A Dog's Howl

by Yuna Yami Mouto

The Deceptiwolves spotted a small convoy of Autodog younglings and decided to take them hostage,but they had never guessed that their guardian would intrigue them all so much,especially their pack leader,the mighty Megatron. Just why was this dog so different from any other Megatron had ever seen?

1. Chapter 1

A Dog's Howl

Summary:The Deceptiwolves spotted a small convoy of Autodog younglings and decided to take them hostage,but they had never guessed that their guardian would intrigue them all so much,especially their pack leader,the mighty Megatron. Just why was this dog so different from any other Megatron had ever seen?

A/N: Hi! Yeah, I got interested in the whole story about dogs and wolves after reading the story Don't Judge a Dog by its Bark, a wonderful story! So, anyway, the Autobots are dogs and the Decepticons are the big bad wolves. 'Nough said, ya know? Anyway, this is also TFA AU. I'm thinking of also writing one Bay Movies verse and one or two TFP verse, but I'll see about it.

This is a long one-shot.

Warnings: violence, pack mentality, sexual references and mentions of interfacing, pups and pup abandonment, cursing, bad language and the sort, Elita One/ Blackarachnia bashing, mentions of past rape, character death, OCs….

Enjoy!

It had been too tempting not to do it.

They were a small group, all of them sparklings, eight of them, and two younglings with an old medic, their teacher and only one guard, and he wasn't even an older dog at that, despite his rather impressive size for a young dog.

There were two pairs of seemingly twins, one pair yellow and green, the other silver and gold. One of the sparklings was rather large for such young pups, a military looking green coloring his fur. One of them didn't resemble any of the other dogs in the convoy. The remaining two sparkilings were both blue, but different shades, and were obviously not related. One even looked like a Praxian, a thing rarely seen because of their unique coding.

The adults were already mostly past their prime. They could probably still have pups, if they wanted to. The medic looked old enough to have been a part of the last squabble between the dogs and the wolves, many years ago, although he may be older still. The femme, the teacher for the young ones, looked like she had been around the end of that squabble as well, but who could really tell from this distance, even if they were only about ten mechanometers away from them.

The two younglings moved with an almost unnatural grace for such young dogs. Their expert, who moved with the same grace, identified them as probably abandoned pups taken in by the old, but now deceased trainer dog, Yoketron. Lockdown claimed that even if neither of them ever finished their training, they would still be dangerous opponents. The black and gold pup was more restrained in his exploration of their surroundings and stuck strangely close to their guardian while the white one was having fun with the sparklings.

Speaking of the guardian, Megatron had never seen one so young but oh so promising assigned a duty considered degrading among the dogs. He was young, yes, but he carried himself with a graceful strength and although it would never be quite enough against a wolf, it was more than enough to protect the young ones or get them to safety. He stood proud and tall, head held high and delicate ears alert. Most of his upper body was covered by red fur, the abdomen, hide and long, elegant legs a tempting silver color that matched his neck fur. His tail was a light blue and looked a bit more like a wolf's tail than any dog's he has seen before, and he had seen a lot of them. His paws and head were the same color, except his face - which was an even lighter'softer blue - and two stripes of yellow on his temple. The dog was quite tall for his species and age, but he would still be the smallest adult if compared to wolves.

Megatron had to admit, the dog was pretty. Pit, by the time he reached his final upgrade, he would become beautiful without a doubt! His coloration was strange, though, even among Autodogs. He wondered what his creators look like for the combination of their CNA to make such a tempting creature. Because, Primus help him, the dog was temptation personified!

"What do you say, my Lord? Should we take the risk?" The familiar sound of his close friend and advisor's, Shockwave, voice snapped the pack leader out of his musings and inspection of the little convoy. "They are all in good health, they have a highly trained medic and the guard is young. We may really need these younglings if the season continues like this. Too many carriers have died while bearing this vorn."

Megatron nodded to show he was listening even though his optics didn't leave their soon to be prey. The lighter blue sparkling, not the Praxian, was bouncing and running around the mechling and the guard licked at his ear playfully, making the youngster giggle. Those gentle blue optics that all Autodogs shared seemed more beautiful to him than any crystal or jewel he had seen. He let himself stare at them as best as he could while he contemplates their next course of action.

It was a sad fact that they have, indeed, lost quite a few pack members, especially carriers. The winter had been bitterly cold and early spring was only slightly better. It was one of those vorns when the winter and summer extend and meet halfway, something that happens very rarely. It is said that the most sparkings took place in this period of time and that that generation is stronger than the next ten to twenty generations. Megatron himself had been sparked in such a vorn, as well as some of his closest companions, and he could justify such words. He was far stronger and bigger than most of his pack, both his creators having been born in such conditions and having once had their own packs as leaders. They had stumbled on each other during his carrier's heat and the two massive wolves has fought for three hours until his sire finally got what he wanted. Impressed by each other, they had bonded and brought their two, already very large, packs together and they became the power couple of the millennium.

Megatron was born three hundred vorns later, when the winter had even taken up half of summertime and he was the healthiest pup of even his generation. When his creators offlined, a war for taking power had almost ensued because Megatron had only been a mechling back then, two vorns from adulthood, but he was a born leader. He took them all on, and one by one, Megatron defeated them. He became the undisputed pack leader of the second biggest pack, their numbers only smaller than one other old wolf's pack who he had yet to meet.

While this will be a difficult orn, it would have been worth it for more strong pups, but their carriers have been cut down by a fourth of their original number, all of them carrying. Even if they can get more carriers by taking them from other packs, sparkling-napping was a big no-no. Every pack fights for its sparklings and a clash of packs would leave them with even less members.

It is why they're here. Sure, dogs are smaller and weaker, but if they train them from a young age, they could become fierce warriors. He had met very few who can claim as such in front of a wolf, but perhaps if they're trained by wolves, that may change. Besides, these puppies belong to a "pack" of dogs that he and his pack have been battling with over many things over the years and he was pretty sure that they could be used as bargaining chips.

"They are young and healthy and could be easily taught to be one of us, so yes. We'll take the risk." Megatron finally replied to Shockwave and the one eyed wolf nodded. "Alert the others. We will have to be careful, especially with the guard. I will deal with him myself."

And as Shockwave relied his orders to the rest of the group he has assembled for this "hunt", Megatron returned to watching the guard, a strange feeling coming over him at the sight of the dog playing with his charges like a carrier would with its sparklings.

00000

"Optimus!" Said dog looked ahead as his name was squeaked out by a hyperactive and fast moving blur of sky blue fur. Optimus smiles when the puppy, Blurr, all but throws himself into the older dog's chest and nuzzles in closer. Beside him, Prowl is doing his best not to giggle as one of the youngsters cuddles with their guardian.

"Yes, Blurr?" The tone of voice was gentle and fond, Optimus very much attached to his charges and enjoying his position as their protector.

He had not been meant to be a youngsters's guard. That was a job considered to be meant only for the weak and elderly or for the carriers, who the sires considered unable to fight. Optimus was supposed to become a warrior, due to his strong build and fighting skills, but a situation with one of his former friends changed that.

Elita One had defected while under his "supervision" in their training days. He had been elected to act as leader for Sentinel and Elita, an exercise meant to help them become a unit that will one day fight the Deceptiwolves, but it turned into the perfect opportunity for the femme to steal some important information and run off to the wolves. It appeared that Elita had gone mad and was about to be put down due to the horrific experiments she was suggesting, so she took what she considered to be what she would need to bargain with the wolves and ran. They have no idea if she still lives, but the Deceptiwolves have definitely gotten the information she had.

Sentinel, always considering Optimus a threat to his own status in the community, was eager and rather fast about blaming it all on the red, silver and blue dog and no one wanted to hear Optimus's side of the story. So his training stopped and he was going to be kicked out when Ultra Magnus, their leader, reminded everyone that losing such a strong fighter would be a tragedy. He tried to make Optimus a body guard for other important dogs, but the mechling had already signed up to protect the abandoned sparklings. When Optimus refused to do anything else, the Magnus made it seem like that was Optimus's punishment for the next two vorns, after which he would be allowed to resume his training. He had completely ignored Optimus's indignation and just made it public knowledge and official.

Optimus, who had never been liked even up to that point, became the laughing stock of the community. The few that dared say something to his face either left with their talis between their legs or ran when Optimus finally snapped and was about to launch at them. The dislike turned to hatred soon enough, although Optimus was convinced that it had always been like that, but they were lacking a concrete reason for it so they tried not to show it so clearly. Key word being tried.

Optimus didn't care. He knows that he is different from them, he has always known. His carrier had given birth to him on a vorn such as this, a vorn where no dog could survive a carrying term. She had died, yes, but only after the red and blue dog was born and she had assigned Alpha Trion as his caretaker. The oldest dog had been surprised and unsure about the responsibility of caring for such a young life, but one look at Optimus was enough for Trion to make his mind up and Optimus was cared for greatly. However, the old dog is sick now, as he has been for the past half a vorn, and he couldn't do anything to help Optimus's predicament.

Not that Optimus would want him to. He wasn't a fighter in the spark, much more preferring an easy, peaceful life. In fact, this is what he would have loved to do most, caring for sparklings, but one look at his frame had the "military" all but stalking him until he reluctantly joined. He was a fast learner and apparently a born leader, but his growth and its speed was making others suspicious and wary of him.

Now that he was here, Optimus really couldn't be happier. Sure, he was assigned a bigger group than most, but they were all really sweet, despite what everyone else was saying about them.

The one beside him almost always was Prowl, a black and gold fluffy youngling just out of sparklinghood with trust and authority issues. His carrier left him breems after giving birth to him and his sire, Yoketron, was killed a few orns ago, leaving him an orphan no one wanted to take care of. He was the first pup assigned to Optimus and it had taken him ten megacycles to get Prowl to open up to him. Ever since he did, he refused to leave Optimus's side for longer than a megacycle. Optimus didn't mind, as Prowl was calm, smart and peaceful and he knew how to take care of himself if there was a fight.

The only time he was aggressive is when someone is ridiculing Optimus in his presence. The one time that happened, a warrior had to spend two megacycles in the medical hut.

The only other youngling, Jazz, was one of the many abandoned pups that Yoketron had taken in as his own. Optimus himself might have ended up being one such case, if Alpha Trion had refused. The white with traces of gray and light blue youngling grew up with Prowl up to the time Yoketron died and still remained unwanted, even by carriers who could not have a sparkling of their own. He became Optimus's charge all on his own, seeing that Prowl was trusting him and deciding to give Optimus a chance. While not nearly as reluctant to leave Optimus as Prowl was, the always happy and humming Jazz was most at ease around the older dog.

Blurr he took in on his own, just a half a joor after his birth. His creators saw him as glitched due to his incredible speed that was to this day still growing. It's how he met Ratchet and Arcee, as well, when he asked for some low grade for the shivering little pup in his arms, Prowl and Jazz hiding behind his pedes. The old medic had helped him to get Blurr through the rest of winter before the pup was perfectly healthy and speeding around their territory with joy and enthusiasm. Blurr was always frowned upon, but the sky blue pup couldn't have cared less. Like the other two under Optimus's protection, he was just happy to be around Optimus, where he knew he was wanted.

Bluestreak, unfortunately, has a similar story, only he was born in the woods and his creators were killed by a cyberbear while they were trying to protect him. A scout arrived at the scene just in time to see Bluestreak's carrier ripped in two and to hear the sire's desperate begging to save their puppy. Bluestreak was saved but was considered a bad omen. His carrier's sisters refused to look after him, so the scout took him in until Bluestreak could walk, when the good mech was killed by the same cyberbear that had offlined his creators. They had wanted to put the pup down, had Ratchet not insisted that he be transferred to Optimus. It got the medic transferred as well, but Bluestreak was happy, living and loved. The darker blue puppy likes to talk quite a bit, and between him and Blurr, it was never boring nor quiet. With Ratchet came Arcee and they all started living together in the medic's bigger hut.

Sunsreaker and Sideswipe were one of the extremely rare cases of twins and that was enough to shun them. They were at first with another guardian, a femme called Ariel, but because of their preference to making mischief and pranking others, she had dropped them right into Optimus's lap, figuratively and literally. He had been reading a favored story from his youth to Prowl, Jazz, Blurr and Bluestreak when the pink femme had walked up behind him, a twin in each servo, and unceremoniously dumped them onto his crossed legs. He had started when they landed and couldn't help but stare at her as Ariel informed him that they were his responsibility now and wished him good luck with staying sane. Because of such behavior from their last guardian, the twins refused to open up to Optimus. Their pranks became mean and with the intent to hurt, and after one nearly ended with Ironhide, an orange mech who at times helped to protect the sparklings, nearly losing his servo, Optimus had had enough. He took the fall for them, getting even more hated in the process, and after a painful punishment, Optimis called the twins. He was only going to scold them but Sunstreaker accused him of planing to get rid of them like Ariel had. The older dog couldn't believe his audios and asked them why they would think something like that and he found out that, before Ariel, their creators did the same thing. They talked for half of that dark cycle before the silver Sideswipe and gold Sunstreaker cried themselves to sleep against Optimis's hide. It took him a groon to get them to trust him and now they were in the same position as the other youngsters were: unwilling to be parted from Optimus for long, fearing he will disappear if that were to happen.

Mirage was an accident. The white, red and blue sparkling wasn't even from their community but from the one a few cities away. The one-forms (A/N: like people are for animals. They're cybertronians who only have a root mode) had been transporting pups of nobler breeds and Mirage was among them. When their transport got stuck in a storm, many youngsters escaped their holding unit and went into the woods to explore. They either died from the storm, hungry mechanimals of the forest or they got lost. Mirage was lucky to end up being the latter. He wandered onto their community's grounds, where he was found and about to be killed by Sentinel, but Optimus had stumbled upon them and, not recognizing the sparkling as any of their own and thus knowing what will befall him, he rammed into Sentinel and pinned him to the ground, demanding what he was planing to do with one of Optimus's charges. The other dog had backed off, never even mentioning the event due to Optimus so easily overpowering him but his glares intensified from then on and he always did his best to even more discredit the red, blue and silver dog. Mirage didn't trust Optimus or the others for a few days, believing them to be his jailers or something, but eventually he saw that they were the good sort of crazy and started enjoying his time with them. By the time his transporters found him, Mirage had changed so much that they didn't realize that it was him. Mirage stayed, never once bothering to tell them who he was.

Wasp and Bumblebee came with their creators and their many, many, many siblings. They were the second youngest creations of two poor dogs that liked traveling and their family had stayed in their community for three groons. When they left, the twins were having fun with the other sparklings of the community and they never noticed that their creators and siblings were gone until it was too late. Due to them not being of the community, no one wanted to take care of them, even temporarily. They weren't even put in the system! Blurr had taken pity on them and he, along with Sunny, Sides, Blue and Mirage, snuck them into their shared hut until further notice. When Optimus, who had been on a long training trip with Prowl and Jazz, returned, he found two new sparklings to take care of. Luckily, he never minded and the twins took a liking to him rather early on, especially Bumblebee.

Bulkhead never met his creators. His sire died before he was born and his carrier died giving birth to him. He was also considered a bad omen because of their deaths and had been left to die on the edge of their community's territory. That was the first and only time Optimus had gone out that far into the woods and he had gone for the new sparkling. He couldn't just leave him there to die! When he found him and came back, Ratchet had had quite a few things to say in regards of his mental state, especially since it had been night. He had then examined Bulkhead and declared him in perfectly good state, even if he was a bit larger than most sparklings were at birth. Apparently, that's what kept him alive for so long. He was tough and so they named him Bulkhead. The large green sparkling took to them instantly and he quickly made friends, even though Wasp wasn't always nice to him. As he knew no better and it had been Optimus he woke up to, Optimus was a bit of his hero or something. The guard found it both endearing and humbling, to be considered a hero by someone so young. Bulkhead was still frowned upon after he was recognized by the rest of the Community, but no one, not even the loudmouth Sentinel, dared say anything when they saw him playing with Optimus's other charges, especially after he raised a challenging optical ridge at them.

Their little family had never been separated for very long, the longest being Optimus's training trips with the two younglins that the others had been too young for. They did almost everything together and the young ones became the highlight of Optimus's every single day. The sparklings tended to run around after him if they were not playing and Optimus found it rather cute. They sometimes bothered Ratchet, just for the kicks of it, loving to see the red and white old medic react explosively. Arcee made sure they were learning slowly what they will one day need to live on their own, a day Optimus both dreaded and anticipated.

The young ones always slept with him. Prowl made no secret about his preference to sleep in the same space as Optimus, so he always settled next to Optimus's right front paw and got ready to either go to sleep immediately or to listen to Optimus's many stories or lullabies he told and sang to the youngsters. Blurr always nestled himself in between his front paws where Optimus's neck will cover him when the older dog places his head down. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe always played tough and went to sleep alone, on the other side of the rather big room in their hut, before sneaking back to sleep by Optimus's hide as soon as they made sure he was ''asleep''. Bluestreak liked to climb onto Optimus's back and was usually immediately out like a light, while Bumblebee, being the physically smallest, liked to settle himself mostly on Optimus's neck and head. The others would settle around their guardian and by the time Ratchet or Arcee came in to check on them, it would be a pretty comical sight if one saw him surrounded and covered in his little puppy charges. After all, he even allowed Mirage to use his tail as a blanket.

He and Ratchet got on pretty well. The old war medic had been as wary of Optimus as the pups had. Optimus wasn't offended. He knew it was from self preservation instincts that everyone feared him. He was too wild, too independent for a bunch of dogs, in mind, build and character. Ratchet has at least tried to get to know him before judging him and the medic confessed, only once and it was to never be mentioned again, that he was glad Optimus had rushed Blurr into his hut that night, not so long ago. He came to regard Optimus as something like a godson or a nephew, only the cyberhound equivalent. Optimus was the only dog Ratchet was willing to talk to about the horrors of the last squabble between them and the Deceptiwolves as the mechling was both old enough and smart enough to know and to not believe the propaganda that was being shoved down these younger generations's throat tubings.

Arcee actually liked Optimus from the start, something that had only happened with Alpha Trion before. Sure, she was wary and she didn't try to hide it from him, but she had immediately made an effort to learn more about him before judging him and she had stayed nice even while she hadn't trusted him. She was a teacher here in their community, or at least she had been one up until recently. She was released from duty after quite a long time of teaching younglings and she has been a perfect teacher. Optimus and Ratchet suspected that the dogs in charge didn't want someone associated with Optimus working around the young ones and so they sent her into an early pension. She brushed off his apology and told him that she was happy either way because she will now only have ten children to teach and have a lot more time for both herself and her mate.

Their group of thirteen sure did become both infamous and famous over the three orns they have been together. Every outsider was told to avoid them like cosmic rust and they got many sneering looks from everyone, but it's not like they cared. They had each other and that was actually more than enough. Washouts fit best with other washouts. They belonged together and none of the group would leave the others after everything that they went through together.

They were usually mostly ignored when top dogs from other smaller communities come around, but this time was different. All of the important dogs were coming together for a big meeting, like they do every time a vorn is like this one has shown signs of being, to discuss the possibility of ending the conflict with the Deceptiwolves in their victory. Because of this, Ultra Magnus had approached Optimus and asked him one last time if he's changed his mind about not being a bodyguard but Optimus stayed true to his decision. As a result, he was forced to take his group of misfits to the woods while the top dogs were around.

It was supposed to be a relaxing camping trip in the woods just outside the community's territory and the pups were all loving it. It was not so often that they were not surrounded by contempt from the rest of the Community, so this was real good for them. The only problem was that they had run out of fuel and Optimus had had to resort to hunting. It's not as if dogs didn't know how to hunt or never did it; it's just frighteningly scary how good Optimus was at it. Even when he was younger, he could catch more prey than his fellow seniors. It was scary, really, but it was something he had been able to do since he was young, so food had not been a problem. The problem was that they had to refine it for the young ones, but Ratchet had told him that he should leave that to him, so Optimus was glad that that at least, isn't his concern.

Other than that, it was the perfect time to start some of their survival training, but that took up only small amount of time. The rest of it was spent in relaxing walks, stories before sleep and play for the rest of the day. Their bonds of friendship and family only grew stronger with each joor they spent out here, all alone, with no one to judge them.

It was what they were doing now, relaxing and playing. Blurr had been racing with Jazz, Bumblebee and Wasp, Prowl had been meditating up until recently, Mirage had been chasing Sideswip and Sunstreaker for hiding his favorite chew toy and Bluestreak and Bulkhead had been deep in discussion about a favored story Optimus was usually roped into telling them every other night. Ratchet was grinding in some medicine from crystal berries Optimus and Prowl had went to get that morning while Arcee was overseeing the processing energon. Optimus had been keeping a keen optic out for any danger as well as observing his charges as they play. He had become a master of multitasking ever since they had been assigned to him. Blurr had apparently gotten bored of constantly winning his races and had instead decided to try and drag Optimus in on the fun.

''Please come and play with us please please pleasepleaseplease-''

Optimus chuckled and leaned down to lick at Blurr's ears, causing the other to shut up due to the giggle that escaped him at the affectionate move. ''Alright, alright!'' This got the other pups's attention and they all hurried over to where one of them had managed to get Optimus to agree to play with them. They did this all the time, at the same time of day as every other day they did this, and Optimus was always reluctant to leave his position, especially at noon. Noon and midnight were the two most dangerous times to be in the forest, especially unawares. But he always gave in after he did a little patrol around their temporary territory.

He will regret it to his dying day that he hadn't done so today as well.

They came almost out of nowhere, big, dark forms that might have been mistaken for dogs had they not been twice Optimus's size and had red optics. The wolves had struck so suddenly, the guardian didn't even have enough time to round up the little ones before he was attacked by one of the biggest in the hunting party. The gray, black and ruby red wolf jumped at him and Optimus could not even transform before they were rolling on the round, wrestling for the position on top. While Optimus may have been smaller, he was definitely faster and he used that to his advantage to get out from underneath the wolf.

