by Devyn Dawson
“I thought you’d never arrive,” said a woman sitting on the highest shelf. She leaned forward and floated to the ground without a sound.
What the hell was going on in Paris? Was it some breeding ground for supernaturals or was I blinded to it in Oklahoma.
“Who are you? I didn’t see you in here earlier” I said. I tried to mentally identify what type of super she was. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but she didn’t worry me at all. I was suspicious of everyone, yet when I looked at her, I felt okay.
She stepped closer to me, until we were practically face to face. Without any type of warning she threw her arms around me in a giant hug. “Pru, I’m so happy to finally appear to you. I’ve waited for you to project for weeks, but you haven’t done it. It isn’t like I stalk you or anything. I can’t actually get near you when you’re at your home in Oklahoma. I think you have it enchanted with magic. I’m not offended or anything, it is just hard to talk to you when I can’t get near you. I don’t think this is the best place to talk but I’m going to get you what you’re seeking. Don’t worry, they won’t suspect you or your friends…no, I mean pack. We have to hurry, that crazy woman is about to check on you and that hunky guy you’re running with these days. I think you and Oakley make a better couple, but Gus is pretty hot. Not hot like coffee, well yeah, kinda. You know what I mean.”
She stopped to catch her breath. “I know I’m rambling, it’s just, I’ve been trying to talk to you forever. Well, not forever, but well… since you told Abel about who he is. I would have said something to you then, but you had him with you and I thought it wasn’t good timing. Timing is everything you know. I thought you did a great job at showing him about being a werewolf. That sounds scary, but I know you’re not like the Big Bad Wolf that runs around; now he is scary. It gives me the prickilies to think about him. Okay, okay…. I need to talk to you when you’re not here. This place is really bad and it is zapping all of my energy, and honestly you’re not all that visible right now. I think it is sucking your essence too.” She stopped suddenly and stood perfectly still. Her hands smoothed the poofy skirt she had on. I wouldn’t be surprised if she didn’t have a crinoline on under it.
“Oh my goodness, I didn’t even tell you who I am. It is really a secret, and I take secrets literally. So if I ask you not to tell anyone and you betray me by repeating the secret, I will have to do very bad things to you and you won’t enjoy them. I don’t like doing bad things, but sometimes people need to be reminded that a secret is a secret. I will give you permission to tell your pack who I am. The person must be a member of the Phelan pack and you must swear them to secrecy. If they break the promise to you in regards to my name, I will do bad things to them too. It has to be that way. I don’t make the rules, but I follow them. You follow the rules too. I know; I watch you when I’m able to see you. Up until this very moment, you couldn’t see me until you projected again. Now that you have met me, you will be able to see me when I’m around.” She tilted her head and smiled like a little girl that was listening to something that was very low. “I wish I could see you in Oklahoma, but you’ll have to talk to the enchantresses that cast the spell.”
“Okay, I’ve got it. I promise I will not tell anyone your name to anyone that is not a member of my pack. I assure you that anyone that I tell will also be sworn to secrecy and will be subjected to your wrath if the promise is broken. If someone is about to walk up on Gus while I’m in the bathroom, it could lead to trouble. Listen, can you hurry on with the point of this visit?” I said impatiently. I hadn’t noticed her outfit that well since she was up in my space, I stepped back away from her to get a good look. Although she smelled of vanilla, she didn’t have on nearly as much as Earl did. She had to be a fairy but something different than Earl. He wasn’t protective of his name nor was he as talkative as this little pixie.
“I’m not a pixie,” she said and her bright blue eyes seemed to deepen in color. I finally noticed her outfit. It was multicolored in rainbow colors; she had on crazy colored striped leggings and glitter toenail polish on her bare feet. Her perfectly highlighted blond hair hung in spiral ringlets. Big and long, was the only way to describe her hair. I held back a laugh as she crossed her arms and repeated “I’m not a pixie.”
“I know; I’m sorry for even thinking the word.” I held my hands up to fend off her outburst.
