Forest of Eyulf: "Instincts of Blue"
Part 3

By Tammy
TammyPell@aol.com

Disclaimer-

This is a fantasy story in which the main characters may follow the archetypes represented by Xena and Gabrielle . Some may not consider it an actual piece of fan fiction. Xena, Gabrielle and Cyrene are characterizations that are owned by Renaissance/Universal and the author of this story is merely borrowing them and their personalities . This story depicts a loving relationship between characters of the same sex. Violence occurs within the context of good fighting evil.

Thanks as always go to my editor and friend "Wishes". And to those who encouraged me to write and offered feed-back to me with this different piece of fiction.

Comments are welcome and appreciated. I can be reached at TammyPell@aol.com

Characters and there "Xena Warrior Princess" Counterparts:

Zya- Xena
Brielle-Gabrielle
Nyka- Argo
Reina- Cyrene
Lai- Lyceus
Drad- Draco
Terrence- Toris

All other characters are invented by the author for the sake of the story plot.

A special thank-you goes out to Wishes for this new and special poem esp. for this section.

Though my enemies pursue me,
Their hatred like an arrow through me,
My pulse of life will never flutter
Nor my faith in goodness never falter
As I hold you, my beloved,
To my breast.
Traveling through darkest forests,
Or deep caves of my own fury.
My steps will march on boldly,
My path through life forever clear,
As I hold you, my beloved,
Safe and near.

When night mare visions threaten
And memories my minds peace lessen,
My dreams will turn to love and beauty,
And to dawn I will remember only those,
As I hold you, my beloved,
Ever close.

The large crowd’s talking drowned to whispers as the leader of the blacks drew out her jeweled sword and raised it above her head . To most of the crowd it appeared that the leader was closing her eyes in reverence to the gods of Ulf.. Only Zya herself knew the diversity of feelings and their intense depth that were now beating with every beat of her heart. Zya had spent her whole life being first threatened and later hating Nadireans. Lai’s decapitated Ulf head strung up on a Nadirean spear as a trophy still haunted her dreams when she slept.

"It did not have to be this way," Zya projected privately to the bleeding, naked man. He lay strung out on his back on the ground tied to four stakes like a dangerous animal. The blue eyed warrior opened her eyes and motioned at her second to state the charges.

Kern, a tall six foot in human form, gave his commander a quick nod and threw back a curly lock of brown shoulder length hair out of his somber, brown eyes. "Nalek of the Ulfr has been charged with treason to the Ulfr. He stands accused of two counts of attempted murder. He stands accused of breach of Ulf honor and one count of attempted rebellion against the blue eye leadership of our clan," Kern stated in a deep, emotionless tone. He finished and moved to stand by his leader’s left side as was the ceremonial custom.

Zya lowered her raised sword and pointed it at the crowd as she spoke. "Brothers and Sisters , these are serious charges. Would any witnesses to these grievances so indicate by an upraised hand?"

Zya nodded to the twenty or so upraised hands. She stood in silence as her Uncle Teldar asked each witness to state his name for the record scroll of the day’s events before she spoke again. "The charges have been substantiated. Nalek of Ulfr, you have been judged by your brown eyed peers." Zya spoke letting her blue eyes harden coldly as she looked at the traitor’s form.

"This is the judgment of all of the blacks," she stated, taking the rolled up scroll from her second’s hands. "Not just the blue eyed bitches as you quaintly described," Zya continued. Taking hold of her mother’s hand, she stepped with her forward with her so their feet rested only inched from Nalek’s waist.

"Nalek of Ulf, you have been found guilty of all charges. You are now and forever a traitor to the blacks . You are sentenced to exile from the Forrest to the Adean plains," Zya read as she handed her sword to her mother, who stuck the wolf patterned blade in the nearby fire to heat.

Zya handed the paper to Kern and looked down at Nalek, speaking her private feelings for all the family to hear. "You threatened my mother, tried to kill my mate and by all that the Ulf call sacred you are now in the gods’ hands as you are taken to the heart of your enemies’ bosom."

"Being found guilty as a traitor, you are no longer a brother in our pack and will be so marked with the mark of Ulf on your forehead for all to see. And to prevent your tongue turning traitor to your people, your vocal cords will be severed," Zya explained dispassionately as she took her now red hot sword from Reina’s outstretched hand.

