In Spirit and Truth (In Spiritu Et Veritate Series)

by Reed, Zoe

  “Are you okay?” I asked, moving my head to get in her line of vision. “Why are you laughing? You almost died just now.” I had to be just as frightened as she was, so her giggling was a bit unnerving. I was getting ready to shake some sense into her if she kept it up.

  “I’m alright, thanks to you.” The panicked laughter finally subsided, and Kyla put her palm to her likely pounding heart and took a deep breath. After the breath she twitched her bottom jaw, touching her fingertips to it with a wince. “Ow.”

  “Let me see,” I asked, gently tilting her head up with my hand. The scrape was only a surface wound, and as more of a raspberry than a cut there wasn’t really any blood, but I didn’t doubt how much it hurt. “You might just need to ice it.”

  With a nod, Kyla looked up into my eyes for a moment and then back down, her own voice growing concerned as the shock and pain started to wear off. “You’re bleeding.”

  Relieved that she wasn’t hurt, and that she hadn’t yet started to ask questions about how I’d caught a falling girl that weighed about as much as I did, I looked myself over. Sure enough I had a deep, three-inch long cut on my forearm. Even though blood had already made it down to my wrist, it hadn’t started to hurt until I noticed it. “I must have hit it on something, it’s just a scrape.”

  Kyla wrapped me in another grateful embrace and then pulled away to tenderly reach for the hand of my uncut arm. “Come on, I’ll clean it for you. It’s the least I could do.”

  I let her lead me to the house without protest, but I wasn’t worried about my arm. The cut would be gone in a matter of days. All I wanted was Kyla back in my arms. I wanted to squeeze her tight and keep her close, keep her safe.

  “I got blood on your shirt,” I noticed, and pointed to the back of Kyla’s gray tank top as I followed her inside.

  “Don’t worry about it, I’ll change after we take care of your arm,” she responded, leading me to the kitchen sink where she turned on the faucet. Grabbing a paper towel off the counter nearby she dampened it under the water and waited for me to hold out my arm so she could start cleaning it.

  Now that she was about to take care of the wound, I froze. All it took was one speck of blood getting into Kyla’s blood stream to Change her. Meaning if she had any cuts on her hands then I couldn’t let her touch me. How could I be so careless? I shouldn’t have even put myself in this situation. This was one of the reasons I tried to stay away from humans. Even my own self getting hurt was dangerous to them.

  “Are your hands clean?” I asked, swiftly pulling my arm away and pretending I was worried about germs.

  Kyla nodded but washed her hands in the sink with soap and water anyway. When she returned I raised an eyebrow teasingly, like I didn’t trust that they were really clean. Knowing what I wanted, she raised her hands to prove that they were dirt-free, and I used the opportunity to make sure that she didn’t have any cuts that my blood would touch.

  Satisfied I held out my arm, and she began to gently wipe the blood from it. “At least it already stopped bleeding.”

  I smiled and nodded, unsurprised. As I began to relax, I couldn’t help but admire the graceful delicacy with which Kyla treated my wound. She wiped around it as gently as possible, unconcerned with how long it would take to clean off all the blood with the amount of pressure, or lack thereof, that she applied. I didn’t mind either. It could take all day I was so content watching her try to take care of me.

  When she looked up and caught me watching her, she gave a shy smile. “What?”

  I gave a short, quiet chuckle and shrugged. My brothers and sisters knew how durable our kind was and wouldn’t have given a second thought to an injury like this, but Kyla seemed genuinely worried. “You’re just so gentle, it’s refreshing. My siblings would be telling me to rub some dirt on it.”

  She turned to grab some fresh paper towels off the island to dry my arm as she giggled. “Well, tough love isn’t my calling.”

  After another quiet minute while Kyla focused on my wound and I focused on her, the two dogs could be heard sniffing under the closed door that led from the kitchen to the living room, and seconds later they started scratching at it. They probably smelled the blood, and were no doubt curious where it was coming from.