They started circling each other and the red, blue and white-silver dog was barely aware of Ratchet and Arcee fighting off other assailants. He was very glad now that Arcee had been trained in martial arts and that ratchet had his magnets to repel the other threats. He was also dimly aware of Prowl and Jazz taking on their own attackers and Bulkhead doing his best to shield Bumblebee while Wasp was almost futilely evading one of the wolves grabs at him.

The Deceptiwolf lunged and Optimus met him half way, bitting as hard as he could into the other's shoulder and causing a grunt of pain, but then he was the one grunting when the wolf slammed him into the ground. Optimus kicked his hind legs and managed to scratch the other hard enough for him to instinctively wince away from the pain. That was Optimus's opening and he took it with a ferociousness that stunned the wolves as he snarled at the obvious leader and jumped him. He had enough momentum to slam them both to the ground again and then they were wrestling. Again. Only this time there was a lot more teeth and fangs and claws, the wolf no longer underestimating Optimus and the dog realizing the usual tactics won't be enough.

Just as Optimus had knocked the other off of him and was trying to get back up, he heard the desperate call of his name coming from Blurr, who was being dangled by the scurf of his neck plating and fur in the jaws of a big but slightly smaller purple wolf than the one that had come at Optimus. ''Optimus! Optimus! Optimus, help! Help! Optimus!''

But before the dog could even sit up straight, his opponent was back and almost lying on his, his big, sharp fangs holding Optimus's neck cables and his weight pinning him to the ground. Optimus didn't let that stop him from trying to reach one of his charges, but then he heard Arcee's worried call to Ratchet and heard Bumblebbee and Bluestreak also calling for help. He saw that they were surrounded, noticed that none of the youngsters were injured, that Ratchet was fine if a bit winded and that they had nowhere to go, nowhere to hide. And the sparklings's calls were so afraid, so desperate that Optimus hated himself for what he was going to do, for the only thing he can do.

For the lives of his charges, Optimus gave in.

00000

Megatron felt surprise when he realized that the dog had stopped trashing. It happened as soon as the sparklings's lives had been put at stake and he now hated himself for not at least prolonging the fight a bit more. This was the most challenge he had faced since he met Strika and Lugnut and that had been centuries ago. The little dog was amazing in battle but he was now lying limply in Megatron's hold, his beautiful blue optics focused on the little blue sparkling in Shockwave's jaws. The little thing was trashing and calling out to the mechling and Megatron had to admit. Such a strong name most definitely suited this dog.

''Please...'' The quiet voice stopped Megatron's musings and the pack leader looked down as best as he could at his prisoner. ''Please, just let them go.'' He almsot had to strain to hear the pleading and the Deceptiwolf could easily tell that this was almost painful for the dog to do, to plead and beg, but he was ready to set aside his pride for the lives of his charges. And Megatron had to respect that. Very few were ready to give up their own pride for their own lives, let alone lives of others. ''Do what you want with me, just let them go. They are innocent in all of this.''

Starscream suddenly sauntered over to the sky blue sparkling in Shockwave's custody and Megatron felt the dog, Optimus as they called him, stiffen in his hold and he growled at his captive, but the other didn't even acknowledge him. That galled the pack leader but he allowed it for the moment, if only to see how he will react to the plum, gray and black wolf so close to one of his charges.

''There are no innocents in war, dog.'' For some reason, Optimus flinched in Megatron's hold. It couldn't have been from the venom in Starscream's voice. The beta might be feared by some, but no one truly took him seriously. After his many failed attempts at becoming the pack leader, not even their young took him seriously. And the dog was too proud to show it if he were intimidated, anyway. ''But we have come here for them, not dead but alive.''

If at all possible, the beautiful dog stiffened even more and Megatron recognized the subtle shifts in his muscles that indicated he was going to make a move. He growled into his throat, but the mechling only stopped moving, The tension was still very much present in his cables. ''Why? What do you want with them?''

Starscream smirked and moved his snout into the little one's neck and chest fur, the poor sparkling shaking with fear and whimpering the dog's name over and over again. ''Whatever we have planned for them Autodog, it will soon enough be none of your concerns.'' And as the beta teasingly, mockingly extended his tongue, as if to lick the petrified pup, something snapped and the sound of transformation seams moving filled the suddenly very quiet forest. The dog under Megatron shifted and used his surprise to get to his pedes, knocking Megatron off of him in the process and before anyone could reset their optics, Optimus was lunging at Starscream.

In his surprised state, Starscream had no hope of deflecting the furious, protective dog and Optimus smartly overpowered him and sat on him, his claws extended and placed at the plum wolf's throat cables. The just started struggling immediately stopped, Starscream not daring to move when his neck was in such a vulnerable position, stilling under the Autodog, who took this opportunity to look at the hunting party and decided to stun them even further by growling at them! The sound was no something a dog should ever manage, it was a sound that told other wolves to back off unless they wanted their afts handed to them. It was so feral that most of the smaller wolves in the hunting party almost took a step back.

It was while Optimus was making this sound that everyone finally took in the beautiful dog's primary form and they saw that while he was beautiful as a dog, he was the embodiment of gorgeousness in his primary mode. He was tall, well built with wide shoulders but an impossibly narrow waist, his chest well developed but still growing as he had not yet reached his final upgrade. He had white-silver, sexy, long legs that went for miles, ending in wide pedes as blue as his servos from the elbow down to his finger tips. Part of his waist was black and his abdominal plating was made as a grill while he had windshields on his chest, over his sparkchamber. His helm was the same blue as his servos and pedes, except those two stripes of yellow. His ears were placed on the sides and high on his helm, as if they were audio finials on the oneforms. He had the prettiest blue lips that just begged to be ravished but his optics spoke of a threat to any who dare come near.

He was brave. Megatron could have easily snapped his neck, but he had risked it and gotten free. Pit, he even managed to get a hostage! That took guts and skill and once again, Megatron wondered why the Autodogs would be so stupid as to let this fine fighter be given such a task when he could be a great asset in their struggle against the Deceptiwolves. However, he couldn't allow the dog to ruin this great opportunity. Ten sparklings, a medic and such a fine warrior were not something Megatron was willing to lose.

Optimus's head snapped around when his audios caught the sound of transformation seams moving and he looked up at the newly transformed wolf. The others followed his lead and left him, once again, the smallest fighter there, but he only had optics for the powerful pack leader. He was mostly gunmetal gray with details in black or crimson red, almost like his sharp optics. He was way taller than Optimus, the dog barely coming up to his chest. He had large fangs and black claws, a barrel on his right servo that is hidden in his wolf mode. He had big ears on the top of his helm and tick fur on his chest. And slag it all, he was handsome as Pit!

Megatron noticed those blue optics roving over his body and smirked internally at the thought that he drew such attention from the pretty Autodog. He must have showed something because the next second, Optimus was growling at him, a snarl on those pretty features. Megatron just smirked before lunging at the mechling once again. Optimus did not disappoint. He knocked Starscream out with a well positioned pressuring on his neck cables before turning his full attention on the new attacker. For a while, they just wrestled and kicked and hit before they simultaneously got back to their pedes, both reaching into subspace and withdrawing their weapon of choice. Megatron drew twin swords the same color as his armor while Optimus now clutched a red energon ax. Just as quickly and in sync, they charged an locked their weapons. Surprisingly strong for an Autodog, Optimus withstood the locking a lot better than Megatron had thought he would, but then he jumped back and made two fast slashes which the pack leader easily evaded and deflected.

His pack was watching, not believing their optics as a mere dog almost matched Megatron blow for blow. He had easily overpowered and knocked out Starscream and now he was going head to head with one of the most powerful Deceptiwolves of the past hundred thousand generations. The younglings and sparklings were quiet as they watched their guardian fighting for their freedom, not daring to move or make a single sound that might distract Optimus. They watched with fascination how the dog fought and snarled and growled like on a wolf should be able to, but he was still very clearly a dog. His lack of matching strength said as such, as did his smaller size, and although his snout and ears greatly resembled that of a wolf, the snout was a tad shorter and smaller while the ears were still partially on the side of his helm instead of almost completely on top like it was with wolves.

Optimus suddenly grunted when the cannon slammed into his chest and all the air left his vents. It caused his body to start overheating while he opened his intake in a futile attempt to regain some cold air that will cool down his chassis, but Megatron saw his opportunity and was relentless. He hit Optimus with the hilt of his sword on the back of his neck and although the mechling fell, he did no lose consciousness. Instead, he started trying get up, still very much capable of fighting even if it will be harder now. That was a very sensitive spot on dogs and it was usually enough to at least immobilize them, yet this one was still moving! Optimus lunged at him, a little clumsily now, but he still managed to lock his ax with one of Megatron's swords. And then the handle of the ax extended just as Megatron was about to try and hit Optimus's unprotected side, stopping his servo in its place. The dog smirked at the Deceptiwolf's surprise but it was short lived as he finally started to be affected by that blow to the neck. His knee joints seemed to be seconds away from collapsing under him, but he still kept trying to push Megatron's sword away.

The pack leader knew that if this continued, the dog will be in serious trouble because of his injuries. Many dogs and wolves alike died from far less than this, especially in vorns like this. It was actually a miracle he was still standing, let a lone fighting. Megatron decided to end this, finally, because he wanted the dog live and healthy. The Deceptiwolf separated and took two steps back, Optimus stumbling after him at the sudden withdrawal. The dog lost balance and fell to the hard ground, but before he could even entertain the idea of getting up, Megatron put the barrel of his cannon to his helm and allowed to powering up of the weapon to echo in the forest. Despite being obviously dizzy, Optimus seemed to hear it and stiffened almost immediately.

''Enough.'' Was all he said with a tone of finality to it. That, however, only managed to make the dog tense even more. Megatron only realized why when his mecha let out startled yelps when the black and gold youngling managed to free himself from the circle his wolves have made around the young ones and run towards his guardian, calling his name, soon followed by the rest of the youngsters. Optimus transformed back into his secondary mode and bent down to lick their ears in order to soothe them. Megatron watched as the free sparklings all whimpered and begged Optimus not to go and with a start, Megatron realized that these sparklings and younglings have already looked certain death in the optics. But they were so young! What the Pit were those Autodogs doing with their young?! It also made him realize that even if he had not planned on keeping the mechling around as well, he would have had to keep Optimus, as he seemed to be the only one who they trusted. A look at the medic and the teacher had him certain of it, as they looked equally sad and devastated.

He looked at Shockwave, Lugnut and Soundwave, who were holding the three individually captured sparklings and gave them one order. ''Release them.'' The three immediately followed the order and the sparklings all but flew at Optimus. They cried and snuggled closer to him while he promised them that everything will be alright. ''You are right about that, at least, Autodog.''

Optimus's blue optics snapped to Megatron with such speed that the Deceptiwolf pack leader feared that he would get a whiplash in his neck because of the suddenness of such an action. ''What do you mean? What do you even want with us?''

''Optimus!'' The medic hissed at the guardian from where he was still being watched by Strika and Cyclonus, two other wolves of similar frame going over to check on Starscream, who was still out cold on the ground. The mechling easily ignored the medic, his optics never leaving Megatron, even if he was only transforming back into his secondary form so he would be more level with the dog's beautiful blue jewels that he called optics.

''I mean that you will continue your duty as their guard when you join our pack-''

''There's no way I am allowing these pups to join any wolf's pack!'' The dog interrupted him but Megatron only frowned and continued as if the other had not spoken at all.

''They will be treated fairly and trained as if they were born into our pack. They will have all the rights in our pack. They will have freedom as soon as we make sure that they won't try to run away. You will all have our protection. We will never try to make you into wolves, but our pack needs more young ones. Many a carriers and sparklings have died this winter and early spring. It is dangerous for a pack to not have enough younglings for any vorn, let alone a vorn like this one, what with the Autodogs thinking of attacking us.''

Optimus was now staring at him in confusion and skepticism. ''If you're not going to raise them as wolves, then why take us at all?''

''A medic, ten sparklings and a teacher are rare to find, anywhere, let alone here.'' Megatron shrugged his shoulders, observing the younger mech. ''We have few medics, one more will be a blessing. Teachers, we don't have them at all. We always teach young ones everything ourselves, but maybe it would be good to have someone watching over them when we are not teaching them to hunt and fight. It will free us more warriors for battle. And we have more than enough resources to feed ten more pups. You, on the other hand, were a wonderful bonus. I have not seen such a talented fighter among the Autodogs, ever! Tell me, who trained you? Kup? Sideswipe? Perhaps even Ultra Magnus himself?''

The red and blue dog snorted. ''I only had basic training under Kup before I was kicked out.''

Murmurs rose over the wolves as they now stared even more intently at the Autodog that had stood ground against their fearsome leader. Megatron looked surprised for a second before he concealed it. Surely, he couldn't mean! ''Are you telling me you trained yourself?''

Optimus glared. ''I had to, what with no one wanting to train me.''

Before Megatron could question him further, a large dark brown and orange femme waled up to him, her red optics also observing the mechling. ''Lord Megatron, if I might suggest, I think that it would be wiser if we took them back to our territory before you continue your questioning. We're still rather close to the Autodog community they belong to and we can't risk a scout finding out we have been here.''

Megatron nodded and then turned to Cyclonus and Soundwave. They stood at attention when they saw his gaze land on them and Megatron told them to cover up their tracks. ''With the snowstorm bound to hit tonight, you only need to clear them up temporarily. Leaves or rocks, I don't care. With the bad weather, rarely any scout will dare wenture this deep in the woods.''

The two nodded and with a firm ''Yes, Lord Megatron'', they were already on it. Megatron quickly rounded everyone up and made a parameter for the pups, medic and teacher to travel within. He was walking right in the front, in the sparklings's and younglings's clear line of sight, since he had insisted that Optimus travel between himself and Shockwave, who was third in the procession through the thicker part of the forest. The pups were surprisingly quiet, optics all focused on Optimus as if they feared he would disappear if they looked away for even a second and Megatron knew that it had little to do with the fact they were surrounded by Deceptiwolves. He could see it in their young optics. They didn't fear death; they were afraid that they would lose their guardian.

''Where are we going?''

Megatron was broken out of his musings by the sound of that young voice just a few steps behind him. He had assumed that Optimus would keep the silence and wouldn't even talk to him unless it had something to do with the lives of the young ones, but then again, he wasn't all that far for the second part. The place where his charges were going to live from now on must be of great interest to the guardian.

''We are going deeper in the woods, where our own dwellings are located. It is a big clearing in the woods by a cliff wall. We live in its many caves and the dens we've made in the tress nearest to the wall of the cliff. There is an energon stream nearby for the young ones such as your charges or the really elderly, as well as for medicine. Our hunting grounds are plentiful and rich with game. Our pack is the second biggest pack in existence, second only to one other whose leader I have never personally met. Our warriors are the best, though.'' Megatron told the mechling, unconsciously puffing up his chest and trying to impress Optimus, but the pups's guardian just looked unfazed and almost uninterested.

''Then why did you kidnap us?''

''I thought I explained that the winter had killed some of our carriers and young. Do we need any more reasons?''

''Yes! You do!'' The dog growled at him and Megatron turned his helm around to watch the younger mech.

''Such as?''

''Are we hostages you're hoping to use against the Autodog Community?'' Optimus asked without beating around the bush.

Megatron let out a startled laugh. ''What?''

''Because they'll actually thank you for taking us off of their servos.''

Megatron stopped, the whole convoy stopping as well. He turned around and looked Optimus directly in the optics, his suddenly very cold and blazing with anger. ''What?'' He asked in a deadly tone.

But Optimus didn't back down. He just glared at the Deceptiwolf as he answered. ''We are the washouts, so to say, the undesirables in the Community. No one wants us there. They hate us. If you tell them you have us and demand anything in return for our safe return, they'll laugh in your face and tell you to keep us. After all, no one wants orphans or abandoned ones around.''

The Autodogs all jumped in surprise and fright (except Optmus, he was only surprised) when all the Deceptiwolves started growling and Optimus immediately got into a defensive stance, ready to fight for their lives if the wolves attacked. But, instead of being angry that they'll get nothing after all the effort they put in catching useless prey, the Deceptiwolves looked ready to storm the Autodog Community and killing all involved with this way of thinking of sparklings. younglings and mechling. Megatron knew he was ready to spill energon because of the stupidity of those damn dogs! No young one should ever be left to think that they are undesirable! Especially a warrior like the dog before him! ''I will kill them.'' He growled under his breath and Optimus's ears perked forward, trying to hear what was muttered by the pack leader while the rest of the hunting party were talking casually about slaughtering all those who would treat the future of the world in such a way.

Optimus got up from his defensive stance and threw them all suspicious looks. ''So what are you going to do now?''

Megatron regarded the dog before turning around. ''The same as we had planned all along. You'll be a part of our pack. Hopefully, you'll like it with us better than with your so called community.'' He spat the word like he just tasted something disgusting. ''We treat our younglings with respect and care, no matter their origin.''

Optimus didn't answer and they continued on in silence. The pack leader would often tilt his head to the side just to catch a glimpse of the beautiful dog behind him from the corner of his optic, and that's how he was the first to notice. He smirked and continued on as if nothing was amiss, wondering when the others will notice. He knew that Optimus had also noticed, but then again, he was supposed to notice. After five breems of no one talking or noticing, Megatron was startled out of his private amusement by the youngling's voice.

''So who are you?''

And that's when everyone noticed the black and gold youngling walking beside his guard and they all turned back to the group of sparklings and saw there was another one still walking within the group. Lockdown, their expert hunter who had once been taught by Yoketron and had recognized the younglings as also his students, reached out to the one within the group but the youngling there shivered around his paw, indicating that it is nothing but a hologram. He turned back to the real youngling beside Optimus, who then turned off his holographic projection and smirked at the expert hunter.

Lockdown smirked back, interest peaked. ''Impressive trick you got there, kid.''

Optimus frowned as he noticed the peak of interest.

The youngling just shrugged, still looking smug that he had tricked them all. ''I learned from the best.''

The dark green wolf snorted. ''Of that, I have no doubt.''

The youngling then decided to ignore him and turned back to Megatron, who had been watching in amusement up till that point. ''So, who are you? Optimus says it's rude to not introduce yourself.''

The big gray wolf chuckled, beyond amused by the youngling. ''I apologize. I am Megatron, pack leader of the Deceptiwolves, only creation of the late pack leaders Megazarak and Galvatron.'' The sparklings flinched and tried hiding with the adults, the black and gold youngling having drawn himself even closer to Optimus. Said dog didn't seem fazed but the wariness in his optics increased and the tension in his frame didn't leave for even a second. So they knew of him? Good. ''And as you have pointed out, it is rude to not introduce ones self. So, who are you, my new pack members?''

The red and white medic stepped forward, an angry scowl etching his features. ''Slag you, Megatron!'' He was about to say something else, but the mechling looked back at him and he backed down. Optimus turned back to observe Megatron, not trusting his intentions but not finding any reason not to tell him.

''I am Optimus, the guardian and caretaker of sorts for these younglings and sparklings. The medic that has just snapped at you is called Ratchet, the femme beside him is Arcee. The brave youngling here,'' He looked down fondly at the young one by his side and smiled briefly at him, Megatron's breath catching at the beautiful expression. ''Is Prowl, only creation of the late Yoketron. The other youngling, the white one, is Jazz, a student of Yoketron. The gold and silver twins are Sunstreaker and Sideswipe respectively. The fast sparkling is Blurr and the talkative one, the Praxian, is Bluestreak. The other pair of twins are Wasp and Bumblebee. The big green sweet-spark is Bulkhead and the noble looking one is Mirage.''

Megatron nodded at them before continuing leading the convoy back to their territory. ''Quite an interesting group you have there, Optimus.''

''Not 'Autodog' or 'dog' anymore?'' The Deceptiwolf smirked back at him, causing Optimus to scowl at him. ''But, yes, we are a strange group. And damn proud of it, before you ask.''

The leader chuckled, shaking his helm. ''As you should be. You have made a small pack all for yourself, Optimus. They are young now, yes, but one day they will willingly jump into fire for you, if it is ever needed.''

''I don't want that.'' The dog replied. ''I'm supposed to protect them, not the other way around.''

''Sometimes, that is not up to you.'' Megatron told him, slowing his strides until the mechling, and youngling, were walking in line with him, much to the amusement of his wolves. ''Once you earn someone's loyalty, it is a closed case. You can protest all you want, but they will not stop trying to protect you. That is why you must protect yourself as well as those you are responsible for.''

''You're not at all like what the Autodogs are portraying you as.'' Optimus observe, choosing his words carefully.

''You think that now, but wait until you see me in battle. Then, you will see that I am exactly as the Autodogs have described me to be, I am sure.''

Optimus said nothing to that, keeping Prowl close and frequently glancing over his shoulder at the rest of his charges. Prowl kept glancing back as well, but would turn away as soon as he caught Lockdown's gaze. The expert hunter would just smirk but say nothing, his surprisingly white face showing that he was beyond smug and pleased at the attention. Strika was staring at the dog walking beside her leader, interest peaked as she watched how he easily adjusted to the environment around him, tense but seemingly at ease. Megatron was watching him from the corner of his optic as well, fascinated by the way interest would appear in those beautiful blue optics as he saw some new plant or heard a sound he had never heard before. After all, the woods were so different this deep in the forest.

The rest of the trip was spent like this, in silence and observations. Just as the sparklings were getting tired and Haden was starting to set, they arrived at a big, beautiful clearing. It was surrounded by huge trees in a half circle while at the other side of the clearing, there was a huge, tall cliff with many, many caves visible. Not that far away, the mentioned energon spring could be heard going by.

