When our camp woke up the next morning I found myself more relaxed than ever before. A\x92Shual and Gen tapped on my tent wall and I barked back in response. They knew I didn\x92t like to be bothered in the morning. I went through my morning ritual of getting dressed and putting on my leg wrappings. I put on my tactical gear and stepped outside of my tent. A\x92Shual and Gen were waiting for me.

"You remember that\x85 thing\x85 we felt last night?" Asked Gen.

"Umm, yeah." I responded, not too sure of what she meant.

"It was here, in the base camp. None of our guards saw anything and none of the sensors caught anything either." A\x92Shual said.

"Say what?!" I was shocked. Our sensors could pick up a worm ten feet underground. How could it miss anything?

"It was here. The patrols saw a lupine coming into the camp from the woods we were in. It had wings they said."

"You have got to be joking! A lupine with wings?"

"Hey, even the SEALs over there said they saw something. It was definitely a lupine."

"At least we know it\x92s not a Chattan spy\x85"

"It gets better though, it was spotted in our site."

"Our site?"

"Aye, our site."

My head was hurting now. Something got in undetected and was around my tent and I didn\x92t notice anything. I was either stoned or dead out when it happened. I\x92m a fairly light sleeper too. I was thinking it might have been a wanderer, a Loupian maybe. No, they weren\x92t around here. They preferred to stay away from the cities. It came from the woods we were in, and I felt something there.

"Whatever it was, it\x92s friendly."

"Aye, we\x92d be dead if it weren\x92t."

"So why are we worrying?"

"C\x92mon man! Something was here. We felt something last night. Don\x92t deny it!" Gen yelled, a little too loud.

"Yes, I felt something. I don\x92t know what it was though. Let\x92s not worry about that now. I\x92ll check it out again tonight. Let\x92s just get some of our gear moved. There\x92s supposed to be more troops headed this way. About 50 or so human forces." I replied.

"Ok. I\x92m coming with you though." Gen said back.

We had to make room for fifty new human troops. Altogether, we would have about 200 units with us. And that would only be one tenth of the strike force. The operation was to take place in 24 hours. We would be spearheading the assault, meaning we got the most action. This would be total hell, I knew something would go wrong, I sensed it.

When the assault force arrived it ended up being seventy-five troops instead of fifty, seventy marines and five mech units. There were APC\x92s with five Marines per APC. This gave an extra five seats per APC for the troops that couldn\x92t get a ride. Our base camp was mother fuckin\x92 huge by the end of the day. We had packed up most of our unnecessary gear and were just waiting around for something to happen. Some trained their hand-to-hand skills while others looked over the plans. I never bothered because in battle, the plans changed radically in seconds. I just sparred with Gen and A\x92Shual a little. Jed came over and showed me a few tricks. Then we played cards a little. The troops tried to relax when the sun started to come down because we would ship out early in the morning. The sun went down and Gen and I headed into the woods.

We took the same path, only armed with our Spathas. We knew that we shouldn\x92t draw them unless we were attacked but we started to get the feeling like something was there. We got to the pond and the large tree. We felt something was there, it was strong. I heard a voice just then.

"Don\x92t be afraid." It said. It was a female\x92s voice, not Gen\x92s.

"Who are you?" I asked aloud.

"What is it?" Gen asked. "Oh!"

"Don\x92t be afraid. I won\x92t hurt you."

It was coming into my mind. I knew you could communicate through the Sense.

"It was you last night\x85"

"Yes. You have entered my territory. You have showed no signs of hostility. I welcome you. Please, don\x92t hurt anything here. This is my home."

"I promise, I wont."

"I will leave you in peace now."

And then, it left. The voice was gone and the presence left. It was almost like it was a dream. I looked out onto the pond. It was beautiful. I hadn\x92t bathed in the past two days and wanted to take one. I stripped down and went in for a bath. Gen had scene me naked before. It didn\x92t bother me. The first time was by accident; she had come into my tent when I was getting out of my sleeping bag. That\x92s why I didn\x92t like to be disturbed in the morning, I slept nude and preferred not to be disturbed when putting on my clothes. She looked at me and I just looked at her.

"You wanna come in?" I asked.

"Sure, I guess." She responded, shyly.

"C\x92mon, it\x92s not like A\x92Shual is gonna walk in on us. Besides, it isn\x92t like you\x92ve haven\x92t seen me naked before."

She smiled a little. "Fine. Just don\x92t go bragging to the others."

She stripped down quickly and jumped in. Even though she had seen me naked before I had never seen her without any clothing. She was beautiful. I laid back into the water and let my body float. I felt like I was in heaven. Gen came up beside me and started to massage my muzzle. She hit the right spot and I just relaxed. She stopped after a minute or two.

