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Rejoining with Imava the previous night had put me at ease in a way I wasn't sure I'd be able to get myself back to. Things had felt off since we'd left the Seer, and for the first time since then I felt centered again. It wasn't all about sex. It was about reestablishing that we could be intimate without that dark cloud hanging over us. I'd been afraid that would be lost permanently, but last night had proved that wasn't to be the case, and tonight we'd prove it again. The full moon was due, and the lusts of all of the kin would be running high.

To my surprise Imava wanted to spend the evening with me, despite knowing what that would mean. It was a somewhat terrifying thought. I couldn't control everything when I was in that haze. I certainly couldn't stop myself from fucking her once the change took hold. I would be a passenger to my own actions. I wondered what Emmett would do for the night. Females would be open to his attentions, but males would be extra hostile, territorial, very dangerous for him should he run into one. He, of course, could stay locked away in his room in our cabin, but I could only imagine the sort of sounds he'd have to hear.

Of course, before I could worry about any of that I had to survive another day at the hunt. Whispers passed amongst the other hunters as I rejoined them that morning. They'd expected me to be dead, or at least too injured to come back out. Imava's stitching was making a big difference. I healed fast, and with the wounds properly closed that healing worked even better. With some effort I wasn't even limping this morning, and in a week I would only have the scars to show as evidence of what had happened.

"Fenrick, it's good to see you." An older wolf named Urick said. He was one of Voltas' close friends, so I doubted it was too good to see me again. "I see you're not skipping your responsibility today."

"My family had an emergency. My first duty is always to them." I said, my voice as calm as I could make it.

"No, your first duty is to the pack, Fenrick. Always. Without the pack you have no family. I'd thought you would have learned that by now." Urick chided, arms across his chest.

"I'm a slow learner." I responded with a shrug.

"I've noticed." He said. "That's alright though. I'm a patient teacher. We're running dread cliffs today. I'll expect you to take point. Once you've run the course and come back we'll decide whether it's safe for the hunting party to cross."

The dread cliffs were treacherous. They were the fastest route between our forest and the plains of exalt beyond, prime hunting grounds, but they were by far the most dangerous. We generally took the route across the sinking swamp. It was safer for those who knew the path through it, and only took a half an hour longer than crossing the cliffs.

"If you're having me run the course and come back, then we're going to waste more time on the cliffs than we would crossing the swamp." I pointed out the obvious.

"Not if you're fast. I plan on getting home early today, so I'll expect you to scout quickly." Urick growled.

There was no point in arguing it any further. I'd do what I was told to do or I'd have to take it up with Voltas and I wasn't ready for that yet. I'd have to cross the cliffs. I knew exactly what would happen. I'd cross the cliffs and come back, hopefully, and when I did they'd be gone already, having gone off to hunt the deep forest, which was near the cliffs, on this side of the divide. They wouldn't lose any time, and I would get the excuse that I'd taken too long and they'd had to go hunting in less fertile territory because of it, which would again reflect poorly on me. It was predictable, but there was nothing to be done yet.

I followed the pack out on the two fast march to the cliffs, and then I parted ways with them, heading out across the rocky, and often dangerous terrain.

"You better go faster than that!" One of the others yelled after me.

"Try not to disappoint us all again." Urick's voice called. I heard laughter, but soon enough I was beyond them, far out onto the narrow band of rock that spread across the cliffs. I could have just stopped and waited for a time before going back, but that would be too easy. Last time the hunting party was on the other side of the cliffs, having crossed from the swamp, they would have placed something there for me to find, something they could quiz me on later, and if I didn't know what that thing was, they would accuse me of not having completed my task at all. Then there would be more trouble. It had happened before.

The first time it had happened I hadn't even known what was happening. I'd run the scout mission and found a strangely decorated deer head at the end of my route. Not knowing any better I had returned without it, only to be accused of not having actually made the trip. When I'd told them what it was I'd seen, they'd accused me of having overheard that it had been left there. I'd been reprimanded and given minimal rations for six months. Now my rations were even more important. I had a family to feed. I couldn't afford to make a mistake.

