“Cool.” I sensed amusement emanating from Patrick, and didn’t think it was from the raspberries he was blowing on his son’s chubby little cheek, even though they caused gurgles of laughter from the toddler.
Keith spent the ten minutes it took to reach the lake shore detailing the wild life, deposits of minerals, precious stones, and metals. We walked along the shore, and I could see houses about a half mile around. “That’s the main village?”
“Yes. We only have a few hundred of the pack there. The rest are spread among five other villages.” He turned away from the lake, leading us to a clearing a few feet into the trees. “What do you think of this view?”
“It’s beautiful.” It was, standing in the shade of a cypress, looking back at the lake.
“I’m glad you like it. This is the site I’ve chosen for Nick’s future home. It’s far enough from the village your dogs won’t disturb anyone, and they’ll have some room to run.” He turned around, pointing to a spot to the left of the clearing. “We can build a pen for them there, since they’ll need to be put up at night.”
What in the hell? I noticed Patrick’s grin and tried to keep my tone polite. “My dogs live in the house.”
Keith frowned. “Interesting. We may have to build something a bit larger then, if Nick doesn’t mind them sharing your home.”
The picture forming in my head of what it’d be like to live here wasn’t a pleasant one. As a guest, I didn’t want to be rude, but couldn’t keep from saying, “You’re planning a little far ahead for me.”
Keith smiled. “It’s no trouble. The house will be a wedding gift from the pack.”
There had to be a wedding for there to be wedding gifts. I bit my tongue, determined not to make a scene. Nick and I were so going to have a long talk later, though. “Generous.”
Patrick laughed, lifting Jake to blow a raspberry on the kid’s stomach. I glanced at their mother. She hadn’t said a word yet, and it didn’t appear she felt a need to join the conversation.
“I make certain everyone has what they need, especially newly mated couples.” Keith waved for us to follow him as he began walking again. “No one should have to begin their pairing with worries about housing and such.”
Oh, yes, Nick and I were going to have a long, long talk later.
By the time we reached the village, I was seriously considering faking a sudden illness. Keith had rambled the whole walk over, mostly humble bragging about what a great pack leader he was.
“And of course, all requests to come and go require my permission,” he said, halting to throw his arm out in a grand gesture. “Our main village.”
“It’s lovely,” I replied, and it really was. All of the houses I could see were solid-looking log cabins of the sort a high-end mountain resort might have. Even the roofs were shingled in wood. No paint to be seen, though some did have a little stone work for variety. Nor had everyone used the same woods, resulting in a subdued, but pretty, wooden rainbow. Like most human homes, each had grass yards, with trees, shrubbery, or flowers for decoration.
Looking around, I felt a mad desire to go shopping for pink flamingo and garden gnome lawn ornaments. I could do a midnight visit, plant one of each in every yard.
The place was just a little too picture perfect. Also, really quiet. “Where is everyone?”
“I wanted your first visit to be with just us. They’re out and about, busy with patrols and other things.”
“Oh.” Wow, had he really shooed a couple hundred people out of their homes? I suddenly knew exactly where Patrick had gotten his massive ego from.
“Why don’t you go help Susan with lunch?”
I thought Keith meant me until Annie nodded. She had yet to say a word.
“Cordi’s mom sent cookies.” Nick gave his mother the tin and a bright smile. She returned it, offered me a slight nod, and walked off. I watched her climb the steps of the largest, two-story cabin.
“I should go help with lunch.”
Keith wasn’t about to let me escape. “Of course not. Today, you’re a guest.” He pointed. “Over there is the path that leads to our ceremonial ground. That’s where you and Nick will be married.”
I couldn’t stand it anymore. “If we get married.”
He completely ignored that. “After lunch, we’ll walk there and then to the waterfall.”
I tuned him out, nodding and making polite noises as required right up until we finally went in for lunch.
Annie and Susan bustled back and forth from the kitchen to dining room, setting the table and bringing out food. The furnishings suited the woodsy setting, all wood, leather, and dark-colored fabrics. Everything had that beautiful, understated look of plain but fantastic craftsmanship.
