by Livia Quinn
What had all that been before, a canny distraction? If so it had worked, but somehow I couldn't quite mark it down to subterfuge. With his growth spurt over the last months had also come more intelligence. Whether it was the intellect of a smart canine or a man, I didn't know, but except when he was out of his mind over some… slut… he seemed to know when to cross the highway and how to avoid hunters. We'd put the word out that there was a pet wolf running around who was tame but didn't look it. Still, I was afraid he was living on borrowed time.
I decided to contact Montana and have Conor find him as soon as the sun set. I picked up one of my keys hiding it where Dylan would find it just in case—I couldn't give up hope that he'd revert back and I didn't want him to be locked out. Then I shifted and bounded toward town. Aurora might have some answers, and if not, well I was too worked up to fool with the archives anyway. I needed a good run.
Jack
I decided to kill two birds with one stone and catch my parents and Jordie at their house. I arrived in my sheriff's department unit. Ryan had insisted I take it since I didn't have a personal vehicle. I knew his motive. He hadn't wanted to take over for me and it was only a mark of his loyalty and our bond from the service that he had, no questions asked.
I left the SUV running because, well, there may be a lot of weird stuff going on in Destiny, but almost zero car theft. The carport was empty, but Jordie could still be here.
I stopped, realizing I had no plan. What was I going to say to my daughter? Hi, sweetheart. You just thought Georgeanne was weird. Wait until you get a load of your father and his new look. Georgeanne hadn't really been Jordie's mother and she was one ugly creature. Wasn't that what I was now, a creature?
What it came down to was whether… I swallowed… whether she could still even look—love me. I just needed to jump in with both feet like I'd always done, like I was doing at the levee every night, all night.
Mom's favorite jasmine incense hit me as soon as I opened the garage door. "Jordie! Hello. Mom, Dad?" I called, knowing full well I was alone. I checked Jordie's bedroom. Her clothes were still there. In the kitchen, I found a note stuck on the refrigerator.
Jack, just in case you decide to rejoin the living, we've gone to Alliance for a couple hours. Jordie gave up on you. She's at Aurora's. I'm fixing lunch for you today at noon.
Be here. Mom
I rubbed my tired eyes. Mom was mad. Jordie was hurt. And Tempe… Looked like I was in for a lecture and deservedly so. But suddenly, she'd reminded me I was ravenous.
Chapter 8
Oh, Jack, you're getting in deeper and deeper...
Tempe
Jordie waved at me from the display window of Aurora Borealis amid piles of sweaters and accessories, merchandising—her word— was her favorite thing. Jack had been hesitant to allow his "baby girl" to spread her wings but it had mostly been about seeing a future when his daughter wasn't in it.
As soon as I entered the store, she gave me a hug. "Tempe! Did you find my father?"
I winced. She and Jack had been very close until his change, and now "Daddy" had become "my father". Jack was worried about Jordie's reaction, but she'd witnessed a lot—the "seance" where Marty and Dutch had been present, Dylan's failed healing in the swamp, and she and Andy had been instrumental in finding River. Why couldn't he see what he was doing to her?
Yesterday she'd asked me, "Why has he abandoned me?" Yeah. I hadn't told Jack that part. I know about abandonment, and Jack had been furious with my parents on my behalf for that reason. Was I protecting him, enabling his pity party?
I understood what a shock it was to find yourself in a new world. I grew up denying my own impending change, but at least I was aware of it. Jack had been blindsided, life as he knew it had turned inside out. I wondered now, wouldn't one of the Paramortals who'd been alive when the pact was first made, like my parents and Aurora, have known Jack's ancestry? Dutch apparently hadn't. Wait, he’d said he didn’t know Jack was a dragon it didn’t mean he didn’t know it was going to happen. He could be very sneaking while still being truthful.
Jordie was still standing there looking at me, so pretty, so hurt, and still so human. Someone needed to get the courage to tell her about her future. During the Mardi Gras Ball Aurora had told me and Montana the rash on Jordie's upper thigh that Jack believed was a tattoo—a grounding offense—was actually a deremelei, a sign of a new Paramortal. She'd shown no outward indications since, so it had been put on the back burner but Jordie was going to need him. For most of Jack's adult life she had been his priority, and now he seemed to have forgotten everything but his need to wallow.
