Jeremiah - W.I.P -

Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

“I have to warn you. My wolf, he’s a different beast now.” Jeremiah chuckled as he watched Tatiana secure her personal items. He didn’t mention to her that it was no need for her to hide anything for safe keeping. She wouldn’t be returning for it, not if he had anything to do with it. He knew it would be best to keep that bit of information to himself. No need to spark another debate that would only delay their progress further.

“He is different in what way? I mean I already know your odor is different.” She wrinkled her nose. “It is going to take a long while to get used to that.”

“Are you saying that I stink?” He sniffed his armpit and frowned at her.

“No, and you know that I would just come out and say it if you did.” She laughed. “Your scent is stronger, almost hypnotic but off-putting at the same time.”

“Ah, I see.” He liked the sound of that, it fit his personality. Draw them in and then kick them to the curb, but not with Tatiana, never with her.

“So, your wolf, tell me how is he different?” She secured her last hatch and followed him out of her temporary home.

“It’s hard to explain.”  Once outside he slowly stripped in front of her. He took his time knowing that she would be admiring all of him, and he allowed himself the gentle strokes of his ego. He took even longer packing his possessions into his holder before strapping it to his back. “He is bigger, stronger, and just different than he was before. It’s one of those things you just have to see to believe anyway. First time I saw him, in a mirror, I just stared for nearly an hour. I couldn’t believe it myself. He is actually pretty bad ass.” Jeremiah looked down at his own body and touched his chest. He could feel the beast that was his wolf spirit beating beneath the surface. It was eager to show its face and to impress the she-wolf that stood in wait just a few feet from him.

“Your spider, I’d forgotten about it.” She stepped closer to him and touched the tattoo on his chest. “It’s different now.” Her fingers danced across the legs of the tattoo which was now highlighted in silver etchings. “When did you at the silver to it? How did they do that? It looks like the damn thing is actually shining!” She leaned her head closer to get a better view of it.

“Yeah, science can do wonders.” He took a deep breath to steady himself beneath her touch. Sense memory was a powerful thing and with Tatiana touching him, he was on complete overload.

“Another secret?” she bit her lip and looked up to him.

“No, it isn’t a secret,” he sighed and placed his hand on top of hers. “It’s just a story for another time.”

“Whatever you say, ghost boy.” She moved her hand from beneath his, smacked his chest where the spider lay and started to prep her own pack. Jeremiah had brought an extra one because sometimes his would break in battle. They were pretty durable but when fighting beasts and demons, well there were often casualties other than the living variety. “This thing is pretty damn sweet. They should mass produce these.” She smiled as she strapped the elastic band around her waist.

“Yeah, just don’t break it.” He winked at her and laughed. He’d already taken the time to explain the bags to her while they were drinking the previous night. He had told her a lot about his life without actually revealing anything of substance. “I didn’t bring any more and I doubt I will have easy access to them moving forward.”

Jeremiah wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to tell her the truth about what had happened in their years apart. He knew at some point, if they managed to escape their pasts, he'd tell her everything. There would be nothing he would need to protect her from and he could open up completely to her. He would tell her about the contract he'd foolishly signed, the one that made him a part of the team and erased all evidence of him from existence completely. He would tell her about his decision to allow human scientists with the help of a few witches to experiment on him because at that point in his life he’d felt so lost that it didn’t matter. He would tell her about how he regretted leaving his pack and her behind. He’d also tell her that he’d signed his name on that contract after hearing that nine others had died on their sterile table before it was ever his turn to go under the knife. It was no secret that witches were able to charms that made wolves invincible. They wove their magic into little medallions and hung them around your neck but the moment you took them off, well you became vulnerable again. This experiment, this particular procedure, took the ultimate witch charm and infused it with the wolf’s blood. When Jeremiah woke from the tranquilizers they’d given him to put him under, he knew his life would never be the same again and there simply was no going back from what he’d done.