Fulfillment 18

Dear Readers,

Here is the next installment. I have the ending you're all waiting for and should have it uploaded soon.

The story's leading me into more writing for these characters. We'll see if it develops into a full-blown story.

Enjoy,

KemMyst

***

They make it through the meal without incident. Lyssa prompts Thomas from time to time on statements, questions to ask, and how to answer questions.

Both he and Stephanie learned public human etiquette, how to behave. The mechanics of ordering a meal, eating, paying. As well as proper treatment of the waitstaff.

On the way back to the den Lyssa begins the discussion of an uncomfortable and delicate subject - sexual innuendo, suggestion, and signals. She had guided him during the meal, allowed an occasional touch of the hand but nothing further.

But, part of this included speaking to him about how to act if she were sexually aggressive, possible activities, how he would have to restrain himself to keep from hurting her badly, safe words. He was almost ready to give the whole thing up when she brought up the subject of wearing condoms. He couldn't, for the life of him, understand how he could wear a covering on his penis, how it would feel, why he would need it.

Lyssa then had to explain about human female biology, monthly cycles, and sexual diseases.

***

The following week, Emmett and Lyssa were invited to the Ross den for their short interview session.

Sampson expressed his pleasure at seeing them again, whole and healthy.

Calvin asked after Stephanie and was told of her sudden change in interests.

When they returned to the den, Lyssa went up to their suite, to get some things she needed then went back down to collect a car to go to the office. She found Emmett and gave him a kiss of promise before she left. Erich smiled.

Lyssa asked Brandon for keys to a vehicle and he dangled a set from his hand.

Annoyed by his behavior, she stepped closer to grab them. As the keys hit the floor, he grabbed her by the shoulders and kissed her, before quickly letting her go.

She stood there, shocked, as he retrieved the keys.

Finally gathering her wits, she says, "What the hell was that?"

Looking vaguely ashamed, he says [I've never kissed a female before and I wanted to try it.]

She looked at him for another couple of seconds, grabbed the keys, and got into the car.

As she drove to the business office, she thought, Great. Brandon has a crush on me. How do I let him down easy?

***

The full moon of April was coming, so Calvin put off the Tucker couple for the following week. Sampson and Amanda had the taxes finished so he needed to look over the figures before the filing was complete.

And the packs basically kept to themselves at this time. They all had their own rites, rituals, and activities associated with the moon.

It was the day after the full moon that Stephanie again asked to make some food in the kitchen. Emmaline sat watching her. About the time she was finishing up she realized she needed someone to drive her. [Madam Alpha? I would like to have someone drive me to the Ross den.]

There were a few moments of silence. After all, they couldn't always answer immediately. [Have you been invited?]

[No.]

[Do I have any reason to expect a repeat of what happened last time?]

[No, ma'am.]

[I hope not, Stephanie. I'm sending Alex with you.]

[Yes, Madam Alpha. Thank you.]

Alex inhaled appreciatively at the food. [Smells good.]

"Mm." was Stephanie's response.

As he closed on the Ross range, Alex requested permission to enter and they were granted access. Sampson waited at the door. [Wyeth male, please remain for the next hour, in case we have need of you to return her.]

[My Alpha told me such.]

Sampson barred her way as she came up to the doorway, arms crossed. "What are your intentions here?"

"I have a gift for Calvin, uh, your Alpha."

Sampson examines her face. [You have hurt him, Stephanie. I will not have you do it again.]

She inhales, exhales. "I've brought dinner."

[Can you tell me you won't pull away from him again?]

She considers his question. "No."

"At least you are being truthful." He considers her a bit longer. With a gesture, he says, "Come in."

Stephanie said little as they ate the meal in his suite.

"Thank you, Stephanie."

"Um. I brought dessert."

"Really? Please." As she brings the dish over and cracks it open, he says, "Ah, apples. A pie?"

She swallows. "No. Just baked apples. I can't make a pie, my crust is like concrete."

They dig in. As he finishes, he says, "I do like the little bit of butter with the brown sugar. Thank you again." He folds his hands and looks at her as she puts her fork down.

"Now, Stephanie, why are you here? What do you want?"

"I wanted to make you a meal." He looks at her, a slight curve to his lips. He counts in his head, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen. She stands abruptly and turns away. "You want me to say it, don't you?" Silence again. She turns back. "I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry I threw the pan at you. I'm sorry I'm such a bitch."

