Day 11 of 21:
They ran together, leisurely, without rush, down the mountain and onto to ice. Anelise let her furry paws slide, spinning her in a circle until she was facing behind her, stifling laughter as she watched Colton hesitantly make his way onto the ice.
~The ice has been solid for decades now. It's not going to crack under you.~ She linked to him, trying to keep her amusement out of the tone of her thoughts.
~I know that.~ He snapped, making no move to hurry his process up. She huffed a sigh and flopped on the ice to wait for him as hard and dramatically as she could, just to prove a point. He cautiously made his way over to her, and once he was finally near, she rose, shaking her head. To anyone else, it look like she was irritated with him, but really, she was more amused than anything. To watch such a tough, capable Sentinel flounder on something as simple as ice made her want to laugh, as it had since they'd started their excursions. She felt more at ease out on the ice. There was nothing to close in on her, nowhere for anyone to hide, nothing that could surprise her out on the flat, barren tundra. Exactly the way she preferred it. Colton may not understand or care, but he did notice that she was more easygoing- using the term loosely- out in the open, and so he'd suggested he start running with her occasionally. She strayed near to him without realizing it, wondering if his injuries were acting up. It'd only been a few days, and while he seemed to be almost back to normal, she still fretted, just as she did over Aimee when the Bearswan was injured.
They were halfway across the tundra, two hour later, when she got a strange feeling. Intuition, as men brushed off women's concerns, but she'd learned to trust her instincts out here. If they were telling her something was off, something was probably off. She suddenly stopped, and retreated to human form, where she had a slightly better grasp on her magic. Colton immediately stopped with her, and she was-privately- impressed he was so attuned to her movements. He flashed human with her, and were she not so distracted, she'd laugh at his heavy fur lined coat and equally heavy boots compared to her simple trench coat and plain, flat black boots over jeans. But she was distracted, pacing across the ice. The animal she kept tightly controlled in her was bristling, and it was making her uncomfortable, as she paced from side to side nervously.
Colton approached her, looking around, on guard in response to her nerves. "What is it?" He asked, his eyes narrowed. She shook her head, partially because she didn't know, and partially out of irritation that she didn't know. "I can't... put a finger on it, exactly..." And then she saw it. A tiny, brightly colored dot that was out of place on a nearby mountain dripping with stark white snow. It was there, then it was gone. Someone was flashing. With their proximity to the north pole, the magnetic force played havoc on anyone's powers unless they were supremely powerful and adept at magic. One had to flash only to points they could clearly see, any further, and they risked causing trouble with their landing. She studied the land in front of them, looking for the next flashing point, taking a concerned step forward, and Colton mirrored her movement, looking for whatever she was staring at. "Anelise talk to me." He said, his eyes on the empty tundra.
"Someone's coming." She said. There it was again. A bright dot, there for a moment, then gone again. "There." She muttered, and when Colton looked again, he swore. "We should go." He said quietly.
"Go where? Back to my home? I'm not leading whoever it is back there. I stay here." She snapped, and he grabbed her arm. "I'm not risking you fighting out here." He growled, and she yanked her arm away, dead set on finding the flasher. He or she was getting closer, until he was close enough to make out a form. Leopard. Colt swore again, and grabbed her arm, yanking her back toward the way the came from. "We have to go."
"I'm not going." She tried to pull her arm from his grip, but he just gave her a forceful tug and brought her flush against him. "You're not fighting a Slayer. I'm not risking you getting hurt because some asshole has a grudge with me, do you understand?" He scowled, and she snarled back at him but didn't resist as he continued to tug her toward the forest in the distance. "Should we flash or will he not be able to see us running as humans?" He asked.
She blinked, changing the color of his coat from dark brown to a more bay-ish color, to match her own light clothing. "Now he won't, unless he gets close enough." She said, jogging alongside him as they sped up. "If we make it to the trees we can lose him. He won't be able to deal with tracking in the snow." She said, breaking into a run. Colton sped up as well, glancing at her. "I've always been able to find you." He pointed out.
