The Ranger: Ch. 10

"No screaming this morning Sabina, just being greedy, you stretched out like this with that beautiful ass up, I could stay here all day. Just pushing hard enough to see the ripples," Pushing again to prove the point.

"Hmmm, you like that?" She turns her cheek to the bed looking sideways and back at me and I nod, glance down and then chuckle giving it a cupped slap that won't go outside the door.

"Wanna see you." Sabina says and we get her turned around. "You be careful with that man, he is dangerous." Pulling me down with her legs wrapped around me.

"I have it on good authority that we are going to work well together." I tap my head.

"Oh, good," she replies and starts pulling me with her legs and then pushing me over after I start breathing harder.

"Hmmm, this tastes much better than drinking what Beau gives out." Sabina smirks up at me while licking, moves her head sideways she goes up and down with her cheek bulging out.

"Heran should be gathering her group up now, I need to get these sheets and shirt done, then start breakfast." Sabina is walking around the room balling everything.

"Is it that late?" Walking over to the window it seems early.

"We are going early today to give more time for the party preparation."

"Party?"

"There's quite a few that think we are back, kicking ass and not letting anyone F with us again." Sabina says with a blush.

"Triss, Treya, Joan, Yesime, Niviena, Jenna?" I guess right off.

"You know Niviena is nicer now." Sabina says and walks out, I follow along as I get my one remaining shirt on, this is ridiculous.

Soviet is downstairs, he looks the same, "You go back?" I asked as I got downstairs.

"Yes, after yesterday it was a given, took a shower while I can." He replies and I was shocked.

"They'd have gotten much further, much faster by leading with that instead of threats, you have showers here?"

"If you make every mage alive come to Myread, they are going to spoil themselves, they put in every vice they can think of there."

"Ah, so there and the richest of the rich that can afford it," I reply and groan.

"You joined, so when we get done, you go, report what happened, and then, take a shower on the way out, just like everyone else."

"I've never seen one, what is the appeal?" Sabina asks.

"If cold, not much, other than it's quicker. If hot, so good, been a while since I've had one." I reply.

"I like a hot bath, doesn't seem to take much effort?" Sabina replies looking between us, "no magic needed, and they do seem very late and their only ask is for them."

"Not always late, I was deployed to end the war once it was shown to be one sided, saved quite a few places, but I understand what you've seen since you've arrived and being here of all places."

"She pulled me from another world, to here, now for that very reason."

"Apparently." Soviet gives a small smile and nods, "if you could bring her along with us, I'd appreciate it."

"She is always with me, so that's an easy request."

Soviets smile turns sideways with a patronizing stare, "Substantial help, I've had my fill of blessings."

"You didn't see what happened with the Skaldian?" Sabina asks him.

"That was what got their attention, they didn't start," he pauses and looking around the ceiling, "paying attention until after."

"They don't know." Sabina looks at me and then laughs. "It's crazy, Oh, sorry, not crazy crazy, just unbelievable crazy. Anywho, I have to go get my team."

"I get it, thought I was crazy for a moment and I was there," I reply and chuckle myself.

"I would like to see what you can do," He looks at my gear, "I was worried about a bow and knives in tunnels, seems you might be hiding something helpful?"

"A huge two-handed warrior and a fire mage are coming with us."

'I'm not a fire mage, I just use it to make a statement when needed.' Cinthia says and I can feel her eyes rolling.

"When can I meet them?"

"Their in here." I tap my temple and he frowns making me laugh.

"Sabina told you it was crazy, so don't act shocked. Can you two make an appearance please?"

"You lucky I'm not busy," Cinthia says through my mouth before coming out causing his eyes to open a bit and then get wider when both of them step off to the side.

"Oh, don't kill him Kae, too many problems." Mertil walks through the room into the kitchen. She says it casually and doesn't pause on her way.

All four of us turn and watch her walk by.

"Grayson and Cinthia, my former teammates."

"If this is what happens to your former teammates, not sure I want to do this." He says straight-faced looking at them.

'He's not wrong.' Grayson sends me, laughing.

"Funny, it was due to the storm, she pulled the three of us here."

"I did ask for substantial help, and this is that." Soviet nods to Gray and gives Cinthia a slight bow, they step back in.

