It was soon after the mission to Krakoa that Logan once again began to fall in love with a woman who'd not requite his passion. During the mission and its immediate aftermath, he had seen Jean Grey, but hee hadn't any opportunity to see her alone. Now, back in Westchester, he found her by herself at the mansion grounds. He even startled her when he approached: "How'd he come so close without me spoting him? I wasn't even aware of his thoughts."

Logan told Jean, "I know what I want the minute I lay eyes on it. And what Wolverine wants, he gets."

Jean had long been involved with team leader, Scott Summers, but to her surprise, she found herself attracted to Logan even as she told him she wasn't. Logan himself was surprised at the strength of the aattraction he felt toward her.

Seeing Jean and Logan together, Angel leapt to the conclusion that he was physically threatening her. Perhaps Warren already distrusted Logan, or perhaps his judgement was affected by his own feelings for Jean, for he had once been in love with her himself. Or perhaps he realized how disturbed Jean was by Logan's presence. In any event, Angel rushed in and seized Logan, claiming he was defending her because she was Scott's girlfriend, "and even if she wasn't, she's too good for the likes of you."

The two mutants fell to fighting with each other, and the furious Logan soon lost control of himself. Beserk, he slashed his claws at Angel, who saved himself only through his own agility in flight. Finally, Storm put an end to the fight before anyone got seriously hurt by seperating the two mutants with bursts of lightning.

Unable to contain himself, Angel hurled himself into a denunciation of his new teammate. "That little guy's crazy! He tried to get me with those claws! How in heaven's name could Professor X have brought a lunatic like that into the school? How can he expect us to work by his side? To trust him? He's as ready and willing to slaughter us as fight our foes!"

Now that the fight is over, Logan was overcome with shame over his outburst of rage. Perhaps he had thought his beserker days were behind him. But his killer instincts had resurfaced. "Flyboy's right," he told Jean. "I really am bad news. As crazy as they come. And I do kill."

But like Heather Hudson before her, Jean Grey came to sympathize with Logan once she saw the vulnerable man beneath the raging beast. "I am not afraid," she told him. "I feel your pain, Wolverine - the anguish of body and spirit - I want to help. So does Professor Xavier - otherwise, why bring you here? I'm glad I met you. Welcome to the X-Men." Thus, Logan found his first friend in this new world he had entered.

Later, Xavier complimented Jean on her handling of the situation wth Logan. To reassure her that she had judged Logan correctly, he explained why he brought him into the X-Men. "I know Wolverine has rough edges - he may well prove the most difficult and dangerous student I've ever taught - but I believe the reward is well worth the risk. Given time and care, he has the potential to become a keystone of the team."

Jean, though, was far more shaken by her encounter with Logan than she let on when she welcomed him into the group. Like Angel and Iceman, she was planning to leave the X-Men. In part this ws because she wanted to learn what it was like to lead a normal life rather than that of a superhero, constantly risking her own safety. But Logan's presence was an additional motive for her departure. "I love Scott with all my heart," she told Xavier. "But I can't deny the attraction between me and Logan. The longer we're together ... the more afraid I am of yeilding."

After Jean, Angel, Iceman, Havok, and Polaris all officially quit the team, Cyclops spent many weeks putting the new X-Men through an intensive training program, honing their abilities to use their powers, and, more importantly, molding them into an effective team.

Early on during this training period, Logan ventured into New York City. Although Logan has been to New York City before, his membership in the X-Men marks the first time he has ever had occasion to spend much time there, and he spends days exploring the city. One night in Times Square, Logan suddenly realized he was being stalked. He had no idea who it was, but decided to make his opponent come to him. Logan sat down in a corner of a bar in Manhattan's Chelsea section. "Find a corner, sit with back to the walls, facing the room with a view of all the exits, clear field of action, handy way out if I need it. Old habits. Trust no one. Take no chances."

He studied the other bar patrons, among whom was a young blonde named Francie. Then, finally, Logan saw a Chesire-cat-like grin reflected in the mirror above the bar. Logan stormed out of the bar, jostling Francie as he went. He found no one outside, but he felt a sudden chill as he began to realize who his mysterious adversary might be. Francie walked past him, criticizing his rudeness, and disappeared into the night. Preoccupied, Logan let her go, chafing inwardly at his sense of alienation from the city. "Too many flamin' rules," he thought, "chokin' my soull like these buildings eat up the sky. I want to run. To howl. To hurt."

