11- Plans
"I have heard good news from your part of the world. Are congratulations in order? She appears to be a very nice girl." Kendrick did not even bother with a greeting when he answered his phone. The laughter was obvious in his voice and served as yet another reminder that nothing remained hidden for long in my family.
"Nice would not be the word I would use in her case, but then nice girls would not survive long in the family." Not bothering to turn on any lights I headed downstairs to the living room and threw myself on a couch. I might as well get a little more comfortable since this might take a while. I needed information about Sam and his pack, which is why I had called Kendrick - he and Sassy had been watching over this pack since their formation so they would know all about them. If Kendrick did not have any ideas there were numerous other members of the family I could call in order to help me strategize. Due to our secrets we were forced to be a self reliant group and so we tended to have an expert in everything you could possibly imagine - or at least anything that helped us survive. A long list of relatives were available for me to call up and ask for a favor or some advice. Favors were the currency in my family but unlike the money that humans liked to use our favors were never tallied or accounted for. If family called you up for a favor you complied because you knew that down the line you would need another member's expertise. I was the guy in the family that was called in when severe burns were in play. Phila on the other hand had more combat oriented skills, and so she was usually called in when someone needed extra help during an underwater attack. Phila was deadly on land but underwater she was unstoppable. She might be useful for me, an accidental drowning? As a last resort I could even call Phila's father. Uncle Matt had been Bee's right hand man for over ten thousand years, and in that capacity he had helped her invade planets. At times he could be even more vicious than my grandmother and that was saying a lot.
"I take it this is not a social call?" Kendrick interrupted my thoughts.
"I need to ask you a few questions. Do you know any blood drinkers in the area?" Killing Sam was not a good option but if things continued to escalate and Sam did not leave Leah alone I would have no other choice. He was stalking her, interjecting himself into every aspect of her life, and that was something I would not tolerate. Plus, it was not like luring in blood drinkers would mean Sam would be killed. They could be used merely as a distraction.
"There are the Cullens that live outside of Forks." This is what I liked about Kendrick. Unlike Phila he answered our questions without first demanding an elaborate explanation. Had I called Phila or even Kendrick's partner Sassy they would have needed to discuss this for four hours and then we would have to meet face to face three times before they would contribute anything. I understood why Sassy was more cautions about sharing her opinion, she was a queen and her decisions could have repercussions for millions of her citizens, but sometimes you just needed to blurt out the first thing that came to mind.
"No, not them. I need to entertain Sam. He has been making a general nuisance of himself when it comes to Leah. I need to give the puppy another bone to gnaw on. I am considering luring in a few human drinkers into the area to keep him occupied and away from my girl." I blew out a frustrated sigh and shifted on the couch. That plan had too many holes in it but I had come up with nothing better.
"He still loves her in a way." Kendrick spoke softly, perhaps afraid I would react badly to the knowledge that another man loved my girl. We did tend to be very territorial and jealous when we found our mates, and sometimes it took us a couple of centuries to calm down enough that we did not want to rip the head off of any man who even thought about our mates. "The wolf imprinting might have him tightly bound to Emily but at one point not so long ago he loved Leah. Those reasons have not disappeared and could lead to a lot of confusion on his part. I think his overprotectiveness is in part due to this, and the fact that he is so young."
"Well his solution to the emotional turmoil he might or might not be feeling is to browbeat my princess into following all of his inane rules." I growled just thinking about what he had done.
"Princess?" Kendrick laughed a little.
I ignored the interruption and continued. "He has this ideal way she is supposed to behave and he is trying to force her into the mold. Of course her reaction is anger, frustration, and despair at being under the thumb of such a tyrant."
"She has lost her way and needs time away from the reminders of the past." Kendrick said softly.
"Yes. She needs time away from him so she can mourn the loss of her father, deal with her shifter status, get over a broken heart, and find herself again." My girl was certainly a major mess, but she was strong enough to overcome it all if only I could get her away from the chaos.
