Dawn mocks the night now in its low light laughter.

The Savage still sleeps, knees are drawn up. His cheek is pressed against the wood, mouth partially open.

I watch him...

His legs slowly uncurl themselves. A lazy stretch of his body.

He doesn't open his eyes, so I keep mine fixed on him.

Stretching.

Muscles contracting, flexing, shifting...

Stretching.

There is a feast to my eyesight that devours the picture of this Savage. The space between my thighs clenches and unclench. A slickness gathers between my inner folds, that makes my mouth part uncontrollably.

He stretches, I pulse.

The canvas of ink can't hide the dips and ridges of his torso, the outline of ribs show through when he reaches above his head with his hands.

Stretching.

Legs tightening, toes pointing and flexing back.

Stretching.

A rush of heat surges itself to the surface of my skin.

Stretching

His body twists from side to side, his nakedness now fully exposed to my eyes.

My thighs squeeze themselves tight, a pressure builds from within.

Warmth floods below my mound.

Stretching

He tips his hips one way then the next, muscles contracting, relaxing.

Slow and relaxed he stretches himself.

A shift of my hips rubs against the bunched up blankets that have a small pressure against my mound.

His eyes stay closed, I rock slowly.

Stretching.

I tremble.

There is no stopping my hand.

Exhaling deeply into my pillow.

Eyes slightly close as the impulses bring my sex to life.

Breathing getting heavier, a hunger surfacing.

I moan.

He opens his eyes with a groan, mine look away instantly.

A shift from my shoulder, angling away from his intrusive sight.

An inhale from him, my head buries itself into the pillow. The heat from my face is burning my skin.

"You don't have to look away from me, Bessa." His voice is too low for the day.

"You shouldn't be sleeping without clothes." Saying it into the pillow.

"It's too hot for clothes."

"You don't have to stop." The husk of sound from deep in his chest makes my hips give one more rock against my hand before I reluctantly pull the self-pleasure away.

...silence.

Embarrassed silence shames my face that's still buried in the pillow.

When he gets up, the beat of his heart pulls away from me, going to the bathroom.

I breathe again.

Water is heard running, and he doesn't come out for a while. It allows me to get dressed quickly without the worry of him seeing the bareness of me. Tying my hair up in a scarf of Silk.

The door opens, green the color of fresh spring looks right at me. He's only in the loincloth that rides low on his hips.

Inhaling, exhaling.

"We should get ready to leave." The Savage has a gentle nudge to his voice while taking a backpack from the table. He's been preparing these packs for the last two days. Loading them then unloading them, testing the weight. Putting more into his pack, to feel the new weight of mine. He did it for hours until he felt the need not to touch the packs anymore. I'd catch him at times, silently looking at the map on the table, leaned over it scrutinizing every detail. His finger tracing an invisible trail. There is a tension in his back, I can feel it in my own spine.

There's a part of me that wants to go over to him, and kiss the top of his spine like I've seen my mother do to my father.

I didn't kiss the Savage, but there was something inside me that wanted to kiss the top of his neck to help ease the worry.

In my weakened moments, he'd catch me looking at him.

He waited without breathing, while compulsion twisted within to walk towards him. It's a hard battle, but with a resolve of sharp silver, I hold my place firmly away from the Savage until I feel my soul bleed.

I taste the blood in my mouth as if it's real.

That's when our silence is at it's worst, the heaviest.

Standing I go to the bathroom taking with me the clothes that I made. Black pants, black shirt, the colors for death, not the Silks of life that I should always wear.

Putting the pack on my back, it's heavier than I thought it would be. The Savage puts padding where the straps dig into my shoulders.

When he puts on his pack, his head turns and holds on the front window. The drapes aren't pulled closed, and her head is there a few feet away.

Only a white skull with vacant eyes remain.

The Savage's throat shows that he's having a hard time swallowing. There is a pressure against my chest that I feel coming from him.

Even in death, she gets to live.

"Ready?" he's at the back door, that's opened wide. I choose to go out the front.

We meet on the trail that leads to the center of the community. The longhouse as I now know is where all gatherings take place, training, and celebrations. All the pack is starting to gather with packs on their backs, pups to small to walk are carried. The ones that can walk even carry packs on their backs. They seem proud to wear them like everyone else.