“I’m Aine. Ireland doesn’t only have legends of werewolves you know. I’m the queen of animals and earth. That is why I’ve been trying to talk with you. You’re an animal of course.” She uncrossed her arms and stepped closer to me. “You really are fading; we can talk about this later. I’ll come by your house.”
“You’re a faerie? I grew up reading stories about you.” I shook my head back and forth as I said, “who would have thought I’d be in a vampire museum talking to a queen of faeries. Insane.”
“Not insane Pru, truth. The sooner you embrace the thought of other supernaturals in the world, the sooner you’ll see them. I’ll get the poetry. Go, now!”
I pulled back and entered my body that was standing next to the sink with my back to the door. I heard the door open and I quickly turned on the water to wash my hands.
“What are you doin’ in here chile? You been in here a long time.” The woman said with a Jamaican accent. I turned around to face her, taking in her giant afro and her all of five foot height.
I put my hand on my stomach and bent over slightly. “Tummy problems, sorry. All this French food is killing me. Okay, gotta go. Have a nice day.” I headed for the door.
“I know what you doin’, you don unnerstand the trouble you will find if you pursue de blood devils. You’re in danger and you should leave Paris now. I foresee your friend; he will die at the hand of one of dem. Your mudder da werewolf in my lobby is lookin’ for ya. Git! Mark me words, leave now and you might be able to save him. I see all.” She threw her head back and laughed like a woman on the edge of sanity.
“Thanks, I’ll remember that. Bye!” I said quickly and flew out of the door. Was there anything normal about my life? Nope, not at all.
Gus grabbed my arm, spinning me around to face him. “You’re shaking, what happened?”
“Oh, nothing. Well, it might be nothing, but that woman just said that one of my friends will die because of a blood devil.”
“Blood devil? I think I’ll use that. Did she say which friend?” he said as he looked around the room. We should go; I can’t reach anyone with pack talk. Have you tried?” Gus said as he held my arm while we walked
The relief on Oakley’s face as we walked outside was obvious. It only took a breath before I was wrapping my arms around him. His lips were cold and I could taste his Bert’s Bees. I could feel the tension leave his body. My heart was heavy with the new prediction of one of my friends dying. I made a mental promise not to let Oakley out of my sight again on this trip.
Chapter 25. Parker
“The dog replied, I am hungry, and have nothing to eat.” The Dog and the Sparrow ~ Grimm’s Household Tales
ABEL
Moments were ticking into minutes that melted into hours. My dad called right before they took off from New York. The plane should’ve landed an hour ago but the drizzling rain was freezing when it hit the runway. The airport was mostly vacant except for those that were determined to catch the next flight out. There is nothing worse than flying standby.
All of us at the condo came to the airport together. In light of Pru’s experiences in the museum we thought it was in our best interest to stay together. We paid off the drivers to leave the keys with us. You can never be too safe when it came to strangers and vampire stomping grounds. Pru told us about the faerie queen in the museum, but we didn’t let Kenneth in on it. I had no idea what bad things this new character would do to Pru, but I wasn’t in the mood to find out.
Oakley and Pru where thick as thieves, plotting some sort of attack. I couldn’t get the antidote out of my head. Gus told me stories about the werewolf Ol
ympics. As crazy as they sounded, I was looking forward to them. I had not been to Ireland yet and I thought it would be a great chance to meet all the alphas. I would be eighteen by then and as I agreed, I would take over as alpha for the Phelan pack. Gus thought it would be cool if I entered the games.
“You know I was kicked off my t-ball team for striking out, right? I refuse to embarrass myself in front of the entire wolf world.” I shook my head back and forth with the memory of Shawn teasing me for years about our t-ball team. Not exactly my idea of a good first impression.
An overhead announcement in French boomed through the quiet airport. Dolly said they were announcing a private jet was about to land at the west wing. We were at the east wing. We all did our power walk across the airport in time to see my parents walking past security. I broke away from the group and ran over to hug my mom. “Oh Abel, I’m so glad you’re okay. I’ve never been so scared before” she said as she choked back tears.