"And they just live in there?" Soviet sits down, I'm sure he's seen crazy stuff considering where he lives.

"They have their own realm and do their own thing, they let me know if something needs attention like the ruins, or that you can be trusted."

He smiles, "the initiators believed they talked you into doing the ruins, how certain can you be about trusting me considering."

"Considering the source, pretty certain," I reply and Mertil brings out some breakfast and hot tea.

"So you both have faith in Ninhersag."

"I'm a few steps above faith at this point," I reply and Cinthia beams inside of me. 'First time you've said that.'

Mertle points her spoon at me and nods. "It does feel nice to know our ladies will get another chance."

"You're not practicing with Heran's group?" I asks and she gives me a look.

"No chance of that happening before this," she holds up her tea.

"When can we go?" Soviet asks.

"When I get more than one change of clothes with Saiden and Agitha's return."

"I'm not staying the night in there," he replies and shakes his head. "We don't have to clear the entire thing in one go."

"Agree, but, I'm sure it's more than just filthy in there," I say and walk over to take the two buckets Katelyn walks down the hall with and help her make a full tub after half a dozen trips. Soviet was going to help, but she waived him off.

"You are a guest, he lives here." She says and I decide it's time to go to the training.

Soviet does the same thing Severan did on asking about their skill and questions about the bows, as the ladies stepped out from behind their assigned tree, fired a few, and then waited for the signal to collect their arrows.

"Pretty good considering when they started," he muses, "I watched the fight a few dozen times, all of them were actively attacking, I expected a few to stay behind their tree."

"That's good to hear." I say as we watch them start over again. "I left my friends inside so the ladies could get the victory, I never doubted the outcome. The Twin folk underestimated and flanked themselves." I catch a glimpse of Tremont looking at us through the corner of a window, I would be doing the same if he was on my doorstep.

"Do you stand up here just to irritate him?" Soviet asks without looking at the window.

"Hadn't thought about it, this is the best place to see what is going on," Was I really poking the bear here? Nah, "if I wasn't standing here, someone would show up and call me up here, I think this is being pushed to happen."

"Seems we are not living our own lives if I understand all of this correctly, we just have to survive until the next summoning." Soviet says.

"Yeah, think that's why they get pushy when you stray from it very far," I reply. "And that reminds me, if we are going to raise rabbits, I need to get the supplies today and start finding the right spots for them."

Soviet just nods and continues to watch the ladies practice. "Is there anyone here I should avoid causing issues between us?"

"What? Oh, hmm, not really." I reply thinking Katelyn or Beau or Sabina would make it known themselves if they wished.

"No concerns at all?" Soviet looks over at me.

"Which part of you can be trusted should I be concerned about, if you stray, I'm sure the powers that be will correct it, same as they do for me." Thinking about that for a moment, "You know, I hate it when I get cryptic advice like that, Beau, Mertil, Katelyn, and Sabina are interested in me, the rest is up to them. I'm sure you've seen enough to know most of that already.

"Just confirming."

"Ladies! Can we wrap this up, and come with me, Katelyn, your group should meet back at the Inn when you are done so we can setup the hutches for the rabbits. I walk down the steps and head off with them to get oak shavings and wood, shovels to level ground and spend the rest of the morning setting up quite a few.

"What do we have to do? Desa asks as we are doing the first one.

Keep them dry, replace the wood chips when worn out, water and feed them if you don't want them running off all the time, keep a regular routine.

"Can we play with them? Ivana asks.

"Wouldn't recommend it, we will end up with an explosion of named rabbits that nobody will allow to be eaten. If you can't handle it after the first brood we can move them to another location."

"Oh, yeah." She answers looking nervous. "I'll try."

"Don't worry, I expect issues with this and we can fix them as they come along, overall, the rabbits will thrive in this area, we will have to take some actions or they will be everywhere, there were so many incidents of cute rabbits being adopted, hidden in the houses to keep them safe.

"Not my home," Amber says looking at the hutch we had prepared, "I can't do it. It was okay when someone else was trapping them, but, this is too much."

"Yep, this is why we are doing this right now, better to get it out of the way before the babies come and you're swinging at anyone that comes close." I've seen it, heh, I kept one as a pet.