  “I don’t know what’s got their feathers in a bunch.” Kyla paused to glance at the door and then roll her eyes. “Come on, there’s bandages up stairs.” She motioned for me to follow as she started for the bathroom upstairs. Unable to find a bandage big enough for the wound, she grabbed some gauze and wrapped it around my arm. “There, all better.” She grinned as she flattened the tape that would hold the gauze in place, pleased with her medical accomplishment.

  “Thank you very much,” I thanked her, smiling as I studied the wrapping.

  She nodded happily and then stretched to look at the back of her tank top in the mirror. “Now I got to change, since you got my shirt all dirty,” she teased as she turned to leave the bathroom. I stood there for a moment, unsure of whether I was supposed to follow or not, before Kyla noticed I wasn’t following and turned around. “Are you coming?”

  With that I pushed off the counter I’d been leaning against and followed her into her bedroom. I had been at Kyla’s the night before, but hadn’t received the official tour since we’d spent the whole night downstairs watching movies. The bathroom was in the middle of the long hallway and Kyla’s bedroom was the next door down. A few unopened boxes sat on the dark wood floor near the door, and on the far side of the room past the bed was a desk.

  I took a seat on the thick orange comforter that covered Kyla’s bed as I watched the brunette search through a box of clothes for another shirt. It didn’t take her long to find a new one, and then she removed the tank she was wearing, carefully avoiding further smearing of the blood. It was hard not to admire her complete lack of insecurity, though I tried to be considerate by not looking. I inspected various things around the room, but out of the corner of my eye I couldn’t help but study Kyla’s perfect, fragile figure.

  She was thin without being muscular, making her look soft and delicate. Her sun-kissed skin was a dark, olive color with a couple uneven tan lines on her back from wearing different styles of bathing suits. Even out of the corner of my eye I could see a dark, skewed-oval birthmark to the bottom left of her naval, about the size of a playing card. Her jeans hugged low on her hips, which curved perfectly into her waist and chest. As her body twisted to pull on her shirt, I let my eyes wander along the lines of the girl’s slender back.

  Again the itch started in my fingers and I clenched my fists tightly, lying back on the bed in utter frustration. I couldn’t understand why I got the urge to Change when I was around Kyla. I’d never had a problem unless I hadn’t Phased in a long time, and losing control would be the single worst thing that could ever happen. I was already growing exhausted from fighting the urge all day.

  Kyla slumped down on the bed next to me, lying on her stomach and gently fingering the injury on her chin. “What’re you thinking?”

  I turned my head to look at her. Discontent turned down the sides of my mouth as I realized I had to leave. I had to Change and talk to someone in my family about this. Maybe they knew what the problem was. “I just forgot I promised Luna I’d go running with her today,” I lied, hoping Kyla wouldn’t see through it.

  Aside from the obvious disappointment, she seemed to understand. Sitting up, she patted me on the thigh and hopped off the bed. “A promise is a promise. I guess I’ll take you home then.”

  I was quiet for the duration of the ride to my house, and Kyla seemed to be in deep thought herself. The silence on her part began to frighten me after about half the drive. Fear of the worst made me wonder if she was replaying the fall in her head and questioning every detail. Glancing at the gauze wrapping around my arm, I shook my head at how unlucky it was. Kyla hadn’t seemed to notice how deep the cut really was, and that normally it would have called for stitches. Then in less than a week the w
ound would be gone, no doubt she would notice. What then? Obviously there would be questions. What would I say?

  When we pulled into my driveway ten minutes later, I sighed with relief as Kyla turned to me, unwilling to say goodbye. “So, I’ll look up the movies and let you know.”

  With all the stuff on my mind, I had forgotten I’d made plans with her. There was nothing I wanted to do besides spend time with the girl, but not if it was dangerous. If I was already having control issues at this point, who knew how much control I’d have over myself if I couldn’t stop a Change?

  With a nod I unbuckled my seatbelt and grabbed the handle to open the door, but Kyla reached over and put her hand on my arm to stop me. I smiled as I turned to raise a questioning eyebrow at her. Urge aside, I was off to a good start. She was already starting to get attached to me. “Thanks for catching me,” she said shyly, eyes running back and forth over my face, searching for something. An explanation.

