In The Company Of Wolves

"I don't see why we shouldn't consider moving," Mr. Sefton grumbled as he cleared away the dinner plates. "I mean it's not like we could end up in an even worse town."

"We are not moving and that is…" Margali began when she tensed up. "Oh no…"

"Fine we're not going! I get it!" Mr. Sefton threw up his hands.

"Shut up!" Margali shouted. "Amanda! Remember that teleportation spell?"

"Yeah, why?" Amanda asked.

"I think we're going to need it very soon…" Margali looked wary.

"What do mean?" Mr. Sefton asked as he put the dishes in the dishwasher.

Suddenly a huge black wolf burst through the window. "AAHHHHHHH!" Mr. Sefton leapt out of the way, barely avoiding being bitten.

Several more large wolves burst through other windows and surrounded them. "I told you people we should move!" Mr. Sefton screamed. "I HATE THIS TOWN!"

"SHUT UP, GRAB A LAMP AND FIGHT!" Margali shouted at him.

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Meanwhile back at the Institute…

"How are you holding up?" Scott asked his girlfriend.

"Besides the fact that I may be one step closer to becoming completely insane? Just peachy," Jean said comically. "Never been better."

"You don't know for sure…" Scott began.

"Scott…" Jean stopped him. "We both know about Rachel and the Professor's visions and how around here prophecies have a weird habit of coming true."

"That doesn't mean this will," Scott told her. "Hey, I'm the one that always thinks the worst will happen. You're the optimist, remember?"

"Logically I know you're right," Jean let him hold her. "Okay the Hellfire Club may be after this Phoenix Force. That doesn't mean they'll come after me. I mean between Emma, Monet and now Celandine…"

"Not to mention all the other telepaths they probably have that we don't know about," Scott said. "Look maybe what the Professor saw, wasn't what he thought he saw?"

"I do remember him telling me about the vision he had of Magneto teaching the New Mutants," Jean thought. "And that did happen…"

"But not with the Magneto of this world," Scott pointed out. "Maybe that will happen again? I mean people do tend to show up here unexpected and…"

That was the exact moment that Margali, Amanda and Mr. Sefton appeared. They fell right on top of Scott and Jean. "AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Ow…My spleen…" Mr. Sefton moaned.

"My back…" Scott moaned.

"I really need to work on my teleporting spells," Amanda groaned.

"No kidding!" Scott snapped.

"Scott…you have a point…" Jean moaned. "Amanda could you please get your foot out of my ear?"

"Sorry…" Amanda got off her.

"What the hell is all the racket about?" Logan asked as he, Xavier and some other X-Men investigated. "Amanda? Margali? Can't you people use a door like everyone else?"

"Xavier," Margali panted. "There's trouble in Bayville."

"When is there not any trouble in Bayville?" Logan asked.

"Yeah but usually not the big hairy werewolf kind," Amanda grumbled.

"Werewolves?" Rogue asked. "You serious?"

"Why not werewolves?" Kurt said. "We've run into vampires, demons, gods…"

"This isn't the time for jokes!" Margali gave him a look. "These are not the werewolves you see in the movies and on television. This is a very old and dangerous enemy of mankind. And they are linked to mutantkind."

"You saying these werewolves are mutants? Like Rahne?" Roberto asked.

"Not exactly…" Margali sighed. "I suppose technically they are a race of mutants but they are different."

"How?" Scott asked.

"I'll explain when all of the X-Men and Misfits are present," Margali told them.

"Is it really that important?" Scott asked. Margali gave him a look. "Fine! I'll call them." He got up to do so.

"Wait, where's Kitty? And Jubilee?" Logan looked around.

"I thought I saw them sneak out with Danielle a while back," Sam said.

"They were probably trying to find out about Rahne and where she's been going at night," Paige said.

"What?" Logan whirled on her. "What did you say?"

"Well uh…" Paige gulped. "Kitty and Jubilee found out that Rahne's been sneaking out at night so they decided to find out what was going on."

"And instead of simply asking her they decided to spy on her?" Rogue groaned. "What am I saying? Of course they'd do something like that!"

"How long has this been going on?" Scott asked.

"At least a couple of weeks, or more…" Paige said. "I think…"

"And what exactly has Rahne been doing on these little excursions?" Scott asked.

"That's what Kitty wanted to find out," Paige said.

"Hence the spying," Rogue said sarcastically.

"I can't believe this!" Logan threw up his hands. "I can't believe that one of our kids has been running around loose all this time and nobody knew about it!"

"Strangely enough I can," Mr. Sefton looked at him.

"Dad…" Amanda warned.

"Great! They're out there with the big wolves running around!" Mr. Sefton threw up his hands. "It's bad enough they trashed my house but now…"

"Trashed your house?" Kurt asked. "When?"

"Just now!" Margali told him, a bit impatiently. "What? Did you think we just dropped in like this for the fun of it?"

"Mom, not now…" Amanda said. "You'd better explain after we bring 'em back."

"I can't wait to hear this one," Logan groaned.

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"I can't believe you lost her!" Kitty grumbled as she pushed a branch from her face.

"I lost her?" Jubilee snapped back. "Refresh my memory, which one of us had to stop about three times because her shoes were loose?"

"Well at least I didn't make us take a wrong turn at the last bend," Kitty glared at Danielle.

