The Pull

by Amber Lynn

  I finally slid out of the truck, avoiding Jack’s hand. I’d been so wrapped up with figuring out who I was dealing with that I really didn’t take stock of anything in the truck. I assumed it had the normal features vehicles had.

  “That’s part of why I convinced Nikki to come talk to you early. After thinking about it for a while, I thought it’d be a little much to come to your house tomorrow without giving you a little background information. Since Nikki set this all up, I figured meeting her would be the easiest. Plus, she’s got a six-month-old at home who she hasn’t left for a second since he was born, so she needed a break.”

  “There’s nothing wrong with wanting to spend time with my babies. The girls are already seven and I feel like that happened in just a blink of the eye.”

  I was trying to keep track of all the children. Hearing that there were some that were at least seven surprised me because of how young Nikki looked. Since I was over fifty and looked like I was twenty, I shouldn’t have been shocked.

  “I have four little ones. Twin seven-year-old girls, Niklaus, who’s four, and the baby, Jakob, Needless to say, I keep busy. Going back to the question of me having more than one husband over the years, yes, we are one and done when it comes to marriage.”

  “Jack and Nikki, so nice to see you two. Where’s the rest of the gang? I was hoping to meet the newest addition.”

  Any question about whether they had been to the restaurant before was erased when the maître d' greeted them by name. The smile that spread across his face made me think he was greeting family rather than patrons.

  “We decided to give you a break, John, by keeping the kids at home with Vik and Paul.” Nikki reached out and touched the man’s arm. “I hope setting up the private room wasn’t a hassle.”

  Her small hand stayed on the sleeve of a purple dress shirt for only a second before it was back at her side. I didn’t feel any tingles of magic, but I thought for some reason she’d done something.

  “Your kids are some of the most polite children I’ve ever met, and I don’t want to hear you say a word in disagreement. You know we keep that private room always set up for you. I know you’ve had little Jakob, so your cravings may not be the same, but my wife tells me cravings sometimes have a way of sticking around.”

  Instead of going into the dining room I could see to the right of us, we were led down a hallway on the left. We walked by the bathrooms and an entrance to a kitchen before John held open a door.

  “Nikki went on a salad diet right after Jakob was born, which is why you haven’t seen us. Thankfully I convinced her to make an exception tonight. I think we’ll take our usual with the sweet corn risotto for our guest.”

  Nikki was the first to enter the room, with me in the middle and Jack following behind me. I wasn’t sure if I could eat a single thing, so I didn’t complain about not being able to choose from the menu for myself. I would’ve probably spent an hour looking at it to find something I’d be able to eat and keep down. Butterflies had decided to attack my stomach all of a sudden.

  “Very well. Your water and rolls are already set up, and the entrees should be available in fifteen minutes. I’ll make sure your server knocks before coming in.”

  “Thanks, John.”

  Nikki waved at the man as he shut the door and left us alone. I got a look around the dimly lit room before my attention was stolen by conversation.

  There wasn’t a lot to see in the room. One large table with about fifteen chairs around it and a dark purple tablecloth on top. Each seat at the table had silverware on a white napkin and an empty glass. In the middle of the table was a basket filled with rolls and a number of toppings, like butter, honey and jellies.

  “Here, why don’t you go ahead and sit here while I pour you some water.”

  Jack pulled out a chair and reached for the pitcher on the table. I went ahead and sat down on the wooden chair, and instantly thought it could use a cushion.

  “I know we’ve just met, but I am capable of doing some things myself.”

  I was used to doing everything, and it was difficult to decide whether I liked having someone help. I had a feeling if it was anyone other than Jack, I would’ve fought harder to keep my self-sufficient ways intact.

  “How long have you been alone in the world?”

  Nikki sat down in the chair across from me. I assumed they’d watched me at work and Jack didn’t forget the fact that we’d had lunch with my closest friend. Knowing those things, I guessed that she had a deeper meaning in her words, but I wasn’t sure what.

  “I’m pretty sure the answer to that is never. I’ve never had a ton of friends, but I’ve always had someone around.”

  “I’m not talking about the friends who share some of your abilities. I’m talking about family who really know you. Do you remember much of your childhood?”

  “That’s an odd question to ask someone you’ve just met.”

  I felt Jack’s arm move to rest across the top of the back of my chair. He’d sat down next to me, on my right, and moved his chair so he was closer. My childhood wasn’t something I needed support to talk about, but he seemed to want to give it.

  “I don’t think it is. If you asked me the same question, I’d understand. I’ve found childhood does a lot to shape the people we become. I’m sure that’s a relatively obvious statement, but sometimes it takes us a while to realize how big an effect it has.”

  “How long did it take you?”

  I decided to turn the question to Jack since he’d been quietly listening to us. I wasn’t sure I had a good answer, because it wasn’t something I thought about.

  “About five years ago was I realized my upbringing had caused me more grief than I knew. I don’t meet a lot of people who don’t already know this, but that’s when I killed my father to make sure he couldn’t share his skewed ideas of how the world works with the rest of the wolf population.”

