Thank you Little_Missxx for the picture!

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It was starting to get dark. I was terrified for the moon to shine. I knew that new wolves could be compelled to change by the full moon. I didn't want to lose control, but I knew I would. The full moon was when the wolf was the strongest. I had only been a wolf for a week and a half.

I followed Mikko outside as the sun ducked behind the mountains in the distance. I was in only a robe, at Mikko's request. He said it would be easier to take off the robe than a bunch of clothes. Plus, the soft robe wouldn't irritate my new sensitive skin.

Mikko was already outside, but he was alone. I hadn't expected him to be alone. "Where is everyone else?"

He shrugged. "I don't need a crowd watching over you. I can do that just fine by myself."

I crossed my arms over my chest to try to get a handle on my nerves. "So, where is this happening?"

"A couple miles away, we should get going."

I followed Mikko quietly until we got to where he wanted. "This is a good spot."

"So what happens now?"

"We wait for you to change."

I looked up at the darkening sky for the first time that night. I was terrified. I knew the werewolf reputation for viciousness was earned, but I didn't want to be like that. I couldn't raise children and be a cold hearted killer.

When my eyes found the full moon, I couldn't look away. I could feel the pull, I could feel the power. I turned to face the moon completely.

"You need to fully accept what you are. The change comes with what you are now." Mikko's voice said gently right behind me. "You can't fight it. Let it happen at the pace that feels comfortable to you."

I huffed at the word comfortable. This process would always be anything but comfortable.

The change in my vision told me the wolf was ascending. The tingling started. Mikko stood behind me, untying the belt of the robe. I sunk back into him as the wolf came closer and closer to the surface.

"The wolf is a part of you now," he said gently. "You have to accept each other for this to become something that will work."

I didn't take my eyes off of the moon as I started to feel the change beginning. When my knees buckled, Mikko gently put me on the ground before taking the robe away from me. If I changed with it on, I'd rip it to shreds.

I was hardly aware of Mikko stripping down to begin his change. Mikko wasn't compelled by the moon like I was. I couldn't stay focused this time. I gave in to the change and blacked out when my ribs collapsed down on my lungs.

***

I felt different when I woke up. We were in his room. My vision was still different; the wolf was still ascended. I looked over at the warm body next to me. I was cuddled up against Mikko, using his chest as a pillow. The cold bite of the morning air coming through the open windows didn't matter.

I curled up against him. A part of me knew that I couldn't do this; I couldn't get close to him. But the other part of me told me to live in the moment, this peace wouldn't last forever. When Mikko woke up, so would reality.

I breathed deeply when his arm flexed, pulling me close.

Mikko looked down at me and sighed. "She's still not awake, huh?"

The grumble that came from my throat was more animalistic than anything else. Was my wolf showing through my eyes? Was the wolf the one who was in control, or was I?

I want you to witness. The wolf's voice in my head was deeper than I was used to. He will know what it feels like to be marked.

I wasn't the one in control, my wolf was. I didn't think the wolf would know everything that Mikko had done to me, but if she knew about the mark, she would know about everything else Mikko had done.

She brought my lips down to his bare chest, slowly trailing up to his neck. She was going to mark Mikko. I couldn't really complain about the power that would give me over him.

She climbed on top him, and grinded slowly against him. He growled and put his hands on my hips, preventing her from moving very much.

"Your counterpart needs to be awake."

A whine came from my throat as she leaned down and rubbed my cold nose along his jaw. He made a sound of approval, moving his head to allow better access. He trusted my wolf not to rip his throat out. We weren't even officially pack yet. That would happen tomorrow, once the full moon had passed.

We won't need to wait that long. The wolf shared menacingly.

I felt the bones shift in my face. It hurt just as hot water burned cold skin, but the wolf never made a sound. That would've given her away. I wasn't sure why the wolf knew how to do things that I had no idea what was going on.

Once the bones stopped shifting and the wolfish teeth were there, Mikko's neck was completely exposed to the kisses the wolf was giving him.

It is just too easy. She dug the sharp teeth into his neck and held on tightly as he flipped the wolf onto my back, but she didn't let go. She bit in harder for a few seconds before she let go of him.

