A/N: Thank you to SirronRocks, jpuga96, watwashalan, and Valerianus for the follows and favorites. I also want to give a very special thank you to those who reviewed; VealMaster's words just about gave me a heart attack. Reviews like that are magical and give me such a boost...they make me want to do even better for you guys.

You all have given me an incredible gift with your readership. I value each and every one of you tremendously.

Now, onto the chapter! I was a little nervous about uploading this one due to (whispering) *smuttiness*. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 21

Aldric looked sidelong at Rory out of the corner of his eye. He didn't want to let it show, but he was starting to worry about her. She hadn't said a word since they'd left Riften two days ago.

He understood why. She was afraid that she would never see Lilly again, that she'd be killed while trying to eradicate the vampires that were hunting them. In his letter to Brynjolf and Karliah, he had indicated that Lilly was to be delivered to Jorrvaskr if neither he nor Rory came back for her.

He had also directed them to look in the cellar of his home in Falkreath. He had filled most of the safes down there with valuable jewels that could be sold for a great sum of money.

It was the closest he'd ever gotten to drafting a will. He had been urged to do it several times by Lydia, who had pointed out that if he ever died, there would be a massive uproar over what to do with his homes, his collection of artifacts, and his legacy. He had never married, had no children to pass anything on to.

So he left everything to Brynjolf and Karliah. He knew they would be responsible enough to take care of it all, and to make sure that Lilly was well provided for.

A dark shape to his far right caught his attention suddenly. A wolf had gathered itself to spring at Rory. She stared ahead down the path, not seeing the creature at all.

He grabbed her and yanked her out of the way. The wolf just missed her right arm, landing near him. Aldric bared his teeth and growled loudly, his arms raised in the air. He brought his right foot down in a threatening step toward it.

The wolf flattened its ears at hearing Aldric's beast, and then slowly backed up, never taking its eyes off him. When it was far enough away from him, it turned and ran. Aldric waited to make sure it wouldn't come back, and then turned around.

"This has to stop," he said to Rory.

"What has to stop?" she asked. Her voice sounded hoarse.

"I understand that it was hard for you to leave Lilly, but I need you to come back to me now." He held her by the shoulders. "It's dangerous on the road, and I need you to focus. We have no chance at this thing if you don't focus."

He thought she would argue, but she turned her head and met his eyes. "You're right. I apologize. I didn't think it would be that difficult."

The tension left him and he sighed. "Lilly did well. Brynjolf and Karliah will take good care of her."

She watched him blankly. "Why are you so sure of that? What are the Nightingales? You seemed so confident in their abilities."

Aldric hesitated. He figured Karliah could not blame him now if he were to tell Rory everything, but he wanted to find a way to tell her the truth while preserving some secrecy. "The Nightingales serve Nocturnal."

"A daedra?"

He suspected she was playing dumb. "She's the goddess of shadows and stealth. Everything she is, she has offered to the Nightingales as gifts and abilities. Karliah and Brynjolf are more than just skilled thieves, they're blessed with those gifts," he explained.

"And how well do you know them?"

He paused. "Why didn't you ask these questions before we left Lilly with them? Why would you trust them, if you don't know anything about them?"

"Because you do," she said simply. She looked off into the distance. "You told Karliah you didn't know where else you could go if she told you no. So I had to put my trust in you, because you put yours in them."

Her words were flattering, but they were also frightening. "Rory…" he rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know everything. You can't trust in me blindly, thinking that I will never make a mistake."

She frowned. "I don't accept everything you say as fact, Aldric. I'm not following you blindly over a cliff into a river of fire just because you say we can swim."

"That's not what I meant."

"Yes, it is."

"All right, I did mean that." He gave her a half-smile. "We're a team now. Both of us lead equally."

Rory gave him a slow blink. "As if I'd let you be the leader."

He snorted. "Well, now that we've got that settled…may I see the correspondence you said you'd found on one of the bodies?"

"Oh," she said, surprised. "Right. Let me find it."

She searched through her slim knapsack, finally pulling out what she wanted. The letter came simply, lacking envelope or wax seal. It was folded in half through the middle. Aldric opened it.

