Every day after I wake up, I think, 'Wait... this can't be real; I'm still going to wake up.'

~~ Michael Phelps

Atlanta, October 1, 2016

Ronnie woke up Saturday morning feeling like she'd been to the spa. Although there was a very worrying fuzziness her memory. But she was in her own bed and had no tell tale soreness she shouldn't have. She was refreshed and energized. She was also starving. She got up and glanced at herself in the mirror. She had taken two steps toward the door when she backed up and looked in the mirror again.

She looked....great. Her hair had never been that shiny, her skin that clear, or in the last few years, lacking any bags under her eyes. She fiddled with the raven ring wrapped around the middle finger of her right hand. Huginn and Muninn Alex had told her when he'd given her the ring. Thought and Memory, the ravens who spoke in Odin's ear the deeds of men.

She looked and felt amazing. The really shitty thing is that made her absolutely certain something was wrong. She couldn't focus on it now because her stomach was too busy trying to eat her backbone.

"Protein. Something with protein." Ronnie muttered to herself as she skipped -- yes, skipped -- down the stairs of her apartment.

Ronnie didn't notice Kika on the sofa bed in the living room as she went into the kitchen and began making her favourite post dancing breakfast. She grabbed her ingredients and got started. She turned on the thumbs up list on her phone and was bobbing her head as she sauteed mushrooms and garlic in olive oil before adding scrambled eggs to the concoction.

Kika had heard Ronnie come in and woke up to watch her. Ronnie had slumped like a puppet with cut stings the minute Marc had stopped touching her. She had barely made it to her bed when the three young women had stumbled in before being dead to the world. This morning though, she was a picture of vitality and energy, making Kika wonder if this is what she looked like "before". Whatever that meant to Ronnie.

Ally stood in the doorway to the kitchen with a sad look on her face. She allowed herself a moment to bask in the glow of her wild-hearted friend. She had always been so impulsively generous. She loved all out and was deeply loyal. Which is why the thing with Alex hurt her so badly. She hadn't let the rules stop her from falling for him. They became the poster children for "be careful who you let yourself love". Ally knew Ronnie worried about Alex badly. Most wolf 'Thropes don't fare well if they can't seal the bond with their mate. They go insane and are executed as a danger to the secret of the Paranormal society. Then you add fae politics which say that the Hereditary lines cannot intersect. What a damn mess. At one point, it wasn't forbidden to cross hereditary lines, and succession had gotten very sketchy. Their Majesties had been forced to step in and lay a geas on the lines. They shouldn't have been able to fall in love.

But they had. Ally half-wondered what that meant for her friend. Maybe Ronnie was never meant to be her father's heir.

At one point being together had been a distant possibility, but Ronnie had told herself that Fenris hadn't really chosen her and she should try not to get hung up on one kiss. A kiss is just a kiss. After all, if he had, Alex would have lost his mind by now. No wolf she knew of had ever held out against a mating bond for more than 6 months. So she had tried to meet someone while in college. Knowing the emotions of all the guys hitting on her had meant she spent a friggin' fortune on lotion. She had been nearly compelled to shower 3-4 times a day to scrub their nasty thoughts off her skin. The result had been chronic dry skin and wholesale club size bottles of Jergens just about everywhere.

So she'd given up on dating in college and then she spent the last 3 years recovering from Annie. So...Ronnie's experience with men was pretty much nil or unintentionally vicarious. But even with "frat-boy-brain-grossness" as Ronnie had dubbed it their freshman year, Ronnie had been like this. Bright and happy. She had her moments, but who doesn't? Ally couldn't resist. She walked up behind Ronnie wrapped her arms around her shoulders hugging her just below her collarbones.

"Missed you, girlfriend." Ally whispered.

It was a testament to the years they had been friends that Ronnie didn't ask what she meant. She just squeezed her wrist gently and answered.

"Me, too."

"How you feeling this --- What the hell?" Kika stumbled to a stop. She was stunned. Literally blindsided by what she was seeing. She hadn't gotten a look at Ronnie's face from the sofa, but up close to the woman she could clearly see how good she felt. She knew what she was seeing. Just as she knew she shouldn't be seeing what she was, in fact, seeing. She went back to the couch and grabbed her phone.

