Guiding Lights
#4 of Rebirth
Okay, this chapter has gone through rewrite after rewrite after rewrite. I finally came to the conclusion that the story does not fit a five-story arch, so, I'm downsizing the last two chapters into this big fourth chapter. Because of the change I've had to completely redo the framework of the chapter quite a few times so it would work. Enjoy! Also, little yiff in this final chapter... there is some, but it's nowhere near the level of the previous chapters. This story is really wrapping up the plot set out in the first three chapters. Special thanks to Tybbie for helping me get through writing all of this xD
And I apologize for the wordcount! 7,250... it's nearly Novella length.
Riard looked up at the sky. The storm that had lasted for weeks was gradually picking up. It had picked up violently that night he'd taken Odin in. The storm grew as they trekked north, towards Rebirth Mountain. The place where they would put back what was right. After Odin's removal from the pack it had only taken a few weeks for Dralan to convince the white-furred pack leader that, according to his interpretations of the prophecy, it was them who had to mate for the sun to return to them. After the things Riard had done for Dralan, both with Odin and... sexual, he'd been abandoned by Odin's older brother the second Dralan was able to snatch Kailor. He knew that's the way it had to be, but, it didn't hurt any less, most especially with Odin on his conscience.
Riard lowered his eyes to look upon Rebirth Mountain, sticking out of the treeless tundra in the northern region. It had taken them a month to get there. They were more than half out of their food, making any return voyage very difficult, to say the least. Riard was standing in the middle of the temporary camp they had set up, several kilometres from the base of the mountain. It was early in the morning; their planned trip up Kailor's home mountain, to the chamber of rebirth was to start soon, when Kailor and Dralan came out of their tent.
Since Riard had gotten rid of Odin everybody noticed the incredible change in Kailor. No longer was he caring, rational, considerate. He was like any other tyrant, lashing out at the smallest mistakes. Dralan was the only one managing to keep the pack's spirits alive through the darkening times.
Riard pulled his large, heavy coat closed tighter, trying to keep the icy wind off of his neck. The sun had risen... or, at least that's what it seemed to look like through the heavy, swirling clouds. Where were Kailor and Dralan? Riard turned his face away from the sun, protecting his face against the icy wind. In that moment of protection a guilt came back to him. He didn't know what it was from. Maybe it was because they were so close to the end of their journey. Soon everything would be right. Everything but what he'd done. The old wolf turned to the Kailor and Dralan's tent and made a decision. His conscience wouldn't let him do anything else.
Kailor was walking towards the pack's town center. He wasn't sure exactly why he was going it, he was being compelled, or controlled, he didn't know which. The storm was raging, the lightening striking the Earth with more and more force with each passing second. What was going on? Kailor shivered and opened the large doors, swinging them open with urgency. The moment he walked into the hall a warmth came over the place. The hearths were all ablaze, lighting the room in a sunny, soft glow that he'd been missing for so long. What made him stop breathing, stop thinking, was seeing Odin slumped on the thrown, unconscious, or dead. He was pregnant, far along, sitting in Riard's lap, the old wolf sporting a strange scar on his face.
"It's about time you got here," said the old, scared wolf.
Kailor was confused. "What?" he asked, stepping forwards through the hall, towards his love. "You said he drowned. How did I get back here?" Kailor asked. He hadn't been in his pack's town for weeks. Why couldn't he remember the trip back? Why was the storm outside subsiding?
Odin opened his eyes and yawned, caring nothing for the sight of his mate. Or, former mate. "Kailor..." he whispered.
Kailor lowered his head. That wasn't his Odin. "Where am I?" he asked.
His surroundings shifted. The hearths exploded in flame, then, turned to a white, hot flame surrounding Kailor. The windows to the outside world were all brilliantly white, making it impossible to see out. The hearths calmed down, but, their white flames reached up to the ceiling without setting it aflame.
Odin was suddenly standing in front of Kailor, fully awake, with a cub in his arms. Braed. "We've missed you," Odin said.
Kailor didn't understand what was going on. He didn't care. He rushed forward and wrapped his arms around Odin, hugging the two of them tightly to his chest. "Where are we?" he asked. Was it heaven? That... made him smile. What if he'd died in his sleep? What if the cold or hunger or dehydration had taken its toll on him? Then he was free to be there, with them, forever. Kailor didn't care if they left the hall, being with them would be enough. It was all he'd wanted since Odin died.
"You've left," the younger wolf whispered into Kailor's ear.
