Instinct

*****
Instinct: Law of the Pack
*****

Wolves were intensely loyal to their mates, but wolf demons were even more so. A bitch’s mate could be challenged among regular wolves, but only rarely did their demon counterparts fight for mating rights, and it was always the female demon’s right to choose who she really wanted, no matter the winner. Their power demanded they act differently than their four-legged packmates, because without civilized behavior, the demons could destroy themselves with infighting. The males went into rut for the first time when they were fully mature, the females into heat; a mate was chosen either before or during that time, and that demon was the only one. It made virginity at mating almost guaranteed.

There were exceptions, of course. There wasn’t always someone of the opposite sex around when the rut or heat hit, or the leader of the clan could declare that there wasn’t enough food for new pups. In that case, a beta wolf would be used to relieve the pressure, with no shame to either wolf demon. It wasn’t taking a mate…well, except in certain circumstances and only at the discretion of the pack leader, but in a breeding population, that didn’t come up very often. The point was that the alpha never had to take the bottom position. That was reserved for the lowest wolf on the totem pole. While it wasn’t an honor, it wasn’t a humiliation for that wolf, either. It was simply another a duty that had to be done.

But for Kouga to be reduced to such a state…

It was disgrace. It was almost painful in its humiliation. It hurt more than the actual physical act, however hard and fast it had been. He lay still long after it was over, just trying to deal with it. Inuyasha had climaxed and released his neck immediately, putting a few feet of distance between them like he was letting the wolf adjust on his own. The pain wasn’t so bad. A strange location for an injury, but he’d had worse and kept running. That wasn’t the problem, though.

*How in all the gods’ names can I face my pack after this?* He closed his eyes in despair and swallowed down the taste of bile. *I’ve been ranked by dog crap! He…he defeated me. He could take over the pack if he wanted to.*

The thought made him want to be sick, but he swallowed again. It was his pride fighting the idea; a coldly intelligent part of his mind noted that if Inuyasha had won the right to lead, then he was worthier. A demon fight he could have dismissed as a lost battle and moved on from, but they had both been responding to each other via canine instinct. It had been a dominance challenge, and every instinct in his body acknowledged that Kouga had been the one thrown down. *To hell with that--I submitted, and he’s rubbed it in my face so I can’t honestly lead my pack anymore!* That wasn’t really why Inuyasha had fucked him, but he was slightly too miserable to care right then. To his mind, it had been a more extreme version of showing the transfer of power, and it had destroyed the confidence essential to an alpha wolf.

“Are you going to sulk all night?”

He looked up sharply to meet crimson eyes. They looked amused, and he pushed back to sit on his heels just to spite that silent laughter. Sitting made him catch his breath abruptly. *Ow. I didn’t expect it to hurt quite that much.* The pain distracted him somewhat, and he looked down at where his armor was cracked open. At least the wound there seemed to be healing, and the claw marks on his leg were almost closed over. His neck was still tender, but the bites had stopped bleeding.

Inuyasha had leaned forward while Kouga was taking inventory of his body, and the wolf growled automatically to warn him away. Defeated? Yes. Dead? Not yet!

“Don’t!” The bark startled him, and a cuff upside the head cut off his growl. Inuyasha held up his hand in warning when the darker demon bared his teeth. “Don’t start, wolf. I don’t know how far you can push me when I’m like this, and it looks like I need you alive.” He fixed Kouga with a glare when he snorted derisively. “Stand down, wolf.”

Kouga dropped his eyes reluctantly and hissed, “I’m going to kill you for this.”

Inuyasha cracked his knuckled and grinned fiercely. “You can try. Now, stay still.” He leaned forward again.

The wolf demon dug his fingers into the ground and let him, eyeing him suspiciously as the white dog nearly touched him with his nose. Inuyasha sniffed at his jawline, moving closer and snuffling up to one pointed ear, then down his neck. Kouga twitched nervously at having the dog’s fangs that near his throat, but he nearly jumped out of his skin when something moist swiped at a drip of dried blood. “Hey!”

