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Lykos - Lone Wolf

Chapter 21

The pack reached at the sanctuary to find they were some of the last to arrive. "Took you long enough," Monica said, sauntering over to join them.

"Sorry," Ben said, feeling guilty.

The she-wolf reached out and squeezed his upper arm with a gentle smile on her face. "Relax, Goodwill, you're not doing this alone."

"Goodwill?" Ben asked her cautiously, knowing he'd hate the answer.

She shrugged with a pained smile. "Between your phone and your car, not to mention your dreadful taste in clothes, I simply assumed you were raised in a Goodwill store."

Ben bristled. "Goodwill is run by fuckless homophobes! If I'm any discount store, it's Wal-Mart! Got it?" he asked, shaking his index finger at her nose. "WAL! MART!" he said with a shake of emphasis on each syllable, then stopped, looking horrified at what he'd just blurted out. "Wait! I mean-"

"Too late, Wal-Mart," she answered with a grin. "It's settled." She spun on her heel and sashayed away. "See you inside, Wal-Mart... And do leave those ratty clothes of yours at the door," she added dismissively with a shooing motion of her hand as she departed.

Ben growled, gritting his teeth as they started to lengthen. "Ooh that BITCH-ONIUM fueled BITCH!" he growled, ending in a canine snarl, not knowing what else to call her for the way she acted.

"She must REALLY like you," Angela said from nearby, walking over to him with a small smile. "She only gives insulting nicknames to people she REALLY respects."

"I'm honored," the Head Alpha grumbled, then turned to her with a reserved smile. "Hey," he said.

"Hey," she answered back. "Don't worry. We're not letting the direwolf get you guys."

Ben shook his head. "Don't put yourself in harm's way-"

"I owe you," she said quickly, interrupting him. "You helped me... Probably more than you realize... I'm off the wolf's bane. I even got a job. I work as a waitress at a diner downtown. It's nothing fancy, but it pays the bills."

"Good to hear," Ben said encouragingly.

"We were talking about restarting an old tradition... Once a month the alphas get together for a group dinner. You know, just to chat... Share things with each other that we don't like to involve our packs in. That kind of thing. We want to do it next weekend after this one. You want to come?"

"I'd like that," Ben said softly.

"Sounds good," Angela said with a hesitant smile, clearly dreading the night to come, then glanced up at the sky as the last of the sunlight began to fade away. "See you inside," she said slowly, as if trying not to think about what was to come, then turned and walked away.

Ben glanced around, saw Monica looking at him, then bristled again when she stuck her tongue out at him. "Oh you little...!" he muttered, feeling his claws grow out.

"Save your fight for the real enemy," Dylan said in a tone of mild annoyance from beside him.

Ben turned rapidly with a yelp. He hadn't sensed the keeper approaching, even with the coming moon giving his already heightened senses a slight nudge in anticipation. "Fuck! Don't do that!" He took a moment to calm himself down. "Come to think of it, HOW did you sneak up on me, anyways."

"Pure skill," Dylan said with a face like a stone mask. Ben noted that the human was dressed in winter camouflage with body armor that looked like it had been custom made for him, if not by the man himself, and he was sporting an impressive array of weaponry in the form of blades of various types and lengths, a belt covered with pouches, and that he smelled strongly of silver and various chemicals, including herbs. Ben saw that he had a electrified stun baton hanging at his hip as well. "I'm here because I'm one of the best there is at what I do."

"And what's that?" Steve asked nervously, the head beta calming himself down after the sudden presence of the keeper in their mist.

"Dealing with threats," the human replied gravely before he turned to Ben. "I know it's hard to concentrate when you're primal, but do your best to stick to the plan."

"Don't worry," Ben said. "I'm not like other wolves."

Dylan merely snorted and walked away. Ben watched him go, then saw Becca wave to him, dressed even more garishly than last night. This time she was in a multi-neon colored camouflage overall, black leather biker's jacket, army boots that had been apparently spray-painted neon yellow. Her glitter helmet had been replaced by a florescent orange bombadeer's leather cap with goggles. The outfit was hard to look at, so glaringly garish that it was hurtful to the eyes. She grinned, gripping another cigarello between teeth framed by ruby red lipstick, then started mimicing a boxer.

The display made him smile, and she gave him a conspiratorial wink before she turned back to Ryan, who was talking to her as he checked over a massive, high performance rifle he was sporting, the thing nearly longer than he was tall, and looking for all the world like it could punch a hole the size of a watermelon through a tank. Ben couldn't name the weapon, but could see it's power. The man himself was dressed in winter camouflage and had several other guns strapped to his person in the form of several smaller rifles and pistols, some of which Ben knew no civilian was capable of legally owning. The alpha's keen eyes noted that every weapon sported a silencer at the end of the barrel, so at least if he started shooting, the townies wouldn't go ballistic at the sounds of gunfire.

They saw Mitchell come over, looking grim and focused. "Ready?" he asked.

"Where's the other keeper?" Ben asked him. "Claire, I think her name was?"

"Claire's specialty is scrying. She'll hang back and coordinate with us using the telepathy stones," he said, holding up one of the large marble-like spheres he had developed. "She'll serve as our eyes and ears while keeping a safe distance. Even if the direwolf has help, Claire's one of the strongest seers I've ever heard of, so if she can't detect the direwolf, no one can."

"Good," Ben said, nodding. "I wish you'd shared that part of the plan with me sooner, though."

"Sorry," Mitchell said. "There's been a lot to coordinate and keep track of."

"It's okay," the Head Alpha replied. "As long as that's all I haven't been told."

Mitchell shook his head. "No, that's all of it." He turned around and cleared his throat. "Alright everyone! You know the drill." He turned back to Ben, nodded, then walked away.

Ben took a deep breath, looked at each member of his pack, then sighed. "Let's go," he said.

With that, they made their way into the sanctuary with the rest of the local wolves, the sky beginning to darken above them...

*****

The pack stood in the same clearing where they had spent the beginning and end of their last full moon, shivering slightly and eagerly awaiting to coming of the moon, despite the horrors that the night was likely to hold. If nothing else, they could at least see each other's primal wolves one last time, as well as Marcus for the first, if only, time, and they focused on the beauty of the impending event, pushing all else away.

"What do we look like when we change further?" Marcus asked.

"Kind of like those two-legged werewolves in the movies," Luke replied. "Let's see... The movie that comes KIND of close to what we look like that comes to mind is Van Helsing, you know, the one with Hugh Jackman."

"Kind of, but the faces were weird in that one and they don't have tails, either," Steve said. "Did you ever see that movie?" he asked Marcus.

"Yeah, but that was quite a while ago, so I don't really remember it," the younger wolf admitted.

Luke shrugged. "Well, you'll see soon enough."

"However," Ben added for the new beta's benefit, "you'll find that it will be very hard to form complex thoughts. Your mind will revert to a more animalistic state."

"How so?" Marcus asked.

"When you get thirsty, you'll think of the scent or taste of water. If you want to think of a person, you'll get a mental picture of them, or remember how they smell or sound, maybe even taste if you've licked them before. You can still think in English, but it will require strong concentration to do so. You won't be a mindless beast, exactly, because you'll still have full awareness of who you are, understand humans when they speak, and such; it's just the way you think and feel that changes. Once the moon sets and we change back, your thought processes will return to normal."

"Weird," Marcus said with a shudder.

"It's not that bad, actually," Kyle said soothingly. "It just makes us very impulsive. Don't worry about finishing a thesis or anything while you're primal and you'll be fine," he added playfully.

"Cute," Marcus said with a half-sincere look of annoyance.

"Aww, really?" Kyle asked with puppy eyes. "You're cute, too." He leaned in and licked his mate's nose playfully.

The others chuckled, making the most of the moment and trying as hard as they could to act like everything was normal, even though, deep down inside, they were all afraid. These might very well be their last moments together, and they were determined to act like nothing was wrong.

Kyle leaned in more seriously and kissed his mate gently, who suddenly pulled away after a few moments and stared off into the East, the others turning in reaction as well. "Oh fuck," Marcus gasped. "What is that?"

"You can feel it too, huh?" Ken asked. "We always feel the moon coming... It won't be much longer now."

