Outside

"So you're telling me... that dad took you out into the woods to turn into a wolf? And then just ditched you and disappeared into the night? Because he didn't come home to us either."

"That's what I understand of it. It's different for females, when you get your first shift your mate will be there to help you through it. Males only have whatever guardian is available. First shifts will kill you if you don't get help. Dad had no intention of letting me get through it, or hiding that I was going to die. I don't know why he didn't come home, Tabs. From my perspective, I'm glad he died if he did. Bastard left his only ten-year-old son to die in the woods."

"Is this like Rory?"

Gavin laughed out loud, and didn't really make an attempt to hide it. "No, Rory is delusional."

"Gavin I don't believe in werewolves. I'm actually scared of wolves, I had nightmares about them for years after you and dad went missing... Do... the others here believe in werewolves?"

"I wouldn't doubt it." He shook his head, "After thinking for years that he and I were killed by wolves can do that to you, I suppose. Look, I understand your confusion. You've lived on Earth for seventeen years of your life believing this stuff was make believe. You're skeptical. I would be, too."

"Believe or don't believe- that's between you and your own mind. I don't have to believe- because I lived it. No drugs, no drinking, no weird injections to my skin. Tai and Adrian aren't brainwashing us. It's genetic, but it's not my job to force you to believe in what you don't want to. My job is to tell you the truth."

Gavin leaned up from the railing. "And if you can handle it, I'll prove it to you."

"There's not a lot more I can add." Jason said with a shrug, "We went out to punish one traitor, and ended up having two more of our number turn on us instead."

"But you killed him though didn't you." Winter frowned, "The father I mean...Danti."

"Oh you bet." Jason nodded, "And Daniel was holding the boy...we thought he would do the job. He could be a nasty piece of work when he wanted to be, ol' Daniel. But then Evon shouted something at him in French, and next thing we knew they had disappeared into the woods with the boy."

Winter shook his head incredulously. "I don't get it. How did they manage to get away from your entire pack with a boy who'd just gone through his first shift."

"Because all the rest of us were busy taking down Danti." Jasons scoffed, "You never saw him so you couldn't know...but that guy was a brute. Biggest wolf you've ever seen. It was because Danti deserted us that we failed to take the pack house the first time we attacked it eighteen years ago."

"I see..." Winter mused, "...and all of a sudden Evon and Daniel are back."

"They were right there in town." Jason chuckled, "Celebrating their anniversary of all things!"

"Interesting. I wonder why Gavin's stayed with them all this time."

"There's a lot of unknowns." Jason agreed.

"Even so, it's good." Winter smiled. "It means we have twice the opportunity to reintroduce Danti's strength into the pack. So now tell me more about this Calvin guy..."

There was a thump outside near the door to the vehicle. Both wolves looked in that direction and noticed that the door wasn't quite closed properly. Winter scowled, anger welling up in his chest. He knew full well that the guys outside weren't intimidated by him...he wasn't a paragon of fighting prowess, nor was he a particularly daunting sight. But sometimes he wished he could get something more than a begrudging obedience from them. It was nothing short of a miracle that his promises of a grand future had given them a reason to follow him for [i]this[/i[] long.

Perhaps it's was time to give them a little something more. Slowly he got up and walked towards the door...

"You know," he called out, "if you wanted to hear a bedtime story you need only have asked. Otherwise it just looks a lot like eavesdropping on a private conversation..."

"Rogues?... What are they, like...the baddie werewolves?"

As Jac approached and slipped her hand into his, Gavin took it and gave it a squeeze. Before he could answer Tabby more appropriately, Gavin caught wind of Calvin approaching- drunk and tired. He wondered, briefly, if Calvin stayed on the beach after Jac revealed herself to him and then took off into the forest. And if he hadn't, where had he gone?

"Not bad, just misunderstood." He said in a rough voice, his slur and posture indicating he was still under the influence of (undoubtedly) post-victory celebrations. Had Calvin not approached Gavin earlier about such things, he would be certain it was the alcohol talking- Calvin was always (at least, to Gavin) the embodiment of ideals of a perfect wolf pack. That he would think rogues were simply misunderstood boggled Gavin a bit.

"Well buddy, I see finding your mate hasn't stopped you from rubbing folk up the wrong way. Is the party still going on?

Gavin let out a laugh, he wasn't always the best with people- only because he was blunt. But he was thankful for Calvin's joke of putting it mildly.

