by Ardy Kelly
“The Welcome Inn.”
“Then that’s where we’ll start.”
They walked around the corner to the large Victorian bed-and-breakfast.
Trisha, the owner, greeted them at the door. “I wondered how long it would take for you to show up as soon as I saw those women come down the stairs. Naked as a jaybird.”
“And now they’re naked as a jailbird,” Chet replied. “Any guess where their clothes are?”
“Try room number four. That’s where all the drinking was happening.” She handed him a key.
Ten minutes later, the men left the inn, carrying several grocery bags of clothes, walking with the slow gait of a couple who didn’t want the evening to end.
David’s sense of smell, dulled by years in the city, came alive in the fresh mountain air. The fragrance of evergreen mixed with animal scents and the café’s deep fryer filled his nostrils. Even the bags of clothes held traces of perfume and spilled tequila.
He was intoxicated by the new awareness. Closing his eyes, he turned his head and inhaled, attempting to ferret out each note in the lyrical night air. He was surprised how easily he identified each new smell, but chalked it up to his years as a chef. There was only one scent he couldn’t quite decipher. The most appealing one.
Though David wasn’t usually a klutz, closing his eyes and turning his head while attempting to walk a straight line was too much of a challenge. His foot tripped on the uneven sidewalk and he started to fall.
Expecting his head to hit the pavement, David felt a yank on his arm before his face collided with Chet’s chest instead. And the source of the delicious aroma.
The chest David’s face was pressed against began to rumble, as the sheriff chuckled. “Catching your breath?”
David straightened, embarrassed from snorting the sheriff. “Yeah. Thanks. Sorry.”
“I don’t mind.” Chet turned onto Main Street, and David hurried to catch up. Approaching the station, the sheriff pulled a set of keys off his belt. “How much longer will you be in town?”
David kept a safe distance between them, afraid to embarrass himself any further. “Rehearsal is tomorrow, the wedding is Saturday, and then I’ll probably drive right home.”
“So, tomorrow night is your last night here? Will it be a late night?”
David shook his head. “Morning rehearsal, and then a luncheon. Mother’s side of the family doesn’t want to be on the ranch after dark.”
Chet unlocked the door, but left it closed. “Maybe I could sample your cooking.” He winked. “In a professional capacity, of course.”
I hope not! “Aren’t you afraid someone would consider it a bribe?”
“Not if it’s homemade. You can use my kitchen. I’ll warn you, it’s pretty bare right now.”
“If I can cook over a campfire, I doubt your kitchen will be a challenge.”
“Certainly not as big a challenge as what is on the other side of this door.”
The bridal party was sober enough to be coherent, but not enough to be sensible.
“I should have known she’d send you,” Diana accused when her twin appeared. “She’s too dignified to bail me out herself.” She turned to her cellmates. “This is my brother. He’s special. Just ask Mother. He’s her special child.”
Hiding behind a blanket, one of the bridesmaids barked, “Turn around so we can get dressed.”
Chet laughed. “Now you’re shy?”
Two of the other women flashed their breasts in his direction.
“That’s what I thought,” he answered, guiding David to the front of the station. “You didn’t mention the sibling rivalry at dinner.”
David furrowed his brows. “It’s news to me. I thought she was happy escaping from Mother.”
“Alcohol can bring up repressed emotions.” He shrugged. “Or she’s a mean drunk.”
Before he could respond, the prisoners piled into the room, swarming around Chet. When one of them pushed her cell phone into David’s hands, the others followed. “Take our picture with Sheriff Thompson.”
David juggled the half dozen phones. “You didn’t wear clothes on Main Street, but you brought your phones?”
“There’s no service at Lone Wolves Ranch. And the jail has Wi-Fi. We made sure when we planned this excursion. Figured we’d be here awhile.”
Maria, the shortest of the bridesmaids, poked Chet in the chest. “Can’t you smile, Sheriff?”
