Wolf-Bound: Unfamiliar Territory (25 page)

Theron gulped eagerly for a while, then settled down to a slow, contented rhythm. She had switched him to the other breast and was just deciding he’d had enough when he suddenly clamped his gums down. “Ow!” She winced, then pressed a finger in between his lips and tugged her nipple free. He grinned up at her as she ran her pinky over his upper gums. “Oh, look! He’s getting a tooth.”

She and the baby cooed and giggled at each other while her husbands oohed and aahed over the tiny white pinpoint just peeking out of the gum, but then Jenny made a face. “I guess he won’t be breastfeeding much longer, either.”

Damien patted her shoulder. “Sorry, hon. Weyr and half-weyr develop physically faster than humans. But don’t worry; they’ll still be mama’s boys for a long time to come.”

Jenny grinned and jounced her bare breast. “Aren’t you all?”

Dev gasped dramatically and held a hand over Cale’s eyes. “Jenny! Such behavior, and in front of the children!” He shook his head in mock disappointment.

“I agree. I think we’ll have to take you to task for that later.” Jake’s eyes were dark with the promise of a night in the toy room. Jenny shivered and felt an answering tremor in Damien’s hand on her back. My, but it was nice to have three gorgeous hunks salivating over her!

“Whatever you say, Jake,” she answered in a meek tone, looking at him through lowered lashes. She was rewarded by his intense, hungry gaze and the shifting of his hips as he subtly tried to make the erection now straining at his pants a little more comfortable. She grinned. “At any rate, I think Theron’s done for now.”

She relinquished him to his father. Jake swept his thumb mischievously across the tip of her sensitive nipple as he gathered Theron up. “Later,” he promised, and she nodded.

They trooped out. She dressed slowly, a bit stiff and sore from their ordeal the night before. She checked her shiner in the bathroom mirror -- not looking too bad, considering --

then joined everyone in the kitchen, where she finished off the pancakes Devlin had saved for her.

They spent the next couple of hours chatting with Tara and Marshall, giving them the rundown on what had happened the night before. Jenny explained to all of them exactly what she’d done, how she’d sealed the land against harmful influences.

For a human just introduced to the concept, Marshall took all the talk of weyrwolves, assassins bearing crossbows, animated tree roots, and time dilation quite well. When they were surprised by his acceptance, he mentioned again that his grandfather had been an old soul, full of stories about the mountain and odd things that had happened there. “Well, my parents said they were just stories, but Gramps always maintained they were real. We were close, really close, and deep down inside, I always halfway believed him. I don’t know…” He

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rubbed his neck, looking sheepish. “I guess I kind of wanted the stuff he talked about to be real.”

By two in the afternoon, the mountainside was riddled with streams of melting snow.

Marshall and Tara decided to attempt going home. “The snow’s pretty much history, but the mud!” Jen protested.

“We’ve got our cell phones,” Tara assured them. “If we get stuck, believe me, I won’t hesitate to call.”

Marshall nodded. “And we’ve decided Tara’s going to go ahead and move in with me.”

He looked at her and grinned. “You’ll have to pardon me if I seem anxious to get on with that.”

Tara blushed. “Marshall!”

After they’d said their goodbyes, Jen wandered into the boys’ bedroom. They’d gone down for their nap a half-hour earlier, and she smiled at their serene faces. She was tugging a blanket up over Cale’s shoulders when Jake’s arms slid around her waist. “They’re so beautiful,” she whispered.

“They are.” Jake pressed a kiss to her earlobe. “Jen, I --” Intense but quiet, his voice cracked, and she heard him swallow hard before he continued. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to express how much you mean to me. All of you.” She turned into his embrace, looking up into his dark brown eyes. “I thought I’d lost everything when Johnathan died. Now, I have you and Theron, and Damien and Devlin and the two boys… I have a family again.” His hand cupped her cheek. “It’s all because of you.”

Jenny shook her head. “It’s not just me, Jake. It’s all of us. We’re in this together, that’s what makes us strong.” She rubbed her cheek against his palm. “Something important happened last night, Jake.”

“You mean Damien taking that bolt for me? Goddess, when I saw that, it was…” He shuddered. “It was Johnathan all over again. If he had died, I --”

“Shhh.” She pressed a finger to his lips. “It’s over. I was talking about more than that.

