Embracing Forever

by K. Aten

  Louve looked in shock at the exploded pieces of wood and earth, and the brightly colored bits of flower scattered on the deck boards and ground below. In all the decades she had known the vampire, Louve had never seen the woman lose her temper. “Mon Dieu! What is so wrong?”

  Keller looked at her longtime friend and knew she was going to bring her sorrow. “I lifted the veil from Jill’s memories so she could remember her attackers.” She paused, sorry for what she had to say. “I am so sorry, my friend, but the third man was Alain.”

  The Frenchwoman stepped back. “Non! It cannot be!” She glanced over at Jill, perhaps hoping the tall woman could tell her that Keller was speaking false. “Truly?”

  Jill gave her a look of sorrow mixed with anger. “It’s true. I felt something when I first met him in your kitchen earlier. But it wasn’t until Keller lifted the veil over my memory that I knew.”

  Louve’s heart was breaking for the beautiful woman who had finally made it into her heart. But her own heart was also breaking for her seeming betrayal by Alain. “But you said you never saw his face? How do you know this is true?”

  Jill closed her eyes to speak. “He wears a signet ring on the middle finger of his right hand. It has a snarling silver wolf set in onyx. My attacker was wearing the same ring.”

  The petite brunette sagged in place. Everything she had been building, her circus nightclub, her friendships, this new feeling with Jill, and her trust, they were all teetering on the edge of a black abyss. Her voice was a whisper, but the three people closest to her heard it with ease. “He was my friend for many years, how could I not know this thing about him?” She turned to Keller. “I am responsible for everything, I brought him here with me! Why? Why would he do these things?” Then her thoughts turned to her new lover and she looked at Jill in dismay. “Mon dieu! Your attack, all of those horrible things that happened to you—” She covered her mouth. “They are my fault! I am so sorry, ma amore. So very sorry.” The normally dominant woman was at a loss when faced with such betrayal and guilt. She was afraid she would lose her ange de feu before all the trouble with the rogue wolves could be resolved. The fear of suddenly losing all she had built, and all that she had found, was nearly overwhelming.

  Jill took the distraught woman’s hand. “Louve, it is not your fault. I don’t blame you for this at all.”

  Keller rested her hand on her friend’s shoulder. “I don’t know why he has done these things, Louve, but together we can make sure he will not continue to do them. Let’s go speak with Raphael and the rest. We need a better plan. Alain is very powerful and it is essential that we stop him.”

  Keller’s words brought back memories of another time, when the vampire’s confidence and surety had soothed her once before. And Louve knew without a doubt that as long as Keller was with them, they would prevail in the end.

  THEY LEFT LOUVE to arrange things with her people. She decided to have a meeting with everyone and explain the situation in full. She would let everyone know that Alain, Marcel, and Marie had gone rogue and were all extremely dangerous. She told Keller and Raph that she would come speak with them later. So after handing over Annie and Jesse’s address to the Alpha, Keller got into her car and followed the other two vehicles back to Annie’s house. Once the three men were settled into the cozy little house, it was decided that food should be the first order of business. Annie and Aric went off to order enough food to feed an army from their favorite take-out place, Thai Guys. And Jesse took Jill on a tour around the house since she had never visited before.

  Ranier had retreated to the spare bedroom to call his girlfriend and Raph followed Keller and Sarah to the kitchen. The big man was especially concerned to find out that Alain was one of the rogue wolves. He looked at Sarah with worry. “I don’t trust that our rogues have left your sister’s place alone. I’m going to change and do a quick check around the house and yard to see if I can smell any of them. I caught Marie and Alain’s scents at the farmhouse, and I definitely know what my nephew smells like. It’s shouldn’t take me too long.”

  He started to turn away but was stopped by Sarah. “But wait, I thought you couldn’t turn furry and then turn back without food, or sex, or something?”

  The big bearded man looked at her in surprise. “Non, pantoute!” He gave a hearty laugh and turned to Keller. “What have you been teaching them here in America that they would think a grown wolf would have such limitations?” He roared with laughter and Sarah’s face turned red. He got himself under control but continued to chuckle.

  Keller explained the best she could. “The only real exposure Sarah and Annie have had to wolves is Jesse, and she is still quite new. And of course being so new, she has such limitations.”

  The singer huffed. “Well, how was I supposed to know any different?”

  “No, you are right. My apologies, Sarah, you would not know how it is with us. Even my boys would be able to change back with minimal difficulty, but it is still easier yet for me. I will go out and search the house and neighborhood and be back before your much touted takeout arrives.” Without any care for modesty, he simply stripped near the back door and changed, easy as Keller had ever seen. Once the transformation was complete, she let him out the back door. Sarah could only stare in awe at how fast and effortless the man made it seem. As promised, he was gone no more than twenty minutes when the doorbell sounded.

  Jesse called out from the living room. “I’ll get it, it’s probably dinner.” When she opened the door, the biggest wolf she’d ever seen was standing on the step. She looked at the wolf, then at the doorbell, which was nose high on him. Recognizing Raph’s scent, she stepped aside and let him in.

