Another long wait :( But I don't think it was as long as before :)

Thank you all for your continued support in reviewing, alerting, or just reading :)

I have to say a HUMUNGOUS thanks to my beta, Izzy. Thanks for all the speedy beta-ing!

I hope you enjoy this chappy.

Warning: FLUFF AHOY!

Ways of the Wolf

Harry shivered again as he felt the occasional night-time breeze against his body. Every now and then a drop of lake water ran down his back from his sopping wet hair, which lay flat against his head.

He and Greyback squelched back to the cave in silence. Harry was still pretty ticked off at the wolf for pushing him in the lake.

At least he saved me from drowning, though, Harry thought to himself. And let me put my pants back on...

The journey back to the cave seemed quicker than the trip there, so it was with some surprise that Harry found himself staring at the entrance to the cave in what appeared to be no time. Harry looked up at Greyback who was staring intently at him. He took the look to mean, in the cave, now.

Obediently he shuffled into the dark cavern and outstretched his hands so he wouldn't bump into anything. Harry had never been fond of the dark and in a place like this, with a ferocious werewolf behind him, wasn't making things any easier. He's not ferocious, he's your mate, he will look after you, said the Fenrir-like voice in his head, and immediately Harry felt guilty for feeling that way.

Suddenly, before Harry could take another step, he felt a strong grip on the scruff of his neck and was yanked backwards towards a cold hard chest.

"Hey!" he objected, struggling to get out of the hold, but Greyback merely sat down and wrestled Harry to the ground.

Now Harry was beneath the werewolf, who was watching him with calculating amber eyes. Harry didn't know what to do so he offered a wobbly smile. Then, without any warning, Greyback opened his mouth wide and Harry feared that he would be turned into a werewolf like this, unprepared and half naked. However, from the soft whining noise and the squinted eyes Harry realised Fenrir was yawning, and before Harry could do anything else, the wolf flopped down next to Harry, his long legs locked around Harry's.

He's asleep? Harry thought as he lay on his back stiffly.

"Fenrir?" he murmured, but he received no answer, only a warm gust of breath on his neck.

This is going to be a long night, he thought to himself, knowing he wouldn't get to sleep on the rock-hard ground.

*FG-HP*

When Fenrir awoke the next morning he was surprised to be pain-free. Usually after the full moon he would be covered in blood, scratches, bruises and aches, but this morning he was... fine. He stretched and gave a mighty yawn before rolling onto his back and tucking his arms underneath his head. When he turned over he had a good view of the entrance to his cave. However, blocking part of the view and sitting a few steps ahead of Fenrir was a boy. It took five seconds for Fenrir to recall the events of last night and he was suddenly filled with happiness that he wasn't alone this morning.

He poked Harry's back with his foot, startling the boy out of his daydream. Harry whipped round from the entrance of the cave.

"What?" he snapped.

"Tell me what you're thinking," Fenrir demanded.

A blush had appeared on Harry's cheeks and he mumbled stubbornly, "No," and turned back around.

Fenrir narrowed his eyes and sat up before pouncing on the boy, causing him to growl angrily, though Fenrir found it rather cute.

"Get off!"

"Tell me cub," Fenrir murmured, turning the boy over to face him. "You've been very quiet since your bath."

Harry glared. "Why did I need a bath anyway?" he groused. "I stay clean enough."

"That's exactly my point. You stank of human showers and cleanliness," the man said with a sneer. He then sniffed Harry's neck. "Mmm, now you smell natural, like the forest." He pulled away from Harry's neckline and grinned toothily, revealing several sharp incisors. "You live with me you need to live like me; bathing in whatever water's available, eating whatever food you can grab your hands on and the like. Now, tell me what you were thinking. Honestly."

Harry grimaced, knowing Fenrir would most likely end up forcing the truth out of him anyway. The truth was that Harry had been thinking about Fenrir's wolf transformation compared to some of the dreams he'd had.

"Well... How come, in my dream, you had fur as a wolf?" he asked, before realising how silly he sounded. They were dreams for goodness sake! But then, most of them hadn't been too far off premonitions, Harry mused, thinking of how similar the chase in his dream had been compared to the chase in real life. Except Fenrir wasn't in wolf form and he didn't bite me at the end of it...

A smirk was slowly appearing on the man's face. "You dreamt of me, pup?"

Harry frowned and attempted to push the man away. "See this is why I didn't want to tell you," he grumbled.

"No, I'm glad you did," Fenrir said smugly, looking slightly amused. "But you said it yourself, you dreamt I had fur. Dreams aren't real, pup," he added condescendingly.

Harry bit his lip, wondering if he should he tell Fenrir about how accurate some of his dreams had been...

