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Lunaticus Book Three: New Moon Rising	By : JBankai89 Category: Harry Potter > Slash - Male/Male > Harry/Remus Views: 12583 -:- Recommendations : 2 -:- Currently Reading : 2
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns Harry Potter, I gain nothing from this but a way to pass the time.

Chapter List
- 31
- 32
- 33
A/N: Next update will be Tuesday, October 10^th. Happy Thanksgiving Weekend! (For us Canadians, anyway)
Chapter Thirty-Two – To Protect and Defend

It seemed as though the simple act of being taken to bed by a dominant werewolf accomplished what Harry and Remus's earlier, more tame affections could not, and at last, Harry was being left alone by the dominants of the pack.

It was a wonderful relief to not have to worry constantly about being fondled by a dominant who took a fancy to him when Harry really wanted to be left alone. His heart did twinge however at the heartbroken look that Ulrich tried to hide from him every time they crossed paths.

Harry did his best to not rub Ulrich's nose in it, but given how close to the moon they were, everyone's heightened senses made it difficult to conceal the scent of Remus on his skin. It was confusing for Harry, because Remus made him so happy, and things seemed to be going so well, Harry just wanted to gush and cry from the hilltops in his overwhelming joy.

“I'm happy for you, I am,” Tavish had said after Harry regaled his friend with all the details about how things were going with Remus, and he sounded as though he meant it, too. “But...do you think it'll last? You two don't exactly have the best track record.”

“No idea,” Harry replied simply as he leant back against one of the log seats and stretched his legs out against the grass. “A lot of things are different this time. He's working on his domineering issues, so it's not as present, the bond is gone, and he doesn't want to treat me like his possession. But...I'm hopeful. This feels different from before, and I think we can make it work.”

“Well, if you're happy, I'm happy,” Tavish said simply, and offered Harry a small smile. “But...if he hurts you again, I'll cut his bollocks off with a rusty butter knife.”

“Good to know,” Harry said as he barked a laugh, and Tavish offered him one of his trademark mischievous grins.

~*~

“Are you sure that you want to do this?” Harry asked Remus for what was likely the hundredth time that day, while he reached up to brush a strand of grey hair from his partner's eyes. Remus caught Harry's hand with his as he chuckled, and placed a soft kiss against his palm.

“You stayed here for the last moon, it's only fair that I come to the territory for this moon,” Remus replied simply, and Harry smiled.

“That's not what I asked,” he pointed out, and Remus laughed again.

“I'm sure, Harry,” he said, “I cannot say that I am exactly certain that I am wholly prepared for it, but we'll never get over that hump if we don't try.”

“Fair enough,” Harry replied as he chuckled a little, and arched up to kiss him. He had intended it to be nothing more than a simple peck, but Remus seemed to have other ideas. He coiled one arm around Harry's waist, pulled him flush against him, and rested a hand against Harry's cheek as he pulled him into a warm kiss.

Harry wasn't about to complain, and let out a tiny moan as he pressed himself more firmly against his dominant—his mate—and parted his lips to taste the older man, an action he happily reciprocated.

“If we keep this up, we'll never make it to the territory before sundown...” Harry murmured, and Remus let out a tiny groan of frustration before he kissed Harry one last time and pulled back reluctantly.

“Sorry, Harry, but around the moon...it's hard to resist you,” he replied, and Harry laughed.

“Believe me, the feeling's mutual,” Harry said with a grin, and reached out to take the dominant's hand. “C'mon.”

Harry tugged on his hand, and Remus smiled as he followed the sub's lead out of the boundaries of their warding. He then pulled his hand from Harry's to wrap his arms around the young man's waist, and leant in to kiss him again.

“Why not lead us to the territory by Side-Along Apparition?” Remus suggested, and Harry blinked in confusion at the strange request.

“Can you not remember where it is?” Harry asked, and Remus chuckled softly.

“I remember, I just like the idea of being led by you once in a while, even if it's something as simple as Apparition.”

“Blimey, you really have changed,” Harry breathed, and beamed up at Remus. “I'm really proud of you for that, I hope you know.”

