Broken and Bonded Ch. 11-12

Chapter Eleven.

Trudy threw her bags into the boot of her car and then turned to embrace her friend.

"Keep me up to speed with what's happening around here and yell out if anything gets too much for you," she told Seline firmly.

Seline smiled down at her. "I can almost guarantee that your phone will be ringing soon after these boys arrive."

"Don't let Jonathon Richards bulldoze you or push you around."

"Oh, I have always been a soft touch around Jon, but not when it might affect my girls -- you know how stubborn I can get when it comes to their welfare."

Trudy chuckled but she shook her head firmly. "I know how strong you are, but do not carry the weight of the problems all by yourself -- share!"

Seline reached out suddenly and absently touched a strand of Trudy's shoulder length hair. "I will -- I promise," she said softly.

They hugged again affectionately then Trudy could see Seline waving at her through her rear-view mirror as she drove away.

She smiled as she fixed her attention on the road in front of her.

She enjoyed driving although she did it rarely, especially when she was in London, which was her main residence.

Her week was pretty much booked up from Monday, but she could enjoy her weekend, or perhaps look up one of her nieces... perhaps Laurie would enjoy a visit, they never did get a chance to talk over the designs that Laurie was producing for Trudy's new residential block.

It was an uneventful drive back to London, and did not take her long, but it was already growing dark by the time she unlocked her front door and entered her home.

A shower and then she thought that she would order out, since she was not in the mood for cooking.

*

By the time he returned to Greg's house, the sun was brushing the trees of the forest, and the early twilight was upon them. Greg and Matt were waiting for him so that they could enjoy dinner together.

"Have I time to take a shower and change," Jon asked Greg with a little scowl. "The odours from the Frawning's house seem to have sunk into the very fibres of my clothes."

"Yes, go ahead we can wait for another half an hour -- Matt and I shall have a nice leisurely pre dinner drink."

"That would have been nice," Jonathon sighed regretfully.

"You can take one with you?"

"That was my thought too," Matt grinned strolling out of the living room, and handing him a tumbler of amber coloured liquid.

It was closer to an hour later when they all finally sat down to dinner, but Greg's cook was a man of talent and their dinner when it was served was as fresh and hot as it would have been, had they all been on time.

They ate the food in appreciative silence for the most part and it was only as they sat enjoying after dinner dinks that their talk picked up a notch.

"So, your meeting with the Frawning's pack went as you had hoped?" Greg asked.

"Yes... yes it was pretty much as I thought and planned it would go, and Bill was most obliging when the time came to relinquish the pack leadership."

"There was no resistance from the brood then?" Matt half laughed in disbelief.

"Well... Well, they were never going to just roll over and show their bellies were they, we all knew that! It was one of the reasons I needed them to have no prior knowledge of it."

"So, Bill held your secret? They had not even the slightest inkling of what was going to happen?"

"No, their state of attire and appearance showed just how unprepared they were."

"But it still was not a stroll through the park, even with Bill onside the others would have resisted?"

"Oh yes, the oldest one -- Ben, he tried to argue for leadership once Bill conceded to me, and it could have ended up being a real battle between the two of us, so I had to come down fast and heavy on him and crush his resistance before it could blossom... it was not my finest hour, but needs must."

"I can imagine," Matt murmured sympathetically. "So, what next?"

"Well, I shall need to keep close to them for now and keep my eye on them here for a while, I think. Matt, I need you to drive down to London, to see Michael. Now that I have brought the Frawnings lot to heel, we need to get everything else in progress, Michael will be managing it all, so I need him to get started. I have these documents for him to give him the authority to act on behalf of the council, these plans that James needs so that he can begin his design of the main house. He and James can coordinate things from London to start with."

"I can do that easily enough -- will tomorrow be soon enough?"

"Yes, yes tomorrow is plenty soon enough... I shall give Michael a call presently and tell him to expect you... noon ish?"

"Yes... It will give me an hour or two first thing to take a run, before setting off."

"I never realised that you were such a fanatic about running?" Greg murmured with a little smile.

Matt returned the smile easily. "I am not usually, but there is something about those woods of yours, they seem to keep calling me, and I find it almost therapeutic. Not to mention that with all this exercise, I have never felt stronger."

