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Chapter eleven: Something to return to.

They gathered like carrion eaters. The ruling families of the frozen archipelago. Those clans strong enough to hold onto their name through the twisting and turbulent times.

Though social upheaval threatened their very way of life. Still they came. To bear witness to the death of one of their own? No. They came to pick the corpses clean.

They arrived in silent droves. Retainers in tow they made their own camps. Servants who were both bodyguards and spies. They refused all pretenses of hospitality, preferring to keep their own company. It was a grave insult to be sure. Perhaps the final one, but not the last. Not the last by far.

Shiro had moved amongst them completely unseen. By ignoring him they gave him the very thing he needed.

Knowledge.

It was a deadly mistake to make. For the whispers that passed between them were secrets of the sort that could topple a ruler from power.

He gathered them in silence. Piecing together the puzzle from their words. The picture becoming clear.

The Fafnir clan had debts. Blood debts that were coming due, and old promises that could no longer be kept.

Shiro found that those few who wished to see Fafnir clan rise once more to prominence were few and far between.

Worse was the web of politics that surrounded them. For at the heart of the web was Kai. A prime candidate for alpha, and should he win. The Fafnir clan would not live to see another moon.

His ambitions were such that the clan would be divvied up, to be passed out in piecemeal portions. With their lands and holdings scattered to the winds, Kai would have profit enough to set himself up with a new pack.

One that would exist in the new world that awaited.

And those clans that would cling to the past, even as it vanished around them? They would find themselves left behind. Food; for a new kind of wolf.

Shiro had learned enough. He knew the players in this game. He understood all to well the tides of power that had begun to ebb and flow around them.

With his task finished and his charade complete he departed from their camps. They let him go. Never realizing that he had been among them. After all. Who would think to make anything of a snow colored cat who seemed to be at once everywhere and nowhere?

Or one that was in reality; a man.

* * *

"Koji is; winning." Serena watched her son fight with growing admiration. He had never seemed to apply himself to anything, content to simply drift through life. And now. "I've never seen him so . . . driven."

"It isn't that surprising. After all, he's been training almost non-stop since we joined the Azure Sky. He even stopped chasing after women." Shiro received a look of pure incredulity from Serena. "Well, for the most part." Shiro settled in to watch the fight. He hasn't even used that technique yet either.

Koji ducked and weaved, swaying out of Skuld's grasp he was merely showboating for the crowd, warming up for the fights to come. With his body moving through the familiar patterns, his mind began drifting through a place beyond conscious thought. The ring merely served to define his world. It was an extension of his self.

The roar of the crowd drifted away.

Koji dropped to the ground. Kiara had been trying to teach him how to use his opponent's momentum against them for better part of an hour. "This is too hard. Teach me something else."

She clacked her beak. "If you can't master the basics how can you possibly expect to master anything else?"

"I don't care about the basics. I'll just make it up as I go along if I have to."

Kiara regarded him thoughtfully. "With you. That could work."

Shiro had taken her place. "Okay Koji, I'm going to teach you some of the basics of Shin Kami Ryu."

"Not more basics! I already tried doing what you do. I can't manipulate energy like you can."

"That's why what I'm about to teach you will help you to create your own style." Koji's ears had perked up at hearing that. "The basis of Shin Kami Ryu is formed from three things." Shiro pointed up a the sky. "The sun, the stars, and the moon. These are known as the three celestial principles. Whenever I fight, I imagine that I'm a dragon flying through the air and my form begins to follow its movements."

"I'm not a dragon. I'm a wolf."

Shiro rapped on his skull. "It doesn't have to be an animal. It can be anything. Even the moon."

Even the moon. Koji hammered Skuld with a rapid combination of strikes, opening a hole in his guard. Power gathered around him. Koji was through playing. He focused it in his fist, letting the impact lift Skuld from his feet Koji followed it through with a flash kick that left the image of a crescent moon shimmering in the air.

And there it was, the Fanged Vengeance technique. Crescent moon strike.

