Title: Instinct

Author: HigherMagic

Pairings: Dean/Castiel, Sam/Gabriel

Rating: NC-17

Word Count: WIP

Spoilers: None

Summary: Werewolf/Were-cat AU. Dean and Sam are captured by an enemy were-cat colony where the Alpha and Beta start giving them unwanted attentions.

Notes/Warnings: Angst, Drama, Pr0ns?

Unbeta'd. All mistakes are my own (:

I'm sorry it took so long to write this part. The pr0n kind of melted my brain. *sadface* Then I was busy with RL and…yeah. ALSO! Next week I am leaving for Germany. I will be gone for over a week. In that time don't expect updates (I might get lucky, but probably not). Just giving some warning (:

We swam in the lake for another half hour before finally getting out, dripping wet and warm, steam rising gently off of us as we dried off. I changed into a wolf and shook myself, getting rid of excess water – which Castiel seemed to think was freaking hilarious – before we were running again.

Dawn was just ending as we ran, when the sky is almost completely blue but still tinged with red and purple around the horizon, and the clouds look like they're lit on fire. I slowed when we reached the edge of the camp, coming to an end when I caught sight of Lisa's tent. I had to go in there – I had no idea what I would say, but I had to say something, I had to make sure she was alright.

Castiel nodded, seeming to understand, and I brushed my jaw against his shoulder in thanks before changing back into a wolf. He stalked off towards his tent that that's the last I saw of him, before I entered Lisa's.

Single mothers were rare in wolf society, but they happened. When that was the case they sort of became the whole pack's concern, and everyone helped them with little things that they could get overwhelmed with, especially in the beginning when the baby is new and everything is crazy. Tents for families were twice as large as those for the single wolves, and Lisa had been sure to fill hers with trinkets and various things that made it more…comfortable. Moderately large rocks were piled together then amply covered in furs to create a sort of lounging area, surrounding the fire pit that lay in the centre of the room for a communal kind of setting. Along the edges she had things people had given her – carved bits of wood or paintings that Ben had done when he was smaller. I smiled, taking these in, feeling overwhelmed with the sorrow of knowing that this boy – the boy who could have been my own son – wasn't alive anymore.

She was awake, curled in on herself with a deer fur covering her legs, looking down at a fossil that Ben had found one day by one of the forest lakes. I remember that day – I'd been with him, teaching him how to hunt and testing for any Alpha tendencies, to see if he would make a good one. It was too early to tell, but I remember him finding that fossil and asking what it could have been. It was white against black stone, inlaid in the shape of a small beetle-type creature that I'd never seen before – that must have been alive before our time. Perhaps when humans were still around.

Lisa's head snapped up when I called her name, and she hurriedly pushed herself to her feet, wiping furiously at her face – like her tears were something to be ashamed of. "Alpha. I didn't hear you come in."

I approached her, drawing her into my arms as tightly as I dared. She seemed fragile to me, now, like I could break her if I handled her too roughly. She sobbed, sagging into my arms with a choked cry, burying her face in my shoulder. My heart ached for her, and I closed my eyes, stroking her hair like a child.

"Shh, Lisa, shh," I said, at a loss of what else there was to say. I didn't have enough actual emotional attachment to cry over Ben, but I felt like I should. I felt like I should have this whole speech – ashes to ashes and all that shit – but I didn't feel that bullshit, and I respected Lisa too much to feed her that stuff. "Just let it all out, okay? It's alright, just keep going."

When Jess had died, Sam had been…cold. Blank. It wasn't healthy, and I knew it wasn't – he was probably still in shock, I kept telling myself, or he just didn't know how to handle it. He had nightmares about her death, but he never talked about her. He never tried to and I never asked, until one day…God, I can remember it clearly –

We were hunting. Elk, I think it had been, back when we lived further north where they were in abundance, and Sam disobeyed my orders. It almost got him killed and I – I'm ashamed to admit – lost my cool a little bit. I yelled at him, and hit him, called him a stupid son of a bitch for making me worry like that, and he just…hit me back. It's one of the first times we honestly fought in a physical way because we were angry with each other. He can punch hard, and by the time I even thought to fight back he'd broken my nose and almost dislocated my shoulder. By the time we were both too exhausted to actually stand anymore, had collapsed next to each other on the cold dirt ground, Sam was sobbing. I remember it clearly – the agony on his face, the way his tears left white behind on his flushed cheeks and how, even when I pulled him close and let him cry against me, he still landed a punch to my ribcage, cracking two of them. He let it all out on that day, cried until there were no more tears, and then sobbing until he made himself sick with it, dry heaving and desperately trying to get a hold of himself. I held him through it. He was my baby brother and I was so happy that he'd finally just let it all out that I just held him through it, and then when he was done we reminisced the entire night instead of hunting, and came back wounded and empty-handed, and the pack never asked.

Lisa never asked, but I think she knew.

