CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

…..that marking thing you do.

The Professor sighed softly to himself as he left the room, pulling his own cell-phone out of his pocket and putting it in his lap (there was no way he was going to make the call where the feral Sabretooth could over-hear him). So he moved away quite a bit (up to the fourth floor to be exact) before dialing the number to Miss. Andrews friend, Steve.

After one ring, someone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Hello, is this Steve Aswell?"

"Yeah, who's this?"

"My name is Professor Xavier, I run the New York School for Gifted Children. I have a young lady here who I believe could use your assistance. She asked me to call you. I believe you know her. Her name is Miss. Cassie Andrews."

There was a pause, and then the voice became serious…..almost threatening. "What's going on?"

MEANWHILE

"Wait…..what marking thing?"

Victor snorted. So the runt didn't know he was doing it…..Probably doing it in his sleep. He couldn't help but chuckle at the image of his "little" brother going around and peeing on corners in the middle of the night.

"I guess you're doin' it in yer sleep, then." Victor said. "You've been marking the school, but you're not doing a good job of it, which would make sense if you're asleep while yer doin' it."

Now Logan was looking very annoyed. "Either explain what you mean, or I'll cut you a new one, bub."

Now Victor laughed, an actual full throated, loud laugh. Cassie jumped a little in her seat at the sound, but found herself smiling along with him. "You must've smelled it, Jimmy-boy. You're pee'n on the woodwork. Marking your territory."

The Wolverines face actually turned beet red.

"But there are better ways to do it, Jimmy. After all, not everyone can smell what we can; only animals and other feral mutants." He held up one hand and grew out his claws one by one, wiggling his fingers. "Now, claw-marks, those everyone can see. Puts outsiders on their guard. The deeper the grooves, the more strength is showed. Also lets the frails and cubs know they're safe; shows how strong their alpha is, and tells them when they're leaving safe territory." He chortled. "And, urine is acidic. Ya don't want it to eat through the walls, which it will if done enough. Nah, clawing's the way to go."

Logan looked like he didn't know what to feel; anger, embarrassment, interest, curiosity, or annoyance, but all played behind his eyes. He held up one hand and let his adamantium claws slide out slowly. "Clawing, right. Well, I've got that covered."

Victor snorted. "Yeah, just make sure you don't completely cut the school down. Now, about hunting. The frail there—" he nodded his head to where Cassie sat looking completely amused. "—needs some meat in her stomach." He growled to emphasize his point. "Proper food. And several of the cubs here are anemic. The meat'll do them some good. We could cover more ground hunting together, the only thing is I don't wanna leave her alone here with the X-geeks."

"No-one's gonna hurt her, Sabretooth." Logan growled.

Victor growled right back. "The names Victor to you, Jimmy-boy."

"And my name's Logan, not Jimmy-boy."

For once, Victor allowed that battle to slide. "So, if I'm gonna go hunt for her, I'll need you to actually WATCH her." He growled at this, still not forgetting the shaving incident. "Or we could both hunt together, like old times, back in the woods. I'll take the frail to the cabin. Between the two of us we should be able to get a lot of meat for the frails and cubs here. I'll set up a curing station in one of the greens. Keeping these cubs fed is going to take a lot of work…..and some inventive hunting; can't kill all the game in one spot and leave none to reproduce."

They BOTH liked that idea better; Victor got his frail away from the X-geeks, and Logan got the "Sabretooth" away from the school and his "kids"

"So you wanna go now?" Logan asked, smirking. "I don't think the Professor would like that."

"Tough shit." Victor growled. "If the cripple can't take care of these cubs, then someone has to step up to bat. Can those X-Geeks do enough if anyone attacks?"

"Yeah." The Wolverine grunted. "They held you off, didn't they?"

Victor snarled, his pride stung. "Just barely."

Logan shrugged.

Cassie held up one finger from her comfy chair. "Wait, so I'm going back to that

cabin?" the distaste showed in her face and a tinge of fear spiked her scent.

Sabretooth growled indignantly. That was his cabin. Sure, it wasn't the Ritz, but it was his. Although, now that he thought about it, there was NO WAY a million cubs could fit in his cabin. Well, it could be a retreat, he supposed, grinning roguishly, for when he and his frail started making their own cubs; little ones with his eyes and claws and her brown-red hair.

Logan looked at her with great sympathy in his grey eyes. "It's okay, darlin, you don't have to go back there if you don't want to."

Victor growled his disagreement with that statement. "I'm not leaving her alone without one of us with her, and we'll get more prey if we're together. You know that, Jimmy."

"Victor, you held the girl AGAINST HER WILL in that cabin!" Logan emphasized. "And just a day ago! Don't you think goin' back there would be a little scary for her!?"

Cassie rolled her eyes. Had the two of them forgotten that she was even there!? Or that she had a voice!? She held up her hand as if she were in a classroom. "As this concerns me, I vote no cabin. Going back to the woods, though, would be nice." She added, almost as an afterthought. "More trees."

Victor huffed at her. "You wanna get attacked by another mountain-lion, frail?"

Now SHE rolled her eyes. "You took care of it last time!"

"Of course I did." The guy just oozed self-confidence. He was so sure of himself it just screamed in his body posture, almost like a marine. She wondered vaguely if he had been a soldier at one point of time.

"So why can't I go into the woods this time?" she pressed then shook her head. "Nah, never mind. I'll just find a tree out in one of the yards here. Climb that. It'll be nice."

Sabretooth gave her a disapproving growl while Logan chuckled.

"And have you ever fallen out of a tree, kid?" Logan asked, looking amused.

She shrugged. "Yeah, a couple of times. But I've never really hurt myself."

Victor growled at her in warning. "The only way yer climb'n a tree is if I'm there with you or under it."

She blinked at him then rolled her eyes, even though she couldn't help but smile a little.

Logan broke into the conversation, rolling his own eyes. "Come on, you two, we'd better get going now. There's two motorcycles in one of the garages." He smirked at Victor challengingly. "Think you can keep up?"

Victor snorted. "It's YOU who can't keep up with ME, runt."