The two convalescents looked at him enviously. He certainly did ooze restrained power, whereas all they felt these days was a nagging lethargy.

The mere thought of charging through those woods the way that Matt did every morning -- just the idea made Greg want to crawl to his bed and rest.

Matt took a leisurely stroll around the garden later that evening, before retiring for the night, he found himself once again standing beneath the large oak tree, staring up into the thick leaves and branches.

Even with his keen eyesight the lack of light and the dense foliage made it impossible to see anything, but he had this persistently nagging sense that there were secrets hidden amongst the tree's leaves.

Finally, out of pure impatience with himself and his fogged-up memory, he reached up and grabbed the low hanging branch, bunching up his muscles as he began to haul himself up into the tree.

The low growl from the forest had him dropping and turning in shock.

"Who goes there!" he demanded loudly as his eyes darkened allowing what little light there was to filter in and increase his sight ability.

The patchy coarse fur told him clearly what had been watching him, and seconds later the aging wolf emerged slowly from the trees, and then sat on his haunches, to stare with dark enigmatic eyes.

For long moments Matt stood staring back, numb from the shock that a wolf born wolf was in this forest.

Usually, the natural wolves avoided the lands of shifters, in his whole life he had never seen one in the flesh -- nor heard of anyone else meeting up with one.

He hunkered down so that he was on the same level as the wolf. "What do you want here?" he demanded huskily.

The wolf gave a low whine, and then slowly -- warily he crept towards Matt.

**

Trudy walked quickly down the street, as the sun rose higher overhead.

Laurie was at a loose end since Michael was at his office meeting with someone, and so she was more than happy to see Trudy and talk about their joint project.

She was waiting for her as the elevator doors opened and the smile lit up her niece's face.

"Aunt Trudy!" she exclaimed happily as the two of them hugged. "Come on inside and we can talk properly - I have made some sandwiches and a pot of coffee to keep us going..."

Trudy chuckled softly as her niece led her into the apartment proper, and then once Trudy was settled on the sofa, she began to pull out drawings and sketches and notes along with fabric swatches of different colours and materials.

They spent the next hour or so discussing options and setting firm plans, and by the time they were done both women were pleased and excited about this project.

Trudy left the building towards midday, and she did so with a light heart and a sense of renewed purpose, and energy. As she walked along, she decided that she would take a holiday, get away from it all for a couple of weeks. She walked along, making her plans, and totally oblivious to the fact that just around the corner and walking quickly away from her, the love of her life -- her soul mate was thinking about her, even though he did not truly realise it.

Matt strode down the street towards his nephew's office building. He had never been there before, but he had always known exactly where Michael was based.

He walked thinking of the encounter last night with that wolf.

He shook his head in bemusement reliving each second, when the wolf's snout touched his hand, and sniffed at his clothing, before turning suddenly and bounding back into the forest.

Matt had been tempted to follow, he knew that he could easily catch up with the wolf -- even in his human form, but something told him not to. Instead with a sigh he turned to walk back up to the main house, to ponder the encounter -- such as it had been.

Now he walked along thinking of the tree, the wolf, the... girl?

As he came close to a jewellery shop, he slowed and then drew to a halt. He turned so that he could peer better at the rings sitting sparkling at him.

In the centre of the display sat a bright sapphire ring surrounded by diamonds and a memory nudged. He looked up to see his hazy reflection in the glass, and for a split second he could see a golden-haired girl beside him, her eyes as bright as that ring and her smile wide and loving.

He blinked and turned to look at his side, but of course there was no one there, so he turned back and saw his image again alone and hazy.

He rubbed at the back of his head as he turned and resumed his journey.

By the time he reached the end of the street, the throbbing pain was beginning to ease, and the memory, the memory lingered and slowly began to form, he slowed his steps and rubbed again at his scalp, "Tru...." he murmured huskily.

By the time he reached Michael's office though, the girl the ring and the shop were all gone from his memory again.

"Uncle Mathew -- it's good to see you again -- how are you?" Michael shook his hand warmly as he led him through to his private office. "I'm on my own today with-it being Saturday, so we have the place to ourselves and can talk with worrying about anyone else disturbing us."

