"Oh, I needed that!" Eliza moaned as she wiped her mouth with a napkin. They'd each gobbled down two burgers so that they wouldn't be tempted to eat all the other passengers on the plane, and now they were ready to depart. Okay, they wouldn't really eat the passengers, though Eliza might if there was a cute flight attendant that turned out to be her mate.

But that would be very different!

"Yeah, we'll be eating a lot different out there," Hazel said happily. "Rumor has it that they have huge herds of deer and elk to hunt, so that will be new. No more snakes and gators!"

"And they let us hunt them?" Karano was surprised, but only because she'd never read the invite. "We'd kill the whole herd!"

"There aren't nearly as many werewolves as you think." Hazel pointed out. The invite said there were only 27 packs coming, because many of them had merged over the years due to a lack of suitable space. With three wolves going per pack, that means 81 total, and the herds are huge. I would expect maybe one hunting day, and then the rest of the event is going to be catered. But really, the thing I want is a spa treatment!"

"Hell yeah!" Karano gave her wife a high five while Eliza rolled her eyes. "I'll rub you down, mami!"

"No!" Hazel retorted. "You feeling up my ass isn't a massage bebé. That just means you're perpetually horny."

"Trust me, half the Everglades knows that," Eliza grumbled. "Gonna buy you both gags to keep you quiet."

Karano just shrugged, not at all embarrassed. "It isn't my fault that my wife is delicious."

"Fine. But can we avoid the sex talk? That was a great burger, and I want to keep it down."

Hazel snorted as she led the way through the airport towards their departure gate. "Do you really think you'll be any different once you're with your mate?"

Eliza shrugged, not wanting to admit that she had no idea. Both Karano and Hazel had been with other people before they were turned and met each other, but Eliza wanted to save herself for her mate. She'd taken it to heart that her mate was chosen by an actual goddess, and she didn't want to sleep with random people knowing that she would never be with them long term. Her mate was all she wanted. But that also meant that she had no experience in sex at all, or even kissing for that matter. Not that she hadn't gotten a bunch of really good ideas from the books she'd read though. She knew where everything was, and where she should touch, and kiss and lick, she just had to see them up close and personal.

I mean, it wasn't like she hadn't touched herself, for research purposes and all. So, she knew what felt good, and was pretty sure she could do that for another girl too. She wasn't kidding when she told Jack that she didn't want to be with a guy, the thought repulsed her. If that happened, she might not be able to be a good mate, so she was hoping that the moon goddess would find the perfect girl for her. But if she was lucky, and her mate was a girl, then was pretty sure that they might be a little noisy too. A blush crept across her features at the thought, though both of her mamas didn't say anything about it. They had been young once too. Hell, they still were!

One of the good things about living in Miami was that there were a lot of nonstop flights to various parts of the country. As a major tourist destination, airlines made it easy to get there and back, so the trio had little trouble finding a nonstop flight to Denver on Southwest Airlines. The entire time in the airport, Eliza had been sniffing the air, just on the off chance there was the scent of her mate. That continued on the plane, though she was disappointed that there was no sign of a mate there either. With a huff, she slid into her seat on the window.

"Eliza, you'll find them when you find them," Hazel promised. "Remember, I found Karano on a random street as she flashed her ass at me. You can never predict where it will happen, or who it will be with."

"A watched pot never boils," said Karano. "Have you ever heard that statement?"

"Isn't that something that old people say?" Eliza snickered.

"Hey, we're not that old!" Karano complained. "But it makes sense. The water is going to boil no matter what, it just seems to take longer when you're sitting and waiting for it. You'll find your mate, I'm sure of it. But it will happen when it happens, and you can't rush it. The moon goddess will make it work out for you, you'll see."

It wasn't easy for Eliza to wait. In her nature, she was impetuous. Having lost both of her parents while she was young made her want to live her life to the fullest just in case something happened to her too. She wanted to wring everything that she could out of life while she was still able to. Finding her mate early would allow her to do just that because there were a lot of things that she wanted to do with them. Not just sex either, because she'd seen the happy times that Karano and Hazel shared while cooking or snuggling or even just going food shopping. She very much wanted that.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she never felt the plane start to move. She was too busy thinking about walks along the beach in Miami, or maybe taking one of the airboats out to ride into the swamps to see the natural beauty of the Everglades. Eliza was concentrating so much on her fantasies that she was caught by surprise when the plane started to accelerate, and Karano quickly gripped her hand in reassurance.

"You're fine, cachorro. We're just going up."

Eliza's breathing quickened, as did her heart rate, and when the nose of the plane came up, she felt like she might pass out. "You're fine, Eliza." The voice of Cobium in her head calmed her immediately. "You may not have been on a plane, but I have, so just let me take a little control." In seconds, her heart and breathing eased while her best friend helped her through the turmoil. She had trusted her father's wolf from the first instance that she recognized him. "If the goddess allowed us to be together, and let me support you, then I have little doubt that she picked a mate for us to both love and cherish. You are the Beta of your pack, and a mighty warrior. You're someone any mate would want to be with."

She smiled at that logic, knowing that the goddess didn't really hate her. She obviously had a plan, and Eliza just needed to be patient and let it unfold. With that happy thought, she drifted off to sleep for the rest of the flight.

As for Karano and Hazel, they whispered the entire way to Denver. Hazel was the planner of the pair and had done most of the reading about the conclave in the brochure that they'd been sent after they had RSVP'd. She hadn't even expected Karano to, but now that time was short, Karano was asking a lot of questions.

"Do you think that the Black Tooth folks will be there?" That was Karano's biggest worry, that the pack that had attacked them and cost them several pack members, would be there and out for vengeance.

Hazel sighed and nodded. "Probably. They're in Wyoming, so it would be an easy trip for them. But it's been years, and there were no witnesses, so hopefully they have no idea who we are."

Karano nodded at the statement. It made sense. All the wolves that had attacked them had died, so there shouldn't have been anyone left to tell their tale. That didn't mean nobody knew though. If there had been phone calls, then their pack would have known they were in south Florida, and that would be enough to identify the pack. But they had done nothing but defend themselves, so there shouldn't be an issue.

And yet, with the way the Alpha spoke to them, she had little doubt that the remainder of the pack would think the same way. Luckily, if they were limited to three pack members per pack, any fight would be over fast, and the Black Tooth Pack would be on the losing end again. Not that either of them wanted a fight, but they wouldn't hesitate to defend themselves or Eliza.

"I wouldn't expect there to be many issues. This conclave is supposed to be neutral ground, so there shouldn't be any fighting." Hazel showed Karano that paragraph of the brochure, which made her wife breathe a little easier.

"Good. I'm a little worried about our daughter. She has a habit of getting in trouble, and we don't need that."

Hazel reached over and squeezed Karano's thigh. "She'll be fine. She'll be searching all over for her mate, so that will keep her occupied. And if she finds her mate, then we both know she'll never leave her room!" The conclave had assigned each pack their own three bedroom suite, so they would be together, and yet still have privacy. Also, since it was built with werewolves in mind, each room was soundproofed from the others. They had little doubt that Eliza wouldn't mind not hearing their lovemaking during this trip!

And why wouldn't they? With three kids and a pack to run, getting some privacy away from others was something they didn't have many chances to do. Sure, they took family trips with the kids, but this would be the closest thing to an actual alone vacation that they'd had since their honeymoon.

"I might not want to leave our room too," Karano leaned over and nuzzled Hazel's neck. "I might just keep you in bed instead of going to meetings."

"Mmmm, papi, I like that." Hazel knew there would be time for that and couldn't wait.