Megatron quickly announced their presence with a long, loud howl and received a howl back before they broke the trees, being greeted by one of their guards, Skyquake. The huge green mech bowed to Megatron reverently, before escorting them deeper into the clearing and then returning to his duty as was protocol. Megatron used this time to observe Optimus as the dog looked around in wonder, taking in all the new sights, sounds and smells. The sparklings and younglings had apparently forgotten all about their tiredness and were watching everything, trying to see it all at once. His wolves had allowed them to come up to their guardian, Ratchet and Arcee making a triangle with Optimus so that the young ones were protected from all sides. They, too, were watching everything, marveling at the way of life in a pack. Megatron felt smug at the look of amazement on the dog's face.

The other Deceptiwolves had come out to greet their pack leader and were now staring at their soon to be new pack mates. Soundwave's younglings all ran to their creator, the dark army blue mech licking all of their ears in affection. All five of the younglings then tuned their attention to the new group, watching them in curiosity. They were only just out of their own sparklinghood, younglings by only a few weeks. Rumble and Franzy, the younger pair of twins, were the biggest pranksters in the entire pack and they loved to cause trouble. Ratbat and Laserbeak were the quiet ones, the older set of twins, but they had quite a voice on them both. They had once saved the pack by crying when a cyberbear had come onto the territory, near where they had been playing. Ravage, his first creation, was overprotective of his creator, since their sire died last orn. He was quite a formidable opponent if given the chance to fight.

The convoy slowly started disassembling, Lugnut and Strika going to their own den for a good night's rest. Starscream was taken to his own den by his brothers, Skywarp and Thundercracker, before they, too, went to get some sleep. Cyclonus and Shockwave escorted their guests to their new den, placing Arcee and Ratchet in a smaller one and Optimus and all the younglings and sparklings in the bigger one. Megatron had been stopped by Tarn, his head of security when not on the battlefield, so by the time he went past the dens, which were close to his den and the dens of his most loyal, he was treated to the adorable sight of Optimus surrounded and covered in his charges as they had settled into their usual sleeping arrangements. Only, Optimus hadn't fallen asleep yet. He met Megatron's optics and stared at him for a few kliks before nodding at him in good night.

The pack leader gladly returned it and went to his own quarters. He settled down for rest, his thoughts full of the strange little dog he had acquired for his pack. He had not left any guards at his den, knowing that the dog won't get any sleep with potential enemies so close to his charges and come morning, he will regret it for the rest of his function.

00000

Optimus woke up the next morning refreshed and actually rested. He had been awake for two nights in a row, but now he had slept in, even! It truly surprised him, especially since they were actually on enemy territory, yet they had been given energon and a place to rest. His charges were still sleeping soundly and Optimus smiled at them, watching how Blurr snuggled deeper into his chest fur, feeling Bumblebee on his helm and Mirage wrapped up in his tail. Bluestreak was on his back when he looked back and he could easily see Prowl and and Jazz, despite Bulkhead all but lying on them. Sunstreaker and Sideswipe had curled up by his hind legs and were using each other as a pillow and Wasp was-

Optimus jerked up in panic when he realized that Wasp wasn't where he usually slept, almost under Optimus's stomach. He wasn't there and Optimus could smell an foreign scent. His jerky movements had woken the rest of his charges and Bumblebee and Bluestreak had fallen off from their perches. Before they could so much as properly blink, Optimus was running out of his den, growling loudly enough that the guards on duty quickly came to stop him. Optimus didn't even bother with them, dodging them aside with ease and agility his size betrayed. The guards started calling for backup and soon enough the entire pack was awake and observing Optimus making fools out of anyone who tried to face him.

And then an agonized scream reached all of their audios just as Megatron got to the scene and Optimus's optics turned white while his vision became red with rage. With a sound that almost sounded like a howl, the red, blue and light silver dog knocked all the guards down that had been in his way, running towards the sound of Wasp's pained cries. Ratchet, Arcee and the pups were fast to follow him, Bumblebee calling Wasp's name in fear. They followed the cries to a big, dark cave at the very edge of the clearing but way up high in one of the cliff's caves. Optimus didn't waste any time on transforming into his primary mode before he was climbing the cliff wall, Wasp's cries quieting and finally allowing them to hear the sound of some strange machinery at work. Megatron was quick to follow after Optimus, curses falling from his mouth like water from a waterfall.

When the dog climbed to his destination, the machine had already stopped working and as soon as he got up on the ledge in front of the cave, something big, green and vicious slammed right into him, sending them both down into the ground. Megatron let go of the wall, having tried to catch the mechling, but they had sailed too far away from him and the wall. So instead he landed on the ground with a grunt, his stabilizers protesting the impact, and made a move to help Optimus up when the dog was thrown at him. Both mechs held back cries of pain when they collided, first with each other and then to the cliff wall. The pack leader was the first to recover, standing up and taking Optimus with him, the dog never taking off his optics from the monstrosity in front of him. When Megatron looked down at the mechling he realized there was horror plastered on his face, horror and such anguish that the Deceptiwolf actually thought his spark would burst in sympathy.

Megatron looked, actually looked at the strange thing in front of them and thought that although it looked like one of those metalobugs that flied around crystals, it also looked far too familiar for comfort. Then he took in the color scheme and some of the still recognizable features and his energon turned to ice as he realized that it was the sparkling, Wasp, or what was left of him. He now looked like a mantras or a grasshopper, he didn't know; he had never been good at that sort of thing. His optics were no longer the gentle color of blue that they had been and were instead the insane purple that he had seen on few other mechs, but never on someone this young. And the worst thing, or one of the since everything was almost equally bad, was that he was no longer an Autodog sparkling. No, his frame was now older than his guardian's. He is now a fully formed Deceptiwolf mech.

Oh slag!

Optimus stared a little longer as the thing hissed at them, snapping its new fangs at him and snarling wordlessly. ''W-Wasp?'' He finally managed to get out, his voice almost broken. That got him a reaction and the thing lunged at them. Megatron cursed when he realized that Optimus won't fight this thing, because it was still Wasp in his mind, even if it was now half a monster and the other half is that of a wolf.

''Me not Wasp! Me Waspinator!'' The green thing growled. A little behind the now wolf, the yellow sparkling gasped, tears falling from his optics as he called out to his older twin. ''Waspinator kill Bumbledog if Bumbledog not shut up!'' He roared and turned towards his once friends and that kicked Optimus into gear. He took out his ax and launched at Wasp- no, at Waspinator. He crashed into his back, sending them both to the ground and placed his ax expertly at the other's neck. ''No! Get off Waspinator! Waspinator kill you all!''

''Wasp! Please! You have to stop!'' Optimus yelled, doing his best to keep his former charge down. ''Please! I don't want to hurt you!''

''Aw! Isn't that just nice!'' A feminine but dark voice said above them and they all stopped, turning their helms up to look at the speaker. Their optics met that of a deranged looking femme in her primary mode. She had thin purple fur with a black torso, shoulders and a strange spider-looking lower back armor with accents of dark gold here and there. The scariest thing were her red four optics and the obvious sneer on her face, which was hidden beneath a helmet that covered half her face. Her optics were focused on Optimus and Megatron moved closer to the dog, not at all liking the look directed at him by their resident crazed scientist. ''Long time no see, Optimus. It would seem you finally found your place amongst other trash.''

Something clicked in Optimus's CPU and he lunged at the femme, growling like a beast. ''Elita One!'' He then gasped in pain as Waspinator, now free, slammed into him, catching him under the armpits and hauling him upright. Optimus was about to struggle but stopped when Waspinator hissed in pain when his pede hit him somewhere sensitive. Megatron cursed the dog's soft spark s he was now dangling in the deranged thing's hold, unwilling to further hurt his former charge.

The former Autodog tsked at him and easily jumped off of the ledge, landing with grace almost in front of the imprisoned dog. She hummed and placed a servo on his face, caressing it sensuously and Optimus snarled at her, almost biting her digits off, but she just laughed. Megatron had to stomp down on the urge to kill her as she sidled up against the pretty dog; it would not do to lose control over a dog that had been here for less than a day in front of his entire pack, who had gathered around to watch the drama unfold.

''Actually, I go by Blackarachnia now.'' She all but purred at him, causing the mechling's face to twist up in disgust. ''Look at you, Optimus. You've become even more alluring than the last time I saw you. Then again, every femme wants what others consider as dangerous. I wouldn't mind being with you, even now, like we were once before.''

Optimus suddenly head butted her, sending her down on the ground on her aft pretty hard. He glared down at her, optics still white with rage and anguish at what had happened to Wasp. Even as restrained as he was, he made a formidable sight. He impressed quite a few wolves that day. Very few dared do anything to humiliate Blackarachnia. They all knew that as soon as she runs out of test subjects, they will be next. After she had done to herself for the sake of her research, no one doubted that she was indeed raving mad, just like the Autodogs claimed, but she had come bearing important information and a deal was a deal. Megatron left her alone and let her stay, but the yellow and green femme had soon started experimenting on some of their fatally injured soldiers and that drew the pack leader's attention to her. That was the first time Megatron had seen purple optics on a mech that had gone mad, even if he had survived. He had to be put down as, after three groons, he started salivating toxic matters and then even acid. He had been put down to save him from further agony. There were other instances and one ended up with Blitzwing forming two more personalities. His face now shifted as he became angry, indifferent or down right random. They ended giving them nicknames: Angry or Hothead, Icy and Random or, occasionally, Crazy. That had been the best result of her crazy work.

This was the worst.

''We were never together. You were just like the rest of them, hating me from afar but trying to gain something when you came closer. I would never be with a traitorous wretch like you.''

The femme hissed as she got to her pedes, her forehelm slightly dented from the force of the blow. Megatron had to admit he was very impressed. She slashed her claws at him and the dog made no sound as she drew energon. The sparklings became uneasy. Waspinator seemed to be having second thoughts about holding his former protector captive. ''You're a fool, Optimus. You always were. I only became a ''traitor'' because they wouldn't let me continue my research! Research I have devoted most of my life to!'' She lunged forward and grasped him around his throat, feeling the energon rushing under her digits. Megatron got into a fighting stance as Optimus's charges started crying for him. The medic and the teacher looked ready to jump in and help him as well.

Blackarachnia leaned her face towards Optimus's, their nasal ridges almost touching. ''You could have come with me, Optimus. I had truly genuinely liked you. I am not like Sentinel. I don't want you to fail. Quite the opposite. A dog like you could achieve so much and everyone knows it, fears it. Even Ultra Magnus. Why do you think they belittled you at every opportunity they got? They were scared that you would take control and leave them in the dust of your success. You can still do that.'' Her voice was now very seductive and anyone else would have swayed by now.

Optimus wasn't everyone else and just looked at her with disgust.

''I can help you with that. My research can help you!''

The red, blue and white silver dog looked down at what she had become and asked a single question. ''The research you applied on Wasp?''

The femme grinned, obviously not noticing the dangerous tone in his voice. The pack noticed it, Megatron noticed it, Ratchet and Arcee noticed it, Pit, even the sparklings, younglings and Waspinator noticed it! But Blackarachnia didn't. She thought she was getting him on her side and Megatron wodnered why she was so desperate for Optimus's support.

''Yes, actually. My finest work yet. What do you think?''

The next klik she found herself on the ground, Optimus's ax at her throat and Waspinator almost on the other side of the clearing, having landed on Starscream and his brothers. Optimus's vents were overworking themselves to help cool Optimus down, his rage almost giving them too much of a challenge but he was obviously built for fights as they were still managing just fine.

''I think, no I know that I'm going to kill you for what you did to one of my charges!''

Had it not been for Skywarps intervention at Megatron's signal, Optimus would have sliced his ax right through her throat tubing, in front of everyone. In front of the sparklings and younglings he claimed to protect. As it was, Skywarp transported to the dog and tackled him to the ground a few feet away, struggling with keeping the dog pinned down as he cried in anger. Lugnut and Tarn ran to help keep him down but even with their superior strength, the three of them were having trouble.

''Get these two out of here!'' Megatron ordered, gesturing at Blackarachnia, who was breathing hard, and then at Waspinator, who was almost shaking in fear now. Strika and Cyclonus took the newly made wolf while Slipstream, Starscream's only sister, and Thundercracker took Blackarachnia. ''I will have a few words with her later, so keep her restrained!'' He stood there for a few more seconds as he watched them doing as they were told before he walked over to where Optimus was still fighting his restrainers.

''Let him up.'' The three were hesitant to do so but a glare from Megatron had them moving away. Good thing Megatron was prepared for Optimus jumping at him like a caged mechanimal finally getting a glimpse of freedom, because otherwise, he would probably be offline right now.

''This is your doing!'' He hissed at the Deceptiwolf, who had used the dog's momentum to spin them around and slam the mechling right underneath him. He had secured Optimus's wrists and was pinning his servos firmly into the little dog's side. This caused Optmus to arch in an attempt to free his straining servos but Megatron only shifter with the movement, brining more pressure on the restrained servos. His stabilizers were tangled with the pack leaders in such a way that Megatron could easily top any movement, leaving the mechling completely at his mercy. And that only put him more and edge, thus making him angrier.

''What is?''

Those blue optics were still white with rage. The good thing with a full night's rest was that his strength was fully restored, making him more on par with the Deceptiwolves. Or at least with most of them. ''You wanted more warriors, so you allowed, maybe even ordered, her to do that to Wasp!'' Optimus's strugles only increased, almost slipping out of the wolf's grasp once or twice. Megatron scowled at his troops still gawking a their newest member and they left under the heat of his gaze. ''This is all your fault! You just had to take us! You just had to have us! Frag you, Megatron! Because of you, an already wronged and tortured spark is turned into a monster! Wasp was too young! Hasn't he suffered enough for such a short life!?''

Megatron's optics burned with rage and he shook the mechling in his grasp, finally actually getting Optimus's attention. ''You think I wanted that? That I would be so cruel? I wanted to give them a pack that will care for them! I never intended for them to become warriors unless they wished so! I would have assigned them as scouts as most!'' Optimus looked at him, still skeptical but calming down. Good. His charges needed him calm now, not raging. ''I would never allow this to happen to any one member of my pack, born in it or brought in it, especially not pups!''

''Then how did this happen?''

''You tell me, Autodog!'' As soon as the words left his vocalizer, Megatron regretted them. He could see the guilt replacing the anger and the anguish only grew. He should have kept his big mouth shut! Optimus sagged under him and Megatron could do nothing but watch as an impassive mask settled over his features. Great, now he has fragged up worse than ever before. And that actually includes not putting guards near their new pack members. ''Optimus-''

''Let me go.'' It wasn't yelled. It was almost a whisper instead, so quiet that Megatron still had to strain to hear him. It disarmed him in seconds and Megatron sighed, letting go and standing up. Optimus rolled to the side, not bothering to stand up. Megatron saw why seconds latter, when various sounds of young transformation sequences were heard before the red, blue and silver Autodog was surrounded and smothered by nine pups, all in their primary mode for the first time since they have first seen the group. They were all crying, clinging to Optimus and expressing their fear with whimpers or half formed sentences. Ratchet and Arcee transformed as well, walking over to kneel by Optimus and his charges, all of them sticking together. Little Bumblebee was nestled right over Optimus's strong spark, resting his helm there to hear its whirling and beating in Optimus's chest.

They had lost Wasp that day, and Optimus had almost perished right in front of their optics. They won't be letting go of him for a while.

''Kid, it's not your fault.'' Megatron overheard the medic saying, his red ears flat against his helm, rubbing the mechling's back.

''Isn't it?'' Optimus asked, his voice still quiet as he soothed his charges, who were already crying themselves to sleep. It would seem that little bit of terrifying excitement has been too much for them. ''I promised to protect them.''

''You can't protect them from everything.'' Arcee tried to reason, placing a ping and white servo on his shoulder. ''You're only one bot.''

Optimus just ignored them. He gathered his almost asleep charges closer and stood up, easily taking them with him. Megatron was forced to watch him walking away, shoulders and back hunched and a gloomy air of sadness around him, so different to the dog he had first seen that an unthinkable rage took over him. As soon as the younger Autodogs left, Megatron turned to the two adults.

''Make sure they rest and eat something. I'll check in on them later. For now,'' His red optics flashed and even his own pack members took a step back at the lust for spilled energon glowed in them. ''I have a disobedient pack member to severely punish.''

00000

Megatron only came by the pups's den the next morning.

He was tired and very much nauseous at the things he has heard from Blackarachnia before he ordered for her to be punished. Tarn and his team called the Deceptiwolf Justice Devision, who were all basically born for torture as they very much enjoyed it, have taken great pleasure in beating the femme within an inch of offlining. It ensured that the femme won't be able to do anything else to anyone else for the next two groons or so, so broken she was by the time he told them it was enough. She deserved far worse, and Megatron was sure the pack will ensure it happens as soon as she is mobile again, but now he has other concerns.

When he walked up to the den that Optimus and his charges lived in, he was glad to see Shockwave and Soundwave guarding them. The brothers nodded at him and not far away, he saw Dreadwing stop and bow to Megatron before returning to his sentry duty for the day. The gray mech considered his options before going to their food reserves. When he came back, he was carrying a cryodeer on his back as an offering and a meal for the Autodogs. The Wave brothers watched him in understanding as he approached the den, stepping aside so they could talk more freely.

When he entered the den, Megatron wasn't too surprised to see Optimus, now in secondary mode, still awake, looking like he has not slept a wink since yesterday morning. His wounds have been tended to by Ratchet but Megatron could smell Hook's scent so he knew their own medic had checked on the dog as well, which eased some of the tension in the pack leader's body. The sparklings and younglings were all asleep, almost hidden from sight by Optimus's tummy fur and tail, as they had wanted to huddle as close as they could after what happened to Wasp. Ratchet and Arcee were also here, having fallen asleep sitting up as they have watched over the mechling that had brought them all together in the first place. They might have wanted to watch over them all so that Optimus would get some sleep as well, but they had succumbed to recharge long before Optimus even felt tired.

Despite his tired state, Optimus was fully alert and his helm snapped up and he was growling long before Megatron even fully came into view. Megatron stopped and announced himself before going further in. He was pleased that Optimus relaxed slightly, although he didn't know if it was due to him not being an immediate threat or if it was because it was him. A small part of him wanted it to be the latter but he squashed such a stupid desire right away. No matter how pretty the dog was, he was still a dog. It wouldn't be good for the pack if the pack leader started showing interest in a mere dog, even if Optimus would probably fit right in.

''How are you doing?''

Optimus didn't answer right away as he bent his helm to lick the whimpering Bumblebee's ears, calming the grieving sparkling down before he looked back up at Megatron. ''As well as we can be, what with such a tragic event. At least if he were dead, we could properly mourn him and say our farewells. Instead, we have to live with the knowledge he now hates us, of his own accord or not. And we still don't know if its of his own accord or because of the madness that has overtaken him in his change.''

''I can understand that. And I am sorry for your loss, however it may be.'' He said sincerely, lowering the deer's carcass on the den's floor. Optimus watched him, obviously not knowing how to deal with him but Megatron was just happy that the other wasn't snapping at him any more. ''And ... I am sorry about what I said. You were right. It was my fault. This is my pack; I should be able to keep everyone in check.''

''You're only one bot.'' Megatron looked at Optimus, remembering that those were the words Ratchet had said to him. Optimus seemed to be remembering that same moment as well, for he shook his helm before looking back down at his sleeping charges. ''It doesn't matter. You were only as wrong as I was, meaning we are equally at fault.''

''For all that it's worth, I will do my best to never let it happen again.''

''You and me both.'' The dog said before sighing. Blue optics were on him a few kliks later, curiosity in them. ''What are you going to do about Blackarachnia?'' It was a carefully asked question and Megatron now recognized caution in his optics as well.

''She has already been dealt with. Her punishment was harsh and she will not be troubling you for at least another two groons. We shall see by then what her fate will be.''

''And Waspinator?''

Megatron thought carefully about this. There were many ways to deal with this situation, but he was not sure which will end in Optimus getting angry again and which will make him sad. He knew there was no way this will end with him satisfied or happy. Not when Wasp will never be what he once was. ''His optics show that he is no longer a sane mech. The last time Blackarachnia experimented and it ended in a similar circumstance, we've been forced to put the poor mech down, in order to stop his suffering; he had started drooling acid and it had been melting him from the inside out. We have reason to hope it won't be that ... drastic,'' He almost said bad, but it was bad enough. ''This time, but we may have to put him down if he becomes a safety hazard. If it comes to that, I'll make sure it's as quick and painless as it can be. That's the only comfort I can offer either you or him. If it doesn't come to that, we will try and integrate him into the pack as best as we can. We'll welcome him for as long as he wishes to stay. We've brought him into this, it is our responsibility to make it up to him by giving him a place to belong. Everything else,'' Megatron shrugged. ''We'll take it day by day, one step at a time.''

Optimus looked revealed, if only slightly, and that gave Megatron some strange hope and an ever stranger feeling that he was still not ready to place. ''But... Can't it somehow be reversed?'' He asked of the gray wolf hopefully and Megatron hated himself for the answer he has to give.

''I'm afraid not. We have questioned Blackarachnia on everything regarding both the machine and the formula she used to do this in the first place. She said she had took some poor mech's energon sample from back in your Community. Apparently, he has some strange CNA or something, like a hybrid, and with it in her original formula, the formula works, but is irrevocable.''Optimus stiffened. There was something in his optics that had Megatron suspicious about the reason behind this new tension. ''It was supposed to be some sort of medicine, when hse had started out, but the CNA was so fascinating and powerful that she started experimenting and found it can create, in her opinion, superior mechs with it. Unfortunately, outside the mech's body, it causes certain mutations that can't be taken out of the formula.''

