AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Holy shit. We're finally here.

If you've read this far, you might have noticed that these chapters mimic the feel and the amount of content covered by a single episode of the series. To keep with that analogy, part of the reason I'm posting these chapters in a single week (besides sprinting to the finish line) is because I hoped to give them the feel of a big, two-hour season finale. Action-packed, with twists and turns that lay the groundwork for the next installment in the story.

Whether that means you read each chapter as it comes or wait to read all three in one go is up to you. But either way, I hope you enjoy it. Even if you don't, even if you drop this whole thing in the middle of a sentence, thanks. This fic was incredibly fun to write, and the experience was made even better by knowing there were people out there who'd give it a chance.

Now, without further adieu...

Like Old Times

The Countess D

The early morning was disturbed by a splash. Spluttering, Hige attempted to right himself in the shallows as a small rabbit scampered along the shore. "Toboe!"

Toboe dashed from the bushes, but his exit was too clumsy and their prey too agile. The rabbit easily dodged his attempts to intercept its path and escaped into the leaves.

Hige groaned, shaking himself off as he climbed out of the water. "Come on, it was right there!"

"You chased it in the wrong direction! And Seika said I should come along to learn, not to help you."

"Haven't you heard of learning by doing?"

"Have you?"

Their bickering was interrupted by a chuckle. Seika and Kolus emerged from the forest, the rabbit hanging limp from Kolus' mouth. He cast a wry glance over the boys. "Keeping quiet might help. Sound travels this early."

And early it was. Seika had nudged them awake before sunrise, when the world was awash in purple and blues. Hige ran a hand through his hair with a sheepish grin. "The time might be part of it, honestly. I've never gone on a hunt this early before."

"Well it's best, if rabbits are what you're after. But you'd best move to another part of the forest now. You've scared off all the prey here with that performance," Kolus advised.

Seika looked to Hige with a spark in her eye. "Unless you'd like to head home."

Hige flashed a stubborn grin. "Are you kidding? We're just getting started."

The mates exchanged an amused glance before Kolus jerked his head towards the trees. "In that case, we'll head south. You're welcome to come with us."

"Nah. We'll head north to cover more ground." Hige glanced at Toboe. "But you can go with them, if you want."

Toboe meekly looked between Hige and Seika. "You really won't mind?"

"Yeah." Hige shifted on his heels, ducking his head to hide his pout. "In fact, I insist. I'll finally be able to catch something if I'm not slowed down by some runt."

"Sure you will."

"Come along then." Seika and Kolus walked towards the trees. To Hige, she said, "We'll meet here at sunrise."

He nodded, frowning at Toboe's back as he moved to follow. "Right. Sunrise. I'll see you then!"

Hige had never been struck by that peculiar notion plagued Tsume and Kiba—that sense that they had something to prove. He was content to be part of a group rather than leading it, to be fed rather than to feed. He was even willing to forgive himself for being awful at catching rabbits in this ridiculous biome. But he wasn't completely without pride, and seeing Toboe turn his tail on him to leave with the sea wolves stung.

What kind of rabbits went swimming before sunrise, anyway?

The kind that eluded him, apparently. He cursed as yet another rabbit fled across the mud. "Fuck this," he muttered, wicking the dirt from his claws with a flick of the hand.

Hige had convinced Kiba to allow the early morning hunt so he could finally, finally feed the pack for once. After all his wheedling, Hige hated the idea of returning empty-handed. Not with Toboe and Tsume expecting it. Maybe he could catch a fish or two. Find some mushrooms. With a soft sigh, he sniffed to identify his options.

His brows knit.

He lifted his chin and sniffed once more. Among the scent of mud and grass and stupid, speedy rabbits, there was—

He pushed further into the trees, keeping his footsteps light and glancing at the ground every so often to avoid those suckling pockets of mud. His frown deepened as the scent grew stronger. There was no mistaking it. Soldiers and war, and among that, and something more improbably familiar still.

He heard them before he saw them. A blast that rocked the forest. A man's shout and a scuffle. Hige rushed towards the ruckus, pressing himself low to the ground and peering into a small clearing to confirm what he suspected.

