by Alanea Alder
Rhys was laughing when the diner door opened again and woman he had never seen before walked in. She was about Kate’s height at five ten with light brown, wavy hair and curves everywhere a man wanted. He had always appreciated the soft curves of a woman. He shook his head. Going by the social media images of today this woman would be considered “thick” or “chubby.” Back when he was turned she would have been highly sought after. It amazed him how much had changed over the centuries, even the concept of beauty. He watched her soft, doe-like, brown eyes as they searched the faces of the diner. When her eyes landed on Rebecca they hardened and the woman’s nostrils flared. She marched forward until she was standing beside Rebecca. Kaden and Beau sat up quickly at their table across the diner. The woman had come in here with a purpose, and Rhys could see that they weren’t sure if that purpose was good or bad.
The woman wrapped both hands around Rebecca’s shoulders and made her sit up before she swiveled Rebecca in her chair until she was facing her. Rebecca’s face broke into a smile as she recognized the woman. The dainty woman smiled right back at Rebecca. Rhys was shocked at what happened next. The delicate-looking woman wrapped her arms around their Alpha Mother’s head, effectively putting her in a headlock before she began to rake her knuckles over her scalp.
Aleks, Liam, Beau and Kaden stood as if to intervene, but looked on, frozen, unsure of what to do. She wasn’t exactly hurting Rebecca, but the other woman was obviously pissed. Aleks handed Aidhan off to his ma.
“Bitch let go of me!” Rebecca shouted. Rhys kept his seat. So far Rebecca wasn’t getting hurt.
Aleks took a step forward to break the two women apart.
“You deserve worse, you psychotic little midget!” the woman shouted. Aleks stopped. Everyone looked at each other. Rhys could tell that everyone was hesitant to interfere now. They had no idea who this woman was, but with that one statement, she confirmed she knew Rebecca, really knew her.
“Do you know each other?” Aleks asked.
“I am disowning this crazy heifer. Let me go, Abby!” Rebecca’s muffled voice shouted.
“Merry Christmas, everyone, I am doing great. I was kidnapped and tortured, but am mated and happy now. By the way I’m pregnant. Love, Rebecca.” Abby released Rebecca and stood back, panting.
“What the fuck kind of Christmas card is that! Do you have any idea how frantic we have been? There was no return address, we couldn’t find you! Cassandra was about to mobilize every Sentinel in the country to look for you!” Abby shouted. Rebecca paled a bit.
“They only give you so many spaces to type your message on those design your own Christmas cards online. I tried to give you the most information I could,” Rebecca said defiantly. Aleks wasn’t the only one who covered his face with his hands. He, Kade, Beau and Liam sat back down.
“Gray was deployed, he nearly went AWOL to come home and look for you. Meg almost got fired and arrested when she hacked into the NSA mainframe. Camille had contacted I don’t even want to know who in her family’s mafia-like underworld to get a mini-army together to take out whoever was responsible for kidnapping you. All because they didn’t listen when I told them you were just being your normal psycho self.” Abby threw her hands in the air.
“Are they okay?” Rebecca asked quietly. Abby sighed and collapsed into the chair next to Rebecca.
“Gray stayed put, though I had to threaten his ass. He’ll be here as soon as he hits state side. He wants to make sure your mate is good enough for you,” Aleks huffed.
“Cassandra pulled strings and covered for Meg, they are both waiting to hear from me. Camille is still hell bound and determined to find out who was dumb enough to kidnap you. You know her family adores you. Uncle Vinnie has been cracking his knuckles for weeks.” Rebecca’s face took on a dreamy expression.
“Hmmm cannoli. God that man can cook.”
“Seriously! Seriously? That is all you have to say?” Abby demanded. Rebecca nodded, grinning, then stopped. She stared at Abby.
“How did you find me? I didn’t put a return address because I couldn’t tell anyone where I was. How does Cassie know about Sentinel?” Rebecca’s eyes narrowed to purple slits.
“You’re a shifter, aren’t you!”
Abby rolled her eyes. “We all are, well except for you.”
Rebecca gasped.
“Cass, and Meg, and Gray and Camille and you? All of you?”
Rebecca looked shocked.
“Yup, short stuff, you were the only human in the bunch, but surprisingly enough you fit in so well that we never really made an issue of it.” Abby shrugged.