''I see.'' Was all Optimus said, tuning his helm away and a big scowl on his dermas. ''Can you ... Can you please leave me alone? For now, at least?''

Seeing that the dog won't stand for anymore talk now, or maybe even his very presence, Megatron turned around and exited the den. He saw that the medic was already awake and he heard him approach Optimus as soon as Megatron was out of sight and not hearing.

''Was he talking about your CNA, kid?''

Megatrn never heard the answer, as he knew this was a private matter. He just walked away. There will be time to discover the little dog's secrets. For now, he will let him mourn.

00000

It was already three orns since the Autodogs have been led to the Deceptiwolf territory. The sparklings and two younglings recovered as best as they could from the traumatic experience that first morning. Ratchet met Hook that first night and they have become friends with time, the thirty days more than enough for them to realize they were meant to be each other's work partner. Arcee was happy to start teaching all the wolf pups as well as the Autodogs she was used to, content with fulfilling the duty she had always loved.

They seemed to just fit, as if they were always a part of the pack, smaller wolves instead of dogs. It made Megatron happy that he had made the right call that day, a groon ago.

Yet it was Optimus who seemed to belong the most.

The red and blue dog could easily keep up with them all. He trained, hunted and explored with them like only wolves do. He was pulling not only his wight but also that of his companions with great ease, gaining approval of the pack. He wasn't aggressive but he didn't take anyone's slag, either, as Starscream learned time and again, only to forget it the next time he tried to pick a fight with the dog. He also seemed to grow, both physically and psychologically, accepting the pack mentality far more easily than Ratchet and Arcee, who were thought to live in a community. It was similar with a few key differences that escaped the two older dogs, but Optimus didn't even need to be told those few differences to know them. His main responsibility were still his charges but he always found time to help others when asked. Hook complimented him on his tendency to always find the things the medical den needed in large quantities but a far shorter period of time than the scouts do.

And while the sparklings were growing, Optimus was all but flourishing in the pack, getting stronger and far more alluring than he had been when he had just gotten there, all in just one orn. It was strange, what thirty days can do. He still went on exercise trips with Prowl and Jazz and he even started taking the sparklings on a few joor-long ones yesterday. He made sure to always be around his charges when he wasn't busy, looking out for either Waspinator or Blackarachnia, not wanting them to snatch another of his charges.

He had been way to high strung up the first groon. He did not eat anything, instead allowing the sparklings and two younglings have more fuel and the rest would go to Ratchet and Arcee. He had only ate the deer that Megatron had brought in the night they talked and then started hunting on his own the next morning, while the pups were with Arcee. He had returned with five petrorabits, a circuitpheasant and a small wild oilpig. It lasted three meals for the sparklings and younglings, while Ratchet and Arcee had decided to take what the other hunters had brought in in hopes that Optimus would eat. He did not, and continued on without fuel until Megatron took in an entire cyberboar, plopped it down in front of a startled Optimus and sat with him until he ate at least half of it, joining him when the dog refused to eat while someone was just watching.

That was the first time they talked after the night after the disaster. Ever since, Optimus took to avoiding Megatron in fear that the Deceptiwolf would try to stuff him up with more fuel, but it at least had him eating regularly. Megatron still managed to stop him every other day to talk to him, but the dog was clearly uncomfortable around the pack leader, much to Megatron's annoyance but Strika's secret amusement. It had become obvious to everyone in the pack but those two that Megatron had developed an interest for the dog and they were all hoping something will come from it. Well, everyone but Starscream, but he was already half-traitor so he didn't count.

Megatron didn't acknowledge it as anything but curiosity until he started dreaming about the pretty dog. He still refused to name the feeling up until the third groon when the found out that Optimus had completely stopped recharging because Blackarachnia was walking around again. They wouldn't have even noticed it had it not been for Ratchet, yelling at Optimus to get some rest. Apparently, Optimus had mastered not looking tired long ago and you measured ow rested he was by how much game he brings in. It wasn't a drastic decrease, no circuitpheasant, one less petrorabit or a lot longer hunts. The stubborn dog refused to rest until Megatron had forced him to lie down and then spooned him from behind, resting his helm on the dog's body and not allowing Optimus to leave. Surprisingly enough, the dog fell into a peaceful sleep for the whole afternoon before waking up, Megatron having fallen into recharge as well at some point.

That was the deciding point for the both of them. Optimus opened up to Megatron a little while the pack leader finally made himself put a name to that emotion. Ever since then, Optimus sat next to Megatron on pack gatherings and Megatron had started actively seeking him either to make sure he was taking care of himself or to just talk with him. Ratchet noticed and had thanked the Deceptiwolf. Strika teased him relentlessly until he started teasing her about Lugnut, which shut her up pretty effectively. Soundwave had started dropping hints that he could help his leader with wooing the dog while Shockwave pretended to be innocent when he made sexual references or innuendos regarding Megatron and Optimus, much to everyone's but Megatron's amusement. Optimus remained oblivious but he seemed to be avoiding his medic the last few days ago, the red and white old dog smiling at him downright evilly.

It's too bad that - relatively - good things never last.

00000

Optimus grumbled as he once again escaped on Ratchet teasing him. He had caught on to Optimus's feelings for a certain gray Deceptiwolf and hadn't stopped ribbing him about it ever since, taking great pleasure in embarrassing the guardian. Even his charges had noticed and started pranking him with pretending that Megatron was coming their way, the sneaky little brats. But he couldn't help blush and react every time he even heard the pack leader's voice.

He sighed as he walked off towards where he knew Megatron will be at this time of day. He snorted as he realized that he had memorized the mech's routines first in order to avoid him and then because he wanted to spend more time around him. He was confused when he was met with Strika instead of Megatron. Optimus looked up at Haden and saw that it was nearly noon, a time of day Megatron used to get reports before going out for the afternoon hunt. He should know what Megatron did at this time of day, since the Deceptiwolf usually came to get him and on rare occasions that he didn't, Optimus always found him here when he sought out the older mech.

The large femme heard him approach and gave him her equivalent of a smile, something that only he seemed able to drag out of her besides Megatron and Lugnut. ''Optimus.''

Said mechling smiled back and nodded in greeting. ''Hello, Strika. I hope you are having a fine day?''

The large wolf snorted. ''Good enough, I guess. What can I do for you?''

''I was looking for Megatron.'' A knowing glint entered her optics and Optimus barely surpassed a groan of annoyance. Not her too! He continued on, regardless. ''I usually find him here at this time, if he doesn't come for me. Do you know where he is?''

Strika seemed to be considering the answer and Optimus immediately knew that she was well aware where her leader was, but probably wouldn't enlighten him as well. After a few kliks of contemplating, Strika nodded. ''I have a fairly good idea, but I wouldn't recommend you seeking him out right now.''

Optimus raised an optical ridge. ''Why? Is he angry with something? Is it about the stunt Starscream pulled this morning?''

The femme snorted despite doing her best to stop it. This was why she liked the Autodog. He always knew how to make her day and was an excellent conversationalist. And he never got her annoyed or bored. He was good for Megatron, and the pack, too, so that was a big bonus for him. It was why she didn't want him going after Megatron right now. They had been getting along so nicely and it would be a great shame if the dog suddenly started drawing back because of something that had happened before he even met Megatron. ''Something like that ... and other reasons.'' But slag it all, she didn't want to lie to him! Optimus had quickly became her friend and she didn't want to lose his trust by not telling him the truth. It will come out in a few orns anyway. She had hoped that he would tell the little dog if he was serious about wooing him, but he had stayed quiet so far. Besides, it was not her place to discuss this with him.

''If he is angry, he shouldn't be alone.'' Optimus answered with a frown and a disapproving tone of voice he usually reserved for his charges. ''Just tell me where he went and if he's still to angry to approach, I'll leave him alone.''

Stubborn little thing.

Strika resigned herself to the reality of the moment and nodded towards West where Megatron had headed off to, but not alone. She just hoped he was ready to face Optimus with this, becasue if he wasn't they will never work.

Optimus thanked her and went in the direction she had pointed out, puzzled by her remorseful expression. He didn't know what that was about but he hoped that it wasn't because Megatron had somehow gotten injured. Worry spurred him on and he started a light trot, soon finding himself at the edge of the trees. He greeted Blackout, the sentry on duty in this part of the big clearing, before he broke the tree line. It didn't take him long to approach a new, smaller clearing not far into the forest. Soon enough, he heard Megatron's rumbling, deep voice and was just about to call out when a vaguely familiar feminine voice answered him.

''I am fine, Megatron! Just because I am carrying does not mean I am a fragile crystal flower!'' A half teasing, half serious voice told the pack leader.

''I never said you were, but you must realize why I worry. It is my only heir, after all.''

He froze in his place, not able to move or breathe. He couldn't believe his audios. It couldn't be, could it? Had he mistaken all those gestures as something else when they were nothing more than friendly actions? It had to be that he had imagined something he wanted but could never have, because here he was, hearing Megatron speaking to the carrier of his sparkling, if not his mate as well! His spark clenched and he felt his optics starting to sting. He couldn't turn away as he watched Megatron nuzzling a pretty black and gray Deceptiwolf femme's bulging stomach. A coolant tear escaped his control and Optimus raised his raw to wipe at it. The movement caused a bush to rustle and Megatron's helm snapped up. As soon as Optimus realized that he had made a noise, he had turned around and started running back to the clearing but Megatron still caught a glimpse of red and blue and cursed himself to the Pit and back and into the Pit again.

''Slag.'' He said one more time before turning to the femme that is carrying his currently only heir. ''I am sorry, Nightbird, but I must go after Optimus. He does not know about out history.''

Said femme smiled at her friend and only family member, her cousin. ''Go ahead, Megatron. But you must introduce me after you explain everything. I wish to meet the mech who has captured my leader's and greatest friend's attention.''

''As long as you promise not to tell embarrassing stories.'' And with that, the pack leader sprinted off towards the direction Optimus went in. Had he not become so close to Optimus to completely memorize his scent, he would not have realized that the mechling had changed course and instead of going back went deeper into the woods. Megatron cursed himself and quickly changed direction, running in between trees and hoping that he can explain.

'I should have told him about Nightbird.' He thought before completely concentrating on finding his little Autododg.

Optimus had decided that going back to the clearing would be a bad idea with his current state, so he had decided to go into the woods instead. He followed old hunting paths that he had explored some time ago and went quite a bit from the clearing he had come to consider home, but he was still on Deceptiwolf territory so he knew he was safe. No cyberbeares dared come here after a single mech took down two bears last orn. Tarn and his sort were a bit scary in that way, but they are perfectly civil to the pack members and they loved Optimus's charges.

It was this very reason why Optimus was caught off guard when he heard a distant growling that he did not recognize to belong to any pack member twenty breems later. He jerked to a stop, guard completely up and what he had seen earlier forgotten for the time being. His audios were raised in the air, listening to the approaching threat and he growled back when the growling sounded to be only a few bushes away, right in front of him.

The growling stopped but a gigantic red and dark gray wolf stepped out of the bushes in front of him, two more at his flanks, but quite a bit smaller. The leader of the little group was bigger than Megatron! Bigger than Strika and Lugnut and Tarn and even Blackout! He carried around him an air of authority and age, but his optics didn't show that much wisdom. Instead, he looked more insane and power hungry than anything. What truly surprised him was that these wolves had blue optics! Blue like his optics are.

The red and gray mech was observing him with an intensity Optimus had only once seen before, and it had been on Megatron's face when they have met, when Optimus had acted as wild as the wolves in his desperation and determination to protect his charges. Those equally blue optics roamed his form and the wolf seemed please with what he was seeing, if his smirk was anything to go by. He tried coming closer but Optimus snarled a warning, glaring for all that he was worth and that stopped him in his tracks. It was only for a second and optimus wasn't surprised. He had once growled at Overlord, one of Tarn's teammates, and he had heard horror stories about them hunting down bears that dared come anywhere near their territory. The mech had been particularly nasty that day and had threatened to storm his den and scare his sparklings while he was training with Jazz and Prowl and Optimus had snarled and growled at him with a withering glare that was so intense, Overlord had not dared take another step. After that, Optimus was often called to go hunting with Tarn and his group but he had accepted only two or three calls. Megatron had called him suicidal but Optimus just shrugged him off, much to the Deceptiwolf's amusement and annoyance, all in equal amounts.

This wolf stopped as well, but it was not even a faltering of a step but rather that he just decided to circle Optimus, furthering his observation. Optimus got into a defensive stance, ready for a sudden attack, but instead, he was just circled a few times before the grinning wolf came back into his open line of vision. There was something in that grin that made Optimus's tanks turn but he didn't show his discomfort openly, knowing that it might be interpreted as fear and that will make him an easy target. He had been training with wolves, but he still can't defeat Megatron in one on one sparing. There was no way that he will be able to defeat this mech in he had even half of Megatron's skill or experience.

''Such beauty!'' The mech admired, freaking Optimus out. ''I see that you have gained some color from Silver Moon, and you have most definitely inherited her beauty. As well s her curiosity of the woods...'' The dog stiffened at the mention of his carrier, long dead and who he only knew from stories Alpha Trion had told him. ''And her ...'' The mech leaned in suddenly, whispering in Optimus's audio. ''Determination.'' He was close to shaking in fear, because there was no way this is who he fears it to be!

The wolf, so different from the Deceptiwolves, but still clearly a wolf, moved his big head down to Optimus's silvery neck, inhaling his scent and breathing there. ''I wonder ... Do you have her sweet submission as well?''

Instinct took over and Optimus lashed out at the bigger mech, bitting his neck as hard as he could, but despite his awfully bigger canines for a mere dog, a wolf's plating was far ticker and he could barely brake it to draw energon. It did hurt like Pit, if the yelp the mech elicited was anything to go by. He drew back and Optimus released his neck, his snout now covered in the red and gray mech's energon. The two wolves that had come with his offender suddenly got ready to lunge at him, but the leader growled at them and they backed off. Optimus still observed all three wolves with cautious optics, not letting his guard down on any of them.

The wolf turned back to him, inspecting his new wound for a few seconds before grinning down at him, making Optimus bare his fangs. It only got him a laugh from the bigger mech before he leaned in to inspect his teeth, causing Optimus to jerk away from him before opening his jaw and snapping at him. That at least got him to back his helm away, but he didn't seem bothered by the wound on his neck or the aggression Optimus was showing.

''I see you have your carrier's defiance as well, but the aggression does not come from her, does it? Or the size and the strength.''

''That is absolutely none of your business!''

The mech laughed at him, a cruel laugh that curled something in Optimus and for the first time, he felt fear, not for others, but for himself. No... No, please no. ''But of course it is my business! After all, you are my only sparkling! My heir!'' He suddenly lunged at the stunned Optimus, pinning the dog down easily. Optimus immediately started struggling but there was no way for him to break his sire's hold on him. He was bigger and stronger than him and by far more experienced. Optimus had no hopes of getting up unless the bigger mech let him up, and Nova seemed quite content where he was.

Optius knew of his origins, Of course he did. It was Silver Moon's request as soon as she realized she won't be surviving the labor when Optimus was about to be born. She requested from Alpha Trion to tell Optimus everything she had ever told the old dog about how Optimus came to be. Alpha Trion had waited for Optimus to be three orns old before he started explaining. By the time Optimus was a youngling of seven vorns and five orns of age, he had known the whole story.

His carrier had been a curious femme and had wandered into forest one day, even though they were forbidden to do so. She accidentally left their Community's territory and got lost when night fell. Nova had found her on the edges of his own territory and had taken her in for the night. In the morning, he escorted her to the edge of his pack's land, but as he had been such a gentlemech, Silver Moon had already fallen for him. She returned to the Community that day, but an orn later, she wandered out into the woods and to where she now knew Nova's pack lived. She stumbled upon him mercilessly killing one of his own wolves and for no other reason than he was bored. He then brutally mounted his grieving mate because he wanted a heir. As soon as he was finished with her, the poor femme took her own life, right in front of their optics. Nova hadn't been fazed, even the slightest, but Silver Moon had started sobbing. Nova had hear her and turned around, ready to approach her, but Silver Moon had bolted and ran all the way back to their Community's territory, but Nova had followed her and pinned her to the ground. She had tried to fight him, but he had been gentle. She gave up and resigned herself to her fate. That night, Nova had took her three times before a scout was walking by that part of the territory and Nova was forced to leave.

Silver Moon had been found close to morning, almost broken, covered in her own energon from Nova's possessive bites and from where he had taken her seal. She was rushed to the medics who had patched her up as best as they could. She had lost consciousness some time during the operation and woke up nearly an entire groon later. She was allowed to leave the medical two days later and by the time another groon passed, she had realized Nova had gotten what he had wanted. She was with sparkling and she knew she would be discarded by the Community. All her friends left her as soon as the news spread, like she had anticipated, so she stuck close to Alpha Trion, who seemed to be the only one to realize that she was a victim. They became friends and he had taught her to love this unplanned for sparkling. He had talked her down from many panic attacks where she had been seconds away from rejecting the little life in her. He was the only one she ever told that she had fallen for her raper before she realized just what he was like. It had been too late for her, as her spark had already chosen him.

When the labor had started, Alpha Trion had managed to call in a favor with one of the medics that owed him and he had agreed to help Silver Moon give birth to her sparkling. It was long and hard and halfway through, her dog nature finally caught up to her. She had survived the whole term in such a vorn when no Autodog sparklings are born nor are their carriers able to make the deadline. She knew her sparkling will be special, especially since Nova was not an ordinary wolf. She had told Alpha Trion her request and then asked, begged Trion to take care of Optimus.

When he was born, Silver Moon only had a breem to take in the sight of her only creation and she knew that Nova will one day come for him. He was so clearly half wolf that it was sparkbreaking for her to think about what the Community dogs will think of him. Perhaps the pup is lucky that they had declared her a pleasurebot and that they have made up countless rumors about her, so they might just think that he was one of those numerous fake lovers's bastard. The circumstances under which she was found had long since been forgotten.

Silver Moon died a breem after she gave birth to the strongest pup any of the dogs had ever seen.

The rest was history.

''You are not my sire!'' Optimus yelled. ''I have no sire! My carrier died giving birth to me and my sire never showed up for his responsibility to a new life, thus meaning I have no bond to a sire, and thus meaning I have no sire!'' He was more than prepared for this moment. He will deny it to his last dying breath that this monster has raped his carrier.

Nova growled down at the half dog, half wolf hybrid pinned under him. ''I am your sire! You are mine, little one. No one else's. And soon enough, I will claim you all for myself. You see, you might be my only sparkling, but you are only half wolf.'' He lent down and started licking at Optimus's neck. ''You cannot be introduced to my pack as their new leader. You will never be accepted as such. But you will be accepted as the carrier of the next leader.''

Optimus froze in his struggles, realizing what his sire will do. No! No no no no no no!

''After all, who better to carry on our line than the only creation of his sire?''

''No! Let me go!'' Optimus did not care for the panic so clear in voice! He will not stand for this! He will not be forced into the same fate as his carrier! His struggles started up again, three times stronger and more wild than before.

''You are so beautiful like this, little one. Even more so than you carrier had been.'' Nova started nipping at his neck as he managed to open Optimus's legs and keep his tail out of the away. Optimus almost sobbed at that. ''Open to me. Surrender. Submit!''

A growl behind them drew their attention and before Optimus could blink, Nova was shoved off of him. A scream of pain echoed throughout the woods and then a howl of satisfaction as well as what Optimus now recognized as a pack leader calling onto his pack. And he knew that howl! Optimus scrambled to his feet as Megatron came to stand protectively in front of him.

The gray, black and red Deceptiwolf was pissed! How dare this mech try and take his Optimus! Megatron looked back over his shoulder at the shaken dog, pleased to see him standing and glaring at the three wolves before them. ''Optimus, are you alright?'' The red, blue and light silver dog nodded at him and that was going to have to be enough for now because Nova had stood back up.

''How dare you?'' He glowered at Megatron and the Deceptiwolf pack leader growled right back, Optimus following his lead.

''I dare! How dare you to try and do something so, so disgusting to one of my pack!? For this offense I should have you offlined!''

Nova looked at him, really looked at him and the way he was standing in front of the dog and Megatron growled and shifted slightly so he was hiding Optimus from view. Nova's smirk only turned nastier. ''I see. So you are a pack leader, like me. Who might you be? Predaking? No, he is even larger than me, and so is Grimlock. Praxus? No, he is a coward. And you are not a femme, so you cannot be the one known as the Mistress of Flame. And Galvatron and Megazarak have been dead for centuries!'' Megatron barely surpassed a twitch at the casual mention of the death of his creators. Nova still saw it and he leered. ''Don't tell me you are the both famous and infamous Megatron, only creation of the great Megazarak and the skillful Galvatron? You are, aren't you?'' Nova started laughing mockingly, irritating said wold to no end. He would have long since attacked him if that would not leave Optimus exposed to the two lackeys behind the larger mech. Besides, the dog had come to stand just slightly behind him and was leaning on Megatron to give him some comfort.

Nova saw the way they were standing and his laughs died down, his face set in a scowl now. ''You have claimed a dog for you pack, Megatron?''

Megatron grinned nastily at him. Any lesser mech would have run at the expression, especially since it showed off all of his sharp fangs. ''Indeed I have! A real find, is he not? Even other pack leaders wish to steal him away now, I see. I have indeed been lucky to get him to become a part of my pack.'' Nova snarled at him and the Deceptiwolf only smirked. His satisfaction grew when he heard the distant sounds of his warriors so close now. He will chase away this wolf if it was the last thin he did! Optimus was his! The smirk was wiped off of his face as he turned serious optics on the red and gray wolf. ''And I protect my pack.''

