“Another threat always appears,” I said. “I’ve gotten used to that. I can only tackle one problem at a time. This problem is over. The next will come when it comes.”
“So you’ll do what?” Lincoln wasn’t ready to cede the argument. He had no idea every word he spewed in my direction was a complete waste of time. “We could work together to solve this.”
“No, we can’t.” I rolled my neck until it cracked and heaved out a sigh. “You want to control us. I won’t ever allow that to happen.”
“We’re never going to allow that to happen,” Aric corrected, surveying the back of the Explorer as he studied his handiwork.
“We’re never going to allow that to happen.” I bobbed my head in agreement. “You’re not ready to admit you’re not in control of this situation, and we won’t allow you to control us. We’re at an impasse.”
“We could negotiate,” Lincoln offered.
“Negotiations require two sides working for a common good. Your side won’t compromise, so there is no negotiation.”
“But … what will you do?”
“Go home,” I replied, smiling as I watched Sami shyly wave at Joshua. She seemed somehow perkier after shifting. There was a spring in her step and a lightness about her shoulders. “We’ll go home, live our lives, and figure out the next step when it becomes necessary.”
“Do you think you can handle every problem on your own, Mrs. Lake-Winters?”
I shrugged. “I’m not on my own.” I beamed at Aric as he closed the back of the Explorer. “I have everything I need to help me fight the battle. It turns out we don’t need you to make things better. We just need each other.”
“You’ve got that right.” Aric made a smacking sound as he kissed my cheek. “Where is the kid?”
I pointed. “Exchanging digits with her boyfriend.”
Aric’s smile slipped. “I’ll rip that kid’s head off his shoulders and give it to Claudette as a souvenir.”
I snickered as I shook my head. “She’s a woman now. Didn’t you hear what she said?”
Aric pursed his lips. “She’s my baby.”
My heart rolled at his earnest expression. “She’s more than one thing now,” I said after a moment. “She’s not entirely a woman, but she’s not a baby either.”
“She’ll always be a baby to me.”
I pressed my lips together as I shook my head and focused on Lincoln. “Do you need anything else?”
“You can’t leave without striking a deal,” Lincoln argued, his voice firm. “It’s necessary to your survival.”
“I think the problem is that you think it’s necessary to your survival,” I corrected. “You want my power. You want Sami’s power. You don’t care what we want or need. I’m not interested in bolstering your power base.”
“But … .”
I shook my head to cut him off. “We’re done. You lost your negotiating power when you tried to manipulate me. Last night I told Debbie that I mean what I say. I meant what I said to you. I’m done playing your games. It’s finished.”
Lincoln looked hopeful when he shifted his eyes to Aric. “We can help you keep your family safe.”
“My family will be safe, but it won’t have anything to do with you or your efforts,” Aric replied, holding out his hand as Sami approached. “Are you ready?”
Sami eyed his hand, confused. “What are you doing?”
“I’m going to erase Joshua’s number from your phone.”
Sami rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
I smirked as I ushered Sami to my side of the vehicle and pulled open the rear passenger door. Sami climbed inside and grinned as Trouble scrambled up beside her. “You need to give our father a break,” I admonished. “This is a lot for him to absorb in such a short amount of time.”
“What fun would that be?” Sami challenged. “I want to make him suffer a bit first.”
I bit my lip as I slid a sidelong look in Aric’s direction and shut the door, closing Sami off from a potentially rough conversation. “She may get that from me,” I offered.
Aric barked out a laugh as he shook his head. “She definitely gets that from you. Are you ready to head home?”
I nodded.
“Then let’s do it.” Aric cupped the back of my head and gave me a long kiss before playfully swatting my rear end. “Let’s see if we can keep the bathroom breaks to a minimum on the way home, shall we?”
“No promises.”
Lincoln’s eyes were angry brown saucers as Aric nudged him out of the way and headed toward the driver’s seat. “You can’t just leave. We’re not done here.”
Aric glanced over his shoulder. “We’re done. You don’t have anything we need, and we’re not sharing what we have. It’s finished.”
Lincoln sputtered something but I couldn’t make it out as Aric slammed the door shut. I raised an eyebrow and waited.
“It feels good to be free,” Aric said.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure that I have everything I want,” Aric replied. “I have you. I have the kid. I have this life. That’s what I want.”
I leaned over the console and pressed a kiss to his mouth. “Me, too.”
Aric sank into the kiss, briefly pressing his eyes shut. The perfect shared moment was brief.
“Omigod!” Sami screeched. “Are you trying to kill me?”
Aric chuckled as he slipped his key into the ignition. “The more things change, the more they stay the same.”
“Welcome to a world where you have two women in your life,” I teased.
“I’m looking forward to it.”
He said the words, but I wasn’t sure if he meant them. For now, though, our world is complete, and that’s enough.
Everlasting Covenant
Dying Covenant Trilogy Book 3
One
“Summer’s almost over.”
I sat on the ground, my legs bent at the knee and my elbows pressed against the ground as I reclined against the hard earth in my backyard. Summer was definitely almost over. The heat beat down upon me as it should for a late August day, but you could feel the change coming as the wind uneasily shifted. Summers in Michigan feel all too brief when you have long winters barreling down on you.