A soldier stood tall, his helmet fallen to the side. A boyish face, twisted in panic. He held one of those sonic guns that had felled Hige on the plateau in a quaking grip, aiming across the clearing at another wolf.

Rafe.

"The hell are you playing at, wolf?" The soldier shouted across the way. "You think you can screw me over, just like that?"

Only Rafe could have the gall to slip his hands into his pockets at a time like this, a smile playing across his lips. His nose twitched. His eyes slid aside, touching upon Hige's between the leaves. "I know I can."

With a nod, Hige crept along the edges of the clearing.

"You're full of it," the soldier said. Hige was struck by how young he sounded, his reedy voice ready to crack at the edges. "Lady Jaguara won't—"

"Your Lady isn't here." Rafe's eyes flickered to Hige as he prowled behind the soldier, hidden in the brush. Up close, Hige could see a small satchel tied around his neck. Perhaps something stolen. But certainly a paltry shield any soldier, boyish or not. "Even if she were, you really think she'd care? You're nothing more than a chess piece to her. A pawn."

The soldier's breath hitched as Hige moved closer, preparing his attack. A weak chuckle escaped him, at odds with the stench of his fear. "And you think you're so different?" He took another step towards Rafe. "You're just another wolf waiting to be burned."

Rafe's eyes narrowed. Then, so calmly Hige nearly missed the command, he said, "Now."

Hige pounced as the soldier whirled on his heels, greeting him with the wail of his gun.

Hige's mind went blank at the sound, the force of it throwing him against a nearby tree. He barely had the wherewithal to process his own cry as he fell, his vision spotted with clouds of black.

The soldier glared down at him. Too relaxed, Hige thought. He must be arrogant to stand as calmly as he was, with Rafe in the wings. But then he realized Rafe was sauntering towards them, his hands still in his pockets, lips moving as he approached.

He squinted, as if sharpening one sense would hasten the return of the other. …the one? The soldier said, his voice garbled. …sure?

Rafe nodded, and Hige shook his head, trying to make sense of this—the wolf beside the man, the sideways glance he tossed Hige. His vision blurred as he read the final word on Rafe's lips:

Another.

And like that, the barrels of the gun lifted once more.

"W-wait! Rafe!"

Rafe looked down on him from behind the soldier, his mouth a grim line. In the next moment, he shed his guise. As the soldier pulled the trigger, Rafe parted his jaws, lunging for the pale, exposed stripe of the boy's neck. A burst of crimson accompanied the sound of the blast. Then, Hige's vision went black.

Tsume found Kuri near the creek, watching a couple of pups play on the bank nearby. Sisters, cackling as they wrestled. One stumbled into the water after a well-placed blow, sputtering as the other ran off. Once she'd scrambled out of the creek, she ran to Tsume, her fur dripping. Almost instinctively, he pointed in the direction her sibling had sprinted off in. "Go on."

Kuri frowned at him once they'd disappeared. "What do you want?"

"Some respect, for starters." At the wilt of her glare, he muttered, "You're almost as moody as Kiba lately."

"Sorry." A pause. "Where is he, anyway?"

"Looking for you. Wants to apologize, I think."

All be told, Tsume was impressed by how she'd eluded Kiba so far. Earlier that morning, he'd even deigned to ask Tsume where she'd been spending her time on the island. Hell if I know, Tsume replied, wanting more than anything to avoid getting caught in their squabble.

With a scoff, Kuri said, "He doesn't need to. I get it."

Tsume fell back, placing his hands behind his head as he reclined in the grass. For a few minutes, he watched the breeze rustle the leaves. It occurred to him that Kuri had placed herself upwind today. In warning, he said, "It's only a matter of time until he finds you, though."

To that, Kuri was silent, so tight-lipped he opened an eye to confirm that she was still there.

She was, sullen and staring at the creek, lost in thought.

It shouldn't have bothered him, not with silence being so precious a commodity in their pack, but Tsume found himself talking. "It doesn't surprise me." She blinked, and even that small acknowledgement was a relief. "All that crap about Kiba. The way he goes on about Paradise. Even if Hakik told him he wasn't the chosen wolf, bet your ass he'd do everything he could to change that. And make our lives a living hell to do it."

