Circe's Gifts

Chapter 18

Kalliope paced the floor on four feet, back and forth, feeling captive and wanting to run. Tiernan sat on the bed with his back against the wall. The human wouldn't go to sleep, and it annoyed her.

She suspected that he didn't trust her. No. She was overreacting to his worry about the other two. Kalliope stifled a growl.

And she paced.

Kalliope hoped no one in the room below heard a four-legged creature walking the floor when there should only be a woman and a hawk here. Not that it mattered. If someone came to the door, she would change back instantly. She'd needed to take her wolf shape for a short while, though. She didn't want to find herself trapped in the human form.

Kalliope wanted to run. She wanted to join the pack that she could faintly hear off in the woods and go on the hunt tonight.

Kalliope feared that if she ran too far, though, she would never become human again. She didn't want to give that up form either.

The dawn couldn't be far away and she'd still seen no sign of Pet or Dylan. She and Tiernan would have to backtrack and look for them. They had no choice. She could not go on without knowing if they were safe.

Tiernan moved, drawing her attention. She could see him clearly through wolf eyes that adapted well to the dark. He looked worried.

"I'm going to fly at first light," Tiernan told her. "I can't sit here and wait to find out what has kept them."

The sound of worry Kalliope made was too much of a whimper, and it embarrassed her, though not so much as Tiernan's attempt to pat her head. She snapped at his fingers, and he pulled back with a start. And then, unexpectedly, he grinned.

"That was kind of stupid, wasn't it? Even if you weren't Kalliope, the idea of reaching over and patting a wolf on the head is not one of my better ideas."

Attempting, even half-heartedly, to bite the prince she was trying to protect wasn't very smart, either. Luckily she couldn't admit to that blunder while in wolf form. Wolves sometimes made mistakes, but she'd never faced with the possibility of having to admit to one before.

Strange creatures, these humans. How could they survive when they had to stop and explain so much to one another at every turn? The level of cooperation it must take to do anything --

Would very likely be the reason they survived at all. Cooperation. Working together.

They worked together at a higher level of cooperation than the casual agreements she had been making with her three companions. Everyone moved off in their own direction to do what they thought best for the job. It was time, she thought, that they started working together instead of just being traveling companions.

"You know, I'm not good at interpreting wolf expressions, but you do look a bit -- odd to me."

She grinned, but in the wolf, it became a snarl, and he pulled back looking less certain. The reaction amused her, but only in realizing how much she had gotten used to conveying human emotions already. She changed back to being human and found herself in an awkward position, a little off balance before she landed on her ass. It wasn't very dignified. Tiernan looked as though he wanted to laugh and knew better.

She was beginning to realize that humans had lots of survival traits.

"It'll be light soon," she said, glancing at the dark window where the night stars had disappeared below the trees. "Don't fly just yet. Let's wait until we leave this place. I don't want to stay here after your gone, and I don't think it would look good for me to take my leave without my hawk."