by Alice Bello
I’ll fucking kill the bitch...
One word. That’s all it would take now. If she so much as commented “How quaint” her Gram’s house was, or that the food wasn’t fancy enough, Lucy was going to strangle her with her bare hands.
“Lucy?” Gabriel gave her a little shake. He’d been saying her name a few times as his parents walked up the walkway toward the house. Vivian was dressed demurely, in a casual-for-her cream colored suit and skirt, the jacket open over a lovely burgundy silk blouse.
Lucy turned and gave Gabriel a weak smile. Gabriel kissed her gently on the lips.
“She won’t break a promise to me. You’ll see.”
Micah turned and silently moved into the house. Obviously, Gabriel’s brother didn’t have the same faith in his mother’s promises.
Gram was drying her hands on a dishtowel embroidered with chickens when Vivian and Jonas walked through her front door. Gabriel took his mother’s jacket for her and she proceeded toward Gram with a simply flawless smile stretched across her face.
“I’m so happy to meet you. I’m Gabriel’s mother, Vivian Enoch.” She took Gram’s hand and shook it, her smile never faltering. She must’ve studied acting when she attended Sarah Lawrence... or wherever it was she went to college or finishing school.
“Lillian Haveroux,” Gram said warmly. “It’s good to meet you too. Welcome to my home.”
Just then Lucy’s mother walked in from the kitchen. She’d just made it home from working her cocktail waitress job. She’d changed clothes before leaving work. Lila wore a tasteful powder blue sweater over a black matte skirt that came down to her knees. Lucy took a deep breath and sighed. At least there wasn’t anything in her mother’s appearance that would give Vivian any ammunition.
“And this is my daughter and Lucy’s mother, Lila Hart.” Gram beamed at her daughter. As usual Lila was late, but when you worked double shifts at a casino forty-five minutes away, you were never on time for your own life. Lila offered her hand to Vivian, her eyes bulging at the sight of the rock that graced her ring finger.
Breathe... Lucy told herself. Just breathe. She won’t—
“My god, that’s the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen! How much did it cost you?”
Oh good grief! It wasn’t as if she hadn’t had diamonds of her own... once upon a time, when her husband was a respected lawyer and they lived in a freaking mansion. But there she was, ogling Vivian Enoch’s ring like it was the crown jewels.
Vivian laughed, and it was surprisingly warm and smooth as velvet. And to top it off, she looked into Lucy’s mother’s eyes with genuine affection.
And the Oscar goes to...
“Well,” Vivian said, looking over her shoulder at her husband who was having hushed words with his sons, “I had to forfeit the most delightful hunt, so it cost me a most beautiful stag. But I won the handsome man over there... and the ring.”
Lila laughed hysterically, and burst into a long diatribe of how she and Lucy’s father had originally met.
Lucy had heard it all a million times before, but was surprised to hear it now. Her mother almost never mentioned Lucy’s father anymore. It had become a tender subject, one best untouched. Her mother hadn’t had much at all to say until Lucy broke the news that she was going to get married. And at first her mother had been set firmly against it.
But then Gram had come right out and said that the Enochs were loaded. You could’ve heard the gears in her mother’s mind start turning. In the next breath she’d asked, “So when’s the wedding?”
So since hearing her mother recount, yet again, of how she’d served Lucy’s father pretzels and beer the night Stanford had defeated their biggest rivals in a bowl game on TV. Later that night in the broom closet she’d served him something not on the menu. God, Lucy hoped Lila edited that nugget of revulsion form the story—she had a front row center view of when her Gram laid eyes on Jonas Enoch.
Gram went pale, and her mouth fell open. That was a look that Lucy had never before seen on her grandmother. It lasted for about three seconds, and then Lillian shook it off, plastering a smile on her pained face. Jonas offered her his hand, and reticently Lillian took it.
Jonas took a breath to say something, but then froze in place. Not just still, but statue still. His eyes widened, and he took another, slower breath in through his nose.