Skuld landed outside the ring. Koji doubted he had even known what hit him.

"Your turn." Said Koji. Switching places with Shiro. He had barely stepped into the ring when a stunned Klay fell to the ground. One moment he had been standing still and the next. Hushed whispers raced through the crowd. What they had seen was anyone's guess.

Maya silently mouthed a 'thank you' with tears in her eyes.

"Hardly a warm up." Said Shiro.

Koji shook his head. "But did you have to hit him so many times?"

"Well, I guess I might have gotten a little carried away."

"A little?"

Shiro mimicked pressing the pressure points which would feign death. To any observer Klay would be in a very deep sleep. "Wellll, I'm used to sparring with you and Zeyd. Someone who can't even perceive my movements is hardly a challenge."

* * *

Sasha, alpha of clan Freya watched the battles with avid interest. The seventh son of Fafnir clan in particular had drawn her eye. He has the strength not to kill. And a very interesting way of fighting for one so young. Of all those clans who had gathered here hers was the strongest. Every member of her pack was a blooded warrior. Trained from birth in the arts of war and combat. They held to the old ways. Or rather, they alone had the power to hold to them. "What do you think of them Urd?"

Urd was one of those few who had not been suited for combat. Unable to learn more than the most basic of forms she had been sent into the world to learn the ways of outsiders. She had returned with command of considerable knowledge, a fact that she had never once resented.

Sasha, the youngest alpha in the clans long history had admired her for talents and made her into one of her most trusted advisers. Let the elders whine endlessly about letting whelps who cannot even fight take up such an honored position. Urd's bloodline will enrich the pack in other ways.

Urd narrowed her eyes. "Which ones mistress?"

"You know the ones I mean." Sasha shifted uncomfortably in her seat. Perhaps she had been watching too closely. Her interest too plain. Such a thing would be noted by others. It could cause, complications. Still, he is attractive. In a roguish sort of way.

"The rumors of him being nothing but a failure are false. Though I doubt even Hugen would be one to admit to it. He has always been too stubborn for his own good."

Urd's distaste for him was well known. The man was a traditionalist, unyielding and inflexible. On his will it was that his sons were now fighting to the death. When only a united clan could save them, he foolishly clung to the last vestiges of his power, refusing to relinquish control.

Urd knew her alpha's thoughts as well as her own. "His time at Coldfire was ill spent. Yet he has returned from Veil Academy markedly different from the day he left. He now serves under Kiara Areyos in the Mobile Defense Force company the Azure Sky."

The gryphon knight? That explains his prowess. Sasha's interest in him grew. She would have to set Urd to finding out more about him in, intimate detail. "And the other?"

Mara spoke first. She was older than Sasha by more than fifteen years and had been considered by many to be a fitting successor to her mother as alpha. Mara had wanted none of it, she herself had admitted she had no taste for leadership.

She had been content to serve as an adviser. Where her wisdom and experience were an invaluable asset to the young alpha, the position also gave her the freedom she desired, and the flexibility to carry out any task.

"Shadows cling to him. They reek of iron and old blood." Mara traced an old battle scar. Something she always did when she was ill at ease. "And something else I can't quite put my finger on. Of all of those gathered here, he is the most dangerous."

"And here I thought you would say that of Kai." Said Urd. "After all. He is the one who entreated us to be here."

"Do not make light of such things." Said Mara. "This is no child's game we play at. Kai's ambitions are known to us. He is a threat to be sure, but even he can be dealt with. That one," Mara shook her head. "he is not of our ways. His ruthlessness is something beyond measure."

Sasha studied her two advisers. Urd was cunning, seeing the plans of their enemies and working to spoil them. Mara on the other hand was a keen judge of men, she relied more on knowing what lay in their hearts. "Surely you are not serious. Such a harmless looking. . ." Sasha's words trailed away. No. He hides it from them. They see only what he wants them to see. She felt herself pale as those chilling blue eyes alighted on her for only a moment. It was enough. There is another who lurks beneath the surface. Watching us even as we seek to watch him.

