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KRAVENWULF DETENTION CENTER

NORTH CASCADIA, CICS

Yote's toe-nails scrabbled across the floor as he was roughly dragged by his captors. The Lupine soldiers had removed every scrap of clothing from his body, save for his underwear. At least they gave him some shred of dignity. The coyote was doing his best to resist, but he had been handed quite the beating for making an all out attempt to escape. His left eye was swollen shut, he was missing a tooth or two, and the taste of blood filled his mouth.

And then there was the interrogation. They started with water boarding. Yote was tied on his back and immobilized, and then buckets of water were poured onto his head, into his mouth. The point was to induce intense fear and panic by making the victim believe he was drowning. Yote had been on both sides of this method before, so he gasped and choked his way through it. But then the black-furred wolf- Tatiana- stepped in, and her methods were far more painful. Yote had been tightly bound with barbed wire to a mattress frame. Then a car battery was attached to it. While he was howling in pain from the electric current surging through him, Tatiana continued to strike and kick him. Every bit of Yote's body was searing with pain. He could hardly draw a breath without being racked by intense pain.

Or maybe that was the pain of a broken heart, if there was such a thing. Natalya had double crossed him, and Yote was more upset about that than the abuse he was subjected to. Because while he was being tortured by the sadistic she-wolf, Natalya only stood at the back of the room and watched with a pitiful expression on her muzzle. She hadn't spoken a word to Yote since his capture. Not to gloat, not to gather information, nothing but a disappointed stare. And that was perhaps the most painful thing of all.

Yote's head smacked against the concrete wall as he was shoved into the small room that had become his cell. He collapsed on his back, his vision swimming with stars. Tatiana kicked his side again with a laugh, not bothering to cut the flex ties around his wrists. As best as he could, he wiggled himself over to the corner in the dimly lit cell. He rolled on his side so he was facing away from his captors. He couldn't let them see the tears streaming down his cheeks. Yote laid his head on the cold floor in defeat. Then he prayed for death to take him.

Tatiana slammed the coyote's cell door shut and locked it. Not that it mattered much. She had beaten the inferior canine to within an inch of his life. The only reason she stopped was because her own muscles ached. And she had only begun to make the rodent pay for slaughtering her pack sisters.

Tatiana made her way to the complex's office building, to where Natalya sat behind a desk, busily working on her laptop. She looked up from her screen.

"How is he?"

"I have to hand it to the coyote. He's tough. Most of his brethren would have either died or broken by now."

"So he still hasn't told you anything useful?" Natalya inquired

"No." Tatiana replied, rinsing Yote's caked blood from her paws. "And if I push much harder, I'm going to kill him. Not that I care, but I'd like to see what he knows."

"Correct. You'll get your chance. Trust me." Natalya fixed her gaze on the black wolf. "I need you to check the interior posts in the meantime. "

"Yes, Alpha." Tatiana spun on her heel and departed. Natalya watched her walk away, her sapphire eyes burning holes in Tatiana's back.

Soon she thought. She just hoped that Yote could hold out that long, and that he'd forgive her when they were done. Natalya finished entering the data into the computer, then slammed the screen down and made her way to where the prisoners were being held.

Yote didn't bother rolling over to face his captors when the door to his cell was opened. He wouldn't give them that respect. He simply lay there, facing the wall.

"How are you feeling, Yote?" Came Natalya's voice. Hearing this, the coyote actually mustered the effort to roll over and cast an accusing glare at the wolf.

"How in the hell do you think I am. You saw what that bitch did to me." He replied with a cold bite to his tone. "And you just stood there and let her."

Natalya was almost offended at Yote's bitter remarks, and the way his green eyes burned into her. She flattened her ears and fought the urge to bare her teeth at him.

"If you had listened to me in the first place, coyote, I wouldn't have had to, would I? I wouldn't be risking my own neck to save your worthless pelt from certain execution, and I wouldn't be forsaking my own kind. Make no mistake, Yote. I am the only reason you are still breathing."

"I suppose I should thank you." Yote replied bitterly. Natalya bared her fangs in response.

"You're Dog-dammed right you should! Do you have any idea what Tatiana wanted to do to you when she caught you? Do you? She's old school Lupine Empire, Yote. She hates coyotes. She would have de-pelted you while you screamed in agony. And she would have enjoyed it. Or maybe she would have just sawed your head off and made a trophy out of it. Mark my words, coyote. I will murder the bitch for what she's done to you, but I need to finish reprogramming the computer. Once that's done, your fellow coyotes will be here in force. Until then."

Her expression softened as she knelt down to wrap the coyote in a gentle embrace, slowly licking the wound on Yote's cheek.

"Stay alive, Yotie. For me."

Yote let out a sigh as the wolf's warm tongue ran over the gash, cleaning the blood that had caked there. Her soft embrace felt so soothing, even through the cool, slick material of Natalya's bodysuit.

"Out of curiosity, how'd you get here?"

"Charlie called me. He didn't want the last member of his pack to meet his demise like this. I used my former status as an officer and some of my connections in the special operations community to get in here. So both our hides are on the line here."

Neither one of them noticed the door open.

