"None that spring to mind," he said thoughtfully. "I've never shortchanged anyone or stolen anything. I don't think a man would want to hurt me because I didn't defile his daughter." He was as confused about this as she was, reaching for his coat. Shirt sleeves was all very well in the woods, but who knew how long they'd be away' "Unless this is some fool plan to somehow hurt Seren, if she's even alive."

"He knew her name, Emrys. No one knows her name but you, me, and your packmates. What if she survived somehow and came here looking for you?" Marissa asked. She wasn't sure how it might have happened, but it seemed the mostly likely explanation. She went to the chest where she kept all the things that were closest to her heart and drew something from a small wooden box, her fingers closing around it.

Rubbing a hand through his curls, Emrys sighed sharply. "I'm afraid," he admitted, though it seemed as though he was admitting it to the world beyond the window. "What if I'm getting my hopes up for nothing" Or what if she doesn't want anything to do with me" I don't know which would be worse."

She returned to him, a soft smile on her face as she touched his cheek once again. "My sweet Emrys, the what ifs will only drive you mad. There is only one way to know for sure, and the trail is getting cold." She reached upwards to loop a chain around his neck - not made of silver but something else. Hanging from the chain was an amulet bearing the crest of a rearing unicorn. "This was given to me by my heart-mother. I want you to wear it. It will help keep you safe."

His lips quirked into a lopsided smile as she pointed out the logical conclusion of his wondering, only to fade into a frown once more as she set the chain about his neck. He took the amulet in his hand, rubbing his thumb gently over the crest. "How will it do that?" he asked her, knowing now that she was more worried than she wanted him to know.

"Because just by wearing it, you become part of the family - my family - and my family will do everything in their power to protect you because now you are one of us," she told him. And that was about all he really needed to know, for now. She touched a soft kiss to his lips, a warm smile on her face. "Now, let's go find your sister."

"Family." The thought was enough to bring the smile back to his face as she kissed him, his arms wrapping about her for a long moment before he let her go. "My sister, right." Nodding, he took her hand, leading her out into the woods to where he had encountered the unknown wolf.

Emrys was the tracker, leading the way through the woods to follow the scent left by the intruder. There was something that bothered Marissa about all this, but it wasn't the possibility of Emrys' sister being alive and in Rhy'Din that bothered her so much as the fact that some nameless werewolf had come looking for her mate in her woods. She'd gone quiet, her own heightened senses picking up the wolf's scent and committing it to memory. If he got anywhere near Emrys or the cabin again, he'd have to answer to her.

Still in turmoil as he was over the strange events that had begun this hunt, once Emrys found the male's scent, he was entirely focused on the task in front of him. Though the trail was going cold, it was still strong enough to follow, and it seemed as though the male had done nothing to conceal his destination. He had, however, taken the scenic route, and it was a few hours before Emrys suddenly stopped abruptly. If he'd been able to change, he would have been on point, every sense straining for the scent that had crossed his nose.

"Oh my gods," he whispered, suddenly realizing that they were not only in the city, but in a park. "I can smell her. Marissa, I can smell her!"

Marissa had been not only lost in her own thoughts but busy with her own devices as she followed after her mate. She had managed to find a bit of fur near the place where Emrys said the wolf had changed, and she'd tucked it into her cloak for safe keeping, as it might come in handy later. She looked around, seeing no one. The park was nearly empty, and the day was getting late.

"Can you follow her scent?" she asked, fighting the fear that was slowly edging its way into her heart the closer they came to their destination.

He was still for a long moment, studying the scent, surprised to find that it had barely changed in all these years. His hand tightened on Marissa's. "I think I can," he nodded, turning toward where a hot dog vendor was closing up for the day. "She stopped there. She was with a human male ....they sat ....here. The male wolf was here, too, but they ....Oh. They left the park together, Seren and her human. This way."

"Emrys, wait ..." Marissa said, tugging at his arm, not wanting to stop him or discourage him from finding his sister, but needing to know something first. "I need to know this won't change anything between us," she told him, knowing it was a selfish request, but needing his reassurance.

Pulled up short, Emrys turned to his mate, his green eyes wide with hurt astonishment that she felt the need to ask. But he knew her now; he knew her fears, though he didn't understand them, and despite the hurt he felt, he knew that some part of her needed to hear his answer. He took her hands in his, stepping close enough to touch his brow to hers.