Mara had already made up her mind about him. "Mistress I can only warn you. Do not take him lightly. He bears the mark of the avenger in his eyes. Should Fafnir clan fall. His fury will lay waste to any whose hand has a part in it."

* * *

Koji watched as the moon slowly carved a path through the sky. Where the night was as clear as newly spun glass, it also felt as if it cared nothing for the hearts of men.

Tomorrow will come all too quickly. He thought. And then I will have to fight my own brother for leadership of a pack I don't even want.

Koji sighed. Where He and Shiro had merely fought to disable their opponent's, Kai had killed his from the outset.

Kai's hands had been stained with their blood even before they began begging him for mercy. It was a useless gesture. For there was none to be found in him.

Ensuring that all others had been watching Kai's claws had silenced their cries forever.

Their eyes staring upwards forever as he licked their blood from his fingertips. Koji slammed his fist into the railing. The memory of that moment burned within him. It had served as an effective warning to all those assembled. Kai would bear no challenge to his authority, no rival to take his place.

"Shiro?" Said Koji.

"Yeah?"

"My blood is pounding in my veins. My heart is burning." His fists trembled. "I keep thinking about Maya and her children. And that frozen bastard Kai."

Kai. Say what you would about Hugen, he was but a pale reflection of his son. And Koji had little love for his brother.

Shiro found it was hardly surprising. They simply valued different things. Their worlds couldn't connect. And no amount of familial affection could bridge the gap between them.

Despite the abuse, the scorn heaped upon him at every opportunity, Shiro had come to learn that Koji cared too much to truly hate his brothers. His compassion was viewed as a weakness by the others. And in a world that favored ruthlessness Koji was completely outmatched. Only those who could subjugate others to their will had what it took to rule in the Winter Islands. Everyone else merely stood by, as the world went on around them.

Shiro simply said. "You'll win."

"But how do you know?"

Shiro had witnessed Kai's like before. "Because you have something important to you. Something you feel is worth fighting for. You want something beyond this moment. And that alone will lead you farther than anyone else."

"Yeah, I guess so." Koji left to find somone to help warm his bed. "Don't stay up here alone too long. You'll catch a cold."

Shiro began moving silently beneath the moonlight. "No worries there Koji."

From the stairs his friend simply smiled and said. "Goodnight Shiro."

Shiro moved as if to hold back the night. "Yeah, goodnight."

* * *

No amount of hearsay and rumor was enough for Mara. She had wanted to see for herself what kind of a man Shiro was. And whether or not he truly posed a threat to Freya clan. After all, better to make an ally of such a one, than an enemy.

She found him on the roof. Moving through a complex series of forms. Twists and leaps that would stretch the body and allow it to move with greater ease.

She felt a growing sense of admiration for the silent warrior. He moves without making a sound, and he is . . . very flexible. Watching him practice began to warm her blood. He would make an excellent addition to the clan. The thought of him warming her bed; among other things entered her mind. She smiled. His bloodline would certainly be worth . . . acquiring.

From her vantage point Mara felt her heart leap into her throat as Shiro began a breathtaking series of handstands and back flips. All of which he performed while his eyes were closed. At the apex of the flip his sword would lash out, striking at invisible targets while carving glittering arcs of brilliant white in the still night air. It was a precision display of pinpoint swordsmanship. An aerial sword dance.

She had not been watching for long however, when she felt an unfamiliar presence begin to surround her. Mara turned to find a woman with golden eyes was watching as well. "How long have you been standing there?" She asked.

"Longer than you have." Said Nelo.

They weighed each other for a moment. Their gazes locking together, while challenge hung heavy in the air.

Mara was the first to break the silence. "The enemy he's fighting. It's his own past isn't it?" To envision fighting invisible foes is a practice common to all styles of martial arts. But his lends itself to striking out at uncertainty. It is as if he cannot quite see the threat that surrounds him.

