Book One: A Wolf Among Beasts

Chapter Eight

When the fight dies down, the bar is almost silent, in fact the only sound comes from the other guy who is breathing heavily, head turning to search for Eli. Stryker had made a run for it when it was clear he was not going to come out of this alive if he stayed.

"Little wolf!!" The other guy yells, Eli groans, pushing the body off of her before she leans up, completely bare and covered in blood.

"What?!" she shouts back looking around for him, he moves towards her, looking down at her, checking her over. "Did'ya get 'em all?" she asks squinting her eyes slightly up at his great bug hulking frame. He huffs and pounds his chest, proud, ape like even. She pushes herself to her feet and stumbles back a little, he reaches an arm around her and pulls her closer, she runs her hand over his arm and lets him.

"Little wolf" he whispers, which for him is actually pretty much a whisper. She smiles a little at him, really looking over him. She heard the news when it first happened but seeing it up close, seeing him up close, is something else. He's beautiful. He lets out a big content sigh which blows her hair back from her face, she chuckles a little, actually chuckles.

"Oh big guy" she coos a little, he smiles at her as her eyes turn yellow. He raises his free hand and sets a great big green finger against her cheek brushing her hair back. "Nice to finally meet you" she tells him, he smiles at her.

"Banner no like" he tells her. "Hide" she nods a little.

"I know" she strokes his arm softly. "How about we talk about this somewhere with less....bodies? We should get out of here before the sirens start" she asks him, he looks around at the mess he and she'd caused, he huffs and nods lifting her up, Eli wraps an arm around his neck and keeps a hold of his shoulder. He takes off with her.

......................

Eli wakes cradled in the other guys arms, he lays with her in a cave in the middle of nowhere, hunkered down as it rains outside. Eli lifts her head and looks down at him, he smiles.

"Hey" she greets him. "Where are we?" she asks him climbing off of his chest.

"Safe" he answers as she moves to the mouth of the cave to peer out of it. He sits up and watches her. "Hungry" he complains, she hums in agreement, thinking. Her eyes finding a lone deer wandering below.

"Deer?" she asks, he snorts and lays back down. Eli's eyes glow yellow before she jumps from the cliff, shifting as she goes. She takes off after the deer.

.........................

Eli lets the bug guy play with her hair as she skins the deer in her lap, the other guy is very tactile, he likes touching her, which compared to Bruce is....well she rather likes it.

"Pretty" he tells her smiling. Eli smirks a little as she rips the skin from the deer, splattering herself with blood. "Banner lucky" he grumbles setting his chin on the top of her head. "Hulk not" he complains.

"Hulk?" she asks looking to him. "You have a name?" he nods and starts to play with her hair again. "Why aren't you lucky?" she asks.

"Little wolf not mine" he whispers, she drops the deer and turns to him.

"Listen to me" she grabs his face in her hands, his eyes trained on her. "You are part of Bruce...whether you or he likes it, you are part of him, that means you are part of me now too, you and Bruce, you are my pack" he smiles watching her. "You, Bruce and Logan" she brushes her thumbs over his cheeks, he puckers his lips at her and she smiles and kisses him, it's a little awkward, his face is twice, if not more times the size of hers.

"No" he argues as she stands from his arms.

"I should to go and find some clothes" she glances to him. "For both of us" he huffs a laugh and touches her stomach with a finger as she turns to him, he lifts his eyes to hers. "We can't do that" she scolds seeing the look on his face, she slaps at his hand lightly, he chuckles and leans closer, she pushes at his shoulder. "Stop it" she warns. "It won't work" she motions to him.

"Banner?" he asks her, she shrugs.

"If he wants to" she answers looking away. "He just worries"

"He thinks I am stupid" he tells her. "He thinks Hulk is a monster" she looks to the other guy.

"You're not..." she corrects.

"You said..." he starts, she shakes her head.

"You think I don't know how those people see me, see us" she offers. "But we're are monsters, not in they way they think we are, they call us monsters because we're evolution, we are the ones that will survive when everyone else dies" he pulls her closer. "We are the fighters, the warriors....the champions" he hums a little setting his head on her chest and stomach, holding her close to him, she strokes his hair. "One day only monsters shall remain" she tells him, he snorts a laugh.

"Monsters" he repeats teasingly.

"Me and you, big guy" she adds, he pulls his head back and then kisses her head, carefully, she smiles and pats his cheek as he pulls back.

"Stay" he pleads with her. She sighs and shakes her head.

"We have to go back, we have to get away from here, we have to find Ricky" she tells him.

"Puppy" he grumbles and nods. "Little wolf" she nods at him, she touches his arm and smiles. She climbs into his lap and stretches up to kiss his cheek. He smiles dopey as she pulls back from him.

"Be good" she teases a little, he huffs and nods as she climbs down and runs away from the little cave, he pats his knees and then rocks a little, already bored, he huffs again and looks around for something to do.