The Alpha and Luna come towards their son and speak to him. Both their cheeks pressed against his.

Pride shines in both parents eyes. What kind of pride do my parents feel right now?

The Savage walks towards me, the wolves step away from his forward path. They give him right of way, there is a consideration to his footsteps that wolves are weary of.

When he stops, I'm on his right.

Shoulder to shoulder, future leaders, leading.

"This is a big moment for you, Savage. Leading the pack for the first time." The molars in the back of my mouth grate together.

"It is." There is a quiet humbleness to his sound. A leeriness to his eyes.

"You pictured her walking on your right like I'm standing right now?"

"Yes." There was no pause in his answer.

"Part of me doesn't want to walk with you. I don't want to walk on your right because that was never my place to walk in your dreams."

"I understand." His feet shuffle as he adjusts the weight of his pack on his back.

"Do you think her soul is going to walk beside you? Side by side on your right, knowing how important this day is to you?"

Silence.

"She won't be there. She's in the Moon rejoicing in the body of her mate. Your brother. So it's my duty and obligation to walk on your right. That's what leaders do, they put aside their feelings for the greater good. I've been taught well by my parents." A threatening choke of breath comes out that I swallow quickly away.

"This is not a kindness I show you, this is a necessity for pack unity. Now lead, and I will walk with you for as long as I can stomach it." The weight on my back feels too much to bear, but I keep my head forward and step as he does.

The walk is silent for us, the rest of the pack is talkative at first until the weight starts to sink feet into the soft mud until the pups began to cry to be picked up and carried because their legs can't take it.

Falling slightly from the pace set by the Savage he slows his strides to match my slower ones.

When I stumble, he stops everyone's forward movement with a break.

"You're doing good, Bessa." The Savage reaches out to touch my arm but halts when I stiffen preparing for the onslaught of what that contact will bring to my skin.

"Don't take off the pack. Sit here." Reaching the side of my pack, he pulls out a piece of fur that he puts down on the ground. "Sit here, lean against the tree, stretch out your back, it will feel good." The Savage drops his pack and walks towards the wolves that haven't made it yet.

My shoulders burn.

When I see the Savage again, he's got a someone else's pack on his shoulders. The female is heavily pregnant that's walking beside him. She stops, and her mate is there as she leans her head against his chest and shakes her head no. The Savage drops that pack, and takes the mate's pack and puts it on his shoulders while picking up the other pack. The mate of the female picks her up and carries her the rest of the way to where we are resting.

Watching.

The Savage make many trips this way. Luki beside him, helping the Elders with their packs, carrying pups in their arms. Juvenile males are dropping their packs to support more of the stragglers until everyone is resting and eating some dried meat that I saw the Savage curing by the fire several weeks ago.

Orva smiles and sits beside me while her mate helps an older couple with their packs. She starts to feed her pup, never taking off her pack. Her hair holds the two black braids that I've come to associate with her look. She wears blue beads in her hair that resembles her mates eyes.

"How are you able to do it with a pup?" Asking Orva the question.

"It's hard. I won't lie, but I've been through harder." She puts her pup on the other side. Orva's eyes close, she looks tired.

When the Savage is done, he comes over to us. He gives Orva the faintest of nods before stretching his hand to me. I take it, and he lifts me to a standing position. He checks the straps, his fingertips touching the skin of my shoulder.

A shake of my spine.

"Are you ready?"

"Yes."

The march begins as everyone gets up, more talking is heard behind the Savage and me.

"Is everything going as it should?"

"Yes, everything is going as it should. " He turns himself to see behind him before putting another foot in front of him.

"Bessa, you're walking where your place is. I was wrong for thinking someone else should have been on my right. It has always been meant for you." His words make my ribs once again protect my heart that beats harder now.

"I wish you would have known that before you came for me." My steps become slower, dragging the tips into the ground. His does the same.

"I want to walk alone for a while, keep going forward." Wobbly words threaten to reveal how hurt the inside of my chest is.