One hand clamped down on his shoulder, but it was the teeth set against the side of his neck that stilled him. The fangs barely dimpled his skin, but that was enough of an admonition to check him. After a few seconds, Inuyasha resumed lapping at the crusted red spots.

“What are you doing?” Kouga muttered. A chuff of laughter chilled damp skin, and he shivered, shoulders hunching reflexively. “Um.”

“I am trying,” Inuyasha said with another lick, “not to kill you.”

He tensed. “Whaddya mean?” Lust or bloodlust, he remembered, and shot a look down at Inuyasha’s groin. Since the dog was practically straddling his lap by now, the view was unrestricted. Suddenly, being still and quiet seemed like a good idea.

“You ain’t that stupid,” the paler demon murmured, most of his attention elsewhere. “It feels…feels like my blood’s on fire. More than anything, I want your blood on my claws, your heart shredded, and your body split open.” He sounded nearly dreamy, but it was the measured laving of his tongue that made Kouga ease his shoulders down and begin to work his fingers out of the dirt, trying to be unnoticeable. Loud threats were one thing, but words whispered against his skin were another; quite frankly, it creeped him out. “Do you have any idea how, mmmm,” Inuyasha paused, and the wolf could feel that tongue licking pale lips as if to savor the flavor, “delicious you are?”

Kouga choked on nothing, eyes bugging. *Of all the things I’ve ever been called, that has got to be the most absurd!*

“Smoke and metal like a lightening storm,” the dog demon didn’t acknowledge his indignant sputtering, “and a tangy sweetness. I want more, and I want it now.” A fang nipped, breaking skin and caused Kouga to jerk. Warm lips closed over the tiny wound, nursing.

He gradually shifted his weight as the tongue lapped up his blood, getting ready to fight for his life. His hands were free from the soil, resting on crushed grasses. “I thought you wanted me alive?” It was amazingly hard to stay calm with his rival naked and more or less curled around him, mouth pressed to a vital pulse point. It didn’t help that it hurt to sit this way, and he was still a bit dizzy from bloodloss.

Inuyasha lazily lifted his head. “Yeah. If I’d wanted you dead, you’d never have seen it coming.” He nuzzled tanned skin and smiled at the scent he knew on intimate terms. His demon blood surged, eyes flaring bright red before calming, soothed by all his senses. Now that he’d familiarized himself with the wolf, the scent, sight, and taste--even the sound of his heartbeat--brought peace to the stronger rutting part of the white dog. He knew what he had to do to pacify the burning demon blood, even though he didn’t really understand everything he was doing on a conscious level. “I need to mark you, claim you as mine, or I’ll kill you. And you need to accept it.”

*…or his instincts will label me as “rival male” and stop protecting me. Crap.* He jammed his fingers back into the dirt, ignoring buried stones that tore at them in passing. He’d almost screwed up. He knew somehow that dealing with the transformed halfbreed without the rut would be worse than submitting to the dog, because the demon wouldn’t care if he submit or not. *I hate to admit it, but he can kill me whenever he wants. I don’t like him…”claiming” me,* he shuddered with disgust, *but he’s marking me so he’ll recognize and not kill me. Besides,* Inuyasha nudged under his ear, and he hesitated before sighing and tilting his head to allow the dog easier access, *it’s not really like I have a choice. He won; I submit.* Cool night air brushed the saliva drying on his skin, but he shivered from more than that.

It wasn’t the physical act that disturbed him so much. He was used to pain, and he could have fought, however uselessly, to the death. By submitting and, moreover, admitting to himself that he couldn’t even pretend it was an act, he left himself open to the psychological impact.

