The name of the vampire who broke into their cave was Natalya, and she smelled of werewolf; of werewolf blood. The leech was responsible for Ted's death and she was not alone. Her whole clan came to attack them.

It was a war now. The vampires took advantage of the end of the werewolves truce and decided to attack at the time of conflict between the tribes, seeing advantage in attack them unprepared and disorganized. Cody and Randy didn't know the number of deaths, but blood has already been shed. Too much blood.

Cody turned as soon as he smelled innocent blood coming from her and attacked. Randy wasn't far behind and helped catch the fast vampire. Incredible how easier to catch those fuckers was when they worked together! If only their tribes knew this they would not waste time fighting among each other and would instead unite to kill them all!
Even the leech was shocked at how easy she was dominated. The Lycan in Randy was salivating with the want to taste her flesh, to feel the bittersweet taste of her dark blood, but first things first; they needed information.

Of course she wasn't willing to give them anything, but after some persuasion they managed to get something out of her eventually, but not much. These pale and cold demons had a very strong sense of loyalty among them, and neither the imminent danger of death made them loose their tongues. But what they discovered was enough.

Randy killed her with a bite in the throat that tore a piece of flesh out. Both delighted at her flesh for a while, satisfying the need of the wolves inside them.

Now they could no longer stay in that cave. More vampires would follow her trail and find them easily, and they were vulnerable away from their tribes. Randy began to walk from side to side, thinking about the possibilities and always ending in a blind alley; they had nowhere to go. Both were expelled from their packs and if caught they'd probably be locked up and punished by the leaders. He knew how vicious their punishments could be, being a witness to a few in the past. He didn't want that for Cody, no way. Hell if one of them touched a hair on his head Randy didn't know what he'd do! He'll probably go mad and kill the asshole that dared to touch him, but of course he didn't want any of that. That had to be avoided at any costs. And for that one thing was certain: they couldn't stay there wasting any more precious time.

"Randy?"

The small voice pulled him out of his reverie. Randy turned around and saw Cody with a determined expression on his face. He frowned. "Codes?"

"We need to go. We have no choice."

Randy clenched his teeth and closed his eyes, not wanting to agree but knowing they had no alternative. At least this time Cody was including him in the decision rather than trying to go alone the hard way! And he seemed to have given up the crazy idea of going to his best friend's funeral. At least that!

"You know what they'll do to if they catch us, don't you?"

Cody nodded. "Yes. But we don't have a choice now. They'll follow our trail sooner or later ..."

Let it be later then! Hell he was not ready for that yet! He was not ready for the possibility of losing Cody!

"Randy don't! You're not going to lose me!"

Cody whined and threw himself on Randy, hugging him tightly. Randy returned the embrace with the same intensity, clinging to Cody like a second skin. But the truth was that the risk was real, even though he denied it, they both knew better. They broke a pact of thousands of years because of their love, and this would have consequences.

The only way to avoid this, for as long as possible, was to flee.

~8~

They ran for days and days in the opposite direction from where the vampire came until her repugnant smell become a vague memory.

By now they were hungry and dirty, living only on water from streams and small fruits like berries and bananas they found on the way. It was enough to survive, to not starve to death, but no way near enough to restore their strength. They couldn't live like this any longer.

Suddenly Randy heard a thud and turned around, his eyes widening when he saw Cody on the ground. He all but ran to him, startled with the pallor of his pretty face when he was close enough to see it.

"Codes are you okay?" He worriedly passed his hand all over Cody's body as he always did to make sure that he was whole. His concern rose when he just mumbled, unable to form words. Cody fainted from fatigue and exhaustion, and that broke Randy's heart. He hated to see him suffer! Hated!

Randy took Cody in his arms and carefully lifted him to get them to a suitable place to rest. When standing the older man felt his legs tremble with the effort of carrying extra weight on his tired carcass, but he fought against it. Damn it his boy needed him! No way he'd let exhaustion get the better of him when his Cody needed him. No way!

Randy began to walk slowly through the woods with Cody safely in his arms, attentive to the sounds around them and the boy in his arms that seemed to be waking up slowly.

Occasionally Randy rubbed his cheek on his sweaty and dirty forehead to encourage him to open his beautiful eyes, and alternated between a rub and a kiss, until finally Cody's lids opened.

"Randy ...?"

"Back with me Codes? How are you feeling?" Randy smiled, giving him a peck on the lips, still walking.

"What happened?"

"You fainted baby ..."

Cody frowned; he didn't remember any of it! Guh that was embarrassing!

"Really? I-I'm sorry ..."

"Hey is not your fault. It's okay" Randy hugged him harder and pecked that full lips once more. Cody smiled slightly and hugged him back, putting both arms around his neck. But suddenly he realized that Randy was dragging both with difficulty, clearly exhausted from all the walking.

"Randy you don't have to carry me. I know you're tired. Put me down, I'm fine!"

Randy really was exhausted, in the last of his strength. He hated to be feeling so weak, but he could not deny it. Gently he put Cody down, and only after making sure that he would not fall he let go.

They resumed walking at a slow and dragged pace, with the soles of their feet sore and with blisters because of the rough ground. They continued for what seemed like hours, until it reached a point that they couldn't take another step.

Just when Randy was about to suggest they should stop to rest, a hut appeared in front of them. Randy sniffed the air trying to locate the odor of some living being and smelled it inside the hut. It came from a man, but he was not only a man. There was something different in his scent, something that Randy couldn't identify. It was not a werewolf or vampire, he was sure. So what the hell could he be...?

'That'sfamiliar'

Randy raised an eyebrow, in confusion. 'Recognize that smell?Whatis this thing?'