He walks forward, and it's Luki that comes to walk by my side. I shift the pack on my back. The weight seems heavier than when I first started on the path. Luki's eyes covet the Silk on my head.

"Are you alright, Bessa? Do you need to stop?"

"No, I'm fine." A hesitation before asking my question. "What were they like together?"

Luki stiffens, "who was like?" His head starts looking around at everything but me.

"Him and his love." Luki adjusts the pack on his pack.

"Bessa, that's not really something I should be talking about."

"I have questions." Smiling at him, I pull off my scarf from my head. "I'll trade you this for a few simple questions.

His eyes dilate

"Ask," his hand goes to take the Silk, but I pull it away.

"You'll get it when I'm done with my questions." His pupils calm down within his eyes.

"What were they like together?"

"Like everyone else." He's vague.

"Did they smile?"

"Yes, they held smiles on their faces when they were around each other." The path dips down into a slow steep.

"He doesn't smile anymore does he, since he found me?"

"You said questions about him and her, not you and him. I won't get involved between you and him." He takes a hard step forward, and I know where the line is with Luki.

"Did they have a real love?" Luki closes his eyes.

"Yes, they had something real."

"How could you condone it? How could you be part of that when it's your brother's mate?"

"This isn't about me, Bessa. You ask me to tell you about them, not about my feelings, that will take a dress of Silk for me to tell you." His mouth curves up as a serious teasing tone.

"You're smart, Luki. You would have been a good trader, and next time I will word my trade differently." The same tone of a smile curves back at him.

"Did they get along well?"

"Yes."

"Did they ever fight?"

"Not that I have witnessed." When he says this I cringe, the Savage only has my fight in his ears.

"Did they ever touch?" Luki stops immediately.

"Never." His teeth show through. "My brother has maintained the Old Ways, he has upheld the tradition of our ancestry. He has not faltered in what is expected of him. He did not touch her, the only female he's ever touched is our mother, then you. No other female. My brother holds his honor, his virtue." Luki starts to walk again.

My skin settles back on the bone, he's scary if provoked.

The suns rays dig deep into the top of my head, burning itself on the skin of my neck without my scarf to protect the delicate flesh. The wind doesn't carry the salty sea and sand that I'm so used to. Instead, the wind brings the life of the North that I am coming to identify with.

"How can it be honorable if he loved someone besides his mate?"

"He never touched her."

"If you say that again I will take a knife and gut you from hipbone to throat." Luki shuffles the skin on his bones, eyes darkening.

"Do you think you can gut me?" His War of teeth flash.

"I'll try anything once." Flashing my War back at him. Luki laughs so hard the Savage turns from his lead. I feel those eyes on me, on my lips that hold a smile for his brother.

"Were they together a lot?"

"Yes."

"Did they look like they were in love?" Watching Luki's face fall.

"Yes, they held the look of love."

"Was she friends with everyone?"

"No, she wasn't friends with everyone."

"Who was not her friends?" Looking behind me, head all bowed down working hard on the path forward.

"The females that came from the North, she detested them."

"Why?"

"They don't hold any Virtue."

"How can she say that when she was with my Mate?"

"They never touched, she still held Virtue." Luki acts like he's speaking with someone who is slow of mind. Who can't grasp the basic of concepts?

He gives a breath out.

"Orva has never been with that Alpha of the North, did she hate her?" My question is spoken easily.

"Orva is hated the most, she's been with an abomination from the East, Victoria. Her mate was not kind to her when he found out. He wanted to return her, but he already marked her as a Far North female. It was too late, once you're marked, you can't take that mark back." Luki's mouth is running on now, he is a dedicated gossip to things that don't involve his brother.

"The North females are having a hard time in this pack."

"They are."

"Who were her best friends? She had to have lots."

"Orva's sister in law, and two others."

"Point them out to me." Luki looks over his shoulder, "that one, and that one." Both females have their heads bowed walking.

"Thank you Luki." The pack stops because a river separates the path we are on.

"My scarf." he holds out his hand for my Silk. When I give it to him, he holds it like a prize that he just won.

"How did you tie it on your head?" He already has the silk against his head, his hair holds tiny braids that are gathered into one giant braid that hangs down his back.

