Introduction

Everything was still and peaceful in the mountains of Montana. Fresh snow blanketed the ground, the crisp air swirled softly through the trees and the local wildlife was preparing for the dusk not two hours away.

All was peaceful in Aspen Creek.

"You did what?!" The Marrok's voice thundered from the house just off the side of the road and the birds took to the air in a flurry of fear and panic.

It wasn't often this Alpha felt the need to raise his voice in order to keep control of his wolves.

"Da, if you would just meet her—" Samuel sat opposite his Da trying not to tremble under his glare, as Bran surged to his feet.

He was furious.

"You told a complete stranger! Someone you met on the internet, our secret. A human!" Samuel knew that if Anna hadn't been in the room, then Bran would most likely have killed him by then.

"No! I didn't!" he was desperate for his father to believe him, "I didn't say anything!" Bran paused. His son was telling the truth. But that didn't explain how a human woman who had never met him face-to-face, could have figured out he was a werewolf!

"Then explain it to me." Bran commanded, his voice smooth and deadly as he took his seat.

Samuel felt the ripple of his father's power flow over his body and tried to hold back the shivers of fear he created.

His father's wolf was not pleased.

"I met her online. We started talking and telling each other about ourselves. She knows I'm a Doctor – she's a writer and competes in dressage. Horse riding." Bran gave him an impatient look. He didn't need the girl's entire life history; all he needed to know was how she had figured everything out. "It's important Da, I promise." Samuel implored him and forced himself to relax back into the sofa slightly to appear more unassuming and submissive.

"Anyway, we'd been talking for a few months when she told me, under much persuading on my part, that she was an animal communicator. She went on to say that she hoped I wouldn't be angry with her and then proceeded to compliment me on how 'gorgeous' my wolf was – her words not mine.

"I stared at the computer for a second, unsure what to write but in the end I just asked what she was talking about.

"Da. I could hear my wolf snickering in the back of my head as he wagged his tail like a happy puppy!" Bran's eyebrows shot up; he knew how unusual that behaviour was for Samuel's wolf. He watched as Samuel flinched. "She then proceeded to shout at me for trying to lie to her. She had gotten her information from the wolf! She said he had been more than happy to talk to her considering I ignored him! Me? I ignored him?

Bran had to force himself to keep his irritation at his son's scenic route of this tale from showing in his eyes and his scent. He wanted the point to be made and he wanted it now.

"Anyway, I kept my eyes open on the British news for the next few weeks but nothing came up. She seemed to know what I was doing, I'm sure my wolf was telling her everything, and she ignored me for three weeks before I got an email from her…" Bran's anger had finally melted away as he continued to listen, remembering the time three months ago when Samuel had been very depressed and they were sure they were going to lose him for a time.

Then one day he was his regular smiling self again.

Everyone had been confused but had not questioned it for fear of sending him back to that place again.

Now they were getting the full story.

"The wolf had been completely gleeful during that time and I didn't understand why. Turns out, that while she ignored me, she kept talking to him." Samuel was obviously not at all happy with that fact and looked like a sulking child as he said it. "He told me to check my inbox as soon as she sent the email to me – my wolf knows what an inbox is! How absurd is that!?" It seemed that he was having difficulty wrapping his mind around some of what had happened.

Bran continued to pray for patience.

"So, though I was completely confused, I jumped out of bed and fired up my laptop and found the email." Sam looked at his father with eyes that said he was still shocked about what he had read. "She knows Da… She knows that werewolves exist and where some of them are. She can even give me names! All because she can talk to their wolves! I can't even begin to explain half of it! That's why I invited her to stay…"

Bran sighed.

At least his son had finished speaking.

Though a human woman in staying in Aspen Creek, who had not been raised among them made him uncomfortable, he had to admit he was curious. He'd lived a long time and knew of people who could speak to animals but never had any of them been sensitive enough to become aware of the existence of werewolves…

"When does she arrive?" Bran asked. He had a lot to sort out before she got there.

