Salt to Her Sea ✔️

10. internal

THADAL

The Sun had begun to slink towards the Ocean when we finally opened our eyes on the shore of the lake. Curled together in our skin, napping. Our body heats combined into a comfortable warmth that made up for the cold. However, when I looked down at her toes and fingertips, they were tinged with a light purple.  

As the Sun dipped below the peak of Mount Brine, I caught onto the illusion we had dipped our fingers into. The emerald glow of the lake grew dark black in the impending night, the shadows grew into holes of nothing along every stretch. The Moon was concealed behind a thick layer of clouds that seemed to hover like a low ceiling.

"Shift," I said to my mate, watching as she roused and obeyed. She paid no mind to her numb fingers or toes. Wonder and peace remained in her eyes. There was a strength in this female that was so evident to everyone but her. She had this spark, this will. A pilot light deep in her belly; resilient and unbending to any force of wind.

I wanted to tell her I loved her, already, even from the moment we first touched. But I didn't know how to say those words. My lips couldn't even begin to form their shapes. I could only show. Or try to, at least.

While she morphed into her furred form, I stood guard. When she finished, I began.

Shifting was slowly becoming easier with her by my side. As if an incentive was given to me. She became my very strength.

As the light continued to fade, we loped all the way back to the packhouse without pause. Our pace wasn't urgent, but it was swift. The nights in the North were hardly friendly; they were vicious. My female was not yet equipped to handle them.

Our routine fell in when we got back to our pile of clothes. I secured the area, my nerves were always high after our run-in with Vayne. Her shift back to skin was beautiful; a small body unfurling like a ribbon from a furred spool. She uncurled slowly, easily. The pain subsided the more she shifted.

Her clothing was pulled back on, boots slipped over bare feet. She turned to watch me retire my own fur for the night. Her eyes left heated trails along every dip, crevice, and plain of my body. The shiver ripped through my muscles that were in between states.

I was feeling the pull of exhaustion from all the running and training today.

I had tried to get Akesis into the training, but she kept getting these nose bleeds and dizzy spells. My mother was trying to shove her full of carbohydrates and red meats. But she didn't like meat at all. She also showed no interest in the training fields, more content with exploring the grounds, making friends and connections with every wolf, learning to skip rocks, watching the art of body movement, or reading my father's collection of mystery novels. A stack of them was growing next to her side of the bed.

I pulled on the thermal shirt, the stiff cargo pants next. No shoes, though the cold bit at my toes. December had started and the approaching Solstice seemed to lean against the territory in a foreboding manner.

"Let's get inside." I put my arm around her shoulders and started for the packhouse that was just out of sight. Snowflakes were slowly drifting down from above, little white puffs every few seconds. Her eyes tracked them in silent wonder and appreciation. She was always appreciative of the little things.

She stopped just before we got to the door. My arm slipped off her shoulder as she turned to face me. There was this signature smile on her face, twisting those rosy lips upwards. "Tide."

I stared at her, we locked eyes, neither of us looking away. Equals.

"What happened up there... At the lake," She began, making my heart thud and my pants tighten at the thought of us together in that way. "I don't know what it was... But I liked it."