Larissa,

After you acquire the girl, send her back to me with Dolf and Petyr.

Then you are to find the Snowpoint Pack.

He frowned at the paper. "I'm assuming they were talking about Lilly. Those must be the names of the three that attacked the house that night."

Rory nodded.

"'Snowpoint Pack,'" he said out loud, thoughtfully. "That must mean werewolves, right?"

"Yes," she said.

Something in her voice made him look up at her. Her whole head was turned away from him. "Do you know where it is?"

"Yes, I know where it is."

He touched her shoulder. "What's the matter?"

She finally turned to him after a moment of hesitation. "That is the pack my mother was born into."

He felt his face fall slack in shock. "What?"

She turned away again. "I'm sorry I didn't say anything sooner."

"You specifically said you didn't have much to go on, just this letter that said they were part of a tracking party." He recalled her words in the cellar. "This is a hell of a lot more than a vague letter, this is hard evidence pointing us in a direction."

"I'm sorry!" she repeated, her voice louder. "I didn't know how to bring it up. I was waiting until Lilly was safe."

"What do you know about your mother's pack?" he asked. "Anything useful?"

"I lived with them for six years," she said quietly.

Another blow. "How? I thought they turned your mother away. You said they would have killed her."

"They did turn her away." She shook her head. "Several decades after I was born, she encouraged me to try to live a normal life. My father supported her in this. She pointed me toward her pack."

"Why? Wouldn't they shun you the way they shunned her?"

Rory nodded. "My mother was confident that enough time had passed since my birth to allay suspicion. I was not the middle-aged woman they would have expected. "

A thought occurred to Aldric. "Your mother must have been an old woman by then."

"In her seventies," Rory agreed.

"Then how was Lilly born? Your mother would have been over a hundred."

Rory suddenly looked tired. "I can't explain that, because my father couldn't, either. My mother's aging had slowed down, but it hadn't ceased. She appeared to be less than half her age when Lilly came along."

"Oh." Aldric thought it over. "Is that why your mother…"

"Didn't survive the birth?" Rory finished. "Most likely."

Aldric knew she wouldn't want him to tell her he was sorry, so he didn't. "What happened when you went to the pack?"

She shrugged. "I had to prove myself through a trial, the same way any lone wolf would. I passed and was accepted."

"What kind of trial?"

"I fought the pack member that was closest in rank to me."

"You killed someone?"

"No." Rory shook her head. "Killing is allowed in fights for rank, but it can be avoided."

"Fights for rank…does that mean what I think it means?" Aldric asked.

"If a pack member wants to move higher, they have to challenge the wolf they want to replace. If that wolf isn't strong enough, they forfeit their status." She looked at him curiously. "Do you know nothing of pack life?"

Strangely, he felt embarrassed. "No, I've never come across a pack before. I've only been a werewolf for a couple of years."

Surprise flickered across her face. "I wouldn't have guessed."

He changed the subject. "I'd like to know your thoughts about the vampire's letter."

Rory hesitated. "I don't know why they would bother going after a werewolf pack if they had succeeded in taking Lilly, but it's not a coincidence that Snowpoint was my mother's pack. They're connected somehow."

He thought for a moment. "I can't see any reason why they would be connected, besides the obvious. Can you?"

She folded her arms. "The only thought that made even a small bit of sense was that their aim is to wipe out the pack to complete their punishment. Make it a statement to all packs. They fear and hate hybrids, and if it happened twice, it could happen again. They would try to ensure that it wouldn't. If they spread fear through a mass killing, it'd likely be made pack law."

Aldric stared at her. "That makes more than a small bit of sense, Rory. That has to be why they were targeting Snowpoint."

"It's just hard to believe that they would want to kill the entire pack after an entire century has passed," she stated, shaking her head. "My mother and father have already died. They have Lilly and I cornered and on the run."

"You once told me that time means nothing to vampires," he reminded her. "That insults and grudges can last centuries."

"That's true," she admitted.

He pulled out his map. "Where is Snowpoint located?"

She leaned over his shoulder, her hair brushing his forearm. Her scent was only a mild distraction now. "Here." She pointed at a spot near Winterhold and Dawnstar. "High in the mountains, on one of the peaks, actually. A watchtower marks the location of the pack."