He stands. "Stephanie, you are a she wolf."

"I hate this."

"It's not easy, little one, for anyone. What do you want tonight? Would you go home? Or stay here?"

There is a big inhale, then exhale. "I would like to stay." A pause. "And..." She stops.

"Yes?"

She looks down and shakes her head. "Nothing." What she had decided she wanted was for him to touch her again.

"Answer me one question, Stephanie."

She looks grumpy. "What?"

He looks at her, she's suspicious. Too bad. "What was your mother's name?"

"Why?"

"Humor me."

Stephanie blows out a breath. "Theodosia."

"Hmm. Old. Unusual."

"Yeah."

Calvin exhales "Well, then. I have a couple of things to do before the news."

"Um. OK. I should tell Alex to go home." Calvin nods as she moves to the door.

Sampson watches her leave the suite and sends, [Cal, I'm not sure this is wise.]

[She came to me, Sampson. She came back, of her own free will.]

On the way back, Stephanie has the feeling of being watched. She stops, then quickly turns to catch sight of a dark-haired female. This female bares her teeth at her, and turns away.

After the news, Stephanie, naked, crawls into the bed with Calvin.

There is no sex. He was going to wait a couple more days, or until she asked for it. He wasn't sure which yet.

She slept naked with him that night and returned to Wyeth the next day.

The next night, when she returned, Stephanie fell ill.

Sampson was told to inform Wyeth and Sharilyn attended her. Stephanie was only mildly feverish but was in gastrointestinal distress.

She felt better after a few hours but it didn't make for a pleasant night.

She was fine by the time she returned to Wyeth.

Grumbling, she submitted to an examination when she got back. Natalie and Wade found nothing wrong with her.

Feeling fine she returned the next evening, only to get sick again.

This time, she was a bit worse. Whereas the night before she'd been nauseous, tonight she was in pain and threw up.

Calvin and Sharilyn started to try dissecting what might be causing it, debating whether it might be something at Ross. They had eaten in Calvin's suite so that shouldn't have been an issue but, unless it was a cancer, it was something she had come into contact with, either a pathogen or something she had eaten or touched.

No one at Wyeth was ill, nor was anyone else at Ross. It was possible she was Patient Zero but..

After several hours the symptoms abated and Stephanie finally fell into a restless sleep. Against Sharilyn's recommendation, Calvin remained close.

As Sharilyn left to get some rest herself, Sampson entered the suite. "Cal, I think we need to put off the other candidates until we figure out what this is. If it's something contagious we need to contain it."

[I've lost about as much as I can stand, Sampson.]

"I know, Cal. And I'm sorry."

Calvin exhales, heavily. "Alright, the first decision to make is whether to send her home or keep her here."

"If it's a disease we've all been exposed, both packs."

"Which means it doesn't matter which, so there's no need to move her."

Stephanie's hoarse voice comes from the bed. "I should go home."

Calvin walks over, touches her forehead. "Sleep. We'll talk about it later."

Sampson looks at his Alpha, at the weariness in his frame. "Perhaps we should ask the Foster's healer."

He thinks for a moment, then says. "Call the Foster Alpha and alert him. We should bring him over if she has another attack. And then call the Tucker pack and tell our candidates we need to delay them."

[This sounds like a situation that a pack council may be useful for.]

Calvin turns to his Beta and growls slightly. "Not now."

"Been up with her all night?" Calvin nods. "Then you should get some rest yourself. There shouldn't be anything big today." Calvin nods again and slumps down in the chair, closing his eyes.

By midmorning, they both wake, and Stephanie is feeling markedly better.

Sharilyn returned to check her over.

Stephanie was both embarrassed by her weakness and upset by the constant probing. She was not comfortable remaining at the Ross den but Randall had concurred with Calvin's thoughts on the matter. She grudgingly recognized the need as well as accepting her Alpha's wishes. The evening passed without incident. Everyone relaxed slightly.

The next day, however, after they lunched in the Alpha suite, Stephanie became violently ill. This time she had mild convulsions. She was worse.

The Foster healer, a licensed M.D., was called out and arrived to see if he could find out what was going on.

An examination showed nothing out of the ordinary. Sharilyn shadowed him, learning what she could. "Have you found anything to account for this?"