"Shiro has, scars. They've faded, but they're still there."

Mara felt her interest in him peak. A good scar meant a good story, and someone like him no doubt had plenty of them. "Across his arms and chest?"

Nelo nodded that it was so.

"Knife marks most likely. Chances are he got them from not moving quickly enough." She considered his movements for a moment. "Some of those forms are similar to the ones we teach. But we use blunted weapons when we practice."

All Nelo said was. "Arcadian soldiers used to carry knives at their belt."

Mara frowned. "Used to? They still do. They . . . mark their slaves with them." Her expression was as cold as the night air. "Because they consider them to be more civilized than whips." Mara looked at Shiro with new eyes. A warrior who drifts through moonlight, doing battle with even his own dreams. What terrible nightmares he must have. Her expression grew as cold as the night air. Heart of an avenger indeed. "How often does he do this?"

"Every single night." Nelo looked at the moon. It would be an hour yet before Shiro finally stopped. An hour before he returned to her waiting arms. "He practices continuously until he exhausts himself. So that when he does finally fall asleep. He doesn't dream."

Mara too looked at the moon. She herself understood all too well. "Then you had better hold on to that one more tightly." She had learned enough for one night. She would make her report to Sasha and seek her own bed. After all, tomorrow was another night. She left, but not before passing on a warning. "Or we might just steal him from you."

* * *

"Why did you kill them?" Koji had fought against Kai in the great hall. Only his father and a select few had born witness. Though they had not moved to interfere guards had been selected by both combatant's to ensure that there had been, fair play. "Why kill them at all if they were no threat to you?"

The bloody brawl was finally nearing its end. Though they had fought for more than an hour, Koji was the superior fighter in every way. Only Kai's will to win had kept him standing as he endured a beating that would have broken a lesser man.

Kai wiped blood from his lips. He had a considerable amount of scars covering his body. They were a mute testament to a life spent suppressing an endless series of challenges.

Pointing at their father he said. "Have you never wondered why our father has no brothers, no illegitimate children to claim his throne?" Kai darkened considerably. "He killed them on the very first day of his rule. For ours is a bloodstained history dear brother. An unbroken chain stretching back for more than ten thousand years.

"Every ruler of the Fafnir clan has made the same choice. To eliminate their rivals, be they family, friend or foe. Only then can they cultivate strength to themselves, and rule with an iron fist. I would merely have followed the example history has set before me."

Koji struck Kai a blow that wiped the smug grin from his face and left him sprawling on the floor. "Can you hear it?" He said, turning to walk away. "The sound of breaking?"

Kai was rising, his claws aimed to pierce Koji's heart. Shiro blinked. The tip of his sword pressing into Kai's throat. "Don't." A single ruby tear ran down the channel of the blade. "Move one hair, take even one breath, and you won't live long enough to regret it." Shiro could see the wheels turning in his mind as Kai considered his chances.

"Shiro." Koji placed a hand on his friends shoulder. "He's my brother." Shiro withdrew his sword as Koji's fist lashed out. Kai's jaw shattered with a thunderous crack.

Koji licked his knuckles and shook his hand. "Damn. That felt good."

It was finally over.

Hugen descended from his throne and lifted the silver circlet from his brow. Without a word he offered it to Koji.

Koji crossed his arms. "I don't want it."

Murmurs ran throughout the crowd. It was the final defeat. Hugen felt death close in around him from all sides.

Koji hated seeing his father look so pathetic. "You aren't dead yet old man. And neither is the clan. Pick Klay to be the alpha. At least he knows what he's doing."

Klay stepped forward from the crowd, an odd sort of nobility in his step. Accepting the silver circlet without ceremony he placed it upon his brow. The reaction to his ascension was mixed. Klay would be a force for change in their world. And many of them didn't know how to feel about that.

Shiro and Koji moved to stand by his side. The power behind the throne their fealty gave Klay legitimacy and power.

