Truce and Lies

Family Ties: two weeks later

{Aidan}

I was getting good at easing out of bed, not waking Daria and padding out into the shop in the chilly morning and then out into the snow. I spent as little time being human as my body would take, but it meant that I slept less and I had to run more. I had become more aware of the countryside, more attune to my wolf senses in the past two weeks. Daria said I smelled different, but I couldn't tell.

We hadn't seen the ground in days; even now the snow was intermittently floating through the dull gray sky, mixing with the flurries at my heels. Sometimes I tested my luck on the frozen pond, but this morning I carefully crossed the highway and then ran through the trees to our old stomping grounds. I was fitter than I had ever been; the trip now took only a couple hours. The cabins we had built were already starting to decay; no one was here to clear debris or patch the roof. The first time I had come, I selected the least damaged cabin and had started to fix it up. Not, of course, because I wanted to move out here, but because I needed somewhere away from the pack on occasion. I had no control of my temper nowadays, but being alone seemed to be the best remedy.

I shifted, shivering immediately without my fur coat and dusted the snow off the roof, pulling myself up to inspect the damage. It needed new boards, which I pillaged from another cabin to arrange, covering the worst of the holes. I had a small bag I had brought last week with some nails, choosing the more barbaric rock rather than borrow Ralph's hammer for this side project. Still, it did the job required and the cabin was one step closer to being habitable again.

I wanted to build a chimney or fire pit of some sort, but it was hard to search for suitable rocks for a fire pit in all of this snow. I hopped down from my perch and into the cabin, enjoying the moment out of the wind.

But I never stayed long; the run out here was long enough that I was nearly always late for breakfast, and while Mel tolerated it, she didn't approve. So I shifted again, and ran back to the farm, shifting only when I made it back to the bedroom, grabbed pants and a sweater and ran up to the house.

It must have been earlier than I had thought; most of the pack hadn't sat down yet, and were still milling about drinking coffee. I had stopped drinking coffee: the caffeine made my wolf form feel flighty and anxious.

"Tea?" Mel inquired, holding an empty mug for me.

"Do we still have cocoa?" I asked. "Or has Susie Lynn drank it all?"

"I have not," Susie Lynn informed me primly. "Aidan, I feel like I never see you on weekdays. Have you started sleeping in?"

"Sort of," I hedged. "I didn't know you missed me."

Mel handed me the warm mug. "Help me get these pancakes to the table," she requested.

I carried the platters to the table; Keith moved the eggs so there was room. Casey brought the syrup over, and we neatly found our seats. Mornings had become more subdued since it snowed; I thought it was because we spent more time with each other, and not just my temper was running hot.

"Keith, if you and Brian will check on the cows, I think we may be in for another indoor day," Ralph said. "I thought we'd look over that pile of lumber we have, see if any of it is worth building some shelving. Katie, you were saying your room could use some storage?"

"Yes please," Katie agreed. "Mostly I want to hang Brian's shirts instead of pretending we're going to fold them and the shirts actually ending up on the ground."

"We have an extra cut of rod from when we built Daria's closet," Keith suggested. "Brian doesn't have that many shirts does he?"

She shook her head.