The bright sunlight slanted through the curtains, landing squarely on Emma's face.

She grunted her disproval, moaned something about it being too early, and rolled over, pulling her blankets over her head as she settled back in to sleep.

Something didn't feel right.

The sun never woke her. Her bed was in the deepest corner of her bedroom, and she had black-out curtains, ensuring she could sleep into the afternoon hours most days at home, much to her father's chagrin.

This was not her bed. Or her room.

Memories of the day before poked and prodded at her consciousness until she was fully awake. She climbed out of bed, pulled on her ignored pajamas from last night, and padded out to the kitchen to start some coffee.

Kate's bedroom door was shut, so she tried to be quiet. Then she decided she needed to talk to Kate, to hammer out their thoughts about everything that happened yesterday together, so she started slamming down her coffee mug, and opening and closing cabinet doors without bothering to see what was inside them.

As the pot filled, she stood outside Kate's door, fanning the smell of fresh-brewed goodness under her door with a plate, hoping Kate would join her without her actually having to go in and wake her up.

The coffee pot signaled that it was done, so Emma went back into the kitchen, poured herself two mugs, and headed to Kate's bedroom to wake her.

The sound of a knock on the front door startled her as she was half-way to Kate's door, so she swerved that way instead. She juggled both mugs, and opened the front door wide, squinting against the sun as it silhouetted a massive, masculine shape in her doorway.

She handed a mug to her guest, and used her now free hand to shade her eyes, realizing that it was Elam who filled her doorway. He was dressed in low-slung jeans and nothing else.

His bare chest was flushed, liked he'd been running, or chopping wood, or something else equally manly.

"Come in, come in, have some coffee. Kate can get her own, when she gets her lazy ass up. What time is it, anyway? And why are you naked?"

"It's almost noon, and I'm not naked. I just finished repairing the roof of one of the smaller cabins, and was headed back to mine. I passed your cabin, and realized I hadn't seen you up and around yet. Thought I'd check in on what you thought about Kate. The pack is excited about the mating. Are you just getting up?"

"What mating? Who mated? And what do you mean, 'what I thought about Kate?' Her door is still closed. I was bringing her coffee when you showed up, all...like this."

"Like what?"

She almost said, "All hot and bare-chested," but she let the words trail off instead.

She led him to the couch and sat down, nodding for him to sit. When he did, settling into the spot beside her, and turning to face her, she regretted not leading him to the kitchen table. He and his bare chest were entirely too close.

She sipped her coffee, trying to hide her sudden discomfort behind the cup.

For some reason feeling defensive, and needing to put something out there between her and his bare torso, she said, "You were fixing a roof? Aren't you like a prince or something around here? Don't you have underlings, or peons, to do that stuff?"

He laughed. "I am the Alpha's son. That is all. It does hold certain responsibilities, though. Like helping to keep a roof above our pack's head. Ash was doing well repairing his own roof, I just wanted to help out. And you are one to talk about being naked. I don't mind it. My people are very open about it, shifting all the time and such. You look quite fetching in your tiny little shorts, I must say, but you aren't exactly fully dressed either."

Emma looked down at herself, noticing how high her shorts had ridden up her legs when she sat down, and realizing that she wasn't wearing a bra under her thin pajama top.

She felt herself flush bright pink with embarrassment, and tried to cover it with a straightening of her shoulders and an upward tilt to her chin.

She sipped her coffee again, both for something to do as she tried to gain her equilibrium around Elam, and to get some more hot caffeine to flow into her brain.

"You really haven't heard about Kate?"

His question brought her eyebrows high up toward her hairline.

"What about Kate? She isn't up yet."

He laughed a low, sexy rumble and muttered, "I'm not sure she got any sleeping done at all last night. She isn't here. She and Galen are one. The pack is thrilled that Galen finally took a mate. Although there are some very disappointed she-wolves out there this morning. The new blood will be good for us, though. There is to be another celebration feast tonight. I'm glad he mated before Thomas passed. It will be easier on Thomas, knowing the new Alpha has found his other half. Thomas said he'd be even happier if he could see both of his sons mated before he crossed..."

He said the last bit as he looked at her pointedly over his coffee mug, his words drifting off before he took a sip.

Emma didn't catch that part though. She stood quickly, padding toward Kate's closed door, quite sure Kate would have told her before going off and becoming some wolf's mate.

