AN: This is the last chapter of The Pack: Mating, but I will write a sequel. I will write that sequel at the same speed I wrote this, so don't count on it to come quickly or even snail-speed, but still. The story isn't over. I've actually got it all planned out. I just am, you know, really freaking lazy.

Chapter Ten

Xander could not remember ever being happier. She was running, flying through his territory in the still of the morning just before dawn with his Pack at his heels. Her mate was beside her, whole and strong. The Mating was complete, fulfilled that night with blood and sex, a bond that could not be broken. Xander would never be alone again.

She had started to remember and understand the boy's life as she lived in his body, and she wanted this for him, just as much as she wanted it for her. She knew that he would fight if he could, but it was just instinct. All was instinct. He wanted to belong to someone, anyone, and he would love belonging to this Pack. He needed a Mate, someone to love him above all else, and he needed to be strong, to take control. He needed to be Alpha, so she took him and she made him Alpha. She saw him, all the bad and the good and she loved him. She was mother-self, and she wanted the very best for him. The very best was Mate and Pack and Hunt.

Xander was happy. All of Xander. There was no conflict, because there was no argument. Xander had been lonely ever since the other pup, Jesse, had died. Jesse had been good, a sweet pup, perhaps even enough to be Mate someday if he had lived. Xander knew this, knew that the boy had had feelings for the pup, and this made her satisfied. Kyle was not the pup but he was like him, a good boy with a strong will and a love that would keep her in line. She looked forward to Hunts and long days in bed. She wanted nights of running and playing with the Pack.

She wanted the Pack to be together.

Xander yipped and raced a little faster, bounding over a tombstone and just following her sense of Tor's presence. She knew where he was, as surely as she knew where her own hand was. Pack was family, more than family, Pack was body. Pack was all. They had to get Tor back and make the interlopers pay, kill the ones who had dared to steal him in her territory, because there was no doubt that this was her territory. She had been there before any of them, born on the Mouth of Hell and destined to die on it, it would seem. They had all come after, so it was her territory, her land to protect.

They were getting on her nerves, and she needed those.

Kyle pressed up and began to run in stride with her. Had it been one of the others, Rhonda or Heidi, or Tor, in better circumstances, she would have nipped at them and pushed them back behind, but Kyle was Mate. Kyle was allowed special privileges, because Mate was there to keep her sane. Mate was there to make sure that she made the right call and always protected the Pack even when she wanted something else, like revenge or territory—or sex. She did not think Kyle had figured out his role yet, but he was important. She had chosen him for his strength, and because the human inside her had quivered so beautifully at the sight of him. She needed that. She needed to be wholly committed to her Mate, and she was. All of her recognized Kyle as her equal and her subordinate at once. He could challenge her decisions, but it was still ultimately her Pack.

She could feel gravel under her feet now, and it hurt, but not enough to take away from the thrill of the Hunt and the need for Pack to be together. They were almost to Tor. It took her a moment to realize that they had ended back up at the zoo, the place that smelled of fried bananas and magic. She just kept running for Tor, though, because it didn't matter now if the fired banana smell was getting stronger. Tor was Pack, and Pack stayed together. She could feel the threads of his loyalty to Pack and Alpha like she could feel the pull of a well corded rope, ever drawing her in. You did not abandon Pack, no matter what the situation.

Of course, Xander thought uncharitably, as she glanced back at Rhonda and Heidi, sometimes you wanted to. Very badly.

She did not know how she would punish them when they got Tor back, but she would certainly have to think of something. They had allowed Tor to go out alone when they knew of the danger to the Pack, all so that they could have some time to mate. They did not need privacy for that. Privacy was only really necessary for times like a true Mating, when vows and bonds were exchanged, rather than just bodily fluids. She would know if the two females had Mated, and she could smell that they had not. They had just been too prudish or angry to allow Tor to stay, and had instead pushed him out into his capture. She could not think of a punishment bad enough, but she was going to try her level best.

They raced past the zebra pens and the reptile houses, away from the butterfly cages and the aquarium. There. There it was. The Hyena House. That was where they were keeping Tor. The irony was just so thick that Xander couldn't help it. She started to laugh.

Kyle looked at her strangely for a moment, until she pointed at their destination, never slowing down or missing a footfall. He then joined her in laughter, and the females did too, their cries cackling up into a sky that was starting to turn gray with light. Xander kept running. Tor was close, the Pack was almost together now.

They reached the entrance for the Hyena House and did not slow down. If there was a trap, which there surely was, then no amount of stealth would stop them from setting it off. It was better to surprise the captors than worry about that. They raced along empty hallways, bare feet skittering across tile floors, until they came to the main room and saw Tor.

It wasn't pretty.

Xander growled loudly, not bothering with subtlety. A man dressed in old robes, his face painted and fierce, held Tor up, knife to his throat. Tor struggled, but he appeared to be bound. Scanning the room, Xander could see the Slayer bound up as well, and Willow splayed out on the floor, probably unconscious. She advanced on the man, still growling. He began to chant in a language she did not recognize.

She stalked forward and the Pack followed, until they were all within his painted circle. Then they rushed. He cried out the last words of his chant as they leaped for him, fingers twisted like claws and teeth gnashing. Their eyes began to glow, flashing out the light as the spirits were torn from their bodies. Xander could feel it begin in her. She could feel herself begin to tear, but she pressed on. She grabbed the man and threw him into the pit, just as her eyes flashed and the hyena left him.

Xander awoke, naked, in the center of the Hyena House at the zoo, curled around Kyle, of all people, praying that the last day had been a dream.

This was so not what he meant when he asked for the world to pay him back.