by Morse, Jody
“If it makes you feel any better, none of our family or friends got to be there. We eloped at the spur of the moment. We’ve been thinking about possibly renewing our vows so that everyone can watch us ‘get married’.” Colby shrugged. “Maybe you can walk her down the aisle then.”
“Yeah, maybe,” Gary replied with a nod. “Anyway, I figured out where you live because I followed her home the other day, just so I would know. Where is she now, though?” He peered inside the house.
“She’s sleeping. It is three a.m., you know.”
“Would you mind waking her up? I need to talk to her.”
“Can’t this wait until tomorrow? We’re babysitting right now, and I really don’t want to risk waking him up,” Colby told him.
When Gary met his eyes again, there was an undeniable sense of urgency in them. “It’s about her mother.”
“Okay. Come in.” Colby opened the door wider, allowing him to sit in one of the chairs. “I’ll be right back.”
By the time he got back to their bedroom, Emma was already sitting up in bed and stretching. “What’s going on? Who’s here?”
“It’s your stepdad. He needs to talk to you. He said it has something to do with your mom.”
Emma flung the covers off and climbed out of bed. As she made her way down the hallway and out into the living room, Colby followed after her, feeling the nervousness that ran through her veins.
When she approached Gary, who was still standing in the entryway, she asked, “Did Mom agree to become a wolf?” Her voice was thick with hope.
Gary lowered his eyes. “She didn’t agree, but. . .”
“But what?”
“I had to change her, Emma. It wasn’t even because I wanted to. I had to save her.” He glanced away, a distant look in his eyes.
“Save her from what?” Emma questioned with raised eyebrows.
“The man who was about to try to murder her.”
“What do you mean someone was about to murder Emma’s mom?” Colby questioned. “And how would you even know?”
Gary met his gaze. “Dana mentioned that she had a date, so . . . I followed them. He seemed okay, at first, but by the end of the night, he gave me a really bad vibe for some reason. So, when she went out again tonight on their second date, I followed them again.” He took a deep breath. “I noticed that he was holding a knife behind his back when he walked her to the door to kiss her goodnight, so I attacked him. Maybe he wasn’t going to kill her, but his intentions weren’t in the right place, either way. It took everything in me not to kill him. Then, before I could even think about what I was doing, I bit her.”
“Wow.” Emma shook her head.
Colby furrowed his brow. “Do you know why this random stranger would try to kill Emma’s mom? It doesn’t seem to make any sense.”
“Colby, people get murdered all the time without there being a motive,” Emma scolded him.
“She probably met him online. How should I know? There are lots of creeps in this world,” Gary replied. “I wish I had thought twice before I bit her, but . . . I didn’t. I acted completely on impulse, which was probably really dumb of me.”
Emma hesitated for a few moments. “I’m glad you saved my mom if this guy really was going to kill her. But I know Mom, and she’s going to be so pissed at you for changing her without her permission. Have you spoken to her about it yet?”
Gary shook his head. “No, after I did it, I knew it was too late. I didn’t stick around. I came straight here.” He glanced down at his feet, almost guiltily. “I need you to go back over there with me, Emma. I can’t do this alone.”
She scoffed. “Why would I go there with you? Seriously? Ever since you met my mom, you did nothing but ignore me. I was always just an accessory to your ‘perfect’ marriage. You never really cared about me, so why should I do this for you?” She shook her head frustratedly. “I went there with you before, because I wanted my mom to change. I thought that if she heard both of us ask her, maybe she would do it. But why should I go with you now?”
“I’m sorry that I haven’t lived up to the father figure that I should have been for you, okay? I’m sorry, and if you give me a chance, I’ll prove to you just how sorry I am. But right now, you should come to see your mom with me because this isn’t just about me. It’s not even just about you. It’s about your mom, and right now, I think she needs support from both of us.”
