Grezig was also patrolling, as she usually did. Normally she went in the opposite direction of Kavik—not to avoid him, but to cover different ground. Border patrols only worked properly if they covered all of the border. Tonight, however, after much deliberation, she decided to catch up to her friend and alpha and talk to him. Something had been buzzing around in the back of her mind for days now, something that bothered her on a personal level, and she needed to get it off her chest or it would eat away at her forever. Mind racing, and heart hammering, she quickened her pace and saw Kavik turning back towards her, his dark fur flashing strangely in the moonlight.

She cleared her throat and stood her ground, feeling uneasy about the words that were desperately attempting to claw their way out of her mouth. “Kavik,” she began, feeling strangled. “I must speak with you.” She tried to wait patiently for him to return her greeting, but plowed forward in seconds. “We spoke some time ago of pack policies. Does your policy on members other than the alphas having children still hold?” There. The question had been asked. Now to wait for his answer.

His first words were a return greeting, and she felt her mouth turn downward in impatience. He was not long in answering her question, however. He confirmed that the rule still held, and she could not suppress a sigh of relief. Then, of course, he asked her why she had brought it up to begin with. She turned her head away, staring into the dark forest around them. “Because I want children one day, obviously,” she said, her voice carrying a hint of irritation. Why else would she have asked the question? She sighed again, feeling bad for the tone of her voice. It was only that hearing the answer brought on so many new questions. Like: whose children would she end up having? If not for Liri, she would have already brought it up with Kavik, but she would not destroy their relationship for selfish reasons.

Still… Who else would it be? Corvus, perhaps, though she hadn’t seen him around recently. Certainly not Thorleif. There was no one else. Not yet, anyway. 

She turned back to Kavik. “Forgive my tone. The question has weighed on me for some time.”

Kavik was not offended by her tone, and she had not really expected him to be. Like her, he was calm about most things. And they were friends, as he pointed out. It would take a lot more than a snappy retort to turn him away from her. She sighed through her nose, giving him a once-over and thinking not for the first time that she would let him give her children if he wanted to. But the thought was so inappropriate and out of place for her that it shocked her to her core. Why did he have to be taken? Him—the only one she’d thought of in this way, besides Corvus, since she had come to the Teekon Wilds. And he was taken by a… a deformed woman.

She hated herself for thinking such thoughts, but it was her upbringing that brought them to her mind. In her birth pack, someone deformed like Liri would have been demoted or overthrown by now. But Grezig was not quite as ruthless as her parents. And she counted Liri as a friend. Besides, the woman could fight, according to Kavik, despite her injury. Grezig had yet to see that for herself, but she had no reason to distrust Kavik’s words—except, perhaps, if he was looking at his mate through a rose-tinted fog. 

Throwing caution to the wind because she hated keeping secrets, she tossed her head and said, “There are only two wolves, so far, whom I would allow to father my children. Corvus… and you.” She looked him dead-on in the eyes as she said it, unflinching, challenging. Waiting.

But her conscience could not allow her to be so careless. After a few seconds’ hard stare, she let her eyes flick away from his. “If you were available, that is. But you are not.” It was weak, this amendment. She should have let her previous statement stand, just to see how he would have reacted, but her logical brain told her that it would have implied so many things she didn’t mean. She couldn’t risk it. Now she looked at the space between her paws and had half a mind to run in the opposite direction from him.

Kavik stopped walking after her words, halting in place. She stopped, too, and turned to face him. As awkward as she felt in the moment, she knew running would not actually solve anything. 

’Grezig, you are my friend and beta, and I appreciate your honesty, but I love Liri.’

“Of course,” Grezig said, nodding. She completely understood why he felt uncomfortable with her request. For her, sex was purely for procreation, but she understood that others saw sex as something romantic. She had no idea that Kavik thought she wanted him to be her mate. In her head, everything had been perfectly clear. She’d said she wanted him to father her children—as in, get her pregnant. She was not in love with the alpha. She merely wanted him to mate with her, physically, for the sake of creating pups. 

But Kavik, being the loving wolf that he was, had thought she meant that she wanted to be mates with him.

Ah, misunderstandings. Aren’t they great?

’I’m sorry… I wish I could be that for you,’ Kavik said, looking away from her.

Here was where she drew her brows together in confusion. If he wished he could provide her with children, then he wasn’t morally opposed to it, or… Was he still, and he was just sad that his relationship with Liri was preventing it? Perhaps if they spoke to her about it, and explained that their relationship was, aside from procreation, completely platonic, she might be okay with it.