"Let me show you; it's easy." When I demonstrate how to tie it correctly he takes it off then puts it back on and does it himself. His structure seems to change when his hands move away from the knot.

His eyes flutter lightly, and a softness creeps into his flesh. Even his lips seem delicate, the maleness of him slides away, replaced with something else that is staring at me.

"Luki, are you a Fluid?"

"A what?"

"A Fluid, you are a male but you like to become a female at times."

"I've never heard of that." He doesn't answer my question, while his hand pulls the scarf from his head.

"I think you're a Fluid, I know of one, the Alpha's brother. He wore female clothing but lived as a male. Sometimes he lived as a female and wore male clothing. He was a Fluid, interchanging himself with ease." Luki looks away.

"Did this Fluid have a mate?" Luki's eyes find mine, he shifts the weight of his pack.

"Yes,"

"Was she understanding to this Fluid?" He's looking hard at me.

"His mate was male who-" Luki walks away from me, not listening to the last words I would have told him.

"Bessa, give me your pack." Taking my pack off the Savage shoulders it. His body holds the wetness of water still clinging to skin.

His flesh shivers while I take my long look at him.

Hold onto this rope, don't let go. The water is rushing past with a violence that can sweep me away if I lose my footing on the slippery rocks.

The Savage is behind me, so close that at times I feel his heartbeat against my back.

One slip after the other has my head dunking underneath the cold water. Those are the times the Savage has his hand over mine, the grip on the rope will not release.

"You're doing good a little more and we are on shore." The water is no deeper than my waist, but the rocks are slick with moss that clings to the surface. When out of the rapids, I lay down slightly away from the bank, watching the juveniles go first, slowly making sweeping motions with their legs.

"Why are the juveniles walking in the water that way?"

"They are trying to take as much of the moss from the rocks as possible so by the time the elders and small pups cross it will be easier for them to grip on the stones."

We rest in the long grass by the river. The Savage's hands go to my shoulders massaging the sore muscles. I want to tell him to stop but I can't, instead, I give a little hum of sound. Watching the pups that are tied by the wrist to the rope that is attached from one strong tree trunk one across the river. Some are swept off the path but they are tied securely that they get their footings back. Parents are between pups, urging them on with as little help as possible. The pups still wear their packs when they cross.

When everyone is across we start the march forward. I'm now on the Right of the Leader. Walking side by side.

Silence rubs wrong between us.

There is no darkness when we make camp for the night.

The wolves fall where they stop, no fires are made, even the pups don't play but curl up with their parents and fall asleep wrapped up in furs.

"Sleep Bessa," The Savage shoulders his pack off.

"What about you?"

"I'm going to run with Luki." He takes his loin cloth off and my eyes look down until the wet nose of his Wild is at my neck. He nips playfully while I nip at him back in a show of play.

Wrapping my arms around the Wild, biting him on his neck, not to break flesh but to show him, my love. He whines pushing me to the ground until he's satisfied I'm staying down. He picks up the edge of the fur cover putting it on my body, licking my face.

Our eyes hold, and I understand completely that I am the only one for the Wild.

The next day is the same as the first and the following one after that.

When we finally come to a clearing that edges on a pristine lake the Savage says that this is the spot and all pack members drop their packs and begin to cut down trees whose trunk are the size of when I put both my hands together.

The Savage is no different, he cuts the trees strips them of branches and bark. He ties them with leather straps and slides a hide that's been stitched to other hides very well. I am going to have to ask him who did those stitches for him. He doesn't possess that talent.

He digs holes into the ground and tips the three poles up, pulling the loose hide down the poles then opens the poles up placing them in each hole. The fabric stretches tight and forms a tent that when I go into has just a small light shining down from the hole in the top.

He empties our packs out, placing things in an order that I should learn. Pots, no dishes have been brought. Furs are spread out and the Savage plugs the light source with a cloth that completely darkens the interior of the tent.

On the outside, he places small rocks and dirt on the material that falls on the ground.

"Bessa can you gather dry wood for the fire?" Looking around everyone is doing the same thing.

Picking out the driest wood, I start to create a pile on the seventh trip there is a small fire lite. There is a larger fire that has been set up being tended by Juveniles.

