Crissa's Mate

Chapter Twenty-One

Crissa and Brad stopped by the kitchen on their way back upstairs. Crissa wanted to see if she could get some idea of Lara's condition following her re-entry into this new life she had known for perhaps one or two of her some sixteen years. As the two peered through the doorway into the food preparation area, Crissa could see a touching family scene of Lara's parents standing near the seated girl. Her nakedness was still covered with the blanket and her brother Jannick was holding a plate of food for her. In the dim light, Crissa could see the girl was still disoriented and going through some obvious quiet readjustment.

As the family was unaware of Crissa an Brad's presence, witnessing the girl's return to a human existence, Lara's mother was delicately sponging off her daughter's body. She attempted to remove the grime and dirt from the natural hardships running through wilds in the forest had, for three nights and days, left on her. To Crissa, the whole scene seemed like it had become a ritual and wondered just how many of the full moons in the young girl's life she had already gone through facing these rigors.

She could only think now of David and Julie, and how they too would have to each adjust to this exceptional dual life each full moon. Would they have a family capable of such tolerance and assistance? She tried not to even imagine how their life might evolve when they passed out of the care of their immediate families and had chosen a significant other to live with—if in fact, that would ever now be in their paths.

Crissa felt Brad tugging on her arm in the kitchen doorway.

"Come on Crissa. Leave them alone. It's their own private hell now."

She allowed him to lead her away and followed him up the stairs toward their rooms. What was left of the dramatic night would be spent, as she knew, sitting or lying on her bed, feeling homesick and concerned for David and Julie.

Just then, the sound of wolves could be heard faintly once again in the distance.

Before they had even entered Crissa's bedroom, Brad directed her to follow him down the hall to the ladder leading up to the rooftop. Scaling it in the dark, and feeling her way through the narrow passage to the small door which Brad opened, Crissa could feel the cool air hit her and could see how bright it remained outside, even with the moon now waning.

As the two walked out gingerly to the edge and stared out into the village, they could see the pack of wolves, a mass of gray in the moonlight, some eighteen to twenty in all. They continued to advance quickly toward the hotel. What became obvious as the howling increased and large gray animals approached, was that they were accompanied by the form of one human.

"Oh my God, Brad! Is that Julie or David with them?"

Brad was silent, just waiting until the upright form came into better focus. It soon became obvious that the figure was a naked and muscular male. He ran with the others, but with the characteristic athletic gate of a human.

In a matter of moments, they could both see that this distinctly different creature was tall, fit,  and appearing to Crissa as a beautifully naked sculpture in the whitish moonlight.

"It's David! Brad, it's David . . . He's back!"

The assembly of wolves which seemed to willfully accompany David to the hotel, now reached the driveway amid a deafening chorus of howling and wailing which ensued in earnest. It was obviously to alert those inside at the ground level that their varkolak  brother was returning from his time with them.

"He's going to come inside. Like Lara."  Brad whispered excitedly. "They'll open the door and let him in . . . Let's go!"

Before joining Brad to scramble down the ladder, Crissa paused and looked down desperately for Julie amid the wolves. There was only one human accompanying the pack and it was obviously not a female. Before leaving the roof, Crissa scrutinized the other wolves once more which had been next to the naked young man. She looked to see if they were males or females, from their size. It came as a strange revelation to her that she would even consider this. But surprisingly, her instincts of attraction, and a new territorial feeling, dictated that she had hoped there was no sign of a female near David. And that he may not have had any intimate nearness to one from the pack was strangely comforting.

The bizarre nature of this brief investigation caused Crissa to even consider the unthinkable—that if there had been a female wolf, mate-like in her proximity to David, could it have been Julie? Still in her transmutation of a wolf? Might she be still holding on to her wolf-incarnation for whatever mysterious force it was which dictated these creatures' habits? And could she have actually bonded more intimately with David in their brief metamorphosis together over three nights?

Crissa felt elated it did not appear so, and yet she was repulsed by such considerations. What surreal world, she wondered, had she entered to even harbor such thoughts?

As David and his large male wolf comrades passed out of Crissa's view below, nearing the main door and preparing for him to be led inside, Brad stepped back on the rooftop and pulled her with force to join him in their descent. They moved down the ladder, the stairs, and quickly into the dining area where the sound of the main door was just being opened and quickly shut by their colleagues.

What Crissa and Brad witnessed as they ran into the dining hall was dramatic. There was the David they knew, but clearly consciously in some other place. He was unashamedly naked, and his body scratched, bruised and dirty. He stood in the midst of Dr. Dekker, Horst, Mary and Josh—eyes transfixed on the fire.

For the moment, as he was led into the center of the room, closer to the fireplace, Crissa saw him in his more animal self, even as a human. Muscular, with his male anatomy in full view. Just as when Lara had been brought back in, naked from the night, David seemed equally estranged. Coming back from being transported for several nights, somewhere else.

While everyone's thought were now on the absence of Julie, David was brought to the sofa and assisted to sit, while Mary took off her sweater to cover his midsection. Though he had no outward indication of modesty, Crissa was glad he was provided the covering for her own discomfort at being so close to his naked presence. Soon Horst returned from the kitchen with a blanket and a tray of food and water for him.

"Why do you suppose Julie did not come back with him," Josh quietly asked Horst for the rest of the group.

"I cannot say for certain," the proprietor answered slowly, covering David more properly with the blanket and assisting him with the glass of water.

Everyone watched helplessly, waiting for Horst to say more.

He then looked up with a calm demeanor of wisdom on his face.

"It is possible . . . as with my daughter Lara, that Julie has . . . taken a mate."

He did not look at anyone after saying this. He only continued helping David eat a large piece of roasted chicken.

"It is a very strong force these animals have . . . taking their mates," he said. "We must all accept now that Julie . . . at least when the moon is full . . . is one of them."

No one said a word.

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