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Thank you to all the readers and reviwers- please, continue to enjoy the story.


Misa came tearing into the room, her attention focused fully on Light. She didn't see L, as she was focused entirely on Light. She didn't notice as the bloodstained detective rose up, fur on every part of his body bristling as he snarled ferociously, before leaping to intercept the girl, fangs bared.

Light, however, knew what was going to happen. Just as Misa reached him, yelling his name in happiness, he used his forearm to push her away and stepped forwards, so that L barreled into him.

L's teeth closed around his already wounded arm, causing Light to cry out on pain as they landed on the floor, Light's back hitting the wall. The jerking motion caused the teeth lodged in Light's arm to shift, tearing flesh and muscle even more. It sent waves of hot pain all through Light's arm and up into his shoulder, staining L's teeth and lips red with blood purring from the wound.

L's eyes widened almost comically as he realized what he had done and releasing Light's torn, bloody arm, he scrambled backwards with ears flattened.

A shocked gasp came from Misa, lying on the ground a few feet away, and L's head whipped around, ears raised once more.

Misa's breath abruptly cut off as she saw L for the first time in over a year- bloodstained, with wolfish appendages and blazing yellow eyes, all directed towards her.

Slowly, L turned, a growl rumbling deep in his throat as he crouched, muscles tensed to spring and end this human's life that had dared approach his alpha as it had.

Misa's life, however, was saved only by the presence of Light. He was quick to realize what was about to happen and right as L sprung, about to end Misa's life, Light's uninjured hand shot out to grab the arms of the suit still tied to L's waist.

Jerking backwards, Light was able to pull himself up and yank L backwards into him.

The force of the jerk momentarily deprived L of breath, sending his head reeling, and Light used the sudden advantage to spin them around and pin L to the wall with his body. He used the forearm of his uninjured arm to press against L's throat, putting him in an improvised chokehold.

"Light!" his father cried, wanting to do something, but unable to help rectify the situation in any way.

"I'm alright, dad," Light ground out, pressing against L, who was struggling and snapping, infuriated eyes still fixed upon Misa. "Look, just… get Misa out of here, alright? She's only making the situation worse, and-damn it, L!" Light yelped, feeling the claws of L's feet rake over his legs in his attempts to break free.

"I've had enough of this shit, L!" Light said vehemently. Determined, Light gritted his teeth against the pain his action would bring, and raised his injured arm up, grasping onto some of L's fluffy hair. He yanked L's head forwards, and then slammed it back against the wall, momentarily stunning the wolfish detective.

Still keeping a firm grasp on L's hair, he jerked his head forwards until he was staring straight into L's yellow eyes, only inches away from L's face. "That's enough," Light growled, baring his teeth. "I'm sick and tired of your shit, L. Now you will listen to me," Light snarled, gripping tighter on L's hair and causing him to let out a wince, "or I will lock you back up in that damned room until I figure out a way to fix you."

L's whole demeanor had gotten less and less threatening as Light spoke- he didn't understand Light's words, but he did understand both the vocalized and posturing aggression. He flattened his ears back, staring fearfully into Light's angry eyes.

His tail tucked, stiffening fearfully and L shrank back, his lips curling in a grimace of fear. Dimly, Light heard Misa's protests as she was ushered quickly from the room, but his whole attention was focused on L, trembling in fear before him.

For some reason, the thought made the hot trembles in his stomach return, and staring into L's pale , upturned face, pinning him to the wall with his body… it wreaked havoc on Light's senses and he briefly forgot why he and L were in his position. It was hard to concentrate when he was pressed this close to L, the lithe body hot from previous exertions, and some wayward strands of silky hair from L's bangs brushed softly against Light's forehead, tickling him in a pleasant way.

He could feel L's breath against his lips, fast and warm, feel L's rapid breathing, his chest rising and falling, brushing and pressing against Light's own every time L inhaled. This nearness that Light had rarely had a chance to experience with another human, this intimacy that he had never gained with any of the girls he had been with, was intoxicating. Light felt abruptly confused and hot all at once, L's closeness doing these strange things to his body.

This… this was never supposed to happen.

L was his friend, his friend who was mentally sick, and cowering in front of him, and he should not be feeling this way, not now, not ever. It was confusing, and the conflict made his head spin, even as he felt a sudden insane desire to press closer to L, even for just a second, to get more of the close contact he felt himself suddenly craving.