"Yeah, well, not everyone's as powerful as you are, thank the gods." She snapped. They could see the trees in the distance but then a fissure ripped through the air, and they felt the Slayer behind them. Colton shoved Anelise out of the way as he felt large paws hit his back and send him crashing to the ground. A shriek of fury from the big cat preceded him jumping off Colt, and he looked up to see Anelise brandishing a large piece of a tree trunk threateningly at the cat, who was rubbing at his jaws with a large paw a couple yards away. She had placed herself in front of Colt, and he jumped up to stand alongside her, focusing his power in case the cat made any sudden moves. The cat regained himself and seemed to realize he was outnumbered, and paced back and forth, eyeing them dangerously. He stayed like that for a good few minutes, until Anelise had that bad creeping feeling again. She scanned the scenery again, and cursed aloud as she recognized the multiple figures flashing closer and closer. Nera and some of her followers, undoubtedly tracking the Slayer on their lands. Anelise didn't allow them to actively go looking for Slayers, but she should've been quicker to realize they'd be tracking one that was stupid enough to start flashing all over their territory. They reached the point behind the Slayer, who darted to the side, keeping both the newcomers and Colt and Anelise within his view. Anelise and Nera sneered at each other, each daring the other to move, while Colt and the Slayer kept careful eyes on each other, and the Snow Leopards Nera had brought hovered menacingly in the background.
"So glad we finally get to meet your mate, Anelise." Nera spoke first. Anelise resisted the urge to leap at her, hearing the threat in her words, and kept her cool. "Must've slipped my mind to introduce you sooner." She said icily in response.
Nera turned her malicious gaze to Colt, who glanced at Anelise briefly before watching Nera with cautious eyes. "It's a shame we have to meet under such circumstances, what with you all having to die and all. A pity, really." She crowed, taking a step closer. Anelise matched her step, putting herself a step in front of Colt, blocking Nera's access to him. Colt turned his full attention back to the Slayer, who dismissed the exchange disinterestedly, his rage filled eyes on Colt. Tension rippled in the air, so thick it was choking them, but still no one moved. Then, Nera gave some unseen signal, and two of the three Leopards she'd brought with her leapt at the Slayer, while Nera and the third leapt at Anelise. "Get the Slayer!" Anelise shrieked, knowing Colton's instincts would tear him to both get the Slayer and save her at once. She threw the tree branch at the random Leopard woman, and leapt at Nera, meeting her partway in her leap and backtracking her to land on her back on the ice, with Anelise on top of her. Nera was kicking and screaming and Anelise felt the other woman worrying her back, until with a screech she was ripped off and thrown into a tree in the near distance. Shaking her head at Colton's overprotectiveness and the extent of his powers, she lifted Nera by her collar and slammed her head back into the ground, causing her to shriek in fury. Anelise got up, lifting Nera with her, and threw her further onto the ice, and darted back to Colton, tearing a woman from his back, tossing her away, and spinning to press her back against Colt's. "I'm at your back!" She called out, in case he thought she was an attacker. He laughed out loud and pressed against her for a brief second before refocusing on the fight at his front. Two of the women had already flashed out, tired of the fight and wary about their chances of winning against their furious Regis and her abnormally powerful Sentinel mate. Which left Nera and her one follower at Anelise's front, and the Slayer at Colton's. She linked to Colton, passing a plan by him, and he agreed, counting down.
~Three,~
~Two,~ She matched him, grinning and preparing.
~One!~ He ducked and she rolled, back on back, to his other side, and he left loose a blast of power on the Snow Leopards, who- used to physical violence and not well trained in the art of magic- went flying backwards, landing in an undignified, injured heap a couple hundred yards away. In the same moment, Anelise shifted forms and leapt at the Slayer's throat, and he stumbled back, still braced for a magical attack and using all his energy to focus on blocking it, leaving him unprepared for the ferocity of a Snow Leopard's teeth at his neck. She closed her jaws on his throat and swung her massive jaws and tossing him into the tree next to them, knocking him out so Colt could manifest a collar and snap it on him. Anelise shifted back human, trying to get the taste of blood out of her mouth, grabbed the second collar Colt tossed her, and flashed to her cousin's side while Colt got out his cell phone to call the Arcadian Prison guards. She grabbed Nera by the hair and clicked her teeth at the man left, who immediately flashed out, leaving Nera alone as Anelise snapped the collar on her and dropped her cousin back on the ice. "The guards are coming. Unless you wanna go with the Slayer, I suggest you run." She growled, going back to Colton's side.
