He stopped talking and stared at the grass. Cade let him be.
“And everything was okay for a while, until the day Carson found the coat, and took it to his mother, and asked her what it was.”
“Carson never said anything,” Cade said hollowly. “Why wouldn’t he mention something like that?”
“I don’t know, pup. I hope he never knew what it was, or what it led to.” Dec swallowed hard. Cade heard the almost silent, surely involuntary, whimper of misery.
“And then she did burn it, before Sindri could stop her. And a few months after that, he got word to me that she was growin’ melancholy, unstable, withdrawn. She was pesterin’ Louis to take them all to feckin’ Scotland.”
Cade tensed.
“And Louis did it, no doubt thinkin’ it would make her happy, bring her back to you all, but it didn’t, of course, it couldn’t, and…”
His no-longer-quite-Irish accent had grown thicker. His restless fingers still pulled at the grass between his boots, a small bare patch of dirt growing steadily bigger under his hand. “And the goddamn useless pricks in Iceland had already turned their backs on Adnar, and who knows how long he’d been looking for Eirny. He was haunting Scarista Beach, and she went there too, and I wasn’t there, and Sindri wasn’t there…”
He turned to look up at Cade. His eyes were dry, his voice filled with unshed tears. “It was just you and your brother and father, pup, and Christ, there was nothing Louis could’ve done, he had no way of knowin’… If I’d come out here sooner, if I’d met them in Scotland, if I’d just done something…”
Dec shook his head, blinked and looked away. Cade had a sudden urge to throw an arm around his uncle’s neck and comfort him, cry with him.
He resisted it.
Both wolves stood at the approach of an SUV. A second later, Becca began to cry.
“Oh thank God, she shifted.”
“Of course she did. It’s completely natural. You’ll get used to it.”
They stepped apart, each suddenly self-conscious, uncomfortable, avoiding the other’s eyes.
Ally dashed out. “I thought I heard the Expedition.”
“You did,” replied Cade.
“Good. Becca just shifted.”
“Why’s she crying?”
“She sat up under the chair and bumped her head.” She looked up at him. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing.”
“Bullshit. You tell me—”
“Shh, baby, please.” He grabbed her, held her close, inhaling the scent of her, and she didn’t ask again, and he loved her for that.
The Expedition screeched to a halt a few feet from the porch. Roman jumped out.
“Hey. Seth and Jesse brought a tow. Y’all okay?” He eyed the rest of the group filing out onto the porch. “So, anybody gonna tell me what happened?”
“No.” Michael cupped a hand. “Keys.”
Roman tossed them.
“Go help the guys. When y’all get the cars hooked up, take care of Stapkis’ body.”
“That’s Stapkis I smell? Cool.”
“Move,” Michael growled over his shoulder.
“I’m going, I’m going. Damn. Three bodies in two months. Maybe we should open a morgue next to the woodshop.”
It was long past sunset when everyone fell out of the SUV, dirty, cranky and relieved. Becca, incoherent with exhaustion, had fallen asleep halfway home.
“I can’t believe I’m putting her to bed like this.”
“It’s just dirt, baby. Bathe her in the morning when she’s conscious.”
“Fine. But I’m burning the sheets.”
He almost smiled at that.
“You should run around shirtless more often,” she murmured, running a hand across his stomach.
“Yeah? You too.”
They helped each other kind of stagger down the stairs.
“Hey, you know…I could carry you. Wanna see?”
He gave her a squeeze and kissed the top of her head. “Sure. Right after I cut off my balls, since I wouldn’t need ’em anymore.”
“God. The macho shit.”
He pulled up short as they passed the kitchen.
“Ooh, great idea. I’m starving.”
“Huh? Oh yeah, me too, but—no, I need to do something.”
She shrugged. “All right. How about a sandwich?”
“Good. Make me two. No, three. And see what else is in there.”
“Got it. What are you up to?”
