Lycan Legacy - 4 - 5 - 6: Princess - Progeny - Paladin: Book 4 - 5 - 6 in the Lycan Legacy Series

by Veronica Singer

  “That’s not fair!”

  I ignored her. “Logan, do you think you can find some aspiring actresses in LA who would want to get into this project?”

  Logan laughed. “I could throw a rock in Malibu and hit a dozen of them.”

  “Actors are easily replaceable,” I said. “Backers with cash are a lot harder to find.”

  Alisha fumed silently. I reached over the table and stroked her arm. “It’s not fair, but it’s a good deal for an aspiring actress. Are you still interested?”

  “Yes. I want this chance.”

  “Good. It’s up to you.” I tilted my head at her sister. “And Brita, of course.”

  “Why does she have a say in my career?”

  “Because this job will disrupt her life, too.”

  I turned to Brita. “How do you feel about this?”

  Brita and Alisha shared a look, one of those sister-to-sister exchanges that transferred a lot of information in a second.

  “Thanks for asking,” said Brita. “I think Alisha should go for it. I’ll be okay with Mom until I can join her in LA.”

  “Join her?”

  “We have it all planned out. Alisha is going to become a famous actress, I’m going to direct, and Selene will be our screenwriter.”

  Logan stared at me and I shrugged. I had never had such grandiose plans at that age.

  I repeated her last comment. “Selene wants to become a screenwriter?”

  “She’s a natural. She tells these stories about being locked in an Arctic prison with a bunch of monsters. Then it turns out the monsters are the good guys; the government kidnapped them for torture and research. Then they get a new prisoner, a lady monster who leads the rest in a huge breakout. It ends with Selene riding to freedom on the back of a huge wolf monster.”

  “Sounds a bit unbelievable,” I said dryly.

  Brita waved a hand as if shooing away a fly. “Older people have no imagination. It’s a great story.”

  “I’ll take your word for it,” I said. “So, you agree that this is a good plan for you and Alisha?”

  Brita nodded emphatically.

  I leaned back in my chair and relaxed for the first time since I entered the house. Pulling two small boxes from my bag, I put them on the table and said, “I got you both a going-away gift.”

  In seconds, the boxes were open, and the girls were staring at the coins. Alisha was puzzled, while Brita was jumping in her seat.

  “It’s very pretty,” said Alisha. “Thank you.”

  “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” said Brita. Then she looked at her sister in surprise. “Don’t you know what these are?”

  “Gold-colored medallions? Like Saint Christopher medallions?”

  “No, not just gold-colored. Real gold. More than that, these are BITCHCoins. I never thought I’d see one for real,” Brita said as she scrolled through her phone. “I’ll download the app and see if they’re real.”

  In seconds, the satisfying beep of a BITCHCoin verification sounded from Brita’s phone. Then the messages started to arrive.

  “Fifty thousand, sixty thousand, seventy-five thousand. Is this real?”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “And this ‘make a wish’ offer?”

  Logan’s face darkened. He did not want his daughters getting involved with witches and magicians. “Ignore those,” I said. “Those are all scammers. Cash is king.”

  Brita stared at the coin’s face. “This kind of looks like you. And it says, ‘Princess Luna the First.’”

  “I’m not the princess type,” I laughed. “Maybe the nose is similar, but that’s as far as it goes. The name must be a coincidence.”

  It took Alisha a bit longer to download the app and scan her coin, but she too received her offers.

  “How did you get these?” asked Alisha. “And how many more do you have?”

  “I got in on the ground floor of BITCHCoin,” I said. No need to tell her I was part of the bank. “I don’t have many, but I want to help out the next generation.”

  “Do you think they’ll go up even more in value?” asked Brita.

  “The sky’s the limit.”

  “I’ll never sell mine,” said Brita possessively. “It’s too pretty.”

  The girls did that look again, and Alisha mouthed the word, “Mom.”

  Brita nodded and mouthed, “Dad.”

  Both nodded and Alisha turned to Logan. “Dad, can you keep these coins safe for us?”

