Pack of Freaks: Beasts Among Us - Book 2

by Jennifer Zamboni

  He waved at me, then continued with his play.

  Doug sighed with a deep throated rumble. I turned in his arms and picked up my knitting bag, pulling out the red scarf.

  “I finished it.” I fingered the soft yarn, then handed it to my husband.

  “Thank you, ma colombe,” he said, wrapping it around his neck.

  I didn’t feel much like a dove, but I appreciated the sentiment. “You’re welcome.”

  I pulled the hat out and continued working on it.

  “I do believe you’ve developed a new obsession. Who is this one for?” Doug asked.

  “Me,” I said.

  “Perhaps you should make something for Evie,” he suggested. “Perhaps a little love from you would help her adjust.”

  Admonished, I stared down at my rapidly developing hat. I had a hard time showing love, especially if I wasn’t feeling it. Perhaps if I showed it, the feelings would follow.

  “I may have been a bit harsh,” I admitted.

  “You probably behaved as an alpha, which is correct, but perhaps compassion would get you further,” he said.

  “Perhaps,” I echoed, then continued knitting with a new recipient in mind.

  I finished with the hat and followed the instructions in the technique book I had bought to wash and block it. Finally, it was ready to be removed from the balloon I had let it dry on for the shape. I took special pleasure in popping it, despite the wincing of my inner wolf at the noise.

  “What on earth was that?” Percy shouted from down the hall.

  “Nothing!” I shouted back, bringing the hat into my dressing room to try on in front of the mirror.

  It fit perfectly, with just the right amount of slouch. I was definitely going to have to make one for myself, I decided. Taking it off, I took a moment to fix my now messed up hair. It took some searching but I found an appropriately sized gift bag and a card. I grabbed a stray pen out of my nightstand and wrote a quick note:

  Evangeline,

  I know you are having a rough time of it. I desperately want to make things better for you. Please forgive me for being so harsh.

  Love,

  Gretchen

  I stuck the card in the bag with the hat and hoped she’d be able to read it. I honestly didn’t know what level she was at in her schooling. I’d have to talk to Doug about it later.

  I walked down the hall to Evangeline’s room and put my ear to the door. Hearing no sound on the other side, I opened the door and found the room was empty.

  I placed the gift bag on the large, sturdy maple desk someone had dug up for the pup to do her schoolwork on and turned on the lamp so the gift bag would be noticed. The desk itself was strangely neat, and I wondered if Evangeline ever used it.

  Who knew? I shrugged my shoulders in answer to myself and left the sparse bedroom, which Evangeline had done nothing to make her own. I couldn’t even tell what her favorite color was.

  I headed downstairs to the salon for a phone answering day as I only had two clients on my books. One was one of my favorite people in the whole wide world, Mem, the French teacher that had lived with us for a few weeks when her husband died, and one of the few people who knew our secret.

  “Hello dear,” Mem greeted me with a kiss on each cheek. “How are things?”

  I knew she was genuinely interested, so I gave her the low down on the last few months.

  “So what’s new with you?” I asked as I trimmed her iron-gray hair.

  “Oh, many things!” she said with enthusiasm. “For starters, I’ve gone back to school.”

  “Really? For what?” I knew Mem had loved her teaching job, but she was around retirement age.

  “I’m going to be a human/fae liaison. After I saw all the fuss that’s being kicked up in the media, mostly negative, about the revelation of the fae, I knew I had to get involved. Until the fae are allowed a stronger voice, someone needs to speak for them. I said to myself, if not me, then who? So back to school I went!”

  “Well then,” was all I could say at first. I finished snipping her ends and moved on to her layers.

  “How are you liking it so far?” I asked finally.

  “Oh, I think I’ll be able to do a world of good. I already have a job, despite my still being in school. They were desperate, I suppose.”

  I hoped that she was right about being able to do some good. “I bet you’re great at it.”

  Whatever a liaison did in these circumstances.

  “What is your job, exactly?” I hoped it wasn’t knocking on doors, taking the census of the fae.