I was nearly at the other end of the cliffs when I reached a section of path that had been entirely destroyed by a rockslide. The path was gone. All that remained was a gap nearly twelve feet across to the other side. Beyond the broken path my goal was only another ten minutes away, but the gap was wide. I couldn't hope to jump it, though that would have been dangerous anyway on this narrow path.

I growled. I had no choice. I had to cross. I looked at the rock wall, looking for handholds, and then made my way out over the drop. The fall was at least a hundred times my own height. If I fell I would be dead. I climbed slowly, ripping my claws into the rock face as I needed to in order to make holds. When I finally reached the other side my claws were sore and bloody, and I'd been repeatedly gashed by protruding rocks. I continued down the path, passing over the more familiar hazards before I reached the end. There was a stake in the ground with leather bandolier hanging over it. I took the bandolier and turned back.

I took the swamp back. I ran the distance, and it didn't take me much longer than it would have to do the cliffs again. When I reached the point where I was supposed to meet the hunting party it was exactly as I'd anticipated. Everyone had moved on. I walked back to town and ran into them returning from their trip.

"You took too damn long. Almost wasted our entire day, Fenrick. We had to hunt the deep forest. It took us a long time to get enough meat. I'm going to have to tell Voltas about this." Urick said, taking the bandolier from me without addressing the fact that it was clear why it had been left out there. This was just another cycle of the same game we played over and over again.

I let it go and started walking home. At least I had my wife to return home to. Life wasn't all bad. I walked into the house, looking for Ava. At least I didn't have anything for her to sew today.

"Hey love." Ava grinned from the couch when I walked in, setting one of my books down carefully on a small side table. Then her features softened to be a little concerned, as it often was when I came home. "It never seems to be a good day out there for you." She said nodding to the place next to her on the couch. "How are the legs healing?"

I walked in and sat down next to her. "They feel better today. Your sewing is coming in handy. The wounds don't stay open nearly as long, which allows me to heal more quickly." I nuzzled her neck. "How was your day? Any trouble here?" I was more than a little concerned that Voltas would have someone start trouble for Ava or her brother.

"No trouble. I finished a crest. I saw Leila, she's teaching me to work wood. I'm teaching her how to train her voice for singing. I don't have much natural talent for it like she does, but I've had the training so I'm pleasant enough. I think her mate really likes her to sing, so she wants to do it better for him." Ava laughed. "My daily life is kind of small scale, compared to what you do, trivial things."

"I don't do much either." I told her with a sigh. "If I actually did what I was supposed to be doing it would be fine, but most of the time I don't even hunt. Today I scouted an area that we knew was dangerous, and when I got back the hunting party had moved on a different route. So my day was wasted. I'd say your accomplishments are far better than mine." I decided to change the subject. "How is your brother doing?"

Ava colored a bit, and smiled, embarrassed. "He's off with Freya again. He's good. Oh, I better tell you before I forget that I warned him about tonight. That we might be loud." She giggled quietly and bit her bottom lip a little. "So anyway, he won't come charging in with a dagger or anything."

I laughed. "That was probably a good idea." I looked out a nearby window. We had probably another hour until nightfall. "Is he staying at Freya's? If not she'll probably be bringing him home soon. Things get pretty crazy in town after nightfall on a full moon night."

"I think he's coming home." Ava said nodding. "It's that when it starts? Nightfall?"

Emmett came in smiling, Freya with him. "Hey Fenrick, Ima." He nodded to us as he came in. He pointed to me. "Imava warned me things might sound crazy tonight, so I'll leave you two be, but if she's upset or broken tomorrow I'm going to have to try and hurt you." He warned as he walked across the room to the kitchen area.

I couldn't help but offer a toothy grin. Emmett wasn't weak for a human, but I didn't think he could do much to me, even with a weapon. Werewolf muscle didn't cut with normal blades, and our hides could deflect all but the most well placed arrows. Either way, I didn't intend to hurt Ava . . . well, I didn't intend to seriously hurt Ava. Sex under the full moon could be quite rough.