She smirked. "You jealous?"

Tsume shot a glare her way. "Piss off. After all this time, you think I'd want to be the middle of this mess?" He frowned, his protests a bit too animated even to him. "I pity him. It can't be easy, dealing with… everything. Those stories. Not to mention—"

"My sister."

Another pause.

"I was going to say the pressure."

Kuri's head tipped to the side with a skeptical smile.

Eager to move on, Tsume jerked his head in the direction of the two pups. "Hard to imagine you two like that. You and Atra."

"Oh, we were so much worse." Kuri smirked. "This one time, before Rafe, there was a bad hunt. The party didn't catch more than a couple of birds. So we decided to do our own hunt down the mountain. Said we were going to nab an elk. We barely had our real teeth in."

Tsume smirked, imagining the two of them as pups, determinedly stumbling down a slope. "So what? You catch anything?"

Kuri's shoulders quaked with a suppressed laugh. "We made it half a mile. Atra was bossing me around, so I pushed her into a tree to show her who was really in charge, and down came the hornet's nest." She allowed herself a giggle then. "We didn't know where else to go, so we ran back to our pack, hornets and all. They were furious."

Before Tsume could respond, a soft reply came from behind them. "That sounds like you two."

Kuri started, turning over her shoulder to face Kiba as he peered at them from the top of the slope. Cheza walked past them towards the water, greeting Kuri and Tsume with a placid smile.

Tsume smirked. "Warned you."

Kiba joined them on the soil, sitting a polite distance away as Kuri turned back towards the water. He shot Tsume a pointed glance, relaxing only when Tsume closed his eyes to give them the illusion of privacy. "I wanted to apologize."

"For what."

Kiba's shoulders fell. He glanced once more to Tsume, frowning at the trace of a smile on his lips. "For… for reacting how I did. I just—" He looked aside, scowling at his own inelegance. "I'm trying to make sense of things."

After a long pause, Kuri shifted, the forest debris shuffling beneath her. "That makes sense. There's a lot to make sense of."

"Yeah. For you, too. All of us." He ventured a glance at her and said, "Sorry."

"Me too," Kuri said. Kiba sent her a grateful look before turning to Cheza, watching as she dipped her toes in the creek. "Atra cares for you, you know."

"I know." And it made no sense for Kiba to be telling them this, no sense at all for him to pry himself open so willingly, but then nothing made sense, not with Atra gone and Hakik unraveling the tale they'd accepted as truth. "She said it was for us, when she left. For Paradise."

"Sounds like a cheap excuse," Tsume muttered, suddenly unwilling to keep up the charade of the disinterested party.

Kiba shot him a glare even as he failed to keep the bitter edge out of his own words. "She said she'd be replaced with something better. A change of course."

It was subtle, so subtle that if he were turned just a hair more towards Cheza he might have missed it, but there was a flash of guilt across Kuri's face. He turned to her, suspicion lighting in him. "You know something."

Kuri stared back. Tsume shifted onto his forearms as she reluctantly began to speak. "When Atra used to sneak away, she'd tell me I was due for a grooming. It's how I'd know to cover for her when she was out. To get help if she stayed away too long. It was her way of telling me she planned on coming back." Her expression dimmed. "She didn't use it this time. She cut to the chase. Told me where she was going."

Kiba's eyes narrowed. "And?"

The quiet stretched on. Kuri became wary. Tense. With a deep breath, she said, "It isn't safe."

"You mean with Rafe?" Tsume prompted.

"It's not just Rafe." She dared a glanced at Kiba as she said, "Atra's with the Nobles."

Another breeze blew. The water trickled past.

"What are you talking about?" Kiba rasped.

Kuri closed her eyes for a moment, gathering courage. "Rafe works with one of those armies. Atra made a deal with him to get them off our backs."

Kiba went deathly still. In his silence, Tsume sat up to look Kuri in the eye, lip curled in disgust. "What kind of wolf…?" He shook his head to refocus. "What kind of deal?"