The other wolf made a move to come closer but both Megatron and Optimus growled at the same time, a clear warning. With the quick injuries Megatron had delivered upon his person, there was no way Nova will be able to fight them both and even with the help of his two companions, they will not leave this fight unscathed. So instead he decided to goad the pack leader as much as he can and place as much of a claim on his creation now as he can. ''You cannot claim him, my fellow pack leader. He is a mechling, too young to make such decisions but too old for others to make any decisions for him.''

They all heard the howls of Megatron's pack just a few mechanometers away and Nova smirked. It would seem that he will be getting the last word.

''Be assured, Megatron. By the time this vorn ends, he will be a mech and I will come for him. I will come for him with the entirety of my pack, the Primawolves, and I will destroy your pack for your interruption today. I will kill you with my very servos and watch as your optics dim out. I will make him watch as I frag him right next to your offlined body.'' Nova snarled and Optimus ducked his helm into Megatron's fur. Megatron growled at the older pack leader, willing to protect the mechling at any cost. Hundreds of growls and snarls echoed behind him, his pack as ready as he was to protect their new member. Nova looked behind him and growled back at Megatron. Then his dermas stretched into the nastiest smile Megatron had ever seen.

''Optimus,'' Said dog flinched but he wasn't the one being addressed. ''Will be mine!''

And with that, Nova and his two companions were off, running a lot faster than wolves their size should be able to.

00000

The return to their clearing was quiet, filled only with the displeased murmuring by the so called rescue party. Optimus stuck to Megatron but didn't answer any questions the Deceptiwolf asked. Megatron soon gave up but he never moved away from the dog. He could see that Optimus was very much bothered by what had just happened, what had almost happened, and what they were told will happen. His only fear now was that Optimus will leave the pack so that he does not endanger them.

Megatron had never realized who he was facing until the name Primawolves had been dropped. He did not like it that it was Nova that had taken an interest in Optimus. He was the only pack leader that could challenge the combined packs that made up the Deceptiwolves.

Once upon a time, when their race had only began in its roots, there had been one big pack, all wolves living together. They were all under one pack leader and his mate and they had simply been called Cyberwolves, after their home planet. After that one pack leader's death, his son was not accepted by everyone and twelve others raised to try and take leadership. The heir did not want to fight them and gave them the freedom to chose. That one large pack broke up into thirteen new packs, the one that was lead by the heir of the first pack leader taking on the name after that first leader, Primawolves after Prima. The others took on names after their new leaders, such as Dinowolves, Predawolves, Caminowolves, Chaarowolves, Praxowolves, Quintowolves, Autowolves, Deceptiwolves, Minicowolves, Protectowolves, Mountain wolves and the Forest wolves, the last two named after the places they had originally conquered. The Autowolves and Protectowolves all got captured and domesticated, becoming the firs dogs. The Caminowolves decided to live isolated from the rest and the Minicowolves were soon also domesticated. The Quintowolves deied out due to the oneformers huntings and the Chaarowolves merged with the Deceptiwolves when Galvatron became Megazarak's mate. The others remained scattered throughout forests and mountains, merging packs until only a handful remains today.

With only a few wolf packs remaining today, the Autodogs had no idea that they were facing more than just Deceptiwolves. For instance, one hundred vorns ago, they had faced Deceptiwolves, but fifty vorns before that, it had been Nova's wolves that had attacked that one Autobot camp. Or two vorns before that, it had been Dinowolves who have raided a keep in order to get medication for their old leader, who died anyway and was replaced by Grimlock. The list goes on and on, but the point was that it is almost completely forgotten that there are more than one type of wolves dwelling in these woods.

When they got back to their clearing, Strika, who had been forced to stay in case something happened to Megatron, came out front to meet them. She took a long look at both Optimus and Megatron, scowled, and proceeded to drag them over to the waiting Ratchet and Hook. Both medics cursed up a storm when they noticed the injuries and they took their respective leaders to further examine and then heal. Neither mech said anything, Strika staring them down every time they tried to insist that they were fine. When the medics were done, before anyone could say anything, Prowl and Blurr came in, dragging Optimus away before the lectures could start.

Any other day, Optimus would have smirked at Ratchet that his charges have saved him one of the medic's rants and said red and white old dog would scowl but relent anyway, but not today. Today, he just wanted to be wrapped up in their innocence and trust and forget that he has faced down his sire.

Megatron watched him go, wondering just how bad the other was that he escaped the rants of both medics, Megatron and Strika. The dog usually took it all in stride, never avoiding facing his punishment for something stupid he had done.

''What happened?'' Strika asked and Megatron turned back to the three expectant faces of his three pack members, all of their optics showing that he better spill it before they make him in their own devious, scary ways. The pack leader sighed, transforming into primary mode and getting comfortable. The others exchanged weird looks before doing the same. Megatron looked at them all and decided that it will have to be known sooner or later. Spring had long since passed and it was early summer. They will need to start preparing if Nova really does decide to come for Optimus. There was no way anyone, except Starscream and maybe Blackarachnia, was going to give the dog up without a fight. He was too well liked. And Megatron had decided that it is best if he starts off by telling the medics and Strika, who has proclaimed the mechling her best friend.

''He stumbled upon me and Nightbird about a joor ago, but he ran away before I could introduce them.'' Understanding flashed on both Hook's and Strika's faces, but it was obvious what Ratchet was thinking. Probably came to the same conclusion as Optimus had and decided that Megatron had only been messing around with the red and blue dog while he had a mate. Megatron scowled at him. ''She's my cousin, you glitch.''

Ratchet scowled right back, not even bothering to defend himself and his assumptions. ''Have you told Optimus that?''

''I don't know.'' The pack leader said sarcastically. ''I was a bit bust chasing after him and then fighting off Nova Prime in order to protect him! I think it might have slipped my mind.''

If it were at all possible for a robot, Ratchet's face would have lost all color at the name so sarcastically thrown in his faceplate. His blue optics widened and he jumped out of his seat, staring at Megatron as if he had just told him he had killed a puppy. ''By the Allspark!''

''This is bad.'' Hook unhelpfully said and Strika cursed.

''What? Did he leave our territory and stumbled upon him on nomech's land?''

''No.'' Megatron shook his helm, a growl building in his chest. ''Optimus may have been deep in the woods, but he was still on our territory. Nova has trespassed. When I found them, he was trying to take advantage of Optimus, who had injured him slightly at the neck. That dog sure does have some impressive fangs.'' He commented, much to Hook's amusement, who had seen just how sharp said fangs were on one of the regular checkups after a long, three day hunt. ''I got him off of Optimus and called for backup. He left when they got to us, but not without promising to come for Optimus and tear our pack apart while doing so.''

''Oh slag!'' Ratchet had begun pacing. It's never a good sign when a medic loses their cool. ''Oh slag! Did he say when he'll come?''

''He said that he'll be coming by the end of this vorn, when Optimus leaves mechlinghood and becomes a mech, an adult. I need you to tell me when that will happen.'' Megatron answered, already thinking. Autodogs had become weak in the centuries just after they got domesticated from wolves to obedient servants of the oneformers. They only carried and gave birth in the warm seasons, and on years such as this there were no new dog sparklings. As it was the beginning of summer, they had maybe a few orns to get ready, the latest date would be first two weeks of autumn. That will have to do, although they could use a bit more time.

''Second orn of winter, first groon, fifth day.'' Ratchet answered with a sigh, placing his helm in his servos and cursing up a storm. He was breaking his vows as a medic to keep his patient's personal information secret, but this was needed for their safety. He just hoped Optimus would understand and forgive him. He really didn't like the thought of being at odds with him, especially at a time such as this.

There was silence in the medical den and Ratchet looked up to see the expected surprised expressions on the three wolves's faces. Indeed, a dog has never been born at such a time, especially since that was the time the storms were the most violent. Hook was the first to recover.

''But Optimus is a dog! Dogs can't carry in the winter orns!''

Ratchet slumped tiredly and sat down again. ''Yeah, well, Optimus's carrier was a different story. She died giving birth to him, but she had survived the carrying term, which was surprising enough. An even bigger surprise was that Optimus had survived to spring, especially since he was cared only by an old dog who has never before had any contact with sparklings, let alone sparklings so young as Optimus had been. I hear Silver Moon, Optimus's carrier, live only a breem after he was out, just getting to see him before she became one with the Allspark.''

''It is surprising, since even wolf pups die in the winter orns from time to time.'' Strika said, crossing her servos. ''How old is he?''

''Well, if he's only now leaving mechlinghood, he has to be about ... eighteen vorns old?'' The Deceptiwolf half asked half answered, looking at his fellow doctor. The Autodog nodded and got even more gawking expressions.

''What?''

''That is a year when no dog sparklings are born.''

''Yeah, why do you think Optimus was an oddball back home? Well, that and his size and mannerisms.'' Ratchet shook his helm sadly. ''We Autodogs always talk about beings cogs in the greater Autodog machine, but I think that we are not essential parts of that machine. We are very much replaceable. Yet they never even tried to make him a apart of our community. So much for all dogs sticking together.''

''Of course they never even tried, medic.'' Strika began, but it was Megatron who finished her thoughts when Ratchet threw them a confused look.

''He is no dog.''

00000

Two groons passed since Optimus unexpectedly met his sire in the woods.

The pack was slowly working on preparing itself for a war and everyone was angry. Optimus had been surprised when he learned it was not because he was endangering them, but rather because Nova was endangering him. That coupled with the fact that he had trespassed on their territory had all Deceptiwolves growly every time anyone so much as started a word with the letters N and O. They started training, everyone started training, and they were all determinate to help train him. The first four days of training, Optimus would come back to the den late into the night, dead tired and fell asleep even before the sparklings and younglings settled in their normal recharge places. They were being trained, too, but not nearly as much as Optimus was. On the fifth day, he was able to keep up and on the seventh, he was no longer following but finally participating.

He and Megatron returned to their usual routine, only Optimus started avoiding him as soon as he saw Nightbird walk by, much to the gray wolf's displeasure. They had still not talked about what had happened that day, not even about why Nova wanted Optimus and Optimus only, out of all those wolves and dogs out there. Megatron was the pissiest (A/N: I have no idea if that word even exists, but I'm going with it) when Nova was mentioned out of everyone in the pack, and that was saying something, seeing as Strika had now grown overprotective of the dog. It could get a little annoying at times, but otherwise, Optimus liked teasing her about it being adorable, especially if Shckwave or Soundwave backed him up. Even Lugnut liked teasing his mate with Optimus!

Ratchet fessed up that he told the others the date of Optimus's creation date and had been beyond revealed when Optimus said he wasn't angry. Optimus would have told them himself as soon as he had gathered his wits about himself. He was thankful to Ratchet for not telling them just who Nova was to Optimus and the medic reassured him that he will never reveal that information without Optimus's say, but the dog told him that he had his permission if it turns out vital to the pack's safety.

Now Optimus was watching as the pack suddenly got very tense. Even with the impending battle this winter, the wolves had remained in good spirits and went about their day as if a bigger pack hadn't declared that they will come and rain chaos on them by the end of this vorn, but they had been on edge yesterday and today it had culminated that everyone was downright jumpy. Optimus chalked it down to the higher ranking wolves going out to meet some of their allies for possible support against the Primawolves, including even Strika and Lungut, who both hated diplomacy with a passion. It meant that the pack was pretty much left in Hook's capable servos, or so it would be usually, but the medic was going with them since they didn't know if Nova will send his wolves as assassins. Even Lockdown was going, much to Prowl's displeasure (the youngling had a sort of crush on the green wolf).

As it was, Megatron had left command in Nightbird's and Optimus's hands, much to the dog's surprise. ''They respect you and you have a sound morale that comes from looking after sparklings and younglings. If anyone will make good decisions regarding this pack in my absence, I believe that it will be you.'' It would seem that he had become Megatron's most trusted companion after the Deceptiwolf pack leader had demanded from Ratchet if Optimus will feel the need to leave the pack in a misguided attempt at protecting them.

Ratchet had been sure. ''He won't leave,'' He had said. ''He knows that even if he leaves or even goes to Nova willingly, Nova will still attack this pack. Besides, this is the safest place for his charges. The Autodogs wouldn't have even bothered with their protection, while here, they are treated as treasures. He knows you will protect them, even if something were to happen to him. He knows that Nova will disregard them as nothing more than collateral damage. And that's not mentioning the fact that he has grown fond of you lot. Kid likes you, trusts you, so don't screw him over, okay?'' He had stared at them with the most serious expression Megatron had ever seen in his life. ''For Optimus, the pups are his first priority while his own safety is his last. Everything and everyone in between will have his protection and help, no matter what. Just don't take advantage of that fact.''

It was another reason Optimus had been placed as current co-ruler, so to speak, with Nightbird. Not that anyone bothered to tell him that fact. They had learned early on that Optimus almost avoided praise and compliments, probably coming from many years of the Autodogs abusing them to get what they want from the dog without either being sincere or considerate of what he would be going through due to what they were asking.

And so Optimus found himself standing beside Nightbird as the pack says bye to the high ranking Deceptiwolves, most of them tense and Megatron shooting them all pitying looks. To say Optimus was perplexed was an understatement.

Optimus was playing with his charges on the second day after they left when the chaos started. First, he watched a couple Deceptiwolves running around with fire licking their tails, cursing like their lives depend on it. Optimus and the pups just watched in confusion as they did their best to put it out and failing miserably until a scout returned with some fresh water and doused the flames. Half a joor later, a previously black wolf stomped past them, now covered in pink paint with a few flowers glued to his form. Bumblebee almost died laughing and the other pups giggled, even Prowl and Blurr, who have both been pouting ever since Lockdown and Shockwave have left. Some time later found Optimus receiving complaints from the Constructicons, all bearing various drawings on their faces that either made their scowls silly or even scarier. By nightfall, even Nightbird was coplaining to Optimus!

It was apparently not the first vorn Megatron had left the pack with the high ranking Deceptiwolves to go meet with other packs to reestablish their treaties and alliances. And every vorn since Soundwave had pups, it was a dreaded time for the pack. All five of Soundwave's pups were vicious when they pranked the pack at this time of the year because there was no one to reign them in. Once Soundwave and Megatron returned, they would get their due punishment and apologize to the pack. Until then, it was every wolf for himself.

But it would seem that this year is going to be different. The third morning since he was put in charge along with Nightbird, Optimus barely avoided becoming a victim of one of the nastier pranks Franzy and Rumble had planted, he decided enough is enough. He enjoyed their shocked stares when they saw that, no, he wasn't covered in sticky glue nor did he have a single feather on his person, as well as the awed looks on all the grown up's faces as he scolded the five pups. And when he manages to get them to apologize and promise to never take pranking to this level ever again with the threat of serious consequences - Sides and Sunny were very helpful with a horror, for them, story ("The first time we did something like this after we came under his supervision, he promised that if we did it again, he will hold us upside down by our pinky toes for five breems unless we apologize. We didn't believe he would do it. Until he did do it. We never ticked him off, ever again.") - the pack was all but worshiping the ground he walks on.

Franzy and Rumble started playing with his charges a few joors after that and the next day, Laserbeak, Ratbat and Ravage joined in as well. They listened to Optimus almost as religiously as his own charges do, much to the further amazement and awe of the pack, and things soon settled as if the five pups had never even started the relatively one sided prank war. Prowl even dragged Ravage to help around the pack territory, helping clean up the dead crygrass and metaloleaves in the clearing and Franzy and Bluestreak found that they were each other's perfect conversation partner as both loved to talk none stop! The three older Autodogs always snickered when they saw though, seasoned Deceptiwolf warriors avoiding the pair whenever they started chattering. Laserbeak found that Jazz was a cool dog and they became rather close friends, their love for music growing into a special friendship bond while Rumble was just happy to talk with someone who liked to both smash things and build them, so he and Bulkhead became close as well. Ratbat enjoyed trying to outrace Blurr and racing with all the speedsters in Optimus's group. Other younglings and sparklings would often join them as soon as their creators realized that, indeed, Soundwave's creations will not start pranking again.

It was peaceful. Despite his new responsibilities, Optimus still found time to just sit down not far away from the playing pups and watch over them, enjoying their laughs and innocence. Sometimes he would lie down and one of his charges would come snuggle with him, most often being Blurr or Bumblebee, but he had been pleasantly surprised when even Sideswipe and Sunstreaker didn't hesitate to curl up beside him. He caught a few glimpses of Waspinator eying them with what appeared to be part contempt and part envy, but he always left as soon as he saw that Optimus had noticed him, like right now. Optimus sighed and returned to watching Mirage trying to explain how and why any dog is a noble to a bunch of other sparklings from the pack, much to many carriers's amusement. Nighbird would occasionally sit with him, enjoying the view of such happiness even in these hard times, but today she had not been feeling up to it, the unborn sparkling giving her some trouble.

This was how Megatron and the returning wolves found them, enjoying the peace while it lasted as the pups all played together. Quite a few jaws dropped, not just because the clearing was still very much intact and nothing was on fire, but because there was no yelling, no cursing, no chaos! The pups noticed them first and Soundwave was soon swarmed with his creations, all excitedly telling him how good they had been and how nice Optimus really was. Megatron just watched, amused and fond, as Optimus actually blushed from the praise.

He actually thought that this peace might continue for a while longer. After all, winter was a long ways away.

Later, he will realize that he has jinxed them all.

00000

An orn later, tragedy struck.

It was so unexpected that not even Shockwave or Cyclonus would have been able to plan a contingency plan for it. They had never believed Nova would play fair, nor have they been foolish enough to believe he will not send smaller attacks or assassins before the deadline he had given, but this they had never expected. Three cyberbears wandered deep into their territory, near where the sparklings and carriers always rested in the afternoon and they attacked as swiftly and as suddenly as only seasoned predators can. The carriers were already howling for help before the first energon was drawn.

There were injuries, despite the swiftness of the response of the Deceptiwolves, sparklings were scared out of their plating and three cyberbears lay dead on the ground, a gruesome sight. There was only one casualty, or rather two, seeing as carriers were attacked. Megatron stared down at the sight of the mangled body of his only remaining family, Nightbird's neck snapped, her spark exposed, the metal protecting it missing, and her gestation chamber ripped out. The almost fully grown sparkling in it had slipped out halfway and Megatron felt his optics sting as he gazed at the small protoform that never even lived to open its optics for the first time.

The pack mourned that night as they did with Nightbird as they do with all their dead. With Soundwave and Shockwave as his witnesses, Megatron carried his only cousin up to the top of the cliff they used as a home, aware of all the sorrowful optics following his progress and he gently placed Nightbird down on the ever soft crygrass. He then surrounded her with big metalic rocks that were used for every funeral, decorated with drawings that represented the open way to the Well of Allsparks and into the afterlife. They never burned, the symbols never faded. Some older, superstitious mechs even believed the rocks to be as old as Cybertron itself was and that they were resistant to heat because they survived solar storms, but there was never enough proof to either confirm or deny such a theory. When everything was arranged, Megatron splashed some of the best high grade, red energon before lighting the ceremonial fire for his cousin and his unborn nephew.

Due to the red energon, the two dead gray frames were easily engulfed in flames and nothing was left after only a few breems, but the fire continued raging on. Megatron transformed into his secondary form, sat down in front of the fire and howled so loudly it echoed from the woods to the mountains, expressing his grief. His pack sadly followed him, howling their own misery at losing a pack member, young and old. Ratchet and Arcee did as dogs would do and they gave the fallen femme a moment of silence, the sparklings and younglings following their lead, but not Optimus.

Optimus howled with the pack, expressing his own sadness at a lost life, a lost new friend, a fallen pack member and a victim of his sire's greed. He howled his rage at the lost of life, at the murder of a not yet lived life, at the grief it caused his new pack, at the shame he felt from being the creation of such a monster who did this deliberately. Optimus howled like the wolf he always denied he was, his dog side dying in that night as they sang their farewells to two lost lives and no one noticed.

The next few days saw Megatron avoiding everyone, even his closest friends. He would cast looks Optimus's way, but he would turn away before the dog could react in any way. It was driving Optimus insane, seeing the obvious pain in the gray Deceptiwolf's optics and not being able to do anything, but he knew that approaching him now uninvited would be a very bad idea. Not even Strika dared go near him when he was like this.

It turned out that Optimus wouldn't have to do anything to get a chance to talk with the grieving pack leader. He found him himself. The older mech had followed after him when Optimus had went out to hunt for his charges, Ratchet and Arcee before going to hunt for himself and maybe something for Megatron to eat, too, since he had been neglecting his need for fuel. He had almost jumped out of his plating when Megatron appeared out of the bushes behind him, immediately going to the mechling and all but sagging against him. Still in secondary mode, it was awkward to support the much bigger wolf, even if Optimus had gained some strength from both his new life and his new training.

He still managed somehow, sitting down and letting Megatron lean against him. The wolf had his helm buried in Optimus's neck and shoulder fur, inhaling his scent as he silently cried, only slight tremors rocking his body. The Autodog sighed, nuzzling the older mech in order to provide some comfort and Megatron came closer, almost completely covering the smaller part wolf. If he were in primary mode now, Optimus was sure he would be as red in the face as his armor was. He couldn't help but selfishly enjoy this moment of intimacy, where Megatron took all wall down and just clung to Optimus as if the dog was his only anchor to reality, like he was the only one who can drag him out of the nightmare he was currently living in. It was a heady and addicting feeling but Optimus knew that he shouldn't be getting used to this. It was a one time thing, right? Right. Besides, what could he offer a mech like Megatron? He wasn't even a full wolf, nor was he a dog. He was nothing more but a respected friend and he was more than happy to be even just that, if it meant he can still be around his secret love.

