When we resurfaced, Gerhard had returned and it was time for supper. Sean, Gretchen, and I shared the head table with him, J, and a couple of other senior wolves, including Eric.Property belongs to N?vel(D)r/ama.Org.


    “How was your meeting with Hubert, and was it due to your mating with J?”


    “Well, and it was, Wolf Daughter.” He smiled as he said it.


    “I have a lot of questions about that. Would you mind if we had a long chat with you and J after supper? I’ve wanted to talk to you since J informed me she was going to marry you, and we haven’t had sufficient time to get together.”


    “Not at all. Sean, I scent that congrattions are in order. You’re to be a father for the first time?”


    “Yes, sir. I’m very happy.”


    “I’m not surprised. Jessica is a wonderful woman.”


    “She is. The absolute best.”


    “Do you want a boy or girl?”


    “It doesn’t really matter. I’ll be ecstatic either way.”


    “On behalf of the packs, I’d like to thank you for your help in attracting more breeders. If you give me your ount information, you’re going to see some monies flowing into your coffers.”


    “I thought that was just for Jessica.”


    “It’s for whoever helps bring in breeders. The one who went to the northern California pack was primarily yours, wasn’t it? The one with the cuckold husband?”


    “I guess I yed a bigger part in that than I imagined.”


    “And you should bepensated for it. You kept her in submission until she submitted to Steve. You did well. There will be a little something in the way of a wedding present for you as well. Sasha tells me you’d like to add a second boat to your business. I can help with that. Would $50, 000 dors make a good down payment on a boat?”


    “It would. Thank you, sir. That’s very generous.”


    “I can tell that you’re making my granddaughter very happy, so I have nothing but love and respect for you. You’re a worthy man, Sean, and I’m happy to wee you to my family, and my pack.”


    I hugged and kissed my husband, and hugged my grandfather.


    ******


    “What is it you wished to talk about, granddaughter?” Gerhard said. We were seated in a living or sitting room. There was a firece, but no fire due to the season. Sean and J were with us.


    “I want to know about the whole mating with a human thing. Is J going to share Alpha duties with you? Does she have to perform obeisance like other wolves, or is she exempted because she’s human? Does she ept obeisance from other wolves because she’s your mate? I know she’s got to give up her family if she’s mated to you. How are you going to handle that? Is she going to die so she can disappear? Are you going to cut back on your public appearances to humans because your wife will be aging faster than you? Will your pack ept her as a co-alpha or will they disregard her? There’s a lot of questions raised by your mating with a human, and I’d like answers because you refused to mate with my grandmother for all of those reasons. It has nothing to do with J. I think she’s a lovely woman, but what makes it different now, from when it was Kathleen?”


    “Those were some of the topics raised by Hubert, during the nning, and part of my discussions with him,” Gerhard said. “I can’t go any higher in the pack with J as my mate. This is it for me. I can never take Hubert’s job, at least while J is alive. On any pack matters, affecting only wolves, she can’t be an alpha, and her opinion can be disregarded by the pack. On matters of pack rtions with humans, she’ll be consulted as a human, and her opinion will carry weight.


    “J has to perform obeisance to all alphas, regardless of sex, but no one need perform obeisance to her except for my sub-pack, and only if they wish to. Her parents are elderly and we’re getting married in a church the day after tomorrow, for her family to witness, and we’ll have a mating ceremony the day after that. She has a sister and a cousin who’ve agreed to be breeders. They will be the only ones of her family to know that she’s mating a wolf.


    “She will spend as much time as she can with her family over the next few years. In six, or seven years, whenever it seems appropriate, she and I will have a boating ident on Lake Michigan and for all concerned, we’ll be dead. No more public appearances for me, and none for her, although her sister and cousin will be able to visit her here, but her brother will believe she’s gone. We’re hoping her parents will pass before it bes obvious we have to die, but whatever happens, happens. The feds will make sure death certificates are entered in our names. Eric will take over public appearances for the wolves when necessary. It will be tricky, but I missed the boat on the one great love of my earlier life, and I don’t intend to miss this one. Perhaps it’s be easier to manage because technology exists to assist. We have your parent’s old house on Boom Lake as ‘our home’, although we’ll spend a lot of time on thepound, but it’s where her family can visit us, since they can’te here.”


