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Northern Territories	By : jjblazer Category: X-Men: (All Movies) > Het - Male/Female > Logan/Marie Views: 4554 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the X-Men movies, or any of the characters from them. I make no money from from the writing of this story.

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Title: Northern Territories

Author: jjblazer

Disclaimer: I don't own a thing, not a blessed thing

Archive Rights: Tell me where, I'll say yes

Feedback: Pretty please??

Rating: NC-17

Summary: A/U

Northern Territories � 03

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Logan pushed the horse at a flat out run across the open fields and they plunged into the darkness of the forest. The stony ground was nearly pitch black under the gently swaying canopy of the forest, the moon dappling the landscape in fits and starts. Halting the animal as they topped the ridgeline, he took a moment to look back.

Marie started to ask. �Wha ��

He cut her off, a hand raised for silence.

Nothing. No clamor of pursuit, at any rate. The only thing to be heard was the heavy breathing of the warm animal under him, an occasional deep rumble of
horsespeak. The stealthy movements of the forest�s night creatures had also ceased. They, too, listened, their nocturnal activities on hold as they waited for this intrusion to pass.

Satisfied that they weren�t being followed � yet � Logan swung a leg over the horse�s neck and slid to the ground. He had to get this metal arrow out of his chest. Now. Before the surrounding tissue healed so completely that it would just make it harder to remove it.

Marie�s eyes flew wide and her heart nearly stopped when he turned around to face her. She�d felt him jolt back against her, hard, while the horse skittered at the gates and they made their escape, but she didn�t know why. She did now.

Oh God. Oh my God! He�d been shot. There was a wicked metal crossbow bolt protruding a good seven or eight inches out of his upper chest. The front of him was drenched in blood.

�I gotta get this out. Help me?� His voice was rough with the pain, his eyes pleading.

Her limbs suddenly weak, Marie slid off the horse. The arrow was embedded a couple of inches below his collarbone. It had missed punching any fabric inside along with it as Logan�s shirt was still undone.

Marie gaped at him. �But � but how�� She thought pulling that thing out would just hurt him worse, the barbs of the arrowhead sure to rip him up even more. Then again, they couldn�t just leave it, either.

Terrified she was about to lose him almost the minute she�d found him, she gathered her courage and asked what he wanted her to do.

He twisted his shoulders with a grimace and grunted at her. �Get this offa me.�

Her hands shaking, she reached and helped him shrug out of his jacket and shirt.

�Just grab and pull.�

Willing her squeamishness away, she bit her lip and tried to do as he asked. It was so dark she couldn�t really read fac face. Steeling herself, she grasped the bolt. The angle was all wrong, she was just not tall enough to get a good grip on it. He wrapped her gloved hands under his and yanked. Hard.

With a horrified cry, Marie dropped the bolt to the ground, the wet sucking, tearing noise as it pulled out of his chest making her head swim. How was he even still standing up?!

Logan stood there with his eyes screwed shut and grit his teeth against the agony. Fuck! God damn son of a
bitch, but that hurt!! Forcing himself to control his breathing, he struggled for calm. He knew he�d be ok in just a couple of minutes. It was enduring those few minutes that was the hard part.

Marie grabbed his discarded shirt, thinking to put pressure on the wound. He let her, though the fresh gout of blood was already slowing.

He looked into her face, thankful for her strength in not falling apart. �Can you ride?� He was healing quickbut but he was damned tired. Healing from such damage always took something out of him. At least for a while.

Marie stumbled over her words. �Well, yes, but � � She thought trying to move him just now was the height of madness. But could they risk staying here? She knew the Judge would not let this incident go without a fight. He�d surely come after her, after them. No one, no one, got the better of the Judge. And he knew now that she�d lied to him, that she�d sheltered under his protection when it wasn�t needed, that her worth had been deliberately misrepresented.

A light demonstrating touch to his face when she had first arrived at the Outpost had convinced the Judge of her mutation�s power. Her own sense of self-preservation far outweighing her obligation to the man that offered her safe refuge had driven to kto keep her secret to herself � that she could consciously control it.

