Millennia by Raven Slake (free books to read .txt) 📕

While I slept, dreams and memories became hard to tell apart from one another. Except for one. A human handed me off to another human, no, he was infected, I could smell the infection on him. The first human was heavily injured, but had a bite on her arm. She was infected as well, but was just beginning to turn. The lycan was a male, and judging by the I was acting, I knew him very well and I trusted him a whole lot. His deep gold eyes gazed into mine, he cared for me. Gently, he brought me to my parents and kissed the top of my head before disappearing into the forest. His eyes, they felt familiar, like I could name despite the fact that there were no voices in the memory. And then I knew. That became the reason as to why I would leave the house in the midst of the night in search of an old friend that I could barely remember. I knew though, the bond we shard together was not the average friendship bond, it was something much more that we had suspeced for a very long time. Even before I became infected. 

I looked over at the setting sun, trying to decide how this was going to work out. Four stories high, and I as unsure about my jumping abilities. It needed to be done by dusk regardless of if I could jump or not, that was when I wanted to be seen. The elevation was so high though. Then again, I am a lycan. I have heigtened senses and stronger strengths. (That did not make sense in my head and it definitely does not make any sense as I say it.) The virus did, however, make me stronger and more agile. Maybe one jump would be sufficient, or maybe I would fail and would get a ladder out of the garage. Any attempts at reaching such a height would end the same, regardless of how many times I failed. I would make it up there and I would get my message out. Although I did not get everything back, I got enough that I can talk to an old friend of mine once more. Besides, I said I would do this for him. And I was not about to let him down anytime soon just as he never did to me.

Leaping, my fingers caught on the gutter and they stayed there. I threw myself up and my knees cracked a few shingles. Everything about the shingles screamed that this old-fashioned house needed to be repaired. Even the old stone chimney was crumbling into pieces. How Emberlynn survived in the beat down house was a mystery to me. My own weight was enough to crack and splinter the shingles. Once I reached the top, I sat on the roof of Emberlynn's house, waiting for my friend. 

Things were peaceful at night, outside of the forest. The night sky was scattered with bright stars and the moon was almost full. It was nice. Just as I was adjusting to not being able to take my eyes off the sky, I hear a voice.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" he asked. I jumped when he spoke. He smiled and looked at me. His golden eyes glimmered with peace. There was no desire for blood or a new packmate. It was just him, all him. Mathias was being himself, not pretending to enjoy Hamilton's pack. And he was not here to bring me down and force me in. My friend was here because I had called him. Then what exactly was this even about? 

"Yeah it is. I've never payed much attention to it," I replied, still looking up. He shook his head and moved mine to look into his eyes. Even after he moved my head his hand remained there. Boundaries seem non-existent, and I could feel his hot breath on my face. He was really close to me, breaking my rules about personal space. The entire time though, I was not even caring about how close he was to me. Proximity did not matter compared to the moment that was going on.

"No, not the sky. You, Millennia," he whispered. If not for the memory, I would have killed him on the spot. But I knew who he was and even before I was infected we both liked each other a lot. He leaned forward, and I felt the heat of his body. His mouth met mine, and the moment felt like it was never going to end. And I did not want it to go. If only it could stay. But there I was, unsure of what to do as he backed away for a brief moment. We stared into each other's eyes, not daring to look away. Mathias had one hand on my cheek and the other on my shoulder. I found myself reaching up towards him, smoothing down his hair. An urge drove me to push into him, connecting our lips again. The word for what it was called had escaped me a long time ago, I did not even try to think it over, I was focused on Mathias. He wrapped his arms around my torso and pulled to the side, making us roll until we reached a flat section of the roof. Laughter escaped my throat as we rolled, and he choked out an amused giggle. Every moment was enjoyable and exciting, a roller coaster that never stopped inclinging towards the sky. I allowed myself to fall under a spell, but I was not alone, Mathias was holding my hand throughout it.

