Reservoir of Power Ch. 05

"Yes baby, but I won't be able to speak with you after I've shifted, but don't worry, I will be able to understand you just fine. Well... simple words anyway. When you want me to shift back, just say 'change', and I will. I'll understand that."

Lena nodded her agreement and Lochlainn began to shift, and as he shifted, he grew both in stature as well as in weight. In no time at all, he had become too tall to fit within the small home. When he fell to all fours, the raised wooden floor began to creak dangerously, though it ultimately held under the onslaught of his now much heavier weight.

There were a few splintering sounds underneath the house, as well as more than a few puffs of dust that erupted from the floorboards. Nose to tail, Lucky was now a touch over ten feet in length, and he was pushing a full 2,000 pounds. The refurbished cabin was only barely able to contain him without disaster.

Lucky slumped forward, placing his huge head on Lena's lap. He was careful to move extremely slowly, making sure not to alarm her, never taking his eyes from her own. He needn't have worried however; she was not frightened, even though she would have never known that he was the same being if she had not seen him shift.

Even his eyes had changed colour; his Celtic eyes were no longer in evidence. They had been replaced with the much less expressive dark brown eyes that most humans equated only with ravening beasts. His eyes though, they were serene now as they were still staring deeply into Lena's own.

Slowly, Lena began to run her fingers through his shorter, but now thicker hair. Lucky responded by turning his head away from her, allowing her to access to the underside of his neck. She saw that he was evidently enjoying her caresses and this caused her to chuckle and begin to scratch just under the edge of his jaw. He responded by closing his eyes in pleasure and making a guttural grunting sound as she began to scratch a bit harder.

After a few minutes, she decreased the pressure on his neck and said, "Okay Lochlainn, I'm a believer. Go ahead and change back and then we can talk about this huge bear in the room; we need to discuss what he means for us."

And even though, this sounded a great deal like, 'we need to talk', and even though most men would have fled from these words in terror, Lochlainn shifted back into his human form without complaint. Lena saw that he even had a hopeful look upon his face.

Lochlainn had returned to his human form, and he again looked like a Viking, albeit, a naked one. Lena gave him an almost lusty look before grinning at him, saying, "I think that I am feeling a bit more even for all of that gawking that you did in the shower last night.

Lucky's face freely coloured as he began his denials. "I barely peeked at you at all, and it wasn't like I could help it. I had to wash you; you were a mess."

Lena began giggling as she said, "Well, I'm going to have to peek a lot to get even then. Just think of me as a prospective buyer who is examining the merchandise. You wouldn't want me to make a final commitment without examining all of the pertinent data would you? ...and it certainly looks like you might be packing something significant there!"

Lochlainn just stifled his laughter as he rolled his eyes and sat down beside her. "Not that I'm complaining; but why are you taking all of this so well? ...and more importantly, how come you get to keep wearing your clothes during this discussion?"

Lena replied primly, "I will answer your questions one at a time. In answer to your first question: Your timing was perfect. You are one lucky bear, managing to come clean on the very day that the entire world learned about werewolves. Maybe you really are 'Lucky' and not just 'Lochlainn'... and Lochlainn, after spending my evening getting used to the idea that Were actually exist, this isn't half as bad as some of the things that I was afraid you were going to say to me. I mean, you aren't gay, or on the run from the law, or a secret mass-murderer... umm, are you?

Lochlainn shook his head and Lena continued, "...and as to why I get to keep my clothes on, I'm thinking that you have quite a few questions to answer still. I might, just might allow you the privilege of helping me remove some of them if I like your answers. Does this seem fair?"

Lucky's face lit up into a large smile, so Lena didn't bother to force him to verbalize his actual response. Instead, she continued onwards, "You've said, 'the time of choosing' several times now. It sounds like this is a time where you have the opportunity to choose between worlds? Have I got that right? If you choose the human world, is it for good? Or will you just switch back to living as a bear one day?"

"It isn't really a one-time choice," he responded, "at least, that's what my father thought."

"You aren't sure?"

"Not really. There isn't what you would call, a bear society. We are a community of loners, I guess. We have no written records, nor can we speak to one another when we are in our bear forms. Everything that I'm telling you is only what my father told me during our short time together."

"So it is might not be a one-time deal?"

"Well, it is...and it isn't. From what my father told me, our memories don't disappear all at once. He said that, 'they fade'."

"What fades?"

"...Our memories of ever being a bear at all. Dad ran into his brother when I was still a kid; he literally ran right into him, knocked him flat on his ass. Dad apologized to him and then bought the man lunch. I say, 'the man' because he wasn't my father's brother any longer. The man had absolutely no idea who my father was. He had no memories of ever being a bear. He was working as a fishing guide in British Columbia."

"So if you choose my world, you'll lose yourself?" Lena said despondently. "You won't even remember your family?"

"It'd be worth it for the right woman," Lochlainn said quickly, gazing deeply into Lena's eyes.

"Good answer," Lena said, her face returning to a smile. Then she leaned forward to remove her socks and threw them into the pile of Lucky's clothes. "But I'm not happy with the fact that you'd have to lose all of your memories. Could you keep them if I helped you?"

"I'm not sure," he replied thoughtfully as he began to run his finger along the arch of her foot.

Lena slapped his hand away with a grin and said, "Okay, next question."