Gram’s eyes widened again.
Jonas’ narrowed and then bulged, recognition flaring through his expression. He opened his mouth to say something but Lillian shook her head, her eyes beseeching.
What the hell?
Jonas looked on the verge of grabbing hold of Lillian, and she shrank back from him as if in pain.
She cleared her throat and clapped her hands together to get everyone’s attention.
“Dinner is almost ready. So if you’ll all head into the dining room and take a seat.” She got a lost look on her face, as if she was suddenly a million miles away. Maybe skipping stones on the rings of Saturn? And then just like that she was back, clasped her hands in front of her, turned on her heel, and then rushed into the kitchen.
Jonas Enoch stared after her for a while, but followed his wife as she took his arm and guided him to the dining room.
Great, just great. There was a secret in the house, and this time it was one of Gram’s. Lucy felt a migraine start to ratchet up between her eyebrows. Disaster was imminent.
Micah came up and chucked Gabriel in the arm with his big, meaty fist. “Let’s go eat. I’m freaking starving!”
Gabriel smiled after his brother, and then offered Lucy his arm.
At least there would be good food. Lucy threaded her arm through Gabriel’s. The firing squad would come after dessert.
~*~
The food was tasteless in Lillian Haveroux’s mouth—but she ate it. She had to keep her horror to herself, lest someone at her dining room table figure it out.
Hell, she couldn’t figure it out.
How could things have gone so spectacularly wrong in such a short space of time?
She’d been cooking all afternoon—braising lamb and beef, whipping potatoes from scratch, candying carrots. She’d fixed the desert the night before—a lovely black raspberry soufflé even Julia Child would be proud of—and chocolate ice cream turned by hand.
She’d even spent the morning cleaning the house, which was a bit redundant. Though her house was old and well worn, it was at all times spotless.
And then the Enochs came a-calling. The wife, Vivian, was just charming. She’d heard Lucy talk of her as if she was the antichrist, but Lillian had always prided herself on being a good judge of character. No matter how the woman and her granddaughter got along, just looking into Vivian’s deep, dark eyes told her volumes. The woman was straight as an arrow, and would fight for her family to the very end.
But she would fight fair.
This was all she needed to know about her. Lucy could and would take care of herself. And as long as her future mother-in-law played fair, there would be no reason for Lillian to interfere.
But then the world crashed down around her. She looked past Vivian as the well-coifed werewolf made nice with her daughter. She had been just about to admonish Lila about her blatant ogling of the woman’s jewelry—but that was when Gabriel’s father, Jonas, turned and walked toward her.
Her heart hammered in her chest, and cold, hard shock cascaded through her. She hadn’t seen him in... what was it? Fifty years? It had been long before she’d ever met Lila’s father, or started the life of a single mother, cake decorator, and part-time necromancer.
She’d been only twenty at the time, and so had he... or so she had always believed. But now, looking at the man before her—he didn’t look a day over thirty-five.
Oh, how she could forget that night, that wonderful, frightening night, when he had found her chanting and burning incense in the woods—it had been during the summer equinox, and had been a full moon.
She’d been dancing naked under that
full moon, the gentle blue and silver moonlight tickling her flesh and making her laugh as she danced. But then she’d heard the crackle of dry branches as someone… or something stepped on them.
She had made a protective circle before she began to dance, so she wasn’t afraid of something trying to hurt her. But she did snatch up her dress and hold it in front of her. She looked out into the night and searched for the source of the disturbance.
A huge, silvery wolf moved from the shadows, padding smoothly and slowly toward her—but stopping before it hit her protective circle.
That’s when the damn thing changed, morphing from beast to unfathomably beautiful man in the span of a few heartbeats. When he stood to his full height he was a colossus, and every inch of him shimmered in the moonlight.