And he would certainly be enraged that this stranger had gotten the better of his men. He had fully expected the drifter to succumb. He�d told her that himself. �That�s just what we want for him. Death.� It was still hard to believe that he�d taken all three of them down so quickly. The last, actually, had just given up, knowing there was no defeating this man.

�This man�, she thought, studying him. He was her man, now. And she didn�t want him to die.

Logan cut her off with a shake of his head, clutching the blood-soaked shirt to his chest. He grabbed his jacket and pulled it on, shoving her toward their mount. She took a stumbling step and he boosted her into the saddle. Nudging her foot from the stirrup for a moment, he swung up behind her.

He let his head droop onto her shoulder, his hands loosely holding her waist. Christ, he was tired.

�Get us outta here, darlin�.�

Marie�s hands trembled as she picked up the reins, her mind racing. She didn�t know what to do for him. But maybe just putting distance between themselves and what they were running from was the best she could do for now.

She turned her head and found her face nuzzling into his hair. She planted a soft kiss there and whispered to him. �You gonna be ok?� Please, God, don�t let him die.

He looked up, surprised at the pleading concern in her voice. She�d just been sold, for keeps, to a perfect stranger. And though this sort of union was undeniably a common occurrence in this new world, it was still her life that had been turned over. To someone else.

He hoped he�d figure out how to do right by her. He�d been on his own for just about as long as he could remember. Though it wasn�t like she had much of a choice. If she tried to run, she�d never make it on her own. Lone females just didn�t exist, not in this society. There were too few of them and their value was enormous. They either acquiesced to the ownership of a strong man, or they died. End of story.

She belonged to him, whether she liked it or not. Though it looked like maybe she was sorta ok with the idea of being with him. He�d initially smelled the fear on her, as he lifted her from that crate to hold her against him. But there was something else there, too. She�d welcomed his kiss, his claim on her, with mounting passion. And the way she�d timidly smiled up at him, for just a moment, with acceptance, had just about lifted his heart right out of his chest.

He found the energy to give her a faint lopsided grin and again dropped his head to her shoulder, burrowing his face into her hair. He mumbled. �Yeah. I�m gonna be fine, darlin�. Let�s get.�

Praying that he was right, Marie turned the horse up the trail.

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�Tanner can track anything.� The Judge knew Carson was right. Even though he�d decided at the outset that they were better off seeing the last of those two, Carson�s insistence was wearing him down.

Still seated at his t as as dawn crept up the treeline, the Judge listened to the faint bitching and complaining. His men expected him to deal out justice; it was what he did. Just as humiliated at letting a scavenger get the upper hand, over all of them, Carson voiced the concerns of the others.

�You can�t just let �im ride on outta here. �Specially, not with that girl. You know what kinda value she couldng?�ng?�

Carson straightened up a bit and took a step back. Jeeze, you fuckin� idiot. �Course the Judge knew her value. He�d crossed a line and he knew it.

The Judge�s eyes slowly rose to Carson�s and Carson blanched. The Judge decided he�d had enough. �Yeah, Carson, as a matter of fact I do. But it�s my decision. And I say we wait. We�ve got trading contacts scattered all over these forests. It won�t be long before that � that � he picked up the tag lying on the table ��Wolverine� shows his hand. Nobody�s ever seen him before, and that means he doesn�t know the territory.� Besides, he still wanted to talk with Stryker about this before going after him. Anything they could maybe learn about a fighter that was so far outside anything they�d ever seen was worth waiting on.

The Judge dismissed his men with a grumble and they scattered for their quarters and their women. He�d thought about the stranger all night. There was something about him that really bugged him. When he figured out what it was, he almost laughed at himself.

It was respect. Grudgingly, but unable to lie to himself about it, he realized it was deep-seated respect. The Judge had met few men worth admiring. His lieutenants, Tanner and Carson, he relied on, and ted ted their judgment. But that Wolverine character was different. He had a far ranging look and a confident �knowing� about him that the Judge liked. If he didn�t think the man would challenge him, and perhaps win leadership here, he would�ve liked to make him an offer, to stay on. They could use someone like him.

Disquieted at the cross-purposes his mind was conjuring up, he stalked from his table and went to finally get some sleep.

(to be continued�.)
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Northern Territories