Changer's Blood (Balancer's Soul cycle) (6 page)

Everyone raised an eyebrow at that.

“Go ahead.” She said softly
while leaning forward on
his
lap
.

“Why do you tell people that she is you
r
sister?” She asked quickly.

Connor
felt Sarah suppress her laughter
through
their
bond
. “Since Mother and I are physically
around
the same age
,
it makes it easier to explain to other
people
that we are sisters and not mother and daughter.”

Kara looked up at the night sky as did
Connor
to notice
that the cloudy sky cleared and was replaced by twinkling stars and a crescent moon.
Connor
looked back at her when she said “It has been a long and stressful night
for us all
. I t
hink we should
all
get some rest.” S
he looked at Mark and her eyes softened. “
Come to bed
,
Fur
B
all.”

Mark elbowed Connor
in
the
ribs and looked down
to see
he had on a bashful smile. “See what happens when I’m around you. I show what I really am and your sister starts treating me like a
common
house pet.”

“In a way you both are.” Connor
said jokingly.

“Oh, I cannot wait to hear this.” Kara said
,
putting her elbows on her knees and holding her chin on them while looking at
her brother
with a smile.
All thoughts to leave were momentarily forgotten.

“Kara has the personality of a Jack Rustle terrier
” He
looked back at Mark.
“
and you can a
ctually turn into a canine.” With that said,
Sarah could no longer suppress her
laughter. She leaned back in his
chest
,
still giggling and the four of
them
joined in on
the
little remark.

They
all needed that release of tension.

A few minutes later after all settled
down
,
Kara stood and picked up her clay horse. She walked over and took Mark by his hand
,
helping him stand. He handed the spoon
over
to Sarah who now shifted her seating arrangement
and parked her bottom next to Connor
.

She was so amazingly stunning that she continually took
his
breath away.

Mark looked at Connor
meaningfully and
he
didn’t need to read his mind for what he conveyed.
Where there
i
s one bear, there
could be
more.
Connor
spoke to him
,
saying “Don’t worry, I will keep watch. We only have three hours till daybreak. Get some rest
,
Bud.” He nodded and followed Kara
to the shelter.

When
they slipped into the shelter Connor
looked at Sarah
while
she looked at the fire
and tried to work out a solution
.

“There is something you need to try
,
Princess
.” Connor said and Sarah tore her
gaze
away from the fire and looked up at him. He wasn’t looking at
her, but at the spoon she
held.
His piercing hazel eyes glared at the metal object.

“What’s on your mind?” She asked,
looking at the transformed spoon.

“Remember how much energy it took transforming the cube
,
for our affinity test?”
It was hard to forget how he made his entire body glow.
Sarah
still get
s
nightmares
,
seeing how quickly he drained himself of so much energy.

“Yes, is something different
now
?” She
looked back at him.

“
I would like you to change the spoon back and tell me if you feel the difference
too
.” He shot her
his testing smile.

“Ok.” Sarah
closed
her
eyes and focused
her
mind on the spoon.
She
m
anipulated the spoon
,
back into the
original shape of the fork that Connor graciously let
her
study
, without so much as breathing heavily
. As
she
opened
her
eyes
the
released the flow of energy
took its toll
.
The feel became immediate.
And he was right
,
it did feel different.
It wasn’t
nearly
as draining.

The spoon lifted and hover
ed above her
hand as it changed its s
hape back into a fork. The head of the spoon grew red hot as the bowl shape started splitting and forming
into
four
metallic
spike
s. As it landed back in
her
hand
the red hot head of the utensil cooled. “Did you feel the difference?”

Sarah
handed him the spoon
back
and he took it with a knowing smile.
She
spoke quietly as
she
looked into his soulful hazel eyes that
she
could stare at for hours and never get bored. “I did. I felt the same amount of power
being used, but it feels l
ike I could have done it for hours
.”

The first time they
tried manipulating a metal cube
,
Connor and Sarah
used almost all of
their
meager
energy reserves.
He was sitting d
own on her
parent’s living room floor
,
funneling his stamina into
her
while
she
sat down
i
n his lap. Balancers can transfer energy to others through skin contact and the best method of e
nergy transfer is known as the
Balancer’s Chair.
Sarah
had to sit
on him while being
encased by
her
mate’s body
,
exposing as much skin
to him
as possible.

He even saved
her
life and that of
her parents when she
changed the
form of the cube into a sheath because
he made his cube
transform into a small
dagger. When Sarah
took
the
last
test Connor’s entire body glowed as he poured al
l of his energy reserves into her
.
She
didn’t know the price for manipulating metal, but Connor did and he saved all of
them
because neither
she nor her
parents had enough energy left to complete that test.

“I think that we can store
even
more energy now.”
He
admitted,
looking
up and
into the stars.

“That means that
you and I can add on our list
,
that our energy’s can store more than Mother’s and Father’s combined.”
She
rested
her
head on his shoulder.

“
W
hen Jack and I had our last sparring session. I also noticed that I have become only slightly quicker
and stronger
than your father as well.
He might have noticed it as well
, but hadn’t said anything
.
” He was still looking up.

“I saw.” H
e looked down at her
with a
warm
smile. “It was the same way with Mother and I
,
when we sparred.” Sarah stared worr
iedly
as she
looked into the fire.
How strong are we going to become?

Connor put his gentle knuckle under
her
chin and lifted it up for
her
to look at him. “Princess
,
I don’t know ei
ther, but one thing is for sure,
you are never alone, you will always have me at your side.” He leaned down and kissed
her
softly
.
It was warm and exactly what she
needed from him.

Sarah
always reacted strongly to him and this time wasn’t any different.

When
she
could think
clearly
again
she
noticed that he put
the
fork back into his metal camping bowl. “We have something else to worry about that’s more pressing.”
She
said
,
getting his attention away from the fire.

“
And w
hat would that be
?” H
e
asked
while
looking confused.

“What shoul
d we tell my parents about the
Canine Couple
?” She
asked
,
pointing to
the
shelter.
B
oth Kara and Mark’s distinctive snores
violently
filled the
night
air
, possibly scaring off all wildlife in the process
.

Connor started chuckling at
the
new nickname for the pair. “
How about we wait and ask Mark and Kara their opinions first. Let’s see how things go in the morning. Come here.” 
She
looked up to see
her
husband stand and then
he pulled her
up with him.

Connor picked up the log,
turned it vertically and then thrust the log into the ground
with ease
. Half of the longer log was now buried in the ground as Connor sat in front of it
,
propping his back against the log as a brace. He spread his legs while he offered his hand up to
her
.
“You need some rest
,
Sarah. Please get some while I
keep watch.”
He pushed in her
mind while smil
ing her favorite
smile.

Sarah
took his
large
hand
in her
own
and sat down on the gr
ound before him while leaning her
back against his perfectly sculpted
and
bare chest. He wrapped his arms
under
her
breast
s
while
she
turned
her
head
to
put
an
ear
over his heart
.

Sarah
watched the fire from the corner of
her
eye
.
I
ts warmth kept
to
her
front while Connor warmed up
her
back.
T
he only cool part of
her
was
from where her
bottom rested on the soft ground.
Sarah’s eyes started getting heavy as she
listened to the fire crackle. Connor’s breathing and his calming heart beat
s quickly finished the job and she
went quickly to sleep.

As the first rays of sunlight
streaked through the darkness of night
Mark
knew that
his
life would no longer be so barren and alone.
He
felt relief that they
all
knew
his
biggest secret and none of them were deathly afraid.
A
miracle
happened
.
The first one he’s had in centuries.
The
y accepted him
so q
uickly, even after seeing what he
turn into.