    “Are you good with all of this, J?” I asked.


    “I’m deeply in love with my Master,” she said, “and am willing to do whatever is necessary to make it work. I think losing my brother will be hardest, but at least I get to keep my sister.”


    “Could he be read in on wolves, so you don’t have to?” Sean asked.


    “The government hopes that only those people who have to know for breeding purposes can know about wolves,” Gerhard said. “To a certain extent, they weren’t happy about your parents and Gretchen’s parents finding out, but in your parent’s case, your father had a baby with a wolf, and adopted it, so that smoothed that over a bit. Gretchen’s parents were more problematic, but they were read in to keep them from learning it by ident at the art show, and we haven’t gotten too much static, because they’re keeping the secret. Only if J’s brother let his wife be a breeder, could he be told.”


    “Would he?” I asked. “Has anyone explored that with them? They’reing to the wedding, aren’t they?”


    Gerhard and J looked at each other. “They’reing, and not really,” J said. “They’re very in love and devoted to each other.”


    “So are my parents, but it didn’t stop my Dad from fucking Brigitte, and knocking her up. She only has to have one puppy, not four. If she could agree to one, he could be told.”


    “Do you think you could convince them?” J asked.


    “I don’t know, but it wouldn’t hurt to explore the idea. Where do they live?”


    “Milwaukee. My brother has a job there.”


    “So a hundred grand for one kid,” I said, “and you don’t have to die on your brother.”


    “I would be forever in your debt if you could convince them to have one puppy.”


    “We’ll see what we can do,” I said. “It’s an interesting challenge. Fortunately, I have a wonderful marriage myself and my husband is a very understanding sort.” I kissed him. “Perhaps, if they see that being a surrogate doesn’t have to ruin their marriage, they can consider surrogacy for themselves. Introduce us to them as early as you can at the wedding, and let’s see how things work out. Thanks, Gerhard. You answered all of my questions. I appreciate it.”


    “You’re wee, Wolf Daughter.”


    Iughed, and hugged them both.


    ******


    The following day, I’d made arrangements to meet all of my breeder friends at my parent’s old house so I could introduce them to Sean. Gerhard gave me the key. They wereing for pizza at supper time, but I went with Sean, Brigitte, Alicia, Gretchen, Conor and Ingrid around noon. We spent the hot summer day skinny dipping in theke. More than a little hanky-panky happened at the same time, because nudity often led to sex where we were concerned. We put on minimal clothing when the pizza delivery was scheduled to appear, and for my friends.


    Brenda came with Tommy, Jr. and her bodyguard, a handsome wolf who looked to be Conor’s age. She was pregnant with her third puppy, but didn’t show yet. Patricia came with a ck wolf who looked a little older, say maybe three years younger than Alicia, which probably put him at around fifty in wolf years, so an experienced fucker. She was having her second puppy, and looked four to five months along. Martin and Mnie came on their own since she wasn’t pregnant with a puppy, and had no interest to rogue shifters at the moment, so no need for a bodyguard.


    Sean needed to be introduced to everyone except the wolves he met in Maine and Gretchen. I needed to be introduced to the two wolf bodyguards, Brenda’s was Mathias, and Patricia’s was Armon. Both of the wolves kissed my hand, “Wolf Daughter,” they greeted me, and hugged Sean. Okay. Word was getting around.


    Since Tommy, Jr. was with Brenda, we canned any loose talk while we ate pizza. After supper, Mathias took Tommy, Jr. out by the water and yed with him out there, so we could get down to brass tacks. All my friends were doing well and pretty happy with their lives at the moment, so their agreeing to breeding had worked out for them.


    “Brenda, are you ever going to settle down, or are you going to just date wolves the rest of your life?” I asked.


    “Actually, I did meet a nice guy at work. I like him. He’s not a conceited asshole like Tommy, Sr. He’s a little older than me, about five years, but genuinely seems to like my kid, and doesn’t mind if I have a child already, because he says he got snipped and can’t have any more kids. Says that my having a child will keep me from asking him to get it reversed so I can have one.”