Kailor shook his head, "I had to... I had to, Odin. You were gone, I have a job to do," he said. "Am I dead? Is this really you?"
Odin took a step back and tilted his head to the side. "You should know the answer," Odin said, "you should know where to go. Where you should be. You're too easily mislead, mate," he said in an older, more mature tone than Kailor had ever heard coming from Odin before.
Kailor felt dizzy. He felt the flames dying down around him, he felt the ground slipping out from underneath him.
The young, white-furred wolf lifted his head back up straight with a grin. "And you are still my mate. Not his," he said.
"No..." moaned Kailor shifting slightly. He opened his eyes... he was facing down, his face to the pillow. Was it morning already? Was that just another dream? Kailor softly whimpered and closed his eyes. All he knew was that Dralan wasn't beside him, and that was a good thing.
Or perhaps not. Why was he feeling wetness around his rear? That's when he heard Dralan growl.
The grey-furred older brother of Odin gripped Kailor's shoulders and thrust, sinking his cock into the already lubed tailhole belonging to Kailor.
Accustomed to the unannounced matings Dralan insisted on Kailor rose all fours on the sheets they'd thrown on the ground to make bedding. He grit his teeth as he always did when they mated, refusing to make any sounds of pain or pleasure from Dralan.
The grey-furred wolf, meanwhile, only growled louder and thrust himself faster. He was holding back from mating with full force, given Kailor's unique condition, but he was still determined to consummate. "Fuck, Kailor," he said, leaning up to stare down at his alpha's raised tail. "I love you..." he panted. Dralan gripped Kailor's hip and pulled, driving himself just a few inches deeper.
Kailor winced and, for the first time through the entire mating, opened his eyes. He came back into his body and felt fully the cock sliding into his tailhole and out. Returning to the intimate act further removed him from it. The male inside of him wasn't Odin, it never would be again. What did it matter? Kailor refused to lie. "I don't," he growled back in response. "Get off of me."
Dralan gripped Kailor's shoulder and hip tighter and kept moving. He was so, so close to cumming, he couldn't bare to stop so soon. "No... need to... every... morning... to..."
"No!" barked Kailor, jutting forward and pushing his leg back to kick Dralan away. Kailor flipped and sat down on the mat, facing Dralan who'd fallen back on his ass as well. "When I say stop, you stop," the white wolf growled.
Dralan's eyes narrowed. "You agreed. Every morning. Prophecy says endless love, that has to mean at least once a-"
"- I don't. Care," said Kailor, closing his eyes in exhaustion. He rested his paws on his bulging stomach, then, flattened his paws out to lightly rub over them. "I can't do it. Not today. Not again," he said. "You can get off when this is all over."
Dralan watched Kailor rub his stomach. He smiled. "My apologies," he said. "I don't want to upset you. Not with our pup growing. That's the most important thing, isn't it?" he asked. "Do you feel any pains? Is everything alright?" he asked.
"Yes," Kailor said.
"Good. I really do love you, Kailor," said Dralan, "and I love our child. I can't wait to meet him. Odin would be happy for us, you know. He'd want us both to be happy. We're his closest family in the end. Wherever Odin is he has to be proud of us." Dralan cautiously crawled forward, laying down on the floor to put his head in Kailor's lap. He had to so he could hide the look of guilt on his face.
"You don't love me, Dralan," said Kailor. He knew it. Dralan said he loved him, perhaps even believed it sometimes, but Kailor knew how Dralan really felt. Knew that his new 'mate's' sense of duty overrode everything else, including any emotions that were now far, far buried underneath the disaster that'd fallen over them. But Dralan's words still made him think. Was Odin still out there, smiling on him? Or was he facing pain for Kailor's betrayal? Kailor came to a decision, one he'd made over and over again. Odin was still out there, still helping him through all of this. "I think he's tolerant of me. I think... he might have forgiven me. Maybe Braiden, too," he said, sadly, thinking of his unborn child.
Dralan quieted. "Braed was unborn, innocent. Odin... well, you knew him as well as I did. He was pure in everything. One of the few adults who kept innocence from birth. They were both pure, and forgiveness is pure, so, I think wherever they are, they forgive us both. It's necessary in the end, I know they understand," he said, clenching his teeth and stilling himself, trying not to shiver with the words that had unexpectedly haunted him. "We do what we do because we have to, Kailor."
The white wolf looked Dralan straight in his eyes. "Do you get the dreams, too?"
