He awoke much later when he heard Shara stirring beside him. The tent was dark. She crawled from her sleeping bag and left the tent. He heard her relieving herself in the nearby brush. She came back inside, but did not go immediately to her own sleeping bag. Instead, she crouched next to him, studying him. Ulrik pretended to remain asleep. After a moment she made to get into her sleeping bag, then paused.
Ulrik was shocked by her next move. She lifted his own sleeping bag and quickly slid in beside him, nestling close to him. She was cold from her venture outside the tent, and yet her touch set his flesh on fire.
“What are you doing, my cub?”
“I was cold.”
“This is not right.”
“You sang love songs to me and brought me back,” Shara said.
“It is not a love song. It is – ”
“But it was love in your voice.”
“There are many types of love.”
“You call me your cub and talk to me like a daughter,” Shara said. “But I think you feel differently.”
“It is irrelevant,” he said. “This is not right.”
Ulrik’s mind raced. Her youth, her recent experience … this could lead to nothing but pain.
She is the Mother. This is what I have sought for centuries.
“But you don’t deny what I’m saying,” she said, interrupting his internal argument.
“I know what I feel. That does not make it right,” Ulrik said.
“Killing and eating men, women, and children is not right, either, but I have done it,” she argued. “You have done it. Who’s to say this is worse? You are the only man, the only person, who has never hurt me.”
“Shara, you must realize – ”
“I know what I’m doing,” she interrupted. “I know what I want. I have changed since the last time you saw me. I’m not asking you to marry me. You came here to save me. I have my humanity back. I’m out of your hole. But I’m cold. I’m cold inside. I feel empty, like something is missing. Maybe I miss Bryan, and my children. Just hold me.”
Just hold her. She needs to be comforted.
He offered no more objections. Shara snuggled tighter against his chest. Ulrik wrapped his arms around her and gently smoothed her hair. He knew it was no accident when her hand brushed over his groin and found that his thoughts were far from paternal.
He mounted her gently and found her to be warm and responsive. She clung to him, returning his motion, moaning softly at first, but increasing in volume and intensity as the passion increased in both of them.
* * *
Ulrik closed his eyes against the memory. When he opened them again, he was looking down at the top of Joey’s head.
He could have been mine.
Why wasn’t he? Ulrik had pondered that question often. Shara seemed not only to have the unique ability to conceive, but she apparently was very fertile.
Perhaps I am too old and have gone sterile.
It was a sad thought he preferred not to entertain. He told himself it was simply not his destiny to father the Alpha. When Joey was born, Ulrik told himself the Alpha had to be born of a werewolf female and a human male. It was a weak argument, but he held to it.
And now she is pregnant by a male of the Pack.
“We should return home now,” Ulrik said, forcing away the other thoughts.
Joey didn’t move. “You’ll have your cycle pretty soon. Won’t you?” he asked.
“Yes,” Ulrik answered. “It will begin a few days from now.”
“Can I go with you?”
“No, I do not think so,” Ulrik said. “I think you should remain close to your mother. The two of you should spend more time together.”
“I don’t want to.”
“You must try,” Ulrik said. “If you are unhappy after two days, with your mother’s permission, of course, you may join me as a wolf. It is a compromise.”
“That’s where nobody really gets what they want,” Joey said. “We learned that in school.”
Ulrik chuckled. “Yes. I suppose so.” He took his arm away from Joey’s shoulders and stood, offering his hand to help the child to his feet. “Shall we change shape and race to the house?”
“No, I don’t want to,” Joey said. “Will you take me fishing someday?”
“Of course. I will take you fishing tomorrow,” Ulrik promised. He felt as if his heart was about to explode.
“Okay.” Joey gave him an ornery look, then darted ahead. After a few paces he dropped to all fours and changed into a young wolf, slipping out of his jeans and running full speed in the direction of the house. Ulrik laughed heartily as he slipped out of his own clothes and raced after Joey.