"Snowpoint Beacon?" he asked, surprised.

Rory glanced at him. "You know it?"

"I don't know why I didn't make the connection earlier," he said. "I've been there. To here," he pointed at a spot marked as a fort, "and here." Another fort.

She leaned back. "So close. And you didn't see them?"

He shook his head. "I avoided Snowpoint Beacon. There were bandits inhabiting the tower. I was focused on another mission."

Rory looked amused. "Those were likely pack members. What were you there for?"

"Both times, ironically, I was hunting down members of the Silver Hand."

Her face shut down quickly at the mention of the band of werewolf hunters. "Did you succeed?"

"Yes. I killed every Silver Hand in both Fort Fellhammer and Driftshade. I take it you've come across them before," he noted, watching her.

"The pack leader knew they were in the area, but they'd never bothered us before," Rory said, remembering. "They weren't very effective at what they did. They seemed unable to recognize us for what we were. Most of them were quite stupid. But once, they killed a female and her mate when they strayed too far from the pack during a hunt. She was with child."

Aldric looked away, gritting his teeth. He didn't want to imagine how great a trophy a pregnant werewolf would have been to the Silver Hand. He could only hope that her death had been swift. "They also killed Aela's lover, Skjor, and ultimately Kodlak. They stormed Jorrvaskr one night when I was not there."

"You had your revenge." Her words were more statement than question.

He nodded. "Yes. Vilkas and I took Driftshade. I fought as my beast."

He couldn't be sure, but he thought she looked proud. "Then they knew terror before the end."

Aldric's brows quirked. "Those were almost exactly Vilkas's words."

"Perhaps he's not so distant from his wolf as he'd have you believe."

"What you've just said is most likely the reason he's become the way he is now," he suggested. "He regretted the rage and bloodlust he felt that night."

Rory didn't pursue the topic further. "I don't think we need to worry about the Silver Hand anymore, if you wiped them out in both those forts."

"Most likely not," he agreed.

"It says much about their organization, that they were in the midst of a large werewolf pack and had no idea," she mused. "I wonder what Andreas made of the situation when I left."

"Andreas?"

She looked up. "He was the pack leader. I imagine one of his children leads now."

"Leadership is hereditary?"

"It is not a democracy, Aldric, where leaders are elected," Rory told him. "When the alpha is too old to guide the pack, the most dominant of his children takes over."

"Not the oldest?"

"No, not always the oldest." She looked him up and down. "If you want to approach the pack, you're going to have to learn a thing or two. For an outsider, they would forgive your ignorance, but as wolf you will be held to certain standards."

"My ignorance?" He feigned offense.

She grinned. "They won't be inclined to listen to you and accept your words if you come as you are now, regardless of your dominance. You know less than a child in the pack."

"Wonderful," he muttered.

"We have time." Rory slung her pack over her shoulders and tightened the straps. "Tonight, when we make camp, I will teach you."

They had settled in the hot springs between Windhelm and Riften. Aldric was not fond of the location, but they weren't far from a camp of hunters. The firelight from the distant camp was visible from where they were. Most animals would be unlikely to feel comfortable wandering around between the two camps.

Rory was cleaning one of her ebony swords after sharpening it. The blade was brand new, one Aldric had made himself, but Rory didn't miss a night of wiping it down with an oiled cloth.

They had spent the last hour or two going over hierarchy and the customs Aldric would be expected to recognize or participate in. There were many more details to memorize than he had expected.

"This is awful," he complained, holding his head in his hands. "I won't be able to remember all of this."

The patience could be heard in her voice. "Trust in your wolf. He knows what to do. If you're unsure, follow your instincts."

"You would be much better at this than me," he pointed out.

She smiled. "Then I would have to go to them alone."

"No," he said immediately.

"Then you have to learn."

He sighed. "My mind is overwhelmed."

"Then call your wolf. He can help you. You might need him when we find the pack." She stood and brushed her legs off, stowing the sword and her supplies inside the small tent they had put up.

"That's easier said than done," he groused. "I spent so much time trying to control my beast instead of him controlling me."

