ChangingPaths (6 page)

The sound of a door slamming farther down the porch caused
them both to freeze. He loosened his hold just enough to lift his head. His
lips pulled back on a snarl at the intruding sound.

“Oh my god.” She pushed against him, the words leaving her
on a soft gasp. What the heck was she doing? This wasn’t just any guy. This was
a shifter male, one of the Moon-Called. He could tear her apart without even
breathing hard. She pushed harder as fear gripped her. He set her down, keeping
his hands on her hips until she was steady on her feet. Once she felt the porch
solidly under her, he stepped back. It was as if he knew she couldn’t take the
nearness.

“Harmony…”

“Don’t, please. This was…this was a mistake. I’m sorry, I’m
so sorry.” She turned then ran inside, heading straight for the bathroom on the
main floor. For a few minutes she couldn’t even face herself in the mirror.
When she looked up she gasped. Her eyes were almost glowing, her skin flushed
and her lips red and swollen. She had a slight beard burn on her chin. Her
hands trembled as she lifted them to smooth down her hair.

Even when she and Tom had been in a good place she’d never
looked this way after kissing him. If this was the difference in kissing a
Moon-Called male, she now understood why so many females started the mating
process so early. Gareth’s hands, his scent, his lips…she shuddered slightly
then shook her head. “Stop it, Harmony Dancing Johnson! Stop it now. You’ve
been here one week. You’ve just barely been accepted by the Pack. Don’t do
something stupid like starting to whine after a Called male. Besides, he’s hot
as hell and probably has females lined up to sleep with him. Just stop it.”

With that self-delivered bitchslap out of the way, she
tossed cold water on her face. Maybe she scrubbed it dry longer than necessary,
but then she took a deep breath. One last check of the mirror showed less glow,
less “I nearly fucked Gareth on your porch.” She headed back to the main room
to say good night.

She glanced around but didn’t see Gareth anywhere, so she
made her goodbyes as politely but quickly as possible, nodding her acceptance
as Micah said he and his mate would come by her home in the next day or two to
help her explain things to Rain. Olivia slanted her a glance that was all
feminine curiosity. Harmony ignored it.

The ride home was a blur, all Harmony could think of was
Gareth and that kiss. She had to double back when she missed the turn to the
cabin. Once there, she sat in the car for a few moments. With the window down
just a crack, she took in a deep breath, letting the icy air act as a slap. She
needed to get away from this lust she was feeling. It was just that. Lust.

Just because she hadn’t had sex with anyone in years. She
laid her head on the cold leather of the steering wheel. As stirred up as she
was, masturbation seemed the only answer. God, what had he done to her? Her
vibrator didn’t even interest her.

“Okay.” The sound of her voice made her laugh. Good thing Gareth
wasn’t around. Hearing her talking to herself was sure to make him want to
touch her—as he loaded her into the ambulance bound for the nearest psycho ward.
With a sigh she got out of the car and headed into the cabin. The stillness of
the air around her brought another measure of calm. One she needed before
seeing Rain again.

“Mom! Where have you been? You were supposed to be back an
hour ago. There’s no signal on my phone, so I couldn’t even call you. My
cousins dropped me off a long time ago. What was I supposed to do while you
were gone? No internet. No TV. I’ve read all the books I brought. Like twice
this week. God! I’m so bored.”

Rain punctuated the last word by slumping down on the sofa.
With her daughter’s legs jutted out and her lips twisted up into a pout,
Harmony thought her daughter looked about six years old. But, she had to admit,
sullen teen was even better than chilly wind to get your mind off sex.

“So put on your coat. Let’s go buy some groceries. I’ll make
us spaghetti.”

She knew her girl. Rain’s eyes lit up. “Really? I’ll make
salad to go with it. Can we get buns to make garlic bread too?”

“Sure. And I’ll tell you what Micah said about you working
at the lodge as soon as you’re in the car.” She laughed at the breeze her
daughter kicked up as she dashed past.

She let Rain’s chatter fill her brain as she drove them into
town. She was a little amazed with herself at remembering where the store was.
In between fielding the peppered questions about the job, she let herself relax
into the familiar rhythm of shopping. It was nice not to have to look over her
shoulder in fear of finding Tom behind her all the time.

