The Glitter of Hope
Theodore felt the change as soon as he stepped outside. However, instead of rushing back in, he decided to inspect their surroundings as he had promised. As expected, whoever or whatever was behind the attack on Jack had conjured the area out of its own mind, because now they were back at the same altitude as before. If he needed any confirmation of that being the case, he only had to check their bags for their contents. They were all there, left in the same pile they had been in when their owners had abandoned them, catapulted by circumstances into action.
He crouched beside Jack’s backpack. The field mouse had been so adamant about not leaving behind the few artifacts he had salvaged from his old possessions after the adventures they’d been through while in Pinemoor. Guided by an unnatural impulse that had the nerve to call itself tenderness, Theodore began rummaging through his companion’s backpack to make sure that everything was still there.
“Hey, that’s mine, and it’s rude to search other people’s bags,” he heard Jack’s voice coming from a few yards away.
Theodore dropped the backpack as if it had burned him. “I thought you were still asleep,” he said, standing and rubbing his hands against his thighs, feeling absurdly guilty for having been caught.
“Nah, we couldn’t sleep,” Jack said, walking toward him while swinging his arms like a child. Vince followed closely behind him. The smile on his face told Theodore that the guardian was feeling the same tenderness when looking at the field mouse.
“I was only checking to see if anything had been stolen,” he said defensively.
Jack came up to him right under his nose. His lips looked too inviting to ignore. Theodore had to dig his nails hard into his palms to prevent himself from giving in to temptation.
“I know what you were looking for,” Jack drawled. “Deep down, you are insecure, Theo. So you wanted one of my good luck charms. I know you’ve been eyeing them since you searched my bag the first time.”
“Did Theodore frisk you, Jack?” Vince asked in an amused tone.
“A little, but that’s fine.” Jack waved dismissively and started searching his backpack. “This is my most valued possession,” he said, taking out a small plastic container. “Give me your hand, Theo.”
It was stupid, but there was a risk that he might not hear the end of it if he didn’t do as told. He extended his open palm to the field mouse.
Jack placed the container in it and then carefully made Theodore close his fist over it. “This is my special glitter. It’s for the worst of days. Trust me, you will need it, no matter what you might think right now.”
“Glitter,” he repeated slowly. “Take it back. I have no use for it.” He pushed his closed fist against Jack’s chest. His skin warmed at the contact, making him frown for a moment. How could he feel the field mouse’s body heat so easily, even through his clothes?
“No, no, no.” Jack covered Theodore’s fist with his hands and pushed it back. “It is a gift, and no one says no to a gift, no matter how stupid. Not that glitter is stupid. This one is called…” Jack pondered briefly, obviously making things up on the spot, “the glitter of hope.”
“There is no such thing--” Theodore sputtered.
“It’s just a small gift,” Vince intervened. “Just put it in your pocket, Theodore. It can’t take up enough space to be in the way.”
With a sigh, he obeyed the guardian’s suggestion.
“Happy now?” he asked Jack. The clairvoyant nodded enthusiastically. “Good. As you can see, we are back to where we were before we were attacked.”
“Attacked?” Jack commented. “I was kidnapped.”
“Let’s not lose ourselves in semantics,” Vince recommended, wrapping one arm around Jack and giving Theodore an open smile. “We are back, indeed. Does this mean we just need to go on our way as before?”
Jack reached into the pocket of his jacket. “I will ask the cards. You know how they change under the influence of recent events. Ah, by the way, the Moon paid me a visit last night.”
“What?!” Theodore felt slightly unnerved by shouting at the same time as Vince, but Jack’s sudden revelation was to blame.
Jack looked at him, then at the guardian. “She can speak without moving her lips, did you know that? Anyway, she’s pretty sure I will guide you on the right path. Unless it was an uber cool dream, I think she’s right. So just let me lay the cards down, and I’ll tell you where we need to go next. What do you think?”
Theodore had plenty of questions, but Vince warned him to keep quiet with his eyes. It was best that they didn’t quarrel so early in the day.
The Moon had not cared a smidge about him over the years. And now she was revealing herself to a mere clairvoyant?
***
Jack would swear Theodore’s piercing eyes were burning holes in his jacket as he nimbly laid the cards down. He wouldn’t be surprised if he saw them changing their patterns and even their pictures, because way too much weird stuff had already happened for that to be out of the realm of possibility.
Hopefully, the noose from the cards showed to him by the Moon wouldn’t make an appearance now. Theodore would have questions, and Jack wasn’t sure he wanted to let the alpha know how close to the edge they were walking. Or maybe he should be honest?
“The thing is,” he chirped away, skipping a breath or two, “she confirmed that we’re supposed to bond because we can’t succeed without each other.”
“Are you certain that isn’t merely your own interpretation?” Theo asked, looking positively pissed.
Jack forgot about his cards for a moment. From his squatting position – he had just laid the cards down on the grass – he had to crane his neck to look at Theo. “This whole clairvoyant-ing thing,” he made a circle above the cards with his hand, “is pretty much all my interpretation.”
