noun ~ something that occurs or is done again

CHARLIE

Something's wrong.

I feel it before I understand it.

It hits me like a jolt under the skin; sharp, sudden, and impossible to ignore. My head snaps up, ears pricking forward as the forest around us falls into an uneasy quiet. Calida freezes ahead of me, her body rigid, her muscles tightening beneath her fur as she lowers her head. Her ears twitched, a low rumble escaping her as they flattened to her head.

Yeah.

She feels it too.

I shift my weight, claws digging into the damp earth beneath me, my senses stretching outward. The snowy season was quickly disappearing, and in its wake the dirt was soggy and sunken. Every weight of my paws sank into the damp soil, curling my lips up with annoyance. But the forest smells the same: wet bark, old leaves, the faint trace of something rotting far off to the east.

Nothing new.

Nothing immediate.

And yet, something is off.

A pressure builds at the back of my mind, faint but persistent. Like something is trying to push through a wall that's been standing too long. I still, focusing on it, trying to understand it. It feels familiar, and I ponder what it could be.

It felt oddly like a bond, but who? Who was trying to reach me from this great distance? Was... was it Calida's bond?

I focused on her as she patrolled our sleeping area, her teeth bared as she warned off invisible enemies. My ears swung forward, noticing every huff of breath that left her, but...no, it wasn't her.

Was it back home? I haven't felt it properly in months, almost to the point I forgot what it feels like. Not since I left, not since everything went to shit. It's always been there, sure. Like a faint thread barely tethering me to the earth I was standing on. Or this case this winter, sank upon.

It was distant and quiet, like a voice underwater. I haven't severed my ties with Blood Moon, but the betrayal of leaving them behind made it difficult to notice.

But this... this is different.

It tightens suddenly, sharp enough to make my breath hitch. It felt an awful lot like a warning.

My breath hitches, and I rise from where I lingered to point my nose east. It's been a while since I truly sought out scents at such a great distance; Calida covered most of the wild things, and it's going to take me a moment to sort through what I was feeling.

I hoped it wasn't anything too dangerous. The thought hits harder than I wanted it too, it always did, and a soft whine escapes me when I smell nothing. Calida eyes me curiously, but I shake my head, pacing once, twice, trying to shake the feeling off.

It doesn't go, it only simmers.

Thankfully, we don't linger here long, subconsciously following the trail left by a certain ginger-haired lycan. She leads the way as usual, trekking through various mountains and hillsides until we reach the more southern part of the central territory. Spring must be approaching, and I notice how eagerly the grass springs back beneath the melted snow.

Despite the distraction of running from sunrise to dinner, I can't shake the feeling of uncertainty. Calida notices, growling when I don't finish my food. But with a sharp snarl in her direction, I tell her to back off. She huffs, nostrils flaring as she paces in a circle before plopping down onto her rear.

Making sure the coast it clear, I shift to my human skin. I groan as my bones pop and ache, hating being forced into my sore form. But I had to push through it, no matter how much my soul wants to forget its humanity.

A few times I have had to catch myself from drifting away. I couldn't afford to go rogue. Going rogue meant losing my mind; my inhibitions, and in turn, losing everything I was fighting to keep.

I'd hoped the nagging feeling calmed once I shifted into my duller senses, but it only seems to get worse. My heart hammers heavily in my chest, and I wince as a sharp headache pinches my temples.

My voice is rough as I speak. "Where are we?"

Calida huffs, almost mocking, because we both know she cannot speak to me. Her wolf had calmed so much in the past few weeks that a sense of humanity often peeked through. I wondered if it was here, or if it was someone else entirely.

Perhaps she had a sense of trauma-based amnesia?

After a while of watching me slumped against a tree, naked as the day I was born, Calida huffs sharply and rises. I watch her as she paces in a tight circle before stopping again. Her tail flicks, agitated, her head snapping toward the trees; back the way we came.

Or... not quite...

I frown, watching her as her ears swivel like radar. I couldn't hear much, but then again... I swear that sounded like... footsteps. Human ones.

Closer. Much closer than we anticipated.

My brow furrows. "That's not..."

We've been wandering for months. No direction, no path, until most recently, and even then Calida made it appear I was insane for imagining a path. We were just moving when it felt right, stopping when it didn't.

But now, now it feels like we've arrived somewhere. Or rather, somewhere arrived to us.

I take a few steps forward, testing the air again. And there it is, footsteps crunch, a person approaching us slowly but with no distinct pattern to their steps. It almost sounds like an everyday hike through the woods; each step random and uncontrolled.

Calida growls, but the scent of the approaching person makes me stand to my feet. My body shakes with momentum, my vision swinging sideways at the force. But she listens, somehow, someway, she listens.

A feminine, herby scent brushes through the undergrowth, and despite my beast lingering at the surface of my mind, he stays calm.