Dralan's eyes widened in shock, widened in empathy. Realization, recognition. "No," he said, firmly.
The two waited in quiet for many minutes, quiet against the backdrop of the high winds outside. "We should get started," Kailor finally said, breaking silence. The white wolf stood up and turned to his pack of clothes, but stopped when he heard their tent's flap opening up.
Riard rushed into the tent and stood up straight, much to the alarm of both Kailor and Dralan.
"What's wrong?" Dralan asked.
"Nothing," Riard said. He shook his head and shivered, though not from the cold. "Kailor, I need to talk to you. It's about Odin," he said.
Dralan's eyes opened in horror. Was Riard coming clean, exposing them both to Kailor for what they'd done? If he was, they'd both be killed by the white wolf's claws. "He doesn't need to be reminded," Dralan growled, very, very threateningly. "Get ready to leave. We're going up the mountain. Right now. To put an end to all this," he said.
"No!" yelled Riard. By then Kailor was speechless, but, was standing directly over Riard, staring down at him with a menacing gaze. Riard knew the mention of Odin would get Kailor's attention, good or bad. Riard knew what he'd done was necessary, but, he needed to get it off of his conscience. "I'm sorry, Kailor," he said. "Odin didn't die in an accident. He didn't slip, he didn't fall in the ice. We weren't fishing."
Kailor could only blink. "What?" asked, in disbelief. He didn't notice Dralan tensing up, almost ready to have a heart attack.
"I'm the reason he's gone." There, Riard had said it. Nice and simple without implicating Dralan. "I thought it was... necessary. And I'm sorry. I didn't want to hurt him, so, Kailor, you just need to hear me..."
Kailor lost control of himself. He didn't even feel anger from the shock of it, but, his body certainly reacted. Riard killed Odin. Within a second his left paw struck out like lightening, tensing to brace his claws. Before Kailor could even realize he was moving, he'd slashed Riard, slicing his claws from Riard's forehead, down over his right eye and cheek.
Riard's eye had been missed, thankfully, but, the cut was deep enough. Riard howled out in pain and clutched his cut face, trying to hold the gaping wound together to halt the bleeding as much as he could. Thankfully the cold weather would help with the blood clotting, but that wouldn't help if he was about to be killed. Riard, seeing Kailor raise his other paw, leaned back and threw his arms up to protect himself.
"Kailor!" roared Dralan. He struck out his paw and gripped Kailor's, stopping him from hitting Riard again. Dralan couldn't bear to see Riard, someone so dear to him, get hurt over what he'd simply been ordered to do. He had to stop Riard from saying anything more. "Kailor, stop! Calm down. Go, get ready to leave. Let me talk to him," Dralan said.
Kailor couldn't believe his ears. Riard was confessing to killing Odin, and Dralan was telling him to calm down? Riard needed to die. Right there.
"Go, get the pack together," Dralan ordered, firmly, pressing his luck with Kailor's volatile state. "I'll talk with Riard. I'll find out what happened, you'll decide what to do with him later. We all will. He was my brother, Kailor, don't forget that," he said.
The white-furred alpha wolf coldly stared at Riard for many more moments, then, angrily left the tent.
Dralan hissed and whipped his paw out against Riard, slapping him in the face hard enough to leave claw marks under the fur.
Riard simply let his head hand low. "I'm sorry," he breathlessly whispered. He leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Kailor's new mate, resting his head into Dralan's neck. "I can't be here," he said, "I have to go back. Please, Dralan, let me. I know... I know I wasn't supposed to, that wasn't the plan yet. But I have to go back. Please. I have to fix all of this."
"That's what I'm trying to do," Dralan said, "and you're going to fuck that all up?"
"No. I just wanted to... I don't know. Please."
Dralan let out a heavy sigh and brought his own arms up, hugging Riard close to him. He pulled back and leaned his head down, gently pressing his lips to the old doctor's so that they were barely touching. "I know," he said. "Go. I'll tell Kailor I banished you. Just... take enough food to get back, an extra coat. I'll see you when all of this is over. The storms should be well over before you get back to the town."
"If they don't?"
"Well... if they keep getting worse like this, and we can't stop them, then I don't think any of us are going to be able to make it back."
Riard frowned before nodding. "Well... I guess, that could happen. Dralan, I know what we were doing was just... what it was, before I go, I just wanted to tell you that I-"
"-I know, Riard. I feel the same way."
