Running With Wolves

3rd point of view = Lukas' point of view...sorta?

The sun was beginning to make its decent behind the tall over grown pine trees that ruled the forest. It had been decided that once crossing the river the companions were officially out of Falcon Ridge territory. Crossing the river had been an official marker that they were no longer within their realm and that each step they took was another away from their pack and a step toward the unknown.

The trio had settled into a silence that none of them seemed able to break. Mia was leading the way through the woods, every direction seeming identical and yet the olive toned woman moved through the woods with an internal compass, leaving the other two little choice but to trust in her instincts. Sage walked nearly in step with Mia, the two walking closer together than they had before the river; as though their conversation had brought the two closer together, keeping close with their exchanged secrets.

At least that was how it all appeared to Lukas Canis. It didn’t take super hearing (which he didn’t have) to understand with a painfully clarity that the women huddled together on the rocks had been talking about him. It was not a paranoid narrative in his head just an easy deduction. Why wouldn’t they be talking? Between the passive aggressive conversation they had had about leaving, to the all out aggressive confrontation they had had in the backyard it was bound to be a topic of conversation.

Perhaps there could have been a better way to communicate to Sage that they would be going on this trek whether she consented to it willingly or not but Lukas doubted it. Sage was too bent on being the picturesque Alpha and he was too bent on finding a way to make them work as a couple.

Their priorities were out of sync but as they climbed up and over a sharply angled hill Lukas struggled to remember a time when they had not been at least slightly out of sync.
Sure they had grown up thriving in each other’s company but that didn’t mean that they had always been on the same page. At least that was how it seemed once they had been told that they were Soulmates. After that day Lukas had felt something relax within him knowing that he would always have her. Suddenly he would find himself day dreaming about the day they got married and have babies while Sage drew away from him and into herself.

It was a day Lukas looked back upon with bitterness; perhaps if no one had ever told them what they were they would have gone on living happily.

But if there was one thing that Sage had made perfectly clear it was that the war had changed her. When she had returned and Lukas had seen her through his wolf’s eye while she sat on the porch gazing up at the stars, it had been hard to not remember them being fourteen and sitting on that same porch gazing up at the constellations. It had been hard to see her and not remember her as her past. However Sage had written out with perfect clarity that she was not who she had been back then. What she didn’t seem to understand was that he was not the same either.

When Sage had left, the time apart had jarred Lukas. He had never before felt dependent on her but with her departure she had left behind a hole in his life the size of a crater. Finding a way to move around that crater and go on with life had been hard and he was too proud to ever admit how many times his baby brother had picked him up off the floor from all his failed tries at it. The absence had made the world black and white and Lukas became an observer of the world but not a part of it. He had never felt a need to be a part of it, what was the point? Standing beside his father like a loyal son left a bitter taste in his mouth and out of respect to Sage and the rest of the Wolfe family he would not do it—he had made that mistake once, it would not happen twice.
Was he supposed to find another girl and move on? Calla had made it a attempting offer a time or two but that also left a fowl taste in his mouth.

It had been easier to take the old house by the woods that had been abandoned by Viktor and just stay away. It had been easier to just go on in his quiet little existence. Knoll always came to visit of course; in fact many times he’d stay for days at a time just to be sure his brother was okay. But even Knoll never knew that whenever the instinct took him Lukas would venture through Falcon Ridge to the edge of Western Blackwood and peer out at Corneliu’s house, checking up on the family that had once been a second family to him. Maybe it was because of that that he would never tell Sage he had watched over her family, her siblings—yet he had been unable to save Corneliu or Cheyenne. After Corneliu died Knoll never left Lukas’ home. Lukas never asked him and Knoll never offered a reason. In his haze of black and white it had barely registered to Lukas the subtle change in Knoll that his brother could never quite pin point.

“We should make camp soon,” Mia advised and when Lukas looked up he saw the two women only several feet ahead of him at the top of the hill, peering out at the scenery that surrounded them.

“This seems like a decent enough spot.” Lukas agreed. “High up with a clear view of our surroundings, you could probably see for half a mile from here.”

“That’s good enough for me.” Sage commented, her bag sliding off her shoulder. She tilted her head back toward the sky, her eyes closed, and her shoulders rotating slowly, aching in protest from the weight of her bag.

“Right well I guess I’ll go find something for us to eat.”

“I’ll go,” Lukas protested. “you have helped enough, allow me.”

Hesitation flickered in Mia’s eyes. “No offense Luke but after this weekend, with Razvan and Selvie, I’d like to do this.”

Lukas started for a moment, his pride stirring, but then he blinked and nodded quietly, visibly upset by Mia’s assessment but not arguing. He knew Mia to be right, Razvan couldn’t be trusted, and Lukas cursed his Were for rendering him useless.

“Can you pitch the tent?” Mia suggested, an apology was in the under current of her voice. Mia was the last person to order anyone to do anything let alone tell anyone what to do. But Mia also knew she had to get Sage and Lukas, Selvie and Razvan, to Kaya in one piece.

“Yeah sure,” Lukas mumbled with a nod.

“I’ll get the fire going.” Sage offered and Lukas turned toward her, disagreeable words hanging on the tip of his tongue; Sage couldn’t start a fire even if she had matches.

