Thank you all who have stuck with me on this fic. I was bummed by the lack of interest, but decided that other people's reactions shouldn't be the reason to stop posting or writing. I'm working on this, my other Venom Fic, a Fallout 3 fic that came to me in a dream, and my Ultron Fic, all at the same time. Can't promise that things will be updated regularly because of Real Life (My Dad's getting surgery in June, and I'm gonna be going to help him during recovery), but I'll still be writing, just, possibly, not updating - Snarky

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Jasmine sighed wearily and leaned back in her chair, balancing precariously on two legs as she stretched her arms up above her head. Steady breaths from behind her told her that the three pups were still sleeping peacefully, and she smiled a bit as she tilted her head back to look over at them. Angel was sprawled out across one bed, pillows draped everywhere to support her aching muscles as she slept. Cat and Zoe were sharing the second bed, the two of them a mess of tangled limbs and blankets as Zoe snored softly, oblivious to Cat, whose legs were draped across her thighs.

Exhaustion nagged at her, but she stubbornly shoved her tiredness aside, promising her weary body that she'd catch a few hours sleep once the Pack was awake. While she could go a fairly long time without sleep - it had been months since she had allowed herself a lengthy rest - she was pushing herself well past her limits. But the Pack hadn't been hiding out in safe places, and now that Jaz knew that the bounty hunters were open to taking chances - like hunting her during the goddamn daytime - there was no way she was going to forgo keeping watch.

Still, she couldn't stop a yawn from leaving her, followed by a soft grunt as she let the chair drop back down onto it's four legs. Lights from a moving car outside made her reach out to move the edge of the curtain that covered the front windows, being careful not to let the light make her wolf eyes glow as she watched a car weave it's way into a nearby spot.

The occupants - a couple of drunkenly staggering people - didn't seem like any of a threat. Jaz watched them as they stumbled into a far off room before letting the curtain fall closed again. Hopefully they were too drunk to be noisy. Last thing she wanted was to have to listen to drunk people have sex: sometimes having a wolf's hearing backfired on her.

Hence the fact that she could hear two different TV sets, one snoring male - he sounded like a car with a horrible muffler problem - an arguing couple and yes, far off, the couple that wasn't drunk enough to forgo sex.

Sigh.

Groaning softly, Jasmine flopped backwards in her chair, going limp, sliding down a bit until she was slouching.

Next to her, Zoe gave a snort, twitched, and nearly knocked Cat off the bed. The younger teen flailed a little in her sleep, did some odd boneless contortion, then stilled, her head now resting on the foot of the bed. Zee was hugging the younger teen's left foot to her chest.

Angel muttered something close to 'I don't wanna go to school', farted, sneezed, then stared snoring softly in counterpoint to Zoe.

It was going to be a long night.

The next day went smoother. The day. Not the evening.

Jasmine managed to snooze - not real sleep, not with three teenagers in the room - almost the entire day while her little Pack milled around, watching TV, playing some card games, and reading some books - Cat loved to have either Angel or Zoe read to her. There was one short fight over what to watch that, thankfully, Angel settled before the mutant had been forced to haul herself out of bed.

It wasn't the restful sleep she really needed, but it was better than nothing. Her stomach woke her late in the evening, growling loud enough that the three teens in the room actually laughed at her.

Growling at them grouchily, Jasmine shuffled into the small kitchen and managed to put together a sandwich that had three times the normal amount of meat, glad that Zoe and Angel had talked her into renting a motel room with a small fridge in it.

Only once she'd fed herself did she putter around and fix dinner for the others - a similarly large sandwich for Angel along with some fruit, cereal with chocolate milk for Cat, and microwaveable ramen noodles for Zoe. She didn't know how the flame-haired teen could like such a meal, but she doubted that any of the teens would enjoy a wolf's meal - mainly fresh deer, nice and warm and bloody.

To each their own.

Though, Gods, a deer sounded good.

Giving herself a shake as if to push away the urge - fangs sinking into fresh meat, tongue licking oh so good blood from her muzzle - Jasmine went to sit on the first bed, the one closest to the door. Angel and Cat were engrossed in a movie on the TV, something about zombies trying to get into a mall, while Zoe was practicing how to shuffle cards with only one hand - she wasn't very good at it, if the card that flew past Jaz's nose was any indicator.

Laughing, she handed the card back to a muttering Zoe, then leaned back onto the headboard, her gaze settling on the TV.

A knock at the door threw Jasmine into motion.

In one movement, she was off the bed and lunging to turn off the TV, glancing back at Zoe as the teen ushered Angel and Cat into the bathroom, raising her gun in a salute as she toed the door closed, leaving only a small opening to allow her to peek into the main room.