A sob almost escaped Megatron's careful control and Optimus started murmuring to the Deceptiwolf, reassurances and idle things that might take his mind off of his loss, even if for as second. He tenderly lifted his left paw and placed it around Megatron as best as he could, a somewhat hug in their secondary form. Megatron seemed to enjoy that, so it must have been as effective as it was probably silly. Optimus sighed and leaned against the tree behind him, letting it support both of their wights and closed his optics, still whispering to Megatron until they both fell into recharge. Joors later, a panicked search party found them curled into each other, Megatron having tucked the Autodog into his side, as if to shield him from the world even as Optimus still seemed to be hugging him with his left paw. Strika cursed them both to their very first ancestors but left them to sleep with both Dreadwing and Skyquake watching over them from a far, bot not too far, away.

Optimus woke first the next late morning, and remembering Megatron had not been eating well, went to hunt them both a meal. By the time the pack leader had awoken, Optimus had managed to drag back a small deer for them to fuel on, his own tanks rumbling in protest. Megatron saw what he was doing, chuckled and got up to help the mecling drag the game into the little clearing they had slept in. Hearing the chuckle warmed Optimus, knowing that Megatron was slowly starting to recover and that soon, the Deceptiwolf will be okay. They ate together, Megatron being a gentlemech and insisting that Optimus pick the first meat piece he likes before digging in as well. After they finished and dragged the carcass where no other wild animal will find it so they would follow the two dogs to their pack, the wolf and the dog-wolf hybrid walked back to the clearing.

Quite a few things changed that day, but still not enough as far as Megatron was concerned. The last remaining tension between them vanished but Optimus still believed that he had just lost his mate, not a cousin, and it was frustrating as Pit. At least they ate and cuddled together again, even if neither will ever admit it to being cuddling and snuggling, no matter what Strika said. Megatron put more effort into wooing Optimus, but the dog insisted on thinking of it as friendly gestures. He still took what he got and decided to slowly up the stakes with each gesture. Just yesterday, he had made Optimus sit with him until the mechling fell asleep while Strika, Shockwave and Cyclonus rattled on with their reports, much to Megatron's pleasure and Strika's annoyance that her so called best friend fell asleep while she was talking.

Things continued like this till end of the normal summer season, but the heat didn't let up even if the rains started. Hunting trips became more difficult but the Deceptiwolves were used to this. Optimus, though, was not. He had managed to get separated from the hunting party half a joor ago and now he was wandering around, trying to find the way back. This was a new part of the Deceptiwolf territory, one they mostly visit in winter and autumn. Optimus had never been in this part of the woods surrounding their clearing and now he was lost. He couldn't even smell his way back because the rains washed out all scents a long time ago.

It was still puring down, hard, on him as he tried to find his way back. Optimus knew that he should be getting back soon. They had left before noon, but it had to be close to sun fall by now. If he didn't get back soon, he will be fair game for any creature lurking these woods. It wouldn't do for him to die a stupid death like this, especially not so soon after Megatron had lost Nightbird. He may be just a friend, but he still obviously meant something to the pack leader...

Optimus flinched as the first roll of thunder was heard in the distance. Great, just what he needed! It was dangerous to travel when thunder and lighting were dominating a rain storm, especially on years like this. The hybrid cursed himself and his extremely bad luck as he quickly searched for some form of shelter. He started running in what he hoped was the right direction back towards the clearing, but he didn't know anything anymore. Everything seemed to be identical. The only thing he hear around him was the drops of water falling onto the ground, the leaves, the branches, on his fur and plating. He registered the howling of the wind, the rustling of the branches, the sad chirping...

The chirping?!

Optimus came to a sudden stop, almost falling over himself n his attempt to come to a halt. He strained his audios and there, he heard it again. It wasn't that far ahead of him, in the Southeast direction, if his sense of orientation was right and he sure as Pit hoped it was. Not even debating weather he should check it out, Optimus followed the scared noises as another round of thunder cracked across the sky. The chirping got louder and Optimus now could distinguish that it was not just one voice, but rather two! The half dog, half wolf came to halt in front of a large, cut down tree, its stump mostly hallow and there, in the center of it were two just born sparklings. One was creamy white and dull orange while the other was two different shades of blue. The blue one had a visor, but they were obviously twins none the less.

Optimus stared down at his find. Sparklings, in this weather?! They won't survive! They're already obviously freezing! More whimpers and chirps escaped the sparklings, as if to confirm Optimus's thoughts that, yes, they were very cold and suffering. Not knowing what else to do, Optimus crawled in and huddled the sparklings into his arms as soon as he transformed into his primary form. He guessed this was as good a place as any to wait out the storm.

He just hopes Megatron will find him by morning.

00000

Megatron did find Optimus by morning.

He was soaking wet and very annoyed when he poked his head into the opening of the stump, startling Optimus awake when he started yelling at him how worried he was. His jerking woke up the little ones and they immediately started whining in fear, burrowing closer into Optimus's fur and closer to his strong beating spark. Megatron stared at him, holding two sparklings, tired from their night out int the woods in the middle of the storm, and just deadpanned the only thing he could think to say at the moment.

''Oh, you have got to be kidding me.''

As Megatron predicted as soon as he saw the dog holding the sparklings, Optimus refused to leave them there, not that the pack leader would have suggested anything like that. And so they returned with enough game to feed the pack for two days and two new sparklings, much to the confusion and delight of the Deceptiwolves. They were placed in Optimus's care after they started screeching as soon as someone else took them, so the dog took the liberty to name them. Jetfire and Jetstorm were easily accepted in Optimus's little circle as well as the pack. They were just so freaking adorable! Or so said many femmes when Optimus carried them around while his other charges were either riding on his back or following after him around the clearing.

And then they found out that they were half Caminowolves half Autodogs and a whole scandal came from it. Optimus's face had looked so dark while Starscream kept screaming about how such hybrids should be killed on sight, as it blemished the pure wolf blood of any pack or any wolf. Everyone had been watching him so when he stepped up from his place by his charges, no one was surprised. No one but Starscream, that is. The beta almost jumped out of his plating when Optimus appeared so suddenly behind him before starting the rant at the mechling, but the dog was having no slag that day, especially for a topic hitting so close to home. Before anyone knew it, they were both transforming and Optimus's ax was out and Megatron and Thundercracker were jumping in to separate the two. The pack leader had to hold the dog back as he yelled all sorts of obscenities at the beta, all but scaring the plum colored wolf. The seeker tried to avoid him as best as he could after that, because Optimus had shown everyone that there was a Pit of a lot more behind that bark than they had thought.

The incident at least had one positive outcome: Optimus and Megatron finally had that important talk.

Megatron had carried Optimus out of the clearing, much to Strika's amusement and the dog's displeasure, and dumped him on the ground some mechanometers into the woods. Optimus was still raging mad at the things Starscream had said about two wolf-dog hybrids and what it would imply for him as well, to a certain extent at least and he then turned his anger on Megatron for pretending to care. Bad move.

The Deceptiwolf easily pinned the trashing but surprised Autodog to the nearest strong enough tree and got into his face, a snarl on his own gray faceplates. ''How dare you imply that I have been anything but honest with you ever since you were brought here!?''

''Then what about Nightbird!?'' Optimus knew he was threading on thin ice here, but he was sick of it all! The kidnapping, Blackarachnia and Wasp(inator), Starscream, Nightbird, his sire's sudden appearance and now Starscream's slag about hybrids! He was at his breaking point, his spark already worn out from the sorrow of knowing that Megatron will never care about him like Optimus cares about Megatron and he just has had enough. ''You never said anything about her! Isn't that as bad as lying?'' He screamed, a snarl on his own features now. ''I've been here for orns. You've had more than enough time, but you never told me. You never said anything.'' Megatron was no longer snarling, just looking at him and holding him in place. ''The way you've treated me... How we have acted around each other... That's not how a mated mech should act...'' He nearly choked on the words. He could say no more, so he just hung his head, suddenly lacking all of the anger that had been cursing through his frame since Starscream had started spewing slag about the twins.

And then Megatron was lowering him to his pedes, gentle with him as if he were made of glass and a single, big, black hand was holding his chin. ''You're right. It's not how a mated mech acts. It's how an interested mech acts.'' He leaned in closer to the shocked and suddenly hopeful mechling (soon to be a mech, really) until their forhelms were touching. ''Nightbird was my only family, my cousin from Galvatron's side, a Chaarowolf. Her mate died a few groons before you and the pups have arrived. I was her only protector since then. She was expecting his sparklling but that would mean that Galvatron would get a second heir, a fully Chaarowolf heir. While most of both of the packs have accepted the merge, there are always those who do not. If anyone was going to try and overthrow me, they would use my only nephew and my cousin. I would often go and speak with her in private, and as I had no sparklings of my own, ever, her sparkling would be my legitimate heir as well. We've dealt with those few who would try to overthrow me, but that didn't change our ritual. But she was only my cousin. I have always been interested in you, Optimus. Since the first time I saw you.''

The dog felt his face heating up at the admission. He could not believe that he had caught the other's optics so easily, but then again, so had Megatron caught his. ''Really?''

''Really.'' The nod he gave was final in a way and Optimus completely relaxed in his grip.

''Okay.''

''Okay?''

''You said you were interested. Usually, when someone is interested, they want to court the one they are interested in. If you are really interested in me as you say you are-''

''I am!''

''Then I assumed that you would ask if you could court me and the answer is okay.''

Megatron grinned. ''Does this mean you like me as well, my dear Optimus?''

Said dog snorted, but it was in good humor. ''I never said that.''

Megatron had laughed and placed a little kiss on his olfactory sensor's ridge before letting him down, enjoying the embarrassed reaction. Things went a lot smoother since then. Megatron made it his goal in life to embarrass Optimus as often as he can, either by whispering in his audios when he least expected it or by giving him various gifts. He also started making it a habit to come over in the afternoons, just as Optimus was letting his charges climb all over him so they could get their afternoon nap, and would lie down behind Optimus, using his shoulder as a pillow and trapping the dog under the wight of his head. His charges would snicker but did not mind the new addition. Megatron had given both them and Optimus a place to belong and despite the rocky start, what with the kidnapping and what happened with Wasp, they had grown somewhat fond of the big wolf. Strika's teasing only got worse and Shockwave was enjoying his embarrassment too much, or so Megatron thought, At least, Soundwave was still subtle about the teasing remarks, unlike the rest of his close friends.

Everything was just fine for a while, until it wasn't.

00000

He had snuck right past all the security guards and managed to grab one of the pack's sparklings, not one of the dogs, but a young little wolf. No one had seen him and despite hating his mission very much, Punch was going to go through with it. He and his brother, Counterpunch, had been picked specifically for this mission and if they didn't deliver, their only sister, Upperpunch, was going to be killed. He met his brother at the border of the clearing when the distressed femme realized one of her five creations was missing and then all Pit broke lose.

Punch and Counterpunch ran like they had never ran before, wailing sparkling still in his grasp. They could hear the pack's warriors, sentries and scouts starting to track them, the legendary seekers of the Deceptiwolves's probably already having caught their scent and leading the others after them. Neither brother dared look back. It would just slow them down and right now, time was of the essence. They almost froze in instinctual fear when they heard the pack leader's howl of promised retribution, but the thought of what Upperpunch would go through if they didn't do this right made them push down all other thoughts and emotions for the moment.

Their mission was both simple-sounding and very complex, not to mention completely suicidal and way beyond dangerous. Their pack leader, Nova, wanted his only creation to be by his side before he reached adulthood, so he can start breaking him in advance. Nova feared that Optimus, as they heard his name was, would gain the loyalty of his wolves unless he was already broken beyond hope. It made Punch shiver every time he thought of what cruelties awaited his next rightful leader, so he tried not to think about it. Their spies had noticed that the dog-wolf hybrid reacts the most impulsively when pups are involved so Nova had devised a plan where they are to take a sparkling and demand that Optimus comes with them in exchange for the pup's life. He sent them with their older brother, Suckerpunch, as backup and told them not to return at all, if they failed. And so, with heavy sparks and guilt bearing down on them, the three brothers left their pack's territory and ventured deep into the Deceptowolves's. They studied them for a day before deciding on a target, plan, course of action and time for the whole thing.

And everything was going fine so far. Optimus was running after them with Megatron and his wolves and soon enough, they will reach the borders after which is neutral forest, outside of Megatron's sovereign rule. However, that did not mean they were safe. The spies had also reported that the Deceptiwolf pack leader had an interest in Optimus and that he had started courting the hybrid. That means that Megatron just might act even outside his territory if it meant keeping the young dog by his side. Even if that meant giving Nova a good enough reason to start a war of packs.

And with a chilling clarity, Punch understood.

They were never meant to succeed; they were sacrifices, because no matter how this went, Nova will get his war.

Up ahead, Punch saw Suckerpunch waiting for them, looking anxious. As soon as he caught sight of his brothers, the older mech sighed in relief and wad about to start running when Counterpunch yelped behind him. A growl echoed and Punch stopped running, turning around and almost dropping the suddenly quiet sparkling as he took in the sight of what he presumed was Optimus holding his slightly older brother down to the ground with his jaw around the wolf's neck cables. He was rather big for a dog but he will never grow to be the size above the size of an average wolf, although most of his features clearly indicated that he was indeed of wolf origin.

Suckerpunch growled at the dog but Optimus didn't back down. He glared at them until his optics settled on the sparkling still in Punch's hold. His optics flashed with reassurance and the sparkling stopped shaking and relaxed slightly, obviously trusting the dog to save him.

'This could work.' Punch thought.

"Are you here for the sparkling, dog?"

Optimus didn't rise to the bait. "I know you know who I am." He transformed swiftly and placed an ax to Counterpunch's neck instead of his teeth. The wold had not been expecting the sudden change and had not taken the chance to do the same. "And I know why you're here. So I suggest you let the sparkling go and get lost."

"So you are Optimus, then." Suckerpunch confirmed with a smug nod. "Alright, then. Lets get over this, then."

Optimus looked at them suspiciously, never letting any of them out of his sight and keeping the ax steady over Counterpunch's neck. "Get what over with?"

"You come with us and we let the little one go." Punch said confidently. The dog seemed to be thinking it over, probably trying to come up with a plan that saved them both. "You are outnumbered and the sparkling could end up ... hurt or worse, if you don't cooperate."

The hybrid glared at them but nodded his helm. "Alright. But I will do so only after I see him beyond those trees." The brothers exchanged looks but Optimus just pressed down hos ax a bit harder. "If you have anything against that, I am sure that I can either persuade you or make you regret it."

They scowled at him but let the sparkling go. He rushed over to Optimus but the dog shook his head and nodded towards the woods behind him. With coolant gathering at the rims of his optics, the sparkling ran away and into the trees but he didn't go far, wanting to catch a last glimpse of Optimus before he disappeared from their lives forever. However, Optimus knew he was still there so the dog wasn't letting Counterpunch up, making Punch and Suckerpunch believe that he had broken their deal and they attacked him instead. Optimus was forced to let Counterpunch up due to the other two charging him, but that just further put the odds against him. The three brothers were neither big enough nor strong enough to defeat Optimus on their own, but it was three to one with the dog still having to think about the poor sparkling in the bushes behind him.

"Just give up, dog!"

Optimus snarled and made a deep cut in Suckerpunch's left side. "I am not a dog!"

"You are no wolf either! You are a lowly hybrid good for nothing but reproducing!"

Suddenly said dog-wolf hybrid smirked nastily at them, startling them as he sucker-punched Counterpunch. "I see. So you fear the CNA I carry. Not that I blame you. No dog or wolf can stand up to a Prime, half breed or not."

The three brothers froze for a second, clearly seeing Nova's features in the much prettier face of Optimus and fear gripped them as his royal blue optics locked on them. Counterpunch was the first to recover and he aimed low. "Just who do you think you are?"

"I am your leader's only creation! I am Optimus Prime!" Optimus yelled right back, hating himself for bringing his sire into this but he was not above utilizing every resources he has. And just because Nova was a sick bastard doesn't mean his other ancestors were too. The line of Primes wouldn't have lasted this long if that were the case.

That seemed to be what triggered the others to be even more violent. With one Prime holding their sister and the other having already took one of their brothers hostage, even if for a very short period of time, they fought like the animals that they were and soon enough, while Counterpunch and Suckerpunch were keeping him busy, Punch snuck up on him from behind and struck him, hard, with a big rock. Optimus collapsed like a puppet whose strings have been cut, the hit seriously damaging some of his basic reactions and it allowed his opponents the opportunity to strike him again and again until he lost his grip on the real world and darkness overtook him, only managing to catch a glimpse of dark green in his last second of consciousness.

Luckily for both him and the sparkling he had set out to find ans retrieve, he woke up five breems later, but the fight was over and the three brothers lay dead on the forest floor a few paces away. Optimus half expected to see Megatron or Strika or Soundwave, Pit, even Starscream and his trine, but the sight that greeted him instead caused his spark to stop. There lay Waspinator, his once charge and Bumblebee's twin brother, broken and battered and leaking all over the place. All of his limbs were broken, even his tail, his helm was cracked open on the left side, just over his dim optic, the right one cracked but still online. Half of his tank was visible and his throat had been cut open but the main energon line was not severed although it was a very close call. It still leaked and the forest was filled with the smell of energon. He was somehow still alive but in obvious pain. He kept chocking on the energon rushing out of his intake.

With a horrified scream, Optimus rushed to his side. Waspinator smiled as soon as he saw his former guardian, seemingly forgetting his pain for a moment. Optimus's optics were sparking and releasing coolant as he gathered the now wolf up into his arms, hugging him close and trying to stop the leaking as carefully as he could. Waspinator gladly leaned into the dog's chest, enjoying the proximity to that spark that had many a nights lulled him to sleep.

''It's okay. I've got you. You're going to be okay.'' And then the dog howled like he had seen Megatron do many times, alerting everyone to where they were and that they are in need of assistance. The sparkling that had been kidnapped quickly ran over to where the adults were, curling up against the dog that had risked so much to save him and the strange wolf that had in turn saved the dog. ''It's okay, Wasp... inator. You're going to be fine. Ratchet and Hook will be here soon and then they'll patch you up and you're going to be as good as new. Just hold on. Focus on me.''

''Wasp.'' Said wolf's raspy voice barely got out through the static and Optimus looked down at him in confusion, coolant tears long since having started falling and soaking his blue face. ''My name is Wasp.'' More tears rushed down the mechling's faceplates and Waspinator did his best to raise his servo to try and wipe them away, but his limbs were destroyed beyond repair. He was dying and they both knew it, but Optimus didn't want to accept it. He had lost his charge once and now that he has him back, even if only in this way, he was not going to let him go. He had failed Wasp one time, he didn't want to fail him this - last - time as well.

''Wasp.'' Was all he could whisper back and the green and yellow wolf smiled. At this moment, as he was dying in his protector's arms, his optics glowed blue once more, the purple fever of insanity finally leaving him. A sob escaped the mechling and Wasp felt awful that he was the one causing those sobs in the strongest mech he had ever met.

''I want t-to... thank you... for all that you have ever done f-for either me ... or Bumblebee. I never said it before ... how much it meant to us... to have some accept us like y-you did." Tears of coolant started streaming down his face as well. "I l-love you Optimus. You are the best thing that ever happened to me and m-my ... brother. It's an h-honor to say that I knew ... you."

"Wasp, don't-" the mechling was cut off by his own sob.

Wasp never stopped smiling. "It's okay. I am ready to ... to go now."

"No! You just hold on. The pack will get here in no time and we'll have you all patched up! So don't you dare talk like that!" Optimus's voice was now filled with static and his frame was shaking with his sobs. This was Wasp, his charge, and he'll keep on fighting till the end to save him, even if he has to fight for the both of them. "Come on. Just hang in there. Focus on me and hold on. You may have grown up frame wise, but I am still your guardian, so you have to listen to me." Wasp's optics began flickering despite him never losing his smile or breaking optic contact with the dog-wolf hybrid. "No no no no! Don't you dare, Wasp! Don't you fraging dare!"

"'S okay. I am ... content. Happy. After all... who can say ... that they saved their s-sa-saviour. That they pro-protected their protector."

Optimus deflated as he felt Wasp's spark fluttering, obviously struggling to not get extinguished. It was a sign of a mech well beyond saving without immediate medical attention and from the sounds of the pack getting closer and closer, it will still be too late. "I love you. We all love you. Don't you dare ever forget it again!"

The once again blue optics were almost too dark now, but Blackarachnia's best experiment result was still clinging to his life. Perhaps the femme had given him a gift in the end. No normal mech would have stayed alive this long with Wasp's wounds. "I never have... I just ... pretended... hid behind ... the insanity ... didn't want Bee to be ... scared of me ... all the time. Didn't want ta be ... looked at as ... less ... or more... than I had been be'ore." When he noticed Wasp's hand twitching, Optimus took it carefully into his own and held it gently over Wasp's dying spark. "Opt'mus ... please take care of 'em ... and tell 'em dat I luv 'em ... always luv 'em." His words were losing coherency with each second and the dog repressed another sob. He had to be strong for his charge, the last act he will bestow upon him as his guardian and protector.

"I will, I promise."

Wasp nodded and tears rushed down his face. "Tell Bee I'm s-sorry. For leaving an' everythin'." When he saw the red and blue bot nod, he released a sob. "Opt'mus, I'm scared."

Optimus adjusted his grip and tucked Wasp's helm under his chin. "Don't be. I've got you. I'll always protect you." He chocked on his words, having zo reset his vocalizer three times. "Always."

"Dis not goodbye?"

"No. Never. We'll see you again, one day, in Primus's grasp. In the Well of Allsparks." He told him what he had always told the pups in his care. Ratchet and most of the Autodog Community scuffed at the idea but Optimus believed and loved those stories Alpha Trion used to tell him about where sparks come from and go. He was glad that his charges had taken as great a liking to them as he had, because he now had something to give one of his dying charges as a final comfort, a last hope for another meeting.

