Thruth

“Shit! I forgot she had my blood! It was just a goodbye” “I don’t want to know! STOP NOW! You’re hurting her” Tom says before closing down the link.  “It’s okay, River.  I’m here, I won’t let him hurt you, as my father did my mother” Tom assures her, wiping her forehead again as she moans and whines in her sleep.

30 minutes later McKenzie enters the bedroom.  River is sitting up in bed looking pale and warn out.  He growls when he sees she has a hold of Tom’s hand.  He stops when Tom turns and glares at him.  “River had some very strange dreams and doesn’t feel very well.  She said, it’s like her heart is unbalanced or missing something!” Tom tells him.

“Don’t you dare glare at me, while you still have the stench of the other woman on you!” he warns McKenzie through their link.  This shocks McKenzie as he can feel his real anger towards him.  Something that has never happened before.

He knows about what his mother went through, with his cheating father and lets it go.  How are you feeling now?” he asks River.  “I’m still feeling tired and Realm seems to be really out of sorts which isn’t helping.  Thank you for staying with me” River says to Tom before laying back down and pulling the quilt up over her to sleep again.

McKenzie can guess why Realm isn’t happy.  “Okay, sleep well.  Call if you need anything?” McKenzie says as Tom stands up and pulls the quilt over her more tucking her in.  He feels the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end in anger.  “You do not have the right to feel angry. Leave us!” Realm links him.

They both feel just how angry Realm is, but she seems to be keeping most of her emotions from River, because she closes her eyes to sleep.  Tom and McKenzie move from the room and McKenzie rubs his hands over his face.  “I really had gone just to tell her, that we were over” he says “now you’re back.  I’ll head back to my own place, night McKenzie” Tom says without looking at him and walking out of the apartment before he can say anything else.

“Good going Mac!” he mutters to himself.  He grabs a can of beer out of the fridge and sits down.  He really hadn’t meant for anything to happen.  But she had said for old time’s sake and well after River getting him all hot and bothered! What a mess, he thinks to himself.  It was only after he had stopped, before he’d cum and Stacey had been so unwilling for him to go.  That he realised that she was up to something else.  He’d started using his big brain and found out she had stopped taking her contraceptive pill.  He doesn’t want to think about how bad it would have been if she’d become pregnant with his child.

He can only hope that Realm keeps it to herself.   About what he did and that she will give him a second chance.  “Sorry Astro” he links his own wolf, but gets no reply.  He sighs knowing he has also upset his wolf.  Later that night when he’s had a shower and goes to get into bed, Realm growls at him warning him off.  So, he goes to sleep on the sofa.  He thought about using the spare room, but as that is on the other side of the apartment.  He had been worried he’d not hear River if she woke again.

River dreams of her past lives’ again.  When she wakes, she not only feels rested but also stronger than she was. She gets up and showers, it’s only when she is wrapping a towel around herself that she looks in the mirror.  “Do I seem taller?” she questions herself.  She walks up to the door frame and touches the top of it easily.  “Stop, don’t think about it anymore.  It’s already weird enough” she tells herself.

She stops when she sees McKenzie coming out the walk-in closet.  “Good morning, did you sleep well?” he asks she smiles and then frowns “why do I feel anger towards you?” she asks “Realm, please it was a misunderstanding and it won’t happen again” he pleads with River’s wolf via the link. “Astro, give him a mental kick for me” she answers

“Who is Astro and why does he have to give someone a mental kick?” River asks then snaps her finger’s, “oh, I just remembered something! I need to check out my father’s apartment.  I think it was just a dream but in case it wasn’t.  I should check it out.  I don’t think Kitty can get in?” she says more to herself than anyone else.  She goes to her backpack, “here I bought these for you too.  I have more clothes arriving for you later today” McKenzie tells her giving her the jeans, pale blue silk tank top with new underwear and bra as well as some new pumps.

“You can’t keep buying me stuff, I do have clothes.  I just couldn’t pack much.  I’ll pay you back” she says accepting the clothes.  “I’ll go and make us some breakfast and then call Tom or Pete as he can go with you.  I’ll have to get one of the warriors over to train you” he says as he walks out the bedroom.

