Craig met the kiss, replying with one of his own in kind. The warmth of the sun and sound of the surf obscuring thought as he wrapped his body to the younger woman beside him. Almost as if his arms were to cover her like a blanket, he held her. The sway of the pampas and the height of the dunes hide them from the most mundane of sight. The boys, Freddie and Enach, having taken different spots to serve as guards for the paired alphas.<br/><br/>He did no rush, savoring the taste of her lips as they kissed. Hands moved about her arms, his right hand coming up to hold her gently at the side of her neck. No dominance displayed or needed, just nearness.  “I do not know of the inevitable, I do not know of auguries. I do know of the now, and in that, I am here with you. That alone means that it is more than enough.”<br/><br/>His voice quiet as he spoke, his forehead coming to rest against Peg’s. He had heard it, heard her say that she would not put him in danger again. She too felt it, that this was not the first time, maybe not the last time, that they had run together before and as all things, it had ended. That somehow they were intertwined in their roles and their fates.<br/><br/>Craig was a creature of the Earth. Awakened as a shaman, he was tied to the world in ways that most people would never understand. He was the descendant of great men and women who at one time watched over the balance of the land and its people. Those who bartered the peace of the realms, and of the harmony of the spirits, those who lived in both worlds and none. He had felt the pull of the mortal world stronger than most, his talent and dedication in to walking the path that held the pulse of life in the mortal hand, his call to the spirits was soft, not as defined. Something in the back of his mind told him it would not stay as such, that events had already begun to change that.<br/>