'I. .. I don't know, but I've smelt this before. I'm sure ofthat.And it doesn't look dangerous'

Randy sniffed again and saw that Cody was right; whatever it was he could kill if it attacked. With this assurance they approached the hut, with careful steps. Cody went to the back while Randy approached from the front. The black wolf saw an open window and approached, peering through it. He could see nothing but the smell was around, as if he had just left the hut, shortly before they arrived...

Damn the man knew they were there! 'Randy,' Cody tried to warn him but had no time. On the other side of the house he heard growling and then sounds of bodies rolling on the ground. Cody ran to help and was met with Randy fighting with a dog? And the dog was very similar to the one Mike had, the one that disappeared leaving no trace some time ago... Fuck!

Cody turned back to human to stop the pointless brawl, having recognized the dog.

"Randy stop! I know him!" At least the dog form he knew!

The dog raised his golden ears upon hearing his voice and stopped growling. Randy saw the change and walked away, going to stand next to Cody, and turning to man again. Seconds later the dog did the same and a tall, blonde man with blue eyes was standing before them.

"Cody is that you?"

He asked hopefully. Cody nodded. "Yes. And you are-"

"Chris. I'm Chris."

Mike's dog! What the fuck! Randy looked at Cody with question in his eyes but Cody shrugged, as if saying 'I'll explain later'. Cody approached.
"What are you doing here? I thought you'd died. Mike suffered a lot when you disappeared,"

Chris's face fell at the mention of Mike, Cody noted. The man suddenly became sad. Damn he was missing something!

"I had no idea you were a shapeshifter. Why did you hide this from us?"

Chris's eyes hardened, "I had to hide, otherwise I'd be expelled from the tribe. As you can see, I failed. Wade discovered who I was and kicked me out. I never ran away. I'd never leave Mike willingly."

Oh now it made more sense... Poor Mike! He was devastated thinking that he treated him badly. But something was still off!

"Why'd Wade kick you out if you behaved like an ordinary dog all the time? You didn't pose any danger to any of us-"

"Cody."

Randy's hoarse voice sounded suddenly, interrupting him. The younger man turned to him, confused.

"What?"

'Why do you think the fuckerwould kick him?'
'What do you mean, he's just adog-'
'No, baby.He'sa mantoo.'

Cody's eyes widened with realization. FUCK the coin finally dropped, and the truth was shocking as hell!

Chris watched the mental chatter between them with amusement despite wondering how they could do it, and saw when the coin dropped to Cody when his eyes widened comically. Chris laughed at his astonished face.

"I fooled you for a long time, didn't I?"

"But how..."

"Simple. By day I was the dog that you all knew, but at night at Mike's room... I was all man."

"So you and Mike-"

"Yes. It was the only way to stay together because Mike knew that fucker would not accept me as his... how do you call it again?"

"Imprinted. Wait. Mike imprinted on you? But he never said anything!"

"He couldn't, it was too risky. We took care, day after day ... But then we didn't realize that Riley began to pay extra attention to us until eventually that damn bitch-in-heat found out about us."

"Wow" Cody knew Riley always wanted Mike, but Mike never wanted him back. He now understands why: he found his imprint! Shit and Cody always thought Mike was a womanizer but it was all an act!

"How is he, Cody? How is my Mike?"

Cody grimaced; if he only knew! Mike changed a lot recently. He was no longer the snob and joyous son of a bitch that everyone knew. Lately, he liked more to be isolated, and always with a sad expression on his face. Chris saw how his face fell and got worried. He invited them to go inside his hut and Cody started to tell everything that had happened. Chris heard all in silence, concerned but not surprised by the turn of events.

And now that the wolves were at war, the vampires were taking advantage of it. All very predictable, but with catastrophic results. Time passed, but some things have not changed...

~8~

Chris let them stay with him and they were grateful to him for it. They've been there for a week and so far no incident. This tranquility was being a good thing for them, because now they were getting to know more about their likes in food, drinks... Banal things normal couples know about each other.

Chris was kind enough to give them as much privacy as possible, but sometimes he was irritated by the constant groping and nudity, and one day he exploded when Randy got a huge boner at the dinner table when he saw Cody get up to take his plate to the kitchen and made the mistake of looking at the pert ass wiggling as he walked. Chris told them to start wearing some damn clothes from now on, or to eat outside. Cody agreed to borrow some clothes from him, but Randy had none of it, saying, "You'll not wear another man's clothes. I don't want you smelling of someone else near me," and at this point Cody wanted to strangle him for being so possessive and bossy, always telling him what he should or should not do. It was annoying at times! How about not wanting him to wear clothes, but parading naked in front of Chris all the time? Randy just smirked then, the bastard, with an answer on the tip of the tongue, "He found his beta so I'm cool. He won't want anyone but that Mike however delicious you are,"

Uh. Cretin! Cody rolled his eyes and left him alone, grumbling all the way. He liked to wear clothes! It wasn't totally comfortable to walk around with his jewels hanging all the damn time, and to feel his horny eyes on him next to Chris was embarrassing! Cody often quarreled with him about it, but eventually they make-up in the traditional way - in bed.

But not today. Cody wanted to be left alone and Randy decided to fulfill his wish, wanting him to crawl back to him later, when he returned. He went hunting to pass the time, and he walked away from the hut, going a few miles from it. He spent hours looking for something worthwhile, and only later on smelled a wild boar nearby. He hid, waiting for the right moment to attack, and when he was about to jump Randy sniffed something familiar. He cursed the odor, recognizing to whom it belonged.

With caution, Randy hid in the bushes and concentrated on listening to what happened. There were more people ahead. Ahead on a vast field of green grass something big would happen at any time.

The siege was closing and Randy felt that they'd end up in the crossfire.

-tbc-