"Aww, that's sweet. Really touching." The black furred wolfess stood in the doorway, a smug expression on her muzzle. "You know, Natalya. I figured you were a slut. But I would never have guessed you were a coyote lover. Tell me you haven't allowed that mongrel to taint your blood.

"And what if I have, Lieutenant? What if I happen to enjoy the feeling of this coyote bending me over, taking me like a wild animal?"

Tatiana almost reeled at such a sickening thought. A pained expression crossed her face.

"How dare you call yourself a Lupine, polluting your loins like that? But not to worry, Natalya. I'll remove temptation from the picture."

Tatiana un-holstered her pistol and leveled it at the coyote. Natalya whirled her leg around and caught Tatiana off balance, striking her shin with the sole of her boot. The black wolf yelped and slammed her weapon into Natalya's head, which knocked it from her grip. The pistol skidded across the floor and Tatiana dove for it, but Natalya slammed her body into her, knocking them both down. Both she-wolves snarled and growled with a feral rage, and attacked each other again.

Yote wiggled himself against the wall in attempt to shield himself from the punching, snarling, and snapping wolves. He had already caught an errant boot to the head for being too close, and would be quite content if that didn't happen again. The coyote growled in frustration as he struggled with the plastic restraints binding his wrists. Finally, he was able to wrench one paw free, despite the fact that he had lost a few tufts of fur in the process. His entire being was still racked with pain, but the adrenaline surging through his body gave him the strength to stand. Yote stumbled to his feet, only to be slammed by a backpedaling Tatiana. They both fell to the floor, Tatiana was on her feet first, and pulled something from her belt. As Yote climbed back to his feet, the wolf quickly closed the distance between them and shoved her combat knife into Yote's belly.

The coyote's eyes widened in shock, and he dropped to his knees like the air had been deflated from him. His vision blurred and swam with red. He collapsed onto his back, staring open mouthed at the ceiling, pawing uselessly at the weapon lodged in him.

"Aw fuck." He gasped; his eyes rolling back and closing. Then he was still.

Tatiana smiled at the coyote and the pool of blood forming beneath him. So she wouldn't get to mount the head above her mantle. The scavenger was dead. She turned to smugly look at the coyote loving bitch who should have been standing in utter horror, but there was something odd about her expression. Was she smiling back?

Tatiana never got to find out. Her body was slammed with no less than three 5.56 millimeter rounds from an M4 carbine; one of which struck her just forward of her ear. She was dead before she hit the ground.

Natalya immediately threw her paws up in a gesture of surrender as two canines-coyotes from the ears peeking out from their combat helmets- swiftly entered the room and dispatched her opponent. They were clad in tan coveralls and armored vests, with highly customized weapons. Definitely the infamous "Desert Ghosts", spoken about only in whispers. The wolfess did as she was ordered, going to her knees and placing her paws atop her head. One of the operators searched her while the other knelt beside Yote, tearing medical supplies from his vest.

"Get Doc in here now!" He commanded as he went to work. Natalya was surprised to see a well built lupine storm into the room carrying two duffel bags; the red paw against a white background on his shoulder signified his status as a medical officer.

"What do we got?" The wolf asked, fishing out an IV bag and stabbing the needle into Yote's arm.

"Stab wound in the upper gastric area, large puncture. He's lost a lot of blood but I don't think there's any perforation."

"Ma'am, if you want to save his life, I need your help. Hold this." The wolf handed the IV bag off to Natalya, who quickly took it and held it at chest level.

"Pulse is weak and thready, breathing is shallow. We gotta get this guy on the table now or he's dead."

"Extraction helo is 2 minutes out, Doc."

"Jeezus, he may not be here in 2 minutes!"

Indeed, Daniel Yote was well into his "golden hour"; so named because if a patient with a traumatic injury was on the operating table within an hour after the injury, there was a good chance of successfully saving that person's life. As the minutes ticked closer and closer to that hour, the chances of survival decreased.

Amidst the chatter of the coyotes and the wolf working to save Yote's life, Natalya knelt by his side, still holding the IV bag, talking to the unconscious coyote with a stream of vulgarity that reflected both the way she normally addressed him, and the way she felt about the situation. Maybe Yote could hear her, maybe he couldn't. Natalya hoped that he could, and her normally sarcastic and biting tone would help them both believe that the wound wasn't as serious. Getting all sappy and stuff wouldn't help either of them.

"Dammit, Yote. I ain't got time for your crap tonight. Pick up your fat ass and haul it to the hospital, then wait around to see if you bleed out. I'll probably have to dig your grave by my fucking self and then put up with a bunch of your whiny ass ex girlfriends at your funeral. I can't believe you stood up like a fuckin' carnival target and let yourself get stabbed like a fuckin' amateur. I thought you were supposed to be some hot-shit merc, and I swear you would trip over a crack in the sidewalk if someone wasn't leading you around like a blind mutt. You did this on purpose, didn't you? Just to make me feel sorry for you so you could get laid later, huh? Anyway, what'd you leave me in your will? You ain't really got anything other than that Jeep, so I guess I'll take that. Dammit Yote, you'd better not fucking die until you buy some better stuff, you hear me?"

