Trying Times (The Valens Legacy Book 14)

by Jan Stryvant

  While he was fairly certain most other guys would be happy to be the center of attention of six women, Stewart really only cared about April and Rachel. Elliana, Steff, Julia, and Kate were his responsibility, his wards, as he figured it. That put them in the 'off limits' category in his mind, and then there was the simple truth that, while they might be adults, they were all emotionally and intellectually stunted at about the age of thirteen. That bothered him quite a bit as well, and he wasn't afraid to admit it.

  He just hoped, now they were away from their handlers, they might start to mature. Honestly, all four of them were very sweet when you got right down to it, so it was his hope they'd eventually have something approaching a normal life.

  "You know, sooner or later we're going to have to let them get laid," Rachel whispered to him as they walked.

  "I know, I know." Stewart sighed. All four of the girls had been flirting fairly aggressively with the guys at the Ranch, and with the male-to-female ratio there, they were definitely getting a lot of interest.

  "I just don't want to feel like a pimp," Stewart growled.

  Rachel laughed. "Why, you planning on charging for their time?"

  Stewart gave her a look to let her know he didn't find that at all funny.

  "Listen, Stew," Rachel said, pressing up against him. "They're not children, and they're definitely not nuns."

  "No, definitely not nuns." Stewart sighed. "I should never have let Jolene talk me into becoming 'the voice'."

  "Why not? It worked wonders with Elliana."

  "Because they all want to have sex with me."

  "I thought you told them no?"

  Stewart rolled his eyes. "Rach, when has telling you 'no' ever worked?"

  Rachel snickered then. "Point. But April thinks it's funny watching you trying so valiantly to ignore their constant little ploys."

  "I've heard you laughing about it more than once, you know," Stewart grumbled. "I'm still a very young man; the idea of a bunch of meaningless sex with four well-trained and lovely women is not the kind of thing that's easy to walk away from, I'll have you know."

  "Then why are you?" Rachel asked, looking serious for a change.

  "Because I'm married, for cryin out loud! Why the hell would I be out 'drinking beer' when I have 'champagne' at home?"

  Rachel smiled brightly at that, then suddenly frowned. "Uh-oh, predator alert straight ahead!"

  Looking up, Stewart sighed, there were a bunch of guys hitting on some poor girl sitting on a bench. What made it worse was they were just a stone's throw from the local jail. Then again, half of the guys looked like they'd just gotten out.

  Shaking his head, Stewart altered his course. "Great, just what I need, another responsibility."

  "No one's telling you that you have to do this," Rachel reminded him.

  "What would Sean do?"

  "Kick ass, take names. Exactly in that order," April said with a laugh.

  "Yup, and he's both my boss and my teacher. Besides, even my step-dad wouldn't be able to just walk on by.

  "Guys, leave the lady alone," Stewart said, walking up to the bench.

  "Hey, who do you think you are?" one of them said.

  "Yeah, you don't look like no po-po," a second man said.

  "Look, the lady's had a bad day, she's crying, just leave her alone. Go pick on someone else for a change."

  "Maybe you should mind your own business before someone minds it for you!" the first one to speak said.

  "Hell, man, you got all those fine ladies already! You don't need another one!"

  "Maybe we should take some of them for ourselves!" a third one spoke up.

  Shaking his head, Stewart sighed. "Look, I'm perfectly fine with kicking your ass. If that's what you want, fine. I'll do it."

  "You shouldn't argue with the voice," Steff said.

  "Yeah, bad things happen to people who argue with the voice," Julia agreed, while Kate and Elliana nodded emphatically.

  "Oh, I think somebody's about to lose his damn voice!" The first speaker laughed and walked up to Stewart, pulling out a knife.

  "Don't kill him, Stew," Rachel hissed.

  The first one laughed. "Kill me? Bitch, I'm gonna..."

  Stewart stepped forward, grabbed the hand with the knife with his right hand, and bitch-slapped the man across the face with his left, stunning him. Twisting and bending his hand, Stewart forced him to drop the knife, then he twisted the man's arm behind his back.

