“I only have one thing to say,” Alex said after five minutes of nothing but silence. “OK, two things,” he amended when everyone turned to stare at him. “First off, Kyle…welcome to the family for real.” The others all laughed as Alex reached over and gave Kyle a huge bear hug and one by one they all followed pursuit in embracing the boy into their family…as truly being one of them. “And second?” Isabel asked with a soft smile as she cuddled up to her boyfriend when they were all seated again. “Well, I hate to break the mood we got going here to bring on even more questions,” Alex said with a sigh. “But I can’t seem to help myself. But I think Amy’s wrong about something.” The others all turned to look at him sharply. “Not anything big,” he quickly amended. “But there’s just something about the way she worded some of it that bothered me…that didn’t quite ring true.” “Equality,” Tess said softly, then she started to continue on in a firmer voice when they all turned to her and Alex nodded eagerly. “Exactly,” he began before motioning for her to continue. “She made it seem as if we were all equal,” Tess said with conviction from her seat at Kyle’s side. “But we aren’t we never have been. Well, Alex, Izzy and I, and probably Kyle too, are equal,” she amended. “But Michael, you and Maria are leaps and bounds ahead of us in power, you always have been. And let’s face it…your connection to each other is so much more intense than any of ours.” “Tess,” Alex said with a laugh as he leaned over to hug the girl that was sitting beside him. “I could so kiss you…if I didn’t know that both Isabel and Kyle would kill me and that it would kinda feel like incest anyway.” “How is our connection different?” Maria and Michael asked in unison. “Come on,” Kyle snorted. “Even if I’m not witchy like the rest of you I’m not blind. Even before my ‘awakening’ tonight I saw it. With Tess and me, and I’m guessing Alex and Isabel, it’s this gentle completion thing. More of a perfection and totality thing…a circle being completed than whatever the two of you have going on. I need Tess to live, to truly be, and when I’m with her I can sense her, but I’m not her completely. Not like you two…I swear there were times since that first day when I got here that I didn’t really know where Michael ended and Maria began. You two are more than just soul mates…you’re one soul.” “He’s so mine,” Tess said with a laugh as she gave Kyle a huge smacking kiss that left him breathless. “And he’s so totally right,” Isabel said with a giggle at her friend’s exuberance. “Whatever connections the rest of us have to each other beyond the soulmate and soultwin thing is really just through you two. Kyle and Tess, Alex and I, our souls are mated…made for each other, to fit together in this perfect harmony. You two,” she grinned at Michael and Maria, “you guys aren’t made for each other…you ARE each other. And you’re powers are off the spectrum, while ours all compliment each other. Fire and Water for me and Alex, Air and I’m betting Earth for Tess and Kyle…but you two,” she looked pointedly at Michael and Maria, who both looked uncomfortable to be the center of attention. “You two are the four elements wrapped up in one, you always have been…and when we say one we mean one…one body, one mind, and one soul.” Alex was grinning too, happy to get this out. “But something tells me that…” “This is one of those things that we were supposed to figure out ourselves and keep to ourselves,” Michael said with a dark scowl at his family for putting him and Maria on the spot. Alex laughed again with his arms around Isabel and nodded. Michael responded by growling, which Maria chimed in with…only causing the other four to erupt in laughter. “Shut up you guys,” Maria growled out. “This is so not funny. And you aren’t telling us anything we don’t already know. And Isabel and Tess if you two don’t shut up right now I swear on Hecate herself that I’ll tell Alex and Kyle some of those deeply embarrassing secrets that I’ve learned over years of girl nights.” “You wouldn’t cause we’d just retaliate by telling Michael some of yours,” Isabel said as she stuck out her tongue. “Isabel,” Michael said with an evil smirk at his sister. “We’re one soul as you all put it so eloquently, there isn’t anything in Maria’s life that I don’t know about already or that she doesn’t know about mine…so your threat is null and void.” “Mmmhmm,” Maria smirked as well, kissing Michael on the tip of his nose for that one. “So back of Izzy before I bring out the big ammo.” “I give,” Tess said holding up her hands in surrender. Her face was already beet red from thinking about some of the things that Maria could tell Kyle. Kyle began to laugh at her facial expression. Evidently Isabel came to the same conclusion because now she was oddly quiet and flushed and Alex was laughing at her. “That was devious,” Michael said to Maria inside her head. “I know,” Maria returned silently. “Did you really expect less of me?” Michael snorted and pulled her closer to him than she was before…which meant she was in his lap. Mentally and verbally both were silent as his lips claimed hers hungrily. “I think we should get out of here,” Alex said sobering up quickly. “Huh?” The three others asked him in confusion. “They aren’t showing any signs of stopping,” he said as he stood up and pulled Isabel with him. “Oh,” the all said as they followed Alex’s pointed gaze to where Michael and Maria sat in full soulmate mode, completely oblivious