Unknown Touch

by Gina Marie Long

  Simon said, "I know when Stephen and David took off early this morning, Stephen was exceptionally ticked off with us because we couldn't see things the way he does. He expected all of us to agree with his lifestyle, his way of living. He wanted our support on sabotaging your property, but we wouldn't acknowledge him or accept his plans. He feels that his pack is a failure as we aren't treating him with the respect an Alpha male deserves. I'm sorry, Daniel. You do deserve all the respect in the world. You always looked out for us and did your best with providing for the whole pack. I hope you forgive me, forgive us, for deserting you. We were only trying to resolve the issue with Stephen. It obviously hasn't worked out very well."

  Simon bowed his head, as did Lydia and Rachel, in what would be considered submission. It was strange. There were strong sensations of guilt emitting from all three of them.

  Daniel walked directly up to Simon, and held out his hand to shake, "Simon, you are a good man. We have been through so much over these last 300 plus years. You are forgiven and remain my friend."

  Simon gave Daniel a pat on the arm, and Lydia and Rachel hugged him. Thank God we were all on good terms with these three now. Lydia felt the need to explain, "Daniel, we even bred and housed rabbits for the sole purpose of enticing Stephen into chasing after them when he chose his wolf form. We had hoped it would release his pent up, wild, animal side and keep him away from the larger prey, like the livestock he's gone after before. We tried to re-route his predator instincts by offering our own form of prey for him, but he complained that the rabbits were too small and didn't excite him like the cattle, wild turkey, deer, or elk could. And the rabbits didn't offer up much to feed on."

  Daniel nodded in approval of what this little werewolf family had tried to do to prevent Stephen from making poor choices. They had tried to guide him and set him straight. He was totally blind to the fact that they were attempting to save him from the dark side. Of course, Stephen seeing them as fellow werewolves, couldn't understand why they didn't want to follow his lead. He took it as insubordination on their part or as his own incompetence in overseeing his pack.

  "They will probably head to the old cabin," Simon suggested. "It's always a good resting place after they've been out running for a while. But, you could find them anywhere within a few mile radius between here and there."

  After Daniel and Simon had resolved their misunderstood differences and renewed their friendship, I stepped back and rejoined the rest of the team. We basically stood still, watching the interactions and listening intently. It seemed the right thing to do. To keep quiet and respect their one-on-one conversation, instead of different people interrupting them.

  As Daniel and Simon discussed Stephen's likely areas to roam, and the initial direction they took off that morning, Rachel kept glancing at me. Finally, she sighed with apprehension, then made her approach. I tried to do a quick mind read or at least absorb her emotions, but there wasn't much time. All I could pick up on were the mixed emotions of anxiety, fear, aggravation and curiosity.

  "So, you are able to help us? By using mind control?" She questioned with an air of uncertainty.

  Great. Now I had to deal with a non-believer. Or else one that felt threatened by my telepathic abilities. And there was that negative word of "control" used again. I really didn't like that word. It was time to put on a smile and try my best to win her over.

  "Yes, I am able to help you. Honestly, now that I think about it, I've used my skills, in some form or fashion, on everyone in our group. And believe it or not, no one had any complaints. It's for real, what I can do. I'd hate to call it mind control, though. That sounds so negative. I've really helped relax, comfort and ease anger and rage with these guys. I can implant images, thoughts, ideas into the mind. I can help to create certain positive emotions in order to manipulate behaviors. None of them have bonked me over the head when I've entered their minds. So, I guess, I must have done something good. Feel free to ask them," I responded.

  Rachel seemed pleased with my answer. She tentatively asked, "I know your main focus is Stephen, but maybe, you could try to work with David, too. Stephen has really messed with him, leading him down the wrong path."

  I replied, "Rachel, I had planned on doing that already." I very gently touched her arm to suggest we walk a few feet away from the rest of the group. She thankfully moved with me without an argument.

  I offered myself to her, "Can I help you right now with anything? Is there anything you want to tell me?"