Growling under her breath, Jasmine moved to put her back against the motel room door, her hearing easily picking up the strong, regular heartbeat of the one who had knocked. A deep sniff of the air made her eyes widen, her own heartbeat speeding up when she recognized their visitor's scent.

Trying to keep herself calm, she snapped her fingers twice, drawing Zoe's attention. Wanting to stay silent, she signed to Zoe instead of speaking aloud. -It's Eddie!-

"What?!"

Angel hissed at her and smacked her upside the head. "Shh!"

"Ow! Dammit!"

Sighing in exasperation, Jaz rose a hand and pinched the bridge of her nose. Idiots. Grumbling now, especially since she could hear the amused chuckle from outside, she pushed away from the door and turned to open it, glaring up into stormy blue eyes. I should smack that smirk off his face.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Never let it be said that she was afraid to be direct.

Eddie blinked, glancing over her head towards the bathroom as three pairs of eyes peered out at him worriedly. Noticing the warning snarl that was coming from a wary Jasmine, he turned his attention back to her and did his best to seem as nonthreatening as possible. What had happened to all that 'kindred spirits' talk from a few days ago? "We need to talk to you."

The wolf wanted nothing more than to attack and defend the Pack, despite it's trust in him, and Jasmine did her best to squash the aggression that boiled up inside her. He had given her his word not to harm the Pack, or her, and so far, she had no reason to think otherwise. "Why?"

"The ones who put a price on your head know... about them," he gestured to the bathroom with his chin, watching as her eyes widened momentarily, then narrowed, the green leaving them to be replaced with predatory gold.

"If you were followed-"

"We weren't," he said, cutting her off. Then, seeing how tense she was, Eddie softened his tone. "We gave you our word that we wouldn't harm you and yours, remember?"

Jasmine held his gaze for a long moment, then sighed. "I must be losing my mind," she muttered as she hesitantly stepped back, allowing him to enter before she closed the door behind him and reached up to massage her suddenly aching temple. "Zoe, it's alright. Come out."

"Alright, she says." Grumbling, Zee slowly stepped out of the bathroom, making a show of not putting the gun away as she moved to lean against the bathroom's doorway, eyes narrowed as she glared at their visitor. After everything she had told Jasmine about Venom, aka Eddie Brock, Zoe still couldn't fathom why the mutant had helped him, or even why she trusted him.

Movement out of the corner of her eye made Zoe glance over at Cat as the teen preceded Angel into the room. She looked back towards Jaz as a low rumble left the mutants lips, causing Zee to turn her full attention onto Eddie, who was staring past her at the last two members of their little group. "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

"Oh, honestly, Zoe! Calm down. Do you really think that Jaz would have let him in here if she even thought that he posed a threat to us?" Shaking her head, Angel gingerly maneuvered herself over to the bed that she had claimed as her own, arching an eyebrow at their visitor when he looked at her in badly veiled shock.

When she saw Jasmine bite back a snarl, Cat walked over to her and lay a hand on the mutant's good arm, frowning in concern when she felt how tense the woman was. Like a coiled spring just moments away from breaking. Worried, she rose her free hand and did her best to sign a legible message, knowing that her touch was keeping Jaz in check. -What's wrong?-

Angel, who hadn't missed the sudden rise in tension, sighed and looked over at their visitor. "You might as well sit down. She's fighting for control though, so you might want to move slowly."

"I'm alright, dammit!"

"Oh, yeah, sure. You look like you're waiting for him to twitch so you can maul him."

Grumbling, Jasmine let Cat pull her over to sit on the edge of Angel's bed, glancing towards Eddie when he went to sit at the small table. "You people make me sound like I'm a raving lunatic."

Angel grinned and reached out to pat the mutant's shoulder. "But you're our raving lunatic." Snickering at the look Jaz gave her, she looked over at the man that was watching them in amusement. "So! What do we call you? Other than Venom, that is."

"Eddie is fine," he answered with a slight smile. He understood now, why Jasmine was so protective of her little group, and why she had insisted on gathering so much money. His best guess was that the pregnant teen was in her last trimester, and judging by how tired she looked, the baby was taking a lot out of her. "We didn't understand before, why Jasmine was so protective of you."

"Yes, well, she likes to overreact," Angel smirked, ignoring the indignant glare that Jasmine shot at her. "Introductions! That bad attitude one over there is Zoe, Cat's the cute one and I'm Angel. Um, Zee? You wanna sit or are you just going to stand there trying to glare a hole into Eddie's head?"

