Winds of Change

by Kat Keppeler

  “Suctions on? The hell you say.” The ball bearing on it was pretty damned impressive too, and the pinch he’d felt from the old leg as non existent. Finn’s gait was almost normal as he walked across the room.

  “That’ll do.” Finn announced, trying hard to contain his excitement at the idea of having a leg that wasn’t almost a handicap in itself.

  “It’s a brave new world,” Chance said from where he leaned his hip against the exam bed and eyed Finn’s walk with a critical eye. “There’s a vacuum created between the liner and the socket that keeps it in place. Height looks alright. Hop back on up. That one’s for when you decide you want to join in the pool going in the back. I learned more than I ever wanted to know about above the knee amputation prosthetics while I’ve been waiting for this arm to heal enough that I can lift things with it again. Healing this slowly is obnoxious. I do not recommend it.”

  Chance glanced down as Finn removed it and set it carefully back its box with the information on it.

  “There’s an optional calf if you want it to look more like a leg and less like a prosthetic. I wasn’t sure how much you cared about that.” Chance admitted easily as he set it down and brought over another box, pushing it towards Finn to try out, “One of these you can set up with your fucking iPhone but we’re probably going to have to spend more than an hour figuring out that shit. I’m told you can walk backwards with this one and go up and down stairs without having to lead with your good leg. There’s another one in there with the blade that curves back for running on. I imagine you probably miss jogging at the butt crack of dawn.”

  Most of the rest of this could be pragmatic. Finn was more useful to Skye and to their pack with a working limb, certainly, and Chance was willing to do a great deal for their pretty mate but the fact that Chance not only remembered that Finn had once been a runner but had gone out of his way to include that in his efforts here made it personal. When Chance noticed the funny look that Finn was giving him, he paused in poking at the various components in the box to frown at him in return. “What?”

  “Just a few days ago you could have cared less if I fell off a bridge and now you’ve literally bought out a prosthetic store. I don’t need some fancy thing, send the hipster leg back.” Finn commented slowly, trying to understand, as he slid the new prosthetic off and then held his hand out for the running one. Once that one was fitted and Finn was on his feet again. He bounced on the blade just a little, sighing contentedly at the way it flexed and felt he could run again. “I am just curious to know why in the world you’d extend the courtesy, Chance. I well past ready to bury the hatchet but this… This is more kindness than anything.”

  Chance arched his brows up in confusion.

  “Of course it’s kindness. You’re my mate,” he said, shaking his dark head at Finn’s grumblings. He reached up one hand to steady Finn just in case he bounced a little too hard and threw himself off balance, “Sit back down, we’re trying the hipster leg. It’s going to be your favorite, I know it. Who doesn’t want to be able to walk backwards? How else are you going to help one of the rugrats learn to walk?”

  He patted the bed with insistence and turned to get the ‘hipster leg’ out of its box despite Finn’s complaint. If Skye had been there, she could have warned him that Chance had his determined ‘this is good for you’ expression on his face and when that happened, there was no budging him. “Of course I would care if you fell off a bridge. I don’t even understand where you got the idea that I thought you should leave. Why would I get on a plane and go get your safety deposit box and bring it back, unopened, from Fairfax if I didn’t care about you? Sit down and try on your damned hipster leg.”

  “You threw me into a wall and I think if your anger had gotten even just another inch of you, you would have seriously tried to hurt me, Chance.” Said Finn as he sat down on the bed again and began removing the running leg. “I really don’t need a leg I can hook to a cell phone, Chance. I don’t even have a cell phone just a beeper and a flip phone that Seamus left behind. So, keep that big thing there and just give me that one…” He pointed at one other remaining leg, just a regular prosthetic even if it was top of the line.

  Finn sat there waiting however, instead of fetching the leg himself.

  “Those pups are going to have eight other pairs of legs that can teach them how to walk backwards. They can have Papa Finn teach them other things, like how to make coca cola bombs in the house. You can show them how to do that backwards dancing things.” He rubbed the stump of his missing leg, admitting that he missed it would be an understatement.