"But I can LITERALLY feel it!" Marcus said. "It-... It's like I can almost reach out and physically touch it! It's as if someone is standing right in front of me and if I reached forward, I could touch them with my hands..."

"As werewolves," Steve said solemnly, "we always feel the presence of the moon on the night it's full. We are drawn to it as it's the source of our power. The full moon is like a beautiful, shining eye... Like that of a god or a goddess smiling down upon us and showing us our truest nature. Tonight we run wild and free. The full moon is a sacred time for our kind."

"You make it sound beautiful," Marcus said softly with a smile.

"It is," Steve answered with a smile of his own, their attention still drawn to the East.

"It's getting closer," Luke said, rubbing his groin lewdly in expectation of the impending transformation.

"Strip down, everyone," Ben ordered. "You too, Marcus. The primal wolf is a good deal larger than even the wolven, and you'll destroy your clothes if you keep them on during the metamorphosis."

"That sounds pretty hot, actually," Marcus said with a lustful look on his face.

"Until morning comes," Ken countered dryly, "you turn back and die of hypothermia."

Marcus frowned. "Good point," he said, taking off his shirt. He paused once it was off. "Are you sure it won't hurt? All the movies-"

"Are bullshit," Luke said firmly. "The only way the transformation would hurt is if you turn into a direwolf, so relax."

"Well... Okay," Marcus said, still feeling nervous.

"Don't be afraid, Marcus," Ben said soothingly. "Embrace your true nature. It's nothing to be frightened of. I can tell you're a werewolf, not a direwolf..."

They only just finished storing away their clothes in their backpacks when the moon began to creep over the horizon. They all turned to it eagerly, even Marcus, who felt an odd sense of excitement from deep within him, as though something both powerful and wonderful was awakening.

"Ah fuck yeah!" Ben cried out in joy as his transformation began and the sexual bliss welled up within him in a manner similar to a flood of pleasure. Like before, his body swelled; growing, taller, stronger and mutating as his dark, mottled canine fur began to grow all over his body. The head, genitals, feet and lower legs all began to change, the arms lengthening slightly as his hands changed into a cross between front paws and hands, his tail emerging once again. The sensual power filled him, and he embraced it eagerly, feeling as though a lost part of him was finally coming home again. His thought processes began to devolve into those of an animal, and his erection surged out to stand proudly within the cold night air as he growled in euphoria.

Feeling the ecstasy build ever higher, he turned to see that his pack was already well along, Steve being the most changed of them all after the alpha himself. He walked forward, growling possessively, and Steve dropped to his shifting knees as his mate approached. Ben took his wolf dick in his handpaw and grunted in bliss as he shot a wad of precum over the head beta's fur-sprouting face, the hairs once again that of a traditional timber wolf in coloring, the alpha repeating the ritual they had started during the last full moon. Ben stroked his shaft and let out a growling gasp as he began to cum, painting a stripe of milky yellow sperm over Steve's forming muzzle, which suddenly surged forward in reaction. Steve growled in bliss, looking up into the alpha's eyes with love, which he returned by way of the pack bond as his muzzle began to form in reaction to the anointing sperm of his beloved.

Ben moved to Luke next, the mechanic already on his knees, whimpering and literally begging for it as he opened his fang-filled, but still mostly human-shaped mouth. Ben snarled savagely, and Luke closed his mouth submissively, seeing that this would be done the alpha's way or not at all. He was rewarded for his obedience with a splatter of cum on his closed mouth, which reacted by nearly exploding forward into a wolven muzzle, as though the alpha's essence was the trigger for its growth. They both growled in pleasure at that before Ben wooofed slightly, telling the beta to open his mouth. Luke did so and was rewarded with a second spray of alpha essence, which he savored on his tongue for a moment before he lapped all over his muzzle, smearing the manly secretion all over himself. Giving a canine smile in satisfaction at the display, the alpha moved on to his next packmate.

Ben looked to Marcus, who moaned and moved awkwardly to his knees, his changing legs making the motion difficult, as the alpha stalked over to him, cum gushing out in jets to splatter onto the snow in random spots, the shaft bobbing side to side as the dark-furred wolf approached. The smell of his cum was filling the air to add to the scents, growls and moans of sexual pleasure the pack was giving, the sounds of the cum squirting forth and hitting the snow a sensual counterpoint in the music of bliss they all made. Ben stared down at Marcus and watched as the color of the beta's eyes expanded outwards slowly, driving away the whites of his eyes as they became those of a wolf. He saw the pleasure on the beta's face and snarled in bliss as another spurt of canine spunk shot from his dick onto Marcus' face, which began to morph into that of a wolf. Ben smiled and saw the wonder in the young man's eyes as his mouth stretched forward while it grew light brown fur, his eyes crossing slightly as he watched his mouth transform into a lupine muzzle.

Ben, not wanting to waste any of his primal orgasm, moved to Kyle, who looked up at him with such love and loyalty that it was as if Ben had become his god. The alpha held his pumping wolfmeat tenderly and gently took aim. The cum lashed across Kyle's slowly extending muzzle, mixing into the growing blonde white fur so well that it was nearly invisible, the growth speeding up as the cum landed on his morphing flesh and fur, and he let out a whimper of such tenderness that it was hard to resist hugging him, but there was still the omega to see to, so he gave his lowest beta a look of guilt as he turned away, one that was eased by the look in Kyle's shifting eyes which said that he understood. If the look hadn't told the alpha that it was okay, the soothing sense of understanding coming through the link made his feelings clear.

Ken dropped to his knees, most of his jet black fur grown in, but it was as if he was holding back; not wanting to fully transform. When the alpha stood before his omega, who looked up into his eyes with love and respect, the stronger wolf saw why. Ken wanted to do this right... He wanted to do it the way his alpha wanted it done. Ben growled possessively, then snarled once more as another volley of his canine cum flew forth from his body to splash lovingly on the omega's face... That was all that was needed. Ken's face morphed rapidly, as he stopped holding back, and within the space between one pant and the next, his head changed forms rapidly until it was that of a wolf, the intense pleasure and joy radiating out through the bond.

Ben stepped back and admired his pack... His loves. They were all so beautiful to him, and his canine eyes became moist as he took in the perfection of their primal forms. Marcus, he noted, looked exactly like he had in the premonition, his light brown fur giving a vaguely coyote-like quality to his primal wolf. Ben felt nothing but pleasure, the pain and fear unable to reach him to mar this joyous moment, and he felt intense lust for and pride in them, his betas and omega, feeling like the luckiest alpha to ever live to have such beautiful and sexy males as his pack. Through the power of the bond they shared, he felt their pleasure as if it were his own and became eager to share more... Something new, in fact. Ben barked once, a simple order to approach. With a lifting of his nose, he ordered them silently to stand up on their hind paws. Once they had done so, Ben leaned back, took his shaft into both his handpaws and began to masturbate himself lewdly, woofing softly for them to copy him.

Everyone except Marcus was surprised at that, but after a moment's pause, they all gave lupine grins and joined in. None of them had ever heard of primal wolves masturbating like this before, fusing such a human form of pleasure with the animalistic body of the primal wolf. It was a brand new experience for them, and they all joined in the circle jerk, tongues hanging out the sides of their muzzles when not licking to re-moisten their open mouths or noses, or to affectionately lick the heads or bodies of those next to them. They reached out with their hearts and souls, and each felt the stimulation each wolf gave to himself until it felt as though many hands stroked their phallus along with their own. It was like each one of them was being masturbated by the entire pack simultaneously.

One by one, they came, Ben cumming again as the added stimulation reignited his orgasm, and he twisted around, tongue lolling out the side of his muzzle as he lewdly painted the groins of his loves with his second load of wolf spunk, like some naughty satyr who was making a game of his orgasm; the alpha marking each of the pack as his with his creamy yellow wolf spunk. The others came, one by one, and copied the alpha, until all were soaked and dripping in the ball juice of every one of their packmates. They groaned in bliss as their orgasms merged, sharing the combined erotic release and moaning, whimpering and murring in pleasure until the last sensations of orgasm came to an end and they each looked around, seeing the pleasure in the eyes of their many loves.

