A half-moon silvered the twilight trees as Wolf chased his luscious mate through Central Park. The time they'd lived in New York had been the best in his life; he'd found good work, nobody hated him for being a wolf, and his cub was developing as it should. Virginia was just starting to show and it made her even more beautiful in his eyes.

The pregnancy wasn't slowing her down, though; she was a good twenty yards ahead of him, just disappearing into that stand of trees. He didn't worry about losing her though -- between her laughter and her scent, he could have tracked her in pitch darkness.

It was darker under the trees; Wolf paused for a moment to get his bearings, but in that moment the game went brutally wrong. Virginia screamed and there was a sudden bright flash off to the left. The wolf in him rose snarling to the surface and he let it take over; that side of his nature would be better suited to deal with whatever danger threatened his family.

In the next clearing Virginia stood rigid, frozen, bracketed by two men. They didn't look like muggers; if he'd passed them on the street he would have assumed by their neat black suits that they were businessmen. But those suits were out of place here in the park. Even more out of place were the dark wrap-around sunglasses they wore despite the rapidly approaching night.

Growling, Wolf lunged at the nearer attacker, a young black man who yelled "Whoa!" as he dodged Wolf's leap. Wolf landed heavily and whipped around, but before he could launch another attack he was knocked down and pinned by his opponent.

"She's not hurt." Wolf looked up into the eyes of the other member of the team, an aging, rugged white man who was kneeling down to talk to him.

"I'll kill you if you hurt her," Wolf snarled back.

"Haven't hurt you yet, have we?" the man asked rhetorically. "Not that you'll remember, but this is the third time you two have been caught and sent back to where you belong."

"Hey, maybe we ought to let 'em stay if they like New York that much," the man on Wolf's back said.

"Can't do that." While Wolf frantically struggled to get free, the older man reached into his jacket pocket. "The Grimm/Anderson Treaty of 1700 expressly forbids magical beings to even visit this dimension. Too many fairies taking changeling babies. You're kneeling on a half-wolf from the Nine Kingdoms, Slick. He has to go back, and he has to stay back this time."

They were after him? But what about Virginia? After another useless attempt to break free, Wolf stopped struggling and started whimpering. "But my mate... my cub!"

"Are going with you, don't worry. You're just going to have to live happily ever after on your side of the magic mirror, okay?" The man held out a thick metal stick right in front of his eyes.

Before Wolf could answer, Central Park disappeared in a bright white light.

It was another beautiful morning in the Fourth Kingdom, although he'd be in a better position to appreciate it if he hadn't been sleeping out all night in his clothes. Wolf scrubbed a sleepy hand over his face and rolled over to see Virginia sitting groggily up.

"Quite a night."

He didn't remember any of it, but when your mate says that, you agree. "Yeah. Quite a night." There was something right at the tip of his mind, somewhere he was supposed to be. Or maybe it was something he was supposed to say. Oh, yeah. "Was it good for you too?" That was it. You were supposed to say that. At least he thought you did.

Virginia put a hand to her head. "Uh, yeah, it was." She sounded as dubious as he did.

"Maybe we ought to go home." Maybe he ought to remember where that was.

"Um...." Now both hands were on her head, massaging her temples. "No, we can't, remember? We can't because... because..." She looked confused.

He was confused too, but that memory stood out crystal clear. "We can't go back to where you used to live because... um, yeah, because that kingdom doesn't like wolves. We have to stay here now, where the royal pardon protects us and the cub."

"That's right." She seemed relieved to be reminded. "They chased us off when they realized what you were and what our baby would be. That's why we have to stay here. I remember now."

Wolf climbed stiffly to his feet, then helped her up. "It's a pity they burned our house and all our stuff, but so long as you and the cub are all right, everything will be fine." He put one arm around her shoulders and a protective hand on her swelling stomach. "I think... I know we've been walking for days, but we'll be at the castle Wendell gave your Dad soon. We can stay there while we build a new life."

Virginia gave a last, longing look over her shoulder. "Life was good in my kingdom, though. Everything's a little confused, but I remember that. It was good there... for a while. I think I miss it." She leaned against him for a moment. "But not as much as I'd miss you if you were gone. So long as we're together we'll be all right."

Wolf shook his head to clear it. His memories were colliding and didn't make sense. Foremost was something about fire and fear and running through a burning house. But behind that was the memory of laughter and happiness and running through the woods for pleasure. Maybe he'd been hit on the head with something as they escaped their burning house and that was why he was confused. One thing he knew for sure, without knowing why he knew it - her kingdom was a bad place. Better to keep walking and never look back. Wendell's pardon and friendship would protect them here. They'd live happily ever after.

Just as long as they stayed in the Fourth Kingdom.