ChangingPaths
Page 6
“So put on your coat. Let’s go buy some groceries. I’ll make us spaghetti.”
She knew her girl. Rain’s eyes lit up. “Really? I’ll make salad to go with it. Can we get buns to make garlic bread too?”
“Sure. And I’ll tell you what Micah said about you working at the lodge as soon as you’re in the car.” She laughed at the breeze her daughter kicked up as she dashed past.
She let Rain’s chatter fill her brain as she drove them into town. She was a little amazed with herself at remembering where the store was. In between fielding the peppered questions about the job, she let herself relax into the familiar rhythm of shopping. It was nice not to have to look over her shoulder in fear of finding Tom behind her all the time.
Rain vibrated with excitement about a real job. This had been a good move.
Groceries filled the backseat as they headed back to the cabin. The sunset now provided an intense palate of blues and oranges as they turned down the lane to their new home. The smell of the woods and earth got through the closed windows to mix with the various scents from the sacks. Her stomach rumbled.
Her throat caught when she thought she saw someone slipping into the woods but then she laughed at herself. It was a reservation. People were going to be in the woods all the time—not to mention it was shifter land. She’d have to talk to Rain about that soon.
“Mom?” Her daughter’s voice yanked her out of her reverie. “Are you just going to stand there or are you really going to make dinner? I’m starving!”
She laughed as she got out of the car. Silently she gave thanks to the high metabolism of her kind. Even the Denied were blessed with it. “One thing that isn’t going to change is your appetite, sweetheart. Help me get the car unloaded and all of this stuff put away. I think we bought the whole store.”
Learning that the stove that had worked at lunch now didn’t work didn’t faze either of them. They hauled out the tuna to make sandwiches. Making a mental note to contact Gareth, she listened to her daughter angst over what to wear to her first day of school the next day. A bit wistfully she wondered how long the biggest issue would be the blue sweater or green sweater for her beautiful girl.
“And Mom, you so can’t come with me. Keme told me where to catch the bus.”
“Keme? Who is that? Is that the boy I saw you with? Do we need to have that talk again?” Her stomach cramped. Her daughter wasn’t going to go the way she had gone. She would turn heaven and Earth to make sure that didn’t happen. Still, she bit down on her urge to snarl at Rain. No, that wasn’t the way to build trust. If her daughter didn’t trust her she might do exactly as she had done.
Ruin her life.
Rain eyed her warily as she bit into her second tuna-salad sandwich. Around a mouthful of food, she reminded her mom how she’d met the young man. When Harmony managed not to explode she got more details that contained the red flags of “super nice”, “awesome smile” and “really friendly”. She knew trouble when she heard it described. But she withheld judgment. If anything, she’d learned to trust her elders. She’d ask Aunt Willow about it tomorrow.
Grinning to herself at all of her things to do tomorrow, she wondered if she wasn’t turning into Scarlett O’Hara. “I’ll think about it tomorrow when I’m at Tara.”
“Tara? Who’s Tara, Mom?”
The laughter that burbled out felt so pure, so clean that she nearly cried. “Just an old movie reference, honey. Want to help me clean or do you want to crash early?”
The huge yawn she got in response told her everything. Her daughter zigzagged from high energy to crashing into long naps. That combined with the metabolism increase had been her first clues that Rain was going to be Moon-Called. But that wasn’t a for-sure thing. She remembered her own metabolism increase. It had included all the bouncing back and forth. She waved her daughter off as she picked up the plates. “I can do this. Bed for you. School tomorrow.”
After the kitchen was cleaned to her satisfaction she moved down the hall to the far room to look in on Rain. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust her. It was more the years of training by Tom. All those years of wondering if he was going to try to steal her child had left her perpetually looking over her shoulder. Not even here did she feel completely safe. After all, he’d fooled most of the tribe once.
Most. She shook her head as she eased the door shut on her peacefully, if strangely contorted, sleeping daughter. That child could take up more space in a bed.