"Ronnie!" She took several pictures as Ronnie looked over. She sent them to Xavier as she focused her abilities. They were mostly intelligence driven. Basically a preternaturally strong ability to parse information and make observations. She had an incredible sense of perception. She could, for lack of a batter description "feel" magic, both when it is actively in use and the residue left behind form use. Normally, Ronnie had magic clinging to her like her own skin. Today there was nothing. No magic on her at all; none in use and not even the residue of the glamour she'd worn the night before.

"Zav," Kika said "am I hallucinating?"

"Nope."

"Tuatha don't regenerate do they? I didn't miss something in my research, did I?"

"Nope."

"Is she a hybrid? I didn't see anything to suggest that she is, but ..." Kika trailed off in confusion as she waved a hand at the woman in front of her.

"Nope."

"These one-word answers are not helpful, Zav! I'm kinda freaking out here. I have no clue ho---" Kika cut herself off in midword with a sharp realization she knew exactly where she'd seen this kind of regeneration before. And she stared at Ronnie with wide eyes as she considered her new idea.

"Ding, ding, ding. Winner, winner, chicken dinner." Xavier teased her. "Remind me Monday to show you some interesting footage from this weekend. I'm still collecting data for you."

"Of what?"

"I'll give you a hint. You told him to 'burn it off'."

"Reeaallly?"

"It bothers me that she managed to make that particular word that long. Also, the shark's grin is a little disconcerting," Ronnie mused as she leaned against the counter with a plate of mushroom and swiss scramble. "Now I'm even more convinced there's something wrong with me."

"Any changes?" Kika asked Xavier ignoring Ronnie.

"Yep."

"You're not going to tell me?"

"Nope."

"Jerk."

"You love me anyway."

"True enough." Sighed the thwarted scientist. "See you Monday."

"TTFN!" Xavier said brightly as he cut the connection.

"Did he really just...?" Kika looked askance at her phone for a moment before filing it away to worry about later. She looked up at Ronnie and frowned. "I don't think there's anything wrong with you. What do you remember about last night?"

Ronnie thought about it for a moment before speaking slowly, a small frown appearing on her face. "We got ready here. You brought over that amazing curry. You still have to tell me where you got it. I glammed us up. We piled into an Uber, because who wants to find parking in Atlanta? We got to Masquerade and made it inside. We had a drink, then hit the floor. There were tons of people out for top ups so there was a lot of sex and lust in the air. After about twenty or so minutes, it starts to get a little fuzzy. It felt like what I imagine being drunk feels like. Uninhibited, loose."

"Okay so far," Kika nodded. She had known exactly who Marc was when he walked up.  She had been looking forward to teasing him Monday about dancing with Ronnie unaware, but she had also felt the magic pulling them together like magnets. It had been fascinating to watch. It felt a lot like the steady thrum of the bond between Ronnie and Alex. Maybe he just had to be unaware of her identity in order to feel the pull? He would have intentionally put up defenses against someone at the office, but he'd still been attracted to her even despite his resistance so maybe he did feel it and didn't recognize it. He'd have been hunting in the club, though, so he'd have been more open."What do you remember after that?"

"Heat." Ronnie had answered simply. Then she shrugged as she struggled to expand on her answer. "There was...It felt like...it felt like I was....it felt like my blood was on fire. I could feel it under my skin. I remember a man, I think. He came up and started dancing with me...," She frowned trying to remember. "I think maybe he was the fire or the source of it? Because it got worse (better?) once he touched me. All I wanted was to burn with him as long as he kept touching me. It kind of scared me how badly I wanted him to keep touching me. I don't generally like being touched these days. But it burned off a little of the lust fog enough to know I was being overwhelmed even with the ring. I haven't had that happen in a while."

"Do you remember what the guy looked like?" Kika's tone was guarded and curious. If she hadn't known better she'd think Ronnie had been roofied. Maybe it was the emotional equivalent?

"No. And I'm kinda regretting that because it feels like I could come out of my skin I feel so good. What's going on?"

