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Chapter 15

The next morning, after restoring the illusion keeping my scars hidden, I set to work trying to translate the book Chase brought me the previous day while waiting for breakfast to finish cooking. At first its hard to translate the runes into a context that makes sense to me seeing as how the first couple pages have been ripped out. Without those pages it takes me a bit longer to figure out what the book is trying to say.

With a soft swish the kitchen door swings open letting in Chase who quickly moves to sit down across from me with a smile on his face. I only look up for a moment to acknowledge his presence before looking back down as I ask, "Sleep well I take it?"

He chuckles softly before answering, "I think you know the answer better than I do. But yeah, it was one of the better nights I've had in a while."

Giving him a slight grin and a nod I say, "That's good to hear. Breakfast will be ready soon."

Stifling a yawn he points at the book in front of me, "Anything interesting in there?"

Letting out a slightly irritated snort I push the book away from me slightly before leaning back, "Honestly I don't know."

Chase's head cocks to the side in an unspoken question as I continue, "It is a journal like I thought, but its weird. Several pages have been torn out for some reason making it harder to follow. But from some of the entries it seems as though the writer was hunting or seeking something only to have gotten captured I think."

Chase blinks a couple times before asking, "What do you mean you think?"

Letting out a sigh I try and explain, "Well thats where it gets hard. Some of the passages talk about how they had tracked their target to a forest only for it to turn the tables and capture them instead. Though the words they used there can have many meanings in this particular writing."

After scratching behind his left ear he asks, "How can they have different meanings?"

Automatically I reach for the book and flip back a few pages and point to a line of runes, "Well it depends on the context, which I am missing from the torn pages, but this here could mean either, 'my prey contained my body by capturing my heart' or in a different way it can mean 'the enemy of my happiness quieted my unease.'"

He stares at me for a moment then says, "Well neither one makes much sense."

With a humorless snort I close the book and cross my arms, "Tell me about it. Demonic language is filled with double and triple meanings, hidden clauses, and secret understanding. Basically the only way to truly know what is being said is know everything that was said, how it was said, and the reason it was said."

His eyes blink back at me with a confused stare for a moment before he says, "Well thats complicated."

This time I really do let out a soft chuckle, "Ha ha, yeah it is. So you can imagine how frustrating it is to try and figure out a book that is missing part of the message and thats just the passages that do make sense."

He looks at me with a raised eyebrow challenging my statement with an unspoken word causing me to correct myself, "What I mean is that's the problem I'm facing for the entries that translate into sentences that are coherent, even if a bit cryptic. There are other passages that are just plain nonsense, context or not."

After letting out a yawn he couldn't hide this time he asks, "How could they be any harder to understand than that?"

I take a second to look down at the book for moment before glancing back up, "Well there was an entire page with lines like, 'two wolves poke sticks for the fun' or 'where the deer walks is home' then there's my personal favorite this morning, 'when the night is at noon, the truth will speak to its brother.'"

Chase just shakes his head and looks down, "Ok now that is just a waste of paper if you ask me."

Shrugging I cant help but agree, "It sure seems that way, but it must have meant something to someone though I cant imagine what."

For a moment we sit in silence. Chase seeming to be drifting in and out of focus from still waking up while I turn the phrases over and over in my mind trying to figure out any other possible translations. Before I can get to deep in thought however the timer on the oven goes off calling my attention back to the present. With a groan from the chair I go to pull a large pan of rolls out of the heat and set them on top of the stove.

As the smell of freshly baked bread fills the room I uncover the other plates of finished sausages, eggs, and waffles. After finishing plates for both Chase and I the sounds of opening doors soon begins to echo down the stairs as the fragrance of a hot breakfast wakes the rest of the house hold. Before long there is a steady line of wolves filling plates and giving their complements on another meal as we all dig in and enjoy.

....................

After finishing our meal Chase and I split up to go about the morning routines. While Chase heads off to start getting ready for another trip into the village for supplies I find myself standing on the front porch looking out into the forest around the house. With the snow around the house having been trampled into a muddy mess by the passing of several wolves I decide its better to just lean against the railing.