Riard nodded, being seemingly satisfied with that. "If it weren't for Kailor, then..." he trailed off.
Dralan gave a tired, sad smile and nod. He looked up to the cut over Riard's eye, then, awkwardly turned around and rummaged through one of his bags, eventually pulling out a piece of clothe. "Here. To stop the bleeding," he said.
Kailor sat in the largest tent of them all, the one used for feeding and for a makeshift doctor's office for Riard. "I had the dream again," he said to the old woman he'd insisted on bringing. Kailor was convinced she had some sort of insight into another world, or fate, or something... her comment about him seeing Odin again only after his 'suicide' had disturbed him, to say the least, when he found out that Odin had drowned. Or, murdered, or both, whatever it was now. "He told me I'm not looking in the right place."
"Are you?" she asked, eyes closed in rest.
"This is where I grew up. This is my territory, this is the mountain... it'll stop all of this. Dralan and I will stop it," he said.
"You won't," she said in a careless tone. "Only after the suicide. Dear Odin talks to you? And the little one?"
"Yes," Kailor said. "When I'm sleeping. He's... beautiful. More beautiful."
"Distance makes beautiful."
"Makes what beautiful? Him?"
"Anything."
"I miss him very, very much," he confessed.
"You saw him in your dream?"
"I don't know. It looked... beautiful, like heaven. White. Maybe it was him. Was I just imagining that? You said... I'd only see him after I died. Killed myself. Does that mean that it wasn't him? Just my imagination?"
"Surrendered."
"What?"
"Fate isn't about death, snow wolf. Or birth, or territory, or food, or anything like that. It's about surrender. Giving up thinking, or logic, or hate, being pure. That's how futures are chosen," she said. "Suicide, surrender, give up."
Kailor shook his head, "I can't do that. Everybody is depending on me."
"You can leave and see him anytime you want. You want to be with dear Odin, don't you?"
The male gulped. "I... I would do it. I would do whatever I needed to do to be with him right now. I would. 'Surrender', stop living. But everybody is counting on me. I'll be with him again someday."
The old female grinned, "Yes. Someday. Aren't you males about to leave for something important?"
Kailor stood up, "Thank you."
"For what?"
"Telling me I'll see him again. You're just as crazy as I am."
"You're family now, snow wolf. It's expected."
Kailor had been wary, leading the group north, up to the base of the mountain to find the cave entrance. His first worry had been the news that Dralan banished Riard from the encampment as punishment. He was sure to die, without blood on either of their paws... a fair statement, but Kailor was still suspicious of it. His second worry was the wind. He was blowing strongly in their faces, raging towards the south, away from the mountain. Kailor couldn't help but feel wrong, moving against it, when it had guided him correctly so many times in the past. Away from his first pack in the first place, then again towards Odin.
Or perhaps both winds were towards the young wolf.
That was an eerie thought, one that Kailor pushed into the back of his mind. Thinking about Odin just made the white wolf want to stop and sleep, because at least when he was dreaming he got to see Odin, whether he or not he was real.
Dralan led the pack of six or so wolves after they reached the cave in the base of the mountain, its entrance hidden by pillars of ice that made it invisible to anyone who hasn't live there. The passage inside the cave led only to the chamber they were seeking, so, there was no need for Kailor's familiarity. Kailor watched Dralan outstretch his paw and brighten the cave with a red glow. Dralan had admitted to the magic that was part of his immediate bloodline, admitted that the potion used on Kailor to allow him to plant seed was of his own invention, not bought as he'd been told. It made Kailor think. Why had Dralan lied about that? Was it to cover up other things as well? Kailor stopped himself from dwelling on it. Suspicion and paranoia was not what his pack needed - what they needed was a strong leader who was willing to put his fears and emotions aside until they were safe, and that's what Kailor was determined to do.
The wolves held tightly together as they made their way through the cramped passageway. They leapt walking until they reached the cavern - the chamber of rebirth. All of the wolves, save Kailor, looked up in awe. Stone marble columns placed seemingly randomly around the room supported the cavern, and in the center laid a low table. To the side of the cavern, which was about forty meters in diameter, were the holders for the stone tablets of prophecy. They had been destroyed many, many years ago. His only knowledge of them came from oral traditions, but, very phased through the centuries. Dralan, with his magic, had restored some and interpreted it into a version which was apparently legitimate. Dralan's magic, their shared birthright, the child... though, Dralan still hadn't said why that was so important, why he was so happy to learn that Kailor was pregnant.