"I see your dilemma, but I don't think your plan will succeed. While an attack from blood drinkers might take Sam's attention away from Leah it would also give him an excuse to begin enforcing even stricter rules." Kendrick of course had to come up with the obvious flaw in my plan. "You also run the risk of her getting hurt."
"I am aware of the risks, but my next option is violence and I don't think Bee would appreciate that. She has strictly forbidden me from revealing my true identity to Leah until after the Volturi visit next January. I can't think of anything else besides outright attack." I calculated the risks of pissing off Bee - nope not worth it. As much as I hated her orders unlike Sam she did not give them lightly, and I understood her reason for wanting to keep my secret from Leah and her pack for a few more months.
"Well my impression of Sam is that he cares about two things: his duty as a wolf and his mate. The latter being the most important to him." Kendrick's voice sounded slightly odd as he spoke of Sam's priorities.
After a few seconds of confusion I realized why Kendrick hesitated to bring up Sam's mate as a weakness. I had been so involved in the drama of my own mate that I had forgotten the reason behind Kendrick's sensitivity to mates. Kristina had been her name and he had been lucky enough to find her when he was barely eighteen. Or so we had told him at the time, in retrospect he might not have been so lucky because I cannot image having to deal with all the emotions of the binding without having learned to fully control your spirit. He had not had much time to worry about control because he had lost her a few years later to a senseless act of violence. What I needed to deal with at this time was my own mate, the one who was still very much alive and being harassed by a former lover, and I was going to move heaven and earth to give her relief. "If I threatened the girl in any way, even if I don't reveal myself, Sam will pull in everyone to protect her. There is no way he would not include Jake's pack in the orders and once again I would be giving him another excuse to put even more restrictions on Leah."
Kendrick gave a small sigh before he spoke again. "I am not saying threaten the girl. He loves her more than anything else. Anything that disrupted their perfect relationship would be major distraction."
"How would I go about that? Infidelity would be the most obvious solution but…" I wanted to howl like the wolves that ran around these woods. Normally it would be easy enough to sow the seed of doubt and muck things up but this imprinting made things much harder.
"Their knowledge of imprinting makes it much harder to insinuate that he is having an affair." Kendrick's words echoed my own.
I pulled on a lose string on the pajama bottoms I had put on after I had switched out of my wolf hunting clothes. I sometimes wondered why I bothered with pajamas, it is not like I wore them to bed when I actually did sleep, but every house I owned on Earth was filled with them. The need to act normal was so ingrained in me that when I left my home on the island I had no choice but to play my role. Would Leah like the man I was underneath all the masks? I knew which mask to wear to please different people, but I had never been myself with anyone outside of the family.
"It would be nearly impossible to convince her that he is cheating." It might be possible to get him drunk or even slip him some drugs, but even then I doubted he would do anything with another woman. The ties that bound a wolf to the woman he imprinted on were solid. This was evident by the swift and brutal way in which Sam had abandoned my princess.
"You could try to insinuate that she is the one who is cheating but I seem to recall that the girl rarely leaves the house." Kendrick suggested.
I could not help but laugh a little. "Wow, well I never thought I would be doing this."
"What?" Kendrick laughed as well. "Plotting the breakup of a perfect teenage couple in order to make another teenage girl feel better?"
"Believe me when I say I wish it was not necessary but I have witnessed several encounters between my girl and Sam. It seems he keeps seeking her out. The first time I saw the two of them together he used that alpha voice to try to give her a command because she refused to accept a ride from him." The family might overlook a number of sins but pushing your will on another person was not something we took lightly. "There was no danger of any kind, she had merely refused his offer of a ride, but he was determined to make her go with him."
"Are you certain it was an alpha command?" I could hear the rumble of anger in his voice. Kendrick was generally a laid bad guy unless you started pushing around others. He was extra sensitive when men were pushing around women, and this was understandable considering how Kristina had died. Raped, beaten, and left for dead in the middle of an alley. Kendrick had been out of the country at the time, but when he came back he had hunted down everyone of the bastards and had slowly peeled them. If done right the process could take weeks before the victim finally died.