It certainly gave the other clans something to think about. And Shiro could see interest in more than a few eyes. No doubt Klay would receive a few new allies. "You know." He said to Koji. "You would have made a good alpha."

"Maybe someday." Said Koji. "But right now. I have something else I'm thinking about."

Shiro followed his gaze. A young woman surrounded by guards was making eyes at him from across the room. Shiro had seen that look before. Something else, or someone else?

Shiro and Koji stood by Klay's side as each of the clans made concessions, offered words of congratulations, or just left entirely. Their insults plain for all to see.

It wasn't long before the grand hall stood empty. The pressure's of keeping court would fill the halls once more. And Klay would find that the demands upon his time would increase tenfold.

Klay sighed. Already the circlet weighed heavily upon him. He had not wanted to lead. But now that the burden had been thrust upon him. He had to rise to it. Or see his family fall. "You know what giving me this circlet means don't you." Klay said to Koji.

"I wouldn't have suggested you if I didn't."

"Then as alpha of Fafnir clan I have no choice but to banish you. Koji Fafnir. You are cast out of this house. Find some other pack to take you in. You'll find no welcome here."

Shiro was stunned. "But Koji. Your home."

"Relax Shiro, this was my choice. And no one else's." He gave his brother a final look. "I'm free, I'm finally free." Shiro understood. Koji had tossed the dice. Now it was merely a matter of seeing where they landed. "I can choose my own path now. My own . . ." Whatever else he had been about to say was cut off as he fell to the floor unconscious.

"Koji!" Shiro had a moment to draw his own sword as the sand swirled around him. The spell dissipating harmlessly against his shield. An assassination attempt? So soon?

"Just relax." Said Sasha. "We've come to make you're friend here an offer." It was the woman who had been making eyes at Koji. "And to you as well."

"You certainly have a strange way of introducing yourself." Said Klay.

"You really think he would have let us approach otherwise?" She walked past Shiro, her curvaceous hips swaying seductively. "I am Sasha, alpha of Clan Freya."

"Klay, alpha of the Fafnir clan. But then, you already knew that."

"Straight to the point then." Good, soft trader words make my tongue hurt. "We seek an alliance with clan Fafnir. We have the warriors, you have the resources. Call it a mutually beneficial agreement. An, arrangement if you like."

Klay had expected this, but not so soon. "And how much is this, arrangement going to cost?"

"We expect certain concessions to be made." Sasha's eyes never left Shiro's for a second. "Access to trade goods for one."

"I see no problems with that. Providing the future is as lucrative as you hope it to be. Though I'm certain it would be to both our benefit if some of your warriors," Klay waved his hand. "took up permanent positions in our household. Say, as wet-nurses or servants. We have many dirty rooms that will need clearing out."

"Yes, of course." Kai has plenty of supporters who will not be pleased with the changes Klay will make. That he understands this and wishes to secure his power base speaks well of him. Perhaps he is not as, soft as he looks. "Secondly, we have certain interests in regards to the future of our own clan. To put it bluntly. Clan Fafnir is soon to become a family of diplomats and traders. Certain bloodlines, would be wasted upon you."

Klay frowned, Sasha was asking for the one thing he couldn't promise. "No."

"We would officially welcome him as a member of our clan. Surely you know he would be unhappy in your household."

"You're already too late. Koji is no longer a member of clan Fafnir. As such, I have no authority to order him as an alpha."

"Then I suppose we will just have to handle this in a more, traditional way." Sasha snapped her fingers twice.

Mara stepped forward and lifting the still unconscious Koji, slung him over one shoulder like a sack of grain. While Urd simply took Sasha's place to hammer out the finer details of the agreement with Klay.

"You know." Said Shiro, following them out of the room. "He would've agreed to go with you if you'd just asked him. Koji was looking to join a new pack anyway."

"Maybe." Said Sasha, who was busy inspecting her prize. "But this way is much more fun."

She's like a female version of Koji.