  Logan’s brow furrowed. He couldn’t imagine being robbed or forced to give up something of his. “Why?”

  “We don’t have a good place to keep them,” Alisha said simply.

  Logan shrugged and said, “Sure, I’ll keep them safe for you. I’ve got a safety deposit box at the bank.”

  “It’s all settled then,” I said as I stood. “Logan, you need to leave as soon as possible. Alisha, you need to convince your mom to let you join him.”

  “So fast?” asked Logan.

  “As soon as possible.” I repeated with subsonics, “Your alpha asks this of you,” then in normal tones, “Use your corporate card, and contact Kuga for funds transfers.”

  “Yes, alpha.”

  The moon was rising as I walked up to Thomas’ house. He heard me coming and opened the door as I walked up. His wife Joyce was standing beside him.

  Thomas looked the same as ever: broad-shouldered, heavily muscled, with black hair and eyes. He could move with surprising swiftness, even faster than other werewolves. He was the best fighter I knew, but for some reason he had refused to become the alpha of the pack of werewolves in that prison. Even after I had shown up, he had refused to lead.

  It had taken everything I had to beat him.

  I suddenly wondered if he had let me win that fight to evade the responsibility of becoming an alpha.

  Joyce looked like a very fit thirty-year old woman. Her once-graying hair was now a vibrant chestnut with red highlights. Her skin was smooth and unwrinkled. She looked nothing like her real age of forty-five—one of the benefits of our pack link, the link I had forged to save her life in prison.

  Through our werewolf-to-human pack link, I could sense Joyce’s nervousness. I smiled and held up my basket.

  “I’ve brought you a pie.”

  Thomas stepped back and gestured. “You’re always welcome here, Lady.”

  “Thank you, Tramp,” I replied. Joyce was a bit jealous that we had nicknames for each other, but kept her mouth shut. I sent soothing thoughts through our pack link. I had no interest in Thomas.

  She visibly relaxed and took the basket from my hands, then hurried to the table to lay out the sweets.

  “Is Selene here? I have something for her.”

  Thomas and I both looked at the stairwell where Selene was in hiding at the top of the stairs. It was hard to hide from werewolf senses.

  “Selene,” said Thomas, “come on down and join us for dessert.”

  There was a whispered “Damn,” then Selene scampered down the stairs with all the thirteen-year-old energy in her body.

  “A present for me?” she gushed.

  A look from Thomas reminded of her manners. He tilted his head at the table and Selene obediently hurried over to help her mother.

  At the table, I sipped my chamomile tea and started. “We’ve been talking about the future. I want to ensure that Selene has what she needs to prosper.”

  I put the small jewelry box on the table and pushed it toward Selene. “This is for your future.”

  Selene wriggled in excitement, reminding me that she was still a child. Selene reached out quickly, then drew her hand back. She looked to her parents for approval before grabbing the box.

  “I appreciate your concern, Lady,” said Thomas. “But we’re not a charity case. I can take care of her future.”

  “Hardly charity, considering the way you helped me in the past. Anyway, this is something I’ve also done for Christopher and Logan’s children. Selene deserves the same treatme
nt that they received.”

  Selene examined the coin. “Oooooh! It’s a BITCHCoin.”

  “Watch your mouth, young lady,” said Thomas.

  “No, Dad, that’s what they’re called. I didn’t choose the name. It’s an acronym.”

  Joyce took the coin and examined it. Bouncing the coin in her palm, she said, “It feels like solid gold.”

  “It is, Mom. But it’s worth a lot more than that.”

  Selene took her phone out and quickly downloaded Mason’s app.

  “Here. I’ll show you.”

  Selene scanned the coin and soon received her first offer through the app.

  Joyce looked at the phone over Selene’s shoulder, then asked, “Fifty thousand? In what currency? That can’t be dollars.”

  “Yes, Mom. It’s dollars.” The phone pinged again. “Only now, it’s up to seventy-five thousand dollars.” Selene stroked the coin and said, “I could buy so many toys and clothes.”