By midnight, I was on the ground. We had fallen off the roof but not a single bit of pain had hit us. Mathias rolled over to the right, getting off me. I had not realized that he was above me the entire time, I was too involved into what was going on. He turned his head, smiling as his deep gold eyes bore into my own. Glancing up from the grass that I was plucking, I grinned back at him.  Looking down, I could not help but notice what had happened to our clothes. My shirt looked as if I had fought a bear and there was a split in my jeans spanning from mid-thigh to ankle. We had clawed at one another and at some point had bitten one another on the neck. Blood had soaked our clothes from head to toe, but it was not effecting us. Both of us had healed before too much blood could have been lost.

"I've got a question," I asked. He raised his eyebrows, asking me what it was I needed. "That first thing that we did, what was that called?" He laughed, doing it again. The name was barely out of reach, mentally anyway. It seemed to happen more when I was around Mathias than hen I was with anway else. There was a word that human used for that too; something abou romance.

"That?" he asked. I nodded and waited for a reply. "That was called a kiss, a sign of affection," Mathias added. I snorted at the last bit. 

"I know that, if I didn't-" he stopped me before I could say anymore.

"I'd be dead. Yeah, same goes for most lycans and ex-wolves." The way he said the last part sounded off. Maybe he was saddened by the fact that I was no longer a wolf. Either way, I had missed him since the escape. "I don't want to leave. I want to stay right here and not ever have to worry about you getting hurt anymore than you already have." I was right.

"I'll be okay. I have you and I have Kaire," I said. The moment that I said my brother's name I realized that he was able to access my thoughts at any given time. "Speaking of which, he's been awfully quiet." The silence was eerie without Kaire saying something. There was a chance that he was sleeping. I searched for a moment and found his thoughts, he was dreaming of when we were pups. At least he was asleep for most if not all of what went on between Mathias and me. Lasting with him constantly bullying me about it would be unbearable. Once I was sure that Kaire was sound asleep, I looked back at Mathias. "You should probably go before Hamilton gets suspicious of your disappearence." At the same time, we stood up onto our feet. "Before you go, I need to ask of something." He turned around to face me.

"Anything." That was all I needed.

"Emberlynn, my human friend is in captivity by Hamilton. I have a plan to get her back but I need an access route." It was a lot to ask, especially if he was to volunteer to watch the border that he never usually did.

"Come from this side of the forest, and I'll handle the rest. Guess I'll see you tomorrow then," he said. I nodded and waved goodbye. Tomorrow it was, old friend, I thought. The kiss between us was not necassarily my first, Kaire had kissed me plenty of times but out of brotherly love. Regardless, a real kiss that could possibly begin a real relationship was a first. There was nothing that sounded better than that.

My typical day was slow. Get up, do normal human things, and then sit around and do nothing. However, Sullivan promised to teach me how to fight. That helped days go by faster. She was human though, so she got tired faster than I did. It did pay off to not be a normal creature from time to time.

On the third day, Sullivan was sneaking around, getting more information while Kaire and I were at the house with a shortage of food. With me being the only one who can go out in town, I put in my contacts and left the house. The local store was not too far away. So I was able to walk there. The only problem would be getting in and out without someone suspecting me of being a lycan.

Walking in was easy. The clerk just greeted me and I was on my way. However, the hardest part was finding what I needed. Emberlynn fed Kaire dog food so she did not look suspicious. That was number one on my short list of supplies.

“Can I help you with something?” the clerk asked a few minutes later. Nodding, I tried to act human.

“I’m looking for some dog food,” I replied. The clerk nodded and led me to the dog food section. Kaire hated dog food, but he ate it so that he could survive without needing to go out into the forest. It was dangerous now that we know what is out there. In the middle of my thought, the clerk handed me a bag.

“The environmentalist had been buying this lately so this would be my best bet,” he said. “Anything else?” I shook my head and went to search for some more items. The rest was easy. Most of the food was cluttered near