"Marissa, you are my present and my future," he promised her tenderly. "You are my mate, the sun around which my planet revolves. My sister is like the moon to my planet - a part of me, but separate, with her own orbit to find, her own path to tread. I love her, and I always will, but she is not you. She is my blood. You are my heart."

It wasn't about Emrys or any lack of trust she had in him - not really. It was about Marissa and her fear of losing those she loved, or of being left behind. She wasn't jealous of his sister. On the contrary, she had even gone so far as to practically suggest they go back to try and save her, knowing how the guilt of her death ate at him and knowing how much he missed her. There was a part of her that worried finding his sister might change things somehow, but hearing his words of tender reassurance brought sudden and unexpected tears to her eyes.

"I feel the same about you," she said, clutching his coat in her fists and folding herself into his embrace. There was no safer or warmer place in all the world but there in his arms. "You are everything to me, and I just don't know what I'd do if I lost you," she told him quietly, her words not as pretty as his, but meaning the same thing.

Emrys drew his arms around her, deeply relieved that somehow he had managed to say the right thing for once. His lips brushed her hair affectionately. "You are not going to lose me," he promised her. "Never."

Maybe someday she'd explain all her fears and why she was the way she was, but it wasn't going to be today because today was about Emrys at long last reuniting with his sister. "I just hope she likes me," Marissa said with an almost shy smile and a sniffle as the looked up at him with adoring eyes.

"Oh, my sweet little kitten," he smiled, drawing his palm to her cheek as his nose touched hers. "How could she not?" Though his stomach was churning with something that was almost fear at the thought of seeing his sister again after so much time had passed, Marissa was his guiding light. Left to his own devices, he would have walked away from the city, rather than come here and discover the truth. "After all, you're the one to thank for the fact that I'm here at all."

Emrys wisely kept his mouth shut, still overwhelmed with the knowledge that not only was Seren alive, but that her first action on seeing him had been to crush the breath from his lungs in an embrace. It might take him a while to adjust his thinking on that score.

Marissa waited for Seren and Emrys to step inside first, perfectly content to let brother and sister take as much time as they needed, so long as they were safely inside. She paused a moment at the door to follow Seren's glance down the street, catching a vague scent of the werewolf, though she couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from.

As Marissa paused, she put herself in the perfect position to overhear her mate blurt out something not entirely appropriate without the embarrassment of seeing his face as he said it. "You've been having sex," he informed his sister.

Seren snorted with laughter, rolling her eyes. "Would you like to tell me I can't, or give up that topic right now?" she suggested mildly. "You don't get to walk back into my life and start telling me who I can and can't be with. The decision is made."

"Oh! Oh, no, I didn't mean that ....I meant ....that is ..." He groped for Marissa's hand, tugging her nearer for moral support, if nothing else. "She's, um ....Never mind. Seren, this is Marissa. My mate." The pride in his voice was clear, the warm affection in the way he wrapped his arm about his mate there for all to see.

Thankfully, Marissa wasn't the target of his very blunt remark, but even so, she felt the heat creeping into her face, embarrassed by the talk of sex, though she wasn't sure why. She wasn't a child, by any means, but she also wasn't very experienced when it came to men. "Hello," Marissa replied, politely, doing her best to ignore Emrys' faux pas. She wasn't quite sure she'd have declared herself his mate, considering no mating had happened yet, but she didn't contradict him.

"Seren?" a decidedly male voice called from the direction of the stairs. "Is everything okay?"

"I know." Seren smiled in answer to the introduction, turning that expression onto Marissa. "Thank you," she said, almost cryptically, urging forward to gently embrace the other woman. The voice from above made her glance around. "Uh ....Hang on a sec!" she called back, looking to her brother and his mate. "Make yourselves comfortable. I should put clothes on and explain before he comes down." Waving her hands for them to do just that, she turned and hurried up the stairs to fill her own mate in on what was happening below.

Emrys stared after her. "I can't believe it," he murmured. "She grew up. I mean, she really grew up. What did she mean, thank you?"

