desperate look on your face too. Your communicator was a fancy Overwatch model, fancier than the one Reyes had despite being the leader of Blackwatch. It had a better tracker on it, but it was seemingly useless right now as neither one of you could get ahold of anyone. You were flicking through the ones he had just tried, calling them and getting the same responses. You tried other agents he had never heard of, you got the same endings. You even tried Moira despite feeling the same way about her and got nothing. “Nothin’?” Cole questioned, shoulders slumped in defeat.

“Nothing,” you shook your head.

“Let’s just keep walkin’ then. Gotta hit somethin’ somewhere.”

You looked back down at your communicator in defeat before pocketing it and following closely behind Cole, basically right against his back.

Cole kept his eyes open, glancing around at the endless maze of trees and bushes with no sign of life or light. No animals running around trying to find shelter from the storm that just passed, no little cottage to try to take refuge in and keep warm.

“… -her.”

Cole halted in his tracks, you stopping right behind him. You pressed yourself against his back, you were absolutely shaking by this point, clutching the back of his chest plate.

Did you hear it too? It was so quiet anyone could have mistaken it for an odd gust of wind.

Glancing behind his shoulder, you didn’t to have heard it, instead, you were trying to make yourself as small as possible to save heat.

“… -ll her.”

There it was again.

Was it the howling winds? Maybe whatever animal out in the woods was crying out? He’s heard that foxes and cougars sound like a woman’s scream before, but nothing like animals talking or anything. He’s heard of what the Overwatch moon base is doing with animals, but no reports of this on earth.

Cole slowly reached his hand down his holster, gloved fingertips slowly curling around the handle of Peacekeeper and slowly pulled her from her sheath. His tired eyes stayed on the trees, watching for any movement that would either prove he was going mad or prove that you two are not alone out here.

His eyes scanned the woods, moving past one gnarled tree to the next, looking over bushes and past twisting branches until he felt his blood freeze.

His eyes had landed on an oddly shaped bush, the branches and leaves in the middle split apart just enough to reveal a familiar haunting sight. It was like something ripped straight from a comic.

Two yellow eyes, glowing faintly from the bushes, pupils dilated so small they got lost in a sea of gold looking right at him.

Feeling him tense up, you pulled back a bit to see what was wrong, still trembling cold behind him. He felt sick to his stomach, dizzy all of a sudden as he couldn’t help but stare at those golden eyes. It was almost like he was in a trance.

Whatever it was suddenly stood from the bush, Cole’s face going pale as it towered before him. Familiar claws, a maw full of sharp teeth ready to maim someone.

But it wasn’t the one who attacked him.

This one was bigger, broader, it looked like something that could take down someone far bigger than Reinhardt.

An arch of lightning lit up the sky, bleeding light into the woods and showing just a bit more of the beast. Various shades of brown fur and scraps of simple jeans and a red flannel loosely hung off of the beast’s bulky form. The one that had attacked him was pitch black, it was lean and tall with little defining features. This was not Talon’s new pet project.

It snarled at him, claws flexing and teeth bared. Cole tried to back up, nudging you to do the same only for him to hear it again.

He heard it clear as day this time.

“Kill her.”

Everything was a sterile white around him. There were no specks of dirt to be found in the office and it was freezing in here. Cole scrunched his nose at the strong chemical smells that stung his nostrils. Despite the room being just as big as Angela’s office, it still felt claustrophobic in there, he felt like he was suffocating. He sat quietly on the examination table, eyes trained on the “good doctor” before him. There was something else in here than made him want to just run out of here, there was an odd feeling at the back of his throat, almost like he was having an allergic reaction to something. He feared that if he spoke up, Moira would get the idea to make sure exactly what was wrong in the worst ways possible.

Moira sat on a rolling stool, one lanky and very thin leg crossed over another, eyes trained on her computer as he scrolled through, punching orders for blood and whatever horrible experiments she was about to do to him. He heard about her time at the Oasis University, how she was kicked out, about her little rabbit “farm.” He didn’t want the mad scientist coming anywhere near him within a ten mile radius, but sadly, Angela was too busy to take him and he needed one last exam before he could go out on missions again - he had no choice. Either be examed by the woman who probably melted plastic and metal into ant hills as a kid or be reamed by Reyes for putting it off for so long.

Cole held his breath as Moira kept putting in orders, she would take occasional glances at Cole before going back to type away. She made no conversation at all with him since he stepped inside. He didn’t honestly know if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It probably would be best to just keep his mouth shut, get it all over with, and then be done with it all.

