Reaper

by Lena North

  She glared at him and his face softened.

  “Oh,” he murmured and turned to look around the room with a crooked grin. “Sorry, she’s right. Perhaps we could talk about this –”

  “No,” Reuben protested. “Boony loved kids. The years he lived with us, he wasn’t the Byron you’ve told me about, but he was happy in his own way. And he loved kids. Annie said it before, and she was right. Let’s live our lives because that’s what he would have wanted.”

  Mary took hold of his hand and squeezed it. Then she got up and put her hand on Jinx’ cheek.

  “I’m so happy for you.”

  I got up with everyone else to congratulate Jinx and Dante, and happy words suddenly echoed in the room as we celebrated the lives we led and the future that would come, on the funeral gathering for the brother of my soul.

  Epilogue

  Where the unusual is expected

  “Ma,” a small voice whispered and I turned around to smile at my daughter. “Busy?”

  “Never too busy for you,” I said and opened my arms.

  She crawled up on my lap and the fierce wave of love that hit me when her small body leaned back into my embrace still surprised me. I held her tight, wondering when I’d get used to that love, and hoping I never would.

  We watched in silence as her brothers ran around on the lawn with the other kids while grownups relaxed in chairs and on blankets. Two of my boys huddled to the side, likely planning something I wouldn’t approve of. The bird had informed me their father was on his way home so I just smiled, knowing that Olly would give them one calm look and they’d right whatever they’d messed up.

  We’d surprised everyone, and ourselves, when we had two sets of triplets, just over year apart. The last one to be born had been Maria, and Sven told us he was relieved because if we’d had to keep trying for a girl, it might have meant another set of triplets, which in turn would have meant yet another addition to the house and he was tired of living in a construction site. He was totally joking, and I knew he loved the mayhem that was our home, but I’d been exhausted and told Olly we couldn’t risk another pregnancy so he’d seen me naked for the last time.

  I’d been joking too and he knew it, but he still calmly made an appointment at the hospital, and after a week of him wincing every time he walked toward the bathroom, we didn’t have to worry about more sets of triplets.

  That’s who he was, my man. Something needed to be done, and he did it, without any fuss.

  Maria turned in my arms, and put her small hand on my cheek.

  “I love Grandpa Sven,” she shared.

  “I know you do.”

  How could she not, when Sven got that soft look in his eyes every time he saw her. My sweet girl suddenly squealed, crawled out of my lap, and I heard her small feet stomp down the stairs.

  “Da is home!”

  I turned to the window, feeling a jolt of happiness when they walked around the barn, still dressed for battle in cargo pants, leather jackets, and coats. Olly’s gaze went to my window immediately and our eyes locked. He was so beautiful.

  Four boys and Maria clung to their father, and I could hear their loud cheers. Our firstborn waited calmly next to his best friend, Wilder and Mac’s only daughter, Vilda. Each of them had a black hawk sitting on their shoulder.

  I had read the old stories about courage, reason and joy so many times I almost knew them by heart, and we’d given our boy the name Drake because of the bright red stripe he had in his thick black hair, just by his temple. Mary had shared that they’d wanted the name for one of their kids but since they kept having girls, they were happy we used it instead.

  It was strange how history repeated itself, I thought.

  Vilda and Drake.

  A courageous, redheaded wild girl with a heart bigger than the mountains surrounding our home, and a calm blue-eyed boy who stood by her side in anything, shielding her and supporting her. It was clear to everyone that the two of them would be the leaders in Norton when the time came for Hawker and Wilder to step down, although not because of their last names or the heritage that came with being a Johns or a Harper. They were already like a force of nature in spite of them being so young, and the other children responded to it without hesitation.

  Cameron’s word about a prophecy came to me suddenly. He’d said it would confirm the prosperous times when a man made up of three ruled the mountains with a redheaded woman. Drake had the Harper black hair, the blue eyes from the Black family and a red stripe of hair from the Morgans. And Vilda certainly had flaming red hair.

  I smiled, and started walking downstairs. Prophecies were just words, and sometimes they were true but sometimes they weren’t. Life would go on either way.

  Olly was discussing the latest mission with Drake when I walked through the door, and he knew I was there, but kept answering questions, patiently explaining how they had brought down a group of men trying to transport stolen goods across the border. I tried to ignore how his explanations to our seven-year-old involved guns and multiple punches in someone’s face, and leaned on the wall as I waited. When Drake stopped asking questions, Olly raised his head and his face softened.

  “Hey,” he rumbled, slid a hand over our boy’s head and moved toward me.

  “Hey,” I said, silently cursing the fact that I still sounded ridiculously breathless when he smiled at me.

  Then I was in his arms and he kissed me. He’d been gone for almost a week and I’d been with him through the eyes of my dragonflies, but I’d missed him.

  “Jesus, get a room,” Hawker snorted when he tried to move past us.

  “Yeah, Uncle Olly, get a roooom,” Snow’s youngest boy echoed.

  Since he was three years old, he had no clue what it meant, but he grinned at us anyway from his place on his laughing father’s shoulders.

