Charisma flashed herself to the forest Fury had taken her to where they had spent three days making love. Seeing Sabine and taking part in council proceedings once more was taking her back to times when she didn't have a life, when she was a Goddess, full of responsibility, her whole body sagged with the weight they had once again put on her.

She needed to see Fury. For just a few hours to escape. She needed … she needed - to run!

Charisma sped off suddenly as if she had been fired out of a cannon, her body fluid and graceful as she raced through the trees, relishing the wind tangling her hair, her feet slapping in the mud and have it fly high to cover her calves and speckle her face. Charisma took a huge boulder with a gigantic inhuman leap, she was like a jungle cat so agile and precise in her movements. She was tempted to change in to eagle form and fly over the mountains, but that didn't release the tension the way that running did. With four legs, heart and adrenaline pumping, lungs burning, nothing could compare, and the only thing you had to keep your mind on was dodging the trees and roots growing wildly from the ground.

Another obstacle barred her path, a fallen tree, thick and round, again that leap that was almost like flying took her over it and when she landed it was all four paws of her wolf form.

The white bullet streaked with blurring speed through the dense dark bark, she jumped from heights even normal wolves would not dare, skidded sharply at dead ends and plunged into ice cold rivers, all in the pursuit of oblivion.

Only did she slow when she burst through the undergrowth so fast she didn't have time to register the cliff edge that she was speeding off of, Charisma skidded, her hind legs hanging over the top, pulling the rest of her body down. Her front paws scrapped at the dirt, sending it flying in all directions and howling her distress she was able to hoist herself back to safety, clamping her strong jaws around anything with the reach of her muzzle. Panting and thoroughly unsettled, Charisma staggered slightly away from the edge and back into the forest. Laying down on the outskirts of the trees to catch her breath Charisma allowed her eyes to take in the breathtaking surroundings, Fury had very limited magic and she had wondered vaguely, before he'd begun to distract her how he had managed to transport them here, it looked like they were somewhere perhaps in eastern Europe, away from towns and cities and the urbanisation of the western Europe, lost in the maze of the natural world.

She hadn't yet told him that they were, for want of a better word, mated in her people's way, Nor had Fury bothered to ask her to mate with him in the way of his people. She had been meaning to ask him to complete his ritual but she had truly forgot, perhaps it was because she was from a different race she didn't comprehend the sheer magnitude of the decision. Because Fury seemed to be giving it a hell of a lot of thought, well if he didn't hurry his furry ass up it would be his fault if he becomes - incapable.

Charisma snorted a laugh and barely moved when she heard the light patter of paws trotting through the forest, she was too relaxed to be bothered to chase away any unwanted attention; if any animal came too near she'd burn the tip of their noses with a few nice sparks. But she was too happy and dreamy at the moment, in the forest where she had made love to a man/wolf she was rapidly falling for and had lost her virginity to, she had given this forest her protection and patronage. Forever more would the greenery grow lush and the trees strong, never will the animals want for food or shelter, this will be natures playground when all around them industrialisation was killing the hard work of her godly counterparts from this dimension.

"Fury?"

Charisma raised her head at a breathy voice and looked at a young woman. She seemed to be around nineteen, tall and lean with a powerful athletic body slightly more toned then her own. Her long hair was full and shiny falling down her back in luscious waves of light brown. Well it seemed to be brown, but on closer inspection it was made up of all different colours, ash and red, blond and black, never had Charisma seen hair like that on anyone, perhaps maybe Sabine or Fear but they were Gods. Who the hell was this?

Mild curiosity gave way under blinding jealousy and indescribable hurt, she had said the name Fury, what was she to him? Was she an old lover? had he touched her the way he had touched Charisma? Tears threatened, but that pride, that innate pride that Sabine had warned her about on more then one occasion in her youth stopped them and had her flashing to human form.

Standing up Charisma's brilliant emerald flashed dangerously as she eyed the beautiful woman.

