by Karen Ranney
“Six of one, half dozen of the other,” he said.
I punched him in the arm. Bet he didn’t feel that one coming.
He swore, an oath close to the one I didn’t say.
“What was that for?”
I ignored the question, asking one of my own.
“So what do we do now?”
I deliberately blocked any image I had of us together in my bed.
“I think we should go back to the castle,” he said.
“I have to go home. I really do. Would you mind giving me a ride?”
He studied me for a moment. I couldn’t tell if it was a doctor examination, a Were perusal, or something else.
“I’m fine,” I said. “Thanks to you. Really. You can stay with me for a little while it makes you feel better.”
I tried. I really tried to block the images this time. I have this gigantic bed, almost as big as the one back at the castle. It’s comfy and it’s tall and nobody had ever been in it but me.
It needed christening in the worst way.
He started to laugh, but it wasn’t one of those jeering laughs. Instead, it was a warm, enveloping sound that wrapped me in a cloud of softness.
Mark was not only gorgeous, but he was nice. I had a feeling that he was good down deep to his toes. Plus he was a Were.
I deliberately sent a thought to him. If he didn’t want to be with me, now was the time to run, baby, run.
He only turned and smiled at me.
Chapter Twenty-Three
My house was trashed
I didn’t notice how long it took to get to Graystone. I wasn’t paying much attention to Mark, either, deliberately. Instead, I was trying to plumb myself, in a manner of speaking. I closed my eyes and concentrated on hearing his thoughts. Nothing came through.
I didn’t think it would be safe to practice any kind of levitation in a car.
Nothing else about me seemed different. Maybe I could make cars fly in a few weeks.
“Who wanted to kill me?” I asked in the silence.
He didn’t answer for a moment, but I waited. After a minute or two, when he still didn’t say anything, I asked another question.
“Is it because I won the lottery?” I asked. “Is this the danger they spoke about? Was it someone from one of those groups I learned about?”
Evidently, I’d lived in blissful unawareness for most of my life. To my surprise there were a great many human only organizations who didn’t want any kind of paranormal to exist.
Suffer not a witch to live. Make that suffer not anything remotely non-human to live.
“I don’t know,” he said, and I believed him.
“How do I stop them from killing me?”
Maybe that’s a question I should have asked at one of those after dinner meetings, but it had never occurred to me. Maybe Marcie needed to harp on the danger aspect a little more.
He glanced over at me. “You’ll get stronger. You might even be able to sense them in the future.”
I was all for my Pranic abilities to kick in, as soon as possible.
“I need to arrange for my car to be towed.”
He only nodded. He didn’t immediately offer to do it for me, as if I were some dimwitted half intelligent female Furry who acted helpless around a male. I appreciated his restraint.
“Where to?” he asked once we reached San Antonio.
I gave him directions to my house and made myself think about the confrontation to come. Even though I probably should, I couldn’t wait until morning to talk to Joey.
“I’m going to take advantage of your offer,” Mark said when we reached my house. He turned off the car and pocketed the key. “I don’t feel right leaving you alone right now.”
In all honesty, I didn’t want to be left alone right now. I was still feeling shaky. I dreaded talking to Joey. I didn’t want to hear what I was sure he had to say.
Mark came around the car to help me out.
I was probably going to be sore in the morning, but right now nothing hurt. I wondered if that was a side effect of the transfusion.
We stood very close together in the darkness. I placed both my hands on his chest and looked up at him, wishing it were a full moon. I could strip and be wild and abandoned without any explanation, without justifying myself or even questioning why.
“Thank you,” I said. “For saving me. For bringing me home.”
I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my mouth against his. What started as a quick, impulsive act exploded into something else.
Mark wrapped his arms around me, made a sound in the back of his throat as he angled his head and deepened the kiss.
Oh wow.
I could see explosions behind my eyelids. I couldn’t breathe. My heart was going to burst. And everything was buried beneath a pleasure so heated and intense I thought I might faint from it.
I wrapped my arms around his neck, holding on for dear life. I could feel the car against my derrière. If he wanted to lay me over the hood, that was okay. Half in and out of the trunk? All right. On my gravel drive. On my front steps.
Anywhere.
I wanted more. More, please. Touch me. Tighten your arms around me. Whisper what you’re thinking. Promise me that this won’t end.
I’d never kissed an almost stranger, but I’d been instantly attracted to Mark even before I knew his name. Now, I was someone I could barely recognize, helpless in the throes of lust. Catapulting into a whirlwind, tumbling over and over and over, colors dancing behind my eyelids. Pleasure heated me, boiling my blood.
I wanted to touch every square inch of him. I wanted to kiss him and stroke him and make him moan.
Holy crap.
He released me and took a step back. When he took one more step back, I smiled.
Evidently I wasn’t the only one who was stunned by a kiss.
Mark and I looked at each other. I didn’t have anything brilliant to say, so I ended up flopping my hands in the air like a tired seal.