Freya had a slightly intense look about her tonight, and I could smell the heat on her as her sexual peak came near to its time too. It aroused me to the point where my cock slid a little from its sheath.

"I should probably go." She said, clearly noticing my arousal. As she turned to leave I could see she had someone's cum trickling down her backside already, and the night hadn't even begun. She was a powerfully sexual creature. I was a little surprised Emmett was still so mobile.

I took Ava's hand. "It's already starting." I told her as I pulled her towards the bedroom. "Once night is full it'll keep getting more and more intense until the moon reaches its peak in the sky, and then it will slowly descend towards morning. I probably won't be able to let you go until either exhaustion hits me, or the sun is up."

Ava hummed a little in her throat, clearly enjoying the thought of that. "At least it's somewhat gradual?" She peeled her dress off her frame, turning so I had a side view of her by chance as she lifted the dress over her head, the tiniest of bumps showing about her belly. She was still in underwear, but she took her hair out of the wrapping she'd had it up in.

"Gods you're beautiful." I told her, picking her up and carrying her to the bed. I tossed her into the furs and crawled in after her. I could feel my head getting drowsy as my cock slid out of its sheath. "If you need me to stop at any point during this lock my eyes with yours and say my name clearly, loudly. It'll be the best way to reach me. I can't promise it'll work well, but it might slow me down." A growl had started in my lower throat and I was having trouble holding it back. I could feel the call of the moon.

Ava grinned at me, looping her thumbs in her underwear at her sides and pushing them down over her hips. "Alright." She nodded enthusiastically. "I love you, Fen." Her eyelids were partially dropped over her eyes, her expression clearly inviting me closer, her tones sensual.

"I love you to, Imava." I leaned into her, putting my clawed hands around her hips and pulling her closer to me. I put my nose against her panties and took in the smell of her sex. My cock twitched and a haze began to swell around me. I roughly pulled the fabric down her hips and pushed my nose against her lower lips, drinking in the scent of arousal. I ran my tongue up along her slit and over her ass. An impulse to bit her surged through me, and I locked my jaws around one of her ass cheeks and bit down, not hard enough to rend her flesh, but hard enough to lightly puncture her. The smell of blood, little though it was, mixed with the scent of sex and I found a growl rippling up through my chest.

Ava jerked as my teeth broke skin and she cried out lightly, partially in surprise. Then she laughed a little. "Interesting." She said, voice amused.

I pushed my tongue into her body, pressing my snout into her sex to enjoy her scent as I tongued her. I was vaguely aware that she liked my tongue, but it was getting more and more difficult to remember anything other than my wants. I lapped at her sex, devouring her moisture as my cock grew firmer, twitching between my hips. I reached a clawed hand up her back and traced my claws down her delicate flesh. My other hand circled her waist and pulled her into my mouth.

Ava moaned, her hips moving slightly in time with my lapping. She shivered under my claws' delicate touch, and was cuming in short order, her fingers pulling at her own nipples. She looked back at me, hungry eyed. "Come on Fen, take me." She said softly, sweetly.

Her words sparked a madness in me, a terrible, wonderful madness. I mounted her then, roughly, coming up behind her as I took my nose out of her dripping wetness. I grabbed her neck and pushed her down into the bed as I slammed the full length of my massive red shaft into her still twitching sex. I roared at my conquest, letting out a howl that told all who might hear that I had conquered my mate and I would kill challengers. I rammed my shaft into her until it wouldn't go any deeper and then I began to breed her fast and hard, my claws locked around her neck.

My wife cried out beneath me, so loud she was nearly screaming every time I slammed fully into her. Her fingers clawed at the bedding at first, but then just sank into it and gripped it tightly. When she came her cry became higher pitched, her sex a little harder to push through and harder too to leave. She cried out my name sharply.

I kept pounding into her through her orgasm, my body not yet willing to give up its seed. I let go of her neck and grabbed her hips so I could pull her back onto me. I moved my hands down from there to her thighs, taking one in each of my massive claws and yanking her backwards against me be her legs. She couldn't have pulled away from me if she'd wanted to. My grip on her was unforgiving and impossible to escape. Finally I felt the burn of my satisfaction getting ready to go.

