* Media pic is of some of the pups in their fur.

Penn danced excitedly beside Mia the moment she saw the pups come barrelling down the street, across lawns, and out from behind one house of another. They came from nearly every direction and all of them were running at her as fast as their four paws would take them. She let out an excited bark and flashed Alpha Troy with another toothy grin.

Behind the pups, running on two legs and trying to keep up but not quite succeeding were their new parents, siblings and what looked like the rest of the pack. Under normal conditions, Penn would have her hairs up and be ready to defend herself and the pups at a moment's notice. But not that night. That night she knew the only danger to the pups was coming from outside the village. These wolves were no threat to her or the pups.

One after the other the pups arrived, all of them in their furs, all of them barking and chirping with excitement, all of them wagging their tails and eager to show their necks or bellies to Penn in submission. She sniffed every last one of them over, licked them all, rubbed her face into their furs and generally made a huge fuss over them. Though it was out of character for her, she felt compelled to mother them, to fawn over them. Surprisingly enough, it came quite naturally to her, and the pups lapped it all up - every single affectionate moment.

Alpha Troy and the others, which included nearly the entire village now, all stood back and watched the happy reunion. It was so touching, so sincere, so joyful that the crowd was quickly brought to tears on the behalf of the pups, whom the village accepted as their own now.

But the crowd was also subdued by Penn's beautiful silver form that shimmered and shone under the moonlight. They were struck dumb by such a seraphic vision. Wolves with pure white coats had always been elevated in pack mentality since the beginning of time because their coats best resembled the full moon. Consequently, white wolves were thought to be blessed by the Moon goddess and consider lucky for the pack.

However, a coat made of silver itself was utterly supernal and beyond their comprehension. In that moment, the rogue wolf they had feared became the object of their reverence. The only ones who didn't seem to think anything of Penn's otherworldly figure were the Griffin pack orphans, who frolicked and tumbled all around her as if she were the most ordinary of wolves.

"Why do you think she's back and come like this in the night to see the children?" Elder Ruuni asked Alpha Troy now that he appeared relaxed and approachable.

"I don't like to speculate," he said quietly, "But, if her instincts have brought her back in the middle of the night, I'm guessing trouble is on the horizon."

Ruuni nodded solemnly. That was her guess as well.

"What will we do?" she asked in an equally soft voice, not wanting their conversation to be overheard by the larger community, which was still raptly watching the silver-haired she-wolf.

"I rung up the head of Boarder Patrol when I first got Fancy's call and told him to double the numbers on watch and to increase the number of patrols." He paused as he pulled out his phone to check the time. "That was over an hour ago now. I'm sure he's hauled some men out of their beds and has already worked out a new patrol schedule."

Ruuni nodded in agreement and then said what she was sure Alpha Troy already knew, "We should wrap up this welcome party and send everyone home for the time being."

"Yes," Troy said with a sigh. He knew he should, but he was reluctant given how excited the pups were to see Penn. "I'll give them a few more minutes," he confided to Elder Ruuni, whom he was sure would not protest.

She gave him a knowing smile before graciously returning to the elders, who were standing close together but a few steps behind Alpha Troy.

"Lucas," Troy called.

His Beta was at his side almost instantly.

"Lets send everyone home in a few minutes and then have a meeting with Penn."

Lucas looked at him and frowned.

"Something's up isn't it?"

"We wont know until we talk to her," Troy said with a shrug of his shoulder.

Lucas suddenly felt a little on edge and he took a moment to really take in their surroundings. Who was present? Who wasn't present? Were there any new sounds or scents in the air? Had Penn run into Codax or any of his pack while she was living off-territory? Was she here to warn them?

"Is Penn alright?" Lucas suddenly asked. "She didn't run into any trouble did she?"

"She's not injured, if that's what you mean," Troy responded.

He'd hugged her to himself twice that night in Fancy's bedroom, and both times he'd breathed in her scent deeply. If she'd been hurt in any way, or even sick with fever from an old or reoccurring injury, he would have known right away. But she smelt as fresh as the first snow.

Lucas nodded as he kept a watchful eye on the villagers, who had crowded around Penn and the pups. Everything seemed okay. He looked briefly for Jules. She was standing with Fancy and her parents. They were all spellbound - eyes wide, mouths slightly parted - by the shimmer and tinkling of Penn's silver fur. Lucas smiled softly, and told himself not to panic. Everything was fine.

"I'm sorry to break up this party," Alpha Troy began, "But it's very late and we've got work and school in the morning."

The pups whined collectively, which made the whole crowd laugh. But Penn didn't yip happily with them. Instead, she transformed from her fur to her skin and with her luminous black hair flowing to her knees and her bare skin glowing like the moon's surface, she walked directly to Alpha Troy like some heavenly vision.

But, when she spoke, it wasn't as some celestial reincarnation. Instead, she sounded more like a harbinger of danger.