Shara
Shara didn’t know what Ulrik had said to Joey, but the effect had been short-lived. Joey had come home and hugged her and apologized for being mean to her. He’d stayed close by her side for two days, but then had begun hanging back again. She knew the cause of that.
Thomas, upon returning to his human form, had grown doting. He would not let her lift anything heavier than a tissue and was always there to help her out of a chair or open a door. His eyes beamed with pride and love and she loved him for it, but worried about the attention, too.
“You know I love you,” she said to him one night as they lay snuggled against one another. “But you have to back off a little. Joey hasn’t accepted you, and he won’t as long as he feels like you’re pushing him out. You’re not giving him any room.”
“Aye, I know,” Thomas said. “It is not my intention. Joey is a fine lad. It’s just that I can’t bear to be away from you.”
Shara kissed him on the cheek. “I appreciate that,” she said. “I do. But Joey’s gone through a lot in a short time. He needs me. He needs to be with me. I have to be able to show him I still love him as much as ever.”
“And you cannot do that with me smothering you,” Thomas said. He smiled when he said it.
Shara smiled back. “Exactly,” she said. “You don’t even have to leave the room. Just let me do some things with him. I won’t break. I’ve been through this pregnancy thing before. I know my limitations. Tomorrow, I want to read him a book, maybe go for a walk with him. Eat ice cream. Just talk for a while.”
“Aye. He looks at me with his eyebrows bunched up. It’s cute, I have to admit. But he looks so angry, like he’s ready to bite my bloody head off.”
“Do you like him?” Shara asked. She held her breath, waiting for the answer.
“Of course I do.”
“If he wasn’t my son, would you like him?”
Thomas hesitated, and Shara felt her heart sinking before he answered. “It’s hard to say, Shara. Truly it is. He seems a fine boy, but I hardly know the lad. The fact he doesn’t like me makes it hard for me to get close to him. I want to know him, to like him, but he makes it difficult when he refuses to speak to me.”
“Yes, I guess so,” Shara admitted. “In time, maybe. Let me reassure him that I love him, then we’ll work on getting him to like you. I’m sure he will. How could he not?”
They made love, then slept.
It was not easy convincing Joey to partake in the activities Shara had planned. He sat beside her on a sofa, sullenly spinning the wheel in a game of Life until Shara gave up and put the board game away. He did little but complain about Thomas when they walked around the yard, and kept asking when Ulrik would be back from his cycle. The ice cream, however, seemed to bring him out.
“Do you like that?” Shara asked as she sat down at the kitchen table with her own bowl of homemade vanilla.
“Yeah,” Joey said. “It reminds me of home. We had ice cream after school a lot.”
“That was fun,” Shara said. “When I was little, my mom would take me to Braum’s after school sometimes. That’s an ice cream store in Oklahoma. They had the best banana splits ever. They used to say that was because the milk comes from contented cows. I guess the cows didn’t know Braum’s sold the best hamburgers ever, t
oo.”
“Their banana splits were even better than yours?” Joey asked.
“Oh, Joey, they were so much better,” she said, laughing. “Something about their ice cream just made them better.”
They ate a few bites quietly, then Joey asked, “Mom, how long are we going to be here? Are we ever going back home?”
Shara kept her eyes on her bowl as she answered. “I don’t know, baby. Things have changed. Bad people found out where we lived in Montana. I don’t think we can go back there. We have another house in Oklahoma, but the bad people found that one, too. For now, I think we’re safest right here with Ulrik.”
“I didn’t like him at first,” Joey said. “I thought he was mean because he kept trying to make me turn into a wolf.”
“Yeah, he can seem pretty mean sometimes,” Shara agreed. “But he’s a nice man, really.”
“Are you still mad at him for letting Aunt Kiona kidnap me?”
“She’s not your aunt,” Shara said. She saw Joey recoil just a little and wished she’d let the comment go just this once. “I’m sorry, Joey. I don’t know if I’m still mad at him for that. I think we would be in a lot of trouble if she hadn’t taken you and I hadn’t gone looking for you. We’d probably be – ”
“Dead,” he finished. “Like Dad?”