My knot slipped out of my sheath as I slammed our bodies together, and then my balls tightened and my cock lifted with enough force to lift Ava's body as I dragged her down it's length. I shot deep into her, letting out a growl as I slammed my knot against her tiny opening. I wanted to sink it into her with everything I was worth, but it just wouldn't fit, and that frustrated me to the point that I let out another roar and kept slamming it against her sex.

I'd cum, but I was far from done with her yet. I wrapped an arm around her beneath her breasts and pulled her backwards against me without letting her off my cock. I sat on the edge of the bed and wrapped her in my claws. I began to lift her and drop her back on my swollen length.

Ava gasped and cried out in surprise, she wiggled for a moment as though trying to break free, but then settled into the new position. She leaned backward against me, gasping and crying out in equal measure. She put her hand over mine, her delicate fingers resting over the claws that were gripping her so tightly. She turned her head and nipped at the short fur on my jaw between a gasp and a cry.

This just sent my lust higher, I stopped dropping her onto my cock and started pulling her down onto it roughly as I thrust my hips up into her. She was so tight around me that it took a strong physical effort to fully penetrate her body, but that didn't matter. I needed her, needed her body to milk mine for all it had. This was my mate, and I was taking her in such a way that no other would ever claim her so thoroughly. My cock was beginning to swell again with a second orgasm. I could already feel the urge to knot her body rising up in me again.

Ava released my clawed hands and squeezed her breasts as she moaned loudly, high pitched in the strain of her orgasm around my cock. "Gods Fen!" She said in a near scream again. Her sheath milked me, tight pulsations trying to pull me in even as I when already at my deepest, knot aside.

I came hard, an explosion that made everything fade to black for a few seconds. The impulse to knot her struck hard against and I pulled her down hard against my shaft as I pushed up into her. The top of my cock was pressed against the back of her sheath. There was nowhere for me to go any deeper, but I slammed her down against me several more times before I quite in fierce frustration.

I dragged her off of my shaft and tossed her to the edge of the bed, face up. I grabbed one of her legs in each of my claws and shoved myself back into her body. The beast in me just couldn't be sated. The inability to knot her was driving me insane. I pulled her open like she was a wishbone that I was testing the strength of, and then I went at her with a new fury, my seed splashing out of her beaten sex as I roared my passion into the air and took her like the beast I was.

Ava screamed and fought my fierce stretching of her body at first. Then she grabbed fist fulls of my chest fur, her grip tight as she pulled hard, painfully. She sought out my eyes after a few moments, crying out in a mix of pleasure and pain. "Fenrick!" She finally managed before she cried out another painful yell. "I want you to knot me too, but don't break me!"

My name resonated for a second and I stopped, looking at this thing that had been giving me so much pleasure. I blinked, and realized that this was my wife, and I was hurting her. I growled out some of the madness and started taking her again, but not as hard as before. I eased my grip on her, still pulling her against me hard, but not longer on the verge of ripping her apart. I leaned over her and clamped my teeth on her neck around her throat, mindful that I could kill her this way, but wanting to feel her her flesh between my teeth.

I slammed my hips forward into her with renewed vigor, the pleasure rising inside me as my next orgasm built. I wasn't sure how long we'd been fucking, but it felt like a long time. I was growing tired, and some of the madness was fleeing, either because she'd called me back from it, or simply because the moon was now in its descent.

Ava had eased her grip on my chest fur, mostly keeping her hands low about my waist and only gripping me hard when I was fully inserted. Her gasps and cries were taking on a fatigued sound of their own, though her body continued to twitch around mine often in pleasure. I reached a point where my pleasure couldn't go any further. My cock throbbed and I released into her for what I knew would be the final time that night.

