Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (44 page)

Mark said “Don’t worry about it ok. Be
fore I took over Connor’s watch
we ate some berries
while
you all slept
.”
A
n obviou
s lie, but Connor
was the only one who knew he was fibbing.
He always
i
s a smooth talker.

At the same time
,
the two alert immortals
each heard a twig snap
far off
in the distance. They
moved quickly and stood shoulder to shoulder.
Connor
had
Tool
tight
in hand as he
searched for the culprit. Everyo
ne w
ent
suddenly silent behind them
.
S
ome shrubs
began
moving by the trail
they
passed by to get to this camp. “Mark
,
what is it?” he
whispered.

He smelled the air unnoticeably and started laughing softly as he came out of his battle stance. In the distance
everyone
heard “You two are good! I wanted to see if I could get the drop on the two of you!” Bill stepped
out
through the b
ushes. As he crossed the field Connor
ho
lstered
Tool back in
his
belt.

Connor
sighed in relief
at the false alarm
.

He
turned to the group who looked at
them
in shock.
Oh no. D
id I move too quickly?
Ea
ch
of the
m
slowly and visibly start
ed
to relax.
Brittany
spoke to
first
. “It seems that the ranger was right. We are safe with the two of you.”

Bill made it to the campfire and said to the group “Sorry about
frightening all of you
. I just wanted to see if they didn’t get rusty.” He looked at the two of
them
oddly. “For a moment the
re
I thought both of you were going to kill me.”

Emotionlessly Connor
s
tated
“We were,
if
you were a threat.” He instinctively stepped back
, his Adam’s Apple bobbing as he dry swallowed.
“You said you wouldn’t be here till
ten. Has something happened?” Connor
said with
some
emotion.

He finally breathed. “No, No. I just had some
extra
free time and I wanted to check on all of you.”

“Well
you’re a little
early
,
Bill. We were just about to clean up
camp
.” Mark said, coming up beside Connor
.

Bill
took his hat off to scratch his head. “Well I’ll give y’all a hand
, after scaring you
and all
.”
They
accepted his generosity.

After everyone finished eating
by the fire
they
started disassembling the shelters
while working together
. The boys wanted to help, but
Connor
said they could go to the stream and fill the bucket and put the fire out and to throw the
leftover
scraps of food
into the woods
. Working together
they
collapsed the shelters and repacked
their
things.
T
he debris from the shelter
was taken
and put in the forest for it to dec
o
mpose properly. Before leaving Connor
checked the clearing one last time for any leftover trash.
He
didn’t
spot a thing
out of the ordinary
. Bill handed him
back
the
fifty
with a smile
as
Connor
pulled the wagon
back towards the truck
.

This time Connor
let Mark lead the group back to the parking
lot just before noon. Bill and Connor
took the rear of the line and talked about different things
like
what he
did and saw during
the
stay
while Mark lectured on the different trees they came across.
Bill was glad to know the only tracks
of concern
he spotted were old wolf tracks.

Time flew quickly.

Arriving at the parking lot
Connor
could see how tired and thrilled they looked at seeing their vehicles.
Bill also left their belongings on the pavilion’s table and they all picked up their
untouched
supplies.

Janet and Roy
put their things in
the trunk of their car. Roy
came up and handed Connor
fifty dollars for the forty eight hours of lessons. He said “I had a great time
this weekend. W
e discussed it and we would like to do this next week.”
Connor
told him that it would be the same time
next
Friday morning.

Susan
came up and handed
over
sixty saying “We will see you
boys
on Friday morning
then
.”
Sh
e quickly
walked back to her van and was soon off.

Jim
came up
and handed over
sixty dollars. “Wait a minute.”
Connor
caug
ht him before he walked away. Connor
handed him his ten back. “You might have forgotten that kids under ten are free.”

Jim
smiled
as
he
returned the
money back in his pocket. “Well this is sure a surprise.”

Connor
cocked
his
head. “What is?”

“For starters your honest and didn’t cheat when I gave you an extra ten
that you earned for putting up with my boys
.” He shook his head as he smiled. “Secondly
,
my boss at the journal
saw you come in earlier this week
,
to put your ad
in the paper. He was curious about you and he charged me with seeing if you were
a good story
to follow
. My
eccentric
boss said
‘
That muscle bound kid looks interesting.
Fo
llow him and see what he’s got!’
My boss was right
for once
. This will be good for your business for sure Connor.”
He was speechless. Connor knew Jim
was too quiet
from the seminar
because he studied everything with a critical eye
, but
he
didn’t figure
the man for a reporter. He
didn’t even enter anyone’s mind
because that is the only thing that should always remain private
.
I will have to be more careful from now on…

The man soon
left with his family. Mark and Connor
loaded the truck back up and headed home.
On the way he handed Mark thirty for his help.

When
he
was ten miles away from home
Connor
could feel that
his
mate was moving from
their
cottage
,
towards her parents.
He
pushed with
effort until
his mind and
actually achieved contact.
“Sarah
,
I’m almost home.”

“Connor is that you?
You’re
so far away… how far are you?”

“About ten miles
.”
Connor
knew
they
had even more power because her parents could only read
other people
’
s
minds from only a single mile away.

Relief
washed each of
their
minds
,
basking in
the
love and comfort for the other.
The closer proximity eased a weight off him.

When
they
pulled
up to the log house of her parents
Connor
knew she wasn’t there. She was behind
him,
at
his
mom’s home.
As the two men
exited the truck
they
opened the tailgate and removed
the
camping bags that held d
irty clothes.

“MARK! BROTHER!” They
turned as one when Kara yell
ed
from
behind
.

Connor
froze as
he
saw the two women
gliding
toward
them
. Kara was wearing a pink dress that flowed
down to her knees
as she walked. She had on a light pink lipstick and a little blush. She looked very beautiful.

S
arah on the other hand melted his
frozen status. She wore a
striking
black
dress
that ended just below
her knees. It fit snugly to each of her magnificent curves
and showed how her
firmly shaped
cleavage arose and fell with each breath
. She had her hair trimmed, but at least it
remained
still long and went
down to the small of her back. S
he didn’t have any makeup on, but that didn’t
hinder her
stunning
ly
ethereal beauty. She looked like the princess that she
i
s, at least to
him
.
Her green eyes were focused only on
him
as she walked on an invisible line that
guided her
.

The two of them walked up to
them
in the driveway. Sarah walked close
up to
him
. “Welcome home
,
my
Knight.” She stretched up
on her toes
and Connor
leaned down
,
meeting with her lips. She still smelled like apples and strawberries an
d the
delicately feminine
aroma was intoxicating. They
had to separate
only
to breathe. By the looks of it
,
Mark and Kara
did too.

Mark asked “Just what
in the world
did you two do to become such magnificent specimens of the female race?”

Kara raised her head in a dignified manner. “That is a trade secret.”

Mark looked at Connor
quickly. “Can you help me out here
,
Buddy?”

He looked at his
exquisite
mate. Sarah
rushed into
his
mind
, pleading
“Please don’t… it was a private time between
us girls.”

I looked at M
ark again. “Sorry Bud. I can’t get any information from them myself.
She’s blocking me.
If you value your life, heed the warning.
” Sarah smiled at him
in respect.

Kara quickly regained Mark’s attention. “Honey
,
let me ask you a question.”
You not
even give him a choice
,
little sister.
“Do you also have
one of those
black V.I.P. debit card
s
?”

Mark looked at her for a moment and then took out his wallet. He pulled out a
glossy
black card
,
like the one Sarah gave to
him
when
they
combined
bank
accounts. Mark handed it to her. “Is this what you’re asking for?”