A/N: All cannon characters and settings belong to the brilliant mind of Patricia Briggs. The rest comes solely from my imagination. This is written merely for my own pleasure and the pleasure of others. Also, I tend to get long-winded, so some of my chapters may be long, no, not may be, will be.

P.S. My muse is in overdrive right now and as such I have three fics going at once. I have this one plus another with Asil that will be posted in the Alpha and Omega series section, as well as one over in the Mercy Thompson series called Finding Home, which features Ben and an OC. If updating gets slow, that is the reason why. I am working on each one daily so bear with me.

You have been warned. Now, without further ado, on with the story!

Aria Kinsley was an old wolf. Not as old as some but she was older than most of the wolves in her London Pack. Many speculated about her heritage because she didn't talk about it much. With her fair skin, eyes more gray than blue, and black hair that hung in thick curls past her waist, she could have come from almost anywhere in Europe. She was a perfect blending of her parents with her father's fair skin and her mother's hair and eyes. Edward Blackwood was an Englishman holidaying in Athens when he met, wooed, and married Octavia Theodopolus and moved her back to England with him. Her parents had been gone a long time now but Aria still thought of them fondly. She was the only one of their six children who'd never had children of her own. She'd had to leave her family behind when she was attacked and changed, but she kept tabs on the descendants of her siblings.

She'd had a mate once. Jacob Kinsley. He'd been her entire world, the wolf who'd helped her come to terms with her attack, and helped her to understand what she was. He'd been third in the pack until thirty years ago when he was challenged by the wolf just beneath him in the pack hierarchy. For the European wolves challenges were to the death, and when her mate lost, a light had gone out in her world. Losing him had nearly destroyed her and she'd been alone ever since. She'd had unmated wolves sniff at her from time to time but neither she nor her wold was interested.

As often happened with older wolves, Aria found herself becoming increasingly unstable. She'd thought long and hard about it before she'd decided to approach her alpha about ending her life, but she'd not gotten the chance to. When word reached Europe that Bran Cornick, Marrok of the North American werewolf packs, was bringing the wolves into the open there was an uproar. Not every pack lived in an area where coming out wouldn't put them at risk. Delegates from many of the packs went to the US to meet with him, Aria's alpha was one of them, and due to events that none of the London pack saw coming, he was killed. Aria knew the new alpha, a man she'd known for many years, would never honor her request even if she begged him. Winston Frost cherished his friends and he didn't have it in him to kill her. He'd been Arthur's second and when Arthur died it threw the pack into turmoil until he stepped in to take over. So far no one wanted to challenge him for control.

It didn't take long for news to spread. The Marrok was allowing any wolf who wanted to migrate to one of the North American packs within the next five years to do so without all of the usual requirements. The only requirement was they had to obey the rules laid out for all of the wolves under the Marrok's rule, and none of them could be lone wolves. They had to join a pack. Even whole packs could migrate and would be given land where no pack was set up yet. Anyone who migrated would have both the protection and aid of the Marrok. It came as a shock because everyone knew Bran Cornick had strict rules for migrating into his territory and some wolves who asked were turned down because he felt they would be detrimental to the safety of his wolves.

As soon as she heard about the offer she started thinking about it. She'd not been truly happy for a long time. That was part of the reason she'd considered asking to have her life ended. The more she thought about migrating the more she liked the idea. Maybe this was what she needed. Maybe she just needed a change in her life to ease some of the instability she felt.

Aria waited until the pack was together preparing for a run under the new moon to approach her alpha. "Winston? Can I speak to you for a moment before we go?" she asked softly.

"Of course Aria. What's on your mind?" he replied. "And don't tell me you want me to kill you because you're tired and want to die, because I can't do it," he added.

Aria smiled a little. "No, that's not it. I've been thinking about the offer that Bran Cornick made to the European wolves due to his decision to bring the wolves out into the open. I want to go to the US. For good." She knew her request would come as a shock.

Winston stared at her. He'd not seen that coming. "Are you sure about this Aria? London's been your home for a very long time. I'd hate for you to leave and come to regret it because you miss it too much."

"I know, and believe me I didn't come to this decision lightly." She sighed softly. "There are still too many memories here, painful memories. Every time I look at Nick all I see is my Jacob's blood all over him when Nick ripped his throat out. If I'd had a gun with me that night, with silver bullets in it, I would have killed Nick, consequences be damned. If I'm completely honest, Winston, lately I've been fantasizing about doing exactly that. You have been a good friend to me, you and your Sarah have been my rock for years, but I need to stand on my own two feet again. And I know if I don't leave I'm going to end up doing something that I can't be forgiven for. I won't damage our friendship like that. I won't be that selfish, because we both know, if I kill him, you'll have no choice but to punish me, and the punishment for that is death. That is the only way you wouldn't end up being challenged. It would haunt me even in the afterlife if something I did took you from Sarah." There were tears in her eyes at the very thought of it.

Winston hugged her and held her for a moment, because he knew she needed it. "Why didn't you tell me it was that bad?" he asked.

"You know me, I don't want to burden others with my issues. Besides, you've had so much to deal with since taking over as Alpha, getting the pack in order and things moving smoothly again, I didn't want to add to the stress."

"You could never be a burden, luv," he chastised. "I'll make some calls. Do you have a pack in mind? Or are you open to going wherever they decide you'd best fit in?"

Arai gave him a look that said 'You should already know the answer to that, silly man'. "The Marrok, of course," she replied. "If they'll have me. I know the reputation of bran Cornick's pack. Many are wolves who are struggling with adapting to the world, or those like me who are older and have become a bit... flaky, shall we say. That way, if I ever do become a danger to others, I will be where I need to be in order to be dealt with swiftly."

Winston shook his head. "I should have guessed that. You'd never let yourself get that far gone aria. We both know it. That's why you've come to me now. I'll call and let you know as soon as things are settled. Now, let's go for that run. The others are waiting." He moved to where his mate was waiting, her wolf watching them closely, and undressed to shift.

Aria felt lighter than she had in a while. With the decision made she stripped and shifted to join her pack for what could possibly be her last run with them. Nick got too close to her and she snarled at him. He'd been after her for months now. He'd never felt the mate bond before so he didn't understand why she still hated him all these years later. True she could have requested a relocation to the other London pack, but she didn't know many of the wolves there and she would have still risked running into him while out and it wouldn't have mattered. When Nick started to snap at her Winston growled and the other wolf left her alone. Yes, she needed to get away before she killed Nick and signed her own death sentence.