I lay in front of the fire place while Marcus was running his hands slowly over my skin. He'd held them to the fireplace to warm them, thankfully, and now he was smoothing all of the knots I'd accumulated away.
"Do we really have to go tomorrow?" I asked lazily.
"No. We can stay as long as you like."
"I think our meagre funds will deteriorate quickly by that plan. Ah, I shouldn't complain; these parks are beautiful. We can take our time going north through them, if we stay off the main trails. I'd love to see more."
"Then you will," he whispered into my ear.
We'd made love in every way I'd ever imagined, and a few I had never dreamed of. I'd broken a few more bones but they mended easily enough. We'd talked, we'd touched, we'd gotten closer in my non-wolf days. And tomorrow I'd sprout fur again. It was going to be hard to keep all of this out of my head when my brothers returned.
Marcus took me one more time in front of the fireplace before we left the room. He was slow and gentle and so was I. Our hungers were finally sated. We turned over one another, enjoying everywhere our bodies touched. I lost all track of time as we tangled there. Eventually the light through the window was undeniably high and we both knew it was time to leave. I kissed him again and he had to slowly pull me from him.
I sighed as I sat alone on the carpet while he dressed. He would deny me. He knew what we really needed. Somewhere of our own. Somewhere we wouldn't have to leave. And we going to find that place. I rose, showered again, and dressed myself. Not that I'd be wearing clothes much longer.
The trip through the park was uneventful. I simply growled when he started down a human trail and he came back to himself. I didn't know if he was tempted or just curious. In either event, I didn't want him following any of those scents. We climbed right over mountains, found valleys with newly forming wildflowers. I lapped at streams that burst straight from the glaciers that fed them. I watched Marcus glitter like the snow he crunched through. I bounded in ice floes deeper than I stood, leaving a messy trail behind me and barking the whole way. Marcus slogged through, half-buried himself. It was strange to see snow so late in the spring, but we enjoyed and played before moving on.
As we crossed northern Alberta, we found fewer human scents and Marcus went longer between hunts. He also discovered what I had meant about nature here being touched. We crossed many cut blocks, diverted around camps of tree planters. We took to running along gas cut-lines, long unused, thick with grass, but never really reclaimed by the forests on either side.
When we came to the oil sands he choked. "What have they done?"
I phased to answer him. I'd hoped to avoid this area entirely, but hadn't aimed quite far enough north. "They're mining. There is a source of oil in the sand and they extract it."
"Can we go south?"
I looked at him. "Are you sure you want to?"
"I'll hunt first." It would of course take a lot of men to make this type of mark on the landscape. He found a moose while I dressed. In the misty morning, we hiked just out of view of the highway and he shook his head as we passed more and more mines. With the smoke from the refinery stacks, and the blowing sand from the dykes and dunes it looked like an alien world.
"Aro was right to fear humans. If they are willing and able to do this, they'd have no trouble finding a way to get rid of us." I could hear the pain in his voice.
"Let's go. We don't need to stay here." He didn't move, just stood open mouthed watching trucks as large as buildings move across the roads, diggers with buckets large enough to pick up cars pulling away shovel after shovel of sand. And the miles and miles of empty land resulting.
He needed some sign of hope for this poor abused place. I tried to find it for him. "Look, they've already started closing mines there." I pointed to the south where a field of sand was being slowly covered in peat and water. They were attempting to 'make' a fen. As if such a thing could be made by anything other than the creator. At least it didn't look like a crater any longer. It was an improvement.
"It will never be the same though."
"No, but perhaps it will be something as good, just different."
He looked to me and hugged me. "Please tell me I haven't broken you like that."
I chuckled. "No, not like that. Now, we should get out of here before the clouds burn off." We'd been in the area long enough to know the morning cloud cover burned away after a few hours. Marcus would be glittering in the sun that never seemed to hide here. I had never seen so much sunlight before. It only clouded here with morning mist and when weather came. Otherwise the sun shone clear and bright, day after day.
As we crossed Saskatchewan, the days were hot and muggy. I was glad I had Marcus to keep my hair short. I was panting to try to stay cool. Every time we found an actual lake, rather than a bog, I jumped in gratefully. I curled into him every night, in human form, trying to find relief. I wouldn't have guessed it got so hot so far north. And the days never ended! Marcus was a beacon of sparkling light for sixteen hours, then twenty. The sun didn't set so much as dip and come back up again. I realized the winters would be the opposite. Was I sure I could live in a place with no sun for days on end?
Somewhere, in that sweltering heat, I lost the pack. I didn't really notice at first because I was running human as much as I could manage. The fur was still too much. But when I phased during Marcus' next hunt I was alone in my head. I thought maybe it was just coincidence, none of the boys were phased when I was. But the next hunt was the same, and the one after. I'd made it. I'd gone far enough to be alone.
