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Part 7

The next morning I am rudely awakened by a beam of sunlight as the sun rises over the mountains and sends its probing rays straight through my window into my eyes. Deciding it is futile to fight the sun I stretch and yawn then look to my left when a motion gets my attention. Lying next to me is Shadow, my mate, seeing him there sleeping I can't help but smile. Our night of.... fun, must have been more than he was used to cause he was deep asleep, one arm across his chest, the other behind his head, and his tongue hanging out the side of his open mouth as he snores softly. I stay there laying next to him just watching him sleep for several minutes, just enjoying the morning.

Unfortunately that is something that is not going to last. Before long I hear the sounds of others waking for the new day and soon they are going to want breakfast. You would think with as much as they ate for dinner they would be able to wait a bit but no, not this pack.

Sighing I carefully get out of bed so as not to disturb Shadow, he deserves to sleep as long as he can, I'm sure there will be a host of questions from the pack for him over the next few days as they get to know him. Quietly I make my way to the bathroom attached to my room and turn on the shower to clean up from the previous night.

Stepping into the shower I close my eyes and let the steaming water penetrate my fur wash away the dirt and grime left over from the last 24 hours. As the water flows around and over me I feel my muscles relax and my energy replenish itself. Guardians of Atlantis always loved the water, after all it is our primary source of power, and the waters of Atlantis were said to be the most pure in the world with their own special qualities. Standing their just enjoying the water I hear the door to the bathroom open and close and a shadow moves towards the shower through the fog formed by the hot shower.

A voiced laced with sleep calls out as the shower curtain is pulled back, "Were you just going to let me sleep all day?" I open my eyes and look towards Shadow and smile. "Well maybe not all day, but at least as long as you wanted."

Reaching out of the shower I grab his arm and pull him in with me causing him to yelp in surprise. Once I have him in with me, my back to the shower blocking the water from him, I pull the curtain closed behind him and press my lips to his, gently probing his lips with my tongue till he allows me entrance and relaxes against me.

When the kiss is finally broken he leans back and smiles up at me and asks "What was that for?"

Smiling back I answer "Just a good morning kiss is all, do I really need a reason?"

"I suppose not."

"Good, then it will get me off the hook for this..." With that I turn us around so that he is now under the full spray of the shower causing him to yelp again in a surprise and start sputtering as the water gets in his face. Before he can get the water out of his eyes I grab a bottle of shampoo and begin to lather up both his and my fur. In a matter of moments we are both covered in soap suds which are slowly washed away by the water.

When he finishes sputtering and gets the soap out of his eyes he lets out a low growl and glares up at me. "What was that for?" I just shrug and keep washing his fur as I answer "After last night and yesterday I figured you would need to wash up a bit more." He grumbles a bit more under his breath, but they soon change from grumbles to moans of pleasure as I gently massage his body while working the soap out of his fur. Before long he is leaning back against me as we just relax under the warm stream of water enjoying each other's company.

We stood there for several long minutes just enjoying each other's company and warmth of being together till we were rudely interrupted by a very loud crash from down stairs followed by Luna's loud scream of "I'm telling Seeker!" Opening one eye I didn't realize I had closed, I look at Shadow as he looks at me as I sigh, "Guess someone got in trouble in the kitchen again." He just chuckles and reaches to turn off the water while I open the shower to grab some towels for the two of us.

Our towels are barely around our waists when the door to my room bursts open and Luna races in only to be quickly tackled by Tabatha. As the two girls land on the floor with screams of "I'm Telling" and "Over my dead body" and "Your in trouble" and "He doesn't need to know" I open the bathroom door and lean against the frame, still dripping water, but sufficiently covered with my towel and ask, "He doesn't need to know what?"

Both she wolves instantly stop and turn to stare at me, neither apparently expected to find me, let alone find me fresh from a shower. I just stand there and look at them. "Well am I going to get an answer?" They both begin talking at once trying to drown out the other to the point where neither can be heard. After a minute of that nonsense I hold up a hand to get them quite again. "One at a time. Now, what was it that crashed in the kitchen?" They both look at me surprised yet again then Tabatha speaks up "How did you know we dropped something in the kitchen?" I point to the floor "My room is right above it remember. Now what happened?"