She was almost to him when he clicked his phone shut and turned to see her. He closed the distance between them and, his hands around her waist, lifted her into the air joyfully. "You were brilliant!" He crowed, setting her down and kissing her forehead. She flushed red, but for once didn't pull away. She ignored the guards when they arrived as completely as they ignored her and Colton, and ducked her head, embarrassed. "Uhm... thanks, I guess. You did most of the work." She said, still impressed with the extent of his powers. He grinned widely and shook his head as the Arcadian guards vanished with the unconscious Slayer. "No, you were incredible." He insisted, his hands cupping her face, his forehead touching hers. She felt her breath stall for a moment, but didn't step away as he pressed his lips to hers. After a moment, though, she did step back, hooking a strand a hair behind her ear, ducking her head to let it fall again to obscure her face from view. "We should- we should go back. "She said, tripping over the words. He was still grinning, and tilted her face back up to his, kissing her again and flashing them both back to the house.
Still day 11 of 21:
She immediately put distance between them, retreating to the kitchen to find them something to eat, and his grin- despite himself- widened. She didn't run to her loft, she didn't leave entirely. It was something. he found himself actually happy that she was staying where he could see her, where he could talk to her, start to thaw the ice-queen that was Anelise. He went to sprawl on the couch, flicking on one of her favorite movies. He wanted to follow her to the kitchen, help her with the food, but he was wary of invading her space so casually. He had to let it happen the way she needed it to. So he'd give her space, let her come back to him.
And she did. She made them dinner and brought it to the couch, hesitantly handing him his plate. He took it with a smile, and nodded to the space next to him.
Anelise didn't know what was going on. She was all but completely out of control as she slowly sat next to him. Her dislike of living company was telling her to get the fuck out of there, but there was a small part of her that wanted to stay, a small, easily ignored- or had been, anyway- part of her that felt like she belonged to something when she was with Colton, and she found herself wanting to prolong that feeling. She was still frowning as she sat, but she didn't mean it as much as she normally did. They ate in silence, watching a movie, and she felt him inching closer to her, and while she felt herself start to bristle, she didn't push him away or move away. She let him inch his way casually closer to her, until she felt his arm spread across the back of the couch, almost but not quite touching her shoulder, an almost embrace. She stiffened, but still didn't move, and she heard him chuckle. "What?" She snapped, glaring at him. He was laughing as he answered. "It's like dealing with a wildcat, trying to get close to you. Inch my way closer, hope you're not just luring me close enough to bite, never move too fast or talk too loud." He was laughing, and though her hackles raised a bit at the implication that she was acting feral, she didn't feel any real irritation rise, and she shot him a small, almost confused smile, like someone who wants to get the joke, but isn't sure they actually understand it.
Colt felt himself softening even further toward the prickly Regis. She was trying so hard to not be irritable, to understand the point of playing around, but she just couldn't quite grasp it. He leaned in closer, his arm not touching her, but his face was only inches from hers. "Are you just luring me in, Ana?" He asked softly. She was blushing madly, but she wasn't moving away, her clear grey eyes unsure and nervous. "Are you going to let me in, or lash out at the last second?"
She swallowed before answering, and it was obvious she was nervous, but he couldn't tell if it good nervous, or a bad nervous. She hadn't struck out at him yet, so his gut said it was a good nervous. "I can't guarantee one over the other." She said quietly, blinking rapidly with thoughts she wouldn't share.
Anelise was nervous. Not just nervous: petrified, of both having someone so close- especially a tall, masculine, ridiculously powerful Sentinel male- and by the desire to have him closer still. She wasn't used to feeling this way, no one had ever been so intent on making her blood race, but he was leaning closer, and she wasn't moving away, she was trying to get up the courage to kiss him, or tell him to kiss her, but she couldn't force the words out. Her pride and ingrained aversion to having people close to her kept her from speaking the thoughts on her mind. He leaned in closer, and kissed her cheek, his lips lingering against her skin. Her skin flushed with heat, her pulse spiking so high she was sure he could feel it. She couldn't move as his lips brushed her skin, but then they were gone, and she regained brief control of herself.
