That was before she barely survived a vampire attack and infection. His commitment to her happiness was redoubled after that.
The commute alone took nearly three hours round trip. The horseback ride to Black-on-Tarry was almost an hour followed by a twenty minute drive depending on traffic. Ram had thought vampire slaying was taxing, but that was before he'd begun trying to keep subcontractors to a schedule. Plus, he'd never been away from Elora for so much of every day since they'd been mated. It was an extra incentive to insure each deadline was met, so they could move in and be done with bloody separation and commuting.
They had settled into a morning ritual of having breakfast together before he left. Then Ram would ask, "What are you two going to do while I'm gone?"
"Going for a walk and maybe taking a nap," she would reply.
"Do no' go too far," he would say. Then she would smile in answer which was not an answer at all. Blackie would pad behind him, seeing him to the door. Ram would look down at the dog and say, "She's all yours and you better be takin' good care of her."
Blackie would sit, swish his thick tail bone back and forth across the wooden floor twice, and look at Ram with such intensity it would be easy to believe he was trying to send a telepathic message.
Then, every day, after Ram left, Elora and Blackie explored the Forest. On that day they were entering a part she'd never seen on foot before. Usually Blackie ran a zigzag pattern ahead of her to as far away as fifty feet, but at the moment, he was sticking close and acting protective, glued to her side, ears straight up on alert, and neck extended as if he was seeing something she couldn't.
Elora reached down to absently stroke the soft black fur between his ears. He didn't raise his gaze. The only detectable reaction was that he leaned into her legs, putting just enough pressure on her to say, "I know you're there." She tried to follow a line from his nose to see what was so interesting. Just then she caught something out of the corner of her eye to the right. Blackie saw it, too, and jerked his head in that direction, but nothing was there. It was like a shadow that left her wondering if it had been a trick of the light or even an hallucination. But Blackie wouldn't have seen an illusion that originated in her mind, occurring in the same direction at exactly the same time.
She decided to investigate. "Stay close."
Elora made a habit of talking to Blackie when they were alone as if he could understand her. It was more for her benefit than his. Of course he was going to stay close. He was perhaps the most magnificent German Shepherd in all the world. What else would he be doing? As a bonus to loyal companionship, she also found him to be an excellent keeper of secrets and other confidences.
Ram had once told her that there were creatures in the forest who had not gotten the memo that it's supposed to be a civilized century. Now she wished she had questioned him further about that. When she and Blackie had started off on a walk, she hadn't really planned to go this far. She had no weapon except her exceptional strength and a small utility knife that she'd dropped into the pocket of the long sweater she wore. Blackie, of course, had incredibly powerful jaws and teeth that would scare vampire if he pulled his lips back for a full reveal.
As they continued through the forest Blackie was becoming more and more agitated. At the same time, she was seeing more shadows out of the corner of her eye. They zipped by like flashes, making no noise and leaving no impression. Woman and dog continued until they climbed to the top of a small hill and there they stopped abruptly. The land dipped in front of them forming a small valley. On top of the rise on the opposite side stood a dolmen the exact size and shape of the famous one on the Burren.
"Great Paddy," she whispered to Blackie.
Before she had time to fully appreciate how astounding it was to discover a six-thousand-year-old national treasure, a large gray wolf leaped effortlessly upon the flat stone and assumed the same alert pose Blackie had been keeping: ears forward, neck extended. Blackie moved in front of Elora, tail touching her legs, and warned the lupine that he wouldn't be tolerating a move toward his person. He was growling so low she could barely hear it, ruff standing up on end to make him look even bigger and more formidable.
For an indeterminable time, Elora, Blackie, and the gray wolf stared at each other. He was perhaps thirty feet away, but she could see that he looked shockingly intelligent. Slowly several other wolves began to emerge from the forest, where their coats were camouflaged by shadows, and from under and behind the megalith. They regarded the newcomers with curiosity, but did not display aggressive behavior at this distance.
She observed that the gray wolf was so intent on watching that he never moved a muscle. Sentinel. Before backing away, she counted thirteen wolves with distinctive coloring and markings, all beautiful.
So this is your home, is it?
Noticing that there was just enough time to get back to the cottage before the light failed, she backed away slowly and didn't turn her back to the pack until she had put another thirty feet between them. For half an hour she saw the movement of shadows running through the forest on both sides. They're giving us an escort out of town.
"We're still being watched."
She talked quietly to Blackie. The wolves clearly made him nervous and he looked behind them every few seconds. The problem with being predator class was that, unlike animals of prey class, eyes only see what's ahead and not what's behind.
Suddenly they were alone in the forest again. She looked at Blackie. "Wow. That was quite an adventure, huh?" He looked behind him again. She expected he'd processed so much stress that he was going to need an extra helping of dinner chow.
They started toward the cottage again, moving a little faster. Her mind was swimming with the wonder of what she'd just witnessed. How many people get to experience that?
She wasn't sure what was more miraculous: discovering a healthy, thriving wolf pack or discovering that a healthy, thriving wolf pack was living in a dolmen that had been built and deserted thousands of years before. For all she knew wolves might have been occupying the cavern beneath for that whole time.
Her thoughts wandered back to the large gray wolf and she laughed out loud.
"I think I'll call him Stalkson." She looked at Blackie. "Stalkson Gray."
Blackie looked up at her as if to say, "We're forming relationships now?"
She could hardly wait to get back to the cottage and plug the sat card into the portaputer. She'd spent some time thinking about dog breeding and doing research. Due diligence is what they called it in this dimension. She'd calculated that it would take about twenty-four years to develop a new breed. She knew what she wanted: German Shepherds with no hip dysplasia issues.
That's when inspiration hit. She could solve the problem of hip dysplasia by going back to the original source - wolves. If she could figure out how to introduce some wolf DNA, she knew she would raise the best dogs the world had ever seen. And she would call them Alsatians.
She didn't mention the wolves when she had dinner with Ram. He would probably go his special brand of Ram nuts. Blackie lay with his head on his paws and glanced at her every couple of minutes as if he was waiting for her to divulge the results of their exploration. The dog was making her feel guilty, but really, it was for Ram's own good. It was cute that he was so over protective about her condition, but it had its downside, too. Like cramping her style. Plus, every woman needs to retain a little mystery. Right?
After dinner she withdrew the portaputer from its hiding place. She only had an hour of battery life left, so she knew she would have to search fast.