For several minutes I just stand there in the shade enjoying the soft breeze as it rustles around my ears. Closing my eyes I take a deep breath letting the smells of pine trees and winter fill my nose.

The soft clicking of the door handle and gentle creak of the hinges alerts me to another presence leaving the house. After a minute a voice breaks the silence, "Always nice to get a breath of fresh air now and again isn't it?"

I just nod as I open my eyes and see Richard leaning against the railing next to me. He watches me in silence before continuing, "Been meaning to thank you for the meals and everything else."

Shrugging dismissively I give my response, "Its nothing. Least I could do really considering your pack saved my life."

He nods thoughtfully before saying, "Well be that as it may, it's still the best we have eaten in a while."

Silence stretches out between us again before he speaks up again, "I also want to thank you for making Chase happy again."

I look at him with a raised eyebrow, "Oh? Don't know that I've done all that much."

He lets out an exasperated sigh, "Don't even try and fool me on that one. Aside from the fact that every nose in the house can smell that you two finally gave in and spent a night together."

I cringe inwardly as I realize that I forgot about the tiny detail of wolves noses being so strong as he continues, "But there is the fact that Chase was practically singing in joy this morning. Anyone who knows him as well as we do can see that he is happier now than he has been since.... Well its the happiest that he has been in a long time."

The way that Richard suddenly changes what he was saying as well as the sudden shift in his tone tells me there is more that he wanted to say. I turn to look him square on, "What do you mean? Was he not happy before?"

Richard opens his mouth to say something only to close it again and look away. I can almost smell the conflicting emotions running through him before he settles on his words, "It's not really my place to say. But Chase hasn't been truly happy for some time now and some of us were getting worried. Then you came along and a fire was lit in him that we haven't seen in years."

Watching his face I can't help but ask, "What happened to him?"

He chews on his lower lip for a second before saying, "I really shouldn't say. That's for Chase to talk about when he's ready. Its kind of a taboo thing to talk about around here to be honest. Would probably be best to let him tell you in his own time."

I start to open my mouth to try and ask more when he cuts me off, "No I wont tell you. It would be a violation of my trust with him. But I will say this though Eb, we all like you, but if for any reason you hurt Chase in any way now that he has opened his heart to you, we will not hesitate to make you pay for it."

For a moment Richard's less than subtle threat hangs in the air between us before I reply, perhaps a bit coldly, "Chase and I have discussed our feelings, and I have made it clear repeatedly that anything that might possibly develop between us can not last and I have told him why. I have no intention of causing him pain, he knows that anything which may happen will only be temporary at best."

He looks at me with a penetrating gaze before saying, "Well you may have talked about it but will you follow through with it. I just Don't want to see my alpha get hurt now that he has opened his heart again."

Im about to open my mouth and probably say something less than smart when the door opens again. Jasmine steps out onto the porch with us smiling. As she does I notice that her pregnancy has become visible as her stomach has began to swell with the pup growing with in it. She looks between Richard and myself and her smile falters slightly. As she steps up to her mate and wraps her arms around his she looks up at us and asks, "Ebony has my Richard been stirring things up again?"

Before I can answer she looks up at him and says, "Hun, Chase was wanting to talk to you about the trip to town later. Something about the rabbit furs not adding up right."

Richard lets out an exasperated chuckle, "Sometimes I wonder if he would loose his head if it wasn't attached to his neck. I'll go find them for him."

With that he extracts himself from Jasmines grip and heads back inside. After he leaves Jasmine looks up at me and says, "Don't let what Richard says bother you. He means well but is not the best with words."

I raise an eyebrow, "How do you know what he said?"

She just shakes her head with a smile, "I've been mated to that wolf for several years now, I can usually figure out what he is going to say before he says it. In this case I would imagine it would be in regards to your's and Chase's developing relationship?"

Letting out a grumbling growl I turn back to look across the yard, "There isn't much to develop. There wont be any more of a relationship than there is now."

She just shrugs and leans against the railing beside me, "Well only time will tell on that regard."

