by E A Price
“Since when?!” yelled Deanna.
Her mom clucked her tongue. “There’s no need to get upset, pumpkin. We only decided to get married a couple of days ago, before that, we were just living together.”
“Oh.” Another fiancée, to be added to the other illustrious men her mom found herself engaged to over the years. So far, that was a list of six. Her mom was yet to make it down the aisle.
“Well?”
“Well, what?” Deanna was on autopilot; she was too busy trying to tamp down her misgivings about her mom’s news.
Her mom huffed. “Aren’t you going to congratulate me?”
Ugh. “Congratulations.”
“You could sound a little more happy, you know,” said her mom, peevishly.
“Whoopee!” sneered Deanna.
Her mom grunted her annoyance. “Lord, you are such a downer, pumpkin. You can see why I don’t tell you things, can’t you? Just because you’re unhappy, just because you can’t find a man, you can’t stand it when anyone else does!”
Her bobcat grumbled vociferously, and Deanna was about to object in outrage, but her mom shushed her.
“I suppose it was a bit much to expect you to be happy for me,” she murmured, in a martyred tone. “But I really called to let you know we’re coming to visit in a few days.”
Deanna was about to argue, but her mom cut her off with that news. “You are?”
“Mmm hmm, Gary’s dying to meet you all.”
At least he knew they existed. That was something at least. “So, does that mean you’re moving back?”
In spite of everything that had happened, in spite of her mom’s less than wonderful behavior in the past, the idea that her mom might actually come home, and settle down, and be the mom she always dreamed of still warmed her. Yep, she was 22 and all she really wanted was for her mommy to come home.
Her mom hesitated. “Well, let's just see how the visit goes… I don’t know how Gary will get on with you all… Look, pumpkin, I gotta go. I’ll see you in a few days, okay? Love you.”
“Yeah, I love you too.”
Deanna clicked the phone shut. Worry and excitement bubbled inside her in equal measure. She was pleased that her mom was coming home, and hopeful that maybe this time it would be to stay, but she was fearful that this time, like every other time, would be no different.
She quickened her step, keen to get home and talk to Dennis and Darcy. What she wouldn’t give for a six foot two, wolf-shaped distraction right about now.
*
Darcy slammed the oven shut as her mate groaned. “Babe, they’re delicious – they’re all delicious, okay?”
Darcy had been baking up a storm since the day before. Dennis had been roped in to be her taste-tester. At first it was fun, but twenty cakes in and he was starting to struggle.
His mate came home distraught the day before. She cried on his shoulder and told him about her encounter with Casey.
Dennis couldn’t help but feel angry at the wolf shifter for having been with his mate before him, it sent his bobcat wild. He knew all about Darcy’s previous boyfriends, she told him everything, and he didn’t begrudge her a past before she met him, but a tiny part of him would always feel jealous and resentful of all those other men. It irked him to think of his goddess-like mate ever having been with those rough, brawny wolf shifters. They made him feel inadequate and not good enough for her, and he already felt that way anyway.
Dennis consoled her, and told her she was wonderful and an excellent baker, and if Carly didn’t want her, then Carly would be the one losing out. Darcy was happy and reassured; her puma preened at how lovely their mate was. Bolstered by his support, she resolved to bake her ass off and outdo the obnoxious wolf.
“I swear, babe, I’ve put on at least twenty pounds since yesterday.”
Darcy looked at her mate and smiled. She doubted that very much. Dennis ate like a darn horse and still stayed slim and lithe, with taut, sinewy muscles... She felt a delicate twittering in her sex as she stared at her mate, dreamily. He was about her height, perfect height for kissing, and like her, he had golden blonde hair and blue eyes. Their kits, bobcats or pumas, were going to look like little angels!
She walked over and planted a huge kiss on his mouth.
His lips curled up. “What was that for?”
She giggled. “For being perfect.” She knew he couldn’t be happy about her previous relationship with Casey, or any of the other men in Rose for that matter, but he didn’t judge her, and he didn’t try to make her feel bad or chastise her at all. He accepted her without question, and he supported her. To her, he really was perfect. And it didn’t hurt that he was totally hot.
