Change

by Melissa Stevens

  Chapter 17

  Sunday morning I answered messages, called to my sisters, and ran my errands early so I could enjoy the mid-day sun. I put on my bathing suit and sunscreen and headed out to the complex pool. I ignored the kids splashing in the shallow end and swam laps back and forth across the deep end until my arms felt like limp noodles and they were barely able lift my body out of the pool. I laid face down on one of the lounge chairs surrounding the now empty pool, and relaxed as I let the heat of the sun warm and relax my tired body.

  I'd been lying on my stomach, slid up into the seat so that I could lay my PCD on the ground under me and easily read my latest book. I'd read several pages when I heard the soft whisper of bare feet on concrete. I ignored it, expecting the footsteps to pass and fade away, but instead they got closer and stopped beside me, a shadow falling across my body. I caught a scent in the air that told me it was Devon standing beside me, and I twisted my body around until I looked up to see his body silhouetted as he stood between me and the sun. It took a moment until I could focus on his face, he was grinning and dressed in his own swim wear, loose black trunks that said ARMY in silver block letters on one leg and no t-shirt.

  "Well, well, well. What've I found here?" Devon said, sitting down on the edge of the chair next to mine. "How has your day gone?"

  "Not bad. I've gotten all my chores done, talked to my sisters, swam laps and I was just laying here reading for a bit before I have to go to parents." I said, looking down to check the time on my PCD and looking back up at him, "You're home early today aren't you?"

  "A little. I got everything done and your dad sent me home. He said quitting time was when the work was done, not on the clock. I thought I'd take advantage of the free afternoon and go for a swim. I headed out here after my shower, and found that a beautiful Amazon had already beaten me to the pool."

  I rolled my eyes, "You're funny." I didn’t take him seriously, "Can you slide to one side or the other or move around to my other side if you want to talk, looking into the sun like this is killing me."

  "I'm gonna swim first. Then if you're still around, I'll pull up a seat. Enjoy your book." He said over his shoulder, turning to walked toward the pool. I twisted around so I could watch as he dropped into the water before I went back to my book, behind me I could hear the rhythmic whooshing of his arms moving hitting the water as he swam.

  I listened to him move back and forth in the water until the alarm on my PCD sounded, signaling time for me to go. I still needed to shower and get dressed before heading over to my parents. I gathered up my towel and PCD and slipped into the flip flops I’d worn down from the apartment before I headed back up.

  Half an hour later I was headed across the courtyard toward the parking lot. I saw Devon sitting on the edge of the pool, still dripping wet, with his feet trailing in the water. I raised one arm over my head and waved at him as I continued out to my car. Seeing me, he smiled and waved back.

  The next evening I came home from work and quickly changed out of my work clothes. The weather was warm so I put on a lightweight sun dress and sandals; my thought was that it would be comfortable as well as easy and quick to get off and on when it came time to shift.

  I was pulling the strap onto my right heal when I heard a knock on my door; I lifted my left foot and slipped that strap up as well before I answered the door. When I approached the door my enhanced senses picked up the scent of toasted almonds. I recognized that as Gabriel’s scent.

  "I'll be right there!" I said, not bothering to shout, as I knew he'd be able to hear me without having to raise my voice. I picked up my purse and checked to be sure my PCD was inside, as well as a couple of the canned shakes for after the run, before I opened the door and stepped out to join Gabriel. I pulled the door closed behind me and smiled at him, "Perfect timing. I was just pulling my shoes on. Are we ready?"

  "Great, let’s go!" He smiled back, heading back down the stairs, "Oh," He stopped, turning back to look at me, "Before I forget. The Anikitos asked me to tell you Wednesday, seven pm. He said bring nothing but you."

  "Great, thanks for relaying the message."

  "No problem, I was gonna be seeing you anyway." He shrugged, starting back down the stairs.

  "So, what do you have in mind for dinner?"

  "Nothing in particular. I thought I'd see what you were in the mood for."

  "Something high in calories. I'm starving and I'll still need to fuel two shifts." I followed him down the stairs.

  "Me too. Fast food or sit down?"

  "I prefer sit down, but if we're in a hurry we can do fast food."

  "No hurry, we have all night. Do you have someplace you'd prefer to go?" He asked.

  "Not really, I just don't want to go somewhere particularly packed, we'll wait forever and I'd like to get out and shifted before the sun sets." I reached the ground a moment behind him and asked "Where'd you park?"

  "That lot, over there," He signaled across the courtyard, past the building that Devon's apartment was in, "It's the only one that had any open spaces."