“It's not that big of a deal...” Remus murmured, his cheeks tinting pink as he spoke, and Harry immediately shook his head.

“It's a very big deal, Remus,” Harry replied firmly. “Even a year ago, you commanded my submission in practically every facet of our lives, and now you're...you're you again. You're stronger, confidenter, and you're the man I fell in love with at the start of all this.”

“Confidenter isn't a word,” Remus pointed out, and Harry rolled his eyes.

“Thank you, Harry, I always appreciate your wonderful compliments, I loooove you.” Harry said in a high, false tone, which caused Remus to bark a laugh. “Oh, you're welcome, Remus,” Harry continued in his usual voice, “you know I only speak the truth.”

As he spoke, Remus kept laughing, and pulled Harry back into a close embrace.

“You're ridiculous, Harry,” Remus said as he sobered up, and bowed to kiss him lightly. Harry grinned, and returned the gesture.

“Yeah, I know,” he replied, and offered his dominant a warm smile. “Come on, let's go.”

Remus nodded, and tightened his hold on Harry as he led them both to the territory by Side-Along Apparition.

~*~

The couple reappeared on the edge of the territory, and it took Hermione less than five seconds to spot them and come running over. Harry felt Remus's arms tense around him, but he ignored it—this close to the moon, possessive attitudes would be difficult to control, and he knew that there was only so much he could reasonably expect of Remus at the moment.

As Hermione approached, Harry noticed two things straightaway. The first was that her scent was a little different than usual—not bad, but different. The second, of course, was the very slight but distinctive bump of her pregnancy beginning to show.

Harry beamed at her, and she smiled back as she went in to hug both Harry and Remus in turn.

“Hermione, you look amazing,” Harry said, unable to keep his eyes from her tiny baby bump.

“I don't really feel amazing,” she replied, though she was still smiling brightly.

“Still sick?” Harry asked, and she nodded.

“How far along are you?” Remus asked suddenly.

“Just over twelve weeks,” Hermione replied as the three of them began to approach the main area of the territory. Despite the light tone of their conversation, Harry could feel Remus was stiff as a board next to him. He wrapped an arm around Remus's middle in an attempt to reassure him, but it did not seem to help very much. “Of course, Ron and I have about half a dozen pregnancy books, both wizard and muggle, and they all say that morning sickness is supposed to stop at thirteen weeks, but since a dominant werewolf pregnancy is so rare, we really have no idea what to expect with this.”

“I'm assuming you've been drinking a lot of ginger tea?”

“More than water,” Hermione said with a small nod, and Remus chuckled.

“Try a tea made from cumin,” he suggested, “it is more geared towards curing nausea caused by morning sickness. It may be more helpful.”

“I wish I'd known that twelve weeks ago,” Hermione replied with a small groan, but still smiled gratefully at Remus. “Thank you, I'll try it. You know, that's not in any of my books, how do you know about it?”

“Muggle Herbalism,” he replied simply. “They spoke of it briefly during my Muggle Studies lessons when I was at Hogwarts, and referred to it as muggle magic. I went to look into it further, and started offering up muggle remedies of common ailments to my friends and classmates, and Professor Slughorn suddenly believed that I was brilliant at potions.”

“So the only werewolf member of the Slug Club?” Harry teased, and Remus chuckled softly.

“Ah, but I am still a werewolf,” Remus replied lightly, “it was your father and Sirius who got the invitations, not me.”

“Prejudice at its finest,” Hermione muttered, and Remus nodded a little.

“To be fair, you didn't miss much,” Harry said, “dull parties with dull, pretentious people that Slughorn thought he could use to his advantage.”

“Small comfort,” Remus replied lightly as they reached the bonfire and the three sat down. Harry in between Remus and Hermione, and one of Remus's arms was draped lightly around his waist. “Still...all gone now.”

The afternoon progressed, and the trio moved on to lighter topics. Most of their talks revolved around Hermione's pregnancy and how petrified Ron seemed to be of fatherhood. They were left alone by the others, and in Harry's casual glances over the territory he could not see Greyback or Tavish, but when he spotted Adina without either of their company, he assumed that Greyback was re-staking his claim on his male sub quite enthusiastically.