And that, was a deeply disturbing thought.

* * *

Shiro and Koji had been transported to Freya clan's family holdings deep in the frozen heart of the archipelago. While their estate wasn't as large as Fafnir's, it was no less grand in comparison.

"Why are there so many women?" Koji had been allowed to awaken shortly before their arrival. "Where are all the men?"

When Shiro had asked Sasha she hadn't lifted it sooner Mara had claimed that she was simply being thorough. Sasha on the other hand, had simply said that she didn't like it when her prizes tried to escape. The resultant display of teeth in her smile had left Shiro with no doubts as to her intentions.

"Our pack is blessed with an abundance of daughters." Said Sasha in reply to Koji's question. "However, not enough sons are born to us. So we are constantly forced to seek out strong males with which to strengthen our pack."

Koji was on the receiving end of more than a few admiring looks. "Well, since you picked me, you've obviously got good taste."

Mara couldn't help but laugh. "I like him. He's a keeper." She slipped an arm around Shiro's waist. "A pity you've already been taken."

Nelo had a death grip on his arm and was glaring at anyone who came close. Though in the end it did little to deter them. To them Shiro was something exotic. And more than one of them spoke in earthy whispers of what they would like to do with him.

Shiro's ears were burning. "Yeah. Shame about that."

"Maybe you can spare him for a moment." Mara pulled on him as Nelo tightened her own grip. Shiro suddenly felt like he was going to be torn apart if they continued fighting over him like this. "So we can give the two lovebirds some time alone."

Koji was holding up an arm and describing how he had received a particularly nasty looking scar while Sasha prodded his muscles and made eyes that said 'He's mine!' to anyone who even looked at him sideways.

Nelo's lips were moving as she nibbled Shiro's ear. And he didn't particularly care for the way she was glaring daggers at Mara.

"A compromise." Said Shiro. He didn't know how much more of Nelo's attentions he could take. He was going to start purring, and that was only going to encourage them. "How about a lesson? I'm always interested in learning new styles of fighting. Maybe we could teach each other."

Mara was more than pleased with the idea. "An excellent thought." She pulled him in close. "I look forward to teaching you. Personally."

* * *

Sasha lifted a lacquered box from a shelf in her room. "These are an heirloom passed down to the strongest in our pack. I have no use for them." She opened the box tentatively. Inside were a pair of silver bracers engraved with wolves howling at the moon resting on a bed of black velvet. Koji slipped one on his own wrist as Sasha said. "It looks good on you."

"I think they look better as a pair." He placed the other on hers.

Sasha blushed in response to his words. Somehow he made her feel as awkward and unsure of herself as a newly born pup.

Feeling Sasha's heart racing Koji put her at ease by embracing her. She could see the same want in his eyes, the same need. They belonged only to each other now. And nothing would come between them.

"Tonight." She pushed him towards the bed and moved to lock the door. No one would bother them for hours. She had made sure of it. "You're all mine." She eyed her prize thoughtfully. "And that means I can do anything I want with you."

Koji suddenly felt as if he had bitten off more than he could chew. "Are you sure we can't just talk instead?"

Sasha gave a sultry laugh. "No."

* * *

Pushing a naked Koji onto the waiting bed Sasha began sliding her fingers through the thick black fur of his chest. She could feel the strength sleeping inside him, the power that he had displayed while fighting. It called to her, awakening feelings that were primal, ancient.

As the alpha of her clan she needed so much more than mere male companionship, She needed someone with the strength to stand by her side and defend the pack if need be. You are the one aren't you, she looked longingly into his pale brown eyes, the one I've been searching for.

"I've never seen a woman look at me with eyes quite like that." Koji seemed to sense some of her thoughts "What were you thinking about?"

"None of your business," She snapped at him testily, "just keep your mind on my body and your hands on my breasts." Sasha blushed through her fur as she realized what she had said. "That. That didn't come out right!"

"That's okay." Koji laughed as he kissed her surprise away. "I tend have that effect on women."