"No," Gavin shook his head and slid his hand out of Jac's and into the more natural position around her waist. "No it hasn't. This is Tabitha, my sister. Tabs, this is Calvin."

It would be interesting to see them interact. Mister hard-core werewolf and the secret-werewolf who didn't even know she existed in two halves. He hoped Calvin wouldn't make a big deal about Gavin's keeping her a secret, and on that thought, he turned to Tabs again. "They don't know you because I was pretty sure I would never see you again, weird and tragic pasts are common in the pack house among the teenagers. I thought you were safer and better off with mom."

Jason hopped a few steps away from the RV and took a seat on another nearby car bonnet. Coming back early had been worth the currying of favour with Winter - or, rather the cementing of his importance in Winter's crazy scheme - but it had come at the cost of potentially a far more more comfortable bed that night. He tried not to let his lamenting of the matter show too much.

"Oh Danti's dead alright." he grunted. "When the boys finished with him there wouldn't have been enough left to identify."

Winter took a few steps into the centre of the group and crouched down on his haunches, looking from one to another with a suspicious grin, like a man savouring the few moments of being the only person to know the result he was about the divulge.

"But as wolves we know that each of us is an important resource." he explained, "From what I understand, Danti was a powerful weapon who jammed at the moment he was needed. The rogues lead by Farrell became weaker without him. You have to think about the future of your pack. That's what my wolf has revealed to me, and that's what I'm teaching you all now."

He stood up again and folded his arms behind his back. "I promised I'd guide us to find the alpha who'll lead us into a new dawn. I believe that my wolf has delivered us, not only that alpha, but the remnant of the weapon that was lost. Danti, if Jason's stories are to be believed, was a deposit of great strength. We can't get Danti back, but we can get his strength back into our numbers. And that's why we've come here...to get his daughter. This 'Tabby' will be the one to begin a lineage of greatness for our pack.

"And, as it turns out, we have the son too. I don't know yet whether we will be able to acquire him, but if we can, then we will have twice the channel to Danti's strength."

Craig frowned and shook his head, "Wait...you're going to mate this girl to her own brother?"

"No idiot." Winter scowled, "She will be joined to our destined alpha."

"And why are you so afraid of the pack house? They aren't that scary. I was in one just two years ago and there isn't any big bad wolves chaining us down."

"One does well to acknowledge the mistakes of the past." Winter said, closing his eyes. "Farrell lead his pack against this same house, and it turns out they had strength on their side too. We aren't here to take the house. Not yet anyway. We are here to begin the long game...building strength of our own. Patience is something our society had lacked for too long."

"So what are you saying?" Nico growled, "That we're not going to see the benefits of all this work we're doing?"

"Calm Nico." Winter smirked, "We'll see the benefits alright. Maybe no the best of them, but trust in my wolf, for he has guided us this far, and we're already starting to see the fruits of this new enlightenment."

Winter paused to take a breath after Ash's interruption. He had very little patience for objections or people questioning his vision, but he didn't quite have the intimidation factor to bark it down, and in any case he knew Ash was cut from a slightly different cloth from the other rogues. And not just for being female.

"The reason we are doing this," he said, "is because we are all losing patience with old standards that have caved in on themselves and failed. Strength in our gene pool is simply something that we cannot afford to be without. But from the very outset I promised I'd lead you to an alpha, and now I believe we've found one, I think we can be equally confident everything else will fall into place."

He threw a stone towards the burning brazier, causing it to momentarily flare and kicking up some sparks and ashes.

"This Calvin wasn't coerced, he came obligingly to speak with Jason and from what I hear he's likely to be more than willing to accept our offer. If it is fate's design, I daresay it will be the same with the offspring the Danti."

He noticed that some of the other males we shuffling uneasily. Perhaps, he thought, they were uncomfortable with all these references to strength...as though their own strength wasn't sufficient. Winter grinned to himself. Let them squirm. The more they would worry, the less he personally had to worry about.

Lyra blinked once to Kiyoshi's statement and then smiled, erupting into a short burst of laughter that she quickly silenced due to the sleeping members inside the pack house. This was just Kiyoshi's style, simply doing rather than thinking. He had invited Lyra out without any direct interest in where 'out' was. Perhaps this was what blended them so well together. Their views on the world were so different at times. Kiyoshi was one who would simply let the river take him adrift where as Lyra would stand there and scream at the river to flow the opposite way. Neither method was correct, but both had their advantages. And together, they simply worked.

