Wulf sat on the ground just outside the cave, his knees pulled up to his chest, chewing on his thumb. Ritter looked over at his brother and saw that there was blood running down his arm, coming from his hand. He rolled his eyes and walked over to the man, pulling his hand out of his mouth. “Stop it,” Ritter said. “Rose won’t let you hold the cub if you’re bleeding like that.”

Wulf nodded. “Sorry,” he looked down his arm; there was a drip of blood making its way down to his elbow. “I didn’t even know I was doing it.”

“I figured,” Ritter said, sitting down next to Wulf. “You’re just nervous, like any father.”

“No,” Wulf whispered. “This is different. Rosie has had that child inside of her for three hundred years, I don’t know how it will come out.” He looked over at his brother. “I’m scared,” Wulf whispered.

Ritter nodded, putting an arm around Wulf’s shoulder. “We all are.” He gave Wulf a gentile squeeze.

“Thank you,” Wulf said.

Ritter gave him an off look. “For what?”

“For all that you’ve done for Rosie and I over the years.” Wulf said. “What you’ve all done.”

Ritter smiled. “Well, that’s what family does.”

Wulf nodded. Neither man spoke for a few moments; they just sat together in silence. Suddenly, there was a sound from inside the cave and Hisch ran outside. “Wulf, you can come in now.”

Wulf gulped and stood up. “I can?” He whispered.

Hisch nodded. “Yes, you can see Rose and the cub.”

“Really?” Wulf asked, his eyes filling with tears. “Is he healthy?”

“Yes,” Hirsch said. “As far as I saw.” He took a step aside. “You want to see him?”

Wulf nodded and ran into the cave, Ritter and Hirsch behind him. When they arrived in the cave, Roth met them. “Be quiet,” he whispered. “You don’t want to disturb Rose or the cub, do you?”

All three men shook their heads. “Where are they?” Wulf asked. Roth took a step aside, revealing Rose laying on a bed of straw, a tiny bundle in her arms. “My God,” Wulf whispered. He walked over and kneeled down, sitting next to Rose. “Can I hold him?” He asked quietly.

Rose nodded. “You are the father,” she smiled, handing over the bundle of blankets

The others backed up slightly, giving them some room with the baby. “Eh-hem,” Giles coughed, getting the men’s attention. “I’ve never delivered the cub of a wolf demon before, are they supposed to look like a regular wolf cub?”

“Yes,” they all said.

“The babies have the form of a wolf cub until they grow to a size where they can manage their human form.” Vogel said. “And his pelt should be the color of Wulf’s, since male wolf cubs take after their sire’s the most. At least that’s how it should work, there’s never been a cub mixed like this.”

“What do you mean?” Giles asked.

“Well, Rose’s father was a brown wolf, her mother was a human, she’s half black wolf and Wulf is full black wolf.” Amsel said. Giles gave him an off look. “The color of a wolf demon’s pelt is determined by their parentage, since Rose’s father was a brown wolf and her mother’s side of the family all had dark black hair, that made her a black wolf with some patches of brown. But, then again, Wulf is an outlier of his parentage.”

“How so?”

“Among wolf demons, there’s a rare gene where a family of wolves can produce cubs of different coloring than any other member of their family. Like me and Wulf,” Ritter said. “Our mother was white, our father was white, and both of their sires were white as well. We were born black and brown. We were thrown out of our pack for being different. Same with the others.”

Giles looked around at the men. “All of you carry this gene?” He asked.

“Yes,” Vogel said. “My parents were both black, and I have a white pelt.” He pointed to Roth. “He’s my brother, and he’s red.”

“We’re gray and our parents were brown and red.” Amsel said, pointing to Hirsch.

“Very interesting,” Giles said. “Do you think the cub will have this gene?”

“I would say no,” Roth said. “From what I saw, he was black, brown at the lightest.”

“So he’s normal then?” Ritter asked.

