Skylar was upset with himself that he'd lost track of Adam. Emma let him in on a little secret.
"Let me guess dear, it got too dark to see anything in the woods and the sounds of the forest drowned out the link?"
"How d'you know!?"
"It was no accident that you two got separated, the wolves did that."
"What?"
"Past the treeline, that's the Spirit Wolf territory. I thought you knew that!?"
"Really? No, I didn't know that. Why would they separate us?"
"My guess is they wanted to talk to Adam; alone."
"Unbelievable."
Adam sniffed to see if he could pick up Skylars scent when Ja'an appeared before him, startling him.
{Don't worry young Alpha, I'm not here to harm you.}
{Sorry, I'm still not used to you guys}
{I have one thing to tell you that I didn't have a chance to the other day. You, True Alpha, have the ability to heal Xael.}
{I do?}
{Oh yes, you two are a bonded pair and with her being a hybrid and you a True Alpha, you can heal her}
{How?}
{Take what you feel for her and channel that. Imagine it being a loving and warm energy. Place your hand on whatever part of her you want to heal and channel that energy there}
{Wow...How long will it take?}
{Patience young Alpha, it will take time, but don't give up. She's coming}
Adam turned to see a large black shape move out from the trees and into the small clearing he was in. Xael didn't say anything to him as she walked up to the large white wolf. Xael lowered her head and nuzzled into the wolf who did the same to her.
{Hello Grandmother}
{Hello my child, come for your Alpha?}
{Yes, thank you for looking after him}
{Of course dear, he's family now.}
Her Grandmother returned to the forest as Xael approached her Mate. The two nuzzling into each other.
{Sorry I got lost babe}
{You didn't get lost, she talked to you, didn't she?}
{Yeah.. she tol-}
{Eh! No. Don't tell me. What she told you was meant for you}
{Now I know where you get it from...}
{Oh hush, let's head back, Skylar's worried about you}
Xael walked slowly next to Adam so he would know how to get out of the forest. Once near the sweat lodge, she began to trot. She was getting hungry. Reaching the back steps, Adam looked to make sure no one was there. They quickly switched back into their human form and grabbed their robes.
"Adam!? You okay son?"
"I'm fine...I think me getting separated was on purpose."
"Told ya!" Ms. Emma started laughing as they sat down at the table. Grams had just finished making the sandwiches, everyone getting two of them. Xael inhaled hers as shifting had given her an appetite. Her pups were back in the favorite spot, the couch. Xael rested her head on Adam's shoulder as they finished eating. Skylar wanted to make sure Adam felt comfortable being out in the woods after his run in with the others. Adam was fine with it.
Xael was getting tired and headed to the bedroom. She quickly put on clothes and crawled into bed. Adam already knew she was about to crash and just let her be. Thirty minutes later, everyone else called it a night. Adam put on boxers and laid down next to her. Xael turned and snuggled into him. How she could do that and not wake up was beyond him. Thinking back to what her Grandmother had told him, he decided to give it a try. Placing his hand on her back, he concentrated on her midsection as he focused on moving energy to that area.
The next thing he knew, he was smelling coffee.
Xael nuzzled up to him, purring away. "Get up sleepy head."
Adam wrapped her in a hug and turned with her, placing her on her back. Xael was already dressed with her hair braided and twisted into a bun. Adam nuzzled into her neck. She held his face in her hands.
"Be careful out there today."
"I will babe, no more getting lost."
"Good."
"What was wrong with you yesterday?"
"Allowing you two to link took a lot out of me. But I'm fine now." Xael nuzzled him back.
"Then why didn't you say anything?"
"Adam. You two need to be able to link each other out there, to keep both of you safe. Besides, whatever my Grandmother told you to do worked. I feel a lot better today."
"How did you know she told me anything like that?"
"She's my Grandmother and you're my Mate. Anything to keep me safe and well, she's all for it."
"Ohhh babe, nothing gets past you."
"Oh hush! Let's go, breakfast is almost ready and you need to eat before you guys head out, or Skylar will have to carry you back!"
