Disclaimer: Not Mine!

Warnings: Yaoi. Shounen Ai. Mpreg.

'……' thoughts

"……" speech

Enter the Wolf's Den

By: wolf demoness

Chapter Fifteen: Epithalamium

It was late at night when Koga finally crept back into his home. Sure he could have slept in the main hall, but it wouldn't look good for him to let another wolf drive him out of his home, even if that wolf was Yuuka. Peering into the main hallway from his place outside the barely opened front door, he saw a light shining from one of the back rooms that he fervently hoped was Kaede and Inuyasha. Slowly he opened the door and slipped in. Swiftly he closed the door behind him, taking care that the hinges wouldn't creak giving away his presence to any she-wolves lurking in the shadows, possibly with razors intent on desecrating that perfectly groomed appendage that was Koga's tail. Yes, Koga would freely admit that he was a little vain where his tail was concerned, but wasn't he allowed to have quirks too? If only Yuuka hadn't figured that out though he wouldn't currently be in this position. The she-wolf was getting too far out of line. Public embarrassment was one thing, but Koga just wasn't sure that he liked Yuuka exploiting his teensy little infinitesimally small preoccupation with his tail for her own benefit and as if that weren't bad enough, now Inuyasha seemed to have no compunctions about using his tail to threaten him. Koga sighed heavily; this just really wasn't shaping up to be a great day for him. Not that he wasn't happy to see Yuuka, though she'd done little to endear herself to him recently, but she'd upset some rather important plans he'd had for the day and then there was the whole running and hiding thing to consider. 'Well,' Koga thought, 'there's always tomorrow.' Now he just had to get to his room unseen and hope that Yuuka forgot about the whole tail shaving thing by the time he woke up. Koga momentarily grimaced as a mental image of what he'd look like once Yuuka got through with him popped unbidden into his head. Maybe he'd barricade his door tonight, just to be on the safe side.

He began to make his way down the hall, keeping to the shadows and stepping around the boards in the floor that he knew would groan if he put his weight on them. The Alpha slipped from shadow to shadow like a specter, when he was just in view of his room he paused. Koga didn't hear any sounds coming from his bedroom and Yuuka's scent was faint on the air. She'd been in the hallway earlier, but she hadn't passed by in at least a couple of hours. Deciding to chance his luck Koga made a quick dash for his room. As he passed an empty guest's room he was pulled bodily into the darkened chamber. A hand was firmly clamped over his mouth and his arms were pinned to his sides.

Instinctively Koga started to panic and struggle against his unknown assailant. He writhed in the vice like grip he was caught in trying to get free. "Shhh. You should have stayed in the forest," a familiar voice whispered into the wolf's ear. Realizing that he wasn't in any danger, Koga stopped his struggles and stood still in the hanyou's arms. "She's still mad at you," Inuyasha's warm breath ghosted over Koga's ear making him shiver ever so slightly. After a brief moment Inuyasha removed his hand from it's place over Koga's mouth.

"Where is she?" Koga whispered making no move to escape the hanyou's grasp.

"Talking with Kaede," Inuyasha said abstractedly as he ghosted a thumb over the wolf's cheek in a feather light touch; mentally he noted how soft the flesh there was. Koga's cheeks were cold from the winter air he'd run through to get back to his home. The wolf had been chilled to the point of shivering when he'd come in the door, but he was rapidly warming with the borrowed heat he was collecting from Inuyasha's body. Koga relaxed into the warm embrace. Relishing the relief the hanyou's body provided from the biting chill that had pervaded his body and savoring the feeling of heat soaking into his numbed limbs. The dark haired wolf turned slightly so that he could rest his head in the crook of the half demon's neck.

"Inuyasha," Koga began, "I want to ask you something."

Inuyasha shifted Koga slightly in his arms before he bent his head, pressing his nose to the nape of the Alpha's neck. Koga gasped when he felt the half demon deeply breathe against his skin. Inuyasha's long hair fell over the wolf's shoulder and curtained his chest in a silvery cascade. Absently Koga noted that his breathing was slightly shaky as the hanyou tightened his hold on the captive wolf's waist. Realizing his vulnerable position with the other demon's fangs mere centimeters from the exposed skin of his throat, Koga tried to extricate himself from the half demon's grasp. A low growl from the hanyou's throat stopped the wolf's attempted escape. Koga froze, his muscles rigid, and his heart racing, caught somewhere between excitement and anxiety. The Alpha wolf closed his eyes and for several long moments counted the passage of time by the pounding throb of his frantically beating heart. Slowly Inuyasha loosened his grasp and drew back. The half demon took Koga's hand and led him across the darkened chamber to sit in a corner where a small candle caused the room's shadows to dance about the pair. When the two were settled, resting against each other, Koga firmly ensconced in Inuyasha's arms, the half demon asked, "What is it?"

