**** Image does not belong to me. I don't remember where I got it. Anyway, drum rolls please! Let me introduce you my dear readers to Elena, just imagine her with curly hair.

A finger is slowly and gently circling my stomach while warm lips kiss the back of my neck.

"Do you think we'll have cubs?" asks the husky voice behind me.

I humm, "I hope so but..."

A tung softly licks the back of my ear, "do not worry Suki." Snuggling his face into my neck while giving soft kisses to my shoulder, Radu then hugs me gently and comments, "let's enjoy our time together."

Feeling his love I turn around and see his hungry glowing purple eyes reflecting my own desire...

"Oh myyyyyy, so it was like that!" a feminine voice giggle screams.

Blinking my eyes, I start to fan my blushing face as I realize where I'm at.

"Our little Suki is no longer a cub, eh Elena?" snickers a cinnamon wavy hair female.

A black curly hair female sitting next to the wolf female smiles back innocently. "So now you know how we feel when we're with our males," she comments as she lightly touches on a wolf tattoo placed near her chest.

Natasha sighs exasperated and yells, "are you trying to call him!"

Soon after a long howl can be heard coming from the far away trees, Elena blinks her eyes and laughs, "oops" as Natasha face palms.

Hearing his howl, I sigh as well and mutter, "still as boisterous as ever."

Natasha solemnly nods her head while Elena sits straighter. With a friendly tone to her voice, Elena comments, "he might be but Suki you'll have to get use to that."

Both Natasha and I tilt our head. "Why's that?"

Elena pushes a strand of her curly hair back and smiles gently as she rubs a rather small bump on her tummy.

"No way!" hollers Natasha as she gets up quickly, which made the flowers scatter from her lap. Bouncing over in joy she gives the soon to be mother a hug.

"I'm so happy for you!" I join in celebration as I giggle scream. Gently placing my floral wreath down, I dust off some of the petals and walk over to give a huge smooch on her cheek.

"Ahhhh Suki your saliva is getting on me! And Natasha stop messing up my hair!" yells Elena happily as we keep congratulating her.

When we finally stop, I couldn't help but remember what Elena said.

"Um, Elena, is, uh, are they his?" I point to her wolf tattoo.

Elena nods her head excitedly, "yes! Bronco said he heard three heart beats and this morning Healer Liam confirmed it!"

Trying to keep the smile on my lips, I am internally screaming inside.

Not noticing my discomfort Elena continues, "Suki, I'm so happy to have you as my friend." She then quickly adds, "and of course you too Natasha!"

Natasha smiles toothly back knowing where Elena is getting at.

Golden happy eyes then meet my own slightly worried ones, "Suki, as we promised long ago, you'll have one of my cubs as your male... and since it's Bronco's, of course Natasha won't be able to take them in."

Ahhhh nooooo!!!!!

Natasha nods her head solemnly while trying to keep her eyes from looking mischevious, "yes, Bronco and I are too close in blood."

Elena, now noticing my fretting face quickly adds, "oh don't worry Suki, I won't hand them right away. As promised, we'll wait till they're of age then we'll choose one" then mutters, "or more." Laughing happily Elena adds, "then when Natasha or you have your own cub's I'll keep one till we all have at least one cub from each one of us."

With this Natasha agrees whole heartedly and I do too, it's just... they're Bronco's! I was hoping that Elena's first cubs would be from one of her other males...

Sighing internally, I hurridly change my expression to happiness. "Yes, we will and we'll take good care of them." Now to tell Radu this bit of information...

After we finished our floral head wreaths, we each helped each other with combing our hair. For today we braided some of our hair strands and finally gently placed our wreaths on top of our heads.

"Elena, are you going to be able to attend the Fire Mating Ceremony?" I ask worridly as I glance at her stomach.

Elena places a hand on her cheek, "I don't know." Placing a hand on her tummy she adds thoughtfully, "good question, I'll ask Healer Liam or Charles about this."

As if remembering something, Natasha comments, "none of us has had cubs yet but I've heard the tales of males getting overbearingly jealous and protective of their pregnant females.."

We three stop walking as we think back to our fathers.

The only papa's I've got to see that way was papa Jack. He was the third of mama's males to have cubs with. The major reason why there were no more cubs born after me was because a female cub takes a longer time to grow than a male cub. So I'm guessing that part genetics and part instinct, the mother wouldn't want to bring in more cubs till her current cub has grown or is close to being an adult.

Anyway, papa Jack wasn't possessive... he was just, Jack. Well, fretting more than the usual, making sure the den was tidy, making sure the roof was strong, and making sure that mama wasn't in pain or hungry...

Wait a minute, he was more than the usual protective.

Glancing back at Elena's small bump I begin to think back of the first time Elena had her estrus.

Ack, that loud mouth was definitely a possesive and jealous beast! Holding in a shiver, I try to smile back at Elena's worried look. Glancing at Natasha, I see her wrinkling her nose. Yeap, looks like she also seems to have remembered that day.

"What?" asks the innocent panther female.

Natasha, being the oldest, though technically we all will stop aging after our estrus (we gain a year after every 30 years), gives Elena a gentle hug. "Talk to your male about today and observe him." She continues, "if he looks angry then maybe wait till next summer but." Natasha puffs up, "don't let him rule your family."

When Natasha speaks in her serious tone, we, the younger, listen.

After Elena nods her head back, we again began our walk out of this river.

As we walk, we each touched a tattoo on our body. Elena obviously placed a hand on her wolf tattoo. Natasha chose to drag some dancing fingers to one of her snow leopard tatoos. And me, well I only had one male for now. My Radu had his placed right in front of my heart. To keep his there, we need more males...

Thinking about Vick I wonder if he'll be there. He will. Right?