Thank you DaniStypayhoralikson for the cover!

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Emily's POV

Mikko slammed the door when he came into the house. The vibrations rattled the ceiling and floorboards. Startled, everyone in the room looked over. I was surprised that the wooden frame around the door wasn't cracked.

We only saw a flash of him, but it was enough to see his fury. His hands were clenched into fists, his shoulders and arms bulging from the intensity of his anger, his jaw was clenched and strained, and his eyes were so golden they glowed. His anger was easily seen and felt. He was a blast wave of heat.  

When he was out of sight, I turned back to how I had been before and gave Nikki a look that only she could understand. The toddlers were looking at each other with some kind of invisible communication between the three, I could almost feel it.  

"What happened to him?" Nikki asked quietly as she settled in again.  

My dad looked at me. "You should go see what happened." 

I threw a hitch-hiker thumb over my shoulder. "Did you see the big bad wolf that came through that door?" I asked in disbelief. I couldn't see any reason why he would want his only daughter to go check on the moodiest werewolf known to creation.

He nodded. "I saw. You need to go check on him." 

A crash came from the hallway. "He's a grown man."

Reluctantly, I stood up.  

"I don't think this is a good idea." I stayed frozen in my spot just in case they said I should stay with them. Let the grown man settle his own issues. It was obvious that he never wanted anyone to help him out anyway.

"Whether you like it or not, you're the only person he's got that he can talk to, Em." 

I let out the breath I had been holding. I didn't want to be the one to disturb Mikko.  

Reluctantly, and very slowly, I walked towards Mikko's room. I was very nervous. I didn't want to be on the receiving end of Mikko's fury.  

I lightly tapped my knuckles against the door before pushing it open. I didn't enter his room; I just let the door expose the room. A pile of wooden scraps and fabric was where his bed used to be.  

Mikko was in the far corner of the room, sitting braced against the wall with arms resting on his knees. His head was hung, but I wasn't naive enough to believe that he didn't know I was there. He had probably heard my protests.  

Now that I could was able to take a good look at him, I could see that he was covered in blood. I didn't know whose blood it was, or what had happened, but I couldn't get too close to Mikko if he was coming down from a bloodlust high. 

I had witnessed that a lot in my father's pack. Winning a challenge that resulted in a fatality, or a near one, created such a euphoric high that it was best to keep humans, women, and children away from the wolf.

If he was coming down, I would take my children and go to Finn's for the evening. 

"Whose blood is that, Mikko?"

Seeming to slip out of his daze, he looked around his arms and over his clothes. His clothes were oddly clean considering that his arms and hands had dried blood all over and his face was speckled with it. It was obvious he ripped someone's throat out since bloodstains on his face looked like it had run out of his mouth. 

"An elk," he said simply as he ran his hands over the dried blood. "I needed to run and came across the scent."

I was relieved that Mikko wasn't affected by the blood and violence like I had feared. It was just an elk. That was a great way for wolves to let out steam.

"How big? You're covered in blood."

He nodded, and looked up at me. The goldenness of his eyes gave me a couple ideas as to what had happened. 

He had been severely pissed off. 

He had given into some kind of bloodlust. 

Or he had handed the reins completely over to his wolf. 

I wouldn't have pegged Mikko as he type to give over complete control, but he had definitely loosened his usually tight control. 

"It was big enough."

I knew hunting was dangerous for wolves, they weren't supposed to do it alone, especially when it was a big animal.

"What happened to make you want to take that kind of risk with your life?" I was only a little irritated at the risk he had taken because of the kids. They would've been heartbroken if their father died because he took a stupid risk.

He shrugged his stiff shoulders.

"What happened at the meeting?" I didn't move from the doorway. I wouldn't enter the wolf's den until I knew it was safe.  

"That pathetic alpha tried making an offer to Finn," his gravelly voice replied.  

Immediately, goose bumps covered my skin because of the intensity of it. No one would dare to mess with Mikko when he was like this. I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned against the door frame, knowing that I was falsely reassuring myself that I was safe here.  

"What did he offer?" 

Mikko slowly looked up at me. For a second I feared that the alpha wanted to take one of the kids as a reassurance of Finn's commitment. But I knew that the alpha would be dead if he tried to take one of Mikko's children away from him.  

"He offered his daughter in a bonding to me." 

Immediately I thought of that girl being a part of raising my kids. My stomach clenched as if I was going to hurl. I brought a hand to my mouth and a hand to my stomach.  

I took a few seconds to steady myself before looking at him again. He waved me to him.  

I stepped into the room and closed the door behind myself. I didn't want the other wolves in the house to know what was going to happen.  

I slowly made my way to Mikko, but I didn't like the conversation we were going to have. I didn't want Megan to have any part of raising my children. I didn't want her to lay a hand on one of them. The last time she did, she scraped Ben's head against the ceiling.

"So what happens now?" I asked breathlessly. I was overwhelmed and ready to fight Finn on his decision let Megan have anything to do with my kids.  

