by Desconhecido
“You’ve gotten more…you look well, Letha.” The recovering patient mumbled then glanced back to Vek. “Thank you…both for looking after me. You haven’t forgotten me, I see.” He took a deep breath, stole a glance at Letha, then looked back up at Vek. “It is you I’ve come for though.”
Both he and Letha let out a small gasp of surprise but she put her hands on her hips and formed the next question both wanted to know from him the answer to. “What do you mean it is because of Vek?”
He licked his lips and from a nearby table Vek handed the man a cup of water. He mumbled a thank you and sipped the water quickly, then coughed. Controlling himself, he didn’t argue when Vek took the cup from him.
“Slowly next time. You haven’t drunk a lot since you’ve been here.” Vek refilled it for him from a pitcher that lay upon the table. He handed the half-filled cup back to the man, who this time sipped more slowly.
“Thanks.” Zi-Den sighed and swayed. Vek quickly caught him and eased him down onto the cot.
“Let him rest a bit more, Letha, we’ll find out soon enough.”
She nodded and he saw that it surprised Zi-Den. “She’s been through some turmoil seeing you here. Now you should rest some more. We can talk after you’ve gathered some real strength.”
The man nodded, his eyes drooping. “Yeah, soon enough. The Trail-Master…worked for me…tell him thanks…”
When he was assured the newcomer had fallen back asleep, Vek ventured into the outer office, knowing that Letha waited for him there. He wasn’t wrong. This time she half sat on the desk, her arms folded within each other, her head cocked to one side.
“He said he came back for you. Why do you suppose that, Vek? Do you think it has to do with Shaja?”
“I don’t know, Letha. We’ll just have to wait and find out.”
“Yeah,” she said listlessly with a touch of frustration in her deep voice. “Guess we’ll have to do just that.”
Vek knew that’s all they could do. Wait until the man recovered himself, but like Letha, he was damn curious as to why her ex-husband had come for him and not her. He knew the Trail-Master Hajin was still around. He’d have to go to the local bar and find out more. By that look in her face, he knew she’d thought the same and would go with him once the doctor came by, as he’d mentioned he would some time tonight to check up on the patient. When Doctor Troth finally did show up, the two of them had him keep an eye on Zi-Den while they went to the place they knew Hajin would be at.
* * * *
He slept more soundly that night, he knew, than others in this border town, in this cell. He dreamt of what had once been and knew would never be again, as far as he felt or could tell from seeing her lovely face once more. He’d wronged her and didn’t believe he’d ever be able to get her to forgive him. He just wished he could. Wished he could hold her again. For even though he hadn’t been away long, the old feelings crept out, the old desires simmered beneath his tormented consciousness. He’d loved her so long ago. Before he let others tear them apart; before he’d caved in to their societies strictures and allowed her to be taken out of his life. He still hadn’t forgiven himself for what he’d done, but there had been someone there to help him through it. A kindred soul, who also went through a similar experience.
Shaja, Vek’s ex-love. The mother of his child, ihs stepson, asickly boy of near eight summers, would die if he didn’t bring Vek back. How odd and maddening was that? Was life? It came back to haunt you and kick your ass in. His former love was now his wife’s ex-lover’s current flame. Zi-Den had smelled her essence on the man. There lay no doubt in his mind that the two were lovers.
If only he’d had the courage to face his parents and the strict formal rules of a were-society…He recalled her lovely young face glancing up at him during their secret betrothal, their quiet wedding and her face had been filled with such happiness. As his had been for her. She filled his heart, mind, and body with something only she could…a completeness of the soul and more. They were mates, meant for each other. So it had seemed.
