OK, Just so you all know, there is the implication of adult situations here in this chapter as well as an overabundance of foul language. If this is something that will offend you DO NOT READ THIS CHAPTER! I am not going to put up with a bunch of reviews from people complaining about the fact that they were offended by the language or the impications, particularly now that I have given you fair warning.

The glory and wonder of the internet is that if you don't like something, there is both a back button as well as a plethora of links to other websites that you can go to. My suggestion to you is that if this is the case, you take advantage of these wonderous ammenities.

One last warning is that I think I might have made Logan a little OOC in the last chapter and I think the trend might have continued into this one. If you have some suggestions as to how this might be recified, I'd be more than happy to hear them, though I make no promises to impliment them.

I thank you for entertaining my rant/content warning, I hope you enjoy this chapter. Review if you want, or don't.

CC

Kiera enjoyed the twilight hours. Sitting out on the deck she had added on to the upper level of her stables, she revelled in the quiet that surrounded it. All the students were tucked away in the mansion, her horses either roaming happily in their paddocks or dozing in their stalls and the soft rustling of the trees made this one of the few moments of true peace she ever got in a day.

'Then again, listening to Logan puttering around my kitchen was pretty damn peaceful.' She thought, gently fingering the long neck of a beer bottle at her side. 'And that coffee he made... damn stuff could wake the dead. I could use a pot of that stuff every now and then.' Frowning, Kiera took a long pull of her beer, barely tasting it as the cool liquid danced on her tongue. Logan hadn't been down to see her in a few days and it was starting to irritate her. She may not be a feral, may not fully understand what went on in the mind of a predator, but that didn't mean she didn't have a clue as to how they thought. Prey animals used the same instincts and thought processes predators did, just in a different way. 'Maybe I need to find a way to show him that, show him that if he would just let me IN, I might actually understand what's going on with him.'

"Yeah, and maybe then I can cure world hunger and find the fountain of youth while I'm at it." She muttered, slugging back the last of her beer before tossing the bottle into the recycling bin, listening to the clattering of glass and metal before the silence regained control.

"Sounds like you've got yourself an ambitious plan of attack there Kiera." Her eyes locked on to his as Logan paused at the top of her stairs. "Can I come up?"

"Sure, pull up a seat." Kiera replied, trying to keep her voice light, but fully aware that it was probably pointless for her to do. The man was, literally, part wolf and any tension she was feeling would translate into both her body and her scent. She cursed Logan in the back of her mind for making her feel this way; even though she knew it wasn't entirely his fault. He couldn't help it that he was so distractingly attractive, that the rough timber in his voice had started to regularly send shivers down her spine, that his... scent she supposed, or something in it had slowly begun to make her want to jump him, ravage him, have her wicked way... 'NO!' she thought, violently wrenching herself from that runaway train of thought. 'If he can smell tension, he can most assuredly smell arousal. That kind of thinking needs to stop right - freaking - NOW!'

Taking a moment, Kiera turned away from Logan as he flopped down on the chair beside her, watching the sun slowly crept lower and lower into the sky. Normally, the silences between the two of them were easy and comfortable, but this one just twisted and festered in her gut. Finally able to bear it no longer, she sighed, taking a minute to choose her words. "So... are we going to talk about this?"

Logan had known this was coming. Kiera was so straightforward, so direct; he should have known that it would be the first thing she would have brought up. But did he want it brought up? Could he actually explain what was going on in his head? Did he want to? "Can I get a beer first?" he asked, trying to order his thoughts.

"Sure. Gimmie a sec." She replied, getting up from her chair. "You want a lager or pale ale?"

"Lager if you don't mind." Logan stayed silent, listening to Kiera walking back to her laundry room where she kept her beer fridge. When she was safely tucked away in the bowels of her apartment, Logan let out a slow breath. He was pretty damn sure about what he scented on her. It wasn't exactly a scent he was unfamiliar with, just not one he was sure how to handle with Kiera. He was hardly a blushing virgin, for God's sake, he'd been alive since before the 1970's. He'd slept with more than his fair share of women in a series of one night stands. As a result, the scent of arousal was nothing, if not familiar. But this was Kiera, his friend, one he wanted to keep around for as long as humanly possible. But that meant actually talking over the uncomfortable situation that had arisen between them as well as his plans to leave. Growling softly, Logan hunched forward, resting his arms on his knees, rubbing his forehead, trying to stave off the headache he felt forming behind his eyes. This was getting far too complicated for his liking.

The feel of a chilly bottle being gently pressed against his shoulder shook Logan out of his reverie. Turning, he took the bottle, spotting the concern in Kiera's eyes as she took her seat. Choosing to watch the sunset for just a little bit longer, Logan took a slug of the lager. As the minutes ticked by, Logan quietly inhaled Kiera's scent. Concern had started to override the... tension he had scented earlier, but she was starting to slowly relax again. Then again, given where the tension was probably coming from, he wasn't surprised that a little bit still clung to her scent. Not to sound arrogant, but aroused tension never really went away around the object of one's affections. Now what the hell was he going to do with that information?