  “You’re shocked, but he only killed him after I’d driven a knife through his chest and our father had revealed to us that he’d had a hand in kidnapping my daughters,” Nikki added.

  I hadn’t had much time to register any emotion. I didn’t often have dinner with someone who’d killed their father, so knowing how to react when it was brought up was something new. I couldn’t really judge him, but I hadn’t been part of a conversation that turned to murder.

  “I thought you said we wouldn’t be able to talk about things over dinner.”

  I figured admitting to murder was a little worse than talking about werewolves and witches, but I could’ve missed something. I hadn’t picked up anything magical about the maître d', but my abilities to sense magical people seemed a little off.

  “I just said that to try to get most of your questions out in the open before we got here. The room is soundproofed because it’s used for parties, and the staff here is very good about giving us our privacy.”

  “So, if I asked you to explain exactly what you are? You’d be fine going into details?”

  There was something about Jack that made me hesitate diving too far into the wolf culture. I just felt like there was something he’d say that I didn’t want to hear, so asking Nikki seemed easier.

  I wanted to find out what the shock had been during lunch, but that wasn’t something I thought was right to bring up in front of his sister. She’d probably already picked up from my head that I was looking for answers. Saying it out loud would more than likely end in my embarrassment. Especially if he didn’t feel anything.

  “There’s so much I can’t really explain, since there are days I wake up and still try to figure that out. Wolves have never been truly nice to deal with, but thousands of years ago there was a male and female wolf called the par lupu, essentially the king and queen of the wolves. When they lived, wolves lived side-by-side with other beings and things were pleasant.

  “Certain events caused the love that they shared with the rest of the wolves to disappear. We became enthralled with a clan mentality tha
t kept us separate from the rest of the world and changed dynamics between each other to erase emotions and attachments from our society.”

  Nikki stopped to get a drink of water. I looked over to Jack to see if he wanted to pick up the story while we waited, but seeing the intent in my eyes he shook his head.

  “It’s her story to tell. I’m just one of those wolves who doesn’t believe in emotions.”

  I didn’t believe that based on the fact that I’d seen various emotions playing around in his eyes.

  “Anger is his favorite emotion, as is the case for most wolves. Things have gotten better in recent years, because of the reincarnation of the par lupu. We’ve traveled around to other packs to try to teach them that living among the humans and treating your mates as equals instead of just someone to procreate with doesn’t hurt as much as it sounds.”

  “How are you sure this reincarnation actually took place? I’ve always believed in reincarnation, but I’ve never seen any proof.”

  I was happy to hear things seemed to be going good for wolves in general, but just telling people a long lost couple existed again was something they could’ve done during any of the time when things weren’t rosy. False pretenses often work just as well as real ones.

  “It’s not something easy to prove, but if you’ve lived your whole life as a wolf and know what abilities a wolf should have, then you’re open to explanations when one shows up reading your mind and sneaking up on you.”

  “Don’t sell yourself short, Nikki. Why don’t you list all the special things you refuse to teach me how to do?”

  A knock on the door stopped her from sharing.

  “Hold that thought.” Nikki turned to Jack and motioned him to the door.

  Jack was already up, seemingly showing off as he ran to the door faster than my eyes wanted to track. My brain filled in the gaps, so it wasn’t completely jarring.

  Jack opened the door, and instead of letting the person in, he grabbed a serving tray and barely said thank you before he was back at the table.

  “Here, I think you’ll like this. It should be more filling than that sub you ate earlier today.”

  I smelled more than saw each component of the risotto. The corn was obvious, put somehow I could make out the root vegetables, mushrooms and tomatoes. Each of the smells were subtle. The smell of cooked parsnips wasn’t my favorite scent, but it melded in well with the other veggies.

  “Why does everyone have an issue with my lunch choices?”

  “There’s no problem with it. I just think you’ll enjoy this more.”

  To try to prove his point, Jack picked up the fork from beside my plate and scooped up some risotto to wave in front of my mouth. Childhood had been mentioned in the conversation, and Jack must not have thought I’d grown up. I got enough babying from Abbie, I really didn’t need someone else treating me like a child.

  “You should let her feed herself until she gets to know you better. I know why you do the things you do, but Kennedy is just getting to know you.”

  “Well, we can’t all read minds. I thought women enjoyed being pampered.”

  Jack put the fork down and handed Nikki her plate. It looked like she had some of her own risotto along with broccoli to accompany her pork. The remaining plate on the tray looked to be chicken with some sort of rice dish and a vegetable medley.

  Everything smelled and looked delicious, even if I wouldn’t touch either of their entrees.

  “I think women like to understand why they’re being pampered, and your actions are just confusing. I’m pretty sure everything is confusing right now for you, Kennedy. Every word that comes out of our mouths probably only makes it worse.”

  I picked up my fork and shoveled a bite of food in my mouth. I wasn’t expecting the kick that came along with the sweetness of the corn. I was a bit of a lightweight when it came to spices, so I reached for my glass of water before trying another bite.

  “I can honestly say it’s been about fifteen hours since I felt like I knew what was going on in my life.”

