As we restarted the last tiny leg of our journey to Alpha Leyton and the pack house I noticed that one of the wolves simply sat there and looked at the ground instead of getting up and walking.

Luna Kate was already by her side, trying to get her up with gentle nudges from her snout. But everything she did simply wasn't working.

I started towards them after a quick mind link to Detsy and Grace explaining where I was going and to keep an eye on John for me.

As I got closer I finally recognized the wolf. Her name was Maya and she is the widowed mate of Gamma Henry. I hadn't recognized her before now because she was much thinner than the other wolves in the pack and her fur had gone a few shades lighter. I'm assuming the stress of losing her mate caused that.

As I approached her I heard Luna Kate trying to gently persuade Maya to get up again. With the way Maya wouldn't even lift her head up it appeared the journey had been too much for her and she'd given up on everything.

"Maya?" I called her name gently as I got to the two wolves. "It's been a long time since we've spoken, how have you been?"

The only response I got was for Maya to lift her head slightly at the sound of my voice and look at me through her dead looking blue eyes before lowering her head to the ground again. Her face showed no emotion at all.

"Why is she so thin?" I directed my question to Luna Kate instead. "She doesn't even look pregnant unlike everyone else."

Luna Kate gave Maya a sympathetic look before turning to me. "She was pregnant. However, about a week before you turned up the stress of losing her mate caused her body to reject the pups and she lost them to. She's been getting sicker ever since."

I may not know a whole lot about being pregnant and having pups, but even I knew that if you miscarried then suddenly started to get really sick that something was wrong and you needed a doctor. Which is something Maya obviously didn't have access to.

"Luna Kate, with your permission I'd like to get our doctor out here to take a look at Maya. I think that there might be something else wrong with her other than the stress." I said to the Luna before me.

"What is a doctor?" Came Luna Kate's reply before I mentally face palmed myself for forgetting that my old pack have no idea about human terminology.

"A doctor is what the humans call a healer. They need to study for years and years before they earn the title and know more about how our bodies work then I could even dream existed." I replied.

Luna Kate looked at Maya again who now had her eyes half closed otherwise hadn't moved. "If you think it will help her then call your healer." She finally said to me.

I nodded before sitting down and reaching out to my pack through the mind link. "Alpha Leyton, Grace and Detsy. There's a she wolf back here that miscarried a week and a half ago and now looks incredibly sick. I'd like your permission to get Doctor Rory out here to take a look at her."

"Where are you? I'll get Doctor Rory out there immediately." Came the reply from Alpha Leyton. So I told him our location as he made the arrangements.

"Detsy and I are coming back to the three of you." Grace informed me and I knew that it was pointless to try and convince her otherwise.

"Doctor Rory is coming and Grace and Detsy have decided to head back to help because no one can really say no to the princesses." I informed Luna Kate who simply nodded at me in response.

I couple of minutes later Grace and Detsy arrived. John was no longer with them so Thomas and Daniel must be watching over him.

"Can I take a look?" Grace asked Luna Kate as she arrived. Luna Kate once again simply replied by nodding.

Grace surprised me by shifting into her human form right there, despite the lack of clothes before asking me. "Can you shift for me Eva? I might need help and she knows you."

I looked at Grace in surprise considering how protective she's been of me shifting and being naked in front of others before. "That just shows how serious Grace thinks this situation is Eva. I think it's best if we don't question her and just do as she asks." Aurora said.

So I shifted, which earned me a look of complete surprise and a little shock for Luna Kate.

"I know you've told us that you could shift Eva. But knowing that you can and actually seeing you transform into a human are two completely different things." Luna Kate said before Detsy chuckled and put her chocolate head over the Luna Kate's neck in a comforting gesture.

Grace moved her attention from Luna Kate back to Maya. "Hi Maya, my name is Grace. Is it ok if I take a look at you?"

Once again Maya looked up for a moment with dead eyes then lowered her head again without saying anything. Her legs were beginning to shake now.

Grace moved forward and gently used her arms to steady Maya before lowering her into a lying down position. I moved over to Maya and gently started to stroke her head in a reassuring manner, trying to imitate the feeling of having your mother groom you when you were young.

A couple of minutes later Doctor Rory came running towards us in human form as he was carrying a large bag of supplies.

He stopped when he got to us and nodded towards Grace, Detsy and myself before turning to Luna Kate and Maya to introduce himself. "Hi, I'm Doctor Rory the pack doctor. Would it be ok for me to examine your pack member?"

