by Riley Moreno
“I can punch her face in if you want,” Katherine said. She stood six foot tall and Sonya didn’t doubt she could but she didn’t want to give Melanie any more importance than she deserved.
“Where’s Claus?” Samantha asked.
“He went to pick up Diesel’s dad from the airport,” Sonya whispered. “He’s going to drop them at the Waterville Hotel and then come over.”
Diesel looked very uncomfortable. Melanie was standing next to him, her hand on Diesel’s arm as if they were a couple. Sonya decided she wasn’t going to intervene. If Diesel didn’t want to encourage Melanie he would get himself out of her clutches, not hope that his girlfriend would do it for him.
“Hi Sonya,” Bill said laughing nervously.
“Hey, Bill!” Sonya said kissing him on the cheek in welcome.
“I’m sorry about Mel,” he said blushing. “I thought she liked me,” he gulped. “I brought her as my date, I didn’t know she was going to do that,” he motioned to Diesel and Melanie with his head.
“It’s not your fault, Bill,” Sonya said touching his arm. “That woman’s a bitch all on her own.”
Sonya could see Melanie from the corner of her eye laughing at something Diesel had said to Joe, the owner of the Pig Out Spot. The front door opened discreetly and Claus came in, his face a picture of worry. Right behind him were two men, one was tall and broad with silver hair, an exact depiction of what Diesel would look like twenty years down the line, and behind him a young man in his early twenties who gave a heart aching reminder of what Diesel looked like when he was younger.
Sonya rushed forward, her heart in her throat.
“Sonya?” Andrew Wake asked and she nodded. “I’m sorry for walking in like this but I kept thinking he’s only thirty minutes away and I couldn’t not come.”
“I’m glad you did,” Sonya said beaming, tears pricking her eyes.
“This is Keith,” Andrew said motioning to the young man behind him. “He’s my youngest.”
“Nice to finally meet you,” Keith said shaking Sonya’s hand. “Now where’s this brother of mine?”
Sonya turned to the crowd; everyone was enjoying themselves, a few couples were dancing and food was being brought in from the roaring barbeque pits outside. Diesel was standing in a group of friends Melanie by his side. Diesel caught her eye and smiled ruefully, rolling his eyes at Melanie who was saying something to him. Diesel noticed the intensity of Sonya’s gaze and glanced behind her. He stiffened, stunned at what he saw and Sonya wanted to scream; the anxiety was killing her.
Diesel left Melanie standing midsentence. Sonya could see that Melanie had not liked that at all. Her pretty face flushed and she looked positively vapid. Sonya dismissed her as unimportant. This was an important moment in Diesel’s life and Melanie Beal had no place in it.
Sonya took Diesel’s arm and found his hands cold but clammy.
“Diesel, this Andrew Wake,” Sonya said introducing the father and son. “And that’s Keith Wake.”
Andrew stared at Diesel, both unable to move, completely floored by their feelings.
“I’m your half-brother,” Keith said stepping forward and taking Diesel’s hand. “One of them actually; Brandon’s in Poughkeepsie looking after the store.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Diesel cleared his throat looking nervously from Andrew to Keith.
“There’s a private room in the back,” Sonya said reading the reaction, “Diesel why don’t you talk Andrew there?”
Diesel nodded and turned stiffly leading the way as if he were back in the Navy.
“He’s in shock,” Sonya said to Andrew who nodded.
“So am I,” he said. “He looks just like me,” he smiled the n followed Diesel.
“Right,” said Keith rubbing his hands together, “Where’s the food at?”
Sonya guided him to the refreshment table excited for Diesel but also to get to know his half-brother.
Chapter Seven
Knowing Me, Knowing You
There was a cheese platter on the coffee table, a cooler full of beer and chips and dip. Diesel had to admit that Sonya had thought of everything. He was still reeling. He hadn’t expected this, to be honest he hadn’t expected anything. His birthdays had always been quiet affairs, his mother giving him a quarter to splurge on candy. There had never been a party, hardly a cake; one time Diesel had blown a candle off a doughnut.
And now he was at a birthday party in his honor meeting his father; two things his mother hadn’t deemed necessary for his life.
Diesel waited for Andrew to take a seat before he sat down himself and got up immediately after reaching for two beers. But did Andrew drink? Diesel held up a beer and Andrew nodded. Diesel handed him the cold bottle, his hands brushing Andrews briefly.
“Hoe’s your mother?” Andrew finally asked after they had sat in silence nursing their beers for about ten minutes.
“She didn’t keep in touch,” Diesel shrugged. “I wasn’t welcome after…” he trailed off.
“The Shift,” Andrew nodded. “I wasn’t either.”
They lapsed in to another silence, questions teeming in their heads that they couldn’t begin to articulate.
“I didn’t know about you,” Andrew said suddenly. “You need to understand that. If I had known about you heaven and earth couldn’t have kept me away.”
