The cabin was quiet late in the afternoon. Xany and Caden had gone out for their usual shopping trip and pizza as they did on Friday nights. Vanessa was working late because the kids at her studio had a recital. I was left to my own devices. I knew that Mal would be in the house. Caden never really left me alone. He made sure of it because he worried like any alpha would. I wandered from my room into the living room where I found Mal seated on the floor by the coffee table. A fire burned in the hearth. He looked very involved in whatever he was doing. As I got closer, I saw that he had a beading loom on the table and trays of seed beads here and there.
“I figured you’d be here,” I said as I approached.
“Hey, just doing some beading.” He smiled at me. I knelt down on the floor across from him to see what he had been working on.
“Do you work with seed beads often?” I admired the pattern on the loom. The diamond shapes, and bold colors reminded me of my mother. She’d taught me to bead and sew when I was little. It was something we did together. Often in the woods under the glint of the moon, or in the wheat fields on a summer day. She’d even taught me once how to make beads out of clay, and we’d spend time painting them together.
“Sometimes, they’re really small and frustrating. My big ol’ hands flick them all over the place.” He grinned. “Hence the mess on the floor.” He laughed, gesturing around us. Sure enough, there were random scatterings of beads in the carpet and on the floor.
“You’re doing well. You can use salmon bones for needles if it gets too tricky, but they’re just as small.” I started picking up a few of the little beads and placing them back into his trays.
“Why am I not surprised that you know how to bead?” He lifted a brow at me, a grin tugging the corners of his lips.
“Because good Cherokee girls know how to weave, says Momma.” I couldn’t help but smile at him. Mal was a hard person not to be happy around. He made me feel normal, in a way, and reminded me of the good things in my past. It was a familiarity I could see myself getting used to.
“I bet she does.” He chuckled. “Can you sew as well?”
“Yeah, but I’ve always preferred making dream catchers or mandala type things. Or painting on hides.” I sat back and watched him continue to work.
“It sounds like you’ve learned a lot,” he grumbled as he sent another little bead flying across the room. I laughed at it.
“Yeah…my mom was a good teacher.” My voice caught in my throat, and I swallowed a back a lump of sorrow.
“She’d be welcome here, you know. That is, if she were still living and needed a pack.” He was casual about it, and I appreciated it. I wondered what it would be like if my mom were alive and able to live here with everyone. I thought she might like it. Mal rubbed some beeswax on the end of the threads and prepared to fasten the findings.
“I know. And thank you…for offering and all.” I watched his fingers fumble a bit with the sinew. “Careful, it’s going to slip.” I shot up and caught the end of two of the threads that escaped the loom.
“Your mom has returned to Gaia, and thank you for catching that.” He carefully took the threads from me, his fingertips brushing over my hand. My skin tingled when flesh met flesh as if his very touch left an imprint on me. The fluttering sensation in my stomach following the gentle brush caught me off guard.
“Welcome.” I tried not to stutter. I watched him remove the slender bracelet from the loom. It had a black, orange, yellow, and white diamond in the middle with purple and white mixed in toward the ends. He’d done a really good job. I hadn’t seen a bracelet like that since I’d left the reservation. Mal tied the threads tightly and secured the finding with the necessary steel clasps, then held it up for me to see. He wouldn’t have used silver findings for obvious reasons. Silver would be toxic for him to work with, even if it was in such a small quantity.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I think it’s perfect.” The thought of such a feral wolf creating delicate beadwork was kind of ironic.
“Excellent.” He reached across the table and draped it across my wrist. “I think it belongs to you.”
“What? Me?” And before I knew it, he’d fastened the bracelet on my wrist. I got nervous about it but in the back of my mind I knew that I would never take it off. My face was hot, and it was difficult to look at him.
“Yes, you. See? It looks perfect.” He smiled and leaned back with his elbows on the sofa.
“Wa-do,” I thanked him quietly. I was grateful that my complexion would hide most of my blush.
“Gv-li-e-li-ga.” He gave the typical response when thanked.
