by Unknown
Win said he could get in touch with someone he knew at Black Swan and ask them to contact him. He told Liulf not to be surprised if he was paid a visit in person.
Liulf brought the mulled wine to his lips while he stared into the fire. He lifted his head when he heard a knock at the door. Conn and Ken entered and closed the door behind them.
“Ye knocked,” Liulf announced, half amazed.
“Aye, well, yer alpha now,” Conn said with a half grin. Liulf snorted and turned back to the fire. “So what did Win say?”
‘Preposterous fantasies.”
“No. Really.”
Liulf looked from one brother to the other. “Let me sit on it for a day or two.”
Conn turned to Ken. “He’s officially been alpha for an hour and he’s already got secrets.”
Ken smiled. “Heavy is the head and all that.” He rose like he was about to leave. “Meat and bread in the kitchen. ‘Twas good if ye’re hungry.”
“I may wander there in a bit.”
“I’m turnin’ in. Will ye be wantin’ me to head back to Girnigoe in the mornin’?”
“No’ just yet. Let me see how this thin’ with Win comes about and then we’ll decide.”
“Very well. G’night, Alpha.”
“Stop it,” he chided at Ken, suddenly feeling centuries, rather than minutes, older.
Conn left a few minutes later. When the mug was empty, Liulf climbed the stairs to the bedrooms. The alpha’s house was more home to the Cu Ahlee brothers than any other place on earth. When Liulf reached Dunegan’s chamber, he stood outside for a while before opening the door. Then he stood inside the alpha’s private bedroom for a longer while trying to imagine himself occupying that room. Eventually he concluded that he would never feel at home in the alpha’s chamber and went down the hall to the room that had been designated his when he was at Loch Maree. He fell on top of the bed without undressing and immediately slipped into a deep slumber with vivid dreams of other worlds.
CHAPTER 2
The next thing he knew a bright female voice was saying, “Wakey. Wakey. Rise and shine!”
Liulf opened his eyes to find a strange woman standing at the foot of his bed. His first thought was to wonder how she got past the night servants. He glanced at the door and saw that it was closed.
“Who are ye and how did ye get…?”
She held up a pair of handcuffs padded with what appeared to be sheepskin, dyed purple and gave him a winning smile.
“Want to go for a ride?”
He sniffed. She wasn’t human nor was she elf or fae. She wasn’t anything he’d encountered before, but she did cut a fine feminine form with emerald green eyes and the dark curly hair of a wilding. Perhaps there were benefits to being alpha he hadn’t known about. He was on board with an early morning tumble and considering the possible uses of handcuffs, but decided he should take the prudent approach.
“Let me add a few questions to the rapidly growin’ list and I would strongly encourage ye to answer this time. “Who are ye? What are ye? How did ye get in here? And what are ye plannin’ to do with those?”
“You wake up in a foul mood, don’t you? You sound more like a bear rising from hibernation than a werewolf who had a good night’s sleep.” She looked him over. “In his clothes,” she added drily. ”And I like a kilt as much as the next woman, but yours is ooching upward and I’m a married woman so…” She waved her finger toward where his privates were partially exposed.
At least she had answered the question as to whether or not the visit had carnal intentions. He pushed his kilt down to preserve her modesty and waited.
“I’m Litha Liberty Brandywine Storm. I work for Black Swan. I’m half witch, half demon. I got in here using the same process that’s going to take you to scout Lunark Dimension. Winwalker Grey… he’s your cousin, right? Says you’re hoping for an exploratory mission. I’m your ride. These handcuffs are to make sure you don’t get lost somewhere en route. My idiot father lost my husband a few years ago and it was the very devil finding him and getting him back. Since then, we use handcuffs for insurance. Just think of it as a safety feature.”
Liulf was halfway wishing she hadn’t answered his questions. “I’m gettin’ up now.”
“Please do. I haven’t got all day.”