Aldric suddenly wondered if Farkas was going through this right now with Aela. Stretched miles apart, he felt a kinship with his shield-brother. Both of them were being pushed to their limits by strong women trying to instruct them in the finer points of lycanthropy.

"Search for him," Rory commanded.

"Who?" he said, absurdly thinking for a moment that she meant Farkas.

She blinked at him. "Your wolf."

"Oh." He closed his eyes and concentrated. The animal was there, below the surface of conscious thought, where he always was. He tried to make it rise, to coax it to him, but there was no reason for it to waken. Nothing happened.

"It's not working."

"Call him to you," Rory said. "He's not so much a separate being inside of you as he is a part of you. Part of him is Aldric, and part of Aldric is the wolf. Call to him."

Taking a deep breath, he tried again. He frowned as he silently beckoned the wolf to uncurl from his cage of control.

He exhaled through his teeth sharply. "This isn't working."

He had barely opened his eyes when a movement flashed at him. He flinched as Rory crashed into him, knocking him flat on his back. His breath went out of him in a rush as he looked up at her.

"What are—" He broke off as she settled herself astride him, her thighs on either side of him. She drew her hands up his abdomen, slowly, ending on his chest.

"Anything?" she asked him.

He shook his head. What had they been doing, again?

Rory leaned forward, her hands smoothing over his shoulders, kneading the muscle. She sniffed his neck, her long hair tickling him. As she ran her hands down his arms, she suddenly grabbed him. Forcing his arms up, she pinned his wrists to the ground above his head. He tried to pull away, and her hold tightened considerably. She had trapped him.

That did it. Aldric's beast rose abruptly in response to her dominance. In that moment, for the first time, he saw what she meant about his wolf not being a separate being. Aldric had always pictured a wolf spirit that lived inside of him, its own entity that coexisted with his soul inside of his body.

Now, he could see how wrong he'd been. The beast was him—just a part of his mind that was not always awake. His brain made a clear shift into that secret part of himself.

Suddenly, everything was more. Sounds were clearer, and he could hear much farther away. He smelled things on the breeze—smelled Rory's breath, her hair, the oil she'd used for the sword, everything she'd touched or brushed against that day.

Aldric pulled his arms away, and Rory let him. He sat up and grabbed her by the hips, moving her closer. Her long hair trailed behind her, and he wrapped his fist in that hair, gathered all of it in his hand.

Using her hair like a handle, he pulled it to the side. Her head moved with it, exposing the long, pale line of her throat. He could practically see her pulse jumping just below the surface of his skin. He buried his face in it, smelling, licking and nipping at her neck.

"That worked better than I thought it would," she breathed.

In response, his hand rose to her chest, deftly undoing the buckles of her cuirass. When she moved, his grip on her hair tightened to keep her still. Once the leather was unfastened, he opened it to bare her skin to the night air.

She wore a thin cotton tunic underneath it. Her nipples were dark and apparent beneath the fabric. They hardened as he watched, and he licked at one appreciatively.

He pulled back, looking at the wet spot his mouth had created on the fabric. He was annoyed with the tunic and wanted it to be gone. Before he could do anything, she stopped him with a touch on his wrist.

"Don't rip it," she warned him, and struggled on his lap to fully shed her cuirass. Once it was off, she pulled the tunic over her head and let it fall to the ground.

Looking into her eyes, he lowered his face to one of her breasts, taking the tip of it into his mouth. Her eyelashes fluttered. When he grazed his teeth against her nipple, her lips parted and her head fell back.

He moved to give attention to her other breast, bringing his hand up to cup the one he had just introduced himself to. It fit his hand nicely. Her hands curled around his neck as he released her hair and cradled the breast he was licking.

"Should I stop?" he asked her, pulling back to look at her.

She glared down at him from her perch on his lap. "If you stop now," she growled, "I will kill you."

He grinned and leaned forward. She met him in a kiss, her lips almost bruising against him in her intensity. Her tongue stroked along his at the same time she pulled ineffectively against the buckles of his own cuirass.

Trying not to break the kiss, he set about removing it himself. He finally moved away when he tried for the sixth time to undo the last buckle. Once it was free, he ripped it off and turned back to her, but she pushed him to rest on his back on the ground again.