Ben looked at them all, concentrated, then working his long mouth, finally managed to produce the sounds he wanted to make. "Love... You... All," he got out slowly with difficulty, the words coming out in a growl that made them barely recognizable as human speech. Kyle whimpered, his tail wagging, and moved forward to bury his nose against the alpha's throat in a gesture of love as he pressed up close. The other wolves came forward and squeezed together until the alpha was the center of a big, furry pile. They reached out through the bond and poured forth their love, sharing a moment of perfect happiness with each other. After a few tender minutes of blissful togetherness, he pulled back a bit, and they gave him some space. The alpha took a deep breath, the pack following his lead, and they howled to the night, calling out in unison and declaring the existence and unity of their pack.

After they had finished, Ken pulled back and examined his handpaws, looking lost in thought for a moment, before he moved his hand in a slow, deliberate kata motion, then nodded, his tail wagging. Ben smiled at that, his tongue lolling out and his own tail wagging, then his tail faltered as he realized there was a nagging feeling in the back of his mind, like he was forgetting something important. He whimpered, worried that he couldn't remember what it was. Whatever it was that he was forgetting was terribly important, and he knew that he HAD to remember it, whatever it was that he'd forgotten.

Kyle heard the whimper and looked up to him, thought a moment, then brightened and barked to get the alpha's attention. He then growled in the tone that signaled hunting for an enemy. Ben's ears perked forward as he realized what he had forgotten. He dropped to all fours, barked in command, then took off running, the pack following in his wake with Ken trailing in the final position in recognition of his status as omega.

Together, the pack sped off through the trees, the alpha barking a command for someone to led the way as he was still new to the sanctuary and hadn't memorized where everything was. Steve woofed in acknowledgement, took the lead...

And the pack raced away through the wilderness towards their fate...

*****

Don removed the while snowsuit he had worn and stood in the small ravine, shivering in the cold as he waited for the moon to rise. He had already had a scare as he had laid in wait as a dark-skinned female werewolf had walked perilously close to the ravine before heading further into the woods. He had sighed in relief once she had gone. The masking stones might erase all traces of his presence and hide his scent, but it didn't make him invisible or un-hearable. If the bitch had taken it into her head to check out the ravine, he would've been discovered. He sighed once she had gone, and vowed to kill the whore first if she was stupid enough to change somewhere close by.

*Ugly cunt, too... Like that dried up old snatch Eartha Kitt,* he'd thought to himself with disgust. Don had a long and bloody history with women... It had started, ironically enough, with his own wife...

Ruth should have known better than to sleep around on him. It wasn't that she'd done so, as he'd gotten plenty of tail on the side himself; it was that she'd had the nerve to lie to him about her extracurricular activities and think he wouldn't be able to smell the other men, plural, on her. Furious and sick of being stuck with the ugly, lying bitch, he'd tricked her into a camp out in the woods. She'd known he was a werewolf and had accepted him as such, that being the only reason besides her snatch that he'd kept her around, and she'd been gullible enough to believe that he'd keep her safe. It was only once they were holed up in the cave that he'd confronted her about her other lovers. She'd had the nerve to lie to his face, but he had smelled their cum in his bed... -HIS- BED, FOR CRYING OUT FUCKING LOUD!!!... And was inconsolable.

*Poor little Ruthie... You really didn't believe I'd ever hurt you, even as I wrapped my hands around your fat neck! It wasn't until you started turning blue that you realized I was truly serious. But I let you go, feeling guilty... And how did you thank me for my mercy? By calling me a psycho... A monster... You shouldn't have done that. If you'd just had the sense to shut the fuck up, I wouldn't have lost my temper and ripped your throat out for that.*

It had only been after her body hit the ground that he'd realized what he'd done. He had killed, letting the instincts of the wolf take over completely. In that moment of horror and shame, the harmony between his human and wolven selves broke, triggering his hideous rebirth as the monstrous form of a direwolf tore its way out of his body. The pain had been beyond imagination... And once the transformation was done and his ruined human-shaped corpse-like shell lay torn asunder, the pain had not left him. Instead, it had turned into a constant, burning sensation, like he had been pulled from a fire after his skin had been seered, the pain driving him beyond reason and making him wander blindly, lost in agony, shame and guilt until the sun rose. He felt his heart stop and muscles seize, the monster he had become collapsing in a heap as it died painfully.

Then Don had become aware of his human self again and panicked as he realized he was trapped in the rotting corpse of the canine monster, it's flesh his prison until he had managed to rip and tear his way to freedom, his human skin burning in sensation as he had worked his way free from the prison of the direwolf's body. Once he was free and in control of himself, terror set in. He knew he was doomed now. The cycle of the direwolf was now complete, and he was forevermore a monster, doomed to an endless cycle of agonizing deaths and rebirths as the uncontrollable power of the wolf ebbed and waned. Fearing for his life, he'd fled, changed his name to something that sounded harmless and unassuming to better conceal himself, and began the aimless life of a wandering vagrant, shunted into the ghost-like life he had never wanted.

The beautiful, yet savage life of a werewolf had turned into the relentless horror of being a monster who had to hide from the world, even his own kind... Until his second full moon after his cursed new life as a monster, that was. He had been unable to get far enough away from civilization before the moon rose, and as the pain-riddled monster, he had happened upon a pair of campers. In his agony and insanity, he had attacked them, ripping the hapless humans apart to vent his pain and frustration, giving in to the hate by the violent act of murdering the pair of helpless humans. Once the deed was done and he'd eaten his fill of their corpses, he'd sat there, reflecting. The human side of him that had been forced to watch the monstrous, poisoned wolf soul he shared his body with end their lives so viciously, stared out of the monster's blood red eyes at the remains and realized he felt not the slightest shred of remorse for their deaths.

As he thought on it, he realized that part of his human self had actually enjoyed it. It was like a sense of fairness had crept back into his tormented existence... As though he was no longer the only one who suffered. As an experiment, he had positioned himself near a small settlement the following moon and once he had transformed, he stalked and ripped apart a trio of gang members who had been out too late that night. As they had died by his fangs and claws, Don felt the first surge of accomplishment since becoming a direwolf. If he was to suffer because of the whims of disloyal humans, then why not make them suffer as well?

When that realization came to him, Don found a strange, unholy new equilibrium in his life. He no longer saw the beast side of himself as a monster, but as a tool. He became like a stalker who's weapon of choice was a rabid killer dog he'd let off its leash from time to time, sit back, and enjoy the show as the canine monstrosity ripped apart his hapless victims for his amusement. Don had transformed himself from a tormented soul into an amoral psychopath, and felt nothing but a dark, twisted satisfaction in his new purpose in life.

Eventually, his aimless wanderings had brought him to Washington state, and soon after his arrival, a visit from the rather strange old woman who had offered to be his 'dark keeper' as she had described herself, protecting him in exchange for his services to further her goals; ones which he neither knew nor cared about so long as they would help him to murder to his heart's content and prove his worth to her 'friends' who would, once he'd earned his place among them, begin to teach him more about what he was capable of and give him the first stable home he'd had in years. The deal had been rather sweet and too hard to resist for the lonely direwolf. The one bad thing about his life, other than the pain of the transformations, was the near-crippling isolation he was forced to endure, having to live a lie and pretend that he was human and hiding his true self from everyone he met. The old cunt's offer was a good one, so he'd jumped at the chance. He'd already passed the first and second tests, and was now so close to success that he could all but literally taste it.

Tonight was to be his final test. The dark keeper and her friends had told him all he needed to do to prove his worth to them was to kill as many werewolves as he could before making his escape. The more of the worthless mutts he slaughtered before he got away safely, the more valuable and worthy he would be. It was simple, elegant... And was surely going to be a Hell of a lot of fun doing it!

Don hated werewolves even more than humans, because they had what he could never enjoy again: the harmony of self and the ability to never be forced to become a mere passenger in his own body, plagued to obey any whim that popped into his monstrous brain at the time. He never knew what he would do next, and while he had learned to try to make a game of it, the loss of control galled him beyond measure, making him lash out at those who could still control themselves... Those who never felt pain... Those who never had to die again and again to use the power of their inner wolf... That was what drove him even more than killing humans. Killing the weak sheep was easy, but killing wolves was both more challenging and more rewarding at the same time. Tonight he would get a bit of justice by killing as many of them as he possibly could... If he couldn't be at peace as a lycanthrope, then no one would.