  "Okay," Stewart whispered as he cast a minor mind control spell. "You're going to go inside the sheriff's office, you're going to confess to every single crime you've ever committed and gotten away with, and then you'll sign a written statement when they're done typing it up for you. Got it?"

  Letting go of the man, he pushed him in the direction of the jail, then he looked at the other two.

  "I think you should run while you still can," Elliana said. "I think the voice is angry with you!"

  The second man, who was a fair deal larger than Stewart, charged him. Stewart timed the man's approach and stepped forward into his punch, ducking slightly to the side, and then brought his knee up into the man's chest. He actually felt several of the man's ribs break as he crumpled up around Stewart's knee, then went flying backwards a good ten feet.

  Stewart smiled as the remaining men took off without a look back as their first friend marched off to do Stewart's bidding, and the second one lay on the ground, moaning in pain.

  "Thank you," the girl sitting on the bench said, still sniffling, "I kept asking them to leave me alone, but they wouldn't go!"

  Stewart looked down at her; even with her eyes puffy and bloodshot from crying, she was still a very lovely young woman.

  He also recognized her immediately.

  "Betty? What are you doing here?"

  Betty blinked and looked up at him. "Do I know you?"

  Stewart shook his head, "No, I guess you wouldn't remember me. I'm one of the people who took care of you after you were shot. You told me your name and what happened while our doctor was treating your wound, before we sent you to the hospital."

  Betty flinched back from him. "You're a werewolf!"

  Stewart chuckled. "No, actually I'm a werefox. So is my wife April there. But my other wife, Rachel here, she's a werewolf. Now, why don't you tell me what happened?"

  "What about those other girls? Why... who are they? Why are they with you? What are you doing with them?"

  "He saved them from a terrible fate, and now he has to take care of them," Rachel interrupted. "Just like he saved your dumb ass. Though why he wants to save someone who was trying to kill us a couple of weeks ago is beyond me!"

  "Rachel," Stewart said, looking back at her, "that was uncalled for, and you know it."

  "Sorry, Hon," Rachel said with a sigh.

  Betty looked down at her shoes. "She's right. Thank you for saving me. Again. I won't trouble you anymore."

  Stewart watched as she started to get up, and he shook his head as he saw her wince.

  "You're still not healed, are you?"

  "Don't worry, I'll be fine," Betty told him.

  "Come on, there's a restaurant just around the corner, we can all go there and you can eat."

  "You don't have to do that," Betty said, edging away.

  "It's a public place, what are you worried about? Now quit being silly, and let's go get some lunch."

  Getting in and seated wasn't as difficult as Stewart had feared; for all that there were eight of them, it was far enough past noon that they'd missed the lunch rush.

  "So how bad is the wound?" Stewart asked while they were eating. He'd made sure he'd ended up sitting next to Betty, even though she seemed a bit uncomfortable with him.

  "They said they'd take the stitches out next week."

  "I could heal it for you now, if you'd like."

  "What?" Betty said, giving him a frightened look.

  "I'm not just a lycan—a lycanthrope, that is. I'm also a magic user. I could he
al you up right now, but I won't do it unless you're okay with me doing it."

  "Why would you do such a thing?" Betty said nervously, trying to move away from him and pressing up against April.

  "Because he likes helping people," April said. "He saved my life, and Rachel's. That's why we married him."

  "Well, you saved my life as well, April," Stewart said with a smile.

  "How'd she do that?" Betty asked, looking from Stewart back to April, who she had to admit was the best-looking woman in the entire restaurant.

  "She made me a werefox," Stewart said. "I was dying, and she bit me."

  Betty looked back and forth between the two of them nervously.

  "Betty, no one's going to force you to do anything beyond eating your dinner," Rachel said with a sigh. "Right now you look like you haven't got a friend in the world. Trust me, I know that feeling. So why don't you eat your food and relax. When you're done, we'll take you back to your family or wherever it is you need to go."

  Betty broke down in tears again, causing Rachel, April, and Stewart to exchange glances, while the other four told Betty that everything was okay, she didn't have to cry, the voice would fix everything!

