Chapter One

The Lupine Girl

 

It was overwhelming and overpowering every contradicting thought in my brain that screamed at me to turn away, to take another fuckin’ course.  My mind yelled told me that this was a path of stupidity, trouble, a complication.  I didn’t like complications.  I didn’t stop of course; my beast practically demanded, roared that I keep moving.   And I am a fuckin’ beast.  I don’t deny my instincts and my instincts were telling me to push harder, to run faster so that I might reach this alluring scent that much faster. 

This was supposed to be a simple job; play nice with Ol’ Bucket-head’s group of whining pups as they located a mutant he wanted to recruit.  I couldn’t give a shit either way, just as long as I got paid.  But as soon as that scent blasted me when I took my first steps off that helicopter I knew that this wasn’t a fucking simple job anymore. 

It was unexpected, the way it hit me like a Mack Truck when I first stepped of the helipad.  The scent wasn’t fresh, in fact it was days – possibly weeks - old, but it was as clean as freshly fallen snow of winter.  It was ripe Alberta Jack-pines, black spruce and the feminine scent of sweet clover.  In other words: it smelled like the best smellin’ woman I’ve ever come across.  It smelled like home.  For a minute I could almost imagine the roaring campfires and hard timber of the Alberta wilderness. 

Even in my single minded ferocity to seek this scent out I could hear the firebug behind me, he was yelling like the pussy he is for me to hurry up; to take cover in the warehouse that we were supposed to staking out.

“Fucking X-Geeks!” he cursed, like I didn’t already hear that damn jet in the distance even as we touched down.  I knew they were comin’ and I’d bet my next payday that Mag’s knew it too.  It was probably why he was in such’a big damn hurry to fuckin’ get here.

Nothing would stop me, though.  I wouldn’t be denied what belonged to me, and whoever that scent belonged to, she… belonged to me. 

~

It was as random as a warehouse could get in the Docking district of Tampa, Fla.  It held everything a normal warehouse should; miscellaneous packing crates, dingy lighting, and enough dust to fill the fuckin’ Empire State Building.  But this seemingly innocent building of brick and steel had a darker purpose and I could smell it the fuckin’ second I walked through the front door.

Her scent nearly buckled my knees when it first smacked me in the face.  It was laden with pain, anger and finally, resignation.   It made her taste bitter on my tongue, almost enough to gag me if I was a piss-ant like the Runt.  Either way, I didn’t like it.  There were other scents too, male scents. Desire, being the strongest, laced with the harsh tang of rejection and disgust as I pieced together what I already knew was taking place. 

Pissed off, was the only words I could use to describe myself in that moment.  Really, really, pissed off.  Erik had lied to me, he had betrayed me.  The fact that this mutant he wanted to recruit was a female feral should have been the first thing he told me before we ventured out, and he sure as shit should have told me a lot sooner than this.  He shouldn’t have let this happen to her. 

The only two guards present were bulky lookin’ skin heads; lookin’ to the entire world like something that just stepped out of a white supremacist rally.  They were both adorned in supply store camouflage and cheap combat boots.  They were big guys, but artificially enhanced and easily taken care off.  Hell, I relished in sending them to meet their fuckin’ maker screamin’ like a pussy frail and pissin’ their pants.  After all, they had degraded one of ours and that shit was just unacceptable.  The Runt would probably have something poetic or profound to say about the scum I just dispatched without care, but I wasn’t Jimmy and these bastards got off easy. 

It did make me a little wary that there was only two sniveling dickheads present.  It was entirely too easy.  The Friends of Humanity were a stupid bunch of mutant hating fuckers, but this was fuckin’ ridiculous and I didn’t buy for one second that they would leave their prized female behind without more bodies somewhere close. 

Fuck if I cared though.  It would make our exit that much sweeter.

John was unusually quiet as we cut a path through the rows of crates rotting from the salty sea air and rusting metal cargo containers, which was a fuckin’ relief because the kid was always bitchin’ ‘bout something.  Mutant rights this… Mutant rights that… blah, blah, fuckin’ blah.  The kid was starting to sound more like Bucket-Brain by the minute. 

So why the fuck was he so quiet now?

Could it be that he was really freaked out by all this?  Probably.  For all his big talk about doing what was right for mutant kind, I’d bet my left nut the kid ain’t never seen the inside of a lab, and most certainly never seen a body at the end of a good torture.  He was in for a rude awakening tonight.

