I am so sorry for the amount of time it took to update this! I have no explanations, just excuses. I did manage to delete this entire chapter once. I have carpal tunnel and due to a brace I wore for almost a month the writing was slow and painfully annoying. Also I lost my phone, which does provide my internet connection to my laptop. I have a new phone now! Yay! I have had this chapter complete forever but between work and going to Vegas life tended to get in the way.

THANK YOU TO: Mezza999 for helping me with brainstorming. She helped shape the idea of what I wanted to do. Many of my original ideas were thanks to her thoughtful input. Unfortunately I managed to delete the original chapter and it took me a month before I was even able to attempt it a second time. Due to watching the first X-men movie again the chapter changed dramatically. This chapter went through so many different endings I honestly have a hard time remembering how I had it originally. Unfortunately this version is completely different than the version I had written before I managed to delete it. I don't know if that's a good thing or not. It's shorter than it was and in the first version there was more Sabretooth and an appearance by Magneto. I suppose I just killed some hopes by giving that away.

Please let me know what you think! I'm very nervous with this new chapter. It changes the direction of my original layout completely but I'm hoping the writing is not too different in tone and character than what I had before. As always, I do not own any of the characters that I'm writing about.

She might die. While he had been fighting a foul smelling feral with a worse attitude than his own, she was taken from him. She might die and the thought caused an ache in his chest. He wanted to roar as he realized that the tight feeling was fear. Wolverine didn't feel fear. Not that he could ever remember. It spurred him to action faster than anger and berserker rage ever could. She was his and he was going to get her back. Nothing else mattered at the moment.

The strange mutant's scent was sickly sweet and completely confusing, layer upon layer of multiple scents laced together. It was both aggravating and eerily familiar. His mind grabbed at a memory, faint and disturbing but it eluded him like every forgotten memory before it. He shrugged it off like he would have never been able to do before. His search for his past had consumed him but it seemed to take a backseat to the need to find Marie. Wolverine was snarling and whimpering in his head, minemineminemine.

He followed the scent doggedly as it faded and disappeared entirely more than once. He never despaired, merely retraced his footsteps and started back at the point the scent began to fade. This mutant was fast. What worried him was the fact that Marie's scent was faint compared to the mutant's.

His bones ached and his limbs became stiffer in the cold air. Adamantium might make him near indestructible but it was a metal like any other. The reaction was the same as any metal when subjected to below freezing temperatures. It was only his determination and continuous movement that kept his limbs from freezing and locking together.

Night fell and the scent was getting closer. Either the other mutant was tiring or they were nearing their destination. Logan smiled in grim satisfaction. They would die by his claws or his bare hands. Either method would satisfy the urge for bloodshed and death that Wolverine fueled in his mind. He slowed as he began to pick up movement ahead. He had run across a few animals, mostly scavengers, even this deep into winter. These movements were too measured, too stealthy and at once too loud to be an animal's. The mutants scent was strong and they weren't alone. At least two others, one scent a mix of amphibian and human and the other indicated the feral had survived their earlier encounter. He was a tough son of a bitch but he would die with the other two. They were talking in low voices. He considered the idea that it was probably an ambush but it didn't change his course of action. He was rarely subtle and had never needed much reason to employ stealth, but he was capable of both. He figured he had some training in the years lost to him by the same people who had fused adamantium to his bones. For once he felt a measure of gratitude. If his skills helped him save Marie then he could find gratitude for the bastards that had taken away his life.

He approached the area of their voices upwind from them to buy himself time before the other feral caught his scent. He moved through the trees silently and alert to any movement surrounding him.

By the time he neared Marie the mutants seemed to be separating. He watched, waiting for his chance. Marie was near the mutant he followed. He wasn't surprised to find out the mutant was an unclothed blue woman. He had known her once, the hate churning in his gut attested to it. The amphibian looking mutant was one he had run into a time or two. He circuited the cage fight bars as well. He was never a fighter, merely a leech that had won some money off of Logan's fights. He knew that the Toad couldn't be trusted. He should have heeded his own instincts and killed or scared that slimy bastard off when he had the chance. Toad was too nervous and constantly shifty. Sabretooth was clearly still debilitated. He was limping and his voice was low and raspy with pain. Logan could still smell the blood on him from their earlier fight. Wolverine wanted to tear him apart as Sabretooth slid one long claw along Marie's cheek. She was unconscious and didn't react but his gut clenched at the possessive anger that coursed through him. He barely restrained himself from breaking from cover and jumping him.

The blue woman was Mystique and she seemed to be running the show. Soon Sabretooth and Toad disappeared into the trees in the direction of his camper. Maybe they were going to hide the evidence or looking to kill him. Whatever the reason it left Logan alone with the bitch that had taken his mate. . Wolverine's growl was a continuous sound rumbling in the back of his mind, urging him to take action now while they were away. It was Wolverine against Mystique. He let Wolverine to the forefront of his mind and snarled as his senses became more acute and logic faded to the background. This was all about rage and vengeance.