Pulling myself back to the present I answered his question. "I know an alpha command when I hear it. Had it actually worked I would have probably ripped him apart right then and there." I shuddered at the thought of Sam pushing his will on my princess. Had I been younger I don't think I could have resisted the urge to kill him for merely trying. Maybe it was a good thing it had taken me this long to find my girl because it had given me two thousand years to learn how to control my instincts. "Yesterday he sent his minions to follow her when I took her for a picnic in an attempt to get her mind off of her troubles. I had obtained permission for her mother so there was no danger whatsoever but he sent the minions to follow me to the cabin. Then this morning he had personally come to circle the property."
"You have my help cousin," his words sounded like a promise. "We had noticed that he was not a very effective leader but I had not realized how much he was hurting your Leah. Whatever you need to get her away from him I will be happy to help."
"Money and sex. Those two were the reason that most marriages failed." I was putting out random ideal and hoping it would lead to something. Kendrick was on the right path because messing up the perfect Sam and Emily relationship would be a perfect way to get Sam's focus away from Leah.
"Maybe the money, but they don't have enough that you can mess with it." Emily refused to leave the house because of the scars so she did not have a job. Sam's wolf schedule kept him from being able to have a regular job so he had picked up some odd jobs around the reservation. Currently Sam's mother and the tribe was providing most of the funds to keep food on the table.
"So you can't make it about money. Neither one of them have a spending problem that could be brought to light." Kendrick was really getting into this.
I loved my family, and usually felt fortunate for having them. They had no compunction about helping me ruin a relationship to protect my girl. "What if the problem is not too much sex but too little?" Finally I had an epiphany, a way to fuck that Sam over without getting caught or dragging my princess into the mess. I could not go the drug route because there would be no way to predict how a wolf would fact but there were other way.
"What?" Clearly Kendrick's thoughts were not in the same place as mine.
"I think I got it, thanks for the ideas. I have to call Tiffany to see if she can help me with something." I was trying to be somewhat polite and not just hang up on him but I had other calls to make.
"Tiffany?" Suddenly he decides to become curious. "I thought you had decided against killing someone."
"I need to know about the path to get to a specific nerve." This would be perfect, I could barely contain my laughter.
"If you need my help just call." Kendrick told me before he said his goodbyes.
"Thanks for the advice," my mind was already full of plans. I was brilliant even if I said so myself. Now the only question was how would I manage to do this without getting caught. "Aurora, call Tiffany."
"What do you want?" The voice sounded groggy and very male; the words were not a language normally spoken on Earth. Due to the sleep in his voice it took me a few seconds to recognize who had picked up Tiffany's phone - Angus, her parter and occasional lover. Sounded like I had woken him up from an exceptionally deep sleep. This was an unusual occurrence considering we did not sleep all that soundly unless we had been hurt or had used our powers too much. A cat nap usually sufficed to fulfill our need for rest, so why did Angus sound so groggy? They should not have been fighting since they were supposed to be assigned to Earth, and despite the horrors shown on the national news nothing much happened on this planet. Ah, they mush have been pulled from this planet to assist another pair of guardian. Between Tiffany's death squad status and Angus' advanced surveillance skills they got called fairly often.
Phila and I tended to be called only when something truly morally questionable was required; generally these situations involved vast numbers of infected children. Those of us with the light green eyes had an easier time cleaning out such places, and unlike some of my family members I had no problem sleeping afterwards. It did not bother Phila nor I to do the dirty work so to speak.
I pushed away the need to speculate about where Tiffany and Angus had been asked to go. It really was a useless endeavor because they could have been sent to a plethora of places and times. "Morning Angus, you picked up the wrong phone. Can you hand it over to her?" I stuck to the same language as he was speaking. It did not bother me which language I spoke.
"Well Urgut's dick. Funny how every night when we get interrupted her phone happens to be on my side of the bed." Angus grumbled into the phone. "Stupid psychic."