Things were different now and his mate, the mother of his son, in most facts, needed him. She knew why he came here, knew it would be hard for them both. Shaja couldn’t leave Thane to make the journey across the Between-lands and leave her son alone in his sick-bed. Nor was he in a position to travel, the doctors—the damn specialists—had said. Zi-Den had no choice but to find and bring Vek back to Strank. He’d looked for the man for years, to tell him he’d had a son, but it wasn’t until recently that they’d learned his where-a-bouts. He’d sent trackers to search for both of them over the years. To search the Between-lands and other regions of his world. No luck until one Trail-Master had found traces of them in a border town called Auck, a small city on the far edges of the Between-lands. Lands that lay unclaimed by most of the Were-countries of the planet Dantra.
Mostly scavengers and outlaws roamed the untamed lands as well as tribal folk. If one knew the way around them they made a small fortune as guides; or if they knew them well, as a Trail-Master, like Hajin, the one he’d hired to take him to Auck. He’d paid the man well and was glad the were-tracker wasn’t underhanded. Zi-Den had fell into a bog, one that was filled with vile bacteria which had caused his fever, so he was glad the man had taken him the last few miles to Auck.
He hadn’t recalled much during those last few miles, just bits of blurry images until he’d heard their voices some time ago. He figured that was a few days hence. He felt a touch on his arm, a slight shaking. Blinking open his eyes, he saw an elderly male dressed in a dark gray suit looking down at him in concern.
“I’m Doctor Troth. You gave us all quite a scare, young man. That fever you had was caused by bacteria from the bog the Trail-Master told us you fell into. But you took well to the serum I gave you. You’ll be good in no time. Just lots of rest and good nourishment will be best for you.”
“Thanks, doc. I appreciate what you did.”
He shrugged but smiled. “Just what would make a big city were like yourself come to Auck?”
Zi-Den slowly sat up with the doctor’s help. “It’s complicated.”
“I have a few hours before the sheriffs come back.”
He glanced quizzically at the man. “You mean Vek and Letha?”
He nodded. “Guess you do know them then. Word gets around fast in this small town. Yeah, they are the border sheriffs around here. So, you going to enlighten an old doctor? I’ve heard many things, so don’t think you’ll be surprising me, boy.”
Zi-Den grinned. He liked the amicable man. “Don’t be so sure, doctor.”
The older man chuckled and said, “Try me.”
For some reason, he trusted the older were-being. And Zi needed to vent to someone sympathetic, so he did so…
* * * *
Hajin was a tall were-person, a shifter about five years older than himself, Vek thought. Black shaggy hair, slightly trimmed and though temperamental at times, a good person and trustworthy; which is why the man had a good reputation. He got the job done quite well, for whatever he was hired for. He and Letha sat across from the man drinking a cup of wolf-ale.
“So you going to tell us what brought him here?”
He glanced around before he answered Vek’s question. “He paid me a lot to look for Letha over the last few years. Not until I saw you both here last year did it occur to me she was who he’d originally looked for. And you. Never told me why, just that it was important. Life-threatening he said. A child’s life depended on finding you, Vek. That’s all I know. Now you going to let me finish enjoying my ale or what?”
Vek turned to Letha, who nodded at him. They’d spoke mentally just moments ago. Then he turned back to Hajin. “Yeah, but make yourself available to us. We might be taking a trip back to Strank.”
Letha pulled her hand out of her pocket, her fist closed as she slid it over to Hajin. “This should cover your upfront fee. Keep yourself available. That clear?”
Vek grinned as he sa
w the slight hesitation on the Trail-Master’s face, but knew the man thought Letha’s request over quickly. Letha had a reputation in this town and she lived up to it. People didn’t mess with her.
“Yeah, but it’s gonna cost you.”
Letha chuckled. “I’ll pay it. Stick around town until one of us calls for you.”
“Understood.” Hajin slid his hand over hers and took the coins she passed to him. “Anything for you, Sheriff.”
She pulled her hand back firmly. “Good. We should head back, Vek.”
The two arose together and left the tavern. Though they were just in a minor, outskirt section of the town, it was their territory for now, and they covered it well. The main Sheriff’s headquarters for Auck and the Between-lands Patrol offices were on the other side of the small city. Though Auck was spread out and not a shanty town, it was only a third the size of the metropolis of Strank, where both of them had lived before.