Life's harmony at its best.

Lyra smiled and nodded, agreeing to his idea. "Breakfast in town would be nice. Come on, we will just see where our feet lead us, sound good?" she said beginning a casual stroll forward. She stretched her arms and looked up into the sky, noticing the moon's faint outline still in the sky. "It's weird to think that the next time we run together. . . it may be on four feet," Lyra sighed with a mixture of longing and hesitation.

Lyra smiled to Kiyoshi softly. She could not understand what he felt. She had never faced death. Her parents were healthy, even her grandparents. All passings in the family and friends were before her time. She knew Duncan's father, but never had more than a few brief words with the elder. This was something that struck Lyra hard; the realization that she could sympathize with loss but never truly understand it. Not until it dragged her down. And to Kiyoshi, Lyra was standing on death's walkway. If Lyra did die. . . Than it was over for her. She would be nothing and would have no regrets with how she lived. But then, Kiyoshi would have the knowledge that he failed her. Perhaps that was what terrified him the most. Perhaps now Lyra understood. Even if she was only scraping the surface of true pain.

Lyra frowned, a darkness clouding her eyes to this thought. You need him, but he needs your strength more than anything now. He is still that small, mute child beneath his aged shell. Do not give up, do not become weak.

Lyra blinked, her body stiffening to the growl whispering inside her mind. Was that her. . . Wolf? Lyra thought back to the voice but found the action futile. It was gone. She sighed, not realizing she had been holding her breath. For that moment, the voice seemed as if it would overpower her, even though the moon was still long away. Something did not feel entirely right.

Still, Lyra knew that truth had been spoken. She would remain strong for herself and for him. It was the least she could do. She put a smile on her face and swallowed the ting of fear that she felt. Kiyoshi did not need to share her own worries. "We should keep going," Lyra urged softly, resting her head against his chest for a final minute of protection. "The breakfast places will be getting crowded soon. And Senpai," she added, proving the respect she felt for him as she meet his gaze, "I love you. Nothing can change that. Turtle or wolf. . . You will always be Kiyoshi to me. My Kiyoshi. Now come on, we don't want to miss out on anything, and the others will be curious if we are out for too long." Lyra smiled and slipped her hand into Kiyoshi's as she stepped back slowly.

Lyra looked up to Kiyoshi, her golden eyes flashing with protest as he offered to pay for her. That was not necessary, from her viewpoint despite being mates. She could stand on her own, even if she was a female. Especially because she was a female. Lyra would not fall into the helpless prowl that many of her kin did due to gender. She needed support, but not to be supported.

Before Lyra's tongue flickered with rage, her mind spoke loudly. Perhaps it was even a creature from inside her mind. Save your pride for when you need it. Now is not the time. Lyra blinked and looked down, ashamed by herself instantly. Of course he had meant no harm in his offer. To many, it was expected that the males behave this way. Why. . . Lyra could never understand. But for now she would comply. She knew that Kiyoshi would never intentionally wound her pride. "All right," Lyra agreed calmly, realizing she had drawn upon his teachings to calm herself down. It was one of the first lessons he had given her, for obvious reasons. "But I'll cover it next time, deal?" she said with a grin.

Lyra smiled and led him to the bakery, ordering a German chocolate muffin for herself and tea. Lyra rarely splurged on sweets, but chocolate was something she could never turn away. It was the one stereo type that she allowed herself to fall victim to. Passing to the casher, Lyra also grabbed an apple for herself to munch on. "Do you have any plans for the day?" she asked, settling into a table by the large window and sipping from her hot tea. Lyra smiled to Kiyoshi,

The sounds of heavy boots landing on stony ground reverberated cleanly around the small camp, as did the clap of Jason's hands as he hopped down from the RV where he'd spent a considerably more comfortable night than most of the other rogues.

"Up'n'attem ladies." he said, "It's another wonderful day on the road to glory."

The others stirred slightly, creaking themselves out of whatever awkward positions they'd worked themselves into overnight. Jason was already throwing a few items into a bag and hauling it over his shoulder.

"The hell...you Winter's prophet now are you?" Drake grumbled, picking up a stone and tossing it into the woods in frustration, not much caring if there happened to be anyone taking a piss out there who might get hit.