"Yes it is, thank you Doctor Rory." Luna Kate replied with a nod of respect.

Doctor Rory took Grace's place, kneeling in front of Maya who no longer looked conscious while Grace shifted back into wolf form as it was cold.

Doctor Rory began his examination of Maya. Aside from the usual taking her temperature, listening to her heartbeat and poking and prodding. He spent a lot of time using his hands to put pressure on her stomach and feel around.

Once he was done I heard him call out in the pack link urgently. "I need a stretcher immediately. I'm 100 meters northwest of the duck dam. This is an emergency."

I heard an affirmative reply from the pack house before Doctor Rory addressed Luna Kate. "When Maya lost her pups a week and a half ago, one of the dead pups stayed inside of her. That pup is decaying and poisoning Maya. I need to get her back to the pack house and get the dead pup out of her. If I don't she's going to be dead by tomorrow, if not the end of today."

Luna Kate had fear in her eyes but managed to keep her voice steady. "Do what you need to do to save her. Please Doctor Rory."

Doctor Rory took a vial and needle out of his bag and injected her with an antibiotic as I heard the 4 wheel drive Jeep approach for the distance. It'll be here in a minute or two.

"Go ahead and shift back Eva." Doctor Rory told me. "We'll be able to take care of her now and I don't want your mates to start murdering people because you don't have clothes on."

I did as he said and shifted back into my wolf. Immediately thankful for my fur that kept me warm. Note to self, don't walk around in the morning without clothes on, it's cold.

I moved to Luna Kate and informed her about what was coming so she didn't panic as the jeep crested the low hill and slowed down before arriving next to us.

A few seconds later four pack members have jumped out of the jeep and took a stretcher out. Under the direction of Doctor Rory they managed to move Maya onto the stretcher and load her into the back of the jeep that was designed to hold stretchers and patients in under a minute.

The jeep took off towards the pack house with Doctor Rory and Maya as well as the four pack members. It was traveling a bit slower this time so they didn't bump Maya around to much but there was still a sense of urgency in the jeeps speed.

"I have no idea what that contraption is or how it runs. But it's really fast." Luna Kate observed which earned a chuckle from the three of us.

"Come on." Grace said. "The rest of the pack has almost arrived and we need to catch up so you represent your pack Luna Kate."

The three of us took off and Luna Kate set the pace as she was pregnant and still underweight. We still managed to arrive at the location where Alpha Leyton and Luna May were waiting for us just after the rest of the pack.

I realized that we were extremely near the lake and shifting sheds. I could even see the top few levels of the pack house from here.

After arriving Detsy gave me a quick nudge and told me to follow her and Grace to the shifting sheds.

As we got there and entered the female shifting shed I realized that my mates had left comfortable and warm clothes here for me before coming to see me.

The three of us shifted back and I eagerly put on the warm ugg boots, track pants and baggy jumper.

Once we were dressed the three of us headed back to where everyone else was to find that a lot of the nervous tension that was present when I left to shift was gone. Alpha Leyton and Derrick were in their wolf forms while Luna May and Beta Rebecca were in their human forms. Well Luna May is a human so she doesn't have a wolf form to begin with.

Luna Kate looked relaxed as she and a couple of others chatted away to Alpha Leyton. Luna May was surrounded by pups as she played with them while Derrick and Beta Rebecca moved through the rest of the Shallow Waters pack members, welcoming and chatting to everyone.

One of the larger pups broke away from all the others that were now swarming Luna May and ran over to us. His brown fur pinned to his back as he ran as fast as his little legs would carry him.

He stopped in front of us before saying. "Hi I'm John, I was wondering if you'd seen my big sister by chance. Her name is Eva."

I chuckled while Detsy and Grace smirked as we realized that John didn't recognize me in my human form.

I knelt down and put my hand out for him to sniff before I playfully said. "It's nice to meet you John, I'm your big sister Eva."

John gave me the look of 'do you honestly think I'm stupid enough to fall for that.' To which I laughed and said. "If you don't believe me then smell me little brother."

John eyed my hand for a moment before stepping forward and giving it a good long sniff. He froze as he recognized my scent and looked up at me in a state of bafflement.

"I've already told you that I can shift into a human, just like you saw Thomas and Daniel do back at the pack den." I told John with a smirk.

"Then that means that your Grace and Detsy." John said as he looked at each of my mates when saying their names.