"No. But there are things I would only be able to find out at the hospital." [There is something that fits that we shouldn't discuss in the open.]

"Do you think it's necessary?" [And what is that?]

"Probably not yet, there are other things we can test first." [A mass in the brain, reproductive cancers.] A pause [Poison.]

"Alright, standard medical evaluation and history?" [My first thought was poison.]

"That would be best, where are her records?" [It fits her symptoms. If it had only been one instance I would think it inadvertent.]

"Stephanie is Wyeth pack, we'll have to ask them." [I can't imagine who but I'll need to warn the Alpha.]

Stephanie cuts in, through gritted teeth. "No."

The Wyeth healers are contacted by cellphone. "She is 84 years old and a pack warrior. She has never been unwell."

"Her injuries?"

"Nothing beyond the ordinary. At least, as long as she's been with us."

"What about her neck?" The doctor turns her head to the side, exposing the multiple mating bites. "How often does she come into season?"

"Five mating bites were delivered over the course of a few days; she has never come into heat."

The Foster healer frowns. "Thank you." After hanging up, he turns back to the Ross healer. "Five bites and never an estrus. There may be something to that."

Calvin walks back into his bedroom. His face is drawn with worry and fatigue. "Have you found anything?" He winces as he watches Stephanie's body stiffen again. There is black residue at her lips. His tone is brusque. "Tell me, healers, will she die?"

"My Alpha, we shouldn't discuss this here."

"If she hears, she will know and she will want to know. Speak plainly."

"The mating bites and lack of estrus may have triggered a reproductive cancer. There could be a tumor in her brain. It would take testing to determine which. The other possibility is something she ate."

Calvin's face darkens. "Poisoned?," he growls.

"The symptoms support that theory."

"Infection?"

"No one else is ill, in either pack, and she would not improve then get worse."

Calvin digests the information. "Thank you for your help. Let me get you back to your pack, unless there's something else?"

The Foster healer shakes his head. "The charcoal should absorb the toxins, if that is indeed what it is, and speed her recovery. Call if she worsens."

Calvin kisses Stephanie's forehead before he escorts Foster's healer out.

[Sampson, my office.]

[Coming, Calvin.]

Calvin paces as he discusses the matter with his Beta. "It has to be be someone here. She was here more than a day before this last incident."

"We aren't even sure what it is."

"No, but this we can do something about. Now, easiest way would be something in the food. But how?"

"You ate.. in your suite. All three times."

"Sampson, were they targeting me?"

"Fifty/fifty chance of you getting the plate. Chances are you would have gotten it, at least once. If they were really serious, they would have done both plates. What was different?"

Calvin considered, working on remembering the meals. "She doesn't like beans. We ate the same things."

"Something's different, Cal. You had something different."

"Meat. Carbs. Veggies. Dessert." He shakes his head. "No."

Sampson gets that Aha! look. "Milk."

"You're right. That's the difference. But who would.." he puts his hand on his forehead. "Erica."

"We have no proof."

Calvin growls. "I can get it."

"But what will you do with her if you do?"

***

Spring was in the air. The trees were budding, blooming.

Madeline was watching Brandon till the newly expanded garden. She had started some plants from seed and was arranging them outside to harden them off. Lyssa came out to talk to her about the garden and the areas she intended on allotting to the different vegetables. Simon had given her an idea of the amount and kinds of vegetables the pack consumed.

As the two Beta females talked, the tractor stopped and Brandon walked toward the den.

Erich walks out and Lyssa steps back as he goes to slide his arms around his mate.

Lyssa is suddenly aware of strong hands grasping her hips. It takes a second for her to realize it wasn't Emmett. She jerks away, "Oh, sorry."

It seemed a little harder to get away from him than it should have been. He turns away, mumbling, "Oops, sorry."

Erich looks up from where he was nibbling on Madeline's neck. "What was that?"

"I don't know. He bumped into me."

Erich looks surprised. Unless something was wrong with them, wolves were not clumsy. "Weird." Holding Madeline, he looks at Lyssa and says, "You've got 5 minutes."

"Huh?"

"Hide and seek. Now. You hide, I seek."

"But, I'm not ready."

"You think somebody's gonna tell you they're gonna hunt you down? Four minutes 55 seconds."

Lyssa turns, slides out of clothes, turns to wolf, and takes off. [Emmett, where do I go?]

[Can't help you, sweetheart, get going.]