'Witch,' he grunted. 'Is friend?'

I cocked my head as she broke into our immediate space, but then it all came back to me. The flowery, herby scent hidden beneath thralls of magic belongs to one old woman I never thought I'd see anytime soon.

"Gaia," I breathed.

The woman looked worse for wear. Her cheeks were more sunken, deep bangs dragging her eyes down her face with exhaustion. She was thinner, too, and it only made her short stature appear older.

"Charlie." She smiled, though it didn't reach her eyes.

This wasn't a powerful witch anymore. It was a woman torn apart by the world until she was nothing but shattered bones and skin, and spat back out, told to put herself back together.

"What are you doing here?" I wondered.

She glanced at my mate, who growled with warning. Despite my nudity, I stepped before Calida, shielding her scowls from view. She was hard to read still, but for now, she was calm.

Perhaps Gaia enchanted her for our sake.

"I should ask you that, dear." She chimed, stepping closer.

Her brown eyes were dark, empty of that mischievous spark she always held.

"We were just... travelling."

She hummed, cocking a brow. "So close to home?"

My lips parted, confusion numbing my brain. "I... I just follow."

"A beta following a rogue?" She cocked her head. "Are you going to let her push you around forever, Charlie?"

My wolf rumbled with agitation; he was less attached to Calida than I was. Since she turned and blatantly avoided the mate bond, his affection dimmed. But he didn't think like me; he didn't feel what I felt for so many months. I still felt the bond, but without a wolf bond, he didn't care as much.

I couldn't just leave her.

"I see, dear, trust me, I see." Gaia approached, patting my arm. "You're here for a reason."

"Honestly, no-

"She led you both here. Maybe she knows." Gaia looked around me, focusing her gaze on the feral wolf behind me.

"I wouldn't, Gaia. She-

"Hush, boy." She waved her hand at me.

Calida towered over the older woman, her ears pinned back, hackles raised as Gaia stopped before her. She was close, too close, and I worried Calida would swallow her whole with one bite.

"Does she remember anything?" Gaia wondered, lifting her hand to touch her.

I remained still, gobsmacked as Gaia's hand stroked through the soft fur on Calida's chest. The wolf continued to rumble, teeth bared and gums showing, but she didn't make a move to attack.

"Charlie?" Gaia wondered.

I blinked, shaking my head clear of my shock. "I don't know. She's... calmed over winter."

Gaia hummed, patting the beast before stepping away and approaching me again. "I've never witnessed a human turn into a wolf, but I'd say dying and coming back to life can't be easy. I think she is unaware that she even has a human form."

Like a thread snapped, Calida's head dropped, her teeth snapping together almost painfully towards the smaller woman. But she seemed to hit a wall, unable to approach, so settled on pacing angrily in a line.

That made sense.

I had thought Calida had a change of nature for a moment, but it turned out Gaia just froze her.

Witches.

"She just needs to shift back. She needs something big and harsh to turn that part of her back on." Gaia shrugged.

"You say that as if you know more than any of us do."

She shrugged, and the action looked almost painful. "I can see things, Charlie. Things beneath the skin. Things that don't show on the surface."

I swallowed, eyeing her with keen judgement as she circled me. Calida growled as she moved behind me, but the sound softened once Gaia was back before me.

"She definitely feels something for you." Gaia stated. "She doesn't like me near you."

"She has a funny way of showing affection." I muttered, and Calida rumbled in response.

Gaia smiled, a genuine quick of her lips that brightened her eyes. "Oh, there you are."

I frowned again, staring at her as if she had lost her mind. Perhaps she finally had.

"What?"

"Nothing, dear." She smiled again, sadder this time. "Isn't it time you went home?"

Why was she even here? Just to poke fun at me about what I can't have.

Looking over at the skyline through the trees, I could see the vast expanse of trees and land from the top of this hill. The niggling came back, stabbing me right in the sternum.

"No," I exhaled.

She hummed, dismissive. "Okay, then. I'll be out of your fur."

Utterly confused, I stared at the woman as she turned and started to walk away. Her home was nowhere near here. We weren't even within ten miles of Blood Moon's land, despite its magnificent size.

"Why did you come over here?" I asked.

"Just... wandering, Charlie." She waved her hand but didn't turn around. "But I think it's time for me to go back now. I have loose ends to tie up, don't you think? It's my time."

My mouth parted, unsure of what she was implying. Gaia, and witches alike, always spoke as if they knew the universe. But the dull ache kept coming back, urging me, insisting that I pay attention. And by the time I looked away from the skyline, Gaia was gone.

Calida huffed, scraping her feet in the soil. I swallowed, ignoring the weird feeling Gaia's departure left behind. Shaking my head, I knew Calida wanted to keep moving; pissed off that the witch touched her. So, with a ripple of energy and a creaking of bones, I fell back onto four paws, and we started to run through the trees.

Again.