That apparently was the signal for Luna to start her story "Well we were getting hungry, and we figured we would let you sleep after.... well after your night... so some of us decided to start breakfast so you wouldn't have to worry. Only....." she trails off and begins to blush and so does Tabatha. Nodding as I finally see where this is going "Only there were too many cooks and not enough wolves who knew what they were doing, am I right?" Slowly they both begin to nod as I hear a chuckle from behind me and Shadow pokes his head out of the bathroom behind me laughing at the two wolves on the floor. That only causes Tabatha and Luna to blush all the harder.

Letting out a sigh I turn and head back into the bathroom as I say "I will be down in a few minutes, tell the others to stay out of the kitchen till I get down there." Both of them say "Yes, Alpha." They quickly leave my room and bolt down the stairs, soon yips and yelps and hurried footsteps come from the kitchen as what sounds like the entire pack tries to get away from the scene of the crime.

Still chuckling Shadow walks up to me and wraps his arms around me "You have your hands full with them don't you." It was more a statement of fact than a question so I just sigh and work to dry off. "There is one thing you don't have to worry about though Seeker." I look down at him with a raised eyebrow "Oh and what's that?" He smiles up at me, "You know I wasn't involved." Laughing at his statement I can't help but place a lick on his nose. "That's true handsome."

........

After getting dressed, me in a pair of jeans and a black t-shirt and shadow in a old white t of mine and jogging pants, since his only set of clothes were currently going through a wash they desperately needed after his time spent traveling, we make our way downstairs. On the way to the kitchen the smell of burnt food reaches us first followed soon by Rick and Jasper both with patches of flour, bits of charred bacon, and what appears to have once been a fried egg mixed in their fur.

Both wolves freeze in their tracks when they see me come around the corner heading for the kitchen. I stop in front of them and look them up and down noticing the slight panic in their eyes at having been caught. I just stand there studying the mess the two have made of themselves, dreading what I'm going to find in the kitchen.

After it becomes apparent they don't want to speak up I ask, "You two were the cooks I take it?" they both nod sheepishly with their ears pressed hard to their heads. "I see, and am I correct in assuming that my kitchen reflects the same condition as your fur?" Again they both nod. "I see.... Now remind me again what I say about cooking meals around here?" in unison the say "When cooking for the pack, only one cook at a time...." I wait for a moment before prompting them "and what else?" Again in unison "....and always clean the kitchen better than you found it."

I let them stand there and worry for a few more minutes before announcing my punishment for the cooking fiasco. "I want the two of you to go get cleaned up in the stream outside, then when you get dried off you will come back and finish cleaning the kitchen, understood?"

They both nod and murmur "Yes, Alpha." and head for the door outside to go get cleaned.

Shadow moves up next to me and asks, "Wont the stream be cold?" I just nod yes. "Well don't you think that's a bit harsh?" to answer his question I push open the door to the kitchen and after a moment of stunned silence he manages to mutter "or maybe not....."

As the door swings open the level of destruction caused is in a class all its own. There is a layer of white flour on every surface, paw prints on the floor show where at least four different wolves had been through. The stove has three pans and a pot sitting on it, one pan is still smoking with what appears to be the remains of eggs. The other two pans have a strange bubbling cream colored liquid in them which I can only guess was meant to be gravy. The pot seems to be the source of the loud noise from earlier as there are rings of water around it that has mixed with the layer of flour around it.

On the counters in the dust are a variety of hand prints and the remains of various cut up fruit whose juices are spreading out and mixing with the four creating a paste of sorts. The cabinet doors are all covered in yet more flour but appear to have escaped the worst of the mess till I notice one that is bulging just a bit that has what appears to be a face print on it. Carefully making my way to the cabinet I stand to the side and pull it open.

There is a small explosion of dirty utensils, bits of food, cereal boxes, and what looks strangely like an uncooked ham. As the contents finish falling out of the cabinet I just stand there and look at the kitchen.

