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Max slipped in and out of consciousness, his mind desperately trying to hold onto any semblance of awareness to his current surroundings. Dark streets with orange lights illuminating the snow, his best friend shaking him trying to keep him awake. Darkness again was followed by being moved, he desperately tried to fight them off in a fast movement but the searing pain in his arm and chest threw him back into the blackness. Flashes of stark hallways and fluorescent lights assaulted his eyes the next time he awoke with everything moving in a blur of people and masks around him. A flash of light fur, a blur of dark skin and nothing but booming sound as his head throbbed.

The pain meds they pumped into him eased those waves for only a few moments before the dull throbs of his injuries flared up again but to a lesser extent. It felt like his entire body was in a vice, as if the world itself was actively trying to squeeze the life out of him. Hands of fur and skin alike fluttered through his slow and blurred vision as specters of the outside world doing their damndest to keep him from the light. Everyone knew they were failing.

“He’s gone hypothermic and is starting to go into shock, we need to warm him up and start a transfusion!”

“We don’t have everything for him! This is just a clinic!”

“Then we get him stable enough to transport him!”

He slipped under again, the world going dark as ice clawed at his bones. He was so cold. He felt alone. The one person he wanted to be as his side wasn’t there. Then from the corner of his consciousness he felt another cold tendril grip him. His left hand felt colder, as if the scaled fingers absorbed his heat like someone he cared for. “He’ll make it…right?”

Those words somehow crossed into his mind and knew she was there. She was with him and whatever God was above was giving him a sign. To fight, to struggle, to rage against the cold seeping into his bones with every breath and fibrous tissue he could muster. His breath deepend as the orderly above him took notice as his vitals improved, if only slightly. “I won’t sugar coat it, he’s not looking good.”

His eyes cracked open and were immediately assaulted by the harsh white light. His hand wrapped around the snake woman that had currently elbowed her way past any of the nurses to see her lover in his wrecked state. She was in shock, her eyes wide as they moved between his weak grip and barely open eyes. Her voice was barely above a whisper as if speaking any louder would cause her to break down. “Max?”

“N-not…” She could barely hear him. His eyes cracked open as she leaned in to hear him just a little better. “Not today.” She couldn’t breathe as his angry defiance against the world stood out like a lighthouse in the storm, enrapturing her attention as he pushed out a few more words. “Death has to earn my ass.” She could only nod as he was carted away with a renewed fire in him. “Not today.”

-

Noah looked over the edge of his truck into the bed, the lump of Trevor still there and breathing as the rage he felt reignited with renewed vigor. Teeth flashed in a sneer before hopping back into the warm cab and spinning the tires out to head back to the Gray ranch. The ride was in silence and he kept an eye on the back to make sure that his new friend didn’t try to escape at the few lights he had to stop at. No attempt was made, either he was too worn out, injured or the adrenaline had fully worn off. The pain from his injuries either knocked him out completely or just kept him from moving too much.

The progress was slow and Noah would have lied if he said he didn’t take turns sharper or brake harder to toss him around a bit more. Just under his breath he spoke to himself, “Lord have mercy on you because he knows my wife and I won't.” Slamming on the accelerator he felt Trevor’s body roll back into the tailgate with a solid ‘thump’ that did bring a sickening smile to his face.

The trip was short but felt as if it took hours for the two of them before they arrived to the familiar sound of gravel and snow churning under his tires. Chelsea was on the porch holding their children next to the still apologizing Gray parents, “I almost feel sorry for you. Almost.”

Stepping from his vehicle his children darted into his outstretched arms as he simply embraced them. A wave of joy swept over him as his children appeared no worse for wear besides being a little shaken up. “Noah…what happened?” Chelsea’s eyes were locked on his passenger seat that was still drenched in his best friend’s blood.