“Mom, don’t worry, we’ll figure this out” I whispered in her ear. Standing patiently behind her was Chrissy, her eyes glassy from lack of sleep but beautiful nonetheless. “You okay?” I thought to her. She shook her head yes and I let go of my mom to pull her in for a hug. “You’re a sight for sore eyes. I didn’t realize how much I missed you, until this very moment.”
“I missed you too wolfy.” Chrissy thought back and squeezed me tighter to her. I put my hands on her waist and slid my cold hand under her shirt; I wanted to feel her soft skin under my fingers.
“Eh, hem…earth to son, your dad is right here and I’m still the mom.”
I let go of Chrissy to appease the parents. Not a problem, I would have alone time with Chrissy soon enough. I took her hand and grabbed her carry on. Oakley took my mom’s bag and Gus took my dad’s…after a test of the wills.
“It looks like we have everyone, let’s blow this popsicle stand,” I said.
Chrissy stopped and turned to face me. “Yeah, about that. Well, there was a little problem, and well you see, we have one more person with us.” She crinkled her nose and continued. “Don’t be mad, but Parker came with us.” She took a step back to see my expression.
Pru came to a halt, turned around to look at Bryon and Shaynie. “Did I hear that right? Parker is with you?” Pru said haughtily.
“As a matter of fact, yes, you heard her right Pru,” Parker said as he caught up to us. “Hey guys, this isn’t the time to air our dirty laundry. We had a couple of kinks in the New York airport. I’ll tell you about it in the car, someone is outside watching the cars right?” He made eye contact with me and thought, “it isn’t a big deal, but we have company. The Jackson pack from Maine is on a plane to Paris too. Word is out about a hit on Dolly, they are coming to protect her.” He shook his head back and forth, unable to hide the stress he was feeling. “This is big Abe. I think it’s time to call in the O’Connell’s. We’re on foreign land and half our pack is in Oklahoma. I’m not going to lie; the Jackson’s are assholes, straight up.”
“That’s what I’ve heard. They’re your birth family though, so maybe they will be okay to deal with.” I looked around the room, knowing that even though I was not the true alpha yet, essentially I really was. Dolly and I shared a look and I knew she was stepping down. Damn, damn, damn. I took in a deep breath, my final breath as a free independent. “Okay everyone, let’s grab the luggage and get somewhere less open.” I felt a hand on my shoulder; instinctively I knew it was my dad offering up his encouragement.
Chapter 26. Parents
“And thus, after all, the bright sun did bring it to light.” The Bright Sun Brings it to Light ~ Grimm’s Household Tales
The cute little French house was quickly becoming very crowded. Dolly offered her room to my parents since it was the only room with a king sized bed. After a short dispute and logical argument it was decided that Shaynie, Pru, and Chrissy would move in the room with Dolly. My parents moved all of their stuff to the room next to the girls. I kicked Oakley out of my room, telling him to bunk with Bryon and Chad. Gus and Parker moved their stuff into my room; one would be parked outside of my door while I slept and one in the room. Everyone else would sleep in shifts. I had realized a year ago that I would never experience the whole bachelor living alone thing. I would be perpetually young and live in a dog fraternity forever. I laughed to myself, thinking about watching us all grow old.
I went to the only room without a guard so I could think about what I should do next. I didn’t know about other houses in Paris, but this one had bathrooms with a lot of open space. The room was a perfect square; a short wall hid the toilet and odd shaped urinal. The tub was large and had jets all around it, I wondered what it was like. My very favorite thing of all was, hands down, the car wash shower. There were sprayers everywhere; one day I was going to have that kind of shower for sure.