His eyes were fully amber now. The lust that he had was gone. My wolf licked her lips, tasting his blood as she made eye contact with him. Mikko wasn't happy about the surprise marking.

I didn't feel any regret or any guilt from the wolf as she made me watch the mark heal on Mikko's neck. Mikko closed his eyes in pain as the wound healed quickly. I had to suffer with the healing mark for weeks after Mikko had given it to me. He would be suffering with the pain for maybe an hour until it completely healed up.

He leaned down against me, resting his forehead against my belly. He cursed before pushing himself back up. "Recede to the human." The order sunk through the wolf.

I felt control come back to me, bringing back some color vibrancy to my vision. I looked at the wound.

"What was that?" I asked looking at his neck as he got off the bed.

"You marked me." He put a towel over the mark and held it firmly.

I stayed silent for a moment. "Does this mean I can zap people now?"

Mikko smirked, but it wasn't amused. "Yes. You can zap people now, with training." I smiled at that idea. I could keep women away from Mikko, making him suffer like I had suffered. "You should know that I will be returning the favor."

I felt the blood drain from my face and pool in my belly as I shook my head. "No, you won't."

He walked over to the side of the bed and pulled me to him by my ankle. "And what's going to stop me from completing the bond your wolf has started?" He cooed as leaned down and ran his lips over my neck, choosing where to place the mark.

"You've already marked me when I didn't want it. This is just payback." I sat up on my knees to look at the wound on his neck.

"A revenge marking, huh?" He didn't sound pleased, maybe disappointed.

I wiped some if the blood off from around my wolf's mark on Mikko. "She got you good, didn't she?" The puncture wounds were still very deep at the K9 punctures. "Your mark on me wasn't this deep."

Mikko nodded. "My bite was just a claim. The bite you've given me is a mating bond bite. It's much more permanent than the one I gave you."

He kissed along my jaw line up towards my ear; it felt fantastic, just until he pushed away from me and stepped away from me. He smiled at me. "You can either stay naked if the clothes bother your new skin, or you can try to change again."

I cringed at the idea of changing as I pushed myself off the bed. "I want to see my kids today."

Mikko nodded and walked towards the bathroom to clean up.

I spotted my robe not too far away, so I went over to it instead. Just because there was a mark on his skin wouldn't change how I remembered him. He had been a jerk for too long. He couldn't just flip the switch and be nice. He had to earn his way back into my trust.

I marked him for revenge, I realized to myself, feeling my stomach fall to my feet.

That wasn't what the markings were for. They weren't meant to be used to manipulate. I felt ashamed as I put the robe over myself and covered my face with my hands. Why wasn't I able to think about things before doing them?

I went to the bathroom in my room and turned on the shower. I was still covered in dirt from my night as a wolf, that I didn't even remember. There was even a wet leaf stuck to my backside. I wiped Mikko's blood off of my face before I got into the shower. Marking was a messy business. I stood in the hot water wallowing in the guilt until there was a knock at the door. I felt no better than Mikko and his abuses towards me.

Mikko stuck his head in without waiting for me to respond to the knock. "Erik is hungry. Do you want to feed him or shall I let Mad do it?"

I turned off the water and quickly got out. "I'm coming." I frantically dried off my body and rubbed the towel my hair to get most of the water out. I threw on some clothes then looked at Mikko.

His smile was an amused one. "That was fast."

"You said he is hungry. I don't want to keep him waiting."

Mikko's smile stayed on his face as he led me to the nursery. The triplets weren't in the room. They were probably downstairs being fed at their highchairs.

I took my baby from Finn with a smile. Then his eyes landed on Mikko. I sat down on the rocking chair as Finn closed the distance to his son. He yanked Mikko's shirt down dramatically. The redness from the nearly healed, but still very raw wound showed above the shirt line.

Finn scrutinized the mark before turning to look at me. "I'm assuming this was from you."

I gave a noncommittal shrug, feeling too guilty to look up. "Well, not really, the wolf did it."

"Uh huh," Finn didn't sound convinced, "the wolf." I didn't look at Finn, but I could feel his scrutinizing gaze on me. "I don't see a mark on her."

