Author's Note: I am soooo sorry that it's taken so long for me to update! I promise to try and update more from now on and hopefully get some of these stories finished! I hope you like this chapter and please review and let me know what you think! =D

XX

Chapter One

I awoke the following morning a few hours before dawn, my strength having returned thanks to the good nights sleep though not completely. I stretched languidly as I came fully awake and glanced at my darling daughter. Like me she had very dark brown, earthy coloured fur that would be perfect camouflage in a forest. The only difference in our coats was the small blob of white in the middle of her forehead that was remarkably shaped like a heart. And in that moment I knew what I would call her.

Cariad. (1)

She was my little love.

It didn't matter to me that she had not been conceived out of love. That wasn't something I could blame her for and I knew I could never hold it against her. It wasn't her fault that her father was a complete dick (whichever pack member he was – they'd often passed me from one to another and you tend to lose track after a while – a small mercy in such a situation but one that you grasp with such desperation that it's frightening).

I carefully climbed to my feet and leapt gracefully over my pup and onto the floor, managing to not disturb the bed. Feeling the lack of warmth my body had previously provided, Cariad woke with a little whimper and a wiggle and I gently picked her up in my mouth. She immediately quieted and I turned to face the door just in time for it to open revealing a very tired looking Bran. A look which quickly turned into shock.

"Good morning Harmony. I'm glad to see you're doing a lot better this morning." I wagged my tail briefly to show that I agreed, having my mouth full of pup preventing me from barking. "I'm afraid you're going to have to change for the trip. I've brought some clothes for you to wear and we'll pick up anything else we need before we get on the plane."

I blinked at him blankly as he put a bag on the end of the bed and opened his arms for my pup.

Not liking how overly familiar he was being I padded passed him and placed her on the bed with myself between him and Cariad, growling at him when he stepped forward to pick her up.

I growled warningly at him before starting my change and watched in satisfaction as his wolf used his instincts and settled down and though he settled himself into an unthreatening position, he was by no means submissive. Just calmly alert and assertive, letting me know he was safe but would protect the pup and I should the situation arise.

Reassured by what his body language told me, I closed my eyes for a moment and changed on the back of an exhale.

I became so focused on trying to get the clothes on that I almost forgot Bran was there until he stood by my side and started helping me dress, much too my embarrassment. I felt my cheeks heat up and knew that I was probably beet red. I felt ridiculous needing help dressing but I had spent so little time in human form in the last three years that I was unsteady in my movements. The only times I had been in human form was for their pleasure and those were times I'd rather forget. I knew it was only a matter of getting used to it again. I only hoped it wouldn't take too long.

I sat on the bed as Bran tied up my sneakers and reached over for Cariad. I carefully scooped her up and tucked her close to my body practically wrapping myself around her to keep her warm.

I needn't have worried it seemed as Bran produced a beautiful blue blanket from the bag and passed it to me. I quickly wrapped Cariad in it and made sure that her nose was close to my arm and stomach so that she could smell my scent clearly and would know it was still me who held her.

Bran helped me to my feet and wrapped a thick jacket around my shoulders. It was big enough that it fell forwards enough to cover most of Cariad bundled against me.

Placing a hand on my shoulder blade so that it looked like he had his arm around me, Bran led me down the hall, down the stairs and to the car. I was so lost in my daughter that I was oblivious to the stares that followed us out.

As promised we stopped a couple of times at different stores picking up so many things for myself and Cariad that I started to worry about how much Bran was spending on me.

"Do we really need all this?" I asked uncertainly as we walked back to the car he'd rented. The boot was already full and we were fast on our way to filling up the back seats and floor of the car. "Don't get me wrong. I really appreciate what you're doing for me and everything. I mean I know it's your job as Marrok an—" I broke off suddenly when I glanced up at him. His eyes were bright gold and furious. I shook slightly with fear and immediately dropped my eyes, unconsciously curling my body around my pup.

After having nothing for so long, suddenly having everything I could possibly need made my head spin. It also made me uncomfortable. At least if I didn't have anything, I didn't have to worry about leaving it behind if I needed to run.

I flinched so violently when he went to lay his hand on my shoulder that I almost fell on my ass if I hadn't quickly regained my footing. His growl had me trembling like I'd been out in the snow for hours in too thin clothes.

"They really did a number on you didn't they?" he questioned quietly but I knew better than to glance at him. That had never ended too well for me in Leo's pack. I wasn't going to see if I'd get a different reaction from him.

Instead of touching me again or trying to get me to look at him, Bran walked to the passenger door and opened it for me, having parked that side of the car along the sidewalk for safety reasons. Keeping my eyes down I climbed into the car and put my seatbelt on, sinking down into the seat, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. I knew that what Bran said was true. They really had done a number on me and it made me furious. In that instant I decided. No more. No one would ever treat like I was inferior again. Sure I'd have to work through all the issues they'd put into my brain but I refused to let that stop me.