"The soldiers knew where we were. Rafe offered an exchange for an escape from the city and inside information on the Nobles. Atra took it."

Those armies. A deal. Kiba's mind spun as he matched these revelations to his last conversation with Atra. I have to, she'd said. I chose this, she'd said. And what an idiot he was for not spotting the contradiction then and there. "For what?" He spat, his heartbeat a quickening drum. "What did he want?"

Kuri gave him such a pitying look that he couldn't help but scowl. He had no patience for pity, and far too much pride. "Her. Rafe wanted her."

"So she—" Kiba stopped short. So maybe she'd wanted to stay. With them. With him. But the momentary relief was quickly overwhelmed by that feeling he'd had watching Rafe order her about at the city gates. A heavy fury, edged and cold.

"And you waited this long to tell us?" Tsume hissed.

"What else was I supposed to do? If we told you in the city, Kiba wouldn't have let her go. We would've been wiped out by an army. We wouldn't have made it here." She looked pointedly to the knuckles of Kiba's fists, bone white. "I tried to talk her out of it but by the time she told me all of this, she said Rafe's army already had eyes on us. She'd already made the deal. She knew it was a risk, but she said as long as we kept going, maybe…"

Kuri shook her head. "We're not out of the woods yet. But she said that when Rafe holds up his end of the bargain, it would give us a leg up."

"To protect us on our way to Paradise's gates," Cheza said suddenly, her tone even more tender than usual, as if she worried her words would press on a bruise.

Kiba stood with a snarl so savage that Kuri flinched. He marched to the water, his bruised hands twitching. Tsume shook his head and asked, "And what does Rafe need to do to hold up his end of the bargain, exactly?"

"That's the thing. Atra wasn't sure. Rafe wouldn't tell. All she could guess was that he'd try to find us again after she left, somehow." With a soft scoff, Kuri added, "Honestly, it seemed like she was putting more trust in him than he deserved."

And Kiba had to admit that yes, that did sound like her. "What is it?" He snapped. "The information Rafe offered. What was so important that she left?"

Kuri looked to Tsume in search of comfort, but the brief camaraderie they'd shared beside the creek was gone. He stared sullenly back at her, just as impatient for her reply. "That's why we couldn't say anything. We didn't want to ruin things. It's not anyone's fault. Rafe said they shouldn't even know—"

Tsume stopped her with a growl. "You're not making sense."

"The army's been using wolves. Rafe's not the only one. He says they… take their memories and send them out to lead packs back to the Nobles. And we've been traveling with one of them." She hesitated before looking carefully at Tsume. "The information to help us—they're memories, dormant in one of you."

Before Tsume and Kiba could begin to form a response, there was a cry on the wind. "Kuri! Tsume! Where are you guys?"

The boys stared at one another, their minds turning with this newfound information. But the next calls were louder. Frantic. With a resigned sigh, Tsume said, "That sounds like Toboe."

Kiba nodded, lowering his voice as the calls grew louder. "No word of this."

As Tsume and Kuri nodded in assent, Toboe stumbled out of the brush and into sight. "Finally!" He doubled over, palms planted on his knees as he caught his breath. "We were looking all over for you."

"Bad hunt?" Tsume asked. He paused, his gaze sweeping over the forest behind Toboe. "Where's Porky?"

Toboe shook his head, and suddenly they were struck by the notion that they'd played this scene out once before. "That's exactly it. We can't find him! We were supposed to meet at sunrise, but Hige didn't show up."

"You searched for him?" Kiba asked, his gut twisting as he realized the obvious answer.

"We tried but…" Toboe glanced uneasily at Cheza, and with that simple gesture, their sense of unease flared. "We smelled metal in the forest. Kolus went off to investigate and we heard this noise so Seika and I—"

"Get to the point," Tsume snapped.

"I think—" Toboe hesitated, his throat bobbing. "I think that army from the city followed us here."

Of course.

