As the hormones wore down due to being so fully sated, Ylva found herself looking up at a veritable stranger.  His mention of her "welcome" brought a soft smile to her lips, but it also planted the smallest seed of concern.  "I guess I would just hope this isn't a common welcome, for all she-wolves that enter your pack...Otherwise, things may get a bit more complicated between us."  She quipped back at him, the smile turning into a small smirk.<br/><br/>Now that her mind was no longer a haze of desire and adrenaline, things seemed to slow down a bit.  She held to him when he pulled her close, and they were easily able to maneuver themselves into a more comfortable position.  Ylva allowed her head to rest upon the warmth of his rather muscular chest.  Academically, she knew this sort of thing was something that mated wolves experienced, but she had not put much thought into it until now.  And they weren't mated.  He hadn't marked her, nor had she marked him.<br/><br/>That caused an odd sense of relief to stretch in her chest.  He was right, the sex had been fantastic and more pleasurable than any encounter she had experienced before, but if he had not marked her, it meant the tie they shared wasn't solid yet.  Just primal.  Unspoken.  She lifted her chin and slid her hands beneath it, propping herself up slightly so she could meet his gaze.  All at once, she realized why there had been some sense of relief.  Antony was still alive, still basking in the wealth and power he had gotten by assassinating her parents.  Being tied to a mate meant a shift in responsibilities and loyalties, even more so if she was tied to the man laying beneath her.  She would be obligated to put this pack first, even above her own, the family she had been torn from.<br/><br/>"It was...very good."  She agreed.  The smile she wore didn't quite meet her eyes, instead, they held the pensive look that reflected her tumultuous thoughts.  If she did not say something, certainly he would see it on her or smell it on her.<br/><br/>"Almost too good.  Too tempting."  The words sounded grateful but sad as they left her lips.  "It would be so easy to abandon the past here with you, I already know that...but I can't."  She looked away from him, to the side of them, and let her the side of her head settle down on to her hands.  Perhaps she should have tried to focus on happier things, but with safety and, maybe someday, love within her grasp, it was hard not to consider the road that had brought her here to him.<br/><br/>"The gods may have blessed you, bringing me to your door, but they cursed me to do it, Valko.  I watched my parents' eyes as the life left their bodies, and though peace and safety with you sounds like something akin to heaven, I don't deserve it if I leave my packmates...my family...in Hell with Antony..."<br/><br/>She felt suddenly small against him, as if her fear and worry had shrunk her in some way.