Rory sank her teeth into the taut muscle of his chest. He yelped at the sudden bite, and she laughed low in her throat. The laugh vibrated against him. She locked her lips around his nipple and bit him there as well.

Aldric pulled at her leather pants, undoing them while she continued to explore his bare chest. Once they were unbuckled, he slid them down over her backside, pulling them down as far as they would go while she straddled him.

She rolled off of him and kicked at her boots. Once they were gone, she wriggled out of the trousers and moved them away. He did the same, not caring where his armor landed.

She rolled again and returned to her spot astride him. He cupped her bare hips and hummed in surprise when his fingers discovered her lack of smallclothes.

"Come here," he murmured. He picked her up by the waist and began to lift her closer to his head. She frowned slightly as he arranged her in a sitting position on his chest.

The frown disappeared as he tugged at her knees, urging her to come closer. Her eyes opened wide when he settled himself underneath her, his face close to her most intimate of areas.

He moved his head to the side and kissed her thigh. She looked down at him, watched as he gently blew on her. He didn't break the eye contact as he licked his tongue against her folds. Using his thumbs to spread her wide, he found her nub and nudged her forward until he drew it into his mouth.

He licked, kissed, and lapped at her, alternating patterns until she cried out above him. Aldric flicked his tongue sharply against her and her body bounced. He circled her nub lazily, slowly, until her thighs shook against either side of his head. Then he sealed his mouth around her and sucked.

Rory bucked against his mouth and grabbed tightly at his hands on her hips. A few seconds passed, and then she screamed. Aldric reached down and took himself into his hand as Rory continued to writhe against his mouth. He didn't stop the movement of his tongue as he found his own release.

She moved off of him, collapsing onto the ground next to him. Chest heaving, he turned his head to her. Her back glistened with sweat in the firelight, and her hair curled around her arms where she had buried her head.

Aldric put a hand on her hip and rolled her to face him. "Are you all right?"

Panting, she didn't open her eyes as she answered him. "I am more than all right."

He grinned and rested on his back again. "Good."

They spent a few moments regaining their breath. Gradually, the night air began to chill Aldric's body, and he sat up to search for his clothes. A branch snapped at the very edge of the circle of light created by the campfire, and he turned his head to face the noise.

A pair of green-gold eyes glowed at him, flickering solidly like a septim catching the light. He froze, and just as he was about to reach out to Rory, another pair of eyes glittered at him, several feet away from the first creature.

A sabercat crept stealthily into the light, crouched low to the ground. Muscles rippled fluidly under its tawny coat. Its mate looked less sure, but followed at a distance, eyeing Rory and Aldric warily.

Aldric nudged Rory's hip forcefully. She groaned and lifted her head. "What?"

When she looked at him, he nodded to the cats.

Her body tensed. She looked at where her sword rested, on the other side of the small camp near the two cats. They were both completely unarmed.

Aldric was prepared to use a Shout, but he wasn't sure if he could catch the animals before they sprang at them. He hesitated; using the force of his Thu'um would obliterate the fire and the shelter they'd constructed, and scatter their supplies and weapons far across the area.

Rory was quicker than him, though. Moving with the same liquid grace the two cats displayed, she leapt to her feet in a crouch and seized a branch from the fire. She pulled it out and charged the two sabercats, swinging the blazing wood back and forth rapidly.

The flame roared through the air in front of the closer cat's face. He opened his jaws in a hiss, baring the foot-long fangs he was named for. Rory snarled back at him and pressed forward.

The makeshift torch finally came too close for comfort to the cat. He scuttled backward away from the fire and Rory's aggressive growls. His mate was already a safe distance away, sitting on her haunches with her ears swiveling in concern. Once the male joined her, they turned and loped silently into the dark.

Rory stood for a while, watching them make their retreat. Aldric admired the way the firelight lit the strong, finely sculpted muscles of her naked body. She dropped the branch back into the fire and turned to him.

"If we're going to do any more of…this," she gestured to where he lay on the bedroll, still nude, "then perhaps the wilds of Eastmarch aren't the best place to be doing it."