Homecoming (9 page)

Lisbeth paused just long enough for Cal to know she was lying. “Lisbeth Kaplan.”

“And if I look for a pack named Kaplan, I'll find it?”

Tony grimaced unhappily, but even he knew what Cal's strengths were and did not interfere.

Lisbeth looked at him, her eyes hard and steady. “No.”

Tony tapped her shoulder. “Secrets don't work for me. We need to know.”

“No, you really don't.” Lisbeth was visibly upset but determined. “It's history and it doesn't matter anymore. I'm a rogue, and I get to choose my pack. Those are the laws we live by. My family pack doesn't have to like it, but they have to respect it. If they ever even bother to find out where I went.” She was anxious, but not about her family, Cal realized. She was worried that Tony would call things off. The smell of disappointment rolled off of her.

“You don't miss them,” Cal accused, trying to image that kind of mindset and failing. He missed his family every day, and he had no one to go back to.

“Not really. A few individuals I miss dearly, and would love to see again. But the pack? No, I don't miss it at all.”

Tony frowned. “Was the Alpha abusive?”

“No, Tony. Father was just ruthless. I wasn't his daughter in any way but by blood. I was pawn in his games, from day one. Everyone followed his lead, don't you see? I was miserable there.”

“Borgias!” Cal said, pointing at her, earning surprised looks from both Tony and Daniel. “What? I listen!”

Lisbeth smiled at him again, soft and sad. “Actually, you're not far off. I think father and his brothers would give the Borgia's a run for the money. Yes, I think we'll just say that I'm Lisbeth Borgia, looking for a new life.” She turned to Tony, not begging but still pleading her case. Cal had his own opinions, which were scattered between “run for the hills, leave her behind” and “build a fortress to protect the Alpha–female,” but Tony did not seem to have any qualms.

“Okay, sweetheart, but you have to warn us if anything comes up. I can't protect us all if I don't know the game.”

Lisbeth nodded, leaning into Tony as they hugged. Something was still worrying Cal, though, and he could not leave off.

“Sula know? About your family?”

Lisbeth looked over at him, still resting her head on Tony's shoulder. “No more than you do.”

So it was a tight secret, if Lisbeth did not even want Sula involved. It bothered him but short of running her fingerprints he wasn't sure what he could do about it. Although, as he considered it, he realized he knew exactly what to do.

He waited a few beats, letting tempers cool and gearing himself up to sound innocent of all charges. “We need to register.”

They all looked at him in surprise.

“You know we do, Tony. Now we've got the lease, McBride can't evict us without running up against the Equal Opportunity Act. We're unprotected in the woods. Wolf hunting is illegal in Colorado but that never stops someone with a gun, and you know it. And where ever the closest legal pack is, they need to know this territory is claimed now.”

Tony looked straight at him, seeing through everything he said. “And, it would be a good way to dig up dirt on Lisbeth.”

Lisbeth looked unhappy but not angry. Cal counted that as a win.

“So okay, maybe I thought of that,” Cal said, shrugging, because it was pointless to try and fool Tony anyway. “But that don't mean everything else I said isn't true.”

“He's right, Tony,” Daniel sighed.

“Damnit, I know that, I just—”

“I'll register, but I'm doing it alone,” Lisbeth announced, pulling herself up to her full height and crossing her arms. “And you won't get permission to pull the record, not even you, Tony.”

Daniel's eyebrows shot up, but Cal was too surprised to even blink. The Alpha had full legal rights to the registration records of anyone in his pack. While individuals could request that their file be sealed from the Alpha, it was considered such a breach of trust that no one Cal had ever heard of anyone invoking it.

Tony's expression shifted from shock to confusion to anger, but he did not move. “I don't like that, Lisbeth.”

“I don't care. My secrets are my own, and I want my past behind me. I register alone and privately, or I don't register.”

Cal wanted to snarl at her disrespect to Tony, but checked himself when Daniel put a restraining hand on his arm. “This is between them. Let's go.” He dragged Cal out as Tony and Lisbeth stared at each other, both of them bristling.

Cal thought Daniel would have them shift and run the perimeter, but instead he pulled Cal behind him down the driveway.

“What? That's not right, what she's doing,” Cal bitched as Daniel tugged at him.