L was breathing heavily, he could hear and feel, panting from the exertion, when suddenly L froze, an ear pricking forwards as he drew in a deep breath through his nostrils.

And then, the thought suddenly hit Light- wolves have an extraordinary sense of smell, better than almost any other mammals, and a few informational sites he had stumbled onto said that wolves could even smell and sense emotions.

Understanding registered through his mess of confusing feelings, and he gasped.

If wolves were that sensitive to emotions, if he could smell what Light was feeling- he was reluctant to voice exactly what this feeling was- then that meant…

Fuck.


L was… confused.

His alpha's feelings had shifted, so slowly and subtly that it had not gained his attention until they became decidedly less angry and aggressive, and more… almost aroused.

Which was confusing. There were no females around, nothing to trigger his alpha male's arousal.

Could he just be misreading the smells emanating off of his alpha?

L sniffed once more, just very slightly, not wanting to risk a sudden movement and provoke his alpha any more than he already was- but the scent remained the same.

L felt himself suddenly released, and he blinked, confused as his alpha backed away, arousal and indecision pouring off of him in waves. He whined softly, confused and unsure of his alpha's intentions.

Was there something wrong- was there something he had been missing? He had attacked the human that had threatened his alpha- he had protected his alpha, just as he was supposed to.

Why then, was his alpha reacting in this way? And what had caused the sudden strange shift in his alpha's emotions?

L sniffed again, just in case he missed anything- fear saturated the air, no doubt from the attack of the other human on his pack's alpha, the conflicting feelings coming from said alpha, and-

There. L stepped forwards, sniffing deeply in the direction the attacking human had come from. The hormones and pheromones coming from that direction were decidedly female, and L made some quick deductions inside his wolfly brain.

The human that had been attacking had been female. And… she had not been attacking at all, but greeting her alpha in the strange way that humans did. All alphas had a mate, and this female human must be his mate. And his alpha was angry because he had misconstrued the whole situation and attacked his mate- and his alpha was angry because of it, and aroused because he had not yet had the chance to mate with his human female.

It all made sense now, and L's eyes opened wide- he had made a grievous error, one he was not sure his alpha would forget.

L whined in distress- he was not sure if any amount of submissive posturing would be able to fix the mistake he had made.


Light ran a hand through his hair as he released L and stepped away- he hoped to God that L had not fully picked up on what he had been feeling. That would be a big goddamned disaster if he had.

He heard L whine behind him, but chose to ignore it- he had things to do, like finding Misa and explaining to her what had happened.

God, he so did not want to deal with that right now.

Misa came by a few times each week to see him, and he loathed those days with all of his heart- the visits had kept him from solving him important cases, and distracted him from searching for L before the detective had been found.

But now was not the time to let his distaste of the disillusioned girl get in the way. Not informing Misa of L's situation could lead her to potential harm at L's hands at a later date, and he would not be the one to lead her to that.

But, at least his thoughts of Misa had killed any sort of weird feelings that had been cropping up at L's proximity. Now that he was away from the detective, those confusing feelings had dissipated-at least for the time being- and he was able to focus on what needed to be done.

And, he needed to get his wounds looked at.

Right. Infirmary first, and then he'd find Misa. Priorities, Light, priorities. And priorities included not bleeding to death from the wound in his arm before this day was out.

Sighing, he turned back to L, grimacing as he saw the detective still regarding him fearfully, confusion evident in his yellow and black eyes.

"Come here, L," Light said, wearily gathering up the training suit. Right now, Light didn't know if he'd have enough strength to restrain L again if he chose to go apeshit on someone, and he was getting tired of having to lead L around.

He was just tired, in fact. These past two days had been an emotional rollercoaster for Light, and he felt weary, so weary. Hosetly, he really just wanted to get some sleep.

And some painkillers, because his arm hurt worse than some of the bitches he had known in the past.

He tugged on the arms of the training suit, and L cautiously came towards him, walking with that odd gait he had now thanks to his feet. Light still wasn't used to those odd feet, or the way L walked with them. Before, L had walked almost clumsily, never tripping over anything, but plodding along, either barefoot or in his old tennis shoes. Now, L walked with grace, silent and predatory, and it was such an odd change, so different from the L he used to know.

