Adam studied Edward. He could tell the young prince debated about something.
"What is it?" he asked.
They'd made their way slowly--nakedly--back to camp and now he sat curled again in the thick fur blanket. Adam pulled his clothes back on but he was officially out of spare clothes for Edward after he'd ripped through the shirt Adam given him the day before. And the lovely green shirt and blue jeans he'd found Edward had been lost in his fight with the vampires.
"I just wish you could change at will, it would make getting back home easier," he sighed then crouched to brush his cheek affectionately.
"I can't?"
Adam shook his head. "I wouldn't imagine so. Most new Lycans, or rather, ones that we have to awaken from their human form, take several months, sometimes years to learn to control the change."
Edward frowned. "So I can only be my other self on the full moon? Why is that?
"The moon affects the flow of our blood," Adam shrugged as if it was obvious. "When it's full the wolf is at its highest. But other times the wolf falls lower, can only be coaxed out with practice...or when your emotions are quite high."
"Is that how you change?" Edward asked and reached a hand for his, bent to study his fingers. He lifted his hand, softly kissed his knuckles.
Adam chuckled as he watched him. "No." he looked up to him in surprise. "I've always been awake. My ancestors are Lycans back thousands of years, unlike you who was born to a human woman. You feel the wolf like a separate piece of you, I imagine you feel like there are two warring sides. For me, for those of us born to Lycan parents, our sides are never split. We are both wolf and man all the time."
Edward studied him now. Slightly annoyed. He didn't know how he felt. Though his body--and now mind as well--called to him he still had only known Adam a few short days. Edward closed his eyes. Felt for the wolf within. The part of himself that felt strong, defiant. Yes, he felt him there. He was irritated at his mate for underestimating him. Edward let him leap forward and felt the change ripple through him.
~~
Adam stood quickly, but then remained motionless as he watched Edward burst into his wolf form. His shoulder now came up to his ass he stalked towards him, glaring balefully with his mate with dark green eyes.
Carefully, Adam reached a hand to him and though he growled low in his throat, he let him caress his muzzle. Edward stepped another pace forward and pushed his head into Adam's chest and he chuckled, running his hand along his head, relishing the thick, glossy feel of his coat. It was one of the things he loved about his human form. The sensitive fingertips that could appreciate these subtleties.
"All right my love, you've proven your point," he said as he scratched behind Edward's ears. He whined happily and nuzzled at him. "Can you change back though? Sometimes that's even harder."
Edward chuffed and then sent a long tongue licking up his neck. Then he was changing again. The form rippling and shrinking, the lovely bronze fur retreated until the man stood smirking up at him. Very unexpected. He'd never heard of any human-born Lycan learning to control the change this quickly. He was missing something...Or Edward really was more extraordinary than he'd imagined.
"How did you do that Edward?"
He continued to smirk at him. "Well, I just imagined all the things I'd like you to do to this body."
He threw his head back with a loud laugh. "And I will do all of them."
They lazed in the camp the rest of the day. Adam suddenly reluctant to return home. To share Edward with the rest of his pack. He'd been gone over a year, leaving his serious second Heather in charge of the pack. She'd be surprised. He suspected she doubted he and his brother would ever find Hayk's lost offspring. But he had found them. And he was his mate.
But now they raced through the forest, heading home. He glanced to Edward, heart full as he watched him lope beside him. He really was exquisite. He still wondered though...how had he mastered the change so quickly? He knew Hayk's blood was strong. The Lycan had been even older than Adam, though because of his strange loner personality he'd never stayed with a pack for long. Could it simply be because Edward was the offspring of such an ancient line? His mind drifted to the mother. Who had this human woman been that Hayk put Edward and his sister in? Adam's mind skittered. Perhaps she wasn't altogether human? It might explain things.
At that moment he stopped sharply hearing his brother's sharp pitched howl turning he saw not only his twin brother but behind him a gold haired wolf ... Edward's sister... had she also learned to change at will...
Edward instantly knew it was Laura and ran to great her.
At first Adam's brother growled at him when he approached Laura but Adam let him know that his mate had no intentions toward the female wolf.
After playing for a few minutes the four ran all night. In the morning they curled together, still in their wolf forms, to sleep a few hours. Then they would rise and run again. Adam watched Edward always. Probed at him for any sense he was losing himself to the wolf side. For someone so new to their wolf side it was an easy thing to succumb to. To let the human part of you fall away. Adam recalled that Edward's father had been one of those for a time.
Adam remembered a few hundred years he'd heard nothing of the old Lycan. When he'd shown up, bedraggled and with haunted eyes Adam had known. Hundreds of years running in only your wolf skin changed you. Adam loved both parts of his self equally though. He flowed between the two, enjoying and delighting in each sensation each body allowed. And of course, Edward looked to be the same.