His hands travelled round her waist, and he waggled his eyebrows. “My pleasure, maybe we should take this upstairs.”
“Ummm, I like the sound of that, right after you’ve tried my blueberry muffins.”
As if on cue, the timer dinged, and Darcy gently extricated herself from his arms and sidled to the oven. Dennis groaned and palmed his rapidly, growing erection.
The front door opened and shut. “I’m home,” yelled Deanna.
“We’re in the kitchen,” called Darcy. She clapped her hands together. “Ooh yay, another taste-tester.”
Dennis groaned in relief. “Oh, thank god, because I’m about to burst.”
Deanna came in with a strained look on her face. “Hey, where’s Grams?”
Darcy lifted the muffins out onto a cooling rack. “At the senior center, it’s Kahlua and poker day. The senior center bus will bring her back in a few hours, slightly tipsy and a few dollars lighter.”
Deanna chewed her lip, nodding her head absently. She was trying to find the words when Darcy sat her down, and placed a huge slice of German chocolate cake in front of her, urging her to try it.
Deanna looked round the kitchen; every counter was covered with cake. “Uhm, what’s with all the cake?”
Darcy suddenly felt a little shy. “Well, I heard that Carly Finlay was opening a cake shop… so I kind of went to her and asked her for a job.”
“Really? That sounds like a great job for you.” Deanna took a huge bite of cake, her favorite, and moaned in delight.
“Yeah, I’d be perfect for it, right? And Carly said she wanted to taste some of my cakes, and then she’d see about the job.”
Deanna smiled encouragingly. “If she tastes anything you’ve made – it’s in the bag.”
Darcy rubbed her neck and allowed Dennis to pull her into his lap. “I hope so. I’m just a little worried, this… this… wolf from her pack also wants a job with her, and she’s more likely to give the job to a member of the pack than me. I mean my dealings with the pack haven’t exactly been… you know… positive.”
Deanna looked at her thoughtfully. She wanted to boost the puma’s confidence, but she couldn’t lie. She knew how tight-knit wolf packs could be, not to the point of allowing any members to break the law, but they were very protective of each other. But, she knew how kind and fair Carly was.
Not long before Christmas, Deanna, in the line of duty, had killed someone, and it knocked her for a loop. Even though Deanna wasn’t a pack member, Carly had spent time helping her come to terms with her feelings about it, and helped her work through everything. Deanna was sure that if anyone were kind to Darcy, it would be Carly.
“I’m sure that Carly will do what’s right.”
Darcy slipped her arms around Dennis’ neck. “I just wish I was competing with anyone other than Casey.”
Deanna arched an eyebrow. “Casey?”
Dennis let out and annoyed grunt, and Darcy gave him a comforting squeeze. “He was my ex’s best friend. I hate him; he actually used to lie and tell girls he was a virgin, and that he wanted them to teach him how to love. Arrogant prick.”
Deanna clucked her tongue. “He sounds like a real piece of work
“Ugh, you have no idea. He’s such an asshole; I can’t believe I ever slept with him.”
Deanna d
ecided not to touch that comment. Instead, she focused on finishing the unbelievably tasty cake.
She pushed the plate away and let out another lengthy moan. Part of her wished Darcy wasn’t such a good cook; since she moved in Deanna had put one more than a few pounds, her clothes were starting to feel a teeny weeny bit tight.
Deanna let out a deep breath. “I have some kind of bad news.”
Dennis looked up from canoodling with his mate. “About the car?”
Deanna bit her lip. “Okay, I have two bits of bad news. First of all, the car is gonna cost six hundred bucks…”
Dennis groaned. “Shit, I don’t suppose we have anything left in the emergency fund?”
“No, we used that up when Drake broke his arm.”
“What about the emergency-emergency fund?”
Deanna chuckled mirthlessly. “Nope, we spent it on the new washer-dryer.” There always seemed to be something to fix, some expense.