  April put her arms around Betty and comforted her until she got herself under control again.

  "I, I don't have anybody," Betty said, looking forlorn. "My mother left us years ago, and my father, he just disowned me when I went to visit him in jail."

  "Why'd he do that?"

  "Because I told him about what Pastor Cross had done to me, and he said I was lying!" Betty said the last with a sob.

  "He took that bastard's word over his own daughter's?" Rachel grumbled. "I'd sure like to sink my teeth into his ass!"

  "If I remember right, her father was one of Cross' leaders," April said.

  Betty nodded. "My father has been helping him for almost a year now. That's how I met Pastor Cross. When my dad brought me to hear his preaching at his church."

  "Why aren't you still in the hospital?" Stewart asked.

  "Why aren't you in jail?" April added.

  "They dismissed charges against all the women. The DA felt we'd suffered enough, and the public defender we had said there wasn't a jury that would indict us, much less find us guilty. So once the charges were dropped, if you didn't have money or insurance, you got booted out.

  "I went to see my dad to see if he could help me find a place to stay. I don't have any money, I don't even have a change of clothes, I lost my backpack, I don't have anything!"

  Stewart shook his head. "Well, first things first. Let me heal you. Then we can take you to the airport and put you on the next flight to Los Angeles."

  "But I don't have any money!"

  "That's okay, I'll pay for it. Now this is gonna feel strange, so take a deep breath and try not to make any noise."

  "Wait, what?"

  Turning in his seat, Stewart cast a moderate healing spell. Putting his hands on her sides, he sent the energy into her body.

  Betty's eyes got wide and she opened her mouth, but any noise she might have made was muffled by the roll April shoved in there.

  "Better?" Stewart asked.

  Betty mumbled something, so April pulled the roll out.

  "What about the stitches?"

  "Oh, right. You can run into the bathroom after dinner, and either April or Rachel can remove them."

  "Umm..." Betty said, looking back and forth between the girls.

  "Eat your dinner before it get cold," Rachel said with a sigh as she picked up her own fork.

  "You know," April said as they left the restaurant, "if you don't have any other clothes to wear, why don't you come with us to the stores first and let us buy you a new outfit or two?"

  "Oh, no, I couldn't..."

  "Betty," Rachel interrupted with a smile, "we're already making him pay for the six of us, one more isn't going to hurt!"

  "Well, I ummm..."

  "It'll be fine," Stewart said. "Besides, Elliana, Steff, Julia, and Kate all wanted to do some shopping before we headed back up to the ranch."

  "Well, if it's not a bother," Betty said, blushing. "I'm, I'm just not used to relying on the kindness of strangers."

  "That's 'cause you live in LA," Stewart said with a snort.

  "Besides, we've saved you twice now, that hardly makes us strangers, now does it?" April said, taking Betty's arm in hers.

  Stewart and Rachel spent the next couple of hours riding herd on Elliana, Steff, Julia, and Kate, while April spent her time making friends with Betty. Stewart had no idea why she was doing it, but he figured she'd tell him eventually. Besides, keeping the four girls out of trouble was occupying all his time and attention.

  Especially when they put on a little 'fashion show' for him at the lingerie store. Well, all of them but Betty. She was far too red in the face for that.

  "So, airport?" Stewart asked when they all got back into the van.

  "Umm," Betty said and, looking back at her, he saw April give her a nudge. "Can I come with you?"

  "If that's what you want, sure. But you know almost everyone up there is a lycan, right?"

  Betty nodded and looked down at the floor of the van shyly.

  "Well, April told me no one would be mad at me about what happened. She also told me I'd be safe there, and to be honest, if everything Pastor Cross said was true, you wouldn't have saved me up there, and you certainly wouldn't be helping me now."

  "The only thing I would suggest is that you apologize to Sean when I introduce you to him."

  "Sean? Who's he?"

  "He's the guy in charge of everything. He also happens to be my teacher."

  "You mean the lion?" Betty gulped.

