Page 85 of All That Has Flown Beyond
Kaiyo stepped outside, giving them some privacy. He leaned his head back, looking at the stars gratefully.
That was family. Not because they shared blood or even pack ties, but because they could look at each other and say, “I see you, and I love you as you are.”
*****
Isla seemed even more nervous to tell the rest of the pack but just as brave. Ahmik especially, as Isla’s Kephale, seemed to shake her the most.
Isla burst into tears when they all welcomed her. Ahmik held her at once.
“Hey. We love you as you are, Isla.”
“I don’t know what I am,” Isla hiccupped.
“You’re pack. You’re the one who got us to build that desk and cabinet, and the best leader we’ve ever seen in training—the one who is working harder than I’ve ever seen with Kaiyo. You are what you are, it doesn’t have to have a name. We love you every which way.”
When the tide of emotion subsided, Isla was able to say that she wanted to stick with female pronouns for now, but to start wearing more boyish clothes, and to manipulate her scent with a charm Kaiyo had been working on to make it gender-neutral without masking its essence. The pack agreed readily.
When Emil and Thea left, taking an exhausted Isla with them, Ahmik had surprised Kaiyo by hugging him tightly.
“Thank you,” Ahmik said.
“That was all Isla.”
“Still. Thank you for being there for her.”
Kaiyo just held him back.
**********
With the steady improvement in the team-building training, Kaiyo advanced to working with the adults to enhance their ability to protect themselves and the land if an enemy passed territory lines.
The pack had been busy renewing ties with nearby packs, extending invitations for spring. In combination with the wards Kaiyo had set up in summer, there had been no threats since Kaiyo had been tied to the land. Kaiyo suspected his presence also had something to do with that. A pack with a shaman was more of a threat, especially one as well-known as Kaiyo.
Now, Kaiyo ran through the forest. His muddled scent and heartbeat, the use of decoys in the forms of animals wearing his scent, his tactic of keeping downwind and asking the land to keep his tread silent. The werewolves tracking him had physical advantages, but Kaiyo had plenty of tricks of his own.
Kaiyo froze as he heard, or simply sensed, someone approach. Despite Kaiyo’s confidence, this wasn’t the first time he’d tested the Garrow pack by asking them to track him, and it was only a matter of time before they cracked his methods.
Kaiyo breathed slowly, soundlessly. As if he had animal instincts of his own, he knew it was Ahmik nearing him. Kaiyo’s heart started pounding for the first time in the game, silent behind his charm. All of a sudden, Kaiyo felt hunted.
It wasn’t an unpleasant thought.
Recklessly, Kaiyo darted forward, hearing Ahmik follow only a second later. This may be Ahmik’s forest, but he couldn’t listen to it like Kaiyo could. Kaiyo had grown up there too, and it told him exactly where to go.
Despite Ahmik’s speed, Kaiyo kept ahead of him. He jumped swiftly over logs, squeezing his slimmer body through gaps that caused Ahmik to backtrack and circle. He hid with bated breath behind rocks until Ahmik passed and then went in the opposite direction, grinning to himself when Ahmik realized and had to turn around.
Kaiyo could feel the earth thrum under him. It remembered them as children. It had felt their love when they were together, and the rupture when Kaiyo was forced to leave.
And Kaiyo, he was forced to remember too. In his blood, his bones, his straining muscles. What it had been like, to not have to be chased by Ahmik because they already belonged to each other.
Maybe the earth was playing games with him, because Kaiyo suddenly met a rock façade, having to come to an abrupt halt. It only took him a few seconds to choose a new direction, but it was all Ahmik had needed.
Kaiyo was tackled to the ground, not missing how Ahmik wrapped his arms around Kaiyo’s back to soften the blow. He was pinned down suddenly, however, staring up at a grinning Ahmik.
“Got you!” Ahmik cried out happily.
Kaiyo tried to roll his eyes. Tried to make a joke of it, or buck Ahmik off, but his brain was caught in the rush of his blood. The adrenaline of the chase was making everything race through him. The cold felt almost like its own heat on his flushed skin.
Ahmik’s body was pressed against his. The werewolf was panting too, and their breaths manifested between them. Ahmik’s smile smoothed out into something more serious. Intent.