  "This place gets like that some days, especially around this time. If we didn't have assigned parking then I'd end up parking over there half the time myself," I headed for the lot he'd indicated. We were approaching the end of Devon's building when I Devon’s scent on the breeze. It wasn't just that he lived there, but that he was somewhere close right now. I turned from where I had been looking at Gabriel as I spoke to him, and looked around for Devon. I spotted him in front of us, headed in from the parking lot.

  "Hey, Devon. How's your day been?" I stopped him; he looked like he was coming in from work, his clothes dirty and flecked with dirt and debris and his skin not much better. The only clean piece of clothing he had on was his black leather jacket.

  "Hey Nickie. Long. We had a couple of steers get loose and spent a couple hours chasing them, but we got 'em in the end." He smiled, "How about yours?"

  "So far so good." I replied before asking, "Devon have you met Gabriel? Gabriel works for Bill, security."

  "No, I've never met him," He turned to Gabriel and offered a surprisingly clean hand, "Nice to meet you, Gabriel."

  "Nice to meet you, too." Gabriel subtly inhaled, scenting the air around us, "You're Devon Wilson right?"

  "I am." Devon said, his voice carefully neutral.

  "I'd heard you were back. I'm sorry to hear about your injury." Gabriel said sincerely, when Devon looked confused, he continued, "Sorry, I hear a lot in my position." Devon nodded, accepting the explanation. "I heard you've been away a while and while no one was happy that you were hurt, there are quite a few who’re glad you've finally come home."

  A surprised look flash across Devon's face before he could prevent it, or school his features. "Um, well, I need to get to the shower and wash this muck off. I'll let the two of you go." Devon tried to change the subject.

  "We're gonna find some dinner and go for a run. Do you want to come with us?" I invited.

  "Not tonight. I just want to get clean, and then do a lot of nothing. Slogging around in the mud today about did me in."

  "If you're sure…"

  "I'm sure." He smiled, letting me know he meant it, "I'll catch you later, Nickie. It was good to meet you Gabriel, I'll probably see you around," He stepped past us, making his way to his apartment. We continued out to Gabriel's truck in the parking lot.

  Once we were in the truck where we couldn't be overheard Devon turned to me, "You realize he doesn't shift, don't you?" He asked, starting the engine and backing out of the space.

  "Yeah, of course."

  "Don't you think he might have felt a little awkward on a run, not being able to shift like we will?"

  "Not really, we've talked about the possibly of he and I going out together. Me in wolf form and him not, but we haven't had a chance to do it yet. He runs a lot, keeps up with the fitness training from his time in the Army, but I only run on four legs." Gabriel nodded, pulling out of the parking lot onto t
he street. He probably didn't agree with me, but he let the subject drop.

  We ended up at a small diner. The food was good though not great, but the service was fast and that counted for something. After dinner we crossed the river and drove out past the airport before turning onto a dirt road and bumping and bouncing a few more miles until we were at the base of the Gila Mountains. The Gilas weren't nearly as tall as the Pinaleňos, the range that Mt. Graham was part of, but they were more isolated.

  Gabriel pulled off the side of the narrow dirt trail and cut the engine, but before we got out of the truck I suddenly started feeling nervous. There was nowhere to go to shift in privacy. Gabriel must have sensed my tension.

  "What's wrong?" Gabriel looked at me.

  "I'm not all that comfortable with the nudity part of it all yet," I explained, blushing at my own shyness, "And there's nowhere here to keep from being seen out here."

  He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, as though trying to find the right words, "While I understand the ideals behind it, and I can sympathize with how it feels to be suddenly thrust into a world so different, this is one thing you're just going to have to work at getting over."

  "I know. It's just that I've had modesty drilled into me all my life and I'm finding that it's not such an easy thing to let go of."

  "Do you swim?" he asked suddenly.

  "Yeah, as often as I can during the summer. I love the water," I responded, confused at the sudden change of subject.

  "What kind of suit do you wear?"

  "I have several, but almost all of them are two piece," I still didn't see where he was going with this.

  "Bikinis?"

  "Yeah. I guess."

  "What I'm getting at is your swimsuit doesn't cover much more than your underwear right?"

  "Well. Yeah. I guess."

  "Then you're half way there. You're used to people seeing you, and you seeing them while wearing little more than underwear, right?"

  "Now that you put it that way, yeah. I mean, it's meant to be seen, but it still covers about the same amount."

  "Most of the underwear on the market today is meant to be seen, but that's beside the point," He pointed out, "Now that you've realized how close you are, it’ll be a smaller leap to get used to more complete nudity."

  "It's worth a try," I agreed.