I sighed and hugged her. "I did see him, honey. He was coming to find you when we, um, found some unfortunate person drowned in the river. So he'll be tied up a little longer."
Those pretty brows crashed down after a brief look of relief and her voice rose, "He's back at work?"
Oh boy. I knew what she was thinking. He'd gone straight to work and hadn't even come to see her. Oh, Jack, you're getting in deeper and deeper. "You know how men are, honey." Zeus, she might as well learn now. "Their work is everything."
She frowned. "But he is coming to see me…"
I crossed my fingers behind my back and hoped fervently I was telling the truth. "Absolutely. Like I said, he was on his way here when I found him." Remember, Tempe, you're a terrible liar. Stop now. "How was your vacation?"
She gave a suffering sigh, "Jane kept droning on about how Daddy was in Absentiastan, and if he wasn't careful someone was going to report him to Child Perfection Services for leaving me." Her hurt was evident in the half-hearted smile.
Jordie had taken a summer trip with her best friend, Melissa, and her mom, Jane Fortune. Jane worked at the Piggly Wiggly in Alliance, wrote the Destiny Tribune's gossip column, and she was also the local contractor for 1-900 Psychic. She had a propensity—she'd probably call it a prosperity—for mixing up her words. Apparently the editor of the paper thought it was part of her appeal because the errors were never corrected. He was probably right.
Jordie thrummed her fingernails on the doorframe. "She got her point across." I reached out and took the teenager into my arms. I'd fallen in love with her the first day I'd met her, when I'd been… on the run from the law—her father.
I stroked her hair back from her forehead, "She was wrong to stick that hooked nose into your family business, Jordie girl. I promise, when your father explains, you'll understand. He loves you very, very much." I leaned back and looked up at her. "You don't doubt that do you?"
She blinked and sighed. "No, but the only time he ever stayed away this long was when he was deployed, and that wasn't by choice."
"Well, he has been away," I rolled my eyes, if only in his mind. "And… he's been a little depressed… maybe that's not the right word… worried? Argh, I'm going to say too much and you really need to hear it from him, okay? I… think he's afraid you won't love him anymore once you find out…" Zeus, Tempe, just shut up!
"Find out what?"
Yep, I'd made things worse. "Honey, I can't say anymore. I'm positive that your dad will be around to see you tomorrow. If he isn't, you call me. I'll drag his behind through Main Street straight to wherever you are. Deal?"
She nodded. "It sounds bad."
"Nah, he's just still thinking of you as his baby girl. Everything's going to be okay. Trust me?"
She smiled. "I do." Her gaze went over my shoulder and she took her tongue between her teeth.
"Okay, out with it."
"You and Daddy… are you still a thing? I mean—"
"I…uh… truly hope so, honey. I've been letting him work through his…er… issues," and her mind was working, trying to figure out what issues could possibly keep him from her. Maybe Montana was right. Maybe someone needed to jab him with a Tempestaerie style cattle prod. I could always brush off my zapper.
She smiled, "I love you, too, Tempe. I'd better get back to work. With all the time Daddy took off, I might h
ave to pay the rent."
I chuckled. "I'd love to be there when that happened. Talk about a blow to a man's ego." Or a dragon's! Don't you have basketball practice this evening?" I asked.
Her eyes clouded. "See, you know my schedule. Daddy hasn't shown up for one school meeting or practice in five months."
"Come here, Jordie." She draped herself over me again, a willowy young woman who needed a child's reassurance. Sixteen was a tough age, even more so when your father had disappeared with no explanation. I patted Jordie on the back. "You watch. Things will be back to normal soon."
Maybe that was going a bit too far, but would I use my powers to get Jack back to his daughter's side? Is molten lava hot?
"Where's Aurora?"
"She's talking to Ms. Kat."