My knot slid out, and I pushed it against her, but I knew it wouldn't go in, not in this form. It frustrated me, but I wasn't going to let my arousal get the better of me. I pushed it against her opening with each explosive ejection of my seed, but finally I'd spent myself entirely. I growled as I pulled out of her and laid down at her side, and arm wrapping around her possessively. She was mine. "Love." I growled the word, finding it difficult to really communicate yet, but needing her to know just the same.

Ava curled into me with a groan, still panting. "I love you too Fen." She said, sounding exhausted. "I don't think I'm going to be able to move tomorrow." She nudged her face against my fur and pet my chest with a heavy hand.

I ran my claws through her hair, not quite coherent enough to feel guilty for having used her so hard, but certainly happy to have her close to me. I pushed my muzzle against her head and snuffed, hoping that would be enough of an answer for the night. Before long we'd both fallen asleep.

When next I woke there was light streaming through the window and I was feeling groggy and hungry. At some point in the night I'd let go of my werewolf form and was just in my wolf form. I nosed Ava, remembering a bit about the night before, and just a little worried that I'd broken her and would have to put up with Emmett trying to kill me.

"Ava?" I asked quietly.

She shifted and groaned. "Fen?" She said a moment later, though her eyes were still closed.

I pushed my nose gently against her. "How are you doing?"

She opened her mouth, and then slowly her eyes. Then she smiled at me. "I feel alright. Sore, I think." She shifted and frowned, grunting a little. "Sore." Then she smiled again and stretched out her upper body some. "Satisfied too. I liked last night, though it was driving you a little crazy not being able to knot me in werewolf form."

"I remember that, and I apologize. Instinct tells me it should work, and if it's not working then I'm not doing it right. On a full moon I can't change to my wolf form though. I hope I didn't hurt anything permanently." I felt guilty, but I'd also woken up feeling quite satisfied, which really only made me feel even more guilty.

"No, I really don't think so." She said, smiling at me. "I'm sorry you don't fit." She frowned. "Although with enough lubrication and if I can set myself open enough, it's certainly not bigger than a human baby. We might get it to fit, maybe with constant pressure instead of slamming into me? Anyway, something to try when you're more level headed than during a full moon. And not today." She laughed. "I'm so sore."

I gave her a wolfish smile and nipped her cheek lightly. "Well, I'm sorry about that. We should probably get out of bed though and assure your brother I didn't kill you with sex." I stretched and hopped out of bed, happy that the day after a full moon was always a day off from work. I needed the time. My leg still hurt, but it was getting better. There were important things to do soon.

Ava got up far more slowly, grunting as she did and carefully stretching her legs. She pulled on a loser fitting dress and shuffled out after me, looking a bit pained. Emmett was cooking over the cooking fire, and if this was his first attempt he was clearly going to be better in the kitchen than Ava. It didn't look like a first attempt though. He looked up at us.

"Gees Ava, that's quite a face. Need me to beat him up a bit."

Ava got down slowly into the couch and blushed a bit. "No, thank you."

Emmett nodded and then grinned impishly at me. "It that case, my gods man that was quite a go you had last night!"

"I may have got a little carried away." I admitted, looking somewhat apologetically at my wife. "I'm feeling better though . . . not just for the sex, my wounds are healing. I'm going to issue my challenge to Voltas soon. I'm thinking later this week. I'm worried if I wait too long he'll hurt someone I care about."

"Or you. Again. And then you'd have to put off the challenge all over again." Ava said, though she didn't sound happy. She sounded worried, upset. "I keep getting worked up about it. If you're going to be fine it's best to just get it over with." She sighed. "But if you're not, I'll have only had a month with you."

I was bad with comfort. It wasn't really in my nature, but I walked over to Ava and rubbed my head against her. "I'll be alright. I have a lot to live for, a great deal to fight for, and I'm stronger than they think I am." Confidence was a built in part of being a wolf. I had a drive to be Alpha, and that told me I couldn't lose this fight, but a logical part of me told me this fight wasn't one to laugh at. If I lived, it would still be a difficult fight.

"Yes! You'll see Ava, Fenrick seems quite capable." Em reassured her too. "I suppose I won't have time to see the Seer, but that's alright. Things will work out." He grinned between Ava and I, and then offered us each breakfast.

