Sun and Earth Ch. 08

"Can you keep filtering me a bit longer?" Micah asked me, I nodded in response not wanting to waist my energy on speech. Micah rose and walked over to the bedroom. He emerged with a large duffel bag that looked very heavy and could only be filled with a variety of weaponry. My curiosity was peeked.

"How the hell did you-?" I began

"I still have some friends left and one of them happens to be a weapons specialist....who lives in NYC...and has a cousin who is a bellboy at this hotel..." He answered, his response becoming more sheepish as it went along.

"How convenient for you." I laughed and rolled my eyes at him. I tried to stand but my wolf chided me by giving me a quick metaphysical nip on the inside. She knew if I tried to concentrate on anything else, even pacing around the hotel room, I would let go of the stream I had been spindling in my mind. "Do you need me much longer?" I asked wiping away sweat from my forehead.

"Just a few more moments, I promise. I'm still setting their sleep...the longer I hold it the stronger it will be." He was loading guns with bullets and buckling holsters and sheaths in various places along his body. Once he was satisfied that at least a third of his body was covered in weaponry he told me to let go of the stream. I felt the room release as I undid the hooks in his irrigation system. I glanced back over to Chris, Mina and Bob who all stayed fast asleep. A great pang of guilt pinched my heart but I shook myself from it...they would be protected this way. Micah and I were protecting them, not abandoning...I just needed to keep telling myself that.

"So what now, Rambo?" I asked Micah as he tightened a dagger to his forearm. "Now, we get out of here and head north to the truce meeting. We'll sleep in shifts as we drive, sound good?" I grabbed some spare clothes out of my bag and sighed as I realized a shower would be nowhere in my near future. I took one last glance at my friends and followed Micah out of the hotel. He took my hand as we walked into the night.

I slept the first four hours of the ride next to Micah, his hand never left mine the whole journey. We stopped at a rest stop, this time not interrupted by any unexpected power plays from local wolves and then I took over for the remaining four hours. We were up in the wilderness of New York, the countryside. Wolves roamed these hills like it was their business...and for some it was. They would smell us coming miles away but I couldn't think about that as I drove, I focused on the task at hand and what we would achieve if this was accomplished. For the war to be over after 500 years would be magical. Of course there would still be prejudices and race scrapes, but Micah and I are essentially the stepping stone to bringing the races back together again. I think I could handle my family being forever pissed at me for abandoning them again if we brought the mages and Weres together once more. I would still be miserable...but I could handle it.

Once we hit the 1 hour to go mark, Micah woke up and told me to pull over.

"What is it?" I asked opening the windows and taking a deep breath to scent the surrounding area. We were alone for miles...nothing of a supernatural nature to haunt us.

Micah pushed away a stray strand of hair that had fallen from my ponytail. "I love you."

"Micah, as much as I love you and love hearing you tell me that you love me...don't you think we could have had this exchange while the car was moving? I want to scope out the area before we go into the meeting." He unbuckled his seat belt and got out of the car in response. I sighed and followed him out. Once I had finished stretching I finally opened my eyes to see what we had been driving along for the past hour. An open field as far as the eye could see. There was what probably was on old barn in the distance but besides that, pure unadulterated running land. My girl whined within me...aching to get out there. I hadn't let her come out to play since we had been attacked at Micah's house and that had been for only a few moments. I felt my body start to change and I glanced at Micah in a panic.

"Micah...we need to go." I went to get back in the car as a cramp overtook my stomach, my ribs had begun to elongate and expand.

Micah came over to me and put a hand against my cheek. "You need this...we can't go into the meeting with your wolf hovering right beneath your skin. The fact that you are scindo will work against us...I saw it in the way Corbin acted around you and what he said."

"Micah." I grunted trying to hold her in, she began to claw "It's who I am now...I can't change...you won't be able to keep up. The proximity restrictions-"

"Don't think about me. Let go, Parker. This may be the last chance you get for a long while without worrying someone may be following you." He came close and kissed me, sucking on my lower lip as he withdrew. My wolf stirred harder as lust blossomed in my groin. "And I would never want to change you, but you understand the consequences of your decision better than I ever could. If you were a wolf listening to another wolf plea her case...what would you do?" He kissed my forehead once more and reached down to take my shirt off.