Moira suddenly stood up, the printer below the computer spitting out a couple of pages of stickers, probably for vials of blood and such. She stalked over to one of the pristine white - why does everything have to be white in doctor’s offices? - cabinets and pulled out six thin yet long vials and then dug through a drawer for a new needle as well as a band for his arm. She dragged over a small stand with a tray. Cole went to roll up the sleeve to his left arm only for Moira to leave it on his right, Cole gave her a look that he knew she didn’t see as she went to retrieve the stickers for the vials.

Cole glanced around the room some more, not wanting to look at the sadist before him for long, wanting to just get out of here as fast as possible, even if he has to play along with her cruel games. It was when Cole looked at the tall bookcase by the door did he notice a couple of books poking out just a bit more. Squinting, he could only make out one of the books in English, the rest seemed to be Irish or some other language she knew. The ones that had caught his attention were on the bottom shelf, books of myths and fairytales and creatures. Cole raised a brow but didn’t question it, not wanting the back-alley doctor before him to go into a medical lecture about whatever sick thing that she was concocting in her head. It was when she turned around with the empty vials all open that Cole suddenly felt unease settling in his stomach.

She set the vials down for a moment before picking up the elastic. She tied it tightly around Cole’s right bicep, the gunslinger’s nose twitching as he tried to not sneer at her for picking the arm he shoots with to draw blood from. He winced as the elastic bit into him, digging through the thick material of his Blackwatch uniform. She produced a small alcohol wipe, cleaning his inner elbow, the cold and wet square was dragged across his warm flesh so slowly that it made him want to just get up and leave, especially when she dug her nail in just enough to scratch at him.

He normally didn’t mind needles, he was poked and prodded a lot when he was brought into Overwatch originally. Angela had done so much bloodwork and given Cole so many shots that he swore he would’ve been immune to any and all diseases. Hell, he has plenty of tattoos too littered all over his body (some of which he does plan to get lasered off pretty soon, especially the Deadlock tattoo on his left forearm) so he didn’t really have an aversion to needles medical or not.

But with Moira? He wanted to pull back and kick the needle from her ghoulish hands and get the hell out of hell.

Instead, he took a deep breath and kept his eyes off of her, knowing she would try to do something to make him tick.

He felt the needle prick into his arm and puncture through his vein. He didn’t feel the blood flowing but he felt the metal inside of his stretched elbow and the rubber still tight around his bicep.

Moira worked over him, filling each vial with his blood quickly. The doctor herself reeked of chemicals too, matching her sterile office and medbay.

“Tell me, are you having any strange cravings?” she piped up, focused on filling the vials still.

Cole cocked a brow and glanced at her. Was this some sort of tactic to get him to look at her so she can put him in even more unease?

“No,” was all Cole gave as an answer before looking down at the floor.

He started to count the pristine white tiles, getting to twenty when Moira suddenly pulled the needle out and stuck a bandage on the puncture. She snapped off the band and cleaned up the vials.

“Any odd or out of place dreams? Nightmares maybe?” she asked as she disposed of the needle and waste.

Cole swallowed thickly. He was about to confirm the odd nightmares he’s been having ever since he woke in Angela’s medbay and how it was all about that creature and how there was a new one in the dream taht had awoken him this morning. He kept his lips sealed, he didn’t want to give her any information she could use.

“No.”

“I’ve heard of your little bout with Commander Reyes in the range yesterday,” she tutted. “Are you noticing any other emotional bouts besides anger?” She plucked each individual vial up one at a time and placed them all into a little carrier for them. “Maybe hunger? Are you suddenly more happy at times?” She placed the last vial in the carrier and gave him a look. “How is your little play thing? Y/n, isn’t it? One of Morrison’s little worker bees that I’ve seen you around with? Feeling more lustful than usual, Cassidy?” she hinted towards him, giving him side eye.

“That ain’t any of yer business,” Cole sneered, cutting off her next possible question.

Had she heard what you both had done last night? You both were rather loud, he was shocked nobody had come to pound on his door or shout at him to quit fucking and being loud. Something made his skin crawl at the thought of Moira being alone with you, it burned him on the inside just thinking about the things she could say or do.

“I’m just doing my job,” she feined innocence, puffing out her thin chest with a false sense of pride. “That creature that used you like a squeaky toy could of had hundreds of diseases. I’m only worried about my team.”

She had turned back to her little stand with the computer and printer and pressed a few more buttons, the printer spitting out a few more pieces of paper that she folded up and put in the carrier. She had a look on her face that Cole knew all too well, the look that she always gives him when she is about to really get under his skin and make him squirm.