Might as well start with the more painful aspect of the conversation. "I'm sorry." He muttered, feeling her frown against his shoulder. "I shouldn't have run out on ya the last time we talked. Probably didn't help matters at that point."

"Bit of a moot point now ain't it?" she replied, her voice even, her scent going just a little haywire.

"Maybe, but you still deserved an apology."

Even without looking at her, Logan could hear the wheels turning in Kiera's head. He appreciated the fact that she was trying to choose the right words, but he was beginning to miss the times where she would just say whatever the hell she felt like to him. "Logan, you said a few days ago that I didn't know what I was getting into with you. I wonder do you know what you're getting into with me." Confused, Logan turned to Kiera, watching her face carefully. "Everybody knows predators are fierce and aggressive fighters, but do you know how fierce your prey can be?"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about how foolish your inner wolf is if he feels that my horses and I would make good prey." Logan balked a bit, both at the accurate assessment of him as well as the blunt insult. A humourless smirk crossed her face at his double-take. She had been guessing. "Guess I'm not so clueless about the inner workings of a wolf's mind after all."

"How did you..."

"If I'm to live and care for a prey animal, I need to have at least a basic understanding of their natural enemies." Dropping her bottle down onto a nearby table, Kiera shifted, leaning into him. "Wolves are usually smart enough to know not to mess with the bigger herd animals, usually going for the elderly members of the herd or the odd foal if they're suicidal and lucky." Cocking her head to the side, Kiera watched as Logan focused on the horizon, avoiding her eyes. "The herd is very protective of its members, and when threatened, the alpha couple with fight to the death to protect their followers. It's one of the reason's wolf packs don't use them as a regular food source. Too difficult a fight for no guarantee of a kill."

"And the point of this little lecture is?" Logan growled as he turned away, feeling increasingly uncomfortable as she spoke.

"That no matter what your inner wolf initially thinks about me and mine, we can take care of ourselves. Besides," her hand reached up, gently forcing him to look at her. "I highly doubt that either you or your wolf is stupid enough to try anything against my horses. We can hold our own, you know that."

Logan stared at her, taking in what she was saying. In his shock, the tight control over his feral nature he had started to make standard around Kiera slipped. His wolf keened quietly in his head, responding to her scent and her challenge. One thing Logan had not become used to living at the Manor was people challenging him. For the most part, the others living here were too intimidated by him to challenge him in anyway. "What's going on with us Logan? We can't fix things unless both of us know what's wrong."

"I don't know what's wrong." He muttered. "And that pisses me off. You throw me Kiera. You don't react to things the same way as others do. You fight back with me when others are too spooked to. You don't stand for any kind of bullshit; hell you've even got Pyro behaving a bit better than normal lately." Wrenching his face out of her hands, Logan stood, scrubbing his hands over his face, unsure how to continue.

"Well, I suppose I should thank you for the compliments, can I assume they're compliments?" Kiera asked, jokingly, chuckling quietly at Logan's smirk. "But, perhaps in the spirit of solving this problem, you ought to give me the slightly advanced tour of psyche."

Sighing slightly, Logan considered where to begin. "Do you know how old I am?" He asked, wondering how much she had heard from the other residents of the school.

"I have an idea." She replied. "Mostly amassed from information given by the teachers here, the kids all just assume you're ancient." That elicited a wry chuckle at least. "The professor told me pre-1970. Beyond that, with your healing factor, I'd just be grasping at smoke."

"And I'm sure the professor also told you that 1970 is the first year I have any memories of." Rolling his shoulders, Logan felt the metal covering his bones click against itself. "And ever since then, there's been this void, like when you start reading a book halfway through, you know some of the story, but you can't help but feel like you're missing some really big parts of the story. I don't know where I came from, or what parts of my life might have made me into what I am today." Logan grimaced a bit, he was rambling. "Since then, I've mostly been living by my own code, my own instincts."

"Sounds lonesome."

"You don't even know the half of it. Come to think of it, I don't even know the half of it." Kiera smiled, but didn't laugh at Logan's black humour. "The thing about ferals is that they are, in the end, very animalistic, very primal. We see things, more often than not, in black and white, food or threat."

"I'm I still falling in the food category?"

"I think you're in the clear on that one." Logan replied, smirking.

"So, by you logic, I must then be a threat." Kiera smiled evilly. "I think I like that idea."

"Ok, so it's not always so simple, but you get the point." Glancing over at her, a low rumbling laugh shuddered through Logan's frame. "And wipe that smile off your face; you look like a bad super-villain." Giggling quietly, Kiera stuck her tongue out at him, but said no more. "When Wolverine saw you the first time, he thought of you as prey. Since then, how you've challenged me, how you've reacted to me, how you've talked to me has all changed how he views you. And I don't know what's coming."

"Is it the lack of control between us that bothers you?" Kiera asked, leaning up against the railing, watching his face. "The fact that you don't have to take care of me, maybe?"

"No it's... ah damn, I don't know." Logan sighed, his frustration bubbling to the surface.

Kiera allowed the silence to rein as she studied his face, her frown deepening. Logan knew what was coming before she spoke by the suspicion slowly beginning to color her scent. "Or... is this still about that night?" At his silence, frustration and anger swiftly took over her scent. "Damn it Logan, are you still on about that?" she exclaimed. "How many times are we going to argue about this?"

