PackRescue

by Gwen Campbell

  Her brow furrowing, Fina looked up at her mates. “How come he doesn’t mind me holding him?” she asked, looking down at the rabbit resting contently in her arms. “When I was six, one of my human girlfriends had a cat. When I walked into her house the thing hissed at me, tore up the skin on my arm and ran away.” She stroked the rabbit’s ear and smoothed her fingertip across its cheek. It seemed to relax even more. “My friend said the cat didn’t come back for two days. Don’t rabbits, um, perceive us as predators?”

  Cutler grinned. “They would, except these ones were raised with weres. When any of the farmers in the pack import new stock, they buy them as young as they can so they can acclimate. It’s better if we breed them ourselves, though. Nath and I buy frozen semen when the heifers go into heat. We tried bringing in a bull once.” He and Nath exchanged a look then started to laugh. “Damn thing went berserk then died of cardiac failure about a day later. The heifers were pretty disappointed.”

  The corner of her mouth quirked up and she put the rabbit back in the enclosure. Wiping her hands off, she headed for the ladder to climb down out of the loft. “So why do you keep so many different kinds of animals?”

  “Well,” Nath answered as he climbed down after her, “Habit, I guess. Our mother was into spinning—not the kind on a bike but the kind with a treadle and yarn. She built up the sheep herd, brought in some long-haired goats and the rabbits. I guess you could say we’re honoring her legacy by keeping them.”

  Cutler looped his arm around her waist when he reached the barn floor. “That and we’ve been too lazy to get rid of them,” he admitted. He kissed the top of her head and led her back to the house.

  When they passed the cattle paddock, Fina pointed. “So why Black Angus cattle?”

  “Because they’re delicious,” Nath answered with a shrug, kissed her quickly and gave her hand a squeeze before he opened the kitchen door.

  “And he rolled down the hill like that and BOOM at the bottom and Koby put his hands on the air and…”

  Angling his big body in the café chair, Nath grinned and focused his attention on Ryan, listening to the boy’s play-by-play about how he and his friend Koby had spent the day before.

  Nath and Fina had picked up Ryan from Trudy’s that morning. So the Beta could spend some time with Ryan before heading out on his next trek, they were having breakfast at the café. Cutler had wanted to join them but duty called…that and the state inspector’s visit. In fact, the café was starting to empty as customers finished up and headed to work.

  When Dorothea Pike walked in, Fina waved her over.

  “Good morning,” Fina greeted her warmly, stood and gave her a quick hug. “I thought you worked the lunch shift?”

  “I do. But I like to get an early start. Thank you,” Dorothea added when Nath grabbed an empty chair, pulled it up to their table and held it out for the older woman. She grinned when Nath leaned over her and buzzed a quick kiss to her cheek before sitting back down. “Plus it’s a baking day.”

  “A baking day?” Fina asked. She got up, walked over to the server station, picked up a clean cup, saucer and a pot of coffee and brought them back to their table.

  “Uh-huh.” Nodding her thanks, Dorothea accepted the cup of coffee Fina set down in front of her, stirred in a bit of sugar and sat back in her chair. “Every Tuesday and Friday I make my secret-recipe apple crumble. It’s one of our most popular menu items.”

  “Nath makes that,” Ryan piped up. He finished off the last of his milk. “Nath cooks way better than Fina does.”

  Fina was the first to laugh. “He’s right,” she acknowledged with a shrug.

  “Well you’re a fortunate young man, Ryan Upton,” Dorothea explained. She sipped her coffee then added a touch more sugar. “Nathaniel’s mother and I were best friends before she died. She’s the only person I ever gave the recipe to. She passed the recipe on to Nathaniel.”

  Something in Ryan’s expression changed. He looked…blank for a moment. It was subtle but it caught Fina’s attention. She combed her fingers through his short hair. Nath must have seen something too because he touched Ryan’s shoulder. After a moment Ryan blinked, pulled an electronic game out of his backpack and began playing.

  “Speaking of your mother,” Dorothea continued, directing her question to Nath, “are you going to get a shearer in this summer?”

  “A shearer?” Fina asked.