"In about ten minutes…" Sam whispered as he stared at the floor.

"What!?" Bran shouted. His children really need to learn to behave.

"I'm sorry!" Sam all but whined like a child.

Everything stood still at the sound of a car approaching and Bran turned livid golden eyes upon his son and Samuel cowered in his chair.

"How long is she staying?" he growled out.

Samuel shrank further into his seat, back bowed down, eyes glued to the floor as he whispered his reply. "A month."

Bran took a deep, furious breath. "Then for her sake, you had better pray this goes well." he snapped before walking into the kitchen to calm down.

Anna turned worried eyes on him as he unconsciously came to stand beside her before switching on the kettle and humming as she dried the dishes. Her calming influence soon washed over him and he relaxed into the counter with a sigh.

Leah's death over a year ago had been a shock to his system that had frayed his nerves to tender threads. His anger was always close to the surface these days and had warranted the need for Charles and Anna to move in with him. He had tried to talk them out of it in the beginning, not going quite so far as ordering them not to, but he had known he was in a precarious situation; the wolf population of the United States depending on him to keep his control. He had known, if not initially accepted, that Anna's presence within his home would help him.

He listened as the car pulled to a stop and two doors opened. A dog balked happily for a moment before a women's voice could be heard shushing him lovingly and her voice drew Bran around Anna and to the window.

Her skin was pale and clear and dark brown, sun kissed hair fell down to her waist in gentle curls. Her face was soft, with high cheekbones, a sweet button nose and full, rose petal lips that just begged to be kissed. Her ears were hidden beneath the purple and white bobble hat she wore to ward off the chill, a matching scarf tied around her neck was tucked into her dark grey jacket and matching gloves folded back to reveal the graceful fingers beneath. Her tight, dark denim jeans stood out clearly against the snow. A pair of dark grey boots completed the look.

Anna, who was watching the scene from behind Bran, was impressed. She dressed like a woman straight off the pages of a glossy magazine yet she had a warm and welcoming air to her that drew others in like a moth to a flame. That was only intensified by a look into her eyes and the light of her smile; they spoke of a world purely her own – a world that she wanted to share with you if you would let her. They told you she was sincere and loving and everything you wanted in this world.

She left Anna breathless.

The thing that drew Bran in quicker than all the above combined though, as he had noticed the same things, was the sound of her voice.

It was soft and enchanting; her gentle tones those found in only one place in the entire world. It was the type of voice that you were born with. The type of voice that you could not acquire if you were born outside the country in question, no matter how long you lived there. A voice that no amount of moving could wash away. She was a woman who reminded him so vividly of his homeland he could almost touch it; images of lush rolling hills and many nights sitting and singing around an open fire floated through his mind, for there was no doubt about it.

She came from Wales.

"Quiet you silly dog or you'll wake the whole neighbourhood." she scolded the animal softly with a smile as he rolled around in the snow. The dog rolled over onto his stomach to crawl towards her and barked softly, half his original volume. She laughed and crouched down to rub his head affectionately. He yipped at her and darted towards her and back again, a clear invitation to play. Her laughed filled the air again as she took off after the dog chasing him around the car in circles while the driver looked on with a smile.

Bran watched as the dog put on a burst of speed when he was out of her line of sight and watched her look around in confusion before squealing as the dog jumped on her back, sending them both sprawling in the snow.

Movement from the corner of his eye made Bran turn his head to his right and he watched Samuel take an obviously worried step towards her. Bran turned his attention to the woman in time to see her roll over while laughing to play fight with the dog.

Samuel's laughter drew her gaze to the steps and her face flamed bright red with embarrassment as she scrambled rather gracefully to her feet. She quickly brushed the snow off her clothes and turned to the driver to whisper an apology, unaware that they could all hear her.

The driver chuckled and pulled her bags from the trunk replying at a normal level, much to her embarrassment, that it was not a problem and it had been entertaining and refreshing to witness.