Now Logan was starting to get pissed. "I don't know Kiera, why don't you tell me?" he growled, his face darkening with anger. "You were drunk and I..."

"You did not, for the last fucking time, take advantage of me." Kiera hissed, her green eyes glittering with anger as Logan felt her nails dig small crescents into his arm. "For the last goddamn time, I kissed YOU, I jumped YOU, and I remember every fucking detail about it!" The look of shock on his face made her roll her eyes. "As I have told you over and over and over again, I was hardly as drunk as you seem to think and I am nowhere NEAR the blushing virgin you seem to believe I am." Dropping his arm, Kiera raked a hand through her hair, shoving the stray hairs back. "While I am sure I have not had the same number of sexual partners you have, I'm not exactly inexperienced in the bedroom."

"I didn't think you were."

"Then what the fuck is the matter with you?" She yelled, stepping into him. "Are you so consumed by your own tragedy, your own pain that you don't think anyone else is capable of shouldering it with you? Do you actually believe the crap Grey has been feeding you about having to protect people from yourself? Well news flash, I don't fucking need protecting, and I sure as hell don't want protection!"

"Well too damn bad!" Logan roared. "Because unfortunately, with a wolf taking up half of my brain, protection is what you are going to get! I don't know what's in my head; all I know is that I am a good, goddamn killer and I cannot risk losing control around people!"

"So you're going to run now, that it?" Kiera snapped, refusing to back down, to cower in the face of his furious temper. "The going gets tough, the road gets a little rocky and you turn tail and head for the hills?"

Logan's blue eyes flashed like polished steel, even in the growing darkness. "I thought I told you to stay the hell..."

"Oh get over yourself Logan. I'm not in your head; you're just that fucking predictable." Kiera let out a frustrated breath, pinching the bridge of her nose to stave off the headache that was starting to add yet another dimension to her scent. After a moment she squared her shoulders, bringing her eyes back up to clash with his. "You're determined to do this," she murmured, "and obviously nothing I can say right now is going to make any fucking whit of difference at this point. But before you get the hell of my deck, I want you to try something on for size."

What came next was most assuredly nothing he had expected, Kiera being as pissed off at him as she was. Before he could react, the hot-tempered blonde had reached up, grabbed the collar of his shirt and yanked him down to her. The instant their lips connected, all the sensations Logan had shoved away from that night, deep down into the blackest regions of his memories came flooding back. Fireworks went off in his head and Wolverine went ballistic, howling and salivating at what might be coming. His mind started noticing just how well the generous curves of her form fit against his body, while other parts of him started screaming about how nicely these curves felt and would feel in his hands.

But the instant his body overcame the shock of the situation and he moved his hands to grasp her hips, he felt himself being shoved backwards. The instant he had reacted, she had halted things. Now she stood before him, her eyes glittering like emeralds with fury, her scent heady with anger and just a little lust. "Maybe that will convince you that I am NOT one of your girls, I do not need you to take care of me, and that my desire to kiss you stupid does NOT translate into you taking advantage of me." Turning on her heel, she strode to her door, yanking it open. Pausing, she fixed him with another furious glare. "Now get the fuck off my deck before I decide it would be endlessly fun to turn your life into a hellish nightmare from which you will never wake!" She hissed before slamming the door behind her as she stormed into her place.

That final, definitive punctuation of their argument echoed around him as Logan fought to come back to his senses. Not the easiest thing to do with your libido going 5 miles a minute and the primal aspect of your personality snarling at you in rage and frustration for not taking the given opportunity. Forcing himself to breath, Logan turned and walked (Well, actually staggered would have been a more accurate description) back to the mansion.

From the window in her kitchen, Kiera watched him go, her veins still coursing with anger. But she defied any woman in the world to be able to keep from smiling at the sight of a man staggering around like he's drunk after being kissed by her. 'I wonder if he can even tell I'm watching' she thought, pulling back behind the wall as Logan glanced back. 'He's usually so intuitive, it's almost like he's psychic.'

Stepping back into her apartment, Kiera moved to the bathroom, taking the time to splash cold water on her face. She needed to calm down, but god had she stirred up a hornet's nest. That kiss had been even better than the last time, with fireworks and fanfare going off in her head. 'Then again, maybe it wasn't better, maybe I'm just that much more sober.' Once again scooping up some water, Kiera rubbed it over her face and the back of her neck, hoping to cool her lust. Bracing herself against the sink, Kiera breathed, trying to focus her thoughts on the cool porcelain beneath her hands, the rich warm woods that surrounded her in her private sanctuary, anything to help cool her blood.

After 15 minutes, she had to accept that this was not going away without some help. Chuckling quietly, she raised her head to gaze at her reflection. "Well," she muttered, a wry smirk, "you asked for this. You were the one who kissed him after all." Grabbing a hand towel, she mopped up the moisture on her face, sighing quietly. Her decision now made, she strode into her bedroom to take matters into her own hands. She would hash out the other aspects of their argument in the morning, right now, she just needed to unwind and get some sleep.