Green Tea and Black Death (The Godhunter, Book 5) (9 page)

   “
Thor showed me there were good gods too,” I still held Vidar’s hand, so I used the other to gesture at everyone else. “We joined forces and we’ve been basically doing what we can to protect humanity. Surprise! Your little girl is Wonder Woman!”

   “
Vervain,” her stern look got me back on track.

   “
Catwoman? No, she was bad. Uh, Elektra? Yeah, she had a sword even. Okay, not the time for jokes,” I looked at Odin and there was a brightness to his eye that was threatening to overflow. “I’ve met some incredible people, a couple I’ve known before, in a past life,” I looked back at Mom, trying to gauge if she was following okay. She was, she was a little stunned but she was following. “I began to remember things, like a husband and children. The memories are vivid and shared, there’s no doubt of their accuracy. Then Odin confessed to me, we were married once and I died. He decided to bring me back, gave up his eye to do it, and put my soul in you to be born. You're kinda like the Virgin Mary, except you weren't a virgin and your name's not Mary. Oh, and you're not a Christian. Although, was Mary considered Christian when she was the one who bore Christ? Okay, I digress.” I smiled but she still wasn't in the mood for jokes so I got serious. “I'm still your daughter, I just also happen to be his wife and mother to Vidar and Vali.”

  
I let that sink in.

   “
Excuse me?” She shot up as she deposited Nick on the sofa, and glared at me.

   “
Mom, I’m sorry, I thought you’d understand,” I stammered. I’d never seen her so angry. “I know it’s a lot to take in but trust me, I’m not crazy. I can show you things that would blow your mind.”

   “
Oh, I understand alright, little girl,” she pointed an accusatory finger at me. “You just told me I’m a grandmother! I just lost my Daddy and now you tell me I'm a Grandma? A
grandmother
… I can’t be a grandma, I’m not old enough to be a grandma.”

  “
Mom,” I laughed, “technically you’re not a grandma but spiritually, I guess you’re related in a way.”

   “
Damn it, Vervain,” she swore and wrapped Vidar up in a big hug before moving on to Vali. To them she added, “Just don’t call me grandma.”

   “
Okay,” Vidar mumbled as a tear fell and I had to look away as my family was finally made whole.

   “
Thanks, Mom,” I cleared my throat. “You don’t know what a relief it is to tell you.”

   “
You could’ve told me sooner,” she eyed Odin. “So you’re not married now?”

   “
No, but I’ve remained faithful to her,” Odin looked so proud of his chastity that I had to suppress a giggle. “She’s still my wife in my heart and that’s all that matters to me.”

  
I lost the case of giggles to the shivers and my mom proved to not be immune to Odin’s romantic side either. She looked over at me, then at Kirill, and back to Odin. She shook her head like she didn’t envy me my choices.

   “
Why don’t you come meet Persephone.” I steered my mom over to Sephy and Hades.

  
My sweet spring goddess friend, wrapped my mom in an embrace like she was her own mother. If only she was, Sephy's life might have been better. The hope she always exuded, encircled Mom as well and I saw Mom's shoulders relax as she pulled back.

   “
This is my husband, Hades,” Sephy pulled the rather average looking man over and he shook my mom's hand with a polite smile. Thankfully he was wearing his glasses so Mom didn't have to get over the shock of seeing the fires raging behind the dark windows of his irises.

   “
And this is Blue,” I quickly urged my mom past the God of the Underworld.

  
Blue bowed gallantly over her hand and she smiled up into his jade eyes. Who could resist a tall, dark, and handsome man with green eyes? Not my mother.

   “
I’m Huitzilopochtli,” he grinned back at her, “but your daughter calls me Blue and I’d be pleased if you would as well.”

   “
Why Blue?” Mom looked back at me but Blue was the one to answer.

   “
It’s the way she’s left me,” he smiled mischievously at my red face. When I’d first given Blue the nickname, I told him it was the condition his balls would be in if he kept pursuing me. “I’m forever Blue without her.”

  
I groaned as my mother raised her eyebrows higher. “It’s a shortening of his English name, Mom.”

   “
Did you date him too?”

   “
No… well, we kind of had... I mean, oh crap,” I rolled my eyes.

   “
It’s a long story,” Blue drew her toward Fenrir. “Let’s just say your daughter is hard to forget. This is Fenrir, his son is currently on the outs with Vervain but they’re still bonded and normally he’d be living here as well.”