"Everyone's happy then!" She laughed. "My work here is done!"

Samuel walked over to the boot and helped her with her bags, watching in amusement as the dog picked up one of the smaller bags by its double handles and wagged his tail at her.

It was then that Bran realised he didn't even know her name.

"Samuel Cornick!" Bran watched in amusement as the back of her hand came up to smack him in the chest as she stared at the house, apparently listening to something. Sam's eyes widened comically in shock as he turned to look at her and opened his mouth to ask her what he'd done. "Don't you give me that look." The driver chuckled at the show of apparent 'domestic bliss' but one look from Samuel quelled him, though amusement still shined in his eyes. "Please excuse him John. He's PMSing." The driver scurried around to the driver's side door to try and hide his amusement from Sam's glare. "Don't you glare at him, Samuel. Are you insane? Why didn't you tell your father I was coming here!? He could eat me!" Samuel couldn't help but laugh at that and she turned away with a huff to march towards the house, her dog snorting at Sam in way that clearly translated to 'severs you right', before trotting off after her. "Men!" her voice rose to an almost shout.

Her behaviour was clearly a way to hide her discomfort at the current situation, turning her fear into anger at Samuel's lack of disclosure.

Sam had yet to realise that she had just found out something he hadn't told her though and his wolf sat in the back of his mind happily wagging his tail. He so enjoyed it when the human female was angry with his human. It was always entertaining. Well… apart from the time she was so angry she didn't speak to his human for three weeks. He had had to intervene then to sort things out and he was so glad she wrote that 'e-mail' thing. His human was happy again after that.

The young woman took a deep, calming breath as she stood on the porch before stamping her feet to rid her shoes of as much snow as possible.

Samuel walked up the steps rubbing his chest as though she'd hurt him, his face a picture a injured puppy. She raised her eyebrows from her leant position on the rail where she was undoing her boots so that she could slip them off in the doorway and not get the floor wet.

"Don't be a pussy. There's no way that hurt you. That probably hurt me more than it did you." she snapped at him. He sighed at her anger.

"My father's going to love you. Stop being so nervous." she glared at him.

"I'm not nervous." she stated and Sam raised an eyebrow. "I'm not!" she protested. "I'm bloody terrified. Plus I spent the entire day cooped up on a bus full of wolf-people who's wolf halves kept trying to shove their voices into my head." She paused briefly, frowning as she unzipped her other boot. "I'm sure there was some other supernatural creepy on there too." She mumbled, more to herself than Sam and she shivered with unease just as Bran opened the door.

Samuel frowned, making a note to get her to describe it later and have Charles check it out.

Samuel you had best introduce us as you forgot to tell me her name. Or that she was from Wales. I may have taken the news better had you mentioned that fact. The Welsh are a gifted people.

Samuel laughed and motioned a hand toward his father.

"Gwendolyn, this is my Da, Bran. Da, this is Gwendolyn. She's from Wales." he added in sarcastically and laughed again.

Gwendolyn gave him a combination of a strange look and a frown before shaking her head, apparently having decided to write him off as insane.

She smiled brightly and did a little curtsey in greeting and was as obviously surprised at it as they were. "Pleasure to meet you. I hope you don't mind that I brought my dog. I don't like to travel alone and Samuel said it would be okay to bring him."

Bran smiled at her and stepped aside. "Believe me, the pleasure's all mine. And you don't have to worry about your dog. He is as welcome here as you are." He watched her blush softly. "Please. Come in out of the snow and you can tell us all about your home." Gwendolyn smiled again and nodded, slipping through the rather small gap he had created, quickly taking off her boots so as to not drip on the floor, her dog dropping his bag by the side of her and trotting into the room to flop himself on the rug in front of the fire.