  “They’re always kissing,” Jinx’ second daughter whispered to Maria. “I see more siblings in your future,” she added, and nodded sagely.

  Jinx and Dante had stopped at four kids, and all of them were amazing, but none of them were a genius. I knew this was a relief for Jinx, and Dante was ridiculously happy with his family either way. All four could listen to other people’s thoughts, so they had their fair share of boundary discussions, but since two of mine had the same ability we shared tips and tricks on how to deal with it.

  “Daddy did a snip-snip so there won’t be any more of us,” Maria announced loudly.

  “Man…” Miller said hoarsely into the stunned silence. “Really?”

  “Have six kids, Mill,” Olly reminded him. “Not gonna have another set of triplets.”

  “But still.”

  “Six,” Olly repeated.

  “What’s a snip-snip?” one of the kids asked.

  “It’s non-invasive, minor surgery which cuts each vas deferens tube, keeping sperm out of the semen. The sperm cells stay in the testicles instead, and are later absorbed by the body. It is the most efficient contraceptive for a man.”

  Miller looked down at Byron, my second oldest son.

  My genius.

  “Dude,” Mill said. “You’re seven.”

  “I know I am. Ma explained the procedure to me,” Byron said calmly.

  I had indeed done that. Byron wasn’t the kind of boy you brushed off when he asked for facts, and I didn’t want to, so I’d pulled out a picture and explained the procedure in detail. He promptly asked his father if he could come and see how it was done, but Olly had rejected that idea rather firmly. When he caught the look on my face he’d told me I couldn’t come either.

  “I’m sure she did,” Hawk said with a grin. “Hey, sweetie,” he added and kissed my cheek. “Thanks for the intel, we got them.”

  “I know,” I said, and I did.

  I’d stepped in as a part of their group when Kit left for an assignment abroad, and when he came back he took on other responsibilities, so I handled intelligence and helped out with communicatio
ns when they needed it.

  “Anyone under the age of fifteen – get out to the tables or I turn you into frogs!”

  My father walked out of the house announcing this in his best magician’s voice, and loud squeals erupted again as the kids ran toward the long tables where various members of our extended family had started to place food.

  “I only had one,” Wilder said and put an arm around my shoulders. “You had a gazillion.”

  “I know,” I repeated and leaned into her.

  We were a tight-knit group, but Wilder and Mac were the ones we spent the most time with. It had surprised me a little. I assumed I'd be closest to either Jinx, because of how we were and the work we did together, or Mary, who was a small-town girl like me.

  Maybe it was because Mac and Olly were close. Perhaps it was because of our bikes, or all the times we went skiing together, but when my grandfather had a heart attack it was Wilder I called. She sat with Olly and me through that night while we waited for news, holding me up with her strength and calm assurances that he’d be fine. When Vilda was born, Mac surprised everyone in the delivery room by fainting. To his profound embarrassment, he also hit his head as he went down, so a laughing Olly went with him for the seven stitches he needed in his eyebrow, and I held Wilder’s hand when their daughter was born.

  “Everyone else had something in-between, and every time we all get together I find the sheer number of short people in front of me staggering,” Wilder said.

  “There are less than twenty,” I said.

  “Barely,” she chuckled. “Heard that Maria told everyone how Olly cut shit off.”

  “Yeah,” I sighed.

  “I’ve been thinking about that,” she said innocently.

  Too innocently.

  “Hope for your sake they were careful with the knife,” she added.

  “They were,” Olly stated.

  “I thought you looked a little weak when you pushed that guy into a wall yesterday,” she taunted.

  “Wilder.”

  “Just sayin’” she grinned. “I know it was years ago but I’d really feel bad for Annie if you suddenly, uh, malfunctioned.”

  “Wilder.”

  “You don’t, do you?”

  She was still grinning and was apparently not going to stop making fun of Olly’s bedroom performance.

  Olly calmly leaned forward and hoisted her over his shoulder.

  “Be back,” he murmured and walked over the lawn.

  The kids were cheering and clapping as he passed them on his way toward the pond. Wilder was squirming and slapping his broad back, but I heard laughter in her voice too. Mac and Dante stepped out on the porch and watched them with identical grins.

  “He’s throwing her in the pond,” Mac said.

  I tilted my head back to laugh up at him but since he knew what would happen, I saw no need to confirm it.

  “She probably deserved it,” Dante said.

  “She asked Olly if he was impotent,” I shared.

  “Well, shit,” Dante muttered.

  “Senator d’Augustine,” I drawled. “Are you allowed to use that kind of language?”

  “I’m not a senator here,” he reminded me. “I’m Dante.”

  He was. Together with Jinx, he’d had a significant impact on our country, and there was already speculation that he would be president one day. When they were with us, though, they were just Dante and Jinx.

  “I know, sweetie,” I said and leaned into him. “I know.”

  “You know everything, don’t you?” Hawk said.

  “I know that a long time ago you made a bet,” I smirked. “And I know what it was about.”

  I hadn’t told anyone about the bet, and had no plans to do so, but I enjoyed tormenting him.

  “You still think I’m a saint,” he countered calmly, like he had many times before.

  Olly came back, put an arm around my shoulders, and turned us a little to shield me from the spray of water Wilder shook out of her hair.