The moon began to rise, and he braced himself like a thrill-seeker psyching himself up to dive off of a cliff. The pain would be terrible of course, but worth it... If only he could acclimatize himself to the agony of his violent transformation, but no. Every time it hurt like the first time all over again. The only thing he'd learned to do over the years was to keep himself from screaming aloud as his body was shredded apart by the rising of the direwolf's form from within the core of his being.

He began to breath heavily, mentally preparing himself as best he could. The only saying that could possibly come close to the experience of becoming a direwolf was the old phrase 'riding the tiger', but even that wasn't quite right. In that case, the tiger was uncontrollable and the rider could only cling desperately to their back, knowing that if they fell off, the tiger would turn on them as well. All they could do was to hang on as tightly as they could, watch the tiger maul anyone in its path and think 'better you than me'.

In Don's case however, he was as much the tiger as the rider, because the tiger couldn't technically eat him; but rather than think 'better you than me', his thoughts were more along the lines of 'let's see how this one tastes!', then lick his lips as he shared the taste of the blood and flesh in the tiger's mouth when it bit into their prey...

The transformation began, his throat locked up in shock, the stones in his gut feeling like lead weights, and he gurgled as his body began to burn... As he began his horrible metamorphosis, the pain grew worse and worse, like someone was literally slicing away away his flesh from the inside out piece by piece with a vegetable peeler. He looked down at his arm as something moved under the skin, like a massive snake had slithered up inside his appendage, the flesh acting more like a glove than anything else before the flesh began to bulge and split, wicked, talon-like black claws stabbing out of the first knuckle of each finger as dark fur began to poke out of the tears in his skin...

And then the REAL pain began...

His face burned horribly as it began to stretch outwards, not in order to change shape, but more as though something under the skin was pushing against it from behind, trying to punch its way out of his skull. Don tried gritting his teeth against the pain and realized he couldn't... His mouth was no longer his own. His lips parted of their own accord and a deep, monstrous growl emerged from his throat, making a sound no human was capable of as a muzzle, dark and wet, began to emerge from his mouth while his vision clouded and went dark for several moments while his scalp began to split open in several places like a monstrous cocoon hatching an insect that was covered in dark fur.

The torso swelled until it began to tear in several places as something beneath the surface started swelling like a balloon, stretching the fragile human hide past the limits of its elasticity and beginning to break free of its prison of pale human flesh. The figure dropped to all fours; the impact of the hands upon the frozen ground causing deep, long tears in the flesh on the arms as the skin began to peel away wetly, revealing the dark-furred forelegs of the beast. The human legs bent in ways no human ones could, the flesh bulging and ripping from the strain as the feet tore open to reveal the hind paws and haunches of the beast, the hind claws digging into the snow beneath them as the nightmare made flesh growled in pain, the canine voice deep and savage like that of a monster emerging from a dark cavern.

The monster stretched as it began to take over more fully, and a horizontal tear appeared at the waist as the human husk began to separate, the strain of the larger direwolf body beneath stretching the human flesh past its breaking point as another split ran the length of the swelling spinal column. More and more of the human's form fell away, sliding off of the monster in chunks and strips, revealing more and more of the direwolf's body. The buttocks split open like rotten fruit as the tail emerged, the smooth human ass flesh falling away to reveal the monstrously proportioned hindquarters of a roughly canine creature, the bloated, distorted canine genitals shoving the puny human ones off of its body as though in distaste for the meager equipment of the human form. The remains of the human's face fell away to reveal the throbbing, shifting head of the creature, its eyes shut tightly against the agony of its rebirth as its muzzle surged forward and the ears unfolded at the top of its head. The hide twitched as the pieces of human torso fell away, the ruined remains of a too small vest made of human flesh; the canine hide itching horribly... And reflexively, the nightmarish thing shook like a dog, the tattered remains of the human it shared its life with being flung away by centrifugal force; the blood, gore and shredded human-form flesh splattering outwards in a shower of carnage to paint the snow and brush crimson around it like some twisted parody of an ink-blot test.

The beast felt the transformation settle, stretched, and growled in pain from the ever-present burning agony that was its constant companion. It opened its blood red eyes and scanned the wilderness around it, sniffing the air for the telltale scent of prey as its ears twisted to and fro, searching for any telltale signs of nearby victims. The beast was in control now, and while the human mind of Don was still awake and aware, the instincts of the beast were dominant, controlling the body as his human awareness was pushed aside until he was merely a passenger in his own flesh and blood. He watched the show eagerly, lusting for their first kill of the night, the anticipation making the beast's sheath swell until a horrid, purple mockery of a wolf penis began to emerge, drooling dark grey slime from its urethra; the sexual fluids tainted, corrupt, and stinking in the night air like something gone rancid, until the sludge hit the ground and vanished as though it had never existed at all. The power was sexy to them both, despite the pain they had to endure to use it, and the dual mind began to entertain thoughts of raping a werewolf or two to death, which was one of their preferred methods of committing murder.

But first, they needed to have a target to kill before they could even begin to decide on a method of execution...

The monster slowly took a step forward, than another before it broke into a trot as it left the ravine, the paw prints in the slow lasting only a moment before they filled in, as though some unnatural force was erasing them from existence moments after their creation, and the direwolf began its hunt for the first of hopefully many kills of the night...

*****

Berke ran as fast as he could, desperate to arrive in time. He had no intention of letting his little brother die at the paws and fangs of the direwolf. He glanced back to see Wallace trailing along at the back of the pack, looking very put out. Berke knew his head beta hated being relegated to the position, but the alpha refused to allow the packmate he trusted most to endanger himself. Berke's loss would be bad enough, but Wallace was strong enough to lead the pack with the alpha gone.

Berke had no illusions that he would survive this night, but he didn't care. He'd been a werewolf for long enough to have racked up his share of deaths. His hands, or paws under the current circumstances, were far from clean, and he knew that there would be no expanse of sun and clouds spreading past pearly gates awaiting him beyond the veil of death. He only hoped that Hell wasn't quite as bad as everyone said it was...

He had hated needing to transform so far away from the site of battle, but they needed to make sure that the direwolf would arrive there, and the presence of an entire pack of wolves was likely to make the creature balk at approaching. They'd kept their distance, hoping that the direwolf would not deviate from it's path. If it did, the plan would be much harder to pull off, assuming it would still be possible to use it at all.

He growled in resignation of his fate, feeling no fear, and found it in himself to run even faster, hoping he would make it in time...

*****

Ben entered the clearing where his doom awaited and came to a stop as he heard the howl coming from somewhere ahead. The monster... His creator... Was not too far away and steadily coming closer. He was tempted to howl in challenge, but that would be foolish. He waited as calmly as he could, then stopped when he saw Kyle step forward, trembling, but growling in a determined manner. Angry, Ben snapped and snarled at him, driving the beta back in shock. He bore his fangs and snarled, showing his anger.

Kyle whimpered, curling in on himself with tail and ears tucked in close to his body in a protective, submissive manner. 'No' Ben growled, angry at the beta for his disobedience. After the dream had been discussed in detail by everyone who'd had it, Ben had changed his plans. In the premonition, he had called upon Kyle for his lifetime of experience as a werewolf, believing that the wolf-born's years of being in his primal wolf form would give him an edge, but that had been a false hope, as Kyle had died in the most horrible fashion of them all, so the alpha had cast aside his assumption that years of experience would keep the beta safe. He turned to Ken, and the black-furred omega stepped forward on all fours, looking slightly more confident.

Ben turned back to Kyle and stared him down until the beta backed off to join his mate. Ben refused to allow Kyle to fight... Refusing to allow the beta to die in such a tragic manner... And had relegated him to keeping Marcus safe instead. Ben's orders were clear... If things went horribly wrong, the two betas were to run and not look back. The wolf-born hated the idea, but the thought of leaving his mate all alone in the world hurt him even more, so he was willing to obey.

