Kouga wanted to laugh at both the irony and unfairness of it all. Aayme should be happy. She had what she wanted. Power, leadership and an unwavering dedication from her Mate. That was something that he never would have been able to give her. So Aayme should be jumping to the moon and back.
Wrong.
He knew the little she-wolf better than that. She had what she wanted, not who she wanted. Not that it mattered now. He would be lying if he said he wasn't grateful that he no longer had to deal with her. She was forever out of his hands now. As Reiko had said, Mating was for life. Just one less thing for him to deal with. He had his hands full with Kagome.
Kouga ran a hand through his tussled hair as the sun began to set in the distance, casting shadows over the already darkening forest. The day had been eventful to say the least. And his Kagome, she hadn't hesitated in challenging Reiko with her strong dislike. He admired his would-be Mate for her courage in going against his Alpha. And Reiko? He was essentially Kagome's Alpha.
He grimaced.
There was still so much that Kagome didn't understand.
More than once he had to guide her towards safer words, consoling her into a calm temper. Reiko may not take offense to Kagome mocking and challenging him, but for how long? Others may not be so kind to watch blindly. Kagome didn't understand. Kouga did. And things wouldn't go over so well for either side if Kagome let loose on Reiko. She may be human, but she was a force to be reckoned with.
"Where's your Mate?"
Kouga rolled his stiff shoulders as the echoing footsteps crunched to a stop in the brush beside his. His blue eyes watched Sango's hut from a distance, his eyes moving over the flickering candlelight through half open windows. He nodded his head towards the hut. "Where's yours?" Kouga questioned in return.
"Exactly where she's supposed to be." Reiko said with male smugness and pride.
Kouga rolled his eyes. He knew well what that meant. Newly Mated pairs rarely left their den in the beginning. They were too focused on each other to do anything else. The Heat of Mating was called Heat for a reason and he admired Reiko for his strength in coming here while in the throes of Mating Heat. Reiko may have dragged Aayme from their Den, but he wasn't slacking in those responsibilities.
"Why are you still here?" Kouga asked the obvious. They had come and seen and Kagome was with child. His cub.
"Eager to get rid of me, eh?"
That was putting it mildly.
"I plan to be here when she gives birth."
Kouga's shoulders tightened and he finally looked at the other Wolf Demon. "Why?"
"The Alpha is always there when the females give birth, or have you forgotten that, Kouga? I think your human is wearing on you."
Kouga bit his tongue. Kagome had done more than wear on him. She had changed every aspect of his life since the moment he had kidnapped her all those years ago. Reiko didn't have to be here. These circumstances were different; but so was Kagome and so was their child.
Kagome wasn't going to take too kindly to Reiko wanting to remain.
What did Reiko want? Surely he wasn't stupid enough to think he could take the pup. For what reason? Punishment? No. Kouga knew Reiko wasn't that foolish. What did he want?
"She's strong for a human."
Kouga acknowledged that with a small grunt. Strong willed, even if not physically strong.
"Feisty, too."
Kouga turned his head and bared his teeth at Reiko. "Watch it." He knew very well how a Wolf could take 'feisty'. They saw it as a challenge. And they often took that challenge. Kagome was feisty. She was wild. She was courageous and beautiful. He loved her. He would take her challenge every single day, because the Heavens knew she challenged him daily.
"She is your Mate, whether or not she continues to deny you."
Kouga's jaw clenched. There was more to the words than spoken. He could force the issue—he should. Doing so would put both he and Kagome out of their misery. Reiko would never understand why he was waiting He would never understand the human world. They were weak in his eyes.
But Kagome had showed him differently.
Kouga understood now. He understood why Kagome was going through a Mated cycle and it was his own stupidity. His body recognized her as his. He always had. To hell with the fact that she was a human, a priestess human at that. He supposed it was atonement for past sins against the human race. It explained when he had lost all rational thought when he had come across her and her human companions with Inuyasha all those years ago. He had claimed her with words alone then, even if he hadn't realized it. It wasn't unheard of, but it was rare. A human and a Demon. Inuyasha was a living testimony of that.
He had claimed her with words and then years later with a single accidental scrape of fangs.
When...
"I know she is." He said quietly, his eyes moving over the flickering light and shadows through Kagome's open window. Open for him.
When?
His tongue slid over his teeth, over his canines. When? That Mating pheromone would always be present when Mating, always marking the other. A kiss. A bite. A taste. A scent that would mark the other from the inside out. But only through Mating and the Gods knew he had wanted to mark Kagome all those years ago. And he knew now, and it was leaving Kagome living as much of a half life as she had with Inuyasha. Half claimed.
That very first night.
He remembered latching onto her neck; he couldn't bite her. But he could taste her. Consequences? He wasn't going to mark her. He wasn't going to bite her. But he'd broken skin. Just a scratch. Just a sting. But that was all it had taken.
But he knew. Now, he knew. He had marked her. Things could have been so much worse.
I love you. Did Kagome remember saying those words to him? His heart clenched. It was those words that had pushed aside all common sense that had led to this. Her body was claimed by his years ago; except her body had reacted differently this time around. The Mating pheromone had reacted, as if sensing his presence when they had lain in that field so late at night.
"Are you really going to let the dog sniff around her like that?"
Kouga's lips thinned. He knew what Reiko meant. He certainly wouldn't have let any other male trail after Aayme like Inuyasha was Kagome. "I can't change their past." And he didn't want to. As much as he disliked the dog, he knew Kagome and Inuyasha were healing. They had been through too much together and it had nothing to do with their past relationship. Kouga didn't want to change that.
"Then you've got bigger balls than I thought."
Bastard. Kouga shook his head and sighed, and started off in the direction of Sango's hut. He didn't need Reiko lecturing him on what he should or shouldn't do. As the days wore on, he was more and more aware of what he wanted to do. But damn if he would act on those instincts. Time, he had all the time in the world.
He had one clawed hand on the windowsill and one leg thrown inside when Kagome's dainty hands cupped his face and pulled him in for a burning kiss.