A Fragile Family

by J. J. Massa

  Myles felt his lip curl.

  “Really?” The questioner asked.

  “No, not really. ” They both chuckled at his red face.

  Shaking his head, the questioner turned to the camera.

  “Let’s take a look as the CEO of one of this country’s top companies and a recognized dancer and writer of family oriented animation movies…I’m going to have to work on that one, huh? Okay, let’s watch you guys respond to the flooding disaster in Haiti.”

  The picture changed to show Ashley and Sherman trouping down a flooded street in what looked to be an old-fashioned or poor town. There must have been more people behind them. A leg occasionally made its way on camera, and certainly, someone followed behind them carrying that camera. Myles could see automobiles submerged up to their grills in dirty water.

  “Watch it, Ash. I don’t want you to slip. There’s a foot of mud here,” Sherman ordered sternly as the team neared the door of a ramshackle hut.

  As he spoke, she grabbed for the door and did slip. Sherman caught her and held her front to back for a minute. A body came bumping out.

  “Sorry,” she sighed. “I don’t think I’ll ever get used to that.”

  “Me neither,” he sighed in answer. “You got it now?”

  “Yeah, I’m all right.” Sherman released her and she started to move inside. She stopped. “Wait!” she called back over her shoulder.

  The roof to the hut had been blown away in the strong winds of the storm and the interior could be seen clearly.

  Myles watched as she slowly moved into the center of the room. Suddenly, a cracking sound was heard.

  “Stay back!” she warned, her high pitched yell ending on a shriek.

  Another ominous cracking sound and then a loud whoosh, and Ashley disappeared.

  “Ash!” Sherman bellowed as he moved forward carefully.

  Spitting and coughing seemed to come from what looked like a hole in the mud.

  Sherman dropped to his stomach.

  “Sherman,” Ashley’s choked voice called. “It’s a cavern or basement.”

  “I’m coming, sweet cheeks, don’t…”

  “Need water. Mouthful of ick,” she choked.

  Someone handed Sherman a canteen and he scooted toward Ashley. Myles was perched on the edge of the couch.

  “Don’t get too close!” he called back to the rest of the team as he continued inching through the muck.

  The view of events had dropped to a level just above Sherman’s head and about three feet to his left. As the camera panned in front of Sherman, it landed on a mud-covered Ashley hanging from a hole in the floor.

  When Sherman reached her, he scooped an arm around her and opened the canteen with his teeth. Carefully, he brought it to her mouth, tipped it up, and pulled it away.

  After Ashley spit what was in her mouth out and gagged, she said to Sherman, “Lower me a little.” He did. “Ayude a estar por el camino.” Help is on the way she’d told someone. “There’s people down there—some alive and some not,” she informed Sherman breathlessly.

  The next five or so minutes showed a muddy Sherman Landon of Landon International and a muddier Ashley West-Montgomery hauling people, both alive and dead, out of the hole in the floor of the dilapidated hut.

  It was obviously a cut scene that went on longer and ended in a harrowing few moments of Ashley and Sherman trying to head back to the base camp. On the way, they’d thought they heard sounds in a building.

  When Sherman got the door open a little, a deluge of wet grain and dead and living rats poured out. It was a frightening and hideous event that included Ashley helping Sherman dislodge a particularly resilient rat from his forearm.

  The segment ended at the base camp with both people being rinsed just a little and stitched up after receiving a shot. They were splitting a supper of thick soda-bread when the scene dissolved back into the sitting room.

  Myles turned the VCR off for a minute and sat trying to control his breathing. He thought only of the last event he’d seen onscreen. Oddly enough, although it had been traumatic, it was less painful than thinking through all the other things she’d said.

  Chapter Six

  Home of Ashley West-Montgomery

  801 Hillsboro Avenue

  Tampa, Florida

  Myles shot upright on the bed when he heard the door open. He’d been at Ashley’s home for days. He’d been dozing—just about given up on her.

  “I want you to get help. Counseling,” he heard the voice he recognized as Sherman Landon say.

  “You first.” Ashley replied.