"Do you have a safe house or a safe place where the villagers can hide? Someplace outside the village?" Penn questioned with some urgency in her voice.

The crowd and the pups stilled completely at the question, which everyone heard.

"Someplace where fire can't get to them?" she continued.

Troy felt his throat dry up with a sudden onset of anxiety and he even had to fight off a sudden frosty chill. Something in the question itself and the tone of her voice made him realize right away that his initial guess hadn't been wrong. She'd come to save the pups from some threat. And not just the pups, but the villagers to.

"Codax is coming," she explained in a strained voice that dampened everyone's good spirits and left them feeling gravely ill.

Most of the villagers present didn't even know who Codax was let alone the threat he posed to the children and the village as a whole. But the weight of her tone left no one in doubt that whomever was coming was a threat to the whole pack. 

"He is going to burn the village to the ground, cut off your escape route, kill every last one of the Orthos pack, and then he's going to kill the Griffin orphans," she explained.

Penn didn't hold back the truth. She didn't beat around the bush. She didn't wait for the 'proper' time to tell everyone their lives were in danger - that the whole pack was in danger. That vision the Moon goddess had given her was still so real to her that she knew there wasn't time to give it to them gently.

A great collective gasp went up among the parents, the pups and the other villagers.

Penn repeated her earlier questions asking Troy, "Do you have someplace safe for them to go? Someplace fireproof?"

Troy looked into her pale silvery blue eyes and felt cold inside. There was no place like that - no underground bunkers built in the 50s during the cold war to fall back on and no cave big enough to house the entire village. His eyes swept over the stricken faces that looked to him expectantly.

What on earth could they do against a powerful pack that was hell bent on burning the village to the ground and killing every last one of them.  In the six months since the pups had come and Troy and Lucas had been looking into the Codax threat, he'd never once considered that the man would be brazen enough to come rolling into Orthos territory and burn it to the ground like he'd done to the much smaller Griffin pack.

His eyes found Penn's once more before he asked what everyone wanted to know, "How do you know?"

She replied in that same foreboding tone, "The goddess showed me."

"Showed you?" Elder Ruuni asked with alarm.

Penn looked to her and nodded.

Troy also turned his head to observe Elder Ruuni and see if it was possible. Did the Moon goddess come to people in dreams or give them visions anymore? A look of dread had overcome her face as well as the other elders. They believed what Penn saw to be true, and like him, they knew they had no where to hide.

Not wanting to waste time and instinctively understanding that Alpha Troy and the Elders did not have a ready solution, Penn offered one.

"Let the children, the villagers and the elders take on their fur and follow me to the caves in the mountains where I wintered. I found an intricate cave system there, and if they remain in their furs, there is room enough for all of us. But, we must leave now. Codax is going to come in the night. If not tonight, then tomorrow night. We can't be caught out by him. The villagers must be hidden away by the time he arrives."

"The rest of us," Troy filled in, "will stay and fight."

It wasn't a question, but it also wasn't a command either. He regarded the faces of the Orthos leadership, the faces of the villagers still crowded around, and the faces of the pups, who were still in their furs. Would they follow Penn into unknown territory without him?

Mia's parents came forward with their other children in tow. The two young wolves looked at each other and then bowed their heads submissively to their Alpha waiting for permission to speak.

Alpha Troy nodded at them.

"We'll go," Mia's adoptive father said in a quiet but assertive voice. "We'll go right now if that's what it takes to save our children and the pack. We'll go and gladly, Alpha Troy," he insisted as she squeezed his wife's hand.

"Wild living isn't like anything you've known," Elder Nordin said softly. "It's a hard life. And we don't know how long you'll have to live that way."

Mia's father stepped forward a little more, and bowed with respect to Elder Nordin before saying, "If Mia, a three year old, survived a six week trek across some of the most dangerous terrain around because of Penn, then we can put up with a few weeks or even a few months of wild living if need be." He smiled reassuringly at both Elder Nordin and Alpha Troy.

A murmur was heard rising among the villagers and their children while the pups came and sat around Penn's feet. It was clear where their preference lie. They were ready to leave with her at a moment's notice.

Though he had no right to speak for everyone, Mia's father rightly picked up on the growing sentiment among the pack, "We are willing to trust Alpha Penn with our lives," he said with quiet conviction.

It wasn't lost on anyone there that he did not call her Rogue Penn or 'the' rogue, but that he'd chosen to give her the highest honour possible by acknowledging that she was an Alpha wolf in her own right, even without a pack of her own. Only an alpha wolf could have accomplished what she had done. No rogue wolf would have stuck it out and made sure that pups, with no familial ties to her of any kind, reached the safety of another pack. That was the sort of thing Alphas, natural born leaders with an ingrained sense of responsibility and justice, did.