Despite looking startled not only by Seren's hug but by the expression of gratitude for what Marissa could only guess at, she returned the hug, breathing in the other woman's scent and committing it to memory. Though Seren had a scent all her own, there was a subtle similarity to Emrys, as his sister was like the yin to his yang. Marissa wordlessly nodded her head as the other woman hurried away to tend to the man whose voice they'd heard. She couldn't help but smirk just a little at Emrys' undisguised wonder. "I told you she wouldn't hate you," she teased, poking him playfully in the chest and shrugging at his question. "Maybe she thinks I'm the one who brought you here."

"Yes, but ....she shouldn't be so relaxed about us just appearing on her doorstep, should she?" he asked, bemused, befuddled, and generally at sea. "Unless I've missed something. Have I missed something?" He met Marissa's gaze in the hope that she could answer that question, half-an-ear trained on the sound of his sister giggling upstairs.

Marissa could have hazarded a guess or two, but she wasn't sure if she was on the right track, and she didn't want to confuse him further. She touched a kiss to his cheek, a soft smile on her face, obviously relieved that his sister seemed pleased to see him, but still feeling a little on edge about the werewolf who'd visited him earlier that day. "I think we should wait for your sister to explain."

She wasn't the only one feeling on edge about that, though Emrys was glad Marissa hadn't witnessed the encounter he had experienced. The promise of violence had hung in the air throughout that little conversation, and he was still no clearer as to who that violence might be aimed at. He relaxed a little as Marissa kissed his cheek, managing a small, lopsided smile for her even as he looked around curiously at the home Seren had made for herself. "She ....seems to be doing well for herself."

Marissa followed his gaze, noticing perhaps something else he hadn't - from the look of things, it appeared at first glance that Seren was no stranger to Rhy'Din and had been making her home here in that house for some time. It had a lived, comfortable look to it, and was permeated by the woman's scent. There was no mistaking this was her home. Marissa frowned, her heart aching to know Emrys had suffered and worried for so long while his sister had been living practically right under their noses. Then again, Marissa could have passed her in the street and never known the difference, and Emrys rarely if ever ventured into the city. "That's a good thing, Em," she reminded him gently.

He nodded slowly, but there was no mistaking the guilt on his face. "If only I'd ventured into the city," he murmured, wrapping his arms about Marissa once again. "But then I might never have met you, and I would not change that circumstance for the world."

"There's no sense in worrying over spilt milk, Emrys," Marissa told him, echoing something her foster mother used to say. What was done was done, and there was only one way to undo it - but it seemed that might have already been done, too, somehow. Marissa knew all about "if onlys", and she also knew thinking that way would only bring him heartache. "Be happy, Em. She's here, she's safe, and she's happy to see you," she told him, nuzzling happily into his embrace, as much for her comfort as his.

"I am happy," he murmured. "A little overwhelmed, too, but happy." He sniffed the air, careful to ignore the distracting scent of the woman in his arms as he considered the nuances of the rest of the place. "Is it just me, or does the human smell a little ....off?"

There was that frown again, as she turned her glance back in the direction of the stairs before turning back, lowering her voice for his ears alone. "An illness, I think. I can't quite put my finger on it. Nothing contagious. Something ....lingering," she said, knowing a little about such things, though she was no doctor.

"Hmm." His frown returned, concerned now that Seren might have chosen to pair herself with a defective human. But thoughts like that were not helpful in such a situation. "Do you think that she minds us just showing up" Should we have contacted her another way first?" He really was full of questions, but it was a safe bet that these questions were not the ones he really wanted to ask.

"I think you worry too much," she told him, touching a kiss to his lips, a small smile on her face. "And no, I think we did the right thing. If there really is a danger to her or her ....Emrys, I think I just realized something."

Silenced from asking another pointless question by her kiss, he let her confidence wash over him, sighing softly as he relaxed once again. "What is it?" he asked her, finally making a relevant contribution to the conversation.

"I think you're right. It's not your sister who's in danger, but her mate." There was no mistaking the situation suddenly. The man whose voice they'd heard calling had to be Seren's mate. She had claimed him, and the as yet unnamed werewolf was angry at being spurned. She couldn't help but shudder at a particular memory that she had not yet shared, but that he had often seen wake her in the night. "We have to protect him. We have to protect them both."