Finally, the monster appeared, trotting up out of the darkness... And Ben stared his progenitor in the eyes with a glare of utter disgust at the hideously twisted shape of his maker. The direwolf stopped, staring at him in mild shock. Don had smelled that prey was close by, but for said prey to simply sit there and wait for him to come to them, as though they had expected his arrival, shocked the monster and filled him with a moment of uncertainty. Then it sniffed, taking in their scents... And as it recognized Ben's overlying scent, the one above the smell of werewolf that told WHAT he was, and took in the more personal olfactory identifiers of WHO he was, ones that even changing species could not erase, the monster snarled in rage as hate bubbled up to cloud its reason. It recognized the scent and remembered, its eye twitching in a phantom echo of pain from when the then human had electrocuted that eye. Fortunately, the ruined eye had died with that body, The human who emerged from the husk with a perfectly functional eye of his own as a new body had grown from within the flesh of the beast, and now that he was reborn again in a new copy of his direwolf form, this one's eye was perfectly fine. The beast, however, remembered that experience with a dull rage and bloodlust as it felt the desire for some payback.

Don had been kept in the dark about the werewolves, and had, until this very moment, assumed that the man who had escaped him had perished from the wounds inflicted upon him. Don, both man and direwolf, had hated the man for humiliating him, besting him and escaping from the monster... But now, to learn that the man he hated most in the world for making him look weak and incompetent had not only survived, but become stronger through his attacker by taking the power of lycanthropy for himself, made the dual-minded monster livid with rage. How dare this weakling take Don's power and make it his own!!! The direwolf wanted Ben dead, and knew that if nothing else, this unwanted offspring WOULD die tonight! ...In fact, it would make for the most satisfying kill he'd made in quite some time...

Ben saw the spark of recognition in the direwolf's eyes. 'That's right,' the human side of himself felt, rather than thought. 'Take a good long look at me! I never asked for what you did to me, regardless of how much better my life is now because of it! I'm going to pay you back by making sure you never hurt anyone again!' He saw the direwolf dig his claws into the frozen ground, preparing to charge. Ben tensed himself, ready for battle...

"Aww! Look at the big ol' fuzzy puppy!" Becca said, strolling in out of nowhere and bending forward with her hands on her knees as she cooed, smiling at the direwolf. "You're a big one, ain't 'cha!"

Ben's mind derailed in shock as he stared at the young keeper from behind. What the fuck was she doing?!? This wasn't part of the plan! Ben was supposed to keep the direwolf distracted, stalling until the other packs could arrive. Then they'd gang up on the direwolf and overwhelm it with sheer numbers to compensate for its more powerful body. The girl wasn't supposed to be involved in this at all, let alone be here in the very thick of things!

The direwolf snarled and lunged... Only to pass right through her like she was a hologram. Ben saw it happen and understood... She was like Robert and could create a projection of herself the same way he did. Becca turned and smiled at the beast. "Ooh! Nice try! I'll give you..." she said, looking thoughtful with her finger to the corner of her mouth, "An 'A' for effort, but an 'F' for execution."

The direwolf roared furiously and charged her again, only to get the same result as the first time. It turned back, paws scrambling in the snow and sending the white powder flying, wanting nothing more than to rip the human to shreds for mocking it, then stopped, looking stunned as twenty identical copies of the girl stood there, smiling at him. "Something wrong, Champ?" they asked in unison.

Ben stared at the keeper, his eyes wide and muzzle slightly open with his body going completely still. This was far beyond what Robert was capable of! While the man could only make a single image of himself, Becca apparently could make many more images of herself at the same time than he could. The werewolf closed his mouth, feeling mildly impressed, then felt a new surge of shock when he noticed that each image of the young woman was moving and acting independently. One scratched her ear as another belched, while a third sighed and looked at the direwolf with an air of disappointment. Robert's single duplicate could only mirror the real him exactly, but Becca, it seemed, was able to give her multiple copies individual movement and personality.

'What the Hell?' the Head Alpha wondered in confusion, the human side of him having enough clarity to form thoughts into language.

This was far more advanced than Robert's mental projection; it was more like some odd kind of cloning power, despite the intangibility of each duplicate.

Ben felt his elation wither as reality set in. It was an interesting ploy, but one baring a fatal flaw. All the direwolf needed to do was find the real human among the duplicates and get in a good enough blow to take her down. What was worse, her tactic was obviously easy to beat for the keen senses of a lycanthrope... Ben sniffed, searching the real girl out by scent so that he could be ready to protect her, seeing the direwolf get the same idea on its own with the intent to pick the true Becca out and take her down...

Until they both stopped and stared in confusion at the impossibility of what they had smelled. Becca's scent was covering the whole area! It wasn't limited to her clones, but spread out around them all in a wave, the girl's scent surrounding them as though they had their noses pressed right up against her skin. Somehow, she was spreading her scent everywhere simultaneously, making it impossible to tell where the real woman was standing.

Stunned, Ben rapidly changed tactics and tried to listen for the sound of the young woman's heart and lungs... Only to hear them coming from everywhere as well. He blinked, unable to understand how she was pulling off such a feat. It seemed as though Becca was no fool, and had covered ALL the senses to make it as hard to find the real her as possible. The Head Alpha sat there and snorted, admitting that he was stumped. It was LITERALLY impossible to figure out where the real Becca was located within the cluster of identical girls. Perhaps this keeper wasn't quite as reckless as she seemed...

"Confused yet?" Becca asked with a toothy grin from one of her copies while another mock-pouted. "Well," another one of her said, cracking her knuckles. "It's about to get even harder to figure out!" With that, the copy charged forward, then, as though changing her mind, skidded to a halt right in front of the creature, flailing to retain her balance as she came to a stop. "You know what? I feel bad about this," she pouted with a thoughtful expression. "It hardly seems very fair... Tell you what... How about a free shot, huh? Go ahead!" she added, tapping her chin invitingly.

The direwolf snarled and lunged forward to snap it's jaws, but the teeth passed right through her face. The copy of her pulled back, looking revolted and fanning her face. "Man you stink. Haven't you ever heard of a bath? Or at least breath mints?" She stepped aside, balled up her fist... And popped the direwolf on the eye. The monstrosity stumbled away yelping in pain from the blow to it's sensitive flesh.

*How the Hell did she do that?!?* Ben wondered, his shock so great that the words formed in perfect English in his hybrid mind. Making intangible copies of herself was one thing, but making one physical enough to actually land a blow right after letting an attack pass through it? Ben would have never believed it if he hadn't actually seen it happen with his own eyes.

Becca charged several of her copies forward, and they all landed blows on the creature... A punch to the left shoulder, a kick in the left side ribs and a drop kick to the right hip... Before a fourth moved around behind the creature, lifting back her foot in preparation... And kicked the nightmarish thing in the balls as hard as she could.

The direwolf began yelping in pain, dragging its misshaped ass in the snow in agony as the copies of Becca began to laugh at the spectacle, then it rose up as the pain faded, turned to face her, and roared furiously.

Suddenly, the alpha heard a whizzing sound and caught a very faint whiff of silver as something very small and lightning fast flew out of the darkness to bounce harmlessly off the direwolf's head. Ben frowned, recognizing the bullet for what it was, but why had it stopped so suddenly? The shot was dead on and should have been fatal...

In the distance, Ryan blinked in shock, his sighting eye wide as he stared through the rifle's scope. "What the Bloody Hell...?" he wondered in confusion, then readied another bullet, took aim at the direwolf's eye, and fired.

As the second silver bullet came whizzing in, Ben watched the monster closely. The bullet hit something just before it would've struck the beast, and bounced off. It was only the werewolf's sharp eyes that allowed him to see it happen, and he felt puzzled.

*Dammit, Becca!* she heard Dylan yell at her mentally, knowing the girl would hear his thoughts using her telepathy, *Quit screwing around and stick to the plan!*

*Okay! Okay!* she thought back, rolling her eyes in annoyance, then whistled at the direwolf. "Hey Sweetie! Ya' hungry?" she drawled, several of her copies turning around, bending over and spanking their asses suggestively. "Got you some prime, grade A girl butt here for ya' ta' to sink yer teeth into... 'Course you gotta catch me, first," she added with a laugh.

Enraged beyond reason, the direwolf roared and charged after them as they ran past a tree. The monster bulled forward, passed under the tree...