“He’s not a model,” David replied. “So don’t expect him to act like one.”
Chet shot him a grateful nod. “I’m escorting those staying at the Welcome Inn. The rest of you are riding with David back to the ranch. None of you are driving tonight.”
He scribbled his phone number on a piece of paper and slipped it to David while the bridesmaids used their last moments of Wi-Fi to post pictures on Instagram.
Three of the bridesmaids followed Chet back to the Welcome Inn, while David led the other four to his car.
“I call shotgun,” Diana yelled, leaving her bridesmaids to cram into the backseat.
“Turn up the heat!” Maria pleaded. “That jail was like an igloo.”
“Sorry, girls,” Diana said. “I was expecting Mother to send a limo. Not my brother in an environmentally friendly itty-bitty car. Though I should have known. Is she pissed?”
“Beyond pissed,” David replied. “Why did you do it?”
“Did you see the sheriff?” Maria asked.
“As the locals say,” Diana said. “Of all the natural wonders in Timber Crossing…”
Three voices from the backseat helped her finish the sentence. “…Sheriff Chet is the one most photographed.” They burst into guffaws.
Diana’s laughter died first. “Did she have her pinched face on when she asked you to come get me? Another failure in the long line of disappointments I’ve caused her?”
David’s stomach twisted.
She turned to her bridesmaids. “I used to be the special one. But Morehouse women never shift. It isn’t ladylike. I became the black wolf of the family. The Morehouse freak.”
“You don’t think Dad is disappointed in me?” David replied. “I remember overhearing him tell a friend he was afraid I was going to be a beta. Is that wolf-talk for gay?”
Amber rolled her eyes. “Having a beta son is what uptight alpha fathers fear most.”
“Not my dad,” Diana said. “Can you imagine if his son presented as an omega?”
Maria snickered. “Much as I like your father, there are some topics where he is old-school feral.”
Diana gave a bitter chuckle. “He’s practically progressive compared to Mother. Turned out everything she taught me about shifters was wrong.”
“So, moving here was good for you?” David asked.
It was the bridesmaids’ turn to laugh.
“Not at first,” Christie said. “The Morehouses are famous for being snotty bitches.”
“And Diana was the snottiest,” Amber added. “She wouldn’t even hunt.”
“I changed,” Diana replied defensively.
“We wouldn’t be your bridesmaids if you hadn’t,” Maria said.
“Hunting got easier once I imagined every prey was dear old Mom.”
Christie laughed. “Oh, that’s how you suddenly became a cold-blooded hunter.”
Diana stared at her brother, while her lower lip pressed up into a pout. “I missed you.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “That year Mother wasn’t interested in either of us…you were always there for me.”
David relaxed with her sudden change in mood. “We used to make up stories of how we’d both leave wolf-hair all over the sofa.”
Diana leaned as close as the seat belt would allow.
He responded by draping his arm around her shoulder. “I missed you, too. Especially when you left with Dad. Then it was only Mother and me.”
“I guess I really was a bitch, because I thought you deserved it.”
“Yep,” David said. “I gue
ss you really were a bitch, too.”
The car quieted as the bridal party nodded off from the combination of alcohol and the heater, leaving David to replay his time with Chet.
When he parked the car, none of the passengers needed wolf ears to hear the Morehouse-Packmans fighting.
What Constance lacked in volume, she made up for in anger. “Is that how you raised our daughter? You told me Lone Wolves Ranch keeps a low profile in the community. How does traipsing around naked fit into that?”
“I’m just as mad as you are!”
“Ha! You’ve never scolded her for anything. And now she’s grown up wild. This is exactly what I feared. My children raised by wolves!”
Diana opened her eyes and sat up in the seat. “We’re just one big happy family.”
“Hope you don’t mind if we don’t come in,” Maria said. After quick hugs, the three bridesmaids hurried home.
Diana unbuckled her seat belt. “Come in with me. I could use a human shield.”
