Em sighed and walked back to the girls " You have to go. Now. Before Lilac find out you are gone. I dont know if I will see you two again. But I promise I will always love you" she nuzzled them before Star carried Dove back to their territory even before sunrise.

Em then turned around and glared at Hunter " you wont get away with this, Alpha. I love my girls. Including Mikael" she was going to say something else, but she was snarled at by hunter to stay quiet or get another punishment. Em pinned her ears back in submission and backed away.

After watching Em walk away, Daria walked over to Hunter and lied down beside him. "So... what happened now?" She asked him. Hunter gave her a brief summary of the events and she nodded. "Sounds like she misses her pups dearly. Why can't they stay here?" "Because if they do, Lilac might think that we took them, and that could end in bloodshed! I'm not losing anyone over this, most of all you." Hunter nuzzled her and she returned the favor. "I don't know what to do now. I don't like the idea of splitting up Em from her pups, but they aren't members of our pack, they're a part of Lilac's, and I have to respect that. But I can tell that Em may be willing to spirit them away from Lilac if something bad happens to them or he finds out that they visited their mother." Daria could see the conflict in her mate's eyes, knowing that there wasn't an obvious answer to the question that he faced. "What would you do if they were found out and fled to our pack hoping for safety from Lilac?" Hunter groaned and looked up at the sky, also not knowing the answer to the question. "I... I don't know. If I returned them to Lilac then Em may try something drastic to save them, but if I let them stay, Lilac could come with several wolves and kill whoever stands in his way and get them back so that they can be punished." Hunter looked down at his paws before Daria playfully licked him. "I think you and I need to go on another hunt together, just you and I, like how it was before we properly became Alphas." Hunter looked into her eyes and nodded, agreeing that he would like that, before walking back to the den and telling Clay that he was in charge until they returned. Hunter and Daria left, and as Mikael watched them go, he looked over to Em, who was visibly unhappy from having to say goodbye to her daughters. "Hey Em, are you okay?" Mikael softly said, sitting down beside her.

Em looked at Mikael " Do I look ok, Mikael? I wont see then again, unless something bad happens to those two. Even though they are not Lilacs blood, I want them safe.Most of all, alive." she thwn turned towards him " I will everything in my power to keep them safe, even if it is to bring them here just for a short time very night."

Meanwhile in the other territory~

Lilac was preparing to go on a hunt and he took Star with him. " You coem wit me today. Those hunting skills will get us the food me need. Plus it might attract that other pack.

" Lilac.. I.." she said looking into her Alpha's eyes before pinning her ears behind her head.

" You will go. If your mother is there still, I want her to know Im usung you for something other than a pupsitter." he snapped before nipping her " get going." he said

Star whined as she trotted along the leaf covered ground when she spotted to of the other pack members thats Hunter she thought. SHe didnt know what to do, but one look at Lilac and she was walking forward again. And before long, spotted a doe and chased it before killing it and waited for Lilac to help her bring it back to camp.
" Its all you, today, Star. I'm not gonna work today." he said walking off slowly back to the camp.

They arrived back at their territory an hour later and Lilac gathered everyone around the meal. Talking about tactics.

Mikael's heart slowly broke, hearing the sadness in her voice. I wish we could just get her daughters and run away from it all... but if we do, then we'll have to constantly look over our shoulder, hoping that neither of our former packs find us. He sighed and shook his head. "I understand that you want nothing more than to make sure that your pups are safe. If there's any way I can help you, please, let me know. I don't give a damn about Hunter's punishments, I just hate seeing you miserable like this Em. I want to make you happy, despite what's going on." Mikael nuzzled her to punctuate the sentiment, hoping that he could make her smile, even for the briefest of moments.

( What if they had their own pups??)