A growl built in my chest, one that I couldn’t contain and couldn’t help as the towering rows of junk finally parted into 24x24 foot space and I saw the limp figure in the middle of the room, chained to the floor like some kind of fuckin’ animal. 

“Holy fuck!” The firebug gasped, his hand flying up to cover his nose and mouth from the stink that could only come from someone who had lived in their own filth for long period of time.  The frail could have been here for weeks, maybe months.  It was too hard to tell over the smell of shit, sweat, vomit and blood. 

“Holy fuck!” He repeated, obviously in shock.  Yeah, no shit, kid.

“Shut the fuck up,” I snarled, taking off my coat and approaching carefully.  There was no telling how the frail would react to my presence and there was no way I was gonna approach a feral female who had her back to me while she was scared shitless.  “Back up slowly and leave.” 

“But…” he protested, most likely gearing up for one of his ‘but Magneto said’ rants.

“I said leave!”  My voice was a little louder than I intended and it pissed me off further when the frail jumped.  “Leave and tell your shit-for-brains boss that he and I are gonna have a lengthy discussion after this.  He fuckin’ lied to me and I don’t appreciate it none.”

“He should have told me,” I muttered to myself after the pyro-dick left.  It was true, I have no doubt that Magnus knew all along that these FOH son’s-of-bitches were holding a female feral this whole time, and the bastard didn’t tell me!

She looked so fuckin’ helpless shackled to the floor, naked and shivering with that fuckin’ dampener collar around her pale neck.  I couldn’t see much of what she looked like other than she was stick skinny and had multi-tone brown hair, but with the dainty black talons that lined the nail beds of her hands and feet, I’d say that it was most likely that her mutation was somewhere in the Canine family.  Anything else would be learned once I rip that fuckin’ collar off her and she woke up. 

Feeling a little more confident that she hadn’t growled at me yet, I crouched low and took a few steps closer.  She stiffened, drawing in a deep shuddering breath and turned her head to look at me with downcast, shamed eyes. 

We sat in complete silence for what seemed like forever with her huddled against that steel floor beam and me crouched down next to her.  I knew that I didn’t have much time left, the fuckin’ X-Geeks and my brother would be making an appearance soon and then I’d probably never see her again.

“I ain’t gonna hurt you, frail.”  I rumbled softly, or as softly as I was capable.  I was still pretty pissed off and I had no doubts that she couldn’t sense it, even with that fucked up collar on. 

Taking my chances, I covered the last few feet between us and covered her shivering, bruised body with my coat.  It was the least I could do for one of our kind.  Human frails disgusted me.  So did mutant frails.  But this frail, she didn’t deserve any of this. 

Her back was ramrod straight as my coat draped across her back and I watched curiously as she used one dainty clawed hand to pull it closer, taking a deep pull of the air around her before her eyes angled up to meet mine.

Damn.

Striking eyes rose up and met mine in a hard gaze, one eye of golden chocolate, the other the palest sky blue. 

I was at a loss.  I had no clue what to say to this shivering mass of skin and bones.  What could I say to this beautiful frail with haunting eyes of sky and chocolate? 

Eyes of sky and chocolate? 

Fuckin’ goin’ soft, Creed.

“What’s your name, frail?”  The question slipped out before I could bite my tongue, the words unbidden but I realized a moment later that it was exactly what I wanted to ask her.

She parted her chapped lips; lips that I knew would be soft and petal pink if treated with care, but she looked strained to answer.  A pink tongue poked out in an attempted to coat them with moisture and I fuckin’ kicked myself for the lack of having anything for her to drink.

She scooted closer, a rumble starting from between her filth covered breasts.  She was purring.  She was purring for me. 

I didn’t matter in that moment that the X-Geeks were on their way.  It didn’t matter that I could hear Jimmy howling his way through the warehouse.  It didn’t matter that everyone here might witness this weakness and call me a pussy.  I just didn’t care.

I pulled at the chains binding her to the floor, them giving easily under the power of my strength before I pulled her as gently as I could into my arm. 

“Dakota.” She whispered, so softly that if not for my advanced hearing, I doubt I would have fuckin’ heard her.

“What?”

“M-my name is Dakota.”  She murmured again before she finally passed out, snuggled deeply into my chest.

I had never experienced trust like this before.  Even when we were cubs, Jimmy was always wary of me.  My own brother was scared of the animal that lurked within.  But not this frail, she trusted me to protect her for whatever reason.  Call it an instinct, but I think she knew already, what I was to her.  And if she trusted me to protect her, I damn sure would do it. 

Dakota.