  I was unprepared when she grabbed my hands and said, "Just read my mind, please. You'll see why I'm so concerned about David."

  Daniel cocked his head at me when he saw Rachel's look of exasperation and physically reaching out to me. He didn't know whether to be worried about her actions or not. I gave him a quick, She wants me to read her mind. It's okay.

  Rachel's hands were nice and warm on this winter day as I tenderly squeezed them. I gave her a heartfelt smile to convey that I was no threat. I'm not sure if I would have needed to touch Rachel in order to read her mind. I had been standing so near her during Daniel and Simon's conversation, I think I could have entered her thoughts just from the close proximity. Regardless, the physical contact and her willingness, her acceptance, in allowing me access to her mind made it effortless on my end.

  Rachel? I'm here. I didn't want to startle you. You can think your words in your head and I can hear you. You can either speak to me or just let your mind flow about what's bothering you and I can pick it up. I explained.

  She chose to speak to me in her mind, Kara, this is weird. I keep wanting to use my mouth to talk out loud. The telepathic powers of the werewolves are very limited. I'm not used to this.

  It's okay. You're fine. The others will understand what we're doing, so don't worry about it if they look over here. They're probably thrilled you're opening up to me and letting me do this with you. And I do thank you for coming to me. Oh, I am aware of the limits to your psychic abilities, so I can imagine this is a new experience for you. Pretty cool, though, huh? I added that last bit in to ease the tension.

  Rachel nodded in agreement and then she grew serious again. Kara, you've got to work your magic on David and get him to settle down. He is my husband, and I do love him, but if he follows in Stephen's footsteps, we're going to have problems in more ways than one. I'm pregnant.

  Whoa. I was not expecting that one. I kept staring at her, as she gazed at me and then her eyes started to well up with tears. I started to realize the significance of this. Most of them had lived hundreds of years, and not many children were born to them during that enormous length of time. That was unusual, now that I thought about it. In fact, it might have been two hundred years since any children were actually born. I let these thoughts flow into Rachel's mind.

  I will do what it takes to save him from turning to the dark side, Rachel. This is a monumental event. Oops-I forgot to say congratulations! But this is his baby, too, and you will need him to be in his right mind to share in raising this child. Does he know yet? Does anyone know? How far along are you? I flooded her with questions.

  I haven't told anyone yet, because I literally just discovered it myself. I wasn't sure if I was actually pregnant, but I'm starting to show just a tiny bit. No one has noticed yet with the clothes I've been wearing. I'm guessing I am about three months along. Keep in mind, it's not like werewolves go to see regular human doctors. I've fully intended to have a family meeting and tell them about my pregnancy. But, of course, that's when David will decide to act up or do something stupid with Stephen, then I get mad, and I don't feel like making that type of announcement. Rachel had totally opened up her mind to me. She went from being skeptical and apprehensive when she first approached, to the complete opposite, of now believing in me and having confidence in my abilities.

  I mentally told her, Rachel, you said you were determined to come with us on the hunt. Once we catch up to Stephen and David, and Daniel and Isaac tackle Stephen to the ground, David i
s probably going to be stunned by all the action and the sheer number in our group. I think you should blurt it out at that point that you're pregnant. It will catch everyone off guard. And with David viewing what I'm afraid will be a pretty violent take-down of Stephen, you will have your own little element of surprise to throw at David. It will get his attention as he's trying to decide whether to go all-out bad boy and attack or to back away from the commotion with Stephen. You should be able to draw him to you. Reach out to him. Even attempt to use your own psychic power, no matter how limited it is.

  Rachel then spoke aloud, "We've got our own plan, don't we?" She smiled. I sensed determination and a feeling of camaraderie.

  "Yes, we do. There are several plans all needing to fall into place, but certain people will be in charge of different plans. You know which plan you're responsible for now. And I know you will handle yourself perfectly with your announcement," I smiled back at her. We shared a secret that was going to be blown sky high within the next few hours.