Emma took a deep breath and considered what he was saying for a few moments. “Okay, I’ll go with you,” she agreed. Turning to Colby, she said, “You and Davenport will be okay here by yourselves, right?”
“No. No way. I’m not letting you go over there alone. It could be dangerous. You have no idea what sort of psychological state your mother is in. Either I’m coming with you, or I don’t want you to go at all,” Colby insisted.
“What are we going to do about Daven, then?” she asked.
“We’ll bring him along.”
“Listen to yourself. We can’t just bring him along when it might be dangerous, like you said,” Emma replied, rolling her eyes. “I don’t think my mom would do anything to hurt him, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. He’s staying here, so you’re staying with him.”
“Actually, that won’t be necessary. Needn’t I remind you that I’m willing to babysit the adorable Daven again?” Bennett asked, appearing in front of them. “I won’t even charge you for my babysitting services.”
“Who is that?” Gary questioned. “He looks like a ghost.”
“My name is Bennett,” the spirit replied. “And while some people like to refer to us as wolf ghosts, I personally prefer the term spirit. But don’t worry. I’m a good spirit, not a bad spirit. I’ve protected Emma and Colby’s lives several times, which I do believe makes me more than qualified to babysit Samara’s son.” He glanced over at Colby pointedly. “These two don’t trust me to babysit any longer than fifteen minutes.”
“We didn’t say that, Ben,” Emma said hesitantly.
“Yes, you did. When you came back inside after you went to . . . get chicken eggs and I babysat, you came back in and Colby said, ‘See Em, Daven’s perfectly fine’. And then you said ‘That’s because we were only gone for, like, fifteen minutes’. I heard. I heard it all,” Bennett said, sounding upset.
“Actually, he has a point, Em,” Colby spoke up. “If something bad were to happen while either of us was watching Daven, what would we do? We would summon Bennett and the other Trusted Ones to come protect him. Except, the thing is, nothing is going to happen to him while we’re gone. All he’s going to do while we’re gone is sleep, the same way he has for the past few days. When we get back, he’s probably still going to be sleeping in his crib.”
Emma sighed, giving in. “Fine. I guess you’re right. I want to say bye to him first, though, okay?”
“Okay,” Colby agreed, watching as she headed back to the bedroom. It was easy to see that during the short time since Samara and Declan had left Daven in their care, Emma was already becoming more attached to him.
Chapter 20: Emma
Emma cradled Davenport in her arms for a few moments, still nervous to leave him with Bennett. As she set him back down in his crib, she whispered, “You be good for Bennett while we’re gone, okay? I know you’ll probably just sleep the whole time, but don’t make a mess for him or anything.”
Davenport stared up at her with a knowing look in his eyes.
Emma blew him a kiss and was about to turn out the light when he sneezed, blowing a silvery blue smoke out of his nose. Her stomach churned. “Colby?”
He must have felt her panic for himself, because, within seconds, her mate was standing by her side. “What’s wrong, Em?”
She met his gaze. “He just sneezed, and . . . smoke blew out of his nose. You can call me crazy if you want, but I know I saw it for sure this time.”
For once, Colby didn’t argue with her. “What do you think it means? Dr. Mink didn’t mention anything about him
sneezing smoke, did he?”
Emma shook her head. “No, he didn’t. Should we call him?”
“Why don’t we call him later? I feel bad waking him up in the middle of the night again,” Colby replied honestly.
“Okay. First thing in the morning, though?”
“Yes, I promise,” he replied.
As they turned off the light, Bennett came into the room. “Would it be okay if I gave little Daven some orange juice while you two are gone? If this is just a cold, we should probably work on trying to build his immune system.”
Emma glanced over at Colby. “Is it okay for him to have orange juice this young? It’s not on the list of approved foods that Samara left us.”
He shrugged. “I don’t see why not. It might be a little acidic, but he’s a werewolf baby, so he has a stronger stomach than other babies. And we don’t really need to worry about him getting cavities, either.”
“Okay,” Emma told Bennett. “Orange juice is fine.”
