She awoke slowly, her body trembling with cold. She sat up and dropped her head into her hands when the world started spinning. She looked around, confused. She was sitting alone in a snowy forest clearing. Wait. Snow? What the hell?

She stood and braced herself against another wave of dizziness. Where was the car? How the hell did she end up in the snow in August!?

She wrapped her arms tightly around herself and shivered. She then noticed her clothing. She was in high-heeled leather knee boots and a full-length skirt of almost black violet with a slash all the way up to the thigh. She also had on a black waist-length wool-lined coat, so she pulled up the hood in an effort to keep warm.

She was looking for a hint as to where to go from there when a strange growl caught her attention. She crouched slightly and turned in the direction of the sound just in time to see an utter impossibility.

A huge man burst from the trees, wearing furs and giving vent to an odd growl. His strange dark eyes focused on her and she quailed in fear. He had long shaggy blonde hair and thick horny claws instead of fingernails. He stood at least two feet taller than she, and was covered in bulky muscle. It was Sabretooth! But that couldn't be! He wasn't real! He was just a character in the movies!

He stood breathing heavily for a few moments, sniffing hard in her direction. His eyes rolled up in his head and he shuddered with apparent pleasure. A thick plume of vapor curled around his head as he exhaled with a curious purling sound His gaze fixed on her again and he licked his fangs in anticipation.

She felt her heart jump up into her throat and she braced to defend herself. Desperately she searched her pockets for anything she might use as a weapon. Damn! Not even a set of keys! She risked a quick look around. The trees to her left weren't too far away. Maybe she could make it…she was going to die if she didn't.

He crouched, catching her eye and freezing her in place. Faster than she could blink, he was upon her. She fell back in shock and kicked her feet out, catching him hard in the stomach. He made a grunt of surprise and grinned hungrily again, chuckling low to himself.

She stared up at him, scared out of her mind. Move! She screamed silently at herself. Get up and RUN! Her body refused to cooperate. All she could do was sit in the snow and watch him for any movement, waiting for any twitch.

He rumbled a low, throaty chuckle, full of malicious glee. "I like it when they fight back."

She didn't flinch, she jumped. And screamed hysterically. And almost wet herself. His voice was sudden and more familiar than she could ever have expected. For some reason, that terrified her worse than anything else.

Again he rushed her, this time pinning her underneath him in the snow. She screamed once in fear and tried desperately to claw at his face and eyes. With a delighted laugh he pinned her arms above her head with one hand and tore open her coat with the other. She struggled against him, trying to free her arms and legs to fight back. He buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply, shuddering with that strange purring noise.

She whimpered as she felt his rough tongue along her neck. He laughed a low growling laugh and stood up, hauling her up by the shoulder of the coat. Her arms slipped from the sleeves and she found herself free and staring stupidly at him. His expression was strangely innocent in its confusion. He cocked his head, much like a puppy faced with an interesting new toy would. When his eyes flicked back to her, she was running before she even knew what she was doing. As she made the trees she could hear him howl with excitement.

There was a heavy tread behind her, growing louder and louder as she bungled through the trees. She thought ludicrously to herself that she should be winded by now, but she attributed her burst of energy to adrenalin. As she ran she tried to listen to her surroundings. She heard no sounds of habitation, nor did she hear any cars or airplanes. There was only the empty silence of the snow-clogged forest and the desperate whoosh of air through her lungs as she fled.

As she ran her foot caught on a tree root and she stumbled, turning out her ankle painfully. Just like those stupid women in the movies she thought to herself. She struggled to keep her feet and run, but he flew up from behind her. Sobbing with helpless panic, she turned and tried to keep running. He swept her up from behind.

"No need to play hard-to-get. You're mine now," He growled in her ear. She kicked and flailed, digging her nails into his arms, and he responded by biting her savagely on the shoulder. She screamed in pain, and her vision began to darken as she struggled to catch her breath. Bright little flecks crowded in on her vision. She blinked furiously as she was thrown over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. The force of her body hitting his shoulder knocked the wind out of her again, and she helplessly succumbed to the darkness

She awoke to a searing bolt of pain in her shoulder and someone jostling her roughly. Her breath caught as she tried to move her injured arm and Sabretooth appeared atop her. She gasped and held her hands up between them.

"Wait!"

