AN: First-It's been over two weeks since my last update, for which I am sorry. I did mean to get a chapter out last week but with school starting back up and then getting bronchitis, I had little time and even less energy to write.

Second- From now on I will update every other Saturday.

Third-If anyone, for any reason, feels like recommending New Day, New Life at Tvtropes, I would not object. DX

Fourth-I'd like to thank CAT for Betta-ing the chapter!

Chapter 27:

Wolf Greets The World

"Soon you wear my mark."

I'm not ashamed to admit the terror those words instilled in me. Ever since I arrived in this universe my biggest, or at least my most visceral, fear has been someone tampering with my mind. That one day I would go to bed and the person who woke up wouldn't be me. It would look like me, sound like me, think it was me, but it wouldn't be me. I found it terribly ironic that learning Occlumency, as a way to prevent that from happening, is the reason Wolf was able to form at all.

Perhaps the most horrifying part about this whole thing was how naturally my thoughts flowed when Wolf was influencing me. If I hadn't been on a lookout for Wolf's influence, I would have never noticed it. Rachel had been challenging me, daring me to respond, so of course I had to hit back. My reasoning had felt like my reasoning.

Had Wolf not jumped to the fore, had Rachel not been there to see it, how long would it have been until Wolf was wearing me like a meat suit? Would I have even noticed her pulling the strings? Or would I have remained unknowing until Wolf's thoughts and my actions were one and the same?

I took a breath. Now was not the time to panic. I took another breath and firmed my resolve. Now was the time to fight.

"Ready?" Wolf asked, her grin turning eager.

My answer came in the form of an earthen fist that rose from the ground behind her. It stopped before it could even touch her. I paid it no mind, I had been expecting that and I was already focusing on the next construct. Wolf blocked that one as well and started walking towards me. I started backing up.

Ok, so one at a time isn't working. How about two at a time? I focused and spikes shot out of the ground at Wolf. Two at first, then three, then seven. Each one was well-aimed. Each one was sharpened to a pinpoint. Each launched with enough force to punch straight through steel, if this had been the real world.

Each one stopped just short of actually touching Wolf.

"Done?" Wolf asked, smirking.

I glared at her before launching myself at her. If temporary constructs wouldn't work, then I would beat her with my fists. This was my mind. I would not be beaten here.

Wolf caught me midair, twisted around and slammed me on the ground. Before I could get my bearing she was on top of me, holding me down. I tried to fight back, tried to escape, but despite the absurdity of the situation, Wolf held me down with ease.

"Done?" Wolf asked again.

"How?" I wanted to sound defiant, but it came out more like a whimper. "This is my mind. How did I lose?"

Wolf shook her head, "Mine too."

"Wha…" I started to ask, but before I could finish, Wolf leaned forward and I lost control.

888

Wolf

I opened my eyes, of my own accord, to the outside world for the first time in months. Months of being trapped in my forest; months without feeling the wind in my fur, months without challenge or prey, months without pack.

My grin was jubilant.

Freedom.

I breathed deeply, taking in hundreds of smells. I parceled through them, quickly identifying the useful scents and discarding the rest. The Alphas, Rachel and Adam, the rest of their pack, and most importantly my bitch. My Elsa. I would find her, it was going to be so very easy. I was strong. I was fast. My teeth were sharp and my bark was very nearly as bad as my bite. There existed no single wolf that could challenge me and win. I made to stand, my flesh already rippling as fur started sprouting, when He spoke.

"Hello Alex." I shot to my feet, whirling around as I stood, to see a young man. Brown eyes, black hair, no scent. Unremarkable. Human. No threat. Not prey. I started to dismiss him from my thoughts when he spoke up again. "How are you?"

I stared at him. Not a threat, but also not prey?

He studied me for a moment before speaking. "Not much of a talker when your Wolf is in control, I take it? Few of us are in those circumstances." He sighed. "But if you want to make it out of this alive I must insist you talk to me."

He dared to threaten me? This thin, childish, excuse for a human? I stepped towards him, my snarl reverberating around the room. I would show this fool who the Alpha was. He shied again and caught my eye for a moment.

Strength, power, dominance, rage. RAGE!

I dropped to the floor, neck bared, belly exposed, doing my best to express one very simple idea. You win, please don't kill me.

"Are you ready to talk?" He asked.

"…yes," I said, very carefully not looking anywhere near him. The thought of him looking at me like that again sent shivers up and down my spine. That was, I don't even know what that was.

"Why don't you come sit up here?" He asked, patting the couch. I stood up, keeping as much distance between us as possible, and sat at the far end of the couch. "Would like to play chess?"

"Chess?" I asked, confused. What did chess have to do with anything?

He nodded. "Chess."

"Sure?" I said. No reason not to and every reason to play along.

He reached down and grabbed an intricately carved box with a chess board on top and the chess pieces inside. He set the pieces up, I was black, and moved his left most pawn forward two spaces. I met him head on by putting my corresponding pawn forward. It may have just been a game but this side of the board was mine. He had no business being on it.

The game continued in the same manner. He made a move and I responded to block it. In less than six moves I lost.

"Check mate," he said. I glared at the board. I knew how to play chess, the way the pieces moved, I shouldn't have lost. "Again?" At my nod he reset the pieces.