She thought about that shifter boy, Keme. What would she do if he was another Tom? Her thoughts drifted back in time to what her great-uncle had said.
“Just because you were born to the People doesn’t mean you stay of the People. That one doesn’t smell right, nishimis. Just doesn’t smell right. But the Alpha says he can stay.”
She still remembered her shock at Pete’s spitting on the floor when he’d said “the Alpha”. That was the first time she’d ever seen him disrespect the Alpha. Of course, that wolf had been aging and sick. She’d heard later through her cousin Rose that he’d actually stepped down, leaving the Pack leaderless until Micah had come onto the scene. She really didn’t know all the details about the gap in leadership.
She sighed. Washington, DC, politics were child’s play when compared to a res full of shifters. Take the People, add a twist of Pack issues to get a seriously Machiavellian event when it came to leadership change. But they had a good one now. She smiled, remembering the warmth of Micah’s hugs. And Olivia’s too. They’d even let her hold their son. They’d made her feel a true member of the Pack.
Then her traitorous mind went straight to how Gareth had made her feel. Her nipples hardened. Her belly softened. She swore her whole body was ready to betray her by running out the door to find that sexy wolf. She forced herself into her own room where she curled up under the quilts. Somehow hugging a pillow just didn’t make sleep come any easier.
When sleep did come it brought the dreams. She had them often. Cold, black trees raked at a steel-gray sky as she ran. Her breath came in short, sharp pants accented by the slap of her bare feet on cold ground. Always she ran toward the moon but the trees held her back. Behind her came the sound of his ugly anger. Curses pulsed out from him almost as if he chanted as he chased her.
She held her infant child, trying to protect her from the clawing tree branches, but she could see the thin lines welling up with blood on Rain’s tender skin. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to get away. Away from him. Away from Rain’s father. With a gasp she sat straight up in the bed. There were no looming shadows here, no grasping trees, no angry ex-husband. She and Rain were safe.
She lay back down, pulling the blanket up and squirming around until she was comfortable. Nearly always the dreams were about Tom coming to steal her child away. Sometimes though, she dreamed of what it would be to run on all fours—to howl with her own Pack. Settling back down, she let her mind drift and was soon calm enough to process her dreams.
The nightmare she could take because she knew she could get away, that she finally had gotten away from him. The dream of running she hated. Nothing she did could make her reach that desperate desire. Tears streamed down her face as the alarm clock shrilled a welcome sound. She climbed out of bed, swiping at her tears. Then she shivered as the chill air hit her. The furnace wasn’t putting out nearly enough heat for her at the moment. Rain’s room must be freezing.
Sliding her feet into her slippers helped. When she pulled the flannel robe off the foot of her bed she yawned. Then she shuffled out of her bedroom, surprised to see Rain’s light on. Poking her head into the frigid room, she saw her daughter seated at the desk running a brush through her newly dyed darker hair.
The rinse they’d tried hadn’t taken all the pink out, but at least she no longer looked as if she had cotton candy on her head. The girl was already up and dressed—nerves, obviously. Even though this wasn’t the first time she’d been “the new kid” at school, it didn’t get any easier.
Rain came into the kitchen just as Harmony got the cocoa out of the microwave. Green had won the battle of the sweaters. Her daughter wore her best pair of black jeans and skater shoes to complete her outfit. Even the darker hair looked okay. Thank goodness.
“You look good. Here you are, kiddo. Hot chocolate and cereal. Breakfast of champions! I put some money into the lunch account for you at school, but would you rather take a bag lunch?”
“No, I’ll be okay.” Rain stirred her chocolate then picked it up. “Mom, how much crap am I going to get at the school in town?”
“What do you mean, honey?”
“Well, I know there’s a school here and some of the town kids are mean to res kids. At least that’s what I heard while we were at the grocery store.”
