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A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 01

By: kitten101



Sabeen Moon, Marie Theris, and the child, had been lured out of the relatively safe haven Sabeen had created for them. Marcus Louve was relived, to be honest he was beginning to worry that he wouldn't be able to find them.

Marcus Louvre was leader of the Louvre Wolf Pack. He was tall, well proportioned, and surprisingly young to be the leader of such a large pack. He had been feeling the strain of keeping some of the older wolves under his rule lately, and it showed in the stubble he hadn't had time to shave and the worn leather pants and jacket he was wearing. Not that it mattered what he wore. The women all mooned after his body, and the hair that always seemed to be too long. The way he shook it out of his hard hazel eyes was enough to get the wolves sighing over him. They would have been distraught to see his attention so fully on Sabeen.

Sabeen was the daughter of the wannabe warlord Royce Moon, and a scarily talented fighter. It seemed her talents did not end at fighting - she had turned out to be rather gifted at concealing their quarry. Not that her father had noticed. 

She was also beautiful. She had short dark and wavy hair that fell haphazardly around her face and accentuated her grey eyes. She was tall and skinny, and If he hadn't already known it he wouldn't have guessed that she was a tiger. Shifters that took the forms of larger animals, like tigers, generally were a little more heavyset in their human forms. Most of the other cat breeds got away with being long and skinny and tigers seemed to be the only exception there. 

Sabeen had an uncomfortable sensation on the back of her neck. She hadn't wanted to leave the house she had commandeered for them, but Marie had been insistent. She was certain that Adam and Royce had been the ones behind the message telling them to meet the pack in Royce's old warehouse. Mostly they used it as a safe-house for large groups, so that seemed to fit, but Sabeen wasn't too sure about the rest. 

"Marie, hold up, let me go first." Sabeen yelled running across the car park towards her. 

"Oh fuck off would you wonder-cat. I want to see Adam, and I can't stand the sight of the kid anymore. Its not a bloody trick. They're a step down from dogs on the evolutionary ladder, they barely have opposable thumbs for crying out loud." 

The weeks Sabeen had spent in uncomfortably close company with Marie had clearly not been pleasant ones.

Marcus watched from his alcove as Marie reached the warehouse. One of his wolves opened the door, and hauled her inside. Sabeen mouthed the work 'fuck' and ran faster stopping for a split second at the door. 

"Run away kitty-cat. You're not going to like it in there." He urged. 

She ignored him and threw open the door, teeth bared like a barbarian queen. He sighed and made his way down to the warehouse floor. 

***

Sabeen fought the werewolves surrounding her furiously. She had been assigned as protector by her father to Marie and her brother's baby Anya. So far she was failing miserably. Marie, clutching the child, had been separated from her and was backed into a corner. Her brother, Adam, was the future leader of the Moon Pack and had chosen Marie for his second wife. Their father, the current leader had approved the match. He wanted to use Marie's powerful family history to stabilise their lead against the other warring packs in the territory. Marie was the last known surviving member of the Theris family who had recently led - and almost won - a war against the ruling family the Devon's. Dangerous blood ran through her veins. Sabeen fought without regard for her body. If she failed in protecting Marie the wellbeing of her body was really a moot point. Adam may forgive her eventually, but her father would have her slaughtered - he had his heir and did not need a daughter. "Sabeen, I need help!" Marie screamed. 

A quick glance over her shoulder showed her using the child as a shield against the Shifters surrounding her. Sabeen dropped the man in front of her with a strike to his throat and forced her body to accept the first stages of the change into her tiger form. She did not have the time to change the rest of the way, and there were simply too many wolves for her to win. She used her new claws to slash a path towards Marie, her plan centred on securing an escape at least for the woman and child, if not for herself. 

Meters from her destination she was tackled by a large stone grey wolf. Sabeen hit the ground hard, twisting to protect herself from the wolves flashing teeth. Instead of the expected attack she found herself looking down the barrel of a gun, held by a very attractive male.

"Oh Fuck." She said quietly to herself as she recognised the grimly attractive features of Marcus Louvre.

"Indeed." Marcus grinned down at her. 

"Loose the kitty claws, move slowly to your knees and put your hands above your head Sabeen." 

The fact the Marcus knew her name did not bode well for her. Sabeen did as he asked - much to her surprise. She had thought she did not value her life particularly highly, but there it was, the instinct to live overrode the emotional black hole she was beginning to feel like.

Marcus had a reputation of being a cold blooded killer, and if he was here, then there was little chance of any of them getting out alive. Sabeen felt a pang of despair for Anya. She was only nine months old and deserved better than this.

"Marcus Louvre, you have quite the reputation. Isn't your pack situated in the North? What brings you to this area of the woods?" Sabeen kept her voice light, all but ignoring the man binding her hands behind her back. Once he was done he hauled her to her feet. She tested the ropes once then relaxed, knowing that sheer strength wasn't going to get her free.

Marcus took a step closer to her, lowering the gun to his side. He raked the hair back off his forehead and his eyes bored into hers. Her breath caught in her throat.

"Sabeen you know perfectly well why I'm here, and you have a bit of a reputation yourself. It's a well earned one. You've been concealing our quarry for some time now, although somewhat against your better judgement I'm presuming. You are welcome to go free. Marie and the child will not be leaving here." Marcus then turned his attention to his pack.

"Those of you not needed are welcome to make your way back home." He nodded at a big vaguely Spanish looking man. 

"Theo you're in charge until Finn can take over. Don't let it go to your head" he growled, only half jokingly. 

Most of the wolves left the building. Sabeen noticed a few of the females giving her nasty looks as they went. 

Sabeen thought fast. She knew they were hunting the Theris family. But Anya was not Marie's child, she was born from Adam's first mate. 

"Marcus, the child has no Theris blood in her. There is no need to kill her. Return her to her family, and it will go some small way towards repairing the hole Marie's death will leave in our pack." 

Marie snarled in the corner almost dropping the crying child on the ground.

Marcus sighed glancing back at Sabeen "She may not have any Theris blood in her, but she has been taken in as Marie's child, and she was mentioned in the orders from the council. Don't pretend like you give a shit for that bloodthirsty army you come from. Pack is family, and that sure as hell isn't like any family I've ever had." 

Something quite like pity flashed in his eyes and Sabeen instantly hated him for it. 

Putting her game face on she growled "Fine. I'll bargain for her. You know I'm good. I'm one of the top fighters in Dartmouth, I gave you and your entire pack a good run around these past weeks, and I'm a strong shifter, any pack would be advantaged greatly with the addition of my willingly given skills. I have no particular emotional ties with the Moon Pack. I'd be more than willing to switch allegiance for the right price and the price I'm asking is that baby's life. I want her home with her father because she doesn't need to die here with that bitch." 

Marcus turned to face her more fully. He looked a little intrigued. 

"Terms?"

Sabeen paused. This wasn't a time to go rushing in, the deal needed to be iron clad on both ends, safe for her, and tempting for him. 

"I pledge myself into your service. I answer only to you, not your pack. You may not pass on my service to others, when you die this agreement is null and void, and if at any time you decide to free me from this obligation I am free to leave. 

"I will obey you with three exceptions. I choose who I sleep with, my body is not yours to give away or take. You will provide me with the essentials for life; food, a bed, money and the rest - as part of that I am entitled to defend myself at any moment I deem necessary for my own survival and physical comfort. And I will not kill for you - I make my own decisions on who lives and who dies when I fight and I will not have your deaths hanging over me too."

She thought for a few moments hoping that what she had said would protect her enough. She didn't care too much for her own personal safety, but she really didn't want to pledge herself into a situation that was more unlivable than her current one. 

"What guarantee do I have that you'll honor the deal?" He asked.

Sabeen thought about it. "You have my word."

Either he would accept or he wouldn't. She knew that once her word was given nothing could change her mind, he didn't know that though. He was going to have to trust her. 

"Done." Marcus agreed. "Rob, grab the kid."

Anya was wrestled away from a shrieking Marie by a heavyset male, and carried out of the warehouse. Marie lost control of her human form and Shifted into a Jaguar, swiping at her captors and trying desperately to get free. 

Sabeen watched the woman a little horrified, and tried to go to the calm white place she went when she had to kill. This was different though. This was in cold blood and she wasn't the one holding the gun. 

Marcus saw her wide eyes, and grabbed her by the scruff of the neck, pressing her face into his jacket. She wouldn't have usually allowed him to even touch her, but this was different. She burrowed into the blackness and smelt the leather. There was a muffled shot, but the jacket screened out most of it, including the gun powder and fresh blood smell that she hated so much. Sabeen had disliked Marie, but she cried for her anyway. 

"I'm sorry I couldn't do more."

Marcus wasn't sure if she was aware she had spoken out-loud, so pretended he hadn't heard. Instead he undid the knot holding her hands back. He then spun her away from the gold and black heap on the floor, and pushed her towards the exit shielding the kill from her. Bucky, one of his more submissive males, would take care of the carcass. He needed to figure out how to return the child. 

***

"I'll do it." Sabeen spoke up, interrupting Marcus's thoughts. 

She could tell he had desperately been trying to come up with a plan that wouldn't endanger his wolves. 

"They won't harm me until they know I'm bound to you. Even then Royce will be reluctant to beat the crap out of me just in case I take out more of his better fighters. They know better than anyone what I'm capable of."

Marcus stayed silent, running his had over the stubble on his chin and thinking for a moment or two before giving in to the inevitable. 

"Ok. Call them. Have them meet you somewhere public. We'll drop you off. You hand over the baby. We appear with some strong wolves at our back. You drop the news. We depart." 

Sabeen nodded and took the phone offered. 

***

An hour later they drove slowly up to the parking lot agreed upon by Adam. Sabeen stumbled from the car as if she had been pushed and limped through the 'V' of gathered cats. None had changed but she could see that all had wild eyes. Adam and Royce stood at the peak of the V surrounded by their strongest fighters. 

Most of the men and women around her were tigers, the Moon Pack had originally been tiger territory, but she could see a few leopards and lions from strong packs she had helped decimate. She wouldn't need to worry about the other cats, their positions in the pack (mostly lowly) meant they would be more glad to see her go than anything. The tigers however would be a problem. 

"Sir I'm sorry. I saved the baby, but Theris is dead. They tricked us into meeting at the warehouse. I fought hard and was overwhelmed by the wolves." 

Royce's eyes travelled the length of his daughter. Sabeen secretly hoped that the mild abrasions, bruises and cuts they had given her looked convincing enough. Marcus had roughed her up in the car to ensure that she looked genuine for her part. 

Her father growled, and she saw the beginnings of cat eyes and claws. It was a sign of weakness to lose control so she figured he'd have to be pretty damn angry to let it show. She handed Anya to her brother, squeezing his arm as she stepped away. Here was the hard bit. 

Taking a few more steps back than really necessary she saw the wolves appearing out of the shadows around them. It was amazing how in touch they all were. If it had been the cats someone surely would have overstepped their mark and complicated the situation. Marcus stepped slightly to the front of his wolf pack.

"Sabeen Moon has pledged me her life in exchange for the child's. I collect my payment now."

Sabeen switched to her most bad-ass warriors face. Looking each cat deep in the eye she let them know one by one that she knew what their death would feel like on her claws and she was looking forward to enjoying it. 

She turned her back on the cats and started back up the 'V' of faces. Each cat got the same look as she walked by and dismissed them. Not one of the Moon shifters were brave enough to attack her. 

***

It was just hitting 10 when they went through Fern which was still another 6 hours from home. His wolves would have just been reaching Ashton, the town he had settled his wolves in. Marcus and Sabeen had stopped to stock up on clothes and essentials for her in Paradise City, so were lagging behind by a good few hours. 

He had been looking for a motel for a long time, and was about to just stop off on the side of the road when he spotted one. Once they were inside Marcus paid for a double room and grabbed the first-aid kit he insisted on carrying in the car. 

Sabeen watched him warily. When they had pulled over in Paradise City she had refused his offer to clean her injuries. Instead she had washed herself in a mall bathroom and brought a new jacket and pair of pants to replace the ripped pair. It seemed like he was going to insist on proper cleaning. 

She hated this part. She knew it had to be done, but for some reason she was more scared of the damage done to her body after the fight. And the smell of antiseptic and having to bandage herself up made her feel sick. 

They entered the hotel room and Marcus paused as he saw the one double bed. 

"Fucking awesome." he growled. 

He threw the first-aid kit at her and pointed towards the bathroom, heading back out the door to pay for another room. 

Sabeen was expecting him to be much longer so sat gingerly on the edge of the shower inspecting the kit. She had put it on the washbasin, which was the furtherest point in the bathroom from her and the shower. She actually felt a little sick.

Marcus walked back into the room to find her like that. She looked extremely pale, and he didn't think she'd seen him walk in. He figured that the stress of the day had caught up to her. It wasn't everyday you left your family and signed yourself into the service of a complete stranger. 

"Fucking office is closed already. We're stuck here together tonight. Do you need help?" 

"Um... No. I'll be fine. I'm just going to take a shower. And then... Get to it. With the antiseptic... And bandages."

He looked at her for a beat. His eyes widened and he came closer and craned his head around the door so that he could see what she had been staring at. The first-aid kit. Sabeen Moon, one of the more deadly women he had ever met, was scared of the first-aid kit. She looked up and saw the beginnings of a smile on his face. Her temper erupted and she slammed the door in his face turning on the shower as he began to laugh in ernest in the bedroom. 

She only turned the water off when the last trace of a snort had died from the bedroom. Hopefully the ass had fallen asleep so that she could do this without any interruptions. No such luck. 

The moment she had slipped on her new black bra and underwear set the door swung open and Marcus walked in, shaking his hair out of his eyes. For the second time that day he met her eyes full on making her breath catch again. He misread her look as fear (although that came shortly after) and attempted to calm her. 

"I'll do it, just pretend it isn't happening, and I'll take care of it." 

She fixed him with a stare. "Don't laugh at me and don't tell anyone."

"Deal."

She was surprisingly well behaved throughout his attempts to clean and bandage her cuts. She managed to stop herself from lashing out at him, and he only had to haul her back into the bathroom twice. She did throw up once when the smell of antiseptic hit the air, and Marcus held her hair back patiently as she retched in the toilet. 

Later Marcus exited the bathroom after a shower and a shave of his own to find her curled in the blankets, with the covers pulled high under her chin. He presumed she was attempting to screen out the smell of the antiseptic. He slipped into the bed and pried some of the blankets out from under her, chuckling again to himself. 

