I waited until we were circling once more. Trying to be unobtrusive, I narrowed the distance between us slightly. I swallowed as my cheeks and throat adjusted for easier human speech. My sudden stop had him step toward me, thinking he had an opening. Cocking my head, I looked at him as if I was puzzled, anticipating his surprise.

"You're ear doesn't look right." The words came out roughly human normal.

His eyes went wide. Not only my ability to talk in my wolf form, but my incongruent statement threw him off balance on all levels. That was my opening.

I pounced, teeth finding their mark, shredding his ear. He growled, pulling away, actually making my teeth do more damage than I had planned.

He shook his head rapidly, blood splattering out. Ears were hard to stop bleeding. I went back in before he could recover, ripping his nose. He yelped, spinning around. He would have a scar there. I had a feeling the wolf in him was beginning to panic, wanting to run.

I had decided I didn't want to mark him up the way I had the other one. His threat against Anna made the target I wanted to damage very specific.

I went on the offensive, fighting as wolves fight, rolling him, but still unable to reach my target. Still, my teeth and claws did as much damage as I could manage before he recovered. He yelped again, struggling to get his footing. Once he was up, he tried a frontal attack, desperate to get at me.

We had another round of snapping and snarling, front legs locked together for a moment. We broke apart, each looking for an opening. I rushed him once more, knocking him over, shifting to angle my legs right this time. I dug my back claws in, raking deeply into his privates.

He howled in pain. I walked stiffly around him, slowly coming back around to face him as he writhed on the ground before me.

I walked over, and quite deliberately, hoisted a leg and let loose a stream on him. He painfully moved away from me and I let him. I heard Mac chuckle.

I stood tall, staring intently at my adversary. I lowered my head just a smidgen.

"Do you want to see me truly feral?" I asked with smooth, deep-sounding human words coming out my wolf throat. I closed my eyes, focusing within myself.

Spirit Wolf, my brother and true alpha to these wolves. Help me reach them...

A spasm shook my body. I shifted but I was still wolf. I felt strange. Spirit Wolf moved us. The wolf before me cringed, then tried to run, succeeding in merely scooting along the ground. My/our roaring growl shook the ground. I/we ran, gliding, catching our prey easily. My prey cowered in our paws. Our teeth were at his throat.

I blinked, my vision swimming like it had in the fire. I could see the people, smell the wolves, hear the panicked beating of the heart before me.

Spirit Wolf gave out the barest growl.

The wolf below me whimpered. I don't know what he saw when he looked at me. I did not doubt he was aware of Spirit Wolf.

"Shift." The command was quiet and absolute, spoken around my opponent's ruff.

He shifted faster than he had before, as if he had no control of it. His back was wet from my stream. His ear and nose were covered in blood. The terrified man whimpered much as he had as a wolf.

My teeth were still around his neck.

"Please," he whimpered out, "he's feral, he's going to kill me. Stop him."

"So?" said Mac. "You were gonna kill him. Ain't as easy as you thought it'd be."

I heard Mac move.

"Uh, uh. You damn wolves stay right where you are. Right now, it's one on one. You want to change that? Go four on four? I'm the second one in. I'm guessing Black Wolf here will be number three. We might have to fight it out amongst ourselves first to decide on who's the fourth, so sit back while we figure it out. Otherwise everyone might just step forward at the same time, unless the bullets best us all."

I heard the pacing behind me stop.

"Feral," I growled. "I am not feral." My words came out that coarse growling, from the back of my throat. "Kill you? I will not kill you. You dared call another worthless? Omega, I call you! My omega."

He squirmed under me. One of my back paws went to his damaged privates and applied pressure. He keened in pain. If he had still been wolf, the whites of his eyes would be showing from his fear.

My teeth came up from his throat. One front paw went there instead. I stared at him. It was Spirit Wolf looking out of my eyes. Spirit Wolf looked out on the gathered wolves, meeting every eye.

"NO KILLING."

Many wolves shifted to human.

"No killing," resounded around the field, loudest from those who were against what wolves like the ones I fought stood for.

Spirit Wolf looked once more at the man beneath our paws.

"TO BE WOLF IS CHOICE," he/we snarled out.

Heads across the field bowed down. My wolves, the true wolves, nodded.

Spirit Wolf stuck his snout into the man's neck.

"LEARN TO BE WOLF."

"I will," the man got out between his tears, for he was abjectly crying.

I felt Spirit Wolf focus on me. I felt his love and offered him my thanks. I reiterated my commitment to help these wolves. Spirit Wolf withdrew. I felt a shudder go through me. I felt dizzy. I shifted back to man automatically as Spirit Wolf withdrew, landing on my knees, breathing heavily. I strained to focus on the man before me.

"Are we done here? Or are you still planning on killing me or kidnapping my family?"

"No killing," he whispered, shaking his head.

"Then I ask again, will you run with me, my brother? In a few days? I really want to sleep."

He only nodded. I sighed and stood up, reaching down a hand to pull him up. He took it hesitantly. I clapped him on the shoulder and moved away, letting him figure out how to tend his mangled manhood. I moved toward Dad.

"Please," one of the men standing around called out. I stopped and turned around.

"Can you bring someone back from being feral? My brother..." the young man half-sobbed out his desperate request.

I sighed as I walked over to him. My body ached. I put my hand behind his head, pulling our foreheads together. I took a deep breath, filling my lungs with his scent, before letting go and stepping a pace back.

"How long have you been wolves?" I asked, eyeing the scar of a bite mark at the base of his neck.

"We were bitten two years ago," he answered.

"Does your brother shift forms often?"

"About the same as the rest of us."

"Does it hurt him to shift?"

"Yes, he always cries out when he shifts. He can't hold it in."

I rubbed my forehead a little. I was feeling the effects from fighting and merging with Spirit Wolf. I considered the meaning in what this man said. His wording revealed so much.

"You're told to hold it in?" I inquired.

He nodded yes.

"And punished if you don't?" I continued.

He looked down but nodded. I sighed again.

"Why would he want to shift back to man then," I asked, "if all he has to look forward to is more punishment? At least he knows some joy as a wolf. Where is he now?"

"Caged, waiting for our return. If he is still a wolf when we return..." He fell silent as his tears fell.

"Which one is your alpha?"

He pointed. The man fidgeted uneasily.

"You plan on killing his brother?" I asked him.

"No killing," he answered back softly. "But I don't know what to do with him then."

"I'll come. I'll help." I turned to the brother, smiling. "It'll be ok, you'll see."

Something about the alpha got my attention.

"What?" I tilted my head waiting for an answer. He remained silent, his weight shifting from foot to foot.

"Look," I said in exasperation, "I don't want to take over your pack. I don't want your territory. I have my pack. My territory as a wolf is whatever land is under my feet. I want those with the wolf within them to understand what they are. No wolf deserves to live in fear."

I pointed to Sheep, raising my voice a little. "What does the wolf want?"

"The sun on our backs, to hunt when we are hungry, the companionship of friends and family," he said clearly and without hesitation. I had to smile.

"And our song across the sky," I added, grinning at him. I looked up at the darkening night. The first stars were shining in twilight's gloom.

I threw back my head, finding that half-shift where my head was mostly wolf, and howled. I sang out a song full of appreciation for Spirit Wolf. It was long and full-throated. Many, but not all, of the wolves sang with me.

A hawk soared along our song across the sky, adding to the refrain.

I was ready to go home.