Zoe hissed. "Have you lost your minds?! You cannot seriously expect me to be all buddy-buddy with Venom! He's a murderer, he's killed people!"

"So have I," Jasmine frowned, meeting Zee's gaze with wolf-gold eyes. "Do you think less of me too?"

"But, you... he..." Unable to form a coherent sentence, Zoe threw her hands up into the air and dropped to the floor, sinking her chin into her palm as she grumbled under her breath.

With a sigh, Jaz moved to sit on the second bed, shifting to sit lotus-style so that she could easily see everyone in the room. Once she had tossed the pillows over so Angel could prop her feet up on them, she turned to look at Eddie, who had stayed oddly silent throughout the short conversation. "You were saying something about the price on my head?"

He nodded. "We tracked down another Fight, and managed to get our hands on one of the Boss's informants. He divulged information about dozens of other fight locations, as well as the drug ring that we've been looking into. Unfortunately, we learned that some of the 'regulars' at the fights are actually members of one of the Friends Of Humanity organizations. Two of them are rather high up in the local crime syndicate." He paused when he saw all the colour drain from Jasmine's face and leaned forward in the chair, resting his elbows on his thighs. "They added another fifty thousand onto your bounty... and extended it to include all of your lives."

Jasmine's eyes widened, panic rising in her as she looked over at her Pack, taking in the very real fear she saw in their eyes. "How? That's... I would have known if I was being hunted. Every time I leave the motel, I spend almost a hour running around, doubling back and taking paths that no human would be able to follow. I would have smelled any pursuit. I don't... How the hell did they find out about my Pack?!"

"We don't know-"

Zoe cut him off. "How did you find us?"

He ignored her harsh tone, knowing her anger was born of fear. "My symbiotic 'Other', is not of this world," Eddie explained as the symbiote flushed black, the white spider emblem stretching across his chest and back. He sent a silent plea that the alien not go through with a full morph into Venom, not wanting to frighten the quiet Cat, and the pregnant Angel. "As such, it has senses that are... unique. We can sense you, Jasmine. It's limited in range, but after searching half the city, we managed to pinpoint your location."

Jaz frowned, absorbing that for a moment. They'd met half a dozen times, and he'd never bothered to tell her that. She sent a wary, suspicious, look his way, glancing at Cat when the teen snapped her fingers.

-That's not all of it, is it? You were able to track her because of her specific mutation. Because of the wolf.-

It was automatic for them to translate what Cat was signing into audible words when they were around someone who couldn't understand sign language, and Angel did so without even thinking about it. "Cat thinks that you were able to track Jaz because of her mutation. Because of the wolf."

"Cat doesn't talk," Jasmine explained when Eddie frowned. "So, is she right?"

Surprised at the teenage girl's insight, Eddie merely nodded. "My Other senses something different in you," he admitted, meeting Jasmine's gaze. "It can't usually track people, but something about you is unique. You... call to us. That's how we found you." He tried not to take it personally when Jasmine glared at him, obviously annoyed that he hadn't mentioned that particular ability before.

"Then what are we going to do?" Zoe asked after a long moment of silence. "We're paid up here for the next few days... and there's nowhere else that's even half as safe as this place. Besides, Angel's got an appointment at that clinic for her check-up tomorrow. There's no way we can cancel that."

Sighing, Jasmine rose a hand and massaged her aching temple. "I can defend this room, but we're only paid up here for another three days." Her mind whirled as she tried to think of a safe and healthy place to bring her Pack, but, with Angel pregnant, none of the safe-houses she knew of were suitable. None that I know of anyway...

The wolf within her stretched, and Jaz let it rise to the surface, wanting to make her words perfectly clear. Once she was certain of the choice she was about to make, she opened now-golden eyes and met Eddie's gaze. "If you hurt my Pack, I'll kill you. I don't care how strong, or how powerful, you and your 'Other' are. I will kill you. My Pack's well-being is everything to me, and I'll defend them from anything, friend or foe." She paused to let than sink in, hating that she had to be so harsh to someone that she considered a friend. When he nodded, silently, she took a breath and softened her gaze. "That said... tell me about the Sanctuary you spoke of."

The symbiote rumbled in Eddie's mind. [Well. She's certainly direct.]

Mm. She means it too, he mused, deciding to embellish on what Jasmine meant by 'Sanctuary' for the three teenagers benefit. "When the great earthquake of nineteen-oh-six struck San Francisco, a portion of the old city sank into the ground. The ones in charge of rebuilding the city deemed it a loss and built over it. It remained forgotten until twenty years ago, when one of the homeless looking for shelter discovered the hidden city. Since then, it has grown into a society separate from the city above it. However, the Council that governs it is very careful about who they allow to live there. We need to know if you wish us to speak to them on your behalf."