***

Sabeen woke slowly, disoriented. Her cheek and stomach were warm, and there was a band of pressure along her side and down her back. she snuggled into the warmth. As she slowly became more aware of herself she realized that she was curled over Marcus's chest while he cradled her against him. She froze in horror.

After craning her head up agonizingly slowly she saw that he was still deep in sleep and relaxed a little. Instead of getting off him she lay there for a second, enjoying the feeling of being held there. She could hear his steady heart beat and his intriguing scent made her want to press her nose against his collar bone and taste him. She saw that he had shaved and wanted to run her hand over the smooth skin to see what he felt like. 

Marcus's breathing changed and Sabeen realised that he was awake. She panicked, throwing herself off him. She meant to land on her side of the bed. Instead she used too much push and threw herself off the bed entirely. Her feet were tangled in the sheet, making it impossible for her to find her footing. Instead her arse found the floor and she sprawled there doing her very best impression of a human with absolutely no sense of balance or grace. Marcus's face and shoulders came into view over the side of the bed. He was grinning like mad.

"Laugh and die Louvre." She snarled.

"Gezze, Calm down cat. You crawled onto me at about 2am this morning. And you didn't stop moving and crying out until an hour ago. I think I'm entitled to a little laughing. Besides, the rest of my day is pretty much guaranteed to suck." At her confused look he continued. There was no point in keeping her in the dark.

"I'm breaking my relationship with the head bitch, Ange. I've been looking for a valid excuse that won't get me swamped by horny werewolves for a few months now and you are the perfect excuse."

He had to be kidding. "Whoa there pony. Remember the deal. There is no way that I'm replacing this Ange person..."

"You won't actually be replacing replacing her. You'll just be taking her bedroom, and not leaving any space for actual replacements. You get the highly desired job of running interference on any females that get too close. Use it as a chance to work on your stare of death."


A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 01



Sabeen sighed and began untangling herself, wrinkling her nose at the antiseptic smell that lingered on her skin. Shifters healed fast and most of her cuts had done a fair amount of healing overnight. Her bruises had blossomed and become much darker, but she could live with them. 

"I'll go check out, you get ready to leave." Marcus said before throwing on his shirt and heading for the door.

Oh good she thought. Just enough time for the worlds fastest shower. There was no way Sabeen was sitting in a car - without adequate ventilation - covered in antiseptic. She'd be car-sick before they left the parking lot.

***

Marcus let her drive and spent most of the trip napping. The shower really had been the fastest she'd ever taken, so the antiseptic smell still hung around a bit - enough for her sensitive nose to pick out. She had all four windows down and had stopped at every large town for 'snack breaks'. She'd stopped eating the junk food she brought four towns back, and so was wondering what her next excuse for a breather was going to be when Marcus piped up from the seat next to her.

"Take a left here, it will take us through Ashton. We need to get onto the main highway heading south, and the house is ten minutes down the road. Number 490, but you can't see the mailbox, its hidden in the trees."

Sabeen followed his directions listening intently as they drove through the town. He pointed out where each the wolves worked, lived, and even drank. There were only two pubs in town, one was a more generic beer/ sports/ restaurant type place called Gingers and the other one was a seedy motorcycle club called Howlers. The Spanish man from the warehouse - Theo - lounged against the door menacingly. One guess as to which the wolves hang out was.

The town was a small one, she would have estimated the population to be around 400. Almost 40 of those were members of Marcus's pack. They worked with the humans and a few even socialised with them. Most of the wolves lived right on the edges of the suburbs, where the town turned to thousands upon thousands of acres of nationally protected forest. It was the perfect spot for a werewolf community, a sleepy town almost entirely off the radar, right in the centre of Dartmouth's largest national park.

Marcus's place was a big two story villa. It had a nice run-down air about it, although there were clearly some attempts to brightning it up. Someone had recently re-tiled the roof, and the lawn had been mowed. The driveway was a little pitted in places, and you could tell the parking areas got a lot of use. At one point there had been a fence between the house and the forest. That had been pulled out years ago and paths had been beaten between the trees heading out in all directions like roots spreading from a tree. Her feet itched with the desire to explore the forest but she held herself beside the car, waiting for Marcus.

As they entered the house he explained that three other wolves lived with him, Ange - as his mate, Bucky, and Finn. Bucky was probably in town working, but Finn was home waiting in the hall for Marcus. He was a little younger looking than the rest of them, and blonde. Sabeen put him at 23. 

It was plain to see Finn had a good friendship with Marcus, and it was also plain to see that he was an excellent second in command for him. Marcus introduced them, and gave a brief explanation of her reason for being there. Finn gave her a long evaluating look and then shook her hand, warmly welcoming her to the house. She instantly decided she liked him, despite the tough guy act that he put on. 

As soon as they reached the kitchen and took a seat Marcus was given a detailed run down of the events of the past day. Some of the bitches had been fighting, although surprisingly not over Marcus, this time is was over Theo. Ange was in a shitty mood, and had been at the centre of a few of the fights. Theo was lapping up all of the attention and generally abusing any power he though he had. 

"Damn it I really did think he was going to be alright. I'm going to have to do something about him soon. Ange isn't going to be much of a problem in this house any more." 

Finns eyes lit up when he heard that. His eyes slid to her questioningly and Marcus explained the plan. Finn got it immediately and smiled cunningly. 

"I gotta tell ya mate, I've been waiting a LONG time to hear you say that. That girl looks real sweet on the outside, but you turn your back and the bitch bites down hard." Finn said. 

Finn took Sabeen on a tour of the lower house and garden while Marcus went to deal with Ange. They had just reached the back yard when a tall willowy redhead came streaking out of the house towards them. 

"Bitch, you think you have him, but I'm telling you now there's no way you'll ever be able to keep him. I'll challenge you for him." She snarled. 

Marcus came after her, shaking his head.

"What, seriously? You're going to challenge me to a duel for him? You do that here?" Sabeen asked.

"No we don't do that here. You're welcome to refuse her. Ange leave now." Marcus said. 

He looked like he was at the limits of his patience. Sabeen smiled her barbarian smile and turned back to Ange. 

"Now why would I refuse her a chance to win you back? This is going to be fun." 

She felt ruthless. This was what she needed, after being stuck in the car for what felt like hours. Plus it would put the word out among the rest of them that she was not the right tiger to fuck around with. 

Marcus shook his hair back from his eyes and stood back. Finn looked pleased as anything, and grinned savagely at her. He was looking forward to seeing Ange be beaten just as much as she would enjoy doing it. 

Both women stripped down and changed to their animal forms. Sabeen took great pleasure in shifting to her beast much faster than Ange could. When they were both standing sizing each other up, a delicate looking wolf and a darkly colored tiger, Sabeen let out a roar that rattled the glass in the window panes. Any sensible opponent would have realized she was hopelessly out classed, but the war cry had the intended effect, and the wolf launched into an ill thought out attack. 

Sabeen didn't make any allowances for Ange, She slashed at her, and drew blood, using her agility and balance to literally run circles around the smaller wolf. Ange wasn't able to get her claws or teeth anywhere near the ruthless tiger, and the fight was over in mere minutes. 

Worse yet for the wolf Sabeen forced Ange to acknowledge her win by submitting to her - an act Ange had only ever done half-heartedly for Marcus, and almost never in the sight of other members of the pack. The blonde changed back into her human form, stiffly moving away from Sabeen, who didn't take her eyes off her for a second. 

Marcus, Finn, and another man - Bucky - clapped, and Finn openly cheered. 

After Ange's departure Bucky cleaned out her old room on the second floor, and Sabeen moved her few possessions up there. The room was nice - very tidy and painted a mossy green color that accentuated the deep brown floors and furnishings. Bucky had found her an antique looking white bed cover and matching white sheets, and out of nowhere had produced a pile of fresh new pillows (she really hated sleeping on used ones.)

The room had two doors, one into the hallway, and the other lead right into Marcus's room. The first thing she did was drag the heavy chest of draws in front of the door leading to Marcus's room. The last thing she needed was an achingly hot wolf one bedroom over, and easy to access. 

Next she emptied her shopping bags until she had found her new diary. Writing was the one indulgence she allowed herself, and through years of living with Royce and a house full of tigers she knew the importance of an good hiding place. She explored every nook and cranny of her bedroom before stashing the creamy white book in a cavity under the chest of drawers. 

That night she wrote a quick summary of the events to date (emphatically assuring herself that she didn't have a thing for Marcus) and paced the room until early morning. She had been expecting a difficult wait for sleep, but surprisingly the new surroundings weren't enough to put her off sleeping for long.



A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 02



The next few weeks had been boring by Sabeen's standards. Ange had disappeared from the house swiftly after her loss to Sabeen, and the word had gotten out about how badly outclassed she had been in the fight. The only time Sabeen saw her was when she was slinking around with Theo. Those times Ange cringed and left the general area as quickly as possible. Her lesson had been learnt. 

Theo only cropped up occasionally, but those times made her skin crawl a little. She took a look at him with her mind one afternoon, and he scared her.

Many shifters had some very small power to enhance their own natural one. Hers was a bit of a temperamental gift, sometimes she'd look and see nothing, and sometimes she'd get a small glimpse of power or inner thoughts. In her head Theo had looked like a black oil covered wolf, slowly advancing on her. She explored the similarities between him and her not so fond memories of Robbie in her diary, and made a decision to stay the fuck away from him for as long as possible. 

Theo hadn't made any moves yet, but she was beginning to doubt that Marcus's influence would hold him back much longer. Marcus didn't seem to have the iron hold on his entire pack that he once did. She didn't for a second discount Ange's influence in Marcus's waning leadership. The woman was cunning and well liked (for unknown reasons) amongst the pack, and many still considered her an Alpha, despite her loss at Sabeen's hands. It didn't help Sabeen's suspicions that she could be found on the fringes of any trouble that erupted.

Marcus had fallen into a new routine with Sabeen in the house. Usually he was more of a late morning sleeper, but he had adjusted his schedule to hers - it was more out of necessity than anything else. He had discovered Sabeen to be a loud morning person. It wasn't intentional - she was just extremely clumsy for a cat. From the moment her feet hit the floor at 5am in the morning (on the dot every morning) until the moment she got outside for her morning run she crashed into walls, stumbled over her own feet and slammed doors.

He found sleep somewhat impossible through all the noise and so ended up running most mornings with her. It definitely was not a company thing, she was barely there in the morning so spoke very little and did not have much of a reaction to his presence but he found it incredibly peaceful. At that time in the morning he could almost believe that today's trials would be non-existent and the Pack would take some strides towards going back into is previously tight-knit family unit.

They had suffered huge losses while on the Council's mission, as he'd known they would. His original second and third in command had been brought down leaving him in a vulnerable position. Theo's father was killed early in the mission, and Marcus had seen the changes this brought about in his former friend. Many of the partnered male wolves had been killed, leaving Marcus with far too many widowed women. He was aware of how they looked at him, and when the bitch-fights had begun to crop up he had been forced to choose a mate. He had gone for Ange, who at the time seemed like a sensible choice. She was beautiful, unassuming, the women respected her, and the men wanted her. Looking back now he could see the blaring mistake he had made in assuming that she didn't want him for his power. She had definitely wanted power, she was just better at hiding it than some.

Sabeen enjoyed their morning runs a little more than she probably should have. Mornings made her feel foggy and stupid, so the first time Marcus had met her at the door and joined in she had blinked stupidly at him and strived to appear unaware of him for the rest of the run. Ignoring him was hard at times, like when he shook his hair out of his eyes, or when he stripped off his tee-shirt in an attempt to cool down. But then no self-respecting woman would ignore those things.

Running was a good excuse to map out the areas around her and familiarize herself with the normal scents and sounds of the area. But more importantly it established a routine. If any wolf or cat did a little homework they could see that morning was clearly the best time to ambush her. She was loud and clumsy in the morning, but some of it was played up for the wolves around her. She could be surprisingly onto it when she had to be, and actually preferred to fight in the morning. With the routine set up the way it was, chances were, if she was attacked at anytime, while she was running would be it.

She slowly eased into the wolves lives, and despite her reservations, she found that she liked quite a few of the them. Finn was very funny and great company, and Bucky had a true heart of gold. Marcus's third in command, Rob, spent a fair bit of time around the house, mostly with Bucky and the three of them got her into the habit of drinking scotch with them semi-regularly. 

She did wonder, when seeing Rob and Bucky together for the first time, if there wasn't a little more than friendship happening. Both wolves were older than her, in their early thirties. Bucky was short and on the slender side with a serious dislike of fighting, and so was almost at the bottom of the pack heirachy. Living with Marcus gave him enough protection to avoid being bullied by most of the other wolves.

Rob was a big Cuban looking man, and seemed to have appointed himself Bucky's official protector. She couldn't find a tactful way to enquire about their relationship, so didn't end up asking anyone. 

The house was a bit of a meeting spot for all the wolves, and they often stopped in to chat to their leader before heading out for a run. Marcus encouraged it, and spent large amounts of time circulating through his pack. Finn had explained to her that a wolf pack leader was constantly proving his leadership to his pack, and could be de-powered at any time - it was a little more unstable than the pack Sabeen had come from. Marcus was working harder than usual because of the new rifts in his pack.

Sabeen thought that many of the problems in the pack could have been healed by the banishment of Theo, but understood Marcus's reasons for not driving the man away - to an extent. Theo made her skin crawl, and she was extra vigilant about knowing where he was at all times. She didn't trust him, but had no clear evidence to take to Marcus (not that she was sure he'd listen to her).

Finally one night about a month after she had arrived in the house she found a genuine reason to hate Theo. Finn, Bucky and Sabeen had been watching old movies in the rec-room and she had fallen asleep on one of the couches. The men, not wanting to wake her, had left her there and turned out the lights. 

It was late when she had woken up, and she could hear someone moving inside the house. She sat up, ready to investigate when Theo swung around the corner. 

"Sabeen, nice to see you." He grinned his predatory grin.

"I was just looking around for our glorious leader... Where is Marcus?"

"He's out on a run with Rob and a few of the girls." she said as Theo moved further into the room. 

"You aren't jealous are you? He's entitled to his... friendships. As are you. We all know that you two certainty aren't claiming each other as mates." Theo said greasily. 

She injected a little sarcasm and scorn into her words. " Thank you for your concern Theo, but no I'm not jealous of Marcus, and I feel no need to embark on any 'friendships' here."

"So then we are not friends?" He asked blatantly raking his eyes over her body. 

"That would really be a pity Sabeen, because I have been dying to take a taste of what Marcus has been refusing these past weeks. You certainty are a good looking piece of ass, even if you're not quite broken yet. To tell you the truth I like em a little wild, and I think you'd enjoy a little pain." He grinned wider, and she saw his teeth lengthening. 

