The pack of cards came with a familiar face, a half hour of passive aggressive complaints about how Viktor hadn’t been allowed to make sure I was even alive until I woke up, and so many jokes about strip poker that there were tears on my face before we even decided on a game to play. It was strange, in a way, because I never would have encountered a scene like that in Ipomoea. Not just because I was included- but because nobody would be allowed to talk to the alpha like that.

But Alyx was different. He took Viktor’s teasing with a grin, and gave him back as good as he got. The man was easy to smile and laugh, even when his mate pouted about the way Alyx sometimes got lost in simply staring at me; I could imagine why, as I found myself doing the same thing, when my wolf overpowered my senses and I was lost in the scent of a child of the stars. He was caring, and kind, and I was in shock.

I’d been told Cereus pack was a pack of monsters denying pack law and living as savages, and they were nothing like that.

A fact which was cemented when they finally- finally- let me out of bed after four days. Though Viktor had pleaded to be the one who got to take me out, it was Alyx who offered his arm. His warm smile didn’t hide the slight worry behind his eyes; no matter how he had impressed me, I was afraid there would be some of his pack who would reject me simply because I was an omega. At the least it would remind me of home.

“Tsuki?” Alyx prompted gently, his free hand settling over mine where my fingers had gripped his arm a little too tightly.

I shook my head, which caused only a slight wave of dizziness rather than agony, and smiled at him. “Sorry, I got lost in my thoughts. Where are we going first?”

My uncertainty brought his smile back, and he gave me a gentle tug to lead me forward. “Outside. You’ve been cooped up so long you were making me restless with the way you were shifting around.”

“Sorry!” I blurted out the word, but thankfully I wasn’t blushing like an idiot. I’d grown comfortable with them, and it was allowing me to act more true to myself than I had in my life. Nobody punched me for being snarky, or spat back at my sarcasm. It made me less timid, not so much the frightened prey I had been before.

Alyx laughed, shaking his head. “It’s okay. I was able to run through the forest at night. You’ve had no relief. I’m sure you’re eager for the full moon.”

“Yes,” I breathed the word, my wolf keening in eager anticipation. I’d grown used to feeling it so strongly, a second heart rather than a faint whisper in the back of my head. It was still a little unsettling sometimes- but I had learned to enjoy the connection. It made the world seem brighter, more vibrant, enhanced by my wolf’s senses. Even that small bedroom I had been trapped in had been an experience.

When the doors opened and we walked outside, my head almost exploded.

Alyx’s house was at the edge of the forest- and it was huge, but the last thing I cared about was the miniature mansion I had apparently been living in. I was wrapped up in the sudden assault to my senses. I could smell the forest, the sharp scent of pine mixed with the duskier, musky scent of animals which had me itching to hunt worse than before, with the sweet scent of sap making it come together in a pleasant mix. In the other direction, a huge mixing pot of the scents of dozens of wolves awaited me, too overwhelming to face at that moment.

I turned toward the forest instead, eyes closed as I delighted in my senses. The whisper of the wind through the trees, the animal rusting in the bush at the edge of the trees, the burble of a brook that had to be a far way off if I couldn’t smell the water- there was so much. So much more than I had ever thought there was. If that was what all the other wolves experienced, I was jealous.

Then the wind caressed my skin, a gentle tickle which wafted by hair across my face, and I let out a content sigh. “You kept me away from this for four days… you monster.”

“It was for your own good,” Alyx said, free hand held up defensively, but we were both smiling. “Is this different from home?”

“Yes and no,” I said, and laughed a little when he looked puzzled. “I think my brain might really have been damaged in that car crash. My senses… but even without that, this is different. Peaceful. The forest back home always felt dangerous, too quiet, because I never knew if there was a wolf around the bend waiting to tear my throat out. I’d be able to sense them now, though.”

Alyx gave me a thoughtful look, staring at me long enough to make me fidget uncomfortably before he shook his head and guided me away from the forest. “Well, I promise there are no wolves waiting to harm you in my woods. Even if they were to try, I wouldn’t let them get close- and I’d make sure they regret it.”

I blinked at him, shocked by the fierce, cold expression. It was the first time I had seen him actually look like a pack leader. A child of the stars ready to tear through his enemies to defend his precious pack. My wolf stirred with renewed vigor, scrabbling at my control, in response to the way Alyx’s scent intensified with his emotion.

He cleared his throat after a moment, and his light attitude came back. “But that’s beside the point. Let’s go into town. It’s grown quite a bit since I became the leader; for not existing, we draw a lot of attention.” A soft chuckle followed his words, and his hand rested over mine on his arm in an almost possessive gesture as he led me down the street. “There’s a cute little ice cream shop a few streets over, I think you’ll like it. I loved it when I was your age. Ferr and I… well, it’s a great place.” The words were soft at the end, and he had a bittersweet expression, the same kind i always saw when my father spoke of my mother.

It had my curiosity rearing its head, though I approached the question gently. “And… who is Ferr?”