I nodded to him, as if that meant anything, and walked past him to the steps. It wasn’t that late, but I was hoping that Joey was already asleep. Why, because I wanted to allow my libidinous impulses free reign? No, after everything that happened tonight, now was not the time.
I didn’t want to have to ask Joey about the suspicion still lodged in the back of my mind.
To my surprise, my front door was unlocked.
I was only a female to Joey, but I was a Boyd. That, alone, should have commanded some respect. I’d always thought that Joey liked me. I’d always considered him as smart as Craig, but in a different way. The minute I opened my front door, I knew how stupid he was.
My house was trashed.
At least half a dozen pizza boxes were stacked on the bottom of the stairs. Beer cans and bottles were on every step. I followed a trail of bottles to the living room where I stopped, took a few deep breaths, then called out to Joey.
When he came down the stairs in sweat pants, his beard giving evidence that he hadn’t shaved for a day or two, I kept my temper under control.
Had he really been out with Dorothy or had that been a lie, too?
“Did you have a party in my house?” I asked, sounding very calm.
A smart person would have heard the tension in my voice. The fact that I was clenching and unclenching my hands was a dead giveaway that I was angry, and the emotion was only building.
Joey didn’t look the least bit fazed. I glanced at Mark.
“This is Joey,” I said, my tone still reasonable. “Joey, this is Mark.”
“Craig isn’t going to be happy,” Joey said, giving Mark the once over.
That’s all I needed. That was the tinder to my fire, the detonator to my bomb, the snide comment that pushed me over the edge.
The betrayal I felt was like acid on my skin. Part of me, however, was familiar with the feeling. After all, it was what I’d experienced all my life. My wishes, my wants, my desires were all subject to a man’s whims. Unti
l I’d moved away, I’d not experienced any freedom. I’d even been ridiculed by both males and females for wanting more than I had.
I hurt so bad I could barely breathe. Again, the feeling wasn’t altogether new.
I grabbed the bottom of Joey’s t-shirt and pulled him off the stairs, throwing him up against the opposite wall.
“And you’re going to tell him, aren’t you? That’s what this whole thing has been about, hasn’t it? Being my houseguest so Craig can find out everything I’m doing, right? Have you planted bugs everywhere? Or have you just used my house like a toilet?”
I couldn’t remember being as angry as I was at that moment. It wasn’t just Joey, it was my father’s arrogance. It was all of the stupid rules in my clan that demeaned females and that most females accepted as a matter of course.
It was every damn thing that had ever pissed me off since the day I was born.
“How did you do it? There was no changing into a dog, was there? You never went to the OTHER, did you? Craig never really banished you. It was all a con, just a con. Somebody had to help you at the clinic. Who was it?”
“Torrance,” Mark said from beside me.
I glanced at him.
He only looked at Joey. At that moment I realized that Joey was dangling off the ground by a good four feet. I was holding him above me with one hand.
Holy crap.
This Pranic stuff could be fun.
Joey’s eyes were wide and round. His face was as pale as flour. He didn’t say a word. I shook him, just a little.
“It was all fake, wasn’t it?”
When he didn’t speak I shook him again.
“Answer me, damn it!”
“It was Craig’s idea. He wanted to get you to the lodge so you would run with him.”
I nodded. Very patiently, I thought. I hadn’t killed him, so I was restraining myself.
Mark was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed, watching me. But it wasn’t the kind of look you give somebody who’s lost her mind. He was simply waiting for me to finish.
I swear, I could fall in love with the guy.
“Who helped you at the clinic?”
“Nobody,” he said. “I picked the lock. The front door. Jeesh, Torrance, let me down.”
“What was that little play you and Craig carried out in front of me? Your banishment was to get me to feel sorry for you, right? Was the plan to get me to take you in all along?”
“No, we didn’t plan on that. But once I was here Craig wanted me to find out everything I could about you. If you were taking birth control pills, if you were seeing anyone else, that sort of thing.”
“What did you do with the dog, Joey?”
“The dog?”
He honestly looked confused for a second. “I just let him out,” he said.
I shook him again.
“Why?” I asked. “Why eight years later, Joey? I hadn’t seen him for eight years. And don’t tell me it was because of this undying love for me. The only person Craig loves is himself.”
“Your father.”
“What?”
“He’s leaving the Council.”
It all fell into place. It was just devious enough to have worked. I was a Boyd. If I could be convinced to mate with Craig or — God forbid — marry him, he’d have a shoe in to the Council position.
Was Craig’s ambition that all consuming? Yes, it was.
I looked around at my house and tightened my grip just a little bit.
“What did you do? Tell Craig everything? Even about my winning the lottery?”
He looked behind me to the staircase. I shook him again, the better for the words to fall out.
I looked at Mark and one corner of his mouth curved in a smile. It wasn’t amusement as much as it was understanding and wordless compassion.
Yes, I could really fall in love.
“Me too,” he said.
I was speechless for several seconds. I didn’t want to have anything to do with Joey. I didn’t want to have to handle the problem of Craig. Instead, I wanted to banish Joey from Graystone, lock the door behind him, turn and grab Mark’s hand and lead him to my semi-virginal bower.