L approached him cautiously, and when he was finally within grasping distance, Light impatiently reached out and grasped the suit around L's wait, tugging the knot loose so that it fell to the ground in a loose heap at L's feet.

L looked down, blinking, and then as if he understood, held up his gloved hands as well.

This struck Light as funny for some reason and he chuckled, taking hold of L's hands and sliding the gloves off, dropping them on top of the now- ruined suit.

L flexed his fingers, rubbing them against his cheeks to dispel the irritating feeling of having them encased in cloth before dropping them down to his sides once more. He returned his attention to Light, watching him for any sort of sign as to what they would be doing next.

Light shook his head, turning away and gestured for L to follow him, even though he knew the wolfish detective wouldn't understand. "Come on, L."


The halls of the Kira Task Force headquarters were silent, luckily, and Light made it to the infirmary safely without L killing anyone on the way there. That was a definite plus. And now, the wolfish detective crouched on one of the chairs in the white room, watching silently as Light pulled out the medical bandages needed to patch himself up.

He slipped off his ruined shirt and tossed it in the trash; bloodstained and ripped, it was of no use to him anymore. It left him bare-chested, and the cold temperature of the room raised goosebumps on Light's exposed skin. L was still watching him, but not in a weird way; he was soimply observing everything Light did.

The silence between them was comfortable, bringing back memories of working alongside L in the days before L had been taken by Beyond.

He smiled lightly. L still retained some of the oddities he had had back then, and the weight of L's gaze was not annoying as it had been a year ago, but instead, a comfort.

Light opened a tube of Neosporin along with a bottle of hydrogen peroxide; looking at the hole in his arm, he grimaced. This was going to hurt like a son of a bitch, he knew.

Still, he didn't want it to get infected, and so with reluctance, he wetted a cloth with water and gently wiped away the blood on his arm, attempting to clean the wound a bit before he put the peroxide on it to sterilize it and wrap it up.

The cloth turned red fast, and disgusted, he tossed it into a corner to pick up later. Then, picking up the bottle of peroxide, Light gritted his teeth- and poured the substance onto his injured arm.

It hurt- extremely so. Gasping, he managed, with shaking hands, to put the bottle down, and then grasped the edge of the counter with his other hand, closing his eyes and bracing himself as the peroxide hissed and bubbled, burning out any harmful bacteria from the wound.

He waited a few seconds, and the wetted another washcloth, clenching his teeth as he wiped his wound down again, and then applied Neosporin to the edges of it, along with smearing some on the gauze he had prepared. Wrapping the gauze around the wound, he tied it off, double knotting it, and then turned to glare at L, who was watching him with extreme interest, although his nose was wrinkled.

The harsh chemical smell of the peroxide burned L's nose, Light supposed. That made him feel a bit better- it was a sort of petty revenge for what L had done to him. "Serves you right," he muttered to L, who blinked, and then
huffed.

Rolling his eyes, Light turned, reluctantly repeating the process with the slash marks on his chest. He didn't wrap the marks with gauze, but instead cut squares off and taped them on. His arm and chest were burning by the time he got done, and his leg was stinging from where L had clawed him with his toe-claws.

If Beyond's aim was to make L some sort of killer, he had certainly done his job well. Light had only gotten out of the fight with L alive because he had had the sense to prepare somewhat; and even then, he had not come out unscathed. Light also had some training with fighting, which he was thankful for.

But if one put L against a normal citizen… someone who had none of his experience or preparation… Light shuddered to think what would happen then. Even that worker had only been saved by another's intervention. If Watari had not tranquilized L when he did, the worker would have been killed by L.

Glancing over at L, he grimaced as he saw the detective's state. L would need new clothes- the ones he had on were dirty, ripped, and stained with blood. And, Light realized, he would need a bath to get the dried blood off of his hair and body.

Later, though, Light thought. He'd do it later. Right now, he needed painkillers, and then he needed to find Misa.

With that thought firmly in mind, he turned to the medicine cabinet and located a bottle of Advil, took out two and swallowed them, then replaced the bottle. He closed the cabinet and turned to L with a sigh, the detective looking up from what he had been doing while Light was preoccupied.

