Kierra

My asking gets me a puzzled look till I point to his rubbing, guessing he didn't realize he was doing it again.

"Hurt, no. Just weird. It itched before, probably from it forming. Since you touched it earlier it just feels cool."

As in cool to the touch, not awesome cool. Motioning him to move his legs and turn in his spot, I go to take another look. He's lounging on the bigger cushion, so makes things a little easier. And he's not kneeling in front of me, which is another plus.

Two snow-white wolves and a small coyote come up from below. They look roughly the same size I am when in animal form, probably close in weight too.

I've read somewhere that Arctic wolves are on the smaller side to conserve heat, timber wolves being the largest breed, mine should be bigger than theirs. However, snow wolves have been getting smaller and smaller due to breeding with dogs.

Arctic wolves from centuries ago, I would bet were a bit bigger just from prey being much more plentiful. Would seem whoever attacked these guys had come from the older lines. The only way you can tell them apart if you don't have a super nose is their eyes and ears.

Little smaller than the gray’s, Shade's ears are tipped in black. His eyes a dark blue and his brother’s a pale yellow. Eyes and tipped ears are the only real color on them.

Many wild snow wolves' white coats tend to look white till against the snow, where they're more yellowish. These two would look albino if it weren't for the eyes. Their color coats are probably also from the Were that got them.

"Well, glad to see you aren't purple and blue. Do me a favor though and don't go rolling in mud baths."

The amusement in my voice is pretty telling that they're allowed to do whatever they wish. Shade asks if they're supposed to look after the coyote, I shake my head.

"Maii knows to come home if he gets into any trouble. Same goes for you guys. Can always call for Asher, but he's got quite the territory here, so he might not be able to get to you very fast."

That stops them short, looking at each other before back to me.

"You let him mark your land?"

I shrug and try to explain it in a way that isn't confusing.

"Could basically say today is my first day out in the open; not hiding from everyone. I was hiding before so I could save my sister without the 'council' or any others trying to interfere. The house itself is marked as mine, that's all I really care about. Last time a male picked up my scent, it...didn't end well. Besides, this was Asher's land a long time before I got here, so could technically say I'm on his land."

Wasn't until getting it out that way that I notice the truth of it. Even after Asher learned and even attempted to change me himself, he never once told me I couldn't stay. Yes, the house may be mine, but everything else he's had for over twenty-five years. Even when he hadn't been here to mark it.

Surprise comes from them, but they accept it and take off. I crook my finger at Maii and rub at his ears before he goes, then get back to the maned wolf.

"What do you mean it's his land?"

Not actually sure just how much he knows, being here he's figured or heard a lot of it, but Asher is hardly talked about. He heard about some of it when I relayed it to Alarico, but not all.

"I bought this property some four years ago, probably closer to five now."

Not trying to entice him in any way, just trying to figure out what the marking is, my fingertips go over it again. Instead of a swipe, I go over it as if I'm reading braille. He shivers, but I dismiss it and get back to explaining.

"I'd never seen him before this all started. Asher has quite an assortment of abilities himself, just as I'm assuming each animal does in some shape or form. One of his abilities is precognition."

Amber eyes direct up to me as he turns his head a little, so I push his hair over the opposite shoulder, the long silky strands weaving through my hand as I end up finger combing it.

"He'd seen what would become of Faline and I, so in an attempt to help, he'd attempted to get the Change started in me before I was attacked by Anthony.”

Thinking about everything up to this point, it feels more and more like it's all being orchestrated, someone pulling at the strings of fate just about every step of the way.

"He'd bitten me when I'd gone out to meet a friend. I'm sure you've found the small clearing with the fire pit? Sitting on one of those logs is where my life took a major turn."

My brow furrows, the hand that'd been finger combing the lower strands now buries in the shorter hair around his head. Fingers get lost in the thick black locks as something jumps into my brain.

"That night I almost died, when my inner wolf had talked to my sister, it was mentioned that ancient bloodline magic also courses through the both of us. I've always healed faster than normal, empathy for as long as I can remember, constant dream deja vu, rarely got sick, and even my eye color...no one else in my family has eyes like mine."

Always loved my eyes and that it was something that really set me apart. My own and something that couldn't be taken. Xavier catches my attention, shifting his head since my hand had stopped moving. I take up the motions again, should probably be weird or awkward right now, but as one with long thick hair, I know how good it feels when someone plays with it right.

"Your eyes didn't change at all when you turned?"

Thinking back, they did a little, just not really different color-wise.

"They became brighter, but that's all I noticed. About them anyway, never had the silver in my hair before that first change, the scars I already had faded more. Body was thicker, but I think the leaning it's doing now is from all the running. You have no idea how good it felt to run. Puberty really screwed me; before it I had run all over the place."

I keep bouncing from story to story, but I can't help it. It was the running that was the biggest draw for me in this world, the wolf and strength to save my sister all being the major things that I love about being what I am now.

"The way you asked that, is your natural eye color not what it is now?"

I love his eyes. Chunks of sap is really all it is, but it's the color that is the draw. No other quite like it. If you've seen the movie Jurassic Park, they have the perfect visual of the color.

Catching myself staring into them, my cheeks warm and I look back to his hair. His eyes shift around every now and then so he's not doing a constant stare, but his focus is pretty clear.

"More or less what happened to you. Mine were this color, just a darker shade. After my change, it was like a light had been turned on behind them."

I nod, that's pretty much what went on with mine. Circling back around, I try recalling what I was originally answering and talking about.

"Alright, I'm all turned around, where was I?"

It's Bastion that reminds me as he watches both my hands now weave through the maned wolf’s head. If he starts rolling over with a kicking leg and wanting belly rubs, I'm so outta here.

"Asher seems to think that even if he hadn't interfered, I would've been fine, but I'm not so sure. He wasn't there when it happened. He was around sometime later though because he'd followed the man that took my unconscious body from the floor just inside the front door."

Bright eyes come back to me.

"The bloodstain, that's what it's from?"

I nod. Since the blood had been there for around 72 hours, it soaked in pretty good. Was a congealed goo when I had come in with Bastion that night. Even then, I was so focused on other things that it didn't get cleaned up till way later.

"That's a very big area."

Doesn't sound like he believes me, so to save time and doubt, I show him. Looking to Bastion and asking if he would like to know, so he can understand the events leading up to my finding him, he nods slowly, closing his eyes.