I looked up at him not realizing I’d thanked him in our language, but I sure as heck noticed when he spoke it. His eyes lingered on mine, the fire blazing in the hearth reflected in his pupils and again the echo of a crying eagle sounded from somewhere inside me.
“You remind me of an eagle…”
“An eagle? Funny, I thought I might remind you of a wolf.” His grin was soft, engaging. I bit my lip. I didn’t understand why I didn’t feel threatened by him. Surprisingly, I wondered what it would be like to move closer to him.
“That too, but your eyes make me think of eagles.” I couldn’t help but smile at him. Mal watched me, his own smile enduring. I didn’t understand why he reminded me of eagles, and I tried to think about what my mom would have said if I told her about it. I imagined it would be something like “in time, Gaia reveals all” or something cryptic like that.
Mal was about to say something when Xany came barreling through the front door.
“We brought food! And visitors!” she announced. I tore my eyes away from Mal only when the smell of pizza wafted through the room.
“Pizza and visitors?” Mal stood, offering me a hand, which I gratefully took.
“Uh-huh. Hank stopped by with some packmates to get a good sniff of us.” Xany grinned, and Mal hurried over to help her with the boxes.
“A lot of people?” I bit my lip and moving closer to Xany. As a general rule, I wasn’t very comfortable around people, especially werewolf people. I’d been around enough wolves, both dominant and submissive, who had attitudes that I just didn’t care for. Though, I had to have some faith in Hank if Caden did. After all, Caden wasn’t an overbearing alpha, and I imagined his fellow werewolf peers would share his style.
“Just a few.” Caden walked in the door with arms full of bags.
Mal brushed passed him to gather the rest of the groceries from the truck outside. I heard him stop and greet our guests. An immediate ball of unease stirred in my belly. Xany looked over to me and ran her fingers through my hair.
“It’ll be okay, Nee, they’re really nice,” she tried to console me. I was seriously beginning to doubt her claims of not being an empath. She seemed to pick up on my emotions quicker than I did.
“C’mon in, Hank, and meet the Shawnee!” Caden called out the door and waved everyone in. Mal carried in the last of the groceries and after him came Hank. He was nearly as large as Caden, though somewhat older. He had long, dark hair pulled into a ponytail, and he was dressed like a lumberjack—red flannel shirt with dark blue jeans, the whole bit. He was light skinned and jolly looking. I smirked at the irony of his appearance. Hank, like Caden, was a clear dominant wolf and not only was he a pack leader, but a sept leader, which meant he had control of several smaller packs within the area. He had to be pretty powerful to control all of that. Behind Hank came an average-sized woman with long, black hair and fair skin. She had on an ankle-length skirt and carried a young child on her hip. I guessed she was Hank’s mate.
“Hank, Imogene, this is Xany and Shawnee.” Caden introduced us, and we all shook hands. “And this of course is Cote.” He gestured to the young boy in Imogene’s arms, who turned away when he was introduced.
“Nice to you meet you again.” Xany giggled. I nodded and shook their hands, watching the little boy act shy.
“It’s nice ter meet ya two lad
ies as well,” Hank said, with a thick accent that I couldn’t even begin to place and a bright smile. “Caden, I kin smell the cat ya spoke of.”
Caden chuckled and nodded toward me. “Shawnee carries her scent mainly.”
“Hey, boys, c’mon inside fer a darn minute, “ Hank shouted out the door followed by a hearty chuckle. A few seconds later, two young boys bounded into the house. They looked around twelve or thirteen years old. Both had short hair that was spiked with some sort of product.
“These are two more of my sons, Achachak or Jack as he prefers, and Mato.”
“It’s Mat, Dad,” huffed the younger one, who immediately looked to us and stuck out his hand. “I’m Mat.”
Xany shook his hand first. “It’s nice to meet you, handsome.” She grinned, and it made Mat blush.