"What do we do now?" asked Fiyor, eying the chamber.
Dralan turned to Kailor, then, nodded towards the low table in the center. "Profession of love, fate," he said. "You, Kailor, and me."
Kailor bit his tongue. He moved to the low table removed his coat, revealing simple animal skin and leather straps for clothing. He laid on the table and leaned back. "Well?" he asked.
Dralan smiled and joined him. "It should just be a kiss," he assured Kailor, climbing onto the table with Kailor, rubbing his grey-furred paw over the bulge in Kailor's abdomen. Dralan leaned overtop of the snow-fur wolf... so many months of scheming, of planning, all for this moment. All to save them from destruction. Dralan smiled and lowered his muzzle over Kailor's, then, gently pressed their lips together. Everything was there. The two males, their destined love, their doubling by love for offspring. Any moment they would be safely enveloped by the fire, the ritual of Rebirth would be completed.
Nothing happened.
Dralan pulled back with a confused look on his face.
"Is something wrong?" Kailor asked, sounding worried.
Dralan blinked, "That... should have been it," he said, at a loss. "Perhaps... a mating, yes," he said.
"What?" Kailor asked.
"'Love doubled with their offspring'," Dralan recited, "Perhaps they mean physical love. Mating. Enhanced with your pregnancy," he concluded, grasping at what straws he could.
Kailor's face went stone-dead.
"What?" asked Dralan, "It's not like we haven't mated before. And it's not the time for shyness," he said, grinning as he rested a paw on Kailor's crotch.
Kailor growled and swatted the paw away. He stood up and looked down his muzzle at Dralan, feeling all of that anger coming back.
"What?"
"I'm not carrying your child, Dralan. Odin mated me, that's when I conceived," he said.
Dralan grinned and shook his head, "No, no, Kailor. He hadn't taken the potion. He couldn't have seeded you, that's impossible. That... that child's mine," he said.
"I don't know how, Dralan, but I knew it. This child is Odin's. You never told me it mattered," he said.
"You never said it wasn't mine!" Dralan cried back, before a still came over him. "The little mutt... he... he was chosen, then," he said, shaking his head in disbelief. "Odin was it. Not me. That means... we can't do this, not unless Odin had come-"
"And now he can't," Kailor finished, the anger barely held within his strained tone. Kailor swiftly turned to the passage and raced out of it, not wanting to fly into a rampage with his pack there.
Dralan simply laid on the ground, filled with remorse. How could he have been so blind? There wasn't enough time, now. The world was doomed, and it was his fault.
Kailor escaped the cave and walked back out into the blizzard. He'd left his coat in the chamber, but, he'd get it later. He didn't feel the stinging hail hitting his back, didn't feel the numbing cold all over his body. It was all for nothing. He'd forced himself to pretend he was alright for weeks, denying Odin's death, following the guiding light of hope up north, to sleep to see him in his dreams. But that light was gone. Odin was dead, and everyone would pay the price. In a way it calmed Kailor. It meant people would suffer, yes, but his death would at least be felt. Be known as the thing that destroyed the world, as it had done with Kailor's own.
He started walking for the camp with the wind at his back once again. He'd get his things from his tent, then go back to the treeline, go back to his pack's small town. He'd make the gravestone for Odin and put his name on it. With the weather worsening, and the earthquakes getting stronger and more frequent, it would only be a matter of time before he joined Odin in the ground. That brought a smile to his face. The smile ended, though, when his paw slipped over his bulging stomach, to feel over the cub inside of him. No, it wasn't fair. Not one bit.
And so Kailor carried on. He knew Dralan would be following him, but, Kailor made sure he was at least hours ahead. He couldn't deal with Dralan, especially not with his growing suspicion that Dralan had killed Odin for the sake of the pack. If that were true, then, Kailor would kill Dralan long before the weather would. Odin deserved that much. Kailor spent weeks in solitude, hiking and running across tundra and forest to reach back home, all through the horrid blizzard that got worse and worse the closer he got. Every so often he would come across a tree or a piece of clothing that had Riard's scent. The only sign that he was perhaps doing the right thing by running away from the mountain was the wind at his back the entire time.
Kailor arrived at his deserted pack town. He checked a few of the first townhouses, reaching the conclusion that the pack that stayed behind had done what they had been told to do and moved south to the cities. He checked Riard's home and office, making sure there were no signs of life. Riard hadn't been there. Did he die out in the forest, or did he keep going south? Kailor secretly hoped it was death.