What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Inuyasha was claiming him, biting for his taste and scent, memorizing him for later recognition. The marks wouldn’t be permanent because of his demon healing, but the point was to engrain Kouga in his mind. This one was for sex, not to kill. This one was his. His scent covered the wolf: musk, semen, blood, and jealousy. Kouga was his and for no one else, and Inuyasha very gently ran sharp fangs down tender skin as he thought with in the slow, vague way his warring body forced on his mind. *No, Kagome is mine. But I have to, want to take him as mine--but is it me or the rut? Or the demon? Shit, I want to kill so badly, if I don’t think like a beast, I think like some mindless monster!*

“Mine,” he breathed, disappointed with himself but already feeling it sink into satisfaction. “Mine.”

Kouga sneered. “Whatever.”

The animal nipped, annoyed. “Mine.”

A long pause, then, “…yours.” Acceptance of his lowered status out loud was hard, but he knew it had to be done. No more fighting, or the demon in Inuyasha would lash out. *I’m going to fucking kill him!* The white dog curled further around him, knees braced beside his own and tongue still lapping dried blood from the healing punctures on his neck. It made him that much more aware of Inuyasha’s nudity. *At least he didn’t strip me, too.* A hand ran up from his shoulder to pull at the strip of fur holding his hair in a ponytail. *Er…maybe I spoke too soon.*

Silky black hair fell around his face, and Kouga scowled. “What are you doing?” He kept his voice as neutral as possible.

Inuyasha answered with a question of his own. “Why are you doing this?”

It took him off guard. “Huh? Doing what?” The dog demon laughed in his ear, which flushed with embarrassment. “Oh.”

“Yeah, ‘oh.’”

He knew it was a mistake, but he wasn’t used to being anything but the alpha, getting away with anything because he was in charge. “Why?” he snapped, hatred in his voice. “Because I don’t want to die by hands of a halfbreed too sex-crazed to know when to give up!” There was a snarl in his ear and a strong grip in his hair, pulling his head back for the fangs--*Why the hell can’t I just shut up?!*--and the hot breath on his throat. “Wait!”

His head was jerked back and to one side, allowing blazing red eyes to sear into subdued blue. “Wait,” he repeated softly, daring to meet Inuyasha’s crimson gaze with a not quite pleading look. *I acted like an idiot. It was my fault.*

The white dog reined his savageness in, shaking with the difficulty of staying in control. “You’re pushing me,” he growled harshly, showing himself backward and away. “Don’t do it again if you want to keep breathing.”

Kouga glanced at the black strands clenched in clawed fists and swallowed. Hard. Unnoticed by either demon, at least knowingly, his head lowered slowly to below the level of Inuyasha’s. “It’s not like it’s easy,” he mumbled.

“Feh.” Inuyasha straightened, dominating without even thinking about it.

They knelt in the meadow, night insects and birds filling their silence. The moon had risen until it glowed from straight above the odd duo. Idly, Inuyasha snatched a firefly out of the air. After regarding it disinterestedly, he crushed it. Kouga looked away, uncomfortable.

“Because you’d go after Kagome if I didn’t,” the wolf said eventually, when the silence had dragged out far too long.

The halfbreed he knew would have folded his arms defensively and looked away, maybe blustered a bullshit answer about how he wasn’t that weak, but rut and full blood gave confidence to the pale dog. “Probably,” he admitted easily. A slight twitch of his lip left Kouga wondering if it was a snarl or a sneer that was trying to cross the other demon’s face. “But she’s not here, so you’ll have to do.”

His lip wasn’t the only thing twitching.

Kouga turned a wince into a sigh as the dog demon leaned forward. “What, again?” Just because he’d gone through worse didn’t mean he enjoyed pain. Knowing Inuyasha was more aware of what he was doing, less drowned in instinct this time around, made the humiliation worse.

“Mmmhm.” The white dog crept forward, a smirk growing at Kouga’s visible unease. “Again.” The wolf scooted back on his knees as the dog’s face neared, but Inuyasha placed his hands on tan thighs to stop him. Kouga stopped. The dog kept going, sliding furs up as he drew near enough to tug on a mouthful of loose black hair. “I’m in rut, you twit. Of course, ‘again.’”

