Winter Wolf, (C)1998
Anne Fraser and Sara Weber
___________________________________________________________

Beth continued to stare out the window long after Mitch's 
silvery form vanished into the woods' shadows.  There was 
something nagging at the corner of her thoughts, something 
related to what it was Mitch was facing out there.  It was 
hard for her to think what it could be though.  The lack of 
sleep two nights before had left her feeling slightly 
removed, though she was certainly happy.  It was too long 
since she'd had any male friend.

She started when Lady J's hand touched her shoulder, as 
she'd been unaware of her friend's approach.  Beth looked 
away from the window and saw the concern behind the 
vampire's calm exterior.

"Standing there watching won't help any," Lady J said 
quietly.  "We're trying to think of something that will.  
Why don't you join us?"

Turning, Beth saw that the others had resumed their seats 
around the kitchen table.  Chessie still sat on Josh's lap, 
but the child now seemed more restless than before.  Beth 
allowed Lady J to lead her back to the table, and 
mechanically took the mug of hot chocolate her housemate had 
prepared.

"So," she said, trying to shake off the gray feeling which 
had settled on her brain, "Any ideas?"

     *  *  *  *  *  *

The huge silver werewolf ran soundlessly for the woods, snow 
churning beneath its massive paws.  A shudder ran through 
the altered body and mind, a shudder that said, in the voice 
of the woods, "This is right, it is what is meant to be."

Into the woods...

As the wolf slipped into the darker shadows under the trees, 
a white wolf came out from those same shadows and stood 
menacingly in the path.  Mitch growled, then whined, his 
raging senses telling him that the wolf smelled ... wrong.  
His hackles rose.  This white wolf had the same supernatural 
scent that ... he did.  This was no stray, real lupine.  
This was a werewolf.  And he thought he could put a name to 
her.

Trouble.

When he had last seen her, the only time he had seen her 
other than a half caught glimpse when she had bitten him, 
she had been in human form.  She had stalked him at Lord 
Raptor's party, seeking him to urge him to come back to the 
pack.  Events at the party had frightened her off -- as they 
would anyone unused to a CotN party.  Earlier than that she 
had sent one of her big betas to kill Mitch for refusing to 
return to her command.  Mitch had killed the beta instead, 
with help.

But now he had no help, and he faced his alpha wolf, his 
maker.  She had a strong claim over him, even though she had 
abandoned him and left him to find his own way.  That had 
made him strong, though, in ways she did not suspect.  

<You have come, little brother!> her cool mental voice 
triumphed.  <I knew you could not resist my call.>

<I have nothing to say to you,> Mitch replied.  <Why do you 
disturb me? If I did not come to you the first two times you 
tried, what makes you think I will now?>

<You are older now,> Trouble answered, <and hopefully wiser. 
Although I doubt it.  I have been watching you, little 
brother.  You still act like a puppy although you should 
have put such ways behind you.>

Mitch growled.  He knew it was true, in some ways, but he 
didn't have to like it.  He acted like a kid.  Well, maybe 
it was time to grow up.

<You are a fine one to correct me in my behaviour,> he shot 
at Trouble.  <You abandoned me.>

The alpha wolf laughed round her muzzle, and pawed at the 
dark snow.  <That is behind us, my son,> she said.  <Come 
and run in the woods with me, be free like one of our kind 
should.  Not for us the houses and trappings of man.>

<No.>

<I command you to join me!> Trouble barked.  <Hunters found 
the pack.  Many died.  They had silver...>

Both weres shuddered.

<So I need to build again, I need all my children with me,> 
Trouble went on.

<You should have thought of that when you made me,> Mitch 
snorted.  <It proves that you are not fit as an alpha, if 
you led your pack into hunters armed with silver!>

     *  *  *  *  *  *

Chessie sat quietly in "Uncle" Josh's lap while the adults 
talked.  No one thought to ask her opinion, not even when 
she began to cry quietly.  Lady J just reached over to 
stroke her hair, and Josh snuggled her in more warmly 
against his chest.  Both were distracted, trying to think of 
a way to help Mitch.

