Many stripped out of their clothes right there and then at their Alpha's words. Madeline had never seen so many naked bodies until then. Her pack was few, fewer than this. And when they went on pack runs, they didn't just suddenly strip in front of each other. They spread out respectively. Emerson, as if suddenly realizing how many naked wolves were before them, he growled and put a hand over her eyes.

Right.

Madeline had forgotten how possessive newly mated males could be, especially Alphas. Madeline had seen some of the calmest and gentlest of the male's tackle another just because he had looked at his mate to long. Her dead mate, Lucas, had gotten into a couple brawls because another male had said something to her, something he didn't like. Her lips turned up at the thought.

"Are we far enough away that I can shift now?" She asked as they had walked farther and farther away from where the others were shifting.

He lowered his hand from her eyes and she looked at him with an amused look. He only scowled at her, which caused her to chuckle. "Just hurry up and shift. The faster we get this over with the better."

She wasn't sure if he meant the hunt, or the finalization of the mating, or both. But she just nodded as if she understood. "Can you unbutton the dress?"

She didn't wait for his response and turned around. A moment later, she felt his fingers working on the buttons. She let her dress fall and she slid out of her underwear.

Nudity wasn't a problem among wolves. It was accepted. One had to undress to shift or ruin their clothes. No wolf was ashamed of their body, not even the newly shifted, though they may be shy at first, as Madeline certainly had been. But no one cared about seeing your body naked, not unless you were newly mated. Only then it mattered. Only then did wolves get possessive about others seeing their mate. But otherwise, there was no issue with nudity.

Madeline closed her eyes as she called forth her wolf. A moment later, a blonde wolf stood her in place. She shook out her fur slightly, then turned to her mate, wanting to play and run and hunt with him.

Another minute and brown wolf towered over her. Her mate nosed her neck, breathing in her scent. Then he licked her neck, showing affection to her. It seems that the wolf was more intimate than the human.

With a yip, they were off running towards their pack. They joined the couple hundreds of wolves gathered. Those who didn't join were the children that had not shifted yet, their caretakers, and those wolves still on duty.

The Alpha tipped his head back and howled into the night, calling his Pack. He took off at a run at the lead, his mate, and Luna by his side. The pack ran behind them, falling in rank. Beta, Gamma, the commanding officers, then the common wolves, and lastly the Omegas. A bark, a command from the Alpha, and the pack split in two. Half following the Beta, half following the Alpha. This made it easier to sneak up on prey.

They ran until the Alpha, having scented prey nearby, stopped and crouched. Deer by the smell of it. the Alpha crouched down, crawling forward so not to be noticed by the deer. The Luna was just behind him. She didn't pounce until her mate had. Other high-ranking wolves pounced on the other two. The Alpha and Luna feasted on the one they had brought down. The wolves and their mates and shifted pups feasted on the other two. There had been some that had caught rabbits or found a deer running away.

The entire pack was brought back together in a clearing after they had all eaten their share. The young pups chased each other, playing with each other. The boys were purposely losing to the girls, so they would keep playing with them. The older, mated wolves were watching their children. Others were conversing with themselves by barking or yipping. There were some mates that had found some privacy in the woods to mate with each other.

When the Luna finished eating her fill, she nudged the carcass towards the pups. They rushed over and ate the scraps while the Luna went her mate's side and sat. She nosed him with her muzzle and the Alpha's big head looked down at her. He licked her once then looked back at his Pack.

The Alpha and the Luna watched their pack run and play and eat and mate. The watched over their pack. The Luna managed to entice her mate into a game of catch, where he was the catcher and she the catchee. The Alpha won, of course, pouncing and pinning her to ground. He only let her up when she submitted, and she licked his face when she was back on her feet.

They spent time together as a pack until dawn. As the sun began to peak over the horizon, the wolves trod back to their discarded clothes and shifted back to their human form.

This was when Madeline had begun to get nervous when she had shifted back and now her dress make on. She knew what would come next. And while she knew that this was her a duty, a small part of her was repulsed at this. Though this was her mate, he was not her true mate. He was dead. And she felt like she was betraying him by doing this.

And it wasn't like this was a one and done situation. She was expected to have his children, to bear his heir. Unless, unless they decided to do it artificially. Which was possible, only the chances of pregnancy decreased, more than they already since she had..had...

Madeline flinched as a hand landed on her shoulder. She hadn't realized that she had been so deep in thought. She looked back at Emerson, who only wore his white pants. His hair was mused in a boyish way, making him look younger than twenty-seven.

He held out his hand for her. She swallowed but put her hand in his. She walked beside him, smiling softly at the Pack members they passed. She blushed when Casey gave her a thumbs up and a wink.