There’s…” She closed her eyes, remembering the presence she had sensed in the Dark Guard the night before. “There’s something out there, Jake. It’s hard to describe. Not necessarily evil, but greedy and destructive. It’s trying to find a way into our world. What we did last night -- not just Damien, but all of us, refusing to abandon each other, blending our powers -- we stopped it. The sealing of the land protects us, but that isn’t all. The four of us working together, combining our strength -- our love -- in that way, kept something bad from entering this world.”

“I know,” he said. “I felt it. The Dark Guard…” He shook his head. “We have to sit down one day, so I can tell you what they are. But not today.” His arms tightened around her. “Was he right? Are you a witch?”

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Jen shrugged. “To be honest, I’m not quite sure what I am anymore. I’m tied to the land in more than one way now, not just through the bond with Damien and Devlin and now you. I’ve spoken to the one we call Goddess, the feminine entity that inhabits these mountains. I’m sure you’ve sensed her. Weyr always do.” Jake nodded. “She says I’m like her.

She’s a…caretaker. A nurturer. You, Damien, and Devlin protect the land and the people associated with it from without. She and I, we foster and nourish, cultivate and guide. We strengthen the land from within. According to her, the magic that is Earth is in all of us, but in most it’s lost its potential. In all weyr, that ember remains and has been fashioned into the Way and the bond. In me, it’s something more -- a flame, not just a coal. If that’s where a witch’s abilities come from, then maybe so.” She did not mention that she was destined to join Gaia, long after their lives were done. It didn’t seem necessary for them to know at this point.

“The seal…that means it’s really over, for now. They can’t hurt us.”

Jen nodded. “Not here. Not on any of the land under our influence.” She frowned, gripping his shoulders. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t find other ways to get to us. We still have to be careful, but I have this feeling we’re going to be all right. At least for a while.”

“I sense it, too. My head’s having a hard time buying it, but…” He tapped his chest. “I feel it in here. So do Damien and Devlin. We talked about it this morning, while you were sleeping. Even Tara and Marshall sense it. Tara said the earth just seemed like a brighter place all of the sudden. Marshall agreed. He said it felt like the world was full of possibilities that hadn’t been there before.”

“I think that ember still glows in them, too.” She tilted her head, studying him. Though all three of her husbands had the enhanced weyr senses, Jake seemed so much more perceptive to the currents and undercurrents than they did, possibly because he’d lived such a dangerous life compared to them. He’d had to be more alert. “You do know they’re part of our pack now, right? Tara and Marshall?”

He nodded. “Yeah, I know. I felt it, too, when Marshall and I shook hands. Our pack’s complete, isn’t it?”

“I think so.”

Jake nodded again. “I’m glad. I can’t think of any other people I’d rather share my life with. Or my son’s life. And…” Tears glimmered in his eyes, but he blinked them back. “I know Johnathan would approve.”

Jenny fought back tears of her own, hugging Jake tight. So strong, and yet so vulnerable. Wasn’t it strange that more than anything, all she wanted was to be able to protect the protectors?

Speaking of which… She sighed and nuzzled Jake’s chest. He loosened his hold, and she looked up. “I need to go into the woods for a while.”

He frowned, but then comprehension dawned. “The Goddess. You need to talk.”

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“She calls herself Gaia.” Jen snorted. “Actually, she calls all the caretakers Gaia, but that’s as good a name as any to use when we speak of her.”

“All right. I guess I’ll stay here and keep an eye on the boys while Damien and Devlin head out to check for storm damage.”

“Thanks.” She glanced at the baby, assuring herself that their quiet conversation hadn’t awakened him, then headed for the door. She shut it quietly behind them and gave Jake a quick hug. “I’ll be back shortly.”

She walked the woods, letting her path meander aimlessly. At first, she hiked in her blue jeans, a thick turtleneck, and sturdy boots, but despite the chill of the last few days and the cold of the melting snow, the warmer air coupled with the exertion soon had her sweating. She shucked the turtleneck, tying it around her waist, knowing that this deep into the trees she was safe from the prying eyes that might wonder why she was haunting the woods in her bra. She held out her hands for a moment, catching the melted snow drops like rain in her palms.

Struck by the urge to feel the earth between her toes, she knelt and tugged at her laces, kicking off the heavy boots to bury her feet in wet leaves. A shiver ran through her from toe to head as the now familiar sense of becoming one with the earth enveloped her. Suddenly, even her jeans and bra were too much to bear. She untied the turtleneck from around her waist and tugged off her jeans and the cumbersome nursing bra, hanging all three on a sturdy branch.

