by Teagan Amici
“You know what this means, don’t you?” I said quietly. Both men turned to look at me, questions in their eyes. I smiled.
“It means you have to finish the bloody house before the baby is born, you big idiots. What did you think I meant?”
“Well, actually, Diane, I wondered whether you were hinting at marriage. I don’t know whether you feel the need to, but if you do, I’ll do it, or if you don’t want to marry me, I’m sure Cole will. You know that shifters are committed from the time they mark their mates, but I don’t know if that will be enough for you”.
“Well, Bram, what a romantic proposal that was!” I started, as Cole snorted, off to my other side. “But I’ll pass. I’ve tried marriage once, and it didn’t work. The man who pledged to spend his life with me, forsaking all others and all of that, didn’t. As far as I’m concerned, marriage isn’t the test of commitment. I made mine to the two of you when I agreed to this unconventional relationship, and I know you are both committed to me, so none of us have anything to prove, baby or no baby”. I gasped as I thought about what I had said. “Oh, but I’m still married, my divorce isn’t final. Damn, I want that finished before the baby is born, I’m going to have to talk to my lawyer and make sure all the paperwork is filed as soon as possible”.
Cole patted my leg absently, and I turned to him.
“What about you, Cole? What did you think I meant?”
“I thought maybe it was time you met my mother. She at least has given birth a few times, so knows more than we do. It must be difficult for you, not having any women around to talk to, is it?”
I stared straight ahead at the thought of meeting Cole’s mother, but knew it would have to be done sooner or later. I clapped him on the leg.
“Ok, call her. Tomorrow, I have to call my lawyer, and also Jess. Now, let’s go shopping”.
Six
For the next week, life was essentially the same, but small changes began to creep in. Either Bram, or Cole, or both spilled the beans about the baby, and I wasn’t allowed to do anything at all around the worksite. Even when I tried to unload food from the car, there always seemed to be plenty of hands to help. At our second football match that Saturday, I was directed to umpire from the boundary line, as no-one wanted to risk me being crunched by rampaging players. Cole had contacted his parents, and they would be arriving the following week, and Blair was grimacing at the thought of sharing the house with them for the duration of their stay. I had called my lawyer, and as the twelve month anniversary for my separation from John had just passed, she said she had already prepared the paperwork, and was just about to write to me to get me to review it and sign it. As we had already reached our property settlement – John had left us with so little assets, there wasn’t much left to argue over – there should not be any impediments to getting our decree nisi, and then it would only be a matter of waiting for the decree absolute to be granted. I had left a couple of messages on Jess’s voicemail, and had sent her a friend request on Facebook. I was concerned that she hadn’t responded straight away, perhaps she was still upset that I had chosen John over her.
On the following Monday, I was packing up the morning’s batch of biscuits and cakes, when my phone rang. I checked the screen, and headed for the couch as I answered it excitedly.
“Jess! Thank you so much for returning my call. I was worried that you had changed your number or something”.
“Diane, is everything ok? I wasn’t sure I’d ever hear from you again, not that I’m complaining. I’ve missed our girly time together so much. How’s John?”
I laughed at the stilted tone that had crept into Jess’s voice as she asked the last.
“Well, you’ll be happy to hear that John and I aren’t together any more”.
“No! Seriously? Did you finally see the light and kick that man to the kerb?”
“Well, yes and no. He was cheating on me with our next door neighbour, so I that was that”.
“What a cocksucker! You know I never liked him, but how dare he? He wasn’t good enough for you, how dare he cheat on you!”
I laughed louder at Jess’s frankness.
“Oh, Jess, you always were good for me. Why didn’t I listen to you and not marry him?”
“I don’t know. Why didn’t you? Don’t you know I’m always right?”
“Don’t get a big head. You were right this time. You weren’t right when you told me to wear those six inch heels out to that nightclub to go dancing. I almost broke my ankle!”