Matt sat down in the chair across from his nephew and grinned at him. "This is a very nice set up you have going on for yourself." he observed.

"Thanks, it took me a while to work my way up the building, but I made it to the top floor finally."

"And now own everything beneath you as well," Matt chuckled knowingly.

"Ah now that is where you would be wrong," Michael's grin was a wide and open thing, clearly showing how happy he was with his current situation. "Someone else beat me to it and would not sell no matter how much I offered."

"Ah, that must have been frustrating,"

Michael laughed lightly. "A little," he admitted. "But in the end my landlady is my landlady for both my business space and my living space, and since we get along quite well, well I am content with the situation... for now."

"Landlady?"

"Yes, Laurie's aunt -- would you believe?"

"Miss Beaumont is your landlady? Miss Beaumont owns this office block and other buildings in London?"

"Yes, it's surprising, isn't it? I mean we may live in the modern world, but our kind are still belligerent at best when it comes to females with any sort of wealth or power; in their own right."

"Yes, too much testosterone in our systems I suppose, but we are struggling to come out of the dark ages with our females it seems."

"Try neanderthal, uncle," Michael sighed with a hint of exasperation. "Too much animal in our DNA still, or so I often think."

"You and your father both, I think, but I often wonder, were our folks like this? Were the females considered to be a lesser species on our home world?"

"If they were, then they deserved their demise," Michael snapped with a rare show of anger.

"Perhaps," Matt smiled a little. "Or perhaps we do them an injustice, perhaps they valued the females and saw them as equal, or maybe even superior."

Michael's answering smile was a bitter knowing smile. "I doubt it though, don't you...? I mean I was old enough to know my grandfather -- your father, I saw how he treated everyone, especially my mother, and how he treated you as his 'second' born son; there was definitely a hierarchy in his mind and anyone less than, was treated... well less than."

"My father was a bully and a pig," Matt said bluntly. "But that doesn't mean they were all like that."

"No, both you and my father could have become like him, especially with the positions you found yourselves in, but neither of you did."

Matt laughed lightly. "Are you so sure about that?" he challenged.

Michael fixed his uncle with a serious eye. "Yes," he insisted softly. "Whatever life has brought the two of you, and whatever you may have been forced to do on behalf of the council... you and my father are two good men."

For the first time in his dealings with his uncle, Mathew was the first to look away.

"Thank you, Michael -- that you think that way gives me hope for all of our futures."

*

They stepped into the elevator, a little while later; and Matt gave a silent inhale. There was a last lingering hint of perfume, and he would swear that he had smelt that before?

He rubbed the back of his head irritably that these little things kept haunting him. Almost like someone was trying to remind him of something -- or someone?

He breathed in again and as the perfume tickled his nostrils, a vivid image came to his mind.

A large grassy field, and a young woman walking towards him, she was hazy in the glare of the bright sun, and Matt sucked in his breath, as a part of him desperately waited for that figure to get close enough for him to see her clearly.

The elevator gave a 'bing', and the doors whooshed open.

"Laurie said she was working this afternoon on one of her designs -- so we can just go straight to my apartment, and not disturb her." Michael said quietly as he stepped out and glanced over his shoulder at his uncle. "Are you okay, Uncle Mathew?"

Mathew gave a little sigh and shook his head as the image shattered into a thousand pieces. The pain that followed almost floored him and he staggered forward, grasping at the wall for support.

"Uncle Matt!"

Michael's strong arms replaced the support of the wall, and slowly his nephew tried to guide him the last few steps to his apartment.

Laurie's door flung open, and her eyes mirrored her concern. "I thought I heard your voice, Michael... is everything ok?"

Michael changed his angle of direction and half dragged his uncle with him. "Uncle Matt, is just having a little episode, can we come in for a moment?"

"Yes, yes, of course..." she opened the door wider and as they stepped over the threshold the perfume strengthened.

"You've just missed Aunt Tru..."

The pain exploded in his head again and Matt almost dragged Michael over as he blacked out totally, right in the middle of Laurie's half sentence.