They hadn’t bothered to turn on the light. He walked over to the corner by the back door, stopping next to the hatch in the floor that led to Sindri’s nook beneath the house.
“Cade. It’s late, maybe you should just—”
“He’s awake. He would’ve heard us come home.” He tapped his bootheel firmly on the hatch once, then crouched on his haunches and rapped with his knuckles a couple more times.
“Vacation’s over, old man,” he said to the floor in a loud voice. “The house is dirty, we’re exhausted and Ally can’t cook.”
“Hey! That’s just mean!”
But it was worth it to see the grin he flashed her.
Chapter Twenty-Six
“Tomorrow?”
“That’s what he said. Day after, at the latest.”
“And he just told you this morning.”
“Yep. I said ‘thanks for the fucking notice, Declan’, and he gave me that cocky grin and said ‘But I’m givin’ you notice now’.”
Michael smirked. “I can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Me neither. From now on, nothing he does can surprise me.” She rested her chin on her hands and sighed. “I guess when you’re six hundred years old, saying goodbye to someone you’ve known for four years isn’t such a big deal.”
He gave her a brotherly shoulder bump and leaned back on his hands. “He loves you. It’s just…he feels like you’ve all got new lives and now he can move on.”
“I guess so.”
What Dec had actually said was, “The three of you belong here now, Ally girl. You’ll take care of Cade and Becca, he’ll take care of you and Dylan, Seth’s happier than he’s ever been. And I’ve got things I need to do.”
They were sitting on the front porch, watching Becca wander about as she chattered to a furry Aaron, following close on her heels.
He’d awakened from his coma a few days after their adventure in the woods. Doctors hadn’t yet determined if he’d suffered any permanent brain damage, but he wasn’t the same wolf. Since coming home, he’d gone four-footed more often than not. Cade was determined to give him whatever he needed to heal. Becca seemed to help.
“Hey, Michael?”
“Hmm?”
“Is it true that if a wolf stays furry long enough, he’ll forget how to change back?”
“Eh. It’s one of those things that only seems to happen to someone’s cousin’s best friend’s boyfriend. Nothing’s on the record, far as I know.”
They watched Aaron and Becca for a few more minutes.
“When do you think y’all will tell him about his father?”
He shrugged. “We’ll keep an eye on him, see where his head’s at. He hasn’t mentioned Rufus since he woke up, though, so I think he might be relieved.”
“Michael! Even if their relationship was already ruined, losing his father like that was devastating. Aaron’s never going to have any closure.”
“Fuck closure. Sometimes a dead father’s the best thing that can happen to a wolf.”
Matching his deadpan attitude, she replied, “Is there something you’d like to talk about, Michael?”
He twisted his mouth like he was trying not to smile. “No. No, there’s not.”
“Okay, then. Just checking.”
He didn’t answer, and she didn’t press. She’d grown comfortable with the silences that were a part of any conversation with Michael.
“I’m just disappointed,” she said after a few minutes.
“He’s a good f
riend of yours. You’ll miss him for a while.”
“That’s part of it, but I was just hoping…you know. That he’d stick around for a while and Cade would get to like having a father figure.”
He wasn’t trying not to smile anymore.
“And Sarah Jane would come back, and Dec could rekindle his romance with her, and we’d have this big extended—hey! Stop it!” She punched him in the upper arm.
He didn’t say anything because he was rocking back and forth in silent laughter.
“All right,” she grumbled with a blush. “Maybe it’s a fantasy.”
“Maybe?” he hooted.
“Why couldn’t something like that happen?”
“Because this is life, not Lifetime!”
“I don’t want a Lifetime movie,” she shot back. Gazing at Becca and Aaron, she tucked her hair behind an ear. “I want a Hallmark Channel movie. Something warm and uplifting and happily ever after.” We’re almost there.
“Well, your ever after’s gonna last a really long time, so it could still end happily, I suppose.”
Her heart clenched when she remembered her question to Dec last night.
“Have you had any kids?”
“Several.”