Desperate to stop Keith’s steady droning, I asked Patrick to let me hold Jake, and made the mistake of saying, “I love kids.”
Keith jumped right on that as Patrick, still grinning widely, handed over the toddler. “You should have several then.”
I settled Jake on my lap and sniffed his golden curls. He smelled like clean baby and sunshine. “I love other people’s kids. You can give them back after a little bit.”
“Cordi’s not sure she wants kids,” Nick said, handing me a bread roll. “Here, he likes these.”
“You do.” The way Keith said it made it clear he thought that was all that mattered. “She’ll need something to fill her days with.”
Oh my God, he didn’t just...I didn’t look up, and the only reason my tone stayed pleasant was because of the kid in my lap. “I have a job. My days are pretty full.”
“Oh, you won’t need to keep it. It’s the man’s duty to put food on the table.”
Teeth gritted, I made as non-committal a sound as possible, aware of Patrick’s amusement turning into outright glee. It took me a few seconds to realize he was waiting for me to blow up at his dad.
Not about to indulge him, or be a less-than-courteous guest, I fed Jake the roll and reconsidered pretending a sudden illness.
That idea was looking so much better every passing minute.
Much, much later, I said, “That’s okay. It’s late. I’ll teleport home.”
“Well,” Nick glanced at his dad. “Okay.”
I turned to Keith and Annie. Susan had disappeared after dinner. Neither of the women had eaten with us. “Thank you for having me over. It was fun,” I lied through my teeth with that one. “The food was great, and Jake’s a sweetheart.”
“You’re quite welcome. Next time, we’ll barbecue and have everyone here,” Keith promised.
I could only imagine what a party that would be. “Sounds fun.”
Annie just smiled. She had two expressions: Smiling or solemn.
Turning back to Nick, I said, “See you Monday. Good night.”
“Night.” We exchanged a chaste kiss and I teleported the hell out of there, straight to Mom’s kitchen. Opening the fridge, I pulled out a wine cooler and gulped it down. “Ah.”
My God, Keith loved the sound of his own voice. Maybe Annie didn’t talk because she couldn’t get a word in edgewise. From what I’d seen, Nick’s pack appeared to be stuck somewhere in oh, say, the fifties. Possibly the eighteen-fifties.
Women kept house, cooked, had babies, and raised them. At least they did the girl babies. I wasn’t certain they were allowed such an important job as raising the sons. With a shudder, I grabbed another wine cooler. After dropping my empty into the trash, I walked to my room, sipping at the second cooler.
If I did eventually marry Nick, there was no way in hell we’d live in his father’s domain. No way, no how would I subject myself to living under Keith’s thumb, having my life dictated to me on a daily basis.
The miracle was that Nick wasn’t a mirror image of him. Maybe Annie had something to do with that? I could see Keith “allowing” her more influence over their younger son. After all, Patrick was his heir.
Yep, Keith behaved exactly as I’d expect a Dark Ages king to. “Ugh.”
Eight
At nine-thirty AM sharp, I teleported to the door of Logan’s apartment and knocked. I heard Terra yell, “Discord’s here!” before she ran to open the door. “Hi!”
“Hey. Mom’s already baking cookies. I like your tee.” It was cotton candy pink and said “Keep Calm and Have Some Bacon”.
She grinned. “Logan’s....”
“Ready,” he said, exiting his bedroom while tucking in the back of his shirt. His tee didn’t say anything, but the forest green color looked great on him, and fit snugly enough to do a little muscle showcasing. It wasn’t tight enough to show off the six-pack I felt certain he had. I hadn’t looked that far down the one surprise opportunity I’d had to do so.
“Awesome, come on.” Stepping back to give them room to join me in the hallway, I held out my hands. Once they’d taken hold, I teleported us home, to the living room. By pre-arrangement, it was empty but didn’t stay that way long. Shrill barking heralded the arrival of the Chihuahua Brigade, basically shouting what translated to “The nice animal people are here!”
