Silence extends outwards to rest heavily in my ears.
Odin paces. Time ticks away.
"How do you know I'll be the next Moon?" Asking him this question makes him stop mid-stride, abruptly. His eyes flash of his internal Nature - the Wild within him is shifting, flexing the canvas of his skin.
"I saw it on my spiritual journey, Charlie."
"You took mushrooms for that journey didn't you?" Words are coming out calm, I don't feel calm.
"Yes," his eyes lock with mine. My breath stutters before asking my question.
"How do you know what you saw was real?" The words are spoken in a challenge of what he believes is his truth.
"What I saw was the truth, I saw the truth of you, Charlie. I understand now why the Moon asks us to kill all first-born female Alphas. You have the power to become the next Moon. She doesn't want to die."
"Why would I want to become the Moon, why would I want to kill our Moon?" The question holds in the air before it drops away with a heaviness.
"Would you not want to become our next, Moon?" There is a confusion that sweeps across his features.
"I don't want to kill the Moon; she's done nothing wrong."
"She wants your death?" He's testing his voice against my sternum.
"Then the Moon is like almost everyone else, isn't that right, Odin?"
"What does that mean? Do you think I want your death?" He rises to he completed height and I raise to mine.
"No, but you did. You can't deny it. You wanted to kill me that night in my bed. You were no different than the Moon at first."
"I couldn't kill my half." Odin's voice drops while looking me in the eyes.
Ancient forest greens shift shades of light to dark, while his pupils stay fixed within the small space.
"If I wasn't your half, could you have killed me as the Moon demands?" Odin halts himself, his shoulders stay straight, head back. "If you weren't my half, yes, I could kill you easily, without even a thought but that's not the case. You are my half, and my half will always be protected - no matter what, even if it's from the Moon herself." The threat of sound extends outward from the radius we are standing in to vibrate against Nature itself...to rise upward into the sky as if the Moon can hear him in her daytime slumber.
"I'm not the next Moon Odin." The sound of hesitation sits lodged in my throat, thick and heavy. Odin grabs my wrist, the pad of his thumb brushes against the tattoo where the beat of my pulse is bounding fiercely through rounded blood vessels.
Odin weaves his fingers between mine bringing the tender part of my inner wrist to his lips.
He inhales, my upper thighs shake.
Odin affects who I am.
His mouth parts, the tip of tongue takes a liberal taste of my flesh before kissing the spot where my pulse is thumping through my radial artery.
A slight tilt of his head holds my eyes with a considering look. "You will be who you want to be, Charlie." His other hand ghosts over my left shoulder trailing down my outer arm. Heat starts to bloom throughout, as he takes my other hand in his.
"What if I don't know what I want to be, Odin?" There is no loss of eye contact between us, we hold the others comfortably, easily.
His eyes are my focus.
"Then we wait until you know the path you want to walk. There's time, we have time. There is no rush." Another kiss pressed to his spot that he tends to favor. Blood rushing through veins, arteries the longer his tongue swipes at my skin. When a sharp tooth point is felt, the area of heat spreads internally - growing hotter, deeper with each passing second.
Focus I tell myself, but I do close my eyes to enjoy this, before saying in a deeper more private toned voice.
"What is your path, Odin? What path do you want to walk on?" There is pressure building in the center of my sternum - breathing coming out shorter, quicker. The beat of my heart raging inside, to the point I can almost taste the blood of it.
"My path is to be your, half. I understand this now, I'm not afraid, Charlie." Ancient forest greens are deepening in color; the black pupils are dilating, engorging threatening to consume the shade as he continue's to hold my eyes. The heat of him rushes against my skin, and there is no fighting the bond weaving its will between us.
"My half," his sound holds a curvature to the edge of lips that tilt upwards into the Odin smile that makes me keep my sight glued to his mouth now.
A compulsion of magnitude pulls at my corners to match his smile.
My half
He steps within my private radius, his chest flushed against mine. Head tilts up, his tilts down, a light taste of lips. His tongue does not shy away from entering my mouth, licking the bottom, before giving the top of my mouth a satisfying turn.
A door opens but I don't care, neither does Odin because he pulls me closer to him, our space is flush together.
"Brother," A cry comes from Elska, our space pulls apart instantly. His sister is walking hesitantly between her parents with her head down, shoulders slumped. She's holding onto both of their shirts while just a footfall behind them. Warson is holding onto his grandfather's pants. Ryeson comes from around the corner of Lana's house.
When Lana exits her home she is carrying her old worn leather satchel, old books gathered in her arms protectively. With one longing look, she closes the door to her home. I can see the hard swallow of her throat before she moves forward into Odin's oncoming path.
Odin's strides cut the distance between himself and Lana alarmingly fast. "Mother, the knife?" His mom holds out the ivory boned handle to Odin, he's quick marking Lana's cheek as belonging to the Far North. She has no flinch of muscle, the blood dripping down her face to land on her shoulder, on her chest before Luna Bessa gives her a piece of white fur to press against her new mark. Our eyes find each other's before she looks away to go into the direction of the vehicles that hold the rest of the Far North pack.