She flung Kate's door open, only to be greeted with the sight of her friend's empty bed.

"Well fuck me!"

She didn't notice Elam's smirk at her heated words as he watched her over his cup while she paced and mumbled and cussed her friend out for not telling her what she was planning on doing.

"How do you just up and become a wolf's mate without telling your best friend? Don't you guys have engagement periods or ceremonies in front of the pack or anything? Her parents are going to flip. We're only here for a year. It's supposed to teach us to be better, more productive members of society or some shit to be here with your pack. She's not here twenty-four hours and she's a mate to a son of the Alpha? I bet her dad will wish he'd taken her to Africa after all. What does that mean, exactly? To be a mate? Can she still go home in a year?"

"Wolves mate for life. She can't leave him, it will kill him. And her."

"It won't kill her. She's not a wolf. Human's divorce all the time. She can just chalk this up to a Britney Spears moment, that's all."

"That is not so. Wolves do not divorce. They are connected now. Only death will separate them. If one of their souls cross over, the connection lessens. The one left behind will grieve a very long time, and they can eventually mate again. But not when both souls still walk this earth. When a mated pair is separated for long, they both wither. They are strongest together. Kate is one of us now. She wears his mark, he now flows through her veins. We won't know for a little while, but she may also be carrying his pup."

"Carrying his... You have got to be kidding. We've been here less than a full day!"

---

Emma found Kate later on, at the mating feast.

Emma was sitting on the same log, by the bon fire she'd sat by the night before, when Kate plopped down beside her, her face shining with joy.

"Can you believe it? I'm a married woman, Emma."

"What the hell were you thinking, Kate?"

"I wasn't. Thinking had very little to do with what happened last night. But I'm happy. I never realized it, but I wasn't happy in my old life. Something was always missing. I found that missing piece here. When Galen is Alpha, I will stand beside him as his wife. Or mate. Or whatever.

I wasn't doing well in the human world, Em. I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I didn't want to finish college, but it was buying me time before I had to be an adult. Here, I'll get to be queen of the jungle, so to speak. They will have to respect me here, it's law or something. I'd rather be queen of this jungle than struggle in the human's world. I liked that everyone respected Thomas's mate..."

"Ziva? She was a bitch and a half." Emma interrupted.

"And they still respected her. She is human, like me, and she belongs. She is looked up to. You are special, Em. You carry their blood. Your mother was their Alpha. Why she threw that away, I don't know. But this is my chance to be special."

"We are only supposed to be here a year. What will your parents say? Elam mentioned that you could already be carrying Galen's cub. Is that what you want, Kate? To be brood mare to the top werewolf? Do you even know what being an Alpha's mate consists of? What if you hate it? Elam says you can't walk away from this now, not without dying, or practically killing yourself and Galen."

"Your mom walked away."

"With my dad."

"I'm not planning on walking away. I was just saying. But something happened last night, Em. He was in my head. In my dreams, initially, and then later, when I came outside, awake. We had a connection. And, my god, the sex was fucking fantastic. I've never felt anything like that before. I know you're still a virgin and won't get it, but the draw to him was more than magnetic. I needed him, to make me whole. I can't get enough of him, Em. And this deep, soul connection thing, I think I can love him, eventually. Really love him, like your dad still loves your mom. That part will take time, I'm not stupid, but I feel like I am right where I am supposed to be."

Emma looked around, watching everyone celebrate Galen and Kate's mating. They really seemed happy about it, humans and wolves alike seemed joyous and welcoming.

Their quiet discussion was interrupted when a small group came over and pulled Kate away. Kate tried to include Emma, to get her to go dance with them and join the festivities, but Emma shook them off. She ushered Kate off with them, but wasn't ready to join the crowd herself just yet.

She watched Kate get pulled into the group, watched her trying to learn their dances and move to the rhythms of their drums around the fire, but soon her eyes were drawn to the edge of the crowd.

Galen and Elam stood together, watching the merriment and talking to each other.

Emma watched as the brothers embraced, Elam slapping Galen on his back in hearty congratulations.

The men broke apart, and Emma saw the sheer joy on Galen's face as he turned to watch his new mate integrate herself with his people.

He looked happy, smitten even, as his eyes followed Kate.

Emma felt suddenly very alone.

She felt a tug on her attentions, like she was being watched as well.

Her eyes searched the crowd, scanning people who were strangers to her before yesterday, and she zeroed in on the stare she felt burning into her.