"How many other women?" Sasha asked suspiciously.

Seizing the moment Koji flipped her over. "Enough to know that none of them could ever hold a candle to you." He had just become the aggressor in their little game, and he intended to use every trick in his arsenal to make sure he won it.

Pressing his fingers to her lips he spread them oh so slightly, and once his long tongue had found purchase, he began twisting it inside her.

Sasha's eyes went wide. She had never felt anything like it before. "Ah! That's cheating. Stop it at once."

Not a chance. Thought Koji as her taste grew stronger.

Smacking him full in the face with her tail Sasha gasped as the first stirrings of desire made her body tremble. "I take it back." She said breathlessly. "Don't stop. Don't stop."

Koji, who couldn't speak with his mouth full, simply started to hum.

It was too much for Sasha too handle. Grasping the sheets of the bed tightly in her hands She shuddered as the first orgasm struck her, causing her to clamp down on Koji's tongue.

"Gahhh!" Koji screamed as he pulled back. Holding his muzzle he said. "I think I bit my tongue."

"Serves you right." Said Sasha. "Pulling a trick like that without telling me."

"Well it's not as much fun if you know it's going to happen." Said Koji, completely unrepentant.

"Fun?" She just looked at him. "What the hell was that anyway?"

Koji just shrugged when he said. "Tongue-Twister."

Sasha couldn't help herself, she laughed. Raising her tail to him she leaned back down on the bed and said. "Well, hurry up, finish what you started."

Koji wasn't sure he wanted to put his mouth anywhere near her lips again. The next time he might bite through his tongue and then where would he be? Without my tongue that's where.

"I'm waiting." Said Sasha impatiently.

Holding her hips Koji pulled her into a sitting position. "Then let's try something a little different, shall we?"

Sasha simply smiled as she moved to press herself against his chest. "I'm game if you are."

Lifting her gently Koji seated her in his lap. His erect cock rubbing against her fur as she wrapped her legs around his waist. "Is this what you had in mind." She asked him seductively. "For both of us to just sit here?"

Koji looked at her sideways. "You have no imagination do you?"

"I have plenty of imagination." She stroked his cock playfully. "I just enjoy reality more."

"I can see that." Placing his hands on her ass he held her positioned above him. "Ready?" He asked.

Sasha nodded that she was.

Pulling her down Koji slipped inside her. Moaning softly as her warm depths enveloped him he kissed her breasts, using short flicks of his tongue to tease and excite her.

Lifting her once more he slipped free and readied himself to repeat the motion again.

Together they built an intimate rhythm. Sasha tightening her grip on his shoulders whenever it became too much, and Koji holding her close, simply to hear her heart beat.

Sasha had tried this with other males before, but so far only Koji had both the size and the stamina to truly please her. "That's it." She said, feeling her approaching climax. "Mmm, next time push harder."

"I can't." Said Koji. "I've already gone all the way in."

"If it won't go in any farther then push harder!"

"If I push any harder my knot will slip inside you and we'll be tied together." For a moment Koji had forgotten what it was like to lie with another werewolf, to just hold each other and talk, while you waited for it to soften. "Oh, yeah."

The look on Koji's face almost made her laugh. It was so innocent, so concerned for her wellbeing that she knew she had chosen the right one.

Pressing her face to his chest she listened to his heart beat, and let the scent of earth and loam surround her. "I'm ready." She said.

Koji held her steady, and the next time he pulled her down, his knot slipped inside her as well.

It was all she could do hold him tightly, to prevent being carried away on a wave of their shared climax.

Koji used short thrusts to continue to please her. Even as his seed began spilling inside her, he sought to draw out the moment, to make it last forever.

Sasha had never felt anything quite like it. Wrapping her arms around him and pulling him in closer she whispered. "Was that the best you could do, my little wolf?"

Koji gaped at her. Little wolf? "Hell no! That was . . . that was just a warm up."

She nipped his neck possessively. "Glad to hear it."