"There's work to do." Jason said breezily, ignoring the remark.

"Pah!" Nico scoffed, "There's always work to do, and never any damn results."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Q-Ball piped up, suddenly getting a bee in his bonnet, "we've been here a week now, nothing's happened. What are we doing?"

Jason put his hand to his chin and looked around them all one at a time. "Hmm, well I need to make a good first impression on someone today, so I'm not sure any of you ugly mutts is really gonna be up to the job. Where's Ash?"

The guys growled in annoyance.

"Fuck you Jason!" Drake barked, "If you don't need us then let us sleep."

"What do you need from me Jassy." Q-Ball mimmicked Ash in a falsetto voice and snickered, before getting up and taking wobbly steps towards the woods, scarcely even reaching the treeline before he started to unfasten his jeans ready to take a leak.

Craig glowered at Ash reclining on the car hood. If he'd known she'd been bathing in the woods he might have made the effort to get up a little earlier. Sure, she'd have fought him and hand tooth if he'd caught her naked, but even an aggressive roll in the grass would have been more of a sniff than he'd had in over a year. Damn tease...there was a reason most rogue packs didn't put females in their forwards patrols...

Jason smirked and smoothed back his hair which was also washed, since he'd been able to use the RVs shower. One of the perks of being Winter's guest of honour for his efforts. "We need to snare ourselves an idiot." he said cheerily, "And snaring an idiot isn't a fighting-fire-with-fire affair, so I need something with a shred of sense. And that killer smile of yours won't hurt either."

"Hey Ash," Drake hollered from his spot where he had settled back down again, "let me put a killer smile on your face some time, I promise it won't hurt."

Jason rolled his eyes and continued, "We're gonna go into town..."

At that point thre was another chorus of protests.

"The fuck??" Nico yelled, "When do we get to go into town?"

"When you look less like something the cat coughed up." Jason hissed. "Like Winter said, we're not here to advance on the town or the territory. This is more subtle."

"Yo ho where is the big guy anyway?" Craig sneered.

"He left hours ago." Jason said with a smirk. The other guys looked at each other in confusion. Jason went on, "Yeah, he's taking care of things. You guys should have more faith in out illustrious leader."

"Leader my ass." Nico grunted, "Nobody's ever called him alpha."

"He's never asked you to call him alpha." Jason said bluntly. "But you ladies better start practicing your curtsy, because by the end of next week, it may well be that we have an alpha and some new members who will whip your bitch asses into shape."

Lyra allowed her mind to wander as they returned to the pack house. She did not mind the silence that seemed to creep endlessly between them in their moments of escape. Lyra knew that they did not need words to express what they felt for one another. She could feel his compassion from the way he held her hand and how he slowed his pace to keep in time with her shorter legs. In some, Lyra felt their silence was louder than any words could be. They could understand each other without speaking. When the time came for Lyra's first shift, she recognized this ability as the most useful of all.

Lyra smiled, admiring the nature they passed as they neared the house. They had walked through the forest part of the way so that they faced the porch. They were still hidden by distance and foliage, but Lyra could all ready see the shuffling of morning chaos. Yes, she would treasure these last few moments with Kiyoshi. “Lyra,” he murmured. Lyra looked to him, smiling and wondering what he could have to say. Despite their connection, she would always have trouble reading the thoughts he wanted to keep hidden from her. “Have you ever considered what you will do if James wins?”

Lyra blinked, her golden eyes flashing with confusion and rage before slipping into hurt. She stopped dead in her tracks and broke their gaze as she suddenly found the ground more interesting than Kiyoshi. At this moment, perhaps anything could be more interesting than Kiyoshi. The only thing that kept her calm and resisting rage was the fact that their fingers were still entwined. "I.. I don't know," she muttered, somewhere between a sigh and a growl. "I... figure.... "

Lyra groaned, her brain flickering with a million thought waves at once. What would she do? Did Kiyoshi have so little faith in her, his own mate, that he felt the need to bring this up now? What the hell had they been training for all these years if he thought she would fall before James?

Stop this, Lyra. He has a valid point. You have everything against you, Lyra. Do not take this out on Kiyoshi. Lyra moaned softly, her hand drifting from Kiyoshi's grasp to hold her own head as she turned away from him. The voice. It was like an earthquake shuddering in her mind. Painful, loud, and deadly. And it was also her wolf as it edged nearer to the full moon. Lyra closed her eyes for a moment, trying to hide the shattering migraine from Kiyoshi. In her mind's eye, she could feel the wolf's lips curling into a malicious smile. Take it out against James.