David reluctantly agreed. As they approached the house, the voices grew louder.
“How am I supposed to explain this to Mother and Grandmama?” Constance wailed. “A Morehouse woman incarcerated!”
David’s stomach churned. “Let’s give her a minute to blow off steam.”
Diana took his hand and guided him to the porch swing. “This isn’t your battle. There’s no need to get sick over a mother/daughter fight.”
He sat and changed the subject. “Are you nervous about the wedding?”
“I’m not the nervous type. Why should I be? Lionel’s my fated mate.”
David laughed, and she gave him a sour look. “Sorry,” he said. “I thought you gave up on fate awhile ago.”
“Fated mates are a wolf thing. It’s two shifters who have a soul connection.”
“Really?” David studied his sister. “So, you met Lionel, and you knew right away you were going to get married.”
It was Diana’s turn to laugh. “You know how much I hate having decisions made for me. Even if it’s fate doing the deciding. When he told me we were fated, I thought he was crazy. I even started dating other guys. But Lionel just waited for me to come around. Any other wolf would have challenged the shifters I went out with. But that’s the thing about fated mates. Lionel didn’t act in the way he thought was best. He acted in the way he knew I would respond to.”
“And that’s it? For him, it was instant love?”
“It was instant love for both of us. I just had a very low opinion of love. It took awhile to convince me. But every wolf told me the same thing. You can’t do better than a fated mate.”
“I wish I had a fated mate,” David said. “It would take all the guesswork out of it.”
“Be careful what you wish for. It can be a burden, too.” She bit her lip. “Especially if you don’t think you deserve him.”
David turned to his sister. “You’re kidding me. You don’t think you deserve Lionel?”
She wiped a tear off her cheek. “There’s a lot of hot female shifters around here. I’m not much of a hunter, I can’t shift gracefully, and I’ve got mousy-brown wolf fur. Lionel could do better.”
“Someone recently told me you can’t do better than a fated mate,” David replied.
They sat in the cool night air, gently swinging back and forth, as their parents revived every argument they had clung to during their marriage. David’s stomach gurgled in response.
“You really have to get over your fear of conflict,” Diana said. “Are you seeing someone?”
“I don’t need therapy.”
“I meant are you dating anyone.” When David shook his head, she added, “Ever?”
“I’ve been busy.”
She grabbed her brother’s face in her hands. “You’re just scared of relationships. And that’s why you need therapy.”
David broke free of her grasp and stood. “They’re not going to slow down. Mother’s just started her grievances from 2008. How about we try to sneak past them?”
The plan failed miserably. “There you are,” Constance snapped. “I’m glad to see you’re dressed.”
Dad shot his daughter a look, but David interpreted it as less about the prank, and more about subjecting him to Constance’s wrath.
“Big day tomorrow.” Diana forced her voice to be cheerful. “I think I’ll head to bed.”
“Just one second, young lady.” Constance approached her daughter. “You’re old enough to make your own decisions, poor as they are. But your grandmother and great-grandmama are attending the rehearsal tomorrow and the wedding on Sunday. I pray you can keep your wolf nature in check for the few hours they are here. It shouldn’t be difficult. It’s how I raised you.”
“Don’t worry, Mother. I’m very familiar with everything you taught me.” Diana turned and climbed the stairs in the most unladylike way possible.
Constance placed her hand on David’s arm. “Please, take me back to Timber Crossing. I need to be anywhere but here.”
David sighed silently. It’s going to be a long weekend. He had listened to Diana complain about Mother on the trip up the mountain, and would spend the next half hour listening to Mother complain about Diana all the way back down.
Tonight, Constance was less predictable. “A lot of people on the ranch have been asking me about your love life.”
David moaned. Don’t ruin Diana’s wedding by coming out to Mother now. Who was he kidding? Diana’s wedding was ruined the moment she chose the location.