But he didn’t saying anything, Lukas was tired of fighting and if Sage struggling with a fire for a few hours held their next impending fight at bay then so be it.

“Alright then,” Mia said and when Lukas glanced to her, Mia’s lips pursed and she held out her pointer finger, rotating it. “Turn around Mr.”

a soft smile flickered on the edges of Lukas’ lips but the emotion never fully revealed itself as he turned around, eye brow raised in Sage’s direction who had not moved a muscle. Sage instead began walking around collecting twigs and small branches to build a fire; disregarding Mia’s orders. Apparently Lukas was the only one she took issue with for a second later a bark issued behind him and when he turned a wolf of medium stature with a castaneous fur coat had took her place; her clothes in a neat pile beside the Were.

Mia and Lukas’s eyes locked for only a moment before she turned on her heels and darted off into the woods, disappearing down the hill.

When Lukas glanced back toward Sage she had her back to him, carefully beginning the construction of a fire. He sighed to himself knowing the picturesque little camp fire she was constructing was either not going to burn hot enough to warm the trio or it would burn half the forest down from the surrounding brush.

Lukas unclipped the neatly folded tent from his backpack and set to work putting it together, knowing well that it was going to be a long night.

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Forty-five minutes later Sage was still struggling as she rubbed two sticks together while Lukas was busy setting up Mia’s tent; his having already been perfectly pitched.

“Fucking sticks.” Sage grumbled under her breath and Lukas paused for a moment in his work. He was struggling with the itch to help her but he knew fully well that there were too many variables that could result in another fight and if Lukas was bent on anything it was avoiding such a skirmish.

With a satisfied click, the last piece of Mia’s tent was together and he unrolled her sleeping bag, placing it inside.

“Fuck!”
Lukas turned toward her in surprise to see Sage cradling her hand to her chest as she angrily kicked over the pile of twigs. “Damn it,” She hissed under her breath, holding her hand to her lips.

“Are you alright?” Sage hadn’t heard him come up behind her. She turned to him, momentarily taken off guard. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” She grunted pouting, her lips still firmly pressed to the wound. “It bit me,” She mumbled around her hand.

“It bit you?” He echoed, mild amusement lacing his words.

“Don’t make fun of me Canis,” She growled turning away from him.

“I’m not,” he assured but she was already walking away. “Hey!” He grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. “I’m not, really I am not.” She eyed him doubtfully but she didn’t pull away which Lukas took as a good sign. “Can I see it, please?”

For a moment Sage did not move but then she pulled her hand away from her mouth and allowed Lukas to see the small puncture wound in her hand, no bigger than the width of a pencil.

“How did you—“ Annoyance flashed a crossed her face, Sage wasn’t in the mood to be scrutinized for her lack of fire building abilities. “never mind, come ‘ere.”

She allowed Lukas to guide her over to their newly pitched tents and instructed her to sit down on the dark blue sleeping bag Lukas had yet to place in his tent. He fished around in his bag for the bottle of water and a t-shirt he knew to be there. Sage watched him in silence, curious as to what he had planned.

He uncapped the water bottle and reached for her hand gingerly but she hesitated. His stormy grey eyes locked with her jade ones for only a moment before she allowed him to take her hand. He did not have to ask if she trusted him and she didn’t have to answer; they both knew the answer.

He poured the water over her palm to clean the wound of any dirt and watched as the clear liquid tinged orange as it ran down her hand and over her wrist. When he was convinced it was clean as it could be he reached for his shirt and before she could open her mouth to protest he tore the sleeve free and wrapped it around her hand, once, twice, three times. When he was done he folded the fabric in on itself gently and knotted it to keep it in place. When he finished he didn’t pull away, leaving his large hand to nearly completely cover her newly bandaged small one; neither of them pulling away.

Lukas’s eyes flickered away from her hand to see her already looking at him, her eyes locking with his with such an intensity he wasn’t sure he could move if someone yelled ‘fire!’. There was no annoyance or protest in her eyes only the quiet thankful acceptance of his help and the always soft surprise toward his kindness.

Lukas was not sure he could move. He felt paralyzed and entrapped in this moment with Sage that left him scarcely able to breathe. He mildly wondered how such an honest gesture of help had suddenly seemed to veer off dangerously toward—intimate.

“You are always so kind to me,” Sage murmured her voice soft and vulnerable. It was a tone she only ever managed to produce around Lukas and he knew it.

Lukas swallowed hard, his gaze adverting to her hand and his thumb gently rubbed over the surface of the makeshift bandage

“It is not simple minded kindness.” Lukas stated quietly. The term ‘kind’ left an echo in his head; kindness implied a thoughtful friendliness. It was safe to say that Lukas was feeling a different set of terms one might describe and they definitely were not thoughtful friendliness—it was more than that, so much more.

When his eyes flickered up to hers she instantly looked away, her own eyes now on their hands and Lukas was left with a strange sense of longing just to see her beautifully colored orbs.

“I know,” Her voice was very small. “I know.” She nodded her eyes suddenly flickering back up to his with a certain determination.

“What is it that you think you know?” Lukas questioned carefully.

Sage’s eyes locked with his and in that moment if there was a way for Lukas to understand every emotion she felt, he did. Even if they were emotions that were hard to place to words Lukas understood them, he understood them because he felt them himself.

And then she kissed him.