“I agree, but it's her choice and Tony's call.”

“Argh!” Cal barked, finally squirming loose of Daniel's hold. “I just don't like it.”

“Neither do I.” Daniel stuck his hands in the pockets of his jeans and slowed to a leisurely stroll. “Do you want to hear about my lunch with Sula or not?”

“You're trying to distract me.”

“Yes.”

Cal grumbled. “Fine. How was lunch? Did she order berries?”

Daniel ignored the sarcasm. “I tried to explain to her how wrong it feels for us, to leave her outside of the pack dynamics. I also had to explain how attracted we are to her. She doesn't like the first, and won't believe the second.”

“You don't lie,” Cal announced, because it was true.

“I don't believe she thinks I'm a liar, I feel it has more to do with her being a loner. What is unnatural and unhealthy for us is all she's ever known. I'm not too sure she isn't an orphan. And there is the bracelet…I touched it.”

Cal sucked in a breath to start yelling at him, but Daniel kept talking.

“It feels complicated.” Daniel paused over the word, obviously careful about choosing it. “There is a lot of wrongness there, but I'm not sure my first impression that it is evil is correct. I'm not sure what it is. Of course, magic is not my area of expertise. Whatever it may be, I can assure you it is even more powerful than Sula herself.”

That stopped Cal. He could not imagine any living creature or magic more powerful than a bear.

Daniel nodded in agreement. “I've heard that truly powerful magic is neither good nor bad, but by its very nature must adhere to the Law of Return. I think this bracelet of hers fits that description. As it stands, Sula considers it her personal protection charm, although admittedly I think there is a gray area on whether she believes it protects her, or is protecting others from her.”

Cal shook his head trying to take that in. It was easier to simply hate the nasty magic thing. They kept walking down the long driveway, quiet for a few moments.

“Tony's going to agree to anything Lisbeth asks for,” Cal said as the approached the small road at the end of the drive.

“Yes, he is.”

“I like her, but I don't like the secrets. If she's got problems she needs to let us know about 'em. It's our job to protect her.”

“I'm sure that's exactly the same argument that Tony is going to lose with her.” Daniel smiled. They were quiet again, standing by the road, looking out over what they could see of the mountain while Cal's brain sorted everything that was going on.

“You know there's going to be shit in town when we register as permanents.”

“I can't imagine that there wouldn't be. But the laws are on our side; they can't use the National Registry for discriminatory purposes.”

Cal knew that, because all shifters did. It was a hard won civil rights battle that in some ways was still going on, no matter what the Supreme Court said. Daniel gazed at the sky before reaching out to pull Cal into a kiss. Cal fell into it eagerly, needing the connection and security that Daniel always brought him. They had been together for five years, and Daniel was the only person alive other than Tony who knew Cal's real name. He appreciated Lisbeth's need for secrecy, but he thought that if he could trust Tony, then she should too.

~*~

Sula did not see the pack again for days after the lunch with Daniel. Lisbeth pretended like she had not moved up to the McBride cabin with them, leaving some of her things at the house along with her laptop, but she spent more time up the mountain than anywhere near Sula.

The first day, Sula did several loads of laundry, cleaning the all the sheets, trying to get rid of the pack's sex smells. The futon couch in the living room reeked attractively of Cal and Daniel's musk no matter what she sprayed it with, so in the end she covered it over with one of the clean sheets just to tamp the odor down. She did not need reminders of how badly she wanted them, any more than she needed to think about the fact that Lisbeth was moving on without her.

A few days later, her life had settled into a routine. Coming home to an empty house after work, Sula made quick dinner of broiled fish and leftover greens. She was cleaning her plate when she heard the pack sedan drive up.

“Sula!” Lisbeth called out.

“Kitchen!”

“Oh, you've eaten?”

“See? Even werewolves can smell fish.”

“Ha. Ha. No, I smelled the rotting vegetation you call food.” Lisbeth got an orange soda out of the fridge and Sula hid her cringe. Lisbeth hated greens, and Sula hated the super–sweet sugared orange soda that Lisbeth lived on. “I came to get you!”

Sula put her plate down to dry and frowned at Lisbeth. “For what?”

“Sula! It's Saturday!”

Sula looked at the calendar on the wall, and snorted. “Hunh.” She had not realized that it had only been a week since Tony and his pack had shown up, it seemed so much longer given how much had changed.

