B0079G5GMK EBOK (26 page)

“Tha gaol agam ort.”

“Tha gaol agam ort,” Adam whispered in her mind.

Sofia

A howl of a wolf woke me from my sleep. I glanced at the clock on my nightstand and turned. David's body was so warm and felt so good, that I sidled close to his back and tried to get to sleep again. That, however, was impossible. My senses registered everything around me, and I couldn't relax. A couple of relentless blue
tits
were knocking about in a nest on
the corner outside of our bedroom roof, and a happy chirping filled the spring morning. The sun was still asleep, but the darkness of the night
had
started to fade
little by little, and the dawn had taken
the sky before the morning sun. The ground was still covered in snow and the creek was tightly frozen. Yet, the air smelled like the promise of spring and the warmth of the sun.

A wolf howled somewhere further again, and this time another wolf joined in. I got up indignantly and sat up in bed. I had accepted that Adam turned into a wolf whenever he wanted, and I had decided not to make a big deal out of it. Adam was a wild wolf, maybe the wildest one I knew, but now he had obviously tempted someone else from our pack to join him, and that I couldn't ignore. I had to interfere and punish Adam as well. I couldn't let our pack run in the woods whenever they felt like it. Sooner or
later someone would notice
and it would start a wolf hunt. If there was something I had learned during these years, it was that wolves and humans were not supposed to live side by side. They could do so, yes, but eventually, humans would blame the wolves for every single thing that they didn't like. So, wolves and humans l
iving together in a suburb
was not a good thing. I glanced at the clock again. Half past four. I really didn't want to get up from my warm bed, but I had no choice.

I sneaked quietly downstairs and let my mind touch the minds of the shape shifters in our house. They
were all sleeping
in their own beds except for Tiamhaidh, who
was sleeping
with Marie. I was really confused. Who
was hunting
with Adam? I didn't bother to get dressed, but went out with only my white
morning gown that was thin as
haze. The cold ground under my feet made my toes shrink, but I didn't care. As soon as I reached the woods, I turned myself into
a
wolf, leaving only a white bundle of haze behind me. A wolf's paws didn't mind the coldness and for a few second
s
I let myself enjoy the soft snow under my paws and sniffed the exquisite smell of a wakening wood.

I walked with a steady rhythm and opened all my senses. I had no trouble finding Adam. He hadn't bothered to cover his marks, so I could find those behind the first hill. Next to his footprints were smaller ones that looked like a female's or a small male's. I sniffed the strange prints, but I couldn't identify the smell. Something familiar was looming in the back of my mind, but I couldn't catch it. Maybe it was a hunch, maybe something else, but rage filled my mind. I shook my fur and growled. Was Adam hunting with a strange female, when Clarissa had promised herself to him? I howled furiously. Adam took my challenge and howled back. A low growl slipped from my mouth and I revealed my canine teeth. I had two op
tions. Challenge Adam or back away
. But
if
I wanted to keep my p
ack in order, I couldn't back away
. So I let my rage rise and howled at him.

Adam and Clarissa

Adam rubbed the side of a young female wolf and enjoyed her smell. The female had her first period and Adam w
anted to step on her. She
, however, was so confused that Adam had t
o put his needs aside and help
, because this female was th
e most important thing in his
world. Her warm snout searched his neck and ears and at times she temptingly licked his snout. Her tail was wagging softly, and every time Adam approached her from the back, she moved her tail away, offering herself to him. Adam had to really struggle not to take on her call. That would've been a bad thing. It was bad enough that he had kept this from Sofia and had hid
den
the female's real talents. If he stepped on her now, Sofia would go crazy.

The female howled quietly, almost purring with pleasure when Adam responded to her petting. A wolf howled far away, but the female didn't seem to hear it. Adam, however, listened carefully. “Shit! Run, Clarissa!” Adam howled in the mind of the female. Clarissa looked at him with laughing eyes, and didn't move. “Run!” Adam ordered and pushed her back with his snout. Clarissa took a few playful leaps and howled as Adam bit her ear. Clarissa ran after Adam, hurt, but didn't speed up a bit. She jumped like a puppy, here and there, slowing Adam's run. Finally Adam stopped in front
of her and looked at her, hurt, his ears
drawn back
. H
e growled at her. The female wolf fell down, revealing her stomach and surrendering to Adam. A wolf howled again. This time, it was much closer. Adam knew the game was over. He placed himself protectively above the female and prepared to face Sofia.

Sofia

I smelled Adam and the strange wolf long before I saw them. The female was lying on the snowy moss, completely unaware of the danger. Adam stared at me challengingly with his black eyes. I tried to invade his mind, but he shut me out completely. I could easily have wiped his mind by force, but I wanted to know more about this strange female wolf, so I let his mind be.
I turned my golden brown eyes to
the female. I tried to step a little bit closer, but Adam stepped between us and growled. I was stunned. Was he really going to challenge me? I revealed my teeth and growled back at him. He didn't move. The hair on my back stood up and I prepared to attack when something strange happened. The female turned and started to crawl towards me. Everything in her told me she wanted to surrender herself to me
and finally Adam had to back away
a little. Adam's eyes were panicked. He begged me to forgive him and be gentle with this female. I sniffed the female. Adam growled in pain and the hair on his back stayed up. I sniffed again. The female barked like a puppy
and licked my snout. I backed away
, surprised. Who was she? She was so familiar, and I should've known her. She looked like me when I was a cub. The female licked my feet and waved her tail and suddenly a thought came into my mind. Awesome! Impossible!
I forced myself quickly inside
Adam's mind. Could this be? I had waited for this for so long! I looked at Adam's eyes and I knew. 