Lyssa ran, trying to figure out what to do, where to go. Erich was the best tracker in the pack. How in the world was she supposed to evade him?

Water and strong scents would confuse the nose but he was better than that. In the moist conditions of spring, soft ground would not be her friend.

She ran, out into the range, thinking, trying to think.

She came to an area of pine trees as Erich's howl reached her ears. It didn't quite sound like a wolf in pursuit of prey, though.

Erich looked at Madeline's lavender eyes as she looked up at him. He released her hair as she finished cleaning him off, a satisfied smile on her face.

Breathing heavily, he steps out of his pants and peels off his shirt. [Did you think to make it easier on her by distracting me, Blossom?]

[No. Maybe. But I figured we had time for a quickie.]

Erich crouches, crushes her against his bare chest and kisses her, the taste of him still in her mouth. [Erich.]

He sighs, heavily, and shifts to wolf. [Going, Emmett.]

The howl this time signals pursuit.

He knew where he she had started from, now where had she gone?

His nose opened up to another world. The eyes showed you many things, but you saw what you wanted. Sight could be deceiving. Smell, however, had a depth to it. He smelled the damp richness of the spring soil, the musty scent of leaf mould, the green scent of new growth, and the smell of wolf.

Each wolf had their own scent, a complex odor which identified them to other pack members. Lyssa smelled like a young female, but there was something more, something that wasn't quite wolf.

The youngsters had run over her trail, but that didn't even slow him down. Bounding through a late patch of snow on a north-facing slope may have given her wet feet but left tracks. She made a couple of abrupt changes in direction but he simply kept his nose down and followed.

He also kept an eye out and listened as he ran. Ah, she'd crossed back over her trail. A bit longer and he found she had gone into a group of pines. The resinous scent was strong and her trail disappeared. Erich skidded to a stop.

She watched him stop quickly and backtrack. [Lyyyyssssaaaa.] comes the singsong call.

He was trying to get her to reveal herself. She held still.

He was examining her last footprints to get an idea of where she'd gone. Then he began searching, spiraling out from her last print. She smiled to herself, she'd confused him. Erich, the pack's best tracker, didn't know where she'd gone. Ha.

She watched him circle around the spot a couple of times then lost sight of him in the pine branches.

Lyssa waited, debating on dropping down and heading back to the den.

She snarls and twists as her foot is yanked from the bough she was standing on and he takes her to the ground.

Once her trail disappeared he backed up and examined the last couple of tracks. The prints were longer, and deeper, a sign she had gone two-legged. She was in the trees.

Part of tracking and pursuit included catching the runner. And part of that sometimes included letting them believe they'd gotten away.

He didn't look up, simply began spiraling out from her last track. A sprinkling of fresh needles and small twigs indicated where she'd climbed up and he saw nothing that indicated she'd left the tree.

Now, all he had to do was get her.

They hit the ground growling and grappling. Unfortunately for her, he ended up on top of her. He pinned her to the ground with his size and weight. [Crap, how'd you find me?]

[I'm good.]

Lyssa sighs. [Yeah, I guess.]

[Nice try, though. It'll make a neat test for Mercy.]

***

Stephanie improved and, mindful of foodstuffs, had not fallen ill again. She resumed her duties at Wyeth and regularly returned to Ross to sleep.

That crisis seemingly over, Calvin called out for the Tucker candidate pair to visit before the next full moon.

Calvin was wakened by a strong but tentative hand stroking his penis.

He lay on his back, with her beside him, as his partly filled shaft hardened. He took a large breath and quietly asked, "Little one, what are you doing?"

She jerked, a little guiltily, and looked at him. Her voice was a little rough as she said, "Trying to bring you pleasure. Do you..? Should I...stop?"

He raises a hand to her face. "No. I do not object to your actions." He relaxes back down onto the bed.

Her hand is warm and firm around his length and she takes a deep breath. "I'm not sure I know how to do this. They always just ... made me."

"Do what is comfortable, Stephanie. I will tell you if it is something I do not like." She looks at him and he looks back, and offers her a smile. "It's alright, Stephanie."

She exhaled and looked away from his face, back to what she was doing. She held him and touched the end lightly with a finger, tracing around the edge of the foreskin. Calvin's foreskin was not wide and never covered the end of his penis, so the tip was always exposed. He inhaled at the touch. She looked up and he smiled.