“Not quite,” they all looked and saw Wulf standing up from the floor. He walked over to the others. “One of his eyes is blue and the other is green.” Wulf shrugged. “Other than that, he’s perfectly a healthy black wolf, so I guess different color eyes isn’t bad for being three hundred years past term.”

“That’s wonderful!” Ritter smiled, hugging his brother. “How’s Rose doing?”

“She’s fine,” Wulf smiled. “She just fell asleep with the cub.”

“So we don’t get to see him?” Ritter asked.

Wulf shook his head. “They both need their rest. Rose and the cub have been through a lot.” He turned and looked back at Rose. She was fast asleep, the cub sleeping on her chest wrapped in her cloak. “And right now, I wouldn’t wake them for the world.”

A few minutes passed in silence, all six men just watching Rose sleeping. “Excuse me,” Giles said. The men turned to look at Giles. “I can’t help but wonder how soon you’ll be off, and where you might go.”

“The baby can’t be moved for a few days, and Rose can’t be moved until at least tomorrow.” Ritter said. “So we’re camped out here for three days or so,” he looked at his brother. “Three days?”

Wulf shrugged. “I would like to keep them here for a week, but it still feels like someone is following us.” They all nodded, agreeing that they felt it too. “So we leave in three days, no matter what. You got it?” He looked around at the other men.

“Yes, we all get it, Wulf.” Vogel said.

“We’ve spent three hundred years trying to make sure this baby was born,” Amsel said. “Why wouldn’t we understand?”

“Thanks,” Wulf smiled.

For the next three days, the five wolves spent each night guarding the cave, while Buffy and a few of the others watched the cave during the day. Giles and Xander were in charge of bringing food to Rose and the baby, but early the second night, Vogel, Ritter and Amsel went out hunting and managed to bring down a fairly large dear. By the middle of that day, it was gone.

The next night, just as the sun was down, everyone was standing in the cave, getting ready to say good-bye to Rose, the baby and the wolves. Giles was the first up. He reached out his hand towards Wulf. “It was nice meeting you all.” He smiled.

Wulf smiled back, taking the man’s offered hand and shaking it. “No, it was nice meeting you. If it wasn’t for all of you, my baby would have never been born and I never would have seen my mate again.” He sighed. “We owe you everything.” He said, wrapping his arm around Rose, who was standing next to him holding the baby.

Giles smiled. “Not necessarily everything, but I’m glad that I could help.” Wulf nodded and Giles stepped aside, letting Buffy and Willow through.

“We just wanted to give you guys something.”  Buffy smiled, turning to Willow. The redhead handed her a picnic basket and Buffy handed it to Wulf. “Earlier this year, I went as Little Red Riding Hood for Halloween, and this was my basket.” Buffy said. “We filled it with some stuff you might need for your trip, blankets and other stuff like that. And some baby stuff for when the cub gets its human form.”

Rose smiled. “Thank you, I didn’t know where we would get this stuff. Thank you so much.”

“I’ll take that for you,” Amsel said, taking the basket from Wulf.

Buffy and Willow smiled. “It was nothing,” Willow said. “We figured that since you guys are a few hundred years old, you wouldn’t know much about modern baby stuff or where to get it.”

Rose laughed. “Right,”

“Oh, and there’s an infant ear thermometer in there too.” Buffy said. “I’m not sure if you guys can tell when another wolf has a fever, but it’s there if you need it.”

Rose nodded. “Thanks again. For everything.”

“Where will you be going?” Giles asked.

“Oh, back to Germany.” Wulf said. “There’s a small village there that’s looking for creatures to guard against thieves, they provide housing and food and everything. I figured that would be a good place to raise our son.”

“And it’s an old world community.” Rose smiled. “One of those places that’s been sheltered from the modern world a little, so it’ll be easier for us to adjust there. Also they’re tolerant of some demons, so we won’t be hated for being different.”

Giles nodded. “Very good.”

“Um,” Oz said. “Can I talk to Wulf for a second?” He asked quietly.

Wulf nodded. “Yes, let’s go outside.” Wulf kissed Rose’s cheek and walked outside of the cave, Oz behind him.