"Mmm\x85 do it again\x85" I mumbled, deep in relaxation.

She grinned and started to massage my neck. "You like this don\x92t you?"

"Mmm\x85 yeah\x85" I was too relaxed to really hear her well. I knew what she was saying. Time seemed to slip away and have no meaning.

She stopped and I started to find footing. The rocks on the bottom were fairly smooth and easy to get some footing on. I gazed into her eyes. Only two people had the type of touch she had shown me. Shieta, and now her. I don\x92t know what happened next but I found myself lying next to her in the grass near the bank of the pond, both of us naked. Her head was resting in my lap, I was sitting up against a tree.

How long have we been gone? I checked my watch; it had been over three hours since we had gone. I knew A\x92Shual would be worried, he was very protective about his troops. I knew he would send a search party in another ten minutes. I looked at Gen; she seemed so peaceful I almost couldn\x92t wake her up. I knew I had to though.

"Gen." I said, gently. The tapped her arm. "Gen, you have to get up now."

"Mmm\x85 Shaul\x85" She said, almost whispering.

The way she said my name reminded me of Shieta. "You have to get up now."

She got up, and kissed me. "I\x92m sure I\x92m not your first lover."

I was, for purposes, shocked. We made love?! When?! What?! It made some sense. I saw her in a new way, I knew it was different, but couldn\x92t place my finger on it.

"No, you aren\x92t." Was all I managed to say, still trying to figure out what happened between her massaging my neck and about a minute ago when I woke up.

"She must have been lucky. I\x92m sorry about her." She said, gently. Had A\x92Shual told her? No. I knew he wouldn\x92t.

"Yes. I never thought I could love anyone after\x85" I trailed off. I remembered all that I did with Shieta. Gen must have seen the hurt in my eyes because she just put her arms around me and hugged me. It was one of those "I\x92m there for you" hugs.

"You cared about her. That\x92s all you need to know."

I realized then, she knew, somehow she found out. Didn\x92t matter how, because she understood me. Somehow, her words soothed me. And the realization hit me, I had found what love was again. It may have been soon, but I found it. I still would grieve over Shieta, but I knew I had to have found it again. I had found love in me again.

"Gen, I never thought I would be able to\x85" I began.

"I know. Just enjoy the moment. A\x92Shual shouldn\x92t be sending his men for another five minutes." She said.

We embraced for some time and then decided we had better get back into our clothes. We went back through the path and then we felt her again. It was the same person that had been there before. I knew she was a friend. Gen felt her too, she held my hand and I led the way out. I heard her speak once more before we left the forest.

"I hope, you have found what you had lost before. Good-bye for now, ALPHAwolfOMEGA."

When we got back to the site, A\x92Shual was beginning to form a search party. We ran over to them and explained what had happened. He seemed to wonder why we were gone for such a long time. I shot him a look and Gen followed with another "Don\x92t ask, don\x92t tell" look. He got the message quick. The others were just puzzled. We told a quick lie and they bought it. We told them about how the person was of no threat and that we shouldn\x92t worry. Nothing was going to happen to us that night and that we should just leave on our scheduled time. Needless to say, this cause some controversy because it was only two people and the group was somewhat curious as to what happened. A\x92Shual was wondering to but he took my word for it. He\x92d explain it to Jed and it should end at that.

When I got to my tent I realized I had about four hours of actual rest before we had to ship out. Gen tapped on my tent wall and asked to come in. I let her in without a second thought. We talked for some time and I invited her to stay in my tent until we shipped out. I wasn\x92t tired for some reason, neither was she. She stayed for the four hours that we had and we talked and gazed at each other. Those four hours were like heaven. Amazing how it felt when you found love again. I had a year or so without it and then I found it again. I was lucky; I might not have had another chance. The gods were watching over me.

It was finally time to ship out. We got our gear packed up and had ten people to stay back and watch it. The rest got ready for battle and saddled up. We would drive about ten or more miles out to the city of Azual and lay siege on it. We would have to get past its outer walls and then fight out way in. It would be total hell, what we were trained for. Once inside, we would have to hold the city and then wait for further instructions. All I knew is that the city was an important location to take because it was something that we had to take before we could gain any more territory. I didn\x92t really care other than that. I was fighting because I wanted to. It was my way of finding myself again, and paying back those bastards who killed Shieta. Gen knew and more than supported me. I could sense some hate that she had against House Chattan. When this war finishes, I\x92d have to find Jake, and get A\x92Shual and Gen to move in with me. A\x92Shual could move in with us. I had plenty of money back in my account. But all that for a later time, right now, I would have to worry about the battle. Yippy ki yi yay. Let\x92s go\x85