  Dorothea nodded. “For the sheep. His mother got me hooked on spinning years ago. Of course I weave more these days than knit.”

  Fina’s brow furrowed.

  “Oh it’s my favorite hobby,” Dorothea enthused. “I made a big production out of the whole process. Carding the yarn, dyeing it… My husband dug a fire pit in the backyard for me years ago. He rigs up a tripod, carries out my big iron pot, even stacks the firewood for me. I dye my yarn the old-fashioned way,” she added with pride. “Just like my grandmother taught me. Onionskin for yellow, walnut bark for brown, indigo for blue.” She winked. “Of course, it’s more an excuse to sit out back with my feet up, soak up some rays and read a good book. I only have to get up every twenty minutes or so to give the pot a stir.

  “Once I’m satisfied with the color, I hang the yarn up to dry then it’s ready for spinning.”

  “Hmm.” Fina sat back, digesting what Dorothea had said. When she did, Dorothea sat forward and discreetly sniffed the air around her and Nath.

  “Both brothers then, huh?” the older woman said speculatively and without condemnation.

  “Both. Yes,” Fina answered.

  “Well, good for you is what I say. It’s about time somebody collared those wild pups.”

  One of Nath’s brows shot up but that was his only reaction.

  Dorothea grinned. She glanced at Ryan, made sure he wasn’t paying any attention to them and lowered her voice. “When the mating urge hits, there’s nothing you can do about it. They’ve found a good woman in you, Fina. I thought so from day one. Keeping them in line won’t be your only trouble, though.” She glanced around the almost-empty café. “There’ll be plenty of single bitches out for blood when they find out you’ve caught the two most eligible wolves in the county.” Dorothea leaned back, picked up her cup, took a sip and sighed appreciatively.

  Fina glanced at Nath. He offered an apologetic grin and a shrug.

  “Great,” Fina huffed. “Looks like I’ll have to polish up my brass knuckles.”

  When the adults at the table laughed, Ryan glanced up, looked at their faces in confusion then returned his attention to his game.

  “Well, hello, Nath.” A tall redhead wearing a fitted skirt, a silk blouse and dangerously high heels headed for their table about a second after she entered the café. “Congratulations on how well your business is doing. We just mailed out your latest bank statement and I…” Her voice trailed off. She sniffed the air around them then sniffed again.

  “Um, Fina, I’d like to introduce Anna Fraser. Anna’s the assistant manager down at the bank and—”

  “Both?” Anna shrieked. She slammed her manicured hands down on her hips and leaned over Fina. “You’re with both of them?” She trembled with anger.

  Fina stood slowly, bared her teeth and growled.

  For a moment it looked like Anna was going to take her up on her offer to fight. Then the anger drained out of her eyes. She looked timid when she glanced away and took a step back. Without another word, she turned and walked away slowly, shoulders sagging, head not quite as high as it was when she came in.

  “What did she mean, Fina?” Ryan piped up. He tugged on Fina’s sleeve. “Who’s both of them?”

  Fina forced a smile. “We live with both Cutler and Nath,” she hedged. “Just like they live with both you and me.”

  “Oh.” Ryan glanced down at his game then back up at her. “I don’t think she likes you.”

  “Neither do I,” Fina agreed with a sigh. “But she’ll come around. They all will. I hope,” she added under her breath then took the g
ame out of his hand and set his unfinished plate of toast and scrambled eggs in front of him.

  “It would make a great tie-in with Nath’s business.” Fina turned the computer monitor so Cutler could see. He laid a hand on the back of her chair in the home office and leaned forward. “Organic angora and mohair sweaters, hats, socks, throws made with yarn dyed with natural ingredients. We can cross-promote with his company—dedicate a display area at his base camp with a website tie-in. Plus it’ll create jobs in the community by having local women knit for us. I hear knitting’s a popular hobby.”

  Cutler nodded. “You know Nath’s always complaining about newbies showing up without the right clothes. Somebody always needs more socks or an extra sweater.” He looked down at Fina curiously. “How do you know about this stuff?”

