Sanctuary - 13. Chapter 13 - James

“Are you sure this is a smart idea?” Peter squeezed his lover’s hand tightly, and scanned the arrivals board for the right train. “It’s been four weeks, what if being with us makes him uncomfortable?”

“More uncomfortable than living with Joakim and that pretty empath he’s fallen head-over-heels for?” James grinned. “You worry too much babe.”

“One of us has to.”

“That’s why I leave it to you.” James grinned and without warning scooped up his partner bodily, and left no alternative for Peter than to wrap both arms around his neck and cling on. “You’re the smart one, everyone knows that. I’m just this crazy guy you let live with you.”

“Mmmm…” Peter sighed as he opened up to the werewolf’s kiss; James had developed many talents since he’d come to live at The Rectory, but since the very first night he’d always known exactly how to turn Peter’s knees into jelly. “Why is it I don’t charge you rent again?”

“’Cause I fucked you last night for three hours solid?” James smirked in a deeply sexy self-assured manner. “C’mon, let’s go get him; train’s comin’ in.”

The arriving train from London flashed up on the screen, and Peter went hand-in-hand with his werewolf lover towards the platform where people would be arriving. James generally disliked public transport – too many mixed smells of passing people, cleaning chemicals, and stale food – but it was a much more efficient way of getting across the country than destroying his paws and risk getting caught by animal services or shot by a trigger happy farmer. But despite the mixed scents of the place, it was still easy for James to pick out the one aroma he was searching for. Hel was a spirit animal, a rare and beautiful thing, and just as James knew he smelt musky and rich like tilled soil, the little blue wolf smelt clean and clear like spring water or glacial run-off, and it was as easy to spot him in the crowd of humans as a diamond in gravel.

“Hel!” James waved expansively, and the moment Hel’s bright blue eyes found him, the boy lit up, and ran across the platform to them. James let go of his lover’s hand just in time to catch the boy in mid-air and hug him hard. “Hey there, little bud!” He set Hel back on his feet with a grin. “Well look at you! You have a good trip?”

“I tried to do some maths homework,” Hel admitted with a guilty smile, “it didn’t go so well.”

“Well I’m sure Peter can help you; the thinking stuff is his speciality. Come on little wolf, let’s get you home, and we’ll catch up.”

It had been four weeks since James and Peter had taken their trip to London to give advice to a nervous Aki and a much more nervous young spirit wolf, and in that time Hel had changed. It wasn’t just that he was better fed, though he was, but he was happier. Everything about the way he moved through the station, the way he stood and his bright-eyed demeanour, spoke volumes of his growing confidence. James was pleased to see him, because it would be nice to help the boy further, and to have some running company across the heath over the upcoming full moon. They walked to the truck, which James still wasn’t allowed to drive except in emergencies, and the werewolf loaded Hel’s bag into the back and climbed into the front seat only to turn around quickly to smile reassuringly at Hel.

“So last time I spoke to Aki he said school seemed to be going well?” Peter began genially. The boy didn’t need any further prompting, and it was with some delight that James sat back in his seat to listen to the boy wax lyrical about his friends and classes.

“I never thought it would be fun being the new kid, but everyone is interested in me. We played cricket on my first day, which kind of scuppered the plans of David, the guy they put me with to share timetables and be shown around by. He’s not into sports. But Paul says it doesn’t matter, because the prefects are generally a decent sort and they don’t hate me for being a jock. Paul’s captain of the cricket and soccer teams, and he asked me after our first lesson to sign up and join the squad. My team gear should arrive after half term; it’s gonna have my name on the back!”

“That’s cool.”

“I’m so glad I picked something easy to spell! Nathan is part Swedish, and he’s got a bunch of extra i’s and j’s in there. He says everyone spells it wrong all of the time. I started running again, but Aki doesn’t think I need a gym membership just yet. He doesn’t want me overdoing it.”

“Sensible,” Peter commented as he took the turning out of the main part of town.

“But I wanna look good!” Hel whined petulantly. “Ishca bought me a set of hand weights with his first pay check though, so I’ve been using those. It’s not as good as the weight room though.”

“In time, pup; you’ll get there.” James smiled at him in the rear view mirror. “You look plenty fit to me; certainly enough for a run after dinner.”

“Yes please!” Hel hung off the back of his seat, and James laughed.

“Alright, alright!” He grinned at Peter. “I forget how much energy young pups have.”

“Don’t look at me,” his lover shook his head in disbelief, “I’m just gonna do the cooking!”

*

James yawned and rolled his shoulders, his new joints settling into place with a series of soft cartilage-clicks. The full moon was in two days’ time, and the shift from upright and bipedal to furry on all-fours had been smooth and painless. James nosed his pile of discarded clothes at the foot of the bed, and whined hopefully at his lover. Peter grinned at him.

“You excited?”

“Woof!” James hopped up onto the bed and climbed into his lover’s lap. He was a big wolf, but Peter still hugged him close and buried his face in James’s thick brindle grey and brown fur. It had been a long time and a lot of full moons since James had first shown up in Peter’s house, damp and bedraggled, but James had never been happier.

“Feels weird to stay here while you go for a run,” Peter mumbled. “I’ll look after the kid, maybe get some paperwork done. You boys have fun, OK?”

“Wrrroal,” James agreed softly.