I watched as the blue fabric fell to the floor with ease. Micah knelt in front of me, unbuttoning my shorts as my claws began to grow. I breathed heavily and turned inward. I looked for that beautiful moment...the fleeting moment during the change when my girl and I were one, we were as we should have been, as we were when we were child and pup. Micah slid my shorts and underwear down my legs and placed a hand over my stomach which was now distended and turning a different pigment due to the change. I managed to step out of my shorts when the fur began to grow. I felt my human skin slide from our body and my girl raced to the forefront. Micah kept his hand against my girl and I. The moment was coming, my jaw was changing...it always happened right after our brain shifted...she was running forward within me as I succumbed towards the warm spot we inhabited when the other was in control. I tried to swat Micah's hand away as the change progressed, worrying that he would get hurt.

"Trust me." He smiled, marveling at the way the fur growing on my body flexed and softened under his fingertips. "You need this." I felt Micah emit energy...he was casting something and I panicked. I couldn't let him use magic without me filtering him...but that was such a human part of me and I was so far gone that my girl was right alongside me now. Then it hit.

I felt us melt into each other, I heard her spirit voice crying and telling me what I've missed being without her. We thought of Micah and how lucky we were to have him. We spoke of being reunited with our family to have to eventually give them up to protect them. I cried and clung to her, my other self, not wanting to let go of this perfect feeling, but to not complete the change would mean death for both of us. I felt my legs bend and my front paws hit the soil. We were done...my girl was now in control. But something was different...instead of curling up in the warmth within her I saw what she saw. I remember this was what happened when we were synched. She angled her snout towards Micah's hand on our stomach and he grinned devilishly. He was casting something to keep us together. I screamed inside her with joy and she howled to the now bright sky. We rejoiced and in our glee our minds made the only decision that seemed logical at the time.

We ran.

The dirt was a cloud that my feet skimmed as I flew across the field. The grass flying past my girl was cool rain slapping our fur. My girl leapt into the air with such joy that I cried within her. We were one again...whole. This is what we were meant to be...natural beings who shared a mind and body. I yelled and she howled. I turned my head to scent something in one direction and she had the same idea. I wanted to jump and she agreed before even I could propose the idea.

Completely one being once more.

As we ran I had felt the mating hook within us, it was different when my mind wasn't the foremost at the moment. It felt distant and unreal...like I was watching it on a movie screen. But my girl felt it as I had, a sharp gripping in my gut and heart...never to let go or ease completely unless we were right next our mate. After about 30 minutes of running around like a wild puppy we trotted back over to Micah. As we reached him and looked up into his eyes I felt the oddest sensation. A release back into the ocean. The hook let go of us. My girl whined and we saw him grasp his chest as he collapsed to the floor.

"Shit." He muttered "It's like using crutches for a few weeks and then having them kicked out from under you." He breathed deeply and reached out for us. We went to him without question and placed our head on his lap.

"What I did to you and Parker isn't permanent so you should enjoy it. I've been wondering why the proximity restrictions hadn't left us yet and I think that they never would have released if I hadn't been with you when the both of you were how you were meant to be." I loved that he addressed my wolf before me when we were in wolf form. It showed me just how much he had come to understand us in the past couple weeks.

"Go run, lady wolf." Micah smiled at us "You need to be free for a little while before tonight." He bent down and kissed our forehead. "Go while it lasts...come back in a half hour. I'll be waiting."

We stood and nipped his ear lightly and ran off into the field. We hunted, we splashed in a nearby stream. There was a small patch of mud by a large oak tree that seemed to inviting to ignore. After we tired of rhomping about the woods I settled down next to a tree and lay my head against one of the roots.