This theory was later verified when the pair reappeared at dinner, Greyback looking the same as ever, but Tavish looked pleasantly dishevelled, with his hair a mess, and his throat flushed with love bites, and his clothing distinctly wrinkled.

“Is it bad that I'm a little jealous of Alpha?” Remus whispered in Harry's ear, and he turned to look up at his dominant with an arched brow.

“You have a crush on Tavish?” Harry teased, “'cause I can always go and knit while you get beaten to a bloody pulp for making a pass at—”

“—no, you twit,” Remus interrupted with a chuckle, and nipped lightly at Harry's earlobe, making him shiver. “I'm jealous that they can wander off and have a shag, and if we do, there's every chance we'll get caught.”

“I can't recall you ever worrying about that before,” Harry remarked, and shifted a little closer to his mate as Remus's hand slipped under the hem of his T-shirt and began to tickle its way up his spine. “In fact, I can remember a few times at the Burrow...”

“One could argue that I was a different man back then, and I'm a little more well-balanced these days...”

“Shame, I don't think I ever had any complaints about semi-public sex...”

“...you two know I can hear you, right?”

Harry and Remus both turned to see Hermione staring at this both, her arms crossed and her eyebrows raised high in the air. It seemed as though she was trying to eye them with a look of disapproval, but it was lost in the pleased expression she bore, clearly happy to see them together like this again.

“Er, sorry?” Harry said, and a smile spread across her face.

“Don't be sorry,” she replied, “I'm happy for you two, I am, but maybe keep the bedroom talk for the bedroom, or at least out of the territory.”

Her eyes flicked to a point left of them, and Harry followed her gaze.

Sitting alone was Ulrich, clearly trying valiantly to not look at the pair of them, but Harry spotted how his eyes darted up every few seconds, and his stomach knotted with guilt.

“Maybe this wasn't such a good idea...” Harry mumbled, while Remus tightened an arm around him.

“Don't feel guilty, Harry,” Remus murmured gently, “you've done nothing wrong.”

“But—”

“No,” he interrupted, and Harry frowned up at him. “If you hide away and shield him from us to spare his feelings, you're not doing him any favours. We are sitting here, we're not rubbing his nose in our involvement with one another by some silly public display of affection, nor are we teasing him by sitting close to him and snogging each other senseless. We're not doing anything to make his pain worse.”

“But seeing him alone...” Harry trailed off with a frown. “Maybe I should go talk to him?”

Remus's arm tensed around him again, and he looked as though the tiny suggestion was physically painful to hear. At the same time, Remus seemed to be struggling, warring with himself and the temptation to bar Harry from speaking to another dominant, and the clear desire to not become that controlling, domineering, and abusive person again.

“I'll go talk to him, Harry,” Hermione said suddenly. Remus's arm relaxed around Harry at the suggestion as they both turned to face her.

“You will?” Harry asked, and she smiled at them warmly.

“I still need to invite him to the wedding, so that'll give me something to say, at least. Maybe think about talking to him once the moon is over and everyone's emotions are less riled up.”

“Er, yeah, okay, but—and she's gone.” Harry watched her dart across to where Ulrich was sitting, and he perked up as she talked animatedly with him, then pulled an envelope from the inside of her robes. He appeared startled, but strangely relieved. Privately, Harry wondered if maybe he was worried that he'd sent her over out of pity.

Harry watched them chat for another minute, when suddenly Remus's voice pulled him out of his thoughts.

“Do you regret it?”

Harry blinked, and looked up at him quizzically.

“What're you talking about?”

“Leaving him for me,” Remus explained as he nodded in Ulrich's general direction. “Do you regret it?”

“No,” Harry replied at once with a small shake of his head, “I just regret hurting him. He's a good man, he didn't deserve it.”

Remus's arm tensed around him, but he did not verbally respond. Harry leant against his side with a soft sigh, and prayed that joining the pack for the moon wasn't going to be the disaster that he kept envisioning.

