Kyle frowned at the shaman’s empty hut through the doorway. “Dammit, tell me she didn’t go wandering off again.”

Aidan stood a few feet away, looking amused. “Does she still do that?”

Kyle sighed. “Yes. With the full moon being so close, I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised.”

“Does that make a difference?” Aidan asked curiously.

Kyle rolled his eyes. “Sometimes. If she’s going to start disappearing frequently, it’s usually when the moon is gonna be full. I haven’t been able to predict when it’ll happen beyond that. I’m guessing that if you asked her, she’d say something about the spirits.”

Aidan looked thoughtful. “I forgot to ask before, but do you speak to the spirits as well?”

“No. I never manifested the gift and it doesn’t look like I’m going to,” Kyle admitted.

“If you show no aptitude for the gifts of the shaman, why is Shaman Magdiel teaching you rather than someone else who possesses the gift?” Aidan asked.

Kyle snorted. “It’s funny you mention that, since she brought it up with me just the other day. Apparently I was under the illusion that it was because I was good with everything else. She said something about how my ability to be compassionate is really what won her over, or something like that.”

“Really? Just that alone?” Aidan asked with a rising brow.

Kyle shook his head again. “Look, when you’re dealing with Mags, you kinda just have to go with the flow. She does her own thing and has her own reasons for why she does it. I can’t tell if it’s because of her talking to spirits or if she really is crazy, but trying to figure out why she does what she does is just going to make your head hurt. Trust me, just take my word for it. I’ve been working with her for years, and what I’m telling you is the best I can come up with.”

“She was always a bit mad even when we were younger, so I can’t feign surprise that it hasn’t changed much over the years,” Aidan said.

Kyle turned toward the nearby woods. “Mags! Are you out there?”

Aidan followed Kyle’s gaze. “Are you even sure she would be out there?”

“Sometimes she is; other times, she goes who knows where. Shit, there have been times I know damn well she’s not even on the island, but the minute I come here looking for her, she just walks out of the woods. Again, you learn to not question too much unless you want a headache,” Kyle grumbled, eyes searching the trees for sight of the shaman.

Aidan watched him intently. “I think the real trick here, is trying to figure out if you like her or not. You have an odd way of treating those you care about.”

“You’ve heard me talk about her like, what, twice now? You’re making some big assumptions from just a small amount of information,” Kyle told him.

Aidan smiled. “And you think I never thought to ask about you? It’s amazing how much people will tell me, particularly about you. Most people in the village regard you as pitiable, and surly, but overall they respect what you’ve done with yourself. It’s all generally very condescending, and yet they seem to think they mean well with their pity.”

Now that just irritated him. “It’s nice to know I can tell Lily I was right all along, and she was wrong. Assholes, I don’t need their pity.”

“And there is the surliness they spoke of, and I would say it spawns from a sense of pride that’s more befitting of an alpha. The elders seem to regard you with a dose of respect as well, and a considerable amount of exasperation. The village has readily told me all about how you’ve lived since your pack’s passing, and how you are the person to seek out for treatment or information,” Aidan continued, seemingly unaware of Kyle’s annoyance.

“Well, how kind of them to know that I can stitch them up while they feel bad for me behind my back,” Kyle retorted, forgetting all about Mags in his anger.

Aidan looked back at him knowingly. “It grates on you, doesn’t it? Knowing there is more to you than they see. They have long ago chosen how to see you, and even if you change who you are, they only allow it to color their perception of you. It wouldn’t matter if you were open with them or not. They would still see you as the packless, tainted omega who’s admirably managed to scrape up something resembling a respectable position within the sept.”

Kyle’s mouth opened, a furious rebuttal ready to fall from his lips before he hesitated, realizing almost a moment too late what Aidan was saying. He snapped his mouth shut, gazing at Aidan in surprise. The alpha wasn’t saying it, but Kyle could almost sense the comradery in Aidan’s voice, and the unspoken derision toward the village.

“They do that to you, don’t they? By treating you like some big hero, some noble war hero who comes from this popular family, they treat you how they want to treat you,” Kyle said, trying to read between Aidan’s words.

Aidan grunted, looking away. “I think I’m beginning to understand why you fight anything and everything you can. I have prided myself on paving my own way, yet I did it while away from the constraints of our society. Here you are, fighting for whatever scraps you can get, and standing with pride over the measly pieces you have constructed into a whole.”

Kyle’s wonder faded under another wave of anger. “I’m sorry that my ‘measly pieces’ are so few and so small for your tastes.”

Aidan’s gaze went distant. “Quantity is inferior to quality.”

Kyle would swear Aidan was saying that somehow his life was better than the alpha’s. If his surprise at the thought hadn’t kept him quiet, the sad way Aidan had said it would have done the job on its own. As he watched, he once again glimpsed the vulnerability on Aidan’s face. It was the same look he had spied the day before when the alpha had thought Kyle wasn’t around to see. As he watched, he could see Aidan’s self-control reassert itself, as he consciously regained control of his stance. The transition, when it came, was rapid. Aidan’s vulnerable expression disappeared beneath a mask, with the arrogance Kyle knew well regaining its place on the man’s face.

