B0079G5GMK EBOK (25 page)

My eyes went serious.

“I don't know,” I said
truthfully. “Not all shape shifters have gifts.”

I sighed and Clarissa looked at me, disappointed.

“But if you do, then I should have one too,” she sighed after a while, with hope glowing from her eyes.

I rubbed my neck and hoped there was a way to get out of this. Both of my daughters looked at me, waiting. I closed my eyes, but when I opened them again, their waiting eyes were still there. Looking at me even more eagerly, if possible.

“That's not how it goes, sweetie,” I said and backed up as I saw the disappointment in Clarissa's eyes. “But I'm not saying it's not possible.”

Clarissa jumped up and almost ran around me.

“Calm down. We can't know if you have a gift or not, before you have accomplished your full ability to shift shapes.”

“What about me?” Marie asked from the floor with a tiny voice.

I knelt down in front of her and took her face between my hands.

“We'll see about that, when we know if you, too, are a shape shifter,” I whispered softly, and kissed her nose.

The men scuffled in, bloody and pushing each other. I didn't have to say a word. They understood by my look that they needed to wash up before joining us at our breakfast table. They disappeared to the bathroom, laughing. I shook my head and started to make breakfast, or actually brunch as it was so late in the morning.

The clanking of the bowls woke the rest of the dormice and soon I noticed I was in the middle of an en
dless egg frying.
Clarissa was loading the coffee machine for what I guessed was the third time. Marie sighed happily and made me turn my eyes from the frying-pan. My heart jumped with joy. Marie seemed so small in the arms of the nearly two meters tall, muscular Tiamhaidh. Tiamhaidh had put his arms prot
ectively around Marie, and she
was sniffing his wet chest that was covered with tattoos.

“Shirts,” I coughed, and looked at the two clean t-shirts on the chair.

Tiamhaidh lifted his eyes from Marie's hair and caught the shirt Adam threw him.

“Hide yourself, brathair, the women can't take that much,” Adam laughed and pulled his own t-shirt on.

After breakfast, most of our pack disappeared to their own activities. David tended to
the fire and put on some music
that sounded Brazilian. Marie climbed onto Adam's lap, and Tiamhaidh looked at him murderously. For some reason, Marie and Adam seemed to have a strong bond, and not even Tiamhaidh's presence made Marie change laps. The black haired devil with a tiny fallen fairy from the woods, I thought and shook my head, in secret. I lifted the tea cup to my lips and faced Clarissa's eyes. Clarissa was not jealous of Marie. On the contrary, she was grateful that Adam loved her sister and understood her. Marie loved Adam like he was her big brother. She didn't compete with Clarissa. She just loved Adam unconditionally.

Marie had put her fingers on the dark tops of Adam's hair
. She
giggled, at times, like a little child. Adam sniffed her neck and made her giggle even more. Tiamhaidh couldn't take his eyes off them.

Clarissa sat next to Tiam and threw her legs on him, relaxed. Tiamhaidh instinctively took her toes and started to massage them slowly. Clarissa sighed, pleased, and closed her eyes. I thought she was completely relaxed, but she suddenly opened her eyes and looked at Tiamhaidh, who suspected no evil.

“So, if your gift is to
be supreme fighter, what is my m
om's gift?” Clarissa asked
quickly.

“Sofia is a mind shaper,” Tiamhaidh answered without hesitation, and Clarissa turned her surprised eyes on me.

“And what does the mind shaper do?” she demanded.

I opened my mouth to stop this issue right there, but David stopped me.

“I'd like to hear it, too.”

Tiamhaidh looked apologetically at me and I nodded. I had lost the game already, so it was better to tell the truth.

“Sofia can shape the mind of an
y living thing,” Tiamhaidh said
carefully.

Clarissa laughed. “That's not a gift. Even I can search the minds of others, if I wanted to. Each of us can.”

I warned Tiamhaidh with my eyes, but he refused to meet mine.

“It's not the same. Not at all, á phiuthar. Your mom can shape the minds of others as she likes. Not just hear and talk to them without a word.”

Clarissa stared at him, like she didn't understand what he had just said. David stared at me, stunned. I hadn't actually lied about my gift. I just hadn't said anything about it. Adam sighed, and lifted Marie off his lap. He came to Clarissa and looked strictly into her eyes.

“Imagine, someone can tell your mind to sleep at any time. Or that someone can make your mind believe you see things that are not real. Or that some
one can make any living plant
do what she wants, l
ike growing in the middle of winter,” Adam said
steadily.

“Magic,” Clarissa whispered.

“No. Not magic. Just the connection of all living things and an ability to make it work as you want it.”

“Impossible,” David said and looked at me with eyes full of fear.

I blushed and shrugged, like it was nothing.

“Imagine what that person could do.” David continued, wondering.

“My mom is a seer,” I said, quickly, and hoped that would make them forget me.

“Wh
at does a seer do?” Marie asked
curiously, and wondered at the shadows of her swinging legs on the floor.

“A seer can see the past and the future. It's kind o
f like a prophet, dear,” I said
thankfully.
I had at least
fooled one of them and got
ten Clarissa
off my back.

Clarissa looked at me with eyes that said my attempt was hopeless. There was no way I could avoid the third degree examination later.

“Adam,” Marie said in a frightened tone.

Adam turned and looked at her. He quickly jumped close to her and grabbed her hands a second before Marie started to convulse and fell on the floor. He opened his mouth as if to say something, but as Tiamhaidh harshly pushed him away he decided to stay silent. Adam turned to me, but I gestured for him to be quiet. Frustrated, he left scuffling downstairs and went out. The door banged and I looked at Marie, whose head was resting on Tiamhaidh's arms. Her convulsing started to ease and as Clarissa ran to us with Marie's medicine, we discovered that we didn't need them.  Tiamhaidh took Marie in his arms and carried her to their bedroom to rest. Clarissa glanced at me apologetically and ran after Adam.