“Well met, Mat.” I shook his hand quickly before he ran off. Even at such a young age, I could tell that he was going to be a pretty powerful werewolf once he had his change. Jack was the quieter of the two; he sniffed the air around us and looked up at Hank with a frown. “There’s cat here.”
“Yes, there is, an’ you’ll be right to respect the cat you just scented, boy.” Hank clapped his son on the back, looking between all of us. “He’s about prime for his Firsting,” he explained.
Most adolescents who were close to their Firstings often exhibited hot tempers and poor behavior, which didn’t distinguish them at all from regular adolescents. It was the fever you had to look out for. Werewolves had a body temperature that was higher than average, but children near the time of their Firsting spiked a fever around one hundred and four degrees.
“I can smell it on him.” Caden laughed a bit. “It’s all right, Jack, and the cat you smell is an ally.”
Jack didn’t seem convinced as he shook our hands firmly. “Can I go now, Dad?” he asked. Mat might have the promise of a dominant wolf, but Jack had the attitude of an alpha in the making.
“Be off wit’ ya, be off.” Hank waved the young ones outside.
Cote remained in his mother’s arms, hiding from all the eyes in the room. He was absolutely cute and was wearing a leather vest over his T-shirt and jeans. I knew he couldn’t be a werewolf just by looking at him. But if he was, I imagined he’d be a rather submissive wolf. Caden, Xany, Hank, and Imogene started talking some business about allies and cats and cautioning about some of the cubs that were close to their Firstings. Caden reassured Hank that Vanessa would be able to hold her own if anything should happen, but that he would caution her anyway. Hank didn’t seem remarkably moved by Caden’s trust of a feline. I continued to watch Cote nibble on bits of his mother’s hair.
“You like kids?” Mal asked from behind me. He tugged me from my daydream, and I turned to face him.
“Yeah. They can be terrific. I like working with them. It’s rewarding to make them feel better. The look on their little faces is priceless.” I crossed my arms over my stomach. The discomfort over being around strangers was overwhelming at times. Especially when I was talking about intimate things like family, kids, and work.
“I imagine that at times like that, being a doctor is rewarding in itself.” He put his hand on my shoulder, which was a brave move by any sort. The last time he tried to touch me he had a second thought. His wolf probably didn’t take well to the rejection that he probably saw coming. Most wolves don’t. Being skin-to-skin was important for them, and affection was part of communication.
This time, however, he didn’t stop himself, and to be honest, I didn’t mind as much as I thought I would. A strange shiver ran down my spine. I could only take it for so long before I had to move away. I twisted away from him to open one of the pizza boxes on the table. “It is. Hungry?”
“Always. Caden knows a guy at the pizza place in town who puts all sorts of meat on the pizzas for his werewolf friends.” Mal grinned. “And pepperoni for the non-beast folk.”
“Caden must have all the good connections then.”
“Amen.” He handed me a slice of pepperoni on a plate before dishing some pizza out to everyone else.
In effort to distance myself from the chatting strangers, I took my pizza over to the sofa. When Mal gave Xany her plate, she said something to him and nodded in my direction. He came over and joined me on the sofa, sitting a bit closer than usual. Normally this would bother me, but I was able to swallow down my worry along with a bit of pizza.
“Did she tell you to come over and keep me company?” I asked.
“Nah, she said I should bring you a soda.” He handed me a can.
“Thank you.” I smiled at him, but I had to admit I was a bit skeptical as to whether he was telling the truth.
“My pleasure.”
After a while, Hank and Imogene bid everyone good-bye and left for the night. Caden and Xany joined us by the fire with the pizza, sodas, and bags of potato chips.
“Hank seems nice,” I told Caden as he sat in the armchair. Xany sat down on the floor at the coffee table so she could add garlic powder and parmesan cheese to her pizza.
“He is. He and Gene have about nine cubs.” Caden chuckled. “She’s a quiet spirit, but you should see her in the home with the cubs. She’s got them all in line.”
I smiled, listening to Caden as I finished the last bite of my pizza.