"I'm not 100% sure, I want to crunch some numbers and view some data with Xavier on Monday. But nothing seems to be wrong with you. You look better now than you did even under your glamour."

"Did you see the guy?"

"Yes, and I'm not going to tell you who it is because I want to test a couple of things first. I don't want to speak out of turn and I could be wrong. I'm usually not, but I could be."

"Fine," Ronnie shrugged only a little disappointed. "I'm gonna shower. Help yourself to anything in the kitchen."

Ally waited until she heard the door upstairs click shut before turning to Kika in exasperation. "Why wouldn't you tell her? He was pretty intense to get her out of there and he seemed to know what was wrong with her. Shouldn't she get a chance to know a guy that's that concerned about her that she actually has a chance to be with?"

"I have researched mates and mating extensively. Because it can have a huge effect on the way paranormals act and react. So when I say never, that's a pretty extensive never. And I have never heard of a Thrope mate being a mate to a second person of a different paranormal race. The incubus from last night? I know him. He was not looking for his wellspring and he sure as hell would not have touched her if he knew she was Alex's mate."

"ALEX'S WHAT?" Ally practically screeched as Kika frantically shushed her. "You're wrong."

"I'm not. I've seen bonded 'thropes before I know what it looks like."

"But if his wolf had chosen her it would have been like six years ago. What's the longest you've heard of wolf 'thrope holding out against a mate bond without losing it?"

"Six months. You have a point, but I know that Alex considers her his mate. He admitted it. He's sane. Well...as sane as he ever has been according to his buddies."

"I don't get it. They can't have sealed the bond or..."

"Or what?!? I never heard exactly what would happen and this cryptic shit is getting on my nerves."

"One or both of them would be bound or stripped."

"What?!?" Kika croaked a strangled cry.

"If they stripped Alex, he'd lose his wolf. Forever. Strip his spirit right out of him. And you know what happens when you bind a 'mancer. Which is what Ronnie is. One or both of them could die. Probably would. Alex might survive thanks to his celestial ability to regenerate, but still, he'd be missing half of himself and he'd most likely live while Ronnie dies. I only found out what the story was one night in our junior year at college. She'd gotten a letter from him and she was upset because he'd mentioned getting hurt. Not that anything stops a celestial long, but still."

"And she explained."

"Yeah. The real kicker? She's under a geas to keep the hereditary lines from crossing. Meaning she shouldn't be able to have a bond with Alex. Yet another reason she's spent the last little while trying to convince herself she's wrong about what she feels. I've watched her though. She's my best friend. When it comes to her heart she runs on instinct because she doesn't have much in the way of experience. I know how she thinks. What she feels for Alex is real. But I'll say this, I've begun to believe her that she can't be his mate. From what I've gathered the mate of a 'thrope gets bound to the 'thrope and can't have feelings for another. Literally isn't interested in any other person. Ronnie is interested. Doesn't want to be, but I can tell by the way she talks about the other two guys in the office she's at least a little interested?"

"That jives with my observations as well, and as much as Alex sees her as his mate, he exhibits absolutely no territorial or possessive traits with the guys in the office. I don't understand and that's going to make me absolutely batty."

"Was that a crack at me?" Ally asked. Kika looked up in concern mouth open to apologize when she saw the amusement in the other woman's eyes. She immediately dropped her apologetic stance.

"Yep," she fired back with a grin. "What was she making? I'm starved!"

♂♂♀♂♂

Atlanta, October 1, 2016

"Don't freak out, she's fine, but..."

Fenris - and he really had started calling his totem that even in his own head, damn it - was still half crazed from the night before and had practically gone into hysterics when Kika had called. Alex hadn't even let her finish. He'd barely told her he was on the way and hung up before he was on his Triumph and flying down the road. He had to get to his mate. Now. He was done trying to deny what he knew. It hadn't worked before and now she was where he could be near her? Game over. He was going to find a way around this damn geas without killing them both.

He pulled up in front of her building and was knocking on her door in far less time than it should have taken him from his house. Ally answered the door, smirked and silently stepped back shaking her head to let him in. As he passed he heard her mutter, "Maybe Kika's right."