Naked, she lay on the leafy carpet, staring past the stark brown branches and bits of pale mistletoe that towered above her to a sky the clear, brilliant blue of Damien and Devlin’s eyes.

The odor of wet earth, rich and pungent, tickled her nose. She breathed in deeply, savoring the scent.

A rabbit hopped out of the underbrush, pausing near her foot.

A falcon landed on a branch above her, preening its feathers while watching her with one eye.

“They like you.” Gaia stood over her. Jenny started to push herself up, but the spirit shook her head. “Remain where you are. Be one with the earth.”

She lay there for what seemed like hours, but of course it couldn’t have been, for the sun barely moved in the sky. Beneath her, the leaves disappeared and became the thick grass of an overshadowed glade. The trees above rustled, covered in new spring growth. She felt a deep thrumming, like a pulse. No -- less rhythmic, more pervasive. Stuttering, then staccato, then slow and steady, altering as conditions in the world altered. The heartbeat of a planet.

She dug her fingers into the loam beneath the green blades, letting the sound travel into her body.

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Warmth flooded her. Her breasts tingled and plumped, milk trickling from her nipples.

Her pussy throbbed, and her womb ached. “What-what is it?” she whispered.

“It is a sign from the Mother,” Gaia answered reverently. “She is pleased. There is nothing more precious to her than love and life, and you embody both. She wishes you to revel in it, as she does. That is her Nature.”

“Thank you for your help last night.”

The vision shook her head. “I gave you only knowledge. The power is within you and those you love.”

“Are we really safe? All of us?”

Gaia gazed into the distance. “For now. That which has threatened must bide a while.

You have thwarted its plan.”

She felt the danger still, however, faint but on the horizon. “This isn’t finished, though, is it?”

“At this time, She can see only that you and yours will be safe until your sons are grown. After that, the Sight becomes murky again. Uncountable paths appear, and only the choices made at that time will clarify the vision.”

“I guess it’s enough to know that we’re safe at least that long.”

“It will have to be.”

“What is he?” Silly to personify it, the Presence she had felt last night, but she couldn’t help thinking of the darkness as a male influence.

“Chaos? The Devil? Your kind has many different names for that which opposes us. To me, and those like me, it is simply the enemy. It is the antithesis of the Mother.” Gaia sighed.

“Life is love and war and growth and death and joining -- so many things. There is no good without bad, no darkness without light. Yet, there must be balance. Aggression must be held in check, lest it lead to the ultimate destruction. Likewise, the urge to do good and to encourage this in others must be fostered in such a way that it does not become the ill light of fanaticism. This, the Mother seeks to do. Without her influence, this world would be completely without harmony.

“You see it today, in those places where the Mother has no representatives, no Weyr, no Gaia, to work through. Places where the whims of the few are answered daily, and become more and more extravagant even as their enjoyment of life itself wanes.

“The enemy is a being who wants all the world to be like that. He has attempted this before. Sometimes, where the world’s heart is weak and has lost its people, he succeeds.”

“He-he’s actually succeeded?”

Gaia nodded. “In other galaxies, on other worlds. In other…dimensions, I think you would call them. And he seeks to break through, into our world. Already, he is able to exert his influence beyond the border between his current realm and ours, in the places and on the people in our world where the Mother’s influence has waned.”

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“I sensed him, last night. I could see the darkness in those men. And one of them --”

She shivered. “I think it was looking at me, through him. I thought he reached out for me.

For all of us.”

“Yes. He would acquire great power if he were to corrupt you.” Gaia chuckled. “His chagrin at the ease with which you cast him out -- that was gratifying. He is arrogant, you see, for he has found it surprisingly easy to attract followers in this world. At first, he seems like a benevolent god, for he offers all things to all people, their heart’s desire. Every want is granted, while needs are forgotten. But those wants -- they grow, into something sick and twisted. Even those who desire to do good find that, without limits, all paths lead to destruction. His is the living Death -- the absence of love, compassion, and companionship, for all of those cease to exist in a world where the only thing that is made to matter is what we think we want. If we cannot defeat him, as we face him time and time again, he will destroy us all, for without love -- the primary essence, that which leads to birth and growth -- the Mother cannot thrive. Cannot nurture and cultivate. There will be no more birth, no more life. The world would end.”