AN: So here we are then. The finishing chapter and final epilogue for this story. Thanks for sticking with the story and motivating me to finish writing it :-)
Last epilogue
"But you knew when you met me right? I mean, when I was still a student at Xaviers? That one night when you came by to visit Logan, you knew back then, right?".
They're in the car on their way to a night out and Rae's been grilling him about when he knew that she was his mate. He's never been all that clear about it and Rae feels that he knew way before he came to her door to 'ask' her to take care of his daughter.
And she's right.
He chuckles a little "I didn't really come by to visit my brother Kitten".
"Hmm, I remember vaguely about Logan losing his memory and you coming by to help him. Something like that?".
He slowly nods his head and tells her about project X and Colonel Stryker.
"After that, Stryker put some adamantium bullets in his head and then Jimmy didn't remember a goddamn thing about our past. So I didn't come by for a nice chat. I came by to help him recover some of his memory".
"Logan told me actually. That was nice of you" she playfully shoves him, letting him know that she knows he's done some good deeds.
"It wasn't nice. I just wanted him to remember our past. We're still brothers and we always will be".
"Okay, fine, but my point is; did you or did you not know about us being mates back then?".
He takes in a deep breath and sighs "I had a gut feeling about you. But the serum you used to suppress your feral side made it difficult to be sure. I still smelled you out and I felt some sort of connection faintly. It was something I'd never felt before. So yeah, I guess I knew, on some level".
"Hmmm" she muses as she cocks a brow "You could've told me you know. Instead of leaving me dangling in the dark".
"And then what?" he wonders. "Did you even know about feral bonds?".
"Well no, but I always thought there was something wrong with me sexually or romantically. Or that I had commitment issues. So if I had just known that it was this, then I wouldn't have wasted my time dating and going to therapy. Hell, I even had a lesbian phase because I thought maybe it was because I wasn't into guys. I thought maybe I was struggling because I was a closet lesbian without fully knowing it".
Victor chuckles as he looks at her "And? Were you a lesbian?".
She laughs and swats his arm playfully "No Victor, obviously not. But I did break a girl's heart over that little experiment".
He grins widely and they remain silent for a little while.
"I wasn't entirely sure Kitten, because of the serum. And also; Jimmy and the blue professor made it quite clear that you took the serum willingly and had no interest in letting your feral mutation out".
"Hmm" she purses her lips "I still think you should've told me. I was already 16 and I could've handled the truth. Besides, feral mates can't stay away from each other, like us recently. So shouldn't you have taken me with you or stuck around or something?".
He places one of his big hands on her upper legs while the other remains on the steering wheel.
Still, whenever he touches her like this, it sends shivers down her spine.
"First of all, you were 15. And even if you were 16, which you weren't because you were 15, I still wouldn't have taken you with me like that. I'm not a fucking pedophile".
"I don't mean taken me with you and claim me instantly" she replies as she makes a face at him.
"So what do you mean? I should've taken you with me to live with me? Back then, I did not have the kinda life that you would wish upon a 15 year old".
"So it wasn't that you despised me because of the serum I took?"
"No" he scoffs "But that did make things a hell of a lot easier for me, because your scents weren't that strongly present".
They remain silent for a little while and Victor slowly caresses up and down her legs as he sometimes looks to side to look at her beautiful face. He used to only touch a woman for fucking. In 200 years he had never touched anyone like he did with his mate.
"I used to think you were my punishment" he suddenly breaks the silence "My karma or some shit like that".
"What do you mean?" she wonders. But she thinks she knows what he means.
"There's only one feral mate in the whole wide world. Only one perfect creature that will make your life a million times better. Feral mates simply make each other better. With such a strong connection normal human beings can only dream off. And then, I met my mate and it turned out she took a serum to suppress her feral side. Just my luck, is what I thought. I meet my mate after more than 200 years and she's the only feral in the world who doesn't want to be feral. So I have a mate walking the earth and she's in my reach, but at the same time she's as far away as possible because she doesn't want to be a feral mutant".
"But you know that wasn't-".
"I know" he quickly replies as he squeezes her leg "I know now that it had nothing to do with that. But I didn't know back then. So I decided it must be the universe repaying me for all the evil shit I did to this world. Dangling the most beautiful and wanted thing in front of me, but never able to have it".
Rae leans towards him, slowly cupping his face with one hand and pressing her lips into his side burns as she kisses his cheek and deeply inhales his scents.
"I'm so happy you helped me off the serum" she whispers against the side of his face "I love you".
Flashback - 10 years earlier
She turns off all the lights in their room and carefully opens the balcony door as she tiptoes outside.
"Oh my God! What are you doing?!" Rogue exclaims as she quickly gets out of bed and follows Rae.