After leaving Riard's townhouse, Kailor set eyes on his and Odin's. His chest tightened up. He held his abdomen and rubbed, taking the kick he felt to mean that he had to. Kailor walked up to the small, three-room place and entered. It was dark and smelled old, but, it was home. Kailor felt like he was in a trance as he stumbled across the floor and threw himself onto his old bed.
It still smelled like Odin.
"Giving up already?"
Kailor turned to Odin's voice coming from behind him. When he turned, though, he was back in the town's meeting hall with white lights shining in from the window, supplemented by white fires shooting up from the hearths. Kailor saw Odin standing there, naked this time, with a slightly older Braed on one side, then, a brown wolf the same age on the other. Braed was whitely furred like Kailor with blue fur highlights around his torso, and the brown wolf had black markings in similar areas. Kailor smiled, "Who's the other little one?"
"Ours," Odin said.
Kailor looked down to his stomach, finding it flat, toned again. "What's going on? Who are you?" he asked, looking up. He wasn't in heaven. If he were, that meant his child was... no, that didn't happen. This wasn't heaven. "Where am I?"
"We wanted to talk to you," said Odin.
"Where's Odin?" Kailor asked, now growling. His desire for sleep, to come back here each night was gone. It was just an illusion.
"After the suicide. You've been going in the wrong direction, Kailor, trying to save everyone at your expense," Odin said, a very large, unnatural grin coming over his face. "You should just rest. Follow the wind and rest."
"Is he in heaven?" he asked. That was all he wanted to know. Odin had been so pure, innocent, caring... if he was destined to stop a disaster by loving Kailor, then, how could that be a grave sin? Would he not get to heaven because he died before carrying that out?
"No."
Kailor's ears sank. Did that mean he was... no, that was impossible. "If I died now, would I join him, wherever he is?" he asked. Forget heaven, he just needed to be with him. Anywhere.
"No."
Kailor, back in his own bed, curled up in the fetal position. For the first time since Odin's death he started crying. It was finally real, Odin was gone. Forever. He wouldn't even see him in Heaven, or even see him in Hell, or anywhere else souls went. His tears soon turned to sobbing. The old wolf finally broke down in crying heaves, each sob drawing in Odin's scent.
Dralan was only halfway home, as he was traveling with the pack that had gone up north. He sat in the tent with his old, senile mother, talking with her for the first time in almost a year. "I'm sorry, mom," Dralan said. "I don't... know, what's happened to me. I thought I was doing the right things. All I've done is... hurt, a lot of people. More than I'll ever know," he said.
"It's alright, dear," she said, her eyes still closed. "Brothers forgive."
"Their mates don't. I'm afraid Odin will never forgive me," he said.
"You need to have more faith in him. You never trusted anybody besides yourself, dear, what you thought was right... what you thought was the way things should be."
"It doesn't matter anymore. Even if we could fix things, there wouldn't be enough time to get back to the mountain."
"You always take things too literally, Dralan, as if magic or love is tied to a single place."
Kailor sat up from the bed. His life was over. At least, all of the good parts. Odin was gone, he would never see him again. He would never see Braed... if he was lucky, though, he would be able to meet this son. If he moved south fast enough he could avoid the calamity, perhaps altogether. But, truly, his life was over, killed without hope.
Kailor stood up and went to his door, walking outside back into the blizzard. He looked up to the sky and saw lightening and thundering flashing and booming across the sky more magnificently and terrifying than they ever had before. Yet through the violent storm the full moon was visible. Kailor stared at it... why was it that it could be seen through all of the turmoil? The wolf remained dead as he watched, part of him hoping one would strike him then and there... but he stopped those thoughts. He had to stay alright for his child.
The biggest, most violent lightening strike he'd ever seen flashed across the sky. It was so close the loud boom of thunder hit him almost instantly, making him cover his ears as they folded back. They perked back up almost immediately, though, as right after the thunder he heard a howling in the distance. Kailor focused on the howl. It was coming from the south. Who was it? Riard? No, no, that was too hold. In the end of the howl Kailor heard it more clearly. The old wolf suddenly broke into a sprint, racing towards the memorized direction, or at least where he thought it came from. He let the wind guide him.
The howl was Odin's.
