That wasn't how this was supposed to go. Peony was supposed to just attach her lead to Ianthe's collar and assert herself as Ianthe's Dominant their making her no longer available to the supposed man too cowardly to come collect her himself. Ianthe thought she'd conveyed the whole Dominant/Submissive situation earlier to Peony, had the man - her neighbor and friend - make the point about it being a rumor that Ianthe didn't currently have a Dominant. Where had she gone wrong? Was Peony just that dumb or had something else gotten in the way of critical thought? At least Ianthe knew Peony would throw down for her in an instant. That had to be done victory, right?

The vicious magic had not been expected, and Ianthe actually felt bad for the man. At least she had physical contact and was about to necromantically transfer half of the pain to herself. It didn't negate the damage, but she was already forcing the fried muscle to regrow. At least having her air cut off meant she didn't cry out from the pain. Like in a controlled environment, that would be hot, but this was too much electricity at once.

Still, the man let Ianthe go and grabbed Peony with a large hand that was now more bear than human, and flung her off his back before collapsing to a knee. Ianthe was immediately up, gaping for air, as she looked him over with a keen eye, lifting his lip to look at now-fanged teeth, and there was a lot more hair in him. A partial transformation.

"When did you-- Early today? Good. Just breathe. I got you," she said to him, forcing the burns to heal in the unpleasant way animaphiliacs could heal.