"We will," he swore softly, for her ears alone. "If this wolf wants her for his mate, he won't want her to witness her human's death at his hands. He'll have to wait until they're apart, but we can make sure they are never alone." He looked down at Marissa, a thought occurring to him. "Are you sure you want to be involved in this, kitten? It seems I have brought trouble to your hearth again."

Perhaps spelling it out was not the best idea. Once again, Emrys felt the anger rising, and with it came a growl that he had never heard himself issue before. He held up a hand to stop Dorian from talking, turning his face away for a long moment. A glance at the doorway through which Seren and Marissa had disappeared told him that the growl had not gone unnoticed, two concerned faces peering in to be certain violence was not going to ensue. His eyes flashed yellow for a brief moment, teeth pricking his lower lip before he regained control over himself.

"Well, that's never happened outside the full moon before," he managed in a shaken tone. "My apologies." Turning back to Dorian, he took a deep breath. "We'll stop him, somehow."

Dorian visibly paled. To know someone was a werewolf was one thing, but to witness someone on the verge of the change was another. Still, Dorian's mind was already made up. If the only way to stop Zane was to fight fire with fire, then so be it. "I want to be turned," Dorian said quietly, barely more than a whisper. "Then I can challenge him as an equal."

Emrys' gaze snapped to meet the eyes of the man before him. "Do you know what you're asking?" he countered, not discouraging exactly, but more aware than Seren was of what was involved in becoming a wolf. "Not just the change, but the challenge" If he were to attack you now, and you survived, you would become a wolf. If, as a wolf, you challenge him and lose, you die. Wolves don't show mercy, Dorian, and a crazed lone wolf will string out that pain for as long as he can."

"I have very little to lose, Emrys," Dorian replied grimly. He wasn't sure if the other man had sensed the illness or not, but he was already a dead man walking. "Do you really think he'd attack me and let me live?" he countered doubtfully. "I'm not a killer, Emrys, but I will do everything I have to do to protect Seren, even if it means sacrificing my own life to do it."

"He'd attack you and leave you to die, believing that your illness would prevent you from turning before you bled out." As soon as he said it, Emrys knew he had crossed a line. It was one thing to sense something about someone through scent; it was quite another to make use of it in conversation before they had divulged that information themselves. Hoping to skate over the discourtesy, he plunged on. "Don't you think that Seren deserves to know this is what you are planning" That you intend to die saving her from a life with him' Don't you think she deserves better than to be destroyed by the loss of her mate?"

"That's the thing, Emrys. I don't plan on dying. No one does, but I'm already dead. Seren knows that. She knows my time is limited. I can either die like a coward lying in a hospital bed or I can die for something I believe in and someone I love. But don't mistake me ....I don't have a death wish. This isn't how I want it to be," Dorian told him grimly, stubbornly even. "Seren knows how I feel. You can protect me all you want, but I'm still a dead man. The only way is for me to be turned," he said, lowering his voice. He wasn't exactly asking Emrys to do it, but he'd seen the sharp flash of teeth. Whether Emrys thought he could shift or not, there had been no mistaking those teeth, and it would only take one bite to do the deed.

Whether he knew it or not, Dorian's insistence on his own death was making Emrys angry once again. Today had been a shocking roller coaster of emotions, from Zane's unwelcome visit to his own fears to the joy of discovering his sister happy and healthy and loved ....to hearing her mate telling him that he would gladly embrace death without a second thought as to how that would break Seren into shattered shards. His hands shot out, gripping Dorian by the collar, and for the second time, his eyes flashed yellow, his teeth lengthened. When he spoke, it was in the harsh growl of a throat not wholly human any longer. "You are not going to die!"

Dorian's eyes grew wide, his face pale as Emrys grabbed him by the collar. He grabbed hold of the man's coat with shaking hands, his voice barely more than a whisper as he met the man's gaze, seeing the yellow eyes and the sharp teeth up close. It was like staring Death in the face, but that was a face he already knew well, and a fate he'd already made his peace with. For a single instant, it felt as if time stood still, each thump of his heartbeat bringing him closer to death. "Do it," he told him, not daring him, not asking, and certainly not begging, but in Dorian's view, this was the only way.