I tried my best not to laugh at the poor man but this is exactly the kind of trick you would expect from Tiffany. Having been partners for nearly two thousand years you would have thought Angus would have learned by now.
"Smart woman there." I coughed a little to give myself some time to sound more neutral. If I laughed now he would probably hang up on me and then I would not get access to Tiffany - somehow I doubted he would answer her phone a second time. "Speaking of her vast wisdom, is there anyway you can get her to wake up and answer one question for me?"
There was a rusting in the background and a woman's voice. I could not make out the words but clearly she was protesting. "Someone had better be dead." The words were growled out in between what I was going to assume was gritted teeth. I got the impression that one way or another she was going to make that statement be truth.
"Well if someone was dead you would not be very helpful now would you?" My mood had suddenly lifted and I was feeling rather cheerful at the thought of my plans for Sam.
"Phil?" You have ten seconds to get to the point or I am hanging up." She sounded genuinely sleepy so perhaps I had interrupted a deep healing sleep. She must have been seriously hurt if she had been sleeping that soundly. I should have felt guilty for interrupting but my princess needed me to take care of Sam.
Knowing better than to call her bluff I got to the point. "What is the best way to access and partially block the cavernous nerves in a human male?"
There were some more sounds of shifting and possibly the creak of a bed. "All right, I am awake and interested. What are you doing with this information?"
I quickly ran through my genius plan for distracting Sam.
"Remind me never to piss you off. You are truly evil." She laughed a little at my plans. "The cavernous nerve is not that hard to access but there is a bunch of other stuff in the area so it can be tricky to accurately identify it. If you give me a time frame I can be available to help you out. Hell at this point I would probably do it myself." She laughed once more and I could not help but smile as well. "Damn, as far as pranks go this on is brilliant."
"If it works it should be perfect." I was laughing at the prospect. "In all seriousness this is not a prank but an intervention. He has been hurting my princess for far too long and she needs some space to heal."
"Plus it has the added benefit of messing with the guy that fucked your girl first?" Tiffany pointed out in a droll tone.
"Something like that," I did not want to spend too much time dwelling on the subject of Leah and Sam together. Not that I was one of those men that needed my women to be innocent little virgins - honestly I did not care about that. What worried me was the thought that he had not treated her well, and just the glimmer of a suggestion that he had not treated her right made me see red. If I ever found out hat he had hurt her or pressured her into something she was not ready for … there would be no stopping me from ripping him apart.
"I wonder if he was any good? Maybe I can try him out?" Tiffany continued to probing, hoping to get a rise out of me. Everyone knew we were very sensitive about our mates, especially when we first met them.
"He is barely twenty year old, you would probably have to teach him everything." Young men tended to know nothing about how to please a woman. I cringe every time I think back to my first lovers - I am amazed those women had not instantly thrown me out of their beds.
"Ewww. I hate it when they are that young." In the background Angus made some sort of comment and from the yelp that followed it was not one Tiffany appreciated. "I will leave you to your plans, but call me if you need help. If I am not available you could probably ask mother, but I would not suggest it. She gets weird about some of our pranks." Yeah aunt Beth tended to be a little weird about such things, but maybe that came from being a public figure that always had to set the right example. Good thing my father's people valued strength more than virtue or I would have made a poor heir.
"I am hoping to find the right opportunity in the next few days. Aurora is running the numbers to see when I will get a visit. Thanks Tiff." I was hoping Aodh would show me something soon but it remained silent in my head. It might be simply too tired after the games it had played with the storm. Speaking of the storm, it was currently passing across the cabin but I did not pay too much attention, instead I went upstairs to shower and change into clothes. Another trip to the island would be necessary to gather the supplies I needed to take care of Sam. I might not be sure when he was planning on confronting me but with the way he was behaving I would hazard a guess that it would not take him too long.