“Hey what are you?” Rebecca asked, leaning forward, her eyes excited.
“Hasn’t anyone here taught you yet that to ask a shifter that is bad manners?” Abby asked. Rebecca nodded.
“Yup.”
“You don’t care, do you?”
“Nope. Now. What are you?”
“She smells canine,” Kate said, sniffing the air. Abby shook her head.
“Coyote. I’m a field biologist. I was between assignments, which is how I got tagged to be the one to track your ass down. Now. You said you were kidnapped. Are they dead?”
“Yup, shot him between the eyes. Do you know our instructor was right? In close quarters blowback is a bitch.” Rebecca scrunched up her nose.
“Wait, instructor?” Aleks asked. “Rebecca and I took firearms courses in college instead of Health.” Aleks stared at Rebecca.
“You know how to handle a gun?” His eyes stared at Rebecca, who was looking everywhere but at Aleks.
“She won almost every competition our college entered,” Abby volunteered.
“Is that so?” Aleks’s voice was flat. Rhys could almost see every instance where Rebecca nearly shot him going through the Alpha’s mind. Rhys couldn’t help but grin.
Emmett and Liam were clearing their throats behind them. Aleks flipped them off. Liam started cackling, even Sebastian was grinning from ear to ear.
“I take it I missed something?” Abby looked around. Rebecca shook her head.
“Nah, just having some fun with my mate is all.”
“Mate?” Abby raised an eyebrow. Rebecca jerked her thumb over her shoulder to where Aleks sat glowering at Rebecca.
“That’s my honey bear.” Aleks nipped her shoulder.
“We knew it was a bear shifter because we could smell it on the Christmas card. We honestly thought you had snuck off with Gray until we learned he was deployed. He always had a thing for you. Then I checked in with the polar family south of the town where you were living. Did you know your ex married that bimbo he dumped you for?” Abby reached across the table and plucked a french fry off of Rebecca’s untouched plate.
Rebecca looked at Abby, and then together they both said, “Skank.”
“Anywho.” Abby looked up at Aleks.
“I’m Abby Wright, college roommate. You are?” She held out her hand. Aleks smiled warmly and shook hands with her.
“Aleksander Arkadion, mate and husband.” He grinned. Abby’s smile died on her face.
“Arkadion? The Arkadion? The Alpha?” She turned to look in horror at Rebecca, who was now happily dipping her fries in ketchup and munching on them.
“You made her the most powerful female in the paranormal world? What in the hell is wrong with you?” she demanded.
“Hey!” Rebecca yelled.
Behind the counter Emmett couldn’t contain his laughter anymore. Around Rhys everyone started cracking up.
“She really does know you,” Rian said.
“It was the ‘psychotic midget’ comment that gave it away huh?” Abby laughed.
“You’re not funny.” Rebecca pouted.
“Go ahead and let the bottom lip stick out, chickie. Remember, you and I shared a room for four years. I know how you think, which is exactly why I am scared for paranormals everywhere.” Abby grabbed another fry.
“She’s actually helped us come together. She’s doing a great job
,” Sebastian interjected. Rebecca blew kisses in his direction.
Rhys couldn’t help but agree. Rebecca had her zany moments, but she had done a lot of good. He would forever be in her debt for saving him.
Abby turned to face Sebastian and whatever she was going to say died on her lips.
“Oh my god your baby is so freaking cute!” she gushed. Sebastian sat up straighter and turned his body so that Lucian was more visible.
“He takes after his fathers,” Sebastian said happily. Abby nodded then stopped.
“Huh?”
“I’m a hybrid. I gave birth to Lucian. My mates are Kent and Liam.” Sebastian indicated the two men sitting on either side of him. Abby’s eyes bugged out a little.
Everyone around the room made their introductions. Rebecca stood up and went to Ma who handed Aidhan over to her. She walked back over to the table and handed him to Abby.
“Hello Aunt Abby, my name is Aidhan, pleased to meetcha,” Rebecca said in a high-pitched voice.
Rhys watched as Abby’s eyes filled. She lay Aidhan down on her legs and let him wrap both hands around either one of her forefingers. He cooed and giggled.
“Oh, Rebecca, he is perfect and look at those eyes. He has your eyes.” Abby sniffed and leaned forward to blow raspberries on his tummy.
