Guys, thank you SO SO MUCH for all your ideas and reviews. They mean the world to me, really they do. I think I've settled on the two ideas which I want to play with and so you might just be seeing those awhile from now. (Unless of course I could maybe possibly be persuaded to start one of them now. By more reviews. *cough* *hint *cough*

Chapter 4: The men in my life, prt. 2

"Cat?"

"Huh?"

"C'mere a minute."

She stood from the desk, coming to sit in his lap and frowning when he sat her down beside him instead. Victor had been quiet, more so than usual and avoiding physical contact of any kind. Hugs, cuddling, a kiss to her hair. All of these had been sorely lacking and both could smell the other's tense scent.

"I've been meaning to ask you about something. I want you to be honest when you answer."

"I'm always honest with you Victor. What's going on?"

He shifted under her worried gaze, running a hand over his face before asking.

"What am I to you?"
Her frown deepened.

"What do you mean?"

"What are we? What do you think we are?"

The frown morphed into a smile.

"You're my best friend silly!"

To her dismay he cringed and retreated to stand by the window.

"What? What I say?"

"Nothin."

"Victor you've been acting really weird for like.. two days now. Is it because Henry's here?"

"No."

She stomped her foot and he finally looked up.

"Would you TALK to me? You don't smile at me, you've been keeping your distance and now when I tell you you're my best friend, you shut me out! I know you don't like Henry but-"

"It doesn't have anything to do with him."

"Then WHAT?! What did I do wrong, what did I say to make you like this?"

"Lola-"

She gave a strangled little shriek, cutting him off.

"Lola. I'm LOLA now?!"

"That's your name-"

"Fine! DON'T be my friend! I don't care!"

"Lola wait-"

She gave another shriek that left his sensitive feral ears ringing and flew from the room.

Forty eight hours later, Lola still refused to speak to him and Henry's smug smile had Victor ready to slice into the first thing to irritate him. Whether his "friend" had told her brother what had occurred or not, Henry was clearly pleased by the fact that Lola wanted nothing to do with the older feral.

Victor though, was in agony. He wasn't about to leave her alone. But any attempt at contact had her brother barging in or Lola herself practically spitting and hissing. He was a feral starved for contact with his mate and his animal was in an uproar. The exact opposite of what he'd wanted.

The longer she refused to be around him, the more out of control The Sabretooth became. It was a volatile game they played at, only one of them knowing the rules and Lola at a complete disadvantage.

The pain of the situation was not one-sided however. Lola was equally distraught, her eyes often downcast and rimmed in red. She spoke little, grew even more introverted and had fled from a classroom in tears on more than one occasion. While Henry was glad the relationship had gone south initially, he now was at a loss as his baby sister was clearly hurting. Still, she refused to even mention Victor until he found her in her room, crying in the fetal position.

"Dearest you can't keep doing this." He hurried over and hugged her tightly, rocking her like a child.

"Go away." She sobbed, leaning on him in spite of her words. He snagged the box of tissues from her nightstand and mopped up her nose.

"Loli what happened between you and him? Did he hurt you? Did he try to force-"

"No!" Her sobs increased and he rubbed her back for several minutes before she was calm enough to speak again.

"H-he do- does-doesn't wa-want me- me anymore."

"What do you mean he doesn't want you?"

" He.." She sniffed and blew her nose, still tearful. "He was acting strange and not.. he always- well. he looks after 's good to me. We talk about everything and he's.. Henry I love him so much. And now he- he doesn't want me anymore." She burst into a fresh set of tears and he sighed, trying to wrap his head around it all.

"Dearest it's your first love, I get that. But there'll be others and-"

"I don't want others. I want Victor!"

He shook his head. He wasn't pleased but the 'love' could be dealt with once she was thinking more clearly.

"Tell me exactly what happened Loli."

"I was with him, studying. And he wanted to talk. So I went to talk with him and he kept moving away from me! And then he asked me what we were and how I saw him. I said he was my best friend but then he just got weirder and didn't even call me my nickname anymore.. What did I do wrong?"

She sniffled and he swallowed hard. Turns out the perv had only hurt her because of what he himself had done.

"Loli.. I think I know what's going on."

"You do?"

"Yeah. See.. I asked him if he knew what your relationship was. And how you felt towards him. I.. I made him question it." He admitted.

She sniffed, sadness quickly turning to anger and she pulled away.

"Why would you do that?"
"To protect you. I didn't know it would turn out this way or that you loved him-"

"You did. You DID. I told you he was important to me, I asked you to be nice and now you've made him hate me!"