Mikko held out his hand. I stared at it for a couple seconds before I understood what he wanted. I put my hand in his and let him pull me down to his lap. He wrapped one arm around me and put his other hand on my stomach, and looked right into my eyes. "I will not agree to what the alpha wants. If he tries to force me into the arrangement, I will kill the alpha and his conniving daughter." 

"You can't just kill people when it suits you." 

He nodded once with the crack of a smile, but then his serious expression returned. "I'll kill the alpha, you can take the daughter." 

His fingers found the pendant through my shirt as if telling me how easily it would be to do it. The cord of the necklace was long enough to rest along my growing belly.  

"Finn won't accept to the alpha's offer, will he?" I asked quietly. I didn't want to believe that Finn would do something like that, but he had married off Margaret, his only human daughter.  

Mikko sighed and rubbed his hand along the curve of his child.  

"If he does, I'll counter him."  

"And how do you counter Finn?" I asked as I felt the baby kicking to Mikko's touch.  

"I will wholly claim, mark, and mate the mother of my children." 

I felt my anxiety spike up to a whole other level. "You can't just use me as a loop hole to get out of this problem." 

"I know that," he said, looking me right in my eyes. "You want your family. You'll have it. No messing around, no more arguments. Anything and everything you want, like it's supposed to be." 

I was ecstatic for a fraction of a second before reality hit me again. "You're still using me as a loop hole." 

"I won't." 

"You're only offering this at the prospect of getting out of a marriage to that girl." I was offended that this was the only way Mikko wanted me, if he had to.

"I will not lose you or my children for some spoiled child." 

"You never would have agreed to all of this without the offer," I muttered. "That's using me, Mikko." 

"It won't be like that. It will be a willing mating, just like everyone else." 

I shook my head. "You just don't get it. That's the problem." 

When I tried to stand, he didn't even have to try to keep my in his lap. All he had to do was put his arm across my lap to keep me pinned against him. 

"Let me go!" I ordered. I wouldn't be his pawn.  

"I'll offer it to you regardless of Finn's decision." He was completely serious. "I'll do it all, right now."

I let Mikko's offer hang in the air for a minute as I pretended to think about the offer.  "You think I'd just jump at the chance when you finally gave it? Well, you're wrong!"

"Well, I didn't assume you'd just toss it back in my face," he responded.

"How do I know you'd be committed to me? You've never cared about my feelings when you slept with other women. You almost cost us both our children because you can't keep it in your pants." 

"Aubrina will open a connection between our minds. You will know what I'm doing whenever you want to know." 

"I don't want to be able to check in on you. That's not a relationship. I should be able to trust you, but I don't. You've showed me that I can't over and over again." 

His brows furrowed in confusion. "I'm offering you everything you've complained about wanting or needing, and you reject it?" 

"I don't need it anymore. I got over it," I replied honestly.  

Mikko let me get up this time, even helped me stand.  

"I don't understand," he said from his same spot on the floor when I got to the door.  

"I want a loving relationship built on trust and respect. You can't offer me that." 

He stared at the floor until I left the room. The second I closed the door behind myself, I realized what I had done. Mikko had offered me what I wanted when the triplets first came into my life, but I had changed since then. I had thrown back it all in his face without a second thought.  

If Mikko had to marry Megan, I would move away and take my children with me. There was no way I would let her influence my children.

---

After the proposal for Mikko to mate bond with Megan, the two packs stayed apart for a few days. I hadn't heard anything from JJ the whole time and assumed that it was part of the agreement between the two packs. Nikki and I hadn't been able to test out her camera because everything had been busy after the triplet's birthday party. 

But now we had the time.  

Mikko was taking the triplets to Finn's for some family time.  

It would've been alone time with my friend, but Mike insisted on coming. Once he made up his mind, it wasn't often that it changed.  

The whole time we walked, he made sure I stayed hydrated and offered to carry me. I knew that it was because Mikko had charged him with taking care of me. If JJ's pack wasn't here, it wouldn't have been a big deal. But the pack wasn't loyal yet, which meant that they could stop being peaceful and attack whenever they wanted.  

When we finally got to the lake, the view alone made the thirty minute hike with it. We could have drove ATV's up, but I needed the peaceful exercise of a walk.  

The water was clear and sparkling from the nice weather. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the heat from the sun felt amazing. It had been a very long time since I had been able to go out and just enjoy my time.  

I loved my children, but I just needed the time away from them sometimes.  

"This is amazing," Nikki said in awe as she looked over the landscape.  

The lake was at least two miles across and very deep. The trees surrounded the lake, offering little shore line. This wasn't a place to go for parties or gathering, but it was nice to visit. If there was a way to get a boat out here, it would've been perfect.  

"So, where do you want to do this?" I asked her as started going through my bag. I had sunscreen in there somewhere.  

Nikki got out her camera and started roaming around, looking through the eyepiece for the best spots for pictures.  

"This place is very picturesque. I could make a lot of money from scenery shots, if I were allowed to sell photos taken here."  

Finn was very private about his land. I knew he kept a very watchful eye in everything he owned.

"Alright," she said as she switched out lenses, "let's get started."