" There isnt anythingyou can do, Mikael. Excpet for beign beside me. You are my light in the darkness when all things have failed." She looked into his eyes like she did when she was training him. Then nuzzled him "You make me happy every day, the moment I wake up to the time night comes. That will never change" She gave a slight smile " I just dont know how I am going to deal with this.. Lilac is not one to trust any more"

Mikael couldn't believe his ears; Em wasn't able to trust Lilac anymore. Not too long ago, Lilac was her mate, but now it seems like she wants nothing to do with him. Did she fall out of love with him, and that's why she pursued me? What did he do to her to warrant that? Regardless of the answer, Mikael continued to nuzzle Em as he spoke. "I promise I will stay by your side Em. I won't ever let anyone hurt you, no matter who they are. I'll make sure you are happy every day that we spend together." He felt nothing but joy being by her side, and he never wanted this moment to end.

But the sweet moment had to end. Em sat up, instead of the usual standing up when she saw Clay come towards them. She didnt even pay him any attention. Her eyes back on Mikael " Oh Mikael, as long as Hunter here keep us together. Not a day goes by when I search for you." thats when she looked up and eyed Clay with pure hatred " Clay..I..I was just leaving... to... uh... patrol" she mumbled as she stood up and nipped Mikael playfully on the neck. " I'll see you later, Mikael" But she didnt get far. I need a way to go back to Star and Dove. But its too risky right now with Clay watching me.

"Patrol? You sure about that?" Clay stared at Em, trying to read her face to see if she was lying, but he couldn't get a clear reading. "Well... I would let you go on patrol, but what's stopping you from going out of your way to see your daughters again? If Hunter finds out that I let you out only for you to see your daughters and potentially run into Lilac, how do you think he's going to react? Sorry, but you're not going out on patrol. Mikael is." He turned to Mikael. "Go on your usual route Mikael. I have some light work for Em in the meantime." Mikael wanted to argue with Clay, but Hunter put him in charge, so he had no ground to argue with. Instead, Mikael nuzzled Em one more time and sadly trotted away, looking back at Em longingly. Em followed Clay and entered his den, seeing the different ingredients in one section, while Clay was tending to a mix, probably to make some more medicine. "Em, I need you to go to the west, so the opposite direction of where Mikael and your daughters are, and collect some more mint for me. It's not a long trek, but I need to finish up this bit of medicine, otherwise the potency will be weakened, so that's why I'm sending you. Don't take too long, otherwise I'll leave the den and find you myself." His tone projected that he wouldn't be happy if he had to find Em. He held up some mint so Em could recognize it before focusing on the medicine he was making.

Em hated being bossed arounf, ecpecially by CLay, but she was still new to the pack. She sniffed the mint and sneezed " We may have a problem, Clay... I..im allergic to mint. " she said looking away for a full minute before looking back at him " But, I dont care. I'll get what you want." The west? she thougtht as she wanted to argue about it. The argument in her mind had to come out sooner or later. And she decided that Sooner was better than later " The west, Clay? You kidding me? Isnt it the dangerous direction? I saw pumas back there a while back." she said hoping that her voice would sound to upset at his wanting her to go to the West side of the territory. " I'll go ayways. Not no promises I'll find anything"

She then turned around and headed on her patrol to the west to find the mint that Clay wanted her to find. Even thought the trek was short, it was hard at the same time. She would be coming back to Clay, exhausted and beat.

Clay knew that pumas would occasionally roam the area, but in the last few trips Clay had to go and collect mint, he didn't find any pumas, so it should be a rather easy trip, although the terrain wouldn't make it easy to navigate the area. Clay continued to work on the medicine, carefully blending the ingrediants together before using a stick to mix it all together. Grabbing a bowl that Hunter found on one of his expeditions, Clay put the mix inside the bowl, ready for use. Satisfied with his work, he turned around and found Em with the mint he needed. "Put it over by the rest of the mint." Clay said, and Em did just that, and after she put the mint down, she sneezed once again. "Did you find any pumas during your trip Em?" Clay asked her. She said no but she did pick up the scent of one on her way back. "That's what I figured. I haven't bumped into any pumas myself on my last few trips for mint. Good work getting the mint Em, that's all for now. And thanks to you going on the trip instead of me, I was able to finish the medicine I was working on, so if you have a wound that needs to be healed, come to me and I'll treat it for you." Em nodded and she left his den, only to find Makayla as her pups climbed all over her, playing with each other and their mom. "Hey Em. Sorry about this: the pups are getting bigger and the den just isn't giving them enough space to run around and play in anymore."