Page 10 of Havoc's Fox

“And?” Analise prodded, knowing there was more.

Tempest shrugged. “And what?”

“What aren’t you saying?”

“You’re far too intuitive for your own good,” Tempest said.

“It’s part of being the daughter of a healer. I’ve got way too much empathy. I can even pick up some emotional imprints on the antiquities I’m restoring from time to time if they were handled enough.”

“Really?”

“Oh, yeah. I’ve learned to brace myself anytime I pick something up, even with the gloves on.”

“That must be both a blessing and a curse.”

“It is. A lot of heartbreak, but a lot of happiness, too. Life really never changes that much. No matter the century, even thousands of years ago, people felt the same things they do now, experienced the same things they do now, just with a different backdrop. They worried for their families, struggled to feed them, protect them. Some fought for wealth and land and power, while others just wanted to be left alone and free to live what they thought was best. The only things that ever change are the inanimate things surrounding them.”

“And the people ruling them,” Tempest said.

“True, very true.”

“What were you a thousand years ago?” Tempest asked.

Analise looked closely at the woman, her new Alpha-ess so to speak, and was acutely aware that she’d not asked what she thought she’d been in the past, or would have been if given the choice, she asked what she’d been, which meant they were of a similar mind in the ways that our souls navigated the universe. “I was a priestess, I believe. Protecting the things that were important to our people and our leaders.”

“Or maybe a goddess of sorts,” Tempest said.

“Oh, I’m pretty sure that was you,” Analise said with a grin.

“No,” Tempest said doubtfully, shaking her head, “I was a warrior, leading my sisters into battle for the greater good!”

Analise laughed delightedly. “I can see that.”

“Me, too.”

They sipped their eggnog and relaxed in one another’s company as did the rest of the family. Everyone sat around, nibbling on whatever was nearest to them on the trays set out on the tabletops laden with appetizers, sipping their beverage of choice, just glad to all be together in one place again.

“You know, I think no matter what we’ve been before, a part of whatever power we’ve attained, whatever wisdom we’ve managed to understand, stays with us to strengthen us in the next,” Tempest said.

“I’d like to think so,” Analise agreed.

“I also think that no matter how hard we try, we’re always a part of something greater. There are just places, and souls, that we’re tied to. No matter where we wander, we’ll always be pulled toward home, no matter where, or even who, that may be.”

Analise looked Tempest directly in the eyes.

“Sometimes we have to go through a lot of pain in order to find ourselves, to remember our places at one another’s sides and remember what’s really important.”

Analise watched Tempest quietly for a moment more before she decided to answer her. “And sometimes that call toward the ‘home’ you speak of, shatters every belief we ever had of belonging somewhere in particular. And that pain teaches us that no matter what level of love may have existed, may still exist, the soul-sucking, life-altering, heart-stopping pain it once caused, isn’t worth the risk again.”

“But it can only hurt that deeply if the love was true.”

“Maybe. But one can only survive that kind of pain once in a lifetime. I’ve already hit my limit.”

“Dinner’s ready!” Delilah called out.

Everyone started moving toward the dining room, past ready to eat.

“It smells wonderful,” Tempest said conversationally to Analise.

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