Chapter 9

Tanya and Spark were outside the next morning, yawning in the cool, crisp air when Logan burst out the door of the cabin, shrugging on a jacket and carrying a bag of lunch food. "Victor!" he yelled. "You ready?"

"Yeah," said Victor, coming around the front of the little house. "What's the rush?"

"I overslept," Logan muttered. The previous night had been exhilarating, to say the least, but he'd eventually crashed hard. After fleeting through the forest with Victor, running the entire way around the lake before coming home, he'd snuck into the cabin with his boots in hand, stripping down naked in the silver moonlight that was filtering through the window. Edging Lorelei away from their sleeping son, he had poured the energy from his rapid heart rate into making love to his wife, the arms that embraced her smelling of trees and wind.

It had taken a lot of control on his part not to grab her thighs to move her in a way that he knew very well would drive her wild and make her climax strongly around him, but they had to stay quiet. So instead, he had driven himself deeply into her and stayed there, barely moving as he kept his cock buried completely and pushed her hard into the mattress. He could not see her face, and Lorelei pressed her lips against his shoulder to keep from crying out as he made her come . . . he didn't remember how many times. His feral workout session with his brother beforehand apparently helped him to last forever.

Finally he exploded, his own orgasm seeming to draw out for an eternity inside of Lorelei, and they both succumbed very suddenly to sleep before he could even pull himself out, passing out while lying halfway across her, hence his late waking.

Tanya heard everything, of course, though she pretended to be asleep, and in the morning she'd scooped up Spark to use the outdoor water closet and get dressed with her on the porch while he was still drowsy, so that she could save the couple the awkwardness of being trapped naked beneath the quilts with their guests in the room.

She had permitted herself a glance in the dawning light at those parts of Logan's body that were uncovered by the bed linens, which was a lot of him, then rushed Spark quickly out the door before the boy could become fully alert - she had to splash cold water on her face to cool the heat she felt curling low in her belly. Regardless of what she thought of his personality, Logan was a fine, fine man.

Now, Logan and Victor were both preparing to jump in the truck to head to work. "Are you sure you don't want me to come with you?" Tanya asked her son. Spark was going to be helping Victor in the logging company's office today, as he had informed them would be the payment for buying their new clothes at the store.

"Yeah, Mom, I've got this," Spark replied. He turned and ran to the truck, leaping onto the bench beside Logan in the driver's seat and scooting over to allow Victor to climb in next. Tanya felt a small pang at watching her child drive away, but she was also proud of him. He sounded so grown-up when he'd spoken to her, she could tell that he was feeling somewhat valiant at going to work to provide for them.

"He'll be fine - there are always people going in and out of the office all day, so they'll help keep track of him. I know Victor can be a little imposing at first." Lorelei had come out of the cabin and walked up to stand next to Tanya, holding Jamie in her arms.

Tanya turned to look at her, a little patronizingly. "Spark can take care of himself. Feral males grow up and assert themselves very young, you should remember that," she nodded at Jamie, walking back into the house.

Lorelei followed her, preparing to get food out for their breakfast. In an abrupt mood swing, to which Lorelei was now becoming accustomed, Tanya turned to her, speaking quickly but not meeting her eyes. "Thank you for letting us stay over. Spark really needed new clothes - he grows so fast - but it's impossible for us to get money or go shopping. I've been thinking that we will have to go back to the Island soon, to Deek. I don't want to take advantage of your hospitality in the meantime, though."

Lorelei was taken aback, but tried to reassure the other woman. "It's no trouble for us, and I can see that Jamie has been enjoying having another child around." She smiled at her little boy. "We get so little company . . . I've liked having you here, too." She sounded tentative, because she knew that Tanya tended to rebuff extensions of friendship.

But Tanya was thoughtful for a moment, and gave Lorelei a small grin. "Yeah, it's nice for me to have another adult to talk to, also. It's been just Spark and me for so long."

"I know what you mean," Lorelei said. "I don't run into a lot of other mothers, or women, for that matter. I like hearing your perspective on the feral nature, too. Logan doesn't tell me a lot about it."

"Yeah, that would be part of that nature," Tanya said ruefully. "Feral males let their actions do the speaking for them. Like Blaze: did you ever hear him talk?"

Lorelei was a little nervous hearing her mention her late mate, since Logan was the one who'd caused his death during their fight. "No."

"Exactly. He never talked. Or listened. Actually, it was incredibly boring to have him for a mate. The only thing we both liked doing was having sex."