I laughed. “They like you guys.”
Terra squatted down, trying to pet each little round skull as the dogs pushed and shoved each other. Logan bent to scoop up two: Speck and a kind of brindled little female who followed Speck around in order to boss him. I’d named her “Squishy” because she was slightly overweight and felt squishy.
“I thought you must be back,” Mom said, holding the swinging door to the kitchen open. “Good morning.”
“Morning, Sunny.” Logan smiled at her while his cousin hastily stood.
“Hi, Mrs. Jones.”
“Call me Sunny. I have fresh cookies waiting to be gobbled in here.” She let the door go, disappearing from sight.
“With a mountain of work right behind them,” I whispered before heading toward the kitchen. The two shifters followed, Chihuahuas dancing and prancing and generally making walking an interesting adventure.
“Where are the big dogs?” I asked, noticing they weren’t in the kitchen.
“Back yard with Tonya. Here.” Mom handed over a plate of warm, chocolate chip cookies. “Have a few and then we’ll get things set up. I have milk, coffee, tea, or soda. Which do you want?”
Twenty minutes later, and more than a few cookies consumed, we moved to the dining room. Boxes stood stacked along the two longer walls, and Mom had already set up a second, long table next to the dining table. A stack of dark purple gift bags waited at the end of one table, near the windows looking out over the back yard. I could see Red and Bone wrestling over a tug o’ war toy rope, while Diablo snoozed in a patch of sunlight.
Mom handed out box cutters. “Open one box from each stack, so that I can decide where each goes.”
It didn’t take long to set up the assembly line. Long familiar with Mom’s methods, I grabbed a gift bag and opened it while Mom and Tonya set up a card table. “We start here, and just work our way around the table, putting one of each thing in the bags, and then hand the bags off to Mom or Tonya. They’ll line them up against the wall after they do the finishing touches.”
“We’re going to run out of room fast,” Terra said, picking up a gift bag.
“We’ll load the cars and transfer them to the center once we have full loads.” Smiling, Mom waved a package of orange gift tissue paper and a spool of inch-wide, white ribbon decorated with a conga line of ghosts and skeletons. “All right, go team!”
I made another round of the table, Terra and Logan following, before Mom asked, “So how was yesterday?”
The instant scowl on my face raised her eyebrows. I forced my scowl away. “Um, interesting?” Noticing the two shifters looking at me, I added, “I met Nick’s parents and spent the day with them.”
“You say ‘interesting’, but your face said something way different,” Tonya said, tying a bow on the handles of a bag.
“His dad is a control freak. Would you believe he has a spot picked out to build us a house on? I mean, okay, it’s a pretty spot, but still. Who does that?” Before anyone respond, I plunged ahead. “Oh, and get this. He said ‘accommodations can be made’ for the dogs, and got a big frowny face when I told him they lived inside. Said it would be up to Nick if they did there.”
Logan laughed, choking it off when Terra elbowed him in the ribs. “Sorry.”
“Why was that funny?”
“It wasn’t, but imagining the look on your face while he was talking? That was funny.” He coughed, his lips twitching. “What did you say to him?”
“None of the stuff I really wanted to.”
His shoulders quivered, and Terra elbowed him again. “Quit laughing.”
“I can’t.” The words were strangled. “I can only imagine what she did say.”
I adopted a lofty tone. “Since I was a guest, I was polite.”
“We did raise you to be polite, but not to let yourself be pushed around.” Mom frowned. “I’m guessing wolf shifter society is patriarchal?”
“You have no idea. The men didn’t do jack during meals except eat and talk, and I was the only woman at the table. Nick’s mom and Patrick’s girlfriend did all the cooking and clean up both times. I think they ate in the kitchen.” My scowl had made a comeback. “Nick bragged about my cooking.”
Logan had gotten himself under control. “You’re a really good cook, so that’s not a bad thing, right?”
