The last thing I want is my mother in my head, so taking a deep breath I closed my eyes and open my subconscious mind. When I opened my eyes again it was to absolute darkness. In the darkness was a single white door, a door that's been closed for a very long time. I opened the door, stepped through, and closed it behind me. Wynter's still asleep on the cloud bed where I left her three years ago.
I run my fingers down her side through her beautiful snow-white fur. I use to love being in my wolf form, my dad and I would go for runs every day before dinner and in winter we would play hide and go seek in our wolf form. It was really hard to find my wolf because she just blended into the snow. I missed those times and so does Wynter. When my dad died, so did hers. Her dad Caspian, my dad's wolf, was a wonderful wolf and the agony from losing them had threatened to consume us so I'd put her to sleep.
I guess it's now or never then…
Stepping back from her I recited the spell to reverse the sleep, it'll take a couple of minutes for the sleep spell to wear off and Wynter to fully wake up so till then I just sit and wait. When she finally opened her eyes I was greeted with burning yellow eyes clouded with confusion looking back at me. "Hi, Wynter." She gets to her feet shaking out her fur and stretching her legs, she's a lot bigger than I remembered. I guess that's to be expected after all it's been five years, and we've both grown.
"Payton, why did you wake me? I was with father." That part was mom's doing, she wasn't actually with our father but was rather reliving her memories with him.
"It's been five years Wynter and in a couple of weeks, we'll be at the age of maturity. "Mother thinks it's a good idea that we become one again."
"Has it been that long? Father and I were running again, he misses you."
"I miss him too Wynter, one day we'll get to run together again". "A lot has happened since you've been asleep, I want to catch you up before we become one again."
I put my hand to Wynter's forehead, our minds linked once again and I can share all my memories of the last five years with her and in doing so we become whole again. I felt the pain she felt when she saw her mate's rejection and the rage she felt when Reed referred to us as weak and the pride after I attacked him.
My mom was right, with Wynter awake and us becoming one again I feel stranger than I've ever felt.
"We will teach mate that we are not weak, we will teach him respect."
"I couldn't agree more, so how about we wake up now, we can go for a run and you can stretch your legs?"
"That would be wonderful."
When I opened my eyes again l was looking up at my mom who was sitting cross-leg in front of me on the ground.
"Wynter's awake now, I'm going to shift so she can run for a while." She nodded in response getting to her feet and moving back giving me space to shift. Sitting there on the forest floor I let Wynter take over. The shift was painful since it's been over five years since I've shifted and I fell over onto my hands and knees. A few minutes later I was the one in the subconscious field seeing the world through Wynter's eyes. Mom came over and ran her hand through my fur and patted my head much to Wynter's delight.
"You're beautiful as ever Wynter; enjoy your run, Payton that will be training for the day. When you're done just come home, okay."
I rubbed myself against her legs so she knows I understand, and then took off running at full speed through the forest. I forgot how great running felt, the absolute freedom. I ran long and hard staying on the outer boundaries of the pack territory so as not to run into any pack members but forgot about the border patrol team. The ones I did run into recognized my scent as a member of them so there was no trouble. Night had long since fallen when I got back to my house and my mom had gone to bed. She left a robe on the back of one of the kitchen chairs and I slipped it on before going to the fridge and grabbing two bottles of water. I drank one and took the other to my room with me and after a very long, very hot soak in the tub, I pulled on some pajamas and was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Monday came around in the blink of an eye and it was time to get ready for school. Operation make Beavis and Butthead Reed pay begins today. The first thing I did was call Tameka to let her know that I won't be riding with her to school today and that I'll meet her and Lydia there. I went to the bathroom, took a shower, and wash my hair. I've always worn my hair in a ponytail or a bun but today I was going for a new look, so after blow-drying my hair, I got out my new curling iron and after making a center part at the front then set about curling it. I forgot how thick my hair was which I always kept it up and it's gotten considerably longer in the past three years, so it took me the better part of an hour to curl it.
When it was finally done I had big beautiful curls going down my back and on both sides of my face. I added some hairspray to lock in my curls and some oil sheen to make them pop. Then it was makeup. I never really liked makeup I think it hides one true beauty so I added only a small amount of concealer to my face, mascaras, eyeliner, and eyeshadow. Then it was time to get dressed. I'd already picked out my outfit the night before, black fitted skinny jeans with black knee-high boots. The boots have a four-inch skinny heel and I'm in love with them. It's been a while since I've worn heels. I was pulling on the second boot when my mom knocked on my door.
"Sweetheart, are you ready to go?"
"Not yet, mom, I'm still getting dressed."
"Well I have to get going so you're going to have to catch a ride with your friends"
"That's ok mom am going to take the car today."
"Okay, I'll see you for training later."
"Okay, love you, mom."
"I love you too honey."
With the boots now on I add a nice thick black leather belt to the jeans. I don't need it but it helps the look I'm going for. The clock on the bedside table said I had another forty-five minutes before I have to be at school, so I hurridly pull on a white Linkin Park t-shirt with the sleeves and the bottom cut off leaving my stomach bare. I added a red leather jacket and sunglasses to complete the look than some lip balm and it was time for school but not before stopping by the full-length mirror on the back of my room door. I look hot.
Time to get to know the new Jason Reed.