Daniel Yote slowly opened his eyes, and sat up and looked around. He was seated in what he guessed was the middle of the forest somewhere. The fresh scent of evergreen filled his nostrils, and he had never smelt such pure air. There was a blanket of freshly fallen snow on the ground, with more flakes delicately falling around him. Yote cocked his head in utter confusion, then noticed that his wounds were gone, and the pain with them. The coyote got to his feet, his puzzlement growing.

How the hell did I end up her... Oh shit. I'm dead.

"That is not too far from the truth, young one."

Yote spun on his heels to face this newcomer that for all intents and purposes, materialized out of thin air. His eyes fell upon the most beautiful creature he had ever seen. She was a wolf, no doubt; not feral, but not quite anthro, either. Somewhere in between. Her fur was the brightest shade of white Yote had ever seen, with not a speck of dirt or grime on it. She wore a necklace of eagle feathers, and carried a staff with something carved along the side, though Yote was too bewildered to make sense of it.

"Who... are you?"

"There are some who call me Mother, others who refer to me as The Great Wolf..."

"Oh my..." Yote interrupted, then fell on his hands and knees, pressing his forehead into the snowy ground, prostrating himself before the progenitor of the entire canine race.

"You may rise, young coyote."

Yote slowly rose to his feet, though he kept his gaze and ears turned downward.

"I'm sorry, Great Wolf, but I am a little confused. I am nowhere near worthy enough to be in your presence."

"You speak of the lives you have taken?"

"Yes. I've killed a lot of people."

"You have the heart of a warrior, Daniel. You fight for the ones you love. This is honorable. But as I said, you are not quite dead. But you are not quite alive, either. You are on the bridge between two worlds."

"He's going into V-fIB: Push 3 megs of Lidocane, now!"

"Got it! Start compressions!"

"Your physical body is dead, Daniel" The Great Wolf explained. "But your spirit still exists within, for you are not yet ready to transcend. I will return you and re-animate your body. Soon, you will be able to cross over with me. And you will be admitted into eternal paradise, and be reunited with your pack."

"No disrespect, Great Wolf. But just how soon is soon?"

The wolf didn't answer; she only gathered a pawful of snow and blew it into Yote's face. Suddenly he was falling at what must've been over a thousand miles an hour. He closed his eyes tightly and waited for the impact.

"One more time! CLEAR!"

Daniel Yote's body jerked again as another shock was sent through him. This time his heart thumped back to life and his lungs began working again. Slowly, he opened his eyes and looked around. He was inside a large helicopter, with another coyote and wolf hunched over him.

"He's back!" The wolf exclaimed and slapped his cohort's helmet. "We got him back."

He was pushed to the side as a familiar face came into view. Yote could actually hear her voice over the roar of the helicopter.

"Dammit coyote! Who the hell do you think you are, dying on me like that! I swear if you ever do that again I'm gonna kick your ass so hard it's gonna... mmph!" Yote raised his paw and lightly clamped it around Natalya's muzzle.

At the landing pad, Colonel Dobson and a team of scrubbed up nurses and field surgeons awaited the helo's arrival. The lead medic was out of the cabin even before the helicopter touched down, slamming the side door open and hastily bringing the wounded coyote out. The surgical team surged forward with a gurney and rapidly but gently set Yote down on it. With practiced precision, the patient was prepped for surgery even as the gurney was wheeled to the CSH operating room. The lead surgeon was a beagle wearing the oak leaf of a major beneath her light blue scrubs.

"We got it from here guys." She informed the group of operators, the colonel and the wolfess trailing them. "You can wait over there if you want. He'll be in for a while, but it looks like's gonna make it." The collie turned to her team. "All right guys, lets save this 'yote's life." Then the glass doors silently slid closed.

Yote drifted in and out of consciousness as the constant drip of morphine in his IV coursed through his system. He slowly regained strength over the last few days, and for the most part, Natalya never left his side, speaking words of encouragement into his ears. On the fourth day, he was well enough to speak back.

"Hey, dead guy." Natalya said when Yote awoke.

"Hey yourself." Yote replied with a smile.

"Doctor says that you should be able to get up and move around in a couple of days. You got lucky, Yote. The knife just missed your liver."

"Like that was any good anyway." The coyote grinned.

"Oh ha ha ha." Natalya said sarcastically. "Hey Daniel. I was thinking, maybe we should just take it easy for a while."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe we should just... take a break. Between the both of our assets, we can live quite comfortably for the rest of our lives. We'd never have to kill again. Or get killed ourselves."

Yote cocked an eyebrow at her.

"My uncle put you up to this?"

"Nope."

Natalya gently took Yote's paw in hers, and lovingly nuzzled it. The coyote looked at the wolfess with a suspicious eye. This was pretty uncharacteristic of her.

"What's gotten into you, Natalya? You're acting kind of... odd."

"While you were off in lala land the doctors here took a look at me."

"And? Are you all right?"

"I'm more than all right, Yotie. I'm pregnant."

Yote opened his mouth to speak, but Natalya cut him off, already knowing the next question.

"Stop looking at me like that. It's yours."