As the quite stretches out longer and longer the sounds of birds in the trees begins to drift towards us. Eventually I ask her about what Richard was saying, "Before you came out Richard said something about Chase not having been happy for a while?"

Glancing in her direction I don't notice any physical change but my nose tells me that her emotions have just taken a sharp spike. She takes a slow deep breath before saying, "I'm sure that he also said that we don't normally talk about right?"

Snorting, I reply, "Yeah he may have mentioned that."

Letting out a small laugh she says, "Yeah it's a very sensitive subject for all of us, but none more than Chase."

She places a paw on my arm drawing my gaze to meet hers as she continues, "I'm only going to say that Chase will tell you what happened when it is time."

My look of disappointment must have been more apparent than I thought because she smiled softly adding, "But I will tell you this Ebony, you have made Chase much happier than I have seen him in a very long time and for that you will have our eternal thanks."

I can't help but give her a slight grin in return, "Well I have to admit, against my better judgement, I do kind of like it here as well."

Her grin grows and she is about to say something else when I quickly cut her off, "But if I ever hear that anyone else finds out I said that I will not only deny ever saying it, but I will begin packing that day."

She chuckles, "Well what's one more secret Ebony. But you know its fairly easy to see you like it here."

Before I can reply her face scrunches up in pain and her paws wrap protectively around her swollen stomach. Unsure what to do I place a paw on her shoulder in concern, "Jasmine are you ok?"

After a moment she holds a paw up panting as she nods, "Im fine Ebony, the babies just decided to start kicking is all."

Soon she is standing up straight again smiling as her words sink in. I look from her face down to her belly then back up again, "Babies?"

She nods smiling, "Yeah, I'm going to have twins and at the rate they are growing it won't be but a couple more months."

I look at her confused, "isn't that a bit short for a pregnancy?"

Chuckling she asks, "How many pregnant wolves have you been around Ebony?"

Thinking back to my family where demon pregnancies last up to ten months I find my self just forcing a partial lie. I have been around pregnant wolf/demon hybrids just not pure blood wolves, "Er... well not any actually."

With a nod she continues, "Well most werewolf pregnancies are only around five months, and I think I was already over a month along when you arrived. So about halfway through."

As her words sink I realize that in just a couple months there will be more mouths around here wanting food. Only these mouths will be wanting fed at all hours of the night, good thing I rarely sleep as it is and that it will be their parents job to feed them.

My eyes must have glazed slightly at the thought of night time interruptions cause Jasmine tapped my shoulder, "Ebony, you there?"

I take a short sudden sniff, "Yes... sorry, was just thinking about what it will be like with pups around."

She rubs her belly softly as she smiles down at it, "Yeah, I think about it often. We haven't really had any around here before so it will be new for all of us."

She winces again saying, "My they are sure active today." She looks back up at me asking, "Want to feel?"

Before I can even answer she grabs my right paw and presses it against the front of her swollen stomach. At first I don't feel anything then a soft tapping sensation hits the pad of my paw quickly followed by another a few inches away. Without even consciously thinking about it I find my self reaching out with some of my demonic senses to try and get a feel for the young minds growing within Jasmine.

At first there is nothing then I get hit with two blinding flashes of life. They are chaotic and unformed almost primal in feeling, but at the same time perhaps the most wonderful thing I've ever felt. With a sharp breath I pull my paw free and look up at her saying, "They are a strong pair aren't they."

She nods and smiles happily, "That they are. Sometimes I think their having a major knock down fight in there."

Before I can reply though a thunderous crack shatters the air from the edge of the yard. Jasmine and I both turn in time to see a large pine dumping a mountain of snow as several branches along the right side break under the weight of it. Jasmine shudders next to me, "That was sudden, and seems like a good time to head back inside I think."

As she turns to head in side I move to follow her without taking my eyes off the broken tree, "Yeah it does...."

As I step back inside the house I still can't tear my eyes from the tree. Something about the way the limbs broke has left a nagging feeling at the back of my mind. Just as the door latches a gravely voice echoes in my mind, The snow was not heavy enough to break those branches was it.

I mutter under my breath so only I can hear my response, "No it wasn't, not even close."