Since no one thought to ask, no one knew that Chessie knew 
exactly what Mitch was facing.

Somehow, the little were-kitten could sense what was 
happening to her werewolf friend, could see the white wolf 
he confronted.  Images appeared whenever she closed her 
eyes, like some sort of waking nightmare -- vague and yet 
clear at the same time.

She'd been seeing things all day, though perhaps _sensing_ 
would be a more accurate description.  It had started after 
the sledding party, or shortly after Mitch had asked her if 
she heard anything.  She had tried to listen, tried harder 
then she ever had before.  At first there was nothing but 
after a while she sort of knew where Mitch was, anywhere in 
the house.  

And there _was_ something outside, calling.  Calling not to 
her, but to Mitch.

Chessie was not a child who sat still long under the best of 
circumstances.  Knowing that Mitch was in danger, she had to 
try to do something.  Slipping from Josh's lap, she mumbled 
something about getting her new doll from her room and 
walked out into the hall.  Smoke followed her from where 
she'd been curled under the table.

<Why aren't you going up stairs?>, the star panther inquired 
when Chessie instead walked to the door onto the back porch.

<We have to help Mitch,> Chessie thought back.  But how to 
leave without Mama J or Beth stopping her? Staring at the 
door, she realized the way out -- if she could just do it!

Chessie closed her eyes and thought about what Mitch had 
said.  ~It's in the bones and the blood and the mind.~ She 
didn't really know what he meant, but she thought about 
being a cat, how it felt when her body changed, and her mind.

<Hey!> Smoke let out a startled mrrow.  <I thought you said 
you didn't know how to shift.>

Chessie purred with her accomplishment.  <I'm learning!> she 
thought to her friend, <But come on, we'd better hurry, 
Mitch needs help!>

With that, she led the star panther out the doggie door and 
into the woods.


<I will teach you not to speak to me that way, whelp!> 
Trouble snarled.  She sprang for Mitch's throat.

The impact drove Mitch down into the snow.  He yelped as 
Trouble's sharp fangs and strong jaw locked into the tender 
flesh of his throat.  One werewolf could kill another in a 
fight, no silver needed.  The back of his mind that was 
still human screamed this information at him as he tried to 
shake off the white wolf.

He had fought a werewolf before and won, but he'd had help 
from Laybrother Bat and Jessica.  He'd give his eyeteeth to 
see the robed cleric stride out of the woods, the Rod of 
Repentance in hand.  Barring that, the Lone Ranger would do...

But no help came out of the woods, and the shadowed snow 
suddenly took on black dimples of smoking werewolf blood.  
Mitch screamed, not realizing that back in the farmhouse, 
Chessie covered her ears and started crying.

<I'm going to die,> the young werewolf thought.

<Not if you join me!> came back Trouble's reply.  <Submit to 
me, I am your pack leader!>

But in the process of commanding him thus, she had 
momentarily let loose her grip.  Mitch surged to all four of 
his feet and, using his forepaws, shoved her off his neck 
although the effort tore more of his skin and fur so that 
the blood splattered on the snow.

<No>, he said again, not given to dramatic statements.

<Then you will have to kill me, and you do not have it in 
you, cub!> Trouble lunged for his neck again.

This time Mitch was ready for her.  As she snapped for his 
throat, he leapt up into the air and came down behind in her 
in a deadly game of leapwolf.  Trouble growled and spun 
around, but the younger wolf, though bleeding badly, was 
faster and simply wasn't there.

The once pristine snow of the woods was trampled with wolf 
prints, the impact of leaping bodies, and Mitch's blood.  
The small creatures and birds, woken from their sleep by the 
fight, cowered in their nests and dens as the unnatural 
battle raged.