Shadow, still standing in the door looks around at the mess "I'm starting to think you went easy on them with just a cold bath." I let out a loud sigh and pick my way back to the door, "Yeah I did, and I think there is another accomplice to this mess, maybe more, who managed to escape before we got here." I point out the four sets of paw prints going around the kitchen. "I get the feeling one of those belongs to Tabatha, though how she escaped the dusting I don't know." Shadow just shakes his head, "If someone had made this kind of mess in my old pack they would have been beaten by the alpha severely."

I look up at him in surprise, then think about the scar he has and wonder about its origins now. At first I had assumed it had been the result of a hunting accident or a fight, now I'm not so sure. "Your alpha would beat members of his pack for making a simple mess?" He looks down and just nods. Learning this I can't help but wonder what kind of hell shadow went through and how he managed to escape it.

For a moment a haunted look crosses Shadows face but is quickly replaced with a forced smile as he looks back towards me and asks, "So what are we going to do for breakfast?" I can't help but let out a small chuckle as I look around the room again. "Well it looks like I'm going to have to figure out something aren't I."

After taking a quick inventory of the remaining food in the fridge I set about cleaning off two of the burners on the stove, making sure to leave the majority of the mess for Rick and Jasper, I start cooking some eggs and pancakes for the packs breakfast. While I'm cooking Shadow dusts off a nearby stool and watches me. I can't help but think about what he has just told me regarding his former pack and wonder what he went through there.

After a few minutes of silence while I cook the breakfast I turn to him and ask "Why did you decide to come through this way during your travels alone?" He looks down at his hands and starts drawing swirls in the flour coating the counter and answers with a shrug "I'm not really sure, I just felt like I was being drawn this way, not here exactly, just in this direction." After flipping a couple pancakes I raise an eyebrow and study him a bit more, every time I learn something about him it raises more questions in me than answers. "Do you still feel like you're being drawn some where now?" He stops his tracing and sits in silence for a few minutes before looking up, a hit of surprise showing in his eyes. "Actually, now that you mention it, I don't. I almost feel like...... I'm home." He gives a short chuckle "Sounds kind of weird now that I say it."

I set the last of the breakfast onto their serving plates and turn to look at him "It doesn't sound weird at all. In fact, I think it means you have found where you belong," I step closer to him and lift his chin to look him in the eyes, "and I am very glad you found your way here love." With that I plant a kiss on his nose making him blush just a bit under his dark fur, making it appear even darker. Straightening up I grab the plates with the food, and with a smile I head for the door to the dining room. "Now what do you say we go feed the piranhas before they storm the kitchen again." He lets out a chuckle and follows me to the door.

Stepping out of the kitchen there are a dozen sets of eyes and mouths waiting us, including two rather damp and cold ones, all sitting around the table. "Guess you were hungry." I set the food on the table, fill two plates, one for myself and one for Shadow, and then we take our seats next to each other. After we get situated I look at the rest of the pack and watch as some of them start to drool while staring at the food but they all keep still till I let them eat, before I do I look around the table, to see if anyone else has evidence of the kitchen mess on them, none do. Shrugging I pick up my fork and say "Dig in."

You would think they had never eaten at a table before, sometimes I wonder if I am alpha of a pack of wolves or a pen of pigs. Whoever taught them to eat obviously didn't spend time on manners, but then I just shrug and enjoy my own breakfast dodging the occasional piece of food that flies my way. Looking over at Shadow I can't help but smile as he tries to eat his breakfast and fend off the occasional fork trying to steal off his plate at the same time.

...............

After everyone finished their breakfast I send Rick and Jasper to get started cleaning the kitchen, including the morning's dishes. When I turn around I find that Eve, Tabatha, and Luna have pinned Shadow in a corner and have begun to interrogate him about our night together. There is a slight look of panic in his eyes, though weather this is from being backed into a corner or just the three female's enthusiasm I'm not sure. So I walk silently up behind them and wink at Shadow who visibly relaxes a little knowing rescue is near.