~*~

After dinner—where Harry watched Hermione put away so much food he was amazed that she didn't explode—he and Remus slipped away for a few quiet moments alone before moonrise.

“Nervous?” Harry asked, while he offered the older man a small, reassuring squeeze around the waist. Remus laughed shakily, and mirrored Harry's light embrace.

“Yes,” he replied, and looked back over to the pack, who were all still milling about and chatting amicably with one another. Harry noted that they were not the only couple who seemed to have slipped off, for he couldn't see Greyback or Adina anywhere, and Tavish was talking animatedly with Ulrich and Hermione. “I...I'm not nervous, so much as I am afraid,” Remus admitted after a moment, and Harry's gaze immediately flicked back to his mate.

“Afraid?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Remus pressed his lips together into a thin line, and his gaze flitted back over to the pack.

“When I was turned, as you know, Alpha did it because he saw something of the wolf in me. Albus stopped him from taking me away from my family, and I grew up viewing myself and other werewolves as dangerous—something to be feared. I didn't know any better, I was a lone—young—wolf, who spent every moon lamenting for a pack. I hated myself for a long time. Even when I was shown that everything I had ever been told about my kind and Alpha was wrong, it was still difficult to let go of that much...hatred for myself.

“Being here, it is symbolic that I can let go and be myself—wholly. When one spends a lifetime being told that that is wrong, it is difficult to actually...do that.” Remus paused, and perched his chin against the top of Harry's head. Under different circumstances, Harry knew that this could be the body language of dominance or claim, but in this instance, Harry could feel the different energy that Remus was exuding—he wanted comfort, not to dominate.

“And then there's the added fact that the last few times you were here, it didn't exactly end well,” Harry pointed out, and Remus let out a small, throaty chuckle.

“You could say that.”

“I hope this time goes better,” Harry said as he pressed his cheek to Remus's chest and tightened his arms around him. “I want to see you believe in yourself...you know?”

“I'd say that now it seems like an achievable goal,” Remus replied as he moved back a little, gently rested his fingers under Harry's chin and tilted his head up to kiss him lightly. “When I'm with you, I feel like I can do anything.”

~*~

As evening gave way to night, Harry reluctantly let Remus go to join the dominants on the other side of the territory. He did not fail to notice how Remus selected a spot as far from Ulrich as he could manage, and neither man made eye contact with the other, instead choosing to act as though they did not exist. Hermione stood with Ulrich, apparently trying to keep his attention away from Remus, while Harry stepped back to join the subs.

Harry undressed mechanically and handed his clothing to Adina, but never took his eyes off Remus. Across the space, Remus caught his eye and offered him a small, reassuring nod.

The moon crested the sky, Harry let out a low moan as his knees buckled and he fell onto all fours. The familiar pain lanced through him, and his back arched as the change began and the rest of the pack fell away.

Harry let out a low moan as his bones crunched, his skin burned and ached as it stretched to a larger shape, he grew hair from every follicle, and within moments, it was all over.

Harry stood and shook himself like he always did following the change, and Tavish paused long enough to butt his head against Harry's in greeting before the subs began to disperse, and he wove through the wolves to greet his alpha. Harry could see Adina not far behind, both of the alpha's mates approaching him with their tails high in excitement, but their heads bowed respectfully.

Harry turned his attention away from the alpha and his mates, his head tilted high as he sniffed the air and looked for his mate.

Harry glanced over to where most of the dominants were still milling about, and in the sea of grey, black, and white, he spotted a grey and tawny wolf, slightly smaller than the others, but his ears pricked and tail high as Moony's eyes landed found Harry, just as Harry spotted Moony.

The pair darted forward, and they met with an affectionate nuzzle, Harry jumping up enthusiastically to bump his muzzle against Moony's. The dominant wagged his tail, and they circled each other happily. Puppy-like, Harry bowed forward, intent to play, and Moony obliged him.

The rest of the pack seemed to fall away, and Harry was only reminded of their presence when an occasional pup would want to join in on their play. It was quite clear that Moony wanted Harry all to himself however, and always gently nudged the pup back towards the others before he turned his attention back to Harry.

