Chapter Thirteen

Circuses and Cars

"Now...Tell me 'bout the circus, frail," The Sabertooth rumbled.

Lupa shivered at his ominous tone. She's seen how his brother reacted to that voice: immediate submission and placation. Practically fell on his back and showed Victor his belly*. What would he do to her if he didn't like her answers? Even though she seemed to have succeeded earlier in...calming him somewhat, the Wolfgirl knew she'd be a fool not to be afraid. Very afraid. Her animal may recognize him, respond to him, but that didn't mean she was a zevzec. He could kill her at anytime just because he might feel like it.

Lupa hated to admit the mixture of fear, curiosity and confidence that was swirling inside of her was intoxicating. Arousing even. Especially when she breathed in his scent. Viciously, she clamped down on her emotions. Focus you stupid girl! He wants to know about the circus! The female chastised herself.

"No one ever told me how I came to be there. If they found me, if someone abandoned me or if they bought me. Perhaps the knowledge was lost after a generation or two...My first memories are of the circus. It was a traveling Gypsy circus. I was part of the show. We mostly stayed in eastern Europe, occasionally straying as far west as Germany or Italy. The barkers called me the Wolfgirl. I could hear them tempting the crowds to buy a ticket to see the girl raised by wolves. In some towns they said I'd been found in a forest with my leg caught in a wolf trap. Another story went that I was the result of an Indian squaw being raped by a wolf in the American Wild West. I never understood how those crowds could overlook my fair skin and curling hair if I was supposed to the child of an Indian. The power of what people want to believe...What they are told is true."

"In other places they said hunters found me viciously guarding four wolf cubs in a den." She smiled, "That story was my favorite...I was part of the freak show, actually had better quarters than this hell hole. More food as well. I managed to get away after some time. A long time. Almost six generations of gypsies."

"After I ran I found a forest where I could be safe. Or I thought I could be. I think it was in Russia. Stayed there for perhaps 20 winters until They started tracking me. I'm still not sure how Stryker found me. Or how he found out about me. But he did. When I first got here Dukes told me he wouldn't help me escape, wouldn't risk his spot on the team. But then he started bringing me food. Without me asking for it either."

She looked Victor straight in the eye through the wires of her cage, daring him to judge her for her next words. He always did like a challenge.

"In the very beginning I begged him to help me. I did. Later, I bit and clawed at him whenever he got close enough. And he still kept coming, sneaking in those god awful A-rations. Then I ignored him, wouldn't talk to him or look at him. So he started to speak to me, talk about his latest true love or heartbreak."

"I know-I know it makes me weak but I couldn't turn him away after all that. He kept coming and now he says you all will help me. After all that and I didn't even end up needing him. You came." Lupa's eyes fluttered shut as she sighed those last two words. The scars that started at her chapped lips and curled inward by her eyes shone in the fluorescent light. She wore a slight smile.

Victor contemplated the dark haired female curled in the kennel before him. She said she didn't need Dukes or Jimmy. That she got you. You. Good ta know she's smart enough ta recognize I'm all she needs. Her words pleased Victor more than anything had in, well, longer than he could remember.

He decided he liked her battle scars on her face. Made her look...Wild. Sexier. He knew he'd have to wait to get that particular story outta her though, but sooner or later he'd find out who marked her and return the favor tenfold.

Looks dead on her feet. Her skin's even whiter than it was earlier. She needs ta sleep. I need to plan. My mate's not gonna stay here a fucking second longer than necessary. Yeah, I like the sound of that. My mate. Mine.

With her slipping into sleep Creed figured he'd maybe be able to get one more question in. "How old are ya, frail?"

"I'm not sure. Didn't exactly keep track..." She was mumbling now, "But, I can remember, before cars. Before there were cars, I mean." His mate was mostly asleep as she asked a question of her own, "What year is it anyway?"

Now it was the other brother's turn to become intimately acquainted with the aptness of the phrase "knock me over with a feather." Luckily Lupa was asleep as soon as she finished asking.

oOo

A/N: Hope you like the new chapters, the story's picking up the pace a bit I think. Please review if you want a speedy update!

*Dogs expose their undersides to show submission before a more dominant creature, either another dog or a human.

Zevzec – Romani word for idiot.