The rest of the week went by in a blur. I felt like I was counting down the remaining moments of my life, but there was so much to do I barely had any time to spend with Ava. I'd spent a great deal of time with Freya, figuring out who would be loyal to me when the time came, and who we couldn't count on. Freya seemed to think a good portion of the old pack would support me, but I wasn't so sure about the men that Voltas had brought to power after his rise.

I carefully approached men I felt would back me, asking them to stand beside me when I confronted the Alpha, and most of them agreed to do so, but some said they would support me if I won, but that they weren't willing to risk their lives to fight the Alpha. By the time my body was fully recovered I wasn't entirely certain I'd found enough people to accomplish what I wanted, but I knew there was no one else I could go to who wouldn't leak the revolt to Voltas. If news got out before we were ready, death would be a certainty.

Finally time ran out. I woke up on that final morning and crawled quietly out of bed so as not to wake Ava. I went to Freya's house and had her summon the men who would stand next to me and together we marched on Voltas' home. It didn't take long for word to spread. By the time we got to Voltas' he was waiting for us, and his men were assembling.

"Voltas," I stepped forward to address the Alpha. He was over a foot taller than I was, and huge across the shoulders. His thick brown fur bristled. For years he'd been getting the best cuts of meat and it showed in his fur, his firm muscles. "I've come to challenge you for leadership of this pack."

Voltas snorted and growled. "I don't accept your challenge, Fenrick. You're not high enough rank in this pack to challenge me." He looked at the men and women standing with me, Among them Freya and her husband. "This is all you could bring to the fight? A bunch of the old-guard wolves who already lost the fight years ago when I first came here?"

It was true that many of the people with me had fought with my father as well and were only spared so as not to dry up the stock of older males, but not all of them, and there were many powerful females with us as well. "I've brought the bravest of this pack to stand with me, Voltas, but it doesn't have to be an all out war. We could settle this just between the two of us. Why let so many others die?"

"I will not honor you with a fight of equals, Fenrick. If you think you deserve this pack, then you'll fight for it, and you'll die for it, along with the rest of these people I couldn't kill last time. Well, this time you will have brought this on yourself." Voltas turned to the people I had with me. "Turn around and go home now and only Fenrick has to suffer for this betrayal."

Silence hung over us, a terrible emptiness while I waited for my men to abandon me, but not one of them stepped down. No one turned their back, or even took a step backwards. In this moment we were strong in our cause. I felt proud to stand amongst these people, and it pained me to think some would have to die for this.

"So be it. Kill them all!" Voltas snarled, and the battle commenced. I thought once more of Ava back home who I hadn't even told I was going this morning, and I hoped she would sleep through the worst of this. I wouldn't lose.

I charged for Voltas, and despite not letting me challenge him directly, he came right for me as well. We met in the middle of the exploding battle. I slammed into him and it was like crashing into a wall. I'd thought to push him back, but he was too big for that. I hit him and my momentum was immediately stopped. Voltas grabbed me by the neck and slammed me into the ground, throwing up dirt and rocks. I growled and slashed out with my claws, taking him in the chest. Blood spattered into the air in a fine mist, and my enemy screamed, grabbing my head with a clawed hand and ripping at my face.

I bit his arm before he could gouge out my eyes, but he'd torn large lines across my face. I kicked out with my back legs, my injured calf complaining at the abuse after it had healed only recently. The hit was solid though. My rear claws dug into Voltas stomach, peeling back his skin and ripping deeply into his muscles. He roared and snapped his jaws forward, trying to get a hold of my neck, but he got my collar instead. His teeth tore into my flesh and he shook his head, ripping my flesh and snapping my collarbone.

I let out a sharp whine and kicked him again with my rear legs, putting everything I had into the blow. My clawed feet penetrated muscle and I felt a sudden splash of warmth across my lower half. Voltas screamed and released me, jumping back as he tried to catch his spilling entrails. I forced myself up and jumped at him again. This time he wasn't ready for it and the blow knocked him to his back, his intestines pouring out over dirt. I grabbed his throat with my teeth and shook my head.