Lillian had known that monsters existed—vampires, the fae, trolls, and witches. But this was her very first encounter with a werewolf. And she knew, believed deep down inside, that any preternatural creature, no matter how devastatingly handsome, was a very real threat to her life.
But without either of them saying a word, she came to him, broke her protective circle with her bare foot and then took the werewolf to her in the most wonderful night of her life. He had been ravenous with his attentions, and they hadn’t been able to keep themselves from all the things the young, and the love struck yearn to do.
They were together all night, and fell asleep in each other’s arms. Yet in the morning she’d left the deeply asleep werewolf before the sun had a chance to climb into the eastern sky.
She’d been with him all night, and they’d never even exchanged names.
She knew that she would never be able to truly be with him, not in real life. He was a monster, and she was an animator of the dead. The two of them didn’t have a chance.
And that had been exactly how she’d felt about Lucy becoming involved with her werewolf. She’d been certain it would end in disaster—and in a way she’d been right. But she’d seen the love in Gabriel’s eyes. It was an honest, terribly sharp love she saw in him, and she’d decided not to meddle. She would allow her granddaughter to have the same freedom to choose her own fate as she had had.
And now, sitting in her dining room, looking at her untouched glass of red wine, she wished... lord only knew what she wished. Though her life had been hard, and she had made many, many mistakes in her life, she would not change any of it. For it had brought her her beloved husband, Reggie, and her beautiful, though flawed, daughter... and Lucy. She would do it all again just because of Lucy.
But looking at Jonas Enoch, she wished, just for a day, that she had allowed herself to imagine she could have a future with the werewolf.
She picked up her wine and drank the whole glass without stopping. It was strong yet fruity, an excellent home brewed vintage her witch neighbor had given her a couple years earlier. It had a little kick, more than usual wine, almost like a port. But that was something she was looking for: something to numb her and steady her nerves.
She smiled secretly to herself as she saw Jonas pry his gaze from her and inhale his glass of wine too.
At least she wasn’t the only one feeling so out of sorts.
Chapter 3
It was hard for Lucy to keep her attention on Gram and Mr. Enoch. After all, Gram’s cooking demanded nearly full attention. And then there was the hot, super sexy werewolf sitting right beside her in his finely tailored suit. She really, really wanted to get Gabriel out of that suit in the worst way.
And then there was the wolf queen sitting on the other side of the table, flicking a cold, disdainful glance Lucy’s way whenever she had the chance. On the other hand, the wolf queen was not only being cordial to Lucy’s mother and grandmother, but she was downright charming the entire meal.
She was up to something…
Lucy hadn’t forgotten how utterly ruthless the woman could be. She had to have an agenda. She had to have a plan for ridding herself and her family of such an obviously undeserving future daughter-in-law as Lucy.
To get rid of me Vivian would do just about...
Lucy shuddered as the thought crossed her mind. Cultured, wealthy, and with the immaculate manners of an aristocrat, Vivian Enoch was also a werewolf. The things she could do to an enemy were just about…
Lucy pushed those thoughts away with a herculean effort. The woman may be a werewolf, but Lucy didn’t think she would lower herself to outright killing her...
Or would she?
Another shiver crawled up Lucy’s spine, and she tried to shake it off.
When she forced herself back to the task of eating Gram’s amazing meal, she noticed that her grandmother had just drained her wine glass. A curious event, since she usually only sipped at alcohol.
But then she saw that Jonas Enoch had just raised his glass as well, and drained it completely too.
Lucy’s mind raced with what information she’d gathered so far. Gram had seemed bitterly surprised to see Jonas Enoch, blanching to a sickly white right before he offered her his hand.
He’d frozen as he was about to speak...
And then the man had scented the air.
No... that couldn’t be right. He wasn’t a wild animal. Retired CEOs of multi-million—billion?—dollar companies didn’t scent the air.
Yeah... but werewolves did.
The look he had when he scented the air around her grandmother... that was just creepy. That look changed to an expression Lucy had understood. It was recognition, pure and simple.