“Where are they?”
“They’re dead, love. I outlived ’em all.”
With an exaggerated carelessness that proved he’d noted her discomfort, Michael said, “Besides, there’s nothing to rekindle with Sarah Jane. Dec says they’ve been friends for a hundred years, and he decided a long time ago to stay away from Fae chicks, even the sane ones like Sarah Jane.”
“Ooh! That’s it!” she exclaimed, slapping him on the knee with enthusiasm at the change of subject. “Crazy Fae chicks. Tell me about Mary Ann.”
“Oh hell no. You talk to Cade about that.”
“I can’t!” she whined. “He’ll think I’m being nosy.”
“Ya think?”
“She’s my fiancé’s baby’s mama, Michael. That’s not being nosy.”
He muttered something nasty and turned away with a grin, pretending to watch the guys working on one of the cabins.
“Fine,” she chirped to his back. “We can talk about you instead. So. You have dreams that portend the future—”
“Portend? Who the fuck says portend?”
“—and rumors about your dad have been floating around Houston for years. Now, I’m starting to think—”
“Fine!” he shouted. The guys by the cabins stopped what they were doing and stared across the yard at him.
“Fine,” he growled again, more quietly, and then he sighed in resignation. “Mary Ann.”
“Yes,” she hissed triumphantly. She crossed her legs Indian style and spun to face him, hugging her arms in anticipation of the whole juicy story.
“So,” he began. “Mary Ann was crazy. The kind of female who’d burn your stuff after a fight and then say it just proved how much she loved you. You know the kind I mean?”
“Oh yeah.”
“Right. I mean, she was hot as hell, but it’s like I told Cade, no amount of hot is worth that much crazy. But he wouldn’t listen. He was into the chaos and I couldn’t talk him out of anything…”
“Goddamn, Dec. I’ve never seen anything like this.”
His uncle finished stowing his gear away and looked up with a grin. “You like my bike?”
“I like your bike. Saddlebags look like they’ll hold suitcases.”
“Well, I’d intended to get a car. Something practical. Then I thought—right. Fuck practical. I haven’t had a bike in sixty years.”
Cade had had a couple of touring cycles, but nothing like Dec's fully tricked out Harley. He walked around the breathtakingly beautiful machine, running a hand over the spacious leather seat and gleaming chrome console. “I need one of these. I really do.”
“They make a sidecar, but I don’t think Ally would want to ride in it. I think your mate would look rather fierce on the back of this thing.”
Cade agreed. He doubted she’d ever had sex on a bike. Something to file away for later…
“So,” he said.
“So,” his uncle agreed.
His pose was identical to Dec’s—rocked back on his heels, arms crossed over his chest, hands tucked under his arms.
Dec noticed at the same time.
Both wolves immediately shifted, shuffling their feet and trying to do something else with their hands. Cade cleared his throat.
“You’ve said goodbye to everyone?”
“I have. Becca gave me a stuffed animal for company. I promised to photograph him everywhere I stop.”
“She’ll love that.”
“I do appreciate your seeing me off.”
“I couldn’t let you leave without saying goodbye.”
“Wee fella make you do it, did he?”
Cade laughed, a little embarrassed. “I would’ve done it anyway. Listen. Is there anything you need before you go?”
“Oh no. No, I’ve got everything.”
“You need money?”
“No. But if you ever do, just let me know.”
Cade blinked, taken aback.
Dec smiled. “Seriously, if you ever need anything at all, everyone here’s got my number.”
The kind-of-Irishwolf fixed him with one of those frank and piercing gazes that made him itch. Cade cleared his throat again.
“Well. If you don’t need anything, then— Oh, wait, one more thing. Ally says you’re expected back here for the holidays.”
“Is that okay with you?” Dec asked with a raised eyebrow. Cade wasn’t going to miss the frequently creepy sensation of looking in a mirror while talking to another person.
“I wouldn’t really have a choice, with Ally and Sindri and Becca, but yes, of course. You’ll always have a place here. We’re your family. And your pack.”