"Your strength is coming back. What were you planning to do when you could leave?" Koga asked quietly.

"The jewel's not finished. I should find Kagome and the others and help them put it back together," Inuyasha said as he gently rested his head against Koga's.

"I don't want you to," Koga said impulsively, the words flying from his mouth thoughtlessly and unwilled. "Stay here." Inuyasha turned his head to look the demon in the face. Koga glanced downward, struggling to recall all that he'd wanted to say, but being unable to remember a single word of the carefully phrased speech he'd agonized over for just this occasion. Feeling the other demon's eyes on him and knowing that he could not remain silent any longer Koga lifted his gaze to meet the hanyou's questioning amber orbs. "I want you to stay here…with me."

"Koga, I…" Inuyasha began. Koga silenced the hanyou by pressing a finger to the hanyou's lips.

"As my mate," Koga looked down blushing. He'd never asked anyone something like this before. It was so much easier just to make an official declaration and move on from there, it was far less…personal. "I don't want you to leave. Those humans don't deserve your loyalty, not after what they did to you. I like having you here and I…" Inuyasha cut the wolf's ramblings short by fisting a hand around the wolf's pony tail, tilting his face upward, and kissing him with bruising force. He was startled at first, but after a moment Koga responded eagerly. When the need for air made itself known the two broke their kiss and greedily gulped air into oxygen starved lungs. "Is that a yes?" Koga was the first to speak.

Inuyasha gave a low chuckle, "That's a yes."

"Good," Koga said before diving in for another taste of the half demon's lips.

******

They told no one of what had happened between them, though Koga came to suspect that Ginta had guessed. He never could hide anything from Ginta; they'd known each other far too long for that. Koga went about his daily duties lost in an euphoric joy that seemed infectious. He was so happy. It was the most amazing sensation to love and be loved by your chosen. He'd never had that with Kagome and he could never have dreamed how much he had been missing. The pack members were overjoyed to see their normally serious and proper Alpha playing like a cub again with the youths on the practice fields and conducting business in Council with an almost palpable joy. The only perplexing, or bothering, aspect of Koga's greatly improved mood, depending on how the situation was viewed, was that it seemed centered around the hanyou they'd taken into their midst. There were several times that the Alpha wolf called a half-day in the Council and left to spend the holiday with his guest and second in command. Though once the trio had passed the prying eyes of the pack and was safely secluded in the forest bordering the den Ginta would casually wander off, tacitly understanding that the two wanted time alone together.

It wasn't long before the whispers originating in the Council chamber became a dull roar; hidden just outside of the Alpha's hearing. And like a poisonous miasma the Councilor's suspicions leaked out into the pack. There was some debate within the pack. Many of the wolves believed that if the half demon made Koga so happy he should be able to mate him. The younger wolves, who were especially loyal to Koga, were very enthusiastic to add the hanyou to the pack. Inuyasha had won the hearts of the people and they were, for the most part, eager to call him "brother." Only the older wolves, who trusted in the history and traditions of the pack to keep them strong, objected to the union. Koga, for his part, was so preoccupied that he didn't even notice the dissention starting within his pack until an old friend called him on it.

"Koga, we need to talk."

"Aw Yuuka, you're not gonna give me another lecture again, are you?" Koga winced at the memory of all the resounding yells he'd been forced to endure while Yuuka had berated him for "his unparalleled stupidity" in letting the hanyou reopen his wounds and develop an infection. Normally he wouldn't let anyone speak to him that way, he was the Alpha after all, but this time he figured that he deserved it and so he let Yuuka vent to her heart's content.