He paused with a frown, his now bare chest heaving. He was covered with a thin sheen of perspiration. Thick hair made a triangular pattern over his chest and down his belly. Bulky muscle rippled beneath his taught skin with his every move. Despite her fear, she couldn't help but admire. He was ripped.

"Are you really Sabretooth?"

He cocked his head quizzically, and grunted in response as he tore her blouse open. She tried to halt him again, but to no avail. She tried to cross her arms over her chest as heart pounded and she began to cry in fear. He caught her wrists and held them above her head with one arm and with the other, ripped off her bra, tearing the skin on her sides and shoulders. She screamed in pain and he slid his tongue down her neck, between her breasts and over her belly. She clenched herself, knowing that fighting would only get her more pain, and resolving to endure what she had to and escape later.

"Okay, okay! I won't fight you!" She wept. "Just please don't hurt me anymore!"

"Now where's the fun in that?" He asked, bearing his fangs at her in a wicked grin.

She stared up at him in horror then let her head fall back in helpless defeat. He leaned over as if to kiss her. She squeezed her eyes shut and flinched violently when he buried his face in her neck and inhaled deeply. His rigid body shuddered above her as he exhaled with a hungry growl against her ear.

She flinched and whimpered again when his tongue licked hungrily down her throat. Impatiently, he slapped her hands away when they instinctively tried to cover her breasts. His tongue was long, and made slow, rough swipes as he licked his way down her chest. He slid his hands up her thighs, pushing her skirt up to her waist. He bit her thigh above the top of her stockings and groaned hungrily when she squealed.

He made short work of her underwear and drew his claws up the inside of her leg, drawing tiny drops of blood. She flinched and squeezed her eyes shut.

Please God, let it be over soon!

Professor Charles Xavier opened the tear-filled eyes of the body of the poor, mindless man he had taken over when Jean/Phoenix destroyed his own body. He reached over and weakly pushed the button that would summon Moira to his room.

His mind was filled with the terror of that strange woman who was at the mercy of the brute Sabretooth. He had felt a powerful ripple as she somehow appeared into the world, and had focused on locating her. He finally found her in the Mountain forests between Alaska and Canada, far to the north, and already in the clutches of Sabretooth.

A brief look into his mind revealed a man out of control with lust that was somehow unnatural, and it was directed solely at the strange woman he even now vented it on. Charles sighed and tried to relax. This body wasn't accustomed to being used psychically, and he was limited in what he could do with it. In time, he knew he'd be back to his normal strength, but not right now.

Moira entered quietly, her expression carefully neutral. Charles sighed inwardly. She was still angry about his habitation of this man's body. He knew the man had no mind. He'd searched carefully for some glimmer of him, with no success. Moira wasn't so sure. As glad as she was to know he was still around, she did not like Charles' seemingly casual use of the man's body. Well, making up with her would have to wait.

"Moira, thank you for coming. Something terrible has happened and I need you to contact the school for me."

Ororo Munroe, otherwise knows as Storm, sat in Professor Xavier's office, working her way through the mountain of paperwork on the desk. Things had finally settled down at the school and the subdued atmosphere left in the wake of the deaths of Jean, Scott and the Professor had finally given way to real laughter and normal life for the students. Warren now taught and lived at the school, and Logan had sort of taken over physical training. Hank McCoy stopped by on occasion to make sure all was well, but his time
was taken up with his work for the President. Some of the older and more capable students helped out with the administrative tasks for class credits. It worked out well for everyone, especially the students who learned better by doing, rather than reading a text book.

She signed another paper and tossed it onto the stack of paperwork needing to be filed. She leaned back in the chair with a heavy sigh and rubbed her face. The alarm on her computer beeped softly, warning her that her class would be arriving for their Ethics lesson. She tapped the OK button and it automatically called up her lesson for the day.

As she skimmed through, her students began trudging through the door. Bobby and Jones were both smudged with engine grease and she gave them a look and pointed at the bathroom at the back of the office. The grinned sheepishly and moseyed across the room, chattering animatedly about the engine Jamie had fixed. Jubilee, Kitty, Megan and Piotr all entered in a group. She smiled to herself when she noticed that every one of them passed by the Professor's wheelchair and touched it lightly before taking their seats.

They all finally settled in and she sent the video from her computer to the large screen at the front of the room. She nearly jumped out of her skin when the phone rang. The students all laughed a little when she jumped. She stuck her tongue out at them and circled around the desk to answer the phone.

"Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. This is Headmistress Mun…"

"Storm, it's Moira. I'm sorry to disturb your class, but something's come up."

Storm listened for several moments and then laid a hand over the mouthpiece. "Kitty, go get Warren. Jubilee, get Logan. Quickly."

"Some of my colleagues in Canada have contacted me about a kidnapping in the north western mountains of Canada, near the Alaskan border. Apparently some local trappers have heard a woman screaming for the past couple of days. The people they sent to investigate have all been found dead: mauled by a wild animal of some sort." Moira looked down from the camera she was talking into and they could hear her tapping out something on a keyboard.

"Members of the local Mutant community made an attempt to find out what was going on and came back badly hurt, but with the exact location of the cave."

Moira's window shrunk and zipped up to the upper right hand corner of the screen as a satellite photo of the earth opened up. The camera zoomed in several times before focusing on two figures emerging from a cave.

"Sabretooth," Logan grumbled.

"Yes," Moira murmured sadly. Sabertooth was leading a woman out of the cave. Her legs seemed wobbly, and she staggered, clutching a fur around her shoulders. "He appears to have taken this woman from somewhere, and he's holding her in that cave." They watched as the woman's legs gave out and Sabretooth picked her up and took her into the trees. A few minutes later, he emerged carrying her. The fur fell and for a brief moment they could clearly see the dark lines of claw marks along her arms and torso, and dark purple marks on her face, neck and chest before they disappeared into the cave again. "I'm sure I don't need to go into detail about her situation." Moira said delicately. "There is no real law enforcement in that area, and there is definitely no one equipped or trained to handle Sabretooth. I thought you might be able to help."

Storm nodded. "We'll take it from here. Thanks, Moira."

Moira nodded and her screen blacked out.

"Son of a Bitch." Muttered Logan

"That poor woman," whispered Kitty.

Warren laid a hand on her shoulder and looked sadly up at Storm. "I'll stay with the school," He offered.

"Actually, I'd rather have you with us," said Storm. "If you think you're ready."

"I'm ready, but who'll stay with the school?"

"Don't look at me," Logan said. "I'm the only other one of you that's fought Sabretooth before."

Storm shook her head. "No, I need you to go too Logan. I was thinking about asking Hank if he could come take care of the school. He's just gotten back from his tour of Europe, so I think he'd be amiable."

They all looked at each other.

"So when do we leave?" asked Bobby.

The team arrived at a spot several miles away from the cave that was their objective. It was bitterly cold although the sun was shining. They checked their new communicators and began the hike up the mountain. When they were close enough, Kitty parted from the group and phased through the mountain side. They waited anxiously and huddled close to one another for warmth.

Logan, unaffected by the cold, clapped his hands to get their attention. "Alright. If Kitty can bring her back, we'll haul ass back to the jet and get her back home ASAP. If she can't, Colossus, Storm and I will draw Sabretooth out so Warren, Bobby and Kitty can get her out. Everybody got it?"

The all nodded and waited for Kitty to reappear.

She emerged suddenly almost an hour later. She was breathing hard and looking green in the face. She rushed past them and vomited noisily behind a tree. They all gathered around her and Storm helped her clean her face with some fresh snow. A few minutes later she had regained her composure.

"I came out near where the tunnel opens out into that cave we saw," She gulped hard and dropped her eyes. "He was in there with her. It was awful. She kept begging for him to stop and let her heal…" She gagged and looked like she was going to be sick again.

"I waited in the tunnel until he got up and left. I phased through the wall and came out next to where he…" She sniffed loudly and wiped her nose with her arm. "She was laying there, crying when I came out. Guys, she's hurt real bad. There's no way she could walk out of there."

The all stared grimly at Kitty, bothered by what the young girl had to witness, and what the woman inside must have endured. It was Logan who brought them back to their senses.

"Well? What are you all standing there for? Let's go!"

They crept quietly around the mountain until they were less than half a mile from the entrance. Logan, Storm, and Colossus angled off into the woods, hoping to catch Sabretooth's attention and lead him away from the cave.

Kitty led Warren and Bobby out of the trees and into the darkness of the tunnel. They followed it around until it widened into a large, open area. Inside they found the crumpled form of the woman they had come to rescue. She lay on her stomach with the tattered remains of her skirt barely covering her backside. Her legs were covered in scratches, bites and bruises: her inner thighs were the worst. Her back was also covered in scratches and bites, as were her arms.