I stood in the circle surrounded by the beautiful and deadly ribbons while taking big gulps of the air around me. Fresh fallen leaves were among my favorite scents. Considering I had been here days before nothing much had changed on the island. It was still in the throes of autumn, and death had never looked so beautiful. Though of course it was not really death - more like a preparation for a long slumber. In accordance with that fact there was a flurry of sounds in the underbrush as the small creatures prepared for the long fast that was soon to come. What would Leah think of my home? Would she enjoy it as much as I did or would she miss the bright lights of her home planet? Would she ever be able to call this place home? The island was my place of birth and the only place I had ever truly called a home. Would it be different for her? Would she miss the society of humans? Or could she possibly be tempted by this place and the freedom that came along with the knowledge that only family lived here? There was no need here to temper our strength or hide our knowledge. There was no need for masks here.
When I had been doing through guardian training and had been obligated to remain on this planet for over two hundred years this place had seemed like a prison. I had been chaffing with impatience, wanting nothing more than to leave this place, and doing everything I could to cajole Bee into letting me leave early. I had spent the past fifteen hundred years exploring the planets outside of my home and had come to realize that this is where I wanted to be. Duty called me away from my home, but this place is what called to my heart. The simplicity of this place, so little marred by the machinations of humans, was indescribable. Leah would have to love it, how could she possibly not?
Gathering my thoughts I took another deep breath before heading towards the main house. There was a crispness to the air that had been missing in Washington. It was a testament of the fact that this area had much colder winters, and soon there would be frost on the ground. The cooler air did not bother me much since I had come prepared with my warmer boots and heavier jacket. I buttoned up my jacket as a cool gust of wind blew past me and caused another flurry of leaves to rain down on me.
I paused for a moment and watched the acrobatics of a couple of squirrels, their cheeks stuffed with acorns, as they jumped from one tree to another. Another fat squirrel followed his two companions. Unlike the others he noticed my presence and stopped to chatter at me rudely. You did not have to understand squirrel to know he was telling me to get the fuck out of here. Of course he was doing it from a really tall branch. With a smile I ran towards the tree half jumping and half floating until I pulled myself onto the thicker part of the branch he had been on. The brave little guy chattered at me one more time before jumping onto the next tree and disappearing behind the trees.
I allowed myself to fall back down onto the path and only quick reflexes saved me from a collision.
"Snow?!" I recognized her immediately. She slowed down when I spoke her name and when she turned around the reason for her sprint was explained. She was encircled by a mist of frozen water and it had settled as frost all across her hair, skin, and clothing but it was not that which held my attention. In her arms was a frozen body, a boy about ten or so, and despite the layer of frost that covered him as well it was obvious that he had been injured. His face was covered with bruised, both his eyes were blackened, and his nose was crooked. It did not take a medical degree to figure out what that the boy had been beaten badly. I narrowed my eyes a little and made a few more observations - beaten and then something worse as well.
"Phil? I have to get him in assessed and in a cryo tank." She looked at me with an air of expectation.
I closed my eyes and prodded Aodh awake. "He will live, but you will not be able to make him forget the incident." I told her after he showed me the vision.
She grimaced at my words, gave me a nod of thanks, and swiftly moved down the winding path towards the main house. I followed at a much more sedate pace since the boy did not seem to have been burned or disfigured therefore my services would not be required. I considered the rest of the vision: the picture of the boy in the wedding clothes of my family standing next to a bride with my grandmother presiding over the ceremony. It would seem the boy would be joining the family, and perhaps that knowledge will prevent Snow from being severely lectured for bringing a non-family member to the island. I wondered for a moment if the boy was somewhat significant to her and that was why she bent the rules. She did not have the psychic powers my branch of the family but perhaps she is trying to save him because she cared about him. Snow was not like me so she could form attachments to those outside of the family.