"So speaks the law," Zya spoke. She lowered the patterned blade to Nalek’s sweating face and ignored his scream of pain that ended with a howl when he passed out. Zya could feel Brielle’s stirrings from her sleep, and the pain was beginning to return to her breasts. Wishing to complete this ugly process, she turned to Kern, thus signaling to the crowd the end of the proceedings.

"Send a group of your best and most loyal scouts, Kern .. but I need you here."

Zya spoke autoritatively, "I do not want his family to have to watch the shattering of his vocal cords," Zya spoke on as she glanced up at his grief stricken mate being led away by some of the other women toward the cooking fires. "Go as far as the edge of the blacks’ hunting grounds and do it yourself."

Kern nodded, exiting quickly, not even looking down at Nalek’s semi-conscious form below. He knew Zya followed the law to the letter and expected him to do likewise. It had been a close vote whether to kill or exile Nalek. The elder blue Reina had broken the unyielding tie with the words to let the gods decide his fate by sending him to the center of the Nadirean civilization. Only then had both sides been satisfied with the judgment.

Needing time to regroup, Zya walked to the gently swaying hammock and lifted her mate in her arms . She moved the furs so they covered Brielle’s pale skin from the harsh sunlight and headed for the Kildr. She walked faster as the pain in her breasts grew stronger and her bonded one in her arms grew more restless. So much has happened, she thought as she increased her strides.

She smiled, hearing the babbling waters and listening to it speak to her. The pines now shaded the bright day’s sun, and a cool wind blew through her dark hair. Holding her bundle gently, she sat at the water’s edge and pulled the furs away from the smaller face.

"What a homecoming...... huh, Brielle?" Zya whispered.

"Eassy there. I know, I know," Zya projected in the head of the woman who lay nestled in one of her arms. She worked at unfastening the lacings of her leather vest. Brielle shivered and moved her head from side to side restlessly.

"Here, Here now," Zya whispered aloud, guiding the half Ulf to her milk heavy breast. The she-wolf allowed herself a loud sigh of release after her mated began to suckle with the same vivaciousness as earlier this morning. Guess it was not a one time deal, huh? Zya thought to herself, wondering how shewas going to lead her people if every so often she was going to have to come back and feed her blood mate. I’ll just do it, she concluded to herself. She settled more conformably against a large pine and reached down her hand and moved blond hairs away from her blood mate’s eyes. Brielle stopped her swallowing for a minute. Zya smiled with the realization that her mate truly enjoyed her touch.

"I enjoy your touch too, Brielle," she murmured in her mate’s head feeling the soft downy hairs on her mate’s cheek tickle her breast each time she swallowed.

As before, Brielle fiercely protected Zya’s other breast in a possessive, but gentle, hold. How do I explain this to everybody? she asked herself. She felt her mood lower while she objectively viewed the picture before her. Yea, right, the leader of the blacks, the most powerful of all the tribes of Ulfyr , nursing her perceived Nadirean mate from her childless breast. Makes sense to me , Zya thought sarcastically.

No, stay awake, awake, Brielle thought as she fought the soothing, numbing effects of the warm milk she swallowed hungrily. The warmth, the smell, the curve of the nipple assured her of the familiar. She fought the soothing lull in her mind, and she tried to open her eyes this time. A minute, if only for a minute, the drive urged her. An urge stronger than sleep moved through her small form. To see, to see the familiar one. A cry , a whimper.... A cry she gave to the familiar one. Look down, bend your head ... so that I, too, can see.

"Beautiful," Zya said audibly as she looked into the tired green eyes that opened and grabbed hers tighter than any head clamp. This was the first time she had seen those eyes in the light of day. Green the color of the sacred pine that she had always called home.

"I love you," she projected instinctively into the weak blinking eyes, smiling as they flashed for a second and then closed in sleep. "Brielle, let go, that’s right....

Let go," Zya projected again. Her mate had fallen asleep with her breast in her mouth and only let go with gentle prodding.