Moments later, there was a scream. And then, Logan knew what it meant and who was the killer: Sabretooth. Logan and the bartender found Francie's corpse not far away and Logan heard an all too familiar laugh "whispering on the wind. Telling me I'm next."

Logan made his way to Battery Park, at the southern tip of the island, donned his costume, unsheathed his claws, and waited, his back against a railing overlooking the water. He reflected, "That laugh - the way the woman was killed - this whole game of tag - strikes a chord in my memory, one I wish I could forget, and sends a chill of pure terror through my heart."

As Logan waited, Sabretooth, somehow concealing his scent, moving so quietly, so stealthily, that not even Logan's animal-senses could detect him, came up from behind him, used his sharp claws to tear out Wolverines throat and throw him into the river river below.

"Extected better, boy," Sabretooth gloated.

Logan would pull himself out of the river and on to the Staten Island Ferry an hour later all healed up. "Like always, we fought his way on his terms," Logan reaized. "I got lucky - he underestimated my healing factor. He won't make that mistake again. The beserker - the 'wolverine in me - that's no match for him. Only the man has a prayer. To survive, I have to chandge, to accept what I am and grow from it. I'm not sure I want to." He paused, then reflected, "I'm not sure I can."

Sabretooth has renewed his habit of attacking Logan on the anniversary of Silver Fox's death. This may be his first encounter with Sabretooth for since their clash in Madripoor (Classic X-Men #10). As far as is known, the two will not meet again for years more, when Sabretooth, acting as a member of the Marauders, participates in the slaughter of the subterranean mutant community known as the Morlocks.

On their next known mission, the new X-Men went to Valhalla Mountain in the Colorado Rockies (Uncanny X-Men #94), the location of a North American Air Defense command center. Aided by the costumed Ani-Men, Count Luchino Nefaria, an Italian nobleman who was a major figure in the international crime syndicate known as the Maggia, had taken over this base in an international extortion scheme. Nefaria had contended with the original X-Men years before when he succeeded in capturing Washinton, D.C., for a time (Uncanny X-Men #22-23).

According to Cyclops, Logan had once been stationed at Valhalla Mountain when he was in the Canadian Military; more likely, since Logan knew people there, it was during the period that he was a member of Canadian Intelligence.

On the flight there, Logan told Sean Cassidy (Banshee), "I got some friends in Valhalla - 'f this Nefaria's hurt any of 'em, I think I'm gonna cut him into very ... tiny... pieces."

"Yer joshin', lad, aren't ye?" Cassidy asked, a bit nervously. There was no response. "Aren't ye?" he repeated, more emphatically.

With the cooperation of the military (something they wouldn't get again any time soon when anti-mutant sentiment began to rise once more), the X-Men invaded the base to Stop Nefaria. Logan didn't distinguish himself in this battle, getting the worse of it from the Ani-Man, Cat-Man. But as Cat-Man moved in for the kill, Collosus came to Logan's aid, easily defeating the Ani-man with a single blow. Logan, though, would not prove very grateful toward his rescuer.

However, the major significance of this mission lay in its aftermath (Uncanny X-Men #95). Defeated by the X-Men, Nefaria fled in a one-men skycraft. Thunderbird managed to climb onto the plane as it took off. Defying Xavier's telepathic warnings to get off the plane, Thunderbird asserted that he was finally going to prove he was a true Apache warrior. Using his superhuman strength, Thunderbird ripped open part of the plane and wreaked havoc on its internal systems. Furiously, Thunderbird pummeled the aircraft until finally it exploded, killing him instantly. Nefaria, however, had reached safety through teleportation.

The X-Men journeyed to New Mexico for Thunderbird's funeral (Classic X-Men #3). Logan believed Thunderbird had wanted to die, and he wondered why. "Don't matter what. But it cut the hear out of your ife. Too bad. Life in't a game, boy. You wear a man's boots, shoulder a man's responsibilities. You take the consequences. It's a lesson all the X-Men better take to heart. Real flamin' quick."