Being raised a Were of any kind connects you to the earth more than any other species. We are separated from animals by logical thought and morals. But most Weres don't have many moral qualms. We will fight to survive and protect our loved ones. Survival of the fittest is not just a saying in our world. We adhere to the rules of nature...becoming the unnatural thing that we are today went against every truth and instinct I had been born with. But we fight to survive. We fight to live on this earth that I can feel humming it's story through the roots and limbs of the tree we are leaning on. I will never stop fighting for the right to be alive. Maybe one day the earth will forgive me for what I have made us become in the name of survival.

We lift our body from the ground and thank the tree for it's shade and comfort. As we make the journey back to Micah I can feel us separating again. We pause to experience the scindo once more, I am retreating back into the dark as my Wolf takes complete control. My last thought, before we return to our altered of being runs across my girl's mind the same time it does mine; is there a line one draws to further survival?

Micah was indeed waiting for us when we came back. His body was sprawled on the grass and his eyes were closed. My girl lets the change begin to ripple through our body. As we pass in that dark space again I graze her fur and thank her for knowing who I am. After the change is complete and I recovered from the pain I crawled next to him and laid my head on his chest. His hand fluttered to comb my frizzy strands. I take a deep breath.

"There will never be anything I can do to repay what you have done for us today. I never thought I could feel that free again. No, free isn't the word. Myself. Honest. I felt like I wasn't lying. My girl and I, there is a constant sense of lying to each other because the truth is too painful to acknowledge. You gave us too much, Micah." I closed my eyes for a few minutes until I felt him shift and bring us up to a sitting position. We didn't speak. He helped me put my clothes on as a doctor would help a patient. I was in shock, having resigned myself to only be one with my girl during that brief second in the change. He gave it back to us. He gave us our honor back.

We got back in the car and drove off to our destination. We had a plan that needed to be executed with care...well to our opponents will not look quite as careless. Micah dropped me off at the edge of the small upstate NY town and I walked on my own. Nothing had changed in the past 50 years. The buildings were a mish-mosh of different architectural eras having to constantly be remodeled or improved. The street was actually still made of grass, there were Weres walking around barefoot. As my eyes landed on the general store a memory came back to me.

I was 8 and barefoot. My frock was long and heavy and I just wanted to shift and take a nap in the warm grass. The sun beat down on my neck and the wool from my gown made me sweat. I had my fiery hair flowing wildly behind me when I came to the front of the general store...back then completely made of wood. There were older women looking at me with reproachful glares as if I had been doing something wrong. I had not done anything wrong that day, but the townspeople expected the wild child to cause havoc in their God fearing town. Humans still lived in the town when I was 8... My father hadn't forced the change yet. That came when I was older...when I truly saw what a monster he was.

My mother was off trading for some lighter material to make cooler clothes for the summer. She also finally decided to buy cheaper material since I had been having issues of changing frequently without warning. I told them I didn't have control over it but really I was trying to be a littler rebel. I hated clothes, if I had had a choice I would have discarded them completely and walked around in nothing but what I came into this world with.

Just as I had begun to formulate a plan as to how I could shed my clothes without the humans seeing me in Wolf form I see over to to the right my father approaching. I straightened my spine and pushed my shoulders back as he had instructed my to do while waiting for my supervision to arrive.

He smiled and knelt in front of me when he saw the rigidity in my stance. "relax your shoulders Parker. Good." and with that he kissed me on the forehead and walked away. It would be one of the few kindnesses he had ever shown me. I was so confused, I had been ready for an onslaught of insults and critiscims. This treatment, the rare show of affection hurt me more than his rages. When he was angry I knew where I stood...but the possibility that the cold, calculating man could show some affection angered me further when he would turn his temper towards myself or my brothers. How could someone who felt any amount of compassion for his children beat them and torture them. It wasn't normal...it didn't make sense. It was only years later when I would learn that he had been happy to see me because he had just learned of a prophecy that an alpha's daughter with hair as bright as fire would be a future savior.

I shook my head and brought myself back to reality. Now was no time to become sentimental. I saw the sign with a wolf head dangling in the wind a few blocks ahead of me. I made my way there swiftly making sure to keep my eyes diverted from any passerbys. I needed to be in the bar before I made my move.

