Garu looked up at Misa as she stood in front of him, her shining hair blowing in the blizzard and melding with the snow. Had he been hearing things? Did she call him her mate?

He stood up, prepared to protect her from Connor as the elk came back toward them with a knife in hand. He moved Misa behind him, letting out a long, low growl toward the elk walking toward them.

Garu and Connor both looked up as he heard the wolves of the pack howl in victory, the elks driven back from their land. Garu smiled at the triumph, looking back toward Connor. "You've lost, Connor. Go back to your herd and leave us alone."

"Never." Connor said darkly. "I'll never leave you alone. You took what was mine."

"I never took anything from you." Garu snarled. "If we fight, I will not show mercy to you, Connor. You've hurt my mate for the last time."

"Do you really think Misa will be happy with you, wolf? She already has a mate who can take care of her properly. I doubt you will even be able to have cubs." Connor sneered.

Garu growled angrily, shifting to his wolf form, done with words. It was time for action. He darted toward Connor, the elk backing up from the attack before shifting to his elk form and continuing his retreat backwards. He looked behind him to find a sharp drop off, stopping and lowering his antlers toward the wolf.

Connor charged toward Garu, snorting angrily as he aimed the tines of his antlers toward him. Garu dodged out of the way, but found himself suddenly near the cliff. He had fallen into a trap.

Connor bellowed in triumph, running toward Garu with antlers lowered, prepared to push the wolf over the side of the drop, the wolf trapped as he looked around for where to go. It was too high to jump- Connor's antlers were much taller than Norn's. He closed his eyes, hoping to at least not be impaled on the elk's tines.

Misa let out a loud bellow of her own, lowering her head and charging into Connor, meeting him just feet away from Garu and pushing him toward the side of the drop. He let out a terrified cry as he lost his footing, falling over the edge of the rocky cliff, his bellow sounding out until it fell silent when he fell onto the jagged rocks below. Misa scrambled as the edge of the cliff lost ground around her, crumbling below her hooves as Garu watched with horror. He quickly shifted to his human form, grabbing at her to keep her from falling, but couldn't keep a grip on her as she shifted to human form to try to grab onto his hand.

"MISA!" He watched her fall off the cliff, disappearing into the white snow that fell around them. He watched desperately for some sign of life, but saw nothing in the snow that obscured his vision of the ground below.

He looked for somewhere to climb down, finding a shallow ledge that led below. He searched through the snow, the wind blowing the cold flakes into his face so that it stung his skin as he looked for any sign of Misa. He stumbled on the bloody corpse of Connor, still in his elk form. He looked around for Misa, but saw her nowhere in sight. Where could she be?

"Garu?" A soft voice called out desperately from the snow. He looked over to see her hanging from a tree that grew out from the side of the cliff, hanging nearly fifteen feet from the ground. She was alive!

"Misa!" Garu yelled with relief, running under her and holding out his arms. "Go ahead and fall- I'll catch you."

Misa looked down at him nervously, her white dress ragged and torn from the branches that had caught her fall. She let go of the branch, letting out a yell of fear as she fell, but Garu caught her in his arms as he had promised. He fell from the force of the fall, both of them collapsing onto the ground.

He wrapped his arms around her tight, hugging her against him in relief that she was alive. "Don't ever scare me like that again." He whispered against her hair, his desperate hold on her lasting for long moments.

"I'm sorry- I couldn't let him push you over like that." Misa clutched him, digging her fingers into the thick pelts he wore. "I'm sorry I had to leave- that I had to say such terrible things. I saw a vision- you died in it." She let out a soft sob at the memory. "I had to change it. I couldn't let that come true."

"But you almost died." Garu protested, leaning far enough away from her that he could look down at her. He looked her over for any injuries, holding her against him again when he didn't see any.

Misa looked over to Connor, letting out a small gasp at the sight of his body. She buried her face in his chest, not wanting to look at it. "Take me home, please."

"To... the herd?" He asked uneasily, not knowing the answer anymore.

"No, to the pack." Misa whispered, not taking her face away from his chest.

Garu smiled warmly down to her, kissing the top of her had. "So... you want to be my mate?"

"I thought I already was." She looked up at him with a wry smile. "Now bring me back so we can seal the deal."

Garu flushed happily at the idea, hoisting her up in his arms, holding her against him as they walked back to the pack.


Gleddon looked up as someone approached, his black fur rising on end in alarm. He relaxed when he scented Garu, but squinted his eyes through the snow until he saw he was carrying someone. Misa was clinging to him as he walked, holding her arms around his neck as she leaned against him.

Gleddon sighed in relief at the sight, shifting to his human form as the wolves around him cleaned up the bodies of the elk that had fallen in the battle to save the pack. "Are either of you injured?" He asked, looking to Garu with more meaning behind the words.

"No, we're fine." Garu smiled back to his beta. "Would you mind... keeping people out of the female tent for a while?"

Gleddon smiled happily and let out a laugh of amusement that made Misa blush crimson. "Of course, alpha. Congratulations on your mating."

The other wolves howled happily at the words, those who hadn't heard whispering in confusion before letting out their own happy yells.

Garu walked over to the tent, pulling back the flap and closing it behind them. He lowered Misa down onto the thick pelts that lined the ground of the tent, lying down beside her. He ran a hand through her white hair, looking down at her with warm eyes. "So you saw a vision where I died?"

Misa nodded, not liking to remember it. "In the vision, we stayed after the howl and... mated." She blushed at the words. "The following morning, the elk invaded the camp before the wolves had all woken up. Connor held me captive... and forced you to shift back to human form or he would kill me. Norn killed you from behind. It was terrible..." She hugged him again, to remember that it hadn't happened. "After that he found out we were mated, maybe even with cub. He... he killed me, too."

Garu let out a low angry growl, holding her against him again. "He's dead, Misa. He'll never bother you again." He kissed her forehead reassuringly. "So you said those things to me to keep me away from you?"

"I thought maybe if I went back to Connor, he'd call off his attack on the pack and no one would get hurt." She shook her head. "I was wrong- but it did change what happened. They attacked at night instead of during the day, and there was no blizzard in my vision."

"Either way- change it, you did. I'm just glad you're back." He smiled, resting his cheek against her soft white hair. "Are you sure you want to be mated to a wolf? Connor had a point- I'm not sure if we could have cubs."

Misa smiled up at Garu, rolling them over until she was on top of him. "Perhaps not, but we could have fun trying, right?" She smiled down to him.

Garu grinned back up to her, moving a lock of hair that had fallen in front of her pretty pink eyes. "Aye, lots of fun." He chuckled. He leaned up and kissed her, the heat of the mating bond flaring within him. "Are you sure you want this, Misa? This is your last chance." He said huskily.

"Shut up and mate me, Garu." Misa growled, leaning down to kiss him.