Putting my muzzle right between Eve and Luna's ears I speak in a semi growling tone, "If what happens in the alphas room is to become public knowledge, then the alpha will tell you. If not then he won't. Understand?" All three freeze in an instant and slowly turn to face me. The surprise at being caught frozen on their faces. The looks alone are worth it as they just stare in shock at being caught trying to get gossip details. I can't really blame them, after all me and Shadow are the biggest news in the pack, and I'm sure they all heard our howls last night.

Eventually all three nod in understanding. "Good, now why don't you go practice your lessons Luna." She quickly disappears out the door with a hurried "Yes, Seeker." before she gets tasked with something else. I then turn to Eve and Tabatha. "Now are two going to just hang out while Rick and Jasper clean the mess you two were involved in creating?" At this their mouths fall open and Eve starts up, "How did you know we were in there?" I just smile and say, "I'm the alpha, it's my job to know." I wave them off towards the kitchen, "The sooner you start helping the sooner you get done." They both walk off with a subdued "Yes alpha."

I smile at Shadow who promptly gives me a big smile in return. "Thank you Seeker, they were getting a bit scary." I can't help but laugh as I wrap an arm around him guide him towards the door. "You can hunt down a shadow creature on your own, burst into my room ready to fight an intruder, and carry a blade at all times, but three females scare you?" he blushes a bit under his fur and shrugs. "That's different, those things aren't so..... scary." I just laugh as we head outside. "I know the feeling."

We walk through the grounds a bit just enjoying the sunny morning, warm air, and each other's company. After a few minutes of walking Shadow asks, "So how did you know that Eve and Tabatha were the other two in the kitchen?" With a smirk I reply, "I really didn't know, just suspected without proof." A sly look crosses his face, "So you tricked her into confessing."

"Sometimes being a good alpha is making those under you think you know more than you really do." He looks at the ground obviously thinking about something and asks, "So does that mean the alpha is always right then?" It becomes obvious to me that he is thinking about his former pack. "No the alpha is not always right. Sometimes we may think we are, but we make mistakes same as any other wolf. It's what we do after those mistakes that determines if we are good alphas or not."

I guide our walk down a path I have walked many times. "Your comparing me to your former alpha isn't you?" He just nods. "I see. Well I don't know how I rank in the overall alpha scale, and I'm not going to try and replace him in your life." He looks up at me startled, "I didn't mean to imply that I thought you were like him. It's just that, he was the only alpha I ever knew so I grew up thinking all alphas were the same. But you're nothing like I expected." I study him for a moment, "Why don't you tell me about him if you want."

"He is, was a hard alpha. His word was absolute, and no one dared to speak against him. Once one of his betas questioned an order he gave, it threw him in to such a rage that he struck the beta with his claws and ripped his throat out. Right in front of everyone present." I can't suppress a shudder, "That's horrible." Shadow just shakes his head, "What's horrible is that he refused to allow anyone to move the body. He said 'It must serve as an example to those who question me.' So he forced the pack to walk by the body every day, every man, woman, and child."

I have to fight to keep my breakfast down as he talks about that event. "I take it that his killing like that was not uncommon?" Shadow just shakes his head, "Someone died by his hand every couple years it seemed." I can't help but feel revolted by his actions. "Why didn't anyone leave?" He lets out a humorless laugh, "A couple tried once, he had them hunted down like animals. You see he has several who believe the way he does, and are just as twisted as he is."

Despite the warm air I can't help but feel cold. "So the rest follow him out of fear for themselves and their families I take it." He nods, "He uses fear very well." Looking at Shadows face I see some of that fear in his eyes. "So how did you get away?" His gaze drifts out through the trees. "It was a couple days after I came out to my child hood friend that I was gay. Somehow the alpha found out. The next day I was sent with one of his men to go hunt down a bear that had been seen. After leaving the alphas presence I overheard him tell the wolf he sent with me to 'make sure that queer doesn't come back.'"

I look at him with a bit of shock, "You heard him order your death?" He just nods and continues his story. "Well there was nothing I could do, we were leaving the next morning for the hunt. I guess he figured he would need my help to take on the bear because he didn't do anything towards me while we hunted."

"We tracked it for two days before we found its den. It was a mother with two cubs, she wasn't even a threat. But the alpha ordered it killed so that was our job. At the last minute I hesitated, that hesitation ended up being my salvation."