We lost half the women that day and ended up with quite a few of the hutches north of Beau's home near the Hall. Back home, Minerva had a huge section for this and people tending to it that could handle it. We could expand out from the southwest of Mertils house later.

"Didn't go so well?" Mertil asks as I get back to the Inn, Sabina was sitting with Katelyn and Beau with Jacob and Anton at the table next to them.

"Got the rest near the Hall," I walk into the kitchen and grab some cheese and bread. "Anyone want anything while I'm here," and get a bunch of no's.

"Will it work?" Mertil asks and I nod back.

"The wolves will help, but we will have to keep an eye on this so it doesn't get out of control."

"Ale?" Sabina asks and I nod, hands were full last trip. I love bread, especially the kind they have here, round loaves hard crusted on the outside and fluffly on the inside to pick out. Hard to eat both of them though without something to wash it down

"How long?" Mertil asks, "They take upwards of a year to get to their full weight."

"That is how long on the breeding side of this, but we will be filling the woods with many times more than would normally happen," I reply. "With the controlled breeding they can get two to three times per year and where many would die out in the wild during and after birth, almost none will here. The second time will be half of the first and then a third until it levels off. I spent years doing this, small islands can't have large livestock."

"Wait? We're letting them go?" Sabina asks looking confused.

"Of course, they need to grow up, seed the woods and the older ones return when needed. Other than the wolves there aren't many predators out there, this is why I was saying we have to keep up with this, cutting back on some breedings and setting more snares if mating exceeds the needs."

"Pssh, you take care of that all by yourself," Katelyn says and everyone smiles at that.

"Anyway, the no moon is coming up in a few days, we can call them in, and by next no moon there should be two hundred to three hundred babies from the litters, we are going to have to feed them what we have in the wild, where I'm from we had winter so bark, twigs and such were needed, but it seems to always be flower season here, we will have to gather, weeds and flowers with grass and hay to keep them healthier, some vegetables but don't coddle them, the more we coddle, the more I expect we'll be trapping many of them in the town itself as many won't leave because some of these women are going to sneak them vegetables no matter what we say."

Mertil smiles at me for a moment, "You look the type to have fed them on the side?"

"There's always that runt of the litter or affectionate bunny that will melt the coldest heart," I reply without any embarrassment. Minvera, my mentor would occasionally call out those doing it as a way to get those chores done that nobody wants. And those doing them felt like it was worth it. You also have to ignore it when people "save" their favorite bunny, hiding them in their home or taking them to the edges of the woods."

"You have a lot of practice?" Beau asks as most are thinking about it.

"Have you held a doe with the perfect coloring that decides you are their new best friend? Minvera had a special area and just a few people taking care of it and it was still messy, what we are doing is going to be heartstring chaos."

"Speaking of that," I reach out and find the wolves are just to the south. I ask if we can meet in the glade I took Katelyn again. I look over at Myrtil and decide to test the timing. "Come with and we will speak to the wolves about this?"

"What!? When?" Mertil looks startled and then looks down at her clothes and then Katelyn.

"We should leave now," I answer and stand up, turn towards the door where only Beau can see my face, and wink at her. She compresses her lips together to keep from smiling.

"Now?" Mertil says and I don't hear her chair move, I'm walking slower than normal but not stopping.

"Kae, wait." I turn and can see she is conflicted.

"Come on, they won't do anything," stopping at the door.

"They won't do anything, are you planning on starting something?" Mertil says as we walk down the road south.

"I could never start anything at the Inn or even in town, I don't feel it proper," I answer.

"But, this is?" She asks, her closest hand is inches from mine, she could be several paces away, but we still have a few houses to go before we get to the wood line so I resist taking it.

"Wait till you see it, not much of a moon tonight, we will have to see it when it's full."

"Never going to be able to hide this." Mertil mumbles.

"Most think it has been happening since the beginning."

"I know, I get," she looks around like anyone is watching us, "fucking congratulated constantly," she whispers. "It is also why Tremont is angry all the time."

"At no point, no matter how angry or out of control the situation with me and him, I would never throw anything at him. You two have an understanding, he has completely failed on his side from how he reacts to you, but, that is between the two of you."