  He pushed his way through the swinging door into the kitchen and simply changed back. Annie walked through the door behind him and was just in time to see the hugely muscled nude man dressing himself near the back door. She covered her eyes and walked right back out of the room. Keller burst out laughing, and Sarah shook her head and followed her sister out of the kitchen. Dangling man-bits just weren’t her thing, no matter how buff the package was. Once dressed, he turned around and noticed that Keller was the only one left in the kitchen. “Did I do something wrong?”

  Keller smiled. “No, my friend. They are simply not used to your lack of modesty. But they are fine. Now, what did you discover?”

  He grimaced. “Nothing good. The female’s scent is all around the house, and it is most concentrated near one of the bedroom windows. My guess is that is the main bedroom.”

  “The west side of the house?”

  He nodded his head. “Oui. But I also scented Marcel. The good news is that they both head off in the same direction. Has it rained in the past week or two?” Keller shook her head no. “Then I’d say they are a few weeks old at least. The smell is faint, but not undetectable. Now we have a direction, we should probably pick up a few more maps of the area, or one big one of the city. We have a direction from here, and I assume they are still in the city somewhere. I’m not sure what to do beyond running the streets hoping to catch a scent of them. I doubt the faint trail that leads from here will take us far but it’s all we have.” He looked up as Ranier, Sarah, Jill, and Romaric entered the kitchen. “I have discovered a scent around the house, and it leads northeast from here. Perhaps tomorrow night we can follow the trail.”

  Ranier nodded somberly and Romaric grinned. “That sounds good, Papa, we’ll find them in no time!”

  The doorbell rang again and less than a minute later, Annie and Jesse entered the kitchen loaded down with boxes full of delicious smelling take-out bags. Annie spoke as Jesse set down the two large boxes she held tightly in her arms. “There is pop, juice, and bottled water in the fridge. Help yourself!”

  The young wolf looked in the fridge and wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Um, babe, scratch the juice from the list. Based on the amount of mold growth, I’d say it’s been in here since we left to stay with Jill.”

  “Grody!”

  J
esse nodded. “Yeah, grody.” She gingerly grabbed the plastic bottle of orange juice and walked it right to the trash. This earned a disdainful look from her girlfriend.

  “You’re not even going to empty it and put it in the recycling bin?”

  Jesse leveled a brown-eyed gaze at the younger Colby sister. “Babe, do I really need to answer that?” She pointed at her own face. “I have an extremely enhanced sense of smell, as do three other people in this room.” She held up the bottle of vaguely orange liquid. “This has at least a half inch of slimy mold in it. I wouldn’t open this bottle if you paid me!”

  Annie giggled. “Fair enough. Carry on then.”

  After that, they managed to find a few folding chairs downstairs and a leaf to extend the table to fit six people. Annie and Jesse sat on stools at the breakfast bar. The group of eight laughed and joked as they ate their meal together. But underneath there was still a current of tension. Everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the rogue wolves struck again. Keller didn’t say it aloud, but she wondered how much more dangerous Alain would be now that he no longer had to hide his secret. They would just have to see.

  Chapter Ten

  PRIDE WEEK FINALLY arrived in the city of Columbus, Ohio. Raphael, Ranier, and Romaric had been searching the streets for weeks with no luck. It was a big city and they frequently caught scents all over as they checked block by block each night. The rogue wolves continued to make the news, though the news had yet to make the wolves. Multiple burglaries each week moved the mysterious thieves to the top of the Columbus PD’s radar. There were advertisements on billboards asking people to call a tip line with any information leading to the arrest of the thieves in exchange for a small reward. There was even another pair of deaths near Westerville that was attributed to the roaming “wild dogs” of Alum Creek State Park. The collection of vampires, werewolves, and the lone human had put all the pieces together but they were trapped in that they couldn’t go to the police with their information.

  Everyone was stressed out by the situation. Jill and Louve had not been able to spend a lot of quality time together because of Alain’s disappearance. The Frenchwoman had relied on him heavily to keep things running smoothly at the Cirque du Loup. Much of her time was taken up of late between managing the club and putting together the promised two stage acts for the Pride festival. Between work and babysitting Annie, Jill was starting to go stir crazy. Louve had come over a few times but both women decided it would be a bad idea to leave Annie and Jesse alone in the house overnight. That meant that they were limited in the nights they could spend with each other because of both their jobs and Louve’s duties to her club. They grew close though, despite both their fears. Jill’s continued attention and emotional openness had convinced Louve that the veterinarian did not hold her responsible for her attack.