  "So, in the spirit of progress, let's try this. We stay on our own side of the truck, but keep the doors open and not hide while we take our clothes off. The seat will hide the most important parts anyway. I'll shut the door and shift first, giving you a chance to finish stripping and change with a little bit of privacy."

  "That sounds like a good idea to me," I was willing to give it try.

  "So let's do it," He opened his door and stepped out of the truck. I climbed down out of the seat and pulled my dress off over my head. I folded it and set it on the seat in front of me. I looked up and saw Gabriel standing in the opposite doorway. He'd removed his shirt first and I could see the muscles move under his skin as he unbuttoned the fly on his jeans. I looked away when he started sliding his jeans down off his hips. I bent down and slipped the straps of my sandals off my feet and stepped out of the remaining straps but continued to stand on the bottoms so I wouldn't get thorns in my bare feet. I glanced up and saw Gabriel had not only slipped his pants off but his underwear at the same time, as there was a pair still inside the jeans that were now draped across the driver’s seat and he was pushing the door closed.

  As soon as the door clicked shut I quickly took off my bra and stepped out off my panties, folded them both and put them with my dress before I, too, closed the door and bent to shift. A moment later, leaving my sandals where I had shifted over them, I padded around the front of the truck to meet Gabriel.

  Gabriel's wolf form surprised me; I wasn't expecting to come face to face with a huge timber wolf. His fur was layered with black, brown and gray like the typical wolf portrayed on t-shirts and pottery, it was his size that was shocking; he was easily as tall as a Great Dane and as blocky as a bull dog. His intelligent green-gold eyes seemed to ask if I was ready to go.

  *Are you ready* He asked mentally, surprising me again, since I hadn't lowered my shields to listen for him.

  *How did you do that?* I asked back.

  *Do what?*

  *Slip past my shields to talk to me without my even feeling it.*

  *Slipping past shields is one of my talents, though most telepaths can mentally speak through shields. Unless you have a talent like mine, listening to someone's thoughts through their shields is much harder.* I tilted my head to the right, *Yes, that means I'm telepathic. Bill told me you are too, that will make this outing easier.* He turned and started out into the foothills of the small range of mountains in front of us.

  *Is telepathy a common talent?* I followed him. We walked through the sandy washes, remnants of past rain storms, while we continued our conversation.

  *It's not uncommon. You'll find that probably half the pack has some form or another. Some can only send, some can only receive, some are strong and some are really weak.*

  *Weak how?* I pushed my way past a long, low hanging grease wood branch.

  *They have to really close to use it, generally same room close. Stronger telepaths can communicate over much larger distances, though the largest I've ever heard of is a few miles.*

  *Hmm... I've never tried to use mine for more than same room, I wonder how strong I am?* I responded.

  *From the strength of your voice, and how early it manifested, I would say it’s likely you’re going to be on the higher end of the scale, maybe not top strength but pretty strong.* We were still slowly wandering through the brush, in no particular hurry.

  *So let me test my understanding here. I have a friend who's Kindred. He's hasn't told me if he has telepathy, but he has said he has something similar. He picks up not thoughts, but pictures from other people's minds. I can talk with him just like I'm talking to you now. Does that mean he's telepathic and hasn't told me?*

  *Not necessarily, it could be one of several things. It could be that picking up the thoughts you send is close enough to his talent that he catches them, but only when things are sent to him.

  *It could also be that you are strong enough to project them into his mind, and pick up his responses whether he has the talent or not,*

  *That's possible?* I interrupted.

  *Yes, but it's not common, and extended use, as in constant conversation for an hour or two, can give the person without the talent a massive headache. Another possibility is familiarity. How well do you know this guy?*

  *We've been best friends since kindergarten. He's the friend who was with me when I shifted the first time.*

  *So you know him very well. That could be a contributor to his being able to hear you. Familiarity can enhance gifts, sometimes.*

  *Oh.* I thought about that while we weaved our way back and forth through the dry desert floor for several minutes. *Is it just me or is not getting any darker?* I knew it should be nearly dark by now.

  *It is,* He assured me, *But your wolf has excellent night vision and you're just not noticing the darkness.*

  *So we could be out here for hours and it would never get too dark to see?*

  *Pretty much, at least most of the time. When there's a new moon it's pretty dark. You'll be able to see better than you normally would, but there's just not much light to use.*

  *That makes sense.* I took off running. I enjoyed the feeling of my fur flying in the wind created as I ran.

  *Where you going?* Gabriel ran after me.

  *Just running for a change.* I marveled for a moment how great it was not to have to shout to be heard, especially when running.

  *Do you want to race or just to play?*