“There is only one village left, Alpha.” Nicu’s voice jarred him from the memory. “It is the furthest from the castle. If I remember correctly the most dominant among them is Petre Sala.”

Something about the name made Vasile’s wolf perk up, though he was sure he had not met the man. The males that lived in the villages were not dominant enough to be a part of the top wolves that trained as warriors on a regular basis and patrolled the territory when necessary. The violence that was necessary for a warrior to carry out had to be swift and without hesitation, and often the less dominant the wolf, the more likely the hesitation. If these males did not come to the castle, then Vasile seldom met them, though his father probably had. Vasile took in a deep breath, filling his lungs with the warm night air. He had a sudden eagerness to get to this village, and he had learned long ago not to argue with his gut feeling.

“Hunt on the way; I do not want us hungry and eating up all of their hard earned food.” Vasile phased, not bothering to remove his clothes, and took off in a run. His legs stretched and popped as he adjusted to being in his wolf form. The wind in his face, rippling through his pelt, was refreshing, like waking from a much needed nap. He saw Ion and Nicu out of the corner of his eyes on either side of his flanks. Though they ran faster than even their cousins the full blooded wolves, their feet were light and nearly silent as they raced across the forest. Before they hit the edge of the final village, they had each caught their meals and devoured them, appeasing their wolves’ desire for the hunt to continue. It was still several hours until dawn so Vasile and his two wolves curled up close together in the hollow of a tree. Three human males probably would balk at the idea of sleeping so close, but wolves were different. They thrived on touch, mate or pack. It was necessary. He was slowly settling into the power that had begun to fill him shortly after his father’s death and allowed it to cover them, ensuring they would be safe while they slept.

Vasile’s eyes snapped open and his massive head jerked up as the light of the early morning sun broke over the horizon and began to filter through the tree branches. It was not the light that had woken him, it was a voice. He waited, desperate to hear it again though he did not understand why. He could hear the pounding of his heart and the steady breathing of his pack mates. Leaves rustled as the wind danced through them and critters scurried about searching for their morning food. Still he waited. His wolf was a patient hunter, and the man had learned to trust him during a pursuit. There, his wolf growled pricking their ears up drawing his attention to a soft, barely audible hum. Vasile was sure that not even the angels could sound as beautiful as the quiet melody that glided through his ears and into his soul. His lips turned up as his wolf smiled. They both knew there was only one person on earth that could ever make them respond in such a way. Mate, his wolf rumbled with a desire that matched his own.

Alina pulled up the sleeves of her dress as she dropped one of her father’s shirts into the wash barrel. She picked upthe bar of lye soap and began scrubbing the material, covering it in the cleaner. As she began running the shirt up and down the wash board, she started humming one of her favorite lullabies that her mother had sung to her when she was a child. She stopped humming to scrub four times roughly, and then the humming resumed as she swished the shirt around in the water. She repeated this several times before she finally took the shirt out to the pump to rinse. The wisps of her hair had fallen out of the braid she had woven it into that morning, and she brushed them away with her wrist smearing water across her forehead.

It was a beautiful day. Alina smiled as she looked up to see birds twirling in the air swooping down and snatching up unsuspecting insects. Her father and mother had gone to one of their neighbors’ homes to check on Drist, one of the younger males. He had gotten a poisonous thorn stuck in his paw on a hunt not too long ago, and without a healer to dispel the poison, they had to resort to more mundane ways of treating him. She was lost in thought as she went about her daily chores. She gathered more clothes to wash and hung them up as she finished with each one. She did not hear the wolves approach as she scrubbed and hummed her last shirt clean. She wrung it out after rinsing it and spun around frolicking as if she were ten again and not nearly sixteen. Her feet froze and her breath caught as her eyes landed on the figures before her.

All of a sudden she felt thoughts pouring into her mind that were not her own, and she tried desperately not to reveal to the three wolves, especially the massive blue eyed one, that she was receiving them.

Slowly, she assumed not to frighten her, they made their way to some of the clothing that had already dried, and each wolf tugged down a pair of trousers with their muzzles. They started to phase right there, and Alina gasped as she spun around giving them her back. Many of the wolves were comfortable phasing in front of each other, but Alina had never liked being naked in front of anyone, pack or not.

“We are decent. You may turn around now, female.” His rich, deep voice rumbled, causing a shiver to run down her spine. She did not miss the amusement that laced his tone. Alina gritted her teeth. He thought it was funny that she was embarrassed by their nudity.

She could feel him attempting to communicate with her through her thoughts but she shut him out. She was not ready for this. She tried to still her rapidly beating heart as she turned around slowly. And when her eyes landed on the three men she took an involuntary step back, not because they were shirtless―and all-be-it quite nicely formed, but because of who they were. She recognized the one who had given her that cloth to wipe her eyes so many years ago, and behind the stern demeanor, she could still see the kindness he possessed. A low growl brought her attention back to the real threat. Their Alpha was finally here. After weeks of waiting and fretting and yearning, there he stood less than thirty feet away. When she looked at his face, she saw something that she only ever saw on mated males, possessive jealousy.