“There’s always been a division, but Rain, technically we’re not on the res. I mean, this cabin is on res land but you haven’t been enrolled into the tribe yet, so if anyone asks, you don’t have to tell them you’re a res kid. Honey, I’m sure you’ll do fine. And you already know some kids, right? Keme and your cousins?” She swallowed back the warning about getting too close to a boy that age—and a shifter boy at that. All hormones.
Rain shrugged. “Keme’s in AP classes. Our paths probably won’t cross at all.”
They both looked up at the sound of a car outside. Tightening the belt on her robe, Harmony moved to the front door with Rain right behind her. An older-model car was at the top of the lane. It came closer to the cabin when she waved them down. She might not shift but her nose was good. It was her Aunt Willow.
A young man got out of the driver’s side. Her aunt slid out of the passenger side. Harmony opened the door even as she looked at Rain with a question clear on her face. “Did you call him to take you to school?”
“Oh my god, Mom! Really? Jeez, I guess it means absolutely nothing to you that Aunt Willow is with him? Obviously she’s in on my evil plot too.” Rain rolled her eyes so hard it was a wonder they didn’t make a rattling sound.
“That’s enough.” Harmony turned back to their visitors just as Willow and Keme stepped up onto the porch. “I’m sorry, Rain.”
“Niece, I called Keme to take her into town. He lives just down the road and can take her to and from school. He’s a safe driver and can also introduce her to some of the other young ones.” Willow’s voice held that strong tone of censure. Harmony felt a flush steal over her face. She had to continue her work on trusting others, especially her own child.
“That was nice of you.” Turning to the handsome young man, she extended her hand and tried for a smile. “Hello, Keme. It’s nice to meet you.”
“And you, Ms. Johnson. Rain and I met out by the sweat lodge at Ms. Willow’s last week. I’m glad you enrolled her at the town school, that’s where most of us go except for the language classes on the res.” Keme hung his head in that shy manner many younger shifters adopted around an older female.
“Please come in.” She stepped back to allow them into the house and caught a glimpse of something in the woods. As she looked again, a flash of white flitted between the trees at the very edge of her property. As she stared a dog, no…a wolf came briefly into view. Instinctively she lifted her head to scent the wind but it was blowing the wrong way.
He, and she had no doubt about that, didn’t stop. It was obvious that her place hadn’t been his destination, but merely on his way from one spot to another. He disappeared as quickly as he’d appeared. She slowly shut the door. Had to be a shifter since she knew the wild wolves would be driven off by the Pack. That was one law she remembered.
There weren’t too many white shifters that she knew of. In fact she’d never seen one on the res before. Somehow in her gut she knew that wolf was Gareth and not just because he was on Pack land.
Turning her attention back to her guests, she picked up on the conversation as fast as she could. With the white wolf still on her mind she smiled absently as Rain gathered her stuff. Mentally Harmony tallied the backpack, purse, jacket, hat and gloves. It was hard to watch her and Keme head back out to the car. Willow’s hand on her arm was comforting and she looked at her aunt as Keme turned the car and drove back up the lane.
“So I guess I’m taking you home?” She hugged her aunt again, simply to feel the warmth of her family against the chill.
“Actually I came to make sure you didn’t need anything. Lois is picking me up on her way to the council building. We’ll be quilting today. You are welcome to join us.” Willow made her way into the kitchen, sitting at the table with a sigh as she acknowledged Harmony’s decline to quilt.
For the first time she noticed that her aunt looked pale and tired, not the vibrant woman she remembered.
“I’m going to have to call Gareth to come out and look at the stove, it’s not working. And I don’t think the furnace is up to par either, even though he already looked at it. It’s chilly in here to me.” Without asking, she fixed her aunt a cup of chocolate then sat down across from here. “Are you all right?”
“Me? I’m just tired. But glad you’re home.” She let Willow turn the conversation to people on the res who she would still know. There was obviously something else going on with her aunt, but the woman wasn’t going to tell her what it was. She would just have to find out some other way. It was comforting to let the air be filled with the “this-and-that” of other people’s lives.