Dennis tapped his fingers on the table. “There’s always the college funds…”
After Dinah was born, their mother set up college funds for her three youngest children. She said it was far too late for Deanna and Dennis, but she was determined that her youngest children would make something of themselves. Each fund started with a hundred dollars; now, four years later, each fund had about a thousand dollars. And that was after a heck of a lot of scrimping and saving.
“I’d rather not touch them,” said Deanna. Spending that money really would feel like admitting defeat. “We’ll be fine; we just need to tighten our belts.”
Dennis scoffed. “We tighten our belts anymore, and we’ll cut off the circulation to our legs.”
Darcy rolled her eyes. “It’ll be fine, besides, if I do get this job at the bakery, that’ll be more money coming in and who knows? Maybe we could afford to get a slightly better car.”
Dennis brightened. “Yeah, that would be great. We could get a new, used car, instead of Fred Flintstone’s cast off.”
Darcy snickered and nipped his ear as she clambered off his lap. “The Buick isn’t that bad.”
“Sure, if you like being passed by people on bicycles.”
Darcy cocked her head on one side. “What’s the second bit of bad news?”
Deanna fidgeted in her seat. “I got a phone call from Mom…”
Dennis growled audibly. “What did she want?” he demanded, gruffly.
Dennis had a difficult time forgiving their mother. He worshipped her when he was younger, but over the years, after being let down time and time again, he had lost all patience for her.
“She says she’s coming home for a visit, and she’s bringing home a new fiancée.”
“Terrific, another fiancée. I hope he’s as great as the out-of-work pager salesman.”
“Maybe she’s coming back to stay…” suggested Darcy. Always the optimist.
Dennis harrumphed. “And pigs might fly.”
“Well, no matter how long she’s here for, we need to be civil, for the kids' sakes. We can do that right?” She looked at her brother pointedly.
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” he muttered. “If she’s here at least we could ask her for some money, she owes us child support.”
Darcy frowned. “You make her sound like a dead-beat, divorced dad.”
Dennis held out his hands. “No, that’s a total insult to dead-beat, divorced dads.”
Darcy had a startling thought. “She’s not gonna want to move in here, is she? I mean, no offense, I know she’s your mom, but we are stuffed to the rafters in here.”
It was true; currently, they had seven people living in a three-bedroom house. They had Danny down in the basement, Dinah sharing a room with their grandmother, while Dennis and Darcy had taken over the attic.
“Fuck, no!” exclaimed Dennis. “Whoever this fiancée is, I don’t want him in this house.”
“Agreed,” said Deanna quickly. “We’re not making that mistake again.”
Last time they agreed to let their mom and one of her fiancées move in, the fiancée made off with two hundred dollars, the TV, the blender, the electric can opener and all their canned food. Bastard.
“Let’s just wait and see how it goes with mom… who knows? Maybe she doesn’t want anything.”
Dennis gave her a look of disbelief, before Darcy put her hands on his shoulders. She smiled down on her mate. “Well, whatever the reason, we’ll deal with it together.”
Dennis looked up and gave her an utter look of adoration. Deanna felt a pang of jealousy and swiftly excused herself from the room before they started making out. She’d seen that enough times to know she didn’t want to see it again.
She was pleased that Dennis found his true mate, and up until a few weeks ago she hadn’t been envious. But now, ever since she hooked up with that damned wolf all she could think about was mating and settling down. She had it bad.
Chapter Seven
“I’m starting to think that you’ve got a drinking problem,” said Hunter, before he took a swig of beer. “I mean, I like O’Neill’s too, but you’re here every night.” He was teasing his friend, but he was, in part, worried. Casey liked to drink, but he didn’t do it every night. Not usually anyway. He’d been acting strangely ever since New Year’s.
Casey scowled at him. “So, what? Who gives a shit?”
Jimmy slapped him on the back. “Come on, if you drink yourself to death, who’ll we get to be the third musketeer on Halloween? We already lost Mal.”