Soon I would need to speak with Bee on behalf of the boy and warn her to make sure he survives. In the meantime I needed to deal with my own problems so I continued down same path Snow had used. Ten minutes later I broke through the trees into the clearing that surrounded the second biggest building on this planet, the biggest was of course the library-cum-museum that was located high in the mountains, and headed towards the main door. The giant rooms we used for family get togethers were located on the ground floor along with the kitchens that made the food needed for such large parties. The higher floors in the house had the medical, research, and other odd rooms. I needed to get the right supplies and head back to Earth. It did not sit well with me to leave Leah unattended for long periods of time, especially since I had not make plans for an alternate guard.
My mind was going through a list of scenarios which could potentially harm my mate when my thoughts were interrupted by a voice.
"Phillip." The voice sounded pleasant and sweet but I knew it could all be a deception.
"Grandmother," I turned to the diminutive woman as she ambled down the hall as if she did not have a care in the world. I nodded my head and made small bow as a show of respect. Bee did not stand on ceremony, in fact she thought most of that stuff was crap, but it was always best to be cautious when it came to her. You could never tell when she was testing you.
"Hello grandmother." I leaned down and kissed the cheek she had turned in my direction. It always amazed me that this tiny woman, barely over five feet tall, had coordinated the hostile takeover of planets. Though part of her strength was the fact that she looked so ordinary, so forgettable, that you let your guard down around her — that is when she struck.
"How are the wolves?" There was something glittering beneath her golden eyes.
The fact that she only mentioned the wolves and had no mention of the Cullens was a glaring sign that she knew about Leah. "They were well last time I checked on them." I kept my voice placid, giving nothing away, as she continued to stare at me with her head tilted to the side. For a minute or so we stood there having a bit of a staring contest. "Would you like copies of the updates I am sending Sassy?"
She gave a small smile as realized she would not ruffle my feather right now. "Very good."
"I was taught by the best," I returned her smile with one of my own. The best being the small woman standing right in front of me. "Speaking of which, are you taking care of the boy brought in by Snow?"
A flicker of emotion passed across her face but it was too quick for me to identify before it was replaced by a placid smile. "Yes." That word was said softly but I could hear the condemnation in her tone. We were guardians and as such were not supposed to be getting involved in the day to day problems of the mortals.
I needed to tell her what I had seen. "This boy, treat him well."
"We always give our best to the people that are brought to the island." She told me in an even voice.
"He will be family one day." I explained myself better.
"How so?" Eyes narrowed she looked at me more closely.
"I had a vision of him marrying someone, the ceremony was on the island." There were three ways in order to become a member of the family: by birth, adoption, or marriage. The marriage ceremony was an excuse for a week long debauchery but it also consisted of several rituals that would bind us closer to our spouse and thus increase their chances of surviving. We often would have to do "marriage" ceremonies off the island, and I am sure Leah would want her family to see her wed, but those things were just for show. In the eyes of the family the only ceremony that counted was the one on the island. Snow was "wed" to a british duke from the 19th century but her marriage was invalid as far as the family was concerned. I had heard rumors that while he had the genes that would allow for genetic modification Snow had declined bringing him into the family because he was far too inflexible and set in his ways. Snow believed that he would never be able to think outside of the box. Her father was also a british duke but he had married her mother when he was barely twenty and had been much more open minded about how to fulfill his guardian duties. Snow had been afraid that given his advanced age and the fact that he had been trained to be a duke from birth it would be hard for the man to adjust to the life of a guardian. Family gossip said she and put him through some sort of trial period which he had promptly failed. Something about accusing Snow of sleeping with her partner Duncan. Rumor also had it she was contemplating faking her death so that he could move onto a mortal wife.
"Interesting, do you know who?" Bee interrupted my thoughts once more.
I thought back to the vision. The woman was tall and slender with olive colored skin, long hair as dark as midnight, a slightly curved nose, and beautiful almond shaped eyes that looked golden when framed with those inky black lashes. It was the eyes that made me finally recognize her. "Aliah," I smiled while thinking of Kendrick's adopted daughter. She might only be three years old but that girl had personality.