  “Oh, speaking engagements mostly at the moment. Educating.”

  Of course she was educating. I smiled at her in the mirror. “That sounds like the perfect job for you. Do you miss teaching teenagers?”

  “I still do a little. Some of my speaking engagements are in high schools. As for teaching French, it was time for a change. I do miss it sometimes. But I don’t miss grading papers, that’s for certain!”

  I laughed and continued chatting through the rest of her cut.

  “What do you think?” I asked when I finished.

  “Perfect, as always, dear. Do drop by for a visit sometime soon,” she insisted as I helped her into her faux fur-lined coat.

  “Don’t be a stranger to our kitchen, either. Perhaps you would like to meet Evangeline,” I said.

  “I would indeed. I’ll give you a call sometime in the next week or so,” she said as I walked her to the door.

  “Do that! Would you like me to walk you to your car?”

  “No, thank you. I know you’re busy, ciao!”

  “Ciao.” I gave her a little wave as she headed out.

  Busy. If only. I looked at the front desk with distaste, then took my place on the bar stool behind it.

  The phone rang.

  I answered it. “Good afternoon, Olympian’s Salon and Day Spa, this is Gretchen speaking, how may I help you?”

  “Are you horny?” whispered a male voice on the other end of the line.

  You have got to be kidding me. “Who is this?” I snarled.

  “Are you horny?” the voice asked again.

  I slammed the phone back into the cradle.

  “What was that all about?” Percy turned from her client.

  “Prank call.” I didn’t elaborate.

  The phone rang again, five minutes later.

  I answered with the same professional greeting.

  “How wet’s your—”

  “Seriously,” I interrupted the voice.

  “How wet’s your—”

  “None of your business!” I slammed the phone down once more.

  “Someone else can answer the phone for a while, I’m taking a break.” I shoved myself away from the counter and stalked to the back of the salon and out to the kitchen beyond.

  I heard the phone ring again and someone answered.

  “Unbelievable!” Amanda exclaimed a moment later, accompanied by the sound of the slamming phone.

  “What is it?” Percy asked.

  “I’ll tell you later,” said Amanda, meaning when there weren’t any clients about.

  An hour and 10 phone calls later, Percy answered the phone. We were taking turns, as we didn’t want to risk losing actual clients.

  “That’s it, I’m calling the police.” Percy slammed the phone down, then picked it back up, doing just that.

  That evening, before everyone left, Percy called a quick meeting in the kitchen for all the salon staff.

  “The police have been notified and we are to use call trace at least three times when the creepy caller strikes. Hang up when he calls, pick it right back up and dial *57. Hopefully, we won’t have to deal with it much longer. Have a fabulous night, ladies.” She threw herself down in a chair in an uncharacteristic manner, and crossed her arms, breathing out so hard her lips vibrated. It would have been comical if I weren’t just as irritated.

  “I’m going out tonight if anyone’s interested,” I said befor
e anyone could leave.

  “I’m in,” said Fern.

  “Not me,” said Meredith.

  Fern gave Meredith a frustrated look as she still didn’t have a car. Hers had died an unfortunate death from a cracked engine block. We’d offered to help her out, but she’d insisted on getting through on her own.

  “I’ll give you a ride,” Amanda offered. “I’m going, of course.”

  “Thanks,” said Fern, the smile returning to her face.

  It looked like just Fern, Amanda, and me from the salon. Toni couldn’t get a babysitter on such short notice and Percy and Hades were planning a romantic night on their own.

  Still enough people to buffer me from Scott, or so I hoped.

  Doug and I shared a leisurely meal in the library, where we could keep Caleb company for a little while. He’d made some nice, rare, peppered steaks, plus a whole stack of grilled cheese sandwiches to go with our mugs of tomato soup.

  “So how did the rest of your day go?” he asked me in between bites.

  “Oh fine. Mem came in today.”

  He threw his arm around my shoulders and pulled me into his side, sending my heart aflutter. “How is she?”