Which was cleaning his tail, licking the fur in long strokes, trying to get the blood off of the black fur.

For a second, an insane thought crossed Light's mind- If L wants to kill someone, he should at least be a bit cleaner about it. He quickly shook the thought away, however, and stepped forwards, yanking L's tail out of his hands to prevent him from cleaning it any more. He had read that wolves that killed humans often developed a taste for human blood, and Light didn't want to deal with that.

L yelped as the motion tugged his tail painfully and threw him off balance, causing him to fall backwards. He huffed as he struggled back up, narrowing his eyes and growling in irritation.

Light only rolled his eyes and turned away, opening the door. He needed to go find Misa, and explain what had happened. Gesturing for L to follow him, Light left the room, L quickly hopping to his feet and followed after Light, as swift and silent as ever.


"He what?!" Misa shrieked, staring with distaste at L, who was waiting a few respectful feet behind Light.

He pinched the bridge of his nose, gathering his patience. God. He really didn't want to do this right now. He thought of his bed with longing for a fleet second, before focusing back on the blonde girl, staring at L in disgust.

"No way- things like that only happens in movies and stuff, and- Light, why aren't you wearing a shirt?!"

Light winced; of course Misa would zero in on that. He knew it was inappropriate for him to be shirtless in front of her, but on the way to his room, he had consequently run into Misa.

Oddly enough, L didn't show any hostility towards the girl; he simply stepped back a few feet, leaving Misa and Light alone. It was weird, but Light couldn't possibly fathom why L was acting this way. He had jumped at Misa before, so what had changed?

"I'm not wearing a shirt, Misa, because I had to go to the infirmary and take care of my wounds, one of which is on my chest. The shirt was in the way and ruined, so I just tossed it," Light tried to explain- not that Misa was listening, too focused on the bare expanse of Light's tanned chest that was exposed to her view.

"Aw, I bet it hurt- stupid L," Misa said, shooting a glare at L, who immediately backed off. Light noticed this, furrowing his eyebrows. Something was off in his treatment of Misa- he was acting almost as he did towards
Light.

His attention was drawn back to the blonde, though, when she reached out to run her hands up Light's chest- the soft touch only disgusted him. Her hands were too soft, and slightly clammy with what he suspected was lotion, and her nails were long, scratching unpleasantly against his skin.

He reached up and grasped ahold of her hands, holding them away from him gently, yet firmly. "No, Misa. Listen. You know how L went missing a year ago? We found him, but he was like this. His kidnapper experimented on him Misa, and he's not right in the head anymore. I wanted to get him re-acquainted with you,
so that if he chooses to wander around, you wouldn't be in any danger."

Misa didn't seem to fully understand what was being said- she could care less about L. But what she did hear was that Light was worried for her safety, and she beamed. "So, you care about me? That's wonderful, Light. Uh, is he going to follow you around like that all the time?" She asked with distaste, wrinkling her nose at L. She tried loosening her hands so that she could hug Light in response to his confession, but he held them tighter to prevent this.

And honestly, he was getting irritated. "Misa, you're not listening to me."

"Yes, I am!" she protested, finally breaking free and wrapping her arms around Light, causing him to gasp in pain as the slashes across his chest were pushed on. Goddamn, that hurt.

"Misa, let go!" Light said, trying to get free. "Damn it, you're hurting me, so let-"

He froze as a growl came from behind them, and both he and Misa turned to see L in a half-crouch, growling, but with his tail tucked, as if confused or scared. His yellow eyes flicked between Misa and Light, like he was trying to decide upon something.


L had seen the blonde he recognized as his alpha's mate coming, and as his alpha went to greet her, he had dropped back, giving them space. It was not his place to interfere with their business, even if the feeling he was getting from his alpha was confusing him.

He should be glad to see his mate, but he only sensed annoyance and weariness emanating from his alpha as he greeted his mate in the weird language humans used.

The mixed signals were confusing L, so he relied on reading their body language to read them. And what he saw confused him even further.

His alpha's mate was obviously happy to see him, happiness present in her actions and changing her scent subtly as well. But his alpha was not- he stiffened, as if he were irritated or fearing. They communicated in the weird human way, and then the mate's attention turned to him, and L tensed as he felt disgust coming from her.

