He was a creature of nightmares – more beast than man; a predator – violent and merciless as few. His features spoke of a bloodthirsty animal, a solitary hunter. He was the supreme ruler of the night, fearless and invincible – until now.

The first warning, the first sign that something as wrong, was the smell – he recognized it not only from the destroyed camper in Canada, but also from the Statue of Liberty. It was a smell of animal instincts, of anger, of metal-bones and of a strange possessiveness – the clawed one that called himself Wolverine was out there somewhere. One smell, then two – the girl was with him. The girl with the white stripes and the poisonous skin. She was the Clawed One's mate - he had smelled it on her even as he first met her. She was then, she was now.

Suddenly, the hunter became the hunted.

And for perhaps the first time in his long life, the being known as Sabretooth felt the emotion fear.

---

Amidst the dark trees, two persons silently made their way through the forest, towards their prey.

The young woman in the black clothes moved gracefully among the branches, carefully avoiding the dead leaves on the ground. Her eyes, her steps, her every move conveyed only confidence and a healthy doze of caution. The man next to her moved with the same confidence – a strange mix of animalistic instincts and a predator's grace. The woman looked at her companion and in her eyes he read a silent question. He nodded, and with a slightly evil grin she disappeared among the trees.

He had taught her well, Logan decided, as he watched Marie make her way through the dark forest.

It had taken them more than five years to get here.

One year of searching for his past and waiting for her to grow up. He had wanted to give her time to change from a doe-eyed kid to a independent young woman.

Then one year of watching, calculating, observing – he had wanted to see if the so-called X-Men had managed to ruin the common sense he knew she had. He had watched and waited – and realized that even as Scooter and Jean and Chuck had preached of peace, co-existence and only using their powers as a last way out, Marie had always been a bit more ruthless than her fellow students. He had observed her during Danger Room sessions and self-defense training and noticed that her moves were always a bit more violent, that her battle-strategies were aimed at hurting her opponents, and not just knocking them out. Just as himself, she would attack first and ask questions later, much to the dismay of the X-Geeks. Logan knew that Chuck and company had hoped that they could put her on the team and make her mutation work for them. But they had learned a very important lesson – the Rogue was not a team player. And they had assumed that it meant she preferred to work on her own. Logan knew better. Just as him, she liked working on her own, but he also knew that she would prefer to work with a partner – someone who matched her perfectly in every which way, a one true equal.

And that someone was him.

On her eighteenth birthday, he had waited until they were alone before he gave her his present. It was two knives, made especially for her. They were the right size and had the right weight for her, and the blades were made of adamantium. Their price would have made anyone else pale, but he had more than enough money from years of fighting and smuggling.

And her expression had told him better than words ever could that he had made the right choice.

"Adamantium?" She had asked as she let a finger slide across the blades, her smile widening as she saw how sharp the knives were.

He had nodded and she had looked at him with eyes that suddenly seemed so *alive*.

"Does this mean that you will train me?" The voice had spoken of innocence, but her eyes had showed a predator waiting to be released.

"Yeah, darlin'. I will." And at that moment, they had both understood that they would never be a part of the team, that it was only a matter of time before they had to leave.

He had trained her for three years now – she could move silently, she could disguise herself, she knew how to hunt someone without being discovered. She could use weapons ranging from ordinary guns to knives, swords (where *he* had learned it, though, he'd never know), poison, rope and her own as well as others' mutant powers. He had taught her material arts and plain old-fashioned ass kicking. She knew the best way to kill someone and get away with it. She could predict an opponent's next move simply by observing the person. Her senses were honed to the point of perfection.

And they had done it all in secrecy.

He knew that the X-geeks had to have noticed something but they had never confronted the two with their suspicions. Chuck must have know it, but for reasons unknown he never did anything to stop them. Maybe he thought Marie would stay with the X-geeks. Maybe he knew that nothing they said or did would change a thing.

Only Storm had mentioned it once – after his Marie had kicked the X-team's collective ass in a Danger Room session. She had used every technique he had ever taught her, disappeared into the surroundings and turned the team's weaknesses against them. They had never had a chance against his girl.

After the session, Storm's only comment to him and Marie had been "I hope you know what you are doing."

Scooter and Jean had sent them some strange looks the following weeks, but they had both been extra careful after that and eventually, everything went back to normal.

Sometime during those three years, their relationship had also changed from close friendship to something words couldn't even begin to describe. They were lovers, friends, partners, confidantes and so much more. They completed each other.

And during those years, they discovered that Logan was becoming immune to Marie's mutation.

A part of him was thrilled – he, and he alone, would ever be able to touch her. She was his as he was hers. And another part of him felt only cold fear – what if she was wounded? What if she became terminally ill? What if she died of causes his healing factor could have cured? He couldn't even imagine a life without Marie. And he realized something else:

She would grow old.