Kitty gently touched her shoulder and the woman flinched violently.

"Shhh," she whispered soothingly, "It's ok, it's just me and my friends. We've come to take you out of here."

The woman blinked up at them, covering herself with her arms. "Kitty? Warren? Bobby?" She murmured in surprised disbelief. They all looked in askance at Kitty, but she shook her head. She hadn't told her their names.

Kitty picked up a loose fur and wrapped it around the woman, and Warren picked her up carefully. They all whirled around at the sound of a snarl of fury to see Sabretooth barrel out of the tunnel. Bobby instantly threw up his hands and glued the raging beast to the floor of the cave. The man roared, enraged, and the icy shackles began to immediately give way. Bobby redirected his focus, and a wall of ice formed between them.

They all clearly heard when Sabretooth broke free. He hurled himself against the wall of ice. Huge cracks spider webbed across the face of the ice with a sound like tree trunks snapping. They all flinched back involuntarily and stared at one another, frightened by his rage. Bobby's wall wasn't going to hold.

Kitty looked around desperately. "Which way would you say the entrance to the tunnel is?"

Bobby looked around and pointed. "That way. Why?"

"Warren you hold on to her, Bobby, you hold on to me. Whatever you do, don't let go."

She glanced back and saw that Sabretooth was about to break through. She focused on her power and ran them straight into and through the mountain. They ran for what seemed an hour and came out of the mountain shockingly suddenly.

They all breathed a collective sigh of relief. Bobby, having phased with Kitty before, had been somewhat prepared for the experience. Warren and the woman they'd rescued, however, hadn't and they were panting from the shock of it.

Kitty staggered away from them, and fell to her knees in the snow. She gasped and shook from the stress of phasing them all for so long. Bobby knelt beside her and laid an arm around her shoulders.

"Are you alright?" he asked

She nodded and sucked in a deep breath. "I'm gonna be sore in the morning."

Bobby smiled and squeezed her shoulder. "C'mon, we have to get going before…"

An earsplitting roar shattered the air and from the tunnel entrance, Sabretooth charged them. Bobby moved to throw another wall of ice at him, but Sabretooth was tackled by a gleaming Colossus. The enraged Mutant backhanded the young man, and he was thrown backwards into the trees. Logan burst out of the trees near them and stood sniffing the air suspiciously. He saw the woman in Warren's arms and rushed over, smelling something. His eyes were glued on her and she murmured his name in disbelief.

Seemingly unaware of their situation, he touched her face gently. "Are you alright?"

Warren tightened his hold on her and glared at Logan. "I've got her." He said angrily.

The two glared at each other until Kitty Screamed for Colossus. They seemed to return to their senses and remember the business at hand.

"Angel! Get her out of here! Everyone else, back to the Jet!" Logan ordered, his blades extending instantly.

Warren leapt into the air and winged away, carrying away Sabretooth's victim. The jet was miles away, and before long his frozen wings and muscles began to tire. Overhead an out-of-place thunderstorm began brewing, so he gratefully descended into the trees to avoid getting accidentally electrocuted by Storm's temper.

He sat down against a tree and gently wrapped his wings around the both of them to keep them warm. His arms were beginning to burn from carrying her, but with a few minutes' rest he'd be able to carry her the rest of the way on foot.

She lay sleeping in his arms and he felt a strange possessiveness for her. He shook his head and pushed aside the urge to caress her face. This woman was a stranger. What the hell was he thinking?

He shrugged it aside and touched the communicator on his ear. "Bobby what's the status?"

"We're on our way back! Storm blasted him with a few zillion bolts of electricity and it knocked him out."

"Angel! Where are you?" Yelled Logan.

"Not far from the jet. I couldn't carry her the whole way, My wings are too cold. I'm about a quarter of a mile away."

"Stay there," Panted Piotr. "I will come and carry her the rest of the way. Turn on your locator."

Warren pushed aside a momentary surge of irritation. "Copy that. Locator on." He flipped the switch on his communicator and sat back to wait for the others.

Minutes later, Logan and Colossus came crashing through the trees. Colossus scooped the woman up in his arms and Logan helped Warren to his feet. At that moment, Sabretooth's newly enraged howl could be heard echoing off the surrounding mountains. They broke and ran for the jet.