“Splendid.” The spirit beamed. “Now, you’d better hurry up before your mother does anything rash.”
*
Once they got to Emma’s mom’s house, all of the lights in the house had been turned off. The owls hooted around them, and the moon shone brightly in the night sky.
“Do you think she’s even home?” Gary questioned, quietly enough to not disturb the neighbors.
“She might be sleeping,” Colby suggested.
Emma shook her head. “My mom never sleeps when she’s anxious over something. Either she’s awake in the house, or she’s somewhere outside.” Climbing up the steps, she rang the doorbell.
They all waited, but no one came to the door. They didn’t even hear Emma’s mom climbing down the stairs.
“I don’t think she’s home, guys,” Emma said, turning to Colby and Gary. “Now what?”
“Now, we go and find out where she actually is,” Gary replied.
“Do you think it’s possible that she might have . . . um . . . taken comfort in the guy she was on a date with?” Colby asked. “Do we know where he might live?”
“I do know where he lives,” Gary said with a nod. “But their date didn’t seem to end too well. After I attacked him and then bit her, he asked to use her phone to call an ambulance, but she basically slammed the door on his face. I was lucky she didn’t refer to me by name during the attack, but it was clear that she knew it was me.”
“So, let me get this straight. You thought this guy was going to attack her, so you attacked him . . . but then he never even tried to attack her?” Colby asked with raised eyebrows. “Are you even sure that was what the knife was for? What if he wasn’t going to use the knife on her at all?”
Running a hand over his long, mangled-looking hair, Gary shrugged. “What type of creep carries a knife behind his back when he walks his date to the door? If he wasn’t planning to use it, then he’s somehow even creepier than I gave him credit for. I don’t regret attacking him. All I regret is biting her on impulse.”
“I don’t blame you for what you did, Gary,” Emma replied quietly. “Whether it was justified or not, I can’t say I wouldn’t have done the same if I had the opportunity to turn the person I love into a werewolf . . . if he wasn’t already a werewolf, that is,” she said, shooting a small smile in Colby’s direction.
“Well, it doesn’t much matter now,” Gary said. “What’s done is done. We just have to clean up this mess I’ve made . . . once we can actually find her.”
Emma considered where her mom might be for a few moments. Finally, she said, “I think I might have an idea of where she is. Come on.” She led them through the backyard, glancing over her shoulder to make sure that her mom wasn’t sitting at the family’s gazebo.
She wasn’t.
They walked through the woods behind the house, which cut into a local park. Even from across the grassy field, she spotted her mom sitting in front of her favorite koi pond, the place where she often went when she was stressed. She’d also taken Emma there when she was a little girl and had been fascinated by the fish. They’d vowed to build a koi pond of their own in the backyard one day, but it hadn’t happened before Emma had moved out.
Not that she had moved out of her mom’s house by choice. Her mom had kicked her out once she’d found out she was a werewolf. There was a big difference—not that Emma liked to think about it that often.
When they approached her mom, she glanced up at them, her mascara running and her face streaked with tears. “What are all of you doing here? And who are you?” her mom asked, glancing over at Colby.
He cleared his throat. “I . . . uh, I’m Emma’s husband . . . and her mate,” he said, choosing his words carefully. “It’s nice to meet you.” He extended a hand.
Surprisingly, her mom shook his hand. Emma hadn’t been expecting her to.
“I’ve heard a lot about Emma’s husband from the other moms,” her mom admitted quietly. “Of course, they all think I’m crazy for letting her get married so young. If only they knew that this is the first time we’ve ever met.” She laughed. “It’s nice to finally meet you.”
“You, too,” he replied with a smile.
“Mom, are you okay?” Emma asked the only question that was important right now.