“Rhys, I’d like you to meet one of my oldest friends, Abigail Wright. Abby, this is Rhys. He belongs to the local vampire coven and has the most beautiful singing voice I have ever heard.” Rhys smiled at Abby. The woman smiled back at him. Leave it to Rebecca to notice that he had stayed in the background.
“Hybrids and vampires. How long have you been Alpha Mother?” she asked. Rebecca thought about it for a second.
“Coming up on a year.”
“Well it looks like I’m moving to Arkadia.” Abby sighed.
Rebecca perked up. “Really!”
“Yes really. Did you really think I was going to leave you here by yourself to have all the fun? Besides you’ll need help in your lab. I bet Meg will want in on it too.” Abby made funny faces at Aidhan. Rebecca started to look nervous at the mention of a lab.
“Lab? What lab?” Rebecca asked with a nervous laugh. Rhys watched as Abby took in Rebecca’s anxious expression and Aleks’s frown.
“Right. Well if you don’t have one, we need one. I can continue to do small trips here and there but I would need a lab to do my research.”
“Right, I’m sure we can work something out,” Rebecca said, letting out a breath.
“Becca, baby, I thought you weren’t allowed in labs?” Aleks asked, still looking concerned.
Rhys was torn between wanting to see what this tiny woman could come up with and being terrified of living in any proximity to her lab.
“Arkadia is off the grid. The US government can’t see me here, so I can work in a lab.”
Abby laughed.
“Meg purged your records last year. So you’re good.” She handed Aidhan back to Rebecca, who cuddled him close.
“Awesome! I can’t wait to show you what I’ve been working on.”
“Working on?” Aleks asked.
“In theory only, baby,” Rebecca said, and shared a look with Abby.
“Oh, okay.” Aleks nodded.
“Did she ever tell you about her napalm experiment?” Abby asked Aleks. His eyes went wide.
“Ix-nay on the A-palm-nay!” Rebecca hissed.
“Or how about the bioluminescent rectal lubrication she invented?” Abby smiled slyly at Rebecca who began choking on her french fry. Aleks scooped up Aidhan with one hand and pounded her on the back with the other.
“The what?” Bethy asked, leaning forward.
“Please, please let me tell, please!” Abby begged.
“Fine, it is kinda funny,” Rebecca said after taking a sip of soda.
Abby turned in her chair until she faced most of the diner. Rhys smiled at how animated she seemed.
“Okay, so we all met pipsqueak when we were freshman. All of the other humans instinctively stayed away from Cassandra, Meg, Camille and myself. The four of us stuck together because we had figured out we were the only female shifters on campus. One day this runt comes walking over, sits down and just starts talking. Whatever instinct ‘normal’ humans have that raises the little hairs on the backs of their necks around us, she doesn’t have. Bold as brass, she just plops on down, compliments Camille on her sweater, snags Meg’s iPod to look at her songs, asks to borrow Cassie’s class notes and lays her head in my lap. We couldn’t get rid of her.” Abby smiled at Rebecca.
“Y’all were always alone, so I figured you needed more friends.” Rebecca shrugged.
“After a while it became apparent that this tiny human had adopted us, but we quickly figured out she wasn’t like the normal vapid humans around us. One day we were walking across the quad after lunch when Rebecca here spots the swim team harassing this smaller looking guy. As we get closer we hear that they are calling him names like “Queer Boy” and “Butt Boy.” The cheerleaders are making up gay-bashing cheers and heckling too. The poor kid looked devastated, crying and trying to pick up his books as they kept swatting them out of his hands. Before Cassie and I could do anything, Tiny Tim over here marches right up to the swim captain and kicks him as hard as she can in the shins. She starts ranting and raving about how big of a jerk he is and how would he like it if someone made fun of him. That’s when he loses his temper and open palm slaps her across the face. Of course she weighs like two pounds so she goes flying. Cassandra had to restrain Camille, her hands had shifted to claws, so I was the one who went to defend Rebecca, that’s when I saw it for the first time. When she looked up, she wasn’t crying or even breathing hard. She stared down the swim captain, I mean stared him down. Everyone had gotten quiet, and by this time, her just staring at him was starting to freak them out. She was acting so much like a shifter I thought for sure we had pegged her wrong. The swim captain’s nerve broke and he ran. He freaking ran from her, of course the rest of the team followed and the crowd broke up. That’s when I saw what he had seen.”
