The change came on without Orion’s conscious thought. He felt his body shifting, limbs changing, hair sprouting, and finally his reflexes taking over as the wolf in Orion gathered its legs and sprinted away from the house toward the safety of the yard beyond. The pool was there. Pieces of the house and bits of glass and other debris landed in the water. It might have seemed like a good place to hide, but the wolf disagreed.
Orion was nothing but a streak of muscle and bone covered in charcoal fur as he bolted to the back of the yard and the corner exit where he knew he could escape the flames that were now beginning to consume the house behind him.
Mother.
The thought caused the wolf to pause. But there was no way that his survival instincts would ever allow him to try and get back inside the burning structure to attempt the rescue of a woman who had so eagerly attempted to blow up herself, her son, and everything that she had just been awarded by the probate court.
The wolf lay panting, belly down on the ground as the wail of sirens began to fill the air. Flames leapt toward the gray overcast sky. Orion sniffed, lifting his muzzle into the air and catching the telltale scent of rain in the air.
Soon enough the droplets were falling from the sky. Time seemed to stand still. Orion watched the flames lick over the wood and polyurethane-based siding covering the house. The fake stucco was singed and began to crack and disintegrate. It was not designed to withstand such heat from within. The contents of the home were burning.
No. It wasn’t a home. It had never been a home. Orion could not feel sorrow. Not for the loss of the house that he had lived in for so many years and not for the woman who had decided to end her life in an attempt to punish him for not putting her needs above those of everyone else in his life.
“Orion?” The voice carried across the field of burning debris. “Orion, where are you?”
He listened to the sound of a female running alongside the fence from the front of the house back toward the corner where Orion was hiding from the fire. He didn’t have to see her to know that it was Eleni. His Eleni. She was coming to him, going around the scene of the crime as any intelligent person would know to do.
Orion struggled to shift back to his human form. He panted, lying there on the ground as the magic that governed his race shifted his body from that of a wolf to that of a human who was still struggling to heal from a few paltry cuts, bruises, and burns. His clothing had holes and he was struggling to breathe as his lungs healed from their exposure to the burning gas inside that house.
“Orion? Oh my God, there you are!” The relief in Eleni’s tone was palpable.
There was a squeak and the gate flew open. Firemen spilled into the yard as Eleni dropped to her knees beside Orion. She pulled his head into her lap and touched his face with her hands.
“Are you hurt?” Eleni asked urgently. “They want to know if you’re hurt.”
It took him a moment to realize that his eardrums were apparently still healing Her voice sounded as though she were at the other end of a long tunnel. He could not hear the shouts or movements of the firemen at all even though he could see them dragging hoses to the house as their brethren tried to attack the fire from the street out front.
“I’m fine,” Orion told her. “Mother. Mother was in there. She blew up the house. She killed herself.”
“There’s a woman in there!” Eleni called out to the firemen. “A woman blew up the house! She’s still inside!”
The entire mood of the fire changed. As Orion huddled in the arms of the woman he loved, they both watched as the firemen struggled to get closer to the heat of the fire. Even in their protective gear with fire retartdant and water raining down from the sky and from the fire hoses they could not get anywhere near the structure.
Their shouts and yells finally began to reach Orion as his ears knit themselves back together. He held tightly to Eleni’s body as they watched the scene play out before them. He wanted to tell the firemen not to bother with his mother. She had killed herself and it would be a horrible waste to allow anyone to die because of her selfish decision.
Soon enough, though, it was apparent that the house was just going to have to finish on its own. As Eleni and Orion remained together they watched the bane of the King family burn. And with it the woman who had murdered Mackenzie King was lost from their lives forever.
Chapter Thirty-Two
“Ah, nothing says family like the need to attend a funeral.” Edward King put his arm around Orion’s shoulders and offered a squeeze.
Orion wanted to argue, but there was no doubt that it was unlikely any other event would have brought Edward and Diana King back to the United States from the refuge in Italy. So Orion remained silent as the chapel at Dallas’s premier funeral home slowly filled with the movers and shakers of Dallas society who all seemed interested in giving Tisha Olivares-King a send off. Or rather they were all here to gawk at the funeral and whisper behind their hands at the reason why Tisha’s family had decided against the open casket option.
“You okay?” Eleni King slipped her arm through Orion’s and pressed her smooth cheek to the slick surface of his black suit jacket.
They had been married just the day before in a very private civil ceremony. Orion was well aware that he’d had every man’s dream ceremony. No muss, no fuss. Judge Padilla had ever offered his services, which had been a rather unique experience. But if the bride had been disappointed that there were no flowers, no attendants, and no fancy dress, she didn’t seem inclined to suggest they have another larger ceremony later on. In fact, it could be said that Eleni appeared to be relieved and happy just to have that niggling legal detail done and over with.