"Wrong guess, little girl," Charisma snapped and the woman backed up with a worried look that she quickly replaced with a sneer, but her trepidation was rife in the air. Charisma wasn't nude but she had dressed up for kicking this bitch's ass, she wore tight white shirts and a tight pink and white checked tank top, that was almost a corset. Her wild hair was tied up in a tight braid that wound round her head, she looked something of a supermodel come Viking shield maiden.

"I thought you were someone else," the girl said, backing away a little further, it was then that Charisma noticed her scent - Arcadian wolf. Then she noticed her eyes. Fury's eyes, piercing blue and utterly beautiful. Yet her eyes were not full of the mistrust and shadows that filled that of her mate.

"Who are you, little wolf girl?" Charisma asked, stepping closer tilting her head in a canine way, the girl mirrored the actions.

"Why do you have my brother's scent on you?" she countered, although rather meekly, Charisma raised an eyebrow. Fury had told her that female wolves were just as ferocious as the males and that they were born fighters. This one didn't seem to fit Fury's check list. Charisma didn't scent a threat from her, and that made her kinder.

"Fury told me his sister Anya was dead, her mate was killed after they had bonded and then she and her pups died in a diamon attack" she said with a smile and the girl's eyes widened, "come now, child. Tell a better lie then that."

The girl sputtered and choked, waving her hands. "No, no! I'm not Anya!"

Charisma raised an eyebrow, it was all she could do not to laugh, she wasn't used to being found this threatening unless in her animal form. And she'd liked the element of surprise it usually gave her attackers when they were floored by a rather skinny blond woman. But to be intimidating in this form, well .. It was something she could live with.

"Who are you then, and don't lie to me," Charisma made her smile less cold and didn't step forward when the girl stepped back again, scaring people was great if you didn't feel bad about it.

"My name is Star. I am his sister, his human sister," she said, her eyes pleading. However the girl, Star, blanched when she saw Charisma's eyes snap fire.

So this was one part of the family that had hurt her mate so deeply? Charisma curled her lip in disgust.

"You let your mother try to kill him and left him to die!" Charisma accused, while the frightened woman shook her head vigorously. "Why should I not kill you, in revenge for my mate?"

"His mate?" Star breathed, her eyes looked a little starry before she snapped out of it. "Listen, I had nothing to do with that. I knew nothing about it until centuries later, that's why I - well, I've run away."

Star looked down at her feet and shifted a little uncomfortably.

"I was going to try and find him but then things got in my way and to be honest I didn't think he would want to see me." She suddenly looked up into Charisma's eyes and they were full of tears. "How is he?"

Charisma considered her for a moment then sighed, her gentle heart moved by the younger woman's tears.

"He's well. I've only just met him … he's had a hard life, Star. None of the roads offered to him have been easy and he still has to cope with the betrayal he suffered at the hands of your family. He has progressed immensely but he still has trouble trusting people."

Like his mate, Charisma thought irritably, that was probably the reason he hadn't mated with her yet. Star's lower lip and chin trembled a bit but she sucked it up and put on a cheerful but wholly false smile and said brightly. "That's so good to know. He's obviously had some luck finding you as a mate, who defends him so loyally."

It was Charisma's turn to feel uncomfortable, she still even now after all she and Fury had shared had the nagging feeling that she had somehow forced this whole situation on him. And though he seems more then happy with it, she didn't feel right about even unintentionally taking his choices away from him. Mad but that's how she felt.

Then there was the looming threat of the Atribos finding them and therefore finding and hurting Fury. She'd been a warrior in the war against them, she knew their weapons and strategy and she had confidence that Fury would be able to hold his on with them in a fight; her mate was a warrior if there ever was one, but … she didn't want him hurt, didn't want him to find out how badly she could screw up his life. Damn was she turning into Fear, he was the God of misery not her.

"Where is he?" Star asked tentatively, jerking Charisma from her unhappy pondering, Charisma bit her lip.

"He's safe."

"Your not going to tell me?"

"I don't trust you."

Star looked hurt by that, and Charisma saw something of Blaze in the young woman, she had been so sheltered for so long she was still too green to be left in the world on her own. Both women were too used to having their word taken as truth, without questions and taking the word of the people they had just met as gospel. Were both so unassuming and were convinced there was more good in the world and in people then there actually was.