As they continued to talk she made mental lists of everything she needed to accomplish that day. By the time Lois arrived to take Willow to their quilting group Harmony was ready to start working on everything else she had to get done. Top of the list? Ask Gareth to check her furnace. She’d turned it up again but the air was definitely no warmer.
Waving Lois and Willow off, she turned back to grab her keys. While she was out she would just stop by her uncle’s office. Maybe he could tell her what was wrong with Willow. Thinking about her aunt made her skin tingle. She shook her head. Usually that only happened when Rain was getting sick. Her mother’s instinct, she’d always told Rain.
Chapter Five
Gareth scented the air, making a mental note to ask Micah if he had any visitors. Normally he would know that but he’d been distracted lately. There was a stranger’s smell on the air but it was so faint—just a hint of something sour. Maybe someone had just stopped on the road to piss. He would have shrugged in human form. Took all kinds. He wasn’t into waving himself around in the cold air. Man could lose his balls that way.
Up ahead he caught sight of Micah. The tall man walked alone, head down, his eyes on the path in front of him. With a wolfish grin Gareth cut deeper into the trees. He used the strong wind to keep his scent away from his Alpha so he had the rare advantage of pouncing on him then streaking away. Micah gave a shout of laughter as he lunged for the furry white tail but missed. Gareth let his mind relax as his Alpha shifted to give chase. It had been far too long since they’d just cut loose.
Later when they both were being scolded by the Alpha female for behaving like a couple of unruly teenagers, he cut a sideways look at Micah. Then he leaned into Olivia as she caught them both around their furry necks to hug them. “You two are incorrigible! What are you always telling the cubs, Micah?”
He flowed into human form as did Micah. Olivia laughingly did her best imitation of a deep, growling mimic of Micah. “You cubs don’t need to be playing chase tail through the woods in the middle of the day.”
Micah turned to Gareth then threw him directly under the bus. “He started it!”
Before Gareth could plead his case Olivia jerked a thumb at the house. “Kitchen. Both of you. We need to talk abo
ut Harmony and her daughter.”
The look Olivia sent him made him wish he were anywhere but here. She had that look females got when they were going to be trying to match him up. He didn’t want to explain—again—why he wouldn’t date a shifter woman. But he was surprised when Olivia didn’t address that.
Once he and Micah were back in human clothing Olivia had food for them. Gareth made a mental note to restock his clothing at the lodge. He was down to one pair of jeans. Shifting often put him somewhere his clothes weren’t, so he kept caches. It was easier to just leave clothes around the land since Micah needed all of his seconds to be ready at a moment’s notice. If Gareth got the call to show up in human form he needed to be close to a pair of jeans. Of course, most of those weren’t in a cedar closet like those at the lodge.
Olivia kept the chatter light. She didn’t even skirt around or hint at him seeing the new shifter. And that made him feel guilty. He realized it had rolled into Wednesday. Had it been Sunday when Harmony had mentioned her furnace? Making a mental note to check on his way back, he realized Olivia had said something about Harmony. He waited for Olivia to speak.
Instead of the expected “she’s a nice woman” talk, his Alpha’s mate told them what she’d learned from Harmony’s uncle. By the time she finished the tale of abuse Gareth knew his good eye was shining silvery-blue. He looked down to see his nails digging into the kitchen table. From the long furrows, he realized he’d been doing it for more than a minute. That brought back too many memories of his sister and how he’d been unable to protect her from her own abusive husband. The one who had eventually killed her and their children.
At his low growl of “I’ll kill him if he comes near either of them,” Micah swiveled his head. Brown eyes burned into him for a long moment until Gareth feared his Alpha might tell him that he couldn’t. He hoped Micah wouldn’t give that command because he’d never disobeyed an Alpha in his life. In his gut he knew that was one order he’d never keep. Relief swam through him when Micah just nodded.