“I’m wonderful.” Orion pressed his lips to her hair and then chuckled. “And I realize how odd that probably sounds considering we are currently standing in a funeral home waiting to start my mother’s funeral. But I married the woman of my dreams yesterday and I’m still high from the ceremony.”
Edward elbowed Orion. “And the wedding night, I’m sure.”
“When did you become such a jokester?” Orion growled. “I swear! It’s like someone took over your body in Italy and suddenly you’re acting like an…”
“Italian,” Diana supplied as she joined them. She was waving to Landry and Skye. “Yes. It’s true. He’s become quite Italian in the last few weeks.” Then Diana smiled at Eleni. “And your sister wanted me to give you her love and her congratulations. She says that she hopes you’re just as happy as she is with Joseph.”
“Well, since our Mom is kind of tied up, I think that’s probably possible,” Eleni mused. Then she turned back to Orion. “My question wasn’t rhetorical, by the way. You’ve still got the thing to attend to. I’m worried about you.”
“Right.” Zane gave a sage nod as he took a seat in the front row just a few feet away from the rest of the King family. “Because we delegated that task to our oldest brother.”
“Thank God I’m not your full brother,” Gemini said as he slumped into the seat beside Zane. “I don’t think I could do it.”
It, of course, referred to the eulogy, which had been delegated to Orion because he was the oldest and probably the only one capable of saying anything mildly appropriate in this situation. Before Orion could tell his family that he was going to be just fine, someone started the music and people began to take their seats.
It was time. For it. The Kings had never been a religious family. At some point Tisha might have been part of a parish or a congregation or something, but those days were long ago and far away. So it was the funeral home’s chapel minister that was performing the funeral. The meetings with the poor man had been rather awkward.
Now the man approached and gave Orion a look that suggested he wasn’t actually looking forward to this anymore than Orion was. The seats in the chapel were full and they’d had to open the rear doors to allow standing room. Apparently even more people in Dallas wanted to see what there was to say about Tisha Olivares-King tha
n those interested in her husband’s funeral speeches.
That’s because the world is more eager to gossip than mourn.
Orion waited for the minister to get up to the podium first. The man was in his twenties. He could not have been doing this for long. It occurred to Orion that the funeral of Tisha Olivares-King was probably going to become one of the minister’s “oh, that one horrible time” stories he told over and over again throughout his career. That was okay. It was past time for Tisha Olivares-King to provide something for someone else.
“Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for coming here today to be with and support the family of Tisha Olivares-King. She was a wife and a mother and an important part of the social fabric here in Dallas.” Minister Joel Lovekin’s voice carried out across the chapel and nearly managed to drown out the chorus of snorts and sarcastic comments that his choice of words inspired.
Jason could hardly hold back the laugh that Orion could see about to bust out of his gut. “Oh, that is just bullshit!”
“Hush,” Orion said sharply. “You wanted to be here. Remember?”
“Right.” Jason grunted, and Skye elbowed him in the gut.
It had been a choice that they all made individually. Eventually they’d all decided to attend the funeral. But it had been a hotly debated topic within the family simply because they were all so very different in how they felt about their mother, her contributions to their lives, and the horrible way in which she had died.
Of course, that was probably why the chapel was so full. No doubt the populace of Dallas wanted to see if Tisha Olivares-King was actually so burned as to make an open casket funeral impossible. Which she was. Undoubtedly.
Orion felt a shiver travel through his body. Eleni laced her fingers more tightly with his and pressed her lips to his shoulder. The support she had been offering each and every day was a blessing and probably something that Orion could have never even imagined possible. This beautiful enigmatic woman with the laughing brown eyes, the soft and subtle sense of humor, and a zest for life that not even their mothers could dampen, was the best thing that had ever happened to Orion King.
Joel Lovekin cleared his throat and gestured to Orion. “Mr. Orion King has been selected by the family to say a few words about his mother. Mr. King, if you will?”
Lovekin’s dramatic sweeping hands were a bit much, but the crowd certainly seemed to appreciate it. They were now on the edges of their seats with bright round faces filled with curiosity as Orion stood up, straightened his suit coat, and then took his four-by-six notecards up to the podium.
Orion stared down at the cards. Then he looked up at the assembly. “Thank you all for coming today. I know that my mother would have been so very flattered and happy to know that she will be so missed.”
Zane’s face was turning red. In five seconds he was going to start laughing and that was going to set off the whole family. Orion stared at them for a moment. He didn’t even care that the whole room knew he was doing it. He wanted them to know that he and his family were absolutely unified. He wanted them to know that the Kings were not really affected by this the way that some of Dallas’s upper crust might like to believe.