Rain vibrated with excitement about a real job. This had
been a good move.

Groceries filled the backseat as they headed back to the
cabin. The sunset now provided an intense palate of blues and oranges as they
turned down the lane to their new home. The smell of the woods and earth got
through the closed windows to mix with the various scents from the sacks. Her
stomach rumbled.

Her throat caught when she thought she saw someone slipping
into the woods but then she laughed at herself. It was a reservation. People
were going to be in the woods all the time—not to mention it was shifter land.
She’d have to talk to Rain about that soon.

“Mom?” Her daughter’s voice yanked her out of her reverie. “Are
you just going to stand there or are you really going to make dinner? I’m
starving!”

She laughed as she got out of the car. Silently she gave
thanks to the high metabolism of her kind. Even the Denied were blessed with
it. “One thing that isn’t going to change is your appetite, sweetheart. Help me
get the car unloaded and all of this stuff put away. I think we bought the
whole store.”

Learning that the stove that had worked at lunch now didn’t
work didn’t faze either of them. They hauled out the tuna to make sandwiches.
Making a mental note to contact Gareth, she listened to her daughter angst over
what to wear to her first day of school the next day. A bit wistfully she
wondered how long the biggest issue would be the blue sweater or green sweater
for her beautiful girl.

“And Mom, you so can’t come with me. Keme told me where to
catch the bus.”

“Keme? Who is that? Is that the boy I saw you with? Do we
need to have that talk again?” Her stomach cramped. Her daughter wasn’t going
to go the way she had gone. She would turn heaven and Earth to make sure that
didn’t happen. Still, she bit down on her urge to snarl at Rain. No, that wasn’t
the way to build trust. If her daughter didn’t trust her she might do exactly
as she had done.

Ruin her life.

Rain eyed her warily as she bit into her second tuna-salad
sandwich. Around a mouthful of food, she reminded her mom how she’d met the
young man. When Harmony managed not to explode she got more details that
contained the red flags of “super nice”, “awesome smile” and “really friendly”.
She knew trouble when she heard it described. But she withheld judgment. If
anything, she’d learned to trust her elders. She’d ask Aunt Willow about it
tomorrow.

Grinning to herself at all of her things to do tomorrow, she
wondered if she wasn’t turning into Scarlett O’Hara. “I’ll think about it
tomorrow when I’m at Tara.”

“Tara? Who’s Tara, Mom?”

The laughter that burbled out felt so pure, so clean that
she nearly cried. “Just an old movie reference, honey. Want to help me clean or
do you want to crash early?”

The huge yawn she got in response told her everything. Her
daughter zigzagged from high energy to crashing into long naps. That combined
with the metabolism increase had been her first clues that Rain was going to be
Moon-Called. But that wasn’t a for-sure thing. She remembered her own
metabolism increase. It had included all the bouncing back and forth. She waved
her daughter off as she picked up the plates. “I can do this. Bed for you.
School tomorrow.”

After the kitchen was cleaned to her satisfaction she moved
down the hall to the far room to look in on Rain. It wasn’t that she didn’t
trust her. It was more the years of training by Tom. All those years of
wondering if he was going to try to steal her child had left her perpetually
looking over her shoulder. Not even here did she feel completely safe. After
all, he’d fooled most of the tribe once.

Most. She shook her head as she eased the door shut on her
peacefully, if strangely contorted, sleeping daughter. That child could take up
more space in a bed.

She thought about that shifter boy, Keme. What would she do
if he was another Tom? Her thoughts drifted back in time to what her great-uncle
had said.

“Just because you were born to the People doesn’t mean you
stay of the People. That one doesn’t smell right,
nishimis
. Just doesn’t
smell right. But the Alpha says he can stay.”

She still remembered her shock at Pete’s spitting on the
floor when he’d said “the Alpha”. That was the first time she’d ever seen him
disrespect the Alpha. Of course, that wolf had been aging and sick. She’d heard
later through her cousin Rose that he’d actually stepped down, leaving the Pack
leaderless until Micah had come onto the scene. She really didn’t know all the
details about the gap in leadership.