  Thomas took the coin out of Selene’s hand. He seemed on the verge of giving it back but stopped when Selene’s phone pinged again. “No toys, young lady. We’re going to put this in a safety deposit box until you’re eighteen.”

  Joyce added, “Then you can decide what you want to do with your gift.”

  Thomas grumbled at the interruption, then nodded.

  Since her parents presented a united front, Selene accepted their conditions. “At least let me take photos of it. Otherwise, no one will believe that I have one.”

  Thomas and Joyce exchanged a look and Thomas said, “We should have never given her a smart phone.”

  Once the photos were taken, Thomas retrieved the coin from Selene.

  He examined the engraving. “This looks a lot like you…”

  Thomas squinted and mouthed the words. “Princess Luna the First? Is this an acronym, too?”

  “No, Dad,” said Selene in that ‘explaining the obvious’ tone teenagers used on adults. “Her husband, Mason, is a fairy prince. That makes her a princess. Just like those Disney movies.”

  “My fairy tale is more Brothers Grimm than Disney,” I said.

  “I don’t understand,” said Joyce. “You made these coins, put your own face on them, and now they’re worth tens of thousands of dollars? What makes them so valuable?”

  “Mason created the coins. He used his computer genius to make them ‘untraceable but accountable,’ a lot like bitcoins.”

  “Yeah, Mom. Everybody wants one. That’s why the price jumped up so quick.”

  “As for what makes them so valuable,” I said, “a coin holder can ask a favor from the backers.”

  “Backers?” asked Thomas.

  “Mason, our Japanese friends, and I have vowed to honor the coins when presented with one, and do our best to give the asker what they want.”

  “It doesn’t seem workable,” said Thomas. “But I’ll admit that a favor from you can be worth a lot. A favor from Mason or the scavengers, not so much.”

  Selene interrupted. “When I turn eighteen, I can use my coin to ask you for anything?”

  “Anything that we can provide. I can’t give you the moon or do anything illegal.”

  Joyce said to Selene, “I think you should use the coin to pay for your college. If the price goes up, you can go to any university you like.”

  “As long as her grades are good,” humphed Thomas.

  “Like I said, I want to help provide for Selene’s future.”

  “There’s more than that, isn’t there?” asked Thomas.

  “Well, there are signs that Selene might turn out like me.”

  Selene swallowed a bite of pie and turned curious eyes to me. “A businesswoman? A mom?” Then she grinned and bared her teeth. “Or maybe a werewolf?”

  Thomas and Joyce stared at her. I answered truthfully.

  “You might become a werewolf. It won’t be certain until you reach puberty. You might be only human.”

  Selene looked disappointed. “Only human.”

  “Being human can be nice,” I said. “I sometimes wish I hadn’t shifted. My life would be a lot less hectic.”

  “How did you know Selene might become a were?”

  “She remembers everything about our time in that Arctic prison,” I said. I gave a quick rundown of the crazy stories Selene had been telling her friends.

  “But don’t some humans have the ability to remember the supernatural?” asked Joyce. “I had no problem remembering what Thomas really was, even if we spent time apart.”

  “Maybe she gets the good memory from you. It doesn’t matter how it happened. What matters is that she knows a lot of secrets.” Too many secrets.

  “I can keep secrets,” said Selene. “Anyway, no one believed my stories.”

  I turned to Thomas. “I want to invite Selene into my pack if she turns.”

  Anger crossed Thomas’ face. “You want to take my entire family?”

  I reached over and stroked Joyce’s arm. “I did that to save her life. She can quit any time.”

  Thomas stared at his wife. “Then leave her pack!”

  “It doesn’t work like that. She must want to quit. You can’t order her around like she’s a child.”

  To prove my point, I turned to Joyce. “Do you want to renounce your link?”

  “And go back to bad eyesight, gray hair, arthritis, and wrinkles? No way!”

  Thomas frowned at her rebuff. “I could make my own pack, give you a link…”

  He stopped as we both shook our heads.

  Time for bluntness. “You couldn’t do it even when Joyce’s life was on the line. You might never be able to do it.”

