SYNCHRONICITY (The Lone Wolf)

13

Holding on tightly to Alison, Sebastian landed with a thud against the wall just outside the apartment door. Half a second later, Topher threw open the door and looked to the right and the left. "Is that room still available," he grunted.

Topher grinned when he saw the two of them huddled together, but then seeing Sebastian in distress, his amber eyes and the extra hair growth on his face, and Alison using all of her strength to hold him upright, he realized that they were in trouble. Topher took hold of his friend, carrying all of his weight and called out for Judy. Judy appeared at the doorway where Alison nearly fell into her arms as her face crumbled and her tears flowed.

Topher levitated Sebastian to the king sized bed and used a combination of magic and his own two hands to get the man undressed so that he could assess the injuries that he had sustained.

About ten minutes of the placement of gentle pressure all over Sebastian's body, he guessed that he had three cracked ribs as well as two dislocated ones. "Mate, you really ought not to go commando you know? We've discussed this..."

Sebastian cut his mostly green eyes as he panted tiny breaths and held up two fingers toward his friend; he was trying to listen to Alison's tearful accounting of what had happened. He had heard her tell Judy that her own grandmother was among the Evil Doers and then she sobbed again violently. He silently prayed to Great Spirit to make it not so, even though he was fully aware that Great Spirit didn't meddle in the affairs of mortal men...Wizard or not.

Judy administered a warm cup of mulled, spiced wine for Alison which was designed to facilitate a calming slumber. Topher levitated Sebastian once more to bandage his torso, then gave him a strong tonic to help him sleep as well and continue the healing process. Topher picked Alison up as she fought sleep, so angry that she could spit nails, and carried her to the room where Sebastian was sleeping soundly.

Sometime during the night, Sebastian managed to rouse himself out of the large bed, careful not to awaken the tiny body curled up at the other edge of the large bed. He stumbled through the apartment somehow managing to get to the bathroom without collapsing. Topher knocked on the door and when he learned that it was Sebastian and not Alison, he poked his head in. He found Sebastian standing before the commode nearly comatose. When he was certain his friend was quite finished, he assisted him to the living room where he sat him on the sofa and tossed him a pillow to cover his man bits. "Don't particularly want Judy seeing you...she'd leave me in a heartbeat!"

"Oh for fucks sake, Toph...you're the fucking brilliant one and you're funny as hell...and you're certainly not lacking..."

"Yes, yes, I'm all that and more, but you too are fucking brilliant and you're hot as a habanero in hades and you're hung like a fucking...and why the hell are we talking about this! What the hell happened and who's after you!"

"Figured you would have gotten the lowdown from Judy?"

Topher nodded. "I want to hear it from you."

Sebastian recounted the events as best as he could, attempting to play down his fears that he'd lose the girl he'd become so fond of...he knew the evening he sat along side her in the hospital holding her hand that he had feelings for her. "Never believed in all that love at first sight rot, but I'll be damned if it didn't happen to me," he admitted.

Topher grinned. "Of course, I knew it all along..."

Sebastian threw the pillow at Topher's head and he watched it sail over him. Then he winced and groaned as he held onto his side with both hands. The amber lighting of the single lamp masked his pain, but his friend heard it in his voice; Sebastian was a young man of few words and the two young men were so close, closer than relation, that Topher was often his voice.

"If I had any doubts about her and that god damned prophecy, it's no longer an issue. She's the one. They were willing to kill me to take her."

"To what end though? Certainly her grandmother has had ample opportunities to mold her to be spider woman number one, yeah?"

"I would think so."

"What about Lynn? Do you think she's in collusion with her mother?"

Sebastian stared at his friend then shook his head. "I don't think so. She's been trying to put us together since I arrived. She knew who I was on sight."

"Think she's a seer?"

Sebastian nodded. "Yeah. She said that she saw a pregnancy and birth next year."

"Whoa. So soon..."

Sebastian nodded again. "I know. Wasn't counting on that," he said quietly.

What are you going to do, Bastian," Topher asked quietly.

"Have a baby, I reckon?"

"I don't envy you mate. I don't. But you know, I'm sticking with you right? Where you go, I go."

Sebastian smiled warmly. "Thanks mate." He waited for the punchline, for there always was one.

"You're welcome. I've got to get some shut eye. I'm opening with Judy in the morning, since you two have the day off."

Sebastian sat still, clearly disappointed.

"Want help getting back to the room?

Sebastian shook his head. "You can help me up though."

Topher rose from his chair and held out his hand for his friend and pulled him to his feet. Sebastian realized that since he'd been away, Topher had grown up quite nicely...Judy suited him. And he was happy for him.

~~~~~

The Lone Wolf lifted his nose high into the air and sniffed hard. Mate. She was close by.

He had captured her scent and followed it until he found himself before a large Victorian house and his paws padded silently up the stairs and he slipped through the front door that had been left carelessly ajar.

He crept through the vestibule and continued through the room, all of his senses on overdrive. Spying a cat, he moved to chase it just for fun, but the animal stopped and eyed him, her tail high into the air and approached him. The cat slid her body against his, the pain in his ribcage registered in his brain...he felt a sharp click as the ribs righted themselves and the fierce pain flashed and then was gone. He was still sore, but the intense pain had reduced significantly.

The cat circled the large wolf's body and then she left him as quickly as she had initially approached him, her tail still high into the air. She hopped up on the sofa and perched herself on the back of it, blinking her green eyes at him.

Realizing the cat was not going to be fun entertainment, the wolf returned his nose to the floor...the scent was fading fast. He turned in a different direction...his mate's scent was everywhere...and it vexed him.

He came upon an elaborate staircase and caught the scent once again and he quickly ascended the stairs. He followed the scent to a closed door. She was behind it and he pawed and scratched at it for what felt like an eternity until a tiny white kitten wobbled over to him and stood between his muscular legs and mewed. The door opened and he took the kitten into his mouth, careful not to hurt it and took it along.

She was asleep on the bed and he looked over the mattress' edge as the kitten wiggled. He opened his jaws wide, pushing the tiny cat out with his tongue. Lucky for you I'm not hungry, he thought. He looked past the kitten and sniffed at the body curled up on the bed, cradling something as if it was the most precious thing in the world.

The wolf climbed up on the mattress feeling the slight pain along his vertebrae and lay down beside her and closed his eyes. He felt her roll over and slip her arm around his torso as slumber wafted over them both like smoke, taking in three separate scents...

Sebastian woke with a start and he sat up then scratched at the back of his head.