"You've been nicer to him than I have, he wasn't always like this, when his dreams failed, he lost a big part of himself, and you standing front and center in front of Bjorn and the soldiers has him pacing with quite a few bouts of cursings for you to be put on the next ship out of here."

"Yeah, he doesn't hang out with me like we used to," I say and hear a gasp and snort with a slap on the arm that slides down so I take her hand in mine.

"IF, you want this, I absolutely want this," I say without looking at her, "if I go into those ruins and get stuck in there for a few days, I'd be rather upset if I didn't at least try and"

"How about you don't scare me, in the woods, in the dark with no moonlight if we could please." Mertil whispers, interrupting me.

"At no point will I run ahead of Soviet, we expect to find nothing but undergrowth and dirt."

"Okay." She says as I move us off the trail and towards the river. I can feel they are already there and know where we are at.

"When we greet, I'm going to introduce you both, he will nod to your authority, do the same back and the boundaries will be set officially."

"I can't believe this is happening?"

"Which part?"

"Meeting them, the other part was just getting over the nerves." She doesn't take her eyes off her feet, looking where she is to step, but I'm keeping her from bumping into anything.

We slow our walk into the opening but I can hear her whisper, "Was here once when we first moved in, never thought of it like this."

I thank them for coming and show them that I and another will be going to search the ruins in the next couple of days, he acknowledges it and then sniffs towards Mertil, I show him that she is the Luna of the town, he turns his full body towards her and nods to her. He then shows me that we smell of each other and changes me from lone wolf rogue to alpha.

Mertil bows and nods back to him and he stands up taller and shows it as being accepted. She was respectful and went lower than he did. He then sends me that his kind in the ruins, showing me to run them out and not use my bow, they aren't themselves and his pack should deal with them.

With just me and Soviet, we could try but if too many of them, not sure we can just herd them along. I send him us clearing a way in and calling to him if we find them and he agrees to either way.

'Mistress called them in to take care of the lost ones, it will fix the wrong,' Cinthia sends and the wolf agrees with her which caught me off guard. The Alpha then turns to Mertil and then they head out.

"What happened, you hogged all the talking?" Mertil asks.

"It is more sending images, smells, and simple words."

"I'm a Luna, that's the moon?" Mertil asks and I was surprised she heard our conversation.

'I filled her in,' Cinthia sends.

"Alpha and Luna are mated, beta is just below them."

"I thought it was Alpha and Beta, so you're Luna's beta male?" She turns smiling.

"No." I reply pulling her in.

"They think you're the Alpha?"

"There is no think for them, there is and there isn't, their structure is very strict, but it allows for harmony that humans will never know."

"Hmm, and I'm just supposed to take your word for this, Alpha?" Mertil is pushing me back a few steps looking around on the ground.

"We are a team, you are always allowed to challenge my decisions, in private." The ground isn't too wet with the night dew, but I drop down an pull her on top of me.

"What are you doing!? They are going to think you're a pussy." Mertil whispers and I laughed. "Do you want to explain how you came back soaking wet?" I answer, when I catch my breath.

"Too late for that, Katelyn told me what you did to her down here, and you make me do this?"

"Is there nothing sacred between you people." I comment, they share way too much.

She is pulling her clothes off with abandon, "What did he call Katelyn? A bitch? She laughs at my expression. "What, isn't that what they call them?"

"I was a lone wolf, in another range makes me rogue and normally, I'd have to mate to keep the pack going, leave or die, they called Katelyn my prime, not the same as a mate."

"You can't breed with them?" She sits back down on me stripped and turns to pull my pants all the way off.

"They know exactly what I do, the skills and the magic, we got that out of the way by staying with the humans. They work for our Mistress just as we do."

"There's not another person in town that follows her?" Mertil says and then looks guilty.

'Almost half of the town think of our Mistress after all that has happened.' Cinthia says through my mouth so Mertil can hear it.

"Oh!" She looks at me for a moment and then kisses me, she has the curves like Katelyn but smaller, her tongue starts out slow, I can feel her hips move in the same rhythm so I join her, grinding a little while her hands hold my shoulders. She squeezes my chest a few times like they're boobs and laughs into my mouth. "Nice." She says and starts laughing again.