"Not a chance in hell. Back off." She growled circling away from the couch and more to the centre of the room. Marcus would be pissed if Theo bled on his couch. 

"I'm going to enjoy this cat."

Theo jumped at her, much faster than she thought the lout would be able to move. She swiped at him, leaving red streaks down his face, but missing the arteries in his neck that she had been aiming for. 

Theo didn't pause, he jumped at her, catching her off balance. She ended up on her stomach, with the half changed wolf pinning her against the couch. Sabeen was very close to losing her temper entirely.

She raged. "Get your disgusting, slimy, dog jaws off me Theo. And for fucks sake have a doggie mint, your breath stinks." 

She was about to change and teach the dog a lesson he wouldn't forget when the lights flicked on and Marcus strode in looking pissed off. 

"You heard her Theo. Let her go or I'll set her loose on you - damn the cost of the dry-cleaning and re-carpeting." 

Theo slowly stood up changing until he was fully human again. Sabeen sat up furiously swiping at her neck. Dog drool was disgusting. 

"My apologies Marcus. I didn't realize I was encroaching on your territory." He gave a sly smile. 

"Its not my territory I think you need to worry about." Marcus growled.

Despite his words - and the fact that Sabeen was more than capable of defending herself - all he wanted to do was rip out Theo's throat. Damn-right he was encroaching on Marcus's territory, Sabeen was his property. 

With one last calculating flash of teeth Theo left the house. He was submissive enough that Marcus could find no reason to swipe at him - although he would have clearly liked to. Sabeen shook her head at the men and brushed past him to head upstairs. Marcus reined in his errant anger and stopped himself from grabbing her possessively. 

"Thank you for not slaughtering him in my rec-room. Did he hurt you?"

She turned slowly, there was real concern in his voice, but looking at his eyes all she could see was anger and hardness and behind it all she could see that he was tired. Her causing problems was probably the last thing he needed right now. 

"I'm fine. There is absolutely no need for antiseptic." 

She pulled her collar down a little to prove it. He thought she was joking and smiled a little, but she was deadly serious. That man was far too eager to splash around antiseptic. 

She took a longer shower than usual, trying to banish memories of another man who had tried to rape her while sleeping. That one had almost been successful, and worse yet it had been at her fathers blessing. 

Royce had been adamant that she would marry Robbie, and at her stubborn refusal he had decided that she needed to be 'broken'. She got away from Robbie that night, and earned a small reprieve when the council had sent Marcus against Marie and Anya. She hadn't been sure what she was going to do faced with the probability of rape once she was back within the pack. If she killed Robbie or went too far against her father's wishes she would have been fair game for the pack, no longer under the protection of being the strongest fighter and daughter of the leader. 

She spent a few hours writing about it in her diary that night, trying to purge the memories from her mind before succumbing to an exhausted sleep. 

***

The next morning as they ran she was more out-of-it than usual. She had not gotten anywhere near the required amount of sleep for a happy kitty-cat. They had just reached a path that they often ran, when Sabeen scented something out of the ordinary. She stopped abruptly and breathed deeply, drawing the air across the back of her tongue. 

Marcus had taken a few more steps before noticing she had stopped. 

"Did you smell that?" She asked, knowing he had a more sensitive sense of smell than her. 

He looked confused before scenting the air around them. He did a thorough job of it, not in the habit of ignoring Sabeen's hunches. In the end they were unable to locate whatever she thought was out there and so continued with their run. 

She was pretty sure she knew what had been there, but clearly it was holding back for another time. She was more vigilant than usual in the week following, but nothing out of the ordinary happened until the next Saturday morning. 

There had been a party the night before to celebrate the engagement of Poppy and Jerry, two of the older wolves who lived in town with quite a few human friends. Sabeen and Marcus had attended, and Marcus had had a few drinks and a later night than usual. She had stayed sober at his request and kept a watchful eye over the wolves interacting with the humans. 

Marcus didn't join her for the run in the morning, as expected, and she set off at a faster pace than usual, wanting to stretch herself a bit. She stayed reasonably close to the house, mindful of the forest around her, but pretty sure she was alone until she scented it again. 

This time she didn't stop, just slowed her pace until she reached a curve in the trail and there they were. Four men and a woman stood waiting for her naked and in various stages of their changes. 

"Aw, a war party from Royce. How sweet of him to think of me... And how fucking predictable."

Looking over them she saw Robbie, licking his lips obscenely at her. Taj, one of her fathers most trusted tigers and an old sparring mate. Heath, a cunning little shit - she'd have to watch him for weapons. The other two she hadn't personally known, but she'd seen the female fight, and knew she'd give her a run for her money. The male had done a lot of time in the fighting ring. She had a distinct memory of him being used to train young tigers, he didn't go easy, and more than a few young men and women bore his scars. 

Her father had sent his best warriors to finish her off, which was strangely gratifying. She was a little glad to see that he had been paying attention to just how good she was. The odds were slightly stacked against her, but she was confident. In her world shifters were good or they were dead. She was good, and these cats were about to become dead. 

Robbie stepped towards her opening his mouth as if he was about to say something. Trust that little fuck to have prepared a speech. Sabeen didn't give him a chance to say his spiel. Instead she charged him, knocking him to the ground. 

The others were ready, and she was immediately engaged in a four to one fight. Her body took over, and her mind supplied well rehearsed fight combos. Step to the side, elbow to the gut, duck, grab, swing, crack. She broke Heaths neck. He fell instantly, and a delicate silver blade slid towards her. Where the heck had he hidden that?

She picked it up and instantly sliced Taj's chest open. It wasn't deep enough to be fatal, but she would bet that it hurt like a bitch. Taj took a step back as Robbie joined the fight.

She stabbed at Robbie, her blow glancing off his shoulder as she was forced to duck the unknown male's leap. As he recovered and Robbie stumbled she delivered a lightning fast kick to the female's throat, crushing her windpipe. She dropped gasping for air and gurgling. 

The male changed fully into his tiger form and took another leap at her. This time she didn't duck, she did her best to evade the claws and thrust the dagger deep into the tigers chest, miraculously missing his ribs and catching something vital. The light had already died in his eyes when he hit the ground. 

Taj and Robbie changed fully into their tiger forms and attempted to bulldoze her to the ground. Sabeen punched Robbie hard enough to break the skin over his eye-socket and kicked Taj hard enough to break ribs. While they were occupied she slipped off her clothes, changed and rushed Taj. 

She tricked him into thinking she would engage him head on, and then swerved to the side. Taj had never remembered to keep his chin down when they were fighting, and she took advantage of that now, delivering the killing bite with a little regret that he'd never get the chance to learn it. 

Robbie paused for a second before re-engaging her. She took advantage of that and spun behind him, catching a hind leg with her outstretched claws and doing some serious ligament damage to the slower tiger. They tussled for a moment and then broke free, staring each other down and limping in wide circles. 

Sabeen had not got through the fight unmarked, but she ignored the aches and pains, focusing only on Robbie. Then it was over. Robbie roared and attacked, slow on his damaged hind leg. She swiped twice, missing his neck once, and then finding her spot the second. Her claws dug deep into his flesh and he collapsed panting and bleeding profusely into the dirt. 

She stood looking at the dead around her and roared her rage. How dare Royce send his missionaries to kill her, and only five of them! He had seriously underestimated her. Yet again. 

She changed back into her human form and taken a quick catalogue of her injures. She had what felt like a deeply bruised wrist, a sprained ankle, some deep scratches over her ribs and most concerning was a deep cut across her hip. Heath must have got her with his dagger before she broke his neck. 

She dragged all the cats off the path and into a valley, where she covered them with branches. Then she disguised the blood on the path with leaves. It would have to do until she had help to dispose of the bodies properly. Slipping her ruined clothes back on she grimaced at her need for modesty and headed back to the house. 

***

When she walked into the kitchen Bucky was the first to spot her. Marcus and Finn turned to see her when Bucky dropped the coffee pot he was filling and ran to grab the first aid kit. 

"Don't even think about it. Put the fucking antiseptic back in the draw." She snarled before heading upstairs to shower. 

Marcus stood and evaluated the amount of blood on her clothes before taking the kit off Bucky. The blood was probably not all hers, but he wasn't going to take the chance. 

"Finn, Bucky, grab a few of the others, go see where the bodies are. Don't come back until its clean." 

As they left he headed up the stairs. He didn't stop at the bathroom door, she hadn't locked it anyway. He locked it after himself though, just in case she tried to get out. 

Sabeen had hopped into the shower, hoping to get some of the blood off herself before Marcus came to investigate. He pulled back the shower curtain and gave her a once over, practically ignoring the fact that she was naked. No doubt planning which part of her body to douse in antiseptic first. 

"The hip's a bit of a worry. You might need stitches there. I can't really just bandage it. Everything else will be fine, the scratches on your ribs are closing up already. What else hurts?" He asked.

Sabeen rolled her eyes and turned off the water. Marcus passed over a towel to pat herself (gently!) dry with.

"My ankle's sore as hell. Its not too swollen though. It feels like a strain. And my wrist hurts. I landed on it pretty hard at one point but I think I've just bruised it deeply. You can see where its beginning to color up now. It doesn't feel like the bone." She said, rotating it experimentally. 

Marcus shook his hair back and prodded at her wrist and ankle before agreeing with her. He strapped a couple of cold packs to each, and then pulled a tube of white cream out of his pocket. 

"Antiseptic. No stinging, and no smell." 

He handed it to her and she gave it a cautious sniff before dutifully beginning to apply it to her cuts. He wrapped bandages around her ribs to keep the scratches clean, and then bent down to examine her hip. 

"How in the hell was this done? Never mind you'll tell me later." He said, sounding angry to his own ears.

"Does it really need stitches?" She asked. 

He looked at her incredulously. "Yes it does. Its deep, and its not in a spot that would naturally heal quickly." 





A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 02



He shook his hair out of his eyes and looked over her again. She looked resigned to her fate, and he wanted to hug her - and then shake her for finding trouble again.

"I'll do it. With these injuries a doctor would ask way too many questions. And I'm going to have to use the smelly stuff to sterilize the needle."

Marcus kept up a steady stream of soothing talk and worked quickly. He had to crowd her into a corner to get her to stand still, and even then it was a bit of a mission.

Sabeen minded her manners and resisted the urge to kick him and run. The antiseptic made her nauseous, and she was developing one heck of a pounding headache. By the time Marcus was done she had spots in front of her eyes, and wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to stay standing. 

He took one look at her and wrapped her in a towel before picking her up and carrying her to her room. He nearly took her to his, but thought that may be overstepping the boundaries a bit. Hell, he'd seen her naked, had her sleep on him and tended her wounds, but it would have been totally improper for her to wake up in his bed. Sometimes he confused even himself he thought shaking his head. 

Sabeen pressed herself into his chest, and it felt surprisingly good to have her there. He slid her into her bed carefully, discarding the towel. He thought briefly about finding her some clothes but decided he liked her better this way. She lay sleepily against the pillow, and he reached out to tuck some of her curls behind her ear. This was totally normal, with all the adrenaline in her system she was going to crash a bit when it all diapeared. The color was coming back into her face and he could hear Finn and Bucky coming back along the side of the house. 

"Stay put. Sleep. That's an order. If I catch you up I'll drag you across my knee and punish you myself." His cock twitched a little at that thought, and her eyes opened wider from surprise... And maybe a little curiosity? He didn't ponder it, instead turning to head downstairs. 

***

"We've got ourselves a bit of a fire-cat here, there's no doubt about that." Finn said shaking his head. 

"She took out four guys and a female. Based on the tracks, they all came at her at once too. Mostly nice efficient kills. She crushed the female's throat and broke one of the guys necks before they could change. She stabbed a tiger in the heart with a dagger, and ripped the other two's throats out. That girl isn't scared of gore thats for sure."

Bucky nodded agreeing with Finn. "She took the time to hide some of the signs of a fight and dragged the bodies down into the valley too. And those guys were  big. Even the female was big."

"So its taken care of?" Marcus asked.

"Yeah mate. We're good." Finn agreed. 

It was a sad fact that deaths happened in their community, and the wolves were more than capable of disguising the evidence and, if need be, making a death look accidental. 

In their human forms shifters looked entirely human - including their blood. If one was found dead it would cause a lot of trouble to Marcus and his wolves. Dead wolves were easily explained in the forest, but exotic large cats would have been much harder.

***

Later that night Marcus entered her room to find her holding a creamy white notebook and looking a little guilty. 

"Before you say anything, you can't prove I got out of bed to get this." She said. 

He sighed drumming his fingers against her chest of drawers. " You're right. I can't prove it, but do I really have to?." 

She moved over a little on the bed and he flopped down gracefully on it, his back against the foot board and his feet crossed on the covers near her hand. 

"Now, you were about to tell me what the hell happened, and how long you knew they were sniffing around." She bit her lip and fiddled with the cover of her diary. 

" And that is an order."

She shot him an angry look and gave him exactly what he had asked for. 

"Sir, I first suspected the Moon pack tigers were in the vicinity when running with you at 0530 hours on Saturday the 11th. I picked up no substantial proof of them until scenting them at roughly 0600 hours this morning..."

"Sabeen don't fuck with me. Just tell me what happened." 

She growled and told him the story in plain words, getting increasingly angry with him, although she had no idea why. 

At the end of her tale he examined her face and nodded slowly. 

"Why didn't you come to me and let me know you thought they would try something?"

"Because I handled it. It was my problem, and I fixed it. Besides I didn't think you'd really appreciate me coming to let you know that - yet again - I was about to cause more trouble than you really want to deal with on top of everything else." She shrugged, a bit like a sullen teenager.

"So instead of alerting me and my wolves to a security threat, you just assumed the cats were here for you and let it all play out until you were left with no choice but to fight and kill them. And on that subject, I would never have expected you to fight shifters you've lived your whole life with. Were you close with any of them?"

Marcus's voice had lost a little of his angry tone as he watched her. Sabeen thought back to Robbie's attempt at raping her and sneered a little. 

"Yeah. Real close." 

Marcus sighed and got up off the bed. Sabeen's heart dropped. Clearly he thought she was a heartless bitch for that, but she had no way of telling him what she really felt. She hadn't had much practice at feelings and sharing in the Moon Pack. 

"Fine we'll talk about it later. If you need anything call. Don't get up. Give your body a chance to heal and there's a chance I'll let you out of your room by Thursday."

He left the room ignoring her cry of "THURSDAY?! Are you fucking kidding?"