Lyra opened her eyes slowly and was instantly blinded by the sunlight. She blinked slowly, dizzy, and desperately wanted Kiyoshi near. However, she remained on her own feet. He did not need to feel her slight tremble from only the wolf's voice. He did not need the extra worry that Lyra had felt since her wolf began to enter her mind. He did not need to know that, somehow, it was getting stronger. "I haven't thought that far ahead," she admitted slowly, her buzz ebbing away as the wolf retreated. "Until now, I thought I would have longer to wait before receiving my wolf. If I fail... I'll lose everything," Lyra said. Her eyes drifted longingly over the pack house, the house that belonged to the alpha. "I suppose I would not be able to continue living here. If I do fail, I don't know what I would do. That's why I can't fail." Lyra looked up to him, determination settling in. "if I go through with this, what else could I do if I fail?"

"Now sit, and watch."

Lyra looked up to the voice of Aziel. She did not expect someone to come out now. What was he doing? Lyra squinted in the sunlight as he dragged someone after him, someone that it took Lyra a moment to place. Tabby?! What did he want with her? She watched the pair and saw the girl's resistance. What was he-

Lyra knew that face. She recognized what he was going to do. She would never be able to become alpha if she did not recognize her packmate's patters. And now it could save a life, or at least the mentality of one. "Kiyo, I don't know," she admitted. "But I do know that if I want to become alpha, I have to stop this. Now," she said, sprinting forward and running to the porch. Lyra was thankful that she was in her running sneakers as she came up on the two. She could not know what to do if she lost, but she knew what to do here. Her mind ran through the different steps she could take. Aziel. Temper. Keep him calm. Reason with him. As she ran, Lyra flicked her wrist to alert her presence, the chimes of bells floating from her bracelets.

"Aziel," Lyra mummered as she approached the two. Carefully, Lyra put her hand on his shoulder. Arguing with him would not help. She leaned forward and whispered into his ear, "Not now. Please." With a smile, Lyra looked to Tabby. "I hope Aziel hasn't been too much of a trouble to you. He is just a bit headstrong at times." Her smile faded as she turned back to the boy and shook her head sharply. She did not raise her voice or question him, but her eyes glittered with the determination that only Lyra could hold. "You are not her brother; this is not your responsibility," Lyra said softly for his wolf hears only. "I know what you are trying to do, but this is not the way. Please," she said, gazing into his eyes and pleading him to understand.

Craig splashed a double-handful of water up onto his face and shook his head, burbling noisily. Drake, Nico and Q-Ball were all nearby, using the cool water to wake themselves up and fooling around boyishly in the surprisingly lush surroundings of the mountain spring. The mountain itself was what seperated the rogue camp from the town, and most importantly of all stopped any scent from drifting in that direction.

Craig, more than any of the other boys, was feeling get up to the eyeballs. It had been days since they'd been called upon to do anything except wait on the 'promised alpha' to be delivered. And then what? A lifetime of being ordered about by someone else other than Winter? This whole deal was starting to seem less attractive by the day.

Grumbling to himself, he advanced a little further towards the back of the spring. There was something that struck him about the cliff face in front of him. The vegetation was different...the whole rock-face was extraordinarily verdant. Like you'd normally expect behind or alongside a waterfall.

And then something else caught his eye. It was a small entrance - only large enough to crawl into - near the bottom of the rock face, that seemed to go quite deep in.

"Hey guys..." he called back, a grin forming on his face, "...we're not supposed to leave the mountain right? Well, I think I may have just found a little adventure that doesn't involve breaking the rules..."

---

Jason was pacing back and forth with a smug grin on his face. To think that today could be the day all the plans finally come together. He knew what Ash was off doing. Her job wasn't a pleasant one - to charm a dishevelled ape of a human - but there was an even more unpleasant task awaiting the both of them when she arrived with the man.

He was deep in the woods on the Khöller territory. It was all too familiar to him; this was exactly where they had set up camp eighteen years ago when good ol' Farrell had brought them here. Not the best of memories to be sure. But in a way, today would make amends for everything that went wrong back then too.