to the world around them now. Alex laughed at Isabel’s expression…something between disgust and awe. “Come on Isabel,” he said as he pulled her down the beach away from the others. “Let’s give them some time alone and experiment a little with what happens when you combine fire and water.” “You know what?” Isabel said as she threw herself into Alex’s arms. “That happens to be my favorite science experiment.” “Ok,” Kyle said as he began to pull Tess in the opposite direction down the beach. “My sister seems to be onto something there. I mean, a lot of things have been awakened inside of me tonight…and most of them have been talked about and looked into. I think it’s time we looked the whole soulmate thing.” “Anything to help with your awakening,” Tess said seriously as she pulled Kyle’s lips down to hers with a laugh. ******************* “They’re gone,” Maria’s voice whispered in Michael’s mind. “Totally horndogs,” Michael’s voice snorted in return. “I knew if they saw us going at it that they would feel the need to go away.” “That’s my Michael…always so astute.” “Cute Maria,” Michael said as he finally stopped kissing and spoke aloud. Maria giggled and hugged him close. Michael sighed and hugged her so tightly that she squeaked. “You scared me tonight,” he told her hoarsely, his fear from earlier returning. “I’m sorry,” she whispered as she held him just as tight now. “I didn’t mean to, but I had to go to him. That was more than his awakening…it was mine too.” “I didn’t like that I couldn’t go with you,” Michael said as he moved his hands away from her so that he didn’t hurt her when they clinched into fists on their own accord. “We’re always together, ever since we were little, especially for the important things.” “We were together then Michael,” Maria said as her eyes filled with tears. She picked up both his fists and kissed each one tenderly. “We are always together. The others were right, our connection is different. Kyle needed Tess to be there…she had to come to him like I did. I didn’t need you to come, not really, because you were already there with me. You always are, maybe not physically, but in the ways that really count you are there. Plus I needed something here to make me want to come home…I already told you that.” “That doesn’t make me like it Maria, or hate it any less.” Michael set her aside and stood, beginning to pace. Maria just stayed on the ground, watching him in amusement. “What if something had happened to you? I wouldn’t have been able to do anything to help you, to save you?” “Don’t you see Michael,” Maria said as she stood up to him. “Until tonight, I wasn’t really me…not all of me. We are the same, but until I was whole as an individual, we wouldn’t be whole as a unit. It was something only I could do myself. But now there is no real Maria anymore…there is the person that I am because of you. What you went through tonight, you’ll never have to go through again I promise.” “How can you promise that you’ll never leave me like that again?” “Simple,” Maria said as she moved and wrapped her arms around his waist and borrowed in as close to him as she could get. “I became whole when I awoke and then we became one, truly and completely one. There is no place that I could go now where you could not follow after me, just as there is no place now where you could go that I could not. Now are you going to stand here all night worrying over something that ended well or are you going to take advantage of the few moments alone we’ve been given? Cause something tells me that it’ll be a while before we’re given the opportunity again. Us six are going to have to be inseparable for a while.” Michael didn’t need any more encouragement than that. With a groan he pulled her to him even more and then pulled them both down onto the sand. He only hoped that the others had the sense to head back up the paths from wherever they were and not to come back this way. And before Maria lost all use of her senses she called out with her mind to Tess and Isabel alone… “Tomorrow,” she told them both silently, “first thing in the morning…bring your stuff, we have things to do.” Before both of them could respond Maria broke the connection, and then turned her attention back to Michael…her entire universe rested in him, it always had. "Michael," she moaned before she lost all coherent thought processes. "You do realize that there is no way in hell that the Juniors are going to stay out of this don't you?" Michael paused in nibbling on her neck and unbuttoning her shirt to snort. "Duh Blondie," he said bit down on the hollow of her neck with some force, causing her to moan loudly when he soothed the area with his tongue. "We'll just have to keep a closer eye on them that's all. Now are you going to shut up, or do I have to get violent?" "Hmmm..." Maria said with a wicked laugh as she pulled him down on top of her and clamped her legs around his waist. "Are you going to punish me too?" She laughed as his eyes darkened at that. "You know..." she started with her own eyes darkening, "maybe we can discuss that later. Right now I just want you to..." her voice became inaudible as she mentally whispered just what she wanted her incredibly talented lover to do to her over and over again. Michael growled deep in his throat as he lost all sembelence of control. He didn't know exactly what animal it was that Maria would shift into whenever the situation called for it, but the vixen sure did call the beast out of him. TBC

Part 24