And Dylan dropped down out of it, a long silver-coated sword in his hands aimed at the thing's heart from above. He reached the creature, then felt the tip of his sword strike something solid and sheer away, the blade snapping in half, before he himself slammed into what felt like a wall and rolled painfully off of it to the ground, landing on hands and knees and clutching the the now broken sword in his right hand. "What the fuck...!" he gasped in confusion, then looked up in time to see the beast turn and lunge at his face with its mouth...

Only to feel himself being yanked backwards and out of range, his foot and knee sliding through the snow to leave ruts in his wake as the monster's snapping jaws just barely missed the tip of his nose. He looked back to see Mitchell standing in the near distance, his hands raised and gesturing at the bald keeper as he used his power of telekinesis to pull his ally out of harm's way. Mitchell did not look very happy at the moment. Dylan turned back to the target as he came to a stop, drew a silver throwing dagger and flung it at the direwolf's nose... Only to watch it bounce away harmlessly, scant centimeter's from the nightmare's muzzle.

"FUCK!" he swore. "That damned thing's got some kind of shield around it!" he bellowed.

"That's impossible!" Mitchell yelled back, his mind unable to accept that he had heard. In order to do such a thing, powerful magics had to be at work, and the keeper had never heard of anyone capable of such a feat.

"I know what I felt and saw!" Dylan countered harshly.

Just then, Berke arrived with his pack, the primal wolves skidding to a halt. "Stay back!" Mitchell called out to them. "Something's wrong here!" he said to them. Berke looked at Mitchell with a thoughtful expression and nodded.

"What do we do?" Becca asked, several of the copies of her looking nervous and uncertain. The notion of a magically shielded direwolf hadn't occurred to them, so they were all at a loss on what to do now.

"You three have done enough!" Mitchell snapped, furious with all of them. He wouldn't be surprised to learn that Claire was in on this too. He turned to the direwolf, realizing that despite the foolishness of the new keepers' actions, they had probably prevented a slaughter. That did not, however, mean they were off the hook. But first... "Let's see just how well protected he is," Mitchell said grimly. "Everyone! Keep back!" he said loudly, lifted his hands, and concentrated. Flames ignited in his hands as the keeper called upon his strongest ability, and he thrust his hands forward...

A burst, like that of a flamethrower, shot forward from the area in front of his hands, the human pouring everything he had into his psychokinetic talent. It was a power he hated using because it was dangerous and hard to control, but he gave it his all, knowing that the direwolf couldn't be allowed to escape. The fire streamed towards the thing, which flinched, the snow melting in a path between them from the heat of the flames, until the fire reached and washed over the horrid creature for several moments, turning the frozen snow into a lake at the monster's paws as the fire affected the wintry downfall that blanketed the landscape.

Ben's mouth fell open in shock, having never known Mitchell could do something like this! But as he watched the fire surround his unintended sire, his eyes widened in shock as he saw the flames whip around the direwolf without touching it. His mouth continued to hang open as he saw the beast stand there, ending his flinch and beginning to give an evil canine grin that was rather nasty to see. The Head Alpha then saw just how much trouble they were really in here. Nothing seemed to reach the thing... Nothing except Becca, that was. Unfortunately, she was nowhere near strong enough to hurt the monster. Her blows smarted, but did no real damage to the monster.

Mitchell ran out of steam and dropped his hands, looking at the direwolf with horror. He gathered himself together, gestured with his hands one more time and pulling up the dregs of his strength as he reached forward with his mind, but could not get a hold of the direwolf with his telekinesis. It was like a literal wall was blocking him from touching the thing with his powers. "Shit!" he growled in frustration, feeling lost. *I'm out of ideas... I don't know what else to do. Nothing we have works except Becca and she'll never be able to take it down with her powers!*

Berke, seeing that Mitchell was unsuccessful, roared in defiance as he charged forward, most of his pack on his tail as he charged the direwolf with his strongest and most skilled betas and omega, with the exception of Wallace, on his tail.

They heard howls as Monica and Angela approached and charged in as well, their own packs adding to the assault. The wolves threw themselves at the thing, only to bounce off the shield around the creature. They tried again and again, but could not touch the monster not matter how hard they tried, the thing just standing there, looking amused at their feeble attempts to reach it.

Ben sat there, feeling helpless. He wasn't a coward, but he knew that charging in recklessly would only get him killed. He took a deep breath, then another, closing his eyes for a moment and concentrating on the rhythm of his breath, hearing Steve and Ken do the same. Then he opened his eyes, focused his mind, and watched the direwolf fight with an intense, unblinking stare.

Dylan watched the wolves throw themselves at their enemy without effect, feeling impotent. He scanned the watchers, looking for any sign that someone, anyone, had a plan. His eyes fell on a trio of wolves and recognized Ben by the description Mitchell had given him of the Head Alpha's primal wolf form. The keeper's eyes widened in shock as he saw Ben breathing slowly, looking for all the world like...

*Is he... He's meditating! How the Hell can a primal wolf do that?* Dylan wondered in shock. He continued to watch as the dark, mottled-furred primal wolf meditated while he watched the others of his kind trying to take down the direwolf. *He's studying the situation! He's actually trying to find a weakness in the direwolf's defenses!*

Ben watched the battle closely, taking in every detail of the direwolf's movements as the other wolves attacked, closely observing the way the direwolf moved and reacted as it fought. Then his eyes widened as the monster lashed out at Angela, and the two traded blows. His ears perked forward in intense interest, watching the two lycanthropes fight. Angela barely dodged a blow, and as he missed, Monica managed to slash away at his left shoulder, drawing some blood. It wasn't much, but the Head Alpha now knew what to do. He know understood the monster's weakness. He turned to Steve and then Ken, each of them meeting his eyes and nodding. They had seen it too. Ben pulled back on the bond, knowing it would only interfere in the battle, and felt all of his pack do the same in understanding. None of them could afford to be distracted by what the other packmates felt, so the isolation of self was necessary if they were to succeed.

Ben rose up, his two betas following his lead, and barked to Luke to stay back, knowing that this wasn't a battle the mechanic lycanthrope could win. It needed something more than mere instinct and power...

He roared defiantly at the direwolf, and everyone paused, turning to stare at him as he walked forward, standing upright on his hind legs as he walked, looking as though he was still meditating as he moved forward with grim determination, his head beta and omega close behind and mimicking him. The other werewolves, seeing his determination, backed away.

"What the Hell is he doing?" Mitchell yelled.

Dylan, however, understood. "Relax," he said. "They've got this."

Ben and his packmates reached the direwolf and snarled in challenge, then when the direwolf roared defiantly at them, Ken charged forward, looking unusually confident. The direwolf swiped at him, but the omega leaped up and over, vaulting over the monster with a skill no normal werewolf could possess. Everyone watched speechlessly as the black-furred wolf flipped over the creature with acrobatic canine grace and landed on all fours on the other side of the thing before he rose to stand on his hind paws, while Steve and Ben had spread out until they had the direwolf surrounded.

"What the-?" Mitchell gasped, stunned by Ken's maneuver, something only one who was capable of clear human thought could accomplish...

~

'Are you sure?' Ben had asked, looking at the omega as they'd stood out in the woods in the cold morning air. 'This isn't something to take lightly. If I do this, there's no going back... Not to mention the risks involved.'

'I'm not afraid, Alpha,' the Japanese man had said calmly. 'I've watched you closely over the last several weeks now and I know what to expect. If the direwolf is to be beaten, you need me at my best. Please... Let me fight too. I can do it, but only if you do this for me. I know what I'm doing and I take full responsibility for my decision.'

Ben saw the conviction in the waiter's eyes, then sighed, stared deeply into the Asian's golden eyes with his own wolf-formed ones, and reached deep into the omega's soul, drawing the wolf and the man inside the werewolf closer together, feeling the desire of each to become a stronger, clearer whole through unification...

~

The direwolf took a swipe at Steve, but as it did so, Ken raked his claws down the monster's right flank, drawing blood. The wound wasn't deep however, the tough flesh of the direwolf resisting and lessening the damage he took. Snarling in as much rage as stinging pain from the attack, the direwolf turned to Ken and lashed out with his teeth, but Steve slashed with his own claws, his stronger body making a deeper gouge in the hide of the unholy beast than Ken was capable of.