Voices. One famiar female voice, and one confused, completely forgetable male voice. Good work Ash. He stood himself in the middle of the clearing and turned to face the directiion of the voices, waiting for them to emerge from the foliage. And before long, they did. Jason smiled as Lance and Ash emerged into the copse.

"Good to see you again friend." Jason said smoothly.

Immediately Lance's face dropped in quizzical amazement. "You!" he exclaimed, "Ash...are you in on this? What the hell has your game been? Nobody's heard of this studio of yours..."

"I know I'm really sorry." Jason said calmly, holding an apparently apologetic hand up. "This hasn't gone to plan at all. Terrible misunderstanding. See, I had hoped all along that you'd entrust Tabitha to me to bring her back here at the time I originally offered."

"I don't get it." Lance frowned. "What did you want with us if there was no studio?"

"Buddy there's nothing I wanted you for at all." Jason sneered, "I was only interested in the girl. Which is why I'd hoped you'd just let me take her away to 'send her on her ascent to fame and glory'."

"You bastard." Lance growled, "You were playing on her hopes and dreams? Where is she now? What are you going to do with her?"

"Oh we haven't got her yet." Jason said.

"And you think I'm going to help you?" Lance scoffed.

"Nope." Jason shook his head. "And as to your question, we already know full well what we're going to do with her. It's what we are going to do with you that I'm having to make up as I go along."

"I'm not going to let you get your hands on her. You'll have to kill me if that's what you're threatening me with."

"I don't need you to help us get to her." Jason said, matter-of-factly, "You weren't meant to be here in the first place. However..." he took a few steps forward with a nasty smile, "...I do think there's merit to your suggestion."

For the next few minutes the silence of the wood was broken by the sounds of an inhuman transformation, cries of terror, growls, screams of agony...and then finally silence once again.

Ash smiled to Lance as they neared the appointed meeting spot. He wasn't quite as loathsome as his grungy exterior would cause one to think. He liked kids but didn't have a family of his own yet. He seemed to have forgotten about his claimed kinship to Tabby because not once did he refer to her as his niece. Ash laughed playfully to a joke he cracked, twisting her hair in her fingers as she led him deeper into the woods in a 'short cut' to the house. As was fully aware of her role in this. She had all ready sung her Siren's song. Nature would now take its course.

"Good to see you again friend." Jason said smoothly.

Ash stepped back and chose to remain silent for the duration of the exchange. She had not been told what would happen to Lance once she brought him here, but Ash had not survived on her own for more than a year by being a fool. And Jason was not the most creative of creatures. Ash leaned against a tree and watched the horizon boredly. She almost felt bad for the human. But it was his fault, really. He had gotten in Winter's way. No one could survive that. Even Ash knew her limits when playing with his master plan.

Ash felt a shiver run up her spin to the crunch of bone. It was a sound she would never get used to, even if my some miracle Winter could find away to unlock her own wolf. Ash was surprised by how much the fact she may never shift did not bother it. It was disappointing, but not the end of the world. No, her world would have ended if she was tied down by her suppose mate from her home town. The thought sent another shiver down her spine as Lance called out, his fear drowned by Jason's inhuman growl.

Ash did not watch as the murder was committed, her head only turned as the stench of iron wafted in the air. She coughed into her fist and approached slowly, her sharp eyes surveying the corpse. "How much longer can we hide from them now?" Ash asked, her hand resting on Jason's wolfed head. Her eyes tilted back to the tree line casually, not wanting Jason to sense her uncomfort. She was grateful that she only had a mortal's scent. She did not want to smell the death any more than she all ready could. "They will scent him before the forest gets his body. What are you going to do now? Leave him here? They will find him. What else does Winter want from me? I did not just led a man to death to sit around like a pretty bird afterward."

Ash looked down to his wet muzzle and turned with disgust, tossing his clothes at him as she passed. "Just tell me you aren't going to eat him. That is below even you, Jason."

Jason shook himself as though wet, trying to get the unpleasantness of the scenario off himself, paying no heed to Ash's reaction to it. She'd done her job, and as far as he was concerned she could just stand aside and brighten up the woods until he was done. Being in wolf form he didn't even need to pretend to be listening to her as she spoke, but he batted her leg with his tail when she made the remark about eating the body. Of course he wasn't going to eat it. However the swipe of his tail caused him to growl in discomfort, and the twisting of his body aggravated his old back wound. Damn pack...