Aidan turned his attention to Kyle, smirking when he saw him gaping. “That look is good on you. I don’t know if it’s the open mouth or just the expression itself. Either way, I find it difficult not to pull you in for another kiss.”

“And the moment is gone,” Kyle said with a roll of his eyes.

“I’d like to point out that wasn’t a refusal,” Aidan began.

With perfect timing, Mags’ voice called from the trees. “Kyle. Good, you’re here. I have work for you to attend to.”

Kyle turned toward her voice. “Then get your ass over here and tell me what you need.”

She appeared, her layered flower necklace bouncing against her chest. “And where have you been? I’ve been looking for you for ages. One would think that just because you’ve gone and found yourself a bonded mate, you no longer have responsibilities to attend to.”

Kyle rolled his eyes skyward, wondering idly why Gaia seemed to hate him. “I’ve been standing outside your house for half an hour, Mags. You know, the place where I normally meet you if you haven’t already hunted me down somewhere else? The only place I can say with any confidence you might be there, that one?”

Mags seemed to float through the long grass surrounding her hut. “Oh Kyle, you know I’m always somewhere.”

“That’s kinda my point,” Kyle huffed.

At Aidan’s soft chuckle, Mags seemed to notice him for the first time. “Well, Pack Leader Aidan. I see you have dragged yourself from the confines of the village to visit me. That was quite sweet of you. I have yet to speak to you since…my, you were at least half the size you are now when we last spoke, wasn’t it?”

Aidan nodded, looking more formal than he had when it had just been him and Kyle. “That’s correct, Shaman Magdiel.”

Mags’ gaze swept up and down the alpha. “And you remembered your manners this time, as well. As I recall, you had a few choice descriptions for me when you last saw me.”

Aidan’s chin dropped an inch in a show of remorse. “I apologize for any offense I caused.”

Mags laughed, waving him off. “Don’t worry yourself over that. If I’m not able to ignore the barbs of a gangly teenager with an attitude, what hope would I have as the shaman of a sept?”

It was Kyle’s turn to snort. “I forgot you went through that weird growth spurt thing that made you nothing but arms and legs.”

Mags turned to Kyle. “Whereas you never outgrew the teenage attitude. We all have our trials, don’t we?”

Kyle frowned at her. “You just can’t let me have this one thing, can you?”

Mags’ brow raised. “You wouldn’t be able to stand it if I always played nice with you, and you know it. But I think we can both agree that it’s absolutely wonderful Aidan outgrew that gangly phase of his. Battle and training suits him.”

Kyle’s face went slack. “Oh Gaia, Mags, please tell me you’re not finding a roundabout way of calling him hot.”

Mags breezed past him with a shooing gesture. “I’m old Kyle, not dead.”

Kyle groaned, mostly at the barely contained smirk on Aidan’s face than at Mags’ words. After years of working with the shaman, he was used to her shifts in personality. That included the moments when she was not only relatively coherent, but willing to give him hell. Even in her muddled moments, she seemed to derive some sort of pleasure from driving him crazy. Somehow she’d come to the conclusion that the more she frustrated or embarrassed him, the better she was doing.

Kyle sighed. “Didn’t you say you had work for me to do?”

Mags turned back around, facing Aidan. “You and your pack have yet to come and see me. You may think your time away from the sept means everything, but none of you are without need of guidance.”

Aidan straightened. “I apologize, Shaman Magdiel. We have all become accustomed to having little contact with shamans. It’s simply habit to not seek them out.”

“Has your time away somehow made it so that you no longer need the guidance of one who speaks to the spirits, who swims the currents of Gaia?” She asked, sounding stern.

“I will make sure my pack visits you before we depart,” Aidan assured her.

She brightened immediately. “Excellent! It has been so long since I have attended to anyone outside of this village. It will be a breath of fresh air, even if all they do is gape at me in wonder, trying to figure out what this old bat is going on about.”

Aidan blinked in surprise at that, making Kyle laugh. She wasn’t always this blunt; it was a side of her that she typically reserved for Kyle alone. He knew she probably brought it out when she was trying to help someone in a private moment, but that was about it. Kyle didn’t know if it was the fact that he was there, or that she’d known Aidan for so long that had her acting so bold. There was a part of him that appreciated Aidan was treating Mags with a great deal of respect, almost as much as he would treat a superior.

Mags turned to Kyle, squinting at him. “You’ve been up to something, haven’t you?”

Kyle looked at her in surprise. “I…what? What’d I do now?”

She looked at Aidan. “How goes the conquering?”

Aidan hesitated, looking at Kyle before answering. “We aren’t seeking to conquer anything, only to protect our borders. Some of the other septs are still trying to encroach on our territory and we’re trying to keep it to simply border skirmishes instead of war.”

Mags laughed. “And you’ve returned to find yourself in the midst of an entirely different sort of battle, haven’t you?”

Kyle rolled his eyes at Aidan’s growing hesitation. “Just be honest with her, otherwise she’ll only find different ways to make fun of you.”

Aidan sighed. “Kyle has made it clear that he is not something to conquer. So to answer your question, I would say it has not been going well at all.”

Mags nodded. “How are you with horses?”