Lucky pulled his hand back and waited... more or less, patiently.

"So... does this work like it does in the movies; you bite me and then I become a bear too?"

Rather than answering her question immediately, he instead began to run his finger under the fabric of her pants leg, climbing leisurely up the inside of her calf. "Nope," he said somewhat laconically, "I wouldn't change you even if I could; it seems that I love you just the way that you are."

He continued to speak as she smiled and began to unbutton her blouse.

"No human can ever be turned into a bear. We are not like werewolves; the only changes that we ever undergo are from bear into human. Wolves have it so much easier than this; they are always in touch with both sides of their nature and if one of them does fall in love with a human, then the human is the one who has to change. We werebear are split in a way that means we can't ever embrace both at the same time, but then again...once we've made our choice, we are at peace with ourselves once again.

Lena looked away demurely as she removed her blouse and then threw it into the growing pile of clothing on the floor. "So there's no chance that you'll bite me and cause me to sprout long hair and claws?" she whispered.

Lochlainn took the opportunity her head being turned away from him provided, and he began to nuzzle on her now exposed neck, "Oh, I plan on biting you a few times," he said seductively, "and I'm thinking that you'll like it just fine, although I'm hoping that it makes you moan again."

She slid away from him, not able to hide the goose bumps that had spread over both of her arms... although in truth, she really didn't try. "Okay, next question before you get all carried away."

Lochlainn interrupted quickly, nodding toward the growing pile of clothes, "While I like the way that this is progressing, I still want to ask a question of you. Since I have no clothes to offer you, I will offer you a service in exchange for your answer. Are you ready?"

Clearly intrigued, Lena merely nodded.

"Have you actually asked Ylva if she intends to leave Kalispell? I'd like to know whether you are going to be here before I sign anything long term."

"No," she responded, "but it really wouldn't do any good to ask her anyway. Ylva doesn't exactly plan things before she does them. Currently, she is fascinated with the silly glitz and all of the burlesque glamour of the roller derby. I'm guessing that the invitational league that Honey Bea talked about will grab her interest next, but God himself only knows what Ylva will decide to chase after that. I know that she is looking for a man who can keep up with her, but she isn't finding one in the bad boys that she seems to be attracted to... once she finds one, I'm thinking that all bets will be off."

She paused for a moment before asking him, "Hmm... that really didn't answer your question. Do you still owe me a service?"

Lochlainn pretended to think about it for a few seconds before he said, "Well... I guess I can still pay off, but now my service comes with an expiration date. You have two minutes, so you'd better make your choice quickly."

She didn't think about her answer for even a moment, she immediately said, "Kiss my neck again, just like you did before, but this time, you have to stop when I say."

Lucky leaned forward and began to kiss her neck, softly mixing nips between his lengthy kisses. Lena just melted into him as she slowly lost her mind from the pleasure that he was giving her. He'd been right earlier, he was biting her and she didn't mind at all.

She never could have said how long this nuzzling lasted, but when her mind returned to normal, she saw a satisfied (and somewhat arrogant) look upon his face. She also noticed that her bra had been removed somewhere along the way and that it was now perched atop their pile of clothing. Surprised, she glared accusingly at Lochlainn only to have him grin at her and say, "You said that if I answered your questions, I could help you remove your clothing."

"No," she said in mock annoyance, "I said that I might let you if I liked your answers!"

"You didn't like my answers?" he replied knowingly.

"Okay, fine. Next question," she said blushing. "What happens if we stay together? Let's say that I can always help you remember that you are a bear and that you continue to want me..."

"I will always want you," he interrupted forcefully.

Lena put her fingers to his lips to silence him, "...and say that we decide that we want children, would our children be human? Would they be human or would they be were? Do you even know?"

From the signs of worry that appeared upon his face, Lena could see that he really didn't know the answer. He said honestly, "Lena, I'm just not 100% sure, because as far as I know, no werebear has ever remembered what he was before the change. I mean... if bears decide to remain human, they forget that they were ever bears. I guess that means that their children must be human since their parents don't even know what they were before. So, I'm thinking that if I can actually remember that I was ever a bear, and if we can then have children, I'm guessing that they'd be completely human, but it could be that bears and human are all one in the same anyway. Maybe we've been interbreeding so long that we are now the same species. Hell, maybe we've always been the same species. I wish that I knew! I've been giving this a great deal of thought ever since I met you."

Then Lochlainn thought of something else and he said seriously, "I've decided that you are the one for me. I'm absolutely crazy about you, but if you are worried about this answer, well, then I will wait for you until we can find out for sure. Somebody must know the answer to this."

Lochlainn then nervously looked at Lena as she slowly rose to her feet; was she going to bolt? But then she turned to him and smiled as she began to slowly slide her pants off of those long, long legs. A look of relief appeared on his face, but it lasted for only a moment, as it was immediately replaced by the look of his arousal as he watched Lena seductively remove her pants.

Now clad in only the briefest pair of emerald green panties, Lena climbed into Lochlainn's lap and began to whisper sweet nothings into his ear; she said, "Ylva told me that she finally received that green lingerie that she ordered for you. So, I think that I'm about ready to pay off on our bet," but she said nothing more that Lochlainn actually understood as she'd begun to lick the back of his neck. Lochlainn couldn't really process whatever she might have said next, he had become incapable of listening.