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CHAPTER 38

The approaching dusk was already swallowing the sun's rays and engulfed the library's parking lot in an eerie twilight. Logan had parked their Jeep at the far end of the lot, just beyond the fence surrounding the park and was now leading his small family over the almost deserted area on the back of the library. He carried the baby seat in one hand and dug with the other for the keys in his jeans' pocket, all the while grunting his two cents to Marie's rant about how unfair it was that she was the only one doing a paper for Jean.

When they reached their car, Logan scented the air and pressed in one swift motion the baby seat and keys into the brunette's hands while whirling around and unsheathing his sharp Adamantium claws.

"Logan?" Marie fearfully watched him scan their surroundings, his nostrils flaring. Immediately she placed the carrier onto the ground and picked her daughter up, clutching her close to her chest.

Logan was about to call orders to the teenager, but a dark voice interrupted him and both their gazes snapped over to the tall in black clothed man, who jumped gracefully from a thick tree branch and was now moving closer towards them. "Good God, runt! The frail was what? 15? when you knocked her up? Never thought you the pedophile type!"

A shudder ran down Marie's spine when she recognized one of her kidnappers – even though his hair was shorter now and his overall appearance didn't scream hairy-serial-killer or animal, but to her own surprise she heard herself reply, her voice vehement and dripping with venom. "Ah was 16! And don't talk like that about mah mate!"

"Mate, huh?" Sabretooth's cold features suddenly twisted into a predatory, yet amused-startled grin, showing his sharp canines. "So you're Logan's mate?" Using that name left a foul taste in his mouth.

She heard Logan snarl and position himself in front of her while the other feral moved closer. "No. Ah'm Wolverine's AND Logan's mate!"

Those words surprised Victor – not that anyone without heightened senses might have noticed – but Wolverine did and grasped this chance. "Kid, get in the car and get movin'!"

Chuckling Victor watched the brunette make a few steps backwards and search for the handle of the car without facing the door, her fearful eyes glued to him. "I would recommend changing the tire first. It could become dangerous for a baby on board." His cold blue eyes flickered to the left rear tire, which he had used as scratching post a few hours before.

Logan cursed under his breath as he saw the leftovers of the tire from the corner of his eyes. With a vicious snarl Wolverine's eyes darkened even more as he lunged forward, his claws extended and aiming for the other feral's chest. It seemed like Sabretooth had anticipated this kind of opening and moved slightly to the side in the very last moment, making Logan's claws bury themselves in his left shoulder while the older mutant stabbed his talons into his opponent's gut and throat and used Wolverine's velocity to spun both of them around and fall to the hard concrete – pinning Logan to the ground.

Logan heard Marie's horrified shriek and his daughter's cries. "Run, Kid!" He brought out, blood gargling from his mouth and throat as he spoke. Removing one of his claws from his enemy's shoulder Logan aimed his weapon anew at the other man, this time the throat.

"Still no new tricks, runt?" Evading the attack, Victor taunted as his hand grasped the Adamantium spine hard. There was no way in hell that he could break the indestructible bones, but he could cut the spinal cord between the vertebras. As he did it, Logan roared in pure agony and the pain and reflexes made him retract his claws involuntarily. With a mad grin on his lips, Sabretooth lifted his opponent up by his spine and threw him a few feet away, making him crash into the fence, denting it.

Logan was close to fall unconscious, but he and the animal in him struggled to keep Sabretooth's attention trained on him, giving his two girls time to bring as much space between them as possible. The wound to his neck was already knitting together as he tried to stand up, but he still couldn't feel his feet. With a frustrated grunt the Canadian pushed his upper body from the dirty ground and crawled on his hands and arms towards his chuckling enemy, leaving a trail of his blood on the concrete. "What the fuck have I done to you? Tell me what?" He eventually barked and was relieved to see the other mutant lean lazily against his car while shrugging out of his pitch black coat. This provided him the needed time to heal and his girls to flee.

Victor's eyes narrowed in annoyance and anger as he saw six scratches in his beloved coat. Ignoring the other man's questions, he folded the fabric neatly and placed it on the hood of the X-Jeep, before centering his cold gaze onto his struggling brother.

The silence treatment made Logan's blood boil in his veins and he slowly felt the feelings return to his lower extremities – he needed just a little more time. "What was it that makes you show up every damn year on the same day and beat the shit outta me?" He couldn't hide the frustration in his voice. It had been a few months after he'd woken up without a clue about his past, when Sabretooth had showed himself for the very first time, telling him that whatever happened, the two of them would never be done.

Logan's own frustration about the sudden reproaches and his inability to make sense out of the other mutant's words, hadn't helped to lessen the heated temper of Sabretooth. On the contrary, his negating to know the other man and his harsh demands to leave him alone, had caused the older feral to attack him for the first time.

"You should know by now, I can't remember whatever it was!" Wolverine spat out as he slowly moved his shaky legs and staggered to a standing position when his enemy lengthened his nails and pushed away from the car. "I can't even remember my own fuckin' name!"

Victor only chuckled darkly about the agony the ignorance about his identity brought his brother. How he loved to see that traitor suffer! He wouldn't torture his baby brother, but after that unthankful bastard had left him in Lagos after all they had been through together, Logan deserved this misery in Victor's book. He bent down on all fours and rushed towards the other man with a blood-chilling roar on his lips.

Logan slashed Sabretooth's abdomen, but the brute strength of the other animal and his still shaky legs gave Victor the opportunity to dig his sharp claws into Logan's tight and rip a large part from his flesh while hurling him once again against the fence. Gasping for air and pressing his hand to the large bleeding hole in his leg, Logan was sure he had seen some kind of emotion – other that rage – in the other feral's eyes shortly before the last attack.