Later that night, despite her harsh words to Marcus she cried for the cats she had killed. She hadn't given a flying fuck what happened to Robbie, but she had genuinely cared about Taj. Marcus, in his own room, heard her crying but forced himself to allow her to grieve in private. Instead he paced in his room wondering how to get through to his tiger. 

For some reason when she heard him pacing in his room she cried harder. 

***

After Sabeen had healed sufficiently for Marcus's liking he had begun to take her everywhere with him. She assumed it was a matter of him not trusting her alone anymore. She found it hard spending almost every moment with him, aware of whenever he shook his hair our of his eyes, whenever he smiled at one of his wolves, and whenever he frowned at her. She tried to distance herself from him by talking less and putting a wall of sorts up between them. 

Her crush on him grew to the point she would look longingly at the adjoining door between their rooms and be damn glad that she had moved her drawers to block it. 

She kept telling herself that she just wanted a piece of that gorgeous body, but that explanation didn't seem to mesh with the way her heart leapt and pounded when he smiled at her, and the times when she caught him looking at with something a little like lust. If she just wanted his body then why the heck did her heart get involved, and why did her throat ache when - on the very rare occasions - he looked at her fondly.

It was clear to her that he was in no way as enamored with her as she was with him. Most often she caught him frowning at her. Or he'd be yelling at her for something she had no part in - like when Finn didn't do his share of the dishes. No. Marcus definitely had no soft feelings there for her, so she tried in vain to cut herself off from her soft feelings for him.

***

One grey afternoon she was sitting in the car waiting for Marcus to return from visiting a wolf who had needed to talk to him 'confidentially'. Sabeen had thought it was far more likely that the woman had wanted to 'speak' to him without the bother of her hanging around, but hadn't said anything as he'd ordered her back to the car. It was quite possible he wanted to be alone with her. And that was none of her business - despite her wanting to drive the 4x4 through the woman's oh-so-pretty garden. (Jealous? Her?)

She was staring into space when she saw Bucky, sprinting around the corner in wolf form. He was closely followed by a black truck and looked as relieved as she'd ever seen a wolf when he spotted her exiting the 4x4. 

She left the door open for Bucky to jump in and waited beside the car, ready to jump if they were dumb enough to try ram her. 

The car stopped and an older man stepped out, flanked by a big man. They both smelt like some sort of cat, possibly lions. 

"Sabeen Moon. Now this is a surprise. I heard a rumor that you worked for Marcus now, but I had hoped sincerely that it was not true. Tell him the council will meet him tonight at 8 to discuss payment." 

Before she could think to get a word in they both melted back into the car, and it took off around the corner. 

"What was that all about?" She asked Bucky.

He just sat with his head on his paws in the back seat waiting for Marcus and avoiding her eyes. 

"Alright. Keep your secrets, he shouldn't be too long." she sighed.

When Marcus returned to the car he looked majorly pissed off, and smelt of another woman. She took one look at him and seethed inwardly. 

"Marcus while you were in there having a 'chat'..." he interrupted her

"Its none of your damn business what I was doing in there. Unless Bucky needs to go somewhere we're going home." He growled at her. 

She sighed and pursed her lips. In the back seat Bucky looked back and forwards between the two of them before changing to his human form. It was clear to him that something was going on between them and he would need to pass on the message.

"Marcus, Gregory chased me here. We're meeting the council tonight at 8 and he mentioned that he'd heard the rumor that Sabeen was working for you, but had 'hoped it was not true'. And no I don't need to go anywhere." Bucky said. 

Marcus sighed and swore. 

"I didn't screw her. I walked in there and she jumped me. Just like you knew she would." He said to Sabeen, whose mood lightened a little.

"Bucky, gather the wolves... just the trustworthy ones, get Rob and Finn to help. Anyone breaths a word to Ange and Theo and I'll personally make them into a winter coat for Sabeen."

She snorted. "Sweet. I'll wear the skins of my foes and I'll be a proper barbarian."

***

"Just one more time people..." Finn muttered to himself as they crossed the road.

"We know this is an ambush, why are we doing it?"

Marcus growled low in his throat and no one answered Finn. 

Sabeen shivered a little in her coat. She had dressed light so that she wouldn't impede her movements, but winter was on its way and she could feel it. 

There were ten of them, Marcus's most trusted, and best fighters - her included. Four of the wolves were in their beast forms flanking the group on each side, and the rest were flanking Marcus. She could tell he'd been tempted to have her changed and at their backs, but it was clear she may have to do some talking tonight. 

As to why they were there... It was the same reason they had taken the Theirs job in the first place. When the council calls, its a really bad idea to say no - especially if you want to continue living comfortably. They were just too strong for the wolf pack to turn down, and all had agreed when they were first contacted that this was the best way to be allowed to live in Ashton in peace and comfort. 

Walking into the hall they saw an impressive amount of security men around the walls, almost two for every wolf that was there. In the centre of the room five older men stood behind a table. They smelt of cat, four of them were definitely Jaguar, but there was the same more ambiguous scent from the afternoon. 

"Marcus, my boy. We had no idea you'd bring so many with you. Please have a seat, although some of your wolves may have to remain standing." The oldest, and more important looking cat directed.

Sabeen and Finn stood each side of Marcus and the others took a seat as directed. the Wolves sat fanned out, so each could keep an eye on a different set of guards, leaving the men at the table to Sabeen and Finn to worry about. 

"Now let me know how the mission went." He smiled beguilingly at them. 

"And please don't skip the part where Sabeen joined the fray. We are most anxious to hear that bit."

Marcus told his story plainly, and with very few interruptions. Sabeen didn't listen, she spent the time examining the men behind the table. Gregory listened intently, along with three of the other men at the table, but the last one at the end of the table, a wiry looking guy, nearest her kept glancing her way. He looked annoyed and a little confused. 

The hairs on the back of her neck pricked, and she resorted to taking a quick look at wiry with her mind. She saw he was majorly pissed at her, and concealing something from everyone in the hall. At first she thought it was a weapon, but by concentrating more she saw it was something he treasured, and something he thought she was going to try take away from him. 

Her curiosity peaked and she watched him covertly through the rest of the meeting. She desperately wanted to know what he had, and why he thought she wanted it. She was asked several questions about Anya's parentage, and the meeting wrapped up with the men passing a briefcase to Marcus. 

"Sorry to be cliché but this really is the most convenient was to pay you." Said the man who had welcomed them. 

"Quite alright." Marcus said, nodding farewell to the group. 

The wolves and Sabeen turned towards the door. Sabeen felt a pull in her mind, and she pulled back. Hard. She didn't like things fucking around in her mind. Then she felt a weight in her pocket. 

Looking around nonchalantly she saw that no one would have been close enough to put anything there. Remembering wiry's fear of her taking something from him she kept her chin down and kept walking. They were almost at the door when wiry screeched. 

"She's taken it! The Tiger has it! Stop her!" 

The guards around them reacted instantaneously, closing in on the group. The men at the table all turned towards wiry and asked what was missing. Sabeen and the wolves didn't wait for his answer they attacked, holding the guards at bay while Marcus and the men in human form got out the door and ran to start the cars. 

She yelled for the wolves to leave while she singlehandedly held the guards away from the door. She took a bit of a beating for it, but it was far easier for one person to stop ten from leaving through a single door than it was for ten to squeeze through past her. Besides, it was her they wanted they could damn well have her. One of the guards picked her up by the front of her shirt.

"Stop now. All of you." Gregory yelled.

"Leon, what has she taken? Tell me now or she walks free!" the man thundered. 

"Erm. Nothing. I was mistaken." Leon said glancing at the floor pouting. 

"My apologies to you and the wolves. Please pass on my sincerest regrets for Leon's behavior to Marcus. Leon isn't quite the councillor he used to be. We fear age is catching up with him." 

All four of the men were looking at her with a mix of embarrassment and curiosity. The big man that had picked her up gently set her back on her feet and straightened her coat, following her outside.

"I am sorry miss." He said handing her a tissue and indicating his cheek, meaning he'd probably split the skin just under her eye socket. 

She signed and applied pressure to the cut. "No problem. It would have been a miracle if I'd gotten through this week without some sort of injury." 

He gave her a wholly male once-over that told her in no uncertain terms did he think her cheek detracted from her charms. She winked and headed towards the cars. Marcus glowered at her from the door he was leaning against. 

"You know I was debating going back in there and rescuing you when I realized that you were more than probably have a wonderful time fighting, and If you had stolen anything, then you damn-well deserve to be getting your arse kicked." 

The anger in his voice didn't quite mesh with the way he took the tissue from her and dabbed at her cheek. 

She sighed and explained what had happened leaving out the guard. He was close enough to see that with his own eyes. 

"However we had better get the hell out of here, because I think I do have something of his. I have no idea what it is but apparently its quite the treasure."

Marcus stared at her incredulously before shaking his head and sliding sexily back into the car. The man could make getting into a car look sexual! She really needed to get laid.

***

Back in the house Marcus waited until it was just Rob, Finn and her still left in the lounge before looking at her expectantly. She pulled out glass globe. 

Judging from its size it should really have been much heavier and much more obvious in her pocket. She told the others exactly what she had seen and felt throughout the meeting and they all had a good look at it. 

"I wonder why he thought it was so precious?" She mused looking deep into the glass.

If she looked really hard she could see a faint glimmer, she concentrated on it and looked with her mind to see if she could gain any knowledge of the thing. 

Without warning the globe lit up bright gold. She let go of the thing and tried to look away, but it stayed floating there, pulling at her mind and surrounding her with warmth. It was a surprisingly pleasurable experience, almost like a giant hug, despite the fact that it felt a little like the globe was trying to shoe-horn her into it, mind first. She unconsciously took a step forward. 

Sabeen felt herself falling and tried to pull herself free. The globe didn't let go, it kept hugging and pulling.

Suddenly panicking and seeking escape she sent her other senses out around her until she found an object to grab onto. Her hands making contact she managed to shut her eyes against the globe, and with one last strong tug at her mind it let her go, falling to the floor with a thump. 

Cautiously she opened her eyes, and they fell straight to the globe. Nothing was glowing about it now and it sat unmoving against her foot on the carpet. She let out a shaky breath and then thought to find out what she had grabbed onto.

It was Marcus. She was tightly gripping a forearm that he had offered to her with one hand, and the fabric of his tee-shirt with her other hand. He looked down at her with concern, and braced her there with his other arm over her shoulders. Finn and Rob were standing to either side looking confused.

"Are you ok?" 

"Yeah... I think so. That was just the weirdest sensation. It felt like it was trying to fit me in there. It wasn't a bad thing, but it scared the hell out of me and I panicked." She said, still looking up into his eyes, mesmerized. 

"Are you sure it wasn't trying to hurt you?" He asked.

"Yeah it just..." She realized she was still clinging to him, and disentangled herself. 

"I don't know what it was doing, but it wasn't bad. It was like a giant hug and lots of warmth. And then I was falling, and I panicked." She said, taking a step back from him, and picking up the globe again hesitantly. 

"May I?" Marcus asked. 

"Yeah sure. What's mine is yours, and I don't want that an awful lot at the moment. "

Sabeen handed him the globe and went to sit on the couch. The other men tried looking into it as she had done and didn't get as much as a flicker out of it. Marcus asked her to try again and she flat out refused. 

"Unless thats an order I'm going to bed. I've got no desire to do that again."

Marcus looked hard at her thinking it over, and reluctantly decided against ordering her to do it. She had felt good in his arms, and he wouldn't have minded a repeat. 




A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 02



"No go to bed. Its late."

Finn and Rob both headed for bed, and Marcus locked the globe in his safe. He wondered why Sabeen had grabbed him of all people. Both Rob and Finn had been much closer to her than he had been. She'd even brushed past Finn to get to him, and she hadn't seemed to notice at all. 

He moved to his bedroom to pace and think on it. There was a small frown on his face as he recalled what he had felt looking into the golden glow that she had triggered. 

It had been like a brief look into her mind. He had felt loneliness, anger, and something that made his throat ache, along with a heavy mantle of responsibility. He had seen her surrounded by a wall and she was watching him hungrily from inside it. 

Was it possible she had feelings for him?



A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 03



Sabeen stretched out as much as she could on the office chair. She was slouched way down with her feet up on the desk. Her back was to the globe that Marcus had casually left on a pile of invoice books. Supposedly she was 'guarding' the damn thing while Bucky was away 'shopping.'

The second she had walked into the office she had realised that they were hoping for another reaction from the globe. Marcus had stared hopefully at the thing while Bucky stammered his apology and a weak-ass story about needing her to look after the phones. Coincidentally Marcus felt the need to have her look after the globe, and put her in charge of guarding it and being Buck's pseudo secretary. Rolling her eyes she had flopped grumpily down into the seat with her back to it. She sat in almost exactly the same position 3 hours and a numb arse later.

If they really wanted the damn thing safe they would have locked it up at the house and left her there with it. The only reason they were here were the cameras in the office and the illusion of privacy. She still hadn't puzzled out why Marcus didn't just order her to activate it. Despite her protests, they both knew that the order would have been well within her contract with him. And she would have done it too. She would have looked into those incredibly deep eyes and gone and done something stupid like pouring herself into the globe, and more than probably killing herself in the process.

The bell on the front door dinged and she sat up slightly. She wasn't going to make the effort to take her feet off the desk and pretend she worked there, any idiot with the gift of sight could tell that by looking at her. She was wearing her leather jacket, her hair was curling crazily all over her head, and she was fairly sure her cheek was sporting a fetching bruise from last night. It felt pretty damn tender along with her entire left hand side, and neck. Marcus had even winced at her when she came down for breakfast, and seeing the look she hadn't bothered to look in the mirror, she was guessing this one was way past concealer.

A tall man walked around the corner, stopping just short of the desk. She put her head on the side and scrutinized him. Not a bad body, from what she could tell under the suit. Reasonably tall. Perfectly groomed black hair. On the outside he looked normal, but something wasn't quite... Human about him. When she looked over him with her mind he looked much stronger than her, and very insubstantial. When he turned his head slightly the black hair shimmered silver for a moment before settling again against his head, and his eyes were grey... Not grey-grey, but silver-grey.

Sabeen nodded at the seat on the other side of the desk and waited for him to make the first move. In general, and with surprisingly few words, she could piss off the most gentle tempered person and get into some interesting situations. Rather than get this thing (whatever it was) pissed off with her she'd let it say its piece before politely showing it the door. They regarded each other for a few moments before the man sat and spoke.

"Sabeen, it is nice to meet you, my name is Aaron. I have heard you are an extraordinary woman and by taking the globe, you have proven the rumor to be true." She didn't ask how he knew her name, but decided to correct him on how she came into possession of the globe.