They'd barely been together for a full five minutes when all of Harry's worst fears seemed to converge all at once.

An enraged snarl rent the air, and the pair paused when they saw a much larger wolf tearing towards them. Harry hadn't even time to process what he was seeing when with a yelp he was separated from Moony as the pack's beta forced himself between them.

Ulrich's back was to him, and he snapped and snarled at Moony in a clear message—stay away.

Harry growled at the beta, and without concern for himself, he jumped forward to sink his teeth in Ulrich's foreleg. He shook Harry off with a small growl, as easily as though he were nothing larger than a mosquito.

Moony whined, his ears flat against his head, and he was stepping from paw to paw as he gazed from Ulrich to Harry, his expression clear that he did not know what to do. Harry tried to circle Ulrich but he growled and pushed him away from Moony, blatantly ignoring Harry's continued whines and yelps of distress.

Harry tried to worm around Ulrich, but he growled again, snapping at Harry, and moved as though to stand over him in a display of claim.

Harry was not having it.

With a growl, he lifted his forepaw and swiped at Ulrich's muzzle.

He felt his claws break the skin, and Ulrich staggered back with a sharp yelp of surprise. Harry took the opportunity to dart away from him and pressed himself against Moony's side, shaking a little with shock from the ordeal. Moony bumped Harry's muzzle with his own, and licked the sub's ears affectionately. Some of the fear began to dissolve.

Ulrich rounded on them, still agitated and growling, and Harry pressed himself more securely against Moony's side.

The beta charged, and Moony moved in front of Harry to protect him, when the most unlikely thing imaginable occurred right before their very eyes.

Black and silver intercepted the dark grey wolf, and Ulrich skidded to a halt, but not quickly enough as he bowled over, and collided directly with Greyback. The alpha stayed standing, and pressed a huge paw to his throat, his lip curled back in a dangerous snarl. Greyback removed his paw from Ulrich's throat and replaced it with his teeth when the beta would not listen to the command, and only let go when Ulrich finally slumped to the ground in defeat.

The alpha stepped back, releasing Ulrich, and with his head bowed in shame, the beta shuffled away from the three other wolves. Harry watched his progression across the territory, until he stopped under a tree and curled up in a tight ball.

Greyback approached Harry and Moony with a short huff, and inspected his two packmates for injury. Neither of them moved until the alpha seemed satisfied that they had not been hurt, then with a few short barks, he dispersed the curious wolves that had circled them to watch.

When Greyback had left them, Moony circled Harry, doing his own injury check before he nudged Harry's muzzle affectionately again. Harry let out a little huff as he returned the gesture, and they shuffled away from the centre of the territory.

Greyback's sudden howl to assemble the hunting party pulled Moony from his side, which he only did once he was safely nestled amongst the other subs—and Hermione, who could not hunt in her delicate state. Wu Fei took to the task of keeping an eye on the remaining subs, and the black wolf circled the edges of the territory as the other dominants left.

Harry would have liked to lie down and rest until the dominants returned with the night's meal, but the moment the hunting party had disappeared, he was suddenly surrounded by a number of pups, all of them yipping and jumping up, trying to engage him in play.

He huffed and obliged them, while another black wolf—a male sub whom he recognized as Daanish—corralled them and let them play, and they all let out excited barks as they chased the two males. Even Tavish got pulled into the roughhousing, while the others hung back and watched.

The time flew as Harry played, and soon the dominants returned, dragging with them two huge stags, so large in fact that it was almost possible for them to be mistaken for elk.

As one, the subs all got up and moved towards the fresh kills, encircling it and sitting down as the alpha and his mates approached it. The dominants backed off, and Harry thumped his tail softly against the grass when he saw his mate approaching.

Moony bumped his larger head against Harry's, and Harry immediately pressed himself into his dominant's side as he plopped down next to the sub. Harry's stomach gurgled when the scent of blood from the steaming carcass filled the air, and he fidgeted as he waited for Greyback and his mates to finish their meal.