Glancing at her, snuggled down in a lightweight jacket, Vek knew she had a lot on her mind.
He didn’t speak to her orally but through their minds. “You’re coming with me.”
It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Again, she didn’t look at him but nodded.
“We’ll have to have our positions covered then.”
“Yeah, ahead of you on that.”
She was a quick thinker, quick to analyze and know what needed to be done. “Then you contacted the Border Department already. Major-Sheriff Braden?”
“Yeah.” This time she opened her mouth and glanced over at him as they walked back to their local sheriff’s office. “He’ll be sending some officers to cover our area while we’re gone.”
He stopped in the middle of the walkway near their office. Not taking her hands out of her pockets, she did also when she realized he stopped. Vek didn’t reach out to her but kept his eyes on her as she slowly looked up at him. He knew then she’d figured out they would have some journey to make.
“I’d hoped to burry it all, like you, Vek. Part of me felt it might hit us, come back to haunt us. Our past that is. Perhaps it is time we faced it, put it out of our miseries.”
“It won’t be smooth, Letha. The minute I saw him, I sensed trouble was brewing. Are you sure you are ready to face it all, face what he has to say?”
“Yeah. Let’s get inside. Doctor Troth has waited for us long enough.”
He shrugged but nodded and followed her to their office, his mind deeply troubled…just as he knew hers was, and would be for sometime to come.
Chapter Three
“He’s too sick, he couldn’t make the trek,” Zi-Den explained earlier to them. “He needs your blood, his father’s to survive. We tried with Shaja, but Thane needs your DNA to overcome this illness, otherwise he’ll never be able to shift and there is the possibility he could die within a few years.”
Vek thought those words would never stop haunting him when Zi-Den explained why he had truly come upon his journey here to seek him. He and Letha thought for sure the reason he’d crossed the Between-lands was for her, or something else. Until they had spoken to Trail Master Zavel earlier today. Once they talked to the trail guide, they’d come back to the sheriff’s office and almost parted but had overheard Zi-Den and Doctor Troth talking. They’d only caught part of the conversation, but it was enough to know they needed to talk to the man from Strank. And what a conversation it had been.
One in which Vek had learned he’d had a son. The thought angered him that Shaja hadn’t told him, but upon learning she didn’t know until a month after he left had eased his anger, but not his frustrations. Then after the doctor left, Zi-Den had explained everything to them, and about his son Thane’s condition. It had been a lot to take in. They’d concluded with taking it back up in the morning and Vek had said they’d talk about the return trip. It’d been an awkward, frustrating conversation, but they ended it as quick as possible.
He slept in his own room that night, and was glad Letha understood why. He needed time alone to assess all that Zi-Den had told him. He’d wanted to slash the man’s throat at first, but upon hearing the whole truth, he knew he could not. They’d only known each other a few years, after Zi-Den’s own marriage had been dissolved. And for similar reasons he’d had to not marry Shaja. Both their hearts had been broken by a society that needed shaking up, that needed to be righted somehow. But he’d caved in and Zi-Den promised to take care of her for him, to marry her, at least in name only. Neither had known she was pregnant when he left Shaja.
With a broken heart and cause, he’d wound up here in the small city of Auck with Letha. They’d come to know each other, became friends, and eventually lovers, neither thinking they would return to the big city ever again. Now that had all changed. He knew he had to return, if nothing else to save his son’s life, a son that Zi-Den helped to raise with Shaja. The only father and mother the child knew. At least Zi-Den had looked for him to let him know the boy existed. Now life became hell and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. What he’d do when he saw Shaja again.
