HOLY SHIT! I"M NOT DEAD! *chuckles*

Okay, for those that don't know, I have a very busy end and start of year. I am working hard to get this story, as well as some other surprises, finished in the very near future. I'm not gonna apologize for a hectic time the last couple of weeks, nor would it be all that heartfelt when it comes to RL vs FL.

On with the next chapter!

~Kouga's Eternal.

A whine sounded on the otherwise silent air, ending a very tense standoff between Kouga and Lord Touga. The wolf prince had flat out refused to allow him anywhere near the unconscious heiress, and had more than once crossed the line into violence to keep him away. Nothing Inu No Tashio said would get Kouga to back down, and nothing Kouga did made the Lord leave the room as the prince clearly wanted.

Not even Kouga's own father could get through the crimson veil that covered his cub's eyes.

It didn't reseed until Kagome made that tiny, quiet noise, then the entire scene in the infirmary changed in an instant. No, Kouga still didn't allow the adults present near the pallet she was on, but he wasn't growling at their every movement like he had been for the last two days. Not only would he snarl or snap his teeth at them, he wouldn't listen to anything they had to say. He didn't give a fuck if the man said he was her father. He wasn't getting close to her while she was sleeping. And if they thought the prince was bad with the Western Lord, it didn't hold a candle to what happened when Sesshoumaru walked into the cave. Kouga hit the roof and attacked without provocation or care to the fact he was hurt and still suffering from massive blood loss.

Up to that point, it had been assumed Kagome herself had dealt the injury Kouga had on his arm while trying to defend herself. With both of them out cold, and all injuries, sanes the one to Kagome's thigh, were claw and bite marks, which either one could have easily given the other. With Kagome being both venomous and poisonous, Kouga's state would have come about if he bit her or she bit him, and with neither one being able to give the recount, that's exactly what everyone thought.

However, the two lords began to look at the situation very differently when Kouga started doing everything in his power to keep every male he saw away from her. He had no problem with the women that were tending the puppy, but if a man got within fifteen feet of her, he was on them like the stench on a warthog's ass. Nothing in his actions said they had fought against each other. He was acting far less like a victim and far more like a male protecting his incapacitated mate.

When Touga found them, they had been alone, and Kouga was nearly bled dry while Kagome had a distended belly. He had also seen her remove her teeth from Kouga's arm, but he had thought that was the killing blow. Now, he knew better. He just didn't know the full story.

That thought shook him to his very core, and the implication set a rock in his gut. Dropping his face into his palm, Touga let out a hard breath and simply shook his head when the Eastern Lord quietly asked what they were going to do. It was clear from the tone of voice he had drawn the same conclusion, and Touga had no answer. It was too late to do anything, and even if there HAD been something, it would have without doubt killed Kouga because he was so low on blood as it was. Picking his head up and looking at the two young demons, he spoke just as low. "Clearly, they have both absorbed the blood of the other, and they are both still alive. There is no longer anything we can." Turning his eyes to only look at his daughter, he sighed again before finally turning to look at Ryushi. "The linguistics of what is to come can wait. We both know what this means. I am far more interested in why it happened at the moment."

Though Ryushi didn't fully agree with dropping the subject of the cubs' futures, he was just as interested in how a mating of all things came about. Turning his own sights on the young, he cleared his throat. "Kouga." When he was given a growl in response, Ryushi finally growled back, bringing Kouga up short. "That is enough, Cub. She's fine, and after a meal and a few more days lazy rest, as will be her leg. So, you can settle the fuck down, now." He gave Kouga a moment before he pointed a thumb over his shoulder. "Come. Let the pup rest for now. We need to speak with you."

Though it was clear he in no way wanted to listen, Kouga nodded and, after a look down at the once again sleeping pup, he followed his father and the Western Lord out of the cave.

Before they were completely out, Lord Ryushi turned back and looked at the assembled staff. "It will be dark within the hour. Light every torch you can find and keep them burning. We do not need a repeat of the last time she was in the dark." Once he was got the expected chorus of 'Yes, My Lord', he nodded and left.

Taking the lead of the other two, Ryushi led them a distance from the cave and prying ears before he turned to his son, who wouldn't remove his eyes from the entrance of the cave. Clearing his throat roughly, he crossed his arms when Kouga finally looked at him. "Can you tell us what happened between when you found the pup and Lord Touga found you?"

Kouga shook his head as he crossed his good arm over his chest. "All I really remember is an ogre. A big fucking ogre." He then closed his eyes, and tried to force the memories to come to him. "I was following the scent of blood and found her, completely terrified, staring down a really big fucking ogre. I knocked her out of the way and I know I fought with it, but that's all I can remember."

The lords looked at each other but it was Touga that spoke next, his voice careful. Kouga, though older than Kagome, was still under his century mark, and this could, in all actuality, set him off again. "You don't remember drinking her blood, or why you did?"

Kouga's eyes snapped open, locking hard on Touga's. "What?"

Treading carefully, he nodded. "We know you exchanged blood, but we have yet to figure out why. Think, hard, because this is important."

The word 'exchanged' sent ice down Kouga's spine. He knew what that meant. His head snapped to look back at the cave, his jaw lax and eyes wide. "She's..."