He would not.

As her twenty-first birthday had passed, they had both known the same thing – if they wanted to be together for all time, there was only one way.

And tonight, their combined skills would be put to the test.

He heard a faint sound disguised as the howl of one of the many owls in the area, and he grinned. Attacked from two sides, their prey wouldn't stand a chance.

He watched as Sabretooth made his way into the small clearing. The mutant sniffed and looked around for any sigh of danger – he knew he was being hunted. Logan would have been disappointed otherwise - He liked a good challenge. One-on-one, Sabretooth might almost be his equal but against both him and Marie...the overgrown junkyard cat wouldn't know what hit him.

With one final evil smirk, he popped his claws and let out a furious roar as he attacked.

---

Sabretooth heard the sound of metal against metal only moments before he heard the roar and felt the burning pain where six adamantium-claws dug into his flesh. A particular sharp pain told him that one of the claws had grazed his heart and enraged, he lashed out blindly, feeling the welcome sensation of warm blood as his own claws hit the Wolverine. His satisfaction was short-lived however, as he felt tree claws cut across his chest. He growled and prepared to attack, feeling the rush of adrenaline as pure rage filled his veins. He focused his need for vengeance on a single point – the Wolverine.

He didn't sense the smell until it was too late. He felt two definitely female hands dig into his back and even as the connection opened and his powers rushed from his body, he recognized his fatal mistake – the mate. He had forgotten about the Wolverine's mate.

The last thing he felt before he surrendered to the darkness was the pain as a claw was run through his heart and smell of wet earth as he collapsed on the ground.

Then nothing.

---

The two dark-clad persons waited until they were absolutely sure that their prey was dead before they stepped away from the body.

Rogue caught Logan's eyes and he understood the unsaid request. He let one single metal claw slide out and slowly, almost caressing, Rogue took his hand. They shared another look, then Rogue let her un-gloved index finger slide across the sharp adamantium. Compared to the night air, the claw was strangely warm – probably from Logan's body-heat, she mused.

She watched intensely as a line of blood appeared, then lifted the finger to her mouth and licked away the blood.

Ignoring the slightly metallic taste from the red liquid, she examined the finger, then looked at Logan once more as he retracted the claw. He took her hand in his own equally bare one and caressed the perfect, unmarred skin that had only seconds ago been bleeding.

"I feel...strong. Powerful. Like nothing can hurt me," Rogue finally said. "Do you feel that way too, Logan?" she asked with a rare note of innocence in her voice and for just a short second Logan saw a young, inexperienced girl in her place. It was the girl he'd met a long time ago in Laughlin City and who'd grown up to become this – a beautiful, sensual, and very deadly huntress, a wolf hidden in the body of a young woman. She was still, in some cases, innocent, yes, but his girl still had enough sense to know when to talk, and when to fight. And she wasn't afraid to kill if the situation came to that, wasn't afraid of cold-blooded murder as this hunt had been, even if the victim had been a violent killer.

She was only woman who would ever be a worthy mate of the Wolverine, and after tonight they would be together for a very long time.

A healing factor most definitely had its advantages.

"Yes, I do. Even more so now," he finally said and kissed her hand with a lover's intimacy.

"Can you feel him in your mind, darlin'?" He asked.

Rogue shook her head.

"No. I only got his powers. I suppose those many hours of meditation were really good for something," she said and smirked slightly.

"Indeed," Logan agreed.

Rogue lifted her right hand and let it rest just above her lover's heart.

"I can hear your heartbeat," she said amazed. Logan nodded and just watched as she explored their surroundings with her new powers.

"I can smell...something..." she trailed off as she sniffed the night air. "Something like...death. Is this what death smells like?"

"Yes," Logan replied.

Rogue nodded slowly then looked at him.

"I liked it," she said.

"The kill?" Logan asked.

"The hunt. Chasing someone, using your skills to take him down...I like it."

Logan nodded. He knew she would enjoy hunting, just like he did.

Rogue looked at him.

"We can't go back," she finally said.

"Do you want to?" Logan replied. He knew it would be impossible. The X-geeks had looked the other way when either he or Marie used unnecessary violence during missions, but they would never ignore cold-blooded murder – not even when the victim was one of their worst foes.

"No."

They let silence reign for a few long moments.

"Where should we go?" Rogue asked.

"Where do you want to go?"

Rogue looked thoughtfully at him for a while.

"How about Alaska? We've never had the chance to go there together."

Logan nodded and smiled.

"Then Alaska it is"

Without looking back they disappeared into the dark forest.

Along with the dead body, they left their old lives.

Somewhere out there, a new life – together - awaited.