“You have a letter, Henry delivered it.” Dawn exclaimed the second Grange walked back into the cabin a while later. Grange slowly took the envelope from her outstretched hand and eyed it suspiciously.

“What does it say?” he asked.

“She doesn’t know.” Trig spoke up. “She wouldn’t read it. Her wolf let her know that it would be wrong to read something addressed to the alpha without the alpha’s permission. She’s been griping about it for the last hour or so.”

Dawn glared at Trig and threw her dishtowel at his head, which only served to make him laugh and wink in her direction.

“Dawn, love, you have my permission to read any kind of mail you get addressed to me. You are not only my wife, but also my mate, I have no secrets from you.” Grange assured her. “Of course you are awfully cute when you get all flustered like this.” he added with a wink of his own.

Dawn put her hands on her hips and glared at him.

“I am not flustered.” she stated with seriousness and then she gave a little hop. “What does the damn thing say?” she exclaimed.

“No, not flustered at all.” Trig teased from the couch, which he had moved to a short time before. Grange grinned and then sat down at the table and opened the envelope.

Much to Dawn’s frustration he read the letter silently and by the time he was finished, she was pacing impatiently and Nickolai, Brie and Farrah had returned and were watching her with various degrees of amusement. The most amused seemed to be Nickolai who had always enjoyed Dawn’s animated temper.

“So….” Dawn urged as Grange folded the letter and slid it back into the envelope. Grange’s face was unreadable as he looked at her and blinked.

“So what?” he asked and Dawn screeched and threw herself into his lap. She gripped his shirt collar, (he had changed into an outfit in the barn before coming in the house), and brought her face to less than an inch from his.

“So are the monkeys going to join the imperial army?” she asked sarcastically. Grange grinned.

“I have no idea.” Dawn rolled her eyes and shook her head.

“That’s funny, Grange. I thought you were a wolf but right now you’re acting much more like a horses a…” Grange covered her mouth with his hand to stop her rant and smiled.

“That letter was good news actually. It was from the established packs in America.”

“All of them?” Dawn asked with a frown and Grange nodded as he shifted her to one knee so he could address everyone in the house.

“There are only four other established packs in America. They have all agreed that they are not going to challenge me. They say they have plenty of room of their own and aren’t concerned about what I’m doing way out here just so long as I don’t risk the safety of the werewolf population.”

“That’s good news.” Nickolai admitted.

“Yes it is.” Grange agreed.

“Now all we gotta be worried about is young wolves on a power trip who want to establish their own packs.” Trig added.

“Yes but that’s something that even established packs have to worry about from time to time.” Nickolai reminded him.

Grange just nodded and Dawn smiled at him. She could tell that that letter had removed a lot of weight from his shoulders. Now there was only major threat looming in the distance like a big giant smoking volcano and that was the stupid elf who liked his collectables alive, breathing and chained.

“Dinners ready. Who’s hungry?” Dawn asked as she stood up. Grange looked up at her and raised his brow.

“That might just be the dumbest question that’s ever been asked in a house full of were creatures.” he admitted and Dawn just blew him a kiss before going about making everyone a plate.

***

“They want to build us a house?” Grange asked with a frown after the pack had eaten dinner that evening and was walking to the big pool of water far off in the woods so they could all shift and run.

“That’s what he said.” Dawn replied with a nod.

“And he actually said that he doesn’t want me to leave even though he knows there’s something different about me?”

“I believe he said the town didn’t want you to leave even though they all know there’s something different about you.”

“Well I’ll be damned.” Grange muttered as he scratched at his head.

“Who would have thought they’d like your grouchy ass that much?” Trig asked with a laugh. Grange just glared at him.

“You aren’t shifting tonight with that hole still in your chest.” he said as a grin split his face. “You get to be on guard.”

“Guard of what?” Trig asked with disappointment.

“Our clothes.” Grange stated, enjoying the look of anger that appeared on Trig’s face at those words. Farrah’s laughter filled the air and Trig frowned over at her.

“You think this is funny?” he demanded. She nodded enthusiastically.

“The idea that clothing would need a guard is actually quite amusing.” she replied. Nickolai chuckled.

“Graaaange.” Trig whined. “This is not fair! I want to run with everybody else!”

“I’m not running.” Farrah assured him. “I’m staying with you.” A grin split Trig’s face and he turned back to Grange, beaming with happiness.

“Yes, alpha. I’ll be more than happy to sit out this shift and um… guard the clothes.” Grange rolled his eyes.

“Yeah, I’ll bet you would.”

“Grange, would it be okay if I just take Brie to the side and help her through her shift?” Nickolai questioned.

“Go ahead. Dawn and I will shift and wait here for you to join us once Brie is ready.” Nickolai nodded and then took Brie away from the pool of water and into the woods.