I licked her snout lightly, and she freaked out completely. She whined and pleased me. I let her get up and slowly w
ent around her. I didn't notice
how my tail started to wag and my alerted ears rose up, excited. How perfect she was. I howled with joy and gently intruded into her mind. “Clarissa?” I asked, carefully, but I knew the answer. “Mom!” she answered happily. I shook my head, disbelieving, and changed my shape into a human. Adam and Clarissa changed, to
o, and we stood face to face staring
at each other. I touched Clarissa's beautiful face and hair, all wet from sweat.

“How long have you known how to do it properly?” I asked Clarissa as well as Adam, who
was trying
to look somewhere behind my head, confused.

“Since I was with Adam,” Clarissa said and blushed. “I mean, when we really were together. You know, with the explosion and stuff.” She reached for Adam's hand and when she found it, pulled Adam closer. “Since last night,” she whispered, embarrassed.

I looked at them, wondering. Adam
was obviously
embarrassed by his nakedness, but Clarissa didn't seem to notice it. Sometimes we left clothes behind us, so that we could be free of all disturbing things but sometimes we just shifted with our clothes on. I had never really figured out how we could do that, but now I was as naked as a new born and I, too, wished I had changed my shape with my morning gown on. I shivered from the cold. My body could feel my wolf's warmth, but a few degrees of frost succeeded in slipping under my skin and made me shiver. I looked at Adam strictly.

“You should have told me at once,” I accused and turned back to a wolf.

Adam nodded seriously, and he and Clarissa turned back into wolves as well. I looked at my daughter. How effortless the change was. I wondered how long she could keep up the change and Adam's mind answered me at once. “As long as she needs to.” I scowled at him. I had meant that thought only for me, and I didn't want him messing around in my mind. Not now, when I needed to think this through by myself. Clarissa rubbed my side and I felt how jealous Adam was. I hastened my steps and left the staring Clarissa behind. A complete shape shifting, I thought happily.

No one could deny anymore that Adam and Clarissa belonged together. If being together had started Clarissa's change, it meant they were originally meant to be together. Clarissa completed Adam and vice versa. I grunted. David would freak out. The circumstances were probably that Adam had held back and had not stepped on her when she was a wolf. If they had been together as wolves, we mi
ght have had a handful of cubs in
our home. Or would we? How could I be sure their offspring would be wolves and not human? Oh, God, this was way out of my knowledge.  I felt a headache knocking in my head. I knew
that
sooner or later I had to face the elders. They could answer all my questions. I stopped. Adam and Clarissa almost ran over me. The excitement shined from my eyes. If it worked with Adam and Clarissa, shouldn't it work with Marie and Tiamhaidh? David would never agree and the mother in me wouldn't either, but wouldn't it be worth it? Adam howled, amused, and I revealed my teeth to him. “Stay out of my mind!” I shouted, and he withdrew, leaving me alone with my lunatic thoughts.

The phone rang and I tried to grope it from the nightstand. My hands couldn't reach the nightstand, but raked the empty air. I sighed and tried to force my eyes open. The phone stopped ringing and I turned to my side, satisfied. The peace lasted for a few seconds and the phone started to ring again.

“Mom, wake up,” Clarissa's voice intruded into my dreams.

I mumbled to myself and tried to force myself to wake up. Someone was shaking me and with an effort, I could finally get my eyes open. Clarissa pressed the phone into my hand and I lifted it to my ear.

“Say something,” Clarissa whispered impatiently.

“Stewart,” I said
sleepily on the phone
.

“Thank God,” Joan Miller's voice sighed in my ear. “I've been trying to reach you the whole morning! We need to hurry! Social services called. They're having a meeting tomorrow, where they're going to discuss Marie's future!”

“What?”

My eyes were fully open now, and I looked
goofily around me
. Obviously, I had fallen asleep on the sofa, but I could
n't remember anything about it
. I shook my head and tried to concentrate on the voice in my ear. At that moment a
n image
of Clarissa and Adam as wolves flashed in my mind and I smiled, mesmerized. Clarissa pushed me impatiently and whispered. “Not now, Mom! At least try to focus.”

“Sofia! They're going to put Marie in an institution for the rest of her life!” Joan shouted desperately.

“But why? We are not going to let them do that! How could they even consider such a thing?”

“Sofia, I've done everything I can, but they have such a strong argument. I can't stop them,” Joan said quietly.

“Like what?” I asked
sharply. “What has Marie done that she can't live at home anymore? What could possibly be a better place for her than home?”

Clarissa pressed her ear close to the phone and listened, her face chalky, as Marie's doctor told us the horrible news.

“Marie can never go to school again. She can't be cured and she can't manage by herself. Sofia, they are convinced that Marie is not capable of living in a community. They think it would be better for all of us if she moved to the institution, where she could get proper care.”

“Not capable of living in a community,” I whispered, shocked. “And what do you mean by proper care? If there is no cure, how can she get better care from somewhere else than here?”

“I don't know, Sofia. I'm so sorry. All I can think of is that you should go to that meeting tomorrow and try
to convince them,” Joan sighed
sadly.

I was speechless. I sta
red at the floor in front of me in horror.
Clarissa took the phone from me. She asked all the details about the meeting from the doctor and wrote them down. Then she hung up the phone. It was depressingly quiet in our living room. I got up and left the room, as silent as a ghost. The rooms in our house seemed strange and I wanted to get away from here. Anywhere where I didn't have to meet anybody. I noticed that my feet had brought me to my small gym. A black punching bag hung from the ceiling
.
I pressed my head against its cold leather.