Bruises and scrapes were healing, and were not aspainful as the day before. He felt stronger already, like he could rebuild the world from the atoms up, but that all had to wait while he navigated escaping the huge bed and the giant wolf curled around him like he was a pup and Leif a mother wolf guarding her den. Leif must have Changed sometime in the night after Alec fell asleep.
A tall shoulder blocked his view of the tunnel, and there was enough light to make out the shape of tall, fluffy ears and the thick, heavy mantle of fur covering the upper portions of the sleeping wolf’s neck and shoulders. Leif was curled around him with only a space just in front of his nose for Alec to crawl past.
He managed it, tumbling free of the blankets, and found himself on his butt on the stone floor, looking up at a very amused werewolf staring down at him, jaws cracked in a wolfish smile, teeth long, bright white, and wickedly sharp.
“Good morning, greenbough,” Leif said in the rumbly wolf voice, words coming from everywhere and yet somehow soft enough to only just be heard. His jaws did not move with the words, so it was magic that gave him a voice in that form. “How did you sleep?”
“Well, thank you,” Alec said as he got to his feet, stretching. A black nose was there for him to catch himself as his muscles protested the movements, and Leif sniffed along his torso and up his neck, great bellows of hot air and the earthy scent of fur and blood following. A large tongue licked along one side of his face, and Alec burst out laughing, gently pushing away the huge head, fingers landing in dense fur.
“No wolfie kisses until after I use the bathroom,” Alec scolded lightheartedly.
“I shall make breakfast, then,” Leif waited for Alec to move away from the bed before stepping off the platform,and he shook out his heavy coat, ears flapping, tail flagging high enough it nearly brushed the ceiling of the tunnel. Bright eyes watched him steadily, unblinking, as he made his way up the incline of the tunnel and slipped into the bathroom.
He caught a glimpse of the great beast as he padded past the bathroom door before Alec shut it completely, and he marveled at the sheer size of the werewolf in his wolf form. He’d never seen or heard of a werewolf so…huge. Even in his human form he was big, though attractively proportionate. Alec’s cheeks burned as he recalled the sight of Leif naked and he washed his face in cold water to ease the hot blush in his cheeks.
He used the toothbrush Leif gave him the night before and cleaned up as best he could before leaving the bathroom and heading up the tunnel to the cabin portion of the…den.
In daylight, it was clearly a den. The space near the fireplace was meant for someone with hands to work, cooking essentials clustered around the hearth, a metal sink with an antique hand-pump coming out of the wall beside it, and shelves on the walls. No refrigerator that he could see, but there was electricity, and the windows overlooking the outside clearing in front of the cabin let in a lot of light, even with the cabin on the westward face of the mountain. There was little in the way of human detritus like trinkets and keepsakes and comforts, aside from books and blankets, and lush furs that hummed with magic, preserving them. Alec wasn’t the most keen student in school but he doubted there were any animals in the Appalachians that grew a pelt that matched the ones in Leif’s collection.
It was a straight line from the door to the tunnel, and the wooden floor was clean and well-maintained, but it still bore the evidence of constant travel by a large creature with claws back and forth, and the path from door to tunnel was kept free of any furniture.
Alec had a feeling Leif spent a lot of time as a wolf. Living as he did in the deep woods, that was probably the most efficient form to take.
He saw no sign of his host, and the door opened just as he thought to look out front. Leif stepped in, a tall man instead of a wolf, naked but for a towel around his waist, hair damp and flipped back over his shoulders, and he carried a basket in one hand. “Is it raining?” Alec asked, squinting out the nearest window, but he saw no sign of rain or dark clouds.
“I brought food in from the root cellar,” Leif said, holding up the basket. “And I had a shower outside at the well.”
“It’s cold as hell out there.” Alec worried he’d kept Leif from using his own bathroom to clean up. “I’m sorry, I’m taking up your personal space.”
“I hardly noticed the morning chill,” Leif said with a disarming smile. “Don’t worry about me. Let me feed you, and we can discuss what you want to do about your situation.”
Alec nodded, not sure what to say. Leif went to the sink and began to wash potatoes, and Alec decided to make himself useful and tend to the fire, but when he went to the hearth it was already happily crackling away on some fresh logs, and Leif had already positioned the kettle over the flames, and a wide iron skillet was held in the flames on a grate on its own arm protruding from the stone walls of the hearth.
“You can make the tea,” Leif called over his shoulder, as if reading Alec’s mind and knowing he felt a bit out of place.
Alec happily went about searching out mugs on the shelves on either side of the fireplace, and he found a collection of herbal and black teas, picking out flavors by scent and touch, knowing what they were with a fingertip to the dark leaves.
Tea was steeping when Leif came over from the sink, washed potatoes in one hand and a long knife in the other. Alec was impressed when Leif cut the potatoes directly over the iron pans, each slice hissing at it landed on the seasoned metal as he made short work of the potatoes. He returned the knife to the area by the sink, walking through a beam of light from the window, and Alec stared in surprise, a hint of something catching the light in Leif’s wake.
“What…” Alec breathed out, trailing behind Leif, who turned at his voice. Alec frowned, and gestured for Leif to come toward him. “Walk back into the light?”
Confused, Leif humored him, and he paused when Alec sucked in a sharp breath and held up a hand, halting his steps. Leif looked down, eying himself. “What’s wrong?”
Alec saw a hint of something. It was like gold flakes floating in the air, but not in an aimless cloud disturbed like dust by those passing by—no, the gold shimmered in Leif’s wake, a narrow line from the center of his torso, through the sunlight, and then…
Alec stepped into the light, too, and saw the thread of gold reaching out to him, and he felt when the golden thread made contact. It lit him up from the inside, and he felt like he was mainlining espresso but without the nausea and jitters.
“There’s a thread reaching between us…” Alec breathed out, and he was startled when Leif made a deep whine in his chest and went to step away. Alec reached and grabbed Leif by the wrist, stopping him from fleeing. “It’s not the curse. It’s not evil. It’s…warmth and comfort…and energy and…”
Leif’s expression was doubtful, worried, and with a hint of fear. Alec hurried to reassure him. “I can see the curse if I wish, and feel it now that I know it’s there, but it can’t see me, not like you fear,” Alec rushed to explain. “I’m not a werewolf.”
“I know,” Leif said slowly. “But the curse drains anyone I form a connection with, and you’re…”
“What am I?” Alec demanded, though not harshly. He felt Leif’s racing pulse under his fingers where he still gripped his wrist. “What is the golden thread I see, alpha?”
Leif froze for a second, the words reaching him in a way they hadn’t before.
“A golden thread?” Leif asked, almost stammering. Alec nodded once, a firm dip of his chin.
