Winter Wolf, (C)1998 Anne Fraser and Sara Weber ___________________________________________________________ Chessie laughed with delight as a large silver wolf came skidding down the hill in pursuit of her toboggan. She wasn't at all afraid of a supernatural animal that looked like it could eat her in one bite and look around for seconds. Her own werecat instincts told her that it was still Mitch underneath that fur, and that he was no threat to her. Mitch was having fun. He was getting a really good grasp now on his changing ability--it wasn't even a full moon, and he'd been able to go completely wolf except for his mind. He knew it was a struggle to keep his mind human; but it was what he had to do. Let it go wolf... he shuddered, and snow sprayed off his furry coat and over Chessie, Pumpkin and Smoke. The two other animals had finally caught up. "Teach me, teach me!" Chessie begged. The wolf stood up on its hind legs and reality wavered in the cold air. A minute later, he was Mitch again, in jeans and a ski jacket. Thank heavens he'd mastered the art of changing back into clothes, he thought with a grin, or Chessie would've gotten a _real_ education. "I can't teach you how to become a wolf," Mitch told the little one. "You're a cat, I'm a wolf. It's in the bones and the blood and the mind." And in the silver howling on a moonlit winter's night... Where had that thought come from? "Not _that_," Chessie wrinkled her nose. "I don't wanna be a woof." "Woof?" asked Pumpkin, floppy-eared head to one side. Smoke immediately pounced on her, and the animals were lost to view in a tussle in a snowbank. Any other time Chessie would have happily joined in their play, but tonight she was more interested in impressing her new friend. And getting him to help her learn how to change forms. "They're just being silly," said Chessie dismissively. "Teach me to change when I wanna." "It's not that easy to learn," Mitch sighed. "I'm only just beginning to get the hang of it myself." He picked up the rope for the toboggan, and studied Chessie's crestfallen face. "Come on, I'll pull you back up the hill," he offered. "It's getting dark." "'Kay." She jumped onto the snow-covered cushion. "Why's it so hard?" Mitch thought about it. He suspected that it had been hard for him because of circumstances, not because it was inherently difficult for any were to change back and forth. He'd been bitten and then abandoned, forced to find his own path through the forest of weredom. It had been extremely difficult, even when he'd found the Brotherhood, because he hadn't had any other weres to advise him. All he'd had was books and movies; and it wasn't till he'd met people like Hair Raiser and Lady Spirit Wolf that he'd found out those sources were dead wrong. His maker had a lot to answer for. He shivered suddenly at the thought of a stocky woman with white hair and silver eyes... Trouble. It wasn't her name, really. It was what she was. His pack leader, his alpha wolf, his maker. Werewolves don't have sires or bloodmasters in the way that some vampires do, but they do have pack leaders. Most weres, though, manage to be, uh, lone wolves. But sometimes the alphas come looking for you, and you owe them your obedience. Or they kill you. Why was he thinking along those lines? Trouble had come looking for him once, but that had been two years ago and the CotN had scared her off. Mitch shivered again, thinking of that party. Trouble had been nothing compared the The Wolf. The Big Bad Wolf. The one who started Winter. "Mitch?" Chessie's voice broke into his reverie. "How come you're just standing in the snow and not pulling?" "Sorry, kiddo." Mitch tugged on the rope, tempted to turn back into the powerful wolf for this task. A wolf is not a beast of burden. Mitch looked around, wondering at the scornful voice in his head. He saw only Chessie sitting on the toboggan, happily shaking the rope and yelling, "Gee-yup!". Pumpkin and Smoke were still chasing each other through the clouds of snow. There was nothing else, save a bird circling over the trees at the bottom of the hill. Night was coming on fast, as it did this time of year... A wolf is free, not tied down to a place, to people, to a job. A wolf is responsible only to the pack. The woods are the place for us, not houses. Come to the woods, little brother, and run with the pack. "Chessie, do you hear anything?" Mitch asked, more for the sake of hearing his own voice on the crisp winter air than for an answer. The child considered this. "I hear Pumpkin and Smoke playing," she said. "And there's a bird calling." The woods, little brother. The woods call. "Nothing else?" Mitch licked his lips, and could feel fur sprouting along his legs. The call was powerful, and his inner wolf was responding. "Nothing... inside?" Chessie just stared at him. "Inside what, Mitch?" she asked. "Are you okay?" "I... I don't know. I think we'd better get back inside now." "But I wanna..." "NOW." And with a tug on the rope, Mitch pulled the toboggan after him at a dead run, Chessie clinging to the rope and shrieking with combined glee and fear at the speed. The woods... came the plaintive cry, thankfully shut out by distance. ___________________________________________________________ Gideon, Lady Jeanne, and Josh looked up in consternation as Mitch, a wiggling Chessie held fast in his arms, barreled through the farmhouse door and slammed it shut behind him. The werewolf was very pale. A minute later, he had to open the door to let Smoke and Pumpkin in, but he immediately slammed it shut again and drove the bolts home. "We came really fast," said Chessie, wide-eyed. "I want down." Mitch only clung more tightly. He seemed incapable of speech. "Here, let me take her," Lady Jeanne said, and pried Chessie slowly out of Mitch's frozen grip. "You're so cold," she said in concern. "Mitch?" Josh looked at his young friend, brow furrowing. "Mitch, speak to us. What happened out there?" The werewolf could only shake his head and shudder. Beth came in to see what the commotion was about, and Lady Jeanne