Alpha Troy turned his attention back to Penn, whose eyes were still focused mainly on him. Was she really offering to escort and keep the majority of his pack, old and young alike, in the neutral territory north of the pack, for their own safety? Did she have any idea what she was offering to do?

A soft, amused smile broke out across her face, and, as if she'd read his mind, she said, "The pups will help me. They'll keep me in line."

She grinned a little, and Troy felt totally dumbfounded. Who was this woman? Where was the panicky wolf who refused pack-life just four months ago. What happened to her out there in the wilds that changed her too such an unfathomable degree?

The pups barked and yipped excitedly and waged their tails to show their approval. And somehow, the humour was not lost on the crowd, who suddenly broke into smiles and gave each other knowing looks. By this time, many of the villagers had heard stories from the pups, about just what a hard task master Penn was, and how relentlessly and pitilessly she drove the pups to safety for their own sake. Since the children had survived her and loved her fiercely despite it all, well, the villagers felt they could survive her too.

Alpha Troy came forward and gently took a hold of Penn's bare shoulders. While he looked directly, unflinchingly into her pale blue eyes that seemed to hold more warmth than he'd ever seen before, he addressed the wolves around them saying, "I wont force anyone to leave, but I wont force you to stay either. If you leave, you leave from here tonight with Penn and you don't come back for any reason until we give you the all clear. You've got ten minutes to talk it over and then Penn will leave."

She smiled openly and affectionately at him. Something had definitely changed in her. It wasn't just outwardly. Troy could see it in her eyes - in the depths of her soul. It was like looking at someone who had made peace with themselves. Was it possible? Had she somehow managed to reconcile all her conflicting feelings about pack life - about him - during her winter isolation?

Troy did not want to part with her and the realization that he only had her with him for the next ten minutes caused him a great sense of loss and grief. He felt desperate to connect with her, to convey his heart to her, which was so full of deep emotions, complicated thoughts, and hopes for the future, that he didn't even know where to begin.

But, all that came out of his mouth, in a low growl so unlike his usual gentle self, was, "Promise me this wont be last time I see you."

Penn's heart was deeply touched by his rough and impassioned demand. He hadn't lost any of the ardour he'd felt for her in the days and hours before she'd left the pack and ran for the hills. His feelings had been hard to understand, and even more difficult to accept when she was living in the pack house. Love was foreign to her at the time, and part of her thought his feelings were highly unreliable. As far as she knew, love - even familial love - was fickle.

But now, all these months later, after being separated from him and the pups, she had a new appreciation for the bonds of love. Both he and the pups had taught her so much without her even realizing it. Though part of her was ashamed of running away from them when she thought back to the night the elders had asked her to be a part of the pack, she was glad she did. How else was she ever going to understand what the pups really meant to her and how much she yearned to be loved and valued by people she respected, people she felt she might love in return? 

"I'll keep your people safe and I'll return them to you just like I found them tonight," she promised with a genuine smile.

But instead of looking relieved, Troy appeared pained and agitated.

"What is it?" Penn asked him in a quiet voice, not wanting to alarm anyone around them.

Troy pulled her to his chest and enfolded her in his arms so tightly that she wouldn't be able to break free even if she wanted to. Into her hair he whispered in a desperate voice, "But will I see you again?"

He knew she would protect his pack and the pups with her very life. What he didn't know was whether she'd ever return to the village - to him.

Penn relaxed into his warm chest and wrapped her own arms around his waist in return. As she snuggled there, she felt his agitation drop and could smell his dopamine levels rising. The closer and longer she held on to him the happier his mood. She felt happy too. It was a foreign sort of feeling, but not in the least unwelcome.

"Well?" he whispered into her hair a bit impatiently when he realized they were quickly coming up on the ten minutes he'd given everyone to decided whether to stay or go.

"I don't think it'll be a problem," she replied into his chest.

"Promise me," he demanded, still unsatisfied.

Penn laughed lightly as she released him and leaned back enough to look up at his face, which was illuminated by the moon.

She placed her hands over his heart and said, "I promise."

But, instead of smiling back, he let out a low growl as he pulled her up his chest until her lips were just a finger's width from his own. Then, as his eyes devoured hers, he warned, "You keep that promise or I'll hunt you down to the ends of the earth."

Penn smiled all the more. She was swept up in the tingling warmth of his embrace, the passion she saw in his eyes, and the feel of his heart beating under her palm. Being this near him, close enough to lean in and kiss him, thrilled her this time around instead of frightening her.  Her eyes darted from his to his lips and back to his eyes again in a quick motion.

"Understood," she whispered as her eyes fell on his lips one more time.

That was all the invitation Troy needed. Heedless of the Elders or the children present, he threaded his right hand through her hair, tipping her head back just enough to allow him to press his lips to hers without obstruction. His chest rumbled with pleasure when she gripped the soft fabric of his T-shirt and she pressed her lips to his in return.  He crushed her a little tighter and wondered how he'd ever let her go after this.