"Sssht!" Rae shushes her friend as she crouches down and onto the balcony "Just having a little look, that's all".
Rogue quickly follows her outside and onto the balcony as she lowers herself to the ground, next to Rae "But they told us to-".
"We're not really outside our room, are we now?" Rae replies with a big grin on her face "The balcony is part of our room Rogue".
Rogue rolls her eyes. She's pretty sure that's not what Logan and Storm meant when they said 'No matter what happens, do not leave your room tonight until we give the all clear'.
Rogue and Rae share a room together ever since Rae joined Xavier's school for gifted youngsters. They quickly became friends, but Rogue still hadn't gotten used to this side of her friend. She wasn't a bad ass or anything, but she did ignore the rules from time to time. When it suited her.
"There's a car coming" Rae whispers as they peek over the balcony railing.
"Do you think it's him?" Rogue wonders out loud.
"I dunno. Maybe".
The car enters the gate.
They sit together in the dark as they watch the headlights being turned off.
Everything is quiet now.
There's street lights alongside the path towards Xaviers mansion, casting shimmery lights on everyone who walks there. But there's no one outside because they told everyone to stay indoors for tonight.
The car door opens and Rae's breath hitches without her noticing it herself.
A big figure, obviously male, in a long dark coat exits the car and stretches his muscles.
Something inside Rae's stomach stirs.
It's excitement. But also something else. Something she can't really put a name to.
The big male in the long dark coat stands next to his black SUV for a few seconds as he looks around.
Rae narrows her eyes, trying to see him more clearly, but he's still too far away.
"Is that him?" Rae whispers to Rogue as they stare intensely into his direction.
"Yeah I'm pretty sure it is. Who else would it be?".
He starts walking towards the mansion.
Rae holds her breath for a few seconds as the man moves towards them. Or at least, towards the front door of Xaviers school. Which their balcony is about two stories above.
He's almost half way.
She can see him more clearly now. He is indeed wearing a long dark coat. The rest of his clothing is also dark. Black shoes, black jeans and a black button up shirt.
His hair seems to be a darker blonde type and he has some kind of mutton chops as facial hair.
But all together, he looks like a normal man. If you exclude his massive hands with sharp talons at the end.
"I thought he would look so much scarier" Rae replies.
"How does he not look scary to you?" Rogue squeaks.
"It's just... when they said that the actual Sabretooth was coming, I imagined something a lot more animal-like to be honest. More beast like. Although he does have cat like features. But he doesn't look anything like the way they described him. He's just a tall man".
"I think he's scary as hell" Rogue whispers "I mean, just look at that mean face".
Rae does, and she can't seem to look away anymore.
Suddenly he stops in his tracks and his eyes shoot up to the balcony, catching hers.
Both the girls gasp and Rogue drops completely to the floor.
But Rae doesn't drop as fast as Rogue. Somehow she has trouble tearing away her gaze as looks the Sabretooth in the eyes.
Then her heart skips a beat and she's pulled down by Rogue.
"Shit" Rogue whispers as quietly as possible "Do you think he saw us?".
Rae is breathing heavily "I'm not sure. I don't think so".
It's a lie.
He caught her creeping on him and they had eye contact for at least two seconds before Rae fell down to the floor to hide away from him.
They both hear him continuing his pace in the same direction as they hold their breath.
The door is being opened for him and Logan welcomes him with a snarl.
He enters without saying a word, Logan closes the door and suddenly everything is as quiet as it was before the big scary man entered their school.
"I think we're good" Rae is the first one to speak after minutes of silence "They're inside now".
She carefully gets off the ground and leans over the balcony edge to see which room in the mansion lights up.
It's the library. That's where they're gonna have their super secret chit chat which no one is allowed to know about. She leans over some more to see if she can get a better look at the Sabretooth now that he's standing in a lit room.
But she can only see the library partially from her balcony and she can see Logan.
Suddenly she leaps from the balcony and puts her shields up to prevent hurting herself while dropping down into the garden.
"Rae what are you doing?! Logan and Storm specifically told everyone to stay in their rooms tonight for a good reason!" Rogue hisses down at her friends "What if they catch you out here? Or worse: what if he catches you out there?!".
"Sssht! Don't be such a goody little two shoes" Rae replies as she giggles softly "We were in our room, but then I accidentally fell from the window, okay? You just stay there and keep an eye out for me will ya?".
"What are ya gonna do?"
"I'm just gonna look through the library windows to see if I can figure out what they're talking about".
But after almost a full hour Rae needs to give up. She caught a few glimpses of the Sabretooth and decided he was actually very handsome. In a dangerous way.