“You could of had something like rabies! That has a one hundred percent kill rate you know. Or maybe a staph infection with all of the oozing blisters you can get? Maybe even a pasteurella infection, if under the right conditions it can cause necrotizing fasciitis where you skin will start to die and turn black-” Moira stopped, almost as if another idea popped into her sick and twisted head. She turned to look at him sitting very uncomfortably on the hard examination table. “How are the bite marks? Last I saw they were a bitter black around where that thing sank its little teeth into you.”

She stepped closer to him, this time Cole started to feel caged.

“All healed up, no need to worry about em anymore,” Cole stood his ground.

“Are you sure? Do you want me to look?”

“No.”

Moira stood before him, eyeing him with a small smirk on her thin lips. It felt like the room got suddenly colder, the hairs of Cole’s arms stood straight up. His shoulders tensed and he clenched his jaw.

Sensing the negative vibe Cole was giving off, Moira simply chuckled.

“There’s no reason to fear me, you simple thing. I ask these things to make sure.”

“Make sure of what?”

“You could still be infected.”

What did she say? Still? As in he was infected with something before?

“What?”

Moira’s brows tilted up, it dawned on her that he wasn’t properly informed on the entire situation.

“Why else would you have been out for nearly nine days upon coming back here to the base? You had a constant fever that could have killed you should your body suddenly reject medicine, you weren’t responsive to most treatments, your wounds remained opened where Angela’s nanobots couldn’t even close them. She thought you had rabies, we all did until you suddenly started to heal. And just like that, you woke up. Your little girlfriend played nurse for you for about a week or so and now you’re walking around getting into scraps with the Commander like you weren’t knocking on death’s door within moments of your life.” Cole stayed quiet throughout her little rant, the entire time Moira kept her eyes on him, looking over at the spots where he had been initially wounded. His shoulder, his hip, his ankle. “So that begs the question: What was it that mauled you?”

Cole swallowed, his throat dry all of a sudden as he kept his eyes pinned on Moira in case she did something.

“I don’ know,” Cole muttered, hoping it would have been enough for the woman before him to back down.

Moira’s shoulders slumped ever so slightly, the so-called doctor grabbed at the carrier of the vials and headed to the door.

“Wait here, I’ll only be a moment to run the tests,” the “doctor” stated sarcastically, almost as if she knew Cole was going to book it the second he knew she was long gone from this room.

He watched with stern eyes as she turned and left, the doors sliding closed behind her. He waited a minute or two before he stood up from the very uncomfortable examination table.

He first went over to the bookshelf he had been eyeing at earlier. It was tall, reaching from floor to ceiling. Half of the height were opened up shelves, the bottom half was a cabinet where the doors were locked. Looking at the bottom shelf a lot better now that he was close, he could see that the books were all mostly old, coming from nearly one hundred years ago according to the faded gold stamping on the old leather bindings and spine. Most came from the 1990’s, the ones written in Irish coming from before then.

The books were all filled with notes poking out of the top, colorful little tabs just peeking out just enough for someone to flip to their respective pages. Cole pulled out the thickest book and open looked at the cover, the bindings were roughened up from nearly a century of being used, leather faded and had lost most of his brownish-red tone, the marbled printing of the leather now faded to be smooth. The stamp of the name with still legible though.

‘Monstrology of the Old World’

Cole couldn’t make out the name of the author but cracked open the book just barely. He flipped to one of the pages that had a note sticking out of the top, the old book’s spine snapping and crackling as the old glue popped from the sudden movement. Cole was met with a photo, a drawing from centuries ago according to the scripted date. A man was on his hands and knees, a limb in his mouth as mutilated bodies surrounded him. The man was hairy, his clothes had been torn all over, his beard and his hair made some sort of mane and his eyes were wild. Most of the text underneath the photo was faded, mostly the name of the artist, but Cole could make out the word ‘werewolf’ amongst the faded ink.

He felt a prickle run down his spine as he turned to another page to see another drawing from around the same time as the first. A man sitting with an expensive looking cloth wrapped around him looked furious, a dead infant before on a silver platter as the buildings in the background were set ablaze. There was another man, fleeing, but he was changing to look like a beast. A canine snout, wolfish eyes and ears at the top of its head.

He felt compelled to put the book back, sliding it back into its place just as he found it so Moira wouldn’t know.

There were multiple other books in the row exactly like the one he just flipped through.

‘You could still be infected,’ he heard Moira’s words ringing through his head.

He swallowed hard and turned on his heel, walking away front the shelf behind him.

He couldn’t be, right? There was no way! This was all just a series of unfortunate events.

As Cole passed the door to Moira’s office, he couldn’t help but stop in his tracks. It was almost like he had been possessed. His back straightened, his eyes opened up more, and his senses sharpened. He turned to look at the door; it was a large iron door that seemed to be unlocked when he glanced down at the pad.

