3

It was past midnight and Ford was standing in the middle of the living room, just the moonlight to create the silhouette as he stood with his head canted, listening to the night.

They had the smaller red SUV parked behind the house in the back lane where it was hidden amongst other neighborhood vehicles and it seemed in that direction that Ford was looking.

Jack was settled in a wide backed wingchair, watching his mate as he slowly turned to face another side of the dwelling, his eyes now visible as they gleamed like tiny iridescent moons.

He was beautiful.

Ford was scenting the air as he took a tentative step forward, then those eyes widened and Jack tensed in the chair as he watched the alarm grow.

Ford held up a hand with two fingers.

Jack rose and moved silently to the back door and looked back for guidance, a single nod sending him out into the snow.

There was one kneeling to place the parcel and another stood back with a weapon at his side.

Jack raised the semi automatic with the silence whispering its deadly huff of air.

The armed one fell, making the kneeling one rise with surprise to turn and look back, then start to run as Jack easily clipped him, making him twirl through the air and land in the soft snow with a grunt of pain.

Ford was there, his breath melting the snow around the man who groaned as the huge beast stood over him, his teeth gleaming in the moonlight as the black pelt looked wet with the shiny sheen.

"Who sent you" Ford growled and the man whimpered as he started to crawl on his back.

A huge paw slammed down on his chest and the man grunted with pain as Jack heard a rib snap.

Jack looked at Ford with surprise as he never lost his composure like this, he seemed to be shaking with rage.

As if hearing his thoughts, Ford stepped back and allowed Jack access as the man writhed with pain.

Jack hauled him to his feet and started for the SUV, Ford's soft bark stopping him and he turned back to speak just as the SUV exploded and a fireball shot into the sky as Jack roared with rage.

Thank God it wasn't Black Beauty, Ford had insisted Gwen take it as her house was the most remote.

Jack was enraged now, slamming a fist into the man's gut as Ford scanned the other vehicles.

He took off at the gallop, landing on the bonnet of one and the man inside squealed with horror ad Ford slammed through the windscreen and yanked him out, enraged and deadly.

Jack could only watch as the man tried to transform, still half-wolf half-man when his head was torn from his shoulders to land at the feet of the one in Jack's grasp.

"See that?" Jack snarled into the man's ear, "I think you are next."

The man whimpered as a stream of urine spread down his trouser leg to puddle in the snow.

Ford was walking towards them, his hackles high and his mouth open showing his rage.

"Easy baby, this one is going to talk" Jack assured his mate, even as the man twisted in his grasp with a hand going to his pocket and Ford sighed as the gun fired, hitting Jack low in the gut and Jack writhed in the snow as he died.

The man stood looking at Jack in shock, as if not knowing what he had just done and Ford stepped into this personal space easily enough, crunching his skull in his jaws with rage. He then gathered the heads and placed them in a containment box.

He looked at the mess he had made and sighed.

Damn.

Ford sat naked in the snow cradling his beloved as he gasped back to life with a bark of pain.

"Sorry Cariad, I lost my shit for a moment" Ford said sadly as Jack looked at the corpse.

"It's OK babe, I think I want to do the same" Jack assured him getting to his feet and removing his coat to swing it around Ford's cold shoulders.

Tosh assured them that the other houses were on alert and Ford settled back in the house as Jack cleared the scene.

As they waited for dawn Ford pondered.

Who else was at risk?