Rapidly, he went over his actions- he had not done anything wrong, so what was this expression for? He turned to his alpha for help, but he wasn't paying attention; he was telling his mate something, annoyance evident in his
stance.

And then, the mate's paws ran over his alpha's torso, and his alpha had tensed further, disgust tangible in the air that L discreetly sniffed. The mate's actions implied that she wanted physical contact with his alpha, and he
could smell her arousal in the air.

That should have made his alpha aroused as well, but he sensed only feelings of disgust emanating from his alpha.

It was confounding- his alpha's mate obviously desired sexual attention, but his alpha didn't seem to pick up on it and respond, as he should have.

Could it be that this human was not his alpha's mate, but simply a human whose sexual attraction to his alpha was rejected?

It made sense to L- this female was trying to force her attentions onto his unwilling alpha, and she would not back off. It was the cause of his alpha's distress.

That line of thought roused L's protective instincts- pack was family, and the leader of his family, his alpha, was being harassed. Humans were odd, L knew. It must be against their rituals to reject females in the manner that his
species did.

His alpha suddenly made a pained sound, and L returned his attention to his alpha, torn from introspective thoughts. His eyes narrowed and his lip started to curl in instinct as he saw the human female, who L now knew was most definitely not his alpha's mate and therefore not part of his pack, wrap her forelegs around his alpha's torso. It was obvious that his alpha was trying to struggle free, but in a wy that would not hurt the human female, but she would not release his alpha, and it looked as if he was not going to be able to break free.

L growled at the sight of his alpha being accosted, and both his alpha and the human female froze and looked at him. He growled once more at the human female, warning her to back off of his alpha.


"Misa," Light whispered, regarding L with something akin to relief. "I need you to let me go and back away."

Misa simply nodded, unsure of what was going on. She had thought that this was some sort of joke being pulled on her, but now she wasn't so sure. She hadn't seen L for a long time, but had assumed he was sick or work kept him really busy.

But now, looking at him, she wasn't so sure. The claws and teeth didn't look fake, and the way the fur on the ears and tail bristled was pretty much impossible to do unless it was remote controlled, or something. But it didn't
look fake, and with this thought in mind, Misa released Light and backed away from the approaching L slowly, fear growing as the wolfish form came closer, until he was standing at Light's shoulder.

"Light…you weren't joking, were you?" Misa asked, never taking her eyes off of L. "He was…experimented on?"

"That's what I was trying to tell you Misa," Light replied wearily, touching the wounds on his chest with a wince. At least the gauze stayed on; it would have hurt like hell to have re-applied them. "I don't think he'll do anything; he hasn't attacked you yet, although I'm not sure what his fluctuating attitudes towards you means. I think he may have seen you as a threat and reacted accordingly."

"So what, L's a… a dog now?" Misa asked, wrinkling her nose and regarding L with a blend of curiosity and fear.

"No, Misa. Beyond gave him a serum infused with a wolf's DNA. The chemicals it was mixed with allowed the DNA to fuse with L's own, and over time, turned L into what he is now. If I'm correct in my analysis of his actions, he thinks like a wolf- the pack mentality, the rankings of those in the pack, the submissive and aggressive posturing- all of these imply that he doesn't process things as a human now. He's obviously more dangerous than a dog, and you need to be careful around him," Light explained patiently to Misa over L's growling.

"So what are you gonna do?" Misa asked.

"There might be a way to fix him," Light replied. "If I can retrieve the things I need… I might not be able to reverse the process right away, but I might be able to correct his mental state. In the meantime, Misa, I need you to stay away from the Task Force, at least for the time being. We're going to be working to return L back to normal, and I really don't want any distractions at the moment, alright?"


There had been some complications, but they had been quickly solved, luckily.

Now, all that was left to do was wait, wait for the next step to be completed, although, from what had been seen already, it most likely wouldn't take long. The pieces were falling into place, and it was very pleasing.

Perhaps it was a sign that what was being done was right…?

Whatever it was, it was ready and now, the object only had to re-acquired for it to be put to use.

And then… then, once that was done, the plan could move forwards, and it would be perfect. Revenge for years of wasted time, wasted genius- the dream was very soon to become a reality, and the thought was sweet, so sweet.


Edited version uploaded 4/7/13