Elam.

She wasn't in the mood.

His face was washed in shadows, but she was almost certain he was the one watching her so hard she could feel it.

"Oh, come on. Surely this pack has had strangers here before. Surely they weren't so far from civilization that two female newcomers could draw this much attention from the two top dogs. This place is crawling with hot chicks." Emma said to herself. "OK, maybe not crawling, but..."

Emma looked around.

The females she saw were unnaturally attractive, but there weren't very many of them. And most were older, her parent's generation. Most of the females their age were clumped around Kate, and very few females ran around with the youngest of the pack.

Emma spotted a few young females, probably six to twelve years old, and a few really young ones on the hips of some of the others, but by far, maybe by a 4-to-1 ratio, this place was crawling with males.

Weird.

She looked back towards Elam, the pull of being watched still strong.

He moved then, or the flames from the fire did, but suddenly his face was no longer hidden in shadow.

Her eyes locked with his, and she had to remind herself to breathe.

Damn, he was breathtaking.

Kate's words when she spoke about mating with Galen rolled in her mind as she met Elam's gaze over the fire.

Remnants of the visions she'd had last night, sitting right here when Elam had sat down beside her, touching her, filled her mind with flashes of the two of them locked together in passion made her flush. She was glad she could blame it on the fire if need be.

No! She would not fall like Kate had, into the arms of the first hot male to catch her attention here. No matter how his mere presence affected her by making her stomach roll with slow, sensuous butterflies, and no matter how she felt the urge to clench her thighs tight against each other for some kind of relief.

She was going home in a year, just as she arrived, unattached.

Their stare was broken when Elam suddenly stood taller, turning his head away from staring at her, and looking past her, over her shoulder instead.

Slowly, everyone around the bonfire stopped dancing, and turned to join Elam in staring behind her.

The drums slowed and then stopped, and then someone gasped the word, "Thomas."

The words, "The Alpha!" also started to hit her ears, and Emma turned to look behind her, to see what had caused the sudden end to the celebration.

A large, regal wolf was making its way down from the biggest cabin, toward the celebration.

Ziva followed close behind, not looking happy. In fact, she looked rather pissed.

From her expression, and the surprised mutterings around her about Thomas, the Alpha, Emma figured that Ziva wasn't happy that Thomas was joining the crowd.

Thomas's wolf form was large, with deep brown fur that reminded Emma of a Chow dog, and as the wolf aimed for one of the large picnic tables, and shifted into his human form, Emma heard Elam's voice just beside her ear. Damn he was quiet when he walked.

"Our wolf forms are stronger than our human forms, especially as we age and come closer to death. The wolf is the easiest form for Thomas to inhabit right now."

She nodded her understanding, and watched as Elam and Galen's father shed his wolf form, and became human.

It was beautiful to watch, the shifting. Now that it didn't come as a complete surprise, she watched his shift with less scared, more appreciative eyes.

He stood tall, bracing one thigh against the table, just in case, but not sitting on one of its benches.

He looked old but still strong, his deep brown wolf fur shifting into grey hair, as he gathered his strength to address the crowd.

"We have had an exciting couple of days," he started, his voice gaining strength as a spoke.

"I'm sorry I couldn't join you all last night, I'm feeling a bit stronger today. I wanted to welcome both Emma and Kate. Emma, it is good to have you here. Your mother has been gone a long time, but she was often in my mind. Kate, I hear congratulations are in order. I welcome you as part of our pack, as Galen's mate. I was starting to wonder about that boy."

Mutters of laughter broke out around them at Thomas's teasing, and continued as Thomas added, "Now, if we could only get Elam to see the light, as well."

Emma's eyes shot to Elam, and she found his gaze already on her.

"Before I cross over from this world and into the next, I want to know who will carry this pack onward."

Ziva started to interrupt, to speak to Thomas, and he mumbled something quiet, but stern in her direction, and then turned back to his pack.

"I have two sons. Therefore, nothing is assured. Of course there will be a challenge. That is how it is done. And I wish it to be soon, so I may pass on with that knowledge. Now, if you will excuse me, my strength in this form is fading, and I wish to save it for the challenge. I know either of my sons will lead this pack well, and of course, if anyone else wants to challenge, that is your choice. It will be as it is supposed to be."

And with that, Thomas shifted back into his wolf form, and with Ziva's help, headed back up the hill.