by Beverly Rae
Feeling stronger, Syd tried to sit up and give her father a reassuring smile, but decided not to push. “If Jason says I’ll be fine, then I’ll be fine. I trust him.” She sought his eyes. “This is like the time you bit me, right? I’ll heal on my own?” Is it only my imagination? Or is the pain really not as bad as before? If only the ache in my heart would ease.
“Right. Now take it easy, Syd.” Jason winked at her, making her feel better. “After all, it’s your first time.” He lovingly cupped her face in his hands.
She reached up and felt smooth skin once more. “Looks like I’m not as furry as I was.”
Daring to come a few steps toward her, her father searched her face before letting his gaze fall to the large blood stain on her torn shirt. He drew in a sharp breath, his features filling with a strange mixture of hope and anguish. “Is she changing back for good? You’re sure she’ll be all right?” He glanced at Jason for more confirmation. “What did you mean about her first time?”
Jason ground his teeth together. His face reflected his inner turmoil yet, somehow, he managed to contain his anger. “I’m talking about her first time to get shot.” Sending a dark glower toward Skeller, he added, “Shifters have a tendency to get shot a lot. You know, by idiots with guns.”
Syd held her breath at the brief sting that came and went, but knew her father’s pain was greater than her own. Remorse, guilt and worry made him suddenly appear twenty years older.
Again, she tried to sit up but, this time, Jason kept her down. Strangely, the ache was nearly gone. Instead, an odd numbing sensation flowed through her, leaving her feeling renewed, almost energized. With the question in her eyes, she looked to Jason.
He squeezed her hand and gave her the answer she needed. “I know it hurts, but you’ll soon heal. Just hang in there until you do.”
She smiled at him. “I’m already feeling better. Good, in fact.”
Her father, who hadn’t taken his sight from the wound, edged closer. “Thank goodness I didn’t have any silver bullets left.”
“I think she’s on the mend.” Jason lifted her shirt and motioned to the place where blood had been oozing minutes before. Now only a small wound was left. The bullet slid out of her wound and fell to the floor. “Pretty fast work—for a newbie.” He took another look. “I take that back. That’s very fast work, even for a full werewolf.”
Syd glanced down and stared at the skin slowly repairing itself. “Amazing.” She reached out for Jason again, happy to have him near her. “Does this mean I’m changing faster? Does this mean I’ll shift completely soon?”
Her mother’s quick prayer echoed her father’s muttered words of apology. He knelt beside her, reached out to her, then dropped his hand at Jason’s growl. “I couldn’t have lived with myself if I’d killed you.”
“Trust me. You wouldn’t have lived long.”
Syd squeezed Jason’s hand in a weak attempt to calm him before giving her father the forgiveness he needed. “I know you didn’t mean to hurt me, and I’m going to be okay.” Craning her head, she checked on the medium. “But how is, uh, Medusala, Benjy?”
“I don’t know.” Winking at her, he inched closer to the psychic’s mouth. “I may have to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”
Before he’d finished the sentence, however, Medusala sat up and started fanning him away. “Oh, no you won’t. Get away from me, you pervert. And give me back my scarf.” The medium paused, her gaze falling on Benjy’s waist and the position of the scarf, and changed her mind. “On second thought, keep it.”
“Pervert? Ha! If you want to see a pervert, I suggest you look in the mirror. Seriously, did you think I’d want to give you mouth-to-mouth? Puleese.” Benjy and Medusala stood up and squared away toe-to-toe, ready for the brewing confrontation.
“Will you two knock it off?” Jason’s tone left no doubt he was tired of their banter. “I’m taking Syd home with me as soon as she can walk.”
Her father shot to his feet and took a step toward the empty gun rack before remembering what Jason had done. Wheeling around, he spread his feet wide and locked his fists. “No animal is going to take my little girl anywhere. I don’t care if I have to stop you with my bare hands.”
Jason rose to the challenge. “Give it your best shot, old man.”