“I’m scared, Nickolai.” Brie admitted.

“You never have to be afraid when I am near you, my Brie. I would never let anything happen to you.”

“Aye, but it has been so long since I changed, Nickolai….” she admitted, her Scottish heritage showing in her voice. Nickolai smiled. It seemed the longer she was away from Faugrimm and back with Nickolai, the more she became the Brie he had fallen in love with.

“I’ll be right here beside you, my Brie. You can do this.” She took a deep breath and nodded. She slid the clean dress that Dawn had leant to her from her shoulders and it slid to the grass. Next she pulled off her underclothes and she heard Nickolai’s sharp intake of breath.

She looked up at him and saw that his pale blue eyes seemed to be devouring her body with intensity as they gazed over her body.

Nickolai was overcome by a desire and a lust unlike any he had ever felt before. He wanted his Brie. He wanted to feel her skin against his own. He wanted to taste her, touch her, let himself get lost inside of her… Then he remembered what she had been through. He remembered the fear she had shown when he had touched her and he stepped away and turned his back to her.

“Go….” he cleared his throat when he realized how husky his voice was. “Go ahead and shift, my Brie. Take all the time you need.”

Brie was disappointed by his sudden change of mood and yet she knew that now was not the time. She could remember lovemaking with Nickolai and as her body heated at the memories, she also recalled that it had always taken quite some time for his urges to be satisfied and right now they did not have that kind of time.

She took a deep breath and then let it out slowly as she thought about the shift she knew she needed to make. The Master had always dealt swift punishments to his were pets if they dared to try to shift around him and Brie had quickly stopped trying.

“Nickolai?” she asked with quiet hesitation.

“Yes?” he replied without turning around. Brie licked her lips and looked down at myself.

“What did I look like? As a wolf?”

“You’ve shifted once a month at least, my Brie. Don’t you know what you look like?”

“I want to hear from you what I look like.” she replied, remembering Faugrimms harsh words, laughs, lewd comments and hatred of her wolf.

“You are always beautiful, my Brie, but as a wolf you are… Breathtaking. Long, soft fur as white as the freshest, purest of January snows. Light golden eyes that can see straight into my soul….” As Nickolai continued to speak about her wolf, Brie felt it coming alive.

She closed her eyes and simply let Nickolai’s soft voice wash over her as she focused on the wolf.

She felt the pain but she breathed through it and welcomed the change. Nickolai’s voice was able to do away with every bad memory she had of Faugrimm. She remembered making the shift with Nickolai before they had been separated. She remembered the way the two of them had run for miles and miles. The way they had hunted together and then finally flopped down with exhaustion and slept curled up. Waking in human form, bare skin against bare skin. They would always make love then, long and slow and not return home until well into the day.

Brie smiled, a toothy wolf smile and let out a yip as she finished her shift. Nickolai turned and there was no mistaking the pride beaming in his eyes.

“So beautiful.” he whispered and then he stripped off his own clothing and shifted quickly.

The two of them rubbed their bodies along each other, covering their own fur with the scent of their mate. They touches noses, nuzzled necks and let their wolves reunite.

Finally they came back into the clearing to find Trig and Farrah lost in a kiss that nearly had the pool of water they were sitting beside boiling with their heat.

Nickolai, who was feeling much more free with his Brie by his side, snuck up behind them and then let out a loud yip directly into Trig’s ear.

This backfired, when Trig let out a growl and turned, grabbing Nickolai by the neck and flipping him onto his back on the ground before realizing who it was, grinning sheepishly and letting go.

“Dammit, Nickolai, you oughta know better than to sneak up on a man when he’s in that kind of situation.” Trig grumbled. There was a snorting sound as Grange and Dawn came trotting from the woods as well. Brie quickly went to Dawn, the two female wolves of the pack taking in the others scent and greeting one another. Brie sunk down to her stomach to give Dawn the respect that was deserved of the alpha female and Dawn responded by rolling her dark golden eyes.

“She doesn’t like the whole bowing to the alpha business.” Trig informed Brie. “It makes her uncomfortable.” Dawn walked over to him and smacked him in the face with her tail before turning to look at him.

She saw that Farrah’s claw marks across his cheek had healed but that they had also left an impressive scar. Three white lines in a row ran from his temple to his lips.

Dawn pressed her nose against them and then sat back and tilted her head. She heard Grange growl with jealousy behind her and she grunted at him.

Trig reached up with a proud smile and touched his scars.

“I know! Ain’t that cool! Now I can be badass! A man can’t be badass without a few scars.” he exclaimed excitedly. He tilted his head to the side and grinned with his tongue out.

Dawn laughed, though it sounded like snorting in her current form, while Nickolai and Grange just shook their heads, Farrah seemed a little guilty and Brie didn’t seem to know what to make of everyone.

