Cowed, they were more gentle after that. Kisses to her neck and chin followed, though Camille doubted they were for her benefit. They were certainly more for Viktor, who watched them all with a look of intense pride.
Camille didn’t mind. They were damn cute. They could use her to ingratiate themselves with the alpha all they wanted.
While they frolicked around, trying to tempt Viktor into a game of chase, she indulged in petting the canines who decided to lounge beside her. She watched Viktor fall, tackled by a well-coordinated cluster, as she stroked velvety ears.
He’s giving up so much, she thought, pride and sorrow welling up with every delighted bark.
She knew that the pack needed to grow and that this was for the best, but watching him romp with the wild coyotes, she came to a new level of appreciation for what he was leaving behind.
A while later, as dawn crept closer and their time in the territory dwindled, Camille felt her consort settle his big, furred body beside her. Several more coyotes had joined them. Most were piled on top of one another around her legs and behind her back. Viktor had to muscle a sleepy canine out of the way to take his spot next to her.
With one last gentle lick to her cheek, he shifted back into his other form. His brows were drawn tight, but there was a soft smile on his lips when he reached for her.
Resting against his chest, she listened to the steady beat of his heart. “Better?”
“Yeah,” he answered, husky, “much better.”
Looking up at him through her lashes, she asked, “The weres will take care of them, right?”
Viktor caressed her cheek with a knuckle. “They better. I put it in the contract. No culling, no traps, no poison.”
Camille kissed the skin above his heart. “Good. Though I kind of wish we could take them with us.”
“I don’t think the wolves would appreciate that too much,” he replied. “There’s a shitload of them up that way, and I’d really rather not deal with a bunch of pissed off wolf packs — shifters or wild.”
“And they’re better off here, where they’re comfortable.” She sighed, thinking of soft fur and cool noses. “It would be nice, though.”
Viktor’s arms tightened around her. “Trust me, sweetheart, you’ll have plenty of coyotes around. As soon as the pack gets comfortable, I expect at least four or five new families and a lot of new cubs.” He winked. “If there’s anything coyotes know how to do, it’s make babies.”
Camille snorted with laughter. “Well, that’ll be nice at least. I do love the cubs.”
“You say that now, but wait until they get a hold of your heel collection.”
She waved a hand, totally unconcerned. “You’ll just have to buy me new ones, Alpha Hamilton.”
“Or you could make baby teeth holes the new chic,” he suggested.
“Or that.” They shared a soft smile. “It’ll be good, no matter what.”
Viktor bent his neck to skim his lips over her forehead. “Yeah, it really will be, sweetheart.”
In the end, they stayed long enough to watch the vehicles begin to arrive at the green corridor. Sitting beneath the boughs of a leafy maple tree on the university’s side of the street, they silently tracked the progress of the weres as they officially took control of their new territory.
It was time to go.
When dawn broke through the gray, pre-sunrise haze, they quietly climbed in their car and headed to the Financial District, where their pack was only beginning to rise.
They had an m-jet to catch and a home to make.
Epilogue
2046 - Lake Adley Packlands, Prairie, Shifter Alliance
“I really don’t understand the appeal,” Camille grumbled. She was perched on a mossy boulder to the left of their small, state of the art tent, and deeply disgruntled. “We live in the woods. Isn’t that camping? Why would I willingly go without hot showers, a toilet, and my tablet when I could do the same thing by just sitting in our yard for twenty minutes?”
“Because, sweetheart, it’s about freedom. Nature! Besides, we need the vacation. If we didn’t go soon, half the pack would have mutinied and forced us onto an m-jet to Cabo or something.”
And as much as he appreciated the pack’s concern for their mental health and their appreciation for all the work their alphas did in getting their new territory up and running, he knew that neither of them would be able to relax so far away from their people.
That didn’t mean they were wrong, though. Viktor knew he and his mate needed a break. Six months of non-stop work hadn’t left much time for relaxation, nor alone time. They had families to settle, dens to help reassemble. They needed to begin work on the neglected, war-damaged ghost town of Prairie. Schools had to be built, relationships with the locals made, and bonds with the land to create.
The work was constant and the emergencies never-ending. Viktor and Camille had thrown themselves into settling their pack into their new territory, but it was time for a break.
And it was about damn time he delivered on that promise he made.
Viktor finished setting up a small metal folding table by the fire pit. Striding back to his bulging backpack resting against a pine tree, he began to pull out their utensils and various necessary things like a portable water purifier, his mate’s carefully packed meals, and the peanut butter cup he had stashed in the side pocket — his favorite camping treat.
“I like nature plenty. More than most elves, even,” Camille argued, eyeing him from her place across the campsite. “I just like it better when I have regular access to a bathroom.”
Shoving the peanut butter cup into his mouth, he mumbled, “Trust me, Cam, you’ll learn to like it.”
He carefully arranged everything they needed on the table before he made one more trip for the bundle of firewood he collected on their hike in. He knelt to assemble the wood in the pit, but only got about halfway before Camille tartly demanded, “Please remind me why you thought I would enjoy this? Is it the atmosphere or something else that I’m missing?”
Viktor dusted his hands. The taste of chocolate and peanuts lingered on his tongue. “All right.”
“All right what?”
“All right, I’ll remind you.” Standing up, Viktor prowled across the campsite to where his mate sat on the boulder, her long legs crossed.
She looked damn delicious in her fancy, previously unused hiking boots and shorts. Mosquitoes and ticks didn’t bother trying to bite her tough lavender skin, so she could breeze through the woods in little more than a tank top and tight shorts that showed off every inch of her pretty legs.
He loved it. Even the pout she currently wore, which he was fairly certain was just for show. Camille knew how much he liked it when she growled at him. It only made him love her more.
It also made him want to lick every inch of her.
“No, no,” she protested. Planting the soles of her boots on the loamy earth, she placed her palms primly on her knees and warned, “I know that look and I’m not having it, Vik. There are bugs out here.”
“Uh-huh.” He dropped his hand to his belt and watched her eyes follow the movement. Biting back a smile at the sight of her pupils expanding to eat up all of that pretty violet, he used his own boot to kick her legs apart, making room for him to stand between them.