Ylva had slept peacefully for the first time in months, and only rose when she felt his arms envelope her and pull her tightly against him.  At first she tensed, unsure of her surroundings, but the scent and warmth of him quickly quelled her worries.  Her body shifted and pressed into his, stirring similar feelings to what had possessed her last night.  Ylva was nearly willing to sate that familiar ache, but a voice outside the house caused her to pause.<br/><br/>"I will give ye no trouble, if ye just kindly tell me where the lass is."  A low and familiar baritone called out, soundly slightly frustrated.  Ylva's eyes went wide and it took barely a moment of recognition before she had pulled herself out of Valko's arms, out of the bed, and onto the floor.  She gathered up the shift dress, the plain under layer of her full outfit, and pulled it over her head.<br/><br/>"Ye can't keep her here against her will, it's not our way."  The voice continued.  Ylva offered Valko a pleading look as she exited his home and pursued the man outside.  The man in question was tall, not quite as tall as Valko, but nearing that height.  He had ginger hair and a beard a few shades darker, a red like a leaf turned in autumn.  Ylva looked at him for a moment, as if he were a ghost and his expression very much echoed her own.  Confusion and relief were now etched in his hardened features.<br/><br/>"I am okay, Gunter.  No one is keeping me agains---"  Ylva began gently, and before she could finish the sentence the man had crossed the distance between them and pulled her into a hug, nearly lifting her off the ground with the force of it.  Ylva had known Gunter most of her life, he had grown up in the pack just north of the territory her parents held.  LIke her, he had rose to the rank of Alpha young, though illness had been the evil to claim his parents, not murder.  He was about 7 years her senior and still unmated, though she had always chalked that up to the fact that his pack was rather small and many of the women in it shared some blood relation with him.<br/><br/>"Antony boasted that he forced ye to submit and accept that ye would be used by some distant Alpha.  The rumors got back to my pack and I followed yer scent here...We woulda done more but---". Gunter began and this time Ylva was the one to cut him off, as she slowly pulled herself free of his tight hung.<br/><br/>"I never submitted to him.  And you could not have done more, he has enough followers, the Fjord pack would not have been able to fell him easily...Nor would I expect you to fight my battles, old friend."  Ylva said, her hand coming up to touch his chest.<br/><br/>Gunter lifted his nose and sniffed the air around her, clearly catching Valko's scent as he did so.  A snarl came upon his lips as his mind reached unjustified conclusions.<br/><br/>"Did he touch ye?  This alpha here?  Did he really accept such a gift from such a despicable gift from a usurper like Antony?"  Gunter remarked, the disgust and anger very clear in his voice.  He was ready to defend Ylva's honor, and she knew he could be hot headed when his anger got to such a point...