Ken adapted his fighting to a more support-based style as he realized he wouldn't be able to do any serious damage to the direwolf. The omega now had a unified mind like his alpha and head beta, thereby allowing him to control his impulses and think in more complex ways than most primal wolves could; an ability that allowed him to make use of his martial arts skill to a degree, rather than hope that enough of his training had become ingrained in his wolven instincts to let him fight with greater skill than before. Unfortunately, his lack of strength was something no increase in skill could completely compensate for against the power, endurance, and tougher hide of the direwolf, so his new task was to help distract the enemy and allow his stronger packmates do the real damage to their foe.

Confused, the direwolf turned back to Steve and tried to take a bite with it's massive jaws, but Ben brought his joined fists down in a sledgehammer blow which drove the direwolf's head all the way down to slam hard against the frozen ground, rattling the monster slightly.

*Of course...* Dylan thought as he understood what was happening. *The shield doesn't work when it's attacking. The only way to hurt the damned thing is to counter it the moment it makes an attack...* The keeper found himself impressed at the strategy and skill the wolves fought with and found himself actually wanting to cheer them on, though he avoided actually doing so. Acting that way wasn't his style.

"Whoa," Becca said, moving over to join Mitchell and watch the trio attack the direwolf, letting the copies of herself fade away. "I didn't know primal wolves could fight like that!"

"They can't," Mitchell said, his eyes narrowing. "I've never seen primal wolves fight this way before... I didn't even know it was possible!" He glanced sideways at her. "If we both survive this, Young Lady, you and I are going to have a serious talk about why you snuck in here without permission! And the same applies to your co-conspirators!"

Becca shrugged as if it didn't matter, and they returned their full attention to the battle between the werewolves and the direwolf...

The creature got in a lucky kick to Ken's stomach with a hind paw, his claws digging upwards into the omega's stomach and making the werewolf cry out in pain in a canine roar of agony. He reached down, however, and caught the leg in his handpaws, holding it in place. Ben slashed downwards, ripping through the hide on the left side of the direwolf's face and drawing a large amount of blood as the eye was nearly punctured by the alpha's hand claws. Ken shoved downwards, pushing the toe talons of their opponent out of his gut in a way that minimized the damage before backing away to give his body time to recover, panting heavily from pain and exhaustion.

Now Ben and Steve, the numbers on their side lessened, spread out to try to keep the direwolf guessing. It lunged at Steve, dodged his blow and went for his throat with it's fangs. Steve balked, the premonition of his death filling his mind...

But Ben, using his meditation-induced clarity of mind, kicked the direwolf's right hindpaw out from under him, and the monster faltered, missing the head beta's throat by inches. Steve recovered, angry with himself, and lashed out with his right handpaw. The direwolf dodged again and tried to move out from between the werewolves, who moved to match him. Furious, the direwolf drove forward and slammed into Steve, knocking him backwards, then slashed downwards with his foreleg, ripping a set of deep gashes down the beta's large chest. The creature watched Steve collapse before turning to Ben with hate in his eyes. Ben lunged forward, but the direwolf shot forward as well to slam it's head into his chest, knocking him back and off of his feet. Ben grunted in pain as he landed, feeling something in his chest almost give way, but the bones held. The monster snarled savagely as it stalked forward to the alpha, then stopped and rose up high on his hind legs...

Ben recovered in time to recognize the direwolf's posture... And saw his death coming.

The direwolf brought all of his massive weight crashing down on the werewolf...

But Ben was ready... The one bright side to being tormented by a recurring nightmare was that it had given him time to think and more importantly, to strategize...

Ben snarled and lifted his arms, his handpaws reaching up, and caught the direwolf's front paws with his own, roaring in pain as the talon-like claws stabbed through the palms of his handpaws and coming out the back as they drew blood. Ben put all of his strength into his arms to absorb the shock of the direwolf's landing, drew a deep breath, and in an effort to deafen the brute and distract it from trying to bite his face off, the werewolf and roared in the direwolf's face as loudly as he could. It flinched back in shock at the ferocity of that roar of defiance...

And didn't feel Ben's foot-paw claws against his vulnerable underbelly until it was too late.

Rather than kick the creature away, Ben clenched his fingers, holding the front paws tightly to prevent escape, and using all of his strength once more, drug his toe claws downwards, gutting the direwolf with his hind paws as he held it in place. As the claws sliced downwards, digging into the soft, yielding flesh, he felt something small and hard clink against one of his claws and fall out of the monster's body, bounce off of his stomach and roll away.

He looked up into the face of his creator, who stared down at him in shock; unable to believe what had just happened. Ben snarled, then twisted, rolling them over until he was the one on top, lunging for the creature's throat with his jaws as they rolled. He bit down hard as they came to a stop, the direwolf on his back, and ripped upwards, tearing the monster's throat out with his powerful fangs. The thing gurgled and gasped as Ben yanked his handpaws free of the direwolf's foreclaws, then spat out the hunk of rancid flesh from his mouth, the putrid taste making him gag. He stumbled away, rose to his hind paws, then looked down at his sire to see the light fade from those murderous, blood red eyes. He drew a deep breath, wincing at the cracked ribs from the direwolf's headbutt, only now truly feeling the extent of the injury, and howled in victory; announcing his status as the supreme predator of the region.

The keepers stared at him nervously for a moment, feeling slight trickles of fear at the savagery of his howl, then relaxed as they saw him wilt, stagger painfully a few yards away from the kill and finally collapse to all fours, snarling in pain as his punctured handpaws hit the frozen ground as he reacted to the cold snow and force of his weight landing on them. His arms buckled, and he dropped all the way to the ground to begin panting in exertion.

The battle won, his pack scrambled forward in concern, Ken and Steve limping over painfully due to their injuries. Luke whimpered and licked his mate soothingly, offering the omega comfort, who moaned and whimpered in pain as his body began to slowly mend itself. Even the power of the full moon couldn't fix a gut wound quickly, so the black wolf knew he needed to take it easy for awhile. Steve was in better shape despite the deep cuts on his chest. The wounds were closing slower than normal, however, due to the wounds coming from a fellow supernatural creature, especially from one that was tainted and poisoned in mind, body and soul.

Ben, however, seemed to be struggling slightly more than the others, clutching his chest with a bleeding handpaw and panting raggedly from the pain in his ribs that made breathing a somewhat difficult activity. He knew he would live, but he wasn't going to be able to howl like that again for a few hours. He laid there and rested, wishing his body would heal faster than it already was.

Ryan walked up out the the darkness as Dylan found a small, strange, egg-shaped wooden object covered in carved glyphs and gore laying in the snow near the body of the direwolf. "What's this supposed to be?" he asked, holding it up and staring at it with a frown of confusion.

Becca walked over, leaned in and squinted at it. "Cadbury?" she asked with raised eyebrows. Dylan just glared at her. "Well it could be," she added defensively.

"You shouldn't go picking up strange objects like that," Mitchell said irritably, walking over as Ino came out of the woods, a sharpshooter's bow slung across her back and dressed in a white outfit that somewhat resembled a ninja uniform with her head exposed.

The head keeper had planned on acting as a secondary sniper after Ryan, but once she had seen how his bullets had failed to make contact, she had realized that she would be unable to contribute to the battle in the way she had planned and had settled for observing instead, hoping to find a way to contribute. As she approached her comrads, the elder cast an appraising glance at Ben. In all her years of experience as a keeper, she had never before seen a primal wolf behave the way he had. She had known of his merging of the man and wolf within himself and his mate, but the old woman had never seen a primal wolf behave the way he had. As she turned her gaze to her grandnephew, her eyes narrowed. She'd seen Kenchi in his primal wolf before, but this night he was behaving much differently. She sighed, however, and turned her attention to her fellow keepers as she reached them.

"Let me see that," she said, pulling out her glasses and a small pen light. Dylan handed it over and the old woman examined the stone closely. "Interesting... These glyphs are Gaelic in nature, but the actual symbols are unknown to me. However, the purpose is clear; this stone is what allowed protected the direwolf from our attacks."

"How?" Ryan asked.

"This is not neuromancy such as we practice..." Ino said slowly. "It is magic... True magic."