"I'm fine!" came Ronnie's exasperated voice from the kitchen as she came in to glare at him, complete with hands on hips. Fenris practically vibrated in joy and something tight and ugly released in his chest.

"Red..." he breathed softly. This was his Red. His ring of protection on her finger, her hair loose and wild, and the slow throb of the bond between them. Her scent was even a little different, not in a bad way. In point of fact, it was more enticing than ever, but it was still different. Richer, smoother, more. But he was entranced by the bright clearness in her eyes. She still had shadows, but the wear and tear of her depression had been cleared away and she was a fucking goddess standing there in short pajama shorts and a tank top.

He grinned wolfishly. Fenris shifted slightly in his mind and Alex stalked forward. Ronnie's chin tilted up in defiance as she met his eye attempting to stare him down.

It didn't happen.

What did happen was her scent got stronger and that extra layer to her scent clarified. She had always smelled like the ocean to him like water and salt and sunshine. Now there was the faint smell of woodsmoke in it now. It was like standing around a beach bonfire on a summer night. He grinned even bigger and stalked closer. Fenris was so close to the surface his eyes had turned a clear golden color as he looked at their Mate through Alex's eyes.

He could hear it when Ronnie's heart started racing in her chest and watched her pupils dilate. The pull was stronger than ever. Ronnie dropped her hands from her hips and she took as small step backwards her face flushing. Her arousal was intoxicating. Fenris and Alex wanted to taste her mouth again. They wanted to taste all of her, but just this minute, her mouth would suffice.

"A-alex..." came Ronnie's shuddering whisper.

He had backed her to the wall she couldn't escape him now.

"Alex, Stop." Kika's voice cracked through the air.

The growl he directed at Kika came deep from his chest and he shifted in front of Ronnie to prevent anyone trying to get between them. Fenris was visible in his eyes and fur rippled under his skin as he struggled to keep his form.

"Think about what you're about to do. Have you found a way around it yet?"

Alex felt like Ronnie had just pulled her favorite trick from when they'd been young. She'd been fond of conjuring ice water from the moisture in the air and dropping it on his head when he was about to do something stupid. Cold terror flooded his veins as he thought what would happen to Ronnie if he overstepped without having everything in place. They were nowhere near ready to seal their bond. He could have...He stopped the thought cold.

He pulled back from Ronnie. He watched as her eyes began to water. She tentatively reached out stopping just shy of actually touching him.

"Alex...Oh, Fen...," her voice was soft and agonized, their pain and fear not covered by his emotional dampener. Alex took her hand and squeezed gently before taking another step back. He hated that he could see the tears in her eyes. He hated that he kept hurting her.

"Sorry, Red," Alex breathed softly as he struggled to regain control. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes tightly as he continued in the same quiet voice. "You looked so...I lost all good sense. I'm sorry."

His phone chose that moment to ring. He glanced at the caller ID before answering.

"Ulfsson."

"Hey. We have a problem." Xavier's voice was calm, but urgent and it caused Fenris to settle some knowing there was something to do to forget how close they had come to hurting their mate. "I know you're pissed as fuck at me, and I kind of deserve it, but you need to come back to the office."

"What's going on?" He questioned as he gave Ronnie one last apologetic look before he picked up his helmet and stepped out. He caught Kika's eye as he left and she nodded minutely in acknowledgment as she closed the door behind him.

"I think Marc found his Wellspring."

"What?" Alex croaked blankly.

"I could be wrong, but he's basically overdosed on energy. I called Mac in to check him over he says it's an overdose but he'd never seen anything like it before. He looked over the readings and said let him work it out. I don't think he likes the way Ty chose."

"What's he doing?"

"Well, he came in last night a couple hours after you left and he's been literally standing in a pillar of hellfire burning off his skin and regenerating it on and off for hours trying to burn off the excess energy."

"Waitaminute..hellfire?"

"Hellfire," Xavier confirmed seriously.

"That's ..." Alex trailed off as he considered the implications of the change. Just last week Ty had been tossing hellfire around in a workout and completely unaffected when he'd get hit with it. "Well, fuck. I'm on my way."

♂♂♀♂♂

SCRT Danger Room, SCI Atlanta,