"No, I think I've pounded that into your rock hard head well enough," Yuuka replied as she led the Alpha to her hut. When they arrived Yuuka poured tea for the both of them and waited until Koga had settled himself and was half way through with his tea before she began. She made small talk, confining the conversation to trivial matters, before trying to find an opening in the conversation where she could interject what she had to. Though Yuuka was loath to begin. The she-wolf couldn't remember a time when she'd seen Koga so happy, but she had a duty. A duty to her brothers and sisters in the pack and, perhaps most importantly, a duty to Koga himself. If Koga should travel down the road that she now saw he intended upon, he would suffer greatly. Though there was some talk in the pack of removing the mating restraints on the Alpha, such talk was confined to the idealistic youths of the pack. In short, the ones who were in no position to help the Alpha should it come to pass that he do this thing. By the power and judgement of the elders in the Council, Koga would be labeled an inside detractor and a detriment to the well being of the pack. A punishment that carried with it a sentence of death or worse, banishment. Banishment being worse than death for the proud Alpha. Yuuka knew that Koga would not survive the loss of his position, even if he had a strong mate beside him.

Yuuka sighed softly, but deeply. It broke her heart to have to be the one to bear this message, but what could she do? Koga had chosen to abide by these laws when he became the Alpha, he couldn't ignore them now. Yuuka would not let him. Koga was as dear to her as anyone she'd ever met. If only she'd met Koga before Yori, her departed mate, she would have…. Yuuka paused, leaving the thought unfinished. It didn't matter what she would have done. There was nothing she could do to change the past, but there was a way to save the life of the man before her, if only she had the courage and the will to do it. To end his happiness and take the knowledge that she had committed that crime against her pack brother on her continence forever. She had to be strong and do it swiftly, like setting a broken bone or removing an arrow from a wound, the work must be done quickly so that the patient does not writhe too long in agony. "Koga?" Yuuka called softly from her place directly across from him.

"Yuuka," the Alpha replied, favoring the woman with a small smile that was really just a quirk of his lips at one corner.

"You can't have him, Koga," she said, filling her voice with determination that in truth she did not feel.

"What?" the Alpha asked startled.

"Inuyasha. You can't have him."

Koga set his tea down on the ground before him, "Yuuka, I don't know why you…"

"I'm not blind, Koga. The entire pack knows or at least suspects what is going on between the two of you." Yuuka reached out to take Koga's hand. "Koga, I know that he makes you happy. I can see it, but you have a duty to the pack that you can't ignore."

Koga smiled encouragingly at Yuuka and warmly gripped the woman's hand. "Yuuka, I swear to you my interest in Inuyasha does not interfere with any duty I have toward the pack. I will never abandon my duties to my people."

"What are you up to, Koga?" Yuuka eyed him suspiciously.

"Well, I thought it was a good speech," Koga groused.

"Not good enough if you were trying to fool me. What are you planning?" Yuuka stood to glare at the wolf in her hut. Here she was trying to help him and he was playing games with her!

"I'm going to mate with him."

Yuuka fell to her knees before the Alpha and tried to reason with him, "Koga, you can't…"

"I love him, Yuuka!" Koga shouted startling the both of them. "I won't let him go," he whispered.

"I know," she said fighting back the tears that threatened. "I know you do, but Koga, the Council…" Yuuka began.

"Won't have anything to complain about," the Alpha wolf interrupted.

Yuuka sighed and sat back on her haunches, "Explain." This was too much for her; she was developing a throbbing headache. Mentally Yuuka wondered if she still had some willow bark she could boil for the pain or if she'd be forced to go gather some later, she really needed to recruit someone to help her inventory her herbs.

"He's a Harbinger, Yuuka," Koga said with just a touch of amazement in his voice. "That means that he's fair game. The Council won't object," Koga said that same small smile playing at the corner of his lips as his gaze seemed to turn inward for a moment. Yuuka didn't have to ask to know what he was thinking of, or rather who.

Yuuka rose to pace the single room of her home. She rubbed her forehead and tried to figure out just who she was going to have to maim, Koga for deceiving her and trying to get out of his obligations, or Inuyasha for lying to her friend. "So let me get this straight, you're in love with Inuyasha?"

"Yes," Koga answered absently, still lost in his daydream.

Yuuka took a deep breath and nodded, "And he, as a Harbinger, fulfills the qualifications pack law sets for your mate." Koga nodded his reply. "Did he tell you this?"

The Alpha wolf turned his head to look at the pacing demoness and after a long moment of observation replied, "No, I saw the mark."

Disappointing. She was going to have to beat sense into Koga. "When?"

"It was right after the fever started again. I arranged for Kaede to come to the den and when I was unwrapping the bandages for her I saw it."

Yuuka noted that it was a plausible answer. Not only did it keep with the mythology of the Harbinger, but it would also explain why she hadn't seen the mark herself. "Is it still there?"

"No, it faded after Kaede took over his care."

Yuuka nodded to herself. "I'm going to go speak with her."

