The black wolf with the grey ridged back leaped through the air, flying at the smaller half-turned werewolf at his feet with his elongated fangs bared. All around him, men and women and children shuddered through various states of transformation, but none of those mattered. All that mattered was the threatening scent that rose to his nostrils from the ragged creature before him. Feral anger coursed through the wolf's body, his instincts sharp with hatred and the desire to destroy - to kill. 

If a wolf could smile... this one was smiling as he leaped forward, hungry for blood.

The grey wolf on the floor rolled and lashed out his legs at just the moment before the jaws of the larger clamped onto his throat.

The accommodations that Greyback had supplied had, mercifully, included small vials of wolfsbane potion - just enough for Remus to be aware within his wolf, but to be out of control, like a drunkard stumbling home from the bar, as though he were watching his wolf form move from far off, with very little control over the actions that his body made. At least Greyback had spared him that small justice - a farce of keeping the fight "fair".

Remus snapped back, his jaw clacking as his teeth closed on air just  to the side of Greyback's face. A growl emitted from Greyback, and a strange hush filled the room as the other werewolves in the room completed their transformations, orienting themselves, getting their bearings, their attentions captured by the scent and sight of the two Alpha males facing one another with bared teeth. Barks of encouragement and excitement echoed as they realized what was happening, whimpers and growls as the wolves divided between support for their current Alpha and support for the challenger.

Carl's silvery-grey wolf watched on with determined, steady eyes that followed every move from one side, his fur standing up right all along his spine, teeth bared and muscles ready to attack the moment he was able to. Greyback's rules echoed in his head, and he stayed back, stepping further away than he'd already been just to avoid accidental involvement. He felt helpless as he watched.

The Alpha wolves collided, Greyback yapping in surprise as Remus's teeth caught onto his shoulder as his massive claws tore through Remus's flesh, leaving gashes of red across his chest on the right side. He cried out and Greyback's teeth caught onto Remus's ear, tearing, and blood sprayed. Remus flung out his claws, catching Greyback like a slap across the face, and blood dripped from the wolf's mouth onto the ground at his feet. His lips were drawn back, quivering with the growl that emanated from deep in his chest, teeth long and glinting.

The lunge was lightening-quick.

Blood sprayed again, spattering across the walls, over the flagstone floor, great slashes of it, the bodies of the wolves reddening with gashes and the blood that clung to their fur each time the powerful frames were slammed to the ground beneath one another, rolling in it, turning grey and black fur into bloody matted messes. There were whimpers and shrieks of pain, barks of mirth and determination, growls, yowls, and howls...

The world was a chaotic, uncontrollable blur all around Remus and he couldn't hold onto his senses, couldn't hold on because to pause long enough to think meant relinquishing a moment for Greyback to seize his flesh or bone and the jaws clamped strong and urgent. Greyback was desperate to keep control of his pack, knew the consequences of losing this fight, and he was holding nothing of the brutal, predator instinct back. Every move was a strike to kill and Remus was struggling just to keep up, his wolf's instinct the only thing saving him from death over and over again.

Terror simmered under his skin, and the feeling that he'd made a horrible, awful mistake that could not be undone now.

He would never see his family again, he thought as Greyback slammed him into the wall and his bones made horrific crunching sounds.

He would never get to meet James and Lily's son, he thought as Greyback's teeth sank into the flesh at Remus's shoulder and tore back, ripping through the fur and sinew.

They would never know what happened, not fully; they'd have ideas - twisted versions of what Greyback told them happened. He'd probably tell them that it was a weak fight, that Remus had cowered or begged for mercy.

But Remus wasn't begging for mercy.

He wasn't begging for mercy and he wasn't cowering. He was fighting back, he was trying to fight - trying to stay alive because the cost of dying was more than just him - Remus - losing his life.

As Greyback released the flesh of his shoulder, Remus looked around the room with his keen wolfish eyes, taking in the scene. Wolves were crammed into the space, their teeth bared and eyes glowering, hackles raised. Before the moonrise, they'd been men and women - and there were pups there, tucked between the legs of their parents, their tiny snorts and snarls of panic and fear an undercurrent to the sounds of the grown wolves growls and barks.

At a glance, these were angry dogs - ferocious creatures threatening another beast before them, snapping and growling at the outsider, at the lone wolf... But deeper, below the surface level...

Their eyes were trained on Greyback, on the Alpha whose greed and sadistic hunger was being challenged. They were not creatures fighting a lone wolf, they were protesters warning a falling leader, gathering around to see the reign of a dictator destroyed. They were ferocious, yes, but not full of threats and illwill, rather they were passioned encouragers, an army ready to turn, to stand for itself. They were the mistreated many who were standing up to overthrow the power that had suppressed them too long, rallying behind the hope that they'd been promised.