With another deep growl his initiated his shift back into human form; the first throes of it would have been Ash's cue to look away unless she wished to observe him getting dressed. The shift left him exhausted. Wolves weren't meant to shift both ways in such a short space of time, but time was something they didn't have an unlimited supply of.

"Yeah there's more." he grizzled between gasps and pants as he pulled his clothes back on. "But we need to wait for the right time. Gotta wait for the signal from our inside boy before going ahead. Hopefully he won't take too long...he seems pretty keen alright."

"Inside boy?" Ash mused softly, tussling her hair free from her ponytail to give herself a distraction from Jason's shift. "Oh, right. That Cally kid or whoever. You ain't afraid that he was just pull'in your leg to get the old man at the bar to shut up?" Ash said, squeezing her eyes together in a teasing gesture.

"How old is he anyway? My age or younger? I ain't taking any bs from some little kid now, no matter how much Winter says I gotta." Ash shivered slightly, her stomach turning from the scent of blood. "If you don't need me for anything, I'm gonna take another bath. I think that Lance guy touched my arm or something. I just feel grimy standing here with what used to be him."

Ash shivered again and scratched her arm with disgust. Rouge or not, she was not accustomed to witnessing murders. Even she had to draw the line somewhere. It made her feel better that he didn't have any kids. "Need anything else or am I dismissed, Sir."

Kathy smiled and nodded at Sid's remark, hoping that Calvin and Gavin would be persuaded to join them.

"Sid's right!" she said, "If you think we're 'lame' them maybe you should be the solution. Maybe it's you who need to bring something to the table for a change?"

Her face fell as she realised she'd gotten a bit bold in what she was saying, and suddenly blushed a little. Perhaps, she thought, it was because she knew that her and Ray were supposed to have been pranking Calvin that day, so she was already accepting of the fact that by tonight he might have ended up being pissed off with her. But that dread fascination of the boy was still there pricking at her mind.

The four rogues stooped and advanced slowly as they heard the voices rising within the caves up ahead. It sounded like a small female voice getting increasingly hysterical...despite the echo and the distance the last words "this cave it too small" were clearly distinguishable. Q-Ball looked back and grinned to the others.

"What do you think?" he said, "Local back got a little mountain hideaway?"

"Yeah and you know why that's not good?" Drake whispered as visciously as he could manage.

"No, why?"

"Because for all we know they could be using these caves to watch us in our camp. They could know about our plan!!"

"The fuck?" Nico snorted, "Even we don't know about Winter's plan, how much could they have heard from these caves?"

Craig scratched his head and looked back towards where they'd come from. "We should go back and tell Winter."

"No!!" Drake said forcefully, "We need to go and see who it is, and take care of them."

Q-Ball and Nico nodded in agreement, and Craig reluctantly continued deeper into the crevice behind the other three. The voices ahead seemed to have stopped, and the rogues cursed to themselves as they entered a small chamber with seemed to run downwards into a flooded area, offering no obvious way forward.

"I don't get it," Nico muttered, "if there's no way forward, how could we hear the..."

They were interupted when something broke the surface of the water, and a small figure crawled out onto the stone floor. The four boys watched in wide-eyed disbelief as the small female flopped onto her back, gasping and wheezing desperately. They looked at each other in confusion. Was she having a fit or something? The one thing they knew for sure was that the drenched girl was, without a doubt, one of the local wolves. Slowly the realisation crossed each of their faces, and they paced forwards, forming a semi-circle around the soggy young wolf.

"Hey little girl," Craig said aggressively, "guess you're not such a surprise. A little runt like you's probably only useful for spying."

"Yeah," Q-Ball chuckled, "how long you been watching our camp from these caves huh? You know if you wanted an introduction, all you had to do was ask. Cute little thing like you is always welcome on our patch."

"Can it." Drake barked, "She's coming back with us, Winter's gonna have to know about this."

"What's the rush?" Q-Ball said, his giggling becoming almost maniacal, "Look at her she can scarcely breathe. When's the last time you had a female at your mercy?"

"Keep it in your pants Q." Craig retorted.

"Fuck you!" Q-Ball spat, "Who made you the boss?"

Unexpectedly, Q-Ball lunged at Craig and pushed him in the chest, knocking him off balance. Drake and Nico braced themselves, trying to decide if they could afford a few seconds to break up the fight at the risk of their 'captive' escaping...