“Shit. They’re at it again. I have to stop this.” Syd wanted to get up, but her mother forced her down. “For Pete’s sake, why does everyone keep making me stay down? Mom, let me─”
“Oh, no, you don’t. Let me handle this.” After gently resting her on the floor, her mother rose, commanding everyone’s attention with the determination flowing from her. “Listen up! No more fighting, do you understand? Neither one of you will ever have anything to do with my daughter until you learn to accept each other.”
“Miriam, are you crazy? Accept a shifter?”
“I’m sorry, Mrs. Skeller, but you’re asking too much. Syd’s like me now, and she needs to live among her own kind.”
Her father bumped his chest against Jason and tried in vain to make the larger man step back. “She is with her own kind, you freak. I’ll find a way to rid her body of every drop of shifter blood if it’s the last thing I ever do.” In true alpha male style, Jason bumped back. Skeller stumbled backward a couple of feet before regaining his footing.
“As I said.” Her mother’s strong voice halted the men’s argument before it could get any worse. “I’ll take care of Sydney and you two will leave her alone until I say you’re ready to see her.”
“But, Miriam, honey, she’s a hunter. She’s a Skeller.”
The silence after his statement intensified with her parents glaring at each other until Syd couldn’t stand it any longer. “Mom, I’m okay. It’s okay.” Sending Skeller a determined look, she added, “I’m sorry, but you won’t keep me away from Jason.”
Her mother’s shoulders slumped and she turned to face her. Had her mother ever appeared bedraggled before? In her whole life she’d never seen her mother look exhausted. Even when she’d come down with pneumonia. A shiver of premonition shuddered through her at the expression on her mother’s face. “On second thought, Mom, say what you have to say. What is it?” The tears springing to her mother’s eyes told her she’d struck a nerve. She shivered at the chill of dread inching along her spine.
“I need to tell you—all of you—a secret I’ve kept for years. I can’t keep this to myself any longer.”
My mother has a secret? My straightforward, speak-your-mind mom has a secret?
“Griswold, she’s not a Skeller, and you know she’s not. She doesn’t have a drop of Skeller blood in her.” Her mother walked over to her father and stood before him, hands clasped in front of her, acting like a sinner ready to receive the worst kind of punishment. “She isn’t a hunter. Not by birth.”
I’m not a Skeller? Syd’s mind reeled with the implications. If I don’t have hunter blood in me, then I’m not a hunter. All the years of feeling different and out of place in her father’s world finally made sense. “But how? Who am I if I’m not a Skeller?”
Her father snorted. “Of course she’s a Skeller. She’s our daughter. Her birth parents don’t matter. I’ve raised her to be a hunter. She is a Skeller and a hunter. Discussion closed.”
“Yes, she’s our daughter. We raised her, bathed her, clothed her, and educated her. And you’ve tried to turn her into the hunter you’ve always wanted.” She gave Syd a weak smile. “I hope she’ll always be our daughter. But we can’t keep the truth from her any longer, any more than you can force her to be something she isn’t.”
With Jason’s help, Syd stood up. Her legs felt wobbly, but they held her. Fortunately, her renewed strength surged through her with every passing second. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?” She needed to hear her mother validate the suspicions she’d had all her life. “Are you telling me I’m adopted?”
“Griswold, we’ve tried to cover up the truth for years, but we can’t go o
n. We pretended I gave birth to her and you were her natural father. Pretending was easier than telling anyone, even her, so we let it slide all these years.”
The more her mother said, the more Syd’s thoughts jumbled together. She’d known something was wrong long before today. Somehow, deep inside, she’d always known. “Mom, tell me the rest. Who are my biological parents? Do you know who they are?”
Her mother smiled a weak smile and another shiver rushed through Syd. Instead of answering her, however, she left her husband and turned to Jason. “You shouldn’t begrudge Sydney her family. Since she doesn’t have any hunter blood in her, I’m hoping your kind, your family can accept her. Especially when they learn about her real heritage. But even though we aren’t related by blood, we still love her. She’ll always be our baby girl.”