Shara nodded. “Maybe so.”
“Is that man, Thomas, going to be my dad now?”
“That’s really up to you, Joey,” she said. “If you let him, I think he will love you. He’ll never replace your real dad, but I think Thomas will do everything he can to love you and take care of you and make you happy.”
Joey’s face puckered and he jabbed at his ice cream with his spoon a few times, then took a bite. Shara tried to think of more reassuring words, but was cut off by the ring of a telephone.
There was a yellow phone mounted on the wall in the kitchen, but she had never heard it ring before. Ulrik had talked about receiving phone calls, and Shara knew he must have taken them on the ornate phone in his bedroom, though she’d never heard any phone ring in the house. She wondered if the two phones had separate lines.
“Aren’t you going to answer that?” Joey asked after the third ring.
“I guess so,” Shara said. She left her seat and went to the phone, picking it up after the fourth ring. “Hello?”
“Shara?”
The hairs on the back of her neck and all along her arms stood up and she almost dropped the phone. She couldn’t breathe. Her hand shook so that the receiver was tapping against her ear.
“Shara? Is that you?”
“C-Chris?” Shara felt as if the world had suddenly tilted. She was sure she was falling into a black hole. She reached out with a hand to find the solid countertop and brace herself on it, closing her eyes and shaking her head. The woozy feeling dissipated a little, but she didn’t trust herself to open her eyes yet. “Chris?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
“Oh my God. Oh my God.” Is this real? Am I dreaming? Is this a trick from Fenris?
“Shara, I – ”
“Wait,” Shara interrupted. “Wait. Is it really you? Name the book I had that day we met in the OSU library. What was it?”
“It was Aberrations of Nordic Myth, by Leonard Sebourn.”
“Chris,” Shara breathed. “Oh my God. Where are you?”
“Las Sombras.”
“Las … What? Las Sombras?” She gripped the handset tight and pressed it firmly against her ear. She knew Joey had stopped eating his ice cream and was staring at her. “How – how did you get here?”
“A friend flew me down,” Chris said. Something about his voice was wrong.
“What friend?”
“Shara, is it true you’re having an affair with someone named Thomas McGrath?”
“Oh God,” Shara moaned. “It’s Kiona, isn’t it?” She turned away from the wall where the phone was mounted and faced her son. “Joey, go outside and play.” The boy didn’t move. “Go on. Now!”
“Is that Dad?”
“Joey, please!”
“Is it Dad? I want to talk to him. You said he was dead. You said – ”
“Go outside!” Shara screamed. Joey looked as if he’d been slapped. His eyes widened and his mouth stayed open for a moment, then he turned and ran from the house, crying hard.
“Why did you yell at Joey like that?” Chris demanded. “Are you having an affair?”
“Chris,” Shara began. “I … I thought you were dead.”
“I guess you didn’t mourn very long.” His voice was so full of sarcasm she hardly recognized it. He’d never talked to her that way.
“Chris, I …”
“I want my son, Shara,” Chris said. “Do you understand me?”
“But … No, Chris, I don’t,” Shara said. “Joey is our son. He misses you. We both miss you.”
“Have you slept with him? With McGrath?”
Shara’s free hand instinctively moved to her belly. “Chris, please,” she said.
“Have you?”
The first tears rolled down her face. “I thought you were dead, Chris. I thought I’d lost you forever.”
“So you fucked another man? Was it better with another werewolf, Shara? Was it?”
“Please, Chris. Please. Don’t.”
“I want my son. Bring him into town. I know Ulrik isn’t there to stop you. The moon was full two nights ago. Bring Joey to me. If you want to come back to me … I’ll think about that. I can’t say I’d ever forgive you.”
“Chris …”
“I mean it, Shara. Bring me my son. Today. Right now.”
“No,” she said. “I can’t. His place is here.”
