Feral Bonds

Part 3: Natania Chapter 44

They ended up on a farm, owned by a relative of Thomas, on the other side of the country. Long outside of Rigaldo's reach. There was enough land to establish homes for each member of their new pack, on the caveat that they help out with the farm work; taking care of livestock, planting and harvesting crops, and repairing the odd bits of machinery.

None of them minded, though the smell took a while to get used to. The wolves were used to vast wilderness, not livestock and cornfields, but there was varied enough work that they all found a place for themselves.

It wasn't quite as isolated as they were used to, but there were mountains and fields to roam undisturbed, and the pack got together at least once a month to run and hunt together, ensuring the bonds among them remained strong.

Gretchen put her IT degree to work, improving the programming on the various robots on the farm, when she wasn't trying to teach herself witchcraft.

"Imagine how cool it would be if I could just... make it rain during a drought, or snap my fingers and finish the harvest."

"I don't think witches specialize in that kind of magic," Natania said, trying not to show her discomfort with the magic. It was something she was going to have to get used to. Though, the kind of power she would need to alter the weather, or transport objects would require massive amounts of pain and suffering, and Gretchen had refused to harm another creature to power herself.

Which was the only reason the wolves tolerated her presence among them.

Gretchen sighed. "It would still be cool." So far, she'd only taught herself how to light candles and flip the pages of her books.

"I'm sure it would be," Natania replied hesitantly. She still hadn't found her place in their new life. Instead, she jumped from task to task, working with whoever had fallen the most behind, losing herself in the mountains when there was nothing pressing to be done.

Nightmares still plagued her nights, replays of the fears the witch had exploited. She'd awaken sweaty and trembling, often to Gretchen stroking her back and murmuring sweet nothings until she steadied.

Some nights the visions were worse, terrible manifestations of her losing control, of not being able to stop herself from killing everyone and everything in her path. Those nights she woke up with yellow flickering in her eyes and a ravenous hunger that urged her out into the mountains, hunting until there was nothing left to hunt, returning bloodstained and breathless.

They didn't speak of those nights. Neither of them were ready to face what it meant, to acknowledge that the time they had together was limited.

But they made the best of it, always making time for each other. Making memories, having new experiences. They had crammed a lifetime of experiences into the first year alone, ice skating, water skiing, snowmobiling, and when Gretchen told her they were going hang gliding, Natania just laughed and packed her bag.

Life was good, until it wasn't.

Two years after they had arrived on the farm, Natania ripped herself out of another fitful slumber, trembling at the raging hunger.

Gretchen yawned and rolled over as Natania crawled out of bed. "That's two days in a row," Gretchen murmured, reaching out a hand towards her. Natania brushed her fingers, then stormed out of the room. The monster within her wanted to kill Gretchen in the worst way, though Natania had never quite figured out why exactly. He wasn't that aggressive towards any other specific person.

"Dangerous," the beast rumbled and Natania shook her head. "She's my mate, she won't hurt me," she hissed. It had taken fourteen months after forming her new pack for him to start talking to her again, and she hadn't told Gretchen when he had. He didn't often deign to use words, but when he did, he was always either vague or threatening, no middle ground. She didn't think he had much experience with words.