  Of course Kyla was already questioning things. She was obviously too observant not to notice. But I couldn’t, and wouldn’t, give her an explanation. Instead I tried to smile as gratefully as I could. “Thanks for taking care of my arm.”

  I got out of the truck as Kyla shrugged it off like it was the least she could do, and then waved as the girl drove away. After watching the disappearing taillights for a minute, the slamming of the screen door behind me grabbed my attention. Bright blue eyes met mine, and my sister smiled, medium length jet-black hair bobbing as she hopped off the porch to make her way to me. We always picked on Sky and told her she was adopted because of her reversed physical features. Everyone in the family but Sky was blonde, and almost all of us had brown eyes except for her and Carter, whose eyes were also blue.

  “Sky, I’m glad you’re home! I need to run, and talk to you. Talk first.”

  She turned on her heels back toward the house and motioned for me to follow. We made our way to the porch swing on the right side of the deck, where I dropped my backpack and we sat facing each other, knees pulled up to our chests and shoulders leaned against the back of the seat. “What’s wrong little sis?”

  “Well, there’s this girl,” I sighed as I started, and heard Sky laugh. A quiet growl escaped my throat, and I glared as I tried to maintain the seriousness of the problem. “It’s not funny, Sky. I think I’m falling in love with her.”

  “Camille? In love?” She teased in mock disbelief. “I’ve never even heard of you being interested in anyone. She must be special.” I nodded with a reflective shrug. “Well, does she love you back?”

  I shook my head. We had only met the day before. There was no way Kyla even thought about me like that. How could I already be in love with her anyway? I had to love her. Everything about her made my senses, my raw emotions, uninhibited. And that damn itch. That badgering need to release everything I tried to control.

  “We kind of just met. You know, Rob Walters’ niece, Kyla. We’re friends I guess, but she’s not in love with me.” I sighed. Even just talking about it was tiring. “She’s absolutely beautiful, Sky. It’s seriously exhausting.”

  “You’ve got to be careful with humans, Cami. You know how delicate they are.” I nodded knowingly before she continued. “You’re worried about the itch. Afraid you’re going to lose control?” I could feel her mood shift as she started to understand what I was concerned about.

  I nodded again, leaned my head back against the swing, and sighed. “Is it because I’m in love with her? How come any time I think about getting close to her this curse drives me away?”

  “Because you’re starting to crave it. You’re still young so let me make this easy for you to understand. You might love her, you might not, but there’s this little thing called hormones. Like it or not sis you’re an animal, through and through. That means fundamental instincts and fundamental needs. Your body wants what it wants.” Sky paused, thinking about how to explain it in more detail. “Most likely, it’s probably just infatuation. But if you’re not going to Phase when the urge comes up and you’re not going to be physical with this girl, then the only solution is to Change more often and make it easier to control.”

  “Be physical with this girl.” I couldn’t help but laugh as I teasingly copied Sky’s words. “She’s not a sex toy, Sky.”

  “I know. But Jesus, with urges like these I don’t get how you’re still a virgin. It just isn’t normal.” The teasing side-glance Sky gave me told me that she was only slightly joking, but when I shot her a glare she just laughed and got up to stretch. “You get the point. Come on, I need to run as much as you do.”

  I smiled gratefully and stood to take my backpack into the house. When I reached my room I quickly threw it into the corner and stripped my clothes. Reluctantly I removed the bandage that Kyla had so tenderly placed around my arm, and then ready to run I stopped to think. The quickest way down was through the window.

  I pushed open the large panes of glass, stopping for a second to breathe in the fresh breeze before I hopped out, Phasing in midair. Endorphins rushing from the Change made me sigh happily as I landed softly on the ground. Changing alleviated any stress that being with Kyla put on my body, and I was more than glad to be in wolf form again.