The boys used to spend every Halloween dressed as Kiss, but after Mal mated with Terri, they had to find costumes for a trio instead. They'd been pissed at the time, but Mal wanted to spend Halloween with his mate instead; they went as Morticia and Gomez Addams. Lucky bastard, thought Casey, sullenly. God he must really have it bad if he was jealous of his friend’s domestic situation. A month ago the thought of being tied to one woman, and having a pup on the way, was horrifying, now it was the only thought that would mollify his agitated wolf, the idea that maybe one day his bobcat would be carrying their young.
Casey huffed; he was feeling very sorry for himself. For one thing, he was in reaching distance of getting his perfect job, and that bitch puma was about to take it away from him. Damn, he was freaking insane for taking her to bed.
But, worst of all, he still hadn’t found his bobcat. His thoughts of her had intensified, and his wolf was constantly grumbling at him for letting her go; he couldn’t even close his eyes for seeing her lovely face. She stalked his dreams, smiling and laughing at him, always tantalizingly out of reach. He was even starting to see her everywhere he went. Earlier, he’d been out grocery shopping with his grandma, when he thought he saw his bobcat. His wolf had panted excitedly, and Casey ran over to the petite, blonde. Grabbing her, and spinning her round, it was to find a very scared looking rabbit shifter, clutching at a box of cereal.
He mumbled an apology and let the girl go; the box of cereal popped in her hands and she scuttled away as quickly as possible, while he wailed in disappointment. His grandma slapped his arm and told him to pull himself together. She was a no-nonsense wolf shifter.
He knew what he needed to do; he had to get over it, and forget about the bobcat shifter. Even if he did know who she was, even if he could find her, what would it matter? He had a crappy job, no skills, and he drank too much. Why would a perfect, little creature like her want someone as pathetic as him?
His wolf snarled at him, and Casey ignored him. He’d been doing that a lot recently.
He was still diligently returning to O’Neill’s every night, in the hope that he might see her again, but he was losing heart. Instead, he was spending more time actually drinking than looking for her.
Well, what does it matter if he gets hammered every night? It wasn’t like he had anyone waiting for him, who cared if he was drunk, or cared at all really. It wasn’t like he had a sweet, little mate waiting at home for him, lying in his bed with open arms…
Casey ordered another beer while
Hunter complained about working at the stables. Suddenly a whiff of violet tickled his nose, sending familiar vibrations through his body. His wolf perked up, and Casey whipped his head around to see a flash of blonde hair. A huge grin spread over his face, and he jumped off the bar stool in hot pursuit, ignoring the grunts of his pack mates as he almost knocked them over. Yes, at last!
He pushed various people out of the way as he clambered through the crowd. Almost there. His wolf howled at him to hurry; he couldn’t bear another moment apart from her. Casey ran to her and… he came face to face with a very surprised human.
“You’re not her!” growled Casey.
A harried looking raccoon shifter slipped a hand onto the woman’s waist. Casey’s chest heaved as his eyes flitted to amber, and he looked between the two of them. They were clearly mated; he could tell now, and her scent was all wrong, it was artificial violet. Up close, she smelt like chemicals. He wanted it to be his bobcat so badly; his wolf wanted it so much. Could he settle for a woman who was a close match to the one he wanted? No, he didn’t actually think he could.
Casey grunted an apology as the raccoon and his mate swiftly downed their drinks and left. He was cursing his bad luck when he stumbled into Lisa/Laura, nearly knocking her over. His arms shot out to steady her. It made his heart lurch, as he realized this was exactly the same way he met his mystery woman. A half-smile played on his lips as he thought of her first words; she told him he smelt good, and she pulled him in for a devastating kiss. He licked his lips remembering her divine taste.
“Hey there, stranger!” cooed Lisa/Laura.
“Oh, um, hey there…uhh…”
She tensed. “Jess.”
Jeez, he was way off. “Yeah, Jess. Well, it was nice seeing you again.”
He moved to get past her and she clutched at his arm. Casey cringed; her touch was off-putting and made his wolf howl.
She flashed him a toothy smile and flicked her long blonde hair over her shoulder. She was trying to flirt with him. He realized that a month ago that would have worked, he would have been all over her, but not now. Now, he couldn’t even contemplate being with another woman.