"So Kate told me about Galen asking you if he could split off from the pack, with your blessing, to be Alpha of his own pack in the adjoining lands. How did that conversation turn out?"

Emma asked the question, lying naked in the pile of furs in the cave she'd found, teasing Elam's nipple with her wandering finger as they recovered from yet another round of hot, animal sex.

Emma's heat had passed days ago, and she'd long since forgiven Elam for tricking her into shifting that first time, but she still couldn't seem to get enough of him. The forgiving part had been easy, since he'd been so patient in teaching her his personal tricks on how to control the shift, making her learning process go faster than she'd imagined it would.

She stretched her naked body, teasing him with it as she waited for him to respond.

Her own thoughts were only half on the question she'd asked, as the other half of her brain was still amazed at how at home she felt as a wolf, and how easily the pair had settled into mated life.

They'd gone for runs in the woods every evening together since Emma's first shift, and had, more often than not, ended up here in the cave for a hot tryst before heading back to hers or Elam's cabin for the night.

Elam still hadn't forced Ziva out of the Alpha's cabin, which had brought Emma's thoughts around enough to ask him how the Alpha standoff was going.

"We're still talking it over. Dividing the pack would be a big step, it has its pros and cons, but I'm willing to listen to both those for and against it. Adjoining packs, run by brothers who respect each other, would give us a chance to grow. We'd know for certain that we could rely on each other."

"So what would be a con?"

"The elder's would say a loss of tradition. Running away when you don't like a challenge outcome shows a lack of respect for how it's always been. But, if we still did things 'how it's always been,' we'd still get human sacrifices from neighboring villages in trade for protection. Not all changes are bad, in my opinion. I think I will probably allow it. I want to hold a pack meeting first though, get a sense of who would go and who would stay. You know Kate would leave, don't you?"

"Yeah. I get it, but I'll miss her terribly. You know they plan on leaving, with or without your blessing, right?"

"Galen said as much. I'd like to think he'd calm down and stay, but I honestly think the split isn't a bad idea. We'd just be covering more ground, really. Spreading out more than totally dividing. Galen said Ziva wasn't thrilled."

"I've yet to see her thrilled about anything."

"True."

With a laugh, Elam rolled Emma over. He put an end to her teasing and stretching by pinning her underneath him and kissing her until her thighs spread wide for him again.

---

Emma had a few hours before she had to head to the challenge arena for tonight's pack meeting, so she thought she'd spend it exploring the woods.

She'd heard of a not-to-distant natural spring, where you could sit in a bubbling pool hot enough to be a hot tub, so she decided to seek it out in her still new but already beloved wolf form for faster travel.

Emma shifted smoothly, breaking into a fast run before all four paws had completely hit the ground. She loved running like this, her body sleek and powerful as she leapt and weaved her way through the woods.

Her nose picked up the scents of fleeing rabbits and squirrels as they scattered in front of her.

She caught a glimpse of her white paws as they flashed in and out of her vision as she ran. She smiled as well as she could as a wolf, at the memory of Elam telling her how beautiful she was.

It was that first night she shifted, after they'd run and just before he'd shown her how to flow back into her human form again.

"You're a gleaming, bright shade of white, Emma. Your wolf, I mean. Not a spot of color anywhere to be seen, just snow white from ears to paws, except for your black as night nose and your emerald green eyes. I never saw her, obviously, but from what I've heard, your wolf is almost identical to your mother's. She had a forepaw as dark as her nose, but the rest of her was as white as snow, just like you."

She kicked her speed up a notch, reveling in the freedom of running wild and free through the woods. She didn't even have a predator to watch for, really. Humans were there biggest fear most wolf shifter's had. Even bears and wolves tended to leave each other alone out here, both preferring not to fight unless food or mate or cub was in danger.

She decided she rather enjoyed being the top of the food chain, as she startled a small deer and it ran in fear.

Emma wasn't on the hunt though. She wasn't the slightest bit hungry, so she just watched it run, as Elam's words teaching her how to take one down echoed in her ear.

He'd been proud of her, she'd hunted well the times they'd gone together. She seemed to be getting quite the hang of this shifter stuff, she was proud to say.

No, for right now, thoughts of the hot spring she was nearing were what was pulling her nose along.

She was getting closer, she was starting to smell the minerals bubbling in the water. The only thing she wanted right now was to get there, shift back, and sink her human bones into the heated, bubbly water and soak a while.

The hot spring was larger than she expected. She'd heard 'hot tub' and immediately assigned the spring a size in her head, so she was pleasantly surprised when the water was the temperature of a hot tub, but the spring itself was closer to half of a normal, human swimming pool size.

She'd already soaked some and swam some, and was reclining against a large rock, letting her head loll back and her mind wander as her eyes took in the woods and wildlife around her when Kate showed up.

Kate stripped down and joined Emma in the spring.

"Howdy, stranger." Emma greeted Kate with a teasing smile.

"I know, I know. We haven't been able to hang out much lately. But hey, I heard you succumbed to the same life changing virus that got me."

Emma raised her eyebrows at her friend in question, too relaxed and sated to actually offer up any words.

"The force of nature that is a werewolf who believes you are his forever mate."

Emma laughed, nodding her head in agreement.

"Yes. Their sexy pull is hard to deny, I'll give you that."

"Are you happy, Emma? I knew immediately what I wanted when I saw Galen. Are you and Elam happy? I know it's only been days, but..."

"Yes. Being here has changed me, in more ways than I can even tell you, actually. Hey, how did you know I'd be here? I snuck out for some alone time before the pack meeting tonight. I figured I was the only one."

"I didn't know. I come out here sometimes, too. Ziva showed me this place. Just good timing, I guess."

"Ziva. Is she any different once you get to know her? She comes across so... I don't know, troubled. Angry. Is she really as angry as she seems? Like all the freaking time?"

Kate focused her eyes behind Emma, thinking of a way to respond.

"Ziva is...well, it's hard to explain. She comes from somewhere I'll never understand. But I think her intent is good?"

"You say that like it's a question."

"She is...protective. She wants the best for her loved ones. Thomas, Galen."

"But not Elam? He's her son, too."

"She says Elam is different."

"Different? How so?"

"I'm not sure. She won't elaborate."

"Elam said she wasn't happy about this dividing of the pack that Galen presented."

"She isn't. She doesn't think she should have to go. She thinks Galen should be Alpha."

"But he isn't. And even if he was, she'd have to give up the Alpha cabin, either way. To you and Galen, if not to me and Elam. Why does she care which son of hers is in charge? Either way she is still revered as mother of the Alpha."

A voice behind her, in Emma's ear, surprised her.

"Elam is a devil's spawn, just like you!"

With that, Emma's world went dark.