He towered over the intruder. “If ‘twill no’ be overly inconveniencin’ ye, I need to relieve myself of some well-processed mulled wine.” He ran his tongue around his mouth and found he didn’t like the morning after taste. “When I return, we shall discuss this ‘ride’ ye speak of.” He turned at the door in time to catch her yawning. “I’d offer ye a coffee or tea, but I am no’ yet ready to reveal the details of this… em, adventure, to my brothers. So if ye would no’ mind waitin’ here.” She wiggled her head on her shoulders in a gesture that was neither a shake nor a nod. He took it as acquiescence. “Ye know, I’ve ne’er met a half witch or a half demon and I’m suddenly feelin’ that, since ye claim to be both, ye have me at a disadvantage.”
“Don’t be afraid.”
His face clouded over with a glare as he gritted out, “I did no’ say I am afraid.”
“Good. There’s nothing to worry about. I’m married to a Black Swan knight.“
He stared at her for a moment longer before slipping through the door while being careful that no one saw the visitor.
Litha sat down on the unmade bed and twirled the handcuffs, looking around the sparse room while she waited. When Liulf returned, he closed the door, locked it, and leaned back against it with his arms crossed over his chest.
“Ready?” she asked.
“Do ye no’ have any words of preparation for me? Do ye typically just grab people from a sound sleep withou’ explanation? Wavin’ fuzzy purple restraints about in the air? And expect them to trust ye with…”
“Interdimensional travel? Well, I wouldn’t say that giving newbies rides through the passes is exactly typical, but I have done it many times. What would you like to know?”
“How likely is it that I will be comin’ back here to this room? Shortly and in one piece?”
“One hundred percent.”
“Well, now that is comfortin’. Would ye say that my dress is appropriate?”
She looked him over. “Sure. You look fine for somebody who slept in their getup. So you ready?”
In fact he wasn’t ready and he didn’t like having his formal clothing referred to as a “getup”, but he was self-aware enough to know that another hundred questions and answers were not going to make him more ready.
He eyed the handcuffs suspiciously. “Which hand do ye want?”
“Left.”
He held his left arm up. No sooner did he hear the chink of the cuff being snapped than he was in a grayish rosy fog so thick and murky that he couldn’t make anything out. Not even the woman who took him from his home. He took little comfort in knowing that he’d lose all credibility as alpha if he admitted to either willingly embarking on such an insane course of action or being taken forcibly.
Between not being able to get any perspective on where he was and the sensation of traveling very fast, without moving feet, he began to feel unwell. When his brain caught up to the fact that his feet weren’t moving, they made a pitiful, ineffective attempt to participate in forward momentum even if there was no frame of reference for the mobility.
Dizziness followed and nausea soon after that. He was just about to notify his abductor that vomit was eminent, when they came to an abrupt halt on a pleasant-smelling grassy berm. Having become unused to standing on his feet – even in the short time they’d been underway, Liulf concluded the experience by promptly collapsing on his rear end.
He looked around quickly, not to see if anyone had witnessed the tumble, but to reestablish his equilibrium. At least that was the story he’d be telling.
After getting to his feet, Liulf found that bending over with hands above knees helped with both the nausea and dizziness. After a rapid succ
ession of deep breaths and a string of assurances by Litha Something Something Something that he would be fine, he felt a slap on his back and heard a friendly laugh.
“He’s all yours,” she was saying. “When do you want me to pick him up?”
“Give us the day,” replied a deep gravelly voice that was vaguely familiar. “And thank you.”
“Sure. You want me to bring anything when I come back?”
“Dark chocolate. Much as you can carry.”
“You’re a fan of chocolate?”
“No. That would be Luna. You could be indirectly responsible for making me an extraordinarily happy wolf.” He wiggled his eyebrows.
Litha laughed. “Okay. Just as long as it’s for Luna and there’s no selfish motive involved. Later.” And she was gone.
“Liulf. You okay now? Come to the cabin and let Luna have a look at you. She’s marvelous with curing ailments.”
“Uncle?” Liulf let Stalkson Grey help him to his feet.
“Welcome to New Elk Mountain.”
