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The voices argued amongst themselves, as if Moirai wasn't there. She gladly let them, grateful for the partial reprieve. It let her think for herself again, but she was finding out that she didn't want to think. She just wanted to lay down and sleep, and pretend like none of this had ever happened. That her life had never happened.

The spotted femme didn't remember bringing her mother to this dank, deep cave, all darkness with random shafts off light that did little to drive the suffocating blackness away. But Bia was here, and Moirai, or not Moirai, had led her to the very depths of the cave, where she had last left Jahka, half-blind and bleeding after his attempt at escape. The voices were dead set on using the two of them to lure Deimos into a trap, to finally finish off her brother. It was perfect timing on Bia's part to discover Moirai when she had. It meant that the crazy femme didn't have to wait nearly as long as she thought to exact her revenge.

Revenge for what? she asked herself, pacing back and forth so much it was a wonder she didn't wear a hole in the cave floor. The same question had ping-ponged from one side of her skull to the other for hours, but she couldn't remember why she loathed Deimos to the depths of her soul. If she couldn't remember, why did she still need to kill him?

Why did she still want to?

It doesn't matter why . . .

He still needs to die.

It's the only way for you to be at peace.

Yes, peace. Peace from the torments in your heart.

Peace from us . . .

Peace from all of us.

You'll be free. Free to be your own. Do you remember what that feels like?

It's been so long.

Don't you want to be rid of us?

Don't you want us gone?

Moirai froze in her pacing, staring blankly out the cave mouth into the fading light of a setting sun. Would they really leave, if she just did as they wanted? Could she actually . . . be free of them? A small part of her told the femme not to trust them, but what could she lose? If they were telling the truth, she would be free from this bitter hell she went through everyday. If they lied . . . Well, she had put up with them all her life. She could keep doing it for the rest of it.

If she didn't break down first.

"Fine . . . I . . . I trust you."



Jahka woke from his fevered dreams to the sound of breathing, and lightly clicking claws on the stone. Shifting his aching body, he tried to press himself deeper into the wall he lay against, not wanting Moirai to see him. It was a futile attempt, he knew, because she always found him.

Biting back a whimper, he blinked his good eye, and suddenly his nose caught the other's scent. It wasn't Moirai, but the smell was damn close, and over-laid with that of the psychotic femme's. His back legs were stiff and unbearably sore, his fur clotted with dried blood. Moirai's teeth had shredded them as he ran, and he could still remember her laughter.

Shaking himself, he called out in a quiet voice, hoarse from his whimpering moans and lack of water. "Who's there?"

Jahka felt a shiver run down his spine, and he fought his body from curling up on itself. Whoever this Bia was, she sounded just like Moirai, though without the undertones of psychosis in her voice.

"That--" he started, but had to clear his voice before he could continue, "That doesn't explain to me who you are . . . "

Legs shaking with exhaustion, he pushed himself to his feet, standing with his back to the wall so that Moirai couldn't attack him from behind.

Jahka tried to open his wounded eye, but blood had crusted it shut. The femme's declaration of her kinship with Moirai made his hackles raise.

"You birthed that thing?" he snarled, surprised at his own sudden vehemence. The thought that another of Moirai's bloodline stood before him made him cringe and shake, though he refused to show any more fear to this wolf than what he already had.

Lifting his head, he started to growl. "Of course I know who Moirai is. She's the one that's kept me here for the Fates only know how long. She's the one who torments me and hurts me every night. She's the one that used me for her own sick needs. And if you're her mother . . . " His growl deepened, and he took a step forward. "Get away from me before I do something I'll regret later."

The gray male couldn't believe the load of bull that was coming from this femme's mouth. Moirai, special? Different? Just needs to be loved? It all made his anger worse, that Bia could be so blind to her own daughter's insanity and the danger the spotted femme was to everyone around her. No doubt she had even lured Bia here under some false pretenses.

Sighing, Jahka turned away. "If you truly believe that, you're a fool."

