<span style="font-family: 'Georgia'">I was filled with heart-throbbing awe when she drew me inside. This was more than envisaging - this was far more. I knew I could stop it. I knew I could pull away, but I didn’t. I let her drag me entirely inside, allowed her to fill herself with me, to spread me through her entire being. Done that way, I was as vulnerable as she was, but that thought flew away at the sight of the magnificent fortress before me. I stood outside the gates, and politely waited, but above us, and up into the starry clouds were spires and turrets and balustrades. Glittering secrets and treasured heirlooms of a life well-loved. I knew she was beautiful, but this… This I almost could not comprehend. There was far, far, <i>far</i> more to her than met the eye. There was a gleaming from one of the parapets, then the gates were open, and a dream flowed forth from them. It seemed to me to be a dream, but it was a memory.<br/>
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I felt her grip me. I felt her apprehension. I even felt a tiny trickle of fear. Magic. Magic made her afraid. I could sense the gooseflesh rippling over her form, if only in her breathing, perhaps, but I swore I could sense each hair raise in quick succession over the expanses of her bare flesh. There was something in her reaction that I hadn’t expected: a natural defense against magic. I could feel its presence, but I could also feel that she was completely open to me, and had chosen to let me through it. The trust was astounding. Her fingers digging into my jacket were weaving a spell more potent that I ever had over the surface of my skin where they made contact through my coat. I saw her blush rising, flooding her freckles in its heat, and then, when I showed her what I wanted, I felt as much as heard the crackling thunder booming over the sky in her mindscape. It was deep, her reaction. It was deep and I was pleased. Whatever she was, she knew the significance of a mate. She knew it bone deep, and she wanted it at least as much as I did. She didn’t have the benefit of what amounted to a prophecy to put her on alert to a new presence in her life, but she had instincts that had wrapped themselves around me even before she had done the same with her body. Her mind was uncertain about the future, just as I was, but the seed was planted, and my sense of authenticity was satisfied. Now, regardless of what happened, she would know why I had come in the first place, and for now, that was enough.<br/>
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The dream was something else entirely. The more she spoke, the more it took shape, and I knew it was for me. She was preparing it even as her conscious mind was trying to keep up with the changes in her reality. I knew my own subconscious mind did this. That part of me that was under my thoughts often acted on decisions before I knew I’d made them, and it was almost surreal to see it happening to someone else. I chucked at her comment on my intensity. “No… They’re not.” I smiled as she marveled. “Magic is a tool in the hands of an artisan. Some say it’s alive, and maybe it is, maybe it’s life itself, but each individual uses it to their own ends. That fact is why my job exists.” Her words struck me. She spoke as though she were antithetical to magic. The motif of her establishment tickled at the back of my mind, and sudden clarity burst through my intuition. It wasn’t terribly mysterious, now that I saw it. Wolford Winery. Wolf. Tingles ran through my form, and a peace resounded from my heart. Wolves were loyal. Any effort I made to earn her loyalty would not be lost on her. I knew that for a fact, now. I knew there were wolf packs in LA, but the particulars fell away in importance for me in that moment, for Ash was showing me her dream.<br/>
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Young. Wild. Rambunctious. Free. Excitement and wonder and a zest for adventure permeating every moment. Laughter. Friendship. Family. Peers. Peers were alien to me, but they were everything to her. Forests. Trees. So many trees, all rushing by one by one, two by two, until they were just a blur, then we fell into a river, and years passed. A familiar path, a treasured secret, a loved one adored, and as the bite of grief sunk into me I knew: a loved one lost. He was being shown her place, her secret, and then it shifted again, and it was now, the place, in emotional clarity and perfect knowledge. I slipped my mind’s hands around that knowledge and breathed it in, incorporating the knowledge into myself. I had it. I knew it. I moved us there. As far as spells go, it was of the seventh tier of difficulty. As far as individual spells go, it was one of the easiest for me. Instantaneously, I molded space around us, shed my aura over her, then translocated everything within my aura, and within my mind’s inventory, like those glasses she mentioned, to the place she showed me, to the place we knew.<br/>
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I was breathless. I was wordless. She… she asked if that was enough. She had let me up to her very gates, welcomed me into her home, bore a treasured secret to me, and asked if it was enough. This woman was… priceless. Then she was talking again, and her hands were slipping up my shoulders, and over my neck. The pleasure of it threatened to have my eyes rolling back in my head, but I focused on her.<br/>
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“Ash. You should know that what I did was reckless. I did it because a friend that I trust gave me enough information to know that I should act to bring someone new into my life soon, and when we met, I knew it was you. I didn’t know your name, or what you were, but I knew that if not for you, I would not survive the trouble I’ve gotten myself into. Maybe it's just being here, tonight, instead of in LA, or maybe it's because we are starting something that will last far longer than either of us could guess. But I’m glad. I’m glad its you. I have never met someone who gave me so much as you just did without thought of reward or price, outside of my own family. I am an only child, so that means there are only two people in this world that have loved me so much, trusted me, so much. The reckless thing I did was giving you my Name. Whether this lasts for a night, or for eternity, from now on, as long as I’m me, you will have power over me. You might be somewhat limited in what you can do with it, but I wouldn’t be. I used a True Name this very night. So I know that being here, with you, is right.” I lifted the glasses with the stems between my fingers and smiled as I drew the lip of one over the cut of her cheekbone and the plane of her cheek. “And I didn’t forget the glasses.”<br/>
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I pecked her lips with a kiss, then gazed into her eyes and smiled. “So, where are we?” At that moment a warm, mountain breeze flowed over us, and at our feet was a basket with everything in it that we would need, including the wine.</span>