"Why such a big fire?"

"That's the communal fire, for the Elders, or mothers soon to welp. The Juveniles will keep it going until we leave. When we have our Male, once he shifts it will be his sole responsibility to keep the fire going until we leave the Summer grounds back to our Winter grounds."

"Why?"

"It teaches him responsibility."

"This is the first year that I'm not making sure that fire never goes out. It's odd." He looks melancholy at the fire.

"Did she help you with it."

"No, Bessa. She never did. It was mine to take care of."

"I wish your pack taught you about responsibility toward a mate instead of how to keep a simple fire going." His jaw flexes.

"Where will you be sleeping?" Looking at the inside of the tent, everything is put into order. The Silks I did bring are the hanging on the inner pole, they are the worst of them. No matter what they will never be able to be repaired.

Ruin over ruin.

"With you in that tent. The Wild will not tolerate you sleeping alone out here. We haven't killed the predators that chose to stay when we came. We want you close by." To prove his point his War of Teeth flash quickly to the forefront.

"I can protect myself." Defiantly, with my chin in the air, the words are spoken.

"We never said you couldn't."

"Do you like to fish?" Changing the subject in a quick motion. He's placing a castiron pot by the fire while loading the wood into making it catch high flames quickly.

"Yes, I do like to fish."

"I made a pole for you, string and hook. It's all you need to fish here."

"Can you clean fish?"

"No, I don't know how. My father always did it for us."

"Usually the day we set camp up, the males are responsible to do the tents and put everything away while the females gather the wood for the fire. Then they will fish in the lake or stream because it's filled with fish. When you've caught your share, it's cleaned at the side of the lake then the guts, heads, and skins are thrown into the big fire that the Juveniles maintain. Would you like to do that?"

Looking at the lake I see Orva and a group of other females standing around.

"Yes, I'd like to that."

Walking in that direction with my fishing pole it's a relief to get away from the Savage and what sleeping so close to him will do to me.

Reaching Orva with her pup that's strapped to her back, along with a few others that seem to keep in Orva's shadow while looking around as if scared. They have caught fish, knives in their hands but aren't cleaning anything because there are females at a makeshift table taking their time cleaning what they have caught. They are slow and act as if no one is waiting their turn to clean what they have.

"You've done well." Looking at their haul.

"It's easy right now to catch them, give it a few weeks and it will take great skill," Orva says while shifting impatiently on her feet.

"Why are you all standing here?"

"We are just waiting to clean them." Her voice directs to the females whose hands slow down more. I watch them loiter in their spots.

"Is there not enough room for everyone at this table?"

"No, we need our room." One of the female points this out to me. "We will be done soon, then they can have their turn." The way she says, they, harbors a disgust.

"Do you always go last at everything?" Turning to the small group of females. All nod yes.

"You're done, why do you still stand there taking up a space for someone else." It's one of the best friends Luki has pointed out while on the trail.

Her eyes try to maul into mine before she looks away The ridge fur of my spine starts to rise.

"Do you have a knife, Orva."

"I do." She hands it to me and the females around the table shift.

"I want to clean fish."

"You have no fish to clean, Bessa. They will have a turn once we're done." It's the Luna who comes to the table where space is immediately made.

"Orva, can I clean a fish for you?" Orva stands to my Right, shoulders straight.

"Yes, you can." A fish is placed in my left hand.

Stepping forward these females don't move the way they did for the Luna. I have to shift my way in with hard elbows to the side of ribs.

"We said we will be done soon." The Luna bites her sound out.

"I want to clean the fish now." Biting, snapping words hone in on a throat of the packs most precious.

The female who is done with cleaning does not move, a hand rests near her knife that's not in use.

"I like your knife better, do you mind?" The knife I'm holding sinks into the bone of her hand pinning her to the wood, while I take her knife from her.

The female screams, trying to pry the knife out of her hand.

Teeth come out, and I'm surrounded by these females.

"I told you not to use knives Bessa. You don't fight fair. You have been taught wrong. It's my job to teach you the right way."

"Like you taught your son right from wrong?" She slaps my face, hard.

The sound echoes.

