Spander ~ The Joy of Giving

Building A Future
by Saifai
Notes

He could feel the fire burning in his eyes as she came to the surface. Xander scanned over the club, glancing past garish holiday decorations searching for their prey. Even through the flashing red and green lights, it shouldn’t be too hard to spot the glare of platinum blonde hair.

His hyena didn’t come out much anymore. Not since she made the last of her preparations. But she was still there.

It was been a hard beginning for her. The loss of her first pack had been devastating for them both. She was content enough in the presence of the Scoobies. But none of them were her pack.

They weren’t worthy.

The females weren’t tolerated. The interlopers didn’t belong there. Always trying to take over; pressing her with their rules. They tried to cage her once, and she’d not let them do it again.

There was no place in her pack for betrayers.

Anya and Dawn had been the only exceptions to the rule. They amused her. So he was allowed to keep them.

The men in his life were a different story entirely. Each of them had been judged. Most of them had been found wanting. Their pack was small, but he knew they could be trusted.

He had come tonight in search of the last of his pack. His hyena had her eye on this one since they met him.  It was love at first sight for her. Here was one that was rejected by his pack. This one was honest. He was strong. He could provide well for her pack. He would protect them.

But he had done all he could. He could no longer afford to keep her at bay. She’d grown restless without her chosen mate. Over the years he’d made her wait for so long. She needed to build up her pack, and mark her domain. He needed to strengthen his friendship with their chosen.

Lay the groundwork for their future.

The others didn’t matter. They never did; not for him, and certainly not for her. She’d rejected Buffy right off. She was far too domineering, and unable to protect the pack. Willow was too quick to betray them. They couldn’t trust her. Giles was a self-serving loner with no loyalty to anyone but his Slayer, and even then it was shaky at the best of times.

He had forced her to bide her time, knowing that their chosen was still attached to his former pack. It would have been a wasted effort. So they prepared for his arrival.

He made connections and gathered his resources.

Dracula had been the most useful of them all. They worked for financial and political protection with that one. Not to mention it had been funny to see the Slayer so worked up.

Calling for Sweets had been true genius.  He bargained for deactivating Spike’s chip. In return, he only had to allow the demon to work his magic. The demon fed off emotions. What better way to do that than by revealing the truth? It was a work of art that even his Hyena had appreciated.

When Xander finally spotted his prey, he allowed all her natural grace to flow through his body as he made his approach. He walked up behind her chosen. She voiced a soft giggle as he wrapped his arms around the lithe form of the vampire. He leaned down to scent his neck, tasting here and there.

Spike unexpectedly relaxed back into Xander’s embrace. He turned his head and nuzzled the neck so close to him before softly asking, “What took you so long, love?”

Xander giggled quietly at the acceptance. He leaned down and nipped at his mater’s neck, and whispered in his ear, “Merry Christmas to me...”

Now that she had her mate, they could finally leave. They’d been betrayed one too many times over the years. It was time to find safer hunting grounds.

Xander idly wondered what the weather was like in Africa this time of year.