What We Must Ch. 02

Duncan threw the door open wide as his brother strode for it with Anne in his arms. As he entered Medical, he saw Lily and Jen had their hands full with Terry, who was having a seizure.

Devon placed Anne on a bed, then grabbed a basin and some cloths and began wiping down her body, trying to cool the fever raging in her. Anne twisted, whimpered, and moaned. Her hands reached out in her delirium, for something to keep her warm. Her fingers brushed over his arms and chest and he felt his cock twitch. Abigail came into the room, glanced at Terry, then Devon. "Devon, we're going to run out of alcohol. Wiping them down isn't enough. If we could just immerse...." She didn't even get the sentence out before Devon had picked her up again and was headed out the door. "Where were you going?"

"I'm going to drop her in the pool."

*****

He was holding her tightly, feeling the heat radiate from her body as she moaned and twisted and he strode for the tunnel where the pools lay. However, this meant he could feel the softness of her breasts against him, and her smell and movements were making it harder to think about anything other than the growing hardness in his pants. Focus on what you're doing. We have to get her temperature down. Hopefully, someone would follow his lead and bring Terry down, too.

Not bothering to remove his pants, they'd be ruined now, he sat on the edge of the pool, pivoted, and dropped in. The shock of the cold water made quick work of his erection. He held her, floating in the water, one arm drifting out from her body, her hair forming a halo around her head. He turned slowly, hoping that this would work, that her fever would break. That she'd be OK.

He now had a chance to look at her again. She looked younger like this, her face not carrying the determined, calculating look he'd grown used to. The paleness of her unexposed flesh, rose colored nipples crinkled up in the cold of the water. Yes, it would be pleasant to touch them, suck them, nip them until she was throwing her head around. Down from there, her navel, nestled in the center of her slim waist. The hips flaring out from there, with the tightly curled hairs between her hipbones. And he remembered the sight of her pussy, still mostly hidden from him when she laid back on her bed, but enough to haunt his nights. He hadn't touched a female since his mate died, so many years ago. Although he hated the way these women had come to them, and, as much as he didn't want to admit it, he was looking forward to pushing himself inside them. Nothing felt as good as being within a woman's wet, warm, muscled walls. And this one, if her pussy tasted anything like her blood did, he would be lost; he would do anything. He would live down there, licking her until she was mindless, until he drank all that she would give him. He began to plan how he would go to her the first time, how he would touch her, the sound of her calling his name as she came, feeling the...

Marcus came down, looking dejected. Devon glanced up. "Terry?"

"Terry's dead."

They took turns holding her in the cold water, Devon and his brothers. The first time Duncan held her, he began to get a sense of his brother's apparent obsession with this one. And now he began to wonder which of the two would come to him. In the spring they'd have to go out and get another but one of these two would probably be pregnant by then. Maybe both. And it started to become more real to him, that he would be lying with two human females, and would end up taking one of them as mate. And the choice wouldn't be hers, or his, well, maybe it was a mutual thing only because their bodies would produce a pup, most preferably a female. This wasn't the way it was supposed to be.

Devon had her for his fourth time, and was well into the hour he'd allotted to hold her in the water when she started to shift in his arms. A few minutes later, her arms and legs jerked, and she moaned. Shortly thereafter, she began to shake, and her body attempted to curl up. He cradled her to his chest and rose from the water. He carried her, dripping, back to her room.

The bed had been re-assembled and the broken chair removed. He laid her atop the covers, and, finding the towel in her pack, proceeded to dry her off. She continued shivering and, knowing she'd lost body heat in the pool, he dried himself off as well. He then covered her, and climbed in beside her, to get her warmed up again.

Marcus had followed the wet tracks back to her door and had collected his grandmother to see what was going on. They knocked and he called them in. "Her fever's broken but she was lost body heat from the pool. Once she stops shivering I'll be out."

He'd pulled her up against him, her back cool on his chest. His relief at her recovery from the fever and the spreading warmth under the bedcovers lulled him to sleep.

*****

She squirmed in his arms and they automatically tightened around her. She continued to struggle and he woke. "Let me go."

He shoved up on an elbow. "You're awake. Good. How do you feel?"

