A Midnight Song

Disclaimer: I do not own Glee. I make no profit from this.

Author's Note: A new pairing for me. Mike/Kurt. If slash isn't your thing, please just don't read this. There will be sex in future chapters. Please let me know what you think if you have a moment! Thank you and Happy Reading, T.H.


He should have known better. Mike whimpered softly as he winced and tried not to look at his leg, caught in the hunter's trap. Brittany whined from the back of her throat and licked at the place where the metal had bitten into his flesh. He tried not to jerk away from her tender, sweet hearted ministrations because it would hurt her feelings, but having her rough tongue around the jagged edges of his torn flesh was making it hard not to jerk away. And every time he jerked he could feel the trap clamp down harder into his muscle. He could already feel the bone grinding and wondered, around the pain that he wanted to howl his heart out at, if it was snapped cleanly or shattered. Either way, he was screwed. He whimpered again and laid his head on his paws as Brittany nuzzled his ruff gently, then backed up and whined at Puck and Santana. The pretty copper colored wolf nuzzled the bright white wolf gently before turning her bright eyes on the large sable colored Alpha of their pack, her look demanding that he do something about this. Mike knew that if Puck were human he'd be running his hand over his Mohawk. As it was, the image of Puck running a paw over the streak of black in his dark brown fur that ran from his nose to the tip of his tail was just comical enough in Mike's pain induced haze that he made a wuffling sound from the back of his throat that signified amusement when they were in their wolf forms.

Puck looked at Mike sadly. They both knew what this meant. They were realistic. As wolves they would not be able to do anything for him. If they all shifted back now they might be able to get Mike's leg out of the trap. But, then where would they go? They'd be vulnerable deep in these woods in their human forms with no clothes, no shoes, no weapons of any kind, and Mike would still be bleeding. Puck growled at him and Mike could only wish it was in anger, because that would mean that the situation wasn't so dire and Puck felt that he could get mad at Mike's stupidity. Because it had been stupid. They had all smelt the metal in the air. They'd all known that there were traps in the area, but he had been having such a good time with Brittany, running through the cooling woods just on the verge of winter, that he had let his attention waver and he had run right into one. And now it would be the death of him. He closed his eyes. Puck growled again in regret.

Then, something Mike hadn't been expecting. Puck's human voice was in his ear.

"Come on, Mikey boy. Just stay still. We're going to get you out of this."

Mike whined as he looked up at him, begging him with his eyes to just let it be. Puck grabbed his muzzle and bared his human teeth in Mike's face, a show of dominance that had Mike pressing his ears to his skull in shame. He never should have questioned his Alpha.

"We're not leaving you here," Santana's voice penetrated his mind, "No way. Just stay still."

"Just listen to San and Puck, Mike," Brittany whispered sweetly in his ear, "We're going to get you out of here." All three of them were human. Mike whined in the back of his throat in distress. They were shivering in the cold. He didn't want them to be cold. His whine came out distinctly human sounding and he began to feel the panic rising in his chest.

"Don't shift yet, Mike," Puck growled, "Concentrate. Keep the human in for just a few more seconds."

Mike yelped when Puck was finally able to get the trap open and Santana pulled his foot out of it without preamble before it snapped shut on itself again. He curled into a ball, not bothering to wonder how he had shifted so quickly, why it hadn't hurt like it always did and began to sob. He felt no shame as Britt and Santana curled themselves around him and Puck set a hand to his hair. They'd all been together since they were teenagers. They'd seen him in worse positions than this before. And he'd seen them in the same. There was no shame when you were part of a pack. It was something his human family had never given him. All he'd ever felt with them was shame. He didn't notice he was cold until his teeth began to chatter and his body was shaking so hard that it was no longer possible to sob. Better to be a wolf now, he thought. Even if he bled out, at least he'd be warm. He couldn't look down at his leg, but the pain tearing through it and up his spine told him that he didn't want to.

He concentrated on slipping back into the wolf he was and frowned when nothing happened. Around him the three he trusted most in the world were shifting, becoming large and powerful, covered in fur. Something was wrong. Usually shifting hurt a little, but now he was just feeling nothing. A numb that was spreading from his leg to the rest of his body. He wondered idly if infection could set in so quickly. Brittany whined and nudged his wrist with her nose. Santana looked down at him expectantly. Puck had shifted back to his human form so that he could find out, in words, what was going on with Mike.

"Can't…" Mike struggled to get the words out around the shivering in his body, "Can't shift back…I tried…Puck…M'tired, Puck."

"Don't you dare, Chang!" Puck slapped him hard, "You keep your ass awake. We didn't work our asses off to get you out of that trap so that you could freeze or bleed to death. Now, come on."

Mike's head rolled against Puck's strong shoulder when his Alpha picked him up as if he weighed nothing and began to walk. Santana and Brittany followed in their wolf forms, licking at Mike's leg to clean it of the blood that was sure to attract other predators if they didn't. Puck kept talking, even though Mike wasn't responding, just to talk. Mike used the rise and fall of his voice as they walked to concentrate on and keep himself awake even though he could no longer find the strength to keep his eyes open. Every once in a while Puck would get too cold to go on and he would lay Mike on the ground for a few minutes while he shifted to warm himself back up. When that happened Brittany and Santana laid with him to keep his own body temperature up. He didn't know how long they did it or how many times Puck laid him on the cold ground. The only thing he knew was that it was the middle of the night when he realized that it had begun to snow. And he was no longer cold at all.

"Puck," He heard Santana whisper at some point when they had stopped yet again, "He's burning up. It's infected. We're too far in. How are we going to…"

"Don't question me, San," Puck growled, "I'm still Alpha."

"Of course you are, you dumbass. I'm not questioning you. I want Mike to be okay just as much as you. I just wonder if we're not just prolonging his suffering. If we can't save him wouldn't it be more human to let him go?"

"We're not human, Santana. We're wolves. Now shift back and find me someplace we can take him. We passed a cabin somewhere in these woods last month. There was someone there. Find it. There has to be some of our scent left around it."

"A month's a long time, Alpha," Santana whispered softly, sadly, then Mike assumed she shifted, because there was no more conversation after that until Puck was whispering in his ear again.

"Mike…Mike…"

Mike opened heavy eyes when he was shaken roughly.

"We're at a cabin, Mike. There's a human in there. We're going to leave you here."

"Alpha…" Mike moaned, scared to be left without his pack.

"Don't worry. We won't go far. We're going to stay right here until…He's human, Mike. He can do more for you than we can. You…you get better. Then, you'll come back to us."

Mike cried out in pain when he was laid on the ground again in front of a wooden cabin. Puck knocked on the door roughly, then took off into the woods, shifting as he went. Mike looked up through fever glazed eyes as the door opened and heat and light poured out, making the gathering snow shine. Puck was wrong, Mike thought deliriously, he was never going to rejoin the pack. He was already dead. Because the boy looking down on him through bright, scared eyes- were they green or blue?- had to be an angel. Mike looked up at him for just a moment more before his strength failed him and his eyes closed.

"Oh, my god," a sweet voice whispered, "Don't worry. I'll help you."

Mike let the darkness take him.