“It wouldn’t be if his dad hadn’t acted like that was way more important than my job.” I hesitated. “His dad just assumed I’d quit working once we married. You should’ve seen his face when I said I wasn’t going to quit my job for years and years.”
“Once you married?” Tonya’s eyes were wide, and her brows so high, her bangs hid them. “Um, did Nick tell them something different from what you told us?”
“Oh, no, nothing like that. I think Keith doesn’t comprehend the possibility that a woman can resist a marriage proposal. He has everyone’s lives planned out. Including mine.”
With an exaggerated shudder, she said, “Sounds like he needs a swift kick in the b....”
Mom tsked, cutting her off. “Now, now. Violence doesn’t....”
It was my turn to interrupt. “Did I mention I’d have to ask permission to see you, or to have you come visit?”
Mom’s face tightened, her lips thinning. “He told you that? Maybe he does need a swift kick.”
That did it. I laughed and flapped my hand at her. “Doesn’t matter. Even if I did marry Nick, we wouldn’t live there. No way, no how. I’d be too tempted to use my abilities on Keith and Patrick, probably every time they opened their mouths.”
Tonya side-eyed me. “But not Nick?”
“I like him.” I usually won when we argued, too.
“So you are thinking about marrying him?” Terra didn’t look up from her bag stuffing.
“It’s like someone telling you not to think of pink elephants. I can’t not think about it,” I explained.
“Oh.”
“You’re young and you have plenty of time to decide if you want to marry Nick, someone else, or not marry at all.” Mom took the bag I’d finished. “Don’t stress over it.”
“Good advice, but not so easy to follow. The longer we see each other, the higher the chance he’ll think things will go the way he wants.” I grabbed another bag. “After yesterday, I’m kind of thinking we should take a break.”
No one rushed to tell me that was a great idea. Then again, none of them said it was a bad one either. “Oh, come on. I have the Give Me Advice sign out.”
Tonya shook her head. “Not me. I do not give romantic advice to my elders.”
“Ouch, way to make me feel old.”
She grinned. “I’m unrepentant.”
“Brat.” I glanced at my mom. “You’re up.”
She shook her head
. “I’m not an expert on shifters, much less young men.”
We both looked at Logan, who began stuffing the gift bag he held as though his life depended on it. Terra snorted. “You don’t want his advice.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’ll tell you stuff like ‘go with your instincts’ and ‘you’ll know when someone’s the right one’. It’s not actually helpful.”
“That was good advice,” Logan protested. “And it’ll work, if you use it.”
“Right. I told you I liked Devon, and you came back with a list of reasons he’s totally inappropriate,” she shot back. “One was ‘he’s a snot-nosed smart ass’.”
He shrugged. “He is. Kid’s got an ego bigger than our building.”
My mom laughed. “Most teenaged boys have large egos, or at least pretend they do. So do most teenaged girls.”
“Hey, we resemble that remark,” Tonya said, waving her hand between Terra and herself. “At least the teenaged part.”
“I said most, not all.”
“If yours gets too big, Mom will definitely let you know.” I smiled, remembering a few “talks” we’d had. “One of her many talents: Talking down overblown egos.”
“Maybe I should send Devon to her,” Logan muttered.
Terra glared at him, so I hurried to speak before she let loose. “Would you give me the same advice?”
“What?” Logan blinked. “Oh. No, I’d tell you that wolves have definite opinions about proper behavior. That if you think the two of you argue a lot now, just wait until you tell him you won’t live on pack territory. Nick doesn’t strike me as the lone wolf type, so he won’t go for that.” Logan frowned. “Then again, he and I don’t get along well, so anything I say, you should probably take with a grain of salt.”
“Yeah, right. You only pointed out stuff I’ve already experienced.” I sighed. “You know, being an adult isn’t nearly as much fun as I thought it would be.”
“It usually isn’t,” Mom agreed. “I do have a little bit of advice to throw in the pot. Do what feels right for you, and what will make you happy in the long run.”
Save the Last Vamp for Me (Discord Jones Book 3) Page 6