This time I was white, so I got to go first. I went on the offensive, trying to take out his king before he could get any piece to mine. I lost. Again. We played again and again and again, until a few moves into our seventh game he started talking again.

"It is widely believed that those who are good at chess are automatically great strategists. That isn't true, but it does illustrate that good chess players can look multiple moves ahead. They can think of multiple angles of attack and defense." He made his move and I made mine. "Another thing they all have in common is that none of them are just wolves."

"I can think!" I said. I was not a simple animal. I was Wolf, yes, but I am more than just a wolf. I have changed, grown. I am more now than I had ever been before.

"Yes, yes you can. But look at our games," he gestured to the chess board. "Every move you've made has been straight forward. Attack, attack, attack. Every trap I laid worked properly. Every feint, you took at face value. I'm not a good chess player." He leaned forward and deliberately caught my eye. "Alex would have won by now."

"Alex is weak! If it weren't for me, Alex would still be trapped by the ghouls! Aunty would be dead! Pup would be dead!" I said screaming. "I will not allow my pack to die because Alex is too weak to protect them!" Did he not understand? Alex has too many enemies that will attack the pack to get at her. I needed to lead, or they would die.

"Alex escaped with Petunia and Dudley, how is that weak?" He asked.

"She would have still been sleeping if I hadn't purged the poison air from us!" I said. "She only killed one of them, and that was by accident! She let the rest of them live! They threatened her! Threatened the pack! And she let them live! If I had control then I would have killed every one of them! Taken them down one by one and left their bodies as warning for others stupid enough to try and hunt me!"

"Little Wolf," He said calmly. "If you had tried to do that you would be dead."

"I-"

"Quiet," he snapped, my mouth closed seemingly of its own accord. "It is true that without your help Alex would still be drugged and your pack would be dead. But it is also true that if you had stayed to try and kill the ghouls, you would be dead. You may have gotten some of them, because you are strong, but they would have killed you just the same. Most importantly your family, your pack, would be dead. Not because you couldn't have saved them but because you had to kill your enemies. Your pack would be dead because you did not think."

That wasn't true. That couldn't be true, I am strong and fast. At least an even match for any ghoul, and I had my cloak. I could have killed every ghoul and then gotten my pack out. But, a part of me whispered, only one ghoul had to get past me to Pup or Aunty to kill them.

Was my pack safer with Alex than me?

"Alex prioritized, protect the pack. That comes first, that always comes first. Right?" He asked. I nodded, of course the pack came first. "But you raise a good point, without you everyone would have died."

"So I should be in charge?" I asked my mind spinning in confusion.

"It was your strength and Alex's mind that saved your pack. Ask anyone of my wolves and you will find that it is the unity of wolf and man that allows them to accomplish more than they could manage on their own." He leaned forward again, his voice cajoling, his eyes intense. "Imagine how safe your pack would be if you and Alex worked as one."

My strength and Alex's mind, working together, protecting the pack. It was tempting, Alex wasn't a genius—lazy or otherwise—but she was clever. She was also able to plan for more that I would even think to account for. But would she even go for it? After our first fight she shackled me, and didn't bother with me until Dragon came into being. If she did agree to try it, she might just lock me away again. Only bringing me out for fights. Was I willing to risk that? I snorted, the answer to that was easy. If it meant keeping my pack safe, then yes.

A thousand times yes.

I closed my eyes and went to my forest.

888

I found Alex in her house, curled up in Papa's big chair. My memories of Alex's last life were hazy. They lacked most of the details that her memories of this life had. Their lack of detail only made it harder to deal with the loss of our last pack.

I got in the chair and pulled Alex onto my lap.

"I miss them too," I said, smiling a little when she leaned back into me.

"…You really are me, aren't you?" Alex asked softly.

I nodded, "Yes." We sat there a while, just breathing and holding one another. It was nice.

"You know, I am sorry for locking you in here. It didn't even occur to me that you would even want out. I thought you were just a part of me, a small part at that. That you were a fully developed alternate me, was never in consideration," Alex said.

"I wasn't, not then. I was just instincts given form," I said.

"The blueprints of a Hexenwolf, but made out of me, out of my soul. Beating you when you were just the instincts was fairly easy." I growled at that, but Alex didn't notice or didn't care. "So you grew, changed, became more than a simple wolf. A regular Hexenwolf isn't changeable, it's just a spirit and spirits don't change, but a spirit made of a human soul? That is, by definition, change given form." She laughed, twisting around to give me a teasing look. "I've got my very own Lash!"

I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Too bad you're not super smart," Alex sighed and slumped back into me. "Aw well, can't have everything."

I growled at that and Alex just giggled. She thought she was funny did she? Let's see how she likes this. I pushed my memory of my encounter with Him to her. Alex's laughter abruptly cut off. There was a few moments of blessed silence as she absorbed it.

"…We are very lucky not to be dead right now," Alex said.

"What are you talking about?" I asked. Yes the man was very dangerous and fighting him head on was stupid, but if he had tried anything I would have gotten away.

"You didn't recognize him? I mean, I know it's been a few months since we, I, read about him but finding out that Mercy Thompson was real was a pretty big memory. Mind you, it is odd that he's here. I was under the impression he rarely, if ever, leaves the U.S," Alex said.

"So? Who is he?" I interrupted her, before she could keep going.

"The Marrok."