AN: Yes, I know. You all thought this fic was completely abandoned. Mea Culpa. A lot has happened in the last year - I lost my job, started a relationship, spent months looking for a new job, finally found one, moved halfway across country, helped my girlfriend find a job and then moved her halfway across the country to be with me (yay!), not to mention some pretty serious stress-induced medical issues surrounding all this chaos. So yeah, my apologies.

I never meant to abandon this but my mind really wasn't in writing-space for a lot of this year. I'd love to be able to promise that the next chapter will come out much much sooner, but this last year has taught me there are no guarantees. I'll try my best though For now, enjoy the resolution to that horrible cliff-hanger I left almost an entire year ago (sorry!).

Stephen

At first, my only impression was of speed and darkness. One moment there were teeth and claws heading towards me and the next something large and dark passed within inches of my face, creating a cool blast of displaced air. There was the dull thump of flesh hitting flesh, and the raptor that had lunged at us gave a shrill cry that was quickly cut off.

Beside me, Nick's hand loosened around mine and his eyes flew open in shock. The other five raptors were swivelling their heads in confusion, rustling their feathers and making disturbed chirping noises at each other. Once again, a dark shape blocked my vision, and it took me a moment to realise what I was seeing.

During the fight in the cage room, I really gotten a good look at Ria until it was all over. I was aware there was a creature in the room that appeared to being fighting with me, rather than against me, but I was too focused on my own survival to pay attention to anything but the next immediate threat.

Afterward, she had been injured, weak and compliant; the next morning she'd been friendly and playful. In my head, I'd formed an impression of Ria's wolf form as simply an oversized dog.

What I saw now was no dog. A few feet from the crumpled body of the lead raptor the dire wolf stood defensively between us and the rest of the raptors, four paws planted firmly, stance wide. Her fur, black as ink, stood on end, making her look even larger than she truly was. The longer fur around her neck puffed out like a lion's mane. She lowered her head between her front legs, eyes focused on the raptors, lips curled back to expose glistening fangs, and growled.

The sound reverberated through the ground, the air, the very stone at our backs. Deep in the back of my brain, a long-forgotten terror bubbled to the surface - the instinctual fear of the prey for the predator. By the way Nick trembled beside me, I knew he felt it too.

But fast on its heels another feeling welled up within me: awe. She was terrifying, yes. But she was also magnificent.

Movement out of the corner of my eye reminded me that there was still danger. The five raptors had regrouped. Like a child poking a stick at a snake, the raptors darted forward and back, testing the waters. One raptor leapt forward and snapped its jaws inches from Ria's left shoulder. She merely leaned slightly to the right, avoiding the attack with ease. Another did the same, aiming at her right leg. This time she moved.

Her massive jaws caught the raptor mid-leap and after a sickening crunch of bone she threw the broken body aside, taking a single step toward the four remaining predators.

With high-pitched chirps of alarm, they turned and disappeared into the undergrowth. The massive black wolf stood in place for a short while, head raised, scenting the air. Apparently satisfied there were no more threats, she turned toward us, body blurring and shrinking as she spun around, wolf blurring and shifting to woman between one step and the other. Three more steps and she was inches from Nick, looking up at him with barely restrained fury flashing in her dark eyes. With concern, I realised she was trembling.

"What the hell did you think you were doing?" she yelled. Nick looked as shocked as I felt.

"Are you *trying* to get yourselves killed?" she continued. "Cause from where I'm standing you seem to make a habit of it. How in hell have you survived this long? Do you ever use that big brain of yours for, oh, I don't know, THINKING?" She took a deep shaky breath, but I could tell she was far from done.

"Following unknown tracks through an unknown portal without even waiting for backup? You're damn lucky those raptors were more interested in playing with you. If they'd really been hungry you'd have been dead before you saw so much as a single feather. Is that what you want? Are you really that stupid or do you just enjoy giving the people around you heart attacks?" By this point she was literally spitting the words at Nick's face.

"You . . . you . . . Stupid. Idiot." She punctuated each word with a slap to Nick's chest and then suddenly, without warning, leaned forward to rest her forehead against his shoulder and burst into deep hysterical sobs.

