Kouga watched Kagome pace back and forth, surprised that she hadn't worn a path in the floor already. She was angry. He could smell it coming off her and what made him uneasy was the fact that part of that anger was directed at him. She was pissed off and being irrational. Given the circumstance ... She didn't seem to uderstand that he had done this willingly. He'd done it for her. For their child.

The Tribe Leaders couldn't take what he wasn't willing to give up. Oh, he could have fought for his place as Alpha, but Kagome was worth more than any title. The fact of the matter remained—he wasn't a follower. He was a leader.

For the first time in his life he was willing to follow.

The Alpha in him snarled at the thought. It was what it was. He understood that. Now he just needed Kagome to understand that.

Her skin was fairly glowing from her spiritual energy, throwing off angry sparks of light which made him even more wary in getting close to her. His woman was a force to be reckoned with. But the fact that she was so angry said something, right? There was still so much they needed to discuss, things she didn't understand. She was going to give birth to a demon wolf cub. Albeit, it would be a half Demon, but his pup would be loved regardless by one and all. He refused to let his pup live the life that Inuyasha had growing up. Never accepted, never wanted. Always alone.

He knew Kagome was his. He just needed her to accept it. This thing growing between them was leading them towards one ending. He saw it, even if Kagome didn't. But he'd promised her he wouldn't push her. Time. Time. He had all the time in the world. There had always been something between them, this attraction, but the timing had never been right. He had been too young and wild. She had been too innocent.

And now?

It was something. Something was better than nothing.

Kouga pulled away from the open window and closed the distance between them and pulled Kagome into his arms to stop her pacing. Here he was, sneaking around again. "Stop it before you wear a hole in Sango's floor." His lips twitched, a hint of fang peaking from his lips. Her powers fizzled out against his palms before they could burn him. Good girl, he thought.

"They can't do that to you." Kagome huffed, her dark sullen eyes rising to meet his. She shouldn't care about his place in the pack, but she did. No, she thought, she had every right to care. She knew Kouga was prideful. "It's not fair, Kouga, you have to fight it. Why didn't you take me with you? I could have said something, I could have explained. I could have MADE them listen—"

Her words ended on a muffled note when Kouga covered her mouth with his palm.

He shook his head as he snaked his other arm around her waist and tugged her against him. "Shut up." He could smell her agitation rising, her ire, but he could also scent her desperation. Kagome was hurting. His heart twisted. She was hurting for him and for what he had lost. She still didn't understand. "Now listen to me." He didn't lower his hand. "You would have just made things more difficult." Not intentionally, but none the less. Kagome was Kagome.

They wouldn't have listened and even more so, Kagome was a Priestess. Regardless of WHO she was, her kind wasn't exactly known to get along with the Demon race. To some, they would just see her as an outsider who didn't understand the rules of the Pack. And that was the sad truth. Kagome didn't understand those rules. He had broken those rules time and time again, so he supposed it was only a matter of time before he received his upcomance.

And here it was. He doubted that her human mindset and kind heart would allow her to see past her own naivety in where he was coming from. He had standards to follow and he had fallen short on those standards. "I don't need to be Alpha. It's nothing more than a title. I'm fine exactly where I'm at." He lowered his hand to cup the side of her neck.

"This is what you've wanted your entire life, Kouga. You can't let them take that away from you." Kagome said, shaking her head in denial at his words. To be Alpha. He had been a foolish boy growing up, but she had watched him grow and lead a pack that wasn't his. She had watched him fight for what was his until he WAS Alpha.

His lips twitched at her words, his blue eyes softening. His inner Demon was angry; but He was also humming with pride at the female in his arms. "You're right. This is what I've wanted for the entirety of my life." He wasn't talking about being Alpha.

She opened her lips and then closed them, her heart beating a funny rhythm at his words. Finally, she spoke, "You don't follow, Kouga. You lead." It was the utmost truth.

"I'd follow you, Kagome."

"You stupid Wolf." She huffed again, but it was there in her eyes. An unread and unknown emotion. She was still angry. She was going to argue all night at this point.

That canine smile came again; he just couldn't help himself. "Now shut up and listen to me before I have to kiss you into shutting that mouth of yours. You worry too much." That seemed to do the trick, because she blushed, even if her dark eyes fumed up at him. She was silent. "If I had to choose between you and our pup, verses the stupid title of Alpha, I would choose you and our pup everytime. They didn't take what I wasn't willing to give. Do you hear me, Kagome? I broke so many of our Laws, but I don't give a shit. I give even less of a shit now. I did it because I want you. I want our pup. I want us." It would take some time to get used to his new position, but fuck it. Fuck everything. He had no plans to leave Kagome any time soon.