Dropping the knife, my mother has never hit me in the face before, I have never been slapped like a common whore in front of a crowd.

"There is a reason why I will be called Luna." Letting my body rise to the fullest of height.

"No one has the right to slap my face Luna, not even you." The Wild within shows herself the Cocoon of Skin is flexing open.

My eyes hold on her, mauling themselves into the marrow of who she is.

She looks away first.

Rushing her we collide together.

A Luna fight.

Elbows crush ribs, toes break on her feet. The bone of her left wrist cracks, but she still fights well with the right breaking my left wrist. I fall on top of her, a fist to her nose.

Blood splatters.

My teeth latch onto her throat.

Digging deep.

...shaking.

Blood is all I taste as the growls of my Nature seduce the air around us.

She does not give me what I want so I bite harder, tearing through flesh. Digging the War of Teeth into the throat of life.

This is not the way I wanted to start off with his mother.

A subtle turn of her neck, submission is given.

When I release her to stand, she kneels.

"You do not kneel at my feet," bending down to her eye level, "I want you to crouch!" Yelling my new order of leadership into the gathering crowd.

The Savage is standing with his father.

"Crouch now, female." Her title stripped and I will address her as such. I taste her blood in my throat, it drips from my chin.

She crouches in an awkward position.

"From now on, they have room at any table they want to be at." Pointing to Orva and her group of female outcasts.

"They are marked as Far North females, they should be treated the same." Yelling it out for all to hear.

No bend to my spine. I will be their spine now.

"Do you all understand?" The blood keeps dripping from my chin.

"Let me hear you say I understand, Luna."

I wait.

"We understand, Luna." They start to take knees down.

"Do not kneel in front of me, you crouch down like dogs. You treat these poor females worse than dogs, I will treat you exactly like you've been treating them." Fury roars with my words, the fire of my sound scorches my throat.

The females crouch at my feet, the Savage walks towards me, his sound is loud, nothing is humble about the way he carries himself. He rises to his full height. A pride of shoulders back, head raised high.

"You look like a Luna." His sound percusses into every pore of my body, violating my internal space.

"I am a Luna." Saying it back with conviction.

"Yes, you are a Luna, my Luna." He shouts out for everyone to hear.

Our eyes lock, hold, everything fades away, it's just him and I.

The ribs of my chest push inward, protecting my heart that's stuttering its beat from this moment.

Author's Note.

A snippet of the book Elska, coming as soon as Bessa is finished.

"Odin, tell me about your visit to Charlie again," the heat of the fire competes with the warmth of the sun. Pulling the hood of the cloak down over my face making sure I'm completely covered.

"Elska, how many times do you need to hear about his visits?" Ryeson's words tickle into the humid air.

"I like to hear about her,"

"What was she wearing, Odin?" The squeal of Warson pitches higher in the air. Odin is tossing him up, I can hear him falling but never hitting the ground. Odin would never drop him.

"Green pant's with a black shirt."

"Why doesn't she wear colors of her Lineage?" Charlie never wears dresses or colors, nothing seems vibrant, just bland without style.

Where is her style?

"They don't wear Silks like the way you and mother wear them." Another high squeal of laughter from my male, only higher this time.

"Was she carrying her leather satchel with her herbs in it?"

"She's never without it," Odin's voice drifts down to where my male's voice falls. Not to the ground, but grazing the surface.

"Is there anything else you want to talk about? It's boring talking about what Charlie wears, what Charlie likes, what Charlie carries." Ryeson snatches me in his arms and throws me in the air. Not as high as Warson, but high enough I startle.

He catches me spinning me until he steps away and I'm left with my hands out not knowing where my position is.

"Elska," he whispers, "watch out," a tap to my left shoulder, he steps away. Quiet.

"If you hit your brother, I'll tell you about the picture I drew Charlie."

Smiling, the teeth feel sharp underneath my tongue. A knife slips from the sleeve of the Silk.

Ryeson is without his sound.

A heartbeat, my smile grows.

"Run, Ryeson. I know where you are," feet dig and zag on the ground.

Heartbeat racing in his chest, getting further.

Thank you, Susan, for the beautiful cover. Presses my cheek to yours. Rachelle.