Chapter 4

Tim stared at the abandoned reunion cabin and watched the shadows move within. They'd tracked Tony to a dirt road in one of the regional parks and had followed from there on foot. As soon as they'd determined a goodly number of the other pack was there, Tim had called for reinforcements and he and Gibbs waited tensely until Ari, Jimmy, Sevannah, and Victor had arrived. It would have to be enough.

Concentrating hard, Tim used everything he'd learned about his Alpha abilities and opened a link to each of them. This way he'd be ready to feed them power for speed , strength, or healing from the rest of the pack, with whom he'd established a channel while they'd waited. The connection to the members present was so tight, so intimate, he could almost read their minds. Sevannah and Victor were pumping themselves up, spoiling for a fight. Tony had been essential in getting Sevannah settled into the pack, and they'd been surprisingly close, considering her background from a poor family and his from wealth. Other than sleeping together casually upon occasion, they'd been like siblings, and Tim had been pleased to nurture the friendship. Tony was Victor's favorite wing man and club hopping buddy, as he'd told Tim, but they too had been an odd couple with a friendship including outrageous stories of their exploits together. Of course, to Gibbs, Ari, and Jimmy, Tony was simply family, and they were ready to go as far as it took to free him.

Jimmy waited passively, nervous, for the order to move. Ari also waited, but with the still patience of a sniper. That sense was also in Gibbs, but Tim could tell he was planning an assault on the building based on what he'd seen during their initial recon.

Standing tall, he commanded all their attention.

"We're getting Tony out of there."

They all nodded, and Victor and Sevannah coiled, ready for the order to attack. He stared them down each with a slight head shake, until they relaxed.

"Our entire pack is with us. Those people don't stand a chance if it comes to a fight. But we aren't savage beasts. We aren't going in there to destroy them. We will fight if we have to, but I choose that time." Tim looked at each of them, and illustrated the difference between them and other packs by waiting until they each met his gaze instead of lowering their eyes in subservience.

Ari shook his head mentally. Tim's collective, 'everybody hold hands and it'll be okay' way of running his pack worked because he maintained a delicate balance, and because Gibbs was such a powerful presence as Beta. It was almost like a pack run by a pair of complementary Alphas rather than Tim on his own. It was too much freedom given to the individuals, and it was part of the reason he had never let Tim completely bond him into the pack. The freedom they enjoyed was an illusion created by Tim's idealistic views, and if they ever realized it, they could turn on him in an instant. Ari had to be there to protect his mate if that day came.