But it had passed so quickly. And then Vivian Enoch and Lucy’s mother had started talking about jewels and clothes, and Gram had abruptly had them all seated at her seldom used dining room table.
Whatever it had been, they were keeping their lips sealed pretty tight about it. Lucy wondered if she should dare broach the subject later when the Enochs left. From the looks of misery that passed over her grandmother and future father-in-law’s faces when they pointedly looked away from each other, she decided it was best to stay clear of it... for now.
Dinner went off smoothly. The werewolves devoured almost every shred of meat and had dessert too. Even Vivian Enoch had a second helping of everything. And then they’d had some polite conversation over coffee. Vivian’s cool, beautiful eyes sparked at her first sip of Gram’s coffee. She sipped again, and then smiled in befuddlement.
“How on earth do you make your coffee taste so wonderful?”
Gram blinked, but then smiled proudly. “Chicory. Makes almost any brand of coffee delicious.”
Vivian smiled and seemed to mentally jot that bit of wisdom down.
The Enochs left in waves. First Vivian and Jonas—though they had offered to help clean up, Gram would have none of it. And then Micah left, but only after he’d made a lamb and roast beef sandwich nearly three inches thick for the road.
Finally it was down to Gabriel and Lucy—they’d persuaded Gram and Lila to go to bed while they cleaned up and did the dishes.
Lila was all too willing to let someone else do the cleaning up, and took off her heels before trudging up the stairs to bed.
Gram was close to objecting when Lucy gave her a look. The look screamed Go to bed so I can have some alone-time with my love-muffin!
Gram got the hint loud and clear, and taking a last cup of coffee with her, she traversed the stairs as well.
Lucy started in on the dishes. Gram had already packed away the few leftovers, so pretty much they just needed to get all the dishes clean.
Gram was also fanatical about keeping the dishes she used while cooking cleaned up as she went, and immediately put back in their rightful place. And she cleaned as she cooked. So truthfully there wasn’t a whole lot left to do except the pots and pans and the dishes, glasses, utensils, and coffee cups they’d had on the table.
Gram had bought raspberry scented Dawn, and Lucy let the dishes soak in the sudsy water for a few minutes as she wiped down the entire kitchen with Clorox. She didn’t want there to be a speck of anything—muc
h less a smudge of grease—for her grandmother to clean up in the morning.
When she came back to the sink of dirty dishes Gabriel was waiting for her, his suit jacket off now, his tie loosened and the top two buttons undone, and he’d rolled up his sleeves.
“Wash or dry?” he asked.
Lucy fidgeted, not wanting to shallowly look at her manicure. But after her training session with Micah, she imagined they were already beyond repair. “Guest’s choice.”
Gabriel smiled, and it was the kind of smile that made Lucy’s skin tingle. She so wanted to just ditch the dishes and drag Gabriel out onto the porch for some much needed lip lock time. But the other part of her wanted the dishes done and out of the way first.
“I’ll wash,” he said, looking at her in a comfortable leer.
The sight of his well muscled forearms tensing and flexing as he washed and scrubbed the assorted pots and pans made Lucy practically drool.
Gabriel cleared his throat and shot Lucy a wicked smile. “I believe you were supposed to dry?”
Lucy looked at the heaping drain board of already washed and sparkling china.
How long have I been staring?
Lucy grabbed a clean dishtowel from the drawer and started drying.
When the last of dishes were clean, Gabriel got this look on his face. Bewildered. He looked at Lucy with beseeching eyes.
“What?” she asked as she dried and stacked the last of the plates.
He shook his head, and the befuddled smile on his face was just... well, it was gorgeous.
“How do you... ” he gestured to the sink of soapy water. “How do you drain it?”
Oh...
Lucy took his hand in hers and pushed it into the still warm, sudsy water, and felt around until she found the metal and rubber stopper. She let his fingers find it as well before she said, “Now pull it out.”