  “Mate. Hm.” Finn said, stripping off the liner to he could massage the tissue of his stump. “Alright, is this because of Lee?”

  Chance hadn’t budged, his arms folded over his chest even if that had to be hurting his shoulder. He was still frowning at the leg as he clearly debated wrestling it onto Finn personally. “Hm? What? Oh, no. Finn, you’ve been alone a long ass time and before Dru, you didn’t really take up with any wolves. I would have thrown Rory into the wall if he’d kept information from me that I needed to protect the pack’s children. You can ask him, if you’d like. I was angry that I’d spent weeks figuring out answers that you already had and terrified that because of that lapse Skye or the babies would be in very real danger. It’s just who I am.”

  His mouth quirked in a wry smile then, the dimple flexing in his cheek.

  “When Rory first met Skye, he was the only one in town - I don’t think this is a story you’ve been told. Here, try on the damn hipster leg first and I’ll tell you about how I royally fucked up the first time I met Skye because I thought she was a witch. In my defense, it turns out that I was at least half right,” Chance was joking and as he brought both legs over to Finn, he leaned his hips back against the desk to explain how he’d barged into Skye’s hotel room in the middle of the night and threatened her only to be placated and have his cheek patted before she politely kicked him out.

  “Lee is coming into his own, and I couldn’t be happier. If he still wants to carry on with every pretty thing that catches his eye, that’s his business but I don’t think it’s where he’s at these days,” Chance said finally, arms folded up over his chest, “Lee has loved me for almost his entire life, since he was little more than a kid and he’s finally growing into himself, setting his own boundaries and making his own choices.”

  “I can’t see him ever not doing it. I remember when I first met him, he was such a meek little thing. Now he has a serious attitude sometimes. Willful little shit. Fine! Give me the damned hipster leg but we’re still returning it. I don’t need a motorized prosthetic.” His hand was held out for the other leg and he waited as Chance went to grab it. “I didn’t take up with anyone because Aiden never let me forget that I was an outsider. You forget, his was not my first pack. Most of the time I tried to make friends I couldn’t because everyone treated me like I was going to instantly betray them. He never let me forget that I had been a lone wolf before.”

  When Chance finally held out the hipster leg, as he had dubbed it, and set about slipping on the sleeve insert so he could put his leg in it. “I appreciate this, Chance. I can’t even say that I expected a new leg, you’ve really outdone yourself. Thank you.”

  “Don’t mention it,” Chance said with a shrug of his shoulders, his gaze down on the leg. He’d not mentioned it to Finn and, for the moment, he hoped the big man wouldn’t actually look too closely into it but this leg was the best he could find on the market. It was designed in collaboration with the military and was as close as he had found to something that could handle the load of a massive giant of a man with a formerly physically active life. Finn would always be missing his leg and he would always have to wear a prosthetic but that didn’t mean he had to have something that ached and reminded him of the loss every damn day. He should get to run and dance and pick up his kids or his mate without having to be reminded of that limitation if it was an option. Chance pulled his iphone out
of his pocket. He’d get a smartphone for Finn eventually but he was waiting until there were adorable babies to take pictures of to get him on board with the advantages of a camera in his phone. Of course he’d already loaded the simple app in. He thrust the phone into Finn’s big hands as he needed to tap buttons for his experiences.

  Chance’s hand came down to check the fit on Finn’s thigh with a few light touches while Finn poked at the phone. “It’s for active people, waterproof, saltwater proof, dirt resistant. Once it’s set up you should be able to break from a walk into a run without having to fiddle with the damn thing in between, and go out in the backwoods without worrying too much about a stumble. Let’s get it set up and then you can test it out a little bit here. Dazzle me with your walking backwards skills.”

  Chance levered Finn up easily even if the man had a good half a foot on him and probably an additional hundred pounds.

