A Fragile Family

by J. J. Massa

  Myles turned his face into the soft palm, rubbing a little. “Tayler-Puppy,” he mumbled.

  “Yeah, s’me,” Tayler slipped his arms around Myles’ neck, only to be enfolded in a tight hug. “I’m worried about you, Myles.”

  Myles buried his face in Tayler’s neck and held on. “I’m okay, Tayler, don’t worry,” he promised. “I’ll be okay.”

  Marc and Rafe, and Bernadette as she entered the room again, exchanged glances and sighs of relief. Myles was alert. He’d be okay.

  Chapter Two

  Office of Bernadette Fonteneax, Disaster Relief Coordinator

  UCH-Medical Center

  Tampa, Florida

  It was difficult, but Lilith Landon managed to retain her impassive mask as she picked an invisible piece of lint from the skirt of her designer original. Inside she wanted to celebrate, although that might be premature as yet.

  “Excuse me,” Lilith interrupted the woman who was speaking. Bernadette something or other, something French although this woman was black. Perhaps she was Haitian, Lilith mused, though the heavy ring on her finger suggested that her husband might be. “How long, exactly, has my husband been missing?”

  “We lost all contact with the area about a week ago….” Bernadette began gently.

  Lilith wanted hard facts, not niceties. “When did you or one of your…people, last speak with Sherman? Have you spoken with his little friend, what was her name—oh, Aston?”

  The scent of anger flared from the woman facing her and brought Lilith up short.

  This human woman no doubt felt close to Sherman and his playmate, and the scent of Were was heavy on her. It was time to tread carefully now.

  “My apologies, Miss…umm, Bernadette. It’s just, this is such a shock,” she sniffed, reaching for a box of tissue on the desk in front of her.

  Dabbing daintily at her dry eyes, Lilith hid a satisfied smile. Humans were always so easy to fool. This one might belong to a werewolf, but she was nothing special. Well, she was attractive, with dark caramel-colored skin, close-cropped curly hair, high cheekbones and large chocolate drop eyes. She could have been a model, a little heavy probably. Her looks were wasted here in the bowels of this hospital. No, she was simply a working woman, a normal sheep-like human.

  On the other hand, it wouldn’t hurt for Lilith to hedge her bets. This woman was mated to an alpha and Lilith didn’t want to call undue attention to herself.

  “It’s quite all right, Mrs. Landon,” Bernadette excused politely, her anger apparently ebbing. “I know you spend a lot of time in Atlanta, taking care of business concerns there. You can’t be expected to know everyone.”

  “It does take a lot out of me, of course,” Lilith murmured, leading the other woman away from her little gaffe and hopefully back to being sympathetic to her again.

  “And now, Sherman lost…what shall I do?” she sniffed, stifling a choked sob. Under the circumstances, she didn’t think it could hurt to lay it on thick.

  “Now, we don’t know that he’s lost, Mrs. Landon, just that we haven’t been able to reach him for an extended period of time. It’s standard procedure that we notify his next of kin and upgrade the search,” Bernadette attempted to placate her, but Lilith wasn’t having any of that.

  “You wouldn’t drag me in here this way if you didn’t think something was truly wrong, now would you?” she demanded, fighting hysteria. Everything was so close now, all her hopes and plans.

  “Of course not, I mean…” Bernadette appeared to be at a loss now.

  Lilith pressed her advantage. “Has this much time ever passed before? I mean between a disaster and hearing from the people?”

  “Well, no, this is the longest we’ve gone without hearing from one of our teams,” Bernadette admitted. She appeared to be having some difficulty now, keeping her cool.

  That suited Lilith fine. She was certain she’d get more frank answers if the woman wasn’t guarding herself so closely. “However,” Bernadette amended, “the area authorities are watching for both Sherman and Ashley, his team member. Ashley’s family is in Georgia, as a matter of fact—not too far from Atlanta. If we don’t hear from the team soon, I’ll be glad to put you in touch with them.”

  “Why can’t I contact them now?” Lilith demanded. She didn’t really intend to contact them, but she wanted to keep this woman off kilter, and she wanted whatever information she could glean about Sherman’s little teammate.