  His face hardened and he growled, “Anything you can do, I can learn.”

  I rubbed my pregnant belly and raised an eyebrow. “Everything? Are you sure about that, Tramp?”

  Selene giggled, which earned her a disapproving glance.

  “Everything import—” He halted abruptly at my look. He turned his eyes away and muttered, “I beg your pardon, Lady.”

  I waved away the comment. “Anyway, there are differences between regular werewolves and alphas. If you were part of a pack, instead of a loner, you might gain the ability to sense pack links.”

  I held his eyes for a long moment.

  “I ask you to join Luna pack, submit to my will, join us on the hunt.”

  “No.”

  “Very well. I won’t offer again.”

  I turned away and spoke directly to Joyce and Selene, changing the subject. “I understand that Selene is interested in attending a science camp in Los Angeles. We can sponsor her, pay all expenses.”

  Selene’s eyes glittered with excitement.

  Thomas shook his head. “I’m not sending my daughter away by herself. She’s much too young to go alone.”

  Obstinate men would be the death of me. “Did I say she had to go alone? Of course we’ll pay for you and Joyce also.”

  Another headshake. “We can’t afford it. We can’t take time off from work.”

  “The mine is closed, so Joyce is free. You can take vacation. Hell, I’m feeling generous. Take an extra week after the science camp and visit Disneyland.”

  I turned back to Joyce. “Use our corporate credit card for everything.”

  “‘Feeling generous,’” scoffed Thomas. “You always have an ulterior motive.”

  I gave Joyce my ‘men are idiots’ look and she smiled.

  Turning back to Thomas, I said, “You once took fifty-seven bullets for me. I think it’s time I repaid the favor.”

  Thomas crossed his arms and sat back. “That wasn’t for you. That was for Joyce and Selene.”

  “A happy accident, then. I still want to do something nice for you and your family.” I couldn’t order him to go as I had with Christopher and Logan since he wasn’t pack.

  I turned from him to Joyce. He’d have to learn that his opinion wasn’t the only one that counted.

  I reached over and stroked Joyce’s arm, sending compulsion t
hrough our pack link. “Consider this a chance for a second honeymoon.”

  Joyce nodded and picked up her phone, typing quickly as she made reservations.

  “We’re going, dear,” she said. “Do you want me to add your name to the reservations?”

  Selene chimed in, “Please come with us, Dad!”

  Thomas growled, then said, “I don’t like it when you women gang up on me. Yes, add me to the reservation.”

  When I returned home, the Tesla was sitting parked on the curb. It looked beautiful, gleaming in the light of the waning moon.

  There was a small golden disk, about the size of a nickel, mounted on the hood just above the Tesla symbol. It shone brightly in the magical spectrum and had the multi-layered spells I had come to associate with Mason’s work. It took a lot of effort to focus on the disk; my eyes kept sliding away from it. More of Mason’s misdirection at work.

  Inside the garage, Mason and Mike were lounging against the workbench, each holding a beer. On the bench were two saucers, containing only crumbs.

  “Hi guys,” I said as I hugged Mason. I pulled back and frowned. If anything, he was even thinner than before.

  “Thanks for feeding him,” I said to Mike. “You still have beer, so I’m going to bring out seconds.”

  Mason objected, but under my watchful eye, he started eating.

  I tugged on my ear and Mason gestured with one hand to erect one of his soundproof bubbles. Hard to keep secrets with werewolves around.

  “What are the little medallions for?” I asked.

  “I needed a way to block outside interference on our vehicles. A simple block wouldn’t work because these cars depend on software updates and GPS to function. I made a magical firewall to block override commands.”

  With all my training, what he had done was still far beyond what I could do. I just accepted that if he said these trinkets would work, it was true.

  “Thank you,” I said as I rubbed his arm. “But it looks like it took a lot out of you.”

  “The first one was a pain. But the rest came easily.”

  “You have more?”

  “Of course. We’re not the only ones who need this protection. I made twenty more. That should be enough to protect the vehicles of every member of your pack.”