He could smell something coming from behind the door. It smelled… natural? Something natural in a room that was anything but. It cut through the harsh bleach and chemical smells Moira had used to scrub everything just a little too clean that it would grate at anyone’s nerves. He knew she hated the false scents candles and air fresheners gave off, and she never kept plants around like Angela did to spruce up her office.

What was that smell?

Cole chewed on the inside of his cheek for a second, debating on if he wanted to enter her office. Would he end up like one of those poor rabbits she liked to experiment on? Or maybe something worse? Or who knows - maybe Moira secretly likes to garden in her spare time and has something alive for once in her private office?

The longer he stood before her door, the more the smell tempted him. He could feel the minutes dripping away slowly like honey, each second that slipped past only thinned his control and made his decision only tougher.

Curiosity killed the cowboy, Cole pushed the small button on the bottom of the pad by the door and it slid open quickly. Cole was met with Moira’s office cast in the darkness. Flicking on the lights, he felt unease as he took in her office. It was nearly all white save for a couple of grays here and there as well as the Blackwatch logo sitting painted on the front of her desk.

There were no plants or decorations in this room either, instead, the walls were lined with lines of bookshelves, each having a locked glass door in front, allowing Cole to see what lied inside of each. It was mix of books and binders towards the front of her office by the door, but towards the back held more disturbing things. Medical “equipment” he was sure nobody used anymore, plenty of preserved skulls and bones in containers, and a whole lot of medical jars filled with dead animals floating in a pale yellow liquid. Cole swallowed, wanting to just turn around and leave, turn the light off, close the door and leave Moira’s medbay before she got back just like she knew he would do.

But the smell stopped him. It was stronger in here, smacking him in the face. He couldn’t find anything at first glance. It was only when he took a few steps deeper into her office did he notice something towards the back against the wall. It was hidden behind her desk chair at a first glance inside: A small metal cupboard, the door just barely cracked open not even an inch. Cole slowly rounded her desk, standing before the small cabinet before crouching down.

He felt the hairs on the back of his neck standing on edge. His nose was starting to tingle from the smell to the point where his nose hairs felt like they were going to shrivel.

The smell was pungent, woody and natural. It smelled moist and dark, like a forest right after it rained.

Cole slid his fingers between the slightly opened door and the metal face of the cupboard and slowly opened it, revealing a small potted plant beneath a now-dead lightbulb. The plant was tall, tied to a small stick to keep it straight. The flower’s petals hadn’t yet bloomed, the buds were a vibrant purple though. The buds were dropping, the stem was a bright green. It looked well-taken care of, meticulously groomed and all.

The smell was heavy now in his nose, adding onto the frosty weight Cole felt in his gut as he was in the office of the person he trusts the least in the whole base.

Cole’s breathing became uneven, his mind went hazy all of a sudden. He felt a slight stinging in his eyes, causing him to stand suddenly go to rub them with his gloved fingers. As he stood, he accidentally bumped the cabinet door closed, the metal clunking in place. His eyes felt like they were going to start burning as if he was about to stare at the hot desert sun for too long.

The stinging suddenly stopped and Cole was able to keep his eyes open again.

He felt dread suddenly wash over him. He needed to leave.

He retreated from Moira’s office, making sure to close the door and turn off the light before he left.

It was when he was about to reach the door to the main hallway did something else catch his eye. The full-length mirror on the opposite wall, he just so happened to have looked at it before he was about to leave.

He froze dead in his tracks, fear prickling his skin like millions of needles.

His irises were yellow.

He had to be hallucinating. Whatever that plant was had to be making him hallucinate.

Walking over to the mirror, he rubbed at his eyes and stared at them in the reflective glass. They were yellow, faintly giving off a glow. His pupil was retracting and dilating quickly as he started to panic inwardly.

The door suddenly swung open behind him, thinking it would have been Moira, Cole didn’t move. He froze in place, waiting for her sarcastic response.

“Cassidy, there you are!” Reyes’ voice cut through the thick silence. “Care to explain what you fucking did to one of the punching bags a few days ago?”

Cole felt his heart pounding in his ears as Reyes blocked the door, probably with his arms crossed over each other and a look of heavy disappointment a father would give to his misbehaving son.

“Boss, I-”

“Look me in the eye, Cassidy.”

“Reyes-”

Cole tried to move away from the mirror when he heard Reyes’ feet coming towards him, but his boss clapped a hand on one of Cole’s shoulders and spun him around to face him. Reyes’ scowl turned to pure shock at the sight of Cole’s eyes, proving he wasn’t drugged and hallucinating.

He felt icy claws rake lines down his back, fear welling up inside of him as his mind screamed at him to get the hell out of dodge.