Homecoming (6 page)

“Now you get it, I think. Now you know.” She rubbed the beads burning her wrist. Bracelet was angry, pulsing at her and threatening pain, but she just nodded at the werewolves. “Got no more to say to you than that. So fuck yourselves senseless and play every night, but don't plan on me joining you. You don't
want
me.”

She hardly remembered walking back up the stairs or falling into bed.

~*~

They did not bother getting dressed. As soon as Sula closed the door to her bedroom, Cal and Daniel unfroze from their panicked clutch, grabbed their clothes and ran out of the house. Cal couldn't take it, the way his fear and arousal and confusion gnawed at him, so he dropped his clothes on the hood of their car and shifted.

Daniel got dressed slowly as Cal paced back and forth in front of the house, nervous energy driving him to lope along quickly at a near run. Daniel did not say anything or call Cal to him.

Cal paused to look up at the dark window of Sula's bedroom, thought about howling, then started pacing again. He was on his third run–through of that set when Daniel spoke up.

“No howling. It'll bring Tony, and he wanted to be left alone tonight.”

Cal snarled softly. Tony and Lisbeth were not fully mated yet, but playing at it enough to count, Cal thought. Lisbeth was not in the phase to make any puppies, they all knew that, but Tony was eager to lock her into the deal. Not that it seemed she needed much convincing.

“Cal, come here,” Daniel said softly, sitting down with his back to one of the tires, zipping up his jacket against the cold. Cal ran around the yard once rebelliously, but then trotted over to Cal and curled up between his legs with his head on Daniel's thigh. Daniel petted him and scratched behind his ears. “We'll wait for Tony, and he'll get us out of here, okay?”

Cal whined, but he knew Daniel understood him.

“Stop it. Nothing we can do about it right now. We should have stopped when we heard her coming down the stairs. It's my fault, for pushing it.”

Cal knew that Daniel was taking the responsibility for what happened because Tony was going to be pissed about it, after telling them to leave off poking at the bear. Cal had been so sure about it at the time, with Daniel inside of him and the smell of the bear, the gloriously powerful and headstrong bear, all around them. It had been a mistake on both of their parts to think she would be the least bit interested in them. Cal whined again, but Daniel didn't notice.

“Did you see? When she took the bracelet off, that's when her true nature was fully revealed. It hides her, somehow.” He sounded thoughtful and curious. Cal, on the other hand, thought that the bracelet had to be pure evil, to hold back something as powerful as a bear. There was no way it was white magic, even if it was keeping Sula from going crazy. He didn't like it.

“Stop whining, please,” Daniel asked, resigned and tired. He kept scratching at Cal's ears and jaw until Cal unwound enough to sprawl his legs out and fall asleep.

“What's going on?”

Tony's voice woke Cal up. Still in wolf form, Cal sat up in a low–slung crouch, his tail firmly tucked between his legs. Daniel groaned as he pulled himself up on his two feet to face Tony, who was dressed again but looking well–used. And also pissed. Cal crouched lower.

It was still technically night, although Cal could smell the early birds and blooms that marked dawn on the way. He could also smell Lisbeth, sexed up and lazy as she sprawled on the porch above where they were in the drive. She had shifted back to human but it hardly mattered, her odors were still ripe and pungent. Cal tried to ignore it.

“We were making love in the den, when the bear—when Sula walked in on us.”

“Oh for fuck's sake, Danny, what were you two thinking?”

“I suppose we weren't, right then. She caught us in a very
intimate
moment.”

“She caught you mid–stroke, is what you're saying.”

Daniel coughed. “Well, yes.”

Cal crept up to lean against Daniel's legs.

“And he's cowering in shame because…?” Tony waved his hand in the air.

“She put us in our place.”

There was a long pause. Cal glanced up at Tony, worried, but Tony looked confused. “What do you mean?”

“She didn't shift, but she took off the bracelet that shrouds her nature. She, ah, revealed herself us.”

“And?”