All wolves eyes are on us, I didn't realize we were being watched so intently until now.
Elska holds out her hand to Odin when he clasps it Elska presses it against her cheek. There is a stark crimson to her face - all the capillaries just under the surface of her skin have broken, creating a rash pattern to her translucent color.
Her eyes are a deep pink while the whites are lined with red veins.
"Brother," Elska kneels before him, pressing her head to his feet. She holds his ankles making a scene for some of the wolves that have been loitering around take notice. Shamus and Paley come out from the treeline - they never went far, just out of sight.
"Brother," tears are streaming down her face, "I can't come back here ever. I won't come here to live. Father said as long as he is Alpha I don't have to come back here." Tears of epic proportion are hitting the dirt that Odin's bare feet are on. Shamus is watching his mate start to beg her brother for things that he can't give her. She pounds her fists on the ground the longer Odin is without comforting words for her. His face bears her struggles; there is quiver to the musculature of who he is.
"I never wanted to come here; I was forced to come." She screams into the direction of Shamus who takes his step forward. A low rumble sounds from Warson's chest, his eyes are screaming a threat not to come any closer to his mother. Shamus steps lightly, without warning towards his mate who is begging her firstborn brother in a voice that brings tears to my eyes.
Odin's chest feels her struggle, there is pressure on his sternum for his sister's grief of sound.
The degree of her desperation is hurting my chest, Bessa takes Elska by the waist trying to pull her off the ground, but she holds onto Odin's ankles, not allowing herself to be pulled away. "Brother, please. I have never asked you for anything. I have never once asked, but I am asking now. Tell him that I will not be coming here ever." Her breath holds, waiting on Odin's words. He doesn't open his mouth, but Shamus does.
"Elska," her entire body shifts itself from Shamus's voice that holds a tone of pain to it. A hurt extends out to my cousin who faces swift rejection from a mate who wants nothing to do with him.
"My name's Shamus." He stands trying to stretch himself to a height he still hasn't reached yet. The maturity of him has not been reached he's still transitioning from juvenile to full grown male. Elska presses her head harder against her brother's feet. "Please brother, grant me this one request. I won't be a burden to you. I promise I will not burden you. Warson can't grow up in this pack, they live without honor, all of them. Who will teach him? They are without skills; we will starve, Wason will starve. Please, brother." A creaking weeping within her sound that is getting louder and louder as Shamus slowly advances on his mate. Quiet light steps, hand extended, fingertips trying to touch, to soothe a despairing female with the fact that she will be taken away from her family.
"Shamus is a kind male, Elska, you won't starve in this pack." my voice speaking ahead of my mind. Her eyes try to find my exact sound - teeth extend and snap towards me, bristling, her ridge fur rises. Odin's hand grips her jaw, squeezing it shut, "Elska," his tone whimpers her immerging Wild down.
Elska trembles while standing to her feet, gripping her brother's shoulder. "Please," stuttering word with a drip to her nose. She grabs her brother's head between her hands, the edge of her thumbs pressed to the outer corners of his eyes, "please Odin, I can't, please I can't. Mark me as a Far North female, you have the power to do it, please," she puts her head on his shoulder, while hers shake and heave with the sounds that hold,
misery,
despair,
hopelessness.
"I won't let us starve mother, I will be our Provider." Warson's small voice presses into Elska's thigh, he's trying to stand tall and brave. He eyes Shamus, scrutinizes him from the tip of his head to the bottom of his toes. "He's not a frog catcher like me; I'll feed us, our bellies will never hurt." Odin's hand touches his nephew's head. Luna Bessa has her tears shining out while holding the arm of her mate. She seems to be silently shaking.
"Brother you know what happens to all the females when we come here, you know." Her words are coming out through teeth that are clenched together, a throat that is gagging on its own sound. She starts to cling to Odin, "you can't expect me to go through that, I can't go through that," begging him until she tries to prostrate herself at his feet again. I have never seen someone from the Far North beg.
She is begging...
"Elska its lies, your father tells lies about my father's pack." Looking towards the Alpha who is looking at his own flesh and blood terrorized to go somewhere that holds tales of false nightmares. I want to burn Borson with my eyes, he doesn't look at me, guilty.
"My father doesn't lie, Charlie." Odin's sound is tight, thrown at my body to explode outward into our surroundings.
"He does Odin, he lies about my father." Standing taller, stronger against the firmness of Odin's beliefs. Odin looks towards his father who's now looking at him - I stand confidently in my accusations.
"Elska, for now, you'll go back to the Far North territory."
"It's my territory, it's my territory Odin," A hysteria bubbling out, percolating her sound as tears overflow the confines of her sightless eyes.
"We will discuss things when you're calmer, my sister." Odin's firm but gentle as he takes her hand in his and leads her away from us. She tries to throw herself on the ground, but Odin won't let her fall, he keeps her steady on her path forward. Putting her in the truck with the window that's been smashed out, and the steel frame indented in.