   “
Vervain?” Now her tone was edging toward disapproving.

   “
Mom, this is Fenrir,” I took her firmly away from Blue. “Fenrir, my mom, Darlyne. Mom, Fenrir’s the Wolf God of the Vikings and Trevor's his oldest son.”

   “
It’s a great pleasure to meet you,” Fenrir’s eyes sparkled as he looked over my mother.

   “
She’s married, Dad, back off,” I growled and Fenrir held up his hands with a chuckle.

   “
I’m sorry,” my Mom’s face looked like it didn’t know whether to be pleased by the compliment or just plain confused over the whole situation. “Did you just call him Dad?”

   “
Oh hell, Mom, just sit down and let me tell you all of it.”

Chapter Thirteen

  
Moonshine was still closed for the day but that didn’t matter when you were part owner. I unlocked the front door and led my mom in, Kirill coming up behind us. She’d insisted on meeting Trevor and seeing our club, even though Trevor wasn’t going to be too thrilled to meet her.

  
I locked the door behind us and escorted her through the foyer and into the main room. She stopped and looked around quietly. I couldn’t help but feel a spark of pride for my wolf… ex-wolf… Trevor. He’d done a good job with the design.

  
The waterfall was shut off for the day but the pond it flowed into from the second floor was still beautiful, surrounded by rocks for sitting and plants growing wild. The dance floor resembled open woodland, spotted with trees that “grew” up out of the floor and towered to the second story level, which was a wrap around loft that gave a great view of the dance floor.

  
A security system disguised as a moon hung from a ceiling scattered with blinking lights to resemble stars. The faux heavens normally shone down on faux grass that crept up to the edge of the dance floor, spotted with low boulders for tables and little “hills” to sit on, but the sun lamps were on for the real plants. Bright light filled the warehouse, shining on the amazing length of slate that made up the bar. Bartenders were already there tidying up and preparing for the night as a of couple waitresses ate their lunch while they swiveled on the carved stumps that served as bar stools.

  
Most clubs lost their magic in the light. They could be sexy and mysterious in the dark but when you turned on the light, the mystery was gone and the club was revealed for what it really was. I've stumbled out of enough clubs at 3am to know that. Moonshine, however, was just as beautiful in the harsh light of day as it was veiled in the mystery of night.

   “
Vervain!” Ty came bounding up and pulled me into a hug. “It’s going to be okay,” he whispered into my ear. “He loves you, he’s going crazy here without you.”

   “
Thanks Ty,” I pulled back and led him over to my wandering mother. She was poking at one of the fake hills that people could sit on. “This is my mom. Mom, this is Trevor’s younger brother, Ty.”

   “
Vervain’s mom?” Ty’s eyes got wide for a second before he swept her up into a hug. “Welcome to the pack, Mama.”

  
My mom laughed a little as she pulled back. “Thank you, now where’s my daughter’s… wolf… boyfriend… whatever.”

   “
Prince
, actually,” Trevor stepped out of the doorway to his office, behind the bar. He had a guarded look, which let up only fractionally for my mother. “It’s nice to meet you Mrs…?” He gave a rueful bark of laughter. “I don’t even know your last name. How can I not know your mother’s name?” He focused on me, his eyes accusing me of something much worse.

   “
Trevor,” I looked at my mom and shook my head, “I think we should just go. He’s not himself right now, Mom.”

   “
Well, no one is when they’ve had their heart stomped on,” she went over to him and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. “You can call me Mom. It was nice to meet you, Trevor. I’m only here for a week, so I wanted to be sure we had a talk before I left.”

   “
A talk?” His shocked gaze slid from her, to me, and back.

   “
I’ve heard about the situation,” she sent me an irritated glance and I threw my hands up in surrender. “People make mistakes, some more than others,” another look at me, “but you know our Vervain and I think you love her, maybe as much as she loves you. So it’s with absolute confidence that I say to you…
when
you go back to her, be good to my daughter. Because if you don't, I know a spell that can make your dick fall off.” She patted his shoulder, took my arm, and walked us to the door. “It was nice to meet you both,” she said to both Trevor and Ty's dumbstruck expressions before we left. “Your club is beautiful.”