"He doesn't hate-"

"Yes he does! He does and it's all your fault!"

"Loli I was just trying to-"

"I'm not a little girl anymore Henry. You can't just go tell the neighbor to give back my toy, this is.. this is completely unacceptable!"

"What was I supposed to do?! You're completely naive Lolita! I'm a guy, I know what he's thinking when his eyes are following you around."

"I am NOT naive!"

"Yes, you are. He's not your friend. He's not being friendly to BE a friend. He will be a friend right up until the moment he gets in your pants, uses you like a tissue and throws you away except then I won't be there to fix it."

She gaped at him as he stood up.

"Henry!"

"No. I'm putting my foot down this time. You are FORBIDDEN to see him."

"I'm WHAT?!"

"You heard me."

"This is not the 18th century Henry, you can't forbid me from seeing Victor!"

"I JUST DID. You are forbidden from seeing that pedophile Lolita. I'm doing this for your own good."

Had Henry bothered to stop and think it through, he would have realized there was no way this plan could work. Victor Creed never followed another's rules and if you tried to order him around it was inevitable he would do the exact opposite of what you wanted. The only thing he needed was more time to get himself under control. Once he was alright, nobody would stop him from being with Cat.

On top of that, Lola had already decided to see exactly where she stood with Victor. Crying did no good, it only left her with a headache. She knew Victor liked giving her kisses. She knew Henry had upset him. What she didn't know was what it all meant.

It was with this in mind that Lola marched up to Victor's floor, bound and determined not to leave until she got to the bottom of things. She knocked and tapped her little foot impatiently until he opened the door a crack.

"Let me in Victor."

"Don't order me around. I can't have you up here right now."

"Victor I'm not going anywhere. Let me in."

"You need to leave."

For a moment, her bravado left her and to her annoyance her eyes began to fill.

"Please. I need to talk to you."

He relented just enough that she could push the door a ways and squeeze past.

"I'm serious, you need to go."

"Look, I don't know what Henry said to you but he's wrong."

"Cat-"

She spun around, words pouring out before her courage was gone.

"I don't know why you aren't my friend anymore, I don't see what I did wrong. I try to come fix things when you're the one acting off.. I know you have issues with control but so do I and you don't see me being a jerk! I know what you are to me and I'm scared but if you're the "adult" then you should be able to handle me calling you a friend for awhile until I know my own mind. Treating me poorly, hurting my feelings and keeping me at arm's length is not the way to go about-"

She didn't see him move. One second, his arms were folded and the next she was flat on her back on the bed, pinned by his strong hands and held fast.

"You want to talk about control? Your little teenage hormones don't know the meaning of the word."

"I-"

"Arm's length isn't a good way to handle it? How's this? Close enough?"

"Vic-"

"Silence."

His name caught in her throat while his fangs ghosted over her skin.

"You've come in here, smelling fertile and rich. Your scent is like a drug. Makes my blood burn and my heart race. I want my scent on your skin, I want your scent in my bed. Your anger is something I feed off of. You talk about control and the lack of it. I don't want to be friends. I want to mate you. I want to be buried deep inside you and I want my teeth making a mark on your neck so every single pup and male here knows you're mine." His pupils blew wide, completely black and The Sabretooth bared his teeth in a wicked smile.

"Y-you won't hurt me." Her voice shook as he pressed his body to hers.

"No, I won't. Because I'm not your friend." He spit out the word as though it left a bad taste in his mouth.

"What-"

"You're my mate. I live and die for you Cat. I need you and my body aches for yours. I love you. That love will always be there, whether you feel the same or not. But you are not my friend. You're embedded in my soul."

His hands shook over her wrists. Lola could feel his hips pressed to hers, feel how every muscle was held taut with the last shreds of his control. His lips pressed to her neck, and she shivered as his tongue lapped slowly at the skin.

"Taste good. Little salty…"

"Victor.." Slowly her hands were let go of and they slid up over his forearms as he dipped his head to kiss her.

"Mmm.. this tastes better. So sweet." He sipped at her mouth, exploring and feeling her heart beat under his body. For a time, that's all there was. Warm breaths and feather light touches that sent the nerve endings tingling. Finally he paused, pulling away a fraction of an inch and searching her face.

"What am I to you Cat?" He whispered.

"I- I don't know yet. But I love you. Is that okay?"

He smiled, eyes soft and and his tension ebbing away.

"Yeah. That's okay."