  I wasn’t sure how much of the risotto I could eat, but I made sure to finish at least half of it as quickly as I could. After that, if I let the conversation keep me occupied, I didn’t think I’d offend anyone by not eating it.

  “I’ve had many days like that. Our conversation has had a little continuity issue, so I’m hoping we can get back to my original question. How long have you been alone? You’re in your fifties, right?”

  “I don’t think I understand the question. You started talking about childhood after that and I don’t know what kind of answer you’re looking for, and why it seems to matter.”

  “Since you’ll be meeting my children tomorrow, I think understanding what makes you tick is important. I never understood exactly why we picked this city as our first home as a real family, but I think you had something to do with it.”

  She was right about every word making things more confusing. I honestly didn’t think they could start and finish one train of thought without saying something weird.

  “Who exactly is getting the reading? I don’t know if I have enough energy to do a handful of readings.”

  I didn’t get tired after doing readings, not that I’d done a ton. They were different, though, and I was concerned something about them would zap some of my energy.

  “You’ll only be doing one for us, and you’ll find out who tomorrow. It’s not Jack or me, so we can sit here and cause all the chaos we want without tainting what you’ll do tomorrow.”

  I was a little doubtful, and decided to make an eating game out of the conversation to help me finish the risotto. Each time they said something crazy, I took a bite. I took two immediately, because I had a lot to make up for.

  “Why don’t you take her food and finish it for her, Jack. We should’ve probably told John to make it traditional instead of adding the spice you like. Not everyone can handle that much cayenne.”

  “I can go ask him to make another plate.”

  Jack took the fun of my new game away, and I didn’t protest. My stomach was happy not to smell the food making it do somersaults.

  “I’d prefer you didn’t. I’m fine, and would like to finish up this little meeting so I can get home. Not that it isn’t interesting meeting you and learning more about wolves. I’m just a little anxious about something.”

  “If it’s about the incubus, don’t worry. I’ll make sure he stays away.”

  There wasn’t any room for doubt when Jack spoke in what I assumed was a tone he used often to threaten criminals. There was something about the vow that he’d see something done that sounded like more than just a promise.

  “Okay, we have time for you to figure out how you want to answer the question about you being alone. I feel like it’s been so long that you don’t know what it’s really like to have others like you around.”

  “What do you know that I don’t? That’s the second time today someone has implied I’m different than Abbie, who has been like family for years. I know she isn’t as strong, but she’s a witch too.”

  Nikki looked a little concerned. Her eyes darted over to Jack, and since they didn’t come immediately back to me, I followed her gaze.

  Jack sat next to me perfectly still. His hand, with fork in it, hovered just above his plate as he stared down at the food. He only had a bite or two of vegetables left.

  “Jack, why don’t you go pay John for the food and start the truck. I’d like to say a few things to Kennedy without you here.”

  “There’s a few things I can think of that you might want to share, and all of them can be said with me right here.”

  “No, you need to go take a few deep breaths and remember that he can’t hurt her. We’ll be out in five minutes, maybe even less.”

  Miraculously, Jack scooted his chair back and got up. If nothing else, I wanted Nikki to tell me how she got him to do what she told him. I’d only known him for a few hours and I didn’t think I controlled any part of our inter
actions.

  Lips pressed against the top of my head were a little unexpected, but I felt them nonetheless. Jack didn’t say anything after the quick gesture as he walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

  Chapter Seven

  “What can I say? He’s complicated.”

  Nikki’s first words after being left alone went without saying. I wondered how long it took her to realize how complicated her brother really was. I wasn’t an expert, but there was a good chance he needed to get on some medication.

  Nikki snorted. “If only medicine would work for his issues. Look, he’s always been protective, even when he didn’t know the right things to protect against. We grew up with a father who hated humans and me for being his firstborn. Girls weren’t supposed to be firstborns and I learned that from a young age.

  “Levi never got Jack to follow in line as far as completely hating me went, but Jack got really good at hating humans, or essentially anything that wasn’t a wolf. When I was eighteen, I ran away from the world I grew up in and settled down to pretend I was a human. You should’ve seen the hate in Jack’s eyes when he found out I was marrying Paul. He couldn’t forgive me, and we didn’t speak for quite a while because I’d fallen in love with a human.”

  “You’re married to a human? Is that even possible?”

  I could understand why my life seemed to instantly go chaotic the second they walked into it. Their lives had to be pure drama. Abbie would’ve loved hearing more about them, but I wasn’t sure I could share the things I was being trusted with.

  “Not so much anymore, as far as drama ruling our lives. Things have gotten a lot better. There’s no rules saying a wolf has to marry another wolf. We can marry and have children with anyone. It’s the actual ‘mating’ part that can only be done with other wolves.”

  “And what exactly is the mating part?”

  For all the confusion, I was hoping to come away with at least a pretty good knowledge of what made a werewolf tick. It seemed it was something that would come in handy, since she’d indicated they weren’t immediately leaving my life after the reading. I didn’t know exactly what that meant, but if they were sticking around, I needed to know more about them.