My eyes widened. "Kat's here?" I couldn't remember a time when Katerina had sought Aurora out. Our friend Katerina Blackmoor had secrets, we suspected—big secrets. The first time Jack had met her, he'd called her a "runner". She'd fairly twitched. Of course, she is a cat shifter. Whatever the problem was, it must be serious.
I stopped in the doorway to Aurora' s workroom when I heard Katerina's voice, "The thing is, I'm starting to desire Dylan again."
Zeus lacy drawers! Was Dylan a man again?
Tempe
I barged in. Aurora's brows rose but Kat's face was an emotionless mask, her eyes covered in her protective dark sunglasses. Oops, this was supposed to be a private meeting. "Uh, sorry. I'll just—"
Kat waved her hand and sat down on the stool, her shoulders sagged. "Stay, Tempe. I don't think we're getting anywhere."
"Anybody in here?" And privacy was out of the question. Montana nearly took up the opening to the workroom, her warrior nature and bearing making her appear larger than life. "Did I miss the SOAPS meeting memo? Everybody's here but Bailey and Shannon, even our new member." She was referring to Jordie.
SOAPS is an acronym for Sisters of the Astral Planes, a group of supernatural friends that includes me, Aurora, Montana, Kat, Bailey and Shannon. It's the Paramortal version of the musketeers, you know, all-for-one?
"Shh, Montana. Jordie doesn't know yet," I reminded her.
Montana looked back through the doorway. "Jack Lang needs his ass kicked. And I'm just the one—"
Aurora interrupted, putting a calming hand on Montana's shoulder before her Dinnshencha could shift and hunt Jack down for abusing Jordie, which was kind of her Paramortal job. "Since you're all here, let me make some tea."
Montana glanced at Katerina then me. I answered with my eyebrows. Search me… My guess was Kat was reviewing all the reasons she kept her past to herself and wondering if she could trust us with her problems. Her shoulders rose as she inhaled a long thoughtful breath, but then she remembered Jordie. She asked Aurora, "Can she hear us?"
Aurora waved her hands in a broad arc. "There. I've placed a veil around us, no one will be able to hear our conversation."
Having made the decision, Kat said, "You all know Dylan very well."
I disagreed with that. Montana, Dylan and Aurora had been friends for at least a couple hundred years. My relationship with him, however, had proven to be a complete sham. "I don't feel like I know him at all anymore, Kat."
Kat's head tilted, her expression pained. "You know him, Tempe. The man, the investigator, even the lover was true to his real nature."
"Has something happened to him?" Montana asked. Though the main concern of her Dinnshencha nature is a woman's security, she is a loyal friend and her concern for Dylan was obvious.
Kat looked uncomfortable and my pulse picked up.
Chapter 9
"Don't you mean he licked your neck, held you with his furry paws?
Katerina
"No, he's… fine," I said. Dylan was more than fine. "I should have used the word healthy."
This conversation was bringing back the emotional ride that had begun for everyone before Chaos. I'd been immediately drawn to Dylan even though our supernatural entities would've been enemies under different circumstances. After all, the Paramortal pact didn't solve everything between the species. We'd ignored our attraction because of our friendship with Tempe and his role as protector for the Pomeroys, and then came the Para-moon.
"Oh, it's all so messed up," I said. I looked at Tempe, not for the first time wondering if I should apologize. A look of confusion, then understanding crossed Tempe's face and I feared I'd waited too long.
"Kat what's going on?" Tempe's concern was genuine and it made me feel even more guilty.
I looked at Aurora and shook my head, "I can't do this." I pushed off the stool.
"Where are you going?" Tempe asked, stopping me with her hand on mine. We both looked down at the physical connection she'd made between us, something that until now I'd never allowed. I expected it to feel intrusive, invading, but it was oddly comforting.
My lip quivered, "I don't deserve this—"
"Don't deserve what, Kat? We're your friends. There's nothing in your past that would change that. Let us help. Let me help," Tempe asked her eyes brimming with emotion.
"What about the fact that I slept with your—with Dylan? I didn't mean for it to happen, I never ever meant to hurt you," I said, my voice cracking as my anguish broke the surface.
Tempe frowned. She didn't seem to be upset. "I'm confused."
