Chapter Two
Soroya

It's well past noon when I wake up alone in bed, with the scent of something burning filling my nose. I'm confused only a second before Bucky walks into the bedroom, wearing nothing but a pair of boxers, carrying a plate of eggs and toast with strawberry jam. I sit up as he approaches, tucking the bed sheet around my bare body. He sits down on his side of the bed and kisses my cheek, placing the plate on my lap. The eggs and toast look perfect, which begs the question where the burning smell is coming from.

Bucky seems to know what I'm thinking because he explains: "I had a nightmare and couldn't go back to sleep, so I decided to make you breakfast in bed. But I realized that I've never made breakfast in this century before, so I watched a video online about how to make scrambled eggs and toast with a stove and toaster. The eggs were easy, the toast was hard. What's on your plate is the fourth attempt, the previous three are blackened crisps."

I feel my heart squeeze tightly in my chest, and I can't wipe away the smile that spreads on my lips. "This is one of the sweetest things anyone's ever done for me. Thank you, Liebchen."

Bucky beams at my comment, leaning in to kiss me again, this time on my forehead. "Of course."

"What was your nightmare about?" I ask, taking a bite of the toast, then tearing it in half to share with him.

Bucky eats the corner of his piece of toast then says: "It was about you getting taken by Analiese Remington. In my dream we found you in the woods after we followed your Kimoyo Bead's tracking beacon and we were too late..." He trails off, taking another bite of toast.

I set the plate aside and move closer to him, cupping his face in my hands, urging him to look at me with strokes of my thumbs. After a sigh from him, his eyes meet mine.

"You weren't too late. I'm here."

He sighs again, wrapping his hands around my wrists. At first I think he's going to pull my hands away, but he doesn't, he just keeps hold of my wrists and nods slowly. "I know. I just hate how many times we've been separated from each other, how many times we've almost lost each other...and I hate that my dreams remind me of it."

I pull my hands away from his face and instead grab onto his hands, kissing his knuckles. "The past is the past. We're together now. You're my husband and I'm your wife. We're bound together forever, and we will continue to fight for that forever."

Bucky shudders as he takes in a deep breath, a longing lookfilling his gaze as he says: "Say it again."

I know what he means, and it make me smile again. "I'm your wife."

He leans his forehead against mine, a smile of his own spreading on his lips. "I love hearing those words. I'll never get tired of them."

I let out a chuckle. "I'll make sure to tell you daily."

He kisses my nose. "I'll hold you to that."

-

After we finish eating breakfast and get dressed, we venture out of the cabin and into the forest surrounding it. I wanted to see the beauty of the area first hand, as well as hunt like I mentioned to Bucky yesterday.

I can't go two weeks without meat. My powers will make me turn feral.

I'm dressed in leggings, a long sleeve grey shirt and boots, with my hair pulled back into a ponytail. Bucky is wearing casual clothes as well; dark jeans, a black t-shirt and sneakers. His fingers are laced with mine as we walk side by side, and after a while he asks:

"What do animals smell like?"

I quirk up a brow. "What do you mean?"

"When you track, you follow scents right? What are different animals scents? And how do they differ from humans?"

I smile at his curiosity and interest in my powers, and  I am more than happy to indulge him. "All creatures produce pheromones and other chemicals that are easy to identify, but sometimes certain animals carry other scents that make them easy to identify as well. Birds carry scents of trees they live in, sea creatures smell like salt, predator animals always carry a faint scent of their latest kill. These environmental scent changes are also in humans. With tracking its just about finding the right scents, both chemical and environmental."

This only makes Bucky's curiosity grow. "What do I smell like? I don't think I've ever asked."

"You smell like you."

"Come on, be specific," He stops walking and gestures to himself. "Take a whiff. What do you smell?"

I indulge his curiosity further and do as he asks, stepping closer to him and taking in his scent, describing it for him. "I smell small hints of burnt toast and your shea butter body soap. That's all for environmental scents. As far as chemical scents go, I smell your pheromones, which I can't really describe. I also smell my pheromones on you, which is normal given we're together. And I can also sense your love for me."

"You can?"

I nod, placing my hands on his chest and peer up at him. "Humans and animals produce certain chemicals and pheromones when they feel love or lust. Whenever you're around me you produce those chemicals."

Bucky's hands grasp my hips and he smiles down at me. "Is it ever annoying being able to smell like that?"

I nod adamantly and try to suppress a laugh. "You have no idea. Especially when strong smells are around. But other times it's nice, like right now. The smell of the trees and dirt and mountains is peaceful."

Bucky places a kiss on my lips, then he steps back, gesturing towards the forest surrounding us. "Well now is your chance to do some tracking and hunting in a place that doesn't freak your nose out. I promise I'll stay out of your way."

"Don't stay too far away." I plead, not wanting to be without him.

Bucky puts about ten feet between us and then gestures for me to start, so I do. I turn away from him, shut my eyes, then tune in all the things I usually tune out, the things my heightened hearing and sense of smell pick up. I smell the trees, hear the birds residing in them, I smell the dirt, hear animals walking across it, their feet snapping twigs and leaves. Some of these feet make large crunches against the twigs and leaves, some make small ones. I take in another deep breath to figure out what animals I'm hearing and smell the pheromones of a deer, as well as a wolf. The two scents are close together so either a wolf has just feasted or is about to.

The air is beginning to change directions so I twist towards the right, taking in a deep breath as a breeze passes me by. I pick up the scent of a wild turkey, I hear it's little feet walking over something hard...a fallen tree I think. It's an adult male turkey, I can tell by its pheromones. It's only a half mile away.

I open my eyes and turn back to Bucky, then I close the distance between us and place a kiss on his cheek, grinning with excitement. "I smell a turkey."

"Then lets go get it." He replies with equal excitement.

I grin at my husband before activating my suit, then I shift down into a grey wolf, beginning a jogging pace towards the wild turkey I smell, with Bucky keeping a couple feet behind me.

As we journey the half mile towards the turkey, a new scent fills the air. It's the scent of a human, and it's awfully close to us, closer than the turkey. My animal instincts begin to set in full force, my mind loosing focus on the turkey and honing in on the human. My instincts are telling me to flee, that danger is near, but I hold my ground, waiting and listening for what this human has planned.

I jump out of the way just as a tranquilizer dart heads straight towards my head. It soars past me and hits a tree. I turn towards the direction it came from and snarl defensively, but I find no one there, and the scent of the human is fading.

Must have been a hunter. Probably mistook me for another animal or decided to flee once they realized they missed and were about to piss off a wolf.

Bucky drops to his knees in front of me, panic in his eyes. "Lena, you alright?"

I nod just as I shift back into my human form. "I'm fine. It must have been a hunter." I repeat my theory, but in his eyes I see skepticism, worry.

I get onto my feet and help him onto his, glancing back the direction we came from. "The hunter scared the turkey off, I don't sense it anymore. How about we head into the nearest town and pick up some already made turkey? We could also get some potatoes and some corn and have a big feast."

Bucky nods, his eyes scanning the woods surrounding us, his voice sounding distant and distracted. "Yeah. Yeah let's do that."

We walk hand in hand back to the cabin, both of us quiet, both of us alert.