Past the shadow of Greyback's looming form, Remus's eyes met Carl's.

And beyond Carl - trembling and vicious in the corner, watching with keen eyes - the new, scraggly wolf form of Spencer Stewart, gnawing ruthlessly on his own leg.

Rage built up in Remus.

This was Spencer's first transformation since the turning. He, Remus, ought to be there to stop him from biting himself - to stop the other wolves nearby to him from snarling and snapping at him - to ease his wolf's anxiety with the power granted to him as an Alpha.

That, after all, was the biological purpose of the Alpha.

To care for his pack's needs.

Not to control them like they were no more than imperiused bodies - mailable servants unable to think for themselves. So long had the wolves of this pack been stretched thin, malnourished and mistreated, forced to do unspeakable things, forced to suffer and locked away from basic human rights, kept from living their lives, pressed into submission to Fenrir Greyback - the most heinous, foul creature that had ever disgraced the crust of the earth.

Rage... rage... rage...

Remus's death would not be only the death of a nineteen year old boy, not the death of a single man in a world full of injustices far greater than one person being forfeited. No, if Remus Lupin died here in this room to the jaws of Fenrir Greyback it would be the death of all of these people, it would be the death of hope, it would be the death of the only defender that the werewolves had coming to them.

When Greyback lunged again it was to find the wolf beneath him lunging, too, and their wolf bodies slammed into one another, their jaws snapping in unison, in a rush of fur, blood, spittle, and roaring sound that was so primal that every wolf in that room felt the shift. The magic burning under the skin of the two werewolves simmered, awakened by the determination now coursing through both sets of veins, throbbing in the air like seconds preparing to step in for their leaders.

Every bite, every slash now drew blood as the fight turned somehow even more vicious - somehow even more violent.

Then Remus's jaw clamped onto Greyback's neck and pressed - hard - and Greyback felt his airway clamp, breath capturing in his chest unable to inhale or exhale, the world spinning as Remus held on. The puncture that would end his life but a flex away.

Remus growled and shook - willing Greyback to go limp - to surrender the fight.

Greyback clawed at Remus's legs, wheezing as the world vignetted in his vision - and then he took the moment to his advantage, going limp for a moment as he channeled all of his strength into his hind legs and giving an almighty kick into Remus's wolf's stomach.

Remus was thrown backwards, wolf crashing onto the floor and skidding through the blood, further opening the wound on his shoulder as he slid over the flagstones, the skin ripping on the rough hewn floor. A yelp of surprise and pain came up from his belly and he slammed spine-first into the wall. 

Greyback stood, painting, staring at the challenger, his wolf form heaving as he gasped for air, refilling his near-to-bursting lungs, the world coming back as his vision cleared.

Remus lay against the wall for a long moment, the wolf's bones aching, the muscles struggling to obey his command to get up - get up and finish this. He wasn't sure he could feel all of his limbs and he swayed as first got to his feet, disoriented. But his eyes fell to Greyback and he felt his resolve snap into place - the reserve of determination flooding his veins, the tangy smell of blood and magic filling his nose as he felt his power returning.

Determination theorum.

Determination to liberate the wolves collecting around the edges of his peripheral vision.

His eyes - green, even in wolf form - met the glowing gold of Greyback's.

Remus's lip curled back into a sneer - and he took the first step forward.

Greyback ran - ran for the door, tearing into the corridor.

Remus was after him in a split second, despite the screaming in his shoulder, despite the pain ripping through his body. He sprinted after the retreating fallen Alpha, every hair on his back raised. He could hear the calamity of the other wolves following after, a cloud of death and fur, anger and revenge tracing his every move as Greyback rushed through the labyrinthine corridors of the tower's halls, weaving past private quarters, offices, foyers and parlors, past artifacts and displays for the museum front that they ran during the day to keep the packhouse as inconspicuous as possible, to hide from the muggles and wizarding world alike. Remus barely kept up, the scent and trail of blood stains on the corridor floors the only thing that guided him in which way Greyback had gone as he shot down narrow turns in the halls, trying to lose the pack as they came for him like a promise.

Greyback broke into the night through the door in the back of the tower, the door that opened into the field of aconite plant, growing all the way down the steep hill toward a dark, forbidding tree line, all illuminated by the bright-white of the full moon overhead. He fell, tripping on a large rock, and his form crunched to the ground, rolling several times over down the slope. He struggled to his feet, looking back as Remus came to a stop at the top, standing on an outcropping created by an oversized boulder built into the side of the hill.

Greyback stared up at him from below as Remus's eyes stared back into Greyback's from above.

And then Greyback turned and ran into the woods.