The Goddess and her Sleuth Hound

Introduction

October 18th, 2001

Christopher

"Why are we meeting right now? Do you not realize how f*****g cold it is?"

Christopher chuckled at the disgruntled ramblings of his friend, his Alpha... the best man he had known in his short 18 years. "Tristan, would you really like to have this conversation indoors with Christianna waiting for you around every corner?", he said into the dark of the forest, the words laced with laughter. "You'd think the girl had no sense, chasing an Alpha who hasn't shown even a moment's interest in her."

With the cold air swirling around them, Chris could barely see through the snow that had attached itself to his hair. The golden curls, now heavy with frost, hung low over his eyes and blocked his view of the forest around them. He knew the clearing was close though; he could smell the remaining echinacea that forever surrounded the spot they had claimed as young boys so long ago.

"Can you even see up there? There's no way that mop of hair is holding up in this storm. I bet you look like a drowned poodle." Tristan chuckled, the sound coming from deep in his chest, rumbling out into the silence of the forest around them. "Are you really going to make me wait until we get there to tell me why you so urgently needed to talk?", and there it was, the concern, the nervous wavering in those last few words. Chris knew, he knew Tristan had an idea as to why they needed to meet. Why they needed to go to the one spot that was only for them to share his news. 

"You can be patient, bud. It's just right up here."

 Stepping out into the clearing Chris pushed the hanging branch of the White Oak tree to the side, holding it to allow Tristan through. And the second he had passed into the flat land of the clearing, Tristan was on him. Tristan's thickly muscled arms wrapping around him in a way that made Chris' body melt, a way that forced a flood of warmth throughout his entire body. And then it was gone, and in it's place was only sadness as thoughts on Mae filled his mind.

"I'm sorry, so sorry.", he said as he separated himself  from the warmth that Tristan's body offered. "That's not why I asked you here. I needed to talk to you, I needed to tell you about something.. someone. And I am so sorry, because all I want to do is stand in the warmth that your body offers and let you love me; but the thoughts of her that are raging through my mind make it feel wrong."