Then something dawn on Logan, he hadn't noticed all the years before. If Sabretooth hated him that much, why would he leave as soon as Logan was unconscious and an easy prey? Why not take the opportunity and capture and torture him – his healing factor would guarantee a long time of fun for the sadist. And then there was the fact that Victor had obviously no intention of going after his girls – beating Logan to a pulp once a year was his objective.

Maybe it was time to try a new kind of approach to unlock the mystery of his past. Logan spat blood to the ground and eyed his attacker while he staggered forward. "There's nothin' I can give my mate and kid! Not even a name!" There was this glint again. Suddenly Logan broke into a run – as fast as his wounded leg allowed – and buried one of his claws in Victor's lung while slicing the other through one of his kidneys from the side. A small grin in satisfaction graced Logan's lips as the other mutant screamed in pain and brought his talons back to Logan's throat. Wolverine twisted his blades in the other man's chest and just as anticipated was thrown once again a few feet away and crashed into a tree trunk for a change.

Groaning he struggled for air. "You have known me in the past, haven't you? Tell me at least my last name!" He braced himself for another attack as Sabretooth was on all fours again. His plan didn't seem to work, since Victor didn't respond to any of his questions and he was as clueless as an hour before.

With his next strike, Victor smacked his brother's head forcefully against the hard wood of the tree, before lifting his heavy body up with some trouble and throwing him onto the metal fence next to them, piercing his heart with one of the fence's sharp tips. Logan's agonized roar echoed through the park.

Darkness overcame Logan and with his last thought he prayed that he wasn't wrong about Sabretooth's intentions – otherwise he just had singed his mate's and daughter's death warrant.

Catching his breath Sabretooth waited for his wounds to heal and approached slowly the car and shrugged into his coat, hiding his torn flannel underneath. His dark gaze switched back to his brother's lifeless body and he scented the air.

A smug smirk plastered his lips as he smelled the frail and her cub. Without wasting any time he approached his brother's body, ensuring with a mighty hit to his head that he would stay out cold a little longer, as he removed his torn body from the fence and began pulling him unceremoniously after him as Victor moved over the lawn, his pace quick. He flashed his cat-like 'toothy' grin towards the few people in the park, making them flee in fear.

His nose told him that the girls were on the other side of a hedgerow, so he picked his brother up and threw him over the plants onto the graveled path. The girl's scream widened his smile and he jumped over the hedge and landed gracefully next to Logan's head, his ice-blue eyes trained on the scared young mother and the wailing bundle in her arms.

He could tell she was like frozen by fear. "You forgot something, frail." He saw her jump and anticipated that she would break into a run with her cub, but to his astonishment the brunette removed her forest-green cloak and her long sleeved shirt, wrapping both clothes around her wailing baby and placed the large bundle onto a grass patch under an old oak. He chuckled amused as she took a fighting stance in front of her child, only wearing a spaghetti top, leaving her arms and cleavage bare.

Turning his gaze towards the unconscious man, Victor gave a last good kick to his brother's gut, before digging his long nails into his breast pocket of his black button-up shirt. With a feline grin that showed his sharp canines, he tossed the old dog-tags onto Logan's hand. "Happy birthday, Jimmy!"

Then he centered his unreadable glare on Rogue and he slowly approached her. He could hear her heart run a marathon and her scent was heavy with fear – just as he liked it. When he stepped closer, she didn't back down or beg for her life and that of her cub and he had to give it to her that she had courage. Then again, she could render him unconscious or even dead with only one touch.

"Oh, no, frail, what are you so afraid of?" He taunted and closed the distance between them, always careful where the girl's hands were. Victor noticed his brother's most precious possession, his dog tags, around the girl's neck. 'Jimmy's serious with her!'

"Don't piss your panties. I just wanna have a look at the runt's cub." She stepped closer, holding him away from her child, but Victor was quite tall and he simply looked over her shoulder down on the baby. "Congrats, the cub doesn't look like the runt." With those words said he turned on his heel and walked away.

Rogue stared after Sabretooth in utter disbelief as he simply left, her and her daughter unharmed. When he was out of sight she picked her child up and rushed over to the lifeless body of her mate, inspecting the slowly healing wounds while kneeling down beside him. Tears welled up in her chocolate eyes as she saw the many liters of blood he must have lost and the missing piece of flesh in his tight.

The brunette placed her cloak under Logan's head and ran her fingers through his wild hair, while rocking the still crying Becca. "Shh, honey, Daddy will be fine." A few moments past by before she heard Logan's breath gain strength and a groan fall from his lips. "Logan!"

"That damn mother fucker!" He murmured as he opened his eyes and tried to sit up, only to be assaulted by a fierce hug of his mate. "Marie?" He smelled her salty tears and heard the desperate cries of his daughter, but he couldn't pick up on their bloods' smell. "Are you alright? Did he touch you or Becca?"

She slowly broke away, her clothes full of his blood now, and their gazes met as she shook her head. He breathed a sigh of relief and lifted his hand to his mate's head, stroking her hair and planting a lingering kiss to her forehead. They held onto each other for a small eternity, before Logan heard sirens approach and he carefully pushed his girls away and staggered to his feet, eventually noticing the two metal pieces and the chain in his hand. The smell told him that Sabretooth had carried them with him for quite some time and he grinned softly, but ignored the urge to satisfy his curiosity about his past.

Shoving the dog tags into his jeans' pocket, he grasped Marie's small hand and pulled her and Becca towards the library's parking lot. He got the car started before the police decided to investigate the closer vicinity of the park.

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