A/N: Someday my beta will be free again... In the meantime any and all mistakes are my own. I KNOW I said I would work on Let Me Spin You a Yarn By The Fire but it takes A LOT of time to practically re-write a story/movie. As such, it was a slow week at work and I got this done in the interim. Enjoy.


Roxas paced nervously as he waited for Kairi to show up. Axel hadn't so much as twitched since the younger man had placed him on the couch and the blond was beginning to think that the red-head really would die. When his doorbell finally rang Roxas wrenched his door open and dragged the brunette inside.

"Roxas!" Kairi shouted, surprised by how her normally level-headed friend was acting. "Now, what's going on?" She asked after she caught her balance and Roxas had apologized. "You were so evasive over the phone." The blond ushered her over to the couch. "Oh, my! Roxas, why do you have a wolf in your apartment?" Kairi asked, refusing to approach the animal.

"He's hurt, Kairi," Roxas stated. "Besides, I think he's one of those hybrids," he lied, sitting down and pulling the wolf's head into his lap. "See? He's really sweet." Roxas stated as the auburn wolf shifted and licked the blond's hand.

"Okay," Kairi sighed, bracing herself with a deep breath. "Okay." She approached the couch and knelt down in front of it. Setting her medical bag to the side, she paused and ran a hand through the wolf's damp fur, gasping in surprise. "He's so soft!"

"I know," Roxas stated as he smiled tightly. What he really wanted was to smack the brunette's hands away from the wolf's prone body. He really didn't want Kairi touching his mate. Resisting he urge to shove her away he asked, "So can you help him?"

"Let's take a look," Kairi stated as she opened her bag. "You already washed the wounds?" she confirmed as she pulled on a pair of disposable medical gloves.

"Yeah," Roxas replied. He watched in fascination as the brunette ran her hands along the wolf's body, gently probing the lacerations.

"These don't look too bad," she stated, digging in her bag. "Since you've already cleaned the wounds I'll just apply some ointment and wrap the worst of it. If you want to you can give him some NSAIDs."

"N-what?" Roxas asked.

"Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs," Kairi explained. "Aspirin or anything like that. There you go," she stated, tying off the last bandage. "The only other advice I can give you is to keep him away from whatever wicked sharp claws he ran into. And I suggest having him neutered before the wolf's mating season, even if he is only part wolf." she said, packing her bag and standing. Roxas tensed as the wolf raised his head and gave the blond a look which clearly read, 'Do it and I will destroy you.'

"Uh...you know, I will definitely take that into consideration...but he's been through so much right now. Uh, do I owe you anything?" he asked, changing the subject.

"No, no, you just take care of this little sweetie," she stated, forgetting her initial fear and petting the wolf's head. "I'll be back some time next week to check on him but go ahead and call me if you need anything!" It was only after the brunette had left that Roxas realized he had never bothered to ask her what to feed the wolf. Leaning wearily against the door, Roxas knocked his head against the wood before looking at Axel.

"Steak?" he asked and the wolf wagged his tail. "Cooked?" he questioned. The auburn wolf snorted. "I'm taking that as a 'no'," he muttered, pushing off the door. Entering the kitchen, the blond grabbed the steak he had set out earlier, tearing the package open and placing the raw meat on a plate before taking it to the injured werewolf. Setting the plate on the couch, the blond sank down into his armchair and watched as the wolf began masticating.

As Axel ate, Roxas sat and watched him, letting the situation sink in. They had been lucky tonight but if a similar situation were to occur, what would happen if someone else were to find the auburn wolf before Roxas? Would Axel be willing to wear a collar? The smaller man snickered at the thought. His mind racing with all the problems they were likely to come up against, Roxas never noticed the glowing green eyes watching him.


Roxas had never been happier for a slow day at the bookstore. Trusting the bell above the door to alert him of potential customers, the blond headed to the back of the store. Browsing the shelves in the supernatural section, he pulled several books on lycanthropy before sitting down and flipping through them. Losing track of time, Roxas read through the conflicting documentation on werewolves. The only thing he could say for certain was that Axel was a therianthropic hybrid i.e. when he shifted he fully transformed into a wolf instead of remaining human with wolf characteristics. After that, things began getting fuzzy as he tried to sort out Hungarian and Balkan folklore from that of Armenian, Romanian and American mythology. With enough references to skin-walkers, wolf-demons and other creatures he'd never heard of before, his head was beginning to spin. Dropping the book he was currently perusing with a groan, Roxas squeezed his eyes shut and rubbed his temples. The supernatural gave him a headache and it couldn't even explain why Axel had yet to change back to his human form. The blond sighed in irritation as he checked his phone – surprised to see that it was already time to go home. Shoving the books back into the appropriate shelves, Roxas locked up the store and headed home.