Constance took the silence for pique. “I know, dear,” she said. “It is a crass question that vexed me when I was single. But we are Morehouses, and the name comes with certain expectations.”
“I thought it only applied to the Morehouse women. Not the Packman men.”
“It applies to the non-shifters in our line. Now, suppose you married a woman on the ranch—a sensible female shifter. It’s quite possible she could give birth to twins. And if the baby girl never shifted, the Morehouse legacy would continue.”
David rolled his eyes but kept silent. He always tried to disappoint Mother in as small a dose as possible.
“Your father agrees with me on this.”
From what I heard, it’s hard to believe you two agreed on anything. “It seems silly for me to marry a shifter so the whole weird twin thing continues.”
“Darling, there are plenty of fish in the sea. It’s just as easy to marry a shifter as it is to marry a human girl.”
“I don’t know any shifter women other than Diana and her bridesmaids.”
Constance shook her head. “No, those are not appropriate women for you. But your father knows a few civilized girls at Lone Wolves Ranch who share our sensibilities.”
Our sensibilities? David would have shuddered if the car still wasn’t still toasty from the drive up.
Constance patted his leg. “Just think about it. That’s all I ask. And be nice to anyone I introduce you to.”
David debated parading naked through Timber Crossing in the hopes of being arrested. Spending time with Sheriff Chet Thompson would be preferable to whatever plan his mother was hatching.
Chapter 2
“Do they live underground?”
Constance sighed. The last time Grandmama had been around shifters was her wedding to Raff, and it had not gone well. The groom’s parents had taken considerable offense when Abagail complimented them on their son. “He acts perfectly human,” she stated. “No one would ever guess he’s a menace to livestock.”
“No,” Constance replied. “They live in houses, just like normal people. You know that, Grandmama. You were married to one.”
“Only one. I have no idea what happens when they get together in herds.”
“This is the first time we’ve actually gone to one of their nests,” Beatrice added. “You won’t leave us alone with them, will you?”
Constance smiled, watching David’s shoulders rise as he drove them up the mountain. Her own children had accused
her of being lycraphobic. Maybe they would come to appreciate how progressive she was compared to the older Morehouses.
“We shan’t forget you,” she reassured her mother. “And you’ll have David for protection.”
Beatrice leaned forward. “Constance, have you asked him about babies?”
“Last night,” David replied, pulling into the ranch. “Mother expects me to dance with every single female-wolf she procures.”
Constance doubted Beatrice caught the sarcasm, but a mother always knows.
Leaving David to guard the older Morehouses, Constance attempted to organize the wedding rehearsal. Her efforts were hampered by the fact that none of the shifters knew the first thing about the human ceremony, and many didn’t care to learn.
As she searched her purse for a Valium, someone yelled, “Mother of pearl, do any of you watch the Hallmark channel? Who’s in charge?”
The participants pointed to Constance, and a diminutive man with the big voice headed straight for her. He was wheeling an infant in a stroller, while holding the hand of a toddler. “I’m Troy. I don’t mean to insert myself in Diana’s special day, but I was watching from the playground and there’s only so much stress a new father can take.”
He fired off a series of questions, barely giving her time to answer. “Okay. I’ve got your vision. Now it’s time to fairy dust it!” Troy pointed to the sky. “At two o’clock, the sun is going to be right there. I love a back-lit bride as much as anyone, but don’t make your guests stare into the sun.”
He clapped his hands and yelled, “Everyone grab a chair and turn it ninety degrees.” Once the seating was arranged to his satisfaction, he grouped the bridesmaids and groomsmen. “Where is the flower girl and ring bearer?”
“I didn’t think we needed them,” Diana replied.
Troy planted his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes at her. “This is the first wedding on Lone Wolves Ranch and you want to cut corners?”
He marched off toward the playground and returned with two children. “This is Karen, your new flower girl. And my son Phillip wants to be the ring bearer.”