When they were gone, Rose looked back at Buffy. “So where’s your boyfriend? I thought he’d be happy to see us go.”

Buffy sighed. “He still thinks you’re evil. I can’t change his mind.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” Rose said quietly. Rose suddenly turned her head sharply, closing her eyes and smelling the wind coming from outside the cave. She gulped and opened her eyes. “Ritter, get Wulf and Oz. The rest of you, help me cover the baby.”

Ritter changed into his wolf form and ran outside of the cave. When he saw Wulf and Oz, he barked loudly. Wulf turned to look at Ritter, and he barked again. His eyes went wide. “What is it?” Oz asked.

“Get back inside the cave.” Wulf said, quickly changing into a wolf and joining his brother, guarding the cave entrance.

Oz ran past them into the cave. He looked around. Vogel, Amsel, Hirsch and Roth had all converted to their wolf forms, and were standing around Rose. “What’s going on?” Oz asked.

“There’s someone coming.” Rose whispered. She pulled the baby closer to her chest and began to growl, baring her elongated fangs for the first time. “Everyone get down.”

“Shouldn’t we get out of her?” Xander asked. “I’m thinking that being in an enclosed space when people are trying kill you is bad. Anyone else agree?”

Roth barked. “He’s right,” Rose said. “Better that they can’t surprise us from behind. Now everyone be very quiet.” She slowly began to settle into a defensive stance, pulling the baby a bit more under her arm so she could protect him better.

Ritter and Wulf suddenly ran into the cave, both wolves barking loudly. Rose’s eyes went wide and she looked at the mouth of the cave. A dozen or so men dressed in army fatigues ran into the cave. Rose turned around and handed the baby to Giles, then whirled back around and changed into her wolf form. Rose was now a beautiful black wolf with dark brown hair on her snout. Her piercing green eyes seemed to go through Giles’ very soul as she conveyed a silent message to the man.

“Everyone run!” Giles called.

For some reason, no one protested or insisted that they should stay and fight, not even Buffy. They all turned and ran back into the more sheltered part of the cave, watching the fight between the seven wolves and dozen commandos. While the fight was going on, Buffy saw that all the wolves were trying no to kill any of the soldiers, only to wound them enough to retreat. She would have to tell this to Riley, maybe this would convince him that they weren’t evil.

Rose barked and suddenly, Wulf was standing there in his human form. Rose changed back into her human form, and ran at Wulf. He caught her and threw her towards the remaining commandos. When she connected with them, she pushed hard with her boots, causing all four men to fall back. She stepped off of their chests and walked over to Wulf and the others, who had also changed back to their human forms.

“Is that all of them?” Ritter panted.

“Hopefully.” Wulf said, turning around and looking at Giles and the others. Rose was already standing next to them, taking the cub from Giles. “Is he alright?” Wulf asked, walking over to his mate.

Rose nodded. “Yes, he’s just fine. Aren’t you my sweet, little Baer?” She smiled.

“What’s Baer?” Buffy asked, coming out of their hiding spot.

“It means bear.” Wulf smiled. “My son, as strong as a bear.” He looked over at Rose. “We should get going. If that’s who was following us, we’d better go while they’re out cold.”

Rose nodded. “Good idea,” she looked at the others. “Amsel, get the basket.” The man walked over and picked up the basket. “That’s everything we need, we should be off.”

They said good-bye to Buffy and the others one last time and they all walked out of the cave. The hopeful thought that they were carrying were soon dashed from their minds as the exited the cave. There were several dozen men outside the cave, all of them holding weapons. “Damn,” Wulf cursed quietly.

To Be Continued…

I know that I keep saying they’re from Germany and everything, but they’re not speaking German. I would love to do a few scenes in German, but my German sucks and I wouldn’t be able to pull it off without an online translator and everyone knows how inaccurate those are. Maybe I’ll be able to throw in a few short sentences. Yeah, and then I’ll have anyone who actually speaks German yelling at me. Oh well.