  Daniel wandered over to us, curious as to what we had been mentally discussing for so long. I chose to keep the secret to myself, which meant I had to temporarily put up a tiny mental block around this new knowledge of Rachel's pregnancy. The confession from Rachel had to have maximum shock value in order to create the effect we wanted to achieve, mostly on David.

  "Kara, as you two have been getting all buddy-buddy over here, which is great I might add," Daniel announced, "Simon and I realized you needed to be made aware of a werewolf phenomenon that Isaac and I are most likely going to use today. It has to do with transforming from human to wolf form. You've seen me as a wolf, which is the form we almost always transform to. But, there is another shape we can take. Rarely do any of us choose this other form, as it isn't necessary and if any humans happened to see it, our exposure to society would be greatly at risk. At least when we appear as wolves, we may be much larger than the average wolf, but if a human catches us, it's not as likely to draw as much attention as this other shape we can take. It's more man and less wolf but quite terrifying to the human eye. It could be considered an in between stage of transforming. Half human, half wolf. You see me now as a human man. And you've seen the large wolf I can become. But, you haven't seen this beast shape I can take. I am just forewarning you so you don't freak out at a critical moment during our attack on Stephen."

  "Thanks for the advance notice," I grimly stated. And here I thought I knew everything about werewolves by now.

  Chapter 22

  Caught

  Daniel dropped a bomb with his revelation to me. I thought werewolves were either in human form or wolf form, not an alternate option of a half-man, half-wolf creature. No one had ever mentioned this to me. I replayed in my head Daniel's process of transforming into a wolf. It had always occurred in the blink of an eye and the next thing you were staring at was a large wolf. If I slowed down the process in my head, I vaguely could picture what did resemble a horrific looking beast, just for a brief second, as his body magically converted itself into a four-legged animal.

  "So, when were you planning on showing me this side of yourself?" I gruffly asked. I felt hurt that he had never explained this to me. I looked over at the rest of The Liaison members as they stood and shrugged their shoulders as if this wasn't a big deal.

  Daniel explained, "As I said, we rarely take that shape. During part of a normal transformation, we can decide to make a clear and conscious effort to pause it mid-way through, before turning into a wolf. At that point, we'll be in the shape of a true beast."

  "I want you or someone to show me right now," I insisted. I, again, looked over at my team of humans and asked, "Have any of you seen this alternate shape shifting?"

  Eli admitted, "Actually, no, we haven't. We are aware of their ability to take that shape, though."

  Daniel and Isaac had brought extra clothes along in case of any spur of the moment body changing since that tended to destroy any clothes they were wearing at the time. I knew this information, and since I felt they owed me this, I didn't care how many clothes they ruined. I wasn't expecting both of them to show me, but together they walked away a few feet, made sure they had everyone's attention, and proceeded to let their bodies ripple and reshape themselves. I swear they had grown about six inches taller, shirts burst off, but their pants only ripped slightly, as powerful muscles and dark furry hair made an appearance all over their bodies. Their heads turned into that of vicious wolves, very gruesome, with huge muzzles and sharp teeth. They had rigid, tall, pointy ears that twitched, trying to capture the sounds around them. Hands became deadly claws. I remembered Cassius had turned his hands into that form when he and Daniel had fought. Before this display, Daniel and Isaac had luckily kicked their shoes off, knowing their feet would also change into a cross between feet and paws. They stood up right, towering over me.

  Needless to say, I was shocked. I had to keep telling myself not to be scared, they were not going to hurt me. Eli, Dom, Zac and Tessa were also intrigued to get the opportunity to see this phenomenon. At least they were already aware of this side to the werewolves, so they weren't quite as freaked out as myself. I thought to test my mental connection with Daniel.

  Daniel, can you still hear me in this form?

  He immediately answered, Yes, I can hear you. So, I doubt you would still consider me a cute wolf anymore, huh? Don't flip out, though. I realize I look like a monster, but this change was completely voluntary with no underlying aggression. I'm in control.