"Thank you for telling me. Now I had better go and double make sure the boy survives." Her voice sounded far away, her eyes unfocused. I was willing to bet her brilliant brain was already making countless plans as to how she would use this information. "You will not speak of this to anyone, especially Kendrick." She told me as an afterthought.
I laughed a little, "I will say nothing to Kendrick since I do not desire the boy's death."
"Indeed," so much was with merely a single word. "Come look in on him once more, to see if you can see anything else." Twisting her arm around my elbow she led me to the emergency medical wing.
There were rooms in the hospital that looked almost like bedrooms decorated with priceless painting and containing beautifully carved beds but this one was not one of them. Bare floors and walls greeted us as we entered the room. In the center was a great clear tube that currently housed the body of the boy. A large tube dropped down from the ceiling and pipped in the supercooled liquid that kept the boy at eighty below freezing. The liquid currently was used merely to keep the body frozen. A quick look at the monitors showed the damage that had been done to the boy. Humans were sick fucks to do this to a child.
"Multiple organ failure due to bacterial sepsis. His heart, lungs, and kidneys will have to be replaced. The liver is not too damaged and should regenerate on its own given proper care. Aurora take samples of the patient and start the process of making the new organs."
"Will you replace the left kidney or both?" Aurora's neutral voice came from above.
"The left one is completely fucked, and the right one is not much better." Bee looked at the monitors once more that showed the extent of the damage. "We will replace both."
A horrified gasp from the corner of the room interrupted when Bee cursed and it drew my attention to the stranger standing next to the window. I did not recognize the man standing next to the window. His backbone was so straight and stiff it looked like he would snap in half at any moment. His light gray eyes that from this distance looked almost silver added to the feeling that he was a cold man. The old fashioned clothing along with his horror at the use of a curse made me suspect that this human was Snow's rejected husband. He looked stiff and uncomfortable but that might have been due to the fact that he found himself on another planet; it must have been a hard concept to wrap your head around when you come from a time where science had not discovered the planets beyond Saturn.
Blinking I shook my head a little, trying to clear my vision. Aodh had started to flood my vision with quick burst of images. The images lasted less than a second so the only detail I could gain from them was the knowledge that it was about my princess. What the hell? Is she in trouble? Starting to panic I headed to the door, but paused when I felt a tug at the back of my brain. Aodh had used my fear as a way to grab hold of my powers. What had it done?
Trying to concentrate I followed the small thread of power that remained to its destination. My concentration was disrupted far too easily by Snow who was on the other side of the room inspecting the cryo fluid pressure gages. She was making sure that we would keep the boy stable enough for the time that it took to grow new organs to replace the ones that had been irreparably damaged. She made a few fine adjustment before stepping back clearly satisfied with the results. "Bee, there is something off about the flow of the fluids. It is stable for now but I want to make sure there is not an obstruction somewhere in the system. I will go run a diagnostic." She paused at the door and followed my line of sight to the human in our midst. "Wulfric, please stay in the room where it is safe. Outside…well it can get dangerous."
"Cassandra…" He replied with nary a hint of the fear and concern he was feeling.
"Just stay here, I will be back as soon as I fix this problem." She told him with a firm nod and then she was gone.
The tiny flare of satisfaction at the back of my head made me suspicious that the obstruction was due to Aodh. Curios, why did it want to harm the boy? But it had not cut it off completely so maybe it was just a distraction, so what did it really want to accomplish?
My head swung back in the direction of the human. He had shifted his weight almost like he was going to follow her but he checked himself and put his hands behind his back as he straightened his back once more. Interesting. Clearly he was worried about the situation but his voice had not given away his unease. A human who could hide his emotions with this level of skill was rare. Had he come by the skill naturally or had it taken years of practice? Looking at the fine lines bracketing his eyes and mouth I was going to guess it was due to the latter.
Wulfric, is what Snow had called him. That was not a good English name, in fact I was fairly certain it was norse. Someone's mother must have been a little whimsical.
"Really Wulf, stop being such a stubborn ass. Just pull that stick out of your behind and relax. This is supposed to be fun." Leah was sitting in passenger seat of a car. Her hair was put up in a hight ponytail yet was long enough to flow over her shoulder and reach her thighs.