I fell down on the sofa, next to David. Would this ever stop? Would Marie's life be like this, always? David hugged me tight and we stared at the fading flames of the fire together, and thought they were fading as fast as the hope of M
arie's recovery. Thank goodness
David stayed silent. There were more questions to ask, but right now, I was too tired to talk about the special gifts of the shape shifters. As if he had heard my thoughts, he lifted my hand to his lips and kissed it. I leaned on him gratefully. No accusations, no questions. Just unconditional love that never stopped surprising me.

Clarissa

Clarissa found Adam lounging on the guest house sofa. He seemed rel
axed, but she could sense what
an uproar he was
in
. Her family had brushed him aside, like he was nothing more than an annoying mosquito. They hadn't listened to him. Not even when he obviously had something to say. Clarissa knew how it felt. When Marie had gotten sick for the first time, Mom and Dad had done the same to her. She had been scared too, but no one listened to her. They had harshly pushed her aside. Not on purpose. Sh
e could be a hundred percent
sure of that, but they hadn't even noticed it. Marie had been in mortal danger and had needed all they could give her and more. Clarissa had survived because her grandparents and her friends had helped her.

She felt the jab of jealousy that had become familiar to her, but she forced it aside. She knew it was stupid. She loved Marie a lot, but once in a while she couldn't help but envy the attention her sister got. Silly, yes, but she couldn't control her thoughts.

She flopped on the sofa next to Adam and started to massage his fingers. Slowly the massage turned into a cuddle and finally his fingers were in her lips. She kissed his fingers, one by one, and felt t
he tension inside of him give way
. Adam rolled ea
sily onto her. Clarissa laughed
nervously. They had done it before, but never in here, her home. It bothered her to know that anyone could pop in the door at any time.

Adam slowly opened the buttons of her shirt. Clarissa couldn't help herself. She noticed her hands wandering wildly on Adam's gorgeous body. Slowly, bit by bit, Adam pierced her and they melted as one. The sky exploded in her mind.

“Oh, God,” Clarissa screamed, but Adam silenced her with his mouth.

Adam conquered her so completely that she was no longer sure where her body ended and his began. She felt the shooting stars in her eyes. Adam's mind was like a black-hole that inevitably drew her in it. She knew exactly what he was thinking, felt every muscle he had in him. A fallen angel, she thought and drowned again in his burning eyes. Something exploded inside of her and she wanted to get away from Adam fast. She was terrified. She didn't dare go on. Not for a minute longer. But Adam's body wanted more from her and his mind held her in such a tight grip, she couldn't escape. Clarissa's head swayed from side to side and she screamed as much from pleasure as from fear. What was happening to her? Panic rumbled inside of her. She had to get away! Clarissa tried to message Mom. She badly needed help, but Adam blocked her mind. The moment she thought about her Mom, Adam's mind surrounded hers and took it as its own. It claimed something, pushed her to the edge of something she couldn't do, and in the end she just couldn't take it anymore. Adam's skillful hands guided her and she screamed and screamed until
the world around her exploded
to pieces. Adam suffocated her screams with his mouth and eventually, when she became conscious again, she found out she was still alive and was lying on the floor with something warm covering her numb body. 

However, everything was not okay. When Clarissa opened her eyes she had to close them right away. What had happened? She could see the tiniest particles of dust on the floor and the bright fire in the fireplace seemed to burn her eyes. She moved awkwardly and tried to perceive her own body. She couldn't. She couldn't feel her legs or her hands and it was really difficult to move. She tried to lift her head, but it felt weird and heavy, so she gave in. It was so hot in here! How could it be? She was naked, so she should be shivering from the cold. Clarissa tried to move the blanket, but her hands didn't obey. She tried to sit up, but found herself on all fours on the floor.

“Adam,” Clarissa tried to scream, but all that came out from her mouth was some weird wailing.

At that moment she figured out everything. She made a sound again and howled with joy. She was a wolf! And the blanket on her was her fur. And Adam, who lay behind her, was a wolf, too. She rolled on her back and faced Adam's eyes that were full of pride. “I knew you could do this. If you just let me help you.” Adam's voice echoed in her mind. “But how?” Clarissa wondered
.
Adam licked her snout. “Too many barriers, mo gaol, I needed to get rid of them first.” Adam lifted his snout in the air and howled
with such a pleasure that every single hair on her neck rose
.

Clarissa couldn't believe that she, the daughter of Sofia and David, Miss Stewart, had just experienced the first proper shape shifting in her life. And how effortless this was! She could stay in her shape without even trying and she knew now she could shift her shape to a wolf whenever she needed in the future. She also knew she could keep up the change as long as she wanted. Unbelievable! Totally comatose! Mom would never believe this! Adam looked at her, amused. She was like a big, furry baby. Clarissa got to know her new body and played and jumped around Adam, while Adam just lay on the floor and grinned at her.

O
n that day, Clarissa learned more about shape shifting than ever before. Adam forced her to change her
shape a million times between wolf and
human. Finally, she could do it without thinking. She learned how to listen to her surroundings and how to imperceptibly touch the minds of the other shape shifters and humans. And the best thing was, she learned what the real Adam was like.

She loved the tough, rude Adam incredibly much, but more than that, she loved this new stunning male she had found inside of hi
m. This male was an unbelievably
gentle and patient teacher. A hot lover and a man that would stand beside her for her immortal life. Every fear and doubt she
had
ever felt was gone. She knew, better than anything, that she wouldn't have to doubt him ever agai
n. She would be the only one in
his eyes. She would be all he would
need, forever. Clarissa sighed
happily.