As Tsume and Kuri exchanged their glances, Kiba considered their next move. With Hige lost and soldiers crawling through the forest, the island was the closest thing they had to a safe haven. At least, for now. And if the soldiers were here, they'd need to organize a defense. Which meant—

"Hama's staying to guard the island, but Seika's rounding up their strongest wolves to divert as many soldiers as they can," Toboe explained, intuiting his thoughts. With a bit of guilt, Kiba realized he'd become accustomed to a life of threats and close calls. "But Hige and Kolus are still out there."

"Right." They had some time then. Time to fend off an onslaught. Time to retrieve the missing wolves. But if the island was surrounded, their opportunity to escape could slip through their fingers, and what then? Kiba shook the thought off. "We need someone to stay and help Toboe. Defend the island and Cheza."

"I'll stay," Kuri said, stepping towards Toboe.

"Then we'll head out with Seika," Tsume said. "We should hurry."

"Kiba," Kuri began, "If this is the army I think it is…"

The thought had already crossed his mind. Kiba nodded, anticipation rising quick in him. "If that's the case," he turned to Tsume, "He's mine."

Lady Jaguara was a brilliant woman. Leader. Warrior. The fact that he'd gotten this far was more of a testament to her patience than Rafe's ability to outsmart her, so he should have guessed, really, that removing Hige's collar would require more than a couple of bites.

Rafe fell back on his haunches, glaring at the prone wolf. Hige's guise had persisted despite losing consciousness, and there was something mocking about it—that collar fallen so loosely against a shoulder. The leather was frayed but wouldn't break, no matter how fiercely he pulled. In the hour since he'd restrained him, Rafe had achieved little beyond bruising Hige's throat.

Beside them, the soldier's corpse had gone cold as its armor, blood seeping into the soil and stinking in the wet of the marsh. A helpful companion, but a necessary kill. The rest of the troops didn't need to know that Rafe had disappeared from their mission to run an errand.

He'd spent a good chunk of his life hidden away with Atra's pack, but he was one of Jaguara's wolves through and through. Enough to return, even after becoming enamored with that firecracker of a girl. Enough to know that there was at least one knife hidden away on this fallen soldier, capable of sawing through a bit of leather.

Atra would never forgive him if Hige's throat was slashed due to Rafe's ungainly grip.

Rafe frowned, his attention drifting to the weight of the satchel around his neck. One of Jaguara's wolves, through and through, and yet he couldn't bring himself to do what would serve his Lady best. Breaking his promises. Returning with maiden and wolf in hand.

But Atra had agreed to a deal, which meant a part of her still trusted him. And that was enough to feed his silly hope that things between them might return to what they used to be, if not more. If.

Things would be easier, if not for her.

Rafe slipped a careful claw beneath Hige's collar as he considered this. Heat radiated off of Hige's neck, his breaths leaving him in soft puffs. It was most certainly a trick of his eyes, but Rafe could have sworn he could see the pulse below the skin.

Atra wasn't here.

Rafe would tell her all she would ever know.

The impulse rooted in him. Rafe let the collar fall before he could think better of it. He dipped towards Hige's throat, parting his jaws. Then, he was sent flying.

A force collided against Rafe's side, pushing him across the clearing. His breath rushed out of him in a pained hiss. With shock still ringing in his bones, Rafe pushed himself up from the mud. As his vision refocused, a laugh escaped him.

Kiba crouched over Hige's body, a hand touching his collar. Satisfied with his findings—a pulse, a breath—he faced Rafe with a glare as frigid as he'd ever seen. "You're back," he said, casual enough to belie the threat in his stance, every muscle taut.

Rafe replied with a tight grin. "I missed your hospitality." At Kiba's glare, he gestured to the soldier on the grass. "Hige found himself in a bad spot. Would've gotten here sooner if I could."

"That so?" Kiba took a step forward, his mouth a hard line. "Where'd you travel from?"

Rafe stepped aside. Kiba mirrored him, the two of them drawing each other into a slow orbit. "Let's just say I took a detour."

There should have been some sort of reaction, a twitch or puzzled squint, but Kiba was unfazed, his glare unyielding. Lies would be unnecessary then. It was just as well. Rafe had little interest in spinning them. This was far more enticing, the two of them circling each other without pretense, waiting for something to give.