With that, he disappeared deeper into the cave.

~~~~~

Running as if the wind carried him, his nose working overtime to catch even the barest hint of Deimos' scent, Phobos searched for his alpha and brother, worry gnawing at his gut.

His mother's scent was still heavy in his nostrils, but what worried him was the other wolf scent he had found, a scent he didn't know, yet still recognized somehow.

Was it Moirai . . . ?

When Deimos had explained to him of their dangerous half-sister, the black wolf had hoped never to meet her. Now, it looked like he wouldn't have a choice.

Suddenly, the thin, haggard wolf left the trees and his tread slowed as he found himself in the main clearing of Einsame Lykos' territory, where the communal den lay. He glanced around, ears flicking this way and that, and finally spotted his brother stretched out beside Ehrek on the stones above the den's entrance, apparently dosing in the warmth of the sun. He was loathe to wake them, but from the little time he had been with his brother, Phobos had quickly learned that Deimos liked to know anything and everything about what might be a threat to his pack.

"Brother!" he called out, but there was no response from the alpha, who sometimes slept like a bear in the middle of winter. "You big lout, wake up!"

Grunting unhappily at the sudden pressure of paws pressing down on his back, Deimos lifted his lip in a half-hearted, sleepy snarl, his eyes still stubbornly closed. "Rrm, geroff me . . . "

He was about ready to roll over and go back to sleep when he heard Phobos' voice. Suddenly, the alpha was up faster then a hare out of its bolt hole. Glancing down at the phantom of a wolf, he blinked sleepily. "Whatsup?"

Phobos glanced at Ehrek, belatedly realizing that although Deimos had spoken of Ehrek until Phobos thought his ears were gonna fall off, the haggard black wolf had never actually met his brother's . . . mate.

"Um . . . " Turning his gaze back to Deimos even as his ears went back, Phobos cleared his throat. "Mother's scent is by the river.

"So? Did she leave?" Back to being angry at being woken up, Deimos started to curl back up into a ball, pawing at Ehrek's shoulder in an effort to get his mate to lay back down.

"Yes. But not alone . . . "

The big male froze, his eyes widening and then narrowing in fury. A growl started deep in his throat before bubbling from his jaws. "Moirai?"

"I don't remember her scent. That's why I came to you. But I think so." Shaking himself, Phobos started to pace, feeling his brother's anxiety even from this distance. It made him nervous, and at his brother's next words, the haggard wolf flattened his ears to his skull, his tail slipping between his legs.

Deimos stared at the ground for a long moment, his thoughts racing as fast as his heart. He felt Ehrek as a reassuring presence beside him, but also knew that most of his worry was for Ehrek.

And his brother.

His pack . . .

"I'm sick of this. I'm sick of wondering when she'll come. If she'll hurt someone I love." He sighed, his tail falling and head drooping. "I still haven't forgiven Mom, Phob. I know you haven't either. But if Moirai has her . . . ?"

Shaking himself, Deimos leaned against Ehrek, nuzzling and licking at his mate again before looking down at Phobos, his blue eyes losing every trace of their warmth. "It ends tonight."



Slipping through the shadows as silent as a specter, Moirai felt her jaws stretch into a twisted grin.

The plan was fool-proof, and so very simple.

Stopping, she sat on her haunches and glanced around the pitch black cave, envisioning how it all would happen. Jahka would be the bait, his body placed in one of the few beams of light that cut through the blackness from tiny holes in the ceiling.

Deimos and his misplaced sense of righteousness would see no other course of action but to come into the cave and try and rescue the gray wolf.

She, however, would be waiting. Waiting for the perfect moment to strike. She would do it in one of the beams of light, so that when she tore out Deimos' throat, her dear mother would be able to clearly see the red, red blood coating the floor. And then, as Bia grieved over the loss of a son who didn't even love her, Moirai would finish it.

Two birds with one stone.

She would finally be free . . .

Bia was most unhappy with her encounter with Jahka and as she slowly turned away her eyes scanner the darkness for her daughter. She moved towards Moirai, her nose telling her what her eyes failed to. She didn't want to believe that she had saved her precious baby only to find she was as vicious and cruel as she had feared so long ago.

If Moirai had disgused her insanity perhaps Deimos and Phobos had as well...Her thoughts disturbed her. She moved up against her daughter and gently licked her muzzle. "You should get some rest...the river was hard on you."

"What? Since when have I ever loved you?" he chuckled before noses his shoulder. "I loved Kekarn, that big, fluffy purple male," he teased and nuzzled along side him. He knew Kekarn, but he wasn't his type of male. No offense to the big guy, but he liked them big, strong, and young.

"Dei... you know full well that I would die for you. No one can replace you, our love is too strong," pulling his head away and looking forward, he looked determined as they followed the track and the remnants of the female scents. "Anyone who threatens that will be severely punished. . ."

He wasn't ready to become alone again. He wasn't ready to go back to the life he had. Ehrek desperately wanted to keep this one, if he cannot have it... he'd rather die than lose it.

"Your mother's my mother, so I have to help. What, did you think I was going to be the female in this relationship and just wait for you to come back?"

Deimos grinned cheekily and nodded with a quick, nervous laugh. "I was hoping you would be," he teased before bumping his shoulder against his mate's and nipping at his left ear. "I'm glad you're running beside me, my love. I don't . . . I don't think I could do this without you . . . "

Trying to shake off the bad feeling that had settled in the pit of his stomach, Deimos continued on.

Jahka could smell and hear Bia coming closer, even if he couldn't see her.

What does she want now? he asked himself, trying to shift into a more comfortable position on the cold, hard rock floor.

Worry was tugging at his gut, telling him that something with Moirai was different tonight. Tension crackled in the air as if a lightning storm approached, though snow still coated the ground. Where was she? Why had he not been tormented by her at least once in the last few days . . . ?