Split in Time Ch. 05

Breathing slowly she tried to coax her beast forward, her mind came to that dark place where the beast slumbered, it was waiting for her, its head tilted to the side as if saying what are you doing?

Look I'm new to shifting, give me a break. She told her Cat.

The cat chuffed at her and started to rub her body against her human. The large cat butted her human side forward back towards the surface of their mind but at the same time the cat overtook her getting there first to force their body to shift. Once that was done she stepped back letting her human side be forward in their mind but still being there to keep her in animal form.

When she opened her eyes her body had shifted, it complained a little as she shook her body, righting her fur. She dug her paws in and started to move forward slowly as the sled was nothing but dead weight, slowly she and the sledge built up speed and they moved smoothly across the snow. When the snow started to come down again with a vengeance she was glad that she had started moving already. She managed to find Ghan's scent, as promised he had shifted and marked trees to help her find her way in the storm.

When her nose started to pick up cooking smells she didn't need to look for scent markers. She spotted Ghan before he spotted her; he was pacing and checking his watch. He had given her a time and the moment she exceeded it he would be off. Gabby was seated near him as her eyes could see the small differences in snow and in snow storms that Ghan's eyes wouldn't be able to.

"There she is." Gabby said as she pointed.

Ghan turned and his eyes searched the blowing white but couldn't spot his mate. He kept looking but it wasn't until she was almost on him that he spotted her and he only spotted her because he saw the sled she was dragging.

What happened? He demanded to know.

Terror raid on a small caravan. I scavenged everything I could but there were bigger things that could be useful. These two were alive. I couldn't leave them to the elements, we are better than those humans. She explained.

Others came and quickly freed her of her load; they carefully carried the women in. Keira sighed when Ghan undid the ropes connecting her to the sled. She suddenly found it hard to stay in her cat form, her body shifted almost instantly. Ghan was there, wrapping her up in several blankets before he scooped her into his arms and carried her in. She was exhausted and looking forward to sleep... a long sleep.

Keira groaned and stretched, her eyes glanced around looking for Ghan but he wasn't there when she woke, she didn't know how long she had slept only that her body no longer complained at the simple act of breathing and the exhaustion she had felt when she got here was gone. She tried to get up but her body was unresponsive, after a while she managed to push her upper body up and she collapsed as sharp pain radiated from her arms and chest but her bladder made a demand that could not wait. Her eyes focused on the open door which lead to the bathroom as this room had an almost identical design to the old room. She forced her body up doing her best to ignore the pain, tossing the covers off she sat up and shuffled around. Panting for a moment before getting off the bed, she took one step and collapsed again.

Maddie found her like that a few minutes later trying to crawl to the bathroom. "Keira!" Maddie exclaimed and raced to get her up. "How long have you been struggling like this?" She demanded as she finally heaved Keira up using the heavy long sleeved shirt and close woven pants she was wearing.

"Not long..." Keira answered, "Need to go." She said when Maddie went to take her back to bed. Maddie nodded and half carried and half dragged Keira to the toilet and helped Keira take care of her needs then got her back into the bed and under the covers.

Keira was asleep again in moments as the effort had worn her out. Maddie rested her hands on Keira and gently slid her power into her body to make sure nothing bad was going on inside her friend. She focused for a few moments before she pulled out, nothing a few days in bed won't fix, she mused to herself before she left to hunt down Ghan.

Just as Maddie was leaving the room she saw Ghan approaching with food.

"Why on earth didn't you call someone?" She snapped.

Ghan back peddled a little as Maddie fixed him with a glare that could cut glass. "I was gone for a few minutes, no more than ten."

"And if I hadn't stepped in to check on her she would still be trying to crawl herself to the bathroom and caught a cold doing it." She scolded him. "Next time call someone to bring food, for the next few days she is going to be in pain and moving isn't the highest thing on her agenda, immortal or otherwise she needs to recover." She told him firmly.

"Sorry Maddie... how is she?" He asked knowing she would have examined Keira while she was helping.