But apart from that, her little expedition didn't go well and she had heard nothing of what they'd been talking about. She couldn't hear shit through the thick glass windows of the library and pretty soon Logan, Hank and the tall dark man moved to the kitchen where Logan shooed her away as soon as he smelled her out.
She'd hardly even entered the kitchen, pretending to grab some tea before bed time.
She cursed the serum she took to suppress her feral side. If only she would have feral hearing right now...
The tall handsome stranger left pretty quickly after that, but Rae just had to check him out one more time. So she found a good hiding spot in the big gardens, behind a massive tree under which his car was parked.
He'd never be able to see her in the dark from behind this tree.
"You know" he suddenly stops in his tracks right before reaching his car "For a feral mutant, you're pretty bad at stalking".
She gasps and holds her breath. Her heart skips a beat as he turns around to look at her hiding place.
"I'm pretty sure this is where you come out from behind that tree so I don't have to come and get ya" he flashes a wicked grin into her direction.
Rae carefully puts her head around the tree.
The first thing he notices is her hair. Even in the shimmery light he notices her rainbow colored hair clearly.
So this is the girl with the serum. The serum that suppresses her feral side almost entirely.
But when she smiles shyly at him, he still notices her tiny canines. Hardly present, but still.
He takes a big step into her direction and she instantly puts her shield barriers up.
He smirks at her defensive reaction.
She moves from behind the tree to show him that she's not scared of him.
He eyes her up and down as she walks towards him. She's dressed in shorts and a tank top. Ready for bed probably.
"Why do you think I'm feral?" she replies as casually as possible.
He looks at the shield barriers around her. They're transparant energy barriers. Holding all the colors of the rainbow. Just like her hair. But it's only her secondary mutation. It's not who she really is. Or should be.
When she's right in front of him, he slowly expands his talons, never breaking eye contact. Then he raises his hand and touches her shield barrier. Slowly raking one of his nails over it.
They're impenetrable.
He smirks.
"Because I know you are" he finally answers her "And others may not notice anymore, but I can still smell it on you little girl. Including that shit you take to try and hide from it" he snarls.
She ignores his snarl. What does he know? He doesn't know her life. He doesn't know why she hides away her feral side.
It's simply necessary and someone like him would never understand.
"I wasn't stalking you know" she breaks the silence between them.
"Is that so?" he murmurs as he looks her straight in the eyes. His voice is dark and husky. Sending shivers down her spine instantly "So what were you doing then little one?".
Again, she can't seem to tear away from his gaze. She looks at him intently "I was just curious what the fuss was all about".
He cocks a brow and smirks "The fuss?".
She smiles a little at him "They said the Sabretooth was coming. Told us all to stay in our rooms. So yeah... made me curious".
"Hmm" he muses as he slowly walks around her, eyeing her up and down and searching for a weak spot in her shield barrier "And what did you find?".
When he's in front of her again, her shields automatically disappear "You're not as scary as they said you'd be".
He chuckles darkly "Sorry to disappoint Specs".
She cocks her head "Specs?"
"Spectrum. A name that seems to fit you. Or we could go with Sparkling Rainbow Unicorn Kitty. But ya don't seem the type".
She chuckles softly "My name is Rae actually" she replies.
He shakes his head "Not it's not".
She scoffs "I think I would know my own name".
"Rae is your human name. But not your mutant name".
She looks at him with a questionable look "So why do you think my name is Spectrum?".
He moves closer and slowly reaches for her hair. He lets her thick locks slowly run through his hand.
She doesn't shoo away from his sharp talons. Not one inch.
"Cuz of this. Your rainbow colors. The colors of a spectrum. Just like your shield barriers".
She let's it sink in for a few moments. It's not actually a bad name for her. It fits her. Though she's not keen on the idea of letting the Sabretooth name her. So she'll just tell everyone that she came up with it herself.
"What's your real name?" she wonders "I mean, I take it that it's not Sabretooth".
He's amused by the little girl who doesn't seem to be afraid of him. She looks fragile and should be shivering in fear.
But she's not.
Even with her shields down, and him standing so darn close to her, trying to intimidate her, she doesn't back down.
So at least she did still have those feral guts. She was brave.
"Victor" he finally replies as he lets go of her hair, slowly putting it behind her ear.
His touch makes her shiver a little.
"And why were you at our school Victor?".
He likes how his name rolls of her tongue.
Rationally, he wants to be disgusted by her. Because this is the girl that willingly annihilates her feral side. A feral side she should be proud of instead of suppressing it.
But instinctively he doesn't feel even remotely disgusted by her.
Quite the opposite. For some reason his inner feral wants to protect her. Bring her back inside the house, tuck her in and keep her warm.
He shakes off the inexplicable feelings.
"I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to tell you that" he answers her question.