“Was,” he corrected me, sorrow crossing his face. “He was my first love, another child of the stars. I killed him.”

“You-” My eyes widened, and he gave me a wry little grin. “Sorry.”

“Nah, it’s a fact I’ve accepted over time. I honestly don’t remember much- I was close to feral at the time, I think my wolf keeps me from remembering to preserve my sanity.” Alyx glanced sideways at me, and laughed freely when he saw my stunned expression. “I’m sorry, I forgot you don’t know anything about me or my pack- that must have been very shocking for you. Would you like to hear the whole story!”

“Yes, please!”I couldn’t hide my eager tone, and felt heat cross my face when he laughed at me again. I didn’t mean to sound so entertained by what must have been a trying time for him.

He didn’t seem to mind, though, and spun the tale for me while we walked- slowly, because Alyx wanted to make sure I didn’t get too tired and I didn’t have the heart to tell him I was bursting with energy when he was trying to be considerate. I could hardly pay attention to how normal their town looked compared to our little pack village; it looked like an actual city, with homes and businesses, and if I wasn’t so curious about his story I would have wondered exactly how big the Cereus pack had grown.

Though, from what Alyx told me, his pack had been just like mine once. Small, and ruled by old pack laws which were set in stone to assure the continuation of our species. Alyx had been a promising child of the stars in a pack lucky enough to have birthed two of them. The other was Ferr, and Alyx had fallen in love with him. When their relationship was discovered, Ferr put all of the blame on Alyx, and the wolf was exiled.

My heart squeezed tightly when he glossed over his exile like it wouldn’t have been torture for him. Wolves were pack oriented, and children of the stars more so than the rest; being alone for so long would have been agony. It had driven him to the brink of being feral, which had me gasping and giving him a worried look. For a werewolf, being feral meant losing our human selves, giving way completely to the wolf inside of. We weren’t supposed to be able to come back from that.

I relaxed slightly when Alyx laughed and reassured me he’d never gone completely feral. Just close enough to murder humans every once in a while; not as many as the Cereus pack were under Ferr’s leadership, however. Ferr had fun killing humans, and caught the attention of the Moon Guard, an old and short-lived organization of wolves and humans sworn to keep the peace. They had needed something to stop Ferr, and that was how Alyx met Cean.

And I snickered when I found out they tried to kill each other the first time they met. Near to feral and trapped in a silver cage by a human in a red cloak, Alyx had gone for blood and found a decent opponent. They met several times, and I loved the soft expression Alyx showed when he talked about how Cean got lost in the woods. Cean nearly died when he defended Alyx from a wyvern, and Alyx nearly died when a member of the Cereus pack shot him in an attempt to keep Ferr from catching him.

Then the idiots of the Moon Guard nearly wiped themselves out trying to kill Ferr. Cean had been tossed into the river, and Alyx saved him. Their relationship snowballed from there, and the two connected, forming a bond that made them both unwilling to give up the other.

So they formed a pack with what was left of Cean’s friends in the Moon Guard, and Alyx challenged Ferr for control of the pack. There was pain and sorrow on his face as he told me how the fight had gone, how he had been willing to let Ferr kill him until Cean had jumped into the fight. Alyx had lost himself thinking Cean was dead, and ripped Ferr to bits.

It was a close call, apparently. Cean had barely survived, and after a fierce argument because Alyx didn’t know how to appease his instincts and allow Cean to fight with him at the same time, they agreed to become mates- and got the entire pack wiped from history at the same time.

“That’s… a lot,” I said slowly when he was finished. We were at a table by then, my ice cream untouched in front of me because I hadn’t been able to focus on anything but Alyx’s story.

“I suppose so. It was hard, and I’d rather not do it again. But I think it was worth it, because now I have Cean.” There was that soft look again, warm and sweet, and I was beginning to recognize the tight feeling in my chest as jealousy.

I jabbed my spoon at my ice cream. “But, isn’t it bad for you to mate to a man? Children and all- there’s a reason it’s against pack rules.”

“Bullshit,” Alyx snorted, making me jump and look at him with wide eyes. “We live in an age where humans have made nearly anything possible. You don’t need to sleep around to have children, and we’d probably have a higher conception rate doing it artificially. Kibba’s been working on it tirelessly. There’s no need to cling to such ridiculous rules anymore.”

My breath was stuck in my throat, and I was sure my heart had stopped completely. “You mean…”

“There’s nothing wrong with the way you love, Tsuki,” Alyx said, grinning at me. “I’ve heard the way Viktor talks about you, and I’ve seen the way you look at him. It’s not a sin, it’s not wrong in any way. In my pack, you live and love the way you want, as long as you’re not hurting anybody else. It’s why we’ve grown from a few dozen to nearly a hundred wolves. It’s… freedom.

“Are you tempted yet?” He winked at me, and I forced a laugh so he wouldn’t notice the lump in my throat.

Because I was entirely too tempted, and the longer I spent here, the more I was certain I wasn’t going back.