She flashed away from him, landing by the door, dressed for winter in the tundra. "I-I need to go for run- I- a walk- something-" She rambled, yanking open the door and retreating into the cold. With the blast of arctic air that hit her square in the face, she calmed and remembered her reasons for not succumbing to base urges with Colton. There were too many wild factors, too many reasons why he shouldn't be involved with her, and her with him. She was barely to the edge of the porch when Colton appeared in front of her. "No, not this time." He growled, blocking her access to the openness of the mountain.
"Move, Colton." She snapped, and went to move around him, but he matched her step, and she found herself trapped between the pillar on her porch and Colton.
"No." He said, and she went to push past him, but his hands found her arms and held her in place, her back against the wall. He wasn't forceful enough to truly keep her there, his hands weren't tight enough to make her feel trapped, but she got the point he was trying to make. That they were going to discuss this, and they were going to do it NOW. She clenched her jaw, torn between anger at his manhandling her, and the sudden rush of lust at the same motion. They stared at each other for a few long, silent, smoldering seconds. He was the first to speak. "Ten days, Ana. A week and a half we have to decide what we're going to do. You can't ignore this forever. You can't keep running."
"I can do as I please. Or are you going to force me, Colton?" She snapped, knowing he wouldn't, but also knowing it'd make him back down. She needed space from him, and lashing out at him was he only way to accomplish that.
He blinked like she'd struck him, but he didn't move, and the shock quickly left his eyes. "You know I wouldn't. That's a low blow, and you know it."
"Step away from me, Colton."
He stayed in place a moment longer, but did eventually take a step back, watching her with unreadable eyes. She stayed pressed against the wall, letting the freeze of ice on the pillar cool her back through her coat, but before she could say anything into the heavy silence, he spoke. "I'll be inside if you need me for anything." He said, his voice unfairly gentle after what she'd said to him, and with one last, lingering look, he went back into the house, leaving her guilty and confused and growing slowly colder out on her porch.
She sank to the ground, her back sliding along the sheen of ice, until she was sitting on the porch, not noticing the steady temperature drop. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them, setting her chin on the tops of her knees. She didn't feel like running anymore, but she couldn't bring herself to go back inside. So she stayed, stuck in limbo, for the next half hour, until the doorknob turned and Colton took a step outside. He silently made his way to where she sat, and plopped down next to her, his knees up, his forearms resting on them.
"I shouldn't have pushed you like that." He said quietly.
"I understand your frustration." She replied primly.
He shot her a wry smile. "I don't think you do. Not really, anyway." He said, rising and offering her a hand. She eyed it for a moment, and his smile fell a fraction. "It's just a hand, Ana."
Embarrassed that she'd hesitated, guilty that she'd insulted him, she quickly accepted his hand and let him pull her up. She felt herself start to thaw as soon as her hand was enwrapped in his, the warmth of him shooting through her like a long drink of a hot beverage, warming her from the inside out. He led her inside, and the warmth intensified. He liked the house warm, and while she didn't always enjoy it, she stayed quiet. He was kind enough to stay with her rather than ask her to go to New Orleans; she tried to let him do as he pleased, even if she had to die of heat exhaust along the way. He made his way over to the couch, his hand still loosely wrapped around hers, and only let go as they sat. She sat on the edge of the couch stiffly, tense and ready to bolt. He moved a bit closer to her, but tried not to push her too much. "Don't run, Ana. I'm asking you, please, for me, don't run."
She didn't relax, but she didn't leave, either. Her hands twisted in her lap, and one of his hands fell lightly atop hers, and her hands fisted, pulling away from his. He didn't move his hand, and there was a small part of her that enjoyed the warmth of another person, a small part that wanted to curl into his side and rub against him, soaking up that warmth. But that was just her feral side, she berated herself. Better to keep herself under control than give in to primal urges.
His hand still on hers, he laid back against the couch. "Well, I think I'll count that as a success, what do you think?" He teased, and she frowned at him, but there was no real disapproval behind it. "Count what a success?" She asked.
"My request. You didn't run, so technically I think I can call it a success."
She rolled her eyes, but her tense posture relaxed, and she let herself rest against the couch next to him.