“Oh Abby really.” Rebecca sounded exasperated.
“No, seriously. It was the first time I ever saw your ‘baby psycho eyes,’ but not the last.” Abby laughed.
“I do not have baby psycho eyes!” Rebecca protested.
“Yes you do,” Sebastian, Kate and Nic disagreed.
“See, they know you too, now hush, I’m getting to the good part.” Abby turned back to the crowd. Rhys leaned forward, putting his elbows on his knees. This was getting good.
“So we don’t see munchkin here for like a week. Then, one day she says, ‘I think we should go to the swim meet.’ Of course I’m like, ‘Oh God what has she done and are the batteries in my video camera charged?’ We all go to the swim meet and this one here keeps checking her watch. All of a sudden the lights go out and all around the pool we see faint glowing objects moving around. Then Rebecca stands up and with a lung capacity I didn’t think someone her size had she yelled, ‘Glow in the dark anal lube!’ She had swapped out her invention to whatever they kept in their sports bags. The entire crowd goes nuts and the lights come on, just in time to see the mortified faces of the entire swim team. But she’s not done yet right. She made sure the swim team captain could see her and she screams, ‘Make fun of homosexuals now, asshole!’ The guys ran to the locker room leaving the girls there crying looking absolutely destroyed. When they saw the guys bolt, leaving them alone, they ran from the heckling crowd to the girls’ locker room. That was when we knew that whether she could shift or not this woman right here, was more dangerous than most shifters. We’ve loved her ever since.” Abby blew kisses at Rebecca, who blew them back. Rian shook his head.
“Why were the girls destroyed? I mean no one likes their business put out there but it’s not that same as being outed, right?” he asked. Rebecca began laughing hysterically.
“Because it wasn’t their asses lighting up like Christmas trees, they had
glow-in-the-dark lipstick,” Abby said between laughing fits. Rian and Kate gasped.
“Oh my,” Ma murmured.
“Oh my god that’s terrible and hilarious at the same time. Can I say again, how much I love you?” Rhys managed to get out. He hadn’t laughed this hard in decades.
“Love you too, Rhys,” Rebecca said, wiping her eyes.
“Who loves my mate, and what’s so funny?” Moe asked, walking into the diner.
“God, Moe you missed one of the funniest stories I’ve heard in a long time.” Rhys used the back of his hand to wipe his eyes. When he looked up his mate’s nostrils were flaring and raw sexual desire burned in them. Rhys could smell that Moe was seriously aroused. He was about to stand and go to his mate when Moe walked past him to Abby. He scooped her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he didn’t stop his forward advance until he had her pinned against the diner wall. Behind him he could faintly hear the others yelling directions.
“Rian, Damian, Sebastian, girls, get the babies to Baby Central. There’s no telling how this thing will turn out. They don’t need to see mating sex this young,” Kate said, jumping to her feet. Aleks handed Aidhan off to Ma. They got the babies to Baby Central and shut the door.
Rhys couldn’t breathe. He had lost his mate. Oh god, why had Fate saved him? It would have been more merciful if he had been killed a month ago. He felt arms wrap around him from behind.
“If she is his mate, she’s yours too, Rhys. You haven’t lost him,” Kate whispered in his ear. He looked up at her sharply.
“Was I that easy to read?” he asked. She nodded.
“I was the heart of my mating, remember?” She stepped back and took Caleb’s hand then Bran’s.
“Oh my god, look at that bulge!” Rebecca exclaimed. Aleks growled and swung Rebecca away from Moe and Abby, obscuring her view of the hot couple. That got Rhys’s attention. He felt his own cock begin to fill. The thought of the three of them in bed had him almost gasping for air. He could smell Abby now and it almost had him coming in his pants.
“Nothing to see here, people.” Rhys jumped up, pecked Kate on the cheek and began pushing his mates toward the door. Moe and Abby broke apart, their lips swollen and cheeks flushed. Still carrying Abby, Moe leaned down and captured his lips, Rhys could taste something sweet and realized it was Abby. He stepped back, breathing hard. The three of them could easily get swept up in a torrent of sex and blood.