I couldn’t do that, of course. There would be a time and a place. This wasn’t it. Instead, I had to face the problem Joey had given me, the one we hadn’t yet discussed.
I released Joey and let him slide down the wall. I didn’t step away, however, and it wouldn’t have taken but a flip of my wrist to send him flying.
Well, looky here, Joey wasn’t that stupid after all. From his expression, I think he figured that out all on his own.
“Who tried to kill me tonight?”
His eyes widened. “I don’t know.”
I did and it made me sick. My father wouldn’t have liked his bloodline to be made impure and that’s what he would consider me now. I was a liability to the clan. Why not simply get rid of me?
I was so damn poised and graceful. I was a damn Southern Belle. I merely blinked a few times at Joey, allowed my lips to curve into a smile. I took a step back and made a grand gesture with my hand toward the front door to shoo him on his way.
“Get out,” I said. “Get out now.” My voice was barely above a whisper. I didn’t sound angry. I was so very calm that I was probably downright scary.
“I’ll send you your suitcase,” I said. “Get out.”
Mark hadn’t moved from his stance against the wall.
“I suggest you leave now,” he said to Joey. “She’s about an inch away from tearing off your arms and legs and beating your brains in with them.”
Joey didn’t lose any time running. I heard the front door open and close.
I glanced at Mark. “What time is it?”
He told me and I nodded again.
“What now?”
“Now I’m going to go see my father.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Think supply and demand
We got into Mark’s car again. I was still strangely calm.
“Do you think my father knows about the lottery? About what it really is?”
“Yes.” He glanced at me. “The clans communicate.”
“Does your family know? Do they know you won the lottery?”
He nodded.
“Why did you do it? I can understand why a female Were would want to be different. Why a male?”
“They didn’t approve of my profession, why I wanted to treat more than Weres. I’ve studied infectious diseases, not a field limited to our species.”
“Well, at least your father isn’t willing to kill you rather than have you be something different.”
“My father’s no longer alive. I was the head of my clan.”
I’d never heard of an alpha walking away from his clan. I finally wrenched myself back to the issue at hand: confronting my father.
I’d rather think about Mark.
Once we got close to downtown traffic was a nightmare. It would be that way for the rest of Fiesta.
For ten days we all became like drunken frat boys. We drank too much beer. We broke cascarones over each other’s heads. We ate too much Mexican food. In short, we had a wonderful time.
Tonight, in addition to the River Parade, there was the Furry ceremony that mirrored the coronation of the royal court of the Order of the Alamo.
The human organization was founded in 1909 by John Carrington. Debutantes from all over San Antonio and the state were presented to an audience in a large auditorium.
Instead of the classic white debutante dress, each duchess wore a velvet gown with an embellished twelve foot train depicting an interpretation of the theme chosen for that year. Because of the weight of the train, the passage across the stage was made in stops and starts. Once all of the women were seated on small chairs on the stage, the princess and queen were revealed for that year.
In 1915, the Weres of San Antonio created their own organization: the Brotherhood of the Alamo.
For more than a hundred ye
ars the two social organizations have been clashing in one way or another. The Queen crowned by the Order of the Alamo was a beautiful blonde? The Brotherhood of the Alamo would choose a beautiful brunette to reign. The Order of the Alamo court wore twelve foot trains? The Brotherhood of the Alamo gowns would be equipped with fourteen foot trains.
Few people ever realized that the competitiveness was deliberate, designed to hide the real reason for the Were ceremony.
Unlike the Order of the Alamo where there were always twenty-four duchesses, ours varied each year. Some years there were ten to fifteen duchesses. Some years more. A few times, we only had three or four.
Think supply and demand.
Once a female Furry turned twenty-one — and her family was wealthy, which was the case with most Weres — it was mandatory for her to become a Duchess of the Court of the Brotherhood of the Alamo. Participating in the coronation meant one thing: she was up for grabs as a wife.
A great many marriages were contracted after Coronation night, but I’d been told that was strictly coincidental. I’ve never believed that. I thought the whole process was tantamount to slavery. When I made that remark to my father — who was Great Brother of the Alamo last year — he laughed as if vastly amused.
"Don't be histrionic, Torrance. It's no such thing. We're just showing off which girls are available. It makes a lot more sense than going to a bar or joining an online dating service. This way, everyone knows that she comes from good stock. She’ll make a fine wife."
I’d done the march across the stage, being escorted by my father as he presented me. My train had been laden with glass beads, sequins, and crystals, the pattern depicting the skyline of Florence. That year the theme had been Magnificent Cities, Magnificent History. If I hadn’t been so strong, I wouldn’t have been able to haul the damn train across the stage.
The Coronation attracted Furries from all over the city, state, and United States. Where else could a male find a selection of available female Weres with so little effort?
Sandy was twenty-one this year, and despite her affection for Duncan, she had to become a Duchess. My father would be at the ceremony to present her, so that’s where we were going.