His throat opened easily, blood splashing into my mouth and across the ground. I stood up and spit out the chunk of flesh. I lifted my head to the air and howled. The sound shook the battlefield, and all eyes fell on me.

"Voltas is dead. I've killed him and this fight is over." I growled the words. "If anyone else wants to stand in his place, I will fight you in one on one combat, but otherwise we are done killing each other."

Blood had poured down into my eyes and I could barely see. My broken collarbone exploded with agony when I turned my head. I was bluffing of course. I couldn't fight anyone else. I was in terrible shape, but I hoped no one would challenge me. I looked for a challenger, but no one came forward. People started tending to the fallen. I heard the first anguished howls rising into the air as people mourned their losses, and I stumbled away from the fight, worn out and in terrible pain.

I was in a haze, and I just wanted to go home and tell my wife that we were safe, but a howl sounded nearby me and I recognized the voice. It was keenly familiar. I turned my head, blinking away blood and trying to find the source of the howl. I stepped forward, wiping more blood from eyes, and then I saw the source of the howling. It was Freya's husband. He was knelt down next to Freya's crumpled body. Her throat was torn out, and she was terribly still.

I crossed the distance between us and fell to my knees at his side.

"Gods no . . . " I said quietly, and then I lifted my head to the sky, ignoring the pain in my collarbone as I howled for my loss. When I was finished I wasn't sure what was clouding my eyes more, tears, or blood.

Brand put a hand on my shoulder. "She wanted to be a part of this, Fenrick. I will miss her more than I can put into words, but she believed in this cause, and if she could tell us one thing from beyond death, she would tell us that she was happy to give her life for this. I'm proud of her sacrifice. I'm proud of her." There were tears in the wolf's eyes, and he suddenly looked older than he ever had before.

"Even if Freya had been the only one to die this would have cost us too much." I answered, heart broken and lost. "She was my closest friend."

"Nothing important can be won without a steep price being paid." Brand said. "Go home, see your wife. I'll see to the dead, and when this is over, tonight, you'll need to speak to the pack. They need to see you looking clean, unphased, and ready to lead. You can do this. I believe that, and so did Freya."

I nodded numbly. "Alright, thank you Brand." I got up and walked home, feeling like I was lost in a haze. I was the Alpha. So many were dead. Freya was dead. How could I go on without her? She'd always been so wise, and so kind. She'd always taken care of the entire pack like it was her family.

I opened the door to my cabin and stumbled through the front door. I realized I was blacking out about the time I crashed to my knees in the living room. Pain, exhaustion, shock . . . I wasn't sure what it was, but my consciousness was running away from me. I crawled across the floor to the sink and dragged myself up, splashing cold water on my face. This brought the world back into focus, but I still felt detached. I needed to find Ava.

"Imava!" Emmett's voice called to her. Then his big hands were on me, trying to help me to a chair. "Alright friend, come now let's get you sorted." He said soothing.

Ava emerged and I heard her gasp. "I'll get my sewing." She said quickly, voice a touch wavery with concern. "What this time love? And are you going to be alright?" She was between my legs, one hand on my thigh as the other looked over my wounds.

"Voltas is dead." I replied trying to find the words to tell her about Freya. I just didn't know what to say. "A lot of others. Freya died in the fight." Emmett's grip tightened on my arm involuntarily and I heard him suck in a breath.

Ava was quiet a moment. "You went and challenged him this morning?" She started stitching my face. Emmett whispered something so softly I couldn't hear in her ear. He went to his guest bedroom and then to the front door.

"He's just going to stand outside." Ava told me.

"Yes." I answered her question. "I didn't want you to have to worry the entire time I was away. He refused my challenge, wouldn't fight me in fair combat, so it turned into a massive fight. There were many lives lost on both sides." Guilt flared up inside of me. To save my family I had cost many others theirs. As the new Alpha, I would have to try and make that up to them.

Ava was quiet another few moments. "I'm sorry our best friend is gone." She said quietly, but I could hear other emotions in her voice too. She was angry I hadn't told her, but unwilling to hold it against me with things as they were.