"Wait," Dylan said, looking at the woman with open skepticism, "you're talking actual magic, like lead into gold, fire raining from the skies and other nonsense?" he asked, moving his hands around in in exaggerated fashion and a sarcastic look on his face. "Come on, I'm willing to accept the things you guys do, but now you're telling me there's a real-life wizard out there who wants to kill us all?"

Ino gave the man a level gaze. "The gift of using true magic is rare... Not many posses the talent, but there are a few who are capable of harnessing it... We must assume the worst. The magic our enemy is using is both ancient and powerful. Defeating them will not be easy."

Dylan scoffed and walked away, shaking his head. "Becca," Ino said, turning to the young woman. "Use your abilities to read the final thoughts of the direwolf. We must learn all we can of who he was and where he came from. Focus first on who he was working with. We must know the identity of our enemy."

Becca saluted smartly. "Sir! Yes Sir!" she spun on her heal and literally marched over to the monstrous corpse, then crouched next to the head. "Let's see what naughty little things you wanted for your birthday, shall we?" she asked flippantly, then focused her mind and reached out to touch the mind of the direwolf. The instant her mind brushed against that of the beast, there was a sudden flaring as something inside the thing's stomach activated, setting the direwolf's corpse ablaze as Ryan rushed over and drug Becca away to safety, the young woman staring at the bright flames that errupted from the torso of the monster and engulfing it in flames. "I barely even touched it!" the young woman exclaimed, staring at the pyre with wide eyes.

Everyone, human and wolf alike, stared in shock as the intense flames incinerated the corpse. "It was booby-trapped?" Ryan asked no one in particular, staring at the blaze with a pale face.

Ino's eyes narrowed in speculation as the flames consumed their best source of information. "Whoever did this is very cleaver," she said slowly. Once the flames had died down and the direwolf was nothing but charred bones and ashes, she sighed. "There is little more we can do this night. Keepers," she called out, "leave the sanctuary and return to the edge of the barrier. We have done enough within for this night," she said, glaring at the new recruits with annoyance for their reckless actions.

Dylan walked over, picked up the pieces of his broken sword and frowned. It wasn't his favorite weapon, as he felt that it important not to develop a strong attachment to a single piece of his arsenal, but the sword had been one of his better and more preferred tools. He sighed in disgust, then turned to see some of the wolves flinch away from the silver weapon. "Relax guys," he said calmly in his usual cold tone of voice. "Don't start humping my leg and I won't use these against you. Enjoy the rest of the night," he finished, then followed the others.

Ino, however, walked over to Ben and his pack, who were all whimpering and licking each other, clearly grateful that they were all safe despite half of the pack being injured. She reached them, opened a pouch on her belt, and pulled out one of a few similar vials. "Ben," she said calmly. "Drink this. It will help with the pain and speed your recovery further." She uncorked the vial and held it forward in offering, but when the stench of the potion reached his nose, the werewolf balked, turning his head away and folding his ears, looking put out. "You ARE drinking this," she said, making the statement a fact. Groaning, he reached for it. "Just open your mouth," the keeper instructed. Ben lifted his head, opened his muzzle, and she tipped the bluish white fluid down his throat. Ben fought not to gag, swallowed, and erupted into a fit of canine coughing that made his injured chest and stomach hurt, licking his muzzle in distaste. "It is meant to be effective, not pleasant," Ino said firmly, harkening back to their first meeting weeks ago. Ben growled softly in annoyance, then let the matter go.

She turned to Steve, holding up another vial. He whimpered. "You do not have to take it," the keeper said gently, but groaning in suffering, Steve lifted his head and opened his mouth, then gagged and coughed after swallowing the potion she fed him.

She pulled out a third vial and turned to her kin, but glared at him with disapproval. "You, young fool, are in a great deal of trouble," she said coldly, making the werewolf hang his head in shame, unable to meet her gaze, his ears folded back and tail tucked in close to his body as he sat on the ground. "We will talk of this soon, but for now, drink." He took the potion and groaned, licking his chops in revulsion before using his handpaw to grab a handful of snow and shove it into his mouth to try to kill the taste. If he had been able to move properly, he would've moved in a more canine fashion and simply used his muzzle to collect the snow, but the burning pain in his guts made him use a more human manner of getting the snow into his mouth instead. She leaned in close to whisper softly. "But still," she said with a note of pride in her voice, "You served your family with honor this night."

He wagged his tail slightly at the praise as she rose and walked away.

Ben sighed as his healing powers began to work faster, the potion taking effect, and the pain in his chest faded as his ribcage healed and the wounds on his handpaws started to close more quickly. He looked to see Steve and Ken were also getting better, bit by bit. He heard a whimper and turned to see Kyle sitting on his haunches, starting at him with his ears at half mast. Kyle whimpered again and moved forward to nuzzle his face, then the beta began to lick him, whimpering and murring. Ben understood... Kyle was thanking his alpha for saving his life. Ben's memory replayed the image of Kyle's final moment within the premonition and opened his eyes, the pack bond letting him share his love and joy that the beta was safe. Ben turned to his mate and shared a tender moment of kissing and licking each other before he turned to Luke and gave him the same attention. They rested against one another, sharing their love and happiness as well as a sense of deep relief.

The had beaten the odds by defeating the premonition...

They had cheated death.

Others, however, were not so lucky. They lifted their heads as the sad, howls of mourning filled the night. Ben looked to his brother, the pack gathered around the body of their omega Samuel, who had been one of the only two to die that night. Ben was shocked... He had focused so intently on the direwolf's fighting style and powers that he had not realized that the omega had not risen after being cut down, his chest ripped open by the direwolf's claws. Beside him, Ken whimpered in sadness, his eyes moist. Ben remembered that Ken had spoken to him, equal to equal only hours ago, and offered what comfort he could to the Japanese wolf, who gave a mourning howl of his own. Berke looked over to Ken sadly for a moment before returning his attention to his fallen packmate.

Angela and her pack also howled in pain and loss, gathered around the body of Butch, who had died when the monster had cut his throat wide open. Lance and Spike were clearly taking the loss the hardest, having seen the large beta at their feet as being as close to them as if he had been a biological brother. They sat in a circle around their fallen packmate, staring at him sadly with heads bowed, ears low and tails laying limply on the ground. Lance and Spike, however, were laying on either side of him, whimpering. It was a sad scene, but as Ben wasn't as close to their pack as he was to Berke's, he let them be to mourn their loss privately.

He turned to see Berke look up at him, being on the opposite side of the circle of his pack from his brother. Ben started to rise, wanting to comfort his adopted sibling, but Berke, moving in a human gesture, shook his head. Ben nodded, understanding that this was a private pain as well. Berke did, however, wag his tail briefly so show that his little brother's desire to comfort him was appreciated.

The Head Alpha sighed and placed his handpaws on the ground gingerly. They only stung slightly now, and could support his weight. He got up to all fours and slowly walked over to the charred remains of his sire, staring down at the blackened bones with mixed emotions. He was glad the direwolf was dead and the threat was over, especially as he remembered how the beast had hated him so intensely and tried to kill him, but he wasn't able to fully hate the monster in return for what it had done to him. Before, when he had been human, Ben had been unwanted, unloved, and alone... All he had wanted was for the pain and emptiness to go away, and in a strange way, the direwolf had given him that. In the end, becoming cursed with lycanthropy had been a true blessing the man.

Now he had people who loved him, he had respect, and he even had purpose in live. Now he could live rather than merely exist. Now he looked forward to each new day and had hope for the future. He stared at the skull and felt gratitude to the direwolf for having made all of this possible. Deep down inside, he hoped that the direwolf had found peace.

In a strange way, they had been very much alike... Each, in his own way, had been a lone wolf, pushing the world away until they had only their pain to keep them company. The difference was that Ben had found people to end his loneliness and drive away his pain, whereas the direwolf had clearly had no one to turn to.

Tired of feeling alone, the alpha reached out through the bond and opened himself to his packmates, feeling them do the same until they were united in heart and soul once more.

Ben looked back to his pack to see and feel that Ken was doing better now and able to move, if slowly, and Steve looked almost completely healed. He woofed gently in command, and led them away from the clearing at a sedate pace so as to allow them to take it easy until they finished healing. Steve, Luke, Marcus, Kyle and Ken followed in his wake as they walked away from the site of the battle...

Alive and together...