Aidan blinked. “Horses? I…can’t say I’ve have much experience with them. My legs have done just fine in getting me from one place to another.”

“Interesting creatures, though they aren’t terribly fond of our kind. They’ve taken well enough to humans though. It’s fascinating to see humans interact with Gaia’s creations, isn’t it? They’re so soft, no teeth or claws, and yet they have come to a point where they dominate the world almost in its entirety. Why do you think that is?” she asked, raising her fingers to play with a passing duo of butterflies.

Aidan was looking more confused. “They’re…very talented at utilizing the resources they have. Add in that they do not possess the same respect for Gaia as we do, and the humans have all the capabilities of stomping any opposition.”

She laughed softly as a butterfly floated down to land on her necklace. “That is the tale so many werewolves like to tell. It’s true that humans lack reverence, and they have quite the talent for using what resources they possess to the fullest potential. But the one thing so many of our kind forget is their ability to befriend or tame the wild creatures of Gaia. That, among anything else, is what has given them their advantage.”

It was obvious Aidan was trying to figure out where this conversation was headed. “Is that not the same thing as possessing a lack of respect?”

“Is it? Mankind saw the ancestors of the modern canine and found use in it, as well as companionship. They found the same with their pet felines. Their herds of animals, for food and other products, were all crafted by human hands. Horses, wild creatures, often times stubborn and with a will all their own, willingly bear the weight of human needs. Even now, you have humans taking in all manner of wild creatures, breeding them for specific traits that make the animals eventually create a beast who can live, work, and perhaps even love, beside humans,” she explained, her sentences rising and falling in strength as she switched her focus between the butterflies and the conversation.

Aidan chuckled, shaking his head. “I suppose you make a valid point there, but I am failing to see what your ultimate point is.”

Mags eyed Aidan. “Humans succeeded in taming the wild. Something we werewolves have never done, not on a species overall. Sometimes force was used, but the overall theme was in the spirit of cooperation, through patience and great care. You can call it an arrogant presumption, forcing a change in a species, yet it’s hard to hold to when you see a child so faithfully love their devoted dog. Humans took what Gaia gave them, saw the potential for more, and fostered those very aspects to create something that was greater than it was before. Is that not an admirable endeavor?”

“I…had never quite thought about it like that. I suppose it is admirable, if one looks at it from that perspective,” Aidan said carefully.

She nodded, as if he had outright agreed with her. “I find it to be worthy of great respect. We can learn much from humanity’s failures, but I think that is one of a few things that is a success we can learn from. To make it a human phrase, they saw the diamond in the rough, extracted it with great care and patience, and made it shine more beautifully than ever before. It’s something we should seek to emulate.”

Kyle had been listening intently, knowing that when Mags began rambling in a seemingly random manner, there was a purpose behind it. The trick Kyle had found was not thinking too hard about what she was saying. Aidan’s accusation of the omega having a habit of turning someone’s words around to see what was hidden there had been accurate, and it had come from listening to Mags for years. The thing was, Mags’ stories and lessons rarely came with a definitive moral to them. The shaman was a big supporter of allowing others to come to the conclusions they felt served them the best. As she had said to him, everyone must live their own truth. She was simply there to guide them to it.

After a moment’s thought, Aidan’s gaze had shifted to Kyle. For a brief moment, Kyle felt completely naked under the alpha’s hard stare. It was as if Aidan were stripping him down, trying to find the answer that lay hidden somewhere in Mags’ words. There was nothing Kyle could offer him, but it didn’t change the fact that he felt uncomfortable under the man’s stare. Weakly, he shrugged at Aidan, shaking his head so he knew there was nothing he could do to help him. The alpha would have to figure it out on his own.

Mags let the moment pass before turning to Kyle. “I need you to return to the village and find me another crate of goods. Apparently another sept…or pack, I can’t remember which, sent some herbs to me and I need them. They should be in the storehouse.”

Aidan shook himself from his thoughts. “If there is anything I can do to be of assistance. I would be glad to help, Shaman Magdiel.”

“Mm, yes. I think if I let you wander off with him, I wouldn’t see those herbs for days. Ah, how about you chop some wood for me?” Mags offered brightly.

“I just chopped you enough wood for a month!” Kyle protested, taking offense at the idea that he wouldn’t be able to control himself.

“More firewood is never a bad thing, and I bet he’ll be more fun to watch chop wood,” Mags said, grinning impishly.

Kyle rolled his eyes, his annoyance staying with him. “It’s not going to do you any good.”

She turned away. “Yes, yes. I know he’s all yours, don’t you worry. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the sight you’ve been enjoying.”

He hadn’t actually seen Aidan in anything but clothing so far, but he wasn’t going to go out of his way to correct her. Especially because Aidan was looking at him again with the same amused, hungry look he had that told Kyle exactly what the alpha was thinking about. Kyle might have changed into a more work friendly pair of jeans, but he hurried to move away from them before he started sporting evidence of his arousal. It was proving difficult to not be turned on when the alpha was looking at him with that intense look in his eyes.

“Gaia, grant me strength,” he mumbled to himself as he headed back to the village, hoping he would be able to hold out.