"I never claimed to be an expert tracker in the first place!" Danielle snapped back. "You just assumed…"

"We assumed because you were shooting your mouth off how much your grandfather taught you," Jubilee snapped at her.

"Look…" Kitty began when a howling interrupted her. "Did you hear that?"

"Rahne!" The girls all said and ran towards the sound of the howl. Before their very eyes they saw a small doe scamper towards them. Suddenly something brown and swift managed to tackle it with its powerful jaws and bring it down.

"Rahne…" Danielle gasped as they saw their friend tear the doe's throat in an instant.

The wolf turned instantly to the sound of Danielle's gasp. Another wolf appeared behind her and growled. Rahne looked at the wolf for a moment then shifted into her human form. To the girl's shock the other wolf changed into the form of Aiden. "What are you doing here?" Rahne finally managed to challenge them.

"What are we doing here?" Kitty shouted. "What are you doing here? And who is that guy?"

"I take it these are your friends," Aiden said.

"Rahne what are you doing?" Jubilee asked. "You…You've got blood all over your mouth!"

Rahne blinked, then put her hand to her mouth and looked at the blood. "What are you doing here?" Kitty asked. "How could you kill that deer like that?"

Rahne couldn't answer them.

"This is who your friend is," Aiden growled. "Didn't you know that?"

"You're wrong!" Kitty said hotly. "I don't know what you did but Rahne would never do anything like this on her own!"

"Oh really?" Aiden looked at Rahne. "You think so? Are they right?"

"Rahne?" Kitty asked as Rahne looked away. "Rahne?"

"Go on Rahne," Aiden put his hands on her shoulders. "You shouldn't be ashamed of the truth."

"I know enough to know that Rahne would never hurt an animal for no reason," Kitty said. "She's not an animal!"

"You don't know me at all!" Rahne snapped. "I've been hunting long before I even met Aiden!"

"But why…?" Danielle began.

"Because it's what I do," Rahne snapped. "For a long time I've been hiding it. I felt almost ashamed. But no more! I'm sick of living up to everyone's expectations!"

"Rahne…" Kitty began.

"It's always the same, Rahne go inside, Rahne go in where it's safe," Rahne started to snarl, the words coming out harsher and harsher. "Everyone thinks they know me. Like I'm some kind of pet that needs to stay indoors. Well I'm not a pet! I'm a wolf! And a wolf needs to run free and hunt! But no, it never occurred to any of you what I want! AND I'M SICK OF IT!"

"Now wait a minute…" Jubilee snapped. "Just because you're feeling a little claustrophobic is no reason to go off killing animals with some wolf guy. Even if he is hot looking."

"Aiden understands me," Rahne told them. "He knows what I'm going through!"

"Yeah, but what do you know about him?" Danielle pointed.

"I know enough to know that he cares about me, which is more than any of you have done lately," Rahne snarled.

"Now that is a load of bull!" Kitty snapped. "We wouldn't be out here if…"

"If you had anything better to do," Rahne finished her sentence. "This might shock you Kitty but the world doesn't revolve around you! I'm sick and tired of all the drama you cause and just standing by the sidelines and watching! Well I've had it! I'm going!"

"Now wait just a damn minute," Kitty grabbed her arm. "You come back to the Institute and…"

Rahne growled and turned into her half wolf form. "If I were you I'd let go of my arm before you lose yours!" She snarled. Kitty did so. Rahne turned into a wolf and snarled at them before bounding away into the woods.

This couldn't have gone any better if I had planned it Aiden grinned to himself before changing into a wolf and following Rahne.

"This is so surreal…" Jubilee blinked. "That didn't just happen did it?"

"It did," Kitty put her hand on her head. "Oh man I think whatever's going on with Rahne we just made it a lot worse!"

"No, ya think?" Jubilee asked sarcastically. "Where the hell did all that come from? Where does she get off telling us that we're jerks? She's the jerk!"

"Oh put a cork in it Jubes," Danielle snapped. "The last thing we need right now…"

"KITTY! JUBILEE! DANIELLE! WHERE ARE YOU GIRLS?"

"Is Logan to find us?" Jubilee winced.

"Yeah…That too…" Danielle said.

"There you girls are!" Logan ran in with Kurt, Rina and Scott. "What the devil are you doing out in the middle of the…?" He saw the dead deer. He took a few sniffs of the air and looked at the deer's throat. "Rahne?"

"Yeah," Kitty admitted. "She just…almost instantly…I couldn't believe she could do something like this."

"What happened? Where's Rahne?" Kurt asked.

"She's gone," Danielle said. "She just ran off with another werewolf."

"What do you talking about?" Logan asked.

"She's been seeing this guy. He can change into a wolf like her," Kitty explained.

"How long has this been going on?" Logan shouted.

"We just found out about it tonight!" Kitty told him.

"Another werewolf," Kurt thought. "You think he's part of the same pack that attacked the Seftons?"

"Attacked?" Danielle gasped. "Amanda and her family were attacked? By wolves?"

"What do you mean another werewolf?" Kitty asked. "Kurt what's going on?"

"That's exactly what we're going to find out," Logan growled. "Let's get back to the Institute. Something weird is going down and Rahne's smack dab in the middle of it."

Next: The X-Men and Misfits try to bring back Rahne, but will they succeed? And what do the wolves plan for Bayville? Find out next chapter!