"Wow!" Zya exclaimed aloud. Leaving Brielle nestled into her naked flesh, she took several deep breaths and waited for the pounding of her heartbeats to slow. "And I thought all that talk of bonding was a bunch of Nairean crap," she spoke aloud.

"No dear, it’s real.... very real," Reina answered, walking out of the thick vegetation to sit by her daughter. " You are bonded.... now in a way more sacred than the law."

The late morning was seasoned with sounds of the Kildr dancing along the grassy shoreline. Overhead, calling songbirds darted from tree to tree calling simple melodies in the sway of the tall pines.

"Mother, what is it?" Zya spoke aloud, finally breaking the quiet interlude. Zya shifted Brielle’s weight from her chest to settle her in her lap. With a mental touch, the younger blue let her fingers stoke her Mother’s pensive face.

"I walked up as she opened her eyes," Reina mumbled softly, her blue guilt riddled eyes bearing down into her daughter’s lap. Reina stood abruptly and turned to the water. "Those are the same eyes that pleaded with me to go to Nali before they shut forever."

"I am all right, daughter," she projected with her mind, stooping to the waters edge and splashing water on her heated tearstreaked face. "I thought at the time I was doing what was best for Nali’s child. When you found Brielle, my guilty conscious sealed my lips."

"All our paths in life have both sun and shade," Zya mumbled aloud in simple philosophy. "Mine has more shade than yours, dear Mother," Zya finished, shutting her eyes to the numbers of souls she had personally sent to the next life, first as revenge and later with bloody hunger. Brielle sighed deeply, jarring both women’s dark contemplation’s.

Reina smiled, looking at the sunny blond hair that was the spitting image of

her mother’s golden tresses. She knew that the time for guilt was over. Now was a time for doing what was best for Zya and Brielle. Letting memories of Nali’s positive spirit envelop her, she touched her child’s mate’s cheek . "Fever is down," she spoke aloud, taking her child’s hand in her own.

"Yea, the milk is helping, I think. Fighting off the infection," Zya answered, dreading where the next phase of this mother daughter talk was going. Her blue eyes turning hard, she met her mother with a hard stare. " I am not leaving her, Mother, and I am not going to relinquish the rule of the blacks either."

Reina purposely took her child’s hand and winked at her. "Calm down, child. I would expect no less than that from a child from my womb. And a blue eyed she-wolf at that," she spoke reassuringly. "I have a vested interest in both of you.

We therefore must talk and plan. The Nadirean threat will NOT go away. Our red cousins seek our destruction, and Brielle needs you as she heals and grows."

Zya smiled as she watched the wheels turning in her Mother’s mind. While Zya was a strategist and could find the edge in any battle, Reina had a knack for looking at the complete picture of situations. Blue eyes met blue .

"Let’s talk"

Chapter13

"Take comfort, child," Reina projected. She turned her wolf head upwards to make eye contact with her child, who rode on horseback holding her mate. "This is the right thing to do." she emphasized with a swish of her black tail and fell back a few paces to fall into step with the polished gait of the tall, black mare.

Zya had named her Nyka as a filly . The horse was solid black except for a white blaze on the forehead that was the shape of a crescent moon. Nyka, named for the goddess of the night, fell into the she-wolf’s heart in a way that the leader would allow no others since Lai. And trained well, the mare had no aversion to wolves, unlike the other horses owned by the Ulf.

Zya sighed , her feelings torn. She ruled her people, and both the Nadirean

and Red Ulf threats plagued her mind and heart. They needed the strength of the blue eyes. She transferred the horse’s reins to her right hand, then brought her left hand to her sleeping mate’s downed head . With tender touch, she moved the blonde head till it rested comfortably against her chest, then snaked the arm around the small waist. But the security of her mate and her well being were equally important.

"There are two tasks that are yours now, Zya of the black," her mother projected into her mind as wolf and horse ran further into the darkening forest that was the hunting grounds for the blacks of Ulfyr. "The healing and introduction of Brielle to the ways of the Ulf," Reina mentally spoke never breaking stride. "And the physical union of your blood bond, thus securing your bond to all that question it."

"Yes, wise mother," Zya projected respectfully,listening for the third time to goals she had sworn to accomplish the first time she had heard them. Goals that were taking her further from others who needed her, and inwardly she seethed with self doubt and anger.