“Train? As in sit? Come? Fetch?” River wonders, she hears Realm snarl “I am not a dog, he means train for combat.”  River starts to get dressed as she listens, “combat? Are we going to war?” River asks

Realm sighs “I think these times are safe, but we always have to be prepared.  Humans are jealous creatures and once they learn about us.  They have wanted to capture or kill us” Realm explains “kill” River squeaks.

As she pulls on her new jeans she looks down at the legs “did he get short leg?” she wonders as they just fit length wise.  “We can grow after our first shift” Realm tells her.  “Cool” River says, not wanting to think to deeply into everything about the animal side of her er? “What would we call our wolf? Personality? Other self?” River questions.  “We are the same connected, but can shift into our wolves, that have names but generally have the same kind of personality as our hosts” Realm explains.  “Hosts, that is a good way of putting it.  I suppose you are the stronger more animalistic side of our personas” River thinks.  Once dressed she brushes her hair and puts it up in a pony tail.  She looks at the new pumps and her sneakers and decides on the sneakers.

“Realm do you remember our past lives?” River asks as she leaves the bedroom, thinking of her dreams.  “Not all of it, but enough to know and learn from” she answers a little mysteriously. 

“Not a full breakfast again? If you keep feeding me like this, I’m going to be as big as a house” River complains seeing the sausages, egg, bacon, hash browns and beans.  He smiles “our metabolism runs higher than most.  We need to eat as it takes a lot of energy for us to shift and maintain our wolves” he tells her.

“Where are we from? Space?” she asks guessing.  “No, we were blessed by the moon goddess.  The King at the time about 1200 years ago, prayed to be able to save his people from the war.  That had been raging for nearly 10 years already.  Moon Goddess heard his prayers and blessed a small group of people with the spirit of the wolf.  They were, faster, stronger and also very intelligent.  They helped bring peace to our lands, but some grew jealous of what we could do.  We had to start living in secrete.  Now only a few know of our existence” McKenzie explains.

“I keep thinking this is a dream and not real.  If I really start to think about everything, my mind goes a little crazy” River admits.  “We didn’t finish looking through your dad’s things or finish the video we had started to watch?” McKenzie says wanting to change the subject.

“How could I have forgotten about that?” she exclaims grabbing her father’s phone and opening it again.  “The battery is nearly out” she says “there are charging cables in my office.  Let’s have breakfast first” he offers and she nods her head and begins to eat her breakfast.

River managers to eat most of it and helps clear the table when they have finished.  “When you and Realm talk about soulmates, what do you both mean by that exactly?” she asks, Realm growls and River feels her anger.  “Best to concentrate on one thing at a time” McKenzie says unable to meet her eyes.  River shrugs, and they go to McKenzie’s office.  Once they find the right cable to charge her father’s phone.  She opens it and starts to watch the video again with McKenzie watching from over her shoulder.

“We didn’t mean to hide it from you.  But after our pack was attacked.  We thought it best to keep certain things from you until we had to tell you.  I have a feeling though, that they are getting close again.  I might not be able to get to watch you grow into the beautiful confident woman, I know you will become or to see you find your mate and have pups of your own.  Your father is against my plan, but it is the only way we can ensure your safety until after you’ve had your first shift.  You have royal blood and an ancient wolf spirit.  You are able to see what has, is and about to come.  As a true seer, people are afraid that you will give shifters another edge or benefit, then we already have.  The Wicker coven, tried to force us into a marriage alliance with them.  They were the ones that came and attacked our pack.  Old Allen Wicker, died in the fight and because they used black magic, they were found guilty by the high council and their coven’s magic was taken.  The leaders were executed as a warning to the rest of the coven.  But your father and I have found some clues that another coven has become interested into why they wanted you,” her mother tells her from the screen. 

She looks at her father and smiles “we do what we have to, to protect our children.  So, another shifter and I who looks similar to me, as she is my cousin, will head out into the mountains.  To draw them out, I hope to make it back to you and your father.  If I don’t, know I love you both very much” she continues.