  “Ashley’s mate, uh, husband hasn’t spoken to the rest of the family yet. It will be up to him to make contact. I’m sure he’ll be anxious to keep in touch.”

  Bernadette patted Lilith’s cool hand, attempting to soothe. For the time being, Lilith would allow herself to be soothed. Mate, uh, husband, huh? The best bet then would be to stay well clear of the girl’s family. She wasn’t a Were, Lilith knew that, she would have smelled it on Sherman, even in passing. Still, there was something…

  “What’s her name—her full name again? I just want to be able to watch the papers, in case something comes up. And I’ll have to go to the shareholders about this, of course…” Lilith let her statement trail off. It never failed, evoke the specter of legalities and big business and everyone bowed.

  “Ashley West-Montgomery,” Bernadette answered quickly. “But I’d appreciate it if you didn’t make that public.”

  “Well of course not,” Lilith sniffed, “I simply need to provide it for the lawyers, you understand. A big corporation like Landon International with its CEO missing, well you can imagine the legal issues.” She had been sure she’d heard the name before and so she had. The girl did cartoons, she remembered. And now that she thought about it, Lilith remembered an attack on the young woman when she was a child. It had been all over the news—an angry father, or something like that. That information could come in handy.

  “Of course I have to have all the information they might ask for.”

  “Certainly,” Bernadette sighed. Lilith was sure that insurance and everything else was in order, but what a publicity nightmare it would be for the hospital’s disaster relief program if these two high-profile people didn’t return.

  Lilith bit back a smile. It might be a nightmare for Mrs. Bernadette French-last-name who was mated to a Were. For her, though, it was a dream-come-true. She enjoyed her husband’s millions, his status, his name—everything but the man himself. If she could be rid of Sherman Landon, her world would be a lovely place indeed. She should have listened when her father warned her not to marry him. Now, she was stuck with him…unless he was dead.

  “Thank you for contacting me and speaking with me personally, Bernadette,” Lilith murmured. The effort of acting like a bereaved potential widow was telling on her.

  Time to end this little visit. “I know you’ll be in touch when you have more information.”

  Lilith stood, causing Bernadette to join her.

  “Of course, Mrs. Landon.” Obviously dismissed, Bernadette graciously guided Lilith to the door.

  ****

  Apt 1404 Chatham Way

  Chatham Suites Apartments

  Atlanta, Georgia

  Jack Aschtholdt was having a most surreal day. After fifteen long years doing time in Jesup, Georgia, he had been graced with something other than a cold no from the Federal Parole Board. To put a point on it, Jack had gotten much more than something besides no.

  This very morning, Jack had been granted a parole and a sponsorship. Wonder of wonders, Landon International, a huge conglomerate, had sponsored his release and was taking a personal interest in his ongoing quest for rehabilitation. They were so exceedingly convinced of his worthiness that the company itself had provided him a nice little apartment in Atlanta and a job to go with it.

  Now, he stood in the middle of his furnished apartment, complete with television, computer, living room and bedroom furniture, everything. In fact, Jack opened the refrigerator, yes, it was fully stocked, too.

  He didn’t know what the catch was, but there had
to be one. There was always a catch. It didn’t matter. Jack would be a good boy until he found out the price of his freedom. By the time everything was clear to him, he expected to have a tidy nest egg somewhere.

  Pulling out a beer, he popped the top and continued his explorations. He found a phone in the kitchen and another in the bedroom. No wires…a lot had changed in a decade and a half. Yes, he had all the tools he needed here to build himself a considerable sum of money when he wasn’t at work.

  Equally important as his nest egg, though, was access to extracurricular activities.

  While that could mean a neighborhood bar, a pool hall, or even a sports arena to most men, Jack had other interests. Specifically, he intended to collect on a debt owed him.

  Fifteen years ago, Jack had lost all that he valued at the hands of his wife and his mealy mouthed daughter. Between them, they’d cost him everything that mattered in life-

  -namely, his home, his two fine sons, and his freedom.

  They owed him some payback. If it killed him, he would make them pay.