excused herself to take Chessie out of the room, smothering the girl's protests. Beth fetched some brandy and poured it. A soft gesture from Gideon stopped her from trying to give it to Mitch herself. The vampire took it over to his young employee himself. "Gaylord," he said, very quietly. "Gaylord, come to your senses. You are safe and among friends. Drink this, and come back to us." Mitch automatically took the snifter, drank some of the brandy, gasped, and blinked. Colour slowly seeped back into his cheeks, but it didn't quite reach his eyes. "The woods..." he said. "What about the woods?" Josh asked. Beth's eyebrows almost knitted themselves together. "There's nothing dangerous in those woods," she said sotto voce to the Baron. "Just birds and small animals. Not even many deer for these parts..." her voice trailed off as she looked at the frightened werewolf. "You'd best sit down, Gaylord," said Gideon, still trying to reach through Mitch's fear to the human underneath. The young man plunked down into the chair his employer practically shoved him into. "Wolves," he said. "It's a wolf winter." "But we've _never_ seen any wolves in our woods..." Beth tried again, but Gideon shook his head at her, and at Josh who also looked like he wanted to speak. "What do you mean by a 'wolf winter'?" the vampire pressed. "What wolves, Gaylord?" Suddenly Mitch's blue eyes focused again. "Why are you calling me 'Gaylord'?" he asked. Then he shuddered. "Boss, there's something out there. In the woods. Calling..." "Whatever it is," Beth said, "it can't get in the house. Are you okay now, Mitch?" The others did not fail to note the extra concern in her voice. "Yes," he gulped, and the colour had fully returned, his eyes were blue once more, "thanks." His hand reached for hers, found it, and grasped. "Thanks," he repeated. Joshua caught Gideon's eye, and made a gesture with his head towards the door to the rest of the house. The vampire nodded, and the two of them stole quietly out of the kitchen. "Well, well," said Josh, "what do you make of all that?" "I have only seen Mitch that frightened once before," Gideon replied, "and that was at the Fear party. Something in the woods gave him a bad fright." "But Beth seems to be making it all go away," Josh noted. "That had not escaped my notice." Of Lady Jeanne there was no sign. Presumably she was still with Chessie, trying to calm the little girl down. "You know," Josh said, "Lady Jeanne _did_ offer us a sleigh ride..." "Which I politely refused," Gideon said, looking slightly puzzled. Then suddenly light dawned, he remembered the sleigh bed in the guest room. "Oh." He held out his hand. "Care to snuggle up together?" he asked. "Thought you'd never ask." And so another night passed at Birch Fields Farm. By morning, both Mitch and Chessie seemed to have recovered from their fright of the previous evening, but neither one was too anxious to go outside. The day passed slowly, and Josh began to wonder if perhaps they should not just make their excuses and leave as soon as it was dark enough for Gideon to travel. Mitch, oddly enough, did not agree with him; and Lady Jeanne and Beth wouldn't hear of it. So evening fell once more on the farm. As night spread its purple shadows across the snow and woods at Birch Fields, the residents and guests of the house gathered in the kitchen. It seemed the safest, warmest, friendliest room in the house. They were quiet, even Chessie, who had gravitated to Joshua's lap and was snuggled up to him. Josh had a quiet way with kids that they liked. Gideon's eyes were unreadable as he watched his lover hold Chessie as if it was the most natural thing in the world to have a child in his lap. Mitch was staring out the window at the woods, his eyes glowing amber. He had his back to everyone so that they couldn't see that feral glow. Fur was already sprouting on parts of his body. He was afraid that he wouldn't be able to control the change even though it wasn't a full moon. His joints hurt, trying to twist themselves into wolf shape and fighting his will to stay human. Beth came and bravely put a hand on his shoulder, ignoring his initial snarl. She didn't draw back when she saw his eyes. Had she flinched or exclaimed in surprise, it would have been over between them before it really started. But to accept Mitch, to even think of a relationship with him of any sort, was to accept that he was a werewolf. So she simply said, "It's calling again, isn't it?" He nodded. "Come to the woods," he said, and he was quoting the voices of the wild. "Then go," Beth said. "What?" three other voices chorused, and Chessie made a sleepy protest. "It's too dangerous," Gideon objected. "We do not know what is out there." "No, she's right," Mitch said, his voice thick as it fought its way up a throat trying not to be able to form words but made for howling. "Whatever's out there... it wants me, and it won't leave us alone till I face it." His eyes narrowed. "I have a feeling I know what's out there, anyway." "What?" Joshua asked. "Trouble." "Then you should not go," said Lady Jeanne. "Trouble is my alpha wolf," Mitch explained with a laugh that was more of a bark. "She made me. The calling has her smell." No one asked how a mental voice could have a smell. Mitch turned towards the kitchen door. "You'll have to open it for me," he said to Beth. "My hands don't seem to be working too well." Since they were halfway to being paws, Beth could understand that. She tried not to watch _too_ closely as Mitch attempted to undress himself so that the change wouldn't rip his clothes off, but his hand/paws were too clumsy. "Boss?" he asked helplessly. Gideon, mouth set, rose from his chair and undressed Mitch, managing to block the werewolf from the views of both Beth and Chessie while he did so. By the time he was finished with his unusual task of valeting, Mitch was mostly wolf, anyway. "If I don't come back, thanks for every... arrrooooo...." A large silver wolf dashed out the open door, heading for the woods. ___________________________________________________________