Both lords nodded and Kouga was off like a light, ignoring both elders as they called after him. He had no intention of yelling at her for it, but he needed to know what happened far more than their parents. This didn't effect them, but it changed everything for both he and her. Stopping when he got to her bedside, Kouga barked for everyone to leave, turning threatening when they didn't listen. This was not going to be done with an audience, and he didn't give a shit. This was going to be very difficult, more for her than him, and he wanted her comfortable enough to talk.

He crouched next to her and picked up her arm, turning it over where he saw his teeth marks in her tiny little wrist before he then looked at his own arm, seeing hers in his. With a sigh, he lightly scratched at her scalp, speaking quietly in her ear, asking her to wake up. Leaning back, he grinned at her when she opened her eyes. "Hey there, Little One."

Kagome, only part way awake, groaned again before she blinked to clear her vision, smiling back when she saw the face of the wolf that saved her. "You're alive."

Kouga just grinned wider. "All thanks to you, from what I hear." Getting a little more serious, he let out a short breath and looked her in the eyes. "Can you tell me what happened? I don't remember much."

With a nod, Kagome, with Kouga's help, sat up and gave him what she herself was able to remember. He listened as she spoke, learning he was literally only alive because of what she did. Had she not, he would have been killed by the ogre, making the mating between them a little easier to swallow. Not much, but enough for the fire in his belly to go out a bit. He was brought back to the cave when she spoke after a long pause. "You never did tell me your name."

Brow rising, he just clicked his tongue. "Kouga." When she went to give her name, he just smirked. "I know who you are, Kagome. But, I do have another question for you." He waited for her nod before he continued. "How old are you?" He dropped his face into his palm when she said she was sixty-five summers. He hadn't even know it was possible for a mating to happen prior to seventy-five, but apparently, it was very possible, because it happened.

Taking a moment to formulate what he wanted to say and not make it sounds as horrible as it did in his head, he scratched his temple and fully sat down. "Alright, Little One. More than you just saving my life happened, and I'm going to do my best to explain it. But, if I'm going to do that, I need you to stay calm and not get upset. Think you can do that?"

Brows drawing at his words, Kagome picked at the fur she was covered with. "Did I do something wrong? I did exactly what I did before."

Nose wrinkling, Kouga shrugged. "Not necessarily wrong, but there is a big difference between what you did with your general and what you did with me."

Kagome shook her head. "No, I did exactly the same thing. I used my blood to over take what he was poisoned with, then I took it out, just like I did with you."

Kouga cocked a brow. "Did you swallow his blood when you removed your poison?" Giving her a moment to think, he continued when she shook her head. "That's the difference. When you had me drink your blood, and then you actually swallowed mine, it created something between us called a blood bond. Do you know what that is?" He sighed when she shook her head, and left with little option than being blunt about it, he gave it to her in the simplest terms. "It's the first stage of the mating process."

Deciding to give her a moment for that to sink in, Kouga took that same time to figure out where to take the conversation from there. He wasn't lying when he said it wasn't necessarily a bad thing, but it did come with a plethora of issues, her age not withstanding. He had never heard of anyone her age creating this kind of bond, and he wasn't, at all, sure what was going to come from it. He knew there was the possibility of it coming out on the wrong side of fucked up, but he wasn't sure how.

He did know, though, he couldn't really be angry. Truth be told, if not for it, he wouldn't even be alive to be angry. That in itself left him a little low on the morality scale. It was never, EVER, the female's job to save the male. It was always the male's job to protect the female. If he couldn't, he was pretty much deemed unworthy to have her.

Talk about a kick to the dick.

Not only was his life saved by a female, she was over twenty years younger than he was, and not even fully aware of what she did. Taking in her scent, she was more upset than anything, but from her posture, he wasn't convinced it was because of his revelation.

Deciding the silence had stretched out long enough, Kouga licked his lips. "Do you have questions, Kagome?"

He barely heard her. "What is a blood bond besides that?"

He first looked to the ceiling in thought before returning his eyes to the pup, who looked way too pale, he hummed in his throat. "Well, for me, it tells me where you are and what you're feeling. It's a way for me to know if you're in trouble and need me. I can't speak for what it does to you. I don't know. Your mother probably does, though."

Kagome dropped her eyes to her lap. "I don't know her." Turning away, Kagome glared at the wall. "I was three when she found out Daddy wasn't going to mark her either."

Unable to stop himself, he cut in. "Either?"

Looking at him, Kagome lifted a shoulder. "Well, with my brother's mother, there wasn't really an expectation of mating. It was just a coupling to produce an heir, but no one outside the family knew that. So, my mother just thought Sesshoumaru's mother wasn't good enough for Daddy. My mother and father ran into each other right before mother went into heat, and... Anyway, Daddy never made any indication he was going to take her as a mate, and as time passed and he finally made it clear he didn't need a mate, nor did he want one, she took me away then left me on my own without telling anyone, Daddy included. It took him and Sesshoumaru nearly a year to find me after she left. I haven't seen her since. Daddy has a kill on sight order for her."

Good for daddy, he thought, though he kept that off his face when Kagome turned to look at him again.

Her face was sad and her eyes wet. "I'm sorry, Kouga. I didn't mean for this to happen. I just didn't want you to die for trying to help me."

Unable to help it, Kouga smiled as he set his hand on hers. "Don't be too sorry, Little One. I'm only alive because of what you did. Like I said, this isn't necessarily a bad thing. Challenging? Sure. Complicated? Absolutely. But not necessarily bad."

Swallowing hard, Kagome looked him in the eyes. "Promise?"

Kouga's smile widened. "I promise."