“We still have time,” I said after a beat, shifting my eyes to my daughter. Sami Winters, her dark hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, attempted a handstand as her dog, Trouble, nipped at her feet. She managed to remain erect for only a few seconds before toppling over. “That wasn’t very good.”
Sami scowled as she dusted off her hands and glared at me. We look nothing alike. She’s dark, with brown eyes and her father’s olive skin. I’m fair and blonde, blue eyes peering out from beneath my lashes. Most people would assume we’re not related because Sami is the spitting image of her father. That assumption falls by the wayside quickly when Sami opens her mouth and spews the snark. Then there can be no doubt that she’s my daughter.
“Thanks so much for your help,” Sami deadpanned, her eyes flashing. She gets her competitive streak from me. Er, well, actually she gets her competitive streak from both her father and me. Just last night we had a competition to see who could get naked faster in the hot tub, for example. “I never would’ve realized it wasn’t very good without your help.”
Sami has been a sarcastic wonder since I gave birth to her twelve years ago. No joke. She looked at me after hours of hard labor and the way she studied my face told me she was going to be a handful. She had her father’s beautiful looks, but in that moment, when she stared at me and started screaming, I knew she would take her behavioral cues from me.
“I’m not sure why you’re doing this,” I admitted, changing course as I stared at the thick trees that surrounded our mid-Michigan home. The security system was down despite the fact that we’d fought off two paranormal entities since the spring – entities that were determined to snag Sami and drain her powers – and the simple knowledge that anyone could walk onto ou
r property when the mood struck left me feeling vulnerable.
“I’m doing it because I want to make the cheerleading squad,” Sami replied, rolling her eyes. “We’ve been over this a hundred times.”
“Yes, but you’re in middle school,” I reminded her. “They don’t have cheerleaders in middle school.”
Sami snorted. “That shows what you know. Seventh and eighth grade is when you have pre-cheer.”
Is that really a thing? I don’t remember that being a thing. Even though we live in the middle of nowhere, the school Sami attends is ten times bigger than the one I graduated from so long ago.
Yup. I’m officially old. Me. Zoe Lake-Winters, the most powerful mage in the Midwest, is an old woman. Sure, I don’t look old (and I certainly act immature when I feel things are getting dull), but I’m starting to feel old. I admitted that to my husband Aric the previous evening, in fact. He thought it was funny. He said we were still young and full of energy. I’m not so sure. I mean, instead of going out on Friday nights to party, Aric and I prefer getting into our pajamas and binge watching something on Netflix. The nights we can shove Sami off on her grandparents are even better because we do the binge-watching sans pajamas, which makes us feel young and frisky despite the fact that we’re old and have a daughter who will be a teenager in less than a year. How did that even happen?
“What are you thinking?” Sami asked, knitting her eyebrows as she stared. “Your mind just went to a freaky place, didn’t it?”
That matter was up for a bit of debate. “I didn’t go to a freaky place,” I countered. “I was simply thinking about your father.”
“Oh, gross.” Sami adopted a disgusted expression. “You were thinking about doing it, weren’t you?”
Not entirely. “No.”
“Liar,” Sami hissed, shaking her head so vehemently that her charcoal ponytail swished back and forth. “That’s all you and Dad think about. I hear you whispering when you think no one is listening. It totally makes me want to throw up.”
“Well, that’s on you,” I shot back. “If we’re whispering that means we don’t want you to hear. If you go out of your way to hear when we’re trying to talk amongst ourselves … well … you deserve to throw up.”
Sami’s expression was so hilarious I had to bite my cheek to keep from laughing. I wanted to photograph it and put it in a frame on the coffee table, save it for posterity (or to blackmail her with when she actually became a teenager). I couldn’t help but wonder if my mother felt the same way when I made that face as a tween terror.
“You know that you and Dad are freaks, right?” Sami refused to back down. “No one else has parents who do it as much as you do. I know what you’re doing when Dad does that exaggerated yawning thing four nights a week and says that you have to go to bed early because you’re old and tired. I know what happens when you lock the door.”
This conversation was quickly getting out of control. “Oh, yeah? What are we doing?”
“It.”
“What’s it?”
“You know what it is.”
“I’m not sure I do.” I made a big show of tapping my chin. “I am getting old, after all. My memory isn’t what it used to be. I need you to refresh my memory. What is ‘it?’”
“Oh, geez.” Sami tilted her head to the side, Trouble mimicking her stance and adding another adorable photo to my internal memory album. “I know all about sex. I had a health class last year. Remember?”
I did remember. I remembered Aric having a complete and total meltdown when he realized someone was going to explain sex to his only daughter before she turned thirty. Then she attended the class and they showed her the birth of a baby – with forceps, mind you – and she had nightmares for a week. I couldn’t shut either of them up.
“Well, if you know what sex is and you’re convinced that’s what your father and I are doing every night when he does his yawning thing, why are you talking about it?” I challenged. “You’re clearly grossed out by the whole process – and I would keep up that pretense when you’re around your dad because he vastly prefers it – so one wouldn’t think you’d want to talk about it.”