“So go. Go go go. Get dressed.” Lisbeth waved at her.

“It's eight p.m., the club don't open until ten.”

“We were planning for a late dinner. You can come along and get dessert or something.”

“Coffee, more like,” Sula sighed, tired from work and being stressed out about Lisbeth, not that she was admitting it.

“Go!”

“Good lord, woman, you can be a harpy.” Sula mumbled as she headed to her room, but Lisbeth just laughed at her back.

She showered quickly and changed into her comfy 'dancing' jeans and layered up her shirts. It was getting cold at night, but the club would make her sweat, so she knew to wear three light shirts instead of one heavy one.

She was not happy about everyone packing into the sedan, but driving separately was clearly not on Lisbeth's agenda and Sula did not want to start the night with an argument. Naturally, Tony and Lisbeth sat upfront. Cal tried to maneuver Sula into sitting in the middle of the back seat and they glared at each other until Daniel dragged Cal into the car and Sula got her window seat. The tried not to take petty pleasure in how tense the men were to be trapped in the care with a werebear, but it was too funny and she was not that good of a person.

Dinner was at an Italian restaurant that Tony wanted to try, although Cal complained that Tony just wanted to bitch about how bad the food was compared to his mother's. Tony laughed agreeably, cuffing Cal on the shoulder while Daniel shook his head at the antics. Sula watched them all through dinner—she ended up with crepes covered in fruit compote plus two cups of coffee—and admired the interactions. Even Lisbeth looked at home with them, and Sula thought that anyone watching their table would assume they were a bunch of friends out on the town for Saturday night. Sula realized with surprise that they kind of were.

Sula could tell as soon as they walked through the door that the club was in for a mildly busy night. It was a charmless small town bar that somehow worked out a dance floor on one side where the only DJ within a 100 mile radius spun a wildly eclectic mix, but for all his failings at consistency the DJ at least knew which songs were danceable. For that alone Sula was happy to pay the meager cover charge. The place was sparsely populated, and while it would fill up a little later she doubted it would pack out the way it had the week before. That pleased her a lot, because she figured she would have some room on the floor for a change.

Tony and Daniel secured a table just off the dance floor while Cal ordered drinks at the bar. Lisbeth sat with Tony, looking happy. She did not dance much, and when she did it was often very formally had so many years of ballroom dancing lessons to contend with. Sula had no such training to overcome, and enjoyed simply swaying and moving to the music as it pleased her. She knew she was no dance star but she was confidant in her ability not to make an ass out of herself, and most of her life had been spent at clubs like this where she could just be anonymous and happy. It was Sula's comfort zone, and Lisbeth knew that even if she did not enjoy the dancing too much herself.

It was the first time Sula was glad Tony was there, as he would keep Lisbeth entertained while Sula danced. She decided to let Daniel and Cal could fend for themselves as she stepped out on the floor to some modern electronic remix of a pop song. Not much her style at all, other than having a beat, but she was just warming up. As she shuffled around, loosening her hips and getting a feel for the mood, Cal came up and yelled in her ear.

“Drink?”

Sula nodded.

“Beer? Wine? What?” Cal looked, as always, as if he was very put upon to be so polite.

“Bourbon, straight!” Sula yelled back.

“My kind of woman!” Cal gave her a blinding grin, his teeth flashing bright white in the dim club lighting. The smile took years off him, making him look sleek, charming and carefree, and Sula instinctively smiled back. This surprised him and he shook his head like a dog trying to work something out. Sula laughed, pushing him away so she could get back to the dancing.

Sula never sat down, although Daniel offered her his chair every time she stopped at the table to sip her drink. As the night wore on, Tony and Lisbeth took a turn on the floor a few times, and clearly Tony had been subjected to ballroom lessons as well because they moved effortlessly together through a slower song, Tony leading Lisbeth into turns and other steps that were not complicated but required a sure understanding of what he was doing. At one point, they were on the floor while Sula sucked down some water at the table. Daniel and Cal watched their Alpha with matching looks of adoration. There was no jealousy there, she noted absently. If anything, they were happy for the man. Sula felt a little sour at that, wishing that she could be as happy for Lisbeth without also feeling sorry for herself.