"Then ... I guess I'll ... see ya later..." And with that, Wasp's optics flickered out, his spark burned out and his green and yellow frame turned the gray of death, quickly losing the remainder of its heat in the cold night air in the forest. Optimus stared at the empty, dull frame in his arms before releasing a cry of anguish, which soon turned into a roar of vengeance and finally developed into an energon-chilling howl of sadness and loss that echoed throughout the forest. Everyone heard it. Mechanoanimals fled the scene in fear, not wanting to face whatever can make such a frightening sound. Nova heard it and smirked as he imagined the state of his only creation; it will be easy to break him now. Ratchet and Arcee heard it. Prowl, Jazz, Blurr, Bluestreak, Sideswipe and Sunstreaker, Mirage, Bulkhead, Jetfire and Jetstorm and Bumblebee heard it. The whole pack heard it.

Megatron heard it and recognized Optimus in it and that had him pushing himself to the limits in order to reach him. Strika, Soundwave, Shockwave, Lugnut,Tarn and the panicked sire of the sparkling ran after him, trying desperately not to lose sight of their leader. Another howl sounded and if at all possible, Megatron sped up even more. However, by the time they reached the location of the dog, it was already far too late. The three culprits were lying dead a few paces away from where Optimus was cradling the empty shell that had once been his charge. The sparkling had wiggled up into Optimus's embrace as well, trying to give him some comfort in his grief. Megatron felt his spark turn cold as he watched his love interest in such a state, every tear that fell from those blue optics feeling like a dagger right to the spark.

"Optimus..."

Behind him, Strika seemed to be struggling with herself as to what to do. However, no one needed to do anything as Optimus's helm snapped up when he heard them. His tears stopped almost instantly and Megatron watched in despair as all the trust and openness that they had achieved with the dog over the orns disappeared behind the wall he created to shield himself from hurt. His optics still held the traces of his loss, but even that was slowly fading out of sight. Unwilling to lose everything that they had been building for so long between them, Megatron hastily walked over to him and gathered him into his servos, Wasp and sparkling and all. The pup greeted him with a quiet bark before giving Optimus one last nuzzle and running over to his both relieved and devastated sire with the other wolves who were all feeling the same.

"It is alright, Optimus. He was brave. He died a wolf, protecting two younger wolves from his pack. He was a hero." He told the dog as he stroked the back of his helm with one servo and held him close with the other. Optimus started minutely shaking in his arms but no more sounds or tears escaped him. He didn't pull away from Megatron, though, and that was more than he could ask for.

00000

They returned that night equally victorious and defeated, the worried sire carrying his sparkling securely in his servos and being greeted by his crying and relieved mate, Optimus carrying his deceased charge on his back - all by himself, despite Wasp being almost three helms taller than him and quite a bit heavier - being greeted by a wailing and crying Bumblebee and the rest of his grieving charges and Ratchet and Arcee, all of them staring sadly at Wasp's body.

The funeral was prepared in a few joors but Optimus insisted that it happen at dawn. The Deceptiwolves accepted it without question, not wanting to argue with the grieving mechling-soon-to-be-mech. It was almost the same as it had been for Nightbird, except it was Optimus who carried Wasp up to the burial place and Megatron and Bumblebee were following right behind him. The pack had been quiet the entire time, accepting this dog custom of honoring the dead without sound although they were ready to give their own farewell to the mech who had saved Optimus and one of their sparklings. The bodies of their attackers had been dragged and left a few miles away from their borders, no care for what was to happen to them.

Optimus gently placed Wasp in the circle of rocks, placed a final goodbye kiss to his forhelm and let Megatron splash the red energon and set the fire. It was not Megatron who lead the chorus of howls that night, but Optimus. Their voices formed a haunting symphony that sent chills down everyone's backs if they heard it. And every pack heard it. No one dared make a sound, not even the Primawolves, with the exception of Nova, who was frowning and growling as his creation should have been brought to him by now. As the bloody sunrise was before him and the dog, Megatron sent Bumblebee off to recharge and walked over to Optimus, sitting close by but not touching. He didn't need that right now. What he did need, however, was silent support and to know that someone's got his back. Optimus didn't acknowledge him for a while and the pack leader thought he would be ignored until the dog decided to go back, so he was surprised when he spoke.

"He's mine."

"I'm sorry, but what?"

"I said he is mine."

"You couldn't possibly mean Nova!?" The Deceptiwolf all but yelled after a moment in which he had been to stunned to react. "No ordinary wolf could take him on at your age! Not even one talented like you, Optimus!"

The dog suddenly whirled around so fast that Megatron almost took a step back. There was a scary look in his optics, one that did not belong on his blue face but rather on a gray one Megatron had seen only once. The only difference between Optimus and Nova was that the mechling wasn't bragging and enjoying the possible destruction of an entire pack but was actually just rather pissed. Besides, the manic gleam that seemed to be constantly present in Nova's blue optics was thankfully forever absent from Optimus's equally blue optics.

"I am not a wolf, Megatron!" He hissed at the pack leader and said gray, black and red Deceptiwolf bristled.

"Well, you are not a dog, either! So tell me, Optimus," the pack leader hissed right back and continued despite the flinch he saw from his companion. "Just what are you?"

The mechling was quiet for a while, his head bowed and optics cast down. Megatron suddenly realized that he had long since stepped over a line Ratchet had silently set the day he told them about Optimus's carrier. "Optimus-"

"I'll tell you the night before my final upgrade. You have a right to know, as both my pack leader and potential mate." The dog whispered, cutting the Deceptowolf's apology before it even really started. Megatron felt his spark skip a few harmonics at the mention of a possible future between them, but instead he focused on actually apologizing to his companion.

He sighed and moved even closer to Optimus, hugging the younger mech to himself, much to the dog's surprise and embarrassment. "I always seem to be pissing you off. I'm sorry."

The mechling looked up at him, a blush on his pretty faceplates despite the considering look in his optics. "You really don't need to be apologizing. Not with what the secret of my origins has brought your pack into."

"It's your pack as well, you know. Strika would probably rant at you for hours for still not calling it yours after all this time you've spent with us." Optimus chuckled at this and leaned against the wolf, much to Megatron's pleasure.

"You are probably right."

A snort. "Of course I am."

The sad night ended with laughter as Optimus allowed Megatron to distract him.

00000

It finally came.

Winter.

The days turned cold and the winds picked up again. The clearing in which the pack livid in that had been a beautiful medow during summer, filled with soft cygrass and colorful flowers, was now covered with white snow that crunched under their feet. Bumblebee, Mirage, Blurr, Bluestreak, Bulkhead, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe, along with a few other sparklings, entered younglinghood while Jetfire and Jetstorm still held the status of sparklings with the rest. Prowl and Jazz will be entering mechlinghood by the beginning of spring next vorn.

The sparkling period was the briefest period in a Cybertronians life, no matter the species. A mech or femme stayed a sparkling for only half a vorn before becoming a youngling. Then they stayed younglings for a whole vorn and a little over three orns of the next one when they got their upgrade to mechling or femmeling. That period lasted five vorns before the bot entered adulthood as a grown mech or femme, which was then the last and longest period of a Cybertronian's life. It was only in this period that they can mate and have young, although some bots tended to "date" in their mechling stage, as Prowl planned to do come spring. The black and gold only creation of Yoketron had fallen helm over pedes for Lockdown, especially in these last few orns, and the same could be said for the green Deceptiwolf. The expert hunter was willing to wait the five vorns till Prowl reached adulthood, although they will be together long before that. The same could be said for Shockwave, who was enamored by young Blurr. He had a bit more to wait, but apparently he had waited a few thousand stellar cycles just to find the right bot to catch his interest, so a few more won't be a problem, much to the speedster's delight. Jazz had started looking at Soundwave as something more than the creator of his playmates, who were all now mechlings, and Soundwave was no less interested. Said playmates were delighted that their carrier was once again searching for love and had nothing against it being Jazz.

His charges were going to drive Optimus crazy!

The dog-wolf hybrid was already having a hard time with his own upcoming upgrade. It was no small thing when a mech is becoming an adult, especially for someone like Optimus. The second he reaches adulthood, the Deceptiwolf pack will be an open target for his sire and his Primawolves. Nova had kept his word and beyond those two incidents with the cyberbears and the kidnappers, he didn't disturb them. However, he had left a message at the end of autumn, one that clearly said he will be coming for the red and blue soon to be mech. It had enraged Megatron beyond words, especially as it was a young femme, roughly the same age as Optimus, obviously raped and tortured before death took her into its mercifully numbing embrace. Optimus had felt sick when he saw the resemblance between her and his three attackers but he could do nothing for the four siblings now but hope that they will have peace in the Well.

He had grown some more, his frame getting ready for that final upgrade slowly. His strength and speed had increased and he had gotten even better at both sparing and hunting with the wolves. He was so proud when one day he took down a pertoboar all on his own, and a pretty big one, too, although not nearly as big as some of the ones Megatron had brought back. Said pack leader still congratulated him in front of the whole pack, who were all grinning at him with pride. Well, Starscream and him still didn't get along so he didn't but that was beside the point.

Megatron kissed him for the first time three groons after Wasp's heroic death and Optimus hadn't hesitated for even a second to kiss him right back. The gray wolf had been smirking smugly the entire day after the kiss, much to the pack's happiness and the dog-wolf hybrid's great embarrassment. However, he never refused his kisses in public or in private, not even in front of his charges or Ratchet and Arcee! Said dog couple would tease him from time to time, but it was really Bumblebee, Sunstreaker and Sideswipe that cracked all the jokes, which was a relief in and of itself. It had been hard on Bee to lose Wasp and he bad been quiet for five days, only talking with Optimus when the guard spoke to him first, but never initiating the conversation himself. He, thankfully, was pulled out of it by a soon to be mechling, Barricade, and it was love at first sight. After he had realized what happened, Optimus had some ammunition to tease Bumblebee right back, although these situations left them both blushing like mad.

The next big step in Optimus's relationship with Megatron was when they started regularly recharging together. Megatron would come in the dogs's den to say goodnight but the youngsters would insist on him staying and so the wolf would end up sleeping curled around Optimus almost every night. One night they stopped asking but Megatron still continued the routine, much to everybody's secret and sometime obvious delight. Ratchet would throw him knowing looks every time he came to the den or was leaving it in the morning, but the medic rarely ever said anything about the matter.

Then the time came to a groon before Optimus's eight creation day, the day he was supposed to become a full grown mech and the day Nova was supposed to attack with his pack. The Deceptiwolves were more than ready by then, mechs and femmes and mechlings and femmelings all ready to fight. Mechlings and some younglings will mostly act as messengers, scouts or small hunting parties in this war of packs, but only a few will face the field of battle. Though, if Optimus had his way, no one but him and Nova will be fighting.

The upgrade from mechling to mech was supposed to happen today and so Optimus had isolated himself on the cliff as slowly he gained more mass, stronger plating and another two inches in hight. He was now able to reach Megatron's shoulders, he was sure, and his stabilizers looked a bit stronger and wider too, especially his thighs. He had surprisingly enough gained a battle mask for his face so only his optics could be seen and he had gotten the notification that his reproductive systems were now ready and awaiting his first heat at the end of winter. But the final touch was the strange symbol that appears on his right cheek, as white as the snow now surrounding them all but showing his origin better than any of his features. He had seen Nova's on his left servo, but he didn't know if anyone outside the Primawolves actually knew their meaning. Megatron at least seemed fascinated by his symbol.

"What is that?" He had asked after Optimus had come down from the cliff, his frame having fully changed and earning him a lot of new stares and wolf whistles, pun not intended.

Optimus had absently touched his cheek before answering. "I can't explain it now, as it is a part of my origin story, but I can tell you that it apparently appears on every bot on my sire's side. Or it should. I haven't actually met anyone from that side of my family."

Megatron had scowled at that yet another secret but he had left it alone for the time being, as there was only a groon left before Optimus told him everything anyway. So instead he had taken Optimus with him to greet their allies as they came to help them out. He had managed to assure the help of Dinowolves and Predawolves, but they had heard that Nova had conquered the Praxowolves and the Mountain wolves while the Forest wolves had given in when the even larger pack came to them. It was one of the reasons that the others were willing to make this alliance in the first place, but the Camolinowolves remained unresponsive to their call to unite their forces in order to remain free. Grimlock and Predaking both declared the Mistress of Flame to be a coward but it was quite possible that she was the smartest of them all for avoiding this war. The two large wolves welcomed Optimus cautiously but Predaking soon grew to like and respect him while Grimlock remained stubborn in not talking to anyone any more than was absolutely neccessary. It annoyed Strika to no end while Starscream disliked Predaking, more than even Megatron did but for different reasons. Optimus and Soundwave would just sit back and watch the show, equal parts amusement and exasperation. The dog sure did prove a good asset in the political field, what with his patient and calm character. That and he didn't take anything lying down nor did he stand for anyone's slag. Add to all of that that he didn't scare easy unless it has something to do with one of his loved ones and he's a force to be reckoned with.

That's how their week went: in meetings and arguments and laughing their heads off when someone would do or say something stupid or silly. However, the night before Optimus's creation day, Megatron found him on the cliff where the dog had snuck away sometime during their feast to honor Optimus's almost adulthood. It was supposed to happen tomorrow, on his creation day, but since Nova will be coming and a war will start, they knew no one would be in a partying mood, least of all the creationday bot himself.

The dog was all alone, sitting right in front of the place where they had so recently burned Wasp and Nightbird both, staring up at the starry sky with a faraway look in his optics as he sang. He sang! Megatron had very rarely heard him sing if it was not for the sparklings and younglings he was in charge of. And it was so depressing and sad that Megatron wondered how he was not crying as Optimus's beautiful voice filed the air.

''Just one more time before I go

I'll let you know
That all this time I've been afraid
Wouldn't let it show
Nobody can save me now, no
Nobody can save me now

Stars are only visible in darkness
Fear is ever-changing and evolving
And I, I can poison the skies
And I, I feel so alive

Nobody can save you now
King is crown, it's do or die
Nobody can save you now
The only sound
It's the battle cry
It's the battle cry
It's the battle cry
Nobody can save you now
It's do or die''

''That's a rather depressing song you're singing there.'' Megatron commented after Optimus stopped. The dog turned to face him as the wolf came to sit beside him, silence falling between them.

''As you know, tomorrow is an important but sad day. I kind of didn't feel like celebrating and decided to come up here, as you now know.''

''I've heard you singing many a songs to your charges, but I believe I have heard you only humming this one... until now.'' The younger mech looked at him from the corner of his optic and nodded when he saw Megatron's serious expression.

''I don't sing it because it is supposed to present a judgment day of sorts. It's supposed to be sung before a battle. And both are going to happen tomorrow, in some way or another.''

''This really has you shaken up, doesn't it?'' The Deceptiwolf asked gently, turning his full attention to the dog.

Optimus nodded, leaning against Megatron and once again they sat in silence for a while, in their primary form, before Optimus turned to the pack leader and kissed him like his life depended on it. Megatron had returned and deepened it without hesitation and they stayed locked like that until the moons reached the top of the sky. He drew back, however, when Optimus lightly pushed at his chest. Optimus was looking at him in a determined way and he suddenly realized that Optimus was now officially an adult, because it was a few minutes past midnight and as such, Optimus's creation day has just started.

"Optimus?"

"I need to tell you."

"At least let me be the first one to wish you a happy Creation Day and welcome you into adulthood." He said with a sigh.

"If you must," was the exasperated sounding reply and Megatron chuckled despite himself.

"Well ... Happy Creation Day and welcome into the world of the adults. You are now completely free to make any decision, choose a mate or become the leader of your own pack." The Deceptiwolf said in his most formal tone of voice, finally managing to make the dog relax enough to let lose a short laugh. With how tense he was, Megatron was satisfied with even this small victory.

"Thank you, Megatron. For everything." The new mech smiled affectionately and even pecked the wolf's cheek, grinning when he saw the faintest of blushes on those usually impassive gray faceplates. "But I still need to tell you this. Nova will come with his pack sometime tomorrow and you need to know why he's after me. I mean, my just being here has put you and your whole pack in danger. Nightbird was killed because of me! Why do you not hate me for that?" The red, blue and white-silver young mech sounded so genuinely confused by the prospect of not being blamed for something that Megatron not for the first time felt the desire to slaughter every single Autodog for ever making Optimus feel that way. This beautiful creature should have never been treated as anything less than a precious jewel that he was and anyone who didn't treat him right didn't deserve to survive as far as Megatron was concerned.

"Nightbird hadn't been the intended target; our young were. She died because she was the strongest amongst the carriers and she couldn't just stand by and watch all those lives be wasted when she could do something to save them. Is that not what you did for your own charges? Were you not ready to die that day we met, or when Blackarachnia was turning Wasp into Waspinator? Were you not willing to face down Overlord, infamous for enjoying torturing and tearing bots that annoyed him apart, just because he threatened to scare your sparklings? Did you not prepare yourself for the pack to kick you out because you wanted to bring in the Jettwins? Why is it so bad that Nightbird did the same?" Megatron asked, looking directly into Optimus's soul through his optics. "As for hating you ... If I hated you, why would I try to court you?" Optimus's optics started shinning with what might have been overwhelmed tears of joy because someone truly cared for him in such a way. "Besides, you can't blame the offspring for their creators's mistakes."

The younger mech froze in his place. "Wha-? How did you-"

"Know you were Nova's creation? The mark on your cheek," One big, black palm cupped said cheek tenderly and despite the seriousness of the conversation, Optimus blushed bright pink and couldn't help bit nuzzle it. Megatron was tempted to just kiss him senseless, but that could come later. For now ... "I saw it on his leg. It wasn't the same design, but it was similar enough. And white. And I had no idea what it signified."

Optimus let out a strangled, startled half laugh at the sight of Megatron's honestly bewildered expression. He raised a hand to cover Megatron's larger palm and turned his face to kiss it. It was clear that the larger mech had no problem with Optimus's origin. ''It means that we are descendents of Prima, the first pack's leader. It means we are Primes, born leaders and carers for many wolves. It just happens that I am a hybrid; half dog, half wolf. Just like Jetfire and Jetstorm.''

Megatron snorted. ''As far as I am concerned, you are one of my pack members and my desired mate. Beyond that, I really don't care if you're a dog, a wolf, or whatever is in between.'' He leaned down and kissed him. ''I really only want you, Optimus.'' The dog smiled up at him.

''I am an adult now. You can have me, because I want you too.''

Megatron suddenly lurched forward, taking Optimus in his arms and pushing him towards the ground, caging the dog-wolf hybrid in between his servos. Optimus yelped at the unexpected movement but didn't complain as Megatron started raining kisses all over his face, neck and shoulders. He moaned as the wolf kissed him square on the mouth, the passion almost too much for the inexperienced mech, much to Megatron's pleasure. Optimus was untouched and will be all his before this night ends.

"M-Megatron," the red and blue half wolf moaned as his intended started stroking his sides, not believing how good it all felt. Said mech smirked and traveled lower on the beautiful frame underneath him, kissing and licking and even nipping the plating before him. Optimus could only cling to him as best as he could when he reached Optimus's codpiece and he started teasing him there. Before either of them knew it, Megatron's skilled tongue was pleasuring Optimus to tears of lust and the younger bot could barely last longer than a few breems before his first ever overload overtook him. The gray, black and red wolf happily lapped up his partner's lubricants, enjoying their tangy smell and bittersweet taste.

"Did you like that?" The pack leader all but purred as his beautiful Optimus recovered from the experience.

Optimus could barely think but he nodded none the less. Unfortunately, speech was still beyond him.

"Would you mind returning the favor?" Megatron cheekily asked when Optimus finally gathered his wits about him. When the dog sent him a questioning look, Megatron bared his spike and Optimus's optics almost shorted out when he saw the impressive length between the wolf's legs. He had to swallow a few times in order to keep his mouth from going dry, but it was almost futile. He looked back up at Megatron, whose optics were dark with want and he nodded.

Since this was his first time, Megatron had to guide him through the whole thing but if Optimus was anything, he was a fast learner and before he knew it, Megatron was overloading with a load roar of passion. He almost chocked as his already stuffed mouth got even more in it, the Deceptiwolf's cum almost too much. Some of the fluids escaped at the sides bit Optimus managed to swallow the most of it. Megatron was petting his helm tenderly as they both recovered from the activity before dragging Optimus into his lap. The red and blue bot may or may not have released a girlish sounding squeak when he was lifted from the ground and then found himself on Megatron's crossed legs. He couldn't help but cry out in both pleasure and pain when one big, black digit entered his virgin valve and he buried his face into the crook of Megatron's shoulder as the bigger mech slowly started pumping his finger. The wolf proceeded to do this while he played with Optimus's tail in his free hand and whispered compliments and dirt into the younger mech's sensitive audios. Optimus started rocking his hips to meet the finger and when Megatron realized that he was ready enough, he slid in another finger. Optimus's moan was long and low and the most beautiful sound the wolf had ever heard.

The foreplay didn't last long, as both were a bit impatient for once. The most surprising thing was that Optimus was the one that took it a step further. He suddenly grabbed Megatron's hard spike, sat up a bit before going down on it hard. The Deceptiwolf groaned in pleasure but had to grip his lover's hips to stop him before he hurt himself. Optimus whined impatiently and needly but Megatron took it slow until he was all the way in. Both were panting at this point but neither made a move to continue, Optimus because he was in pain and a little overwhelmed and Megatron because he could see that he was in pain and not wanting to hurt him further.