"Um technically I don't think I took the globe, it just happened to find its way into my pocket. Its really more of a coincidence than anything else." Sabeen said, dropping her feet off the table to face him more squarely

"Actually you did take it. That globe needs to be given freely, or taken by extreme force of will. It would not have left the council's building without one of those things, and I find it highly unlikely that Leon would pass one of its treasures onto you, or the Louvre Pack. Council members aren't normally so generous. From what I understand the Council just barely gave the Pack what it agreed to pay for the small slaughter they embarked on." Aaron looked at her with a calculating smile.

Actually Sabeen had no idea, having not been paying any attention in the meeting. She assumed that it was true though, and probably because she had insisted on saving Anya.

She shrugged "Ok so I 'took' it. More important, I think, is the fact that you want it. You do want the globe right? That's why you're here?"Sabeen asked.

"Correct I need that globe. And I will not take it off you, you are free to decide whether to give it to me, or not. I need this globe to free one of my kind from slavery to one of the members of the council. And now a small lesson, if you'll indulge me." Aaron paused, looking for her approval.

"My kind are excellent killers, it is what we do, and we do it well. As a kind of a check on the power, when young, we are fairly easy to entrap into service and it is near impossible to take back our freedom. Much like the situation you find yourself in now, correct?" Sabeen raised an eyebrow silently and waited for him to continue.

"When under the compulsion of another's will, we have a certain quota of kills, if we exceed that then we forfeit the right to hold substantial forms. We become more like ghosts than people, and eventually we will cease to exist. For decades we have been entrapped, used as weapons and then left to die a very lonely death, it is a high price for some very powerful and intoxicating skills. 

"I'm trying to free a young woman from her service. She has been taken dangerously close to the edge of her quota, and I can think of no other way to free her." 

Aaron's eyes cut to the globe and the false seeming persona dropped from his eyes. He leaned forward and met her eyes, seeming much younger and more vulnerable. Sabeen wondered for a second whether there was more to the relationship than what he implied.  

"She needs this globe to free herself, and even then it will not be an easy thing."

Sabeen thought for a moment. "What are the the risks here? You said yourself killing is an intoxicating experience."

"She will need help when she is free, a place to live, money, and it can take time to adjust. She will be free from her quota. I will take her under my wing, and limit any damage she may cause to those around her."

Sabeen picked up the globe, wincing as it shone gold and pulled a little at her again. "Aaron, the globe is yours in exchange for the promise that you will appoint yourself her guardian, for her protection, and more importantly the protection of those around her." The gold died to a cool silver as she handed it over the desk to him.

"Thank you Sabeen, and in exchange for your time I have a very small parting gift for you." He reached across the table and laid his hand for a moment against her cheek.

She tried hard not to squirm back out of his reach and had only just managed to squash the instinct before he pulled his hand back. A large bruise appeared on his cheek. It faded almost the moment she spotted it and he turned to leave with a smile. "Thanks again. Good luck with Louvre, he's going to be annoyed."

Sabeen sighed and slouched back down in the chair, putting her feet back up on the desk. Like Marcus was ever happy. It seems like he was constantly being hit with the grumpy stick.

Five minutes later she was woken from her nap by having her feet roughly pushed off the desk by Marcus. Finn swung around the corner frowning and Bucky stood back in the corner away from the more senior wolves.

"You gave him the globe. We don't even know what he hell it is, and you just gave it to him. Why?!" Marcus yelled.

"Because he asked nicely." She said calmly.

"Never mind we'll look at the tapes and find out for ourselves. You are answerable to me. I am your damn Master, and you are answerable to me! You directly disobeyed me. Why didn't you call me? And you let him grab you, no questions asked. He could have been doing anything. You don't even know what the hell that thing was, or how much trouble you were in." He looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

"Actually, I didn't directly disobey you. You told me to look after it. And I did. And I know exactly how much trouble I was in. You're forgetting that I've lived my entire life with people like that, and if I couldn't read a situation like that and take the right action then I would have been dead 10 years ago." 

She stood up and walked towards the door.

"If that's all  Master then I'll be heading home now."

Marcus grabbed her arm as she walked past. "No that is not all. You're in trouble. Royce will keep sending his hunters after you until you're dead. You defied him, and he's not going to let it go, you need to take better care of yourself." 

He brushed his thumb over her cheek, where the bruise had been. Sabeen's breath caught and she froze in her attempt to put some distance between them.

"You exchanged your life willingly for the life of that baby's and you don't get the option of whether you live or die any more. I say you live, and start taking better care of yourself. And you will. You gave your word. Willingly." 

And she could breath again. 

He wasn't doing this because he cared. He was angry because she was damaging his property... Marcus let go of her arm and turned his back to her. 

Before she got out the door he was issuing orders to Finn to track down Aaron and retrieve the globe. Everyone knew there was no way in hell they would get the globe back.

***

She headed back to the house through the centre of the town and back up onto the highway. About 1/2 an hour into the trek she got the feeling she was being followed. Chances were it was a few of the wolves sent by Marcus to keep an eye on her. Higher chances were that it was one of her fathers' cats, sent to finish Robbie and Taj's job.

Sabeen cut through the woods. She wanted to look like she was taking a short cut. She needed to be a good distance from the road in case it ended in a confrontation. The last thing anyone needed was a concerned citizen noticing two escaped zoo animals brawling in the open. Marcus would probably order her to go play kitty-cat at the zoo for the rest of her life just to keep her out of his hair.

Once she had made it a good distance into the forest the cat (she was now sure it was a cat) stopped concealing its movements. She walked a little further to a small clearing and waited for her stalker to appear. A few seconds later her brother, in his tiger form, burst into the clearing.

"Now that's disappointing, no war party this time?" She quipped.

He growled and half changed back to his human form. "He's impressed that you held off the others and is willing to give you another chance. If not, I'm here to kill you. Royce thinks that you won't fight me."

"Royce is right. I'm not going to fight you." Sabeen said dropping her jacket to the ground.

"Why the hell not?!" Adam asked, changing the rest of the way back to his human form. Neither of them paid any attention to the fact that he was naked. 

"Because I didn't give up my dysfunctional-ass life and family, to save your daughter, only to go and kill her only remaining partially sane family member. I could kill any of them without a thought, but you're my family, and I can't have that hanging over my head. I've got too much there already, and you might tip the balance."

"I have to either bring you home, or bring home your head. Those are my options. I can't just walk away, Royce will set the Pack on me, and then what the hell is Anya going to do?" Michael said changing a little back again. He thought he had her.

"You wouldn't let that happen idiot. And neither would I." She threw herself into her change ripping off her clothes as her body stretched beneath them.

When she was done she stood there looking at him. He had shifted the rest of the way too, and they matched colours almost perfectly. In her mind she mapped the fight, knowing that she would have to be crafty to get the outcome he needed. And then she charged.

She caught him a little off guard, like she knew she would. He ducked to the side with the softer landing, she sprung sideways after him, tumbling him through the leaves easily until he was in position for her next strike. She extended her claws fully for the first time, and swiped him quickly across his back. The cut was deep enough to hurt and bleed impressively, he'd have an awesome scar, but it was nowhere near as life threatening as everyone would think. She pirouetted on the spot to meet his inevitable charge, and split seconds before their impact she hesitated, lifting her head slightly and giving him a clear shot at her throat.

***

Adam was so caught up in his fight that he never noticed her paving the way for his victory, he could feel the fur of her throat on his muzzle and was about to engage his jaws when he was bulldozed heavily into the ground to the right of Sabeen. For a moment all he could see were spots before he slowly came into the realization that he was surrounded by wolves.

Marcus body-checked Sabeen, stopping her from moving to her brothers aid. He looked her in the eye and the very clear message passed from the wolf to the tiger. 'Stay clear.' There was a tense moment before Sabeen dropped her head slightly in submission, and Marcus went to deal with her brother. 

She paced up and down trying to see through the screen of snarling wolves. It was an unsuccessful effort, and she could only use her imagination as to what was going on in there. Would Marcus kill Adam? 

There was yelping from her brother, and she smelled fresh blood. A frisson of excitement went through the wolves, and they pressed forward. She sunk down to the ground, her head low, and her claws digging in to the dirt. Then Marcus spoke.

"Get the hell out of my territory cat. Moon sends us anymore chew toys and we're going to start taking him up on the offer. You'd do much better to take your kid and leave that pack. Its not a healthy one. Go somewhere like.. Oh I dunno... Paradise City." 

The Wolves parted and Adam limped out, looking back at her once before heading back the way they had come. Several wolves, Theo and Ange included, turned as if to head after him. Marcus circled the group, half changed and growling.

"No! He leaves my territory unharmed."

There were some barely disguised growls before one by one the wolves turned to head home. Finally it was just Theo and Marcus facing off, Ange had backed off and hopped from paw to paw in indecision.

"Go home Theo. I run this pack." Marcus's voice was gravelly, far more beast than man.

With a final lip curl Theo turned tail and left, snapping viciously at Ange who followed. Sabeen had watched the entire spectacle from the ground. If she had drawn attention to herself it would have been perceived as an attempt to back Marcus up. He had to keep control of his Pack through his strength alone to be considered a strong leader. But she did want to get up, she desperately wanted to back him up, it would have killed her to see him lose the pack to Theo. 

Who was she kidding. She was infatuated with the damn dog and she wasn't kidding herself one bit.

He turned to her with barely controlled rage, the dirty look he gave her was enough to stop her thoughts in their tracks. "Go home. I'll deal with you later."

***

Sometime after midnight she woke to the sound of her door shutting. In the dark and disoriented she forgot where she was and sat up snarling.

"Robbie."

Her bed dipped in the centre, a hand caught her fist as she wildly hooked in the direction she thought he man was.

"No, but interesting." 

It was Marcus's voice. She relaxed and tugged her hand back, moving further over the bed to give him room.

"Your brother is safe. The wolves are at peace, although I did have to chase off Theo again. I'm going to need to put him back into his place again. And soon." Marcus sighed pushing his hair back out of his eyes. 

"We need to talk about this agreement Sabeen. You're not listening to me, and I have no intention of putting you into the kinds of danger you seem to be so eager to throw yourself at."

"Trust me, I'm not so eager to throw myself into danger. I can handle the cats. The globe and Aaron was a situation that just came up. I'm not going to apologise for it. I used my head, because I'm assuming you don't want a puppet here. I work for you, you have ALL my skills at your disposal. Not just the running and jumping and killing ones." She sighed and looked down at the bed.

"I am good at those, but that's not all I can do. I have a brain too."

"I understand that you're used to making judgement calls like you did with the globe. That's fine. I was angry, because once again, I was uninformed, and you were in danger. You should have told me the cats were sniffing around my territory for you. You should have told me that Theo was making you uncomfortable, and you should have told me about this." He held up the diary that she had been writing in since she arrived.

"Where the hell did you get that?!" She was burning with embarrassment. "That's a diary asshole, Yes I'm in your service, but you are damn well mistaken if you think I have to let you read my diary."

Oh God! she thought to herself. She sounded like a 12 year old mooning over her first crush in that stupid thing. She knew it was a bad idea, but here it was, the great Sabeen Moon, brought down to look like a lovestruck kitten over a freaking diary. The only thing she could do was hope like hell he hadn't read it and burn the thing before she could embarrass herself any further.

"I'm not talking about the fact that you keep a diary, although that is a little improbable sounding when you think about the fact that I'm talking about Sabeen Moon, legendary fighter. I'm talking about whats in the diary Sabeen. 

"You're keeping all this stuff to yourself, and its going to get one, or both of us hurt. Technically you haven't put yourself in danger, but once again, I'm uninformed. Why didn't you say anything?"

Crap. He had read it.

"Because you didn't need to know that I had a bit of a crush on you. It doesn't change anything. And Its not going to. Remember the deal - I choose who I sleep with." 

Marcus turned towards her. Grabbing her wrists and taking her entirely by surprise he leaned forward and brushed his lips lightly against hers. He released her and stood back out of reach. 

"Get some sleep."

He left using the door between their rooms, and only then did she notice that he'd moved the drawers back into their original spot. And he'd taken the diary.

***

Despite getting very little sleep that night Sabeen's morning ritual remained the same. She woke at 4.50 am exactly and lay there wide awake for as long as she could stand not getting up. At 5.00 am she exploded out of bed, thumping her feet on the floor and tripping over the bra she had worn the day before. 

She tugged on her running gear, tripping over her shoes twice in her haste to get them on. When she was ready she left her room, whacking her knee on exactly the same spot on her door frame as she did every morning. She stumbled down he stairs muttering curse words. 

She grabbed a drink of water, smashing the glass when it slipped through her fingers (the fourth since she'd moved in - the guys had all started wearing shoes in the kitchen just in case). She swept it up, wrapping it in yesterdays newspaper and headed out the door. 

Leaning against the balcony was Marcus. His head was tilted forward and his hair fell forward into his eyes. He grinned down at her, making her knees weak and her throat ache a little. 

"Another glass huh?"

She ignored him and they set off into the woods. They spent 10 minutes running slowly, and then she set a blistering pace, trying to work off her extra energy. She chose a nice wide path that they'd been down frequently. 




A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 03



When she was finally feeling more relaxed she slowed her pace and let Marcus take over for the run home. They'd developed a routine of swapping the lead runner halfway though the work out to add a bit of variety. 

He lead them through a network of small, infrequently used, paths that eventually emerged back into the back yard. Marcus slowed to a stop just before exiting the cover of the trees. Sabeen was still running, and in her typical morning stupor didn't notice. That is she didn't notice until Marcus grabbed her arm, and spun her into a tree, pinning her there with his body. 

"What the hell Marcus?" She growled, scenting the air and not wanting to attack just in case he had a valid reason. 

He didn't answer her, instead shaking the hair out of his eyes and sliding his mouth over hers. She protested, trying to draw her head back. Marcus released her hands, and slip them up her body to tangle them in her hair. This was what her body had been dreaming about for months, and she could feel herself growing aroused. 

Marcus deepened the kiss, lapping at her lower lip until she allowed him access to her mouth. Their tongues meet hesitantly. She whimpered, sliding her hands up his back and clutching him tentatively to herself.

Marcus groaned as she relaxed into the kiss and moved his body along her. His chest pressed against her breasts. He was thigh to thigh, belly to belly with her and she could feel his arousal pressing heavily into her lower stomach. She desperately wanted to be taller - for the first time in her life - so that she could feel it where she needed it. 

They drew slowly away from each other, Marcus dropping tender kisses on her lips. He looked deep into her eyes and marveled at the lack of color in them - they were true stormy grey. 