“Nine cubs? Damn, that’s a lot of kids running around.” Xany shook her head while taking two slices of pizza and making a pizza-sandwich with them. I laughed at her.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“It’s less calories this way!” She grinned and took a huge bite. I laughed again and shook my head at her.
“Your cat is here,” Mal announced as he helped himself to a second slice of overly meaty pizza while rolling his eyes at his sister.
Caden grinned at Xany then glanced to my bedroom door, waiting for Vanessa to appear. She sauntered out of my room wearing a full-body, black leotard that had a cropped oval neck, long sleeves, and a sheer green skirt that hung loosely at her hips. She had her hair up in a ponytail, but as she walked toward us, she removed the bauble and let it fall loosely. Every eye in the room was on her when swayed her way over to us. The sensation in my stomach made me feel kind of fidgety so I reached for my soda and took a sip. Caden cleared his throat before speaking.
“Nice outfit there, Vanessa.”
She purred when she saw me but grinned at Caden. Xany glared at her for the faintest second before glancing at me with a perked brow, rubbing her stomach.
“Hey, Ness. Hungry?” I always liked when she wore her dance outfits; it made her subtle feline movements more prominent.
“Hi. Not yet, “ she said, purring louder as she knelt down in front of me, burying her face against my stomach. She nuzzled me with affection typical of a feline, getting reacquainted with me in the same way she usually did after spending a significant time apart. Except it wasn’t usually my stomach that she nuzzled. It was most often my neck.
A sudden surge of something rushed from my belly button downward, then up my spine. I lifted myself up to stop the feeling from continuing. I pushed at her shoulders a bit, and she looked up at me.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, her expression guarded.
“I dunno. It felt funny when you did that.” I urged her upward into a normal hug.
She hugged me tight and wormed her way in, sitting between Mal and me. He was grinning at her, enjoying her quirky behaviors and near obliviousness to the other people in the room. Xany looked kind of annoyed and had moved to take a seat in Caden’s lap while she ate her food.
“You make quite an entrance there, Red.” Mal chuckled at her.
She hissed at him, though she followed it with a grin that made him laugh. For some reason my face was flushed, and only got warmer when Vanessa nuzzled my neck. I sat up a bit.
To avert any reaction from her, I hurriedly asked, “How was the recital?”
“Good. One little girl did fall off the stage by accident but” —she shot us a mischiev
ous grin—”I caught her and put her back on stage.”
Caden chuckled at her story. “Did you use your super agile cat speediness to do that?”
She grinned boastfully, and her purring grew even louder. It sounded more like wheezing now, making her voice sound rattley. “Maybe.”
“Vanessa, you need to be more careful,” I lectured and pushed her bangs off her face.
She merely mewed at me like a pathetic kitten. The sound made me melt, and I nuzzled her. Xany was oddly quiet and leaned over to whisper something in Caden’s ear that I couldn’t hear, but Vanessa must have because she looked over at her with a risen brow. Xany sunk back into Caden a bit, and he patted her hip reassuringly. Mal broke the tension.
“We have lots of pizza, Red, if you’re hungry.”
Vanessa lifted her gaze to him for a moment and twitched her nose once. Even in human form, her behavior always seemed more catlike. Mal tried to mimic the nose twitch, which made him look like he was about to sneeze.
“Sorry, I don’t speak cat.”
I laughed softly and poked Vanessa in the side. “English, bad kitty…”
She mewed at me again and gave me a gentle nip on my neck. My face felt like it was about to burst with the embarrassment brought on by Vanessa’s overt public display of affection. This time Xany couldn’t help but giggle a little bit. “She’s like a real kitty.”
“She is a real kitty, Xee.” Mal decided that the nose twitch meant yes and served Vanessa a piece of pizza. She took it and lifted her chin to him in thanks.
“I think we’ll all be speaking cat eventually,” Caden said.
Vanessa grinned and took a bite of her pizza, turning around to lean against me while she ate, and put her bare feet up alongside Mal’s leg. I draped my arm around her middle habitually. Xany watched us again. This time she caught my gaze for a moment before giggling.
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