Mystique didn't seem surprised when he came out of the trees. She regarded him with a cool gaze but her posture was controlled and tense. She was wary of him. He would make her choke on her terror before he was done. He moved and put himself between Marie and Mystique. Marie was bleeding. One glance told him it was from the small cuts on her throat from the impressions of Mystique's nails. The bruise forming on her neck was stark against her pale skin. She had choked Marie. His control threatened to give, tenuous against the urge to kill.

"Hello Logan, how long has it been?"

"M'rie!"

Mystiques eyes widened a moment. Wolverine growled.

"Logan's left the building has he? What is this girl to you Wolverine? She's too old to be your daughter. You didn't start your current lifestyle of fighting and whoring until about 15 years ago…right?"

Her cruel smile and callous dig at his forgotten past earned her a deeper growl. "Mine!"

Her eyes widened and her scent shifted. He snarled in satisfaction. She was afraid now. There was nothing in this world that would keep him from his mate. Even as her body tensed in anticipation of a fight, Mystique's lips quirked in amusement.

"So the Wolverine has taken a child as a mate? That seems low, even for you. You know that once you've claimed her she's chained to you for life? That might seem like a romantic dream for a teenager but once she realizes what you are she's going to hate you."

"MINE!"

He was done with her, done with her logic that tried to get past the fog of feral instinct and reach the man Logan, so heavily sedated behind it. Wolverine didn't care about what the future held. He lived for now, where consequence was impractical when faced with the demands of instinct. She had taken his mate and hurt her, the scent of Marie's blood on the air condemning her. Mystique needed to die. She was stalling, waiting for the other two to get back or she was expecting someone else.

He didn't give her a chance to run. He was fast despite his cold, heavy body. She was faster. He was expecting the dodge and twisted. He was met with a sharp kick to the face. He shook it off as she danced away from him with a smirk. She was confident even faced with his rage and blind determination.

Their fight was a dance of evasion and blows. He cut her arm with his claws and howled at the sharp coppery smell of her blood. She snarled at him and at once her form shifted, mirroring his own. They fought each other in his form. She feinted and scored a claw sunk deep into his shoulder. He grinned at the pain. He had found a weakness. Her claws had glanced off his shoulder blade. She gasped in pain as they roughly deflected off. She could imitate his form but she couldn't recreate adamantium. The dance of her lithe form and his rage-filled charges caught them both. Speed and flexibility were on her side. He charged again only to be met by evasion and deflection. Even in his own form she made him seem clumsy. He became ruled by fury and she used it against him. She landed blows he didn't see coming, even as she danced away with a smug smile. His claws met air where she once stood time and time again. He managed nicks as she slid away. His body was tiring. He was made for brute strength and known for his tenacity and for his staying power in the cage. But it was if she knew him, his own moves countered with ease. She kept out of reach and hit him with quick jabs and solid kicks that managed to push his heavy frame back. She hit him where he was softest, claws sheathed as she managed to avoid every adamantium-laced bone in his body. Logan kept trying to urge him to stop, to think. And he finally listened. She seemed to tire of their dance and the familiar sight of his own claws slid from her hands with a low *SNIKT*. She meant to finish him as he would her, but he knew the weakness of her claws. The next time she moved to stab him Wolverine urged his body faster and dodged her. His own claws cut through the air and sliced cleanly through her imitations. Mystique screamed and automatically shifted back to her own form. He seized the moment of weakness and tackled her. His claws slid into her lower abdomen easily and she gasped in shock and disbelief.

"What are you doing James?"

Her voice rang in his ears and his vision blurred. She had said this to him before, in another life. She was trying to confuse him. He felt the press of a memory trying to grasp his attention. He snarled and twisted his claws. It was then that she seemed to realize that she was about to die. Blood spit out of her lips as she laughed. Her voce was filled with derision.

"You think she can love you after this? Do you think she won't know what a monster you've become?"

Wolverine finally comprehended consequence and knew the truth of her words. He snapped. He meant to cut her throat cleanly but instead his claws dug deep in the ground as his hands wrapped around her throat. She gurgled and began to twist violently underneath him. Her hands pulled desperately at his wrists and she managed one last shift. Claws dug deep in his arms, tearing open the veins in his wrists. He barely noticed as he watched the blood vessels in her eyes burst. Her struggles slowed and finally came to a stop as the light from her eyes dimmed and died in shades of red. He crouched there, breath heavy as reason slowly returned. It took him a moment to realize that Marie was awake and crying as she beat on his back, pleading with him to stop. It took him a moment to realize that the entire time he had been strangling Mystique he had been chanting one word over and over. The only word that seemed to matter to Wolverine.

Mine.

Logan struggled back to the surface and stared in horror at what he'd done. He jumped off of Mystique's prone body as if burned and stumbled away. Her blood still flowed sluggishly out of the gaping wounds in her abdomen and some had stained his jacket. The scent of her blood and Marie's fear mixed and pervaded his nose as a reminder of what he'd done. The meager contents of his stomach emptied onto the pristine snow.