Looking between his kids he lifted them into a warm hug before setting them back down. “You two should go with mister Gray, Mrs. Gray, your mom and I need to have an adult talk okay?” His kids nodded before shuffling through the snow. When they past the threshold of the house he turned to his wife with a sullen look in his brown orbs, “Max is touch and go right now. I… I don't know if he’ll make it.” Chelsea let the shock and worry spread across her features. “I did see Eli chase after him but…I'm worried.”

“He’ll…He’ll be alright. He always is.” A groan came from the back of the truck that drew her attention. “What was that?”

Noah didn’t speak and moved to the back of his truck and unceremoniously dragged the bound Trevor from the bed by the short fur of his head. Holding his face towards the two other women the beaten wolf sneered at them before being shaken from his rage literally. “Tell them what you told me. Word. For. Word.” He was dropped to his knees with a thud and slumping into the mix of snow and gravel. He spoke but his voice was too soft to hear even for the two canine women to hear. Grabbing the back of his hair Noah pulled his head up so he could force him to look into their eyes. “Louder.”

With a hiss from the sudden jolt he finally spoke up. “No. I know what comes ne–” Noah’s pistol went off next to his head as the round buried itself in a nearby tree. The ringing in his ears reminded him that the person with the entire deck stacked against him was holding his skull in place. So he finally answered.

“I hit your kids.” Another round fired, shocking him from his hateful sneer and for the first time in a long while he felt scared and he finally spoke up and spilled everything. “It was me okay!? I hit them alright!? Just don’t hurt me anymore!” Tears stained his fur as he broke down, weeping into the snow as his pleas fell on deaf ears.

The only sound between the four individuals was Trevor crying into the snow, Chelsea stood frozen as what he said finally sunk into her. Rage wasn’t a good enough word to describe what she felt. She was livid. She was the first one to move, it only took a moment for her to be behind the weeping wolf and cut his bonds. “I will give you a thirty second head start.”

“W-what?” His confusion overpowered his fear for just long enough to look back and see nothing fury in her eyes. He didn’t think, he didn’t plead with his mother that only had a look of disgust and disdain on her features. He did one of the few smart things in his life. He ran. Snow flew from his bare feet as he tried to keep the rest of his blood from seeping into the snow.

“I would have given him less.” The matriarch of the Gray household commented from her new place next to Noah. “I'm also surprised you didn’t end him first. If anyone hurt Ian…”

“You’ll see why she didn’t in a moment. No one will be able to calm her down now, not even me.” He pulled a cigarette from his jacket pocket before lighting it and taking a heavy drag. “As for why I didn’t end him-” Chelsea had dropped her thin coat and boots to let her nails dig into the ground as she darted into the darkness on all fours. If the two didn’t know any better a feral wolf would have just dashed away from them. “That’s why. You know I never caught your name.”

The Gray mother shook her head as the shock of watching a woman who was so civil before seemingly transforming into a beast ebbed slightly allowing her to speak again. “It’s uh..It’s Sharon.”

Another drag from the cigarette lit up his face slightly as the smoldering cherry bloomed with the increase of air. A quick exhale formed a cloud above him before he spoke. “Would have thought you’d have a more exotic name. I'm sure Chel told you but my name is Noah.”

“She did. She spoke very highly of you, of your leadership skills and how much you care for your little ones. I never thought a mother would become so…carnal though.” She shivered as she heard a howl deep in the woods followed by a few others. No doubt a pack of wolves moving through the snow while trying to find a more comfortable place to sleep or roused by the scent of blood. She didn’t know.

“I assume you’re going to stay out with me until she comes back, could be a while.” Noah leaned against his truck as he looked back to his passenger seat that was still obviously stained with blood. “Besides, I'm not worried about Chelsea right now.”