I looked up at Finn through my hair. I couldn't look at the angry alpha of all wolves full-on yet. "It was payback, for the mark he gave me when I was human."

Finn looked back at his son. "So you're walking around with half a bond." Mikko looked away from his father with a nod. Was half a bond disgraceful to them? Maybe this went farther than I thought it did. Making. Me. Feel. Worse. "Did you forget what happened a year ago?"

Mikko scoffed and glared over at his father. "She doesn't know how to use it like that. There's not a malicious bone in her body."

Finn rolled his eyes. "She marked you for revenge."

"Did I unknowingly break a rule or something?" I asked interjecting myself into their conversation.

"Finn fears you may try to exert complete control over me," he looked at Finn, "which is something she cannot do, not to me."

"Clean this up or she will face the consequences like everyone else. I don't care how she's marked you. I won't allow it anymore." With that Finn left us in the room. There was a promised threat carried in his tone.

"So, I'm in trouble, aren't I?" Mikko's brows rose momentarily as if to say yes. "What did I do wrong?"

"Nothing, he's just being a paranoid, old coot."

"What happened that he's so afraid of?" My son started coughing from breathing in milk. I gently and slowly lifted him up into a sitting position and rubbed his little back as if I were holding a thin sheet of glass. Mikko was crouching down, ready to take the baby if he needed to.

When Erik started crying again, I laid him back down to start feeding again. Mikko stayed in a crouching position beside me.

"So what happened?"

Mikko kept his eyes on his son. "Do you remember when Alexia was here?"

She was a new wolf who had come to this pack for recovery before going back to her own pack. She hardly talked about what had happened with me. We kept the topic on other things. "I remember her."

"She was recovering from a forced, one-sided mating bond, like the one you have given me."

My smile dropped. Mikko might have been an ass, but I didn't want to do any permanent damage. That made the guilt I had weighed heavier on my conscious.

He looked at me with the smile that I really did love. "Her bond was abusive. The man who forced the bond on her manipulated her to do what he wanted. When he was killed, it sent her control into a free-fall. Now, the woman is traumatized from any bond other than the pack's bond."

"And Finn thinks I'm going to manipulate you like Lexi was?"

Mikko shrugged. "Yes and no. Of course he worries that you will try to do something along those lines, but I'm not a new wolf. The halfway bond wouldn't stop me from gaining your obedience."

"Then what's the big deal? I'm not a threat."

Mikko looked down at our baby. "Finn has banned any halfway bond since Lexi. Finn can't let anyone get away with this without problems from the packs. He especially can't allow it in his own home pack."

"What about wolves with human mates?"

Mikko stood, making me stretch my neck to look up at him. "They have to be changed before a mate bond can be performed. They can still be claimed, like you were."

It wasn't fair to the wolves who loved their human mates, but Finn's word is law. No one could defy him without consequence. If Finn let the half bond continue, he would look weak. The head alpha was anything but weak.

"So then we'll have to complete it then."

Mikko took a couple steps away from me. "Yes, it will have to be completed soon. If word gets out about this, we might have a few problems on our hands."

I hadn't planned on completing the bond so soon. I had hoped to yank Mikko around a bit like he had me. That wasn't going to happen, not if I planned on staying a part of Finn's massive pack.

"When does this have to happen by?" I let the disappointment show through my voice.

"I'll talk to Finn about it. I'll let you know tonight." He gave the baby a kiss on the backside of his head before biting my ear, leaving me with goose bumps when he left.

Mikko had a turn around when we almost lost our triplets because of the stress he put me through. That had been well over a year ago. In the week that I had been a werewolf, he hadn't left me alone for too long.

I needed to know a few things before we would be able to complete the bond. Even if I didn't like the answers I found, I would have to complete the bond with Mikko. Biting my mark from him would be the equivalent of tearing his throat out. We would have to come to terms and work some kind of agreement out for the kids.

This wasn't going to be a fun conversation.

***

"I need to know some things before I can willingly let you mark me."

Mikko sat down. I had a pretty good feeling that he knew what was coming.

He nodded and braced himself. "So what do you want to know?"

***

And this is where you, the readers, get questions answered. Tell me what you think Mikko should to fess up to!