Maybe that was when Orion decided that the cards he was holding were nothing but a bunch of bullshit. No. That wasn’t when. He had written the cards last night and told his beloved wife that they were bullshit. They were just bullshit. Period.
Setting the cards on the podium, Orion stepped purposefully away from them. He wanted everyone in this damn room to know that he had decided to say this. Right here. Right now.
“The last time that I saw my mother she was standing beside a stove after having pulled it away from the wall and opened the valve to let the natural gas fill the kitchen.” Orion stared at his brothers—Gemini included. He knew that the room had become dead silent. It didn’t matter. This was not for the gossipers in the room. “She held up a lighter and told me that this would teach me a lesson.”
Yeah. He let that one sink in for a minute. There was no doubt that the slack-jawed, open-mouthed shock he saw on the collective faces of family and friends and strangers was probably well deserved.
But before people started to whisper, Orion continued because he needed to. He needed to get this out. “The truth is? She did teach me a lesson. She taught me that selfishness is not the answer. That family is the most important thing in the world. That I’m so glad to be alive. And she taught me that I should not mourn her passing. I should grieve for the mother that I should have had. I should grieve for the father that she stole from us before it was time.” Orion pointed to Gemini. “I should grieve for the years that I lost hating a brother who is actually one of the nicest and most loyal men that I have ever had the privilege of meeting. But I should not mourn the loss of my mother.”
The silence in the room was deafening. It was pervasive and shocked, and for just a moment Orion thought that he might have made a bad decision to be honest with the entire city of Dallas. Thanks to Skye this was most certainly going to appear on every news outlet available to the community and to the world.
Then Eleni got up from her seat. She marched up to the podium and she took his hands. She lifted them to her lips and she turned to the audience. “My husband is right. We have all learned a lesson here. And I want to say on behalf of my family—the King family—that we are so very grateful and thankful that there were no firemen harmed in the learning of that lesson. That the employees of King Security Services, Incorporated finally have their job security back, and that the King family is looking forward to allowing their lives here in Dallas to begin again and give back to the community!”
Husband?
The word made the rounds there at the funeral home, but that was all right. It didn’t matter. The whole world needed to know that Eleni Ariosa had made Orion King the happiest man alive. It was important.
And apparently the entire family of Kings agreed. They all stood up—Gemini included—and came forward to gather around Orion and Eleni. There were hugs and words of love and support. Kami was bouncing up and down and squeezing Eleni as she whispered the words mi familia over and over again. It was probably the best thing that any of them could have done for the King family image there in Dallas.
Minister Joel Lovekin jumped to his feet. He lifted his hands and motioned for the crowd to stand. Then the speakers blasted and someone played a hymn. Orion paid no attention to what it was. It didn’t matter. It wasn’t like the crowd was singing. They were whispering to each other and staring and wondering and that was okay.
“Please come and say your words of support and love to the family!” Lovekin shouted above the words of the hymn. “Show the King family that Dallas is behind them as they recover from the loss of two influential people in their lives.”
Oh boy. That got a response! Within seconds the entire crowd of gathered funeral guests was rushing the front of the chapel to form a receiving line. Orion held his breath. What would they say? What would they think? Did he actually care?
He glanced down at Eleni and noticed that she had looped her left arm through his and was refusing to budge. His little terrier. That was what she was. And he loved her dearly for it.
“I cannot tell you how much I respect what you had to say this afternoon, Orion.” Randall Dunlop was the first to grab Orion’s hand and start pumping it up and down. “Your mother was a real piece of work. She could work a situation and a room, but she was ruthless about it.”
“Thanks, Randall.” Orion smiled at the man. “I hope there’s no hard feelings about the company or Tansy or anything else.”
“Nah. Tansy and her granny have already found a new batch of possible husbands.” Randall grimaced. “You’re best off where you are, I think.” Then Randall tipped his hat to Eleni. “Heard your mama is in jail where she belongs. I’ll say a prayer it stays that way.”
And that was pretty much how it went. Orion and Eleni, along with the rest of the King family, were kept bu
sy shaking hands and trying not to laugh inappropriately by the varied awkward words of condolence that the community had to offer. Some were blunt. Some were politically correct, and almost all of them were haltingly negative toward Tisha Olivares-King.
Orion thought of his mother lying in that casket just a few feet away and wondered if on some level she wouldn’t have appreciated being the talk of the entire town. But regardless of what that woman might have wanted for her children, they were better off now. They were together. All six of them, their partners, and their desire to start a new life no matter where it might take them. In the end it was all good. ###
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 119