"Or are they real?" the man suddenly whispered, his eyes scheming. "Tell me your dream, cub, it might make sense after I hear it."

Harry squirmed uncomfortably beneath Fenrir, feeling his face grow red from embarrassment.

"Please don't laugh," he begged.

"No promises."

Harry sighed and fidgeted some more before retelling his dream.

"Well, it was like... we were sleeping, yeah? But we were both, you know, wolves, but the normal looking wolf-type, fur and all that. I think you were silver and I was black. And, well, I got up to move away but you woke up and looked at me, and I instantly bowed down for you!" Harry let out a hysterical-sounding false laugh, but stopped when he saw the seriousness in Fenrir's eyes. He continued, "Then you came over to me and... sort of nuzzled against me and ... yeah."

Fenrir seemed startled that Harry ended there.

"That was it?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah?"

He sat up and stared down at the boy. The kid's dream did make sense, and he didn't think it a coincidence that Harry should dream of what should happen after they've mated... Fenrir thought to himself for what had to have been two long minutes before Harry interrupted his thoughts.

"So, um, does it add up? My dream?"

"It does, pup, it definitely does."

Fenrir was silent again and Harry realised he would have to push again to get any answers from the man.

"How?"

Fenrir grumbled something, stood up and began pacing up and down the width of the cave. With his long legs he covered the distance within four steps.

"Well, you see, after a werewolf supposedly finds his mate and completes the actual mating business –" Harry grimaced "– their wolf form changes into a fully-fledged wolf. 'Fur and all that', as you put it. Also we can change into our form whenever we like, we're not just restricted to the full moon. Plus, we get to keep our human minds while we're transformed; none of the primal instincts are left."

Harry gazed at Fenrir with wide eyes. Is that what his dream was showing? He and Fenrir after they had... mated?

He swallowed before saying, "So... we'd have to... have s-sex, right?" Damn the stutter on the 'S' word! Harry groused in his head, angry with himself for sounding like such a little kid.

"Indeed," the man said quietly. "During the new moon. That way I won't be affected seeing as it's not the full moon." Fenrir had thought from the first time he had found Harry the sex would be easy to take from the boy. He'd only wanted him to play with, 'a quick fuck' as some might put it. But now, after finding out Harry was his mate, it changed things. He couldn't very well just take the boy, who happened to be his soul mate, without his consent, which he doubted Harry would gladly give away. He let out an angry roar and hit the cave wall with both of his fists before resting his forehead on the cold stone wall.

Harry jumped at the loud growl and stared at the man who had seemingly fallen to pieces. Harry had an idea of what was going through the man's head. The freedom of no longer being a wolf dependant on the full moon must be tempting for Fenrir, plus it would be a whole lot less painful during the transformation. All the man needed for that liberty was to mate with Harry, and who was Harry to deny the man such a blissful way of life?

"F-Fenrir?" he said softly.

"What?" the man hissed.

"I... I... give you my consent," he whispered.

Fenrir's head snapped up and he gazed at Harry with disbelieving eyes.

"You would do that for me?" the man asked huskily.

Harry nodded and tried a smile, but it crumpled under the fear of what he'd just given himself up to. He bit his lip to stop a sob escaping.

Fenrir looked at the boy before him who looked close to having a nervous breakdown. It must have been hard for the kid to say that, but he knew Harry didn't really mean it. He would let Fenrir take his inner wolf from their mating, but there was no way he would enjoy it.

"Go for a walk," Fenrir muttered. "Think over what you just said. I need to get some food."

Harry nodded shakily, got up and made for the entrance of the cave with a quick pace.

"Oh, and cub?" the man called. Harry looked back at Fenrir. "Don't run away. If you do the consequences will be... Well, let's just say you won't like em."

Harry swallowed and his eyelids flickered nervously. That thought had crossed his mind, but he found that he really wouldn't have anywhere to run to if he chose to leave Fenrir.

"I'll come back," he promised, and left the cave. He was glad Fenrir had given him the choice to take a walk by himself. He liked solitude; it gave him time to think.

As he walked further and further away from the cave, he tried his best to memorise the steps he took. Finally he came to a stop at a beautiful floral meadow. He sat down and basked in the morning sunlight, absentmindedly picking at the grass or plucking petals from flowers.

His thoughts went back to the cave and his promise to Fenrir... What had he just done? He'd offered Fenrir his body. Why? He didn't have a clue, but thinking back to his emotions, he'd felt guilty at the thought of saying no, thus denying the man what he obviously craved. It had also seemed like the easiest thing to say at the time, though how he didn't know.

Maybe it won't be that bad, Harry thought in the hope of convincing himself. Fenrir wouldn't hurt me...

He laid himself down and enjoyed the sunlight bathing his face.