* * *

"Shiro." Nelo shook him gently. Careful not to wake the slumbering guards she whispered his name again. "Shiro."

He blinked as he tried to make sense of the woman standing before him. There had been so many, an endless line of challengers looking to win him as a prize. "Nelo?"

"Koji's waiting for us aboard the airship. It's time to go."

Nelo helped him leave the estate and begin the long climb up the boarding ramp.

When Koji saw him he said. "Jeez Shiro, you look like death warmed over. What the hell happened to you?"

"So, many werewolves." Koji was nodding understandingly. "They wouldn't stop pawing me. They wouldn't even let me rest! They wanted, they wanted . . . I'm not ready to be a father!" Thank the Divine Dragon for Nelo. If it wasn't for her suggestion that I put the guards to sleep. Shiro stared at his friend for a moment. "What happened to your neck?"

"Eh?" Koji touched his neck, the collar he always wore was doing a poor job of covering up a wicked looking bruise. "Oh this? Just a love bite. Sasha likes to play a little rough. Really rough."

Shiro couldn't stifle his yawn. "I'm surprised she let you go."

Koji gave a half-shrug. "Well, she didn't. Not really."

She didn't let him go . . . The implications alone hung in the air, loaded with dire peril. "You mean we're fugitives?" She could come after us, she could . . . I'm to tired to care right now.

"Fugitives on the run from love." Koji leaned against the railing, watching as the Winter Islands began to fade into the distance. "It feels great doesn't it?"

Shiro wasn't even awake enough to respond. He had already curled up into a ball and had begun purring softly.

* * *

Mara forced open the door to Sasha's bedchamber. She was breathless from shock. "Mistress, the small one and his friends have escaped!"

"It's alright Mara. Koji fulfilled his duty." She stretched languorously, thinking of the previous night. "Admirably." Burying her face in the pillows she could still smell his scent. "I think it's safe to say that he won't be getting very far." His scent alone was no substitute for the real thing, but that didn't matter. She would have an age and a day to enjoy playing with him. And he had been more than adequate game.

Mara felt a twinge of guilt. I've never seen the mistress looking so, so satisfied. Its almost a shame to tell her. "But mistress. The white one. He was a master of Shin Kami Ryu. When he finished giving the guards their lesson. Many of them slept more deeply than they ever have before. We still can't rouse them." Mara's guilt intensified. As Sasha's second she was responsible for maintaining discipline, the fault lay entirely on her shoulders. And she too had fallen into the trap set by the black haired witch. "They were seen boarding an airship just this morning."

Sasha rose unsteadily to her feet. "What? But we can't follow them across the skies. We can't." A letter fell from her shift. She read it with trembling hands.

_Sasha, I'm sorry for leaving so suddenly, but there's someone who still needs me. And I can't just abandon my friends.

You're everything I've searched for and more. So I leave my heart with you. No other will fill my thoughts, no other will ever compare to you. They will only serve to remind me of who you are, and they are not._

But no matter where I go. No matter where I travel. I will always come back to you. I'm not strong enough to hold you yet. But when I am, I want to share the world with you.

You'll wait for me, won't you?

Yours from now until forever

~~Koji Fafnir

At the bottom of the letter was a crudely drawn sketch of two wolves. They were howling at the moon. Together.

* * *

_When history binds us, the chains of our past nigh inescapable. We must learn to grasp something beyond our reach. Something beyond despair or sorrow.

A new road will always await us, for it lies beyond the horizon of each and every day.

Koji has found a place to call his own. A family of his own making, with those who would choose him for the very reasons that he would choose them.

I am, a bit envious.

The truth of my past remains a mystery even to me. For how can I leave behind that which even I do not know? It remains shrouded in darkness still. Always drifting, just beyond my reach. Forever beyond my recall.

All I have are dreams; of soft touches and a warm embrace. Fragments of nightmares; the heat of flames and the sting of the knife. And memories of rain; that fell like tears from the sky._