"I don't want to hurt him -" Star began.

"And I don't want him hurt," Charisma countered, her tone sharp even while she was feeling sorry for Star. Star blew her hair out of her face irritably then fixed Charisma with a determined stare.

"I want to see my brother!" she sounded petulant, yeah, she really was a copy of Blaze. Charisma was surprised that she didn't stamp her foot. Charisma shrugged and wondered whether she was being to hard on her.

"Why did you think I was Fury?"

"You have his scent all over you. You reek of him in fact." She snapped, her eyes glinting angrily, then suddenly she just broke down. Falling to her knees with her face in her hands and her shoulders shaking with sobs, Charisma moved to stand before her and laid a gentle hand on Star's shoulder. The loud sobs instantly quietened and Star stared up at Charisma, her eyes confused and more then a little frightened.

"Are you doing that?" Star murmured, her voice filled with awe and Charisma nodded, Blaze had taught her when they were both children how to comfort, to send waves of healing peace in to another person by something as simple as a touch. There was a strange feeling to it, it was like stroking coarse ruffled hair until it was flat and smooth again. Star got shakily to her feet and wiping her tears away with the cuffs of her pale blue sweater, she inhaled deeply, keeping her head bowed then looked up. Charisma was caught off guard by how lovely her eyes were and how similar they were to Fury's.

"Your not Were, are you?" She whispered and Charisma hesitated for a second before shaking her head and Star nodded, pursing her lips.

"I do love my brother, you know," she whispered, fresh tears springing to her eyes, "I've always loved him, even when we were babies, I never wanted Dare always Fury. He had a natural kindness in him as a boy that Dare always lacked and he took care of me, shielded me and I loved him for it. When my mother ignored me and Dare teased me he would hold my hand and drag me down to the stream with him and practice howling." She gave a watery laugh and bit her lip, her eyes glazed with tears and memories. "I remember once my mother was in one of her moods and Dare was doing his own thing and Fury came to me when it was storming outside and he gave me a doll he had carved whittled himself from wood. It was really ugly. But I loved it and he stayed with me until I fell asleep."

Charisma had to blink rapidly to force her own eyes to stop watering, she felt sorrow for her mate and she felt sorrow for his sister, Charisma sighed.

"Stay still," Charisma whispered and Star didn't question her but just became very quiet and unmoving, her face serene and calm, though her tears still ran. Charisma laid her hand on Star's heart and felt its beat, she let herself become one with the beat, she concentrated entirely on it and then felt her soul slip from her body. She became light and air and all things natural, and she saw a blindingly bright bead of light where Star stood. Charisma whizzed around it touching it, asking it questions, then she slide out again and swayed on the spot, Star breathed out shakily.

"What did you do?" she asked but there was something in her that already knew.

"I asked your soul for the truth," Charisma replied simply with a one shoulder shrug, clucking her tongue Charisma mulled over things for a moment. "You might find New Orleans interesting."

Star's brow creased for a moment before comprehension dawned on her face, she nodded and backed away, her expressive face showing all her emotions. She stopped just as she was about to turn and bowed to Charisma.

"Thank you," she said, Star may not know for definite who Charisma was but the animal part of her recognised something wonderful and mysterious in her.

Fury was thinking about what he was going to say to Charisma when he saw her, she lived in the French quarter in one of the buildings that had blissfully, miraculously escaped Katrina's wrath. He didn't fully understand why she was living there, when as a goddess he was pretty sure she could buy someplace in the Garden district that was much nicer. He had enough money but what was the point, he was a wolf, the alpha leader, why have a house when he was used to curling up on the floor in wolf form.

Shit! And that was another problem! What about Charisma? Once they mated, he was pretty sure he wouldn't want to live apart from her, damn it he didn't want to be apart from her now. How would he be the packs alpha if his mate was living in a house in the French quarter. Fury rubbed his eyes, just another thing to add to that big ole list of shit to do …

He rapped on the door of her home with his knuckles and waited, there was no sound of her coming to the door. Fury tried again, this time rapping hard enough for him to wince when his knuckles throbbed; still he didn't hear movement and he suddenly went cold.