Stalkson Grey was Liulf’s uncle by marriage on his mother’s side. He was Win’s father and also alpha of the part of the Elk Mountain tribe that chose to migrate to the new world in a dimension they were told was called Lunark. Liulf spent the next hour with his uncle’s second mate, Luna, and their twin girls. The beautiful little girls had black hair like their mother and gray eyes like their father. Liulf wasn’t sure about intermarriage with other biped species, but he was certain the lassies were cute as could be.
“So ye like it here?” asked Liulf.
Stalkson confirmed that he and the members of the Elk Mountain Tribe who had chosen to migrate four years before were happy and had no regrets.
“Sorry to hear about Dunegan. I was told he was a good leader. As I know you will be, Liulf,” Grey said as he showed Liulf around the settlement they’d built on a treed hillside next to a lake that was impossibly blue.
Changing the subject, Liulf asked, “What is this ye be wearin’?”
Grey looked down as if he wasn’t sure what he was wearing. “Doeskin pants. You should try them. I got the idea from a demon.”
Liulf scowled. “Demon?”
Stalkson Grey laughed. “Hmmm. Litha’s sire, as a matter of fact. It turns out that we’re not the strangest creatures in the universe. Not by a fathom. Who would have guessed?” Stalkson picked up one of his little girls and gave her a kiss on the cheek while she smiled at Liulf in a way far too fetching and knowing for a three-year-old. “Maybe you’ll meet him. Sometimes he drops by to aggravate me.”
Liulf scoffed. “Aggravate ye? He must have a death wish.”
Grey laughed. “Wouldn’t do him any good. I don’t think he can die.”
Liulf cocked his head. “He’s a real demon? Immortal?”
“The real deal and an incubus. His idea of a good time is telling me he’s going to sex up my daughters someday. One time he started to take his cock out of his pants to show them what they have to look forward to.”
“’Tis different from ours?”
“No. Not really.”
“Well, then it’s nothin’ they have no’ seen, but talkin’ about the wee lassies like that? ‘Tis perverted.”
“It would be if he meant it. You’d have to know him. He just likes to rile people up.”
“Sounds… demonic.”
Stalkson chuckled. “Luna didn’t like it either. She hit him full force with a hot iron fire poker and told him to never come near us again.”
“Has a temper for a human, does she?”
“Hmmm. Didn’t leave a mark though. He laughed at her.” Stalkson grinned at that and motioned for Liulf to walk with him as he started toward the edge of the New Elk Mountain village.
Liulf could tell that Stalkson Grey was pleased with what his tribe had built in the new world. As he showed his nephew around the settlement he engaged various members of the pack with easy conversation and pointed out the various innovations they had devised to make life optimal for werewolves.
“The original colony, New Gaul, is in the south. I chose this land to the west because of the hills, trees, and the lake. I knew my people would be reminded of Coeur d'Alene and feel at home.
“I don’t want to mislead you and say it’s easy. It’s not. It’s a tradeoff. We gave up electricity and engines in favor of living in a place with good air and water and quiet. Best of all, no humans. No guns. The only weapons that are allowed are those that operate with muscle power.” Liulf realized they had circled back to the starting point outside his uncle’s house. Grey cast Liulf a sideways glance. “There’s unoccupied territory to the north that reminds me of the Scotia Highlands. If you’re on a scouting mission, I’ll take you.”
Liulf looked to the left, to the right, and then finally at Grey. “Aye. If it would no’ trouble ye.”
“Well, then.” Grey smiled with a light in his eye that could have been pleasure or could have been pride. “Show me your wolf.”
Liulf’s brows went up in question.
“Except for cart paths, there no roads. No vehicles. Four legged is the fastest way.”
They left their clothes on the porch. In biped form, Liulf was much bigger, but they were about the same size after shifting. Stalkson Grey wasn’t sure if he remembered having ever seen Liulf as a wolf. He thought he’d remember because of the unusual coloring. Like Grey, Liulf was mostly black, but he had the caramel colored eyes that were characteristic of the Cu Ahlee clan.
The two huge black wolves would have made a picture trotting together across the pristine panorama of Lunark Dimension. Going at a steady pace, it took an hour and a half to reach the border of the northern territory.
