Martin

Time passes, as time does, and things return to normal — or as normal as they get for a father of four little werewolves in love with a man from the sea.

Somehow, Sky explains his unplanned absence to the school (Who am I kidding? He used his Voice.), and resumes teaching with barely a hiccup.

The students are delighted to have him back. He's one of those teachers everyone loves, a favorite inspiring many an innocent crush. If I were Miguel's age, I'd have crushed on him hard, for sure. Unfortunately, Nico and Rio have entered a certain phase in their development when possessive tendencies come to light, and loudly proclaim to anyone who will listen that Sky is their new dad, and that they'll fight anyone who touches him. I have to take them aside for a talk.

Flora never had any trouble, and Miguel is something different entirely, but Nico and Rio have strong wolves. Some wolf traits translate to the human world just fine — devotion, loyalty, familial bonds — but others aren't received as well. The dose makes the poison, as they say, and too much of anything can be toxic — even water. A dash of protectiveness is endearing; full on possessiveness, much less so.

Emotional regulation and proper education are key. In my experience, wolves raised to respect the autonomy of others do much better than those who are taught that their mate will 'belong' to them. Nico and Rio are smart boys with good hearts, and fortunately still young enough to listen to their dad, and they understand well enough. Sky tells me he still catches them growling under their breath in class sometimes, but they've stopped following him everywhere like a pair of little guard dogs, at least.

The students aren't the only ones who adore Sky, though, and he gets plenty of attention from other parents as well. I'm inclined to growl myself when I catch the moms ogling him the parking lot.

He takes matters into his own hands, however, and makes it clear I have no reason to be jealous. The first time he accompanies me to a school meeting, earning curious glances from parents who wonder why he's not sitting with the other teachers, he takes my hand in his, raises it to his lips, and kisses it.

My face is on fire for the rest of the meeting, but so is my heart.

It's with gestures like this, little things every day, that Sky truly heals the broken pieces of my soul.

When I wake at the crack of dawn, ready to bolt from bed and get the kids up for school, he pulls me back down and holds me for another hour, reminding me that I'm not alone anymore, and I don't have to do everything myself.

The kids, as he points out, are perfectly capable of handling some responsibilities of their own. We divide domestic duties equitably, and while there are still the usual conflicts and arguments, by and large the household becomes a well-oiled machine. Soon I forget what it feels like to be tired and stressed out of my mind all the time, and one day it dawns on me that 'happy' is my new normal.

So I definitely notice when Sky starts acting strangely.

It begins when he hangs back after school one day, letting the kids walk home alone. In itself, that's no big deal — I know he has work of his own to do — but when he hides things from me, I get worried.

I catch him making furtive phone calls twice, and he shuts his laptop so fast when I enter the room I can't help but imagine the worst.

Finally, after the third time he's gone for a whole day, 'running errands,' I confront him as he's getting ready to walk the kids to school.

"Can you be a few minutes late today?" I ask, hovering nervously near the door.

He laughs and checks that the kids are out of earshot. "You'll drain me dry at this rate, sweetheart. You've got to give a man a chance to recover."

I flush. He'd started it — waking me up like that.

"I want to talk to you," I say.

He comes and wraps his arms around my waist, kissing me between the eyes. "Can it wait until the afternoon? I promised the drama teacher I'd help her paint sets this morning."

"Her?" I frown. Sky has never given me any reason to think he'd ever stray, much less that he's attracted to women, but I can't help fearing he's come to his senses and realized I'm not enough, after all.

Reading my thoughts, he smirks. "Don't tell me you're jealous. You're all I want, and all I need, as the love songs say. I'll sing one to prove it, if you like."

"Don't," I say, a little too quickly. "Please, Sky. I love you and I trust you, but I need you to show me, not tell me. Right now you're showing me that you're too distracted to have a proper conversation and won't take the time to explain why. I'm... concerned, is all," I add, ending in a whisper.

He sighs, and the humor drains from his face.