Bran glanced at me from the corner of his eyes as I sat up straight, my head held high. I let out one full body shiver as though shaking the fear from my body, replacing it with the natural confidence and surety of the wolf. A predator that used whatever advantage it had to survive. And my advantage was great indeed. I was wolf. There was no separation between beast and man. We were one – which meant we were even more dangerous than them for the simple reason that there was no question of where one began and the other ended. You suddenly had all this knowledge of the wild, of the world, of how to react in different situations, instincts that told you everything you needed to know when you needed or wanted to know it… It was like becoming someone else but still being who you were before. It was having this knowledge and being able to use it by combining your instincts and logic to come to a decision.

SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS

As soon as we got on the plane, I placed Cariad, my pup, on the floor and stripped, changing back to wolf and curling up around her. I watched as Bran came over and kneeled in front of me, listening as he explained about taking Cariad out of the blanket but arranging it so that she was still lying on it. The head nod seemed to seriously throw him and he stood there for a moment just blinking at me. I gave him the equivalent of a wolf grin and flopped my tongue out of the side of my mouth and panted a couple of times.

He laughed at that and gently picked Cariad up, placing her on my front paws where I started to lick her coat clean. There was no way I was going to give her a proper bath until she changed to her human form and I had no idea when that would be or how I was going to feed her in public when she was in wolf form.

Bran waited patiently until I was done before picking her up and placing her on the arranged blanket and I growled at her as she started suckling, having bit down too hard. She quickly loosened up and I gave a growl of satisfaction as both Bran and the pilot watched. She had to learn to not bite too hard and growling was one of the few ways wolves could communicate.

I glanced at the pilot's amazed face. Bran had told me that he and his close family had been told about my situation and still the pilot look stunned. That didn't bode well for me.

People feared what they did not understand. I could only hope that it would be different for me.

My stomach fell away as expected when the plane took off and Cariad grumbled cutely, clearly not liking the feeling in the slightest.

The next few hours very quickly became a blur, as they often did after being locked in a concrete cell for the past couple of years. I felt no sense of discomfort at being stick in another small space for several hours. Bran's presence was a constant and comforting reminder that I was no longer alone and never would be again. And for someone who had spent the last couple of years with very minimal "human" contact, it was also disconcerting.

Bran sat and kept guard over us both as Cariad alternated between sleeping and feeding, his eyes full of wonder at everything that she did, his face relaxed and peaceful.

I could understand his feelings perfectly. She was an angel; every move or sound she made, every little fidget or soft snort of breath at my fur that tickled her nose, was precious and made my hear swell with love and joy.

When I'd found out I was pregnant I tried to not get attached to her. I knew that as soon as she was born, Isabelle would take her from me and the crazy wolf would raise her as her own. But it had been useless. From the second I felt that tell tale fluttering in my womb, I knew that I would do everything in my power to keep her from the clutches of that mad bitch and anyone who wanted or would hurt her.

For months I tried to come up with some sort of escape plan but I had already exhausted that list a few months after my initial capture and had lost my only chance of escape by helping Anna to escape. Admittedly she hadn't gotten far and had ended up in much of the same situation from what Boyd had said to me a couple of weeks later. But at least she had gotten out of the cell and had some measure of freedom now – a home, contact with her family and friends outside of the pack.

But in helping her to escape, I'd lost my only chance – they'd thrown me in the cage permanently after that and for years I had not even see the light of day.

The plane came down with a bump jarring me from my thoughts, causing me to growl. Cariad froze in her place but I nudged her towards me again, letting out a comforting grumble to reassure her that it was not her I was angry with. My body was still a bit tender from the birth; though everything was completely healed, the strain on my body from birthing a pup, my instincts told me, would still take a couple of days to heal.

I clambered to my feet carefully, picking Cariad up in my mouth but before I could take a step to the door, Bran moved to stand in my way. Instantly I backed up, years of conditioning pushing my body into a defensive position, my mind flying back to the many times they played this "game" with me – showed me an opening, let me relax and then cut it off, just so they could feel stronger in themselves and hurt me all over again.

Bran backed up slowly, his hands up in a surrender gesture. His words washed over me and brought me back to myself and the situation I was actually in.

"Calm yourself Harmony, I'm not going to hurt you or make any moves to do so. I just wanted to stop you before we got out of the jet. It's freezing weather out here in Montana," I felt marginal shock at the announcement of where we were, "if you take the pup outside without proper covering, she's going to freeze." Bran paused, waiting for the information to sink in and was rewarded a few moments later and my body relax out of its defensive position and I edged towards him.

Bran slowly lowered his hands and held them out to me and I carefully lowered Cariad into his hands, keeping my eyes on him as he wrapped her up in the blanket we'd used previously.