Time did seem to stand still. Emrys could hear Dorian's heartbeat, clearer to him than he had ever heard a heart before; he could smell the man's fear, the courage it took to hold that gaze; more than that, he could feel his own lupine side clamoring for control in a way it had never done before. Cloth tore as fingernails grew into claws, teeth lengthened ....and there was a suddenly sharp metallic crash against the back of his head. Instinct whipped him around to face this attacker, and Seren swung the iron frying pan once again, catching her brother on the jaw.

That was when Marissa sprung into action, placing herself between the siblings before the past repeated itself. She knew Emrys would never do willingly to anything to hurt his sister or her mate, but if he was out of his head with blood-rage, he might not realize what he was doing until it was too late. "Emrys!" she shouted, putting herself between them, catching hold of him before he either went down in a heap or completed the shift.

The wolf in Emrys whimpered as the heavy pan knocked him back, but came up snarling, only to find himself face to face with his mate. For what felt like an eternity, he stared into Marissa's eyes, seeing her concern, her worry, feeling his anger fade. And with the fading of that anger, his shift calmed, those first frightening steps toward a true wolf form easing away as his teeth shortened, his nails blunted, his throat found human voice once again. Breathless, he reached for his mate, hiding his face against her neck as the guilt and shame ate at him. "I almost ..."

Marissa wrapped him in her embrace, protectively, lovingly, hushing him quietly, while her fingers stroked his hair, his face, trying her best to soothe him. "Shh, it's all right. It's going to be all right." She was barely aware of the other pair in the room, all her attention on Emrys. This wasn't why they'd come here; this wasn't what they'd hoped to accomplish.

As for Dorian, his expression was bleak, stunned, horrified at what he'd nearly done - what he'd nearly pushed his mate's brother into doing, and yet, there was disappointment on his face, too. His heart sank, and he felt not only ashamed of what he'd done, but unworthy of Seren's love or the trust she had given him. "I'm sorry," he whispered, feeling as though this was his fault, that he'd brought this upon them all.

Watching Marissa soothe her brother, Seren set the pan down, turning her attention onto Dorian. Her hands moved to cup his cheeks, forcing him to look into her eyes. "Now do you see?" she asked him softly, needing him to understand. "There is no controlling the wolf if it comes to you angry and wanting blood. If Emrys had shifted just now, you wouldn't be turned, you'd be dead. I don't want to lose you."

Forced to look into her eyes, Dorian's heart just about broke. Feeling a painful mixture of guilt and hopelessness and love, tears spilled over onto his cheeks. He'd been terrified she'd be angry with him, terrified to lose her. How could that be when they'd only just met' What hold did she have on him and how" He couldn't explain it, but he knew there was no place he'd rather be. "You're going to lose me anyway," he reminded her, unable to hide the heartache from his voice, the hopelessness. "Don't you know I'd do anything to stay with you? Anything."

"Maybe there's another way," Marissa said, overhearing them.

"I am not going to lose you," Seren told him firmly, and in that reply was her tacit consent for him to turn, if that was what he truly wanted. "But not like this, not with anger and violence. We'll find someone who can do it with control, love. You don't have enough strength to waste it in a fight right now." She glanced up as Marissa spoke. "Another way?"

"Seren is right, but this isn't something you do on a whim, Dorian. There's no coming back from it once it's done, and it's different for those who aren't born to it. It will be painful at first, and you'll have to learn to control it. You will be cured of one illness only to be replaced with another, and you'll still be no match for him," Marissa reasoned, still holding Emrys close, even as she explained. "There's a lot to consider here, and we'll do that together, but not tonight." For a woman who was usually soft spoken, when she did choose to speak, she said volumes.

"Right now, so long as you're with me, he won't come near you," Seren added, needing Dorian to understand. "But this doesn't have to happen right now, not tonight. We can work something out, something that won't involve anyone losing control." Her fingers stroked through his hair, wishing she could give him more hope than this, but it was all they had for now. Her eyes wandered to Emrys, still wrapped in Marissa's embrace, still hiding his face from all of them. "Is he all right?"

Something inside Emrys growled, gleeful at not being held back. He only just had the sense to toe out of his boots and coat before his body began to twist, bones cracking with sinewy effort, his form flowing from human to wolf with far more grace than he had a right to expect. For the first time in his life, he stood on four paws, gray fur bristling, shoulder to shoulder with a tiger who was not so much larger than him as he might have expected. Without realizing it, Emrys was an Alpha, his lupine size larger than other wolves of his race. He shook out his fur, those sharper eyes seeking out his prey in the shadows at the end of the street. There was the other male, shrinking backward into the darkness of the alley in which he was hidden. Emrys let out a howl and bounded from where he stood, loping over the cobbled ground to chase down this male who thought he could threaten their pack.

