Forging Ties (Ties, Book 3) | ✓

Chapter 2

Duran didn't actually go to the beach because there were way too many people there already. Instead, he found an old, barely visible road and followed it up through the trees. Maybe he should have been worried about getting lost, but it was easy enough to find somewhere he could see The Spire from so he wasn't too worried.

Also, he had a swarm of pixies stalking him. They seemed fascinated by his hair, constantly flying around his face and tugging at clumps of it. If it wasn't going to get him laid, he was cutting it off.

Duran found a small creek that flowed down towards the ocean and sat down on a big rock that rested along its bank. He really shouldn't mope about not being able to do exactly what he wanted. It was silly to be sad when he'd grown up expecting to be nothing but a slave and spent the last year of his life sitting alone in a room, waiting for the next time his master felt like using him.

Just being able to sit and listen to the burble of this creek should have been enough. Being with Danya and Fanner, being free, those things should have been enough. Maybe he was just broken inside, cursed to seek until he found something he couldn't have so that he'd have something to be sad about.

Or perhaps he was just in the mood to wallow in self pity. He didn't think he was a particularly miserable person by nature. He'd found happiness in worse situations than this.

Duran watched as a brown and grey wolf ran up to the creek some distance from where he was sitting and drank from the water. It was odd how quickly he'd become comfortable seeing such massive beasts roaming around. It should have been scary, but at this point it just wasn't.

The wolf had noticed Duran, and it headed up the creek bank towards him. It was Slone, Duran realised now that he was closer. The hairless section of scarring across his shoulder gave it away.

Once he reached Duran, Slone shifted. He did it far more quickly and fluidly than Yore.

"Hey," Slone said as he, completely naked, waded into the shallow creek and sat down in the middle of the clear, flowing water.

"Hello," Duran said. "Did someone send you to find me?"

"Nah, I was just wandering," Slone said. "Saw you and thought I'd wander here and see what you were up to."

"Nothing too interesting, I'm afraid."

"Yeah?" Slone asked. "Shame. I don't come out to The Spire too often, but it's a cool place. Thought maybe you'd be enjoying it."

"I went to the top. That was nice."

"Oh yeah?" Slone said. "Maybe I should head up before I go. It's been a while."

"Where are you going?"

Slone shrugged and splashed water up over his chest. "I'm a wanderer. I travel around and I see what I see. If I tried to go somewhere, I'd probably just get distracted on the way and never make it."

"I wish I could go with you. Wandering sounds nice. I guess you probably wouldn't want me to even if you could keep me balanced, though. You're a werewolf. I'd slow you down."

"It's not always such a bad thing to be slowed down," Slone said. "You miss a lot when you go fast, but it ain't always easy to go slow just for the sake of it."

"You'd really take me with you if you could? You're not just saying that because you know you won't have to?"

"Nah," Slone said, water running down his body as he stood up and walked over to where Duran was sitting. He sat down on the pebbly bank of the creek next to the rock Duran was sitting on. "Lying makes things too complicated. I say what I mean."