"Just normal first shift weakness, compounded by the fact she forced her body to shift twice, she's going to be out of it for a few days. She'll feel the cold a little more for about a week or two, if the pain gets to be too much call and I'll detach her mind from the pain." She explained.

He nodded, "Thank you, how are our guests?"

She grinned a little sadly, "Better than they were, I fear for Piper though, her leg is really bad, if we could get a healer from another pack, a powerful one she might regain some use but... I don't know, Blast is considering cutting her open and performing surgery himself."

He nodded. "Keep her mind off her leg... if she reads give her books... keep me abreast." He told her and she bowed before leaving.

Ghan turned back to his bedroom door, he thought Keira would have been sleeping for a while longer, obviously he was wrong. Walking in he sighed when he found her safe and sound in their bed. He sat on the bed and let the plate hover near her nose. Her nose twitched as the scent of braised meat touched it, humans couldn't smell when they slept, Were could. When one mind slept, the other hovered just under the surface to keep themselves safe. She groaned and opened her eyes, for a moment her eyes were yellow before they swapped back to their normal shade of blue. Putting the plate aside he helped her sit up and rearranged the blankets up and made sure they were tight around her. He picked the plate back up and slowly fed her.

"I'm sorry I left you." He told her gently as he offered her a large chunk of deer meat.

"You didn't know I was going to wake up." She told him before taking the spoon into her mouth. Her eyes closed in pleasure as the meat almost melted in her mouth, she didn't remember food ever tasting so good.

He smiled at her as she groaned. "You are finally Were, after your first shift all of your senses are expanded, taste... smell..." he explained as he offered her another morsel.

"Ma explained that Were had better senses... but not that food would taste better." She told him before she leant forward and took another mouthful.

He chuckled and kept the food coming.

Blast walked in just as Ghan finished stuffing her with food and gave her a cup of tea which he put on the bedside table. "You have to drink it all, it'll help with the pain and aches." He told her before leaving.

Ghan lifted the cup, the tea was already lukewarm so he offered it to her, holding it to her lips. She drank it all down then pulled a face as he pulled the cup away, the tea had tasted bitter and strong, in a word... bad.

"Yeah I should have warned you, Blast's teas don't taste nice but you have to drink them." He grinned as he put the cup aside and carefully moved her until she was lying. He then joined her in the bed, offering his warmth to her chilled body, he brushed his lips against the hollow behind her ear.

She sighed as heat coursed through her body, heat from his body next to hers, and heat from his kiss. Pressing his nose into her hair he took a deep reassuring breath, nature clung to her skin and added a new hint to her scent, before he pulled her closer to his body.

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"Tired, sore," she answered. "How are the women?" She asked her mind remembering the women she had rescued even as her body demanded sleep.

"They will live, one has a badly broken leg but there is little we can do, I am thinking of sending someone off to see if another pack nearby has a strong healer to come and see if they can fix it." He answered before he pressed his face back to her neck.

It took her a moment before she realised that something was different, the collar and chain were gone, her hand touched her neck but the collar was definitely gone. He took her hand and linked their fingers.

"I never should have put the collar on you, I should have taken it off the moment I heard Grey's story. You ran for a good reason, not out of fear but because of an obligation to an injured parent." He told her honestly.

"Why didn't you then?" She asked.

"I didn't want anything to happen to you; it's been five hundred years since I last had you in my life." He hugged her tighter to his body, "I just wanted to keep you safe until you were mine."

She thought for a minute, she knew that her father was obsessively protective of her mother, afraid to lose her, even to the point of not returning once he was free as he was afraid to lead the merks to her. So it explained Ghan's reaction, their world was dangerous all he wanted to do was keep her safe.

"You aren't forgiven, you should have trusted me, trusted that I knew how to protect myself." She told him.

"Have you forgotten how you came into my life? The first time I saw you up close you had fainted after a mad dash through a forest, you were shot and had lost a lot of blood." He said as he thought, if that was taking care of herself was, what did getting into trouble look like.

