"There will be no more attacks on your Pack or any friends of your Pack", the Donnervogel the Flock had chosen as their spokeswoman tiredly agreed an hour later, after they had been given permission to tend to their wounded before it had been time to talk about the peace they had to agree to now, "the death of our Flock mate has been thoroughly avenged, and we will steer clear of all of you from now on. In return, you will stay away from our home here and will never harm one of us again."

"Agreed", Derek gave back at once, eager to get done with this and return to the village so they could take care of their own wounded; he spat into his hand and held it out, and after a moment of looking disgusted, the bird did the same, the rest of Flock and Pack watching how they shook hands afterwards, sealing the agreement.

"Then get out now", the bird told them the moment they had let go of each other's hands again, "and never come back here again. We are done with you and your Pack."

"How charming", Pat rumbled under her breath, just loud enough to let her partner hear as she was standing right by her side; if some of the shapeshifters had heard her as well due to their exceptionally good hearing, they were remarkably good at hiding it, keeping up their poker faces and merely nodding when Derek turned to them and told them it was time to leave.

"Yo", Gregor said as he sidled up to the couple, smirking at them, still as surprisingly friendly as he had been ever since the attack on the assembly hall, "you two girls want a ride? We'll shift before we go back down, and you won't be able to keep up on your two feet."

"Hell yeah", Pat said before Willow had a chance to politely decline, then noticed the doubtful look on her girlfriend's face and smirked, giving her best to sound reassuring as she went on.

"Come on", she coaxed, while Gregor already started to undress and dropped down on all fours once he had gotten naked and had stowed his clothes in the bag they all had brought for just this purpose, hanging it around his neck, "it's fun, really. And he's broad enough so there's no real danger of falling off."

"Fine", Willow agreed while Gregor grumbled about the "broad enough" bit of the demon's words, "you won't give in until I agree to this anyway. But if I fall off and get hurt, it'll be your fault."

"You won't fall off", Pat reassured her, prompting the large bear Gregor by now had finished changing into to growl in agreement, "I'll make sure of that. Just sit in front of me and it'll be fine."

"Alright", the witch sighed, giving the bear another doubtful look, but then climbing on his back; Pat waited until she had found a position she felt was both comfortable and secure, then got on behind her, wrapping one arm around her waist while she grasped a fistful of the bear's fur with the other hand.

"I'm still not sure this—", Willow still had time to say, then Derek gave the signal to start the trek back to the village by letting out a short bark, followed by him running off, and Gregor took off as well, a squeal escaping the redhead at the unexpected speed of the large animal.

"Isn't this fun?" Pat asked behind her, tightening her hold around the smaller woman's waist in reply; for a moment, the witch wished that she could turn and look at her, then decided that it too dangerous, staring down on her hands digging into Gregor's fur instead as she replied. "Obviously, our ideas of fun differ!"

"Aw", the demon let out behind her, but didn't say anything else; instead, she just kept holding her tight, keeping her promise and making sure that she didn't fall off, not even when the bear started running even faster as the steep slope they were racing down made this quite easy for him.

"You'll so have to make this up to me", Willow brought out once she had gotten over the shock the sudden burst of speed had caused for her; behind her, Pat chuckled throatily, and without having to turn and look at her, the redhead immediately knew what sort of look her lover had on her face now, namely one which spoke of private time in the bedroom, one of the best ways to make anything up to her.

"I will", the taller woman now breathed into her ear, as if she had read those thoughts and wanted to confirm them; and the feeling of the demon's strong arm wrapped around her and her warm breath on her ear was enough to distract Willow from her fear as Gregor kept running along with the rest of the Pack, allowing her to relax considerably and to even enjoy the ride a bit, but she still felt glad when they finally reached the village again and all the shapeshifters came to a halt in the plaza at the centre, the redhead jumping off the bear the moment he had stopped, as well.

"See?" Pat smirked next to her as she got off the bear, too, "it wasn't so bad, was it?"

"It was scary", Willow immediately gave back, none of them paying much attention on the animals shifting back to humans all around them, by now having seen this often enough to not be impressed by it anymore, and not wanting to stare at the naked bodies of the shapeshifters, "as I said, you'll have to make that up to me. As soon as possible."

"No worries about that", the demon reassured her at once, moving closer to her and pulling her into an embrace, a content sigh escaping the redhead as she returned it and for a few moments just leaned her head against the taller woman's chest, listening to her heartbeat, "I will as soon as I get the chance."

"Looking forward to it", the witch gave back, making her partner smile slightly; and since the shifters were still busy with changing back, the couple took the chance given to exchange a tender and loving kiss, all tension of the last few days falling away from them as they focused on each other and the fact that they both were alive and well, despite how bad the chances for this had been just hours ago.

"I'm so glad these creatures didn't hurt you", Pat mumbled after the kiss, her hands coming to a gentle rest on the witch's back as she pulled her closer, "I don't know what I would have done to them if they'd harmed you by the time we finally arrived there."

"I was having quite similar thoughts", Willow let her know, smiling slightly, as always touched by how protective the demon was of her, "I saw that beam hit you just before they snatched me, so I had all kinds of dreadful thoughts about how badly you might have gotten hurt, even wondering if it could have killed you…"

"Not that I want to interrupt the two of you", Derek's voice came up before the taller woman had a chance to reply anything, "but there's still some stuff we need to discuss. We don't know yet who killed the bird and started this whole mess in the first place."

"Good point", Willow had to admit, momentarily shocked that she had forgotten this not so insignificant detail, then reminding herself of the fact that she'd been kidnapped by a hostile species of shapeshifters and had been quite concerned about her partner, figuring that it was alright to let such things slip her mind in such circumstances, "so how do we plan to find out?"

"Um", Gregor mumbled in response to that, to the surprise of everyone looking slightly sheepish now, even shuffling his feet, "there's not much to find out. I know who did it."