His Adam’s apple bobbed briefly in a tense swallow, but then Kouga huffed out a breath and twisted free with a sudden wrench. “Get it over with,” he ground out, using his temporary freedom to turn over onto his hands and knees. Heat immediately covered him from knee to neck, seeping through his armor as white skin and whiter hair draped over him. He felt a surge of contentment that disappeared before he could even feel puzzled over its presence.

“In some kind of hurry?” The question met with sullen silence, and he took note of how tense the wolf was underneath him. Pressed together as they were, he could feel the flinch when he peeled the fur kilt up, breaking several blood-crusted spots loose. He hadn’t realized he’d made the wolf bleed this much.

The demon in him shouldered forward, pushing up beside the dog with shared feeling as they took into the bloodscent. However temporary the claim, he didn’t like to see his partner in pain. It indicated some kind of failure on his part. Impatiently shoving aside Kouga’s tail, he sniffed the rich scent of seed and blood and sit back on his heels to lift the furred appendage on a whim. The wolf looked over his shoulder in wary curiosity, but Inuyasha was staring at the blood clotted down the coarse hairs.

It took a moment for the demon to get enough control over the animal to speak. In an odd kind of effect, the instinct triggered by his rut seemed to be tempering the uncontrollable demon, but while it limited his need to destroy, it also made it hard to think as anything but a dog. As his erection hardened, thinking became increasingly difficult. “It…hurts?” His voice was thick, his tongue tasting the words like they were new and unfamiliar.

Curiosity shuttered closed with hostility before Kouga turned his head and allowed his hair to hide his face. “Just do it, cur,” he ordered under his breath.

Well, the wolf obviously wasn’t going to help him. That left him trying to figure out what to do on his own. Still holding Kouga’s tail out of the way, he studied the damage. It wasn’t as bad as he’d thought, and he eyed the source of the blood critically. The tiny pucker under the tail had scabbed splits running from it in every direction, and he looked from the size of his erection to the small hole with a raised eyebrow. He wasn’t huge, but he was larger than that. Kouga’s ears turned bright red as he touched the dried streaks of blood and semen, but the wolf showed no more reaction that that, and Inuyasha let out a soundless sigh of frustration.

He trailed his fingers across skin drawn taunt over muscle, almost petting the wolf as he tried to think. Flecks of white and dark red flaked off, but he found himself fascinated by the texture of Kouga’s body. The tan didn’t stop under the kilt, and a picture of how the wolf had managed a full-body tan popped into his head. *You can’t tell what he’s wearing…or not…inside that whirlwind of his, hmm?* Grinning, he ran his claws lightly into the crease where that tiny, injured pucker waited, brushing away the worst of the dried fluids before trailing pale fingers up to the joining of furred tail and tanned skin. That was out of plain curiosity, and he prodded inquisitively at the extra muscles he could feel and skritched at the place where fur changed over to skin. He knew how his own ears joined to his head, and as a child he’d always wondered how Sesshoumaru’s tail was attached. Now he knew, and even in the middle of rut, he felt belated satisfaction. Kouga’s mottled-brown fur was much coarser than the silky black hair on the rest of his body, and Inuyasha absently let his fingers wander to compare the textures while he forced his thoughts back to more important issues.

Kouga’s eyes popped wide. It had felt strangely good when Inuyasha scratched under his tail, but this..! *Is he--he--fondling me?!* Claws gently teased through the short black hairs covering his balls, and he caught his breath in a gasp. “Uh…m-mutt?” His voice sounded oddly high even to his own ears, and he flexed his fingers in the dirt. “What are you doing?”

He was drunk off the scent of blood and sweat, no delicate odors here, and the words bubbled slowly to his mouth. “Hurts you.”