She climbed out of the bed, away from him, and summarily crumpled to the floor. "Anne?!"

He hurried over to where she had fallen. She was on the floor, moaning, with her eyes closed. "Anne?"

Her hands on the sides of her head, she spoke again. "Just try and keep the room from spinning."

He picked her up and placed her back in the bed. "I would suggest you stay there until you're feeling better." He pulled the bedcovers over her, turned, and left the room.

She cracked one eye open and watched the naked 'man' leave, closing the door behind him. Then she crawled back down under the covers, curling up to sleep some more. She could smell remnants of the bear the covers were made of, a male she somehow knew, her own scent, and a combination of chocolate and hot pepper. How very weird, you would think she would smell him, how long had he been in here with her?

That evening a tray was brought to her room. Abigail roused her and urged her to have some broth, and water, at least. "I'm not hungry."

"You have to eat something. You won't get your strength back unless you do."

The smell of the broth was overwhelming her. "I can't. The smell. What is that?"

"It's just broth. Maybe there's something else I could get for you?"

And the strangest thought came to her. "A popsicle. A blue one."

"I think we have those. I'll be right back." Abigail left with the tray, trailing the scent of venison broth and roses.

The others looked to her as she passed by. "She can't stand the smell of the broth. She wants a blue popsicle."

Nick looked at her. "Weird. I think there's still a couple left."

Abigail fished one out of the freezer and brought it down to Anne, who took it gratefully. Devon came into the room while she was eating it to see how she was doing.

"Well, you look better."

"It helps that the world has stopped spinning."

"No, the world is still spinning. You just don't notice it any more." He smiled at the sight of her tongue, since it was now blue, from the popsicle. Now she smelled roses, imitation blue raspberry flavoring, chocolate, and hot peppers. "You should probably just get some more sleep when you're done. Let your body finish adjusting." She nodded her head, having almost finished the popsicle, and looking better than before, if a bit confused. "We'll check in on you in the morning."

****

The next morning she rose and pulled on some clothes. Just as she was about to open the door, there was a knock.

She opened the door to Devon, who had come down to check on her. "I'm pleased to see you're feeling better. Breakfast is ready, would you like me to bring you something?"

"No. I'm not an invalid. I can come to breakfast." As she came out of the door, he waited, and followed her. She was still unsteady and pale. He followed closely, in case her legs decided to give out again. She paused once or twice for a second, then continued on. "Let me..." He attempted to take her arm the first time; she shook him off. "Leave me be, I'm fine." Just so god damn independent.

In the dining room, she sank gratefully into a chair. Amanda was seated next to her, but there was an empty space beyond. "Is Terry still sick?"

No one met her eyes and it was Devon who answered. "Terry died."

"What? How?"

Jen replied. "She had a high fever, like you, and then a seizure. It seemed something in her body couldn't tolerate or adapt to the change."

"If I had a high fever like her, why am I alive?"

"We're not sure." (Again, they didn't know.) "We had been trying to cool her down but it wasn't enough. When Devon found you yesterday morning, he brought you to Medical. We had our hands full with her, and were beginning to run out of alcohol. Devon picked you up again and said he was going to drop you in the pool. The three of them took turns, holding you, until your fever broke."

"Abigail mentioned something about immersion and it came to me. Terry was having a seizure when I took you down to the pool. I had hoped that we could bring her down as well but it was too late."

Her question was a bit more quiet this time. "What did you do with her?"

Marcus spoke up. "We buried her. In the back of the compound."

Anne closed her eyes and bowed her head slightly. After a moment, the others began passing food. She said a little prayer for Terry, then raised her head, took some of the food, and began to eat.

*****

Once convinced she would be able to get around on her own without falling over, Devon stopped shadowing her. The others noted her movements, looking at things like she'd never seen them before, touching, feeling, and, mostly, sniffing.

She spent a lot of time in the kitchen and pantry, opening cupboards, tins, smelling things. Beth looked up while she was helping prepare lunch as Anne took a particularly deep sniff of her. "So, what's it like?"

"Things look... sharper, clearer. I can see edges more plainly. I can hear... mouse claws", she turned her head slightly, "Sam coughing." Beth nodded.

"And the smells?"

