Tempest

25 : Home, Heart and Hearth

Galan, Tempest, Marc and Leon were sitting at the dinner table having venison steaks with potatoes. The venison the twins had caught once they arrived on the land. The travelling troupe of four had run most of the way here and they had loved it. 

Galan had changed into his Lycan form and the boys into their weres about ten minutes after they left Samantha and Daniel's village. Marc and Leon had been amazed at Galan’s large form and had not hidden their admiration. This had made Galan a little uncomfortable, especially since they wanted to touch him. His Lycan didn't understand what the hell was happening and had growled non-stop, finally stopping and watching the twins with a puzzled look on his face. 

Tempest had chuckled and shaken her head, laughing at the antics of her brothers as they pranced around him, tongues lolling out. They had rolled over onto their backs in submission as Galan’s Lycan had growled. Showing that they were not a threat. Then, they would rub against his legs, urging him to run with them.

The bewildered look that the large Lycan kept throwing in her direction soon had her in stitches as she could no longer hold it in. The rust coloured werewolves didn’t know when to let up and started nipping at the Lycan’s feet playfully, urging him to run with them. 

“Easy, boys,” she finally linked them. They rolled their wolfy, brown eyes at her before they dashed off into the bushes with a final look at Galan. Tempest touched her tattoo and linked Galan. “Time to run,” she said to him with a small smile. He huffed at her, indicating that she should go first. She raised an eyebrow and smirked at him. With a small shake of her head, she took off.

She felt Galan close behind her and relished in the feeling of them running together, even if she was in her human form. She turned her head and saw his Lycan right beside her. She loved it. 
Picking up her speed they soon caught up to her brothers and they ran off towards their destination. They stopped a couple of times to rest, eat and get some water. They got home just before it got dark. 

Home was made up of three cabins close to each other. Tempest had found the land decades ago, just after she left Aida and Sam. She had claimed it and had managed to get the first cabin up.
When she had met Dean, she had brought him back here and they had built the second cabin. The third cabin had been put up when Marc and Leon had joined their family. Their plan had been to get up another one for Leon but the boys had not been too keen to have separate cabins at that time so they had let it go. 

She led Galan to the middle cabin and as the men turned back to their human forms, Tempest smiled.

“I see you liked Aida’s present,” she told Galan with a smile. He smiled back at her and wiggled his brows at her.

“Would you have been happier if I hadn’t worn it?” he asked and Tempest looked away a little too quickly. 

She had noted his toned body and had done all she could not to gaze too long at him. Truth be told, she might not have minded too much if he hadn’t worn Aida’s gift but there was no way she was going to tell him that.

As she had gotten the cabin aired and cleaned out, the boys had gone out to get their dinner. As the sun had set, she and Galan had sat and listened to the boys as they trash talked while they made dinner.

Now, as they sat and ate, making small talk, Galan asked, “How did you guys meet?”

The table was quiet for a spell before Marc spoke.

“Well, Tempest found us when we were twelve." He grimaced and looked at his brother, then Tempest. The love he felt for her was apparent in his gaze. The same look was mirrored in Leon's eyes as they both looked at her.

"We were being used as fighters in an underground fighting ring. We were big for our size and we won a lot of fights." Leon paused as he looked down at his food, a frown on his face. Marc's fingers tightened around his eating utensils until the knuckles turned white. 

"Needless to say, Tempest got us out of there. The boss didn't know what the hell had hit him," Marc said with a grim chuckle.

At Galan's blank look, Leon explained.
"Tempest had been looking for clues about her family. It led her to the fight club. The club was owned by Vampires and she heard they might know something."

"So Tempest came in looking for Romeo, the manager," Marc said. "She found Leon and I fighting against a werebear and a rogue. In addition to being as handsome as sin, we were strong but that combination was a tough son of a--"

"They were beating the hell out of us and it was messy," Leon interjected. "Both Marc and I were down, blood everywhere, crowd cheering. We were losing, badly. Romeo had made it so we would lose and had his money on the other guys. We weren’t supposed to make it out of there. Not alive anyway.” 

Tempest stood up suddenly and walked towards the window, looking out into the darkness that was night. Her back was as straight as a rod and her shoulders were high, clear signs of the tension rolling off her body.

Marc and Leon watched her, their faces furrowed in worry. Leon continued the story, clearly aware that the story brought back unpleasant memories for her. “Long story short, big brother, Tempest offered to fight their champion for us. And, voila, here we are.”

“Yup,” Marc said. “Here we are. She saved our lives.”

“Where were your parents?” Galan asked gently.
Leon shrugged, looking at Tempest quickly before his eyes turned back to Galan. 

“Don’t know,” he said.

“Don’t care,” Marc added. “We never knew them. They abandoned us as babies.”

“We were found in the woods by some weres and they took us in for a bit. They didn't have children of their own. They were killed by rogues when we were ten.”

“We were alone for about a year before Romeo heard of us.”

Both boys gave grim smiles which held a lot of pain. After that, Galan didn’t ask any more questions.

When the boys finished talking, there was no sound save for the crackling of the fire in the fireplace. They didn’t really need it but Tempest loved having it lit. It reminded her of better times.

The boys had finished off the story in voices that had a seriousness that Galan had thought they were not capable off. Watching them and hearing them speak about her, he knew that they would lay down their lives for her in a heartbeat. He knew exactly how they felt. He would do the same in a hundredth of that time.

Dinner being over, Marc and Leon gathered the dishes and took them to the kitchen where they started singing loudly and off key. The lyrics of “I used to work in Chicago” came from the kitchen and Tempest facepalmed and groaned.

“Goodness knows I love them but I could strangle them sometimes,” she groaned into her hand. They obviously heard her and screamed even louder. 

“I used to work in Chicago, an old department store.
I used to work in Chicago, I don’t work there anymore.
A lady came in for a hammer. A hammer from the store?
A hammer she wanted, nailed she got.
I don’t work there anymore.”

Galan chuckled as he listened to the pair, their voices not letting up. He walked up to Tempest and bumped her shoulder gently with his.

“How long have you known them?” he asked her.

She turned her head and looked at him, her lips upturned slightly as their eyes met and held.
“Close to thirteen years now,” she said. She turned back to the window. She chewed on her lip before she turned and took his hand. She tugged at him gently and he followed her as she led him outside. Once outside, she let go of his hand and turned to stand in front of him, facing him.

“I think it’s time for you to meet my were."

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9 November 2020
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