*He’s trying to hurt me? No.* There was no way that touch could be considered harmful, and he squirmed under Inuyasha’s claws. *He’s trying to stop the pain.* Embarrassed by the topic but already exposed to the dog demon, he found the simplest solution. Face and ears flaming, he bit the words out, “Spit. Just…spit on your cock. It’ll help.” It had been a passing remark from one of his packmates that hadn’t made sense at the time, but back then he hadn’t experienced the tearing pain to put the comment into perspective. Lubrication would be welcome, now that he thought about it.

Inuyasha’s brow furrowed, but he managed to push the idea through his increasingly muddled mind. His fingers ceased their play, much to Kouga’s relief, and he spat into his cupped palm. The slimy liquid was quickly smeared onto his erection, and all rational thought ceased at the touch. The wolf under him shuddered at the primal growl Inuyasha let out as he leaned forward to cover the other demon again.

He pulled his partner to him--unwilling but there, and his sharp-sweet taste still on his tongue--clawed hands digging into dusky skin. They’d leave bruises with their tight grip, but all he cared about was lining the engorged head of his shaft with the small pucker. He groaned as slick skin met dry, and Kouga responded with a grunt as hard flesh too large for him was forced in. Previous splits opened again, the blood actually helping the wolf by slicking his inner passage. Inuyasha paused when he was fully seated, pelvis pressed to Kouga’s ass and rod throbbing inside him. The wolf was silent, but his breath came in short pants and the sweat stood out on his face as Inuyasha began to thrust.

Despite himself, a muted whimper came from deep in his throat at the first stabbing pains. The blood and spit helped, they really did. Just…not enough. Being in a different position changed the angle of each thrust, however; before he had been flat on his face, unable to move because of the fangs in his neck. Now he found that arching his back against the rhythmic pounding helped a bit.

Inuyasha hummed appreciatively as Kouga wriggled and accidentally squeezed around him. Teeth bared in pleasure and eyes lighting, his hips jerked roughly with a quickening pace. Heat pooled in his balls with each slap of skin-on-skin, and he leaned forward to press his chest against the wolf’s back. Gods above, it was ecstasy to plunge into another person, to hear the speeding heart and hoarse breathing like an echo of his own!

Kouga raked his nails through the dirt, uprooting grass and riddling his hands with grass cuts without caring. His jaw clenched so hard it creaked. There was a foreign invader in his body, but he had to bear it, had to let Inuyasha drive into him. Each thrust jolted him forward, body protesting. He’d never realized that something shoved up his ass could make his head ache, and he tried his best to relax, knowing that staying tense would only make the tearing worse. *Gods, I’d swear it hurts more this time!* Maybe it was because he’d known what was coming this time, or maybe it was because the dog was reopening half-healed wounds. Either way, it hurt enough that he squirmed more than he’d intended, his body wanting escape. Inuyasha immediately had him by the back of the neck, and he subsided with a grimace, mindful of the fangs holding him still. *Well, hell. I with he’d--ow--let me move a little more.*

But there was a kind of comfort in being controlled, in giving up the alpha rank and everything that came with it. He wasn’t held responsible; he didn’t have to make decisions or be the one doing the protecting. He was the one kept safe, who could follow and rely on someone else. Once he’d submitted, he became the white dog’s. It was humiliating to his mind, but somewhere in the back of his head, a wolf was content with the law of the pack. The alpha could take what he wanted, and the wolf was okay with that. It responded with obedience to the grip on the nape of his neck. Despite the pain, it wanted to wag his tail, happy that it was receiving attention from the most important male in the pack.

Kouga really had no idea why he wasn’t resenting this more…

He managed to shift his hips a fraction more, vaguely convinced that if he kept moving just so, eventually it would stop hurting entirely. He knew that it wouldn’t, but maybe he could get that kink out of his tail Inuyasha’s pelvis kept hitting. The dog thrust again, and Kouga apparently moved just right, because Inuyasha hesitated and blinked down at his back.