*FG-HP*

Fenrir trudged through the forest, naked as the day he was born, with a hand-crafted spear in one hand, the other hand carrying a long piece of twine. He wanted to get something good for their breakfast and, for some reason, he wanted it to be something Harry would enjoy. Squirrel? Pigeon? Hedgehog? No, they were all far too scrawny, he may as well give Harry a rat to devour.

The snap of a twig alerted Fenrir to the fact that there was someone or something in his territory. His ears pricked up and he listened harder. The soft sound of hooves magnified in his sensitive ears and he scoured the forest for whatever animal was in there. Seeing a pair of antlers through the trees told him it was a stag. Perfect, he thought, grinning to himself. There's breakfast, lunch and dinner right there.

He padded softly through the grass and soil, weaving in and out of the trees and not making a sound as he approached the oblivious animal. He gripped his spear tighter as the stag grew closer. Finally he was in jumping distance and, with no sound at all, he leapt forwards and landed on the beast's back before impaling his spike through the stag's neck. Instantly the legs gave way and buckled, leaving Fenrir to finish his job quite easily. Within seconds the stag was dead and tied up in the rope Fenrir had brought with him. It was a good catch, even if he did say so himself. As he dragged it back, he realised that he couldn't wait to show Harry what they'd be feasting on today.

*FG-HP*

Harry didn't know how long he should stay out so, after an hour or so of relaxing in the meadow, he decided he should probably head back. He was restless and hungry anyway.

Surprisingly Harry found that he managed to make his way back to the cave with no difficulty at all, he didn't have to stop and think what way to turn once. However, just as the cave came into view, a loud, rumbling sound resonated behind him. Slowly, he turned around and came face to face with a wolf. It was dark grey with black eyes and Harry was instantly reminded of the grim. He tried to slowly back away but as he moved, the wolf crept closer. He knew he should probably stay still but when the wolf snapped its jaws and barked, Harry's wits left him and he bolted for the cave. However, the wolf was faster and it managed to get in front of Harry, forcing him to run back into the forest.

"FENRIR!" Harry shouted desperately as he did his best to outrun the wolf. "FEN-oof!"

The wolf had pounced and now had Harry pinned beneath it. Suddenly Harry felt the most excruciating pain down his left arm. The wolf had dug its teeth into Harry's flesh causing blood to gush down his arm.

Instantly Harry's eyes were beginning to fog over due to the pain and the feeling of hot, sticky blood beneath his left side. It was only as he felt himself drift away that he realised the wolf was now nowhere to be seen, and standing over him instead was a familiar looking man. "F-Fen...rir..." but the desire to sleep was too much.

*FG-HP*

Fenrir was in the middle of setting up a fire to cook Harry's half of the stag on when he heard it; a bark belonging to, what sounded like, a wolf of the forest.

Immediately he left the carcass and made his way to the outside of his cave. He listened hard but heard nothing. As long as that wolf stayed away from his territory he wasn't bothered. He was just about to turn away when he heard something else that had his heart skip a beat.

"FENRIR!"

It was his cub, in danger, no doubt, from one of the forest wolves. He took off, and ran stealthily towards where he thought the sound had come from.

"FEN..."

The fact that his pup had been cut off did nothing to ease his racing mind. He pumped his legs faster and was motivated by the sound of scuffling getting louder. Finally he found Harry, who was below a grey, muscular wolf. Fenrir snarled angrily and covered the distance between himself and the wolf in two vast strides. He wrapped his broad arms underneath the wolf's belly and heaved it off his mate, before grabbing the thrashing head in his two hands and twisting it sharply to the side, cracking the neck fatally. The wolf whimpered pitifully and moved no more. Fenrir chucked it to the side carelessly and hurried over to Harry, who was bleeding a dangerous amount.

Two cloudy green eyes stared up at him and the red lips moved to form the word, "F-Fen...rir..." before Harry's head lolled to the side and his eyes closed jadedly.

Fenrir rushed over to Harry's side and looked at the bite marks that adorned his arm. Luckily the wolf hadn't torn the flesh apart, only sunk its teeth in several times to get a taster first. With a sickening epiphany he realised that, if he wanted to save his cub, he would have to use the only healing tool a werewolf owns; saliva.

He brought Harry's limp arm up to his mouth where he lapped the blood up. The metallic, irony taste of his mate's blood was almost too much to resist – it was so deliciously raw and succulent – but he knew what he had to do. He gathered as much spit in his mouth as possible and licked over the open wounds that decorated the boy's arm. As soon as his spittle touched the lesions they began to close up, leaving them as white scars.

"That's the best I can do, pup," Fenrir muttered, and scooped Harry into his arms. He walked back with a brisk pace, not wanting to run in case the jerky movements made Harry even dizzier than the loss of blood had made him.

