Josy Until the day Mara went off to the Council for her studies, they were inseparable; she was there when Malik shifted for the first time, and she helped him a lot with controlling his Bear. Nanuk was a little difficult after their first shift, but somehow Mara was always able to calm him down, and when Ivan shifted for the first time, she was there too. Nanuk and Ungnyeo were two totally different Cubs, and Mara helped Alice with documenting everything about their shift and development. "Hello, Mara. How are your studies going?" Malik asks, and soon they are talking about her studies and travels, neither one of them aware that midnight is approaching. Nyla and I sit back to watch the two of them, and both of us are hoping that the Goddess paired them together. Only Mano knows that we suspect that they are Mates, but neither one of us can explain why we feel that, and we decided to keep it to ourselves. Lance is counting down until midnight, and my eyes are glued to the two people in front of me, hoping and praying. Nyla and I start cheering the moment they realize that they are Mates, and Ivan is watching his big Brother as Malik takes off with Mara in his arms. This time, the Days of the Full Moon gave our Pack seven fated couples, and within six months, there were sixteen young born, including my four little ones: two Cubs and two Pups, a male and female of each kind, and I love my huge family. Malik and Mara had a Pup and a Cub, and Ivan will become a Father for the first time in three weeks. I smile as I see Ivan hovering around his Mate, and through the mind-link, I ask her if I need to put him back in his place, making her giggle. I have visited my old Pack a few times, but I don't miss it. This Pack is my home, this Pack is my family, and here I am at peace. * July 1st, 2694 It is finally over. The Council has been able to establish peace between all the Packs, but it has been a long and tiring process. No one trusting another, no one willing to make a compromise, no one willing to be the first to stop the attacks.If anyone had told me when I took over from Dad that we would be at war with just about everyone around us, I probably would have been laughing my ass off. No one in their right mind would have attacked us back then, but it did happen, and sometimes it still surprises me. I know that everyone wants what I have with Lance, but within our Pack, Malik and Mara were one of the last fated couples. It took the Council about three years to come to the conclusion that fated couples were a thing of the past, but it took every other shifter a few more years, and then trouble started to stir. At first there would be a kidnapping every now and then, but it became worse when Packs started to protect their unmated females better, and eventually Packs would start attacking other Packs to take away their unmated females by force. I took in every unmated female from our allied Packs, and we are one of the few Packs that didn't lose too many females. When the first kidnappings were reported to the Council, Malik and Ivan started training their Cousins; they are all a force to be reckoned with, and they were successful in bringing some of the kidnapped females home. Dad trained the underaged youngsters to use a bow and arrow, giving them the means to help protect our Pack. At first I wasn't too sure if it was a good idea, but looking back I am glad Dad pushed the issue. He owes his life to those youngsters, and even though his injuries were so severe that he could no longer fight, he was still able to help protect our Pack. Bane took over as Alpha in the midst of all this madness, and he has done a great job in protecting our Pack, in protecting those that needed our protection. We lost a few Warriors during the first few attacks, but once we had three of our allies moving into the territory, we were able to fight off every attack without casualties. About eleven years ago there was an attack on the Palace, and within a matter of two days we lost the entire Royal Family. It was a large and well-planned attack, and I doubt anyone could have stopped it, but the outcome wasn't what some Alphas had hoped for. Princess Taliyah lost her Mates as the first wave hit the Palace, and the pain of the loss killed her within an hour; their oldest Son had taken over the Throne a few years before that attack, and without an heir the Throne would have gone to his baby Sister. But she knew that one of those Alphas would forcefully mark her, and she chose to take matters into her own hands. With her death there was no member of the Royal Bloodline left, and the Council has tried to establish a peace of some sort ever since. It was fragile during the first few years, and every once in a while an attack would rattle the fragile peace treaty, but our Pack gave every Pack hope about five years ago.Crimson, my Son's Gamma, had told Bane that he and his Lycan had found a female they wanted to spend the rest of their lives with, something that had never happened before as our other halves were still hoping for a fated Mate. Bane thought it was a fluke until Liam, his Beta, came to him a few months later with the same story. Josy talked to Crimson's Lycan and her Son's Bear to find out that Crimson and Liam were telling the truth; they told her that they felt a connection to the females and that in a few days it had grown too strong to deny. What they described reminded her of the Mate-bond she found with Mano, and she had asked Bane to call a meeting with the entire Pack.