"All three of the rest of us feel your emotions," Reina projected jumping from rock to rock as she crossed part of the Kildr. "Nyka fights your commands, and your bonded one shifts restlessly in your arms."

"Brielle just does not like horses," Zya defended, petting her mare on the side in soothing strokes. "Nyka just does not get out much this late at night, that’s all."

Reina grunted, sprinting forward at full speed up the gradual incline. She stopped as she reached the top and turned to wait on the slower paced horse. Was I so different at her age? Reina thought to herself as she realized that she looked at a picture of herself some 15 summers ago. Her irritation faded as she watched her daughter draw the black beast to a stop and smile at her.

"Look, I am sorry... I know this is important... Brielle carries the mark, and her destiny is one that will be great if given time for her to heal and grow."

"Zya, it is not only that," Reina countered, pacing back and forth on the fallen wood. " Both of you need time to learn each other. And Brielle has a great many of things to accept. Things that are difficult due to her upbringing. You need time alone to work through these things. And for you to see the extent of her Ulf abilities. For you to develop them, teach her to defend and attack. This is all best done away from prying eyes.... Even if they are merely curious ones of your brothers and sisters.

"Others in the Ulf Nation would not only be curious though. You know the hate

of the Nadireans. You know how some would love to use this time to weaken you by your mate’s death or even to bond with her themselves."

"Noooooooooooooooooooooooo!" Zya spoke aloud angerly. "They cannot take her!" Zya let her blue eyes quickly check to see if she had woken her mate with her outburst.

"She is still asleep," Reina spoke softly mentally caressing her daughter with warm thoughts. "Your milk is very potent in that regard I’d say. Not that mine did not put you out like a light, and you were a little terror when you were awake."

"It is time we did a mental probe on your bonded one," Reina projected, jumping down from the log and padding to stand in front of Nyka, who chewed the soft grasses only inches from her. " It is important to know what mental effect your bonded has suffered from the breast milk. And what has occurred to her.

If we glimpse into her brain, we may learn a great deal that may help you both deal with this time."

"We can also form a psychic link of protection for her from others of the Ulf," Zya added as the wheels in her own mind began to turn..

"Yes, I was afraid to do this up till now," Reina mentally projected, starting to walk forward following the rising moon. "But in the safety and protection of the Blue Eye’s Sacred Cave; we should delay no longer. We can do it tonight before I go back to rule till you return."

"She will be hungry again soon; we should hurry," Zya spoke digging her feet into Nyka’s sides . The wind blew softly from the west and caused both wolf and horse to stop in their tracks.

"That smell," Reina projected lifting her nose upwards and breathing deeper.

The dark haired woman’s blue eyes flashed angrily with gold. She unconsciously drew her mate closer to her and took off at full gallop " That smell is of Nadirean butchers wearing our blood on their bodies. We must go!"

Chapter 14

No, No let me go! the small black wolf cub projected to the firm clasp hold to the scruff of her neck. She closed her blue eyes and squinted her brow in concentration. The sudden change of weight distribution surprised Teldar as the Ulf of seven summers broke his hold and barreled at full speed to the mournful howls that filled the clearing beyond their nightly camp spot.

Mother, Mother Lai, Terrance.......,Zya, heir of the blacks, called as loud as she could above both angry and mournful howls that spilled from the forest into mountain echoes. Though learned in the use of mental projection, Zya forgot her recent lessons and screamed louder. Her tiny bare feet squished in the hacked bits of tissue that littered the grasses.

Her frightened blue eyes darted back and forth among the carcasses. Dead, so, many dead , her young mind thought. Mother, where is mother, she murmured to herself as she tried not to throw up. Even at seven summers, Zya knew what the word Nadirean meant and that they made her afraid.

Mother? she whispered as she saw a stooped naked female holding a small furless body in her long brown arms. The heir of the blue blinked shocked tears as she looked at the body in disbelief. Reina had taken her youngest son, Lai, out with her on what was supposed to be a normal scavenging mission. Zya, who had been fighting the sniffles for two days, had been left at home with her aunt and uncle.

Laiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii! Zya screamed, running forward and darting through the snapping jaws of the brown furred males that sought to hold her back. Noooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!! she cried, slipping in a large pool of blood. Her blue‘ sight blinded with tears, the young blue lost her stomach as her mind flashed her younger brother’s skinned body in her mind , his brown eyes wide in terror and his muzzle open to scream.

Little Zya never felt her mother pick her up and wrap her arms around her only daughter, shielding her child’s eyes by tucking her small face in her long dark hair. But she felt her mother’s tears as they rolled down her bare back , washing her with the reality of Nadirean cruelty.

Remember what you saw here tonight, young Zya, Reina projected to her successor. She hated that her child had to be exposed to harsh realties of war at such a tender age. But tonight the issue of the Nadireans had changed for the Ulfyr. No longer would her people run from the Nadirean dogs who had chased her grandmother’s people off the Adean plains and into the forest. No longer would she covertly run through the forest like criminals as her mother had done. From now on they would fight for their lands and for their way of life, Reina thought to herself as she wiped a tear from her young one’s cheek and kissed her gently.

Her hot face lying on her mother’s shoulder, Rya stared at her little brother’s body and promised herself to remember.

Zya of the blacks caught the slipping body that still rested in her arms and cursed herself for her daydreaming. Thoughts of Lai were there to strengthen her, not to make her careless. Zya gave her mother a quiet nod as Reina slipped quietly through the underbrush. The deep, ragged breaths of another drew her blue eyes up from the forest floor. She could feel her half Ulf mate’s heart beating fiercely. Astounded, she realized her heart was beating just as fast, and her breaths were just as ragged. Her smaller mate had connected with her own mental demons, and her body had mirrored Zya’s.

Shhh, Zya crooned mentally, letting her hand travel up and down the younger woman’s back. I am okay now, she added as she pointed Nyka to a group of four trees bunched closely together with a section of tall yellow grasses underneath.

Trappers! Reina projected in her daughter’s mind as she crouched down on her stomach to carefully watch the scene before her. Her blue eyes counted three middle aged men who stood over a large pit.

Another Nadirean of lesser age, a young boy, stood by a wagon loaded with pelts of various kinds of creatures. Her discerning eye picked up immediately that these trappers specialized in trapping Ulf. Gods, Reina thought to herself as her memory went back to the way her youngest child died.

Easy, Mother, another voice projected as a younger black wolf slid down beside her and took the scene in with her blue eyes. The pelts in the wagon were mostly silver and red. Evidently they have moved into our area now, Zya mumbled.

Where is Brielle? Reina projected, watching with hardened eyes as a net was thrown into the pit below.

I hid her in some underbrush just behind us, Zya responded. Nyka will let us know if there is any danger.

Reina stood up suddenly and stared with cold blue eyes at her name-sake.

I already called Kern. A group of eight of our kind will be here shortly, Zya reported to her mother as Moving her muzzle in a round circle, she sniffed the air as the breeze blew through her dark fur. Hair on Zya’s back suddenly stood on end, and a low growl developed.

Careful, daughter, Reina warned, I smell it too. I heard her small projections when I first got here. Old Ruud mentioned to me about taking a group of our four-summered cubs out with him to hunt on the sacred hunting grounds.

Kerri! Zya thought at once. She lifted her head and tilted her pointed ear to listen better. This now grew personal as she realized that her older brother’s youngest cub was down in that hole. She now could make it out among the snickers and foul comments of the Nadireans. She heard the whimpers of small cubs.

Reina nuzzled her daughter’s muzzle with her own while looking her straight in the eye. We will get them all back, she assured, nodding to the approaching eight large brown eyed wolves that loaped out of the darkness. I will go stay with Brielle. I am getting too old for this type of combat. Call me if you need me, Reina projected to her daughter before backing off into the darkness.

This bunch is full of nothing but runts, Wyatt Finley grumbled as he and his partner picked up the nets to throw into the pi they had dug earlier in the day. The sound of howls in the distance was making him antsy, and he wanted to skin the large one and be on their way.

Shut up, Wyatt, and pull, Amos Williams answered back. The leader in this expedition, he had the most to profit or lose from their venture, and he was not going to let the sounds of wolves singing in the hills deter him from the great rewards the Nadirean government was paying for wolf hides. Boy! Hold them there horses still. If they bolt, you will have wished that you would have run off, too.