  “When are we eating?” she asked and started drying herself with the towel Mac handed her.

  “As soon as Kit gets here,” Carson said. “Bo picked them up at the airport. They should be here any minute.”

  “He’s bringing her?” Wilder asked.

  “Yes.”

  Our eyes met and we giggled. Kit had met someone, and had managed to keep their relationship a secret for quite some time, but it had eventually exploded in a spectacular way. I wondered how she would handle meeting everyone.

  There was suddenly a commotion at the tables and angry shouts echoed, so most of the adults moved. Olly and I didn’t, hoping our kids weren’t involved, and knowing that if they were, someone would either handle it, or call for us.

  He wrapped his arms around me from behind and kissed the side of my neck in a way that made me shiver a little.

  “I don’t malfunction,” he reminded me.

  “Not even a little,” I confirmed.

  “Once the kids are tucked in for the night we might want to make sure, though,” he murmured, and I shivered again.

  “Totally,” I whispered.

  Then someone called for Olly to come so he squeezed me gently, and walked off to deal with whatever mayhem our offspring had caused.

  Magic swirled through the air as I stood on the back porch of a farm on the outskirts of Norton, watching the wonder that was my extended family. There were mind readers, mind benders and people who talked to animals. Some were talented artists, or geniuses, and a few were a little of everything. Some were beautifully normal, and there was magic in that too.

  And just as one could find joy in the little things, for no reason at all, I knew magic didn’t have to exist for a bigger purpose. There didn’t have to be a reason. In our small town in the mountains where the extraordinary was ordinary and the unusual expected, magic was simply another layer of our lives.

  Suddenly, a small white feather slid through the air to settle on the porch rail next to my left hand. It came from a snow owl, a bird we hadn't seen in the mountains since that day when the brother of my soul set me free. I caressed it gently with my index finger, and looked up at the crowd in front of me again.

  “I’m taking good care of them, Bee,” I whispered.

  Continue reading…

  Seaborn – planned for release spring 2018

  Seaborn is not a continuation of the Birds of a Feather series. It tells a story about Joao Torres from Black Snow, but it can be read standalone.

  Running for her life from the man who hurt her, Charlie escapes to the small town of Croxier, located on an Island far out in the sea, where she can hide until she’s healed, and until she can return safely to her life in Prosper city.

  Ready to give up and settle for companionship, accepting that the all-consuming love from fiction and fantasy isn’t for him, Joao walks into his Uncle Nico’s house to talk about protection for a girl they are helping.

  Then Charlie opens her bruised and swollen eyes, and everything changes.

  Chapter One

  Escape

  Blood sprayed out of her nostrils when she coughed and it slid through the air as if in slow-motion until the small drops hit the glass in front of her. She watched them glide slowly down the storefront window, wishing she could let the poor store owner know she was sorry.

  “Hello,” a voice said in her ear, and she jolted.

  She’d forgotten that she held her phone pressed to her ear.

  “Hey,” she said but it came out slurry and hoarse.

  “Who is this?”

  “Carrie, it’s me. Lottie.”

  “Lottie?”

  “I need help,” she murmured.

  “What’s wrong, you sound –”

  “My ex. He hurt me.”

  She stumbled around the corner into the side alley with a head that was pounding, burning ribs, and a foot that didn’t quite seem to work.

&nb
sp; “Shit. Where are you?”

  “Southie.”

  “I’ll come and –”

  “Dangerous,” she ground out. “I need to hide, Carrie. You said you knew how to escape.”

  Her voice hitched a little but it wasn’t from tears. Not yet, she promised herself. The tears could come later. Right then all her focus had to be on survival. On hiding in an alley, and sliding down the wall behind a dumpster where he couldn’t find her. All she had left was a will to survive and a desperate hope that her co-worker could help her to get away.

  “Lottie…”

  “Please.”

  For several seconds, the only thing heard over the phone were heavy breaths from both girls.

  “Can you get to the south airport?”

  The airport was a couple of miles away. Three maybe. It would take her an hour to walk, if she even made it, but she couldn’t risk taking a cab. Her swollen eyes and the way blood ran from her nose and mouth would be remembered. She didn’t have enough cash either, and her credit card would leave a trail for someone to follow.

  “I can be there in an hour,” she rasped out.

  I’m strong, she thought. Fit. The leg was banged up but it wasn’t broken.

  “You’re sure?” Carrie asked, sounding uncertain.

  “Yes.”

  She’d rather walk through the fires of purgatory than letting that man find her, so she was sure because she had to be sure.

  “Okay. Can I call you back?”

  “You can’t tell anyone –”

  “I have to tell Benito, Lottie. He’s a pilot, and he’ll take you away from here. I’ve known Ben all my life, he won’t talk. Promise.”

  She thought it through and decided that she had to agree. There wasn’t any other way because there wasn’t anyone else she could turn to. And she trusted Carrie. They had worked on the same team for two years and they weren’t friends outside the office because she couldn’t have friends. But they were co-workers who talked a lot, so in a way they were friends after all, and Carrie knew who her ex was, and what he was capable of.