Following them, the beta stepped up for his turn, then at last—at last Harry was allowed to eat.

He moved forward, but stopped abruptly when he realized that Moony hadn't followed him. He paused and looked back, and Moony had not moved. When Harry stopped Moony got up and nudged him encouragingly towards the meal, and at once Harry understood—he was still the omega of the pack, and had to wait his turn.

Harry's ears flattened against his skull as he stepped up to eat, his appetite dimmed somewhat by the absence of his mate at his side. He ate quickly, then dove back into the carcass to rip out a sizable bit of offal—two kidneys, and most of the liver. A sneaky dominant tried to snatch the morsels away, but one warning snap from Harry was enough to get the silvery wolf to back off.

The meat was almost too big to fit in Harry's mouth whole, but he managed it, and carefully carried it back from the meal, and over to Moony, who was lying down and waiting patiently for his turn.

Harry dropped the organs between Moony's front paws, and nudged it closer to his dominant when he did not immediately snap it up.

Moony seemed to be struck dumb with shock at the offering, but after a long moment, he finally ate what his mate had brought him, then stood to nuzzle him in thanks.

Harry returned the affectionate gesture, then flopped down in the grass next to Moony.

Moony lazily groomed his mate as they lay there, then when the last of the pack trickled away from the meal, he stood up, bowed his body as he stretched, then wandered over to pick over the bones.

Harry followed, and sat a few feet away, his ears pricked high as he watched Moony eat a little more—certainly more than usual, given the size of the kill the dominants had brought down—before he rejoined Harry, and side by side they wandered into a more private copse of trees to curl up together and sleep off their full bellies and the excitement the night had brought.

~*~

Harry woke the following morning pressed securely against Remus's chest, with the older man draped over him like some sort of living blanket.

He groaned softly, and Remus immediately stirred, his eyes flicking open to smile warmly down at his mate.

“Morning,” Remus murmured, and kissed him. Harry happily arched up to return the gesture.

“Morning to you too,” he replied in the same soft tone of voice, then slumped down in the grass with a soft sigh as Remus's hand trailed down his side to give his bum a small squeeze.

“Sleep well?” he asked mildly, his hand still on Harry's arse, and against his better judgment, he rolled over a little to give him better access. Remus immediately took advantage of it, and cupped his buttock in his hand as he massaged it idly.

“More or less,” Harry replied, his answer somewhat lost in the soft groan of pleasure he let out, and pressed himself back against Remus's wicked limb. Suddenly, the memories of the night before came flooding back, and Harry's hand moved to grab Remus's forearm and stop his public fondling, but at the same moment, he stiffened, as though he, too, was recalling the previous night's events.

“What...happened last night?” Harry asked, and he blinked hard, wondering idly if he was misremembering some of the details. “Why did Alpha do that?”

“I think I know,” he replied as he sat up and stretched. Harry winced when he heard the older man's spine crack in a few places. “Let's get some clothes and food, and we can talk about it, all right?”

Harry nodded as he reluctantly got up and stretched, his bones cracking and crunching similarly to Remus's, and they both wandered into the main area of the territory, where the rest of the pack was milling about, some dressed, some not, and after Remus and Harry had pulled on some clothes and snatched up bowls of eggs, meat, and potatoes, they chose a more secluded spot away from the central area of the territory to talk.

“So...” Harry began, and paused to pop a hunk of meat into his mouth. “What happened last night? I remember...I remember Ulrich coming at you, and you refusing to fight him...then him trying to shepherd me away...” he paused and winced, “and I think I scratched him? I've never seen him act like that before.”

“He was in mourning,” Remus replied, his voice a little thick as he ate and spoke at the same time. “You cannot wholly blame him for his actions, he wasn't in complete control. He saw his mate with someone new, and reacted.”

“This conversation feels awfully familiar...” Harry said, his mouth quirking into a small smile, and Remus eyed him quizzically.

“It does?”

