:: "Second Chance" - Shinedown; "The Outsider" - A Perfect Circle ::

Second Chance: The Outsider

Now that they were in the confines of the island, it seemed to close in on them.

It was almost claustrophobic.

He felt eyes on him and it made his hackles bristle out of reflex.
His hand reached to grasp hers, making her pause minutely before she held onto his fingers, leading him further along the wide main street of the island.

"So how do you know this Zoli guy, anyway?" He asked quietly.

She saw a stray paper fly away in the crisp breeze out of the corner of her eye. "He helped supply our pack with weapons. His pack isn't as strong as ours is, but they do help us out if you can believe it."
Her eyes tightened slightly. "Zoli even said he tried to make it to Paradise, long ago. Before the war started." She whispered the last sentence, perking his ears.

His eyes widened slightly.

It had been a long time since he'd heard that word.
He had set out long ago (when he was old enough to survive on his own) in search of the impossible heaven. Just hearing the word 'Paradise' be mentioned sent a shiver down his spine.

He looked past the skyline of the buildings to the cold gray sky of mid-afternoon. "Did he ever say that he found it?" He wondered softly.

She shrugged.
"They tried, he said, but the path they took proved too difficult for them. Most of his comrades didn't make it back home." She replied.

Kiba nodded slightly, perking up when the familiar scent of wolf filled his nostrils.

Nikki sniffed the air and nodded, dragging him by the hand down a side alley and then another until they found an open alcove.

Five wolves sat around a burn-barrel, talking amongst themselves and occasionally warming their palms against the flames that burned brilliantly against the gray backdrop of the cold day.
A lanky wolf with a fat snout perked up when he caught the scent of intruding wolves, looking over at the two travelers.
The remaining four wolves also looked over at the two wolves, almost calculating their next move.

Kiba's fur bristled beneath his skin and he wordlessly raised his tail; Nikki clamped down on his hand, shooting him a look before her face turned serene.

"What the hell're you doing back here, queen bitch?" One of the wolves asked gruffly, his question not perturbing the she-wolf's calm expression.

She scoffed under her breath, smiling. "It's great to see you too, Mako. Zoli around?" She asked.

Another wolf huffed. "Yeah, he's at the station. What's it to ya?" He quipped.

Nikki rolled her eyes. "My brother sent me." She answered patiently.

The wolves shared a look amongst each other and then the first wolf Mako scoffed. "Fine, go ahead." He growled.
She nodded and led the way past the alcove.

"Oi, so who's your bodyguard?" Mako called.

"None of your fucking business, wolf." Nikki hollered coolly, dragging Kiba by the hand further away.

He looked over his shoulder once they were several blocks away, looking at her again. "Some friends." He mused.
She shrugged. "Nah, they're just some recruits Zoli conned into being in his pack a few years ago. They're not bad, but they're still asses." She explained.

Kiba huffed. "That makes more sense to me than anything else."

Nikki smirked gently up at him and ribbed him.
"Don't act so high and mighty, hotshot. You weren't far from that when we first met." She teased.

He rolled his eyes and ignored the flush on his face. "Shut up."

She laughed softly.

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"Oi, Zoli, is this that crate you were talking about?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Put it on the sled."

The old wolf perked up as he caught a whiff of an intruding wolf, a female.
He straightened from his seat on his favorite battered crate, making the other few wolves around him stop as well and look at him.

A black she-wolf walked towards him, a white wolf at her side.

A wry look crossed the scarred wolf's face.
"The hell're you doing here, girl?" He wondered, his gold eyes briefly flicking between the young she-wolf and the likewise-young male wolf that appeared to be her bodyguard.

An equally wry smirk crossed her lips at his greeting. "Oh come on, is it just my brother that you consider an ally?" She wondered coolly, stopping short of a few feet away from him.

He extended a hand to her, watching her shake it and grip his wrist in camaraderie. "It's been awhile. What's got your brother that he made you come see me?" He asked, gold meeting blue.

She shrugged.
"We've been under attack by the nobles for a few weeks and I guess he got concerned that you didn't rendezvous last week. We're still a pack of five – now six – strong, yeah, but other than that I'm not sure why he sent me here." She explained.

Zoli scoffed, "never figured your older brother to be a worrying type. Especially for a pack that isn't his own." He mused.

Nikki shrugged again. "I didn't either. Guess he's getting paranoid because of the nobles."

His gold eyes flashed over to the white wolf at her side. "So who's your bodyguard?" He asked.

Aside from him being her bodyguard, he was wise enough to catch the slight whiff of sex lingering between the two wolves, making it apparent to him that they'd slept together sometime within the past forty-eight hours.

"Kiba." He answered, his tail twitching upward as he met the gold stare of the older wolf.

Zoli nodded.
"Strong name. You look like you'd give those nobles some hell, like her." He nodded slightly to the she-wolf.

Kiba smirked slightly despite himself.
"Probably, yeah. Nikki tells me you tried to go to Paradise." He declared, perking the older wolf's ears.

He nodded again. "Yeah, a long while back. What's it to you?"

"You didn't make it."

"No, I didn't."

"Would you ever want to try going again?"

"Don't bet your ass on it."

"Oi pops!" A voice called out, making all three perk up and look about at the stairs leading to the higher part of the station.

A light gray wolf with green eyes trotted up the stairs, pausing short of seeing the two strangers standing near his father.
Zoli nodded to him, smirking slightly.
"Nikki, this is Tetsu." He introduced as the wolf shifted into the form of a handsome man about Kiba's age with dark blonde hair and icy gray eyes.

