Mated To The Alpha: A Standalone Wolf Shifter Romance, стр. 37
"So what would be a con?"
"The elders would say a loss of tradition. Running away when you don't like a challenge outcome shows a lack of respect for how it's always been. But, if we still did things 'how it's always been,' we'd still get human sacrifices from neighboring villages in trade for protection. Not all changes are bad, in my opinion. I think I will probably allow it. I want to hold a pack meeting first though, get a sense of who would go and who would stay. You know Kate would leave, don't you?"
"Yeah. I get it, but I'll miss her terribly. You know they plan on leaving, with or without your blessing, right?"
"Galen said as much. I'd like to think he'd calm down and stay, but I honestly think the split isn't a bad idea. We'd just be covering more ground, really. Spreading out, more than totally dividing. Galen said Ziva wasn't thrilled."
"I've yet to see her thrilled about anything."
"True."
With a laugh, Elam rolled Emma over. He put an end to her teasing and stretching by pinning her underneath him and kissing her until her thighs spread wide for him again.
Emma had a few hours before she had to head to the challenge arena for tonight's pack meeting, so she thought she'd spend it exploring the woods.
She'd heard of a not-to-distant natural spring, where you could sit in a bubbling pool hot enough to be a hot tub, so she decided to seek it out in her still new but already beloved wolf form for faster travel.
Emma shifted smoothly, breaking into a fast run before all four paws had completely hit the ground. She loved running like this, her body sleek and powerful as she leapt and weaved her way through the woods.
Her nose picked up the scents of fleeing rabbits and squirrels as they scattered in front of her.
She caught a glimpse of her white paws as they flashed in and out of her vision as she ran. She smiled as well as she could as a wolf, at the memory of Elam telling her how beautiful she was.
It was that first night she shifted, after they'd run and just before he'd shown her how to flow back into her human form again.
"You're a gleaming, bright shade of white, Emma. Your wolf, I mean. Not a spot of color anywhere to be seen, just snow white from ears to paws, except for your black as night nose and your emerald green eyes. I never saw her, obviously, but from what I've heard, your wolf is almost identical to your mother's. She had a forepaw as dark as her nose, but the rest of her was as white as snow, just like you."
She kicked her speed up a notch, reveling in the freedom of running wild and free through the woods. She didn't even have a predator to watch for, really. Humans were there biggest fear most wolf shifter's had. Even bears and wolves tended to leave each other alone out here, both preferring not to fight unless food, mate or cub was in danger.
She decided she rather enjoyed being the top of the food chain, as she startled a small deer and it ran in fear.
Emma wasn't on the hunt though. She wasn't the slightest bit hungry, so she just watched it run, as Elam's words teaching her how to take one down echoed in her ear.
He'd been proud of her; she'd hunted well the times they'd gone together. She seemed to be getting quite the hang of this shifter stuff, she was proud to say.
No, for right now, thoughts of the hot spring she was nearing were what was pulling her nose along.
She was getting closer; she was starting to smell the minerals bubbling in the water. The only thing she wanted right now was to get there, shift back, and sink her human bones into the heated, bubbly water and soak a while.
The hot spring was larger than she expected. She'd heard 'hot tub' and immediately assigned the spring a size in her head, so she was pleasantly surprised when the water was the temperature of a hot tub, but the spring itself was closer to half of a normal, human swimming pool size.
She'd already soaked some and swam some, and was reclining against a large rock, letting her head loll back and her mind wander as her eyes took in the woods and wildlife around her when Kate showed up.
Kate stripped down and joined Emma in the spring.
"Howdy, stranger." Emma greeted Kate with a teasing smile.
"I know, I know. We haven't been able to hang out much lately. But hey, I heard you succumbed to the same life changing virus that got me."
Emma raised her eyebrows at her friend in question, too relaxed and sated to actually offer up any words.
"The force of nature that is a werewolf who believes you are his forever mate."
Emma laughed, nodding her head in agreement.
"Yes. Their sexy pull is hard to deny, I'll give you that."
"Are you happy, Emma? I knew immediately what I wanted when I saw Galen. Are you and Elam happy? I know it's only been days, but..."
"Yes. Being here has changed me, in more ways than I can even tell you, actually. Hey, how did you know I'd be here? I snuck out for some alone time before the pack meeting tonight. I figured I was the only one."
"I didn't know. I come out here sometimes, too. Ziva showed me this place. Just good timing, I guess."
"Ziva. Is she any different once you get to know her? She comes across so... I don't know, troubled. Angry. Is she really as angry as she seems? Like all the freaking time?"
Kate focused her eyes behind Emma, thinking of a way to respond.
"Ziva is...well, it's hard to explain. She comes from somewhere