Diesel felt his throat constrict with emotion. All his life he had wondered whether he had really been abandoned by his father like Martha had said or if he had been driven away and doubt had always won; why would his father love him when his mother had such a difficult time doing it?
But here he was, in the flesh, saying things Diesel had given up hope of ever hearing.
“She’d told me you’d left,” Diesel said clearing his throat. “That you didn’t want to be part of our family. She never told me your name so I never made the effort to find you.”
“I can understand that,” Andrew nodded. “Martha was; she was a difficult woman. She saw the world differently from how we did.”
“I find it hard to forgive her,” Diesel said honestly.
“You don’t have to,” Andrew said, “but you owe her the curtesy of understanding who she was. She was born in to a devout Catholic family, all fire and brimstone. Her father wasn’t averse to taking his belt to his children if he felt they were disobedient. She didn’t know what a parents love could be like to give it to you.”
Diesel nodded.
“So you live in Poughkeepsie?”
“Yup,” Andrew said settling in to the sofa. “I have a general store there. My wife Sarah runs a Meal on Wheels for the elderly in our area. My son Brandon is a teacher and helps look after the store after school; he had a daughter six months ago, Hailey. Keith just graduated from college and he’s looking for his vocation, whatever that means.”
Diesel laughed. He had always heard stories like this of other families: sibling rivalries and so many personalities you grew up with, like a branch on a tree sprouting a host of leaves. It felt anything but lonely. And now Diesel had that too, a family, siblings he could mention fondly in conversation.
“What about you,” Andrew said, “Sonya told me you Sheriff around here.”
“Yes,” Diesel said. “Before this I was in the Navy for fifteen years.”
“I was in the army,” Andrew grinned, “Served in Vietnam.”
“Afghanistan and Iraq,” Diesel said with a taught smile. “Did they know you were…”
“A Shifter? Hell, yes,” Andrew said. “They made me use it too. It was still new to them back then, Shifters and their abilities and they distrusted us but they didn’t mind using us in battle.”
“I was part of Black Ops,” Diesel nodded. “We were a team of Shifters.”
“It get stuck in your throat, doesn’t it?” Andrew murmured, “Like a bone,”
“You can’t swallow it, you can’t vomit it out either,” Diesel finished.
Andrew beamed at him.
/> “I never thought I’d get to discuss this with my sons; the harrowing experience. Heck I wished I’d never have to,” Andrew hesitated then put a hand on Diesel’s. “But I’m glad I have you, I’m glad Martha decided to have you and keep you, I’m glad you survived the war and I’m glad your girlfriend found me.”
“She’s very special,” Diesel grinned. “And she’s having your grandson.”
Andrew nearly skipped at that news.
“Oh, I know its unseemly for an old man like me to be so happy but I am,” Andrew laughed. “A son and grandson in the same day; that kind of happy news comes once in a blue moon. You’ll come and visit us often won’t you?”
Diesel nodded.
“You’ll be welcome all year round,” Andrew said. “I know I want to know everything about you but you remind me of me and I was mighty stubborn about revealing too much about myself too soon. Sonya complains about you not talking much?” he asked suddenly.
“Yes,” Diesel laughed.
“My Sarah does the same,” Andrew shook his head ruefully. “So I’m counting on getting to know you little by little and Diesel,” he squeezed Diesel’s hand and looked him in the eye, “I do want to know you, completely, like I know my other sons. I want to know you.”
Diesel nodded, not trusting himself to speak. In that moment he was the most happy and he had Sonya to thank for it. Sweet, thoughtful Sonya; the mother of his child, who’d united him with his father and brothers.
They joined the rest of the party; Keith waving Andrew over to a table he was eating at with Claus and Katherine. Diesel searched for Sonya and found her standing with Samantha and Larry, talking to the Tyler’s.
“Where’d you disappear to?” Melanie placed both her hands on his shoulders, leaning in provocatively; Diesel could see her nipples through the dress.
“Excuse me,” Diesel said politely removing Melanie’s hands. He walked over to Sonya, taking her on to his arms from behind, kissing the nape of her neck. “Hey.”
“Hi,” Sonya turned her head and smiled up at him, her eyes twinkling.
“Thank you,” he whispered in her ear.
She turned and hugged him.
“I’m so glad,” she said and when Diesel turned her face up he saw tears in her eyes. “I was worried that he might not be what you were looking for in a father,” Diesel pressed a finger on her lips.
“After you,” he said looking in her eyes meaningfully, “I don’t care what the world is like. All of this,” he waved at the people around them, “that’s just a bonus.”
Sonya laughed and stood on tip toe to kiss him lightly on the lips.
Chapter Eight
Fatal Attraction
Sonya undressed and slipped on her warm slippers. The night had been a resounding success. Diesel and Andrew had really hit it off and Keith was hilarious. She had noticed Diesel looking at him with wonder and she knew he must be thinking: this is my brother; he’s funny and he’s my brother!
