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Burnt Offerings :: Гамильтон Лорел
Страница: 206 из 286"You smell like pack."
Lorraine was on her back staring up at me with eyes gone strange and wolfish. "She smells like Raina." She rolled her face so that her lips brushed the knee of my jeans.
I knew that if I allowed it, we could sleep in one big communal heap like a litter of puppies, that touching was part of what kept the pack together, like the mutual grooming that primates do. Touching, comforting. it didn't have to be sexual. That had been Raina's choice. They were wolves but they were also people and that made them primates. Two animals really, not just one.
Kevin laid his head in my lap, cheek resting on my leg. I couldn't see his eyes, to tell if they'd gone wolf on me. His voice came thick and low. "Now I do need a cigarette."
It made me laugh. Once I started laughing, I couldn't stop. I laughed until tears ran down my face. The werewolves ran their hands up and down me, faces rubbing my bare skin. They were taking my scent, rolling in the lingering scent of Raina. Marking me with their scent.
Stephen kissed my cheek, the way you'd kiss your sister. "Are you all right?" It was hard to remember, but I think he'd asked that before.
I nodded. "Yes." My voice sounded tinny and distant. I realized I was on the edge of shock. Not good.
Stephen shooed the wolves away from me. They moved languorously, as if the energy we'd raised had been some sort of drug, or maybe sex was a better analogy. I didn't know. I wasn't even sure I wanted to know.
"Richard said that Raina wasn't truly gone as long as the pack lived. Is this what he meant?" I asked.
"Yes," Stephen said, "though I've never heard of a non-pack member being able to do what you just did. The spirits of the dead should only be able to enter lukoi."
"Spirits of the dead," I said. "You mean you don't have a fancy name for them?"
"They are munin," Stephen said.
That almost started me laughing again. "Memory, Odin's raven."
He nodded. "Yes."
"What exactly was it, is it? It wasn't a ghost. I know what a ghost feels like."
"You've felt one of them," Stephen said. "It's the best explanation I can give you."
"It's energy," Teddy said. "Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It exists. We have the energy of everyone that has ever been pack."
"You don't mean all lukoi, do you?"
"No," he said, "but from the first member of our pack to now, we have them all."
"Not all," Lorraine said.
He nodded. "Sometimes one of us will be lost to accident and the body cannot be recovered and shared.
Lorraine was on her back staring up at me with eyes gone strange and wolfish. "She smells like Raina." She rolled her face so that her lips brushed the knee of my jeans.
I knew that if I allowed it, we could sleep in one big communal heap like a litter of puppies, that touching was part of what kept the pack together, like the mutual grooming that primates do. Touching, comforting. it didn't have to be sexual. That had been Raina's choice. They were wolves but they were also people and that made them primates. Two animals really, not just one.
Kevin laid his head in my lap, cheek resting on my leg. I couldn't see his eyes, to tell if they'd gone wolf on me. His voice came thick and low. "Now I do need a cigarette."
It made me laugh. Once I started laughing, I couldn't stop. I laughed until tears ran down my face. The werewolves ran their hands up and down me, faces rubbing my bare skin. They were taking my scent, rolling in the lingering scent of Raina. Marking me with their scent.
Stephen kissed my cheek, the way you'd kiss your sister. "Are you all right?" It was hard to remember, but I think he'd asked that before.
I nodded. "Yes." My voice sounded tinny and distant. I realized I was on the edge of shock. Not good.
Stephen shooed the wolves away from me. They moved languorously, as if the energy we'd raised had been some sort of drug, or maybe sex was a better analogy. I didn't know. I wasn't even sure I wanted to know.
"Richard said that Raina wasn't truly gone as long as the pack lived. Is this what he meant?" I asked.
"Yes," Stephen said, "though I've never heard of a non-pack member being able to do what you just did. The spirits of the dead should only be able to enter lukoi."
"Spirits of the dead," I said. "You mean you don't have a fancy name for them?"
"They are munin," Stephen said.
That almost started me laughing again. "Memory, Odin's raven."
He nodded. "Yes."
"What exactly was it, is it? It wasn't a ghost. I know what a ghost feels like."
"You've felt one of them," Stephen said. "It's the best explanation I can give you."
"It's energy," Teddy said. "Energy is neither created nor destroyed. It exists. We have the energy of everyone that has ever been pack."
"You don't mean all lukoi, do you?"
"No," he said, "but from the first member of our pack to now, we have them all."
"Not all," Lorraine said.
He nodded. "Sometimes one of us will be lost to accident and the body cannot be recovered and shared.