  She shot him a look then returned to her research on the profit margins and availability of angora yarn. “Please. Startup companies and looking for fresh opportunities are required projects in every applied business course. Besides, I grew up on this stuff. My father had the keenest eye for business of anyone I ever knew.” Her fingers faltered on the keys. “I miss him,” she added quietly.

  Cutler kissed her head and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “What was he like?”

  “Smart. No, not smart, brilliant. Focused. Stubborn, bossy and demanding.” She laid her cheek on Cutler’s forearm and sighed. “I was his baby girl and he loved me like crazy.”

  When a tear landed on his arm, Cutler ran his thumb gently over her eyelids.

  They stayed like that for a while.

  “Hey, Cutler.” Ryan raced into the room. “I put my plate in the dishwasher. Can we go over to Mr. Pike’s and ride the horses now?”

  Cutler pressed a kiss to Fina’s hair and straightened. “You bet, buddy. Dorothea said she baked a pie today and we can have some for dessert after.”

  “Yesss.” Ryan pumped his fist in the air. “Oh hey Fina…Koby’s mom took him shopping for school clothes. Am I gonna go to school here too? I’m going into grade one, you know.”

  She forced a smile, waved him over and tucked his t-shirt into his shorts. “I know,” she enthused. “How about I make an appointment for us to visit the school? You can check out your classroom and meet your teacher.”

  “Okay. Yeah,” Ryan said, then pushed her hands away and headed for the door. “Come on,” he groaned and rolled his eyes. “Daylight’s wastin’.”

  Cutler and Fina shared a look then obediently marched out in Ryan’s wake.

  “Whatcha doin’, Fina?” Ryan ran into the Pikes’ living room. He launched himself at the sofa and got up on his knees beside Fina, staring at her hands.

  “I am looking at yarn,” Fina explained. She grinned at the six year old then up at Cutler and Dorothea Pike’s husband as they entered. Even though they smelled of horse, both Ryan’s and Cutler’s face, neck and hands were freshly washed. “Thank you for bringing him back clean.”

  “No problem.” Cutler nodded. “I didn’t know you could knit.”

  “I can’t. Dorothea, however, is a master at it. I was just asking her how many women in the pack were good enough to produce items of saleable quality and what sort of production we could expect.”

  The corner of his mouth quirked up.

  “Local, handworked goods, made with the finest materials available—the hair from organically raised mohair goats and angora rabbits.” She held up one of the balls of yarn. “Come Christmas we won’t be able to keep up with the orders.”

  “That optimistic, are you?” Dorothea’s husband, Gil, asked. He headed for the kitchen at the other end of the long room, lifted the cover off a raspberry pie and grabbed a container of vanilla ice cream out of the freezer.

  “Yes,” Fina answered firmly. “It’s a natural tie-in, given Green Mountain Eco Tours’ mandate. Minimal initial investment, considering the raw materials are walking around and eating hay in fields all over the county.” She moved her hand in a vague circle. “And a skilled workforce that won’t see the work as work. It’s a win-win proposition.”

  “Your mate here would make a fine business manager, Cutler.” Gil licked a smear of raspberry off his knuckle and continued sliding slices of pie onto plates. “She’s got a better head for it than you. No offense.”

  “None taken,” Cutler acknowledged absently. “She does, doesn’t she?”

  Ryan jumped into the conversation. “My Mom likes to knit. She made me a sweater for the first day of school and Christmas. Fina do you think she’d…”

  One by one the adults in the room looked away from Ryan, hiding pained, cautious expressions. He moved to the end of the sofa and his expression became strangely blank. Producing a small, electronic game from his pants pocket, he pressed buttons with one hand while he stuck the thumb from his other in his mouth.

  Later that evening, while Cutler was listening to Ryan read before bedtime, Fina sat in the office in front of her laptop. Her finger moved over the screen slowly. It was the first time she’d logged on to the Whitesage Nursery intranet since her pack had been murdered. She was bringing up customer lists. It was time to broadcast that Whitesage Nursery was going out of business. Talking with Dorothea Pike today and making plans for Ryan to go to school had made her realize she was putting down roots here. They were baby steps of course, and nothing that couldn’t be reversed. That made her feel a little better, like she still had an out—if she wanted. Despite that, she was starting to think of this place—this pack and this community—as hers. It wasn’t much and she was still a fraud for making them think she was vested but it was something.

