Tanner

by Kathi S. Barton

  “I think if the man has a lick of sense, he’ll know that we’re not fans of our brother.” The limo was pulling up just as they were coming out of the B&B. “Wow, I could get used to this kind of service. I had to max out my cards just to come here.” “I’ll pay you back. I promise.” Giyanna told him not to worry about it. She had it covered. “Well, I begged you to come, and I did make a promise. I have the money. I don’t spend much on things, so I just stash it away.” “I do the same thing because I’m terrified of being without money. But you pay for dinner when we go out. All right?” He nodded as they slipped into the limo. “And lunch too, while we’re here.” He said it was a deal. Giyanna had money. When her aunt had died a couple of years ago, she had left her everything in her will, including the house that she still lived in, as well as the farm. And being the way that she’d grown up, Giyanna still saved all that she could, stashing it away in the bank since she’d gotten out of law school and had landed a good job. The limo came to a smooth stop, and she looked at her brother. She had a feeling that he knew something that she didn’t. But he’d not tell her. They were twins, but couldn’t read each other’s thoughts nor feel what they were feeling. She supposed that was both good and bad. She’d been feeling down a great deal lately. And now this. “You ready?” She nodded at him. “Good. So am I. I’ve not had a home cooked meal in so long I don’t know if my belly can take it tonight. Fast food is not the way a grown man should eat.” They were both laughing when he got out of the limo. When a hand came in to help her out, she didn’t even bother looking but grabbed it and got out of the car. As soon as they touched, she felt the tingle of something strange go up her arm. Then she was staring into the eyes of the most incredibly good-looking man that she’d ever seen. “Hi.” Giyanna nodded, not sure how to make her tongue work at the moment. “I’m Tanner Calhoun. You must be Giyanna McGowan. Welcome to our family.” “Welcome to your family?” He nodded and pulled her along to the porch, where it seemed they’d taken a photo of the eldest man and had made younger copies of him for some kind of trick. They were all handsome, with dark hair and nice smiles. The women looked as if they had only just stepped off the runway to greet her and were planning to go back to work. Except for one. She was still gorgeous, but large with child. Christ, the size of the men was intimidating. Backing from them when they seemed to move as one to come greet them, she tried to smile through her panic. They weren’t just big men, but they were scary big. They all had to top over six foot tall. The man with her cleared his throat. “They mean well.” Giyanna told him they were scaring her. “Yes, I’ve told them to back off. They’ll go in the house now and give you a moment to regroup. You need that, right?” “Yes. I think...I shouldn’t think that they’d hurt me, would they?” He promised her that they wouldn’t live long, no matter what the witch had told them, if they tried. “You’re very odd.” “You have no idea.” That wasn’t want she expected, but he pulled her along again to the house. The elder couples still there didn’t say anything until Tanner introduced her to them. “This is my mom and dad, Christine and TJ Calhoun. The other couple are my grandparents, James and Jasmine Calhoun. The others were my brothers and their wives, and they’ll try not to frighten you again.” By the time she entered the house, after being welcomed to their home, she was starting to get her feet under her. She’d made a fool of herself, and that didn’t sit well with her. As the others were being introduced to her and her brother, each of them said the same thing, welcoming her not only to their home but to the family. When they were seated in the living room, she asked why. “We’re not ones to hold back on something when pulling off the Band-Aid is much quicker, and usually less painful. You know what we are, don’t you?” She nodded to the man; she thought his name was Trent. “Well, we’re saying that—” He was cut off by Tanner. “We’re saying that we are making you a part of the family because of your relationship with Bridgett and the kids.” She didn’t believe him any more than she felt safe when one of the men came toward her and offered her a drink. “No thanks, I don’t drink.” They were all pleased by that, and she had a moment of panic. “Are you all all right? I mean, you’re not usually this strange, are you? I don’t mean to be rude here, but if something has happened, I don’t like being fobbed off.” “I told you that was gonna make her upset with us.” James laughed as he came toward her, slowly this time. “I’m Grandpa. I’m also a great grandpa. Nothing to do with the way we’re acting really, but I’m as tickled about that as I am you being here.” She nodded at him. “We’re welcoming you to the family because you are a part of it. Like all the other women are here.” She asked him what he meant, and he laughed then did the strangest thing—he danced a little. She looked at Tanner, the man who had made her tingle a little. “You’re my mate.” Giyanna didn’t know what to say to that so she didn’t speak. This was just too surreal. “They’re trying very hard to slide you into this madness of a family slowly. The only sane ones here are my grandparents and parents. The rest are looney. You might want to run now.” “I know what a mate is, but how can you be sure about this? I mean, you’re certainly acting as if— Ah, the welcome to the family line. I don’t want to be a part of your family. Again, I’m not being rude here, but I’m not the joining of a family type. I don’t even know any of you. I’m here to try very hard not to let Rogan out of jail without losing my license while I’m at it.” She stood up. “If this is some kind of ploy to get me to do something I don’t want, I want you to know that I might be little, but I’m smart enough to beat you at this game. I don’t like my job as an attorney, but it was the most well-paying job that I could think of and not be a surgeon. I don’t care for other people’s blood. And...and I have no idea why I just said that to you all.” “What game would you think this would be?” She looked at Tanner again. “This isn’t a game. This is life, and I’m not blaming you for this, but I don’t need you anymore than you seem to not need me.” “Tanner.” His mother looked at him sternly, then at her with a gentle smile. “He’s the last one to find his mate, and he’s a little on edge.”

