The Pack: Mating

Chapter One

Xander Harris thought that perhaps God, or whatever was up there, owed him a little payback for that morning. He figured he ought to win the lottery or meet a supermodel or something. Life flat out owed him, and it was gonna pay up.

He shifted into a slightly more comfortable position on the bus bench and looked across at his two main girls. Wills and the Buffster were deep in conversation on their own bus bench torture device, leaving him with the unenviable empty seat beside him. It wasn't that he resented their closeness, conversation, or even sitting together. Hell, if Jesse had been there, he and Xan would've probably been worse. But Jesse wasn't there, and now it was just him contemplating the meaning of brown vinyl as they rode to the zoo.

That wasn't why the world owed him.

Sure, the world owed him for Jesse too, but they could just add him to the tally. No, Xander was pissed because that morning he'd gotten a phone call from the Sunnydale PD asking his mother to come on down to the station and bail out his father on a Drunk and Disorderly.

At four in the morning.

Of course he'd had to go down with her, and ended up filling out most of the paperwork himself, while dear old dad swore up and down that he would never touch the hard stuff again. They had a week until the court date, and two days until the promises wore off. By the time Xander had driven his parents home, it was time for school.

So, yeah, the universe owed him one. At least.

Xander kicked the seat in front of him. A male head whipped around and glared. Kyle. King of the mean kids. God this wasn't his day.

"Watch it spaz!" came the expected insult. "Do I need to tell Ms. Forwood you're having a little 'fit'?"

Ms. Forwood was the head of the special education department at Sunnydale High, a fact Xander knew only too well from the numerous times Willow had taken him to get tested for learning disabilities. As it turned out, there was a difference between being functionally retarded and being lazy. Xander was lazy. Still, all the visits had given him a reputation for the former, and it seemed that Kyle was well informed. Yay.

Gravel crunched beneath the bus tires as it pulled into the zoo parking lot. Kyle turned his attention to his minions and Xander let out a silent sigh. Kyle hadn't been so bad up until a few years ago. In fact, they had even been on friendly terms for a while, at least before Kyle had hit puberty like a brick wall and become the ruler of the scary-cool kids.

Willow and Buffy were looking at him expectantly now, ready to get off the bus and see some wildlife. Personally, Xander was considering falling asleep where he sat, but failing was worse than exhaustion, so he dutifully got up and piled out of the bus with the rest of the herd. Willow smiled at him and he stretched his facial muscles back. It was shaping up to be a long day.

With a Slayer on one arm and a Slayerette on the other, Xander led them into the zoo. Armed only with a vague knowledge of the park's layout and a general sense of unease, he let the girls drag him off towards the reptile area.

And oh joy, Kyle was already there with his band of miscreants. Xander sighed, then faked a smile for Willow as she jabbered excitedly in his ear.

"…so many species! I can't believe the zoo has so much funding!" she went on. Buffy nodded and tapped the glass on a snake's cage. It didn't move.

God, why did Kyle have to be everywhere? It seemed like since eighth grade, Kyle and his cronies were wherever Xander was, making his life hell. Before they'd been acquaintances, just two guys who got along well enough, but now it was as if Kyle loathed every last inch of him. It was enough to make a guy a mite tetchy.

"Xander!" It was a Buffy screech, not a Willow screech. "They have a butterfly house! We so have to go in there!"

All he wanted was a nap. That's all.

"Sounds awesome, Buff," was what he said instead, ignoring the sneer as he passed Kyle and headed out of the reptiles. Willow followed happily behind, untroubled by most things on this fine California day. Oh, to have Willow's life.

Xander tried to enjoy the sensation of being covered in butterflies, but his mind kept drifting to other things, like his father's upcoming trial. Defense attorneys didn't come cheap, even in Sunnydale, and even if they could get one, the police seemed pretty confident in their ability to put Anthony Harris away for a few months.

This was torture.

"Come ON, Xander!" he followed the Willow voice, leading him towards the zebras. It looked like Buffy was striking out on her own. That was just as well. One less person to please.

Wow. That was a lot of stripes.

Mating zebras had a way of making all of his problems seem monumentally less important, or at least less interesting, so long as he was mesmerized by the vague sense of intrigue and nausea. So many stripes.

Willow was bouncing up and down next to him, and he couldn't decide if that was more or less disturbing than the zebra sex itself.

Dammit, he could see Kyle again, lurking a little ways away and scowling. He was alone, and Xander toyed with the idea of going over there and asking him what his problem was, but dismissed it. Willow would wonder, and this was something he and Jesse'd always tried to keep her out of.

Willow spotted Buffy coming back, and hopped over to greet her.

"Hey! Buffy!" Xander yelled, figuring he might as well pretend to be her Xander-shaped friend.

"You missed it!" Willow said.

"Missed what?" Buffy asked, her attention obviously elsewhere.

"We just saw the zebras mating," Xander said, nodding towards the still hyper Willow. "Thank you, very exciting."

"It was like the Heimlich, with stripes!"

Buffy did not appear to be nearly devastated enough. "And I missed it," she said. "Yet somehow I'll find the courage to live on."

Well someone was a little miss pouty-pants today.

Willow remained blissfully oblivious. "Where were you?"

"I was looking at the fishes."

"Was it cool?" Willow, bless her heart, just didn't know when to give up.

"It was fishes."

"I'm feeling you're not in the field trip spirit here," Xander said. Inside, he rolled his eyes. If anyone had a right to be in a funk, it was him, but he was making nice. She could just stuff it.

Buffy was making some excuse about doing this trip every year at her old school. Ah yes, the old school. The one that kicked her out. Love you too, Slayer.

"Buffy, this isn't just about looking at a bunch of animals," he said, burying his frustration. "This is about not being in class!"

She brightened and he winced inside. "You're right," she said, "suddenly the animals look shiny and new."

"Gotta have perspective," he said, mask firmly in place as he watched Kyle and company approach some guy…Larry? Lenny? Lance! That was it. It looked like they were pulling their usual stuff when Flutie intervened and Lance…defended them?

Xander geared up to go over there. Lance was an okay guy, and Kyle was just going to screw him up. They were heading to the Hyena House. Great.

Willow perked up behind him. "What are Kyle and his buds doing with Lance?"

"Playing with him as a cat plays with a mouse," he said, grimacing.

"What is it with those guys?" asked Buffy.

"They're obnoxious. Professionally," said Willow.

"Well, every school has 'em," he said. "So you start a new school, you get your desks, some blackboards, and some mean kids." Except that wasn't it. That wasn't it at all. Xander wanted to know what made Kyle tick, and he wanted to know now.

"Yeah, well, I'd better go extract Lance before…" Buffy said. Xander stopped her.

"I'll handle it. This job doesn't require actual slaying."

He knew the girls didn't believe him, but he had to confront Kyle now or lose his nerve, so he raced into the Hyena House, drawn inexorably towards the center. He could hear Kyle up ahead.

As he rushed into the main room, he knew he was right on time. The gang had Lance held up against the enclosure. Xander ran up and pulled him down.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own species?" he snapped at Kyle who looked even angrier than usual.

"What, are you gonna get in my face?" said Kyle, stepping closer.

The hyenas chose that moment to growl suddenly, distracting them. They all looked down into the enclosure and into the primal eyes.

As the wave of magic and power rushed over him, Xander couldn't help but think that this was not how he wanted the universe to pay him back.