"Yuuka," Koga leapt up from his place on the floor, "you won't tell anyone about this, will you?" he said, desperate for her secrecy, his authority to command her silence gone in the face of his admission.

"Not unless I'm convinced you're not being toyed with," the woman growled her green eyes flashing.

"Yuuka!" Koga said offended. "Give me some credit. I'm not a complete idiot. I know how farfetched it sounds, but it's true!"

"Then prove it to me," Yuuka challenged. So Koga took Yuuka to see Kaede and there the old woman confirmed what Koga had told her. It took time and oaths that they were telling the truth from not only Koga and Kaede, but from Ginta and Inuyasha as well. When the she-wolf was finally convinced she became ecstatic at the prospect of her best friend's imminent marriage. Which is also how Kaede and Ginta found out about the betrothal.

******

Yuuka turned out to be a splendid asset to the small group of conspirators. One of the main issues that faced the pair was how to find a way to escape for a few days and commence with solidifying the mating bond without causing suspicion within the Council. Since Koga had ordered Yuuka to take an apprentice, between bouts of cowering and hiding from her, Yuuka decided that she'd announce to the pack that she has chosen to train Ginta and that she wants to take him into the wilds for a few days to study in solitude. Koga would announce that he wanted to observe the apprenticeship and pick a Councilor to leave in charge. As they made preparations to go out into the wild Inuyasha would make a pretense of escorting the Lady Kaede back to her village. The two groups would set out on different days, meet up somewhere in the mountains, then Inuyasha and Koga would go off to some very nice hot springs in the area while Ginta, Kaede, and Yuuka waited for them to get back.

It was a good plan and it went off without a hitch. In fact, Koga noticed that some of his Councilors looked distinctly relieved to see the half demon leave. Rather than that making him angry, Koga was elated. No one suspected a thing. The Alpha wolf could hardly wait. Just a few more days and Inuyasha would be all his, forever. Just the thought of it sent chills racing down his spine. Koga carefully arranged the scouting missions and guard duty for the area they'd be in a few days in advance. On his timetable, they'd be the only ones in the area for nine days, any longer than that would have raised suspicions in the Council. After three days Ginta, Yuuka, and Koga set out into the wild. They walked for a day and a half before meeting up with the priestess and the hanyou. Koga grew more impatient with each passing mile and his friends were greatly amused to see the Alpha so anxious. They arrived at Inuyasha and Kaede's campsite by midday on the second day of their departure. The Alpha wolf and the silver haired hanyou immediately said a rather hurried goodbye to the rest of the troop and set out for the hot springs.

The two arrived just as night fell. They hunted together and roasted the meat they'd caught over a pleasantly warm fire they'd made. When dinner was finished and camp was set the two passed a very pleasurable night in the hot springs. Koga was deeply in love with his mate. He felt that he was the luckiest wolf in the world, especially when he saw his feelings mirrored in the half demon's amber eyes. They slept underneath the stars wrapped in each other's arms and when Koga awoke on the third day at the springs he smelled something different. There was something new in his mate's scent it took him a moment to identify the new odor. Inuyasha's eyes blinked open wearily. He smiled up at his mate as Koga leaned over him. "What is it?" he asked, his brow furrowing in confusion when he noticed the wolf's strange behavior.

"You're in heat."

Inuyasha sniffed the air around them; "I don't smell it."

Koga leaned forward to kiss the silver haired demon's brow, "Do you want to stop?" he asked gently.

Inuyasha thought for a moment, "No," he said as he pulled his mate down to meet his lips.

Two days later and on the morning the pair had chosen to leave their little sanctuary Koga woke to yet another change in his mate's scent. He could smell it. His child was growing within his mate's body. Koga was the happiest wolf in the world. He woke Inuyasha up to dance around the clearing with him, the half demon of course thought that his mate had lost it until he noticed the subtle shift in his personal odor that betrayed his pregnancy to anyone with a nose keen enough to smell it. Inuyasha smiled at his mate's antics as Koga continued to bounce around the campsite happily until they were ready to leave. "Come on you mangy wolf. We gotta get going," Inuyasha called when the time had come to set out for their meeting with the other three.

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A/N:

1) My thanks to everyone who took the time to review! I love feedback!

2) I'm sorry that this took so long, but I've gone insane and decided to sign up for an extra class this quarter and I'm toying with the idea of picking up a minor. Yep, I'm waiting for the men in white coats to come and take me away. Should be here any day now. ~_^