Rafe itched to move things along.

"Atra's great, by the way."

That, at least, gave Kiba pause. His next step hovered a second too long above the mud. A muscle twitched in his jaw.

Rafe admired the charm of the situation. Kiba had achieved little else but offer him a chance to fulfill his oaths to Jaguara and Atra in one fell swoop. A promise fulfilled in one hand, a bounty for Jaguara in the other. Rafe having his cake and eating it too.

They did a slow march around the clearing until Rafe was rounding back towards Hige once again. Kiba noticed, carefully tracking Rafe's motions as he glanced once more to that stupid collar. Rafe turned away a moment later, subtly adjusting the arc of his path to narrow the space between them.

Kiba shuddered with restraint, his impulses likely bound by thoughts of Atra's persistent fondness for Rafe even now. It was almost enough for Rafe to sympathize with him.

Almost.

"I've made sure she's well fed."

Kiba's eyes narrowed. The sight buoyed him, drew Rafe closer as a breeze swept through the clearing. Kiba's nostrils flared; the air trembled with a growl an instant later. Understanding set in within moments. Rafe still carried traces of her scent, and though it meant little more than their forced proximity—grudging on Atra's part and wanting in his—there was a kind of victory in that Kiba had no choice but to think the worst.

"You know, I never thanked you," he crooned, taunting Kiba by walking closer still. "For saving her, I mean. She told me all about the blizzard. Your little rescue."

"Enough," Kiba hissed, his hackles raised. He bared his fangs as he came to a stop, a predator in waiting, a coiled spring. Rafe couldn't help but chuckle. The chosen wolf unnerved. How could he resist twisting the knife?

"You don't need worry about her, is all I'm trying to say." Rafe leaned forward, his voice lowered to a purr. "I've done plenty to keep her warm."

He barely had time to leap aside when Kiba finally pounced.

Tsume had nearly forgotten what it was like to run with a real pack, and Seika's was as organized as they came. Their moves were calculated; their roles, expertly delineated. She understood the strengths of her kin, knew who would best serve them scouting the forest and who had the strength to go head to head with the soldiers if need be. She grouped Kiba and Tsume with the latter, asking them to describe the threats they'd be facing and the weak points in the soldiers' armor as they advanced.

It hadn't taken long before Kiba stilled beside him. "Tsume," he said, his voice low and bloodthirsty.

A second later, a breeze helped Tsume understand. He nodded. Without wasting another second, Kiba tore away from their group, chasing that scent on the wind.

No one asked after him, his chosen status apparently granting him a degree of freedom that would've frustrated Tsume if he knew Kiba would have claimed it, fated or not. So here he was, chasing the scent of war through the trees. Metal. Gunpowder. Sweat. And beneath all that…

A grim knowing filled Tsume as they slowed and spread to surround three soldiers crouched a short distance away. Spotting them was an easy task. The scarlet glass of their visors was too bright in the brush. By the look of it, they'd positioned themselves in an arc to protect something just behind them. But by the smell, there wasn't much left to protect. Little more than wolf's blood. Death. Kolus.

He turned to Seika in time to see her expression twist in her grief. "Wait." Her eyes snapped to him, impatient, angry, as ready to command her pack against Tsume as she was eager to kill the invading men. "There are only three of them."

"What does that matter?" She growled.

Tsume recognized the convenience of it all. The soldiers, so obviously waiting with Kolus at their feet. An easy lure.

His blood hastened in his veins.

"It's a distraction. The island. The rest are headed to the island."

To Toboe and Kuri and Cheza.

A comrade shifted their weight. The breaking of a twig was followed by a sudden blast. "Shit," Tsume hissed, turning over his shoulder to see a fallen mass of fur.

Seika looked over her shoulder at her pack, then ahead as the soldiers creaked into action. "You're certain?" At Tsume's nod, she bowed her head, allowing herself a mournful whine before setting it aside for strength. Her voice carried to the ears of her pack. "Back to the island. Fall back."

Kiba and Rafe tumbled across the clearing. The wounds they'd inflicted so far were piddling at best—thin scratches, the barest graze. It was a matter of luck that Kiba miscalculated as he dashed towards Rafe, his attack fizzling as his paws slipped on the mud.