When Optimus finally adjusted to his size, Megatron started rocking his hips up and Optimus moaned at the feeling. After a few trusts, he started moving his own hips as well, the two moving together as they started to pant. ''Frag, but you're tight.'' Was all Megatron could manage to say but words were already far out of the younger mech's reach. It just felt too good, Megatron was gentle with him but he didn't act like Optimus was fragile. He used the right amount of force and tenderness and that only further turned him on.

They didn't know how long they moved like that, how long Megatron whispered words of love and affection into a blue audio or how long Optimus clung to that thick gray neck. They only knew that they were enjoying it, that tomorrow was going to be a day either celebrated or mourned, that this very well might be the last time they will get a chance to do this. Optimus even almost cried at the thought of never being in Megatron's arms ever again, but the wolf didn't see that single coolant tear slide down his face for which he was thankful for. But he didn't see Megatron's own shinny optics at the possibility that he will fail his little lover, something he knew would haunt him even in death. However, they both pushed those thoughts to the back of their CPUs and instead focused on each other, engaging in the most passionate kiss they could manage and rocking against each other until overload took them both. Optimus cried out his lover's name while Megatron grunted it into a red shoulder.

When they got their breathing under control and their frames started cooling down, they kissed each other, slow and gentle and so full of love one would cry at the scene if it were a romance movie or book. Megatron gentle removed himself from Optimus's oversensitive valve, much to the other's dismay; he had quite liked the feeling of being so full, so complete. The gray mech chuckled at his reaction and pressed a kiss to his forehelm, to which Optimus blushed despite them just doing more intimate things. Megatron just looked at him with fondness before picking him up and standing with Optimus in his arms, much to the dogs indignation at being carries around like a child. The pack leader just laughed as he walked back down the cliff and to the clearing they called home. They earned themselves quite a few looks and some whistles, but they just flipped them off if they were not sparklings or younglings.

They went to the den where Optimus's eleven charges had waited for them to come and they all fell into a shallow sleep, despite their tiredness.

00000

No one slept that night, not really. They recharged but it passed in a blur, as if they had just fallen asleep before waking up. When dawn came everyone was already getting prepared for the fight that will no doubt start today. They maneuvered around each other as if they have done this a thousand times despite it being three packs instead of just one. The leaders and their seconds and thirds in command were deciding on strategy, Optimus and a few others giving insight. No one had been angry that Optimus was half Primawolf, even if he was Nova's creation, much to Optimus's relief. Not even Starscream said anything, which was the biggest surprise of them all.

By early morning, they got their first surprise. The Mistress of Flame arrived with her Caminowolves, claiming to want to meet the new Prime. No one had the slightest clue as to how she even knew Optimus was born but they had lead her to the red, blue and silver dog-wolf hybrid anyway. The femme leader, with her two companions, walked right up to the mech in question and bowed to him, welcoming a Prime into his own. Optimus had been shocked to hear that they had not wanted to enter this war of packs because they thought that Nova was the last Prime. Since Primawolves only followed Primes, The Mistress of Flame had not wanted to help in killing the last one, thus not only ending the oldest family line but also an entire pack that was far bigger than any other. With the knowledge that Optimus himself was participating and that the new young Prime would be in danger without their help, the pack leader of the Caminowolves rethought her decision and they made haste to get to Deceptiwolf territory. They had managed only now to make it and they apologized but Optimus was touched and thankful that they even came.

That wasn't the only surprise in store for them, though. Close to noon, when their scouts had already spotted Nova's pack and estimated their arrival to be in a joor, a group of three Autodogs stumbled upon the Deceptiwolf clearing. They were completely out of place, so small and so obviously not wolf that everyone who caught sight of them stopped and stared despite the finishing preparations that needed to be done. One was old, like really old, with red, gray and light purple fur and what looked like a mustache. The other two were mostly blue, the bigger and older one with his secondary color white and traces of black while the younger one had details in orange and a big chin, even in secondary mode.

They were "arrested" on sight and brought before the leaders, the youngest dog running his big mouth and annoying everyone in the process. When they were brought before the packs's high ranking wolves, Megatron took one glance at them before asking the most obvious question.

"Why have you brought Ultra Magnus before me now of all times?! We're about to enter a pack war, for Primus's sake!"

His wolves fidgeted. "Actually, my lord, they came here themselves."

"Why?"

"Look, we're looking for a red and blue Autodog, a bit bigger and stupider than most, with a lot of attitude and ten additional shadows. Twelve, even, on certain days." The big-chinned one snapped. "Have you seen him or not?"

The Deceptiwolves all bristled and for the first time no one stopped Lugnut when the large wolf leaned in the dog's face with a growl rumbling deep in his chassis. "How dare you show such disrespect in the prrsence of the great and glorious Megatron?!"

Before the shaken but still arrogant dog could reply, the old one put a sevo over his intake. "I apologize for Sentinel's rudeness. I had no choice in the matter as they followed me here. Please, I am looking for Optimus and word is that he has settled here somewhere. Can you please point me in the right direction?"

"That depends." Strika said from where she was glaring at Megatron's side. "Who's asking?"

"Right. Please, accept my apology. It is just that I am very worried that I forgot my manners." Something in that sentence was vaguely familiar and all those who had been in that "hunting party" that had taken in the dogs recognized it. "My name is Alpha Trion and my companions are, as you seem to know, Ultra Magnus and his Second in Command, Sentinel."

"Wait! The Sentinel?" Shockwave asked and said dog preened. "The one that nearly killed Mirage?"

"The one that bullied Wasp and Bumblebee for being left behind?"

"The one that Blackarachnia used to be friends with?"

"The one that made fun of Blurr's speed?" There was definitely a dangerous note in Shockwave's voice this time around.

"The one that got Prowl suspended from their learning hall?" Lockdown was inspecting his claws with a very dangerous glint in his optics, downright murderous.

"The one that voted for Arcee to be fired?"

"The one that refused Bluestreak be taken in to the Community?"

"The one that made Optumus's life more of a Pit than it had already been?" The growl in Megatron's voice was so loud that Sentinel took a step back, trying to hide behind Ultra Magnus, who didn't dare say anything for he, too, had wronged the dog.

Alpha Trion deadpanned. "The one and only. And seeing as you know all these stories, I am guessing that you know him."

"We know him but we are not leading you to him." Soundwave intoned in his emotionless voice. The other Deceptiwolves all nodded and the other pack leaders couldn't help but agree. No one deserved to be put through that slag a mere joor before facing down his sire for his own freedom and the lives of the wolves he had become close to.

Alpha Trion deplated but before anyone else could react, Optimus walked over to them, Prowl traditionally walking by his side and Blurr running around his legs with his newly increased speed, Jetfire and Jetstorm dozing on his back. "Megatron, I think it's about time we evacuated the young ones and the carriers beyond the cliff, what with the Pri- What are they doing here and why haven't you told me Alpha Trion is here?" Optimus cut himself off when he noticed the Autodogs and his charges all grew quiet, still and alert when they heard the tone Optimus was using. The Jettwins didn't know these new dogs but Prowl and Blurr were awfully well acquainted with them were tense and so the little half breeds followed their lead. Besides, Optimus was tense under their little paws and that was never a good thing. Bulky and Mirage had told them of all the times their guardian had been tense while Sunny and Sides told them the stories of the times he had been angry. They had once caught a glimpse of it due to Starscream, but that was it. Blurr, Jazz and Prowl had shared their experiences with a sad Optimus and Wasp's death was the only example that they had seen. Bluestreak, though, told them in great detail what the older hybrid was like when annoyed and this situation now seemed to be a strange mix of all those feelings.

Megatron and Strika now seemed uncomfortable under Optimus's gaze while the others were tempted to snicker at the reactions. Those two were the closest to the half dog, half wolf and of course they were going to be the most fidgety. The Autodogs were staring at the mech they had known with different expressions: Alpha Trion was proud, Ultra Magnus regretful for letting the mechling slip from his grasp now that he was seeing him as a mech and Sentinel was envious of how much better Optimus was now. The final upgrade made him even more beautiful and was now far more authoritative and intimidating, a true Prime.

"Well?"

"Optimus! Look at you, all grown up!" Alpha Trion cried, walking over to his once charge and inspecting him from helm to pedes. "Hello there, little ones." He greeted the hybrid's charges. "You seem well."

Optimus quit glaring at his best friend and mate and turned back to the dog that had raised him. "I am well, all thing considered."

"Oh?" Alpha Trion arched an optic ridge at him and the red, blue and silver mech sighed.

"You kinda came in the middle of something." The ridge stayed up and Optimus sighed adain. "We're about to go to war with another pack. You should go while you still can."

"Your sire finally found you?" The old mech asked knowingly and the wolves all raised a surprised optic ridge. Optimus simply nodded, every line in his body tense and his face serious. "You're going to face him one on one, aren't you?" Now there were protests from the wolves but Optimus ignored them and nodded with determination. "What about his pack? I hear that it is even bigger than before."

"I will let them chose. They're always welcome to join this pack," he looked towards Megatron, a question posed as anything but, yet the pack leader nodded after a few breems of consideration. "If they don't want to stay, they can go wherever they want as long as they promise to never choose another leader like Nova. As far as I am concerned, they can even start a whole new pack. I won't force them any more than Prima's son had forced his sire's loyal warriors. They have the freedom of choice and freedom is the right of all sentient beings."

The old mech nodded and Megatron was randomly struck with the fact that there had been a lot of nodding in this conversation. "So they're coming now?"

"Yes."

"How can we help?"

"'We'?" Sentinel spluttered in indignation. "Are you going senile in your old age? There is no way that we are going to-"

"Enough, Sentinel!" Ultra Magnus thundered. ''We are going to help. We have arrived at a time when they have a lot on their servos to deal with. We have used their territory's resources when they are at war. We must pay for that by assisting them.''

''You just pointed out that they are at war! They are at their weakest! Now is the time to strike! Now is the time for us to win this conflict once and for all!'' Sentinel screamed at the bigger mech. ''If you are too weak in your old age to end this, then I will!''

''If you destroy this pack, this alliance, then the Autodogs won't stand a chance.'' Optimus said, transforming into his primary mode. Megatron, Strika, Tarn, Shockwave, Alpha Trion and Soundwave followed his lead. After a few moments the other two Autodogs did as well, Optimus and Sentinel standing across from each other, the younger dog a slight bit taller than the blue dog now. After all, being in the wild where any wolf would prosper, Optimus's wolf side had taken over and he had grown and developed until he resembled a wolf far more than a dog. That meant he was taller and stronger than any dog, his ears were now a bit sharper than any other dog's and his tail was definitely that of a wolf. ''Nova went after the Autodogs once. What makes you think that he might not come after you again?''

''He went after one Autodog.'' Sentinel sneered at the red, blue and silver mech. ''Not the whole Community.''

''He went after my carrier, yeah, I know.'' Optimus snapped right back. ''And now he's coming after me. I might not like it, but Nova Prime is my sire and he is my responsibility as such. And that is why I will be facing him on my own. All you need to do, Sentinel, is to watch over the sparklings.'' And there was definitely a smug expression on the dog's face as he saw the irony in the situation.

''Oh! Cat fight. Now that is something I like to see.'' Both dogs turned to see Blackarchnia sitting on the ledge of her den, enjoying the show and eating energon berries. Her four red optics gleamed with sick glee as she watched her two former friends duke it out. ''I just wonder if it will be the dog or the hybrid that will win. After all, Optimus has quite a strong energon line behind him. A Prime, in the midst of dogs.''

''What do you want, Blackarachnia?'' Optimus asked, glare never leaving his face.

The femme snorted. ''You'll need all the help you can get.''

''I don't want another Waspinator incident.''

''I was suggesting myself. I am an enhanced wolf, although I had been a dog. That doesn't matter right now. What does is that I don't want to either be killed nor enslaved, so I will fight for my pack. That is, if I am allowed to fight.'' Optimus and Megatorn exchanged an uneasy look but it was a scout running over to them that made the decision for them.

''The Primawolves are fifteen breems out!''

''Slag it all.''

00000

It ended up a good thing that they had allowed Blackarachnia to join in on the fight. They really did need the numbers and her special abilities. And beside her help, they ended up using Sentinel and Ultra Magnus to guard the sparklings and carrying mechs and femmes while Alpha Trion looked after Optimus's own charges specifically.

All things considered, it could have gone worse. Like, a lot worse.

The Primawolves had stormed their clearing at the estimated time that the scout had given, but upon seeing Optimus standing alone in the middle of it, they had stopped, confused, until Nova ordered them to move. Upon seeing his only creation, Nova had stopped as well to observe the hybrid. This was the first time they saw each other after that day in the woods. They were sizing each other up and down, Nova with a sick grin on his face while Optimus was glaring for all that he's worth. The packs were all observing both each other and the two Primes standing in the middle of it all. There were glares and growls exchanged between Megatron's warriors and the two wolves who had been with Nova that day as well as Predaking baring his fangs at a mech he knew killed one of his own messengers.

But they were all ignored by sire and creation as two pairs of equally royal blue optics locked onto each other.

Nova was the first to break the silence. "You have matured beautifully, my little Optimus! Before, you were pretty; now you are the epitome of beauty and lustful dreams! You have made me very happy. I can even see your carrier in you."

The younger Prime's optics turned to blue slits of anger. "Do you even know her name? Or was she just another femme carrier to you?" He asked, voice as cold as the snow they were walking on. Nova looked ready to commit murder at that moment.

"You don't know anything, child. Silver Moon has been invading my dreams since the night she slipped through my paws and I searched for her for two vorns, only to learn that she died giving birth to a son I never expected to see. But then I decided to find you! Many a times was I asked how I will recognised my son, the son a dog gave me, amongst other pathetic dogs, but I always knew that I will find you. I knew that our CNA of Primes is superior to any other and that it was going to show. Especially since every Prime receives a symbol of the AllSpark's blessing when they reach adulthood." Nova moved towards his son and the Deceptiwolves all started growling, but Optimus stayed quiet and unmoving. Nova still stopped a few paces in front of him, not wanting to test the boundaries. Last time they faced each other, Optimus had been able to injure him quite a bit for a half dog and now he was bigger and stronger than before. Chances were that he was better trained as well and could quite possibly snap his neck if given the opportunity.

"The day I found you was not a coincidence. My scouts had reported that a dog that resembled a wolf has appeared in the woods and I came to investigate. I doubted that it would be my only creation, yet the moment I saw you, I knew that you were the sparkling Silver Moon has been so nice to give me."

Now Optimus did growl. "You raped her!"

Nova smirked. "No. I showed her a good time. What? You think they wouldn't do the same?" He gestures with his head at the four pack leaders behind Optimus and the wolves were ready to leap into battle just for that insult. "They would act the same way, if they haven't already at some point! I only did what everyone else would do!"

Optimus just looked at him with disgust. "That's the point: they wouldn't. And it's not doing what everyone else does that makes you a good leader, or even a half decent person, but the decisions you make that go against popular belief. A leader shouldn't follow others, but rather lead them into a safer and healthier living environment and lifestyle. If you can't see that," and here the young mech prepared himself for the reaction he knew was coming. "Then not only are you not a fit leader, but you are also a disgrace to our royal energon line."

Nova gave a loud growl and leaped at Optimus, who easily evaded him. "How dare you, you little brat!? You know nothing!"

Optimus dodged another attack before answering. "I know what Primes stand for: freedom and safety and love for all, yet it is your very own Primawolves who have been made into slaves! How can you be Prime, when they only follow you because of fear and tradition?"

"You think you can be a better Prime? Primes are born, worthless Autodog!"

Optimus smirked. 'Perfect. He fell right into my trap! Taking energon sweets from a youngling is harder! Then again, it is Prowl and Jazz...'

"In fact, I think I can. And I am no ordinary dog, sire," the word was stressed and Nova realized all too late that not only has he just publicly acknowledged Optimus as his creation, and as such his only heir, but he has also acknowledged and accepted a match for the position of the Primawolves's leader. "My carrier, Silver Moon, might have been a dog, but you, a Primawolf - a Prime no less! - are my sire, Nova. I have a right to challenge you if I believe that you have become a liability for the pack."

"And just what makes you think that?"

"I haven't been idle ever since I joined this pack. I learned their way of life and the most basic pack rules and laws that apply to all packs.. As such, I know my rights.''

Nova stared at him. ''You knew this was going to happen.''

''My caretaker told me all about what happened all those vorns ago. I knew you will come for me one day and when I was given the chance to learn something, I used it. It helped that I grew to like it here and wouldn't change it for the world. Now, however, it's time to end this little game of cybercat and circuitmouse.''

''Yes, I believe it is.'' And if that didn't sound sinister than nothing did. ''And when I win, I will use you however I want... As soon as I kill everyone here. I have a promise to keep, after all.'' And with that, the two Primes had launched t each other, Pit bent on defeating the other, one to subdue him and the other to deactivate him. Optimus evaded the head on clash and instead shimmied to the side and kicked Nova from there. The older Prime yelped in pain as he stumbled to the side but Nova was quick to recover and make a move to bite his creation. Said mech was faster, however, as dogs were made more for speed than for strength and that now gave him an edge. It wasn't much, but it was a starting point.

Nova tried once again to bite at Optimus but the dog answered with a swipe of his left claw. The red and gray mech howled in pain as his right optic and a part of his snout were scratched, energon leaking immediately. He snarled as his vision was cut in half and his nostrils filled with the scent of energon. He bared his large teeth at Optimus and the younger mech followed before they once again charged at each other. However, Optimus took on a different approach than was expected. It was already clear that he knew that he couldn't take Nova on in a one on one fight without keeping springing surprises on him so he transformed mid launch and so a wolf collided with a mech, Optimus wrapping his arms around Nova's tick neck and putting his whole weight on him, pushing him to the ground on his right side. The move put him completely out of Nova's sight, what with his left optics no longer working and as such the dog was able to get in a few good hits before Nova did as Optimus had and transformed into his primary form.

All of the spectators did the same and cheers and leers soon filled the air. Everyone watched as they circled each other, optics locked on them as mech as their optics were able to take in only each other. It was Optimus who attacked first this time and he surprised Nova by seemingly striking with his claws before he took out his ax and slammed it into his right shoulder. The Primawolf pack leader used this open window of opportunity to sink his own claws deep into the younger mech's side, Optimus releasing a pained cry despite his best efforts. The scent of different, younger fresh energon joined the scent of the other in the air and the lust for battle grew in the wolves watching them.

Optimus lifted his ax to chest level and a battle mask slid over his face, a clear invitation for Nova to come and get him. The invitation was gladly taken, the older Prime producing a large sword. The weapons clashed and the deadly dance of blades started, their symphony soon echoing in the clearing. Some wolves on both sides joined in on the fighting, settling old scores, executing revenge and justice or simply protecting their pride. Snarls were heard from all sides and Alpha Trion, up on the cliff, ushered everyone to take the sparklings and younglings away from the edge so that they don't see, despite all of their protests.

Half a joor later, three Deceptiwolves, one Dinowolf and five Primawolves were dead and many more were covered in energon and scratches and bite marks, but there was no more battle. It had all ended as soon as Optimus had gotten a single clear shot and he had jumped over Nova's head, landing behind him and lodging his ax into his neck cables while he had been in the air. With a single twist of his hips, Optimus had not only broken his sire's neck but he had ripped off his faceplates and as he spun another time, he completely tore out his spinal strut all with the head. Everything was sparking and some of the oils were escaping the beheaded body before the rapidly graying frame slumped like a puppet whose strings had been cut lose. It ht the ground hard and loud enough that everyone heard it and they had all turned towards the panting and energon and oil covered surviving Prime. looks of shock coloring the Primawolves's faces while the Deceptiwolves were all so proud that it hurt. It physically hurt that they were proud of him becoming a murderer, and not just anyone's but his sire's murderer.

For all that Nova was a sick bastard of a glitch, he was still the one who had had a hand in creating Optimus.

Optimus let his ax fall to the ground, the weapon and its victim's head clattering on the ground despite the snow softening the fall. He was aware of all optics being on him, but he ignored it. He looked up at the sky, realizing that it was all over. His carrier had been avenged. Nightbird had been avenged. Wasp had been avenged. All those who had ever suffered at Nova's servos were avenged. Pit, the Primawolves have been avenged!

A heavy burden he had not known he had ever been bearing suddenly lifted from his chest and he could feel his shoulders drawing back even more. He drew in a deep breath, closed his optics and opened his intake as a truly wolfish howl left his lips, echoing throughout the forest, up the mountains, over clearings and reaching the oneformers's cities and all dog communities. The wolves stared at him for a few kliks before all of them followed his example and their voices scared the scrap of all those who heard their howl of victory.

What was going to happen in the future, the near one or the future in the next thousand vorns didn't matter now. How he and Megatron will deal with this later didn't matter. The fact that he had just killed his sire didn't matter nearly as much as he had feared it would, as all Primawolves were following him in this instance. His charges were safe and happy, he had real friends and a loving mate. He had a pack. He will always have a place to belong. And that's a lot more than he had had when he had left the Autodog Community almost an entire vorn ago.

Everything could wait, all the worries and the problems.

For now, he was going to enjoy and marvel at how all these powerful wolves were following a dog's howl and accepting him for his nature.

For now, he would enjoy that he belonged.

For now, he will be happy as Megatron hugged him from behind and he heard his charges and Alpha Trion, Ratchet and Arcee following them.

For now, he will howl.

For now...

END

A/N: Hi there once again!

So, yeah, I had promised this to be published right after War as Old as Time Itself, but I had started another story at the same time and the first chapter was finished before this was, as it is enormous. Over 40 000 words! This is my longest one shot yet. So, anyway the reason this was a bit late was that school started up again and this is my senior year so they have been drilling us from the start. My next update may also a bit slower, so I hope you stay patient.

But never mind that. I hope you like this and I will be very happy and even more thankful if you were to review!

Thank you for reading and I hope to hear from you!

Bye!

r&r