Diesel had gone to drop Andrew and Keith at their hotel in Waterville and Sonya was sure he’d be gone a long time. They had over thirty years of catching up to do. Sonya pulled on her nightgown, made herself some hot chocolate and settled in the living room.
The snow was coming down faster now, blanketing everything in white.
Sonya must have fallen asleep because she got up with a sudden jerk. The room was dark except for the icy blue light coming from the French windows that lead to the porch. It had stopped snowing and the moon was glowing.
Sonya felt cold. There was a frigid breeze in the house. She pulled her nightgown closer around her and looked around for the source. She saw that the front door was wide open, drifts of snow swirling on the cabin floor, footprints in the melted snow drew a track from the door to her bedroom.
“Diesel!” she called a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
A low growl came from her bedroom and Sonya’s hair stood on end. She edged away from the bedroom, the growling growing deeper and a shadow slinking on the walls. Sonya turned and ran outside the open front door, her feet slipping in the fresh snow, holding her back.
A panther, sleek and ferocious jumped out roaring at Sonya. Sonya pushed herself to run to her car. The panther swiped at her, catching the end of her nightgown in its claws. Sonya let her nightgown fall in the snow, the cold hitting her skin like a punch. She ran as far as the main road, her mind in complete lockdown. She didn’t know what to do.
The panther was trudging out of the drift of snow it had landed under and Sonya was about to give up hope when she saw headlights down the road. She ran, slipping and sliding on the slick iced road but she didn’t dare stop. She waved her hands screaming for the car to stop.
Diesel braked hard and stepped out.
“No!” Sonya was screaming. “Get back in! It’s not safe!”
Diesel saw a panther come running towards them in the moonlight, its green eyes crazed and bloodlust upon it. Diesel roared and charged. He bent low and took the panther at a running leap knocking it out of Sonya’s way.
The panther roared up at him but he kicked swiftly at the panthers’ exposed ribs cracking a bone and the panther howled in pain. Sonya watched as patches of fur disappeared and alabaster flesh revealed itself to the light of the moon.
“Melanie?” Sonya was shocked.
“You fucking bitch!” Melanie screamed lunging at Sonya with her still shifted paw but Diesel stamped it down with his heavy boot twisting his foot so her paw broke. Sonya saw bone poking out of the flesh.
“Diesel, no, I love you,” Melanie whimpered. “You should be with me! We’re both WerePanthers; she’s not even a Shifter! We should be together, you know it. I know you want me, you were hard when we went in to the woods,” Melanie’s head snapped back.
Sonya massaged her stinging palm.
“Shut up about my boyfriend or I’ll slap your head the wrong way around,” Sonya said.
Diesel looked at her admiringly and Sonya shrugged.
“I’d been wanting to do that for a very long time,” she said.
“Melanie Beal,” Diesel said, “You’re under arrest for breaking and entering and trying to attack a non-Shifter with full intention of bodily harm.”
Melanie screamed in frustration but didn’t protest when Diesel put cuffs on her and carted her in to the back of his van.
“Wow,” he said, “I guess I just don’t know how attractive I am,” he grinned down at Sonya.
“You are very attractive,” she said snuggling in to him for warmth. “And you’re all mine!”
Diesel didn’t argue just held her close, the idea of losing her too hard to even bare thinking. He kissed the top of her head and thanked all his luck, and to all the miserable years that had led him to her.
The End.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Riley is a (mainly) Romance, Thriller, Crime and Paranormal/Horror Fiction writer, an artist, animal lover, nature lover, and a very humble human being. She is very scared of snakes and spiders and basically any reptiles and bugs!! Loves to write and help others in any way possible.
"Born and raised in Colombia, I moved to the U.S when I was six. Learning a new language was difficult for me and the only way I knew how to survive was to either beat kids up, or read more books in English. I did a little bit of both, but after some time books found their way into my heart. I discovered series like R.L Stine's Goosebumps and Harry Potter, and not long after that I began to come up with ideas of my own.
I first started writing stories at the ripe age of 9 years old and have been writing ever since. I didn't really do so good coming up with my own stuff and when I discovered writing fan fiction was perfectly acceptable, I jumped into that bandwagon with everything I had.
When I turned 13, I got myself a Fan fiction and a Fiction press account, where I indulged on all kinds of stories for so many different types of existing shows. I wrote small things, things that were pretty average for a teenager to write, but I could never c
omplete a story no matter how hard I constructed it. So, I took every class I could get into. Creative Writing classes were hard to come by so I did what I could by accepting prompts online. Sure enough, my skills began to improve and morph into where I am today.
Thank You!
Thank you for reading my books. I truly hope you enjoyed at least some of the books out of this collection. Reviews do help a lot and I would really appreciate it if you can scroll to the next page and leave an honest review. Thank you so very much!