"Young lady your language is appalling, how many…" Wulfric sat next to her in the driver's seat. Both of his hands clutching the steering like he was holding on for dear life despite of the fact that the car was not moving. His clothes matched her's, jeans and a cotton shirt, but he had on a sports coat while she was without a jacket. On her right hand she had a beautiful ring of intricately twisted platinum holding up a large heart shaped pink diamond.
"Oh get over yourself. If you are going to fit into this society you will need to get used to people swearing." Her tone was a combination of frustration and laughter. This was not a new argument for her.
He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. Most likely counting to ten or maybe even one hundred in order to control his emotions. "I would like to point out that you generally do not curse unless we are alone. So I suspect this is all for my benefit." He turned towards her never letting go of the steering wheel and raised a dark brow. Waiting for her to contradict his statement.
"Of course it is dumbass. It is my job to watch your back, and if it means teaching you how not to react every time someone cusses then that is what I will do. Now push down on the clutch and put this puppy in gear. We are teaching you to drive." She waved her hands around, her swift movements in stark contrast to his controlled stillness.
"I know how to drive…" a small fraction of the stress he was feeling leaked into his words.
She did not let him finish as she interrupted him once again. "A motorized car and if you are a good boy you might even get the chance to leave the driveway." She punched his stiff shoulders lightly. "Now relax, push down on the clutch, and put it in first gear."
"This is revenge for last month's incident with horse riding." He put a slightly shaking hand on the gear stick.
"Maybe it is, and maybe it's not. Now stop stalling and get going, or do you want to spend the rest of your life being in the passenger seat?" She nodded her head towards the windshield.
"Of course not." His control finally snapped and he glared at Leah, but then he paused before continuing on. "You will not say anything about this lesson to Cassandra?"
"Why would I tell your wife?" She patted his hand gently. "I might enjoy embarrassing the snot out of you but that does not mean I want you humiliated. Now stop pussyfooting around. And yes I just used the word pussy….in reference to you."
My vision cleared but my the sound of a grinding gear still echoed around in my head. Eyes narrowing I moved towards Wulfric, Aodh had given me an opportunity so I had better use it. Not pausing when I was within arm's reach I swung my fist in the direction of his right side. The satisfying sound of my fist connecting with cloth covered flesh filled the air.
A/N:
Hi there everyone? How are you all doing? Thank you so much for the responses, it is always nice to know what you think about the story.
I had this chapter practically finished a few days ago but then the ending part kind of snuck in. I could not resist adding it. Your thoughts on Wulfric? Do you like? or is he confusing? Anyone care to guess who he is supposed to be?
To the guest reviewers: Thanks, of course Phil will win over Sam. He has brains, brawn, and let us not forget the all powerful dimples. Yes he is a horn dog but what else is he supposed to be thinking about if not Leah's ass?
Inosolan: Thanks for the review. I love Phil too which is why I am currently neglecting my other stories to play with him some more.
Mememeeee: How I have mixed you. Yes squishing Phil and Leah together would be ideal. I keep thinking of how I could do it? But alas I cannot because Phil kept his paws to himself for a long time to let Leah heal.
Ibterismith50: Glad you like it.
Margot: How have you been? Long time. It has been really fun trying to give a different perspective from Leah's. She thought he was indifferent while he was trying his best not to jump her the second he saw her. Yes I like the idea of Phil squishing Sam like a bug, but he cannot do it because Leah might be upset at him and he does not want his princess mad at him.
MidnightCandy: Welcome to the story of Leah and Phil. It is always great to have newcomers to the story.
Jamie: I know you wanted me to continue, so I hope you got the email to tell you there were not one but now two more chapters to this story :D.
I hope that answered most of your reviews. Thanks a lot and keep them coming. Still working on the next chapter, but I will have to make adjustments since I changed the ending of this one. Thanks, have a great Saturday.