Fury wrenched the handle that broke without him adding any great amount of force, he jerked it open and ran inside, heedless of any danger that might await him. Fury smelt the air and all he could catch was Charisma, her arousing scent and the forest, he followed it straight to the bedroom; where she lay on the floor.

Fury's heart exploded in his chest as he shot to the floor beside her only to realise she was sleeping, all the strength and breath left him and he lay down beside her on his back. Staring up at the white ceiling taking deep, calming breaths, she groaned in her sleep and whimpered a little, Fury watched her face frown and she whimpered again. His heart beat faster. Was she dreaming of him?

Acting on instinct he pulled her into his arms and held her, liking the way her arms slid around him in her sleep and her fingers curled into his shirt. Was this love? Watching your woman sleep and unable to keep your gaze from her face? From running the pad of your thumb over the soft satin of her bottom lip? She shivered as if she were cold and Fury picked her up, noting for the first time she was spattered with mud, her lower half considerably more then her upper, yet there were speckles on her nose and cheek and some on the rise of her breast.

He lay her down on the sheets and she shivered again and muttered something, Fury became motionless in the act of prying off his boots. Not even his hair moved while he waited to hear her again, he wasn't sure how he would react if she called a mans name in her sleep, and he found himself unable to climb into the bed with her until she said it again and she did.

"Fury." Her voice was like a plea and she curled up in a ball, goose bumps rising on her skin, in the region of his chest Fury felt his heart fold over on itself while something tickled the inside of his stomach. It was a stupid, female feeling but he couldn't deny it was there, and it pleased him. She had called for him in her sleep, wanted him in her dreams; that was more then anyone else had wanted him in his entire life.

He slipped into the bed beside her and pulled her quilt over them, the room was completely Charisma. In shades of leaf green and lemony sunlight, with vases of daisies on her dressing table and pictures of landscapes on the walls, figurines of wolves and horses, eagles and leopards. She surrounded herself with the domain that was no longer hers to control. Fury pulled her pliant body into his arms again and held her tight, feeling things that he had never felt before. Wanting things he had once thought impossible and seeing solutions to problems he once thought insurmountable. Dare and his hateful Vendetta, his mother and father, all of them could wait for now, Fury told himself, was the time to simply live for the moment. And to live for love.

Charisma opened her eyes to find Fury next to her in human form and she couldn't help a purely female smile spreading across her face. She leant up and laid her lips gently on his, he opened one eye.

"I've been waiting for you to wake up," he muttered and Charisma leaned down to nibble his ear.

"Is that so?" she said, delighted when he groaned. "why?"

"Because I'm up," he replied wickedly, with a naughty grin and Charisma looked down to see him naked and in a state of extreme arousal, though she was slightly shocked she merely laughed at him as if it were an everyday occurrence to wake up with a naked man in her bed.

"Hmm," Charisma sighed slightly, nibbling on his lip, "well, you'll have to wait."

And she bounded off the bed before he could grab her and pin her there, she laughed as he pouted, looking utterly adorable.

"Where are you going?" he asked, his voice edging on sulky and Charisma didn't bother to hide her smile.

"To shower."

Fury looked offended, "your passing a good -" she raised her eyebrow and he grinned, "a good 'conversation' to go shower?"

Charisma smiled and tucked her hair behind her ears, when she picked up a strand, staring at it confused Fury laughed sexily, stretching on the bed.

"Sorry, I unbound your hair while you were sleeping," he jumped form the bed to stand before her, he forked his fingers threw her hair to hold the bulk of it back from her face. "I like to feel it on my face and over my chest when we're sleeping together."

Something felt like it was obstructing her throat and Charisma just nodded and stood on tiptoes to press her lips to his cheek. She stepped back with an impish smile whilst her hands were busy undoing the buttons on her shorts, "I wonder if you'd like to have a good 'conversation' in the shower, with me?"

Fury threw back his head and howled before scooping her up in his arms and bundling the both of them into the bathroom.