"That's the worst, and the best. There's too much smell in the air, too many things mixed together." Duncan passed by with the vegetables for the table. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply as he walked past. "Do you know how different you all smell?"

"Sure, we all know each other's scents."

Anne moved closer to Duncan, closed her eyes again. "So, Duncan smells like... chocolate and... mint to all of you?"

Everyone in the room turned to look at her. "What?" She saw the amazement on their faces as she looked back at them.

"Well, what does he smell like to you?"

Jen tried to answer her question. "He smells like... like Duncan."

Beth was intrigued, and the questions continued as the others came into the room. "So, then, what do I smell like to you?"

"Clean sheets."

"Jen?" "Smouldering fire."

"Abigail?" "Roses."

"Lily?" "Fresh baked bread."

"Amanda?" "Warm, polished wood."

"Marcus?" "Coffee."

"William?" "Red wine."

"Kevin?" "Passion fruit."

"Sam?" "Frankincense."

"Nick?" "New mown hay."

"Spencer?" She paused a second. "Earth."

"And Devon?" "Spicy. Like a drink I once had in Europe. Chocolate and hot pepper."

It was later that day. Nick and Spencer were playing a game. Good natured ribbing degenerated into playful shoving, then the two of them were on the floor, rolling around. They shifted to wolf and squared off, dodging, closing, until Spencer tripped Nick up and Nick ended up on his back on the floor. Spencer stood over him, triumphant.

Amanda looked at Anne. "I guess we can do that now, huh?"

"I suppose we can." She looked to Abigail and William; she was sitting in his lap. "How do we go about it?" Lily watched from the far corner; Devon was leaning against the doorjamb.

"I guess I just think to be wolf and it happens."

Anne got up and sat on the floor, cross legged. She looked around at them all, then away, like she was thinking about something. She shook her head, closing her eyes. Everyone was watching her. After a couple of minutes like that, their attention began to shift, but Devon caught the beginning of her change. Then, before them stood a medium brown wolf, with brown eyes, tangled up in Anne's clothes. Devon began to clap and the others joined in. Anne took a couple of steps and fell over, the shirt tripping her up. Devon got down on one knee to strip it off her. "That's why we're usually naked when we change." He pulled the shorts off as well. He gave her a slight swat on the rump. "Now, go. Try it out."

They watched her take her first, tentative steps as wolf. She tottered a bit, trying to figure out how to coordinate four legs, and wandered out of the room. She walked around, into other rooms, getting her balance, then took off into the tunnels.

She could see better in the dark now. She cut down one of the lesser used tunnels, scenting the air and moving farther into it. She didn't smell anyone but her; the tunnel was obviously barely used. She didn't smell any clean fresh air either, but she kept moving farther back. When she ended up in a larger chamber with bats she stopped and looked around. Bats meant an opening somewhere.

She circled the chamber, looking around, climbing rocks and pushing her nose into openings. Suddenly, she caught the slight breeze. Climbing up, she found the opening. A narrow crack. Damn, she couldn't get out that way. She checked further but the only tunnel was the one she came in. OK, time to go back, before they started to wonder where she had gotten to. Her lips curled up in a little grin. She could go farther and explore faster this way.

She went back to her room but couldn't get in. Wolf paws didn't work on door handles. Looking around, she changed back, opened her door, and slipped in. Pulling on other clothes, she returned to the kitchen for a snack. Spencer was there, chewing on some leftover stew. "So, what do you think?"

She glanced at him; he was watching her closely. She drank a glass of water, set it down and looked in to the refrigerator. "Very neat. I can see the appeal." She grabbed a biscuit and bit into it.

"We're rarely in any other form in the summer. There's nothing like running around the hills, scaring the rabbits." He moved closer to her. "I'd like to show you some of my favorite places."

Something in his attitude made her uneasy. She moved away, throwing him a noncommittal answer. "We'll see what things are like in the summer."

*****

He was amazed at how easily she shifted into her other form. Amanda had been trying the past couple of days, having difficulty, and it was painful for her. Anne seemed to be spending most of her time in the tunnels, running around on wolf legs.

Two of their three had made it through the change. The new moon was coming soon. There was one more thing he had to do before it, and the next council meeting, arrived.