Bran hid a smile at her socks. They were as brightly coloured as her hat, gloves and scarf and clashed horribly. It was also clear that she had on about three pairs underneath. He watched as she pulled off her hat, scarf, gloves and coat to reveal a deep green polo neck sweater. The colour suited her pale skin and dark hair beautifully.

Sam raised his eyebrow at his father as he made room for him to come in, a smirk planted firmly on his face. Bran's only reply was to give him a rather innocent expression before turning back to Gwendolyn as she straightened up with a light blush.

"Would you like a cup of tea Gwendolyn?" Bran asked, the image of the polite host.

Her eyes lit up. "Oh, that would be lovely, thank you." Her voice came out breathy and soft in her gratitude, the thought of the hot beverage obviously bringing her a measure pleasure and comfort, her eyes were wide and sincere. Bran now realised that where he had originally thought her eyes were the colour of the dusk blue sky, he had been wrong and his intense focus on her showed them to be a mixture of blue, green and brown. He could practically see the Welsh forests within her eyes.

He nodded curtly, distractedly and turned to the kitchen, passing Anna in the doorway who laid her hand on his shoulder for a moment – something that had become a habit to help that extra bit of relaxation seep into him.

Gwendolyn watched the exchange with an analytical eye, trying to decide what their relationship was.

Suddenly needing to know but not wanting to voice her question she asked Samuel's wolf to relay the question and received his answer through his wolf, her eyes glued to Anna as she looked back into the kitchen. She is my human's brother's mate. Omega. Outside the Pack. Calms the Berserker. Berserker deadly. A lot more was explained to her in that instant and Samuel studied her face as she absorbed the information, wondering why she wanted to know, though having a good idea. She asked another question to the wolf hoping he could answer and not involve Samuel or he would get suspicious. Mate die. Killed on hunt.

Samuel watched in confusion as Gwendolyn's scent relayed distress, her heart rate picked up slightly and her breath hitched softly. Her eyes filled slightly and Anna's head whipped around to stare at her in the same confusion. She was saved however, by a sudden, full body shiver and sneezed covering her face and quickly composing her expression and reaction.

"Wooh." Gwendolyn shook her head as though to rid it further of the sneeze and sniffed. "Sorry," she mumbled in embarrassment, "I don't do too well in cold climates."

Samuel frowned at her.

"If you knew you'd get ill why did you agree to come out here? Surely you knew how cold it was going to be?" he grumbled as he pushed her towards the sofa, her socks causing no friction on the hard wood floor so that she didn't even need to lift her feet. She laughed as he pushed her, enjoying the childish simplicity as she slid across the room.

"Are you kidding?" She asked as she laughed, tripped her way onto the rug and sat down on the seat closest to the fire, knowing that was the one Samuel had been aiming for. "And not come to the most highly populated wolf-person country in the world? I'll happily deal with a cold for that." Anna frowned, confused to how she would know that, while Samuel frowned in disapproval at her for putting her health at risk.

Bran walked in seconds later with a tray of steaming mugs, sugar and milk.

He placed it on the table, picked up a mug and added milk before sitting down on the sofa opposite Gwendolyn. He didn't want to raise his son's suspicion any more than he already had, no matter how much his wolf wanted to curl up around her and warm her up.

Gwendolyn waited until the others had taken theirs before adding sugar and milk to the last cup and wrapped her chilled hands around it. Bran's wolf very loudly pointed out that she acted like a mother wolf the way she waited for the others to take their drinks first. It was as though she was making sure they were satisfied first. His wolf then went on to point out the fact that she was of a ripe age with wide hips which would be perfect for child birth.

Bran attempted to quiet his wolf – it felt strange after so many silent months and now, at this woman's arrival, his wolf saw fit to wake and point out things that he was trying hard enough not to focus on himself. Like the fact that her breasts would swell in size as they made milk to sustain the child that would grow within her.

Then the beast decided to torture him with images of how he would make that child with her and giggled in glee like a school girl when Bran snarled at him to quiet himself within his head.