"And I thought I was being so clever, too," he says, "all because I didn't want to make you worry. I've gone and made you worry, haven't I?"

"Maybe a little," I admit, trying and failing not to sound completely pathetic.

Smiling, he pulls me into a closer embrace. "Serves me right for trying to hide something from a Wolf. Very well, I'll show you, but it's going to take some time. Let me get the children to school, and I'll be back. I'll take a personal day and make it up to Ms. Valentino later."

He lets me go and turns to leave, and I catch his arm. "Wait, Sky. I don't want to make you miss work. I'm sorry. We can talk later, I'm sure."

At the moment, his is the only source of income between the two of us while I try to revitalize my writing career. It's true he doesn't need to worry about money, but the less of a burden I am the less guilty I'll feel.

"Nope." He crinkles his nose and touches the end of it to mine in a very wolfish gesture. "You're quite right. I wanted to surprise you, but it's become a secret, and there are no secrets between us, Martin Hunter. Only love, and trust."

With another quick kiss, he's out the door and gone.

〜〜〜

"Where are we going?" I ask, peering out the window of his van as we wend our way up into the mountainous region outside of town. We've left the fancy vacation neighborhoods, the campgrounds and parks, and even the more frequented hiking areas behind, and are in real wild territory now. This late in the year, with only a few weeks until the end of it, there's already patchy snow on the ground, and the deciduous trees have shed their leaves long ago.

"Almost there," he says, and turns off onto a dirt lane. A little ways down it, he has to get out and un-chain a gate with NO TRESPASSING and PRIVATE PROPERY signs hanging from it. That he somehow has the key to the padlock that opens it strikes me as odd.

"What the hell, Sky?" I ask as he gets back in the vehicle. "What is this?"

"Just a bit further," he says.

I stay quiet as the van bumps along over the rutted, rocky track, through old pines and along the side of a long, broad meadow. At the end of this, the road takes a turn and slips between the arms of two ridges, into a patch of open land sheltered by high, rocky buttes. At the far end of this, he pulls up before a beautiful, ranch-style home surrounded by a number of smaller cabins, like an old-style lodge resort. The place looks abandoned, though there are signs of recent work. The roof looks new, and there's an inspector's tag hanging from the porch. As we get out, surrounded by the complete natural quiet of undisturbed land, I look around, at a loss.

"What is this place?"

Sky rubs the back of his neck, and pulls a piece of paper from his back pocket with his other hand. Unfolding it, he hands it to me.

It takes me several read-throughs to really understand what I'm looking at, but when I do, my knees go weak and I almost fall.

"Whoa!" Sky lunges and catches me. "Is it that bad?"

"Bad?" I gasp, tears stinging my eyes and my breath catching in my chest. "Sky... this is..."

It's too much, honestly.

Ten thousand acres, placed in a land trust. There are multiple trustees — the entire Hunter family, in fact — but my parents are the primary owners.

"Dr. Thorne and I got to thinking," Sky says, supporting me with one arm as he guides me to sit on the bottom step of the porch.

"A dangerous pastime." I laugh breathlessly.

He winks. "I know. Anyway, we thought that, as honorary members of the Hunter Pack, we ought to do something to contribute, somehow; and, as your parents have recently given up their territory to Fae control, we thought a fresh start might be in order."

"You... bought this place?"

"It's an old ranch," he says. "Fallen into disrepair and unused for the last two decades. It was up for auction, and a logging company had its eye on it. There were some... What do you call 'em? 'Eco-warrior' type parents up in arms about it, which is how I found out. They were trying to raise funds to turn it into a nature reserve, which would never happen. But as Wolf territory? Now, that's safe."

I lean my head against his shoulder, tears dripping onto the papers, which shake in my trembling hands. "Do my parents know?"

"They do," Sky confirms. "Ambrose and I made sure to do things right. We consulted with Dane, and with your mother and father, to be sure this was both desired and acceptable, before we proceeded with the purchase and all the legal details."