Tossing his keys into the basket by the door, the blond was disheartened to see that Axel was still in his wolf form. It had been three days and although the wolf's injuries were healed – and Roxas chalked that up to werewolf healing ability because no way should they be healed already – he had yet to shift. The blond could only guess but he didn't think the delay was usual – not with Axel pacing around in an agitated manner. Roxas would laugh at the oddness of it all if he weren't so worried – a large auburn wolf pacing a small apartment. Hilarious.

Collapsing onto the couch in a mixture of frustration and exhaustion Roxas didn't even blink as Axel settled his head onto the blond's lap; he automatically lifted his hand and began to stroke the silky fur as he sighed and began to relax.

"Good day?" He asked and Axel gave a small yip. "Think you'll be back in human form anytime soon?" The wolf whined pathetically and Roxas scratched his ears in apology. "I've been trying to figure out what could be wrong but all the literature is conflicting and disagrees with each other. I have no idea what to do," Roxas confessed, distressed. He calmed when the wolf licked his hand and the blond shifted to lay more comfortably on the couch, sighing contentedly as Axel curled up next to him. He was just going to rest a bit before making dinner.

"What are you growling at?" he asked sometime later, not even bothering to open his eyes. If someone broke into his apartment then they could deal with an agitated werewolf.

"I'm not growling at anything – my stomach is." Roxas jerked fully awake, flailing as he fought to keep his balance on the narrow couch. He felt one arm connect with soft flesh as he fell to the floor and pain blossomed as his cheek connected with his coffee table. At the same moment, Axel yelped in pain.

"Shit!" Roxas cursed, eyes slamming shut. As the pain receded he re-opened his eyes and glared at the red-head who was still on the couch and cradling his jaw in his right hand. "What the fuck, man?" the blond demanded.

"Hey, you're the one who just completely freaked out for no reason!" Axel protested.

"No rea- You've been wandering around as a wolf for three days before suddenly becoming a human while I was asleep and you expect me not to freak the fuck out?" Roxas demanded as he climbed to his feet. Axel at least had the decency to look chagrined.

"When I'm badly injured it takes longer for me to save the energy needed to transform. It's not like I enjoy being stuck in wolf form," the red-head explained. Roxas sighed and ran a hand through unruly locks before collapsing into his arm chair.

"Look, I have off tomorrow so you're just going to have to explain this to me." After a moment's silence the younger man added, "And we're getting you a collar." Axel scowled and opened his mouth to argue but Roxas cut him off. "You got lucky this time. But what if someone else finds you next time? A collar will let them know to call me and I won't have to scour every shelter in the city trying to find you."

"Fine," the red-head agreed sullenly. The wolf growled at the idea of wearing such a thing but Axel had to agree that it made sense. It was novel, having someone else looking out for him. It was definitely going to take some getting used to.

"Okay," Roxas sighed as he tiredly ran a hand over his face, wincing as he hit the bruise forming on his cheek. Axel flinched in sympathy, knowing that it would take awhile for the bruise to fade – humans were so fragile. His own bruise had already disappeared. "Anyway," Roxas continued, bringing the werewolf's attention back to the conversation. "We'll talk more tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah," Axel agreed. He watched as the smaller man stood and crossed the small apartment, pausing outside his bedroom door.

"Axel...what did cause those wounds?"

"A wendigo," he answered, watching as Roxas mouthed the word before shaking his head and disappearing into the bedroom. Sighing, Axel made himself comfortable on the couch. All things considered, the conversation could have gone much worse.

In his room, Roxas grabbed his laptop and waiting for it to power up as he got comfortable on his bed. Pulling up his favored search engine the blond began researching wendigos. Coming across a site of Algonquian mythology, Roxas began reading about the beasts the author described as "gaunt to the point of emaciation, its desiccated skin pulled tautly over its bones. With its bones pushing out against its skin, its complexion the ash gray of death and its eyes pushed back deep into their sockets, the Weendigo looked like a giant skeleton recently disinterred from the grave. What lips is had were tattered and bloody... Unclean and suffering from suppurations of the flesh, the Weendigo gave off a strange and eerie odor of decay and decomposition, of death and corruption."

As the embodiment of gluttony and greed, wendigos were never satisfied; they were always searching for their next victim. According to superstition, a person could become a wendigo by being greedy and indulging in excess, by being possessed by the spirit of a wendigo in sleep or – Roxas swallowed heavily – by partaking in cannibalism. The blond roughly closed his laptop and set it on the floor. He was in no way ready to deal with this new reality he found himself in.