He glanced up in time to see Rafe lunge towards him. He twisted in place, sparing his throat from Rafe's bite but baring a shoulder instead. Kiba cried out as Rafe's fangs sank deep, pinning him with a vice grip.

Rafe tore at him with a shake of the head once, twice before Kiba was able to brace his paws against his underbelly and kick. Rafe's breath left him in a wheeze, his guard shattered just enough for Kiba to kick at him once more and escape to the other end of the clearing.

Kiba glared through a pained wince as Rafe righted himself. He shook off a bit of dirt and admired the work he'd done on Kiba's shoulder with undisguised satisfaction. "It's a good look," he quipped. "I've always wondered what it would be like to paint that pretty white coat red."

Kiba bared his fangs before propelling himself forward. Rafe waited for him, adjusting his stance in anticipation of their impact. An arrogant move. Easy enough for Kiba to feint, luring Rafe into a counterattack that exposed his left side to his waiting jaws.

The pleasure he took in Rafe's pain was short lived. With a sure kick to Kiba's wound, Rafe sent him stumbling.

Kiba rolled across the grass, his guise thrown up in a moment. With no small amount of shame, he lifted a hand to his shoulder to soothe the sting of Rafe's blow. Nearby, there was a faint sound of something or someone stirring atop the grass.

Stooped forward with the ache of his new wound, Rafe flashed a hard smirk as Kiba pushed himself onto his feet. "Human, already? Where's your famous pride?"

Kiba's lips parted with a harsh laugh. He squeezed his upper arm to blunt the ache. Chasing the suspicion that reared up in him, he replied, "Pride doesn't count for much if you're dead."

Before Rafe could roll his eyes, a blur of brown fur tackled him to the ground. After a brief struggle, a well-aimed blow fended his assailant off, granting a Rafe who sported a fresh bite across his arm enough time to catch his breath.

It was Hige who stepped away. He positioned himself in front of Kiba, his breath coming in harsh pants as he regarded Rafe with a grimace at odds with his friendly face.

"Hige," Rafe began, sloppily masking his flinch as Hige lurched forward with a growl.

"What did you do to me?" Hige asked, his voice hoarse.

Though Rafe's hands lifted in a show of surrender, the smirk on his face warned of other tricks up his sleeve. "Before you get too angry," he soothed, "I could have killed you."

Kiba scoffed from Rafe's side, opposite of Hige. "You tried."

Rafe sneered before recoiling at the snap of Hige's jaws. He took a slow breath, keeping his wary eyes on Hige. "Your collar." His own scoff escaped him at the wrinkle in Hige's brow. "I was only trying to remove your collar."

The trees rustled overhead. Hige swallowed, the ghost of a wince flitting across his face. "Why?"

But Kiba knew. He stared at Hige from across the clearing, Kuri's words fresh in his mind. Dormant memories. Jaguara's wolves. Rafe's end of the deal.

"Answer me," Hige demanded, the roar weak.

Kiba's gut twisted as Rafe parted his lips to answer. But then, a crash in the forest. Gunfire and shrieks on the wind. It stopped Rafe short, drawing his eyes to the distance. A moment later, he clucked his tongue at the inconvenience of it all. "As fun as this was," Rafe took a tentative step towards the edges of the clearing, "It sounds like I need to run."

"Like hell you will," Kiba growled, darting towards him.

But even with the wound along his side, Rafe was spry. He dodged Kiba's advance, twisted out of the path of Hige's desperate lunge. Within moments, he was out of reach.

Hige cursed under his breath, whirling towards Rafe and preparing for a pursuit. "Kiba, he's—"

"Taking my talents elsewhere," Rafe finished above the distant sound of battle. He met Kiba's gaze, the two of them burning with a challenge left unfulfilled. "My men need me. I'd imagine yours do too."

The truth of his warning filled the space between them. Kiba reached out, catching Hige's shoulder as he stepped forward to give chase. Where was his precious pride? Kiba wondered, as he let Rafe disappear into the trees.