Bessa

Interludes

"With the weather. It's going to snow in a few hours. The first storm of Winter." His hands don't stop as he looks right at me. He's not affected by the cold. Bare arms, torso only covered by the loincloth. His hair is pulled up in a knot. The sides shaved down to the skull.

His hands now still.

The rise and fall of his chest are becoming deeper, heavier.

"Should I not go to Eta's house today?" Looking up at the sky.

"I think you should be fine; it shouldn't be bad for a while. If it becomes of significance, then I'll walk you home." He stands, stretching out his back. The muscles tighten, relax underneath the canvas of skin that is splattered with blood and gore.

"Do you need help?"

Again, his smile pulls at my edges. Tugging the corners up.

"Not yet. Have a good visit. I'll take care of this." He takes a few more logs putting it on the fire that is raging as he burns some things that can't be eaten from the carcass.

He drops on all fours, mimicking his Wild.

Odin laughs. His head pulls up from the blanket.

Watching intently then laughing again.

A nose nudges his Male, sniffing before kissing him on the cheek with a goodbye.

He doesn't stop his mimicry as he nudges my leg with his forehead. A kiss placed on my thigh. A kiss placed on my hip, up my ribs. Pressing into the space between bone and cartridge. He keeps his mouth there, inhaling.

"I should go." Stepping away, slowly.

Odin gets picked up, and we walk away from the Savage and his work.

There is a drop in temperature as soon as we get to Eta's house. It's the same build as mine. The same structure outside but much different inside.

It's like Luki's house, full of color, life. Laughter can be felt within the walls.

"Luna Bessa, welcome."

Cheek to cheek.

Orva stands, reaching out to Odin but drops her hands quickly.

"Sorry, I forgot." Her voice trails downward, at the floor. She has seen the way the top of Odin's hands get stung red with the way the slap comes to them. His tiny fingers ball up in fists as he screams with pain.

Even at this young age, Odin now knows not to reach out to any female. He regards them with suspicion. The bringers of pain. He eyes them leery, with no smile to meet their faces. Punishment needs to be fast with stinging pain to his fingertips, to the top of his hands. If he touches a female that is not his family, even at this age. The pack will end him.

Borson's mother showed me on her Male.

"Hold out your hand, Borson." His mother said in a voice that is hard without any give to it.

The Savage was reluctant, a shift of his jaw. He didn't do it immediately. His breathing was becoming rapid, flightly. He stepped backward; fist clenched, jaw tight.

"Your hand." Demanding, her violence growing as each second passed with her Male not doing as she says.

When he put his hand out, there was a tremor to it. He couldn't hold it still. His eyes closed. The stinging force she used on him would leave skin red, raw if it weren't a canvas of ink that blots out the color of flesh. I don't think it hurt the Savage now; it's the memory of the pain I think what is happening. The former Luna instructed me that punishment has to be severe, so Odin stops reaching for things he has no business touching.