Emma had only been back in her own cabin for a few minutes, after saying that quick goodbye to Elam and Galen, before someone knocked on her door.

She opened her door wide, to see Kate standing on her porch, with a bottle of wine and two wine glasses, asking somewhat sheepishly if she could come in.

"Of course you can come in," Emma exclaimed. "Wait, I was talking to the wine. You, on the other hand..."

"I know, I know. I've been M.I.A. I've been trying to be a good daughter-in-law, but damn, that Ziva is needy. Then I feel like a major bitch for thinking that, I mean her mate just died, after all. And she has no friends to speak of, really."

"Hmm, you don't say. I can't imagine why."

Kate just laughed and rolled her eyes, and proceeded to open the wine bottle and pour a very generous amount into each glass, handing one to Emma before taking quite a large swig from her own.

"I wanted you to hear it from me, first." Kate choked the words out, barely swallowing her wine before starting to speak. "Can we sit?"

"Of course. Hear what from you first?"

Emma led Kate to the couch, tucked her legs underneath herself, and settled in to talk, like old times.

"Galen is asking Elam now, but it's going to happen. With or without Elam's blessing."

"Shit. What is?"

"Galen is leaving. He said he has much respect for Elam, but he can't be a Beta wolf. He waited until Thomas's passing because he didn't want to upset him, but he won't be second in command."

"So he's just going to leave? Be a lone wolf? It's his right, I guess, but..."

"I'm going with him, of course. As his mate should. So is Ziva. And some of the others."

"But..."

"That part is happening, regardless. What Galen wants to talk to Elam about though, is keeping it civil. Galen said he will take us far away, if needed, but he wants to stay close, to take over the abandoned area adjoining this pack's property line."

"That wasn't abandoned. That pack was wiped out by humans."

"That was a long time ago. And it is where Ziva used to belong."

"This town ain't big enough for the both of 'em?" Emma teased.

"This pack is already divided. I see it and I'm still new around here." Kate smiled at Emma's joke, but pressed on, determined to speak.

"It's because we came here, isn't it? Because I came here." Emma asked, sadly.

"I don't know. If we weren't here the challenge would have still happened. Elam probably still would have won."

"Or he wouldn't have tried so hard. Maybe if I wasn't here he wouldn't have, I don't know...tried to show off? He would have just gone through the motions?"

"From what Thomas said during the challenge, that everyone gives their all when the wolf form takes over, it probably would have happened anyway."

"But I make it worse, don't I? For Ziva, at least. She has something against my mother, and therefore, me as well."

"I wish I knew what she had against your mom and you, but she won't say. She just says, 'it never would have happened, if it wasn't for Reine's challenge.'"

"What wouldn't have happened?"

"I don't know. She won't say any more."

"The only thing that could have gone different was Thomas winning instead of Reine. But mom left. Thomas still ended up Alpha. Ziva still ended up the Alpha's mate."

"I don't know, Em."

"Did you know she was traded to her original pack, at five? Her village just gave her up."

"Yeah, Galen told me. Then that pack gave her to this one."

"I know it was a huge step back then, from slave to mated to the next Alpha. Could she be that ambitious? Even if mom had stayed, she'd still have been mate to the Alpha's brother. Maybe that wasn't enough?"

"I don't know."

"And what the hell does she have against Elam? If she and Thomas took him in as an orphan, why does she seem so hostile to him?"

"I don't know that, either. It's odd, isn't it?"

"Do you think she loved Thomas? Eventually? Or did she just see him as a way out of slavedom in a less progressive pack? Did she want Thomas when he claimed her? Like you did Galen? How are you and Galen, anyway?"

"That's a lot of questions." Kate laughed, pouring them each a second glass and tossing out the now empty bottle.

"I think she loved Thomas, yes. Watching her grieve, I think she loved him a lot."

"Is she grieving Thomas? Or her position?"

"Probably both, knowing her as little as I do." Kate acknowledged with a laugh. "But I do think she loved him. Whether she did at the claiming, or if it grew over time, I don't know. Hell, who knows what goes on in someone else's relationship?"

"How about yours?" Emma asked. "Do you love Galen?"

"I do. Very much. It has taken a lot of adjusting, and will take even more, when we leave. But yes, I love Galen. He is my mate."

"I don't want you to go, Kate. You're my only friend."

"Hopefully, if everything goes well between Elam and Galen tonight, we will only be moving next door, so to speak."

"That is still miles away!"

"I know. But my place is beside Galen. If you had asked me before we came here if I could see myself mated to a werewolf and being happy here, I'd have told you where you could stick that, but we were made for each other. I am very happy. We have this connection, you know? And damn, Em, the sex!"

Emma turned quite a few shades of pink, her mind immediately going to the cave where she and Elam had kissed. Where, if Galen hadn't come to tell them of Thomas's passing, she may have done more than just kiss Elam.

"I see that! You're blushing. What about you and Elam? The talk all over the pack, when it isn't about Thomas, or Elam's shape shifting, is Elam finally showing interest in a mate."

"He has said he wants me. As his mate, I mean." Emma blushed even hotter at her own words.

"How do you feel? About him?"

"The rational part of me is still rebelling against all of this. It still thinks it's going to wake up from this surreal dream, back at home, with my dad. It can't even imagine choosing a 'forever mate' in some hot guy I just met, regardless of how much his kisses make me melt, or the visions I see of our future when we touch."

"Wait! You see visions? You're already connected, then. I don't see visions, but I hear Galen. In my head. Not my brain thinking 'what would Galen say,' but I can really hear him. His thoughts and things he aims at me. I can send him my thoughts, as well. Your connection is visual?"

"I guess. Elam said my mother's was the same. That she could 'see' things. Future things. Like how different choices would play out."

"Do you see it that way as well? Different choices playing out?"

"Just once. When Elam kissed me."

"You kissed! How was it? What did you see?"

"Oh, Kate, it was amazing. And I 'saw' what would happen if I denied him in my upcoming heat, and denied him until I left with my dad next year, like we were supposed to. And what would happen if I let him claim me."

"Holy shit! There is so much to discuss in that. Hang on, what do you mean in your upcoming heat? Start there."

"I'm half-wolf. From mom, obviously. But Elam says that being here, around other wolves and their hormones and whatever, that my cycle is changing. That my constant irritation, and my horniness and whatever, is due to my first heat cycle."

"In heat, like cats? And dogs, I guess would be a better..."

"Yep, supposedly. He said he can smell the change in me. That all the wolves can. And that very shortly, in the next day or so, it's going to hit me really hard. He said he'd have me guarded, by female wolves, if I want. Or, he can guard me himself, as my mate. It's my call."

"And you already 'saw' how this would go?"

"I guess. If 'seeing' is even a real thing. How am I supposed to trust that? Visions out of nowhere? Hell, maybe it's just all this fresh air. Or something in the water. I'm supposed to just suddenly trust that I can see the future? What the hell?"

"What did you see?"

Emma sighed, not sure how she even got into this conversation.

"I saw myself denying Elam, leaving here with dad in a year, not happy. Or I saw myself giving in. Giving myself to Elam. Mating with Elam."

"Were you happy? With Elam?"

"Yes. But there was more. Pain. The pack dividing. Some kind of core change within myself."

"Emma, the pack is already dividing."

"Yeah, that was in both scenarios, come to think of it."

"Interesting. So what are you going to do?"

"I have no idea."