The wolf had yipped.

Even an impending climax couldn’t block out the odd sound, and Inuyasha withdrew and pushed forward again cautiously. Kouga repeated the weird noise. It didn’t seem to be pain, exactly, but the pale demon sniffed to make sure. Blood, semen, sweat…arousal? That didn’t seem out of place for coupling, but a small voice insisted that the wolf wasn’t his mate. Up until now, all the darker canine had contributed to the scent of their sex had been a metallic tang of anger. He shrugged it off to deal with later and resumed his thrusts.

He might have been more concerned if he had seen Kouga’s face: a mix of pleasure, pain, confusion, and panic twisted the demon’s expression. The unexpected shot of pleasure had come as a complete shock that paralyzed him when the tip of Inuyasha’s cock stabbed into…whatever it was…for a second, then third time, and he couldn’t stop the little yaps he made in response. *What the ah! fuck?! It hurts, but ah! that’s not pain eah!* He bucked under the dog, biting through his lower lip and still yipping as the pleasure/pain shot straight to his groin. *I can’t want this! What the hell’s going ah! on?!*

Inuyasha sped up, his insides drawing down into a knot at the base of his stomach as his balls tightened and the wolf writhed around him with slick pressure. Kouga gasped a labored breath that was more of a moan, but the dog’s howl silenced him. A spurt of gooey warmth filled the darker demon and ran down the inside of his thighs as Inuyasha jerked erratically above him, crimson eyes closed and lips drawn back into a rictus grin at the starry sky above. The moon gleamed at him in return, but he slumped forward to rest as if shielding the wolf under him from the light. His chest heaved, and he nosed into black hair in warm contentment. It wasn’t Kagome’s arousal he smelled, but nothing of the wolf reminded him of her, either. Somehow, that satisfied him.

There was an animal in Kouga that had a similar feeling of ease. He was covered neck to knee in doggy-scented heat, undivided attention from his alpha making his tail twitch. He felt protected, wanted.

He felt panicked. His dick was half-erect, Inuyasha was practically laying on him, and for some reason he wanted to wiggle like an ecstatic puppy. *What’s happening to me?* he thought weakly. *I can’t want this…I can’t…* It took more than he wanted to keep his voice from shaking when he whispered, “Get off me, mutt.”

The words were defiant, but the demon dog reacted to the soft tone with a light nip to the nape of the wolf’s neck, trying to reassure him. Kouga shuddered and began to relax, then caught himself with a distressed whine. Inuyasha nuzzled his pulse point, puzzled by his behavior. Physical contact hadn’t helped. He didn’t like the way the wolf shivered under him, so he sat back on his heels. Kouga instantly pulled away and knelt just out of reach, hands smoothing down his fur kilt and head turned so the white dog couldn’t see his face.

The demon in him had come to some sort of balance with the dog, and instinct kept the bloodlust under control. Unfortunately, instinct didn’t use much language involving actual words. It took him a long moment to find some.

“Are you…alright?”

“Fine,” Kouga bit out. *Wonderful. Great. I have no clue what the hell’s going on with me, you can do whatever the hell you want to me, and somehow I’ve got to face my pack again. I’m freakin’ incredible, how ‘bout you?* There was a distinct edge of hysteria to his thoughts, and he clamped down with all the self-control he could muster. At least his confusion had taken care of his arousal, thank the gods. He heard the grass rustle as the dog shuffled closer, and he bent his head to keep his face hidden. He didn’t trust his expression. At least having his hair unbound helped with this.

“Hey, wimpy wolf.”

He stiffened, but even the mocking name couldn’t break through his depression. Elongated claws combed aside the curtain of hair, and he closed his eyes. He could feel Inuyasha studying him, and his lips curled back briefly. Almost as soon as it happened, however, he ducked his head and smoothed his face into a stony mask. There was the sound and smell of grass being crushed, and steady breathing caressed his cheek. He knew if he opened his eyes, the white dog would be right in front of him.