She shrugged. “Do I have any choice but to be okay? I can’t say that I’m happy the decision was made for me against my own will, but . . . God, I’ve missed you two,” she said, glancing over at Emma and then Gary with a smile. “I guess, right now, it’s hard for me to accept that I almost didn’t agree to do this. I wanted no part of it. I didn’t want to become like one of you, and I’m scared—”
“Why are you scared, Dana?” Gary asked. “It was scary for me when I was turned, mostly because I didn’t even know that werewolves existed. Then what made it even scarier was that I didn’t want to put you at risk. I didn’t want you to become one of us, but if I had just let you in all along . . . it wouldn’t have been so bad.”
By that time, her mom was crying even harder. “It’s nothing like that for me. I knew all about werewolves by now. I don’t know everything there is to know, but enough to know that you exist. And I’m glad that I have you back—both of you back,” she said, glancing at Emma. “It’s just that . . . I’ve done a lot of research since the two of you turned. I’ve rented so many movies and shows about werewolves, and it just looks so painful to make the change from human to werewolf.”
Emma laughed. “It’s nothing like they portray it in movies, Mom. It’s going to sound sort of weird, but it actually feels really good. It’s almost like getting your back cracked—in a good way—every time you make the change. You have nothing to be afraid of.”
“Oh, good.” Her mom smiled. “I’ll have questions . . . lots of questions.”
“That’s to be expected,” Gary said with a nod. “I’ve been a wolf for how long now, and I still have questions.”
“The good news is that I probably have answers,” Colby told them. “And if I don’t, then my mom probably does. You guys have nothing to worry about.”
“Thank you, Colby. I appreciate that,” Emma’s mom told him. Then, she turned to Emma with a sad look on her face. “I still can’t believe I missed your wedding.”
Emma exchanged glances with Colby before saying, “Well, we were thinking that we might renew our vows so that we can have an actual ceremony. You know how much I always wanted a big wedding. And actually, we’re technically not really married.”
Her mom frowned. “You’re not? But you call him your husband, don’t you?”
“Yeah, I mean . . . I started going by the name Emma Jackson to everyone I know, and in the werewolf world, he is my husband. We went through the wolf marriage ritual, which means that we marked. But since we were only sixteen when we tried to get married, nothing about our marriage is legal. We were going to wait until we were eighteen, but we can make it legal if you’re willing to sign for it now.”
“I will.” Her mom smiled. �
�And we’ll pay for your vow renewal, too.”
“Thank you so much for offering,” Colby told her politely.
Emma bit her lip, careful to block Colby from accessing her thoughts. A part of her wanted to tell her mom that she thought she was pregnant, but . . . she couldn’t. Not in front of Colby. She wasn’t sure why she wanted to keep it a secret from him at that point, but she just couldn’t tell him. Not yet, at least. Not until she had official confirmation from the doctor.
So, instead of saying anything at all, she asked her mom if she’d been keeping up with their favorite show, Glee.
Chapter 21: Colby
Colby was still beyond surprised about how well things had gone with Emma’s mom when they got back to the house. It was hard to believe that her mom had completely shut both Emma and her stepdad out of her life, considering them monsters, and yet . . . she’d somehow been able to accept that she was a wolf, too, without very much anger or resistance.
When he and Emma walked through the front door, he definitely wasn’t expecting what happened next.
“Oh, there you are. You’re finally home,” Bennett said, a mixture of both relief and exasperation in his voice. The panic that was written all over his face was undeniable, though. “We have a problem.”
“What is it?” Colby asked, trying to ignore his heart, which had begun to race with worry.
“About ten minutes ago, I heard something outside. It sounded like there was someone on the front porch. Little Daven was sleeping, so I thought it would be okay to leave him. I went to look to see who it was, but when I came back . . . he’d somehow gotten out of his crib,” the spirit explained. “I cannot seem to find him.”
“You lost the baby?” Emma exclaimed, a red angry heat blossoming on each one of her cheeks. “You’re kidding us, right? This is just another one of your annoying pranks?”
Bennett frowned. “No, unfortunately, I’m not joking.”