Minutes earlier, Odin pried his eyes open with the sense of Kailor's warmth still around him. He wasn't in the bedroom, though, he wasn't warm at all... it was terribly, terribly cold, and wet. As his eyes focused he realized he was in a cave, shielded from an outside storm. How had he gotten there? Odin tried to remember past going through the forest to meet with Riard, but, anything after that was a blank. Had minutes passed? Hours? A day, more?
The little wolf peered out the cave entrance and saw the terrible storm. He'd never seen such dark clouds move so fast, as if tornadoes where to spring down to ravage the already war-torn ground. Hail and snow were pelting the ground, and Odin could even see some trees forming craters from the bullets of ice. Hell was freezing over, as far as Odin was concerned. Where was Kailor? When had this started happening?
A dread overcame him. "Kailor?" he called out into the cave, then, again out into the storm. There was no answer.
Through the clouds Odin focused on the full moon, visible through a patch in the dangerous clouds. While staring intensely the sky was lit up by the strongest, most violent bolt of lightening he'd ever seen, seeming to spawn from a mountain in the distance into the opposite horizon.. The immense explosion of thunder was almost instantaneous; it was loud and powerful enough to make the grey wolf stumble back, landing him back on his back. After the thunder had set a ripple through him, all of the muscles around his belly and lower tensed up all at once in a strong contraction.
Odin howled. He'd never been more scared, never felt more alone in all of his life. He wanted to be back home, back with his lover. Odin kept howling, as loud as his lungs could manage. A contraction? Was this labour? He didn't know, he hadn't talked about what would happen with Kailor yet, mostly because he knew neither of them had the slightest idea of how a male pregnancy would carry out.
"You're awake..." said a voice, from the cave.
Odin turned around in fright, looking to the wolf who'd been in the shadows. "Riard?" he asked, voice shaking as he tried to remember the identity of the one who'd spoken.
Riard came from the shadows, finally showing himself. "I'm sorry for not revealing myself earlier, but, there's something that... must be done," he said, sounding almost guilty. "I was waiting for you to wake up by yourself."
Odin was only half listening. As Riard moved closer Odin looked more carefully at his face, noticing things he'd never seen before. Why did Riard look so tired? So exhausted? "How did I end up here?" he asked, looking even more closely. He'd never noticed the large, sweeping scar over Riard's right eye before. He must have hidden it well, Odin thought.
"I'll explain everything. But first you have to trust me. You do, don't you?" he asked.
"Yes, Riard, of course I do..."
"Good. Come with me," he said.
"I think I had a contraction, Riard... it's too early, isn't it? You said I was weeks away!" he exclaimed, worried.
The wolf looked down to Odin's belly, then, back up to him even more of a blank expression, if that were possible. "We have to hurry. Come," he said.
Odin cried out in another contraction. "I can't..." he said, sitting back down on the ground. "Wh-what's wrong with me? It's too early, Riard, it's too early... wh-where am I?"
"Frosher's Cave," Riard said, "You've been here for... a long time," he said. "Asleep. Safe, but asleep."
"I didn't kill him, mom," Dralan said, "I don't know what Kailor might of told you. But I didn't. I just put a spell on him to make him sleep, to make him safe for a while. I needed Kailor to mate with me. I thought it was the only way. I'm not a bad person," he said, that last sentence strained with his own disbelief in it.
"You did kill him. Odin's mate thinks he's dead. Pain is just as real as truth," she replied.
Odin didn't understand, "What? Where's Kailor? Does he know where I am?" he asked.
"No," Riard said, "but we'll show him, just come with me, please. You woke up late, I gave you the wakening potion three days ago. I need to get you to my medical tent, Odin, it'll be safe from the storm. Kailor will find us there if he's back," Riard promised.
Odin cried out again, "I c-can't... make it... it's too cold out there," he pleaded.
Riard leaned down and nodded, "Alright, Odin. Here will have to do," he said. "I'm... I'm sorry, Odin. I thought it was for the best."
"Is Kailor... alright?" he asked.
Riard nodded, "Yes, he's fine, he's fine," he said, deciding to omit the fact that he was a month or two away from giving birth to what he thought was Dralan's child.
"What happened to your eye?" Odin asked.
Riard grinned. "A big wolf got mad at me," he replied, "I'll tell you about it later. Right now let's just concentrate on getting Braed born nice and safely, alright?" he asked.
Odin nodded, "Alright."
Kailor kept running through the storm, following each minute change of wind to wind around threes, around rocks, over the safe parts of the frozen lake nearby. He ran over the lake at a blinding speed, the wind picking up and guiding him straight towards the mouth of a cave - Frosher's Cave.