"I betrayed your trust. When you found me with Dylan…" I sat down again knowing I didn't deserve her forgiveness but these women were the closest thing to friends I'd had in years.
"What are you talking about?" Tempe said, "You didn't betray me. Dylan had been free for over two years and any 'interest or pretended interest' or residual feelings he had—well, you know, that whole situation was complicated. It was all a big convoluted, and may I insert, ineffectual, plan by my parents to maintain control over the situation. I'm with Jack now. Or I was." Tempe shook her head. "You're right, Katerina. Things are messed up, but none of it's your fault. I was happy for you and Dylan. I'm sorry things didn't work out long term for you both."
I looked at Aurora. Montana sensed my hesitance, "Has something happened to Dylan? I just saw him chasing your neighbor's German Shepherd. He's grown into a fine specimen of a wolf."
I grit my teeth, hearing that she'd seen Dylan out chasing his bitches. Was it my fault for not figuring out what he needed? No, he'd been doing this for months. He's just a dog, I thought, but couldn't even say it aloud. "He is beautiful. He weighs almost two hundred pounds. His fur is so luscious and dark, and there's an intelligence in those dark eyes that reminds me of before…" My voice trailed off and when I looked up they were all staring at me. "What?"
Tempe leaned forward. "Let's cut to the chase. I heard you telling Aurora you feel desire for Dylan." She shrugged unapologetically, "I'm sorry, Kat. I didn't mean to eavesdrop—"
"Wait, wait. Back up a minute," Montana said. "Has Dylan shifted into a human again?" She looked at Tempe then narrowed her eyes at me.
"No." I explained what happened with Dylan. "He didn't get the reaction he was looking for. He seemed, I don't know, off. I'll probably never get a chain on him again."
Montana eyed Katerina carefully. "You talk about him like he's back. If he's not, what's this about you lusting after a wolf?" She looked at Aurora, "Does that happen? I mean, she's a cat!"
"The connection is on more than beast level," Aurora said sidestepping Montana's question.
I nodded. "I dreamed Dylan was a man again and he wanted to make love to me. When I woke up he was still a wolf but he looked at me…well, like Dylan did. I swear." At their incredulous looks I lowered my head into my hands. "What am I going to do?"
"Well," Montana said, "I guess next time the situation comes up, you could sleep with him."
Tempe looked at Montana, perplexed. "Say what?!"
They both looked at me. Now that the possibility had been raised, I realized it may have been in the back of my mind all along. Maybe I'd come here to get the green light.
Aurora said, "Exactly what I was thinking, Montana." She reached over and took my hand. I tried to pull away but Aurora was stronger than I expected. "Easy now," she said, "listen to me." For a second I wondered if she was some kind of cat whisperer. Love for my friends suddenly surged through me like warm sunshine. I exhaled slowly, "Okay."
Aurora said, "This isn't about species rules or logistics. But just because Dylan can't shift doesn't mean you can’t respond in your beast form."
Say what?!
Chapter 10
Tempe
"Katerina—" I started, but Montana butted in, as was her nature.
"I see where Aurora is going with this, Catwoman." Well, duh, didn't we all? "How long has this cozy relationship with Dylan been going on? When did the attraction start?"
"Zeus, Montana, wasn't your last advice personal enough?" I punched her in the arm and worried a little that this was a Dinnshencha-like question that might get Dylan thrashed if she didn't like the answer.
Kat contemplated Montana's words for a minute. Her focus seemed to shift. Finally she glanced at me. "…there was only the one time I made love to him and it was as a human."
"Will you quit?" I said, "I told you it's okay."
Kat sighed. "That first and only time was so awesome that I put it down to a Para-moon personality change, his and mine, but—this is so weird."
What part, I wondered. Revealing intimate details to girlfriends especially when one of those girlfriends was your lover’s ex? Or trying to wrap your head around being with your cat’s natural enemy in bed? Probably, all of the above.
As wrong as it would've seemed for Kat to have sex with Dylan while he was in wolf form and she didn't even know for sure if there was a human brain in his thick furry skull, surely it was impossible for two natural enemies to do it. It might end up like one of those black widow scenarios.