troublesome equation – but it wasn’t impossible.
Sometimes
the beast chose from among the other two-natured species. Vampires weren’t as
strange a choice for a shifter as one might think. Both were long-living, and
after a century or two vampires were strong enough in Might to face the
daylight again. Sentients, for their part, lived only slightly longer than
ordinary humans, but at least they could see auras and knew what they were
dealing with. But the beasts seldom chose sentients. They were remembered as
traitors of all two-natureds for their co-operation with humans during the
Inquisition and the subsequent war that lasted for centuries.
Still,
even sentients might do. Humans, however, made for difficult partners. They
weren’t affected by Might so they didn’t react to the mating call the beast
sent out. In turn, the beast couldn’t understand why it wasn’t being answered
and would get very unhappy, affecting the host too. A shifter could woo a human
of course, and even win, but it was a sour victory. Even if a happy, lifelong
marriage followed, it would still leave the shifter to mourn for the loss of
its partner for far longer than the marriage lasted.
Sometimes
the human spouse didn’t adjust at all. That had happened to Jamie. Some thirty
years ago he had found a nice woman, won her over, and brought to the clan as
his wife. Man and wolf both had been ecstatic. But his wife hadn’t liked her
new life among the wolves, or the notion that she would grow old while he would
stay the same, and soon left him. She had been able to leave because she hadn’t
felt the wolf’s call, and had left their only offspring with Jamie too, to be
raised as a wolf with the clan. She later married a human man and birthed
purely human children with him; she was expecting the arrival of her first
grandchild shortly.
All
Jamie had been able to do was let her go and watch in impotent anger as his
woman went to another, unable to kill the human male as his beast demanded of
him. He couldn’t even mourn her, she was still alive, which really messed with
his wolf’s head. But as long as the wolf thought of her as theirs, it wouldn’t
let him look for another partner either. Rafe had sworn that the same would
never happen to him.
“Perhaps
she’s a latent shifter?” Jamie said. “The gene might be there, giving her some
extra willpower, and making your wolf react. She just hasn’t enough of a
shifter in her to make her more than human.” Since the gene pool was very
mixed, it was possible for human parents to have children who carried a two-natured
gene. They had had wolves in their clan, brought there by human parents unable
to give their shifter child what he or she needed. Sometimes the parents even
joined the clan with their children.
Rafe
was grateful to his brother for trying to help him, but he had to shake his
head. “She doesn’t smell anything but human.”
“Then
perhaps she’s just a very strong human. They do exist you know,” Jamie said
with a smile. Humans didn’t have the monopoly on stereotyping. Shifters tended
to think that all humans were weak.
Rafe
smiled too. “Perhaps.” But that didn’t mean he was willing to bind her to him,
no matter what his wolf said. At least it hadn’t put out the call yet. If that
happened, he would be truly screwed.
Chapter Nine
There had been a few curiously
raised eyebrows at work when Charlotte had switched off her computer before
everyone else that afternoon, taking her things and heading home. In only a
month, they had become accustomed to her insane working hours. “Should we call
a doctor,” Gary quipped. “Or the bosses, so that they can see how we are here
late on Friday afternoon after you’ve already left?” Learning that she would be
working at home had made him groan.
Charly
didn’t really know why she was following Rafe’s suggestion to work at home – or
at Jack’s, as it was. Would he even be there? After all, they hadn’t made
Sometimes
the beast chose from among the other two-natured species. Vampires weren’t as
strange a choice for a shifter as one might think. Both were long-living, and
after a century or two vampires were strong enough in Might to face the
daylight again. Sentients, for their part, lived only slightly longer than
ordinary humans, but at least they could see auras and knew what they were
dealing with. But the beasts seldom chose sentients. They were remembered as
traitors of all two-natureds for their co-operation with humans during the
Inquisition and the subsequent war that lasted for centuries.
Still,
even sentients might do. Humans, however, made for difficult partners. They
weren’t affected by Might so they didn’t react to the mating call the beast
sent out. In turn, the beast couldn’t understand why it wasn’t being answered
and would get very unhappy, affecting the host too. A shifter could woo a human
of course, and even win, but it was a sour victory. Even if a happy, lifelong
marriage followed, it would still leave the shifter to mourn for the loss of
its partner for far longer than the marriage lasted.
Sometimes
the human spouse didn’t adjust at all. That had happened to Jamie. Some thirty
years ago he had found a nice woman, won her over, and brought to the clan as
his wife. Man and wolf both had been ecstatic. But his wife hadn’t liked her
new life among the wolves, or the notion that she would grow old while he would
stay the same, and soon left him. She had been able to leave because she hadn’t
felt the wolf’s call, and had left their only offspring with Jamie too, to be
raised as a wolf with the clan. She later married a human man and birthed
purely human children with him; she was expecting the arrival of her first
grandchild shortly.
All
Jamie had been able to do was let her go and watch in impotent anger as his
woman went to another, unable to kill the human male as his beast demanded of
him. He couldn’t even mourn her, she was still alive, which really messed with
his wolf’s head. But as long as the wolf thought of her as theirs, it wouldn’t
let him look for another partner either. Rafe had sworn that the same would
never happen to him.
“Perhaps
she’s a latent shifter?” Jamie said. “The gene might be there, giving her some
extra willpower, and making your wolf react. She just hasn’t enough of a
shifter in her to make her more than human.” Since the gene pool was very
mixed, it was possible for human parents to have children who carried a two-natured
gene. They had had wolves in their clan, brought there by human parents unable
to give their shifter child what he or she needed. Sometimes the parents even
joined the clan with their children.
Rafe
was grateful to his brother for trying to help him, but he had to shake his
head. “She doesn’t smell anything but human.”
“Then
perhaps she’s just a very strong human. They do exist you know,” Jamie said
with a smile. Humans didn’t have the monopoly on stereotyping. Shifters tended
to think that all humans were weak.
Rafe
smiled too. “Perhaps.” But that didn’t mean he was willing to bind her to him,
no matter what his wolf said. At least it hadn’t put out the call yet. If that
happened, he would be truly screwed.
Chapter Nine
There had been a few curiously
raised eyebrows at work when Charlotte had switched off her computer before
everyone else that afternoon, taking her things and heading home. In only a
month, they had become accustomed to her insane working hours. “Should we call
a doctor,” Gary quipped. “Or the bosses, so that they can see how we are here
late on Friday afternoon after you’ve already left?” Learning that she would be
working at home had made him groan.
Charly
didn’t really know why she was following Rafe’s suggestion to work at home – or
at Jack’s, as it was. Would he even be there? After all, they hadn’t made
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