Page 15 of Polar Fates
The bonding messed with your hormones. Don’t worry, it will only happen two moretimes.
I sigh. Two more bondings. Halfway through. Not that it’s something bad... it’s just emotionally taxing. I think back to how I drank Ràn’s blood and shudder a little. What does he think of me, turning vamp on him likethat?
It’s normal, don’t worry. Now get going, you’ve got a portal tofind.
You seem veryimpatient?
The Fates have answers. I’ve been waiting for answers for so long now that we may have a chance to talk to them... hurryup.
The last sentence is a growl. Snarky Alis is back. She’s been fairly well behaved recently, but occasionally, she still falls back into old patterns. Like being a bitch. Or a she-bear.
I choose an armchair that isn’t close to any of the guys and sit down, still a bit uncomfortable over how horny I was just momentsago.
“Did you have any progress?” I ask Torben, trying to keep my voice level. Don’t show your embarrassment. Staycool.
“Yeah, we split the island into seven areas so we each know where to go. Ràn said you didn’t have any luck following the tracks lastnight.”
For the first time today, I look out of the window. The sun is almost in its highest position. I slept all through the night and most of themorning.
“How did we get back?” I askRàn.
He shrugs. “You blacked out, just like with Torben. I brought you back here just to be on the safeside.”
“You brought me here?How?”
If he carried me, he had to be human. As a bear, he wouldn’t have been able to lift me onto hisback.
He shrugs again. “I carried you. Nothing better than a little naked stroll in themoonlight.”
Despite myself, I laugh, imagining him walking through the snow, me in his arms, both of us naked. It must have looked ratherfunny.
“Bertie and Arnold are already scouting their assigned areas. We were waiting for you to wake up so we can decide who goes where,” Torben explains. “Alis should be able to communicate with us over distances, so if one of us five find something, it will be easy to assemble there. It’s harder with the other two, but I’m sure they’re going to find us if they’re successful. If you come across the portal, keep at a distance, don’t get too close. We don’t know what awaits us on the other side, so let’s be safe and do it alltogether.”
I can communicate with the two oldbears.
Howcome?
Perks of being me. Alis snickers in my head while I tell theothers.
“That makes it even easier.” He hands us a piece of paper each with a rough sketch of the island and a shaded area on it. I commit it to memory and I know that Alis does the same. “Isla, do you want some food or shall we head out straightaway?”
Not wanting to waste any more time than I already have by sleeping in, I head out of the living room, waving for them tofollow.
“I’ll hunt while we’re out. When shall we meet back here?” The area on my map looks big, far too big to explore in the few hours of daylight remaining today. We’re in the North of Scotland and the sun sets early here compared to the South. At least that’s what we learned at school; I’ve not been anywhere besides Salvation Island since theDrowning.
“Sunset,” Torben decides, already taking off his shirt. The others are in various stages of undress, but this time, I’m at an advantage. I simply take off my robe and am naked in front of them. I enjoy their looks but know that there’s not time toplay.
Let’s shift, I tell Alis once we’re outside and she does it for us, changing our body into its polar bear shape within a single second. It takes the guys a little longer, even Torben. I’m still amazed at how fluid and painless the change is. There’s no bone-crunching, no blood, just a natural movement that turns human into bear. I think this goes far beyond anything science could explain. Magic, it has tobe.
With a last nod to the others, we start to run through the snow, enjoying the feel of the sun on our fur. With every shift, I become closer to Alis. We’re merging, we’re becoming more and more similar. I bet that if I took control now, I could run as a bear just as well as she can. It feels natural and easy. My mind is no longer confined to my human shape, it’s expanded and become flexible. I should ask Alis to give me the reins one day, but not today. We’rebusy.
Six
It takes us twenty minutes to reach the border of the area I’m supposed to explore. Despite running without a break, Alis isn’t even out of breath. On the way, she caught a hare and ate it while on the move rather than stopping - rabbit-to-go, basically. I had to close my non-existent eyes while she was doing that; I’m still not used to us hunting and eating raw meat. In a picture book I had as a child, a bear was portrayed as loving honey and nothing else... I wish Alis was like that. A vegetarian bear who could find us some honey. Damn, now I’m hungry even though Alis just ate forus.
The area we’re going to scout is a long rectangular stretch along the coast, going inland for about three miles. From where I’m standing right now, it looks like it’s all going to be flat ground. Not many places for a portal to hide, but that doesn’t mean we can assume it doesn’t exist. No, we need to explore every inch of this moorland, even if it’sboring.
We decide to run in straight lines from one side to the next, leaving maybe a hundred yards between each line. If the portal doesn’t look like the big stone arch in Alis’s memory, it might be small and easy to miss. Better safe thansorry.