Tak about a heart killer. Her heart was pounding. How could he say those things? He was tearing her apart on the inside in both bad and good ways. Not even Inuyasha had made such a decree to her. Kouga was the bad boy of every good girls dream and he was hers.

She wasn't going to get anywhere with arguing her point tonight. They were both too hard headed. She wasn't done, though. Kouga had fucking earned his right to rule and walk ahead of the Pack and she would be damned if he didn't stand up for it.

"Don't say it." Kouga warned, a dark eyebrow rising in amusement.

She opened her lips but cautiously took a much safer route of conversation. Another time, perhaps. Most definitely perhaps. "Your Pack won't take the baby from us, will they?"

Kouga snorted. "Not likely. But you have to remember, Kagome, our pup is going to be born with Demon blood in its veins. She is going to be a Wolf Demon, just like me."

"He." She corrected.

"What?" Kouga frowned.

"You keep saying 'she'. I'm telling you, he's a boy."

Kouga gave a deep chuckle. "We'll see. She—" He corrected at the look she gave him. "he—is Pack. You have to respect that. It's part of being a Wolf. Just like you, you're part of the Pack." But that was a whole different situation. His Pack considered her as part of theirs because of what she had done to save them all.

It wasn't that she didn't accept what the child was going to be. She knew he was going to be half-Demon. This new Wolf had really just pissed her off when he talked about her baby being THE PACKS. As if it didn't even belong to her. "What did he mean that some Packs share their Luna? What is a Luna?"

Now they were getting somewhere. Talking about his Pack—his way of life. That was a start in the right direction. He drew Kagome down onto the bed with him and turned her so that her back was against his chest like the night before. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her body tight into his. If only he could do this every night, in their own home or under the stars, or in his Den. He didn't want to hide. But for her sake he did. Time, he had promised her. Time to accept what she didn't yet understand. He knew why she was holding back. Inuyasha had hurt her; he hated the bastard for that.

Inuyasha had hurt Kagome by not giving her what she truely needed to be happy and Kagome was afraid of opening herself up again. But she was trying and that was what Kouga needed. "A Luna is the Mate of the Alpha."

I don't think your bitch knows who I am.

That's my Mate you're talking about.

Kouga and his new Alpha. Kouga had blatantly challenged the male; Kouga had also claimed Kagome in front of them all. He wasn't ashamed to call her HIS because in his heart she already was. "...some Packs..." His expression grew serious, almost ashamed, even if Kagome couldn't see it. But he needed Kagome to understand the Pack because things were fixing to change for her. She was going to be closely integrated into the Pack because of their pup. She was going to be closer than she had ever been. "...we...share our women sometimes..." He had on occassion. Food. Sex. It was part of living in the wild nature of Demons.

"Oh." A single word. OH. Taunt and embaressingly uneasy. But he didn't scent disgust from her.

He tightened his arms around her. "I would never do that to you, Kagome. Never."

He did that, Kagome thought. No, he had. That was in his past. Sharing...Kagome cringed at the thought. Yeah, she knew exactly what he meant. That was something that she never would have known if he hadn't told her and she respected him for telling her that aspect of his life. Her hand hovered over his where it rested against the barely discernable bump of her stomach. She touched the back of his hand with her own. There was still so much that they needed to talk about. It was clear that he was done discussing the whole Alpha thing.

"If you want to know something, just ask me, Kagome."

Kagome traced the veins covering the back of his hand as she mused over her own thoughts... "What is it like when you do...Mate with someone?" He knew that her and Inuyasha had never Mated. There was no true Mark. There was no Bond. There was nothing but a sham of a relationship. She was left wanting in the one area that she never should have felt alone. Demons Mated for life—Wolves mated for life. She had always wondered what that Bond would be like because she knew that it would never be hers.

Kouga grew still behind her. He was silent for a moment before he finally spoke. "That's not fair to ask me, is it?" He responded in a low tone, though he wasn't berating her. It wasn't fair to him. She was asking him something that while he had no real experience in, he knew enough. That was the one thing he wanted most. He wanted it with her. She couldn't ask him a question like that if she wasn't going to give it to him. He rose up on an elbow behind her and removed one arm to turn her in his arms so that she was facing him.

He leaned over her and cupped her smooth cheek. "I won't answer that question. But I will show you when you're ready."