I glanced over at Nick whose arms had reflexively embraced the sobbing girl. He looked at me with a bewildered expression that clearly said "Help!"

Normally I would have laughed at the usually confident Nick looking so flustered but right now my brain was still trying to catch up with events. And I was worried about Ria - this reaction was the last thing I had expected. Stepping closer, I placed my hand awkwardly on her shoulder, not really any more comfortable than Nick in dealing with a crying woman.

At the touch, Ria pulled away from Nick and threw her arms around my neck this time, squeezing so tight it was almost painful. "You're stupid too," she muttered into my shoulder.

Still hesitant, but clearly strongly affected, Nick moved closer, putting his hand on Ria's shoulder, and we stood there, offering wordless reassurance against a pain neither of us really understood.

Finally, Ria's sobs died down to mere sniffles and she stepped back, drawing deep, gulping breaths as she got herself under control.

"Are you all right?" I asked quietly, and then inwardly cursed myself. Stupid question. People who are all right don't usually spend five minutes crying and clinging to people they barely know. But she simply gave me a tremulous smile.

"Yeah. Sorry." The apology was nearly whispered and she immediately looked down again. I met Nick's worried eyes over Ria's shoulder. This vulnerable, insecure version of Ria was at direct odds with the confident, brash, snarky young woman I'd recently come to like. I was filled with the overwhelming desire to figure out exactly what had caused this drastic change in demeanor so that I could fix it immediately.

Ria

Oh God. Please just let me disappear. Just let me close my eyes and when I open them I'll be back in Louisiana and Joshua will be there and I won't be Packless in a foreign country in the distant past and falling apart in front of people I barely know. Isn't it weird sometimes, the way you can feel like a stranger in your own body? At this moment I felt like I was three people; as if one part of me stood apart watching as my human half fell apart under the strain of the last few months, crying into Stephen's shirt like a hysterical child while my wolf half contentedly chanted "Pack! Pack! Pack!" in the back of my head.

I was holding onto Stephen and Nick was a warm presence at my back almost but not quite touching apart from the hand on my shoulder and despite the imminent danger of attack by any of a number of bloodthirsty creatures I hadn't felt this safe since Joshua died. The wolf in me was exulting in the comfort and warm closeness of those she had designated Pack, blissfully ignoring the voice of my human half insisting that I had no right to these people.

The stiffness with which Stephen held me and the tentative feel of Nick's hand on my shoulder revealed their discomfort with the situation, but for the moment it I was just grateful that they cared enough to try to comfort me.

With effort, I pulled myself together, somewhat literally. The wolf was firmly reminded that these people were not my Pack and banished to the edges of my consciousness where she sulked like the kicked puppy she was. I pulled away from Stephen, taking a few deep, calming breaths and willing my hands to stop trembling. Dimly I heard Stephen as if I was OK.

"Yeah. Sorry," I murmured when I was sure my voice would be steady. "It's been a really stressful couple of months. Didn't mean to freak out on you." They accepted that explanation without question, clearly relieved that the hysterics appeared to be over.

Nick seemed to consider the matter closed, and started checking out our surroundings, probably trying to figure out which direction we'd need to go to get back to the portal and nervous about additional danger. But Stephen kept looking at me.

"I think you're entitled to a little freaking out," he said softly with a wry smile, but his eyes searched my face as if looking for some indication that there was more to my breakdown than I had let on. He'd struck me from the first as unnaturally perceptive for a male..

I had a feeling I wasn't going to get away without at least a little more explanation, but now was definitely not the time. The air still smelled clear of anything dangerous, probably scared off by the smackdown I'd given those raptors, but the portal had disappeared once and we really needed to get back before it did so again, trapping us in the past. I might manage to survive here for awhile, although I was sure there were things bigger and more dangerous than those raptors out there - but I wasn't sure I could protect Nick and Stephen for any real length of time and besides, they had lives to bet back to.

Wiping roughly at my eyes with the heels of my palms, I put some more space between me and the two men, and started walking toward the forest.

"This way," I called over my shoulder, still avoiding their eyes for fear I might break down again. I could hear them both following, sneakers crunching on the pebbly ground as I followed my own scent-trail back toward the portal, leading them home.