River glances back at McKenzie, “she was a very brave, strong and beautiful woman” he tells her “Once we draw them out.  We hope to stop them at all cost.  They cannot cast their spells on me, just like you.  We have royal blood running through our veins.  I’m hoping to take them by surprise and get their leader.  They could have some surprises in store for us too.  That is why I can’t be certain about this outcome.  I want you to live on, my beautiful daughter.  To meet your mate and start a family of your own.  Never forget, that your father and I, love you.  But if something happens to me, it will be very hard on your father.  Out mate bond is strong and he might lose himself for a little while.  He has promised to live on though, for your sake.  He will also fight with all he has to protect you.  Be strong River, we are always with you, deep in your heart” her mother finishes.  The video stops and River stares at the screen as tears run down her face, silently.

“She did what any mother would do, if someone wanted to harm or threaten their children” Realm says to comfort her.  “I’m now with you and we will make them pay, for all they’ve done” she adds.  McKenzie put’s his hands on her shoulders and squeezes trying to offer comfort to her.

“Right, we will go to my father’s apartment and see if there is anything there that will help us” River says standing up, not allowing herself to get distracted from what she needs to do.  She has to be strong as to many people have died for her to live.  “Arrange for my training to begin? I will hand in my resignation at work.  We have far more important things to deal with” River says with a new determination and fight.

They go to her father’s apartment and find her father had also hidden cameras installed.  They find what they need in the video files stored on his hard drive.  They call the police and show them what really happened the day her father died.  They assure them that Kitty and her uncle will be arrested.  For their attack on him and also taking his heart medication away from him.  McKenzie tells her that he spoke to a doctor friend and that shifter’s can get heart problems if they lose their mate.  He also tells her, that he suspects Kitty tired to use magic on him and that might be why she has little to no magic now.

River also finds his last will and testament in his safe.  He had deliberately, made them follow him back down to his office so, he could lock the apartment.  He didn’t want them finding what he had hidden there.  Her uncle was caught by security trying to break in after her father was taken away by the paramedics.  As well as Kitty coming and trying to get in.  They had to wipe the part where she tried to use her feeble magic, to get in.  Before giving it to the police.

McKenzie had told her, that he had his suspicions that she was a witch and that is why she was able to trick people into thinking her father had a much worse heart problem.  He didn’t think she knew he was a shifter though.  Her uncle was the product of a one-night stand that her father’s father had.  Her father had taken him in when he had come to him, telling him about him looking for his father.  As his father was already dead, her father had then given him a job.

River goes back to her home, after she gets ready what she needs and tells Lolita to get out of her home.  Lolita tries to bully her, but River lets her know those days have long gone.  She gives her two choses leave on her own two feet, or she’ll have the police come and search her belongings for all the things she’s stole over the years of River’s and her mother’s. 

Lolita choses to leave and River allows her to leave with just one suitcase of clothes.  Showing her the proof that she is not her father’s daughter, but his half-brother’s.  When she goes to get into the little sports car she bought with River’s father’s money. River stops her, throwing her the keys of an old banger.

“That is all your mother can afford to get you.  She was never legally married to my father and used her pathetic magic, to get what wasn’t hers.  I never want to see your face again” River tells her.  “Why you” Lolita says and mutters a spell under her breath.  She makes one mistake though.  She is far too close to River when she tries to cast it.  “Grab her arm” Realm cries

River catches her arm, and because of her lineage.  The spell rebounds back onto Lolita, taking away what little magic she has.  “What did you do?” she cries “you have 10 seconds to leave or I’ll call the police! Maybe I should say, I’ll call the high council and let them know you’ve been using your magic in a very dishonest way?” River threatens.

This threat works much better.  Lolita throws her suitcase into the much older car and gets in behind the wheel.  It rumbles to life when she starts it and backfires as she puts it into reverse, to drive away.  River goes to the driveway control panel and changes the code.  She then spends the day packing away Kitty’s and Lolita’s clothes.  She has a charity, come and pick-up all the stuff, she wants to get rid of including the horrible furniture that Kitty had bought.

She then concentrates of cremating her father’s body and holding a very simple funeral for him.  McKenzie stays by her side.  He is worried because she has become quiet and often retreats away from him. 

He has also got a problem as Astro is refusing to talk to him.  Has done so, ever since he went against his wishes and tried to sleep with Stacey, for the last time. 