  “I’m not going to do this.” She stood up and looked at her brother. “This is insane. We came here for dinner, not to be a part of something that I don’t understand. We should go, don’t you think, Tyrrell?” “No. I don’t. I don’t know this man, but I can tell that he’s a good person. That’s what I was told, anyway.” She asked him if he’d known about this. “Yes, but not until after you were called and asked to come here to see me.” “You called me.” He shook his head. “You did. I know your voice as well as my own. You told me to come here and we’d visit.” “That was a witch.” Tanner cursed long and hard, and his mother popped him on the back of the head. Tyrrell continued with a laugh. “She called me after talking to you to tell me what she’d done. How she’d arranged for you to come and see me. And that Tanner was here. So I thought, for you to be happy—one of us to be happy anyway— you’d come here and get married, and we’d get to visit as well.” “You knew this, and you didn’t tell me.” She looked around the room at the people there. “Welcoming me to the family because of some sick idea that I’m going to just let this man, this man that has no use for me, take my hand in marriage and be my mate? You’re all sick fucks.” “There ain’t no need for you to get your panties in an uproar. We meant well. And you’d have met anyway, the way I’m thinking.” She told James that she didn’t trust any of them. “No, I can see that you don’t. But you’re here now and he’s got your scent, so that’ll make things better for you.” “Better how? So that I can be with a man that, for all I know, could be just like Rogan or worse?” She turned to Tanner. “Thank you for the invite, but I think I’ll go back home now. And I do mean my home.” “I’ll have to go with you.” She stared at him until Tanner spoke again. “We’ve met and touched. While we’ve not bonded or mated, I’m still going to need to be with you. If not, then I’ll be a monster. Not just to humans, but to my family as well. I’ll have to be put away.” “Why
should that be my concern?” He said that he didn’t know, he was just telling her. “I see. You’re trying to make me feel guilty for you going insane? It won’t work. I’ve been blamed for a great many things, but as you can tell, I bounce back from it.” She made her way out of the house before she started crying. Getting into the limo again, she asked the man to take her home. She didn’t know if he’d take her or not until Tanner came out and got into the car with her. As she moved to the other side of the car away from him, the car started to move. ~~~ Tanner watched her on the drive back to the B&B. He wasn’t sure what to say to her, but her tears were making him hurt in ways that he never had before. Even his wolf was angry at the way things were working out. He decided to talk to her; whether she listened or not was up to her. “Chris Bentley is a grand witch. I really have a limited idea of what that means, but basically, she governs and rules all the witches in the world. Hell, for all I know, there could be some on other planets that she rules too.” The joke fell flat. “Anyway, she’s very powerful, and she has helped us out on a few things—things that saved our lives—and she also gave us some magic. The moment you touched me, you received some of it. I don’t know how—” “What sort of magic? Not that I believe you, but what would you have given me when all we did was hold hands for a moment?” He told her. “I don’t want to be an immortal. You have her take it back right now. I like my life the way it is. And the thought of being this alone forever isn’t my idea of a good time. Not that I want to spend it with you either.” “I can’t do that. Neither can she. Or so she’s told me.” Giyanna looked out the window again. “Anyway, I was going to tell you what she did to help us. Do you want to know?” No answer, but he didn’t care. It was a way to fill in the uncomfortable silence. A way for him to get her to turn and look at him before he reached out and took her hair from the braid that went down her back. He wanted to see if it was as silky as it looked. As curly as the little pieces of her hair were. Her skin, he knew, would be soft, the delicate kind of softness that only a true red head would have. Tanner’s fingers burned to just touch her once more. He remembered that he was going to talk to her, and told her a story of how Chris came to help them. “There was this she-devil that decided that my brother, Sterl, could father a bunch of monsters for her. She killed a lot of his friends, and hurt him badly when she decided that he was an alpha. He could be, but he’s not a practicing one.” She turned and looked at him. “In the she-devil’s fight to take him from us, almost killing him in the process, Chris came and helped us by summoning a demon by the name of Richard.” “Richard? What