When the landscape changed to vistas that reminded Liulf of the Highlands, Stalkson Grey led him to a shallow place where they could cross a river by jumping from rock to rock and then climb straight up a grassy mountainside. At the top, Grey shifted to human form and pointed out the territory boundaries from north to east to south to west.
“What’s beyond?” Liulf waved in the direction Grey pointed.
“We’re on a small continent surrounded by water.”
“How small?”
Grey shrugged. “About the size of Briton, I think.”
“Are there other species in this world?”
Grey was silent for a minute. “Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve ever asked.”
“Just because lycans are no’ seagoin’ creatures does no’ mean that there are no’ others who are. Elves, fae, humans… all seafarers.”
“If there are others, their cultures are still primitive.”
“Primitive as in pre-nuclear submarines or primitive as in pre-sailin’ vessels?”
“New Gaul has been here a long time. If there was a danger, it would come before the Council and we’d discuss it.”
“Council?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. What I’m trying to say here is don’t borrow trouble.” Grey smiled. “When it comes to worry, you seem more like an old woman than a lycan alpha male.”
“Yeah? Well I may be a new alpha, but I’m old enough to know ‘tis ne’er a good idea for wolf people to be gettin’ too comfortable. Somebody is always waitin’ and hopin’ for exactly that.”
“Cynical.”
Liulf shrugged. “I call it managin’ expectations, Uncle.”
“I take your point.” Grey looked at Liulf with a new interest that wasn’t there before. “I hope you join us, Liulf. Maybe the goodness of life here is making us too complacent. We probably need your perspective. If you decide to migrate your pack, we’ll help with the initial building – get you started. The descendants of the first colonists at New Gaul helped us.”
Liulf was aware of the emotion surging in his chest as he imagined what might be. He had thought he loved the Highlands, but that was before he saw the lands that he’d already decided would be named New Scotia. He didn’t want to be rash and make an impulsive decision that w
ould have such far-reaching consequences for his pack, but his uncle had said that Fate had something epic at hand for him to accomplish.
While Liulf was considering, Grey was continuing to feed information. “I suppose I should also mention that things are done a little differently here. But nothing that you and your people won’t get used to.”
Liulf was only half-listening. He was too busy picturing his people hunting, playing, and procreating in the beauty that stretched all around him. After a few beats, he registered what Stalkson Grey had said.
“Differently? How differently?”
“Well, for one thing, we have a Council, like I mentioned before. It meets on the first day of the new moon every month. Each territory is represented by the alpha, two seconds, and two pack elders. All discuss and advise, but only alphas vote.”
“Vote?!?” Liulf was incredulous. “Wolves votin’?” He snorted as if he’d never heard anything so ridiculous.
Stalkson shrugged. “It’s a new world. A paradise for wolves,” he swept his hand out in a wide arc, “and we want to keep it that way. The best way to go about that is to respect the other packs and do the best thing for all the inhabitants of Lunark and the future of the species.” Stalkson Grey put his hands on his naked hips. “I know I made it sound like we’re naïve, but we’re trying to use our heads about this. It’s a perfect place for us, unquestionably ours, every tree, rock, and blade of grass, but that’s not to say that couldn’t change. Others could come here the same way we did. If that ever happens, wolves need to be united… used to working with each other.
“Silver Ruff, alpha of the New Gaul pack, came up with these ideas. And they’re good ones.”
Liulf mulled it over for a moment, processing the possible merit of Stalkson’s argument. “What else?”
Stalkson grinned wolfishly. “We have Powwows.”
Liulf’s brow wrinkled. “What’s a Powwow?”
“Our version is a Gathering, sort of like a big party. It was my idea. Well, to be honest, it was a suggestion made to me back on home world by somebody I met through Black Swan. I suggested it to Silver Ruff and she liked the idea, said it dovetailed nicely with what she was trying to accomplish with the Council. So twice a year, on the Spring and Fall Equinoxes, packs come together in the south for three days. We build big fires, eat, drink, dance, talk, hunt and the unmated wolves get friendly with each other. We encourage intermarriage between packs, not just royalty.”