He felt the way she shakily drew in a breath against him and then how her face closed minutely against him. She stiffened slightly and he drew away from her before she became uncomfortable and lashed out. 

Sabeen blushed, wondering why she had let him kiss her like that. She watched warily as Marcus turned back onto the path and headed for the house. 

"You need to stretch before you get into the shower after that run." He said meeting her eyes warmly. 

"And don't beat yourself up over it. You had an excuse, I forced you." 

***

She spent the day avoiding Marcus and watching disney movies in the rec-room with Rob. He noticed her quiet mood and, after a few gentle questions, let her be. Finn got back a little after five and Rob let him know that she probably wasn't feeling too great before he left, hoping that the younger wolf would be able to talk to her. 

Finn brought a hip flask of scotch and a bowl of popcorn into the lounge, popping Beauty and the Beast into the DVD player before flopping down onto the couch next to her. The liquor and popcorn were an odd combination but he had a feeling that they were what she needed. Plus drinking out of a hip flask was just cool.

"So how does the crush on Marcus go?" he enquired passing the alcohol and taking a handful of popcorn. 

She took a swig of scotch and rolled her eyes at him. "How do you know its that? I could be worried about my brother and Anya."

"You're not, he's old enough and smart enough to look after himself. And I've seen you mooning over Marcus."

He stole the hip flask back from her and took a sip himself. She drew her knees up under her chin and sighed. 

"Is it that obvious?"

"Nah babe, only to someone who knows the both of you. Its my job to notice these things."

He waited for her to say something to break the silence, and when she didn't he continued. 

"You're not the only one. He wants you, and he's shit-scared of hurting you. You have his attention, and his affection more than any other woman I've ever seen."

Sabeen swallowed and she felt tears behind her eyes. 

"So I'm in love with the guy. I'm so fucking far out of my depth here."

Finn wrapped his arms around her and pulled her half onto his lap. She lay there in his arms and fought the tears back. 

"What if it goes wrong and we end up hating each other and bound together like this forever? He's not going to let me just leave. I'm a pretty valuable addition to his pack."

Finn grinned "What if it goes right?" 

He hugged her for another moment and let her go, blowing a raspberry on her cheek. 

"Turn it up we're going to miss the song with all the plates and stuff by the candlestick man."



A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 04



Sabeen waited until midnight for Marcus to come home, and when he didn't she decided to cut her losses and go to bed. She felt like she had far too much energy to sleep and so instead she tidied her room, and re-folded most of the clothes in her drawers. She checked under her drawers for her diary, but apparently Marcus still had it.

She heard Marcus come home a little before two. She stood in the centre of the room silently. One part of her mind desperately wanted to make a noise so that he knew she was there, but the other half wanted to stay fixed to the spot, what if he realized she was there?

Marcus walked up the stairs and paused at her door, hoping to hear her still up. He'd had a hell of a night, almost half the pack seemed to be howling for his blood and he had no idea how to assure them that he was the right leader.

He heard no noise from Sabeen so carried on to the bathroom to clean the few grazes he had received from an overly pissed off male. It had been necessary to force the wolf to show his belly in submission to send a message to his pack. Marcus hated forcing it on the wolves, and so didn't insist on it as much as he probably should as their leader. 

Sabeen had crawled into bed and listened as Marcus went about his business and slept. She had been sitting listening to nothing for a full hour, wrestling with herself. 

The door was just there and Finns words kept echoing in her head. What if it goes right? She would kick herself if she missed her chance with Marcus. He was a desirable man, and his pack was falling apart. He would be forced to choose a mate, and soon, to quiet the traditionalists down. She snarled at the thought of another woman wrapped around him.

"Over my dead body.."

Sabeen made up her mind and slipped out of bed. She took a quick look down at herself and debated covering up. She had a bad habit of just stripping down to her underwear and falling asleep in it. She hated sleeping in pajamas, and being naked felt.. Too naked. Tonight she was wearing a pretty black and pink pinstripe set, and since Marcus had seen her naked countless times she figured that it was almost modest under the circumstances. 

She slipped through the door and took a quick peek around his room. It was huge, with the same color dark wood floors and furniture that hers had. He had a big desk and old style chaise lounge on her side of the room, and his bed was on the far wall.

But by far her favorite feature was the roof. Marcus had stuck hundreds of glow in the dark stars to his ceiling and thy shone like the night sky itself. She would bet that during the day no-one would even be able to tell they were up there because of the high roof, but at night when he was alone he would have all these stars to himself. 

She walked softly to the edge of his bed, and looked down on him sleeping. His hair was over his face again, and the shadows highlighted his strong stubborn mouth and angled jaw. She was still admiring the view when Marcus woke. 

He grabbed her quicker than lightning, dragged her onto the bed, rolled himself onto her, pinned her hands, and bared his teeth, growling loudly. His muzzle grew a little and she saw his wolf teeth appear before he recognized her. 

As soon as Marcus realized he had grabbed Sabeen he reversed his change and levered some of his weight off her. 

"Thank god you're here. I really needed to see you tonight." He whispered into her ear.

Sabeen was worried until he started nibbling a path from her ear to her mouth making her shiver and break out in goose-bumps. He slept naked, and the feeling of skin on skin was delicious. 

"I love the stars. I think they're gorgeous." 

Marcus raised his head a little higher and drowned himself in her eyes. 

"I used to hate the dark as a kid and so Finn brought me glow in the dark stars. We put them up and I could make it through the night without scaring myself silly. 

"As soon as I was old enough to change the fear went away - there's not much you can be afraid of when you're the baddest thing in the forest. I kept the stars because they make me happy." He said. 

She reached up and placed light kisses over each of his eyes and mouth. Marcus drew in a breath and let it out shakily.

"I want you, but its your decision to make..."

She licked her lips and wriggled a little under him.

"The decisions already made. I didn't come in here to bait the wolf." She looked down for a moment.

"But, um, is this just sex? If it is, I'm fine with it. I just don't want to misunderstand it."

Marcus reached down tipping her chin up. 

"Its not just sex Sabeen. I'm in love with you. I think I have been ever since I cleaned you up back in that motel. Don't get all embarrassed either. 

"Saving the baby showed me how noble you were, crying for Marie proved that you cared, staying true to your deal with me took courage, but you became human to me in that motel. Plus you slept on me afterwards wearing almost nothing - that helped with the whole falling in love with you thing." He joked. 

Sabeen dragged his face down to hers and kissed him deeply, sliding her tongue over his. Marcus rolled over, taking her with him. She ended up sitting on him, and he slid his hands up her body, undoing her bra and freeing her breasts.

She groaned and moved her hips back a little. She could feel his cock standing to attention against her arse cheeks. Marcus flexed his hips a little, enjoying the sensation, and reached up to cup her breasts, tweaking at the nipples.

"Mmm. Do that again" she swooned. 

Marcus tweaked them a little harder, twisting the nipples and massaging the rest of her with the palms of his hands. He did it a few more times working her up more, and pinching harder until she was sighing with the pain and sliding her panty-clad pussy against him. He could smell the arousal on her and wanted to taste.

He encouraged her to take off the underwear, and with a little wriggling had her positioned over his tongue. Sliding two fingers achingly slowly up her thigh, he used them to spread her lips. It felt like she was being peeled open, and she grabbed the headboard for support. Then his tongue was on her. Small tentative laps around her entrance, punctuated with small licks up towards her clit. 

"Oh, fuck!" She hissed gripping the headboard harder.

When he finally dragged his tongue along her clit she whimpered and sat a little lower on her heels. Marcus moved his fingers to strum over her clit gently from both sides and then penetrated her with his tongue. 

"More..." she breathed weakly, her hips thrusting against his hand and mouth. Marcus obliged by changing a little, and lengthening his tongue to its full wolf size. She keened above him as he slipped more inside of her, lapping at the sensitive walls like butterfly wings. When he finally worked his tongue to its full limits he was lapping at her cervix, and Sabeen was having full stomach convolutions.

He felt her tighten up, and freeze for a moment right as her climax hit her, and then her walls were convulsing around him, and she was gently nudging his hand away from her sensitive clit. She knelt there for a few seconds collecting herself. Marcus withdrew his tongue, changing it back and enjoying the little whimpers she made as she rippled around it. 

A little more wriggling and she was back sitting with her ass cheeks against his cock, which twitched and leaked against her. 

"Do you need a little time?" He asked. 

"Nope... Sex after an orgasm feels unbelievably good for me..." she reassured him.

"Thank god." He groaned. 

Reaching under his bed he grabbed a condom from a basket there, and rolled it on. Then lifting her hips he slammed himself into Sabeen, shouting out as his cock was eloped in her slippery warmth.

She rode him for a moment or two until he grabbed her to him and rolled. They ended up lying sideways facing each other. She slung a leg over his hip and he pulled her close, rocking into her while kissing her deeply.

Marcus held her there with a hand, while the other slid down her knee and over her thigh. Her leg, hooked over Marcus's hip, left her feeling wide open against him, and his fingers inching between their bodies towards her centre felt surprisingly naughty. 

Being unable to close her legs against his thrusting and fingering felt lewd. She embraced the feeling, biting into Marcus's shoulder gently to muffle her groans. Then Marcus trailed his wet fingers over her hip and across her buttocks. She gasped when he finally delved between them, first rimming her with a finger or two, and then slowly skewering her onto a finger. The sensations of being thrust into in both areas sent her convulsing against him in another orgasm.

Marcus felt her tighten around his cock, and pulsate around his finger and he knew he didn't have long to last. He withdrew his finger from her arse, and rolled her one more time. This time he wanted to be on top.

He didn't give her any chance of a recovery. His thrusts were deep and hard. He forced his cock over and over again into her tight channel and they both cried out at the rough pleasure of it. He arched into her and panted as he felt his balls tightening. When he came he made a sound between a man yelling and a wolf howling at the moon. Sabeen's pussy tightened and then gushed around him one last time. 

They both collapsed back onto the mattress panting and sweating. He had enough presence of mind to remove the condom and drop it in the bin beside his bed before she crawled on top of him and they slept. 

***

At exactly 4.50 am the next morning, after less than an hours sleep Sabeen was awake. She lay for a few moments until, though exhausted, she didn't think she could stay in bed any longer. At 5.00 am she sat up and thumped out of bed, stubbing her toe against Marcus's rubbish bin. Marcus grumbled at her and covered his ears with his duvet. 

He looked out at her blearily before mumbling "seriously?"

She walked to her room, bouncing off the door-frame once, and dressed in her running gear. Heading downstairs she managed to avoid whacking her knee, but instead got her subbed toe on the banister of the stairs before setting off on her run.

***

Later that day Marcus came out of his office and they shared lunch with Finn, who grinned smugly at them. 

"Oh come on... I totally heard you... And first off, can we get some noise insulators here? Not that you two aren't hot to listen to, but its a little cruel rubbing my nose in the fact that I'm not getting any and my hair flicking oaf of a mate over there is."

Marcus raised an eyebrow and Sabeen choked a little on her salad. 

"Go find a little hot thing of your own Finn, none of the females would turn you down.. Not when you live so close to this perfect body." Marcus joked.

Finn scrunched up his nose at the thought.

"No thanks, I'm not interested in any of the outright bitches that this pack seems to cultivate. The woman I want is taken anyway" He winked amicably at Sabeen. 

"Its going to take a very special women to live up to her in my eyes." 

"What time are we leaving for Jerry and Poppy's wedding?" Finn asked checking his watch.

Sabeen cursed inwardly. She'd forgotten about the damn wedding. She was going to have to find a pretty dress or something in the next hour or two, and make herself look presentable.

"Um on that.. I need the car keys, and your credit card." Sabeen told Marcus.

He handed them over willingly as Finn looked at her ripped jeans and tie-dyed tight white and green business shirt.

"You do know the wedding will require something girly... And not ripped. Or Leather. Black and revealing is probably a bad idea too." Finn said.

"I know how to do the girl thing Finn. Its just much easier not to." She reassured him.

***

She headed straight to town, spending only ten minutes looking at the racks in her favorite shop before she found the perfect dress. She paid for it without trying it on and left the store. One quick stop at the jewelers for a gorgeous pair of sparkly earrings and a matching delicate silver bracelet and she was done.

Poppy had insisted on a late-night, moon-lit wedding, and the guests had all been asked to dress formally. The guys had all rented Tuxedo's and the women had all been looking for the perfect dress for months. Having a human and wolf celebration was a bit of a logistical nightmare, so the reception was going to be closed at 11 and the wolves and Sabeen would retire into the forest for a pack run.

Sabeen spent an hour in the bathroom perfecting her makeup and hair, smoky dark eyes and peachy pink kissable lips with artfully tousled and tamed hair. At the end of her labour she stood back and inspected her work. Not bad at all.

"I'd fuck me." She grinned.

In her room she slipped into her jewelry and gown. It was long and slinky, with a high neckline, and delicate straps, that crisscrossed over her shoulders and down the plunging back. The smokey-blue color set off her eyes, and the dress itself hugged her curves and showed off her toned back. She hoped that there weren't too many scars on show as she wandered down to the kitchen to snack on potato chips.

Finn and Marcus were upstairs fighting over who had use of the bathroom first. Bucky was getting ready at Rob's place, and she wondered again if there was anything more to their friendship. Rob was certainly very protective of Bucky, but that didn't necessarily mean they were anything more than good friends.

Finn emerged first, looking surprisingly grown-up in his tux. She wolf whistled, startling him a little.

"Would you look at that. You are a girl!" Finn joked, and spun her around to take a good look.

He laughed when he saw the plunging back on her dress and remarked that he thought she'd taken his advice for once and gone with a less revealing dress.

"It works though, and I'm pretty sure you're going to outclass quite a few of the lady wolves tonight... Although what are you going to do if you end up brawling? - Because inevitably you do end up brawling..."

She shrugged casually "If there's a fight, I'll fight. Very little stands in between me and a good brawl Finn, I think we all know that..."

"Actually since I paid for the dress, you either hand it to me before jumping into the fray, or you stay clear like a good little kitty-cat." Marcus said from the doorway.

He gave Sabeen an appreciative once over Finn rolled his eyes and headed for the door. They'd all decided to walk to the park, as they would just be running home as wolves anyway. Poppy had arranged for a couple of cars to courier discarded clothes back to the houses at a later date.

As soon as Finn had gone Marcus stalked across the kitchen for a closer look. Once he was done feasting his eyes and Sabeen was done preening, she took a step closer and kissed him. Marcus groaned and slid his hands over her hips. When he lifted her she wrapped her legs around his butt, and her arms around his neck. 

"Enough of that or we'll never get out the door." Marcus let her slide down his body.