“I didn’t bring it up,” Sami sniffed.
“You totally brought it up,” I countered.
“That’s because you had your sex face on.”
I tried to swallow my laughter … and failed. That was so not my “sex” face. “Whatever. I know Dad and I being so affectionate in public grosses you out. You’ve voiced your concerns numerous times, and we’ve stopped kissing in front of your friends. What more do you want?”
“You haven’t stopped kissing,” Sami snapped. “We went for ice cream three days ago and you and Dad disappeared behind the ice cream shop for ten minutes. Darcy Denham saw what you were doing … and she said it involved tongues.”
I smiled at the memory, my cheeks warming. It definitely involved tongues. “We were sharing ice cream.”
“In each other’s mouths?” Sami was offended. “You’re gross. Just admit you’re gross and we’ll both be happy.”
I had a feeling Sami wouldn’t be happy until her hormones subsided, and that wouldn’t be for at least another thirty years or so. “I don’t know who you’re trying to kid,” I offered, changing tactics. “Last week I watched you bypass the parental controls on the television so you could watch Outlander on Starz. We both know why you were watching it.”
“I … didn’t do that.” Sami was mortified. “You told me not to mess with the parental controls so I don’t. I’m a good daughter.”
She was far from a good daughter. Granted, she did her best because she was a good girl at heart, but she had her moments like every child. The other mothers at the school thought their children could do no wrong. I accepted that Sami could – and would – do a lot of wrong while she was growing up. That’s how kids learn, after all. I know I never learned a lesson properly until I first made a huge mistake. Sami follows in my footsteps when it comes to that.
“You’re a wonderful daughter,” I said, feigning a serene smile. “You’re also the kind of daughter who watches Outlander when she’s not supposed to.”
“I … .” Sami broke off, biting her lip. “I’m interested in Scottish history.”
“You’re interested in that Scottish actor who plays Jamie,” I corrected. “He gets naked in practically every episode, and there’s a lot of graphic sex on that show. Don’t worry, I don’t care. I would’ve done the same thing at your age.”
Sami was understandably suspicious. “You’ve seen the show? It’s very educational, right?”
I snorted. “Yes, all of the sex is very educational.” I rolled my eyes. “I don’t care if you see the nudity. You have to learn about it eventually and I don’t want to have to draw you pictures or something. That will be embarrassing for both of us.”
“That’s one of the few ways you’re a good mother,” Sami noted. “My friend Becca’s mother made her watch a video about the human body – you know, good touches and bad touches – and then answer questions when she was done.”
I shuddered at the thought. “That’s terrible.”
“It’s totally terrible,” Sami agreed. “I like that you think it’s okay that I learn about sex from television.”
“I think it’s okay that you learn about sex from Outlander,” I clarified. “Don’t go watching Sex and the City reruns and learn from that. Outlander is basically music montages and an unnaturally pretty guy making sure a girl gets satisfied before he does.”
Sami’s eyes widened when she realized what I was insinuating. “Omigod!”
I pressed my lips together to keep from laughing. “You should take some lessons from that episode, by the way. I’ve made your father watch it three times.”
“Ugh. I want to die.” Sami slapped her hand to her eyes while I giggled, which was exactly how my husband found us a few minutes later.
Aric Winters, wolf shifter and businessman extraordinaire, still looked exactly
the same as when I fell in love with him. Sure, there were small traces of gray at his temples – he blamed me for them – but his body remained a wall of muscle and his heart was still a pile of mush where Sami and I were concerned. He was the perfect husband, a man who wanted to protect his family but was willing to step back and let the women fight alongside him if it became necessary.
I never knew it was possible to love someone so much, but he taught me otherwise. We worked together to teach Sami that there are different levels of love and she wanted to reach for the top rung on that particular ladder.
“Hello, ladies. I thought I might find you out here.” Aric dropped a kiss on the top of my head as he settled next to me. “What’s going on? Why is Sami hiding her eyes?”
“Don’t answer that question,” Sami barked, refusing to remove her hand from her face. “I’ll die of embarrassment if you tell him.”
That admission only served to make Aric salivate. “Ooh, tell me,” he instructed. “Did you do something to embarrass our daughter, Zoe?”
Sami peeked between her fingers and glared when I smirked. “She always does something to embarrass me. You know that. It’s not funny, Mom!”
I couldn’t stop myself from chuckling. “It’s a little funny,” I prodded, turning my eyes to Aric. “We were talking about sex.”
Aric’s amusement shifted to worry as he glanced between us. “What does that mean?”
“It means that the conversation started out with Sami’s usual ‘omigod, you and Dad are so gross’ comments and then it turned to Outlander.”
Aric stilled. “That television show you keep making me watch where the guy in the dress gets naked every episode?”
“It’s a kilt” I corrected. “And yes.”
Aric and I have been together so long that it’s easy to read his body language. He was clearly uncomfortable with today’s topic, even though we watched the show whenever we had a certain itch to scratch. We used it as inspiration … and background noise to make sure Sami can’t hear anything now that she’s shifted for the first time and picked up more acute wolf hearing.
Dying Covenant: The Complete Series Page 54