“Let’s let Jack focus on what the cards are telling him now. We will him grill him later. One doesn’t get paid visits by the Moon every night. I bet he was too flustered by it all to tell us.”
Vee, darling Vee, already ready to hurry to the rescue. Not that Jack needed that much rescuing where Theo was involved. Oh, he was impressive and all, but his arrogance and coldness no longer awed Jack. He was pretty sure that time would only bring them closer. Only time was in short supply because of that noose thing and whoever was behind it.
He nodded sagely as the cards began making sense. “According to the Moon, I am pretty much a flashlight.”
“A what?” Theo asked.
“A flesh-light?” Vee teased.
Jack groaned, tipping his head back for a moment to work a kink out of his neck. “Low-hanging fruit, Vee, for real. Though I might not mind becoming one if it helps Theo with his anger issues.”
“Clairvoyant,” Theo growled, “you are pushing your luck, don’t you think?”
“You don’t want to know the answer to that one. Anyway,” Jack said, clapping once in satisfaction. “We have to cross the mountains. After that, we should be reasonably close to the veil. Only that we will have to--” He squinted as he struggled with the meaning of the cards staring back at him. “Well, we’ll have to tighten the bond, whatever that means,” he added quickly.
“You know what that means,” Vee warned him playfully.
“Let me see those cards,” Theo growled.
“Here. No matter how many times I try, they still fall the same way. It’s the three of us,” Jack said.
“What about this?” Theodore was in a dark mood all right. Could it be that he was jealous about not having met the Moon himself? Wolves howled at the moon and all, so maybe that was like a call to be scratched behind the ears, something Theo had obviously missed for a while.
Jack didn’t even look at the card Theodore was pointing at. He pushed himself to his feet and reached for Theo’s ear.
“What are you doing?” Theodore asked, giving him a stern look.
“What does it look like? You need a scratch behind the ears.”
“I will give you a scratch on your behind, useless field mouse,” Theo warned him, dodging out of the way. “You said you’d do a card-reading. Behave like a proper clairvoyant and read the cards.”
Jack narrowed his eyes when he noticed the card Theo was pointing at. “That is nothing. Scenery. Landscape.”
“Jack,” even Vee warned him, “that’s a dark figure with a sickle. And we all know it’s not Halloween yet.”
“Right, right,” Jack hurried to say. “It shouldn’t come as that big a surprise, right? We will be in mortal danger the closer we get to the veil. So, I’m sorry, Theo, but you might have to kiss me more. Just in case.”
He knew he was babbling, but he didn’t like looking at that card very long. The Moon had told him he wasn’t alone. So trials like that were nothing, but absolutely nothing. Sure, it didn’t help that he had absolutely no idea whatsoever about the what and the when. Those GPS coordinates for the dark presence with the noose in its hands would have really come in handy, but the Moon most likely didn’t play with technology.
“Are you sure that’s all I have to do?” Theodore took one menacing step toward Jack.
Jack took one back instinctively. “Kissing, Theo, I’m talking about kissing. You look like you’re about to bite me. I get that I look scrumptious to you because we all went to sleep on an empty stomach, but I guarantee you that I would barely count as a snack.”
Theo was showing his teeth. He also looked amused by Jack’s completely reasonable fear. “Trust me, field mouse, when I bite you, you’ll love it.”
Vince had the only clear head in the house. He stopped Theodore by putting a hand on his chest. “How about we get moving? We’ll have more time for banter and menacing seduction later. Crossing the mountains might take days. And nights. I don’t know about you, but I’m not itching for a second encounter with whatever temporarily kidnapped Jack.”
Jack observed how Theodore calmed down under Vince’s touch. It was truly a sight. Maybe Vince was a wolf whisperer.
***
It surprised Vince to see how easily Theodore appeared to acquiesce to his logic. The alpha stopped his advance on Jack and gave Vince a loaded look. Of course, this alpha had gone without affection or the slightest semblance of a pack, and now he was getting both. Jack might be going too far by wanting to scratch Theodore behind the ears, but Vince understood longing and the marvel of self-restraint could only get the alpha so far.
So, he did the next most natural thing that crossed his mind under the circumstances. Slowly, gently, he cupped Theodore’s cheek in his big hand and brought their lips together in a soft, tender kiss. At first, the alpha tensed, seemingly ready to push Vince away. Then he relaxed and allowed the kiss, although he only parted his lips a smidge.
“Not fair. Why do you get to kiss him when I don’t?” Jack protested from the safe distance he had positioned himself at.
“Maybe you’re too shy,” Vince said, his lips stretching into a smile as his eyes met Theodore’s briefly.
“I am totally not shy.” Jack was by their side in an instant. He pushed himself up on his toes, puckering his lips and closing his eyes.
“It looks like you have to give it over,” Vince joked, brushing his thumb over Theodore’s lips.
“Do you use these seduction techniques on all your lovers?” Theodore asked, ignoring Jack for the moment.
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” Vince teased playfully. “Are they working on you, alpha?”