Mitch's jaws closed on Trouble's hind leg, seeking to 
hamstring her.  She screamed and fought, nearly breaking 
Mitch's jaw as she pulled her leg loose.  His claws snagged 
her back, though, and now Trouble's blood seeped onto the 
already stained snow.  Some things in the wood were 
attracted by the smell of fresh blood, but knew enough to 
stay well out of the way of two fighting werewolves.  Still 
some bright eyes watched and hoped.

Trouble turned and snapped at Mitch's ears, her paws raking 
for his eyes.  He backpedaled furiously, knowing that if a 
claw caught his eye it would be all over.  A deadly hooked 
claw missed him by half an inch as his ploy worked.  While 
she was still gathering for another try, Mitch leapt again 
and came down with the full force of his weight on her back.

He was a full-grown male wolf, and Trouble was slightly 
smaller.  Down she went, howling her frustration.  Mitch was 
tottering on her back, in danger of falling off.  He growled 
then whined as he caught a whiff of her enticing female 
musk.  This fight _was_ about domination, after all, and 
what better way to assert it than to mate with her?

Trouble felt his reaction, for he was lying quite close to 
her back and his erection bobbed into her spine.  She shook 
herself mightily, and succeeded in dislodging her unwanted 
suitor into the snow, which rapidly cooled the male's ardour.

<Not so fast, my buck,> Trouble snarled, coiling to attack 
Mitch while he lay belly up in the snow...

The others' inability to come to a decision frustrated Beth, 
and it wasn't long before she found herself standing at the 
window again.  She wanted to do something, _anything_ -- 
they all did -- but no one could answer the question of just 
_what_ they should do.  Joshua and Gideon were hesitant to 
follow Mitch, both because of safety considerations and 
because it was, after all, his fight.  Lady J felt compelled 
to follow their instincts, seeing as she only barely knew 
Mitch.  Beth saw the logic in their thoughts, but it failed 
to convince her.

A shadowy movement across the white field of snow before the 
woods caught her attention just then.  At first she stared 
dumbly at the two forms, uncomprehending of what they might 
be.  Suddenly, the smaller figure registered in her 
overtired mind, and she realized that at least for herself 
and Lady J, the choice had just been taken out of their hands.

"Lady J, we're going out there, NOW!" Beth said as she 
headed for the door, snatching up a coat as she ran.

"But, Beth..." the vampire began, confused by her 
housemate's sudden actions.  Beth stopped in the doorway.

"Chessie's out there," she announced, "with Smoke." Joshua 
and Gideon exchanged alarmed looks as they followed Lady J 
to her feet.

"They were headed into the woods," she finished, "in the 
same direction Mitch went." Without another word she 
sprinted out into the cold.

"Let's go," Josh said, reaching for his own coat.

There was no argument.  The two vampires also went running 
out into the night.  Only Pumpkin stayed behind, the 
spaniel's mournful howls at being left locked in the house 
following them towards the woods.

What met their eyes made them all shiver.  Two wolves, an 
eldritch glow sparking in their fur, struggled at each 
other's throats just inside the woods.  Blood speckled the 
snow around them.  One was a small white wolf, the other a 
large silver-grey, yet there was a quality to them that 
revealed them as more than animals.  Werewolves, even though 
there was no full moon.  Gideon and Josh had no difficulty 
in recognizing Mitch's wolf form, he was the larger.  
However, even though he outweighed Trouble, he was getting 
the worst of the fight.  She was wily, far more experienced 
than he.  

"Where is Chessie?" Beth asked.

"And Smoke?" Josh added.

"Should we go help Mitch?" Lady Jeanne asked dubiously, not 
certain that even vampiric strength was a match for two 
fighting werewolves.

"Look," Gideon pointed, while debating just this question in 
his mind, "There's Smoke, going up that tree.  And Chessie 
is over there, in another tree.  What are those two up to?"
___________________________________________________________