How would he feel towards her once they met face to face? Would the old feelings surface once more? Would there be frustrations or anger on her part, perhaps some on his? His heart lurched, and he partly knew the answer to that question. It was the same one that Letha now had to answer herself. Zi-Den was back in her life. Were her old feelings returning for him? He knew only time and closeness would tell. What a fucking complication his life had just become, once more. The years rolled back in his memory and he thought of her again. Not Letha, but Shaja. Of what they once had together, and wistfully, what they could have had, had they the chance…
* * * *
How could this happen? She wondered. What was he thinking of crossing uncharted territories and various dangers all to find…Vek? Not her but Vek. Perhaps it had hurt a bit, knowing she wasn’t the reason he had done so, but his news, his reasons were frustrating, a bit astonishing even. Vek had a son by his former lover. From nearly nine years ago. From the woman who Zi-Den was married to.
A full-wolf mate. The reason she’d left him, the reason he couldn’t stand up to society and claim her as his mate for life. It was a similar situation for Vek also. She felt compassion for him right now, and more. It all confused her a bit, yet it made sense too, if complications in life made sense.
Now here they were, getting ready to cross the Between-lands to return to the larger city of Strank. It was an impossible situation they all had to make the best of. Even with her being a border town sheriff, and had seen a lot of things these last ten years, personal matters were a helluva lot more aggravating to deal with.
Still, though he glanced at her wistfully, Zi-Den hadn’t tried to touch her, to bring up their past. He must take his marriage vows seriously, she thought. He hadn’t suggested that she go back with them. Hadn’t really even talked to Vek either. One or two days more of rest, and her ex would be back to his former strength Doctor Troth told them. In a few days, the replacements would come and then she would be ready to make the trek back to Strank. Hajin would take them as far as the outskirts of the land surrounding Strank, then would go on to his next paying job, she knew. She’d given him plenty to get them safely to the Border Mountains just a few miles outside Strank. She remembered some caverns near there where she’d stayed the night she’d left Strank around ten years ago. They had been abandoned and not a tourist place either. Not many went into the mountains unless they were naturalists. There were city woods throughout Strank where the full-weres could change and romp, as was custom in the large industrial city.
Letha didn’t miss its tall towers or business—the smaller city of Auck had been plenty for her. She’d miss Auck temporarily, but knew she had to go back to the larger city to get rid of the haunts of the past. She just hoped the visit there was quick and as painless as possible. Letha knew the real reasons she had to go, but right now she couldn’t tell anyone about them, not even Vek, her closest friend. Soon she’d have to, but not rig
ht now.
Sighing, she arose from her desk and went to her private chamber. She and Vek had agreed time alone from each other at night would be best. She’d needed time to herself, time to think. What was about to come wouldn’t be easy for either of them. Even after a hot shower, she knew a good sleep would elude her this night, especially since she had bumped into Zi-Den after she headed out of the bathroom.
Almost bumping into his hard body shook her up. They’d stopped just fleeting inches apart before they’d actually touched. She’d been totally frustrated and knew his empathic
were-senses had picked up on that and her feelings. She tuned herself out to his physical awareness. Then he’d tried to detain her, to apologize. That sucked. She’d been a hair’s breath from reaching out to him.
Gathering her feelings and strength together, she’d gotten the courage to break free from him. Nor had she missed the slight open door to Vek’s room. Once she slammed the door of her bedroom behind herself, she leaned against it and let her slight were-nails out. The door felt her frustrations as she dug into it.
Sure, it was going to be hell being back around Zi-Den and knowing what Vek had to go through. But they both would know, come morning, she’d be going with them back to Strank. They didn’t either one need to know her reasons for that, but neither would be able to stop her from going. She’d already made the arrangements for their replacements here at their sheriff’s office. Her superior told her take what time she needed to take care of what was going on, as he knew she never asked for time off before. It made him realize, she knew, that her need for it off was necessary.
She let out a low growl as it all became clear to her, and why she needed to put a finalization on her past. Seeing Zi-Den back was trouble. Trouble to what she had built up over the years – a life here and with Vek. Her heart, body, and mind were in a lurch and she wanted it all untangled. Going back to Strank would settle those old ghosts. At least she felt firmly they would, but emotionally hoped it would put a stop to the torments that had bothered her over the years. Groaning, she went to bed, but sleep eluded her for hours later.