He grabbed his coat, and handed her a soft grey wrap that complemented her dress perfectly. Sabeen ran her fingers over it and hugged him. She let him settle it over her shoulders before sashaying out the door feeling very tigerish.

***

Poppy had had a large park on the edge of the forest decked out in fairy lights. It looked stunning, and there were a number of guests milling around and being shown to their seats. 

Most of the wolves came to welcome them and have a chat before the ushers began seating people. Marcus and Sabeen were lead to the front row of seats to sit beside Poppy's mother, who they made polite small talk with.

Marcus had refused Jerry's offer to be his best man. It was traditional that the leader of the pack would take that position, with the head bitch standing as the maid of honour. Marcus preferred to allow his wolves to have their friends and family beside them on their wedding day.

Sabeen was beginning to get uneasy. The band was playing and there was plenty of chatter amongst both the humans and the wolves, but something didn't feel quite right. The hairs on the back of her neck were standing up, but as far as she could tell there was no reason for it.

"Marcus.." Sabeen started.

"I know. Just relax. Nothings going to happen until after 11." Marcus murmured.

Theo and Ange arrived, and were seated on the opposite side to Marcus and Sabeen, and a few rows back. They were both welcomed by a large number of the pack and a fair few of them seated themselves on Theo's side of the aisle. Looking around Sabeen realized that Marcus's supporters were all sitting on their side. 

She raised an eyebrow at Finn Rob and Bucky who were all seated just behind Marcus and her. Finn winked and Rob indicated that the ceremony was about to start.

The last of the guests took their seats, and the music dimmed. Jerry and his groomsmen all emerged from the woods and then after a few beats the wedding song started up and Poppy and her bridesmaids emerged from another section of forest accompanied by her father. 

***

The ceremony had been a pretty traditional one, and Sabeen had been bored silly. She really didn't get the whole marriage thing. A lifemate was a lifemate, why bother with a silly human tradition just for the sake of 'fitting in'

Marcus had grabbed one of her hands when she had begun to fidget, and kept her spellbound until the end by tracing patterns and pictures onto the palm of her hand.

There were speeches and then the bride and groom had their first dance. Marcus raised an eyebrow at her and asked her to dance. After a little hesitation she slipped her hand into his, and they joined the couple on the soft patch of grass that had been designated as the dance floor. 

As leader of the pack it was traditional for him to join them first on the dance floor, and it was his one bow to the Shifter traditions within the wedding. Sabeen was a little stiff in his arms as he lead her out, and so he figured that she probably hadn't waltzed before. 

Positioning himself in front of her he eased her through the first couple of steps gracefully, and kept up a quiet commentary in her ear.

"You're doing great, just relax into me and let me lead."

Sabeen listened to him and relaxed into his body. Marcus was an excellent dancer and was probably making her look like a pro. It was unsettling to have as many eyes on her as she did, but the soft rumble of Marcus's voice in her ears went a long way to making her forget. 

The pack stood back out of respect before slowly filtering onto the dance floor. Sabeen didn't miss the significance when Rob extended his arm to Bucky. It was more than friendship and Sabeen couldn't have been more happy for her two friends.

***

At eleven the last of the humans were just leaving the park, and the last of the wolves were discretely disappearing into the forest. Sabeen and Marcus disrobed and placed their belongings into a plastic case with Finn, Bucky and Rob. 

The case was put in a pile marked to be delivered to Marcus's house the next day and they all fanned out to change in privacy. 

Sabeen didn't wander far from Marcus, feeling the tension in the air. She was first changed, and was scouting the surrounding areas and mapping out where each of the wolves were when Marcus and the others emerged from the shrub. 

Marcus's supporters all made a point of sticking close to the group as they assembled. Theo and Ange arrived with a much bigger group that stuck close to them, and in the middle of the groups were some confused wolves that didn't quite realize what was happening. 

Marcus lead the pack at breakneck speed to a clearing they all knew well, deep into the forest. The pack was excited to be running together again and even through the tension the wolves howled at the moon, and yipped their joy to be running together.




A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 04



***

In the clearing the wolves stopped suddenly, forming a loose ring around Marcus and Theo. The tension in the air was palpable, and the night around them was silent.

Theo knew this was his moment. He leapt at Marcus, issuing a challenge and demanding he submit to him. Marcus gave a deep wolfy chuff, as if he were laughing, and stepped aside easily avoiding Theo's leap. 

The pack fell silent and tension rippled through the night. 

No one was permitted to intervene as the two wolves fought it out. The winner was the wolf left standing, and in most cases the winning wolf would kill the loser, to discourage any other attempts at taking his power. 

Marcus and Theo circled each other stiffly, before suddenly exploding into a ball of rabidly growling fur. The battle was violent, and made most of the wolves cringe to see it. Ange didn't cringe at all, she took the entire thing in grinning a wide, toothy grin and looked pleased with herself. 

Theo separated from the initial attack first, wheeling off to run a short distance. He drew Marcus with him and then whirled, zigzagging back towards the lighter colored wolf, hoping to take him by surprise. 

Marcus swung his body out of reach and easily batted down Theo's snarling muzzle with his two front paws. Darting in from the side Marcus bulldozed Theo back a few meters, scattering a few unwary wolves on his way.

Though the wolves looked evenly matched, Theo's fight was over swiftly. Marcus took him down with powerful blows, and some well placed bites, in some cases crushing bones with their force. Finally Theo was lying in a bloody mess at Marcus's feet. Marcus hadn't killed him, and wasn't going to. 

He was done with it all. 

The wolves had forgotten Marcus's fighting prowess through years of taking him for granted as leader. The men and women who had supported Theo and Ange pinned their ears back against their scalps and their tails between their legs. When Marcus roared his victory the entire pack, bar one wolf and one tiger, dropped to the ground and showed their belly's in respect and in some cases - stone cold fear. 

Ange was utterly confused by the turn of events, Theo was defeated?! She refused to bow to Marcus. His back was turned to her and she decided to take matters into her own hands. 

If Theo couldn't take the Pack fairly, then she would take it by force. Why wait for a man to do it when she could just as easily lead it herself

Sabeen saw Ange leap, and let out a roar of anger. Without thinking she gathered herself and launched into the air, intercepting the woman and slamming her into the ground hard. 

Marcus changed back into his human form and most of the pack followed him, changing where they knelt. 

"Leave the bitch, Sabeen, I couldn't care less about her fate."

Marcus gently shoved the tiger aside, and looked down on the gasping Ange. The force of Sabeen's body hitting her had startled her out of her wolf form, and back into her human one. 

Marcus turned as Sabeen finished changing back. Her hair was wild around her face and strands were plastered to her neck and face. The makeup around her eyes was dark and wild looking. Her body was naked, long and muscled lightly. She was streaked with dirt and sweat. And she looked beautiful to him, just like a barbarian queen. 

He raked his eyes over her one more time, and turned to look over his pack. With a sigh he realized that he was over this. 

"We were a strong pack. We were one of the strongest in Dartmouth, and look at us!" He roared.

"Infighting and stupid rifts have ripped us apart. I have not been the best leader for you over this past year. You have needed a heavier hand than I care to give. But it is an insult to me and to yourselves that you chose that as your future leader!" 

He turned to Theo and Ange both cowering together on the dirt. 

"I'm done with this. I have no desire to stay and watch you destroy yourselves further. However I recommend you look harder within your ranks than that for your leader.

"I have no desire to stay, but I also do not wish to watch you all die into the night. You are a strong pack, in the best location, and you all deserve better."

With that Marcus turned to Sabeen. She stepped closer waiting for his orders, and wondered with a little thrill of excitement where they would end up next. 

"Sabeen. Thank you for everything. You've served me well but I can't keep you like this. You're free." He turned to leave.

Sabeen's heart crashed down to her feet. He was freeing her. Where the hell was she supposed to go now? Suddenly anger engulfed her. He loved her. He had told her that himself, and now he was prepared to break both their hearts for the sake of his stupid conscience. 

"Idiot." She said.

Marcus turned back to her in surprise. "Me?"

"Yes you, idiot! You can't just free me and expect me to disappear off into the night." She stalked towards him, anger in every line of her body. 

"I'm in love with you fool. I'm your lifemate, and I'm not letting you get away. You shouldn't be allowing me to get away either. Unless you were lying about your feelings for me last night?" Her voice softened and she tilted her head on the side, waiting for her answer.

Marcus didn't answer her. He closed the distance between them and gathered her to him, kissing her violently. When he was done he drew back looking her deep in the eyes, searching for the truth in what she had said. It was there. She loved him.

"Idiot." She breathed.

"You're not going anywhere without me."

"Or me." Came three voices in unison to their left.

Finn, Rob and Bucky all stood there looking at the two of them entwined. Finn looked a little hurt that they'd think to leave him behind. 

Marcus grinned at them all and nodded once, before they made their way out of the circle of bewildered wolves and humans. Not one of them looked back - the pack was on its own now.



A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 05



"We're heading to Paradise City. I have a friend we can stay with there, and I think we can be of some use to him with his business enterprise." Marcus explained while Sabeen, Finn, Rob and Bucky helped pack up some of the valuables in the house. 

They had all spent the night there in preparation for leaving the next afternoon. Marcus had listed his house for sale that morning, and had gifted his furniture and stuff to the wolves. They would be walking out the door with a few boxes of personal items and some small trinkets from the house each. 

Rob and Bucky looked at each other before Bucky spoke up. "Rob and I would actually prefer to find a place of our own nearby if that isn't going to be a problem. I was offered a job at an accountancy firm a few months back, and they may still be interested in hiring."

"Of course thats fine." Marcus said. 

"Gabriel has a huge place though, and he's more than happy to have you around if you change your minds. He's surprisingly eager to have us on board, he probably doesn't realize how much trouble Sabeen's going to get everyone into." Marcus joked, dodging the half-hearted kick she sent his way.

***

After a solid few hours of driving Marcus, Sabeen and Finn reached Gabriel's place. It was about an hour from the city, and forest stretched for miles around them. The driveway was a long one and right at the road it had an automatic gate rigged with all kinds of security to discourage curious visitors. 

The place was the biggest house Sabeen had ever seen. It was relatively new looking, and probably would have cost millions to build. The driveway had its own parking lot, and that was full of cars. This was not the average home...

A big muscled and tall male opened the door and smiled warmly at them. He had dark hair pulled back out of his face with a leather thong and he looked damn dangerous to Sabeen's eyes. She was glad that he seemed to be on their side. 

They were ushered into a huge room, with three separate staircases heading to different parts of the house. The room was wide airy and warm, with a couple of camera's focused on the doors. Gabriel saw Sabeen inspecting them and explained. 

"This place is where I and most of my employee's live, as well as being my office. There's surveillance all the way down the driveway, and all the areas to the right on the first floor" He pointed towards an office set up through one of the hallways. 

"Our offices are through there, and we like to keep a close eye on our clients."

Gabriel greeted the group warmly. Finn and Marcus shook hands with him, before Marcus introduced Sabeen. Generally she didn't shake hands with people... But at Marcus's look she extended her hand and tried for some semblance of a smile. 

There were no indications that Gabriel wasn't friendly, but as he clasped her hand she took a quick peek at him with her mind and what she saw there relieved her to no end. This guy - as threatening as he looked - was one of the good guys. 

Gabriel gave her a long look with raised eyebrows. "Sabeen Moon. Thats interesting..." 

"You arrived just in time. Everyone's in the lounge waiting for dinner, so come through and meet them. There are a few people that aren't going to be very pleased to see you for a bit, or at least until you've had a chance to tell your story." He explained, leading them to the back of the house through a wide hallway. 

***

Entering the lounge they were greeted by a big group of people, some of them looking very defensive and one female was playing with a gun - although she looked quite disinterested in them. 

Sabeen took a good look around the room, and decided against unsheathing her claws. Few people were sitting, but there were some friendly looking faces in the bunch. 

Gabriel took a step forward and growled in frustration. 

"There will be no damn fighting, so you can all sit down and listen. If anyone doesn't like the idea of staying after Marcus and his group have said their piece, then you are more than welcome to leave. "

Gabriel launched into introductions by starting with the stunning looking woman next to him. She had arresting green eyes, long wild inky black hair and long flexible looking body. She also looked pretty unhappy to see Sabeen. 

"This is my partner Max Seris. Her mother was bullied into Royce Moon's pack and after her death in one of his little wars Max was kicked out. Max is our thief extraordinare and our 'retrieval agent'. She's a leopard."

Sabeen examined the woman with her head on the side. She could take her in a fight, but she really wasn't interested in doing so. Making her decision she took a step forward and held out her hand. 

"Sabeen Moon. I remember your mother, she was absolutely lovely. I'm no longer a part of the Moon pack, and have never held any real desire to be one of Royce's minions." 

Max regarded her, the green eyes boring into Sabeen's grey ones. Nodding she shook her hand. 

"Nice to meet you Sabeen. I won't judge you on your past." The girls' mouth curved enticingly upwards into a cheeky grin.

"God knows I'd hate to be judged on mine."

Next up was a fiery looking short woman. Her hair was streaked black and stunning red. She was cross-legged on the floor and dismantling a gun onto a clean towel. 

"This is Jess Thomson. She's our weapons guru, and she can fix any machine ever invented... She's a fox."

Jess nodded at them and carried on with what she was doing. Finn looked a little longer than Marcus and Sabeen, fascinated by the contrasts created by the small delicate looking woman, her gun, and the bold don't-fuck-with-me hair and attitude. 

"Except computers... Don't for the love of god give her a computer." Piped up a blonde, friendly looking male curled on the couch. 

"That's Grey Smith. He's our tech geek, and a little overprotective of his babies. He's a cheetah and his partner, Michael Fellows, is a tiger. Michael is some of our muscle. He's more on the protection side of the business."

Michael nodded from the couch next to Grey. He was a huge guy, typical for a tiger, and had dark auburn hair and interesting gold flecked eyes. 

"Next up we have Rider Stroke and Alexis Devon. Rider is my cousin, formally from Aruba. He's here with Alexis to protect her from the council. They're both leopards" Marcus looked them over a little confused. 

They were both a little young looking. Rider had long black hair, blue eyes, and looked like a cross between a fighter and a dancer... Alexis had long brown hair that occasionally flashed red. She was tall and curvy, and much more muscular than Max and Jess. She looked like a fighter to Sabeen. 

Both looked less than happy to see them. 

"Did you say Devon... Like Devon Devon?" Finn asked confused.

"Yeah she's royal. Alex was banished to Dartmouth when she was 13 because of the Theris uprising."

Marcus began to get an inking as to why she was so familiar looking, and why they were less than impressed to see him. 