**

It was growing dark outside when he finally began to stir.

"How are you?" Michael asked worriedly.

Matt groaned and tried to sit up. "Where am I... what happened?" he asked groggily.

"You suffered one of your attacks," Michael sighed. "A really bad one I think, and it knocked you right out."

"Oh... sorry about that." Matt's gruff voice was still confused, as he tried to get his bearings.

He was on a sofa, in a living area, but who's and where, he had no idea.

"We're in Laurie's apartment," Michael told him. "We were going to go to mine, but you had your attack and Laurie's, was closer and she had her door open..."

"Where is she now?"

"I'm right here too, Matt. How are you feeling?" Her soft gentle voice came from just behind him and so he turned automatically... and then wished that he hadn't moved at all.

The ruddy flush that had stained his cheeks, drained away leaving him looking grey and tired -- and on the brink of collapse again.

"Uncle Mathew?" Michael exclaimed anxiously.

"I'm..." he laid back and closed his eyes, and right behind his lids was the golden image of a girl, her features blurred by the rays of light, that were stabbing his lids and surging through his brain. "I'll... be okay... just give me a minute."

"Or two," Michael muttered wryly."

"Or two." Matt agreed without opening his eyes.

Michael and Laurie watched over him for a moment and then Laurie nodded to Michael to indicate the kitchen.

Understanding her meaning he followed her through to the other room.

"Is he going to be, okay?" she asked anxiously.

Michael hesitated and then nodded slowly. "He always has been before -- after a good night's undisturbed sleep."

"He most certainly is not fit enough to leave here on his own." Laurie agreed with a nod. "But he can't spend the night on my sofa either, that won't help him at all."

"No... I don't suppose it will... so what should we do with him -- do you think?"

Laurie thought about it for a moment. "Well... I suppose the only thing we can do... the best thing we can do is to try and get him round to your apartment and get him into your bed -- so that he can rest properly."

"I can't just dump him and run though?"

"No... I guess that you can look forward to a night on your sofa then."

He gave her a pained grin, and then his eyebrows lifted hopefully. "Care to share with me?"

******

Chapter Twelve

Matt's dreams as he tossed and turned in Michael's bed, were vivid and full of emotional memories.

He flitted from scene to scene, and each time he left the last it was with a sense of urgent frustration, as he tried to stop, and look around to see where he was and who was with him.

On one occasion he actually managed to do it, and he found himself standing over a petite woman with green eyes and honey coloured hair, and with the sweetest smile he had ever seen.

She held out her hands to him and he took them easily marvelling at how tiny and soft they felt in his oversized, overworked paws.

"Who are you?" he shouted out in his dreams.

She laughed at him and her eyes sparkled emeralds at him. "Silly thing -- you know me!"

Matt awoke and sat up abruptly, putting his head in his hands as waves of nausea rushed through him.

"Uncle Mathew?"

Michael's concern was obvious, as were the weary lines around his eyes -- and the dark shadows beneath them, and Matt's nausea twisted into knots of guilt.

"I'm sorry Michael, I have caused you a lot of trouble." his raw voice was full of genuine remorse, but also pain and frustration.

That his uncle was suffering was plain to see, and suddenly Michael felt a need to help him.

He had known of his uncle's attack -- all those years ago; and the years of relapses and consequences of that attack -- such as the migraines and other things. But this was the first time that Michael had seen it first-hand, and his heart went out to his uncle's suffering.

He sat back in the chair and looked at his uncle.

"There is water by the side of you, so take your time, but then I want you to tell me everything."

"Tell you everything about what?"

"About the attack -- the pain the... whatever else it is that haunts you so very much."

Matt pulled himself up against the pillows and reached for the glass, which he gratefully drained.

Then he put it back slowly and sighed wearily.

"There is not anything to tell really, nothing that you don't already know - I think."

"I know what I have heard, from father and others probably... but now I should like to hear it from you, I should like to understand what it is that you are suffering from."

Matt sighed again and closed his eyes briefly as he tried to gather his thoughts. "It was so long ago, and I remember nothing of the attack and what preceded it, but what we both know comes from the same general source and so I don't doubt that we know the same thing."