Krystal said softly, “But you’re going to have to wait a bit to find out what it is…” Rallan smirked and opened his eyes again to gaze into hers.

“That just makes the surprise all the more worth-while to have to wait for…” he replied wittily, licking her nose before standing up, “I’m sure the surprise will be worth it all in the end for me, won’t it?”

“Oh believe me Rallan, it will…” Krystal replied as they began walking back toward their den, her tail curling around his, “It will…”

            Snow was kicked up behind him as he ran. The light brown wolf was panting heavily, running as fast as he could. He was already late as it was and he was surely going to have to explain himself for this one! At this point, he just hoped his tardiness wouldn’t get him exiled, or worse- killed! But they can’t do that to me, they need me! They need what I know! he thought to himself, grinning at the thought of the information he had held within his mind. Soon he came to a halt in a clearing where three other wolves lay. They glared at him, particularly a gray and white female.

“You’re late, Drake… Very much so… You’d better have a good explanation for this…” the female said coldly.

“I do… You see, I got held up at the river, because it was frozen, but the ice wasn’t very thick, so I-”

“I don’t care! Just tell me, do you have anything to report?”

“Yes I do, Lady Rayne… I found him… I found your brother…” Drake replied with a victorious grin, “He’s just to the west of here, five days travel, maybe less if we hurry!”

Rayne sat in silent thought for a moment. At last, they had Rallan. To the west was nothing but ocean, so he couldn’t run anywhere if he didn’t know they were coming. She turned her gaze back to Drake, her eyes dead-serious, as they usually were.

“Did he see you at all? Him or whoever he was with?” Rayne asked. When Drake shook his head no, Rayne went back to her thoughts. This could all work out perfectly… If she had Drake, Hunter, and Valley all go in at once, they might be able to kill him, or at least flush him out toward a trap, where she’d lie in wait- yes, that’d be perfect! And it could all work! Presuming she had the time to set it all up…”

“Alright, this is the plan… We’re going to get Rallan this time… Drake, I want you to take Hunter and Valley to wherever he is and engage him there… If you can’t kill him, at least push him back to the ocean… Get him no matter what!” she ordered, “You three go on ahead and I’ll catch up to you in an hour or two…”

Without any question needed to be asked, Drake, Hunter, and Valley nodded before turning to the west and bolting off. Rayne waited until they were out of sight before sighing heavily. She knew that Rallan would be her toughest challenge yet and she wanted to be prepared for him. She stood in a basic battle stance, facing off against a snow-covered pine tree.

“Always keep your eyes on your enemy… Balance your weight… Wait for an opening…” Rayne repeated to herself, going over her combat training she’d gotten both from Captain and some from her father, “Find their weakness… Analyze… Strike!”

As a blur of motion, Rayne shot forward and sliced the trunk of the tree. Four deep marks were left in the thick bark. Rayne sighed softly, watching her breath turn into a cloud before evaporating in front of her. Her ice-blue eyes turned out toward the west as she glared with determination.

“Get ready Rallan…” Rayne said softly into the wind, her voice as cold as the air around her, “It’s time to end all of this, once and for all…”

            Three days later, Rallan had begun to detect hints as to what Krystal’s ‘surprise’ for him was. Over the days, she’d become a lot more flirtatious and spent practically all of her time with him now, beside him every single second of the day. At first Rallan had thought that she was just teasing and playing around with him, but as this behavior progressed into its second and then third day, he began to wonder if this was a game at all…

On the fourth day of this, Rallan had begun to wonder what had been going on with Krystal. He’d managed to slip away for a bit under the ruse of going for a drink. Instead he’d taken a long walk through the snowy woods, pondering what was going on. After a long while of debate and decipher, Rallan came down to only one possibility- and it was the exact time for that theory to be in effect. It was mating season…

That’s what’s been going on with Krystal! Rallan thought, mentally beating himself up for not realizing it sooner, So then what is that surprise of hers? Unless it’s… Before he had time to complete that thought, Rallan had stumbled across their den again. Standing just at the mouth of the den was Krystal. Rallan heaved a sigh and approached her, nuzzling her in an affectionate greeting.

“Krystal… I know what’s been going on with you…” Rallan said slowly, still not sure of what he was going to say. But Krystal stopped him, covering his muzzle with her paw to cease his speaking for a moment.

“I knew you would sooner or later, Rally… You’re smart, plus it’s only instinct for you to notice…” Krystal replied, smiling slightly to him, “… I kinda have something I want to ask you… But I don’t know how to say it…” Rallan moved Krystal’s paw aside so he could respond to her.

“Krystal, you can tell me anything you want to…” Rallan said reassuringly, smiling lovingly at his beloved mate, “Now, what was it you wanted to ask me? If you can’t think of a better way, just say it as plainly as you want…” Krystal hesitated for a few moments, blushing slightly.

“Rallan, I…” she started, looking up into his brown eyes, “I… I wanted to know… if you wanted to start a family…” Now Rallan was taken completely aback. He didn’t know what to say, let alone how to react to those words! He just stood in stunned silence, blinking a couple of times to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

“Y-you want to start a family? With me?” Rallan asked, still completely dumbfounded and shocked beyond belief, “Krystal, I… I don’t know what to say to that… I mean, I’d love to! I just… I…” Krystal could see Rallan was clearly confused and licked his nose.

“I know… I’m nervous too, but… You mean so much to me… I really want this… so long as you do too…” Krystal said somewhat timidly, still blushing a light shade of pink. Rallan’s mind finally caught up with the moment and he sighed softly, smiling sweetly at Krystal.

“If you do, Krystal, then I do too…” he replied softly, nuzzling her neck gently, “I am nervous… But so long as I’m with you, I have nothing to be afraid of…” Krystal beamed widely and nuzzled Rallan back, kissing him gently before motioning to the den, a grin on her muzzle.

“Come on… I think we have plenty of time…” she said, walking in, shortly followed by her mate.

A couple days later, Rallan was lying inside his den with Krystal. The beautiful female wolf lay nestled in his loving embrace, a smile on her face. He smiled back at her, unable to recall a time he’d been so happy in his entire life! Rayne had pretty much vanished into thin air and now he and Krystal were most likely going to be parents within a couple months! Finally, Rallan was able to relax, content with his new life and the fact that everything was going to be perfect from here on out…

“Rallan…” It was Krystal’s voice. Rallan slowly opened his eyes and glanced down into hers.

“Yes Krystal?” he asked softly. She licked his muzzle and sighed softly.

“Thank you…” Krystal said quietly, snuggling up against Rallan’s body, “… for everything…” Rallan smiled joyously and sighed softly.

“You’re welcome, Krystal… Thank you for helping me get my life back to happiness…” he replied. Everything was silent for a long while, even everything outside seemed dead-silent. Another thing Rallan loved about the wintertime. Slowly, Rallan groaned wearily as he stood up, shaking off his pelt and heading toward the entrance. He glanced up at the sky; dark clouds loomed overhead, signaling the coming snowstorm.

“I’m going for a drink… I’ll be back shortly, sweetheart…” Rallan stated, stepping out into the cold air, padding softly through the pure-white snow as snowflakes began to lightly head toward the ground. Krystal sighed softly and closed her eyes, nearly falling asleep from the remaining warmth of the den.

Not much longer