I don’t have any hunter blood in me. As hard as she tried, her mind couldn’t adjust to the information. She’d never known any other life.
Jason studied her mother, started to say something, and changed his mind. In the end, he merely nodded. In awed silence, Syd watched her mother take the shifter into her arms and hug him. “Welcome to our family, Jason. If you’ll have us.”
Jason’s tense body loosened up under her mother’s affection and Syd fought to keep her tears back. “You’ll always be welcome in our home, Mrs. Skeller.” Cocking his head to the side, he amended, “Miriam.”
She gave him another quick embrace and faced her fuming husband. “Griswold, don’t be mad at me for telling her. It was time she knew the truth. We always promised ourselves we’d tell her, but we kept putting it off. For selfish reasons, I’m afraid.”
“You could have discussed this with me first, Miriam.” Her father’s body was ramrod straight.
“Oh, my, my. We’ve got a real-life soap opera going on right before our very eyes.” Benjy clapped his hands together in excitement. “You know what this means, don’t you?”
Medusala stretched her hand above her head and waved. “I do!”
“Shut up, you two. Stay out of this.” Jason added a long snarl to his command.
Syd crossed her arms to ward off the cold. But most of the chill came from inside her. “I’m adopted.” She glanced from her father to her mother. “And he’s not my biological father.” How many times would she have to say the words to believe the truth?
“He’s your father in all the important ways.”
Everyone gawked at Jason, more than a little surprised to hear those words coming from him. “What? Hey, wolves watch Dr. Phil too, you know.” Benjy giggled and started to speak, but clammed up when Jason thrust out a finger in warning. “Not a single word.”
Syd’s heart pounded, almost cracking through her ribcage. “But that means you aren’t my real mother.”
Her father shook his head vehemently. “She’s your mother. No matter how you came to us.”
Part of her wanted to accept her newfound reality, while another part screamed at her to forget everything she’d heard. She averted her face from the group, wanting a minute to let everything sink in. In a short few days her world had changed forever. Not only had she transformed into a werewolf, she’d now learned she was adopted.
“I’m sorry, Sydney. I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”
Yet her mother’s soft words couldn’t provide the comfort she wanted. Not this time. Still, she turned back to her, wishing she could fall into her arms one last time.
“Honey, I’m afraid there’s more. Even your father doesn’t know what I have to tell you now.” Her mother’s tears slipped down her cheeks. “I don’t want any more secrets between us.”
“You’ve kept a secret from me?” Her father shook his head, trying to deny what he didn’t want to hear.
Syd reached out for Jason, for the one person she needed most, and found him waiting to help her. With his support, she shuffled toward her mother. “What? Tell me everything. Is my whole life a lie? I have to know.”
Her mother wiped a tear away from her cheek. “It’s my fault. I should never have put you two”—she motioned toward Skeller—“in this position. I knew nothing but trouble would come from it. But I couldn’t help myself. From the first second I saw you, I knew you were my little girl.”
Her father, more subdued than she’d ever seen him, took his wife in a loving embrace. Gone was his anger and denial. “Go ahead, Miriam. Whatever it is, I’m here.”
“Is this better than All My Children or what?”
As a group, they whirled on Benjy. “Shut up!”
“Well, sheesh, pick on the skinny gay dude, why don’t you? I’d hate to think how you’d treat me if I were gay and black.”
The group ignored him. Syd took a deep breath and waited for her to continue.
“Griswold, I’m sorry. I did something I knew you’d never have allowed. But I had to choose Sydney. She was so tiny and all alone.”
“I know, honey. I remember.”
The atmosphere, charged with anger and hostility before, rapidly changed. Her mother seemed to forget about Syd and concentrated on her father. “But I hid a secret from you, Griswold. I didn’t tell you everything.” Drawing her body to her full height, she placed a determined expression on her face and stared him in the eye. “No, I take it back. I’m not sorry I did. Otherwise, you’d never have let us keep Sydney.”
“Don’t worry, Miriam. Whatever it is, I’ll understand. I fell in love with her from the start, too. Nothing you could’ve said back then would’ve changed my mind.”