Once he reached his cave he realised he didn't have anywhere comfortable for Harry to lie. What could he use as a bed? Fenrir only slept on the floor or on the grass if it was too hot... Oh, how he hated human needs. However, for some reason Harry was an exception. He gently laid the unconscious boy onto the floor before getting up and rushing back to the place where he had flung the wolf.

Fur was better than nothing.

*FG-HP*

"Mmm," mumbled Harry. He was half asleep but he could feel something so delightfully soft beneath him that he stretched and rubbed his cheek on the soft material, revelling in the warmth and cosiness it brought him.

"You like it, pup?" asked a familiar voice.

Harry opened his eyes and he looked around for the man. Upon finding Fenrir – who was sat on the ground leaning against a rock, wearing tattered denim shorts – he blushed. He'd completely forgotten that he was with Fenrir so had taken no shame in voicing his pleasure at the softness beneath him.

"Yeah, it's... nice," he said awkwardly.

"I'll have to kill more wolves for you then," Fenrir said, his eyes glinting with mirth.

Harry's own eyes widened in fear and disbelief.

"You mean to say... this is the w–"

"...wolf who tried to kill you?" Fenrir finished. "Yep, that's the one."

Harry scrambled off the wolf skin and looked down at it in horror. It was the same grey colour as the wolf that had attacked him. Plus, underneath it were hundreds of leaves for a make-do mattress.

"You... skinned it?" Harry asked weakly.

"You're welcome," the man said, waving an arm casually. "Now, I believe you haven't eaten for a day or so. Come and have dinner."

"Dinner?" Harry exclaimed. "What time is it?"

"You were out cold the whole day, pup," Fenrir said as he hoisted himself up and made for the fire that was burning a few feet ahead. "It's evening. Now, I've cooked yours. I know you humans don't eat raw meat."

"Oh," Harry said, blinking owlishly in surprise. "Wow, thanks."

He followed Fenrir to the burning fire and found two halves of some sort of animal, one of the halves cooked and cut up, the other rare and whole.

"What type of animal-?"

"You don't need to know," Fenrir said, who was sat down already with his mouth full. "Trust me, it's easier to eat when you don't know what it is."

"Okay..." Harry wasn't too sure about that theory, but he took a piece of the cut up animal nonetheless and tore a chunk off with his teeth. He found it was chewy, but in a good way. Plus the flavour wasn't so different from that of beef so Harry had no trouble in gobbling it down.

They ate in silence; the only noises were the sound of meat being pulled apart and the sound of chewing and swallowing.

Finally Harry stopped eating. He still had half of his half of the animal left, but he was absolutely stuffed. He looked up at the man and saw he had blood all around his mouth. However, he decided to not say anything. He doubted Fenrir would bother to clean it off anyway.

Instead he said, "Thanks for dinner."

Fenrir grunted and got up, heading further back into the cave. During dinner he hadn't spoken much, but that was because he had been thinking. Tomorrow was the night of the new moon and he hadn't told Harry yet. He decided to leave it until the morning; he was tired now, and wanted some sleep. Plus, the inevitability of tomorrow would hang over Harry like a dark cloud and the boy probably wouldn't be able to get any sleep.

"Night, kid," he mumbled, and found the rock he used to lay his head on.

Harry watched the man as he attempted to get comfy. He wondered if Fenrir was so against human methods that he wouldn't want to share the wolf skin with him. For some reason Harry wanted Fenrir with him tonight. He wanted something but he didn't know what...

He padded over to the man and said nervously, "Um... Fenrir?"

"Mmm."

"Do you want to... share the bed?"

Fenrir turned over and stared at Harry.

"I don't need a bed, thanks."

"But... would you share it? With me? Just for tonight?"

Fenrir looked at the boy sceptically.

"I... guess I could," he said warily, wondering if Harry was jesting with him. But the boy merely walked over to his homemade bed and waited shyly.

So, realising Harry was being serious he joined him. He took up most of the room and was surprised Harry didn't kick him out.

"This is cosy," he said, leering. They were both on their sides facing each other and it was so tempting not to lean in and taste those sweet lips.

"Yeah, I guess it is," Harry whispered, his cool breath brushing against Fenrir's face.

"Well... night, cub," Fenrir muttered, and – not caring what Harry did – wrapped an arm over Harry's waist and pulled him closer so their chests were flush.

"Night, Fenrir," Harry said softly, and realised that, what he'd wanted before was to be held in the arms of his mate. He didn't know how or why, but he was falling for the man, and fast.

A/N:

#1. Yes, I got the idea of Fenrir using a rock as a pillow from Spongebob Squarepants.

#2. No, I don't know if stag tastes like chicken, having never eaten either of them before in my life.

:)