Young David scrambled under the wagon when he saw the large pack of wolves race out of the darkness with their glowing, yellow eyes. He heard the screams and then only howls and crickets as he waited for his death.

Instead,

He only felt the human touch of long, warm fingers that touched his forehead before his mind shut off and gave into the numbness.

Zya picked up the young boy and placed him gently in the wagon bed . She looked over to her second in command as he gathered the frightened cubs and marched them single file towards a growing number of yellow eyed relatives that stood just in eyesight. Kern, you old softie, she teased as he picked the last one up by the scruff of the neck and moved him towards his father. Just wait till you have cubs of your own, Zya, he projected. He looked over to Reina, who lay beside Brielle with her grandchild Kerri curled into her body asleep. When there is another one who is dependent on you, well...... you look at things in this life a little differently, he finished. His brown eyes hardened again as he trotted to the wagon and looked up at the pelts of his dead relatives and the Nadirean boy slave.

Kern, send messages to all of the families and tell them of our discovery tonight, Zya said as she rummaged through the wagon counting the number of pelts. The two Naidrean opportunists might be dead now, but neither Lai nor these dead could be brought back to life.

What about the boy? Kern projected

Have a volunteer take him to the nearest Nadirean village at sunrise and then take the pinch off him, Zya mumbled thoughtfully. He was a victim here, too, and will get a better life now than with those two jackals he served.

What’s in the bag? Kern asked curiously as he looked up at his commander’s human form and the movement that was in the coarse cloth.

Oh, one of those ferrets with the white rare fur, still alive. Thought I could have it for breakfast later when I get to the cave of the blue with my mate, Zya projected then waved good-bye in a friendly gesture. She looked into the bag once more, her mouth watering in anticipation. The creature was still young, not much meat on it. It was white except for the dark black eyes that stared at her. She closed the bag, knotting it as she walked back towards her mate, mother and niece.

The leader of the blacks stopped at the edge of part of the Kildr and washed off the blood and grime from her human form. Am I changing? she wondered as she splashed water on her neck and chest. There was a time when I would have taken out a party of hunters immediately to attack the first settlement of Nadireans that I saw. I find myself wanting my mate’s presence right now, not blood and the dead. Zya stepped from the shallows and toward her family. Her goals not just in her mind now but also in her heart.

Chapter 15 :

The circle of light grew wider and brighter. It was distinct against the backdrop of darkness. Closer, brighter, the goal is the light. With a jump and a tumble, blue eyes re-opened.

Reina blinked her eyes once more and took note of her own body. Her knees rested on the edge of the animal furs. She felt her hand being squeezed with another’s strong callused hands. Zya, she whispered, making eye contact with her daughters blue eyes. Her mind was clearing now and she shook the after-effects of her mental journey.

The pathway is unstable, Reina spoke aloud. She kept her eyes focused on the naked form that lay tucked between the two sets of knees on either side of the fur. Brielle’s body was tense with erratic breathing. A fine sheet of moisture covered her skin. I was only partially successful in planting the suggestion, Reina added to Zya .

Zya blew out a tense breath while reaching for her bonded one with her long arms. Skin met skin with a mutual need. Zya felt her own heart settle in even beats as the younger woman’s mark fell onto hers. Brielle clasped at her left breast with protective reverence . Reina could only marvel as she noted that both women’s breathing were matched.

I will go in , Zya said in mental projection. She replaced her mate on the furs before shedding the remainder of her clothing and joining her there.

I expected as much, Reina mentally projected with a slight nod of her head. Not speaking further, she dabbed her fingers in the bowl to her right. This sap of the sacred trees will ease your mental journey, Reina spoke the holy words. After drawing a line on her daughter’s forehead, she redipped her finger and drew a line on Brielle’s. Go in peace and meet each other on the other side, the elder of the blue finished the sacred lines .

Be cunning, my daughter; her mental path is dark and unstable. Use your wolf senses preceding that of your human heart. The spirit of darkness traps this young one’s essence. Pray to the gods that the bond you carry on this level will reach out to her in the next.