By the time Roxas woke up the next morning, Axel had already showered, picked up his mail from the post office and made breakfast. The younger man stumbled into the kitchen and mumbled an incoherent greeting, focusing more on pouring his coffee into his cup instead of across the counter. It wasn't until Roxas had created and plated his breakfast burrito that he noticed Axel scowling at the piece of paper in his hands.

"Problem?" Roxas asked as he joined the older man at the table. Axel crumbled the paper before answering.

"A minor annoyance but nothing unexpected," he stated evasively, turning his attention back to his own breakfast. Silence fell in the kitchen, both men preoccupied with their own thoughts – Axel with the contents of the letter and Roxas with how to start the conversation about the supernatural.

"So..." he began after setting his plate in the sink and refilling his coffee cup. He had a feeling he was going to need plenty of caffeine to get through this conversation.

"Alright, what do you want to know?" Axel asked, grabbing his own coffee and leading the way to the living room. Roxas paused to collect his thoughts.

"Everything," he finally stated, settling into his chair. "Start at the beginning and just keep going until you've caught me up." Axel sighed and settled himself more comfortably against the couch before taking a fortifying sip of coffee and thinking about what he was going to say.

"You can be born a werewolf or become one after you've been bitten, though purebreds – those who were born werewolves – try to keep the bitten population down. There is a "royal family" that rules over all werewolves but I won't bore you with details of how werewolves are classified after that. It would take too long and it would just confuse you," Axel stated. He paused to take another sip of coffee. "I was backpacking across the country with friends when we were attacked by a rogue werewolf pack. They were trying to expand their numbers because their leader – Xemnas – wanted to overthrow the ruling family. He wanted to lead the werewolf population in a revolt and replace humans as the dominant species."

"And I take it most werewolves weren't interested? Werewolves tend to be more protectors than aggressors, right?" Roxas asked, remembering how shape-shifters used to be revered as shamans. Axel gave the smaller man an odd look but the blond ignored it, motioning for the red-head to continue his story.

"You're correct. Despite how modern movies like to portray werewolves as flesh eating menaces, most werewolves only fight when needed and rarely attack humans. Most of Xemnas' pack were newly bitten ones. And in his rush to grow the pack he overlooked an important detail. He never had us submit to him." At Roxas' inquisitive look, Axel elaborated. "When an alpha has a new werewolf submit to them, the new wolf automatically becomes a beta wolf – meaning that he or she will never pose a threat to the current alpha. It also diminishes the likelihood of the wolf going rogue..." Axel trailed off, remembering all the scared teens who hadn't been able to win against their wolves' baser nature.

"What happened?" Roxas asked softly. Axel turned and stared at the younger man, his green eyes shining brightly.

"I killed him. The pack split up – those who had been bitten unwillingly followed me and those who still dreamed of ruling the world followed Xemnas' mate."

"But..." Roxas' brow furrowed in confusion. "If you had a pack, where are they now?"

"Roxas, I might have been – and still am – an alpha but I knew no more about our predicament than the rest of them." He smiled wryly. "We traveled until we came across another pack. I explained what had happened and they accepted the others into the pack."

"But not you?" Roxas asked. A flicker of pain crossed Axel's face.

"Yes and no. You can't have two alphas in a pack. Under normal circumstances it would lead to a fight between the two alphas, ending with one being either killed or kicked out of the pack. I was given the freedom of using their residence as a safe house when I wasn't traveling."

"They gave you a place to stay in exchange for fighting off any beasts that threaten them." Roxas stated flatly, completely unimpressed.

"It's better than nothing. Werewolves are social creatures; we need a pack." Axel explained.

"And what happens now?" Roxas asked. "Am I expected to just pack up and go with you?" he demanded.

"I CAN'T go back, Roxas!" Axel shouted, jumping up from the couch. Stunned silence followed.

"...what?" Roxas asked, his voice small with confusion. Axel growled, showing elongated canines.

"The pack took a risk allowing another alpha to stay in their territory. Since I mated, I'm an even bigger risk to the current alpha. There's no way he'd let me stay..." Axel trailed off and turned away from the blond and Roxas realized for the first time since this crazy mess started that his life wasn't the only one to be turned upside down by the imprinting. Axel had his normal life ripped away from him and he had still managed to make a new life and family for himself. And now he had to do it all over again. Roxas bit his lip, staring at the floor in thought before standing and hugging the upset werewolf.

"I'm sorry," he whispered into Axel's chest and he felt the tension drain from the taller man as Axel hesitantly hugged him back. "So what are you going to do?" Roxas asked, craning his head to look at Axel.

"Riku offered a suggestion, one that would technically keep me in the pack," Axel stated, releasing the small blond. "They're already on their way out here to discuss it."

"They?" Roxas asked.

"The pack's council." Axel explained. "They'll be here in a few days."

~Review~