Shamus and Odin share a hard look at one another when Shamus tries to take a step forward towards his mate who is already tucked away in the back seat, hidden from view.
Warson is walking backward, eyeing Shamus up in a menace of threat that I would laugh at the obscurity of it if it weren't so sad for everyone. When Warson turns around, he kicks up the soft dirt with his foot, which makes a slight cloud of dust go into Shamus's direction.
"You're free to take a mate; I will never be coming back here again." Elska's words are hurtled viciously into Shamus direction; he doesn't falter from them. It just makes him stand taller, shoulders back, head straight, with more of a determined look on his face.
Luna Bessa faces Shamus accessing him; he stands underneath her deliberate gaze. "She needs time."
Shamus nods his head in agreement, "I'll give her time, but then I'll come for them both." His conviction of sound penetrates the surroundings just enough for his voice to carry like an echoing promise on the wind. A smile finds the curve of Odin's lips before they pull straight.
Borson hones hard eyes into Shamus, who surprisingly keeps himself steady against them. Steel greys hold light greens before Shamus's entire body shakes hard, a sweat breaking on Shamus's forehead and he finally looks down with a gag to the base of his throat. Borson gets into the driver's side and starts the engine.
"Odin, when will you return?" Borson asks.
"When we are ready to come home." Odin's fingertip touches the arch of my back, a warmth slinks in, spreading itself into the very marrow of my hip bones.
"You have an obligation towards your pack." Borson's voice cuts into the warmth I feel. Now son and Father hold the eyes of each other until the Father is the first to look away.
"When Charlie is ready, we leave." Looking towards Odin, he doesn't need to stand to his completed height - everyone around our radius understands what he is, including his father...
Alpha
Watching them drive away has Shamus's body sway, he won't take his eyes off the truck that's carrying away his Future.
Odin goes to his truck, getting out a bags. "Ryeson, you're staying with me until we leave." Odin's voice stills his brother from jumping into his own vehicle. Ryeson closes his door to stand on Odin's left, his eyes are taking in my cousin's as non threats. He holds a confident that tells me he's unafraid to stand on soil that isn't his own.
Paley's eyes find mine, he's the same male, but he's so different. The maturity of him has shifted his whole stature. Shamus is changing as well.
Everything seems to have changed while I was away, their life moves on, as mine is....soon we all might be strangers to each other. The thought of this happening crushes into me, cracking into the sternum of my chest into a painful realization that nothing ever stays the same no matter how bad you need or hope that they stay the same. I'll be a memory soon for them all.
My hand goes to my throat, a suffocation of breath.
"Charlie," Odin drops the bags in his hands to press his cheek against mine, "are you alright?" His voice licking it's subtle, soothing sound into the base of my neck. The feel of his solid grip takes my own hand away from a throat that's closing up.
Potent vertigo sways me, I feel off balance.
"Charlie?" Odin says this before bringing my wrist to his lips, kissing the canvas of skin that holds his tattoo that he drew on me.
Looking at my cousins, one staring off into the distance - the other one not knowing where he should be looking.
"I'm not sure I can leave here." Planting my feet into the territory I was born in, my territory of birth. Odin closes his eyes, holding them longer than a blink before opening them again.
"We're here for a visit, not to stay permanently." He holds a calmness that I don't feel. Stepping away from his radius, the loss of contact from my half shifts a coolness along the first layering of skin. The Nature from within shuffles, my Wild wanting the connection of him back. She will have me understand she is to be taken into consideration when it comes to our Half.
Odin steps within my space, pressing himself once again into me.
Cheek against cheek.
"Charlie, this is not your territory." The shell of my ear guides his hushed voice deeper inside me.
"It could be ours." A deliberate thought of tone comes out without hesitation, just as hushed as his voice he just used.
"I don't want it." Odin's response is instant, his sound more prominent.
"What if I hold it all? Change everything, let everyone move freely throughout the land that is divided now." I'm already starting to puff myself up, rise to my height. Our cheeks still pressed against the others, I don't want him to step away, nails digging deeper into the roundness of his shoulders. Bringing him closer to me which causes him to sigh, that sound of his closes my eyes for more than a fleeting second.
"You have to defeat me to change it all? Can you defeat me, my half?" A nip to my neck, his nose presses into flesh before taking a long breath in. His body tremors more than mine.
There can only be One.
Author's Note.
First thank you so much for reading and taking the time out of your day to continue on the path of Odin and Charlie. I appreciate it greatly. Also if anyone wants to, I have a twitter account Whiskeyqueenn where I post new covers for my books and artwork. Also, I have written a completed story on Radish, called A Claimed Tribute it's an alternative story ... if Finian was to meet Meela first and mark and mate her before Grey....it's twisted up....I also have a private Facebook page called Rachelle's Books. It's where over 700 of us now are discussing all the stories and characters, it's a fun group that has such great in-depth questions on the series that are written and our love affair with reading.