I learned the same lesson Sam did when Dad died. I kept it all bottled up even when I felt like the anger and hatred was going to consume me from the inside out. I practically ripped Adam several new ones when he made a minor mistake, and Sam, the bastard, called me on it –

It wasn't healthy to keep everything bottled up. That much I'd learned now. So when Lisa kept crying against me I held her close, stroking her hair like I used to when we were courting, before we broke up, and inhaled her scent, because it had been a long time and I'd almost forgotten. She smelled of wood spice and chestnuts, and she reminded me of Christmas. I smiled against her temple, placing a chaste kiss there before she pulled away. Her arms were on my shoulders and she stepped back to regard me at arm's length, her eyes searching my face for a long time.

"You're looking better," she said in a voice that was still low and thick with tears. I nodded.

"I feel better."

She gave me a wan little smile. "I'm glad."

"Lisa, I'm so -."

"No, Alpha," she said, cutting me off and raising her hand to stop my words. She shook her head, her smile shaking a little at the corners as she stepped away, going back to sit where she had been. She picked up the fossil and held it in her hands, turning it over and over to keep her hands busy while she spent her time not looking at me. "Don't say it, please. It's just one of those things that happens." She flashed her dark eyes up to mine. "You couldn't have stopped it, and you couldn't have known it was happening. Sometimes Fate throws us a curve-ball, you know?"

I forced a smile, because though I didn't agree, I did understand her need to believe that it was just something that couldn't be helped. I didn't say that if I had been here and not captured by an enemy, inexperienced hunters wouldn't have caught the diseased animal and fed it to the children. My gut burned with the need to point that out, but I didn't. Because she didn't need that.

"You are with the Alpha cat now," she said, changing the subject and letting the fossil fall, and I sighed, nodding. "I hope he takes care of you. I hope he gives you what he needs."

This time my smile was genuine, if small; "Thank you, Lisa." She nodded back at me. "I'm calling a pack meeting in a few hours. Tell whoever you come across, okay?" She nodded again, and I hugged her once more. "If you ever need anything, please, please don't hesitate to tell me," I said, and then I left her alone, letting her grieve in peace.

I hadn't even taken two steps out of the tent before I heard a low, loud growl, coming from the centre of the camp. It sounded like Gordon, and I knew that couldn't be good. I started running, and I was a wolf by the time I made it to the middle of the camp.

All the were-cats were there, changed into their feline shapes, hissing and growling at Gordon and a few other wolves that, for their sake, I didn't take time to recognize. It looked like the wolves were forming a barricade between the cats and the direction of the marshes, so they couldn't leave. Castiel and Gordon were currently having the face-off, barely inches from each other, and Castiel looked pissed. Like, inches away from ripping Gordon's head off kind of pissed.

"What's going on?" I growled, deliberately getting between the two of them, pushing Castiel back with my body and silently thankful when he went without much protest. "What's the meaning of this?"

"The cats are trying to leave, to amass their army," Gordon replied with a low snarl, teeth bared, hackles raising. It seemed impossible to me that he would have reached such a conclusion, but he continued; "They've been here for a few days now. They know our weaknesses and the layout of our camp. They will leave and then bring back more cats and wipe us out."

I blinked at him, then at Castiel. Then I remembered that Castiel couldn't hear us, and looked back to Gordon. "You're insane. I gave them permission to move here, Gordon – there will be more cats coming! What's going on?" The last part I directed to Castiel, keeping one eye on Gordon in case he decided that it would be a good idea to attack while I was distracted.

It would be a mistake he'd only learn once.

"Jo's giving birth," Castiel replied with an uneasy flick of his tail, whiskers twitching; "It is proving to be difficult, and I wanted to set up a relay for my cats so that we can know what is going on. Some of them are already on the move, and with the recent plague here it would be chaos – I need to communicate with my clan. Right the fuck now and your wolves are getting in the way."

"No need to be rude about it," I snapped back, huffing a little, then bodily shoved at Gordon. "Get the fuck out of the way, you moron, and that goes for all of you!" I growled, looking towards the little posse Gordon had assembled. "Go human, right now, or so help me God I'll make you permanently so."

Gordon snarled at me, and I don't know where this sudden extreme disobedience came from, but I would not stand for it, so I growled right back, telling Castiel and his cats to run when they could, and then I just…attacked. I launched myself at Gordon with a low snarl, quickly grabbing a hold of him with my front claws, digging into his shoulder and back. He wasn't expecting it – I'd never been overly violent to my own kind – but managed to swing his head and catch me on the leg with his mouth, clamping down hard enough to draw blood. I yelped but kept going, shoving him down and snapping at his jaws in an attempt to get some sort of hold on him. I felt other members of my pack drawn there by the noise of fighting.