“Yeah. Your first moon back with us, when you decided you...er, wanted to make everything up to me, you sort of had a similar reaction to what Ulrich had been like last night, and Ulrich said pretty much the same thing...Moony only saw someone else with his mate, and that it wasn't completely your fault either.” Harry paused to take a bite of egg, “I suppose you two are more alike than different.”

“I'm not sure,” Remus paused to wrap his arm around Harry's shoulders and kiss his temple, “I think he might be a better man than me...”

“It's not a competition,” Harry replied briskly, while he smiled indulgently as he leant into the contact. “You both are good men in your own way.” He paused again, his gaze sweeping over the territory, and his eyes found Greyback, sitting in the centre of everything, with his mates on either side of him. “The only thing I don't really understand is why you wouldn't fight, and why Alpha broke the whole thing up...”

“That's two things,” Remus pointed out, and Harry elbowed him lightly, eliciting a chuckle from the older man. “But I think I know why.”

“All right, professor, why didn't you fight last night?” Harry asked, and he grinned when a slight flush coloured Remus's cheeks.

“Because you didn't want me to,” he replied simply, and Harry raised his eyebrows in surprise. “These days, it's getting easier and easier for my werewolf and human minds to...not exactly combine, but work together, in a way. You said before how us fighting over you bothered you, and so...I didn't.”

Feeling mildly overwhelmed, Harry did not immediately respond, and dropped his gaze to the bowl of food in his lap. As he did so, Remus answered the second question.

“The reason, I think, that Alpha stopped Ulrich was because of you,” he explained, and Harry's gaze immediately snapped up.

“Me?” he squeaked, “what did I do?”

“Well...how much do you remember of last night?”

Harry thought back, but even after being a werewolf for a few months, his memories were still shaky at best.

“Er...I remember feeling distressed, I was separated from you, then I remember trying to get away from Ulrich, then I remember Alpha intervening. That's about it.”

“That about sums it up,” Remus replied with a nod, “when I refused to fight, Ulrich went after you, and tried to shepherd you away. You protested and scratched him, but he ignored your rejection and kept trying to usher you away. Unlike other packs, Alpha has always insisted that the subs here not be treated like sex toys, but with respect. You rejected him, and when he ignored this, Alpha cut in. You chose me over Ulrich, and in Ulrich's wolf form, he had less control over his reactions than he normally would have.

“It could have been worse, a lot worse,” Remus continued between bites of meat and potato. “I have case studies at my office of dominant werewolves ripping each other apart over mate claims like this. Some less savoury alphas would even watch these massacres for sport.”

“I'm glad I'm not in one of those packs...” Harry muttered while he leant into Remus's side for comfort. He rested his hand at the back of Harry's neck and played with the little hairs he found there. “Will it happen at the next moon we have here, too?”

“No, it won't,” chimed in a third voice. Male, and intimately familiar. Harry turned, and saw Ulrich approaching them with a set of painful looking claw marks across the bridge of his nose. Knowing that it had been him who had caused these injuries, Harry found himself strangely incapable of looking away from them. Ulrich stopped a respectful distance away, though Harry could still feel the tension radiating off Remus. He shifted a little closer to his mate, and he felt the dominant relax slightly.

“Remus, Harry,” Ulrich nodded to each of them in turn, “I'd just like to apologize for my behaviour last night. I'm grateful Alpha stopped me before I did any real harm to either of you, both physically or emotionally. I hope you can forgive my actions, when I was in my wolf form and I saw someone with my m—with my former mate, I reacted badly, to say the least.”

“I believe when I first arrived here, I had a similar reaction,” Remus replied smoothly, and Harry smiled when he felt the tense arm around him relax a little. “I, too, apologize for that.”

“I suppose this makes us even?”

Remus cocked his head to the side, smiling faintly as he thought it over.

“Yes, I suppose it does.”

“Good,” Harry cut in, “now you two can kiss and make up, and stop playing Tug of War with me.”

Both dominants laughed, and Harry watched in quiet amazement as Remus untangled himself from Harry and stood up. Ulrich stepped closer, and without a single note of animosity in the expressions of either man, they shook hands.
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Lunaticus Book Three: New Moon Rising