Broken Fairy Tales

19

Laurel and Ash both turned and smiled at Sky and I as we entered the room again. Their faces lighting up like a sunrise. Laurel was sat in a large chair, Delia beside her, and her other mates hovering nearby. Even the tall dark man who seemed to be much more than the human he looked and smelled like.

Ash was near by to Laurel, conjuring snacks and drinks for everyone, smiling as she chatted animatedly with the two other women. While I was outside meditating, Ash's feelings had settled into an anxious joyful feeling. The juxtaposition of the two warring emotions was strange, but fitting. Sky had gone directly to Laurel, and folded himself to sit on the floor at her feet, his long white braid pulled over his shoulder.

As I moved to follow, to be near Ash, I watched as Laurel undid her mates braid, running her fingers through the long white strands, as Sky purred under her attention as she rebraided his hair for him. Brydel the tattooed wolf was basically feeding Delia grapes and cheese and crackers while she sat with Laurel. I could hear him as he urged her to eat, reminding her that the morning sickness was worse when she was hungry. Then all the mates were doting on Delia, backing up Brydel as their joy radiated from them. That baby was going to have more love in its life than I had ever known.

Then I felt Ash, just for a second. Jealousy. Followed by shame and guilt that she quickly buried again. I thought in my head, saving her from more embarrassment. It's ok to see what they have, and want it. We'll have a family too someday, and thanks to you we could have dragons.

"Or wolves" she said, looking back over her shoulder, up into my eyes, smiling while I knew she was thinking of fat little babies, our future together and what it might look like. I felt her joy, how she calmed under my touch, pulling strength from me that I didn't know I had. She stayed calm and now almost serene as she watched the complicated polyarmous family in front of us. While my heart continued to break. If we had children, they wouldn't be wolves, because I wouldn't be one. "Rin seems tense, you guys should run tonight." She said looking at me again, I savored feeling her in my arms, how content I could tell she was with me.

Brydel and Sky both looked up at her words, "We could do with a run too, if you didn't mind us tagging along." Brydel said with a smile, rolling his broad shoulders making the bones crack as he stretched before leaning down to steal a kiss from Delia. Then Laurel, before they made their way over. Ash teleported us to a wooded area near where she had lived as a child. I was peaceful and the air was clear. The woods teemed with small birds and game.

Rin was antsy, as were the other wolves. Ash told us she would come back to this spot at midnight to take us home again. If we wanted to leave sooner, I only had to think it and she would come for us. With a kiss, she vanished into the air. Leaving us alone. Brydel and Sky were both shocked how how smooth the teleporting was, both tended to get sick while traveling that way. "She's like Laurel was" they both said, thinking about their frail mate and how she compared to my Ash.

I wanted to ask what had happened, but was too caught up in my own current struggle to risk taking on their past. Already knowing somehow that it was a story I couldn't cope with right now. Brydel was bouncing on his toes as he stripped off his clothes and shifted smooth and seamless.

Sky's shift took longer. My own fell in between. I let Rin take control, and three of us howled at the moons before taking off into the thick forrest. Mud and moss under our paws as we chased each other around trees through the low rolling hills of the woods.

Meanwhile at Laurel's palace turned refugee center for dragons, Laurel, Delia, Auris, and Ash were hard at work, cementing the wording of the spell Ash would use with Auris's help to fix what her ancestors had broken.

"You're sure that you want to do this? The true price of a spell this massive is unknowable" Delia said, her empath skills had been a little off since she became pregnant, but she was still able to tell that her newest friend was on edge. Would have been able to tell even without her gift from how tightly strung Ash was.