We laughed and talked about old times for a while, Jess telling me that she hadn’t got my messages because she had been with her parents on an anniversary cruise and hadn’t had access to her phone or the internet while on the ship. I laughed with her about her parent’s antics, then I finally had to confess why I had called.
“Look Jess, I should have tried to reconnect with you much sooner, but I guess I was too proud to admit my mistake, and I didn’t know whether you would want to talk to me again. But I need your help now. If you don’t want to, that’s fine, but I still want to stay in touch, no matter what”.
“Ask away. Do you want help to kill the bastard? Or have you already done that and need to dispose of the body? Either way, I’m in!”
“No, it’s nothing like that. This is much simpler, and you don’t actually have to do anything. I’m selling my house, and going off the grid – so to speak – and I just want to have an address to list for my licence and the electoral roll. I can rent a post office box for bank statements and stuff like that, but not for the other stuff”.
“Um, Diane, you aren’t joining a cult are you? Why are you going off grid?”
“No, it’s nothing like that. Look, can I be honest with you, without you going all judgy or anything? Because you’re really not going to believe this”.
“Try me. If it is a cult, I’m going to have you kidnapped and deprogrammed, you know that, don’t you?”
“God, I’ve missed you Jess. The reason I’m going off grid is because I want to protect my privacy, and I really don’t want to have to explain myself to strangers”.
“Oh, God, it’s worse than a cult, are you wearing a foil hat?”
I could barely talk through the laughter now, but had to interrupt Jess to explain, or at least to tell her as much as I could that she would believe.
“I’m just going to come out and say it. I have two lovers. Two hunky, yummy lovers, and we’re all fine with it, but we know a lot of people aren’t, so we’re going to all live together, away from prying eyes, and – “
“Two, what, like two guys? You’ve got two boyfriends? Diane, I wouldn’t have thought you would ever do that. I’ve got to tell you, I am judging you a bit, but I’m also quite jealous. It’s been a while for me, and even then my last boyfriend wasn’t that great, but you’ve got two? Do they know about each other?”
“Oh yeah, they do. We, um, you know, spend a lot of time together”.
“What, at the same time? All three of you? How does that work?” Jess’s voice got higher with each question until she was almost squeaking.
“Jess, work it out. You’re smart, I’m sure you can. So, will you do it? If you don’t want to, that’s ok, I’ll work something else out”.
“Before I say yes, I want to meet them. I know you’re a big girl now, but you’ve got to admit, John was a pretty bad choice. I just want to make sure you aren’t making the same mistake before I make it easy for you. When can we meet?”
“Well, they’re working on our house all week, then they play footy on Saturday, so I suppose Sunday is our only free day. Where do you want to meet?”
After calming Jess down again, her voice going even higher as she questioned me about whether I was shacking up with a couple of football players, we arranged to meet on Sunday at a popular lunch spot in Port Melbourne. Jess loved to people watch, and from this café she could watch people running, jogging, walking dogs and just generally enjoying their lives. Jess told me that she wouldn�
��t bring a date – she didn’t currently have a boyfriend anyway – so she would make a booking for four, and was looking forward to catching up.
Now, I just had to psych myself up for meeting the inlaws.