"Why?" Zoe blurted, meeting his gaze warily. "Why do you give a crap about what happens to us?"

"Because the price on your lives is the direct result of Jasmine leading us to the ringleaders of the Fights. We feel responsible-"

"That's because you are!"

Jaz loosed a growl. "Zoe! That's enough! You damn well know that I chose to lead him to the fights. If you're going to blame someone, blame me. I should have put the Pack first. It's my fault that your lives are in danger, not his."

"Bullshit!"

"Zoe!" Angel's voice stopped the fight before it could start, and she sent a warning glance in Zoe's direction before she turned her attention to Jasmine, who looked wrung out, stressed, and about five seconds from completely freaking out. "I think we should let Eddie try. I know you go out of your way to keep us safe, but you're running yourself ragged. You haven't slept in days, you're in pain, and other than the McDonalds you had last week, you haven't eaten a decent meal in over a month. Even if we can just hide out at the Sanctuary for a few days, it's worth a shot."

-I'm with Angel,- Cat signed once she had drawn Jasmine's gaze to her. -It can't hurt to try, can it? The worse they can do is say 'no'.-

Jasmine grit her teeth for a moment, then pushed her wolf's irritation aside. "Alright. Alright, we'll give it a go." Her wolf-amber gaze turned to Eddie, and she was mildly impressed when he met her feral gaze without flinching. She hadn't really let him see the wolf part of her before. "Please, don't make me regret trusting you with the lives of my Pack."

Surprised at the rapid change of events, he merely nodded. He hadn't noticed before how worn out she was, she'd hidden it well. Even now, it was hard to see the signs; she was very good at hiding weakness. Just like a wild animal...

"We'll do everything within our power to help you," Eddie promised. "Starting now. We'll stay and keep watch tonight, so you can all get some sleep."

"No." Angel frowned, startling him with the determination in her voice. "You have to go talk to that Council. We only have three more days paid up for this room. The sooner we know what their answer is, the sooner we can figure out what the hell we're going to do."

Eddie smirked at Jasmine. "Are you sure you're the alpha in this Pack?"

She made a face at him. "Ha, freakin' ha."

There was a long drawn-out sigh from Zoe as the flame-haired woman rose to her feet and reluctantly flipped the safety on the gun she was holding before tucking the weapon under her belt. "Angie's right. We don't have the luxury of time anymore."

"Of course I'm right." Smirking, Angel rested her hands on her belly, feeling her baby kick as she leaned back into the pillows that were propped up against the headboard. "When will you people learn not to fight with the pregnant lady?"

Eddie chuckled. "Slow learners?"

"Very much so."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Y'know, for someone who depends on others to go get whatever food you're craving, you're not being very grateful."

"There's pickles and chocolate milk in the fridge. I don't have to be grateful until tomorrow," she smiled, snickering at the mock glare that Zoe gave her. "Aw, you know you love me."

"Can't for the life of me imagine why."

"Hey!"

As Cat dissolved into silent laughter, Jasmine merely shook her head and tucked her hair behind her ears, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth when she heard Eddie's amused chuckle. "Alright you two, enough."

"Hmpft." Grumbling, Angel debated throwing something at Zoe, then gave up when she realized that she didn't have anything to throw except for the pillows she was leaning back against. "You're just lucky I'm too tired to get up off this bed."

Snickering, Zoe leaned against a wall and hooked her thumbs into the belt loops of her jeans, inwardly amazed that she could be so calm with Venom in the room. I never realized how much I trust Jasmine's instincts. But, if she can sit there, all relaxed, with Venom just a few feet away from her, then she must really believe that he won't hurt us.

Ignoring Angel as she stuck her tongue out at Zoe, Jasmine turned to gaze over at Eddie, quirking an eyebrow when she saw an almost wistful expression on his face. Her wolf rumbled in curiosity, but she firmly shoved it away from her thoughts. "Tomorrow, after we bring Angel to her appointment, we should be back here by late afternoon. Will that be enough time for you to talk to the Council?"

He met her gaze and nodded, smiling gently. "More than enough. We had actually planned on accompanying you to Angel's appointment."

Angel blinked, surprised. "Really? You don't have to. I'm sure you have better things to do."

"Actually, there's nothing else we'd rather do," Eddie told her, smiling when a blush stained her cheeks. "Besides, we'd never forgive ourselves if something happened to your group."

When the Pack turned to look at her, Jasmine sighed and looked over at Eddie, a tired, crooked smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. "We leave at ten."

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