Directly in front of the toilet was a large white dresser with a built in bench. Sitting on the bench I couldn’t help but wonder about the position of it. I didn’t know if maybe the people that owned the house invited people in the room to talk to them while they were on the pot. Finding that particularly funny, I started laughing out loud. Some werewolf on the other side of my hiding place hollered out to find out if I was okay. No, I was not okay. I was stuck in a house with the most important people in my life, some that were human, some were werewolves and one was a healer that owned my heart. How in the hell was I supposed to protect them? Did they expect that my special jumping powers were going to make everyone feel protected when I lept on a vampires back and hovered over them gracefully?
I ran my fingers through my hair trying to find the alpha in me. I was not such a Great Wolf after all. Not only did I have to fake it for everyone under this roof, but within the next twelve hours I would be surrounded by two packs that had alphas that were feared and then respected. I was sure all the weres that had to pay the special ‘werewolf tax’ for me, were wanting a rebate about now. Come on Abel, THINK. My cell phone started vibrating right then. I put the phone to my ear, and before I could say anything I heard,
“What the hell are you THINKING bringing them HERE? Are you out of your mind? They will die, DUMB ASS!” Allie’s voice hissed.
Awesome. “Someone needed to protect them. Where? Come on, tell me where and when and I’ll help you.” I asked. All I heard on the other end was hysterical laughter and a click. I wondered if a Great Wolf would be to take a bubble bath and try to drown myself, only to escape the madness of course.
“The door isn’t locked Pru, come on in,” I said before she even had a chance to knock. I didn’t figure I’d get a lot of time alone in here.
At some point since she had been in Paris, Pru cut off her hair. Her once long red hair was now to her chin and it made her look extraordinarily hot. I didn’t know how she did it, but her eyes looked even more gray and beautiful. Stop it brain! She had changed clothes since we got back. I could tell she was ready to take on the world. She had on her ‘bad ass werewolf chick’ clothes. Black leather pants, which she swore up and down was in style when we teased her about them. Her top was, as usual, black and long sleeved, with or without a collar and tonight it was a second skin ribbed black turtleneck. Not an ounce of skin showing and every single fiber was sexy.
“I knew you weren’t in here being human.” She sat down next to me and took a look around the room. “Great view of the toilet,” she said. “I heard your phone vibrate, bad habit I know, but I can’t help it. The simple fact that everyone that calls you is inside this house, I’m guessing it was your vampire sister, Allie.”
“You’re aggravating.”
She smiled at me, “I know, it’s a gift I have.”
“She is obviously watching us, because she knows my parents are here. I really think she cares. How could she not, if she is calling and telling me I’m crazy to bring them here?” I remind myself to breath before announcing I didn’t want to talk about it. “We’ve got other things to worry about right now. I’ve come up
with a partial plan; it would be so much easier if that faerie would show up with that book like she said she would.”
Pru reached behind her back and set a leather book on my lap. “Really? This is it? Is the antidote in here?” I asked.
“It was sitting in the backseat of the car, Oakley spotted it.”
We sat in the bathroom for almost ten more minutes before Oakley, Bryon and Shaynie decided to join us. If I thought the house was crowded, it was nothing compared to the bathroom.
Chapter 27. Forever
“The wolf was pleased with the idea, and she went out with the fox to the farmyard.” Gossip Wolf & the Fox ~ Grimm’s Household Tales
PRU
Oakley caught me as I was walking down the long narrow hall. He grabbed my hand and pulled me with him into the empty sitting room. We both tried to be as quiet as possible in a house full of people that had super sensitive hearing. We heard a noise coming from the hallway, so we dove behind the couch. He put his hand over my mouth to stifle my giggles and I found myself in a provocative position. Thankfully, the couch was about three feet from the wall and had a fabric skirt all the way around it. I was on my back and he was in a one armed push-up position over me. His body inches from mine, his breathing a little faster than usual, didn’t help the intimate mood I’d been in all day. I locked eyes on him, and the giggles were absorbed by my sudden realization that my body missed him. I did too, but in that very moment, I wanted his hand replaced by his mouth. His eyes shifted back and forth as he studied my face and in a moment he got lost. His mouth lowered to mine and my head reached up to meet his mouth. I twisted to my side, giving him room to lie on his side facing me.