What secret had her mother kept all these years? What more could there be?
“I know you believe what you say. But at the time, I knew if I told you the truth, you’d send her away. Or worse.”
Syd could see her father tense up again and fight the urge to demand more. She recognized the struggle within him for patience because the same fight raged on within her.
“I have to say this flat out.” Her mother studied everyone’s faces, judging their readiness, and blurted out the truth. “Sydney’s real parents…Sydney’s real father was…a werewolf.”
Her father staggered backward, grappling for something to hold on to. Medusala took his arm to steady him, but he jerked away from her. “No! You’re wrong. You lie. Why would you tell us such an awful lie, Miriam? It’s not true. It can’t be true.” He shook his head, waving his hands in front of himself to ward off her words. “I’d have sensed it. I’d have smelled the shifter in her. You’re lying. You’re lying to get me to accept him.” He jabbed a finger at Jason, accusing him of being the root of the trouble.
Her mother straightened her sagging shoulders and glared at him. “But you didn’t. You never sensed anything wrong with her.”
“Whoa there, lady. Being a lycanthrope is not wrong.”
They wheeled on Benjy yet another time, but he shushed them and said what he knew they’d have said. “Yeah, yeah. I know. ‘Shut up, Benjy.’ Damn it. I don’t get no respect.”
Miriam continued, ignoring the small werewolf’s outburst. “Maybe you didn’t sense the shifter part of her because you’d already accepted her. I don’t know and it doesn’t matter anymore. She’s half werewolf, Griswold, but she’s our daughter, too. That’s why you have to accept her changing, becoming what she was meant to be.”
I’m half wolf? Syd’s mind reeled with the new knowledge. “Mom, who are my parents? How did you meet them? How did you find me? Why didn’t they want me?” She knew asking the questions would give her parents more pain, yet she had no choice. The questions kept pouring through her mind, and she couldn’t ignore them.
“A friend of mine called me about her teenaged daughter who was headstrong, foolish, and had gotten into trouble. She’d fallen in love with an older man and, before she’d discovered what he was, she was pregnant. My friend called a week after you were born and offered to let me take you home and make you mine. She knew we couldn’t have children and, once I’d laid eyes on you, I couldn’t say no.” She looked at Skeller and w
iped away a tear. “I guess I hoped you had enough human blood in you to keep you from changing. But when I saw you and Jason together, I knew the inevitable had finally happened.” She reached out to Skeller, but he wouldn’t take her hand. “Don’t you see, Griswold? You have to accept Jason, too. They belong together more than she ever belonged with us.”
His jaws fell slack. “I don’t know if I can.” He gave his wife a look filled with pain and betrayal. “Miriam, how…? I can’t…” His mouth moved, yet he couldn’t speak any longer.
An emptiness swept over Syd. How could she imagine a life without her father? They’d never had a close relationship, but she loved him. And more questions remained. “Where is my biological mother now? And who is my father? Do you know his name?”
“Your mother ran off with another man not long after you were born. I’m sorry, but she never told anyone your father’s name. She wanted to protect him even though he’d done nothing to help her.”
“But if I’m half werewolf, why aren’t I able to transform all the way?” She searched Jason and saw an answer written in his face. “Do you know?”
“The time when a lycanthrope starts to change depends on how much werewolf blood they have. If your father was lycanthrope, but your mother wasn’t—there’s no telling when the change would have naturally occurred. My bite probably kick-started the process, which is why you heal so fast.”
Her father’s face appeared worn and haggard. “Skeller?”
His dull eyes met hers, but he didn’t speak.
“Dad? Do you hate me?”
At her question, he blinked and looked alive once again. He drew near her and raised his hands to place them around her neck. She heard Jason’s warning snarl and shook her head. If her father wanted her dead, then let him kill her. She didn’t think she could bear the thought of having him hate her. Staring into his eyes, she waited. Waited and knew in her heart—just as she’d known with Jason—that he’d never hurt her.