"You are entitled to your anger, Ava. You might have prefered I said goodbye this morning, but how would I fight my best knowing we'd already made peace with the fact that I might not come back? I had to have some reason to need to come back to you. Saying goodbye would have made it too easy to fail, and you would have set here for an hour wondering whether or not I had lived. That aside, you're allowed to be as angry with me as you want, as long as you can forgive me at some point." I was sad that she was angry, but I understood it entirely. In her position I would have wanted to be told as well. What I'd done had been selfish.

"Of course I'll forgive you." She said, lightly cuffing a part of my face that was uninjured. "Silly man." She sighed. "You're a mess my love, but you'll live, recover even." She pressed her nose lightly to the tip of mine. "Em knows a bit more about broken bones than I do, I want him to look at your collar bone."

"Is he going to be alright?" I asked with a small whimper. He'd obviously been close to Freya, probably closer to her than he was to me despite us being family by marriage.

"He'll be upset, and feel like he doesn't have a right to be. I'll talk to him though, and he'll be ok." Ava said. "He's worried there'll be trouble while you're injured, but he's a capable man himself you know. Even against werewolves, probably." Ava didn't sound quite sure on that. "I'm a poor judge of strength, everyone seems impossibly strong."

The front door opened again. "Brand is out front now." Emmett said as he came close. "Collar bones are nasty things to break my friend, but I've seen a couple cared for before." Emmett adjusted my shoulder painfully, then I felt he and Ava put the arm in a makeshift sling. "You'll probably only need it today with how fast werewolves heal, but this and staying still will keep the bone in place for now." Emmett said.

"Thanks, Emmett." I said, and I knew he was a good man, the kind that could be relied on, even if he was often flippant and maybe just a little crazy. The fact that he'd come looking for his sister was proof enough that he had a good heart. The pack needed men of his caliber. "Later I have to make a speech to the pack. There will be a good deal they'll need to hear to feel alright about everything that happened, and I need to put together a list of people who will be banished, or at last put on watch. Voltas' biggest supporters could be dangerous now, but going forward I think we finally have a safe place to raise our family. This pack will be stronger once it has time to recover from all of this death."

"Right! That's the spirit!" Emmett smiled and pat my arm.

"Emmett! Let me see your back! You got into a fight outside, didn't you?" Ava scolded.

"Yes, but it's all good now. Brand knew who the wolf was when he came up. Prost? So there's one you don't have to worry about anyway." Em sounded just a little grave at that, but was keeping his tone upbeat and pleasant for the most part.

Ava cuffed the back of his head. "Let me wash and I'll throw a few stitches in there. You are so lucky this isn't worse!"

I growled. "Prost was one of the ones I figured would be loyal to Voltas, even after death. We'll need to get these weeds picked from our garden sooner rather than later." I nodded at Em. "Good work, though. That couldn't have been easy."

"Werewolves are a bit different than people." Emmett admitted. "But the couple mistakes I made I won't again. And he came in thinking I'd be easy to dispose of, thankfully, or I would have had a much worse time of it." Emmett sighed. "Still, I've never been a fan of killing, and especially not those things that can talk. I won't say 'reason' because, well, Prost seemed a bit of a block head to me." Em laughed at that, his tones heading for his more jovial ones. He never seemed to want to be serious or upset for too long. Ava patched him up, and then Emmett went to the kitchen area.

Ava hugged me, tucking herself into my good arm and leaning against that shoulder instead of my broken one. She rubbed her face against me fur. "I'm so glad that it's over that I can hardly believe it." She said quietly, voice still sad for all the losses we'd taken in the fight though.

"It's over, but it will never be the same around here without Freya." I whimpered a little. I'd really miss my friend.

"I'll miss her too. I think everyone will. I'm sorry, Fen." Ava squeezed me a little, and nuzzled me more. "I think she'd do it all over again just the same though, she'd fought for you before, and she was so happy about our pups. She wanted to make sure they'd have a chance at life and a good place to grow up."