  “Good. She’s taking classes. Apparently, she’s working for the government now.” I grabbed a sandwich off the plate we were sharing and took a big gooey bite.

  “Doing what?” Doug asked.

  “Some kind of liaison/educator type person, in favor of the fae. I hope she knows what she’s getting herself into.”

  She’d only seen a little of the fae world while she was living with us, and we were her friends. There were plenty of nasty and downright evil fae out there. Like the ones Hades was supposed to be governing.

  A shudder ran through me at the thought of what went bump in the night without any supervision.

  “What?” Doug apparently noticed my sudden discomfort as I’d gone stiff under his arm..

  “Nothing, just hoping Hades finds a way to rescind his exile before his people get too out of hand.”

  “Too late for that. The fae wouldn’t have been outed if it weren’t for the vampires. They’re his people, aren’t they?” Doug pointed out.

  “True, but then, so are we, technically speaking. In reality, I think he’s only in charge of the full fae vamps and the fae-wolves, not their formerly human counterparts.”

  “Are the vampire changers called alphas too?”

  “I think technically, yes, though the vamps like to call them masters. I don’t know why, it’s not like they have anything to do with their changes. After the change, I mean.”

  “Huh,” said Doug. “I didn’t know that.”

  I shrugged my shoulders. “Yeah, it’s kind of weird that the wolves are the ones thought of as animals. I think we’re the more civilized of the two.”

  “Uh, civilized, really.” Doug looked at me askance. He could be raising an eyebrow at me but I couldn’t tell through all the hair.

  “Well, we don’t eat people.” I presented my logic.

  “This is true,” said Doug. “How was your supper?”

  I finished up my last bite and smiled. “Delicious. Thanks, babe.”

  “No problem.” Doug cleared away the plates, and I congratulated myself on avoiding the subject of the creepy caller.

  No doubt he’d hear about it at some point in the evening, but I needed a break from the discussion.

  I got ready in record time. It helped that my hair and face were already done and just needed a little touching up. After getting dressed again, I picked up Clarissa and tried working on sounding less fae. I had no idea if I was having any success, how would one gauge that? I focused on playing slower, maybe that would be the ticket.

  I had a recording of what I had been playing repeating back to me as I took notes on my sheet music when Doug joined me.

  “Sounds good. What is it you are playing?” he asked, coming to sit on the loveseat, next to where I was practicing.

  “Just a piece I wrote for one of our new songs. Mark wants me to play Clarissa and I’m trying to sound less wolfy,” I explained, turning the recorder off.

  “Hm, not working so far,” he said, then buried his nose in my neck, giving me a delicate kiss there.

  I was all of a sudden rethinking my idea to go out. I turned and placed my arms around his neck, digging my fingers into his hair. Mine. “Any tips?”

  “I’m not sure. I don’t play music, but this sounds wild and complicated, like you.” He kissed the corner of my mouth.

  “I guess I should try to rewrite it . . . less complicated?” I turned my attention to the sheet music sitting on my bed and frowned, I loved what I had written.

  Doug shook his head. “That would be to take you out of it. Play it like you wrote it. Your band won’t know better.” He smiled at me as he insulted my friends.

  “May I hear the real version?” he asked.

  “Sure.” I picked up my bow and ran through the song at normal speed, letting go of trying to be human and letting the music sweep me away.

  “Magnificent!” he applauded when I finished.

  “Thank you.” I took a bow then wiped Clarissa down and put her away. “Ready to go?” I asked.

  “Don’t I look ready?” Doug gestured to his jeans and T-shirt. I noted that he had trimmed and shaved quite a bit, so as to be less conspicuous.

  “Of course. Let’s go.” I grabbed his hand and tugged him out to my truck.

  “Would you like to drive?” I offered him the keys, dangling them off one finger, which he took.

  On the way to the bar, I decided to fill him in on the creepy caller. I watched his fingers tighten around the steering wheel, though he avoided stomping on the brake or the accelerator. He just growled and drove more precisely.

