George hugged her and headed out the door. Ten seconds later and the house was silent except for the sounds of snoring coming from the bedrooms. Meg dropped her clothes to the floor and crawled into bed with Luc. It had been a very long day.
***
Luc woke in the middle of the night stiff and achy. “What the hell?” he wondered. As he tried to stretch, he remembered. Duke, the attach, Meg and the family meeting. “Damn, what a day,” he thought. Luc went to roll over, but Meg was snuggled up tight to his right side. Luc scooted back, stretched a bit more and then curled up around her. He was back asleep in a moment.
Meg woke up wondering who had turned up the heat. She tried to roll over and realized that Luc had shifted in the night and had pinned her under the covers. “Oh great. I need to go to the bathroom,” she thought. Meg tried to wiggle out of the covers, but it didn’t work.
“Luc, wake up Luc,” she said to the wolf curled around her. She started to shake his neck, but realized that even in wolf form, he was missing fur where he’d been injured. The other thing she noticed was that the chain she’d given him fit without being too tight. She smiled.
“Come on Luc, roll over, play dead, do something, but let me up,” she said as she shook his back near his hips.
The wolf raised his head and looked at his mate. “Soft One?” She was yapping at him. He yawned, and then sniffed. “Soft One needs up?” he thought. Soft one not safe,” the wolf thought as he sniffed the air again. “Two others in house,” he smelled. The wolf stood up and let his mate out of the bed and followed her into the little space. He sat in the doorway and watched.
Meg was glad when Luc got up off of the bed. She wasn’t too thrilled by the fact that he followed her to the bathroom. She could tell he was on guard by the way he kept sniffing the air. “Wonder if he smells Peter and Kevin in the guest room?”she thought.
“Come on, move out of the way,” she said as she tried to go back to the bedroom. Meg went to grab her clothes, and Luc blocked her way. He was herding her back to the bed. Looking over at the clock, she saw that it was 8:05 am. “Well, I guess I can go back to bed for a little bit,” she said to herself. Once she got back in bed, Luc wrapped around her and put his head on his tail. There was nothing to do but go back to sleep.
*
Meg woke much later to the sounds of clattering noises coming from the kitchen. Luc was still shifted, but she figured she could get off the bed without waking him. Meg was half way off when he woke, looked at her and jumped off the bed.
“Okay, I get an escort,” she said to herself as they walked out of the bedroom. The wolf preceded her just enough that he could see ahead. He sniffed and headed towards the kitchen and the noises.
Peter was trying to find a coffee filter when he felt the wolf enter the kitchen. He went very still, because while not loud, the growl was there. The wolf sniffed him and then bumped his hand. Peter relaxed. Then he noticed Meg standing in the doorway.
“Do you have any clue to what his problem is?” she asked pointing to the wolf who was sniffing every corner of the room.
“Not exactly, but I can guess. This is the first time he’s shifted since the surgery, and now he’s checking his territory. Way too many unusual smells and he probably remembers the attach yesterday. So, he’s guarding you too. Knowing Luc, he was damn frustrated yesterday about not being able to keep you safe. Plus, he probably feels guilty about Duke losing his mind. So, we have ‘the big bad wolf’ checking out the world and planning to keep it safe,” said Peter.
“Great. Is Kevin still asleep?” she asked working her way to the cupboard where the filters were kept. She handed one to Peter who finished working on the coffee.
“Yeah. He’s shifted too. Hope you don’t mind fur all over the covers,” said Peter.
Meg laughed. “Right, like I’d have a choice?” she said pointing to Luc sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.
Peter realized just what he had said and laughed.
The wolf looked from the man who smelled like a wolf to his mate. “Soft One is safe with him,” he thought. Standing up, he nosed past his mate and headed towards the other scent in the house. There had been lots of two legged wolves in the house. He reached the place where the other scent was strong, but he couldn’t get into the space. He stuck his nose next to the floor where there was a gap and sniffed. “Wolf asleep. Hurt. Safe for Soft One,” he thought. Walking back to the kitchen, he sat watching his mate and the man. After a minute, he headed for the back door. Pawing the handle, he let himself out. More scents. He covered the yard in a few strides.
Meg watched Luc check out the back yard. She giggled when he stopped, sniffed and then peed on a few spots.
“What are you laughing at?” asked Peter.
“Oh, just himself checking the peemail,” she said.
“Peemail?” he replied. Then he thought about it and started to giggle too. “Guess we do check things out just a bit differently on four legs.”
“Yeah. That nose in the crotch thing is right disturbing when it is just a dog. However, when you know that it’s a shifter, it takes on a whole different perspective,” said Meg.