“Your friend Max right?” With a simple nod the wolf woman looked over the man’s shoulder to follow where his eyes were focused. Now that she really looked there seemed to be more lost than what should be survivable. But this was the man crazy enough to fight the mountain of a man Jacob and two of her sons afterall. He won against her youngest and would have crushed Jacob if the girl wasn’t there and she knew that Trevor fought dirty. Max’s encounter with the spike strip spoke to that well enough. “He’ll make it. Man’s stubborn enough to fight back death itself I think.”

With a final mournful look Noah turned back to Sharon with a heavy sigh. “Yeah, I just hope that both of them are alright. Not just Max.” The wolf didn’t need to ask who he was talking about. She already knew.

-

Trevor’s world was spinning, the blood loss and sudden extreme cardio mixed with his other injuries to exacerbated his already labored pace. Ruffling in the snow just outside his field of view with barks and chirps that made it difficult to know how many beasts were tailing him. Sizing him up for a possible meal. He just kept moving, desperate to try and find any solace in the living nightmare he found himself in. Barks and howls nipped at his heels and his mind, feeling the eyes of several wolves just on the edge of his vision and the ever looming presence of the enraged mother behind him. He looked back and only caught a glimpse of a silhouette before he stumbled heavily into the thick snow of a clearing and desperately tried to regain his footing. “I think that's far enough.”

Her cold voice ran an icicle through what little hope he had left and in a moment the woman was on him. A heavy boot in his back knocked what little air he had in his lung free from his body. A heavy coughing fit took over as he struggled to regain his breath before a fist met the side of his skull and forced him back into the snow. “M-mercy!” He called out but his response was another blow to his fractured ribs.

“Mercy," he says.” Flipping him onto his back with another forceful kick, she stands over him before she straddles his chest to keep him from moving any further in a cruel parody of how he treated Max less than an hour before. A fist came down on his jaw with a crunch and was punctuated by the woman beating down on him. “Did you show my kids mercy!?” Pulling his head up she struck again knocking his head into the frozen ground. “Did it feel good!?” Another blow rained down on the man beneath her. “Did it make you feel strong!?” Another strike. “Make you feel righteous!?” The last strike hit with a finality as she felt his jaw buckle beneath her fist. He wasn’t moving but his breath still billowed in the air visibly as she stood above the broken man. “You’re pathetic, nothing but a child in a man’s body. I'm done.” Trevor wept into the snow with a sense of joy that he might live before she spoke once more. “But they aren’t.”

Through his tear and pain stained vision the glinting of several eyes of wild wolves appeared from the edge of the clearing. Their fur was standing on end and their teeth were snapping in the cold air as snapped and licked their lips in anticipation of the meal to come. “No…please…” He was so focused on the two in front of he didn’t hear the one to his right jump through the snow latch itself onto his shoulder and begin to thrash itself back and forth. Fresh blood stained the snow beneath him as he wailed into the trees as Chelsea simply watched with a look of sick satisfaction. A faint pang of jealousy rolled through her as she watched her quarrel fall into the jaws of the pack with another jumping into the fray. It wasn’t fast or clean, pained wails pierced the sky as more flesh was flayed from bone, blood and sinew cast aside as they attempted to end the wounded man. At some point he tried to roll away but only ended up on his back, now desperate to keep the snapping jaws away from his most vulnerable parts. Thin skin peeled back to expose intrails to the frigid air as he continued to scream. With Chelsea watching over every sickly detail.

The wolves seemed to have heard enough of his screaming as one allowed their jaws to encompass his throat and crush his windpipe, cutting off his scream with a harsh finality to the man before pulling back harshly. His flesh yielded under their assault and soon the strained gargling and the last of his struggle faded from his limbs as his body slumped lifelessly into the snow. Chelsea left without any blood on her hands, content with letting the animals drag the once proud man back into the food chain. “Good riddance.”

The walk back to the Gray ranch was short but to her it felt like it was hours before the lights from their porch and the rest of their property snuck between the trees. Bringing a sense of finality to her small trip into the woods but knowing that things would only get more complicated from here. Not just for her but especially Max and Eli.