Bran crossed his legs to hide the reaction to the images his wolf had created; he knew he couldn't hide it from Anna or his son, which was highly embarrassing. Especially when both tried to unsubtly hide their amusement behind their coffee cups, but he could keep it from Gwendolyn at least.

Her dog growled at him and her laughter broke off as she turned to look at husky.

He padded across the floor to sit close to her knee, his eyes on Bran.

She rolled her eyes at his possessive behaviour and leant down to scratch his head before turning her attention back to what Samuel was telling her, laughing when a sarcastic comment from Anna made Samuel pout.

Bran waited for a lull in the conversation before speaking.

"Gwendolyn?" she turned her eyes to him and her hair seemed to ripple with fire as she moved, the auburn in her hair more prominent now. Her skin glowed softly from its gentle light. "How do you know that Montana is the most populated country for werewolves?" Gwendolyn flinched at the word.

"I don't really like calling them werewolves…" she paused for a second and could be seen gathering her thoughts.

"Errr. Errr." Samuel made squeaky door hinge noises and made circles with his fingers. "I think I see the wheels turning." he said, apparently squinting into her ears. Her hand came up and she planted her palm on the front of his face while laughing.

"Shush." Anna had her hand pressed to her mouth to try not to laugh, and not succeeding, as Samuel mumbled that he couldn't breathe. Gwendolyn's only reply was a 'distracted', 'Mmm Hmm'.

Samuel wrapped both hands around her wrist and pulled it off gently to speak as Gwendolyn didn't fight against him. "You're very mean to me you know."

"That'll teach you a lesson. Now shush." He replied by placing her hand back on his face, arranging her fingers so he could see properly before sitting silently. She turned to look at him, laughing at his antics combined with the innocent expression and wide eyes he directed at her.

Bran was surprised with the ease Gwen and Samuel had around each other after only having met a year ago. They acted like they'd known each other their entire lives and he could see that Anna, usually a quiet, reserved young woman, was relaxing and opening up and it was all thanks to the woman opposite him. She was younger than both Samuel and Anna and yet she seemed to be much older despite her purity and childlike enjoyment of things. Or maybe it was because of that. Bran couldn't decide and realised he didn't really need to. He was happy just taking in the atmosphere she created.

"I don't know whether Sam has told you everything about me or if he has, whether he's explained it thoroughly." she paused as though deciding whether she or not she wanted to continue. Finally though, she did. "I ride horses for a living – I compete in Dressage. Though that is my main 'job', if you will, I also write and design things – some I publish some I don't." she paused again and took a steadying breath. "I am also an animal communicator. I use my intuition to communicate with animals, helping find lost pets, help animals who have apparent behaviour problems and teach others how to do it too.

"I found out about werewolves completely by chance one day when I was taking a walk. I talk to regular wolves all the time and one even stays at my house every now and then so I know what they 'feel' like – how to tell them apart from dogs, so to speak.

"Anyway, I was walking down one of the country lanes not far from my house on my way to see a neighbour when I had this whammy of an internal nudge, which felt more like a punch in the gut, that told me there was a wolf nearby. I paid very close attention to it and scanned the area, completely alert but for a long time I saw nothing but a man running up in the distance and that was it.

"I was confused why my intuition was telling what it was, so sat down on a nearby bench and closed my eyes, hoping the lack of distractions would help me focus.

"I focused my attention on the feeling of wolf and after a while got a very clear image in my mind of what he looked like, and there was no doubting that it was a 'he'. So, again I focused on the wolf and asked him to send me a picture of where he was. My confusion grew when the picture he showed me was of the very same lane I was on and I guessed he was close to the man running up ahead. When I asked him where the man was and sent him a picture I almost fainted as he gave me the impression of being inside him.

"My logical mind couldn't understand it and I ended coming up with numerous possibilities of what could have happened. Things like the wolf had died and the man eaten him, the man having been a wolf in a previous life, but my intuition told me each was wrong and I ran out of guesses.

