In the light of the morning Fenrir was less than contented with the new revelation. Though he'd known there was something different about the way Lilith affected him he hadn't been able to pinpoint it. But Fenrir knew without a doubt it was true. It was the premonition his mother had always told him would come and he felt a pang of guilt over having mocked her disbelievingly. 'Dreams reveal your inner desires, you dolt.' his mother had spat and smacked him upside the head. If he hadn't been so distressed over the truth, the memory would have made him chuckle.

It's not that he was upset that Lilith was his mate, quite the opposite in fact, more so he had been completely blindsided than anything. She was beautiful and sweet and obviously stronger than any of them gave her credit for, including himself. The witch had shown him the first kindness he could recall since he was young, how could he not have seen that it was her? He should have seen it when he'd smelled blood on the witch and hadn't wanted to hurt her. For the first time he could ever recall the wolf felt a little knot of fear growing in his stomach. He was the worst kind of man, literally there were very few worse than himself. Would Lilith even accept him as her mate? Gods he hoped so, fuck when had he started worrying about mating and love?! Those problems were comparatively trivial, he reminded himself, and were not the worst of his problems. Dolohov's plan and the dark lord were.

Tense and restless, Fenrir began stalking his cage relentlessly, thinking about the dream. He couldn't let the others know what Lilith was to him...what she meant to him and his future. The DeathEaters in them would surely override the friendship and find a way to use it. When it came time for escape he would need to find a way to separate from the others and disappear into the wilds with her like only he could.

"Fucks wrong with you?" Thorfinn asked groggily. He gave the wolf a strange look as he sat up on his cot stretching.

Fenrir halted abruptly, realizing for the first time that Dolohov and Lestrange were also eyeing him warily.

"Just the wolf." he growled dismissively and sat his arse down on the cold floor with his back to the bars facing the others.

Thor and Dolohov nodded in understanding but Lestrange continued to eye him as if waiting for a secret to reveal itself or some great outburst to happen. He'd never fully trusted Rudolphus or liked the old bugger much and found himself wondering why he hadn't thought more about the man's dislike for Lilith until then. He was a threat to her, plain and simple. How had that escaped his attention as well? Azkaban was strangling his beast instincts, he needed to get his shit together and quickly.

The time of the dark lord was fast approaching, each day the dark mark itched more and more. Perhaps if he thought Lilith would willingly join their ranks he would have allowed them to harness her power, as Dolohov had called it, but she wouldn't. Once upon a time he wouldn't have given a fuck what anyone wanted, even joining the DeathEater ranks had been about him and his need for power. He had never given a fuck about being pure blooded or restoring the wizarding world to its former glory, it was about Fenrir. But the dream had literally changed things overnight. Not that he was suddenly a lawful upstanding man, it was the realization that it wasn't just about what he wanted anymore. It was about his mate now and he refused to allow them to use Lilith. That life would crush her and if she flat out refused to comply, which he suspected she would, the witch would be unceremoniously slaughtered. Of course that would be over his dead body but why temp the dark lord?

"You sick or something?" Rodolphus demanded, eyes narrowed.

Fenrir had started acting strangely the moment he'd woken with a start, then began pacing around looking deep in thought. He couldn't recall a time when the wolf had looked deep in thought, it was all action, no talk or thinking and it struck Lestrange as very odd. His fellow DeathEater had blamed it on the wolf but they were weeks from the full moon.

The question gave Fenrir pause. His first reaction was to tell the man to fuck off, a wolf never got sick but if he faked illness convincingly enough he might be able to get Lilith alone. He knew there was an infirmary on one of the lower levels and with only one guard for their floor Longbottom would have to stay with the majority of the men. He needed to warn his mate, no warning her might scare her and she'd accidentally tip the others off that she knew. He'd have to think long and hard about that but when Lilith returned tomorrow Fenrir would need a world class act.

"Yeah, maybe." he replied with a shrug, trying to sound like a man who was actually sick and just being macho. "A little light headed, no big deal, prolly just the wolf fighting me."

"Maybe you should have Lilith look at you tomorrow." Thor suggested, Fenrir did look a little peaked.

Holy fuck, could he be any luckier?

"We'll see how I feel, I'm sure it's nothing." He continued to play it cool, being a wolf he was quite robust and not prone to illness and the elder Lestrange was already suspicious, it was in the man's DNA.

"Do it." Dolohov growled, pausing his steps to give the wolf a stern look. "You need to be right when the time comes."

"Fine." he huffed, pretending to surrender with his hands up in the air.

Rabastan sat on his bunk in the back of his cage watching the others, his body shrouded in darkness. He hated the way things were going. He didn't want his witch dragged into the life he'd chosen but he didn't know how to stop it. Hell Rab himself wasn't even sure if he wanted the life anymore, his imprisonment had cost him far more than he'd ever dreamt. He was tired of body and mind and even their escape didn't feel like freedom to him, it just felt like more confinement. But it was six against one, not to mention the dark lord who would be only too happy to have Lilith.

On top of that he sensed the suspicion rolling off his elder brother like a dark mist but couldn't put his finger on the reason. Rodolphus never once regretted taking the dark mark but he regretted it enough for the both of them. His brother had changed, he was angry, spiteful and violent, another thing Rabastan worried about. Letting the heir of house Lestrange back into the world was like fanning a flame, he hardly knew Rod when he was consumed with his fanaticism. Rabastan worried that whatever he'd had caught wind of that morning was going to create a rift in their little group and if that happened they were good and fucked. Who was he kidding, they were good and fucked anyway...but his angel didn't have to be...