  Actually, he expected it would kill them.

  Chapter Three

  Home of Marc and Bernadette Fonteneax

  2109 Piney Lane Drive

  Tampa, Florida

  The evening air was thick and heavy following a dousing autumn rain. Rain.

  Right this minute, Myles hated rain. Apparently, too much rain had been Ashley’s downfall. Or maybe the problem was too much of Myles. She wouldn’t be missing, wouldn’t have gone away, if not for him.

  He smelled Jacob before the other man made his presence known. Myles decided to wait, to respect his brother-in-law’s desire to remain hidden. Jacob Darke was Ashley’s brother and close confidant. From their first meeting, Myles had felt like he was on probation with Jacob. The intervening years had done nothing to change that.

  “One day, I was just sitting around, hanging out, not doing anything much— hating you. It was a normal Tuesday, really.” Jacob began speaking as he moved closer to Myles on the patio of Bernadette and Marc’s Hillsboro County, Florida home.

  Myles nodded, accepting. Jacob had been angry at him, had hated him, for a long time. “The usual, then?” he asked without rancor.

  “Yeah,” Jacob agreed with a shrug. “The usual. But then I knew.”

  “Knew what?” Myles was trying to make head or tails out of what Jacob was telling him. Trying to fight through his own pain to understand that of Ashley’s brother.

  It wasn’t going like he’d hoped.

  “Knew everything, brother. Everything,” Jacob clipped out succinctly. Myles shook his head, not understanding. “About you. Everything.” Jacob said one more time.

  And then, the penny dropped. Myles followed it down, sitting hard on the ground with a thud, his head spinning. He leaned back on his hands to look up at Jacob.

  “It’s a legend. You can’t be…” he took a deep breath. This was a situation nobody ever talked about. He barely knew anything here. He was traveling in the dark.

  According to lore, Jacob was supposed to light his path. “The pack seer…it’s not real. How can it be real? Nobody even bloody mentions it.”

  Jacob squatted, facing Myles--within arm’s reach if Myles just leaned forward.

  And he wanted to, wanted to touch Jacob, to understand, even to be closer to his mate’s brother.

  “I’m real, Myles. Christopher is real.” Jacob shook his head, a smile curling one side of his mouth. “Yeah, Ashley’s your mate, and Christopher and I get the sight. It’s got to be better than being your mate, anyhow.”

  Myles shook his head again. “I’m trying to follow here, Jacob. This is…odd, to say the least.”

  Jacob extended a hand to him, helping the stunned werewolf to his feet. “You think it’s odd, do you? Well, try it from my perspective,” he smirked, an eyebrow arched.

  “You’re really very nice looking,” Myles mused, not realizing he’d spoken aloud.

  “You aren’t thinking of switching teams are you?” Jacob stepped back, amused alarm written across his dark features.

  “Very funny, mate,” Myles growled to cover up his embarrassment. “And anyway, if you’re the seer, you tell me.”

  Jacob shook his head, chuckling. “So anyway, Christopher and I are seers, yes. It’s all together.” At Myles blank look, he moved to a chair, seating himself. Myles lowered himself to another chair, watching him. “See, it seems that, if a human woman is a werewolf’s mate, then her brothers—not her fathers, not her sons—have the potential to be pack seers.”

  “Half the women in this pack are human, pet,” Myles reminded him, still feeling dizzy, but not as odd as before. “We ought to be fair lousy with seers in that case.” And then something occurred to him. “Hey! I should be a seer then, yeah?”

  “Uh, no,” Jacob smiled his understanding. “It makes sense that you’d ask, but no, the thing is, the abilities apparently don’t kick in until said human mate actually mates with the Were and nobody dies—I guess you know that happens pretty often, too. So…” he arched a brow at Myles who nodded, saying nothing, waiting for Jacob to continue.

  Myles wouldn’t stop this explanation for any amount of money. “So, by the time that your sister was really and truly mated with her Were, you were a Were already.”

  Myles looked at him for long moments. Finally he managed to sort the questions that were plaguing him.