"For fuck's sake, stand down!" I yelled at the wolves as one by one each of them began to phase. Castiel's ears went back when Gordon sank his teeth into my neck, yanking savagely and earning himself a low whine of pain from me. Fuck, that hurt like a bitch. I heard Sam calling my name, knew he would try to stop the fight himself if I didn't, and so I lunged, wrapping my jaws around Gordon's own and I pulled, shoving him down into the dirt. My move had cost me – I felt Gordon's claws piercing my soft underbelly, but it was worth it; I had his jaws in my mouth, and I began to bite down, feeling flesh and bone give way. The metallic tang of blood coated my tongue and I growled low in pleasure at the kill, feeling the more animalistic side of me revel in getting the best of an enemy.

"Gordon, this can go easily, or it can go very, very easily," I told him in a low voice, projecting my thoughts so that all the wolves and the cats would hear – it took a bit of concentration on my part but I think I managed to pull it off. Most of my wolves were changed already anyway. "I can let you go, and you'll get up, and you'll stand down and let Castiel and his cats leave, and we will have words later, or…I can snap your neck right here, right now." There was a collective gasp (which I thought was a bit dramatic, considering) which I ignored. "You have just tried to attack the Alpha's mate, and shed the Alpha's blood. Killing you would be a mercy I don't wish to give you. So…" I clamped down with my jaws for a little extra incentive. "What shall it be?"

Now, Gordon is many things. He's a good hunter, a brilliant tracker and a good fighter. He's strong and he provides bulk and numbers when we're going up against an enemy, and he's practically fearless when we're in an army. But when it's just him with teeth at his neck and no one else to help him, he's a fucking coward. "Please, Alpha, mercy," he begged me, his black eyes blinking up at me, and I snarled, pulling up my injured foreleg. I dragged my claws down the side of his face, marking him for good measure, before climbing off of him. We were both bleeding heavily and I was breathing hard, my weakness from the disease and blood loss combining with lack of food (and Castiel's and my…exploits) to make me dizzy.

Still. I had a job to do. I turned to Castiel; "For fuck's sake, run," I said to him; "Make sure Jo is okay."

He nodded, dipping his head towards me before he nudged against my shoulder, then took his leave, the cats following behind. Sam ran forward at that point, a human, and I changed so that he could support me – I felt like I was going to collapse.

Again, I had a job to do. I let my little brother hold me up as one of his hands pressed against my stomach where two long jagged slashes lay, opening up deep enough to draw blood and see a bit of organs, and addressed the wolves; "Now you listen to me, all of you," I said, putting as much of the 'Alpha voice' into my tone as I could. A few of them, close to me, shivered at the sound of it. "If I hear of any kind of animosity towards the cats from here on out, that wolf will suffer severe consequences. If anyone attacks the Alpha cat, or his clan, then they will feel punishment at my hand." I looked to Gordon. "You."

He'd changed back into a human, and his eyes widened as he looked at me. Three thin lines ran down the side of his face and his nose and mouth was practically crushed from my jaws. He looked at me with fear in his eyes, knowing that if I ordered the pack now to rip him apart, they would without hesitation.

But I'm not a tyrant. I don't work like that. "You. Pack up your things. Gather your mate and children if you're selfish enough to take them down with you, and get off of my lands. I don't want to see you, hear about you, or catch a whiff of your scent on the wind for my natural life, or my descendant's natural lives. You are permanently exiled from my pack from this day onwards, do you understand me?" He swallowed, hatred burning in his eyes, but he wouldn't dare disobey me – he nodded. "We have enemies, everyone," I said, looking back towards the pack – I had to sum this up soon. It was getting harder to keep my eyes open and everything was blurry. "We are weak now. The disease has killed four of us and every winter we lose more. The cats are powerful allies, and the Alpha cat is my mate." Again, collective murmurings and gasps joined my statement – which was weird because I was beginning to think the entire freaking camp knew already – and I barreled right on through, intent on finishing before I blacked out. "Our betas are soon to be mated as well." I looked to Sammy for confirmation, and he nodded, lips set in a firm line. "Anyone with concerns and fears will let me know of it before the cats arrive, and if I hear of anyone acting towards them with anything other than kindness and hospitality, they shall suffer the same punishment as him." I pointed to Gordon, using the arm he'd bitten, and blood dripped down from it to stain the ground. "Let him be a lesson to all of you."

I closed my eyes, another wave of dizziness overcoming me, and Sam tightened his hold as I began to fall. "Take me to my tent, Sam," I murmured to him, unwilling to show weakness now, and he nodded, letting go of me so that it looked like I was walking on me own, when really he was always a step behind, waiting in case I needed help.

I made it to my tent and counted that as a small win. Collapsing on the furs, I finally whined in pain at the gashes on my stomach – they felt like fire on my skin, and Sam knelt down, pushing me onto my back so he could get a look.

"You're not a healer," I mumbled to him, already feeling like I was going to pass out.

"Gabriel taught me some things," he snapped in reply, gently slapping the side of my face. "Listen, Dean, you have to stay awake, you got that? Stay awake for me."

"So tired, Sammy…"

"I know. You have to

– hey, Dean! Listen to me.

Stay awake – no, Dean!

Come on, Dean.

Come on!

Stay awake.

Dean?

Dean!"