by Mina Carter
“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 the 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 PinaleHos, 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 of 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?*
*Just feeling playful and energetic.* I made a big loop and ran up behind Gabriel, where he’d slowed down to an easy lope, seeming content to watch me play. As I closed in behind him the idea came to me. I gave in to the impulse and jumped, aiming to pounce onto Gabriel’s back. But he was fast and realized what was going on.
Gabriel twisted his body at the last moment and I landed in the sand where he had been just seconds before. He charged, butting into my side with the top of his head. The unexpected blow sent me rolling across the ground, scrambling to find a foothold. As soon as I was able to put my feet under me and stand I charged back, Gabriel charged again, meeting me halfway across the gap between us. We wrestled for a while, playfully biting and snapping at each other as we rolled around in the dirt.
I was out of breath and panting when we separated and rolled to lie on our bellies next to each other.
*That was fun.* I was glad I didn’t have to catch my breath before talking.
*It was. But you’ll need to watch who you attack like that.*
*It wasn’t meant as an attack, I was playing!*
Gabriel winced as though I had shrieked. *I know. I knew you were playing when it started. I just want to make sure you understand that coming up behind someone and pouncing on them like that can be taken as a challenge. It generally means a real fight, and sometimes real fights are mortal.*
*You’re kidding me!” I was shocked, I had a hard time believing the deadly turn that such fights could take. *You mean Kindred actually kill each other in fights for dominance?*
*Unfortunately, yes. I have to admit, sometimes it’s necessary. Sometimes in our world it’s kill or be killed.*
*That’s too bad.* I shook my head, like I would if I were in human form. *I can understand killing to defend yourself, but just to prove your boss? I don’t get that.*
*There’s a lot more to it than that, but I think you’ll need to be around us longer and learn some of the intricacies of pack dynamics before you’ll understand. I just wanted to warn you that you need to be sure of who you play like that with. That you need to make sure that they know you’re playing, not attacking.*
*I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.*
*You about ready to head back to the truck?* We’d both quit panting and were laying calmly.
*Sure. I think I’ve burned off some tension. Let’s head back.* We got up together and took a more direct route back to where he had parked the truck.
When we reached the truck we silently went to our respective sides of the vehicle and reversed the process of our shifting before. I carefully placed my rear paws onto my sandals and then I shifted. I quickly stood up, opened the door and started to dress.
“Clear,” I said aloud as soon as I got my bra and underwear on. The driver’s side door opened revealing that Gabriel had already shifted as well. I slipped my dress over my head and pulled it down into place. He had his underwear on and was reaching for his jeans as I slid my feet into my sandals again, and lifted them one at a time to slip the strap onto my heal. I climbed up into my seat, and pulled the door shut and wrapped my bare arms around myself as Gabriel pushed his arms into the sleeves of his shirt. He left it hanging unbuttoned as he bent to pull on his boots. I shivered while I waited, the loss of my fur left me chilled in the cool summer night.
Gabriel finished with his boots and climbed up into the seat, he closed his door and started the truck and turned on the heater before he buttoned the front of his shirt.
“Here, use this.” He reached behind the seat and pulled out a worn denim jacket. “It’ll take the chill off.”
“Thanks, I wasn’t expecting it to be this cool.” I took the jacket from him and pulled it on, the faded blue cloth smelled of him but it had an underlying scent of pack that I found comforting.
“It’s not that it’s particular cold, it’s more that you were warm in your fur and now you don’t have it, making the difference more pronounced. You’l
l get used to it, and learn to carry a jacket.” He carefully turned the truck around on the narrow dirt road and headed back toward town.
In no time the heater had warmed the cab of the truck, and I was no longer shivering. When we got back to my apartment complex I asked him drop me off at the gate nearest my apartment, I gave him his jacket back and thanked him for the loan of it, for taking me out this evening and for answering all my questions. I heard him wait until after I was inside the gate before leaving, and I went up to my apartment and showered, washing off the dirt we’d picked up with our wrestling match before I went to bed.
Chapter 18
BEFORE I KNEW it Wednesday had arrived. I spent most of the day worrying about what would happen that evening and how my parents would handle the news, I was so preoccupied that barely noticed what I was doing at work, processing paperwork and answering questions on autopilot.
After work I rushed home in order to get ready for dinner, but once I looked in my closet to find something to wear I was lost. I tried on half my closet and discarded it onto my bed before I ended up settling on a new pair of jeans and a brilliant emerald green blouse. As I laced up my leather ankle boots it occurred to me that though I wasn’t dressing up exactly, I was still dressing just as carefully as if I had a date, and for some reason that annoyed me.
I arrived early to Bill and Karen’s house, still nervous, and though I offered, Karen refused to let me help with dinner. I ended up in the living room with Bill as we waited for my parents to arrive.
“How have things been going, Nickie?” Bill sat in an easy chair near the fireplace, one ankle crossed over the opposite knee.
“Pretty well, I think. Life’s been pretty normal, all things considered. I go to work, I come home. Other than enhanced senses and strength, the only thing that’s really changed is the time I’m spending at the clinic.” I stood near the unlit fireplace, too unsettled to sit.