His chin lifted impulsively.

Soft skin touched his exposed throat, the briefest graze of a fang running down and making him shiver. The wolf wanted to relax, his intuition reassuring him that he was safe no matter how bewildered he felt. He wanted to calm down. He wanted to surrender to the pale demon’s dominance. *I…what…* He whined again, anxious and torn.

Inuyasha paused and flicked his ears. They laid back. He did not like that the wolf wouldn’t stay calm. He’d tried physical comfort, words, and domination had obviously failed. What did that leave? An answer prodded him, and he drew away.

Kouga didn’t open his eyes, but he heard the dog sniffing. *He must smell Kagome. Aw, crap. What if he tells her?* The idea sent a wave of nausea through him, but it dropped straight to the pit of his stomach when the next thought logically followed. *He ranks me. He can tell her whatever he wants. He could claim her, and I couldn’t stop him. He has every right to her now. He’s the alpha.* Unbelievably, that actually made him feel worse, and his tail tucked between his legs out of pure misery.

Troubled red eyes watched him, and Inuyasha stood. “There’s a deer herd nearby,” he said simply and walked off through the tall grass. He ignored the wolf, having decided with an animal’s singleminded confidence that if nothing else had worked, then food would. It seemed to work for Kagome, anyway. He didn’t have any of her favorite “chocolate,” but venison would probably work. Besides, he was getting restless. Killing something sounded good. There was a warning in the back of his head that insisted he stay close to the wolf he’d claimed to resist temptation of Kagome’s scent, but the deer seemed close enough. He’d be back before the moon had passed below the trees.

He listened to the white dog’s footsteps until they bounded out of hearing range, and only then did he open his eyes. They looked up to stare imploringly at the waning moon, but Kouga resisted the urge to howl his troubles to her. Who knew who’d hear him; Inuyasha could have better hearing than he did, or worse, his pack could have come looking for him and would wonder what was wrong.

*Oh, no. No, no, no. The pack!* He bolted to his feet, barely wincing as his rear protested, and strained his ears. *I wasn’t supposed to be gone this long, and if they come this way…he’ll kill them. He’ll kill them all.* A sudden memory of the slaughter Kagura had left in her wake shook him, and his bronzed skin went pasty in the moonlight. Not again. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, let that happen again, but there was no way he could protect them from the insane demon Inuyasha became outside of rut. But what could he do?! Ginta and Hakkaku wouldn’t stop looking for him until they found him, and if they tracked him this far, they were already dead.

The night breeze didn’t chill him nearly as much as that thought. *I have to stop them. I can go to meet them, head them off, tell them to wait for me back at the caves. I’ll tell them--well, I’ll make something up. How long does rut last, a few days? They’ll be alright without me for that long.* He looked up at the moon again and swallowed a lump of bitterness. He could easily run to meet his pack and be back before Inuyasha went after Kagome, but it wasn’t his speed he doubted. It was his status. He’d been defeated, and if one of the wolves sensed his change of rank somehow…*I can do this. I can because I have to, and hell if I’m going to let that mutt take over my pack. If he doesn’t show up and displace me, then I’m not going to act any differently--they’re still my pack.*

*I submitted, but it doesn’t apply around the pack, just here. I’m still the alpha wolf.* He kept repeating that as his tornado spiraled up around him and he disappeared through the trees. He had to believe it. He had to live it.

The meadow was left abandoned behind him, a few shapes of crushed grass visible to the moon above. A glint of steel was a sword thrown into deep shadow, and pieces of red cloth were almost invisible near the duller shine of Tetsusaiga’s hilt. The breeze rippled the grass as if chasing the demons, but the moon was more patient, sending no summons.

She knew they’d be back.

* * * * *
End Part Three
* * * * *

Remember, feedback keeps me interested in this story, and please let me know if there are any sites interested in this kind of thing.