“Maybe… maybe we could speak to Liri about it? As long as we made sure she understood that it was purely for the sake of having pups, she might… be all right with it.” Grezig paused. “Although, maybe not. I know other wolves view sex as something romantic and… whatever else. Personally I do not understand that. Unless I am in heat, I have no interest in such things.” She shook her head, realizing she was rambling. “No matter. It is your choice still. I completely understand if you think it could cause problems between you and Liri.” She turned, then, and was about to start walking again, assuming the conversation was finished…

’Wait. So you don't have feelings for me?’

Grezig stopped, with her paw halfway to the ground. She closed her eyes. Opened them again. Turned to face him. She pulled her head back and looked at him sideways. She blinked and looked around, and then turned back to look at him again. “Nnnno?” she said, her voice raising towards the end in confusion. “Is that—is that what you thought I—?”

’I apologize, I seem to have misunderstood what you were asking.’

“Clearly,” she agreed, blinking at him a bit owlishly, unsure of what else to say at this point. How on Earth could he think she had feelings for him? “I only wanted you to… father my children. As in, physically. I do not—I do not love you. We are friends, as you said, but… you can have Liri. I do not want you.” She cracked a small grin, still unsure of the situation.

’I would have no issue fathering children for you as long as you understand I would still want to be involved as their father.’

This confused Grezig a little. “You do not wish to be my mate, but you do not mind fathering my children. Yet, despite not wanting an intimate relationship with me, you do want an intimate relationship with your offspring?” She shrugged. In the end, it didn’t matter to her, and she supposed it would be better for her children’s mental health if they grew up with two parents instead of one.

As for what Liri thought of the whole thing… “Yes,” Grezig agreed. “We only do this if Liri is one-hundred percent on board. I do not need hard feelings between the alphas and beta of this pack. I do not intend to destroy any relationships or any trust between the two of you—or the three of us, really. I only want to have sex with you for the babies that would come of it. You would still be Liri’s mate—not mine. And whatever children Liri bore from your relationship would not be mine. Although we would have to explain to them that they were siblings to prevent any kind of in-breeding, of course.”

Grezig nodded as Kavik spoke. Everything he’d said so far made perfect sense to her, and she heard nothing to disagree with. She smiled for a brief moment when he said he hadn’t wanted to lose her friendship. “I would do anything to prevent that,” she said quietly, and then moved on quickly before this whole situation grew too sappy for her. 

“Of course we will tell them who their father is. I would explain it as best I could as they grew older. I suppose they would see Liri as… an aunt, perhaps? That might be easiest.” She shook her head, unsure. “That would imply that she and I were siblings, but if we were clear that it was only a title, I think they would understand. As for how to bring it up to her…” Grezig sighed. “Honesty is the best policy, as they say. We could… or you could call a meeting between the three of us.” Grezig imagined this meeting in her mind. “Sit near her, not me, so it doesn’t look like we’re… ganging up on her.” She paused, trying to think of the words to say. “Tell her… tell her you love her. Make that very clear. And then you and I, together, would explain that I want children of my own, but that you seem to be the only available male—aside from Corvus.”

Here, she paused. “I suppose I could simply ask Corvus first.” It was a thought she’d had a long time ago, but not recently. “Perhaps we could avoid all this awkwardness in the first place if he agreed to help me. That way you would not have to risk your relationship with Liri.” Grezig wondered what it said about her—and her relationship with Kavik—that she’d asked him first, and not even thought of Corvus until afterwards. Perhaps there was an inkling of a romantic feeling in there somewhere, after all… That thought was… unsettling.

Kavik agreed with Grezig that she should ask Corvus first, and she nodded silently. Yes. That made more sense. Still, she was happy she had brought it up to Kavik, and that doing so had not ruined their friendship. Kavik then told her that if Corvus couldn’t or wouldn’t agree to impregnate her that she could come back to him and they would talk about going to Liri. “Mm,” Grezig grunted, showing that she had heard his words. She just hoped that if it came to that—no matter what Liri decided—that it would not destroy whatever friendship she and Liri had. That it would not destroy her friendship with Kavik. That it would not destroy his and Liri’s relationship. Basically, Grezig hoped to the Gods that she would not become a homewrecker. She supposed only time would tell.

[Fade?]