They were both silent as they trodden up the stairs and through the halls. Madeline kept her head forward, not daring a glance at Emerson. Not until they entered his room did she look at him. It was a shy look, her breath hitching slightly.

It was then she realized how close they stood. Their hands still joined, barely an inch of space between them. She tentatively reached out a hand and placed it on his sculpted chest. He flinched, just barely, under her touch. Despite that, she did not pull away.

"We have too." Her voice was hoarser than she had meant it too. "You know your father would likely tie us together if we don't."

That earned a small chuckle from him, though it went as soon as it came. "I know."

"Then let's just get it over with yeah?"

His hands sliding to the back of her dress was his answer. His hands gently undid the buttons. His fingers hooked her sleeves and gently slid it down her arms. The white material pooled on the floor. Emerson helped her step out of it.

She stood there, in nothing but her underwear. She had never felt more exposed than in that moment. She had bared her soul to Lucas, had been naked in front of countless others. But standing in front of him, his intense eyes glazing over her, she had never more felt exposed. She felt as if he could see all of her of her secrets, her darkest desires.

It made her uncomfortable, but as she went to cross her arms, he leveled a stare at her. "Don't."

She dropped her arms.

"Turn." He ordered. She obliged and turned.

His steady hands unclasped her bra. She watched it fall fall fall down to the ground.

He undid the braids in her hair and swept it over her shoulder. A finger ran down her spine until he grabbed her hips and spun her to face him.

Madeline looked up at him, wide-eyed.

She shuddered, eyes closing, as he caressed her skin, going up to the swell of her breast and back down again. Up down, up down, up down. then he stopped.

He pulled back his hands and they hung by his side. Her eyes snapped to Emerson.

"Take off my clothes." He ordered in his gruff voice.

She swallowed. She raised her shaky hands and unbuttoned his white pants. She pulled them down, without his help. She was too nervous to glare at him for it

When she stopped, he raised an eyebrow. "I'm sure you can't mate while clothes are still on."

She managed to glare at him for that. She hastily took off his underwear, but looked anywhere but at what was between his legs. She didn't look as he hooked his fingers in the bands of her own underwear and slid them down her long legs.

With a soft push, Madeline sat on the bed. A look at Emerson and she laid back until her head rested on the pillows. She closed her eyes, taking deep breaths to calm herself.

And she kept them closed.

Kept them closed as he spread her legs, kept them closed as he settled between them, kept them closed as they finalized their mating, and kept them closed long after.

Her trembling had subsided as she heard Emerson's soft snores. But she did not open her eyes, did not get up until she was truly sure he was asleep.

She quietly slid out of his bed, theirs now, if he ordered her to stay in this room. Carefully, quietly, she padded across the room. She grabbed a shirt out of his dresser and slid it on. She slipped out of his-their room.

Without making a sound, she filled a glass up with wine and sipped from it. It calmed her nerves even though her metabolism burned through the alcohol faster than she could drink it.

She sunk down onto the couch and ran a hand through her hair. She sipped more from her wine as she bowed her head. She didn't think it would have been this hard. She didn't think she would have felt this way. She felt dirty and disgusting, the way she was betraying her mate-no dead mate. Her dead, true mate.

She felt like she was spitting on his grave with what she had done. How could she have taken another mate? How could she have chosen this? How could she?

She didn't wipe away the tears that had begun to fall. She didn't try to stop them, she doubted she would have been able to anyways. What started out as a few tears ended in full out sobbing. Ugly sobs that she just couldn't stop.

The wine glass left her hands and she jerked up. Emerson stood before her, her glass now set down on the coffee table. His face was as emotionless as ever. "Done with your pity party yet?"

"Go to hell." Madeline growled with a ferocity she had never had before.

"Oh I most definitely am, but not yet, not today," He said. "But are you done? If so I'd like to go back to be."

"You're such an ass. You think you're all high and mighty just because of your title. That you can do anything you want because you're the Alpha and everyone listens to you." Madeline was standing now, glaring down her mate. "But let me tell you, one day, you are nothing. You follow your father's orders like a foot soldier, you're pack is falling apart around you. You are the Alpha of nothing, of no one."

He growled and it was a sound she had never heard before, but she did not submit, not even when his hands wrapped around her throat.

"You're pathetic," It was hard to talk, to breath, with how tight he held onto her neck but she bit those words out. "having to use force to get a little girl to submit. A true Alpha doesn't need to resort to violence."

He shoved her back and let go of her. She stumbled back but she did not fall. She did not expose her neck to him. She glared.

But Emerson did nothing, instead, he left the room. A few minutes later, she heard a howl and she saw that giant wolf bound into the tree line.

***