  “How do you know that? How does…how does it happen? Tell me something to make me believe you are a seer now…and Christopher? He is as well?” It was all jumbled up in his head, and he really wanted to just accept it all. Jacob was sitting with him, talking, not angry. He was a fool for questioning things, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. “Wait, can you read my mind?”

  Jacob stretched back in his chair, long legs out in front of him. He wasn’t a lot bigger than Myles, but he was taller, well built.

  “Read your mind? Not as such,” Jacob began. Myles made a “come on” gesture with his hands, encouraging him to continue. “I just know things…I know what you feel when I need to know that. I know what should happen next and what will go wrong or right depending on how things are going. What I don’t know, Christopher does.” He shrugged apologetically at Myles. “We compliment each other.”

  “So…tell me something then. That nobody else knows,” Myles clarified. He was half afraid of what Jacob would say, but he needed proof that the legend was true, that his stand-offish brother in law wasn’t having fun at his expense.

  “Tell you….hmmm,” Jacob tapped the side of his nose with one long finger. “You want me to tell you that you’re mad at your parents for not loving your sister enough? Should I tell you that you’re mad at my mom for pushing Tav away when he was hurt? Or maybe I should tell you that you never expected to be with Ashley because you don’t think anyone can really love you.” Myles stared at Jacob, mouth open, wanting to be angry but knowing the truth when he heard it. “When you ended up mating with her, it had to be a dream, didn’t it? Nothing that special could really happen to you, right? Nobody as wonderful as Ash could love a loser like you…”

  Jacob’s tone was kind, his manner calm, still that didn’t matter. “How…I don’t know what to say,” Myles stuttered, upset, taken aback. His deepest hidden truths were pouring out of a young man he was certain hated him. What would he do now?

  “Don’t worry, Myles, I’m on your side. Nothing I’ve said to you will ever go further. It’s between us. I don’t know anything I don’t need to know and I don’t say anything to anyone that I’m not supposed to.”

  “When did this all…come about?” Myles asked for want of a better way to phrase his question. His mind was racing, confused. He was grabbing at straws now, trying to make sense of this amazing situation. “I mean…last year, the year before?”

  Myles had mated with Ashley on her eighteenth birthday. Jacob would have been sixteen then, and only just turned. Was Jacob—and worse yet, Christopher, two years h
is brother’s junior—privy to the events of that fateful night? The night that Myles had claimed Ashley’s virginity and marked her as his mate only to accuse her of trying to trap him. He hung his head, embarrassed.

  “It was my eighteenth birthday when I knew, Myles. And Christopher was eighteen before he learned. In fact, he’s still getting used to it. Don’t worry,” Jacob leaned forward, looking intently at Myles. “I don’t know your thoughts so much as how you feel. How members of my pack feel…I can draw on that when I need to know. I guess it makes me part of the pack in a way I never was before. I belong.”

  He was trying to reassure him and Myles appreciated it. “I’m just…you know, knocked for six, mate, yeah? Just give me a minute to process this.” Jacob nodded and leaned back again. “Uh, why are you telling me now?”

  “Ah yes,” Jacob smiled, tapping his fingertips together. “The million dollar question, finally.” His tenor was deep and musical, not the same as Lakon Montgomery’s famous singing voice, but an appealing voice in its own right. Myles knew Jacob, who sang professionally with his brother and two of his cousins, would be every bit as successful a singer as his uncle.

  “I was bound to ask, wasn’t I?” Myles grinned weakly. The entire episode was fantastic to him, beginning with sitting so calmly and talking with Jacob in the first place.

  “Yes you were,” Jacob nodded solemnly. “And the answer is simple. You have work to do. I’m here to guide you.”

  “I’m eighteen years older than you, luv, you have to admit that sounds…hokey.”

  Jacob shrugged. “Hey, I don’t make up the rules, buddy, I just follow them. You, however, enforce ‘em. That’s why you need to fix what’s broken. I’m going to help.”

  “What’s broken then?” Myles asked, almost reluctantly. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know. And while Jacob’s enigmatic presence was distracting him from Ashley’s plight, it was never far from his thoughts.