Lorelei coughed at this blunt admission, blushing. Tanya laughed a little: "Oh please - don't tell me that you haven't noticed that aspect of having a feral mate. I'm shocked that you only have one child so far." She laughed again, and Lorelei covered her mouth, grinning behind her hand.

"It's too bad you and I couldn't have spent more time together on the Island," Lorelei said.

"Well, that was hard," Tanya pointed out. "You're a little intimidating, being so perfect."

Lorelei flinched, but realized that Tanya's tone was neutral, not accusatory. "Why do you say that?"

Tanya was surprised, and gestured in the air with her hands, as if her answer were floating all around them. "You know . . . ." When Lorelei continued to just stare at her, she sighed. "You're beautiful, and nice all the time, and everyone loves you, and your mate worships the ground you walk on. You smell fantastic, and put people in a good mood just by being near them, and oh, did I forget to mention beautiful?"

Lorelei wrapped her arms around herself. "I guess."

Tanya gave her a flabbergasted look. "You guess?"

"It's not all me," said Lorelei. "The Siren is not my only identity, but it's all people can see. That gets old, never getting to be myself."

"Oh," Tanya replied. "I had no idea."

"Why would I want everyone around me to be enthralled all the time? It's . . . annoying," Lorelei admitted. "You want to talk about not listening? People hear me talk and just start staring off into space half the time. It might put them in a good mood, but doesn't do much for my self-esteem if they don't really hear me."

"Sure," said Tanya. "I get that. But is it really so difficult to be gorgeous?"

Lorelei bit her lip. "I don't like the attention. Or being stared at. None of it is real. It makes me so glad that my mutation barely affects Logan. But I wish it could be like that for everybody."

Tanya absorbed this, realizing that she'd never considered Lorelei's point of view. "Have you ever tried suppressing it?" asked Tanya.

"How?" wondered Lorelei.

"I don't know." Tanya speculated. "It just seems like - if these are projections that are coming out of you, couldn't there be some way for you to keep them in?"

"Maybe," Lorelei said doubtfully. "Did you see that national newspaper I picked up at the store yesterday? Apparently this place called Worthington Labs is saying they've created some kind of antidote to mutations. They're calling it 'The Cure.' It would make us . . . normal."

"No, don't even think about it," Tanya said emphatically, following her train of thought. "That's dumb. It might be difficult sometimes, being so desirable, but it is part of who you are. Don't be ashamed to be a mutant, Lorelei - what kind of example does that set for your son?"

Lorelei glanced guiltily at Jamie, who was kneeling on a dining chair at the table, nibbling a piece of bread. "You're right. I'm not ashamed, but I didn't even think about that. Thank you, Tanya." She kissed the top of Jamie's head. "I could try to control my powers, I just don't know where to start. Concentration? Meditation? Do you think sometime I could practice on you, Tanya?"

"Um, sure, whatever," Tanya offered, trying to hide how pleased she was that Lorelei was asking for her help. "I'm going to get busy washing all of our clothes now that Spark is out of the way. You want to come down to the lake with me in a little while?"

"Yes," Lorelei said companionably. "I'd love to."

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"Here you are, Mr. Creed - this is the last of those purchase orders."

"Thanks," said Victor, taking a small stack of papers from the office manager, who was practically shaking at the sight of him. Victor usually signed over a power of approval to him, so that paychecks could be issued and purchases could be made even if Victor was halfway around the world from this logging company he owned. But he'd told the manager that he wanted to see accounting ledgers from the past several months, sign the orders, review timesheets and all that while he was in town.

To himself, he was thinking about staying in the area awhile longer. He and Jimmy were almost finished with the new house, and it had not escaped Victor's notice that this would leave their other, tiny cabin empty of residents. He'd found that he liked being close to Jimmy and his family more than he dared to admit. He had considered offering to pay for an electrical line to be run out to the remote property, and wondered whether Jimmy would accept this as his contribution if he were allowed to move in to the vacant domicile.

"Here." He turned his attention back to the five-year-old hovering at his elbow. "All of these need stamps, too." Spark eagerly took several envelopes from his hand, grabbing the book of stamps and sticking each one precisely up in the corner each time.

Obviously, Victor had manufactured these office duties for the youngster. After Tanya and Spark's arrival at Logan's place, Victor had taken notice of the scrawny little boy, the way his clothing was just a little too tight, and much too worn and dirty, and there were slits cut into his shoes for his growing toes to poke out.

