A half hour later, the two finally come back, hand in hand and Jake pulls Mary down into his lap to sit at the camp fire while the golems patrol.
"They're mates, but Jake has been trying to take it slow, so he doesn't freak her out. Humans don't always react well to having a werewolf mate, especially if he goes all Alpha on them. Today he must have finally told her, and it looks like she's accepted him."
"Just as long as he doesn't pup her before she's finished training" Karl mutters just loud enough to be sure everyone hears, causing Mary to stick her tongue out at him before curling back up into Jake's arms.
"Don't worry, I'm sure he understands that the end of the world is a bit more important than having kids right now" Mary teases, causing Jake's eyes to flash to gold as his wolf gets excited about the thought.
"Don't worry boys, I'm sure there's a pair of cute mage twins out there somewhere waiting for you." I tease the Ramirez brothers, Juan and Manuel. "Or maybe you are more into a couple of Vamps?"
"Hey, maybe we're holding out for twin witches" Juan laughs and Manuel shakes his head.
"Can you imagine? The pair of us in a cabin in the woods, collecting animal parts and herbs for our wives spell casting? Just can't see the witch thing working out. But those vampire girls" Manuel trails off with an exaggerated mock sigh, setting the whole camp to laughing.
"Like me, Jurgen is holding out for his mate" Jake adds. "Me, I thought since I'd left the packs that I'd have to wait years to find mine, but here she is."
I'd forgotten how sickeningly lovey dovey newly mated werewolves are.
"Lycans don't have destined mates do they?" Karl asks me, looking a bit worried that his team will either break up or grow to the size of a small werewolf pack.
"Nope, we can mark mates though, but we choose them. All the bonding, none of the Moon Goddess given mystery"
We settle in for the night, stringing hammocks from poles rammed into the ground with our enhanced strength. Much more convenient than looking for a camping spot with properly spaced trees, and a definite improvement from sleeping on the ground, even with a mat.
I wake up to see sunlight beginning to light up the area inside the portal, but it looks like we've got another hour before dawn here.
Perfect timing.
I open my sleeping bag and roll out of my hammock onto my feet, heading to the truck to get dressed, as the morning is a bit cold to be hanging out in just a tunic shirt while I get breakfast ready. We've got plenty of the always hot magic lunch boxes in the kit, but I start the camp fire anyhow.
I'll get Karl to cook up a bunch of the water buffalo and we can toss it in the lunch boxes as a snack for later. That energy rush is way better than just a simple meal.
The sound of the campfire, or maybe the smell of the coffee I'm brewing over it draws everyone else from their slumber.
"It's dawn on the other side, breakfast is ready when you are." I look around and see one empty hammock, I guess someone got up earlier than I did.
Just then, Jake's sleeping bag opens to reveal both him and Mary inside, both still dressed as they were last night.
Guess that whole taking it slow thing is out the window. Well, I suppose the fact they're still dressed means they are in fact taking it slow from a werewolf standpoint.
I inform Karl of my plan to cook up water buffalo snack bites and he drags Mary out of Jake's arms, much to their annoyance.
"Time to learn to set a fire spell circle Mary Mage" he insists.
The thought of food prepared by his mate calms Jake down instantly and we all try our best not to laugh at his rapid change in mood.
The circle is simple, and in less than 2 minutes Mary has it inscribed and takes a photo with her phone, like she did of the golem circle. Digital crib sheets for mages? That's actually a good idea, instead of trying to perfectly memorize it the first time you use it.
Mary's fire spell is plenty strong for cooking, any hotter and we'd need to enchant the pan to keep it from melting, but that's what it takes to cook this stuff. Note to self, don't try to burn water buffalo to death, it's not going to work.
I dig a couple of the water buffalo's mana stones out of the bag in the Jeep and take a good look. They're light blue and seem to ripple like the surface of the ocean, giving off a refreshing feeling like rainfall on the skin. We'd gotten earth elemental stones before, it seems these are water elemental. So that confirms, the stones do have a relation to the nature of the beasts and not the environment. The ones my group gathered were all raw Arcane energy stones.
Our combat plan for the day is reversed. Jake and Mary's group will take a new section of the woods, while our group will take down as many Water Buffalo as we can. Karl called into the base with the information about the beasts, and they're sending a parade of gravel trucks and one a crane attached to take everything back to base. There's storage rooms with stasis spells there to prevent spoiling better than any freezer could, I just hope they're big enough for the haul we're planning.
It takes us only minutes to find the water buffalo pack circled around a lake in the East side of the valley. A quick inspection shows nothing else of interest, so we park the Toyota in a safe area and make a plan, Karl's still active combat bunnies circling our truck in a defensive ring. He's really got these things programmed well.
"I say we flank right, then drive them west towards the hook in the lake. Either they'll flee north to stay near the water, or south into the open field, but either way it's away from the eastern woods where the other group is hunting." Jurgen suggests.
"Works for me"
Karl double checks the ammo box on the mounted gun and folds out a seat mounted in the back corner of the box.
"You're driving pup. I've got ranged attacks and Kat is on the gun."
Yes! It's good to have friends that understand you. I hate driving.
Maybe we shouldn't have picked Jurgen to drive though, this man drives like a maniac. His style makes Karl look positively tame, but he's not nearly as skilled at missing the big bumps. He's got the plan down though, and now we're coming into range from the East side of the water buffalo herd.
I start with short bursts, dropping beasts closest to us, hoping to stampede the rest away so I can shoot at will. For the most part it's working, but one large male turned to charge us, only to be blasted nearly in half by a spell from Karl, who is happily strapped into his seat with a mana stone in hand.
"No kill like overkill, right Little Lycan?"
I shake my head at his enthusiasm for all things combat and keep firing. In mere minutes it seems I've gone through 4 of the 6 boxes of ammo we'd brought. Corpses litter the beaches and the herd has scattered.
"That should be enough. The zone is clear, Jurgen, radio in the convoy of trucks to come inside the portal and let's start clearing this mess up and collecting stones. We'll be at it all day, just let the others hunt."
All day was an understatement, it was well past dark by the time the last truck rolled out and everyone was ready for a long nights sleep.
"We've got what we needed here, I'll close the portal and we can all head home."
Nobody looks more excited about this idea than Jake and Mary.