Cal whined, shivering. Tony crouched down to pet his head. “Calm down, you moron, calm down. I'm here, everything's okay. Okay? Daniel, what happened? Cal's having a fit.”

“In short, she scared the hell the out of us,” Daniel snapped angrily. Tony and Cal both froze in shock at the uncharacteristic cursing.

Tony patted Cal heavily on the head again before standing up. “Stay here.”

He walked up the porch to Lisbeth, who was there frowning. She had probably not heard what they said, so Tony recapped a little, leaving a lot out from what Cal could pick up. Together they went inside. Cal pressed close to Daniel again, who dropped a hand onto Cal's head to steady them both.

Within seconds, Tony was marching back out. “Car. Now. We're leaving.”

Cal pawed at the car door while Daniel grabbed his clothes from the hood. “Where are we going?”

“Not far. But Lisbeth's connection, McBride, he's got a cabin up the road. Get in, get in.” Tony hustled them inside and was peeling out of the driveway before Daniel buckled up. Cal fell into the foot–wells of the backseat and stayed there while Tony and Daniel talked.

“You smelled her.”

“Surprised I didn't pick up on that rank odor from outside. Jesus fucking Christ, Daniel, she could have killed you two.” Tony sounded furious, and he probably was. Cal knew that an Alpha like Tony would take any threat to his pack seriously and personally.

“I don't think she would have. It wasn't the lesson she was trying to get across.”

“Right now, I don't care if she was trying to teach you algebra. Her scent was all over the living room. You're saying she didn't change, and I'm guessing she didn't let you fuck her, but that smell…Jesus, it was all sex and musk.”

“And power,” Daniel added softly.

“Yeah, yeah, and that's what bothers the Alpha, right?” Tony snarled.

“I just meant—”

“I know what you meant, Danny. Shut up. I get that she's appealing, I'm an Alpha so believe me, I know about that kind of attraction. If I weren't head over heels for Lisbeth I'd probably be in the same half–hard, half–terrified place you two are. But let me tell you something: I'm your Alpha, and it's my
job
to make sure you guys don't accidentally get gutted while trying to hump a bear's ass. For fuck's sake!” He hit the steering wheel with his hand. “And no, before you even think it, I'm not threatened by her. She's got no designs on my position, and she's Lisbeth's best friend. But that doesn't mean I don't respect her ability to rip us limb from limb!” Tony yelled. Both Cal and Daniel crouched a bit more.

“You two. I swear to God, I'm going to put a moratorium on sex and shifting if you guys don't get a grip.”

Cal whined again. Daniel reached back and petted him softly. The car slowed down to a full stop. Cal lifted his head. The small building in front of them really was a cabin, unlike Lisbeth and Sula's place: one story, run down, and ugly. But it was even farther up the mountain and deeper in the woods, which was where Cal wanted to be. He clawed at the door handle.

“No, lay down. It's too early to call McBride, we've got two hours at least before I can reach him to set up a rental. So we're going to stay in the car and take a nap.”

“Perhaps breakfast?” Daniel suggested, his voice quiet and submissive for a change.

“No. Later, once we're set up here. Then maybe we'll go into town and I'll buy you a full meal. Right now, I want
my pack
to shut the hell up and let me sleep.”

Cal flopped onto the back seat, morose, because he was hungry. Daniel and Tony tipped the front seats back to the point where they were almost squished down on Cal's body. He liked it. It was not the same thing as everyone curled up together in bed, but it was as close as he was going to get that day, he suspected. Tony fell asleep instantly, but Daniel was restless, so Cal pushed up until his chest was on the armrest between the two front seats. Daniel wrapped one arm over Cal, scooting closer to him, and they both fell asleep in the awkward position, uncomfortable and unhappy.

“W
hat the hell did you do?”

Sula heard the words and felt the bed dip as Lisbeth sat down, but language was still somewhere out of reach. She blinked, trying to wake up.

“Sula, what did you do?” Lisbeth shook her.

“Wha'timin?”