If Victor were the emotional type, he would acknowledge that he felt sympathy for the child: no father, no real home, living tentatively on the border between civilization and wildness. He would also note that it reminded him of himself, and his own challenging youth with the Runt as they drifted from place to place.

But he avoided that kind of introspective depth, so he pushed it out of his mind, and just kept it simple: he was rich, and this kid needed stuff. End of story.

Since the boy was feral, though, Victor understood that Spark - and Tanya, for that matter - wouldn't take kindly to charity, hence the day of paperwork. He knew that the woman and child would submit to his dominance if he stated that Spark would be helping him, instead of asking, and also that it would be a big boost to Spark's developing manhood to view himself as providing for his mother.

"Okay, we're done for now," he said to the kid. "But I want to go out to the job site to see the foreman." In actuality, he didn't need to talk to the foreman, but he did need to waste time and thought that Spark would find it fun to put on a hard hat and watch the big saw for a little while. But he wasn't about to deflate his little assistant's ego by treating him like a baby who needed to be entertained.

He mentally joshed himself a little bit for wanting to show off for the boy, let him see just how important Victor Creed was around this place, but even in his own head he couldn't deny that he liked the admiration he observed in Spark's eyes as they spent the day together. He noticed that after a little while, Spark was even emulating some of his postures and expressions, whether or not these actions were deliberate.

This must be what it feels like to have someone looking up to you, instead of just having people afraid of you, mused Victor. No wonder Jimmy loves having his little cub tag along after him everywhere.

"Good afternoon, Mr. Creed." Another employee greeted him as he handed Victor the keys to the work truck that would take him and Spark out to the felling site. Victor jerked his head in response to the man, then looked down at the kid, and added, "This is Spark." Spark jerked his head at the man in an echo of the big feral's gesture.

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"Okay, so let me know when you feel something. Or feel nothing. Or feel something change?"

"Lorelei!" Tanya said, exasperated. "I know what you mean, just try already!"

Tanya and Lorelei were out perched on two tree stumps in front of the cabin, inside of which Jamie was curled up for his nap, and Lorelei was nervously attempting to ready herself for some mental gymnastics to practice controlling her mutant abilities.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then snapped them open again right away. "So what do you feel now? Just as a baseline?"

Tanya gritted her teeth and blew out a breath through her nose. Finally she muttered, "I feel happy - even though I know I'm not. It's . . . reassuring. Like someone who loves me wants to take care of me. I smell hot cocoa and lavender. Reminds me of my grandma. She was always nice to me." Tanya looked over her shoulder at nothing, blinked a little wetness out of her eyes.

"Okay." Lorelei pretended not to notice the tears. "Here goes." Lorelei furrowed her brows together fiercely, pursed her lips, and wrinkled her nose.

Tanya laughed. "I don't think that face is going to help you all that much." Lorelei waited a beat, then stuck out her tongue at the other woman, which made Tanya laugh more.

Letting her eyelids come down slowly, Lorelei turned her focus inward, concentrating on the warmth she could feel coming from her skin. She meditated on this sensation, envisioning herself as glowing with a blinding golden light, which was the first image that jumped to her mind. As if she could put her hand on a dimmer switch, she imagined the light diminishing, until her body had a pale yellow glow instead of hot bright sunshine.

"Whoa," said Tanya. Lorelei's eyes flew open immediately, and she lost her train of thought. "Did you do something? I swear I think I felt something change."

"Really?!" Lorelei was ecstatic. "Let me try again!"

She lowered herself down into the same exercise, but couldn't settle her mind in the same way - she was too excited. She pressed her hands onto her lap, trying to keep her legs from jiggling with impatience.

"Lorelei, chill," Tanya cautioned her. She reached out her hands and pressed them down on top of Lorelei's to still her jumpy legs. "Turn around," she suggested, "so that your back is to me. That might make it less distracting for you." Lorelei turned around obligingly, and closed her eyes again, breathing deeply into her abdomen to slow down her heart's frenetic pace.

By the end of the day, she was able to successfully withdraw her powers from Tanya's consciousness three times, with the durations of these accomplishments growing in length until finally she got up to about twenty-five seconds free of sensory projections.

"Wow, that was exhausting," said Lorelei. "But satisfying, too. Although that's when I'm sitting still and quiet; it will be harder to suppress the other senses' receptions, like auditory, and touch . . . ."

"One thing at a time," Tanya reminded her. "You did it, didn't you? And if you can suppress it even a little, that's important, right? Even if you didn't talk or touch people, but you could suppress some of your pheromone scent, you might not be affecting them hardly at all."