"The man was close by then – twenty feet away from me – when I asked the wolf to explain to me how he could be inside the man and he did. He showed me the man being bitten by someone else and him entering his body to try and save him. He even showed me the monthly change when the moon is full.

"He told me that was what all the wolves tried to do – to save the humans who had been ravaged by another but sometimes they didn't make it and they went insane… He said that even those who made the change could lose their sanity to the wolves. That it was because humans refused to accept their wolves and that led to the feeling of separation and dissatisfaction and humans can only live with separation so long before it destroys them…" she trailed off and everyone was amazed at the depth of her knowledge. She turned suddenly intense and pleading eyes on everyone in the room.

"You have to understand! You have no idea how damaging this is! You're wolves can hear you! But as a species you're too damn stubborn to hear them!" Gwendolyn surged to her feet and moved away from them to stand by the window; anything to have a bit of space between them at the moment.

Bran was surprised to feel no anger at the way Gwendolyn had spoken to them. Under normal circumstances he would have flown to his feet, eyes golden and furious and proceeded to make sure it never happened again. But there was nothing, no anger. Just… concern.

How strange…

Anna watched her with sad, concerned eyes and they all smelled the tears she was trying to hold at bay. To a human it would have been unnoticeable; the tenseness, the slightly deeper the normal breathing… They would never have been able to see her reflection in the window; the completely heart wrenching look that covered her face and pulled at something deep inside them. A human would never have known how she had closed her eyes to try and gain composure, only intensifying the expression on her face.

They watched as she clutched at composure and spun around to pin them with a furious stare. If she had been a wolf, her eyes would have burned golden and caused at least two of those in the room to cower.

"You are not the only ones suffering here!" she shouted before flying out the door, her dog at her heels.

Bran held up a hand when Samuel went to chase after her. "Let her clear her head for a moment."

Samuel nodded and watched as his father climbed to his feet and walked to the door, picking up her shoes and coat. He stood by the door for a few moments until they heard her sigh before stepping out into the night and closing the door behind him.

Gwendolyn didn't turn around when he opened the door, keeping her eyes on the stars ahead of them above the trees. She whispered a soft 'thank you' as he placed her boots at her feet and her jacket around her shoulders. He watched as she slipped her wet feet into her boots and tightened her jacket around her shoulders.

"I'm sorry." she whispered a few minutes later. "I'm not normally so… well, bitchy I guess." he chuckled at her choice of words and she glanced at him, slowly realising what she'd said and the implications of it. "Well, okay; not quite. I just get so angry when I think of how much these wolves suffer. Yes the humans suffer the pain of loss, and injury but no one ever seems to get that the wolves feel it just as keenly. Every love lost, every broken bone – yet the humans never feel their injuries when the wolvestake control. They protect you from it using the same distance that you created – they put you in a bubble to protect you the same way a mother would her child. And you never even realise it…" he watched tears run down her face for the pain of others and realised just how caring this woman was.

"If you only learnt how to listen and become one with your wolves… so much pain and suffering could be stopped…" Minutes ticked by as she stood staring at the sky, Bran staring at her.

"Did you know that it's because of this separation that your females can't have young?" she asked rhetorically and everything around her stilled, though she remained oblivious to it, her thoughts flowing through her mind and out of her mouth without her even realising it. "It's the separation between beast and man that make the transformations so painful; it's the reason that the foetus doesn't survive. For how can a woman protect her young if the moon can send her to her knees?"

The question went unanswered, for what can you say to something like that? Bran suddenly felt like he knew less than he thought, and that what he did know, was relatively useless. But here, here was a woman who knew more than she seemed to realise. Someone who could teach them so much and give their women a gift that was theirs by birthright. To have a child.

Hope blossomed in his heart; a heart he long believed to have died and he vowed that he would do whatever it took to keep this woman in Montana among his pack.

With her among his pack, how many lives could be spared?