Marcus and I celebrated in one of the many lakes. He decided to show off again. I was just glad the water stayed cool so long. Even so, it wasn't nearly as icy as the first lakes I'd thrown myself into on our trek. Was summer going to end? It was definitely in the dog days, Indian summer. I chuckled at how both referred to me. How unsurprising that my birthday should come at that time, the end of August. Marcus emerged at the sound of my laughter.
"Share the joke?"
"The end of summer is sometimes called the Dog Days of summer."
"For the Sirius star, yes."
"Or an Indian summer."
"I hadn't heard that one."
"Well, my birthday is at the end of August, probably just passed. I was just chuckling at the irony that I should be born in the 'dog days of Indian summer'."
He chuckled, too. "Not ironic, just apt." He pulled me close and whispered in my ear, "Happy Birthday."
"Do you even remember when your birthday is?" I asked.
He laughed and shook his head. "No, that was one of the human things I quickly forgot. I remember my names day instead, in March. The day I met you, or near enough."
I smiled at that and wrapped myself more tightly around him, thrilling at the chill he gave. "We'll have a new home to celebrate that in I think."
"I think so, too." He stroked my head as we lingered in the water.
We continued to travel east, looking for even a tiny sign of civilization. Among the lakes and bogs there really was nothing but hunting cabins. Every one of them was deserted for half the year. We ran into more hunters and trappers further east as the trees, well shrubs, started to turn color. I was running wolf again. Summer didn't ease off so much as flee entirely. I was startled when the temperatures plummeted to freezing one night after being so warm for so long. Marcus longed to be able to warm me, but he could only stay away while my coat grew out again. I shivered many nights.
I had to be more careful as the hunters emerged. Autumn was hunting season and they were plentiful. While wolf pelts and meat were not exactly valuable, they wouldn't want me scaring off or taking their prey. Also, they'd quickly realize I was not a normal wolf.
I barely recognized Marcus in the flannel plaid shirts I'd bought for him. He looked so different from the Italian gentleman he had been. Except for his skin color, and the fact that he was a vampire of course, he might have passed for any of the hunters we passed. Especially when he found an abandoned felt cap and started wearing that as well. I snickered more than once thinking of my 'lumberjack'. Fortunately he never asked what I was laughing at. I think the 'wood' jokes would have been endless if the pack were in my head.
Then, abruptly, we hit the ocean. The tundra was cold under my paws and I nudged the duffel to get Marcus to set it down and pull out my clothes. He went back to staring out across the water, as confused as I was. I phased and quickly pulled on a sweater and pants. "What? We can't have reached the ocean. That doesn't make any sense." I tried to remember the maps. I opened my laptop, hoping I'd saved one, even just a generic map of Canada would help. There was one in the cache. "The Bay," I murmured. "It's the Hudson Bay. So... north or south?" I asked with a smile.
"South. You need to warm up."
I chuckled, he was right. Even with my hair hanging down past my chin I was still freezing most nights. I was a timber wolf, not an arctic wolf. I wasn't built for these temperatures, and they were getting worse fast. We had taken to travelling at night just to keep me warm. I could bask in the sun during the day and not shiver while I slept.
It was hard to peel down again. I was sorely tempted to phase in my clothes, but I really didn't have enough to be doing that. As it was, my sweater hadn't hit the lichens before I was on all fours. I was getting faster than ever at that. I was going to rival Jacob soon. I still shivered. I needed to get moving. I trotted a little while Marcus repacked.
I was glad he'd chosen south. It wasn't long before we reached Churchill. It was a tiny town, mostly natives. I would fit right in here. And if Marcus passed himself off as my husband we wouldn't be an oddity at all. It was also secluded. As near as I could tell there wasn't a highway in at all. People must fly in and out. Just then I heard a train rumble through. Or that. I nudged the pack with my nose and Marcus pulled out my clothes for me. I phased and pulled them on as fast as possible. As soon as I had my sweater on he lifted me by the waist to keep my feet off the ice. It was permafrost here. I still couldn't quite believe it. I'd learned but never seen. I pulled on pants, socks and boots. He put me on my feet and pulled off the parka. That was a discovery as well and would be replaced at the first opportunity. Who would leave a parka behind? I was grateful to whoever had.
Marcus had taken a polar bear the day before, so he had no trouble with the population here. He had decided he liked polar bear. Bigger than anything, they kept him going for a week easily. And they were so unused to humans he could almost walk right up to them. As long as he stayed downwind. They bolted as soon as the smelled him. I couldn't really blame them.
We watched the northern lights as we walked into town and looked around. There were very few houses, a couple of shops, an inn. I didn't even want to call it a hotel, it was obviously built like a log cabin and looked far too homey for that name. We got a few odd glances, but hopefully people just assumed we'd come on the train.
"What do you think?" I asked him.
"I think we're home."
We walked in to take a room for the rest of the night.