"Why didn't you tell me?" I sniff.

Sky rubs my arm. "I... wanted to surprise you, Martin. I'm sorry. I should have told you sooner. Probably from the very start. Are you alright?"

I wipe my eyes. "More than alright. I can't... I just can't..."

At that point, I completely break down, my internal walls crumbling, and end up sobbing helplessly in his arms for a good fifteen minutes.

So much of what happened — everything that led up to my father relinquishing the Alpha to Dane, and the loss of our land — was at least partly my fault. My fault, which I've carried for so long, and which by pure chance, grace, and love, has now been remedied.

When I'm quiet at last, calm except for small tremors that run through my frame like little aftershocks, Sky kisses the side of my head and pushes me away from him so he can look at me.

"Your parents want to make this place a haven. Not just for wolves, but for all sorts of people. People who might not otherwise have a home. I'm sure they'll explain more when they get here, but in the meantime..." He grins. "Would you like a tour?"

〜〜〜

An hour later I am, if anything, even more overwhelmed.

The house is spacious and beautiful, the land is sublime, and the outlying cabins will provide both privacy and sanctuary for family and beyond.

"Have my parents seen it yet?" I ask as we make our way back out to where he'd parked the van.

"Just pictures," Sky says, shrugging nonchalantly. "You think they'll approve?"

I swallow thickly. "Yeah. Yeah, I think so." They've been living in a trailer for the past year since the family home burned down. This will be something of an upgrade. "Do the kids know?"

Sky shakes his head. "No. I was hoping to surprise you all at once, at Yule. That's when your mom and dad are due to fly out. Your brother — Dane, that is — explained that you Wolves celebrate the solstice over other holidays."

I nod. "The longest night, and then the dawn."

He wraps his arms around my shoulder, hugs me close, and releases his breath in a sigh. "I just love you so much, Martin. I want to give you the world. I'm sorry if I did this wrong."

"You didn't. I'm sorry I'm such a suspicious son of a bitch."

He laughs. "You've a right to be."

I push away from him. "I'd like to give you something, too," I say.

"Oh?" He lifts a brow as I shed my jacket and set it aside.

Smiling, I say nothing more as I strip off the rest of my clothes until I stand before him, completely naked. Then, I Shift and show him my Wolf.

〜〜〜

Two weeks later, on the night of the solstice, the whole family is gathered in the same place. A bonfire roars in the clearing in front of the great house, and a whole pack of Wolves is ready to Shift and run across snow covered ground.

Dane is magnificent, with his long locs braided down his muscular back; Freya stands clad in furs at his side. Monty and Kit make a charming pair — one a giant, the other lithe and graceful as the fox he is. Sasha and Ingrid, both as yet unmated, hold hands, while Noah and Ambrose keep a little apart. Even Travis made the journey from Portland for this with his mate, Chiaki, whose children Sky minds alongside ours.

Ours.

The thought makes me smile, and I glance his way and catch his eye.

He smiles back at me, and I draw a breath and look towards the other two Wolves in attendance: my mom and dad.

They return my smile, and incline their heads, granting me the honor of first Shift.

As I never would have dreamed of doing before, I accept it with gratitude and humility, shed my garments, and let my Wolf rise.

When the transformation is complete, I stand on four paws, panting as my breath clouds in the cold air, and find many sets of eyes widened with surprise as they fix on me.

I do a quick spin in the snow, showing off, and then take off at full speed across the plain, straight towards the rising moon.

I know why they stare. Sky told me, after I shifted for him the first time.

My fur, once a dark, mottled gray, is now white as the moon herself.

You can't go through what I've gone through and not change; I've been to hell, and I came back, and I'm not the Wolf I was.

I'm better, and stronger, and whole, and healed, and loved; and as Sky's voice whoops a cheer, urging me on, a warm certainty swells in my heart, telling me something more.

I'm not running away anymore. I'm running towards something bright as the moon above a snow-covered plain.