Grange let out a bark and threw his head and the wolves began to run. They ran for miles, bonding as wolves and strengthening their pack.

They killed a doe and filled their stomachs before heading to the river and splashing, playing like pups. It was only a few hours before Dawn when they finally made their way back to the clearing. Trig and Farrah were asleep, beneath a blanket, wrapped up in on another, their scents mingling on the light breeze.

The wolves flopped down in a pile and quickly fell into a deep sleep, exhausted from their night of running.

***

Brie woke to a blade of grass tickling her nose. She rubbed at it irritably and then opened her eyes to see that she was being held tight against Nickolai’s chest and he was looking at her with amusement, a blade of long green grass in his hand.

She smiled and snatched it away before pressing her lips light against his.

“Good morning.” he said softly as she pulled her mouth away.

“Good morning.” she whispered. He stood, and Brie’s eyes took in his warrior’s physique. He wasn’t tall but he was muscular and hard. Covered in small scars and testaments to the battles and hardships that he had faced and lived through.

He reached out a hand and she took it and let him pull her to her feet. Without a word he led her away from the clearing and into the woods. He brought her to where they had shifted the night before and then he pulled her body against his and kissed her with all the hunger and passion he had been storing up for three quarters of a century.

Nickolai held nothing back. The feeling of his Brie’s soft skin against his own and her little purring filling the back of her throat had him knowing that he had to have her. The wolf and the man in him could not be denied any longer.

He would make love to her and make her forget all about Faugrimm. It would be as if that elf had never touched her. His mate needed only to know his touch and no one else’s.

Brie clung to him, losing herself in his scent as tears filled her eyes and ran down her cheeks. One of the droplets landed on Nickolai’s face and he quickly pulled his mouth away and wiped at it.

“Why are you crying?” he asked gently. Brie wanted to stop the tears but could not.

“Because I never thought I would be happy again, Nickolai. I thought I had lost you. That I would never get to hold you or kiss you again. I thought I would never feel you touching me again….” Nickolai silenced her with a kiss and then he dropped to his knees, his lips trailing down her chest and then feasting on her breasts.

Brie nearly cried out but bit her lip to hold back the sound as Nickolai touched her in all the ways she had always loved for him to touch her. She was surprised that after all this time he still knew exactly what touches she liked the most.

His fingers were moving across her body, dancing on her skin and her most intimate places. Her knees buckled and she fell backward without fear, knowing he would catch her, and he did, cradling her head with his hand as she came down on the soft grass.

The two of them moved in sync as their bodies were reunited after so many years apart. Nickolai had never felt a more all consuming pleasure than he felt the moment he entered her. All those years of loneliness and heartbreak suddenly forgotten, as Brie arched her back off the forest floor to bring herself closer to him.

Nickolai forced himself to keep the lovemaking gentle, knowing he was erasing bad memories and not wanting to move too quickly or too roughly and cause bad ones to surface.

This was his mate and he would make sure his scent was thick on her skin as a warning to any other who thought he would ever again let her be taken away. It would not happen a second time.

He felt her stiffen beneath him as her nails dug into his back and she called out his name and Nickolai allowed himself to fall over that edge too, his eyes closing as he growled her name and then collapsed on top of her.

They lay silently for a long while, their heartbeats and ragged breathing the only sounds either of them made. Finally Nickolai raised his head from her chest and kissed her closed eyelids gently.

“I love you, my Brie.”

“And I love you, Nickolai.” Brie replied, opening her eyes and looking deep into his own. He stood and helped her stand, before helping her slip into her clothing.

She helped him into his own as well and then he wrapped his arm tight around her shoulders and led her back to the clearing, only to find that everyone was gone. He scented the air and caught the smell of frying bacon. Instantly his stomach began to growl.

“Dawn has breakfast started.” he said and Brie frowned.

“Why does she not like to be treated with the respect that the alpha female is due?” she asked as they started on the walk to the cabin. Nickolai smiled.

“She was a human not long ago and it took her a short while to accept what Grange was. Even once she did that she still wasn’t too keen on becoming a wolf herself. She was worried about fleas….”

“We don’t have fleas.” Brie grumbled and Nickolai laughed.

“She doesn’t like being bowed to and blindly obeyed. She is a good alpha female and will be a great one the same as Grange will be a great alpha. They are not the norm. They let you express your own opinion and only under very serious situations do they assert their dominance and demand to be obeyed.”

“That’s very strange. This pack is unlike any pack I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen the alpha’s and other pack members live together as equals before and I’ve certainly never seen a werelion be welcomed into a pack.”

“Brie, you have hit the nail of the head. This pack and all those in it are just a little strange.” Nickolai said with amusement and Brie smiled as she laid her head against his shoulder and they continued their walk in silence.