  He reached out to caress my face, ever so carefully, as he now had razor sharp fingernails that could slice through my skin. I sensed that almost everyone held their breath and a few gasps slipped out as Daniel touched me. My peripheral vision caught Dominic moving towards us, as he suddenly feared for my life. I quickly sent Dom a mental message indicating everything was fine. I closed my eyes for a few brief seconds while Daniel's hand cupped my chin. I felt strangely safe. I don't think Daniel could ever hurt me. He would do something to himself first, to prevent any harm coming to me. He was positively wild to look at, but I had to allow acceptance of what stood before me. I did love Daniel and this was a part of him I could not be in denial of.

  I asked him, "Can you speak out loud?"

  Daniel cleared his throat, which sounded more like a dog coughing, and attempted speech, "Rough."

  I smiled. "Okay, was that word rough or was that like ruff, ruff? Tell me psychically." I could not believe I made a joke of this.

  Nice one. His facial expression appeared to take on some form of a smile, or at the least, it had a contented look to it. The word was meant to be 'rough'. As you can see, speaking out loud is very difficult. The shape of my mouth has changed into a long muzzle plus there are other internal differences as compared to a human mouth. Sometimes I can bark or growl out a word or two, but it's usually hard to understand what I'm trying to say. My mind still functions the same, as I'm able to speak to you with our normal mental link without any problems. Okay, I'm going to step away and transform back to human shape now.

  Daniel and Isaac were like synchronized swimmers as they instantly appeared in their human shape once again, both at the exact same time. Personally, I think they were showing off.

  Isaac explained, "As you can imagine, we can kick ass better in that form. We're stronger, faster, and have full use of our hands, plus our size is an advantage that will help bring down Stephen. We're much more dangerous as a beast, and can be extremely destructive. We don't think he has enough control over his emotions and transforming skills to even take the shape of a beast right now. He just switches between human and wolf form. But, you never know. He could have been practicing and learning how to take that shape over the last few months."

  Daniel started up, "Enough show and tell until later. Good chance you'll get to see this act again. Isaac and I are going to the truck to change into new clothes. Then, let's get Stephen's scent and follow the trail."

  Partially ripped jeans was about all that
remained on them. They quickly made the trip back to the truck, changed clothes, and rejoined the group. Daniel brought with him a small backpack for me to carry. Inside were clothes for himself and Isaac, obviously they were prepared for future shape shifting. Zac and Tessa retrieved their weapons, once again handing Eli, Dom and me knives or guns for self protection.

  Simon pointed out the direction into the woods that Stephen and David had taken that morning. Daniel and Isaac knelt down to the ground and sniffed four or five times. They wanted to have those scents accumulate in their nasal passages to ensure better success with tracking. Daniel announced, "Let the games begin."

  The rest of us followed Daniel and Isaac into the heavily wooded area. We stayed fairly close to one another, with Eli, Dom and me more centrally located within the group. This was for our protection since we were the weakest links, the ones less able to defend ourselves against an attack. Dom and I had never met David, so there was absolutely no mind reading capability with him. Any time we tried to connect to Stephen's mind, it always ended up being the same scenario. He still had a mental block erected against anyone trying to gain access and all we could gather were the usual emotions he emitted pertaining to aggression. Occasionally, I'd get a glimpse, just basic images, such as trees or another werewolf he spoke to, which I assumed was David, or an animal he was tracking. None of that was helpful at the moment. It didn't give us an exact location to catch him. Simon had informed us that Stephen was going hunting for deer. And that meant in his wolf form, not as a human hunter with a gun.

  We slowly plodded through the woods. Daniel and Isaac were on high alert and had a definite scent they were following. It was odd but interesting to observe their behavior. They were still in human form, but took on some traits of a dog or wolf. Daniel would pause to take in several quick sniffs, then raise his head to the breeze which would confirm that he was heading in the correct direction. Some of the scents were actually urine markings on trees or simply the ground; after all, Stephen and David were in the form of wolves, and they did feel the need to mark their territory. Daniel and Isaac had taken in the scents of both wolves, although each tried to concentrate on only one. Daniel, I knew, would insist on tracking Stephen, and Isaac would focus more on David. If the wolves split up, they would know right away.