Late on Tuesday afternoon, I was playing at being a carpenter’s helper by fetching and carrying nails and screws and tape measures – all those small, light things that were the only things I could get away with carrying these days. I was beginning to feel like an invalid, wanting to help with the construction of my house, but being treated by all and sundry as if I would break if I tried to lift anything heavier than a hammer. The house was coming along beautifully, and amazingly quickly, as everyone seemed to want the house to be habitable by the time winter came, even if it wasn’t finished. I was watching Bram square off some internal door frames – in all honesty, I was watching the play of his muscles through his white singlet, wondering if there was some reason why I seemed to be perpetually horny these days – when I noticed William lift his head and look to the distance behind me, looking out of the empty space where one of the floor to ceiling windows would shortly be installed. I turned, at first unable to see anything, but I waited as I knew that William would have superior sight and hearing to me and could probably see or hear something that I could not. Eventually I could see a dust trail and looked around, mentally assessing who was here, and who could possibly be in the vehicle that was travelling our way. I thought that everyone seemed to be here, and slowly noted the increasing silence as work ceased while everyone else was similarly engaged in watching in the direction of the road. Soon I found I couldn’t see anything, as Bram and Cole had moved to stand in front of me, and I found myself surrounded on all sides by a wall of manflesh. It appeared that until it was established if the newcomer was a threat or not, I was going to be protected by being in the middle of a crowd of shifters. I ducked my head to peer through the gap between Cole and Bram, and watched as a late model car pulled to a stop in between all the trucks, utes and other assorted machinery that occupied the area in front of the house. The windows were heavily tinted, so we couldn’t see the faces of the occupants. The driver’s door opened, and I watched as a tall man gracefully exited and crossed to the passenger side of the vehicle to open the door. Even from this distance, I could see well enough to be confident that I knew who the man was. His hair was cut shorter than Cole’s and Blair’s, but he moved with similar grace and his facial features left me with little doubt that this was Cole’s father. I held my breath as I realised that the passenger was most likely Cole’s mother. Any doubts that I had were laid to rest as Cole swore under his breath.
“Crap. I wasn’t expecting them until at least tomorrow. Well, we’d better get it over with”.
As he spoke, he took off his workgloves, and grabbed my hand, pulling me along with him to approach the car. I reached back my other hand to make sure that Bram was with us, and he took it as he stepped up to keep pace with us. We stopped in front of the car, where a stunningly beautiful woman had just exited, and was watching us approach, her eyes unreadable behind her designer sunglasses. I looked to the side as I saw Blair approach as well, and felt a little bolstered by his support when he turned and winked at me.
“Father, Mother, you’re early. We weren’t expecting you until tomorrow, if you’d let us know you were coming today, we would have cleaned up a little”.
The woman approached, smiling at her sons, and held her face out to Blair for a kiss before moving to Cole, who leaned down to do likewise. She then turned to look at me, and flick a look over at Bram, before turning back to Cole. I stared at both of the newcomers, finding it difficult to believe that this couple could be the parents of Cole and Blair, they looked as if they were only a couple of years older than the two men.
“Well, that was the whole point, wasn’t it? We wanted to surprise you, so that you wouldn’t be on your guard. It’s not every day that your child calls to tell you that not only has he found his mate, and that she is already expecting your grandchild, but also that her other mate is a wolf. In fact, no-one has ever heard of such a thing happening, so we wanted to see for ourselves how you deal with each other”.
Cole squeezed my hand, before reaching over to shake his father’s hand, and Bram had to drop my hand to do likewise, but once he had observed this social nicety, he stepped closer to me and placed my hand through the crook of his arm. The gesture was not unnoticed by Cole’s parents. Cole flicked his gaze between them and Bram, and then smiled in response.
“Well, was it worth the effort? Are you pleased with what you see?”
Cole’s father spoke next.
“You all seem relaxed with each other, but we would like to get to know our new daughter in law and – Bram isn’t it?” he turned to Bram to confirm the name, and Bram nodded – “Cole, you didn’t explain to us how you all met, I didn’t even know that the two packs were so – friendly”.
I turned to look behind us, to see what Cole’s father was looking at, and smiled as I saw the array of men watching our little tableau from where they stood on the building site. There were wolves and panthers mixed in together, and I supposed that it was an unusual sight for Cole’s parents. The forced togetherness of the building works, plus the permissible violence on the football field on the last couple of weekends had done a good job of breaking down many of the old prejudices, although I knew there was still a way to go. The sudden thought came to me that there was one other reason that the two packs were united – me. Whatever their feelings towards each other, each pack member was committed to protecting his Alpha’s mate. Just before, when I had been surrounded by a wall of men, all alert for any danger that might present itself, there had been men from each pack present, concerned for my well being. I smiled as I turned back to Cole’s parents, catching Cole’s mother watching me. Realising that I was behaving like a shy mouse, rather than the mate of not one but two Alphas, I spoke up.