sort of demon name is Richard.” Tanner told her that he’d thought the same thing. “What did a demon, I’m assuming from the underworld, have to do with this she-devil thing? And I don’t even want to guess what that is.” “Her parents created her, I’ve heard. And in doing so, they called upon this demon to make their child the strongest being there is. And it sort of went to her head. Anyway, she was taken away because Sterl hit her in the face and drew first blood. Honestly, that’s a very shortened version of the way it happened, but that’s what it was.” She leaned back on the seat now and was no longer looking out the window. “Chris and her family became friends with my family, and her and Myra have been helping—Myra is about the strangest and most colorful woman you could meet. And by colorful, I mean just that. She’s very colorful. But Myra has been hanging around with all of us and fixing our homes with the help of magic. She’s one of the nicest people you’ll meet too. If a little odd.” “I don’t believe in magic. It’s a fairy tale, told to children to make them believe in something other than the suffering that they’re going through. At least that’s my thoughts on it.” He nodded. “You’re not going to try and convince me otherwise?” “No. But if you’ll allow it, I can prove to you that there’s magic. We’re going right by my house. And if you don’t trust me to be in it with you, you go on in and I’ll wait out here for you.” She was curious, he could tell, and since she didn’t tell him no, he knocked on the window between them and the driver and told him to take them to his home. “You’ll be able to go in and once inside, have a look around at the way my house looks. I can almost guarantee you that it won’t look like it did when I left today.” “You’re trying to tell me that your house changes, and that’ll I’ll be able to see it.” Tanner told her it was subtler than that. “Sure it is. And if you think I’m going to fall for your horse shit, you’re stupider than Rogan. And I’m assuming that you know just how stupid he is.” “He is pretty stupid. Did you hear that he shit in the bed that he shared with Bridgett, and then laid in it?” Giyanna tried not to laugh, but she finally did. He nodded as he continued. “Once he was arrested for making a public nuisance of himself, they had to call a tailor in to have a jumpsuit made for him. It took three of them sewn together to get what he has on now.” “Rogan never learned how to push away from the table like a normal person. If there was food left on anyone’s plate when they were done, he’d sit there and eat it like he was afraid that someone was going to get more than him.” When she looked at him, he could see the sadness in her eyes. “I don’t hate him, but I don’t want anything to do with him either. He’s a mean bastard that I would just as soon rot where he is than to talk to him. The things he would do and say to Tyrrell and me when we were kids was abusive and sadistic. Rogan has no sense of other people’s feelings, especially if they differ from his own.” “I’m sorry.” She nodded and asked him about his house. “I bought it some time ago. Not long, but I’ve been starting projects then leaving them go. I hated my job working as an attorney in a big firm, so quit it one day and started working for Noah. He’s a vampire.” She quirked a brow at him, but he moved on. “The house, I was putting it off, but when I found out that you were coming, I called out to Myra and asked her to finish it for me. She said that all she could do for now was to finish the projects and to inject a little magic in the house. And what I mean by it not looking like it did when I left today, I mean that. The house will go into your mind and find out what you want in a house, and fix it to match it.” “I don’t believe you.” The car came to a stop, and before she could reach for the handle, if that was what she was going for, the door opened and there stood the driver. “You just expect me to believe you, like I’m stupid or something?” “No, I know that you’re not stupid. Not even close. But in order to show you that I’m not lying to you, go in and try to think of something that you want in the living room. It’s to the left as you walk in.” He watched the indecision on her face. “Once you see it for what it is, then you come out here and we can talk, or you can go back to the B&B. All right?” “I’ll do it, but I don’t believe you.” Giyanna got out of the limo and he did too. But instead of following her, Tanner leaned against the car and watched her. As she got to the steps, she turned and looked at him. “You’ll come with me. But if you try anything or hurt me in any way, I’ll make you regret even being born. I’m not joking on this. I don’t care if you are some kind of wolf, I will hurt you in ways that your own mother won’t recognize you when I’m done.”