I entered the bar, tsking a deep breath knowing full well what I was about to encounter.

Werewolves. Everywhere.

That moment in the movies when the 'looked down upon hero' walks into the villains bar and everyone stares? When it happens to you in real life you can only wonder how the hero didn't wet his pants with anxiety. I wished for the umpteenth time that Micah had been able to come with me but that would be against the laws of this bar. As one heads further into Wolf Country the human laws change to suit that of the wolf laws. Meaning, Wolves have free reign and can put signs in there windows stating NO EARTH BREATHERS WANTED. Not even No earth breathers allowed...no earth breathers wanted. A mage could take one step into this town, be devoured to pieces and the local law enforcement wouldn't do a damn thing about it. A great place to grow up in, in my opinion.

I walked toward the back of the room and sat at the far end of the bar facing the door, allowing me to watch the comings and goings of the other customers. I hadn't been on my own since Micah and I had mated and I needed to get the hang of watching out for my own back again. It's strange how only a short amount of time with one person can reverse 50 years of self preservation training.

"What can I get you?" the bartender asked putting a coaster down on the bar. It's good to know that even though this bar probably housed some of the most dangerous Wolves in upstate NY they were still concerned about water stains on the wood of their bar. Nice.

"Guinness on tap, please." I said dropping a ten on the bar. I searched my vocal chords and let my slightly Irish lilt I had learned from my family push forward. I had only spoken with this accent around my pack and since our goal was to let all the wolves know I was here...Geronimo.

"Comin' up." The bartender said with a wink. I switched to my newly acquired alternative vision. This wolf wasn't an elder, obviously since he was working as a bartender, but he wasn't a newborn. If I had to guess by the strength of his aura...I'd say about my age.

"So where are you from, lady?" He asked me as the thick scented Guinness was set down on my coaster.

"Here, actually. Well, originally from Ireland but my family moved here not long after I was born. Great wolf migration and all that." I took a moment to pause and sip the chocolaty taste of the Guinness. As I did so I listened to the sounds of the bar, about a quarter of the conversations that had been happening when I walked in seemed to have stopped. I was definitely warranting some attention. Red hair, silver eyes, moved from Ireland with my family to New York? Who the fuck else could I be. C'mon kids, take the brush and start painting. White washing is fun.

"I've lived here for quite some time...I don't remember you in these parts." The bartender sent a telling gaze out to another wolf in the bar and I smiled to myself.

"How long have you lived here?"

"About 45 years."

"Ah, well that was around 5 years after I had left...well I can't really say left. More like escaped." My heart began to pound with excitement as I kept digging that hole of mine.

The bartenders eyes rose up and he grinned now catching onto my game. He put both hands on the bar and shook his head to himself. He looked back up at me with that same devil grin.

"And what brings you back to wolf country New York, Parker Sol Solis...savior numero uno?" I heard a chair scuffle towards the front of the bar and stood up preparing myself, in case of any unruly old pack mates deciding to re-introduce themselves.

"I heard there was some sort of meeting happening that I thought I should be in attendance for." I took another long swig from my beer and put it back on the bar with a little more force than necessary. "I also wanted to introduce my new mate...my new Mage mate." The bartender's face fell as he backed away from me and a tall presence made itself known in the form of grabbing my arm. I let the man swing me towards him...I was in no danger as long as I could access my sun gift.

"Hey Parker." I grinned against the pain of the circulation being cut off in my arm and looked into the eyes of the man holding me.

"What's up, Rob? How's your miserable life been?"

He raised that muscle bulging arm and takes a swing for me in the form of a right hook, I closed my eyes and emit the sun to warm his hands until with a screech he lets me go.

"That good, huh?" Another wolf came at me from off to the front of the bar. I jumped off the floor and slammed my feet into his chest, out of the corner of my eye I see that the bartender has a gun with what could only be silver bullets. I waved him away and jumped on the bar letting him know I was fully capable of handling the situation I had purposefully created.