  "Yes," he said as he pulled out from the curb and headed back home, "he's the lion. I wouldn't worry about that, though. It's not like he goes around hurting women or children."

  "But," Betty looked around a moment, then continued in a voice so soft, if Stewart's hearing hadn't been enhanced he would never have heard it, "doesn't he claim to be god? I don't know if I want to leave one, well, you know, for another!"

  "Lions are the gods of the lycans," Rachel told her. "They made us. They don't claim to be any more than that."

  "Yeah, it's a little weird," Stewart admitted, "but if you're not thinking of becoming one of us, I wouldn't worry about it."

  The rest of the trip was just the girls making small talk. Stewart got some enjoyment over Elliana, Steff, Julia, and Kate talking with Rachel, April, and even Betty about boring and mundane girl stuff for most of the ride. It was the first really normal conversation he'd heard those four have.

  When he finally turned the van off, some of the conversation drifted towards sex. There were a lot of attractive men around, and Rachel was right, sooner or later he'd have to figure out what he was going to do about the girls' sex lives.

  Maybe if he was lucky he could push that little task off on Jolene.

  "Just what are you up to, anyway?" he asked April, while Rachel had taken Betty off to find her a place to stay.

  "You saw her, she's hot! I bet within a few weeks she'll have found herself a man, seen the error of her ways, and be one of us!"

  "Just as long as you're not trying to set her up with me," Stewart told her.

  "What, don't you like her?"

  "I've already got two lovely women in my life, and that's enough. I'm not a lion!"

  "I don't know," April said coyly, "you sure are a tiger in bed!"

  #

  "Rox, got a minute?" Roberta said, coming into her office.

  Looking up, Roxy could see that Roberta didn't look quite right. Normally Roberta was the most sedate and laid back of all of them; she definitely acted the most mature, even compared to Estrella.

  But the last few days she'd seemed a bit subdued and definitely didn't look happy right now.

  "Always, Rob," Roxy said. Getting up and coming around her desk, she took Roberta's hand and led her over to a couch by a coffee table. Sitting her
down, Roxy sat down next to her, turning to face her and not letting go of her hand the whole time.

  "What's wrong?"

  "Well…" Roberta sighed and shook her head. "It's about what happened with John back in Washington."

  "That was pretty rough, losing John like that," Roxy said, nodding slowly and looking at Roberta's face. Roberta was shying away from eye contact, and Roxy knew enough realize that wasn't a good thing.

  "It's not just that." Roberta sighed. "You know he died almost instantly, right?" she continued with a confusing shift of direction.

  "No, I didn't. I thought he bled to death or something?"

  Roberta shook her head. "I asked one of the doctors. The metal shard that killed him went in through his back, right through his kidney. It's always fatal, and it's always quick. The only way anyone could have saved him would have been with a massive amount of magic cast right then and there. Even then, that might not have worked."

  Roxy nodded slowly, not exactly sure where this was going.

  "You did your best, Rob," she offered, cautiously.

  "That's not it, Rox, that's not it at all..." Roberta said and suddenly started to cry quietly.

  "What's wrong, Rob, tell me, please tell me."

  Roberta sniffed a moment. "There were only two people in that car who could have been killed by it. John was one, I was the other. Everyone else there, everyone was a lycan, so it wouldn't have killed them."

  "Cali's not a lycan, she was there too, Rob."

  "But Cali wasn't sitting right next to John! That's the problem," Roberta said, looking up at Roxy, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It could have been me! I could have been the one who died! And for all my magic, there wouldn't have been anything I could have done about it! And when, and when I realized that, and that John had died instead of me..."

  Roberta broke down and sobbed as Roxy shifted on the couch. Wrapping her arms around Roberta, she hugged her close.

  "You felt relieved," Roxy told her. "You felt happy that you were still alive, that John was dead instead of you, and now you feel guilty about it."

  Roberta nodded her head, clinging to Roxy.

  "I feel like a monster," Roberta said between sobs. "Sean lost one of his best friends and went into a complete rage, and I wasn't crying because John died, but because of how close it had been to me dying."