He had apologised to both Astro and Realm, but both had given him the silent treatment.  His only hope now, is that they’ll forgive him, once they see his sincere feelings for River.  He might have thought of her as too young.  But she has shown him, just how mature she is.  With how she has stepped up and dealt with everything.

Three months later

River is beginning to feel as though things are beginning to settle down.  She has taken over her father’s company as his will asked.  Had her family home redecorated to her own tastes.  She sold Kitty’s and Lolita’s cars and gave the money to charity, not wanting anything of theirs.  Her mother’s furniture that was stored in the attic, she now is using most of it around her home.

McKenzie shares his time between her home and his apartment.  He wants to allow her time to grieve and also get use to the fact she is a shifter.  Her training is going well, with Realm’s help, she is a quick learner.

But soon McKenzie wants to introduce her to the pack.  Only he wants to introduce her as his mate and that means he wants to mate fully with her.  She knows their mate bond is getting stronger and that whatever Realm was angry about, she is now over.  But this is a huge step, after tonight they will be as good as married.  Maybe even more so, as their bond will fully form.  Realm seems to be excited at the thought, River is a little apprehensive as she feels her free will is being taken away a little.  She does have feelings for McKenzie, but she really doesn’t know if this is love?

“Stop worrying, he’ll never hurt us again.  He might have had his own doubts, but he is fully committed to us now” Realm assures her.

It does a little to calm the nerves she is feeling.  She steps from the bath tub and wraps a towel around herself.  Tonight, McKenzie will come to her home.  He said they would be less likely to be interrupted there.  She puts on a summer dress as summer has arrived with a real heat to it.  She combs out her hair and leaves it to dry naturally.

She has cooked him a soup that is served cold and then will BBQ a couple of steaks that they will have with salad.  She walks around the house in her bare feet as it’s cooler that way.  She has the air con on but it’s still warm.  Her hair is nearly dry as she checks the soup has cooled enough and sets the table outside in the shade.

She hears McKenzie’s car and the driveway gate slide open.  Her stomach flutters as though a hundred butterflies just took flight in it.  She walks through to the front door and opens it, as he walks up the path.  “Hi, you look stunning” he tells her as he pulls her into his arms and kisses her.

This is something that River has, had to get used to.  He is a very affectionate man.  “Where you able to sort out the packing problem you had?” he asks her.

“Yes, eventually.  I had to show the directors proof that the outlay for the new printing and cutting machine was worth it.  But only agreed, after I’d shown them the better-quality product we’d have.  Now I just have to convince them, that the new laser printer is also worth it.  But that will cost a further half a mil’ so, I’ll have to analyse all the data and crunch the numbers to show it will be worth it, in the long run” she answers. 

“I have no doubt you’ll convince them” McKenzie says as they head in towards the kitchen.  “Um, something smells good” he says sniffing the air.  “I’ve made some sweet corn gazpacho, cold soup.  Then I have some good old steaks to grill on the BBQ with salad and fresh bread” she tells him walking to the fridge.

She takes the bowl out of the fridge and McKenzie hugs her from behind and rests his head on her shoulder as she moves to the counter to place the soup there.  “Are you hungry now?” she asks “I could have some soup, but I ate a late lunch, so the steaks can wait, till later” he replies.

River takes some bowls from the cupboard and spoons some of the soup into both of them.  McKenzie tastes it and then smiles “this is tasty, and refreshing, thank you” he says spooning some more up and savouring it.

“I learnt to cook while in university.  I liked it, as it helped to calm my mind and I’d have something good to eat at the end” she tells him.  “In the pack we have a central house where many come to meet and eat.  There are also families living in their own homes, but we are social creatures and like to spend time with each other.  Only the meals tend, to be more functional.  So, your basic meat, potato and veg mostly.  The teen pups eat so much, that the kitchen staff never stop” he tells her.

Once he has finished his soup, he waits for River to finish and then rinses out the bowls and places them in the dishwasher.  River looks around and thinks about what to do now.  Her nerves coming back, making her fingers fidget with her dress.

“River” McKenzie calls, she turns and he captures her lips with his.  This kiss is burning in every way.  River kisses him back and clings to him.  He lifts her up and she wraps her legs around him.  He carry’s her up the stairs, while kissing her and nibbling on her neck.  River is now fully focused on him and only him.