  “You’re not the only one who had a pack before, Finn. I get it. I do. If it wasn’t for Rory’s determination to keep me, I’d have been in your shoes, remember?” Chance had been an unwelcome addition with the acquisition of his mother. Like Finn, he had more than one marcas clawed through on his wrist leaving furrows of scar tissue. He put his good shoulder under Finn’s arm to serve as a crutch while the big man took a few careful steps on the new prosthetic. “And as much as you grouse about it, I know you want to be able to spin Skye around the dance floor or fling Lee up over your shoulder and not have to stop to limp up the stairs. You’re going to want to take the kids out in the woods and show them whatever the hell our people did back when dinosaurs ruled the earth. Or even just not lose your leg as collateral damage the next time I throw you into the wall because you’re being a stubborn asshole. How’s it working?”

  The leg had a mind of its own, sensing his movements before he made them thanks to the muscle sensors in it. Finn took a few steps in it and then made to take a few steps back. The leg did it for him, he was able to walk backward til his butt touched the exam table. Finn didn’t know what to say, instead of a thanks he wrapped Chance in a hug suddenly. There was a suspicious sniffle from Finn and before Chance commented on it he said.

  “Damned spring allergies.” A few heavy pats to the back and Finn let Chance go, stepping forward again and marveling at how easy it was. Speechless was an understatement.

  Chance patted his back in return, giving him a few light thumps on his big shoulder. “Okay, let’s see if you can jog a couple of steps, here give me that,” He took the phone so Finn would have his hands free in case he was thrown off by it. This was partially why he’s suggested trying these on over here where there would be no other witnesses. “If you charge it at night, it should last you all day without trouble. I got the normal prosthetic more for when you’re going on longer trips, places there might not be power, that sort of thing. When we go up to Trapper’s Peak, the power gets unreliable.”

  Chance was very, very thorough when he took on a task, especially when it involved those he loved. He left his hands out as if he, too, was just a little nervous about how easily jogging would actually be, “But I think this will be of more use tonight just in case things at the meeting that Rory’s planning get tense.”

  Chance went quiet for a long moment and then added, in a voice low with worry, “Skye threw witchfire at the car following her. Jeezus, Finn, what if one of those babies is mine; would it even be a shifter? I hope she’s carrying Rory’s. Or yours. Or Lee’s.”

  Chance wanted to raise cubs desperately, he’d been the one to play with the young members of the pack when he was allowed to. He liked children, genuinely liked children and had longed for ones of his own for almost his adult life and now, the idea frankly terrified him. It was not the sort of fear that Chance would ever share normally. He already knew how frightened Lee was by the power that he’d displayed and Skye would need someone to teach her how to harness it. Questions and doubts would only undermine her progress. He could have talked to Rory but their alpha had enough on his plate right now.

  Finn did not jog right away, no instead he listened to Chance. He already knew he was fertile so chances were good at least one of this pups were his. The rest? No telling until they showed their faces to the world.

  “The question you ask yourself is does it matter what they come as?” Finn said, one arm on Chance’s good shoulder to comfort him. “I’ve never heard of two witchborn procreating, but even if the child comes into the world and they lack a beast you know that you’ll love them all the same. I don’t think, however, that any of them will come to being without a beast Chance. Even if you’ve sired them.”

  He gave Chance a soft smile, sighing deeply. “You didn’t mean any of that, Chance. It’s not going to matter who their father is you’ll dote in those pups anyway. But if one is yours?”

  He let out a little laugh. “That kid will hang the moon for you. No question. Moment of truth…”

  Finn walked out to the hallway of the little clinic and then jogged from one end to the other. Once he was done, he slapped one knee in happiness. “I swear it’s better than a real leg!”

  Chance was quiet, his brow knit with concern when Finn started to pick up the pace and when it worked for him, he let a breath that made it clear he was relieved, “Of course I’ll love them. Just the same, I think we have enough on our plate right now without whatever a second generation witchborn looks like. Skye’s already nervous enough about whatever damage she caused with her nascent powers without having a baby calling flames from the air.”