  “We’re using call trace now, so he should be caught quickly.”

  “If he’s stupid enough to call again.” He took his stormy eyes off the road for a moment to glance at me with worry.

  Something told me creepy caller was stupid enough.

  “Why didn’t you tell me before?” he asked.

  “Because we were having a good time,” I said truthfully. “But I wanted to say something before we went out in public.”

  “Good call,” he said, as he worked to relax.

  I relaxed myself to help him, and amazingly, it worked.

  He didn’t thank me, but I didn’t expect him to.

  We were the last ones to arrive at the bar, so I scanned the place quickly and found my friends at a few tables they had pushed together.

  “Hello, all!” I said as I climbed into a seat.

  “Hey, lady, how’s it shakin’?” asked a slightly red-cheeked Amanda.

  “I’m good, just took a little extra time with Clarissa,” I replied.

  Amanda looked confused.

  “My violin,” I clarified. “I’ve been working on a new piece.”

  “Excellent,” said Mark who had his arm slung around his girlfriend’s shoulders.

  We spent some time talking about the album and the creepy caller. Amanda cut herself off after one more drink, since she had to drive Fern and herself home.

  “So what does everyone think about the fae shit that’s going down?” Austin asked, innocent about who he was sharing drinks with.

  I shrugged my shoulders, not really wanting to get into the subject.

  “A little disconcerting, honestly,” Amanda admitted. “I mean, thinking all that stuff was all fairy tales, then bam, it’s the new reality.”

  “I think it’s kinda neat,” Fern spoke up unexpectedly.

  “What do you mean?” I asked her.

  “Well, I love fantasy and fairy tales, it’s kinda cool to think that Sleeping Beauty and Snow White might have some truth to them.”

  “You want wicked fairies to be real?” Scott asked, crossing his arms over his chest and tilting his chair back on two legs, the bitter scent of judgment rolling off him in waves.

  “Sure, as long as the
re are fairy godmothers and dwarves to balance them out. There are good and bad ‘normal,’” Fern made air quotes with her fingers, “people.”

  “The world isn’t bad enough, you want to add supernatural powers to it?” asked Scott.

  “There’s a lot of good around,” Fern insisted resolutely.

  Scott shook his head.

  “Maybe they’re what’s normal and you’re the freak,” said Fern with a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes.

  Scott snorted.

  “You’ve got to admit,” I interjected before he could say anything, “you are kind of strange.”

  “You love me,” said Scott.

  “Only because I have to, bro,” I shot back quickly.

  Mark laughed heartily. “Children, children, enough of the heavy!”

  “Cheers to that!” Amanda raised her ice water and clinked beverages with him.

  “That’s enough for me, boys and girls, I think we’re gonna call it a night,” I said.

  “Sounds good to me,” said Doug. “I’ll go settle up our tab.” He kissed me then headed for the bar.

  Scott wrinkled his nose at Doug’s retreating back. “Yuck.”

  “Shut up, Scott, you’re just jealous,” I said, attempting to sound good-humored.

  He gave a little upward nod. “So what if I am?”

  “We need to get you a date, man,” said Mark. “And not with a salon chick. No offense all, you’re cool, but you’re trouble.”

  “Hell yeah, we are!” Amanda grinned. “Besides, Scott needs a little more time, I think.” She referred to the fact that his girlfriend, Penny, had died not all that long ago.

  “Probably be good, don’t want some poor girl to be a rebound,” said Austin’s wife, Denise, who was nursing her own glass of ice water. She had decided to come out with us, since she wasn’t showing yet, despite the fact that she wasn’t drinking. She was a cool chick who balanced out her husband’s quiet humor with a welcoming friendliness.

  “Uh, guys, I’m right here,” said Scott. “Don’t I get a say in my love life?”

  “No way, bro, because Gretch is off the market,” said Mark.

  “Yes, she is.” Doug came up behind me. “Ready?”

  “Definitely,” I said, pulling on my coat. “’Night all.”

  We received a chorus of farewells as we left.