Editing Story:ROAD TRIP! (Warhammer High)/Part Five (section)

===Overprotective Brothers===


Some while later, dried and dressed, both teens were sitting cross-legged on the top of the hollowed rocks and snow.  Alex was back in the full thermo suit, now, complete with sealed mask and gloves.  He was holding magnoculars to his eyes, watching the storm front approach.  It was as broad as the horizon, and as high as the tropopause.  Flurries of hailstones the size of fruit were hurtling about within.  The higher reaches of the cloud were ablaze with forking lightning that left afterimages in his eyes and made him blink behind his mask’s lenses.

Alex slid the magnoculars back into his equipment pouches and stared at the approaching stormhead.  The Thunderhawk was en route to them, they would be well and gone before the storm arrived.

“It’s amazing,” Alex said quietly.

Freya nodded in silence.

The black clouds swirled closer, with the faintest of susurrus of thunder rolling in.  Freya sat up.  “There’s a snow-cat coming, from across the frozen lake,” she said, her voice barely above the wind.  “It’s seen us, but keeping its distance.

Alex looked back.  Sure enough, there was the tiniest mound of white on the frozen water where there hadn’t been before.  He switched his mask’s optics to polarize the light and the blob refined itself a bit.  “Are we safe?” he asked.

“Not if we were human,” Freya said softly.  Alex glanced back at her.  Her irises and retina bled together in an inhuman green through his optics.  “Luckily…I’m not,” she said.  She wasn’t smiling.

“And you’re all right with that?” Alex asked, just to make sure.

Now she did smile.  “I am.  And that’s good news for you,” she said, her voice turning a bit husky.

Alex tilted his head in silent question.  Freya reached over and gently pushed against his sternum until he fell back a bit.  She leaned over him on all fours and nuzzled his mask.  “Wolves protect their mates,” she whispered.  She rose from her crouch, and Alex heard the faint rasp of metal on leather as she drew her pistol and chambered a slug.

The cat didn’t move, just staring at the two of them, until the gunship settled down beside them and it bolted away.  Freya and Alex clambered in, and the gunship lifted, flying back to the Fang.

Alex settled down on a bench at the end of the row and peeled his mask off.  Freya curled up on the bench next to him and rested her head in his lap, letting her long hair spill out over the thermo outfit Alex was wearing.  She pulled her cloak off and draped it over herself like a blanket as she lay there, shutting her eyes to catch a quick nap.

The two Wolves on the opposite bench looked at each other askance, but said nothing.  Alex pulled his hood back and ruffled his hair to get the tangles out, then slowly ran his fingers through her thick red mane.

“What does our Sister mean to you, Lord Carlin?” the Blood Claw across from them asked.

Alex didn’t answer right away.  He just stroked her hair, thinking.  When he spoke, it was slow and deliberate.  “I love her.  We make each other happy.”

“Pardon my bluntness, Lord, but that’s a fun time, not meaning,” the Claw said.  Alex glared at him.  The Astartes continued, unabashed.  “What do you want from her?”

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing asking me that?” Alex snarled, trying not to wake her.

“I want to know who my sister is sleeping with, literally and metaphorically,” the Claw said, even as the other Claw looked at him in surprise and unease.

“Well, if love isn’t enough, then I guess I’m not good enough, am I?” Alex asked bitterly.  “Now you shut the hell up.”

The Claw tightened one fist for a moment.  “I have every right to worry about my sister, human,” the Claw said darkly.

“And she called me her mate,” Alex said in the same tone.  “If that’s not enough for you, open a vein.”  The gunship’s hold went silent, save the sound of engines, as the two Claws stared at him, before the talkative one finally relented.

“I…apologize if I have overstepped, your Lordship,” he said, before turning his gaze down to his weapons and falling quiet.

Alex scoffed.  “Yes, you did,” he said darkly, and went back to watching Freya sleep in his lap.