  Zya nodded thoughtfully and closed her eyes . She felt her mother’s arm reach out to pillow both her mate’s and her own head. I will do my best to keep the path strong, my young one, Reina spoke aloud Her other arm reached easily over her two mental charges.

Then the chanting began.

Darkness, only darkness, and this time she had no moon or stars to guide her. The ground beneath her shook with instability, sending the warrior of the wolves into a defensive crouch. Instinct of blue spurred her forward despite her blindness. Zya’s other senses rose in high alert. Her weapons this quest were her mind and soul; homed and fortified with the instincts of blue.

Her dark head jerked back suddenly, mere seconds before a whoosh filled her ears. The next blow sent her airborne, as she anticipated, then countered. Zya’s nostrils flared open as her attacker came nearer. She recognized the scent and smiled at her good fortune. Her arm hairs bristled upwards as a weapon narrowly missed them. With a snap and a tug, the attacker was to her chest.

Stand down, little she cub, Zya projected angrily. She felt the wooden staff now and sent it hurling into the black night. Her loins felt the searing as her mate struggled harder. Anger now gave in to a stronger, precious need.

Feel me, little she cub, Zya spoke, pulling bodies tighter, Cease this fruitless struggle and know who I am.

Ahh, yes, little she-cub, you recognize my smell. Zya tingled where the small nose touched . It tickled as it burrowed. Convinced, my little she cub, or need you further proof? Zya bent ever so gently till breasts met tender lips. The lips they did not suckle, instead burned hot, fast tears.

Relax now, little she cub, latch on and trust in me.

The milk was ever flowing. Surprising even Zya herself. With each swallow, the mind path grew lighter. Torches lit each side. It was passion Zya felt this feeding . Pulses through her very being. Her bonded felt it also as they climbed and peaked as one.

Zya felt the green eyes on her, even before she opened her blue ones. Her arms still firmly wrapped just above her mate’s waist, she blew a stray dark hair out of her eyes. We are one now, little she wolf, one in mind and heart, Zya whispered aloud emotionally, feel our connection...... it flows through both our veins. Zya held perfectly still as the small hands roamed her body. They moved with a careful thoughtfulness and with a sacred slowness. They started at her breasts and moved upwards. Soft fingers touched each curve till they stopped and rested on golden cheeks.

My familiar, the soft voice whispered. It clutched to Zya’s heart and set it to beating faster than any enemy had ever done. Zya rejoiced in its beat because to her it was like her loud wolf cry. It sounded now to her body like the howling of sacred love.

Her sultry voice fell silent. All she could manage was a nod. She wanted to change and bay at the moon and yell to the Ulf of her joy. But Zya quickly repressed it, remembering where she was. Not in her sacred forest but in the path of dreams.

What is it, little she wolf? Zya projected with an emotion of concern. Her bonded one’s eyes had fallen behind her shoulder and locked and stared with fear. The warrior turned her face slightly, enough for her periferal vision to see. It was then she saw the yellow eyes that skirted on the light’s dark edge.

Time to go, little she wolf, Zya uttered as she let go of her mate’s small waist. With a mighty whoosh, the torches blew out, and dark’s curtain fell. There was a growling as eyes moved closer eyes , and Sya spun around and growled back.

The half ulf gasped in terror; unnerved by growls and snarls. Easy there, little she wolf, Zya spoke aloud and reached for a trembling hand.

The torch flickered back as fingers touched . Zya then finally realized that their physical connection was their guide in this land of the mind. Her trained blue eyes did not miss the retreat of bodies into the dark. She grimly realized the yellow eyes belonged to red furred wolves. But unlike the Ulf they resembled, these beasts did not like light. Zya knew that they would not follow. She dismissed them and squeezed the half Ulf’s hand.

Let’s go, Brielle, Zya projected somberly, starting forward till her right hand jerked. Her young mate did not follow and stood planted, unmoving. Unused to disobedience , her eyes met green eyes with irritation. Her temper softened quickly as she stared at eyes of green confusion.

Trust me, little she wolf, let’s go, come on.. let’s go together. Zya could not miss the change this time. Her young love’s eyes lost their glassy haze. And with hands firmly joined, they moved forward onto this pathway of dreams.