  As silently as possible I padded around the house to find a steely blue wolf already waiting for me. Crouching low to the ground I crept closer and closer, hiding in the shadows the sinking sun had made out of the house, and when Sky was within leaping distance I pounced. The wolf nimbly rolled over to kick me off of her, and having done so tried to sink her teeth into my neck. We both tried to pin each other, and in a blur of fur and teeth we rolled into the side of the house. I had managed to get my sister trapped when our mother ran outside to yell at us.

  “Hey! You’re going to put a hole through the side of the house!” She threw her arms up as she shouted. Sky used the distraction to her advantage, and flipped us over to get the final pin on me. The move received a death-glare from our mom. “Knock it off guys.” But attempts obviously unsuccessful, she just rolled her eyes and went back into the house.

  Kicking the large wolf away from me, I sat up and tried to reach a fresh cut on my shoulder with my tongue. It was pointless though, since I couldn’t reach it. So I settled for scowling at my sister for beating me and adding a second wound in one day. Sky flashed a wolfish grin and rolled over innocently. She then got up and trotted toward the vineyard. I followed, and we ran for a while before Sky slowed her pace and changed direction to playfully chase after a rabbit that darted across our path. After a few minutes of letting her have her fun I nipped at her heels impatiently, ready to really run.

  Once I got Sky’s attention off the rabbit I took off sprinting, getting a head start on her. She might have been better at wrestling, but my longer body made me faster. We raced through the trees on neighboring farms, Sky relentlessly snapping at my tail to try and slow me down.

  Running west at full speed it wasn’t even an hour before we were halfway to the coast, but I kept pushing forward, my limbs thanking me eternally with each fatiguing strike. I loved thinking about and being with Kyla, but now I was free. Free from containment and disguises. Free from worrying about controlling my emotions and desires. Free to do whatever and be whoever I wanted.

  The wind hitting my face got colder and colder as we got closer to the shoreline, and the colder it got the more alive I felt. Eventually the biting air turned salty. The stimulating ocean breeze filled my nostrils, and my heart raced toward the source faster than my legs could carry me. As we came bursting over the top of a hill my excitement peaked.

  We’d reached the water. A fresh energy filled me as I bounded down the sandy hill, and upon reaching the bottom I rolled in the sand, kicking it up with my enormous paws. Sky happily lay to rest and watch me prance through the shallow tide. I nipped at the small waves as they rose to graze my paws and then tease me as they made their way back to the depths. I ran and rolled through the sand and water until I was soaked to the bone, and the w
eight of the water in my fur finally wore me out.

  I made my way up the beach, teasingly shook the water from my fur all over my sister, and plopped down beside her, delightfully exhausted and ready to brave the rest of the week’s strain from my contact with Kyla.

  After Camille had left I finished all my chores and then sat on the couch to do homework. Now that I was done I’d been flipping through channels on TV for the last hour, trying to find something interesting to watch. It was a little past eleven, so everyone was upstairs either asleep or getting ready to fall asleep. I was exhausted too, not having caught up on rest from the night before, but for some reason I didn’t feel like I was ready to lie down yet.

  Finally I got sick of flipping through channels and settled on a documentary about some place in Africa. It wasn’t nearly as entertaining as I thought it would be, and after about five minutes I found myself sprawled across the couch, regardless of whether I wanted to lie down or not. I was half asleep before I knew it, until something stirred me enough that I sat up. I couldn’t be sure what it was. It was one of those instances that something wakes you and then stops, so that you never figure out what happened once you get up.

  Now that I’d been asleep though, I could feel the exhaustion catching up with me. So I flicked off the TV and stood to make my way to my bedroom. Before I walked out of the living room, I stopped. Brandy and Blue had been sleeping in the hallway, and now both of their heads were picked up, ears cropped like they were listening for sound. Something really had woken me up. I stood near the entrance to the hallway for a minute, straining to see if I could hear what they did. It was quiet enough to hear a pin drop, but I couldn’t catch what they were listening for.

  I was about to let it go and make my way to the stairs when Blue stood, and a second later I heard what sounded like an alarmed whinny from one of the horses. Blue strode to the front door and pressed his nose to the bottom, and I could hear him sniffing even from where I stood. Then Brandy growled, and there was another neigh.