This is a quick one-shot I wrote to clear an idea out of my mind while I decide how to proceed with another Mercyverse fanfic I'm working on. The story is very loosely based on the books and I realize they aren't completely in character.

As always, everything belongs to Patricia Briggs. I'm just playing with her creations.

Mercy POV

Colorado seemed like as good a place as any to settle. The small cabin I rented was nestled in the side of a beautiful mountain covered in a dense forest, which made it easy to disappear into the woods for a long run. On the coldest of nights, it almost felt like I was back in Montana running through the snow covered woods exploring to my heart's content. The smell of pine needles took me back to a time when I was carefree, helping me forget the troubles of adulthood for a short time.

Choosing to move here had been a fairly easy decision. My shop was struggling, so I didn't have the means to provide for myself after the pack scared off most of my customers. Plus, without Adam to keep me in the Tri-Cities, there was no reason left for me to stick around after our break up. With both of us having an indefinite lifespan, I wasn't willing to hang around to see how things played out.

The break up hadn't been pretty. The pack had decided I was a threat to their safety and did their best to run me out of town. Adam wouldn't let anyone harm me physically, but that didn't mean they made life easy. They placed all the blame on me for Adam's instability after our split and made sure I suffered because of it. My regular customers dwindled slowly down to only the most loyal as rumors spread around about my shady reputation. None of it was true, of course, but that didn't matter much.

Eventually, I gave in and packed up. One day I was there, and then I wasn't. I drove until I didn't feel like driving anymore and stayed in a cheap motel for a couple of weeks. Eventually, I applied for the open position at the front desk and started working where I lived. Life fell into a routine, though it wasn't a fulfilling one. Living in a motel made it hard to find time to shift into my coyote form, which was the only time I could find solace from the turn of events life had taken.

One night, a man came in looking for a room to rent for a few days while his home was being remodeled. He had a cabin on his land that he'd been trying to rent out for a few months without luck. No one had been interested in staying there, not even him, because the place was secluded deep in a heavily wooded area of the mountains. He and everyone else he spoke with found the place creepy, which was why he was booking a motel room instead of staying there. It was perfect for me, as was the dirt cheap monthly rent.

My job working the front desk of the motel I'd stayed in earned enough money to pay the bills and buy food. It was all I needed. With a broken heart and lonely spirit, I had no interest in pursuing anything bigger and better. I simply wanted to live under the radar for awhile.

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Samuel's POV

Work at the emergency room had been slow all day. In the last hour of my shift, there had only been a man with chest pain that turned out to be nothing more than indigestion and a young boy with a sinus infection induced fever. The call of the moon had me restless, so I left the hospital as quickly as I could when the overnight doctor took over.

There wasn't much space to run near my house, but if I ran about 20 miles into the mountains, I could run and hunt freely through the forest. It was enough like home that I felt at ease there. A sense of calm overtook me as I ran towards my destination, running from the stress of the day and the lingering sense of loss that followed me at all times.

I'd loved her selfishly when she was young, wanting to take her simply for my own desires. That changed when I moved in with her for a few months, though. She had grown into a beautiful, strong woman. Her sassy attitude was the same as it had been but now it was backed up by the strength of a person who had made their own way in life. I found myself helplessly in love with the woman she'd become and no longer wanted her just for what she could give me. I wanted her because she completed me.

She chose another, though, so I left. I've wondered how different things would have been if I'd simply told her how my feelings had changed, but I hadn't.

Running was the only way I knew to clear my head. The crisp night air scented with pine trees was invigorating and helped me shed the strain of life. When I was far enough into the woods, I let myself go. Snow crunched beneath my paws as I picked up speed, dodging trees and chasing rabbits.

A familiar scent caught my attention but it couldn't be real. I hadn't truly smelled her since the day I left the Tri-Cities, though she often haunted me. The scent was comforting, though, so I followed it, knowing it would only lead me to a wild coyote.

As I came upon the clearing, I saw the form that had drawn me here. The female coyote I saw bathed in moonlight looked familiar but I knew it wasn't possible. Why would she be here in the mountains of Colorado?

She stopped abruptly and looked in my direction, completely ignoring the rabbit trail she'd been following. I still didn't believe it was truly her. The coyote would run away at any moment, realizing it was being followed by a larger predator.

Instead of running away, she put her nose up to scent the air, and then pranced across the snow to me without any sign of fear. She stopped hesitantly a few feet away but when I didn't move, she slowly came closer. As soon as she was close enough, she nuzzled the side of my face with hers and moved forward enough to place her head on the back of my neck.

I nuzzled her back, still shocked by meeting Mercy out in the woods of Colorado. She smelled completely of herself, no scent lingering of a mate or any other male. It didn't seem possible.

She stepped back and nipped my snout then crouched down playfully. I nipped her back before tackling her in the snow. She was as quick as ever, rolling away from me before I had her pinned. Running quickly through the snow, she disappeared into the trees and the chase was on.

We played for what must have been hours, chasing each other wildly through the forest, hunting and sharing rabbits when we got hungry and simply enjoying each other's company.

Eventually she signaled for me to follow her before racing off through the trees. I noticed the smell before I could see the cabin. The area smelled of Mercy, so I assumed she lived here.

She ran through a small doggy door that I'd never be able to fit through then must have shifted because the door opened a few seconds later. I was frozen in place for a moment when her fully naked form appeared in front of me. It had been a long time since I'd seen her nude and she still looked amazing.

After I walked through the door, I kicked it shut and looked around the small cabin. The front door opened to a living area that doubled as the kitchen. As I followed her further inside, we passed through a hallway with a small bathroom off to the side and entered what must have been the only bedroom. The room was filled with her scent and hers alone.