Chapter Fourteen

   When I finally crawled into bed that night, I was beyond exhausted. It was so nice to have a family member aware of my real life but catching Mom up on everything had meant long, detailed conversations on things I wasn’t entirely comfortable discussing with my mother. It was a bit of a shock to find her so accepting of my new lifestyle and even more accepting of my choice of men. The only negative thing she had to say on the subject was, “Don’t tell Grandma.” I can’t say I disagreed with her on that one.

   “
Tima?” Kirill woke up as I crawled under the covers.

   “
Hey, you,” I slid my hands up the hot skin of his arms, then framed his face for a kiss.

  
It was nice to have him there. Before Trevor had left, Kirill only shared our bed occasionally. He gave Trevor his space and time alone with me since he was my alpha. In Kirill’s head, being alpha gave Trevor certain inalienable rights. In my head, being alpha gave Trevor issues he’d never had before and turned him into a bit of a prick sometimes. But Kirill respected him and so he’d tried to keep his distance.

  
It was different now.

   “
How vas dinner vith your mom?” Kirill pulled back and peered into my face.

   “
Enlightening and aggravating,” I laughed, “for both of us.”

   “
How so?”

   “
She knows everything now and she’s handling it pretty well,” I snuggled deeper into the thick blankets, the chill of the air conditioner making it more enjoyable. “The aggravation came with the info she gave me.”

   “
Go on,” he prodded me gently when I fell silent.

   “
I don’t know where to start,” I sighed. “How can people who profess to be so holy… who act holier than thou all the fuckin’ time, be such evil bastards?”

   “
Ah,” his hand crept up to my shoulders and started rubbing, “Christians have arrived.”

   “
They won’t let my cousin dance hula at my grandpa's service.”

   “
Vich of ten cousins is zis?” Poor Kirill, I had two lives and the normal one was the one he was least familiar with.

   “
Shannon is actually my Uncle David’s daughter, so she's one of two, not ten,” I kissed him on the nose when he wrinkled it in confusion. “She’s very sweet and so pretty you just want to slap it off her but I digress. The pastor of the church that my grandparents have been supporting for over
thirty
years, says it’s against her policy to have hula in the church because, you’ll love this, it’s a dance to the gods.”

  
Kirill let out a surprised bark of laughter, making the whole situation almost worth it. His laugh was amazing and more precious to me than my Birkin. I basked in it for a few minutes before he settled down and urged me to continue.

   “
So then she tells my grieving grandmother that she doesn’t want the service to be more than an hour, so Grandma should cut out the video we were going to play of Grandpa talking about his life,” I tensed as I relayed that bit. “What kind of unfeeling bitch tells a widow to cut down the length of the service and then recommends which part to cut? I swear I’m going to bewitch her with excessive body hair in visible places.”

   “
Or you could just send her into Chinatown,” Kirill’s attempt at humor only served to remind me that I had way more issues than my personal ones these days.

   “
What the hell am I going to do?”

   “
I say feed Christians to Tiger Goddess.”

   “
You’re supposed to feed them to the lions,” I tweaked his chin, “it’s tradition.”

   “
Baby,” he kissed me gently, “zese lions don’t vant zem.”

   “
I can’t say I blame you,” I sucked in my breath as he bit into my shoulder.

   “
I prefer vitches,” he growled, “zeir meat is much more tender.”

   “
Are you teasing me?” I rolled with him, landing on top. “It’s not smart to tease your Tima.”

   “
I never tease you,” he lifted his hips enough for me to feel the length of his erection. “My Tima can have vatever she vants.”

   “
I want you,” my voice went serious and he went still beneath me.

   “
You have me.”

   “
For how long?”

  
There’d been this tightness in my chest since Trevor had left and it wasn’t just because he’d torn my heart out and tromped all over it. Part of me knew they’d all leave eventually, no one ever stays. Trevor was the one that was supposed to be with me till the day I died, whereupon he’d “follow me across the veil” as he liked to put it. But Trevor had left, so what did that mean? If my steadfast werewolf prince, who literally had to touch me monthly or would die, could leave, then I couldn’t have faith in anyone.

   “
I may not be bonded to you like some,” Kirill was a pretty perceptive guy, “but my ties to you go even deeper. Zere’s no ozer for me, no matter vat you say or do, you can not be replaced. You are my mate and I am yours until death takes me, not because of magic or vows but because your voice brought me from darkness, your eyes saw me for who I really vas, your touch healed, defended, and avenged me, and your kiss showed me vat love can be. I am yours forever.”