Tetsu nodded to his father, looking at the black she-wolf and flashing a lazy grin. "'Nikki', huh? Sounds beautiful." He said lightly.

She smirked a little at him and glanced at Kiba as he cleared his throat loudly.
"Yes, it is." Kiba answered for her, his tone brittle as he eyed the wolf.

He met his irritable blue stare and huffed.
"I'd think this beautiful wolf could answer for herself. She's not mute, is she?" He quipped, his gray eyes turning sharp and making him resemble his father.

His hand holding hers squeezed her fingers as his hackles bristled; she was his and he'd be damned if some bastard stole her from him.
He was the one she howled for, not this flirting idiot, he deemed.

She looked up at him and smiled sheepishly at the gray wolf.

"If you'll excuse us for a second." She declared, grabbing his wrist and dragging him down the stairs to the bottom floor.

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"What the hell is your problem?" She demanded once they were alone, glaring up at him.

"Me! You're one to talk, letting that little shit try to charm you!" He snapped.

It was bad enough some other male was trying to charm her, but she was okay with it?!

"I'm only being nice to him because Zoli and Tsume are business partners!" She spat.

He scoffed.
"That's bullshit. Just because that bastard is Zoli's son doesn't give him the damn right to try and win you over to be his mate!" He growled.

She lifted a brow. "Is that your problem? You think I'm going to let him try and make me his mate: is that it?" She asked slowly, perking his ears.

He looked away at the wall behind her and exhaled heavily, nodding. "Yeah."

Nikki snorted before she smirked up at him. "You idiot." She reached to take his chin in her fingers, pulling him down to kiss hard.

Kiba groaned softly and held her tightly, kissing her heatedly and biting her lip.
She shivered and heard him growl under his breath when she gingerly pushed his mouth away from hers.

"If you think for one second that some dumbass flirt like Tetsu is ever going to make me howl and scream and moan the way you make me do, you're a bigger moron than I ever pegged you to be." She whispered, looking up at him knowingly.

He held her hand to his cheek, sighing. "And if you keep talking that way, you'll force me to repeat last night." He replied in the same tone, his blue eyes tense and raw.

The pool of warmth in her belly heated at seeing his eyes in that rare light, a smile forming on her lips. "Play nice, hotshot." She warned.

Kiba smirked at her and his eyes softened. "So you're not interested."

Nikki rolled her eyes. "Hell, no."

He exhaled again. "Good," he gently pinned her against the wall, briefly surprising her before his head ducked down and he kissed her again, his mouth demanding and hot and tender all at once.

She groaned softly and curled her fingers in his hair, kissing him passionately as the wolf in her howled happily at being close to this wolf that had made her his mate.
He felt her shiver and he smiled, gingerly pulling away to sigh and press his forehead against hers, his eyes closed.

"I still don't like being someone's property," she began, running her fingers through his hair out of habit. "But I'm getting used to it." She breathed the last sentence, seeing him chuckle quietly.

Kiba kissed her again and pulled back reluctantly. "Good. C'mon, I think we're starting to worry the natives." He mused, taking her hand again and leading her away.

Nikki rolled her eyes and sighed, knowing that he wasn't worried about anyone but her; and strangely, that felt good. She wasn't sure why.

"Whatever."

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He watched patiently as she scribbled a message into a small piece of paper, tying the paper to a passerby crow's right leg.
The crow cawed and took off, flying into the gale crisp winds of the cold day.

She smiled after the crow, perking her ears as the young wolf from before came to sit with them at the burn barrel they occupied.

His fur bristled slightly but he calmed himself, meeting the young wolf's green eyes. "What're you doing here?" He wondered.

He shouldered a bag onto one shoulder, glancing at the black wolf briefly.
"My dad said he'd let me go off on my own. I want to fight the nobles, too." He declared, briefly surprising the couple.

He shared a look with his companion before he met the wolf's gray eyes. "If you can fight, I don't care if you follow us." He said.

She met the handsome blonde's gray eyes. "My brother probably won't mind another hand..."

She hopped from sitting on the cold bench lithely to move closer to him, ignoring the white wolf's stare that bore into her skull as she neared the gray wolf.
Her blue eyes met his icy gray and she smirked wryly.
"I really don't care which way it goes, honestly. I'll tell you this, though: you try to fuck with me or with him," she jabbed a thumb behind her at her companion. "And I swear to the Moon that I'll rip your throat out. Do we have a deal?" She wondered lowly, meeting the slightly tensed gray wolf's eyes.

He nodded, the tense muscles easing in his arms; a slow grin formed on his mouth. "Whatever you say, love." He mused.

She nodded and huffed, patting his shoulder before she turned to her companion.

"Don't think I'm some cheap whore, either, Iron-boy; I've got a knife and know how to use it… If you get what I mean, that is." She said over her shoulder.

Both male wolves glanced briefly at their crotches at her warning before Kiba smirked knowingly at her, hoisting his bag over his shoulder and handing her hers.

Tetsu followed them as they started walking away, seeing Kiba's left arm slide to hug Nikki's shoulders possessively, his blue eyes briefly looking back at the gray wolf before they looked at her and he smiled gently.

She ribbed him and smirked, rolling her eyes when he squeezed her shoulders.

This would be a long journey back, she figured.

reviews/ helpful critiques are well appreciated! thanks~ :'D