“Early. You've got work today anyway.” Lisbeth shook her again. “I came home and the place smelled berserk. Cal and Daniel were hiding behind Tony's car, wouldn't go back inside. Tony packed up and headed up the mountain for McBride's place. But I smell you, all over the living room. And you broke the banister.” Lisbeth sat back, glaring at her.

Sula rubbed her face, the memories of the night percolating up into her bruised consciousness. “I didn't attack them, if that's what you're—”

“Don't be stupid. I smelled their sex. But what did you
do
?”

Sula focused on her friend and saw worry in her eyes. “Aw, Lisbeth, no harm done. They were going at it and I watched for a while. Took off Bracelet and let them feel my nature, for real. You know what that does to folk. No one stays after that.”

“That's why you did it, to get them out?” Lisbeth stood up, hugging herself.

Sula sat up, trying to think. “I just wanted them to back off. They've got the wrong idea about me, they think they've got to win me over to get you to go with them. Jeesh, Lisbeth, I didn't do it to hurt you. They need to leave me alone. How many times I got to remind you, we're not pack?” Sula shrugged, then startled backwards when Lisbeth turned on her, growling.

“That's what you don't get! We are! We
are
pack! It's us, don't you understand? I'm not letting you go!” Lisbeth stepped forward, furious and pointing at Sula's chest. “Stupid bear!”

Sula just stared at her as Lisbeth began pacing the room. “I don't want to leave, Sula. I don't want you to leave either. You are my sister, you're all the pack I have now, I'm not going to give you up. Can't you get that through your thick bear skull?”

“Oh dammit, Lisbeth. Come on. We been over this. Bears don't live in packs. We don't even like seeing each other, if my life is any indication, because I've never seen another one. Maybe we don't mate together like you wolves do. I don't know, Mom never told me.” Sula shrugged again, and ran her hands through her hair.

“You mom didn't tell you much, did she?”

Sula shook her head, because it was pathetic, but it was true. She tried for a grin, to lighten it up. “For all I know I come from a long line of circus bears. Maybe that's why I like dancing so much.”

Lisbeth laughed and shook her head. Then she gave Sula a fond, knowing look and Sula frowned, because that was always a sign that Lisbeth had something up her sleeve.

“You just showed your hand.”

Sula frowned some more.

“You just told me what you don't know, Sula. You mother did not tell you much of anything. So how do you know that we can't be a pack? Maybe that's why your mother was lonely, she never found the right shifter friend to live with, to help her.”

“That, I think she would have mentioned.”

“No.” Lisbeth started pacing again, warming to her cause. “No, because she didn't want you to be a shifter at all, you've told me that. She would not tell you anything, because it might, I don't know,
encourage
you somehow.” Lisbeth nodded to herself, a fierce look in her eyes.

“Of course she didn't want me to be a shifter! It's nothing but trouble for us; mother only registered twice in my whole life, once because she got caught by the cops as unregistered and once because some guy was crazy enough to want to marry her.”

Lisbeth frowned. “You never told me that.”

Sula felt her story rolling out of her, uncontrolled and angry. She and Lisbeth had been friends for years, traveling together as sisters and vagabonds, but she had never said this much to Lisbeth about her past before. But Lisbeth was leaving, she had found a pack, and Sula felt like she had nothing to lose. “She registered for him, so she could get a legitimate job and settle down. The wolf pack who ran the territory, they were terrified of having a bear around, even one licensed and married and with a kid. They ran us out, and killed the guy she was in love with to make sure she didn't come back. It was bad.”

“Shit, Sula. I—”

“I was ten, I think. Twelve? Somewhere around there. Those wolves killed a part of her soul. Then I hit puberty and started changing, and she just gave up. She committed suicide when I was sixteen but I really think she died that night. “

Lisbeth sat down on the bed, pale and shaken.

“So yeah, I don't find much joy in this whole thing, and I'm pretty sure Mama didn't live a miserable life just because she never found a good friend like I got with you. You've got a pack, and I know you hate your family but in the end that's okay, because you can make a new pack, or go home and mend fences. There's not a place I go where I'll be allowed to stay, and I made peace with that a long time ago.”