They shook hands. Cade was glad of the bike between them—Dec looked like he might’ve tried to hug him. Instead, he swung a leg over the Harley. He started to put his helmet on, still watching Cade with that disconcerting stare.
Cade grabbed a handlebar. “What? What is it?”
Dec cut the engine and set the helmet on his lap. He stared at the ground for a minute, then back up at Cade.
“There’s a reason she saved her, you know.”
They hadn’t discussed Ally since that day in the woods. Now he wished they had.
“You think so?” He crossed his arms again, kicking at the grass with the toe of his boot. “I’ve tried to talk to Sindri about it, but he won’t discuss it.”
“No, he wouldn’t.”
“I want to know why she saved Ally when she didn’t save Mama or Carson. Do you think—” It sounded too stupid to say out loud, but what the hell. “Do you think she did it because she knew Ally would get Dylan to me? Did she know Ally was my mate?”
“No.” The ferocity of Dec’s tone surprised him. “Fuck no. She’s not God. None of them are. They’re immortal, not omniscient. Eir saved Ally because Ally saved Dylan, and our line is precious to her. That’s it.
“But you know what, pup? That’s not what worries me. I understand why she saved Ally and not Eirny or Carson. What bothers me—what fucking terrifies me—is that Eir could save her at all. It’s the twenty-first century. Old Ones haven’t messed with our world in a thousand years. I thought evolution had taken care of that.”
“I know. That’s what I thought about when Ally first told me what happened to her.”
“Don’t get me wrong—I’m thrilled Ally came back. Thrilled for her sake, and Dylan’s, and yours and Becca’s. But if Eir can reach out and touch someone, that means others can do it as well. Our world doesn’t need that.”
“That’s why you’re leaving now? Is it something to do with Eir?”
Dec nodded.
“What will you do?”
“I’ll talk to folks I’ve not seen in a while. I spent the twentieth century around humans and normal werewolves because I was tire
d of people as old and tired as me. I need to get back in touch with my folk.”
“Where?”
“New York City, to begin with. I have a cousin there who always has an ear to the ground. If there’ve been any supernatural rumblings, he’ll know about it.” He put his helmet on.
Cade nodded. “That makes sense. Will you keep in touch? Let me know what you find out, what you hear?”
“Absolutely.”
They shook hands again. Dec restarted the engine and roared off down the gravel road.
Cade thought he might actually miss him.
“Seth,” he called a few minutes later.
The beta paused on his way to the gym.
“Hey, Cade.”
“Do you know where Ally is?”
“No, but I got a late start this morning.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
He needed to talk to her about what Dec had said.
Despite Sindri’s devotion, Cade never gave the Old Ones much thought—not the Aesir of his mother’s people, not the Tuatha Dé Danann or the Orishas or any others in the pantheon of pre-historic immortals. They’d withdrawn from the world, or been taken out of it. No one knew which or why. Cade had never cared.
Ally, on the other hand, had spent years learning about Eir and other Old Ones, researching credible stories of physical interaction between mortals and the Immortal Entities Formerly Known As Gods With a Little G.
Jesus.
Whom he’d much rather run into, actually.
He checked in the house—no Ally.
They hadn’t discussed the subjects each knew was weighing on the other. Ally’s lifespan. The lifespan of any children they might have. Where they’d go when they got so old people began to talk. If Becca would be doomed to outlive a string of husbands and all her children.
He saw Michael heading for the Rover.
“You seen Ally?”
“Not since breakfast.” Michael buckled up and started the car, clearly not in the mood to chat.
“Where you off to in such a hurry?”
He leered. “Town. Tara.”
Cade had tried to discuss the whole Vargalf thing with Michael a couple times. On both occasions, Michael changed the subject. Michael was going to have to think about it at some point but for now, Cade wouldn’t push him.
Yours, Mine and Howls: Werewolves in Love, Book 2 Page 32