The flare of Ari's disapproval and his paranoia gave Tim only a moment's pause. Someday, Ari would learn to trust him. If their relationship survived that long, he thought wistfully, then brought himself back to the moment. He walked out onto the road and strode purposefully toward the building. His pack fell in behind.

~~~NCIS~~~

"I challenge you. You will release Tony and allow the rest of your pack the opportunity to leave you if they choose."

The confrontation had begun with little fanfare, just Tim walking into the middle of their building followed by his pack.

"And when I shred your flesh from your bones?" The brute who had caused Tony to flinch and shy, known to Victor as Stone, was the Alpha of a motley crew of wolves lounging in disarray on the moth-eaten sofas. They watched with varying degrees of interest. Two who were back in a shadowed corner had moved closer when Tim had suggested they might get a choice in their future if he won the challenge.

"You'll be fighting me," Gibbs spoke with a low voice. Seeing Tony tied up across a bench in what used to be the dining room had sent his fury to a whole new level. His voice was cold, and his famous blue eyes looked glacial. Tim had never seen or felt his Beta like this before. He only hoped when this was over that Gibbs could return to himself.

"Packs that don't follow the strongest member are ridiculous. So, when I chew up this old, dried out bit of wolf leather?" Stone sneered.

Tim didn't blink or flinch at the insults.

"We'll still be taking Tony with us."

"War? You would risk your whole puny pack for this...trash?"

"You don't know anything about my pack," Tim replied, his voice level. The other man flicked his fingers, indicating he couldn't care less.

As Gibbs and the hulking Alpha squared off in the open space of the huge meeting room, Tim prepared to draw strength from the entire pack to bolster his Beta in the fight. He offered one more time, feeling like Luke Skywalker on the sail barge.

"Gibbs will have our entire pack backing him. This is your last chance to give me Tony and offer freedom to your pack without bloodshed."

The brute's response was to transform fully, flashing into wolf form and leaping at Gibbs across the five meters separating them. Gibbs went into his most powerful form, halfway between man and wolf, with steely muscles under a silvery pelt, powerful lupine jaws, and sharp claws on the end of still human hands. Tim opened the flow of energy from the pack into Gibbs, knowing the other Alpha didn't stand a chance against their combined strength.

The fight was short and brutal, and after mere moments, Stone seemed to realize his risk when he saw the wound he'd inflicted on his first pass which had nearly severed Gibbs' arm heal in seconds. He fought viciously, taking every opportunity to rend and bite at Gibbs, but Gibbs tenaciously responded, fighting smarter rather than harder. A slash to Stone's inner thigh hampered his movements and started weakening him from blood loss when the huge wolf leaped and Gibbs dropped prone and raked him as he passed where the older man had stood.

Gibbs stayed unpredictable, sometimes standing his ground and meeting Stone's attacks with resolve and other times twisting aside as the heavy wolf attempted to use his mass against him. But he only bit or scratched when it would really count, inflicting bloody damage or crippling injuries each time he struck.

The big wolf grew more frenzied as he limped from Gibbs' attacks, desperate for a killing blow that would end the struggle in his favor before he grew too weak to continue. Gibbs waited, knowing his moment was coming. A stumble from the wounded wolf, and Gibbs took his shot, dropping down and sweeping all four of Stone's legs out from under him. The wolf landed heavily with an explosion of air, and Gibbs was on him, holding him by the neck, his teeth bared, the threat obvious. He would submit or die.

Stone gave a long, low whine, and Tim reinforced his order to the others to stay alert to the downed wolf's pack. Now would be a good moment for their betrayal of the unspoken rule of champions fighting. In fact, he heard Victor snarl a warning at Stone's Beta. Trusting him to take care of it, Tim moved forward into the circle and stood at Gibbs shoulder.

"Release Tony," Tim ordered. Another low whine, and then Tony was calling out to be freed from his restraints, finally able to speak freely, his will his own again. Putting his hand on Gibbs' arm, knowing the older man's propensity for self-sacrifice, Tim was unwilling to allow him to kill his opponent and then face that hulking brute of a Beta. Tim knew Gibbs would gladly kill the pack from Stone on down to little Kylie if he thought it would keep their people safe, but Tim had offered a challenge and wouldn't forego his word.

Gibbs nodded and reluctantly stepped back. To their left, the Beta lunged at Victor, and Tim's attention went to his man, sending him the pack's reinforcing energy. Victor crouched, just as his heavily muscled attacker closed, and caught him low, throwing him over his shoulder, expertly using the bigger man's mass and momentum against him.

Distracted, as had certainly been the plan, Tim went down hard when the fallen Alpha kicked out with human legs, having transformed partially back, and yanked Tim down, face up, on top of him with his powerful hands. Tim felt hot breath on his neck, and knowing he was in mortal danger, used the energy from the pack to speed and strengthen himself as he reached up and back in a lightning fast move with both hands, taking hold of Stone's head and wrenching with all his power. Bones crunched wetly, and the pressure on Tim's body from Stone holding him eased instantly.

Howls and yelps went up all around at the sudden loss of the pack's Alpha, and most of them scattered, exiting by windows as well as doors. Tim leapt to his feet to find Victor and Ari keeping the Beta pinned down. A quick glance around and Tim sent instructions to his people: let those who ran flee, but restrain or kill any who stayed to fight. Gibbs turned from standing at Tim's back and ran in the direction of fighting sounds. They were still so closely linked Tim caught a flash of what the older man saw when he arrived at the kerfuffle. Jimmy, in full wolf form, had Kylie by the ankle, and Sevannah stood partially transformed with her bare foot on the downed woman's throat. She flexed her claws and drew blood as Gibbs arrived. Tim didn't care if they killed her. He hated that she'd been able to lure Tony away from him into this nightmare.

"Will you leave peacefully?" Tim demanded of the Beta. The wolf thrashed and tried to bite Victor's arm. He shook his head at the choice and made the only decision he could. "Kill him," Tim ordered, and in moments, it was done. Mentally checking in with everyone, Tim knew that only Kylie and the unnamed Beta had fought for their fallen leader and died for it. Still, three dead werewolves was a terrible price, and it weighed heavily on him.

He shook off the dark mood and went to Tony. He cut the leather straps binding him, and Tony rolled off the bench to stay on hands and knees. He crawled over and groveled at Tim's feet. "I'm sorry, Tim. I'm so, so sorry," he wept. Tim's heart broke to see the happy, optimistic jokester like that, and he knelt down and gathered the older man close.

"Shh. It's okay. It's over. Will you come back to us?"

Tony shuddered, and he looked up and met Tim's gaze, his haunted eyes sunken and fearful. "You still want me? I can come home?" He whispered.

A sob caught Tim completely unaware, and he choked on it, trying to speak past the emotion. "Yes. Yes, Tony, please come home to us," he said softly. Tony nodded and buried his head against Tim's chest. The Alpha carefully reinstated the pack bond and passed energy from the others to him while encouraging Tony's body to quicken its healing. His mind felt raw, like an internal burn or road rash from all the conducting of the pack's energies. He felt Tony strengthen, though, and it was totally worth it. The psychological damage would take longer to heal, but he was confident everyone would rally to care for him. Jimmy, now approaching in human form, wiping blood from his mouth with a grimace, was doing fine as Omega, and all the protectiveness and doting everyone was sure to express with Tony would keep him out of that position unless he chose to return to it. And Tim would only allow that if he knew Tony was doing it from a desire to serve, not a sense that he wasn't worthy of anything better.

A scream echoed to them from a long way off, and Tim motioned Palmer over to take care of Tony before he took off in a flash toward the sound. He had never heard Ziva scream, but that was who it sounded like. If she'd followed them to the meeting with Stone's brutal pack, and been in the area when they had scattered...

Ari was right on his heels as he ran full out in the direction of the dying scream.

A/N One chapter left. I hope Tony's rescue was satisfying. This story has been much shorter and more bare of detail, but I think it fits.

Thanks again for all the support of all my writing, folks, it is truly inspiring!