When we were in the bedroom, she said, "I have some sweats that you should be able to fit into if you want to shift back. They'll be a little small but they'll do."

She dressed and left the room to give me time to change. The pain of shifting was completely diminished by the excitement I felt at finding Mercy. I had no idea why she was here but I wasn't going to let this opportunity pass me by.

When I emerged from the room wearing sweats that were a few inches too short, she was standing at the stove warming up food that smelled like the roast I'd taught her to cook. She handed me a plate and pointed to the couch saying, "We'll have to sit over there. I never have company so I never had a reason to get a table. It probably wouldn't fit in here anyway."

She was right. The cabin was very small, but it was quaint and felt like home with Mercy here. We ate and talked like it hadn't been years since we'd seen each other. I told her the story of how I'd traveled the states for awhile before settling in the city nearby and she told me about the events that led to her living in this cabin. It was surreal, the coincidences that brought us together.

When it became clear that she was too tired to keep talking, I couldn't bring myself to change back to wolf form so I could run home. She saved me from it, though, by saying, "You could stay here, if you want. You can sleep on the couch and I'll drive you home in the morning."

In the end, she slept on the couch with me. I don't think she meant to fall asleep against my shoulder, but I didn't want to wake her just to have her leave my side. As I held her against me like I'd wished I could do so many times before, she filled all my senses and I slept more soundly than I had in a very long time.

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Mercy's POV

Samuel and I were rarely apart after the night he found me in the woods. When I woke the next morning, he didn't waste any time telling me how he felt about me. It shocked me but not entirely. Part of me knew he truly loved me but I had chosen not to be with him out of fear. I didn't want to be held captive by a dominant male, which I decided told him after he confessed his love for me.

His reaction as not at all what I expected. I had always known Samuel to be somewhat controlling but he didn't treat me like a child. Things were different between us than they'd been when I was young. My naivety in my teenage years had led to him treating me like a child in need of guidance but it wasn't that way anymore. He didn't care that I continued working at the motel, though he offered to take care of me if I wanted it and I agreed to live with him, and he never asked me to give him a child.

A few months into our relationship, I knew that's what I wanted. We were fully mated shortly after we found each other and I wanted nothing more than to give Samuel everything he'd ever wanted, so I stopped taking the pill but didn't tell him. Tonight was the night I would surprise him with the news when he got home from work.

My excitement made me jittery and I had trouble staying calm when I heard his truck pull into the driveway. I had snuck off to the doctor earlier in the day to buy a fetal monitor so I could make sure the heartbeat was audible. I wasn't sure but I thought with Samuel's heightened werewolf hearing he would be able to hear the heartbeat just by putting his ear to my stomach.

He'd been somewhat suspicious on the last full moon when I told him I didn't want to go running with him but I acted like I didn't feel well and he left me alone. It was true, I didn't feel well, but that wasn't because I had a stomach virus.

As soon as he saw came through the door and saw me sitting on the couch, he knew something was on my mind. Doing my best to look somber, I patted the cushion next to me and asked him to sit down.

Concerned clouded his face, "What's wrong, Mercy?"

"I need to you to listen to something." I said to him and put my hand behind his neck to pull his head down to my abdomen. He looked confused but didn't object. After a moment of pressing his ear to my stomach, he looked up at me in shock.

Samuel still didn't say anything but quickly knelt on the floor in front of the couch and pressed my shoulders down until I was lying flat on my back. Again he pressed his ear to my stomach just below my navel and listened.

When he looked up at me, there were tears in his eyes. A huge smile spread across my face and I couldn't stop myself from sitting up and kissing him. He pulled away and shocked me by saying, "I think there are two of them."

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Samuel's POV

Nervous didn't begin to describe how I felt about delivering my own children into the world. I had done it once centuries ago but had no recollection of it. This time it would be different.

Mercy hadn't suffered at all during her pregnancy by being unable to shift into coyote form. She said she missed it sometimes but was happy to stay in human form to keep our babies safe.

Curiosity had constantly had me wondering what form each child would take on. Would they be fully human or have a second form? If so, would they be coyote or werewolf, possibly capable of both?

We'd decided it would be best for the children to be born at home after Da told me Charles shifted to a wolf pup within days of his birth. A baby turned werewolf would be hard to explain with the general public believing it was only possible to become a werewolf after being ravaged by one.

Another strong contraction pulled me from my thoughts. It was time for Mercy to start pushing.

Both babies came swiftly and without complication. Mercy was strong and made me proud as she focused on giving birth without complaint, then stayed awake long enough to nurse both of our newborn children.

She dozed with our daughter in her arms as I held our son. He was alert for a baby only a few hours old with eyes the same arctic blue as my eyes in wolf form. I could tell already that he would shift into a wolf, and I suspected his wolf would look just like mine.

While Mercy rested, I spent hours holding both of my son and daughter, committing their scents and tiny features to memory. No matter what the future held, I would never forget them.

As the years passed, our son grew to be a great leader amongst the werewolves. He went to live with his grandfather to learn the ways of the Marrok when it became clear that he would likely assume the position one day.

Our daughter discovered she had a talent for spirit magic, much like her Uncle Charles, and could assume the form of a coyote or wolf at any time, though she had no desire to lead the wolves with her brother. She caught the eye of the Moor and led him on a merry chase while he attempted to win her heart. In time, she accepted him as her mate and settled down to tame the beast within him.

Mercy kept my life full of excitement and joy as we ran together beneath the moonlight exploring the world together.

A few decades after giving birth to the twins, she sat me down one day and with a big grin said, "Sam, I need you to listen to something."