  “All right. While I do understand your need to make sure that you’re safe, I want you to know that I would never, even under threat of death, harm you in any way. Nor will my family, any of them.” She nodded, for some reason believing him. “Shall we go in?” He walked up the steps with her, careful not to touch her again. She was on edge enough, and he didn’t want her to feel like he was pressuring her into anything. As soon as she opened the door, she turned to look at him, asking about locking his house. “I did lock it. It knows who you are.” She tsked at him, but went into the house. As soon as he entered the entrance hall, he knew that it had taken her thoughts and changed things. Christ, the house was beautiful. “I have to say, you have excellent taste.” “I want to see the living room.” He nodded and moved with her to the left after the entrance. The parquet flooring was beautiful, but he loved the grand staircase more. The stained-glass window at the top with all its silver and golds was sh
ining light down on them like a beacon. “You’re going to tell me that it didn’t look like this when you left here today, aren’t you? That all this magically appeared because of what I thought of in a house.” “It didn’t, and yes I am.” Tanner moved into the big room and looked around. “When I left, I had a couch that I didn’t care for, as well as a card table that I had a lamp on.” She told him she didn’t believe him. “All right. Let’s try this. Close your eyes and think of this room again. But this time you make it something...like your living room at your house. I promise you, you’ll be a believer after that.” The furniture morphed into something else. The couch was gone, and in its place was a large overstuffed chair that looked like it was well used. The fireplace disappeared too, and he was saddened by that, but nearly laughed at the paintings on the wall. Most of them, he’d bet, had been painted by her when she’d been a child. There was a homemade quilt on the bed that he could see in the corner. A table and chairs that were also old but solidly made. When he took her hand away, she stared at him for several seconds before she turned and looked at the room. Tanner caught her before she fell on her ass. Picking her up in his arms, he sat her on the couch as the room started to change again. It was as it had been before. The soft looking furniture that was new but didn’t have that feel to it. He asked her if she was all right when a man appeared in the room with them. He bowed before introducing himself. “My name is Ruben. I was asked to come and work for you sir, my lady. I am a good friend to the witch Myra, and she said that you would need my skills. Would you like something to eat? A glass of juice or tea?” He told him to bring the lady a glass of tea and also a plate of scones if he had them. “I have whatever you wish, sir.” His hands were filled with a large silver tray. Tanner was glad that Giyanna hadn’t seen it appear—she seemed to be close to the edge right now. When she drank down the tea, he laughed when she watched the glass refill, and she set it down on the table in front of them. Her hands were shaking badly by then, and he wondered what was going on in her head at that moment. When she looked at him, he had a pretty good idea. “I’m overwhelmed.” He nodded. “Don’t just nod, damn it. Say something, like this is a dream, or I’ve died, and this is where I’m going to spend eternity. Something other than just nodding your head like a puppy dog in a window. I’m freaking the fuck out here.” “I’m sorry, I am. But should you like, you could spend an eternity here. It’s a lovely home. As I said before, you have excellent taste.” She growled at him and he laughed again. “You need to practice more. When you growl, it needs to come more from your belly and then roll up through your throat. Want me to show you?” “I need to get the fuck out of here.” But she didn’t move. When she looked at him, he could see the fear again and his wolf moved along his skin. “Did this really just happen? The room changed because I wanted it to look like this? I’m calming down some, but I really need for you to tell me that this isn’t a dream and that I’m not going nuts. Well, nuttier.” “It’s not a dream, nor are you nuts. It really did happen because the house is magical. You might not believe in magic, but that’s okay. The house believes in you.” He moved a strand of hair from her cheek and put it behind her ear. “I don’t want you to be overwhelmed, but the rest of the house is the same.” Nodding, she looked around again and then back at him. “I’m sorry, but I didn’t know any other way to show you that I’m not lying to you.” “I need a minute.” He started to stand up, to give her some time. “Where are you going? I only need a minute. Don’t leave me in here alone. What if the house starts to change me into whatever it is that you want? It can change things for you too, I’m guessing. I don’t know what you want, but I’m sure it will figure it out.” “No, it won’t change you.” She asked him if he was sure. “Yes. To me—and I can’t believe I’m saying this after telling anyone that would listen that I don’t want a mate— to me, you’re about as perfect as they come. Welcome to the family, Giyanna.”