Alexis spoke up for the first time. "My mother had an affair with a Theris and 20 years later here I am. My question however is what are you doing here?"

Marcus took a step forward. "Nice to meet you. I'm Marcus Louvre. Former leader of the Louvre Wolf Pack. This is my mate Sabeen, and my second in command Finn Balmore.

"I'm sure you've heard about he council's plan to get rid of the Theris family. They did come to us and we did aid them, because when the council comes calling there's not much you can do but obey. My wolves, our town, and our lifestyle would have been at risk had we turned them down.

"Your name was not on the list, and I'm not sure the council were even aware of you. We were paid for a completed job, and I can tell you for a fact that you are the only shifter with Theris blood in this country. The council was very thorough. 

"The wolves have no further dealings with the council, but as I have no responsibility for them now if they do enter into an agreement with the council I will not hear about it. 

"We will be staying with Gabriel for some time, I hope, and in that time we will be working for him in Hunter Enterprises. If you are friends of Gabriel's then that's good enough for me. You have my assistance should you need it."

Marcus extended his hand and Alexia shook it, followed by Rider. 

"Nice to meet you Marcus. I don't want to sound like an ass here... Well... Ok I do. You betray Alex and I'll beat the living crap out of you, wolf."

Marcus grinned and shook his head at the younger cat. "You have my word."

***

Later that night, after a surprisingly enjoyable dinner, Gabriel led them upstairs. They had been given a set of rooms on the second floor of the eastern wing. Marcus explained that he tried to keep the shifters separate from each other to stop some of the infighting in the house. 

He and Max had the top floor, including the rooftop garden, Michael and Grey had the first floor eastern wing - which backed onto the olympic sized outdoor swimming pool, Alex and Rider had the second floor of the western wing and Jess had claimed some of the centre of the house on the third floor. Finn was given the option of several rooms and he took a big airy one on the third floor. 

They were given help carrying up their boxes of belongings by the others and then left alone for the night. Sabeen instantly gave up all pretenses of helping Marcus unpack and instead explored their new rooms. 

The bedroom was big and comfortable, with wooden floors, a fireplace, and huge windows lining one wall with a view out over the swimming pool and gardens. There was a room leading into their bedroom from the hallway, designed to entertain visitors in, and that had a TV, computer and soft comfortable couches. The en-suite bathroom was huge, and Sabeen couldn't wait to try out the big spa bath in the corner. 

***

Marcus came in behind her as she began to fill the tub with hot water and slipped his arms around her. 

"So you think you can live with this kitty-cat?" 

"Damn right I can." She grinned. 

"And Gabriel's line of work sounds right up my alley." 

Marcus grinned and held her closer, inching his hands up her body to cup her breasts. When he started to lick and nibble at her earlobe she squirmed away from him and twisted around. 

Undoing his belt she roughly shoved his jeans and underwear aside so that she could stroke his cock. Seeing the way his eyes melted and feeling him shudder in her hands excited her. 

She slid down his body, kneeling in front of him. He groaned when she took him in her mouth and began delicately suckling on him. She took him deeper and he growled as she yanked his pants right down off his legs. He obediently stepped out of them and tossed his tee-shirt away. 

"Take the top off Sabeen." He gasped as she licked him with her long agile tongue. 

She obeyed slinging her top in the corner with his clothes. Her bra, shoes and socks followed before she lowered her mouth back around him, sucking at his cock rhythmically.

She cupped his balls and squeezed gently, tickling them a little to hear him groan. 

Marcus loved how she looked there, kneeling with nothing but a tight pair of jeans on, her nipples hard and beaded and her hair down around her face. 

He gently urged her off him, and turned off the taps in the bath Sabeen stood up and tested the water, turning her back to him for a moment. He yanked her roughly back against himself and held her there, undoing the buttons and fly of her jeans and running his cock over her arse through the material. 

She gasped as he hauled the jeans down her legs and lifted her out of them, sliding her back down his body until he rested with his cock in between her arse cheeks again. 

"Get in the tub." He ordered roughly. 

"Kneel, lean your body out of the water over the edge and play with your breasts. Twist your nipples hard."

She did as he ordered presenting him with a gorgeous view of her arse and pussy peeking out at him from beneath the water. 

Marcus dug into the box that he'd placed in the bathroom earlier and found a condom, some thick lube and a small waterproof vibrator he'd brought secretly the day before. He slipped the condom over his saliva-wet flesh and climbed into the tub. 

Sabeen felt him trail his hands over her back and ease her arse cheeks apart. She felt very wet, and very naughty. and it caused her to grip at her breasts harder, tweaking at her nipples again. 

"Thats it. Make them ache." Marcus rumbled behind her. 

He raised her arse up out of the water by slipping his knee between her thighs and lifting her back onto his thigh. She groaned as her pussy came into hard contact with his leg. Marcus squirted the thick lube between the cheeks of her arse. He watched for a moment as the thick liquid oozed down her crack to her pussy, and then began running his finger over her small entrance. 

Sabeen whimpered at him, wanting more. He began exerting pressure and she felt herself give way to him with only a small stab of pain. Marcus watched in wonder as his finger slid easily into her passageway. From the sounds she was making she was enjoying this as much as he was. He slid another finger into her and cautiously pumped them in and out of her warmth. 

Putting a little more lube onto his fingers he made sure she was ready by entering her a little harder and deeper. Setting down the bottle he slid her back down his leg into the water and eased his fingers out of her. 

Sabeen grabbed at her breasts and moaned as he positioned his heavy cock over her arsehole and began to enter her slowly.

Marcus groaned at the sight of her cheeks began split apart by him, and relished the feeling of her hot warm passage around his cock. Thrusting in and out of her a couple of times he was surprised at how close he was to climaxing. 

He grabbed the vibrator, from the ledge he had placed in on and switched it on, sliding it up inside of her pussy before she had realized what he was doing. He groaned as she bucked under him, and he began thrusting in ernest as she whimpered.

Sabeen was close to the edge already but when Marcus had slid the vibrator up into her pussy she was done for. Her climax exploded through her body from deep in her belly, and it felt like everything clamped down. Marcus groaned on top of her and thrust deeply into her channel, as he came. 

They crouched there for a second, the vibrator gently slipping out of her with the aftershocks of her climax. 

Marcus finally gathered himself and withdrew his cock from her arse. Lifting her out of the water her wrapped her in a towel and carried her to the bed. Sabeen watched, utterly content as he went back into the bathroom to clean up. 

When he joined her on the bed he carried her diary with him. He placed it in her bedside drawer, and then snuggled onto the bed with her. 

***

The next morning Sabeen got up at 5.00am, as per usual, and got into her running gear. After ten minutes of searching she found the back door, and made her way out into the gardens. 

She was looking around and wondering which was the best way to run when Gabriel caught up with her. 

"You're an early riser then? Me too. If you're wanting to go for a run you can come with me and I'll point out some of the better tracks."

Sabeen nodded blearily at him and followed his lead. 

"Not much of a morning person then?" He enquired as they reached the forest. 

"Nope. Not really." She told the older cat.

"I have to ask, what did you see yesterday that made you decide to trust me?" Gabriel asked. 

She looked at him for a second before answering. "I just got a flash of you. You're really in love with Max, and you'd do anything for any of these people here. Plus you're much stronger than me and could quite happily kick my arse with one hand tied behind your back. Not many people can do that, and for some perverse reason I trust most of the ones that can. How did you know I was looking?"

Gabriel grinned and lifted a shoulder. "I got the same feeling I get when I use my intuition to find something."

After their run Gabriel followed Sabeen upstairs to grab Marcus. 

The guys disappeared off into the offices to talk work. Sabeen found Finn and they both made their way downstairs to explore. They found a giant kitchen, the way to the pool and gardens, the gym, and best of all a rec room full of movies, books and beanbags. 

Max, Jess, Alexia, and Rider were all there talking and reading. Sabeen grinned at the way Finn's eyes lit up when he noticed Jess chatting to Max and pulling apart a small motor. The group greeted them and tossed over a couple of beanbags inviting them to join the circle.

Finn stayed around for a little while, pretending not to be watching Jess, before heading into town with Rider for supplies. 

"Thank god they're gone" Alex groaned. 

"I'll grab snacks!" Yelled Jess as she ran for the kitchen abandoning her motor. 

Max rearranged the bean bags into a huge pile on the floor, complete with fluffy blankets and Sabeen helped her find the TV remote. As they looked she explained. 

"Alex recorded the Thai Kickboxing World Championship, but the guys all got together and decided we shouldn't watch it... Apparently it makes us violent. So they hid it in the vault. It took us a week to spring it and replace it with Oprah re-runs. And now that they aren't around to witness it, we get to watch it!"

"Seriously? They monitor what you're allowed to watch?" She asked a little aghast that the men had that much power.

Alex took a look at the horror on her face and collapsed onto the pile of beanbags laughing her arse off. 

"Nope, although they probably wish they could. Its just Gabe and Rider being pigs, and mostly its to get us to work together to steal something from them, or find something out... They're just doing it to keep us thinking, and we do the same to them. Gabriel is right this minute trying to figure out where I hid his credit card." Max said. 

Alexia piped up saying "He's probably got your wolf boy on the job sniffing it out!"

"Ah cool. You guys really had me going there for a second. Life without violent TV is not fun." 

Sabeen collapsed onto the beanbags with Max and Alex as Jess came running back into the room with a huge armful of snacks. She dumped them along the front of the beanbags and flopped down on her stomach between Alex and Sabeen. 

"Hey Max aren't you cooking tonight?" Alexia asked

"Yup. Its all sorted." She said as the others groaned. 

Sabeen looked around in confusion again and this time Jess explained. Apparently Max was a particularly bad cook, but everyone had to take a night to prepare food, and there were no exceptions to the rules. Not even possible food poisoning. They all decided to snack big, and eat light at tea. 

"Bring on the bad attitudes and spunky lads in boxing gloves ladies..." Jess announced pressing the play button.

***

Marcus, Rider, Finn and Gabriel came looking for them a little after seven. The kickboxing was over with along with a particularly good episode of ultimate fighter, and the girls were all sprawled over the beanbags. 

"You're kidding me. You managed to get the tape already?!" Gabriel asked looking a little put out. 

"Yup. You've actually had Oprah on 24 hour surveillance since Monday." Jess grinned. 

"You know your tiny little woman's brains can't handle the violence on the screen. You're worse than children." Rider said in a deep voice. 

He stuck out his chest and looked superior as Alexia swept her leg along the floor and tripped him up. He landed on his back in the pile of beanbags and she pounced on him. The other three girls rolled away from the rough-housing, as there was a knock on the door. 

"Tea's up." Max announced, pulling what Sabeen assumed was Gabriel's credit card out of her back pocket and leaving to pay for the pizza she had ordered.




A Cat Among Wolves Ch. 05



"What the hell?! I patted you down twice today and didn't feel that thing!" He exclaimed following her into the hall. 

Sabeen jumped up with the others and gave Marcus an impulsive kiss on the cheek before heading through to the pool where Grey and Michael had set up tables and drinks. 

It was a late night with a bit of drinking, and everyone ended up in the - surprisingly deep - pool. Even Jess, who turned out to not be able to swim. She had been bumped in by mistake, and grabbed the first thing she could hold onto - that being Finn. He teased her by not going near the shallow end or sides, and even ended up giving her a few lessons on floating as the others began to turn in. 

It was late by the time Sabeen and Marcus got upstairs. They stripped off their clothes and jumped straight into bed, still damp, and clung together until they had thawed out. 

"Hey Marcus?" She whispered.

"Yeah?" 

"I stole some chocolate syrup from the kitchen. Want dessert?" She asked cheekily. 

Marcus sat up on his elbow and looked down at her. "Damn right I do kitty-cat."

***

He traced patterns over her body with the chocolate sauce and licked them off, sharing the treat by kissing her deeply. When he was done Sabeen rolled over, pinning him between her thighs and slowly sliding down his body. Marcus handed her a condom eagerly. 

Sabeen licked the end of his cock, making him jump, before sliding the condom onto him and coating it with lube. She lay back on the pillows and opened her legs wide for him. He took in the sight. A barbarian queen, coated in chocolate, and spreading herself open for him. He couldn't have been happier.

Marcus nudged his cock against her entrance and entered slowly, savoring in the feel of her beneath him. Sabeen whimpered in his ear softly. He cupped her face in his hands, kissing her as he thrust deeply.

It all felt good, his hands holding her face, his tongue flicking against hers, the heat where they joined, and the stickiness where their bellies rubbed together in the chocolate. She slid a hand between his torso and hers and gave her clit an experimental flick. She groaned as her orgasm crept closer, and Marcus groaned above her as her walls tightened around him a fraction. 

He lifted himself off here a little more as she touched herself, and thrust into her harder and deeper. She kept getting tighter and wetter, an awesome combination, and he had to keep a tight check on himself. 

Luckily it didn't take too long until she was arching her body into his and crying out as she came. He felt another gush of wetness and let himself go. Marcus slammed into her body and pressed his face against her neck as he came with a grunt. 

***

Sabeen sighed against him, sliding her hands over his back and holding him tight to her as he nibbled on her earlobe giving her goose bumps. Lying there panting and intertwined with each other felt like coming home. 

"That was dirty. And fun. I'm going to write an awesome diary entry on that just as soon as I can hold a pen." Sabeen sighed. 

"Mmm. That's a diary entry I want to read." Marcus joked, gently withdrawing from her. 

He tossed the condom and its wrapper into the bin, and fished around in the drawer that Sabeen had nicknamed the 'naughty drawer' for a wet wipe. He took one for himself and used one to wipe down her body himself, making sure to get all the chocolate from her. 

"Oh, I forgot. Finn grabbed these for me today..." She rolled out of bed and walked across the room to the light switch. 

"Tadaah..."

Flicking off the light he saw that they had stuck hundreds of stars to the roof. He gaped a little and inspected the work. They'd gone the extra mile and put in the constellations, although he highly doubted that the dancing fairies above the desk, and the unicorn in the corner were entirely accurate. 

"Wow. How the heck did you get Gabriel to agree to that?"

She grinned. "He'd only let me do it if I invented a constellation for him. Over above the lamp? Thats the great groovy leopard."

Marcus tugged her back into bed with him, and settled her on his chest whispering "Thank you" into her ear.

***

At exactly 4.50 am the next morning, after very little sleep Sabeen was awake. She lay for a few moments until she didn't think she could stay in bed any longer - even though she was bone tired. At 5.00 am she sat up and Marcus grabbed her, rolling her back under the covers and back against his body. 

"Sleep Sabeen." He murmured.

And she did. 

***

 The End