"I would have come to, I got away from the merks."

"You were out for hours, they could have tracked you down during that time." He countered.

She thought for a moment, she knew he was right about that, while she was out cold she had not been safe and had been unable to care for herself.

He waited but she didn't respond, he knew he had her on that, "I'm not out to score points, I was wrong to collar and chain you. I am sorry for that."

"And now you've said sorry you expect me to forgive you?" She asked. She felt her beast stir in her mind, the cat had been watching and listening to everything said, she could see what happened in the past but her eyes and mind saw things differently. She was hurt, he kept her safe to heal, she was underfed, and he made sure she had three big meals a day. However she agreed with her human, the collar and chain were in the extreme even if it had restricted her movements to help her heal.

"No, what I did was wrong, I will earn your forgiveness back." He told her pressing his face into her hair, "sleep, you'll feel better soon."

She closed her eyes and came face to face with her cat, who was grooming herself, he is our mate. She told her human side firmly.

He chained us up! Keira exclaimed.

You were human then, he was simply being a possessive mate making sure you remained safe until I came along. The cat said simply.

Keira saw red and her eyes snapped open, "why now?" she asked out loud. "You could have released me any time you wanted, why now?"

He sighed and opened his eyes, "I was standing outside waiting for you to come back, but in the back of my mind ran the scenario that you wouldn't return, that you had decided I was too controlling and that you would prefer being without me if that meant your freedom. The closer it got to the time you should have returned I realised that with your colours and nature as a cat you could easily evade me if you chose to. So I decided if you returned I would make it so you wanted to stay here, by giving you the choice, by giving you your freedom, something I shouldn't have taken."

Gently stroking her face he leant into her ear, "I will not like it but if you want I can go to a different room."

He waited with bated breath, he didn't want to leave her but he would if she wanted it.

Keira thought about her reply and came up with a cheeky one, "and lose my hot water bottle, it's too cold to sleep without my hot water bottle."

He chuckled, "and we can't have that can we?"

"Nope." She closed her eyes and was met with her cat, So there, he didn't do it because of you he did it because of me. The big cat just sneezed and went back to its grooming.

He placed a kiss on her cheek, "I love you and you don't even realise just how much."

"Still not forgiven," she mumbled and she pulled the blankets higher. He chuckled and made sure the blankets were tucked securely around them before he snuggled down and did what he did best, being her personal hot water bottle.

Ghan woke slowly the next day; Keira was curled up around him, her head pillowed on his chest, a gentle sound reached his ears. Focusing on it, it took him a moment to remember the sound, purring, she was happy and content which made him smile. He traced patterns on her back, waiting for her to wake.

Her purring became a little louder as she rubbed her face against his chest and squirmed a little to get him to increase his pressure. He grinned and did something that he remembered a previous incarnation loved. He started to scratch using just enough pressure to make it pleasurable. She arched her back wanting more, her eyes opened and for several moments they were yellow before they shifted back to blue and she stretched even as he continued to scratch her back. When she settled against him he stopped.

"Feeling better?" He asked.

"A little, my body still aches and I still want to sleep."

"Then sleep," he told her before he leant down and brushed his lips against her forehead, she groaned and tilted her head up, offering her lips to him. He grinned and kissed her gently glad that she was still willing to let him get close. He brought a hand up to cup her jaw, tilting it up to deepen the kiss. His tongue traced her lips until she opened them and let him in.

He growled gently and thoroughly explored her mouth, as her tongue stroked his gently and probed his mouth he retreated and allowed her to control the kiss. Groaning he held her tightly to his body before rolling her beneath him, he broke the kiss and ran his lips down her neck. His tongue snaked out to brush against her skin, causing another groan before taking it between his teeth and gently biting down. Tilting her head further back she exposed more of the delicate column, wanting it, needing his bite, her cat was on her back and squirming with delight wanting it as much as her human did, wanting to be claimed by their mate.

Gabby walked in and grinned as she saw Ghan hovering over her daughter, "Ghan if you can't behave I will have the elders remove her from you until she is of age."