The tigress growled a warning as she bounded after the wolf. Despite the circumstances, the part of her that was still Marissa was overjoyed to know her mate had at last made the shift, though it would take time for him to master the skill. She was smaller than the alpha beside her and not quite as fast, though she made up for that with predatory skills mastered over a lifetime. She was a silent, deadly killer when she wanted to be, able to take down a grown man with ease before he even knew what hit him. But she wasn't looking to make a kill this time, only if it became absolutely necessary.

In the back of the wolf's mind, Emrys was puzzling over something. He had always thought that the shift would entail losing his human mind to the instinct of the wolf, and yet here he was, his mind intact, if not fully in control of his lupine body. The rhythmic thump of Marissa's amulet against his chest as he loped along with the tigress offered some clue as to why, and he set that thought aside. Because there was their prey ....a muddy-brown wolf scrabbling backwards over the cobbles to turn tail and run for cover, streaking through the streets, his scent streaming with sudden, unexpected fear. No doubt it had come as something of a shock to Zane, believing himself to be a master manipulator, to suddenly be caught in his own trap.

It was only when the tigress realized that their prey was retreating, that she came to a halt, letting loose a rare primal roar that was full of joy and triumph. The roar didn't last long and ended in a chuff, tail swishing as she dared approach the wolf by her side. She had already claimed him once, marked him with her scent, but now that he was a wolf, it was his turn to do the same. There was no fear in her, and though some might find them an odd pairing, there was a part of her that was half wolf herself.

The wolf might have chased his enemy as far and as fast as he could, but for the presence of his mate. Though she was a tiger and he a wolf, there was no mistaking the bond between them as he turned his face toward hers, letting her mark him in the most intimate way, even as he nipped affectionately at her shoulder. He wanted to go home, to be human with her, but in this city full of its confusing smells and frightening noises, he did not know where home was.

In return of his affection, she rubbed her face against him, marking him and claiming him as belonging to her. Though she could not read his thoughts or readily communicate with him while in this form, she chuffed at him, her throat making a sound that sounded almost affectionate and soothing. Swishing her tail again, she nudged him with her nose and turned to lead the way back the way they'd come, leaving the kill for another day.

As she nudged him and moved away, the wolf hesitated, glancing back the way their prey had run. He padded to the shadows where Zane had been hiding, and quite deliberately marked the area liberally. Even if Zane did come back, he was going to be surrounded by the scent of a pissed off Alpha in his chosen hiding place. That done. the wolf flicked his tail and padded after his tigress, bumping her flank with his nose teasingly as he caught up.

She made a noise back at him, not a warning exactly, but a sound of affection. If she had been in human form, it might have been a chuckle at his teasing, but tigers were unable to laugh. Satisfied the threat was past, at least for the time being, she retraced their steps until she was standing once again at the place where Emrys had first made his change. The streets had grown even quieter since they had claimed them, and their small pile of belongings was right where they'd left them. She paused for a moment as if to make sure no one was watching before she shifted again, fur becoming flesh, teeth and claws shrinking, her size and shape changing until what stood there was no longer a tiger but a young woman, as naked as the day she was born.

She swept the scarlet-colored cloak up off the ground and threw it over her shoulders, drawing it closed at the front before gathering up what remained of their belongings. "Come, Emrys," she told the wolf, not wanting to linger too long in the streets.

There were eyes watching them as the young woman made her way along the street, the big wolf padding along at her side, but those eyes were friendly. Seren grinned, drawing the curtains closed as she returned to Dorian, satisfied that they were safe for one night, at least. What she wouldn't give to see Zane's reaction to what Emrys had done to his hiding place when he discovered it ....but that didn't matter now. Give it a few days, and Dorian would get his wish. Death could take a running jump.

((So that's what happens when a defective werewolf meets his equally defective sister and her vulnerable mate. Gods alone know what?ll happen to Zane if he tries to go after Marissa! Huge thanks to my partner in crime!))