She makes a face "Pity".
"I'll tell ya what. You tell me why you take some fucking serum to suppress your feral self, and I'll tell you what I came here for".
Her shoulder drop as she looks at the ground.
"Nah" she murmurs "That's kinda private".
He smells her mood swing instantly. Sadness, trauma and loss, mixed with the urge to push anyone who gets too close away from her.
He takes a deep breath and exhales slowly as he looks at the pained girl.
"Listen up kid" he moves a little closer to her and puts his hand on her shoulder "I don't know what they teach you in this place, but you're a class 5 feral mutant. Top of the food chain. And ya got nothing to be ashamed of".
She's a little confused by him and his touch. It's not sexual or predatory. She's not quite sure what it is, but it comes ridiculously close to kindness.
She sighs a little "I'm not ashamed" she finally replies.
"Right" he nods as he removes his big hand from her shoulder and takes a little card out of his pocket "Ya know what? Here's my card. If you're ever ready to fully accept yourself, cut out the crap with that serum and be your feral self; gimme a call. I got over 200 years of experience being a feral and I think I can help ya a lot better than these nitwits".
He slowly turns around and starts walking back to his car.
He growls inaudibly.
This was fucking typical.
Just his luck.
Finding his feral mate, only to find out that she isn't really feral because she willingly annihilates that part of herself.
Fucking great
Nice going universe.
He guessed life was fair after all. Cuz why the fuck would it hand him a feral mate after everything he's done?
Rae looks down at the card; Victor Creed, contractor.
She wonders what a contractor does. She'd ask Logan later on.
"Wait" she replies before he enters his car.
He turns around to look at her, wondering if this is the last time he'd ever see her.
"If you're so infamous for serial killing and stuff, then why did my shields automatically go down around you?".
He scoffs out a cynical laugh "You'll find that out on your own eventually".
Back to the present
Rae gasps a little as he remembers. "Even my energetic shields recognized you as my mate" she finally says.
He nods "That's right. It was instinctive. Even with the serum and not being full feral, on a deeper level you still felt it, without knowing it".
Rae takes out her wallet and opens it.
She then takes out a little card.
His card.
From 10 years ago.
His heart skips a beat "You kept that with you for all this time?".
She moves it between her two fingers and smirks "Of course I did. I always kept it".
He parks the car, turns off the gas and looks at her "Did you plan on using it some day Kitten?".
"I've been on the brink of using it many times actually. One time I even dialed the number but I immediately hung up. But I knew that some day I would call".
"Why?" he wonders.
She takes a moment to think on it "Also instinct".
A small smile plays around his lips. "What took you so long?" he taunts her.
"Excuse me? It wasn't like you were knocking on my door when I turned 18 or 21 or some legal age like that. So I might as well ask you Victor Creed: what took you so long?".
He chuckles as he thinks about the last 10 years. And the many times when he watched her.
No more than maybe once or twice a month. But still, he watched her. He knew what she was up to. He watched her go to prom and he watched her graduate. He watched her going to concerts, festivals and get into the New York Academy of Art. He watched her training for marathons. He hated that, because she had a habit of training late at night. In the dark.
And most of all he watched her after her father passed away. And in her period of mourning, which took years, he had the hardest time staying away. Even though she took the serum, so he wasn't as drawn to her as when she wouldn't take that shit, there was still a faint connection and it was more than enough for him to want to comfort her. He wanted to be there for her, step in and take over, take care of her. Pull her close, smell her hair and tell her it would be alright eventually.
"I promised my brother I would let you have a normal life" he finally answers her question "That I wouldn't scoop you up and take you with me. And it wasn't my promise to the runt that made me stay away. It was your best interest Kitten. I wanted you to have a normal life. And a normal life didn't include me back then. And if it wasn't for Zoe, I would've waited even longer".
"How long?".
"Until you decided to get off that serum on your own. Out of your own free will".
She smiles as she realizes how selfless he really is when it comes to her.
Rae moves over him and sits on his lap, both her legs straddling him as she kisses him deeply. Victor wraps his big arms around her and presses her close to his chest.
"Well then" she whispers against his lips "Remind me to thank Zoe for making you knock on my door finally".
He wraps his big arms around her and kisses her deeply "I love you Rae" he whispers against her lips "More than anything in this whole goddamn world".
She smiles widely. She loves it when he says those words.
"And I can't believe you accepted the mutant name I gave you" he chuckles evilly "I basically named you".
She laughs and kisses him softly "You're never gonna let that go, are you Victor?".
He grins "Never".
AN: it's a wrap! Thanks for reading and enjoying this story. I'm going to slowly rewrite "Little Wolf" a bit, take out the flaws and stuff :-) Have a good one!