Winter had taken a day to think, now she felt nervous as she looked at all the wolves assembled around the table, her pack, her friends. She had never felt this conflicted. 

Ever since she was here, she had finally felt complete, but now for the first in a long time she felt something was missing. 

"I have assembled you all here today because we need to talk about our recent visit to my old pack and something else." 

The wolves looked expectantly at her.

 "It turns out that I found my mate." 

They all look startled at her. 

"I thought Charlie was your mate." Jack said. 

"He was, but it turns out that I have been given a second chance on a mate." Winter replied.

 There was a lot of mumbling at the table. 

"But how is that possible?" He asked confused. 

"I have heard it before." 

Thomas spoke up and all wolves turned silent and looked at him. 

"Those who have been here from the start have all seen the changes in Winter. Tell me the colour of your fur has it always been snow white?" he asked. 

"No, it was Grey." She said. 

"You changed, your wolf changed. Your mate is someone that completes you, that challenge you and that keeps you grounded, equal in strength and power. Charlie is no longer the person that does that for you. You evolved, he didn't. I bet your mate is someone really powerful." Thomas said. 

Winter was silent as all wolves looked expectantly at her. 

"Off course he is. It's Alpha Arsen of the Opal Storm Pack for crying out loud." Blade said. 

A wave of sock washed over the wolves in the pack room. Winter felt uncomfortable under the stairs she was receiving. 

"Rumour is that he is even stronger than the alpha king." Luke whispered.

"What does this mean for our Pack?" 

Bastian finally asked as the news had settled in. 

"I don't know yet. That's what I wanted to discuss with you guys first and then with the Opal Storm pack as well." She said. 

"I am not planning on becoming a sweet Luna, that's just not a role fit for me." 

"You better not" Luke said stern. 

"With all due respect Winter, but you have achieved too much and come too far for simply being side stepped as a Luna. You are an alpha. You train our armies, talk and teach us things, you guide us." He added.

Winter felt touched at his words. 

"Thank you." She softly whispered. 

"What do you want?" 

Thomas asked her and all wolves looked at her. 

"I would like to find a way to be with Arsen and at the same time still be here with you guys in our pack. But if that's not possible I'll need to reject him. Everything before the pack." 

Winter replied even though the words way harder on her every time she said them. 

"You have been given a second chance on happiness and you want to give it up for us? That won't be happening." Flint said stern. 

"I proposed a meeting between the two packs to see how this can work." Winter said. 

The table nodded their head. 

"Can't we merge?" Evelyn a young wolf said. 

She was head of the health and youth in the pack. 

"Adapt our rules and let them fit in?" she asked carefully again. 

Winter studied the girl for a second. 

"The least we could do is try it." Luke replied and smiled at Winter.

Winter stood at the edge of the Opal Storm pack face to face with Graham and some of his wolves. She wanted to talk to Arsen herself and tell him how her meeting had passed. Graham held a deathly stair directed to her. 

"Graham." 

"Lu" he started but quickly corrected himself. 

"Winter. Why are you here?" he asked. 

"Didn't you choose to go with your pack?" he snarled at her. 

Winter raised her eyebrows at him. 

"Be careful" she warned him. 

"I am, but I will always protect my alpha." 

The wolves around him looked curious from their gamma towards Winter. 

"Can you call him?" she asked. 

"Can't you?" Graham retorted. 

"Right, you can't." his eyes spat fire at her. 

Graham eyes blanked as he called his alpha, meanwhile Winter studied his other wolves. They were impressive, she wondered how they would compete against her pack. A smile played on her lips at that thought. 

"He is coming." Graham replied. 

Winter nodded her head. 

"You came alone?" Graham asked curiously. 

"I did." She replied. 

"Shouldn't you bring at least a dozen of your best fighters?" He asked. 

"Why?" Winter studied him. 

"Because we are the Opal Storm pack." He replied cocky. 

"Hmm" Winter acted as if she was thinking. 

"My fighters can be here in seconds if needed, but I doubt you will be much of a challenge." She smiled widely. 

She saw how her words affect Graham. 

"What are you going to do call them? Kill me?" 

"Why not?" she asked. 

Graham looked confused at her. 

"You can't you are a rogue." 

"Sure honey." Winter replied with a smile. 

"Graham, you are testing my patience, don't make me command you." Winter said deadly calm.

 Graham laughed loudly and the other wolves looked even more curious at her. 

"You can't, you aren't part of our pack." He replied with a big smile. 

"Want to bet?" she asked. 

Graham was working on her nerves, she needed to show him who was in charge or he would never respect her, no matter what would happen. 

"Graham, why don't you be a good boy and SIT." 

Winter's alpha command washed over the wolves and Graham sat down immediately looking startled at her.

Arsen arrived and he looked confused at Graham sitting on the ground. 

"Graham do I need to bring you coffee and maybe some cookies I thought I commanded you to do border patrol?" Arsen said stern. 

"Yes, alpha." He quickly stood up and looked at Winter. 

"My apologies, I clearly underestimated your strength." He replied. 

"Don't make that mistake again. But I understand where you are coming from." Winter replied.

 Graham nodded his head and walked off with the other wolves. 

"Hey" Arsen softly said. 

"Hey" Winter replied. 

He brought his thumb towards her cheek. 

"I never imagined seeing you back this quick." He softly whispered. 

"Did you prefer if I stayed away longer?" Winter smirked. 

Arsen grabbed her waist and pulled her close, taking his sweet time to kiss her. He buried his head in her neck, brushing his nose over the spot where he wanted to mark her. 

"Are you okay?" Winter softly asked. 

"It's hard." Arsen replied. 

"I know, it feels as if a piece of me is missing." She answered. 

He softly brushed over her hair. 

"Yeah that and the fact that you are fucking beautiful and you are surrounded by guys like Blade." He replied with a big smile. 

"What did you do with Graham?" he asked suddenly. 

Winter blushed and avoided Arsen's eyes she didn't know how he would react to her commanding his wolves. 

"Maybe I ordered him, he didn't stop challenging me. " 

A loud laugh boomed over her, she looked curiously up at her mate. 

"That explains his turn in feelings about you. He thought you weren't worthy being my mate. He changed his mind." 

Arsen kissed her tenderly.