She sighed. Washington, DC, politics were child’s play when
compared to a res full of shifters. Take the People, add a twist of Pack issues
to get a seriously Machiavellian event when it came to leadership change. But
they had a good one now. She smiled, remembering the warmth of Micah’s hugs.
And Olivia’s too. They’d even let her hold their son. They’d made her feel a
true member of the Pack.

Then her traitorous mind went straight to how Gareth had
made her feel. Her nipples hardened. Her belly softened. She swore her whole
body was ready to betray her by running out the door to find that sexy wolf.
She forced herself into her own room where she curled up under the quilts.
Somehow hugging a pillow just didn’t make sleep come any easier.

When sleep did come it brought the dreams. She had them
often. Cold, black trees raked at a steel-gray sky as she ran. Her breath came
in short, sharp pants accented by the slap of her bare feet on cold ground.
Always she ran toward the moon but the trees held her back. Behind her came the
sound of his ugly anger. Curses pulsed out from him almost as if he chanted as
he chased her.

She held her infant child, trying to protect her from the
clawing tree branches, but she could see the thin lines welling up with blood
on Rain’s tender skin. Tears streamed down her face as she struggled to get
away. Away from him. Away from Rain’s father. With a gasp she sat straight up
in the bed. There were no looming shadows here, no grasping trees, no angry
ex-husband. She and Rain were safe.

She lay back down, pulling the blanket up and squirming
around until she was comfortable. Nearly always the dreams were about Tom
coming to steal her child away. Sometimes though, she dreamed of what it would
be to run on all fours—to howl with her own Pack. Settling back down, she let
her mind drift and was soon calm enough to process her dreams.

The nightmare she could take because she knew she could get
away, that she finally had gotten away from him. The dream of running she
hated. Nothing she did could make her reach that desperate desire. Tears
streamed down her face as the alarm clock shrilled a welcome sound. She climbed
out of bed, swiping at her tears. Then she shivered as the chill air hit her.
The furnace wasn’t putting out nearly enough heat for her at the moment. Rain’s
room must be freezing.

Sliding her feet into her slippers helped. When she pulled
the flannel robe off the foot of her bed she yawned. Then she shuffled out of
her bedroom, surprised to see Rain’s light on. Poking her head into the frigid
room, she saw her daughter seated at the desk running a brush through her newly
dyed darker hair.

The rinse they’d tried hadn’t taken all the pink out, but at
least she no longer looked as if she had cotton candy on her head. The girl was
already up and dressed—nerves, obviously. Even though this wasn’t the first
time she’d been “the new kid” at school, it didn’t get any easier.

Guilt drove her into the kitchen, where she cursed softly
under her breath when she remembered that the stove wasn’t working. She’d hoped
to send Rain off with her favorite breakfast of cinnamon-apple French toast,
but now they’d both have to settle for cereal. Filling two cups with water, she
blessed the fact that the microwave did work. Instant cocoa would warm them
both up.

Rain came into the kitchen just as Harmony got the cocoa out
of the microwave. Green had won the battle of the sweaters. Her daughter wore
her best pair of black jeans and skater shoes to complete her outfit. Even the
darker hair looked okay. Thank goodness.

“You look good. Here you are, kiddo. Hot chocolate and
cereal. Breakfast of champions! I put some money into the lunch account for you
at school, but would you rather take a bag lunch?”

“No, I’ll be okay.” Rain stirred her chocolate then picked
it up. “Mom, how much crap am I going to get at the school in town?”

“What do you mean, honey?”

“Well, I know there’s a school here and some of the town
kids are mean to res kids. At least that’s what I heard while we were at the
grocery store.”

“There’s always been a division, but Rain, technically we’re
not on the res. I mean, this cabin is on res land but you haven’t been enrolled
into the tribe yet, so if anyone asks, you don’t have to tell them you’re a res
kid. Honey, I’m sure you’ll do fine. And you already know some kids, right?
Keme and your cousins?” She swallowed back the warning about getting too close
to a boy that age—and a shifter boy at that. All hormones.

Rain shrugged. “Keme’s in AP classes. Our paths probably won’t
cross at all.”