  “We do suck, don’t we?” asked Sherman.

  “Like a couple of Hoover vacuum cleaners,” Ashley agreed. “Renewal or denial?”

  Myles didn’t understand the question.

  “Renewal, I think,” Sherman said. “I’m going to go home and tell Lilith that I was one of the people buried in the mudslide in Camiguin and find out if she cares that I lived.”

  “If she doesn’t?” Ashley asked.

  “Then I’ll get help, I guess. You?” Myles realized that the two had a long-standing relationship.

  “I’m gonna stick with denial, I think. Myles is my mate. The problem is he’ll never see me as a grown up individual. I’ve known my own mind since I was a kid and he’ll never accept it.”

  “I’m so sorry, sweet cheeks. Does he know you do this? Did he see your last cartoon movie?”

  “No and I don’t know. That’s why I know it’s hopeless. ‘Tis better to have loved and lost or something, right? Maybe I’ll start dancing again…” Ashley trailed off.

  “You lived, baby doll. Sit down and cry for a week. Eat some ice cream. If you can’t face the rising sun in three days, get help, promise?”

  “You, too, Sherm?” she asked.

  “Me, too, Ash. We lived again. Damn it!” He sounded genuinely sorry that this was true.

  “There’s always next time, huh?” she whispered.

  He caressed her cheek, ignoring the tears flowing down. “Yeah, let’s try again— there’s always a next time.” Sherman kissed her forehead and Myles heard the door close behind him.

  Myles watched, frozen, as Ashley sank to the couch and wrapped her arms around her knees. She sat there for long seconds. Rocking back and forth, she collapsed to her side and buried her face into the back of the couch. It took Myles almost a minute to see that she was shaking with uncontrollable sobs.

  Without a word, he moved into the room and scooped her up, carrying her into the bedroom. She didn’t acknowledge him nor did she stop crying. She continued to sob against his chest as if she couldn’t help herself.

  She didn’t stop crying when he peeled her clothes off nor did she when he turned her into his arms and held her against him.

  ****

  Home of Mik and Elke Montgomery

  Montgomery Mountain

  North Carolina

  “Gandad,” Jacob addressed Mik hopefully, “I’d really like you to come with me.”

  “Son, she’s your own mother, how hard is she gonna be on you?” Mik asked reasonably.

  Jacob tilted his head and gave his adopted grandfather a hard look. Mik Montgomery looked like a very large, gray timber wolf. His voice, however, was a deep, ringing baritone, warm and welcoming or cold and foreboding depending on what it was he had to say. He was the product of a werewolf father and a wolf mother and did not have the ability to change into human form. For all intents and purposes, he was a talking dog.

  “Ask me that the next time you tell Gramma Elke something you know she doesn’t want to hear,” Jacob countered with a raised brow.

  Mik sighed gustily. “You make a fair point, boy.” He cocked his head and considered Jacob for a moment. “So Ashley’s going to be okay, though?” he asked, a hint of worry in his eyes.

  “Gandad!” Jacob growled, and then straightened. Mik was the pack alpha. He had every right to ask this. If anyone needed to know what was coming, it would be Mik.
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  Unfortunately, Jacob could only tell him so much. And things could change so easily…

  “She’ll come back, yes. Will she be okay? That’s going to depend on Myles. In fact, everything from here on out will probably depend on Myles.”

  “That’s a helluva lot of responsibility, Jacob,” Mik observed quietly.

  “I don’t decide who gets to do what!” Jacob growled, turning away. It was a heavy burden, the knowing and the telling. Sometimes he really didn’t want to be the one who knew what was coming next.

  Jacob wouldn’t want trade places with Christopher—his brother’s responsibilities were no easier. Christopher would be there to help individual pack members through trials and tribulations. While Jacob would be there for larger issues, events that involved the larger pack or several pack members at a time.

  Needless to say, the brothers would support each other and there wasn’t a job description for a seer—no clear delineation of roles. This time, the weight of responsibility fell on Jacob’s shoulders. He found it heavy indeed.

  He felt a solid bump against his rib cage and turned, wrapping his arms around the thick furry body of his grandfather.