"Yes, you're right. I didn't think about it that way," Lorelei realized. "Thanks, Tanya - you were inspiring."

"Um, okay." Tanya was closing herself off again, getting up off her stump and dusting her bottom. "The guys should be back soon, huh?"

Lorelei floated into the cabin, Jamie trailing behind her now that he was up from his nap, and readied the dinner dishes that she'd prepared earlier in the day. The timing was perfect, because just then their truck pulled up in front of the cabin with Logan, Spark, and Victor piling out the door.

"Mom! Mom!" Spark's voice was breathless with excitement. "I saw a huge saw! And a backhoe and skid steer!" He reigned in his enthusiasm, glancing at Victor, and drew his tiny chest up a little bit. "We got a lot of work done," he told her in a more modulated tone. "Right, Victor? I mean, Mr. Creed?"

"Victor is fine, 'kay?" said the big man as he clapped Spark on the shoulder, heading to the pump for a drink of water. Tanya waited until Victor's back was turned to them, then bent down to hug and kiss her son, whispering that she couldn't wait to hear all about it.

Logan picked up Jamie to squeeze the little guy, then leaned him to one side as he kissed Lorelei hello, his hand pressing firmly into the small of her back. "I have something to tell you," she said to her husband. He gave her an interested look and set Jamie down on the ground.

Lorelei held up her hands for him to stand still, then she closed her eyes and practiced withdrawing the reach of her power. She exhaled slowly as she concentrated, motionless in their front yard, then eventually opened her eyes to look at Logan. "Well?" she asked.

"What just happened?" Logan sounded worried. "That felt strange."

"That's me, trying to turn off my abilities," Lorelei informed him. "I learned to do it on Tanya today, and wanted to see if you could tell, too."

"Turn off? What?! Baby- " Logan was getting worked up, his eyebrows lifting. "Why would you do that?"

"I just . . . I just wanted to see what it would feel like if they weren't there, some of the time," Lorelei said, leaving out the fact that she the suggestion had come originally from Tanya.

Logan wrapped his huge arms around her, holding her against his chest and glaring at Tanya over her head. "No. I want you just the way you are. Don't change anything or take anything away."

"Logan- " she started.

"What's for dinner, Baby?" he changed the subject. She looked crestfallen, but he held her hand tightly as he pulled her along with him into the house. Victor watched them go, his face inscrutable.

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Later over dinner, Victor cleared his throat. "I was thinking," he said to his brother, "that since you'll be at work the next three days, I can get the floor of the new house sanded, and go pick up the windows we ordered: they come in on Tuesday. But by tomorrow, it should be ready enough for people . . . do you want to move some stuff in then? Make it less crowded in the cabin?"

The new house would have more than one room; it sported a large, comfortable front area that was a combination of kitchen, dining, and living space, and a rear bedroom at the back of the house that was partitioned in two by a wall jutting out perpendicularly about seven or eight feet. It was designed to be the perfect length to conceal Logan and Lorelei's double bed, so that they could have privacy at night without needing to make provisions for two full bedrooms.

Logan listened to his brother's suggestion, nodding. "Good idea. We could move the big bed over, then make up a pallet for Jamie so that Tanya and Spark can still use the trundle bed in the cabin for now."

Tanya was a little surprised to hear this, since it predicated on her and Spark staying at least another night or two with the Logan family, but she decided to hold her tongue for now; she was appreciating these easy days to clear her head, and make some decisions about their future. If they were going to return to the Island, as she'd mentioned to Lorelei, then a few extra days of a clean, soft mattress and real cooked meals before they made their way West would not hurt them.

Spark was distracting Jamie after they finished dinner, poking sticks into the ground and playing "logger" as they felled them, one by one, making gnashing machinery noises as they did so. Lorelei went to bring their dishes inside, grateful that the warm August night still allowed their group of six to dine outdoors, and Logan followed closely in behind her, stroking his hand along her elbow and trapping her between him and the table.

He rested his chin on her shoulder. "Really. Talk to me. Why would you try to shut off your powers?"

She quirked her lip and patted his cheek, pressing her face against his. "It's nothing. Just . . . you tell me my powers are stronger, and it makes me wish that sometimes I could go places and do things without feeling self-conscious that everyone is hot for me, as Tanya put it. Why is that bad?"

He snaked an arm around her waist. "You're perfect. I love you the way you are and I don't want you to change. Don't do it again, okay?" He kissed the top of her head and went outside, leaving Lorelei with the uncomfortable knowledge that this sounded like an order.