Adam let her up and she waited for him while he put on shorts, there was no point in putting on a lot of clothes. Walking into the kitchen, Xael and Grams had cooked what looked like a feast.
"Eat up Adam! We'll need the calories today!"
As soon as he sat down, Adam was digging into the food. Ms Emma and Xael brought a steel wash tub from the back room and some knives. She sat it all by the back door along with a bundle of sage and her smudging wing. After the Alphas finished eating, She smudged them down good. Before they headed out the door, Xael called her pups inside, they had been out running off steam.
Skylar and Adam carried the wash tub along with the sage and knives and a lighter down to a very small clearing past the sweat lodge. Adam had never been here before. He saw a rack already in place for field dressing game. Skylar lit a twig of the sage and walked around the clearing, smudging the area and saying something in Tah'Gonglish*, the Native language that they spoke in the area.
"What's with all the smudging?"
"We're getting ready to take a life, we do this to honor its spirit and the spirit of the forest."
"Ah! I should have known."
"You're still learning young Alpha. Before we shift and head out, we are only getting one deer today, the women have enough meat to process already. If we come upon a buck, be careful of it's antlers and go for the throat. It's death needs to be quick. If we come upon doe, we wait to make sure she doesn't have a fawn with her or is with fawn."
"How will we know if it's with fawn?"
"You'll know, calm your breathing and listen for the heart beat, it will be rapid."
"I see, man, there's so much to learn!"
"Don't worry you'll do fine. Bucks can be dangerous, that's why we go in for the kill quickly, if the attack happens in tandem, go for the throat from underneath or from above. If you try to go in from the side, there's a greater chance of you getting gored by its antlers. With a doe, it doesn't matter. Just make it quick."
"Understood."
"Once we bring one down, work to snap it's neck if you can. We try not to have the animal suffer unnecessarily."
"Okay."
"We'll shift out of wolf form and haul the deer back here. Any questions?"
"No, I think I just need to get out there and do it. Follow your lead and direction."
"Alrighty, let's go."
Back at the house, Xael and her Grams got started on the side of beef first. The pups keeping a watchful eye on every morsel of meat that they handled; waiting for something to hit the floor. Xael set up the grinder on the edge of the table. There were large bowls for the processed meat to go into. Meanwhile Grams worked on getting the pressure canners cleaned and filled to go on the back deck. She didn't want to heat the house up anymore than they had to. She had three propane burners at the ready. With that started, the Elder moved to washing the jars in hot soapy water. She also set up a table for the processed jars to cool down on.
"This is going to make a lot of jars Grams!" Xael put on gloves before she got started with the meat.
"I know! We really need it too, you saw how few I had left in the pantry. Plus I want to give a couple to Elder Running Deer for helping with the lodge."
"Ohhh, that's right. He wanted deer meat. Are we going to process that or just give it to him so he can do that himself?"
"I think Wes is going to rough chop it, wrap it in butcher paper and give it to him."
"I see." Rooting through the coolers about 30 pounds of the beef was already done up into steaks. Before cutting meat, Xael moved the wrapped steaks to the deep freezer.
"Oh hon, set 5 of those in this freezer, those go to the Elder also."
"Yes ma'am. How much do you want me to do as ground beef?"
"Well, you have to figure enough for Me and Wes and you and Adam, so...do about 50lbs to start with. We'll process that first, it should fill up all the canners."
"Okay." Since Xael was stronger, her Grams let her work the meat grinder. It took Xael about an hour and a half. It was perfect as the jars were hot and ready for cold packing the meat. Ms. Emma set the jars out on the towel covered portion of the dining table after moving things out of the way. As Xael finished up grinding, her Grams went to the back to get the garlic powder. She would add some to half of the ground beef jars. Making sure the pressure canners were filled to the correct levels and ready, they started filling the jars. Xael filled them with meat as her Grams came behind her and added the garlic, hot broth, debubbled the jars, wiped the rims and added the lids.
They filled enough jars that each pressure canner had two layers. First round ready, they sat the timer. Now they needed a break before the next round.