Theodore’s nostrils flared for a moment. Vince loved watching that fire burning in the alpha’s cold eyes. He was growing back into who he was supposed to be. The frigid years of hopelessness and restraint would soon be behind him. This was how Vince knew he’d found his purpose again after assisting Danny to fulfill his destiny.
“I think I’m losing my balance,” Jack complained.
Theodore put his hands on Jack’s arms and pulled him close. He kept his eyes on Vince as he kissed Jack. But his eyelids fluttered and closed once Jack wrapped his arms around the alpha’s neck, deepening their kiss.
***
Were these two humans accompanying him only to tease him? The path toward the destiny that awaited him – the knowledge of what had happened to his pack, the hope that he might release them from their earthly bonds so they could become spirits forever – now seemed peppered with temptations.
Temptations that came from his companions. Jack had been in the clutches of the enemy only the day before, and Vince had experienced the same helplessness Theodore had during their futile search.
Yet today, they were joking and fooling around as if nothing bad had happened.
It was hard to keep thinking while Jack’s soft lips brushed against his, and a low moan emerged from them. Theodore knew only one thing. He had to taste more and wallow in the sensation, no matter how wrong and foolish such a decision was.
Jack was clumsy at kissing. He was clumsy at everything save for his card-reading, albeit Theodore couldn’t say if the attractive field mouse was that much of a clairvoyant after all. Still, he was sweet, and his taste invaded Theodore’s mouth, causing an ache to nestle deep inside his chest.
“I see how it is. Should I go on a little stroll and leave you two for a bit?” Vince’s joke reached his ears just as he was about to lose himself in kissing Jack.
He was the leader of this pack, dammit. One arm wrapped around Jack, he reached for Vince with the other. The guardian didn’t protest in the least when Theodore pulled him close and kissed him, too.
If a kiss or two was what he needed first thing in the morning, and if his pack members needed the reassurance of their alpha, so be it. He held both of them in his arms, alternating between Vince’s firm lips and Jack’s enticing pouty mouth.
“We must continue our journey,” he said in a calm, measured tone, needing them to get moving before he ended up losing his composure along with his self-control.
Both Vince and Jack stared at him as if they couldn’t believe their eyes.
“You both need discipline,” he said, his lips already twitching. The way they were gaping at him amused him. “I can bite, too, just so you know. But if kissing is all it takes to make the two of you behave, I don’t mind.”
“Hey,” Jack protested, “what’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means,” Vince intervened, always quick on the uptake, “that Theodore loves kissing us and just found a reason to do it that will work for him like a charm.”
“Ah,” Jack said, his pretty eyes growing wide, “so he’s playing!”
“Far be it from me,” Theodore assured him. “I am using the tools at my disposal to control you.”
“Control this, you sexy jerk,” Jack said and jumped, wrapping his arms and legs around him. “You’ll have to walk carrying me like this.”
Theodore made quick work of arranging Jack in such a manner that he was now hanging from his shoulders. He wrapped his arms underneath Jack’s legs and began walking. “Vince, bring the luggage, please.”
“Hey, I didn’t ask for piggybacking,” Jack complained. “Is this how we’re going to walk from now on?”
“Yes,” Theodore informed him in a smooth voice. “I told you I have no intention of letting you out of my sight.”
“You should carry me in front then, because you don’t have eyes in the back of your head, right? Or do you?”
Theodore felt his body shaking with laughter as Jack explored his head with curious fingers.
“You think this is funny? What if I have to pee?”
“Are you peeing right now?” Theodore asked.
“No.”
“Then you’re safe. Just say when you need to go, and we’ll figure out a solution.”
“Theo,” Jack gasped in disbelief, “are you saying that you’re going to watch me while I pee?”
“Why not? Are you particularly awkward when you pee?”
“No, I pee very normally.”
“Then why are you so outraged by the notion of me watching you relieve yourself?”
“Gosh, if you have to ask, you must be a pervert. Wait a minute.” Jack dug his bony fingers into Theodore’s shoulders. “Are you laughing at me? You are! I can’t believe you! Vee, Theo is laughing at me. Make him stop!”
Vince’s firm steps could be heard right behind them, crunching on the gravel. “I’m afraid you deserve it, Jack,” the guardian said facetiously.
“How so?” Jack demanded.
“You need protection. There’s no use acting shy. Theodore will have to supervise you as you pee.”
“Oh, great,” Jack moaned. “Can’t a guy get a little kidnapped without having to worry about his bathroom privacy being taken away?”
“There’s no bathroom anywhere near here,” Vince pointed out the obvious.
“Exactly,” Theodore added with unhidden satisfaction. “So, expect close supervision, field mouse.”
“Fine, what can I say?” Jack seemed capable of accepting defeat. “Wait, are you going to shake it for me?”
Theodore growled, although his wolf was just as amused by their verbal exchange as he was.
“Okay, okay, I won’t press my luck,” Jack said, slumping against Theodore’s back and resting his head on his carrier’s shoulder. “Until next time, of course.”
TBC
@Derek - Jack surely is proud of his name - and also that the Moon herself knows it :) He is a very resourceful young man.
@Mark Mortland - he-he, I believe a lot of people are Team Vince right now... They will go through even more adventures!
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