“Bullshit!” Chris screamed into her ear. “His place is not there! Have you been planning this all along? How long have you been fucking McGrath? I know you met with him three years ago. Was he showing up in Montana regularly for you? Did you fuck in him our house?”
“Shut up,” Shara whimpered. “Shut up, Chris. This isn’t you. I don’t know you. Why are you talking to me like this?”
“This is your last chance, Shara. Will you bring Joey to me?”
“Chris, won’t you come here? Come to Ulrik’s house. We can work this out.”
“No. I don’t want any part of Ulrik or werewolves or anything to do with that.”
“Joey is a werewolf, Chris. He knows that now. He likes it.”
“He’ll have to take his medicine again. I know how to make it. And I’ll really give it to him. You weren’t even really doing that lately, were you? Were you just waiting for him to get rid of what you’d pumped into him all those years so you could run away and be with McGrath?”
“Shut up, Chris! Just shut up! You don’t know. You don’t know anything. You don’t know what it’s like,” she said. “You just don’t know.”
“Shara, we’re coming for Joey.”
The line went dead.
Ulrik
The wind howled as it swirled around the tree trunks. Ulrik prowled the edge of the woods on the western perimeter around his house. He hoped the wind would bring rain. The grass around the house was getting too dry, making it a fire hazard, something that could be used against them in an attack.
He paused, thinking he’d heard something else on the wind. His ears pricked forward. He heard it again. Somebody was yelling his name.
Joey!
Then he heard Cheryl’s howl announcing that she was with him. Ulrik howled in return and broke into a run, calling at intervals and listening for Cheryl’s response to find them. A half-hour later, he found them near the driveway that ran from the woods to the house. Cheryl was naked, crouching in the tall grass before Joey, watching him. Joey sat with his back against a tree trunk, his knees pulled up and his fists covering his face.
“I told him you were coming,” Cheryl said when Ulrik approached.
Ulrik nudged the woman forward and they went to Joey together.
“What’s wrong, Joey?” Ch
eryl asked.
The boy lowered his fists and looked from the nude woman to the wolf. He spoke to Ulrik. “Dad’s alive. Mom lied to me about him being dead. She’s fighting with him on the phone right now.”
Ulrik sat down. Had he been able to use his human faculties, he would have cursed. Instead, he nudged Cheryl to prompt her to ask more questions.
“Your dad called?”
“Yes.”
“What did your mom say to him?”
“That she thought he was dead. She just kept saying that.”
“Then she didn’t lie to you,” Cheryl said. “She really thought he was dead.”
“I don’t believe her. I don’t believe you, either.”
“Joey, your mom wouldn’t – ”
Cheryl was interrupted by a roar that came from within the woods. Before the roar had faded two wolves howled an alarm.
“That sounded like a bear,” Cheryl whispered.
John Redleaf!
Ulrik looked from Joey to the darkness of the forest. With the wind blowing, it was hard to determine where, exactly, the roar had come from. The howls were repeated, then the sound of animals fighting. Ulrik guessed the sounds to be about a quarter of a mile from the road and still close to the outer edge of the tree belt. He bit down on Joey’s right forearm and pulled.
Joey looked at him with scared, tear-filled eyes. “What is it?” he asked.
Ulrik tugged again.
“Go on, Joey. I think Ulrik is going to take you to the house. Why don’t you change shape and run with him?” Cheryl urged.
“But – ”
Ulrik nodded his head, Joey’s arm still in his mouth. The sounds of fighting were growing nearer. There were more wolves involved. Ulrik couldn’t be sure if they were all his allies or if Kiona and John and brought new friends. He pulled harder at Joey, careful not to hurt the boy.
Reluctantly, Joey stood up and began to slowly remove his clothes.
“There’s no time for modesty,” Cheryl said, reaching for Joey’s belt. Ulrik grabbed Joey’s T-shirt and tore it away while Cheryl pulled down his pants and pulled off his shoes. “Now change,” Cheryl said.
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