The white wolf burst into the cave and felt the wind stop. A calm came over the air around him, and on him, when he saw the two wolves. Three wolves. Kailor, in disbelief, stared at Odin laying against the cave wall with a cub in his arms, and Riard sitting nearby, cleaning towels. Kailor didn't know what was going on. Odin wasn't dead? Where had he been the entire time? Braed was born at least an hour ago, that he could tell. Did Odin do it alone? Did Riard help? Why did Riard lie about killing him?
He didn't care. And neither did Odin, who's blissful, calm expression exploded into happiness when he saw Kailor.
"Odin!" the older wolf cried out, streaking down to hug Odin, carefully wrapping his arms around his mate and newborn Braed. "Are you alright? Were you in pain?" he asked.
Odin nodded, "It's alright, Kailor," he said, "He has your fur," he added, with a big smile, holding the sleeping cub up, slipping the cub into Kailor's awaiting arms. When Kailor, on his knees, held his back up straight to hold Braed he exposed the large belly of his. Odin stared at it, curiously... had Kailor gained weight? Was there really that much food in the time that had passed?
Kailor grinned, "Yours," he said, pulling on Odin's paw to rest it on his rounded belly.
"What? You, but, I didn't take the potion," Odin said, "You did."
"No, you didn't. I suppose that means it was meant to be," Kailor whispered, laying down against the rock beside Odin. He looked up to Riard with uncertainty in his eyes. "You helped?" he asked.
"Yes," Riard said, "I'll... explain, later, Kailor. I'm sorry. I'll leave you two be," he said, heading out of the cave.
Kailor turned to Odin who was, well, just happy. But Kailor couldn't be. He'd spent week after week believing that he was dead, that he'd never get to know the son he'd been hoping for. "Odin, I... I thought you were dead. I did things, things that I thought I had to do. And I'm sorry for them," Kailor said.
Odin shook his head, "It's alright, Kailor. Riard told me. I've been asleep for a long time. He told me about you and my brother," he said.
"I don't love him."
"I know you don't," Odin said, sighing happily. "But you're my mate again now? Not his anymore?"
"Your mate, nobody else's. Forever," Kailor promised, then dove forward in a hungry, powerful kiss with Odin. With closed eyes he felt the heat of love come back to him, fill up his body. He was alive again.
From outside the cave Riard looked up at the stormy night sky, but, raised his eyebrow in curiosity when the lightening suddenly stopped. He turned back to the cave and was further confused by a red, fiery glow coming from it. Riard smiled. Everything would be alright.
Months worth of nights later Riard was staring the alphas' house through his own window, wondering what was going on. It was nighttime, but, the skies were clear again, and the air was warm. Kailor and Odin were so happy with their children. He felt strong arms wrap around his body from behind him. Riard smiled and lowered his head lightly, turning to kiss at the naked shoulder.
"You sure you want to do this with me?" Dralan asked, nipping at the doctor's ear.
Riard smiled and nodded. "The pack needs more children," he said, turning himself inside Dralan's arm to hug him chest-to-chest. "And... well. It's you. Of course I want to," he said.
In the alphas' house, Odin was laid back in his bed, groaning as Kailor lifted his legs up further. Odin's face was slick with seed from Kailor's earlier orgasm, covering everything from his neck up to the top of his muzzle. The older wolf was laying at the foot of the bed, his paws lifting Odin's legs up, his muzzle buried far beneath Odin's sheath and sac - covered in seed from Odin's climax. "Ugn..." Odin moaned, squirming as the tongue probed into him. It was the first time they'd been able to be together in quite a long time, given two kids. Thankfully they were both asleep in the room Kailor and Odin had build for them, to add onto their town house.
A whine escaped Odin's maw when Kailor pulled his tongue back. "I love you," Kailor said, crawling up from the foot of the bed to lay beside Odin.
"I love you, too," the white-furred wolf replied.
Deciding it was best not to let their fur get caked in their sleep, Kailor and Odin quietly stole a shower. When Odin went to bed Kailor stayed, in his towel, and slowly moved into their boys' room. He sat down in the chair between the two beds, looking at each of his cubs. He stayed there for several minutes, just smiling and watching, before standing up with a tired yawn. It would be morning soon. He leaned down and kissed the white-furred wolf on the forehead. "Goodnight, Braed," he said, then turned to kiss the brown-furred one, "Torilean."
The End! ... ?