"The one and only my dear John." Detsy said dramatically before bowing deeply.

Grace rolled her eyes at Detsy and I just smile at my mates, somehow more thankful than ever to have been blessed with these two as my mates.

"You need to teach me how to shift." John said excitedly while looking over the three of us in human form.

"Unfortunately we can't." Grace said. "I'm sorry John, but you need to be born a werewolf or you need a royal to change you into a werewolf to be able to shift. Being changed by a royal is one of the most painful experiences you can ever have and afterwards you are bound to that Royal forever, can you imagine not being able to say no to the person that changed you no matter how much you want to?" Grace asked as she knelt down to give John a pat.

"That sounds horrible." John admitted as he shuddered visibly. I could imagine that if he was human he would be covered in goosebumps right now.

Grace suddenly picked John up before standing back up. She placed his front paws so that they were resting on her shoulder while his back paws were on her chest. She was using one of her arms to support his back end.

"Ok this is weird." John said. "Everything looks so different from this high up."

"You'd better get used to it John." Detsy warned him. "Believe it or not, Grace loves pups more than I do and as Eva's brother you're going to be spending a lot of time with us."

John groaned as Grace chuckled and informed us that we should make our way over to Alpha Leyton as everyone else was gathering around him.

We walked over with Grace still carrying John despite his protests that he could walk by himself.

The three of us, well four of us, stood by Luna May and Derrick as Alpha Leyton began his speech.

"First I would like to welcome each and every member of the Shallow Waters pack." Alpha Leyton said in a loud voice. He'd managed to sneak off and shift at some point because it was extremely hard for the language of the wolves to be able to address this many at once as you needed to be able to see the speaker clearly.

"While you are here you will be provided with sanctuary, this included lodgings, food, water and all the protection that the Roaring Hills pack can provide. There has been an entire area that has been put aside for your use." Alpha Leyton continued.

"There are no restrictions on interacting with our pack members and everyone is always welcome in the pack house. However, I'd like you all to remember that there are large differences between a natural wolf pack and a werewolf pack. While I don't expect you to learn understand how this pack differs from yours straight away, I do expect effort from both packs to help deepen everyone's understanding of each other." Alpha Leyton finished.

"So with all of that being said, let me show you were you will be staying." Alpha Leyton said with a smile. There were many tails wagging in happiness after his speech.

Grace finally put John down as Alpha Leyton turned around and started to head back towards the pack house with all the she wolves and pups following him.

Alpha Leyton led everyone past the pack house while explaining everything of interest to the wolves that were following him. Such as where the wolf door was located and the bathroom rules etc.

As we were walking, I saw lots of faces peer out of windows or even lean out of doors to catch a glimpse of the new pack that they were going to be living alongside. Thankfully everyone in the Shallow Waters pack was to busy looking at all the buildings to notice that they were being watched by so many.

Alpha Leyton lead everyone past the pack house to the empty area beside it, except it wasn't empty anymore.

There were about 40 large kennels placed next to each other in a manner that formed a circle. The entrance to each kernel was located towards the center of the ring. There was a space left free of kennels that functioned as the entrance and exit. In the center was a massive kennel like structure that was meant to function as a communal area and looked large enough to house the entire pack if they so wished.

There was a freshly concreted area that held a couple of low sitting troughs of water and a large space next to it for food. The entire area had a waterproof shade cloth over it to protect the wolves from the sun and rain. None of this had been here when I left for the Shallow Waters pack.

"Welcome to your new home." Alpha Leyton said to everyone before launching into an explanation of what everything is and how it works as well as meal times and reminding everyone that they would be closely interacting with humans.

Grace dragged my attention away from Alpha Leyton as she tapped me on the shoulder.

"As much as I would love to stay and watch this, the three of us have an appointment with the King and Queen." Grace told me after getting Detsy's attention as well.

"Your parents are here at the pack house?" I asked, suddenly nervous.

Grace nodded her head in conformation. "They arrived last night and are very eager to meet our new mate. They have asked to meet you as soon as you came back."

The nervousness must have shown on my face because Detsy said. "Don't worry Eva. Tom and Cynthia Golde are actually really friendly people despite being the King and Queen. I have absolutely no doubt that they will love you to pieces."

"Lets go get you into a shower then a nice dress." Grace said before grabbing my hand and leading me back towards the pack house. Detsy wasted no time in grabbing my other hand as I was lead by my two mates towards my judgment by the King and Queen.