He hopped down from the bed and padded across the hallway to the little box room into which he had installed a cheap single bed. There had been a lot of swearing, and James had needed to have a very firm discussion with the screwdriver before he’d managed to complete it, but it was up and the werewolf figured it would be comfortable enough for the little spirit wolf. He barked gently at the door, and opened it to find Hel standing in front of the little mirror in nothing but his boxers, examining himself.

“Woof?”

“Hey!” The boy grinned at him in the mirror, but James didn’t miss the soft flush of pink across his cheeks. He flopped an ear inquisitively, and Hel turned with a rueful smile. “I don’t look like I did before. I kinda miss my old body y’know.” He poked at his totally flat stomach, and traced an invisible line over the taut pale skin. “I used to be handsome…”

“Wrooal!” James frowned at him. Hel was still a bit skinny, but James didn’t like his judgemental tone. He jerked his head towards the bed. “Woof!”

“Bed time?”

James nodded. He watched the boy climb into bed, lying on his side to keep the wolf in full view, and James grabbed the covers with his teeth and pulled them up. The boy giggled as the wolf snuffled around him, tucking him firmly into bed. Only once he was satisfied that Hel’s humans body was comfortable and safe, did the werewolf sit back with a grin. He jerked is head towards the door, eager to be outside with the little blue wolf at his side.

“I haven’t managed it since last time… not since the park.” Hel bit his lip. “I tried; I’m sorry.”

“Wrrmmm,” James replied softly. He huffed against the boy’s cheek, and then pressed his big flat head against the skinny chest, thrumming in his throat, and feeling the vibrations echo through Hel’s narrow body. The boy hugged his head in a slightly uncomfortable manner, and James felt his fingers moving in the thick fur of his neck. For a very small moment, it felt just like it did when Peter petted and stroked him, and then suddenly the movement stilled, and James looked up in time to see the shimmering shape of the blue wolf become solid on the bed above him. He nosed Hel’s outstretched arm back into a more comfortable position, and wagged his tail at the spirit animal.

The first time he’d seen the little blue wolf, James had been slightly surprised by his delicate stature, lithe and narrow boned, and by the soft translucent glow of his fur. Hel bent his head to his sleeping body and nuzzled the boy he was softly, and where they touched, points of light like constellations in the sky glowed along the hairs of his pelt. James smiled to see the little wolf looking a lot less shy and scared as he turned away from his sleeping form and jumped down from the bed. Just like his human self, Hel looked better. His fur was more lustrous, his eyes were brighter and there was a touch of blush pink to his tongue as he grinned at James. The werewolf rubbed himself along the little blue wolf’s side, then kicked up his heels and headed for the door.

Hel followed him padding down the stairs and out into the garden. There were three streets to cover between the Rectory and the open heath, but James knew them well, and with the invisible little blue wolf by his side, they slinked along without anybody paying the big wolf the least bit of attention. James knew the scent of the heath before they saw it: the mix of earth browns and soft purples, the scent of things growing, the universe breathing with a heartbeat a million times slower than James’s own racing pulse. Hel barked the moment the concrete fell away from under their paws, and after a moment the little blue wolf sprung away across the short grass which gave way to the scrub of the heath. For a tiny moment as the spirit animal turned to look back at him, James swore his paws didn’t touch the ground.

“Woof!”

Alright then… James laughed inside the privacy of his own skull, barked at the little wolf, and pelted towards him across the grass. He had the little blue wolf off his feet within a moment, nipped and nuzzled at his chest and belly, and watched the sparks fly through Hel’s translucent fur where they touched. He jumped away, paused long enough to make sure the boy was turning to follow him, and then dashed across the heath. He leapt a gorse bush, landed with his front paws in a sandy divot, and took off again before the little blue wolf could do more than nip at his heels.

He heard the laugh in the blue wolf’s bark, and whatever else Hel had been doing in the previous four weeks his strength and agility had improved. James was taken by surprise as the blue wolf landed on his back, knocking them both to the ground in a mess of fur and paws. The boy’s teeth grazed along his shoulder painlessly, and James rolled in the grass, bringing the kid with him as they tumbled head over tails. He ended up lying with his spine in a furrow of soft ground, Hel snuggled in under his front paws, and James looked down at the little blue wolf with his chin on his chest. Hel was bright eyed, his ears pricked forwards, and James craned forward and bumped his own cold black nose against the boy’s briefly. The little blue wolf glowed.

James took Hel on the long route back, which lead them past the old quarry where the golden sandstone had given way to lumps of quartz glinting out of the earth. The little wolf trotted obediently at his heels, and brushed alongside him frequently as they went. It had been a long time since James had known any other company that walked on four legs, and it was soft and easy to have Hel walk with him through the landscape he knew like his own reflection. Hel whined as they neared town, with the creeping scents of population, concrete and people living on top of each other. James knew it was not nearly as bad as a city, and nothing like London, but after hours playing with the little blue wolf who smelt like glacial snow out on the heath, it was hard to think about going back. James’s stomach rumbled, and decided for him, and they slunk out of the light of the bulbous moon and under the soft streetlights, heading back to the Rectory.

James walked the boy right back up to his room and his sleeping body, and rubbed against the glittery blue canine even as he faded out of sight. Hel’s pale blue eyes opened, just for a moment, and James nuzzled him back into bed.

“James?”

The wolf turned in the doorway, watching the skinny figure of the little boy, all huddled up under sheets and blankets. However good a front Hel had put up when they played, he was still easily exhausted. But he still had the energy for a smile.

“Woof?”

“Thank you.”

James grinned; it was his pleasure.