  She came across Samantha Wells’ files and smiled, picturing the fifty-something woman’s puffy gray-blonde hair and the way she’d talk more with her hands than her mouth. A perpetual ball of fire in motion, Samantha had been her father’s sales and marketing manager. Fina had learned a lot from her. Impatiently, she wiped her eyes, blinked and opened a document Samantha had labeled Pack Contacts. She scrolled down the list. More tears welled in her eyes. The list read like an obituary for her pack and, mentally, she repeated the word “dead” after each name. That was, until she came to one she barely recognized.

  Owen Wells. Fina blinked.

  It had been so long ago she’d forgotten Samantha had had a son. Fina had been eight when Owen had challenged her father for leadership of their pack. He’d been eighteen at the time, tall, muscular but still no challenge for a powerful Alpha in his prime. She remembered hearing the adults talk about it, how Owen had lost the challenge then left. He’d be thirty now. His address was an American military installation in Iraq. Fina wondered if he knew the pack was dead but doubted it. He would have attempted to contact her…someone…through the website. She laid her fingers on the keyboard and started composing an email.

  “I told you I did!”

  Her head snapped up when Ryan’s strident voice echoed through the house, high-pitched and ringing with indignation. She was already halfway down the hallway when Ryan yelled again.

  “You’re not my father.”

  By the time she rushed into his bedroom Ryan was standing in the middle of his bed, red-faced and shaking. He glared at Cutler, who was standing a few feet away, staring back at the six year old with his arms crossed over his chest and his back unnaturally straight.

  “He never believes me,” Ryan wailed, pointing an accusing finger at Cutler. His hand shook. “I brush my teeth every night like I’m supposed to and he never believes me.”

  “Ryan…” Fina walked toward him, holding out her hands.

  “You don’t believe me either,” Ryan screamed and started flailing his fists, aiming for her face.

  “Enough,” Cutler bellowed. He rushed at the boy, picked Ryan up and pressed his back into the wall behind his bed. He held him there by laying one massive hand over Ryan’s chest. When Cutler roared, Ryan whimpered and fell silent. “Men don’t hit women,” Cutler said slowly and ominously. “The men of my pack take care of our women
. We don’t accuse them of things that aren’t true.” He snarled, once, then fell silent like he was waiting for Ryan to compose himself before responding. “Now,” he said after a moment, and his voice was quiet but no less authoritative. “Can you talk to us politely?”

  Ryan nodded.

  “All right then.” Cutler removed his hand, slowly picked Ryan up beneath the arms and stood him up in the middle of the bed. “I should have had this talk with you before but I’m going to have it now. Fina is my mate. Do you understand what that means?”

  Ryan hesitated then nodded. “It’s like you’re married.”

  “Right. And we will get married. Soon. Right now Fina’s still very sad that her family, her old pack, is dead. I guess you’re sad too.”

  Ryan looked away. He looked everywhere except directly at Cutler.

  The heat rose in Fina’s face as she stared at the back of Cutler’s head. “Pompous, presumptive ass,” she thought.

  “You’re going to be sad for a while. Sad and angry. Sometimes you’re going to make believe your parents are still alive.” Cutler glanced over his shoulder. “Fina’ll do the same thing,” he added then returned his focus to Ryan. “All those things will happen but you cannot lash out at her like that.”

  “B-because men don’t hit women.”

  Nodding, Cutler pulled up the hem of his shirt and wiped Ryan’s face with it. “That’s right. You’re part of my pack. I love you and I love Fina. Nath loves both of you too.”

  Ryan’s mouth twitched. “Nath is her mate too,” he added slowly.

  “He is. Koby’s mom has one mate. Your mother had one mate. Fina’s different. Her heart is so big and strong she’s got room in it for all of us.”

  Ryan seemed to accept Cutler’s explanation and his thin shoulders went down. He held him arms out and Cutler helped him down off the bed.

  “Come on, buddy. I’ll get you a drink of water then get you tucked in.” He held Ryan’s hand as he led him into the bathroom.