  “It’s okay, son. I know it’s not your fault, and I know it’s a heavy cross to bear. The fact that this is your own sister and mother…it’s going to be tough. Of course I’ll go with you and help all I can. I’m proud to have you in my pack, Jacob Darke. I love you, son.”

  Jacob sniffed deeply, burying his face in the course fur. He might be twenty-one and nearly grown, but that didn’t stop him from needing love and reassurance sometimes.

  He knew he was damned lucky to be a member of Mik Montgomery’s pack. Damned lucky.

  ****

  Home of Ashley West-Montgomery

  801 Hillsboro Avenue

  Tampa, Florida

  Ashley didn’t know if this was a dream or reality. Everything seemed to be ebbing and flowing right now. One minute, she was buried in filth and sludge, trapped in a cave with a bleeding child in her arms. The next minute, she was almost naked and pressed tight against the man she’d loved since she was eight years old.

  Right this second, she didn’t care how real her dream was. Myles was here, he was holding her, stroking her, murmuring sweet words in her ear.

  “Shh, Princess, I’m here. I love you and I’ll never leave you again,” he crooned, rocking her in his arms, cuddling her against his chest.

  She buried her face against his throat and kissed him, nipping and licking at the skin of his muscular shoulder. “Myles, kiss me, love me,” she whispered, rubbing her face on his bare chest.

  “Princess,” Myles groaned, pulling back and looking down at her. “Are you…”

  Ashley didn’t give him time to finish. Leaning forward, she pressed her lips against his, nipping at his lower lip. Myles groaned and Ashley pressed her advantage, kissing first one corner of his mouth and trailing her tongue along the seam to the other corner.

  “Please, Myles,” she begged into his mouth, “I need you.”

  “Oh, god,” he moaned, laying her down, his mouth never leaving hers as he took over the kiss.

  His mouth covered hers, parting her lips, his tongue sweeping in, tasting her, owning her as he savored and charted every corner, silky satin decadence taking over her world. It was exactly what Ashley wanted, needed, yearned for as she threaded her fingers through the thick pelt of hair on his chest, teasing a tiny peaked nipple hidden there.

  She felt his hands at her back, fumbling with her bra, and then easing the straps down her arms and off. Arching her back, she offered a taut breast to him, threading her fingers through his soft hair as his lips closed over her nipple. He teased at it with his teeth, sucking it, causing it to harden painfully before kissing his way over to the other breast to lavish the same treatment on it.

  Swirling his tongue around the hard bud, his hands continued their journey south, easing her flimsy panties down her legs. Ashley helped, pushing them down the rest of the way before reaching for the waistband of the sweat pants he wore.

  His fingers, having trailed sensuously across her abdomen, were teasing at her swollen lips. As his fingertips rubbed back and forth across her clitoris, her body tightened with need. She was hot and wet when he stroked her clit with his thumb.

  Ashley gasped when she felt one large finger enter her, sliding deliciously inside.

  His had been the only touch she’d ever felt there besides her own and she was ravenous for him. The teasing finger pulled out and inched upward along her slit, over and around her throbbing nub, until her halting breaths became cries.

  As the drumbeat of arousal coursed through her, a second finger penetrated, exploring her walls, spreading her open. “Myles, please,” she begged huskily, her own hands tugging at his pants. He kicked out of them, giving her access to his body.

  Finally, she wrapped her hand around his heavy erection, squeezing lightly and exploring with her fingertips. It was so hard, but so soft, a bubble of fluid at the tip, and too big around for her hand to circle it completely.

  His cock throbbed in her palm and she lifted her leg, draping it over his hip.

  “Princess,” he groaned, his mouth coming down hard over hers again, lips teasing hers apart as his tongue dominated her. “I want you so much, love you so much,” he husked, pulling his fingers out of her and wrapping them around the hand that held him.

  “Make love to me, Myles. Show me that I’m real,” Ashley breathed into his mouth, tracing his lips with her tongue.

  “Oh luv,” he moaned, “you are the only thing that’s ever been real to me.”