Mystique was right. He was a monster. Wolverine had killed her in cold blood. And Logan had let him out knowing what would happen. Nothing could have stopped him. Not Logan the man, not Marie his supposed mate.

Logan looked over to Marie and saw her on her knees, feet from Mystique's still form. She was crying so hard her body shook in wracking sobs. He got up to comfort her, instinct telling him to console his mate. She screamed as his hand descended on her shoulder, and scrambled away from him. Fear infused her scent, fear of him. Wolverine keened in sorrow. He had been protecting her.

"Stay away from me! You killed her! You killed her!"

She was hysterical, but staying here even in her coat would mean death for her. If it wasn't from hypothermia or animals it would be the two mutants once they returned.

So he ignored her screams and twisting body and threw her over his shoulder, making sure she couldn't reach him with her bare skin. She was far too light but it would make traveling easier.

"Put me down Logan! Let me go!"

The terror in her voice and plaintive pleas almost tore him in half.

"I'm sorry, so sorry, M'rie but I can't. Not until you're safe. Once you're safe you can go wherever you like. You won't see me again."

His reassurances did nothing and she continued to plead with him and struggle as he trudged as fast as his aching limbs would let him. She finally fell asleep from exhaustion.

He moved fast and ignored the pain in his mending wrists and the dizziness from loss of blood. His first priority was Marie's safety. Sabretooth was still weakened and Toad was near useless in combat but he might not be able to fight them both in his current state. He knew these woods. He had hidden in them more than once. He knew of a cave that they could find shelter in. He waded through the river more than once and backtracked and used every trick he knew to hide their scents. Sabretooth had at least as acute senses as he did. He could only hope that they hadn't had reason to return to Mystique too soon despite Marie's screams. And if they did her body had delayed them or at least given them pause.

Logan reached the cave the early the next morning. Marie was feverish and sick. She'd had more than one nightmare. He could guess what they were about, or who. He laid her down and covered her with his leather jacket even though his frozen body protested with alarming creaking. He scrounged up firewood nearby and built a fire deep in the cave where it couldn't be seen from the outside. Luckily this cave connected to a series of other caves. He knew of more than one way out.

He made sure Marie was bundled up and as close to the fire as he dared. He dozed off and on, his body needing to repair itself and conserve energy for heat.

He must have fallen into a deeper sleep than he meant to because when he awoke it was to Marie watching him warily. She still had his jacket wrapped around her and it gave Wolverine some hope. She had stoked the fire and placed more logs on. It blazed and warmed his aching limbs. She jumped when he sat up and her eyes widened in fear.

He raised his hands in a sign of surrender. He meant her no harm. She glanced at his hands with widened eyes. Right. He'd killed Mystique with these hands.

"I won't hurt you Marie."

"You killed her," she said with accusing eyes.

"To save you."

She shook her head in denial. "Maybe, but the way you did it," she shuddered as her eyes closed in painful memory, "The look in your eyes. You killed the other one because he attacked me. But her, you enjoyed killing her. You didn't have to kill her. You wanted to.

Logan sighed at the truth in her words. "I warned you. I'm not some knight in shining armor Marie. I'm not the guy you want to save you, not even close." He paused, gathering his thoughts and thinking of what was best for her. Wolverine would hate him, already he pushed at him, trying to break his control. He needed to think of her because Mystique had been right. She was too young. She had a life ahead of her that didn't need to include him. "I know of some people who can help you. Mutants like us."

Marie shook her head adamantly in denial. "Like the mutants that grabbed me? No!"

"No, not like them, not like me. Good people that help kids like you. Runaways, mutants that can't hide their mutation or control it. They can help you."

She glared at him but remained silent. He took that as consent. "We should sleep. We can find the road tomorrow and you'll be on your way soon enough."

She nodded and began to cough violently as she lay down. He smelled the sickness in her and wanted to tear the cave apart. If he didn't get her into a warm bed and some medicine soon she might get pneumonia or succumb to hypothermia. He told himself he would watch over her but his body was still too cold and too weak and he soon fell asleep.

First off, I apologize for another vague, unrealistic fight scene. I suck pretty intensely at writing those, as you can tell. Please be as harsh as you like in your criticisms. Secondly, most of you are probably thinking, What the hell? Marie was all good with Sabretooth's death, cheering Logan on. Now she's freaking out. Well more of her motivations are revealed in the next chapter. And what the hell delayed Sabretooth and Toad so long that they missed Mystique's death? Well we'll see what, or rather who held them up as well. Thank you for reading! Please review and I would be forever grateful!

I apologize once again for the loooong wait between updates. I have a better idea of what to do with this story thanks to some input from some awesome readers! The next chapter is just being tweaked for some grammar errors and making sure it leads this story where I want it to go. Any questions? Comments? Ideas? Just send me a pm or let me know in a review! :D