"What happened?" I asked. He takes a deep breath before continuing. "When we broke cover to attack, I held back just a moment. That's when the bear turned and retaliated, she swung at the first one to get in range, with one swipe she tore off my partners head. Then she turned to me and we made eye contact." I feel him shudder next to me as he relives the memory. "I don't know what happened but I just stood there staring at the bear as she stared at me. Then she just turned and went back to her cubs. It was like she knew I didn't want to hurt her. It was then I decided to leave the pack. I figured since my would be assassin was dead, I would be able to get away. So far I have."

I smiled gently at him, the more I learn about Shadow and his past the more questions I seem to have. "Well whatever the reason she chose to leave you be, I'm glad she did. After all it let us meet." With my words he pulls closer to me. "Well now you have heard some of my past, only fair I learn some of yours." I had expected this, and he was right it was only fair and I was ready to tell him. "I will tell you anything you want to know love. But there are some things that I haven't told the others about myself, and I want you to promise you won't tell them." He looks up at me with curiosity and some concern in his eyes. "I won't tell them if you don't want me to."

Seeing the concern in his eyes I give him a gentle smile, "Thanks love, and its nothing earth shattering I promise. There are just a few details about my life that I don't want to be public. And you saw how public they can make things." He lets out a laugh as he thinks about Luna and the others. "Yeah, they love to talk." We walk amongst the trees for a few minutes while he thinks of his questions.

"I guess my first question is how did you create that pointed weapon when my summoning attacked you?" That wasn't the first question I expected, but it's easy enough to answer. "Well technically I didn't create my trident, it's always with me." This gets me a confused look. I move my right hand so he can see the tattoo there. "This is my trident here." I focus for a second and it begins to glow and water flows from it to my hand and forms into my gold trident.

He reaches out to touch it, "May I hold it?" I place it in his out stretched hand. He lifts up and studies it closely. "It's lighter than I thought it would be." He starts to wrap his hand around as though to fight with it and it turns back to water and splashes his feet. He looks up alarmed, "What did I do?" Chuckling, "You didn't do anything wrong. A guardian's weapon just can't be wielded by non guardians." He looks at me confused. "What's a guardian?"

"A Guardian of Atlantis. We were the protectors of the city not unlike a military of sorts." With a bit of awe in his voice, "So you mean you were a soldier then?" "In a since, but there was a lot more to being a Guardian than that." He grabs my right hand and looks at my tattoo more closely. "So all guardians had this then?" "Yes and no, we all had tattoos on our wrists, but they weren't all blue tridents. There were four kinds of guardians, each played a different role in our society."

"So if there were four kinds of guardians, what were the different kinds?" I move a low hanging branch out of the way as I think back to a time long forgotten. "Well there was the warrior caste, they were represented by a red sword. The builder class, they had the green hammer. The leadership cast was represented by the white bow and arrow. Then there was the priest class...." Here Shadow interrupts me, "The blue trident! So you were a priest? You don't seem religious." I can't help but laugh. "It was a different time."

We enter a clearing in the trees, there is an open meadow with a creak passing through it. Beside the creek is a single tree with a well shaded spot under it. I guide Shadow to this spot and we sit under the tree. He leans up next to me as I drape my right arm around his shoulder. He grabs my hand and studies the trident some more. "So how did someone become a guardian?" "Well there were two ways, you could be chosen at a young age and raised as one like I was. Or you could become one by proving yourself worthy of it later in life." He stops studying my wrist and looks up at me, "How would someone prove themselves worthy?" I let out sigh, "I don't really know, I never saw it happen myself only heard of it in stories. You have to remember I was still rather young when Atlantis was destroyed, and I only knew what I had been taught up till then."

After that we just sit there under the tree and enjoy being with each other in silence. Shadow moves a bit and lays down stretching out in the shade with his head in my lap. Before long he is sound asleep with a smile on his face. Smiling I rest my hand on his chest to feel his slow breathing and heart beat. With a content smile of my own I lean back against the tree and close my eyes and drift to sleep.