  Ashley felt the blunt head of his cock pushing against her wet center, slipping in her body's juices as he slowly entered her. She groaned deeply as he filled her, tightening her legs around his waist and hanging on.

  Myles pulled out and pushed in again, moving inside her clinging sheath, slowly at first, then more quickly, sinking deeply inside her with each thrust. She cried out with every plunge, her knees gripping his hips as he drove high and hard inside her.

  Again and again, he filled her, the missing piece of her, the only one who could satisfy the empty ache inside of her. She met his thrusts, her body spiraling higher. Her nipples brushed against his chest, the gentle abrasion only pushing her arousal up another notch.

  His hips pumped with a fierce, driving force—straining, reaching. She felt something building inside of her and then everything shattered. From a distance, she heard her own hoarse voice cry out, felt her body close tight around Myles, and heard his deep roar as he bit down on her shoulder, and his hot seed spurting inside of her.

  He warmed her from the inside out. She was finally safe.

  ****

  Home of Tracey and Tavist Darke

  Darke Woods Road

  Talking Rock, GA

  “Mom! You can’t blame Myles for this!” Jacob was valiantly hanging onto his calm, but Mik wasn’t sure how much longer that would last. He hadn’t seen the young man lose his temper in almost five years and it appeared that he was due.

  “I can blame Myles for whatever I want, Jacob Ryan! Don’t you take that tone with me, either! I’ll blame him for global warming if I think he deserves it and right now, I’m not sure that he doesn’t!” Tracey Darke glared at her oldest son while ignoring her husband, her younger son, and Mik completely.

  “It was Ashley’s choice to work in Disaster Relief and Myles didn’t know about it at all, until Aunt Bernadette and Uncle Marc told him she was missing last week. He’s in the same position you are…” Mik covered his eyes with a paw, knowing that was the wrong tack to take with fiery, redheaded Tracey.

  “And that’s another thing!” Tracey advanced on Jacob, jabbing him in the chest.

  “Why did they tell him first and how could they keep that from us all this time?”

  Whirling around, she faced her husband and demanded, “Tavist, you get on the phone and yell at your brother! I want answers right now!
”

  “Mother!” Jacob growled. “Myles is her husband! He gets to know first. And Ashley swore Uncle Marc and Aunt Bernadette to secrecy. She’s an adult and she did what she wanted to do!”

  Tracey stared at Jacob in shock before dissolving into a puddle of tears. “My baby is missing,” she hiccupped, “and you’re yelling at me!”

  Mik nosed Jacob out of the way and pushed Christopher forward. Jacob eased over to the edge of the kitchen, and Tav squeezed his shoulder on the way by, before wrapping his arms around Tracey. Christopher moved up behind his mother and stroked her hair, murmuring platitudes.

  The boys made a good team, Mik believed. He was still stunned and proud that his pack had been blessed with seers, and during his lifetime, too. Jacob had come to Mik right away when he learned what he was.

  It had been an amazing day, and every day since then had been richer for it. Jacob had told him three years ago that he was a pack seer and that Christopher would be as well. To Mik, that meant that his pack was destined for great things. He’d heard of other packs that had seers, but it had been long, long ago.

  The Montgomery-Livingston pack was huge, certainly one of the largest in the United States, maybe the largest. With the addition of the de la Rosa pack, Tayler’s pack, there was no doubt that it was the largest. But they hadn’t incorporated that pack officially. It would be up to Tayler and Rafe to decide what to do there.

  Jacob had also endorsed waiting and had told Mik who to place in the temporary position of leadership there. He’d given Mik some insight about who would succeed him as Alpha and many other tidbits of important information. There was a lot that neither Jacob nor Christopher would share with him, and oftentimes, what they would say was enigmatic at the very least.

  Mik shook his head to clear it, surprised to see Jacob dialing the phone.

  “Pick up, it’s Jacob,” the young man clipped into the handset. Mik could hear…Myles? That was Myles answering the other end.

  “Hallo? Jacob, she’s here,” he heard Myles respond. “Ashley’s here. Um…we just…”