  Despite his cavalier words, Chance ran his hand through the fringe of his dark hair, a clear sign of his internal tension, and grimaced.

  “I have to have Lee cut my hair. It’s getting so shaggy…” Chance muttered as he ran his hand along his scalp and then clapped Finn’s back, “I’m glad that’s working for you. I have one last question, though.”

  “You should know better, witches don’t come to their power until at least puberty. Bennett didn’t come into the world calling flame, Dru said that no one even knows if a witch is going to be able to cast until maybe thirteen, fourteen. They will just be little chubby babies. You weren’t able to do it til when? And Skye, well pretty sure that was the first. Maybe the basement if you count her calling the ghosts of those before her to speak through her.” Finn walked back into the other room to put on the regular prosthetic, as fancy that leg was it felt like an only on special occasions thing. He stood in the normal one, stepping just a bit to get a feel for it. “Shoot. Question away.”

  “The library was the first times I saw those grey flames too,” Chance said dryly. “So, I was…” He had to pause for a moment to do the math. “Two hundred and thirty-three but Skye is unprecedented; what she can do. What she’s going to be. It’s just the tip of the iceberg for her. She’s something out of myth, out of legend.”

  Chance didn’t sound awed, he sounded worried and for good reason. Myths and legends did not always have the happiest of endings. They certainly didn’t have the sort of quiet, calm life that he wanted for the woman he loved and her children.

  Rubbing his jaw, Chance frowned but didn’t nag Finn about using the less fancy prosthetic. He’d tried it, that was enough pushing on the older wolf for today. When he spoke, it was quiet, “Do you want me to find your son?”

  Finn let out a sigh, one that said he had often considered the question himself.

  “Put a man on the spot, Chance, why don’t you.” Finn said, reaching for pants so he could become decent enough to walk out into the sunshine. He was quiet for a long time it seemed as he pulled the pants in, considering the question. “As a father, the answer is that I would like nothing more in this world than to see Bennett. But, Chance? You know as well as I do that it’s not so simple. I know where he’s at, but he’s neck deep in where the council actually calls home and it’s impossible to find. And even if we could retrieve him he’d fight us. Bennett will be fully indoctrinated into what they have spewed for thousands of
years. He’s a liability to us…”

  The way he talked about his own son made his heart hurt. “He’d harm someone, or a few someone’s before we could stop him and then it would come down to what do we do with him. They don’t have brainwashing counseling for shifters.”

  Chance shrugged. His job wasn’t to ask the easy questions, it was to find all the information the pack needed to make informed choices. “Well, as soon as Skye gets completely past the shock of you having a child that you never told her about, she’s going to want him to come home. You know it’s not going to be easy, I know it’s not going to be easy but Skye…”

  Chance trailed off, part of what made her Skye was her mule stubborn nature when she felt something was the right choice. She and Rory had that in common and it made them amazing leaders, it inspired those that followed and it made Chance’s job damn difficult. Chance shrugged, he loved both Rory and Skye so he did his damndest to support them. “Skye is Skye. Yeah, sure, it’ll be a pain in the ass but if he’s anything like his father, he’s probably refusing to do half the things he’s told already and questioning ‘why’ about the other half. He’s only, what, forty… fifty? He’s not going to be that set in his ways.”

  Chance shrugged again, a loose limbed gesture, waiting until Finn was dressed before he pushed away from his perch, “Tell me you want to know where exactly he is and I’ll find him and what sort of pen they’re holding them in. It’s not bad information to have for when we do have to take on the Council. If you tell me that it’s going to be hard, that it’s going to hurt too much then I’ll do my best to blunt hurricane Skye when she fixates on one of the kids not being here. It’s not going to matter to her that your kid is not of her blood and has a good decade on her, at least. But I need to know what you want here.”