He pulled away from Keira, carefully releasing his bite before he turned to Gabby, "I haven't broken her skin and as long as I don't penetrate her sex I have not broken the law." Turning his back on Gabby he focussed very deliberately on Keira, the dismissal clear for all to see.

Gabby watched him for a moment, You are playing with fire Ghan. She warned him before she turned and left.

He watched Keira as she watched him, her right eyebrow was raised, "and who said you are getting lucky?"

"I didn't say I was getting lucky, you could be getting lucky if you let me." He replied with a cheeky smile.

She gave him a shrewd look, "somehow I think if I get lucky you get lucky in the process and you aren't forgiven yet."

"And I have a feeling you are going to hang this over my head for years." He said honestly.

"Why shouldn't I, one good reason why I should forgive you?"

He took a deep breath, "I was an arse-hole, a controlling, possessive arse-hole, in my defence I was trying to keep you from running on me before I had a chance to make you mine." He took another deep breath, "which means I am also a selfish arse-hole on top of being a possessive controlling one."

"I read a sticker on an old car bumper, admitting you're an arse-hole is the first step." She told him.

"First step to what?" he asked.

She shrugged, "I don't know."

"That doesn't help me," he said a little frustrated, he watched her as she watched him. "Besides the whole being chained up, have things been bad since after your fever."

She thought about it carefully, he was right, he had gentled since her fever, giving her space when they slept as it was her who normally crawled into his arms; he took her out for walks and meals and to meet his pack. They played chess and talked for hours about all types of things, like how he came to form this very unusual pack and all of his adventures and hers over the years.

Just as she opened her mouth to answer his question there was a banging knock on the door, his answering growl was a feral warning to whoever was interfering, his eyes flashed to bronze as his beast came forward to defend his mate. He had been so close to getting her answer, to admit that things had been good.

"Ghan we need to ask Keira where that caravan is so we can scrap it." Crystal said through the door.

Crystal's voice had his human side regaining control, he glanced down to Keira and saw the answer in her eyes, she had been going to say that things hadn't been bad. "Are you going to answer?"

"Are you going to make me?" She asked back.

"Is one of you going to get this door?" Crystal said starting to get irate.

Ghan closed his eyes, "no, I am not going to make you say or do anything." He kissed her quickly and got out of bed and watched as Keira went to get up. "I'll get the door." He told her and went to the door throwing it open.

Keira rolled her eyes and moved to stand, he could get the door, she wanted the toilet, whatever was in that tea had dulled the pain to a mild ache. She pushed herself up and moved very slowly to the bathroom, her body was stiff and tender, her bones ached but she knew it would fade quickly, she just needed more rest.

Ghan glared a little at his best friend, she had interrupted him.

"What? The weather has cleared enough to go after that caravan, we just need directions." Crystal told him.

"Can't you just follow her scent?" He asked.

"Firstly I need to know her scent in order to track it, secondly after that storm I doubt her scent is still around." She told him as she walked in to wait for Keira to return. Crystal spotted the coiled chain and collar and glanced to Ghan, you could let her chain you up, fairs fair. She told him projecting her thoughts into his mind.

When she is back on her feet I will give it to her and she can decide if she wants payback.

Crystal's lips twitched, Oh she'll want payback.

I know, he replied honestly, he knew the moment he gave her the chance she would collar and chain him, take away his freedom like he had done to her and he knew he deserved it and would take it if that was what she wanted.

Keira shuffled out of the bathroom, despite her long sleep her body was starting to abuse her. She crawled back into bed and Ghan tucked her back in.

Crystal approached and knelt beside the bed, she had been witness to many first shifts and knew it took a lot out of a new Were but she had never seen someone who had forced their body to shift twice when they were just starting. "Keira I would like to scent you and know where you came across the caravan."

"Why do you need my scent if you want to know where I went?" She asked.

Crystal chuckled, "just in case we miss it I might be able to find hints of your scent and it could help us find the caravan." She explained.