“If you would like to follow me and take some refreshment, I’m sure I can fill in any blanks in the story that Cole might have left. Maybe afterwards Bram can show you around the house, before you get settled in with Blair. Speaking of Blair, did you know that Blair had a major role in introducing me to Cole?”
I laughed as Blair muttered something about thanking me for throwing him under the bus, before escorting Cole’s parents to some shade and fetching them something to eat and drink. Before long, I realised that I would get along well with both of Cole’s parents, and that Blair would not be in disgrace for very long for kidnapping me.
“It is not a good thing that my son did,” began Cole’s mother – Maria – after hearing of Blair’s actions – “but it ended well, so maybe you can forgive him?”
“I already have, long ago”, I reassured Maria, “it was a foolish prank, but I wasn’t scared for very long. Blair was always very gentle and I wasn’t really afraid of him. Angry yes, but I somehow knew he wouldn’t hurt me, and once I met Cole, it wasn’t difficult to forgive Blair. Not that he should get into the habit of kidnapping people”, I scolded, frowning at Blair, “but he got away with it this time”.
Marcos turned to Maria, picking up her hand and kissing it. I held my breath, realising that these two people were obviously still in love, and not afraid to show it, even after centuries. I looked between Cole and Bram, suddenly diffused with a warmth when I thought that this was how we could be, many years from now. Marcos turned to me, still retaining Maria’s hand.
“Perhaps Blair had a poor example to follow. I must admit, while I did not kidnap Maria, my behaviour towards her was initially less than honourable. Today, you would call me a Peeping Tom, but I could not tear my eyes from the enchantress I found in the forest. One day, when pacing through the forest in my panther form, I saw a beautiful young woman swimming in the river. No-one else was around, or so she thought, so she was swimming naked. I hid in the branches of a tree, above the river, and watched her, until she saw me and screamed. Luckily she did not run, or I would ha
ve chased her, as Cole chased you Diane, but she cowered against a rock, clearly afraid that I was going to attack her. I stayed in the tree, and yawned, to show her that she was not in danger from me, and eventually she waded out of the water to dress. I behaved very poorly by not averting my eyes, but I could not help myself, for I knew that this woman was my mate, and I could not take my eyes from her.
Maria went back to her village, and I followed her scent trail, so that I would know where she lived. She did not come back to the river for many days, and when she did, she was not alone. She had brought men with her, men with weapons, so I stayed hidden until they all left. I waited by that river every day, and eventually Maria came back, this time with other women to keep her company. I had eyes only for Maria, but stayed hidden, where I could watch Maria, but no-one could see me. When she swam a little way away from the other women, I let her see me, and she looked at me curiously, not understanding why no-one had screamed, but then she must have worked out that I only wanted her to know that I was there.
The next day, Maria came back alone, and was brave enough to swim by herself. This went on for many, many days, and finally Maria trusted me enough to relax when she saw me. She would talk to me, telling me all her secrets, not knowing that I could understand her. Much of what she said, I did not remember, as the sight of beautiful Maria, her flesh shimmering under the water, meant that I did not listen most of the time, just watched, wondering how I could approach her as a man, and let her know that I was the panther that she had come to consider a friend. In the end, I did not have to even make that decision, as Maria came to the river one day crying, because her father had promised to marry her to an older man, one she did not love, who already had a wife, but needed a younger woman to bear more children as his had died during a sickness, and his first wife was now too old to bear any more children.
Maria was so sad, that I could not help but approach her, and I was shocked when she did not recoil in fear, but clutched my hide and poured out her misery. My heart almost broke when Maria told me that I was her dearest friend, and that she could tell me anything, for she knew I would not judge her. Finally Maria cried herself to sleep, and while she slept I shifted into my human form. I whispered into her dreams that I did not want to be her friend, but her lover and the father of her children, and that if she would just trust me, and run away with me, we could have a long and happy life together.