I followed closely at his heels as he left the plane, wading through the heavy snow, Cariad making plaintive mewls inside her warm blankety heaven. I grumbled a couple of times to let her know all was well and she quickly calmed down, snuggled as she was in her blanket and tucked in Bran's coat against his chest.

After digging the car out of the snow surrounding it, we were swiftly ushered into a 4x4 and I had to lay partly across Bran's lap for us all to fit with the pilot driving. His yawn and fatigued look worried me immensely. Clearly he'd done a lot in the past couple of days and I seriously wondered whether it was a good idea to let him behind the wheel. Clearly Bran had no such worry and we were soon on our way.

The heater was turned on full blast and Cariad placed on my back while Bran still held her. She quickly snuffled her little cold, wet nose into the fur at the back of my neck and I shivered when it touched my skin, grumbling slightly. Bu no matter how uncomfortable it was, it didn't take long for the combined heat from Bran's body and the heater to lull me off to sleep.

I was woken up, what felt like seconds later, by a blast of cold air as the driver's door was opened and I snorted in irritation, Bran chuckling above me. I grumbled loudly as we got out of the truck, stretching languorously as Bran stepped out behind me.

Cariad whined loudly for me and I jumped up to place my paw on the side of the car, careful not to nick it with my claws, and took a hold of the blanket with my teeth. Bran kept his eyes on me closely as I got down off the car but once satisfied that I wasn't going to drop her, he led the way to an old rustic Church I saw ahead of us.

A Church I knew was full of people – were and otherwise.

We made our way over to a man I could tell was Bran's son from his scent alone. He handed Bran a suit bag and a pair of black dress shoes (that looked like they would not protect his feet from the cold very well) and Bran moved into the foliage to change from the clothes he'd travelled in.

The colour of the clothes and the sent of mourning and death let me know that I was just about to attend a funeral for a complete stranger.

I grumbled to Cariad what was going on and she quickly relaxed out of her frozen position, whining for food and to go to the toilet. I was just about to lower her blanket to the floor when Bran's son stepped forward and went to take her from me. He was a stranger to me and was acting overly familiar with me and my baby and a snarl burst from my throat, hardly muffled by the blanket held in my teeth as I pulled back my lips.

Bran's voice came from behind one of the trees a few seconds before his body.

"I wouldn't do that again if I were you Samuel." Bran's eyes were clearly reprimanding and his son dropped his gaze, shoulders hunching – his entire posture telling his apology to his father and Alpha. "It's okay Harmony, Samuel means you and Cariad no harm." I glanced between the two, still apprehensive of this new person and their slightly unstable nature with their wolf. I was not letting him anywhere near my daughter.

I slowly made my way closer to Bran, keeping my eyes on his son the whole time, and placed Cariad in Bran's arms so he could undo the blanket without me having to lay it on the snow.

Moving towards the tree line, I laid myself down on my belly, placing Cariad on my front paws to keep most of her body minus her bum away from the snow, and started licking her coat. It didn't take her long to do her business and once she was done I quickly picked her up again, did my own and kicked lots of snow over it all.

Cariad began to shiver as soon as the cold air nipped at her bottom and I quickly retuned her to the blue blankets in Bran's arms where he wrapped her up and returned her to me.

I followed behind him into the Church, watching as a hush fell over the congregation and I did not like the sense of unease that moved through the Church. And from the whispers I realized what he'd done.

It angered me that the people here clearly didn't realize that if Bran hadn't done what he did then numerous lives would have been lost. To show my support I trotted up to the side of him and walked with my side pressed against his leg.

Bran looked down at me in and our eyes met. I could see the slight shock in them over my acceptance and I knew he could see in mine the reason. I had been tortured and abused because of a crazed wolf. He had done the right thing.

I could tell the moment he became at ease with his actions as something dark and tortured lifted from his eyes and even though he'd lost a dear friend, he had done the right thing and saved the lives of his friend's family before he could turn on them.

Once we'd made our way to one of the front pews, Bran once again took Cariad out of her blanket, his son spreading it along the floor at his direction so Cariad and I could both lay on it. I could feel the shock of the wolf portion of the congregation the moment Cariad was revealed – the truth their noses had been trying to tell them the moment we stepped through that door (that they had been ignoring), now became obvious. A pup had been born from two werewolf parents.

I ignored the internal struggle of the wolves present as they tried to bend their head around the idea, and flopped onto the blanket, allowing Bran to place Cariad at my stomach so she could feed once again. And once again I grumbled as she bit down too hard in her hunger and relaxed back as she continued to suckle.

(1) Cariad is pronounced *CARRYad*. It is a welsh name that means Love and I felt it was appropriate. Actually it just popped into my head. It felt a bit like naming my own child. X¬D

AN: So there you have it ladies and gentlemen! A new chapter! I promise to try and update soon! =) XXX