  Keller had officially completed her last day as the manager of The Merge the previous weekend. She had been working on a special surprise for Sarah and Annie but whether or not it would work out all came down to timing. Instead of the responsibilities of a normal job, most of her time was now spent helping coordinate Raph’s crew with their own. They had a large section of the northern half of the city darkened on the giant map at Annie’s house. Only the previous night had the Quebec wolves started searching the other side of the river, west of downtown. But more than anyone else, Annie had been bearing the lion’s share of stress on her stubborn human shoulders. Not only was she trying to keep up her regular work schedule while being potentially targeted by homicidal werewolves, but she had been deep into the final planning of the Pride stage show for weeks.

  Since it was the Friday night before the festival, the younger Colby sister was finally able to breathe a sigh of relief. All her hard work over the past few months had paid off. She had a band shell scheduled for delivery to the park first thing in the morning. The festival organizers had volunteers that would rotate through in shifts to help set up and tear down the stage gear, directed by Voodoo Pony staff volunteers. They would use a lot of sound equipment from Pony, plus bands would be bringing in their own stuff. Bruce was going to take turns with her in running the stage show so they wouldn’t miss the entire festival. And lastly, all the bands and other performers were scheduled and ready to go starting at noon the next day.

  It was only three in the afternoon on Friday, June seventeenth, and Annie was slouched down on one of the leather couches in the bar. Even though she was done working until the festival the next day, she couldn’t leave yet. The assistant manager of Voodoo Pony blew out a long sigh. Jesse was working, Sarah was working, and Jill was off at some continuous improvement seminar for her veterinary clinic. There was no one to play guard until one of them was free. Annie growled to herself, irritated at not being able to celebrate her months of hard work, and at having to have a chaperone like a child. To make matters worse, she’d been dropped off that morning by Jill, so she couldn’t drive herself anywhere even if she wanted. Bruce giggled from the open garage door near the stage. He was loading the straight truck with the last little bit of equipment so they could drive it over to the park in the morning.

  Despite the fact that the bar was air conditioned, the breeze felt refreshing coming in. She watched the man she’d been working with since they both started at The Merge. He never had an issue with her being promoted as lead bartender, then assistant manager over him. He was an all-around great employee and had been a real savior in helping her keep the Pony shows going while planning for the Pride festival. He and his boyfriend, Rico, had also been good friends to her over the past few years. She could see him potentially growing into the assistant manager role she currently held, should she ever just say screw it and find a daytime job. The thought popped into her head more and more lately. She was starting to really resent working such dramatically different hours from Jesse. Thinking about their vastly different schedules only made her growl again, prompting another laugh from Bruce. She scowled at him. “What’s so funny?”

  He stopped and grabbed his water bottle from a nearby table. After gulping a good amount of it, he sat it back down. “I’m laughing at you, all growly like a bear over here. What’s the matter, hon, are you and your squeeze already into the LBD stage?”

  Annie cocked her head at him. “LBD?”

  “Like duh, lesbian bed death. Everyone knows what that is!”

  She blushed and made a face at him. “No, we have plenty of sex when we see each other. It’s just hard since we aren’t staying at home right now.” They told everyone that they were remodeling the main floor of their house to explain why they were staying with Jill. They also told people about her car being vandalized and said she was getting threats. This was so no one would question why she needed a chaperone to and from work.

  “I bet it’s harder when you’re home, with that gorgeous hunk of butch between your legs.” He made obscene thrusting motions in her direction and she blushed even more. Prior to her relationship with Jesse, Annie had been saving herself for the “right one.” Because of the fact that she hadn’t been having sex that long, she and Jesse really hadn’t explored much with toys. But she was definitely intrigued by the thought. Instead of admitting any of that to a legendary gossip, she simply scrubbed her hands over her face trying to dissipate some of the heat. “Oh my God no, it’s not that either!” She threw a pen at him but he ducked. “You’re such a letch, Bruce, how does Rico put up with you?”

  The blonde man raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “Seriously? My hot Latino lover is with me because I’m a letch!” They stared at each other and then burst out laughing. “All kidding aside, why are you still here? There’s nothing left to do here and you’re working tomorrow.”

  Annie pointed at him. “You’re working tomorrow too!”

  He pointed back. “But you came in early, and I only just got here an hour ago. Quit arguing with me and go home already! Or, wherever it is you’re staying now.”

  Annie laughed. “Don’t tell me wh
at to do! I’m your boss you know. But anyway, I can’t go home because everyone is working and I don’t have a ride. Plus there is nobody there right now.”

  Her friend and employee looked at her with concern. “Is it really that bad that you can’t spend a few hours home alone?”

  She immediately sobered thinking about all the things that had been happening. “Yeah, it is. But we’re taking care of it, and the police are looking into the matter.” The last part was a blatant lie since there was no way the cops were looking into the matter of rogue werewolves. But they were looking into the vandalism. “It’s a little complicated right now, but things will work out.”

  Bruce sensed she was done talking about it and felt bad that there was nothing he could do to help. “Well, I’m going to finish this stuff up and go take inventory to make sure we’re set for tomorrow night. And Annie?” She looked at him curiously. “If you ever need to talk, I’m here for you.”

  Annie nodded and smiled. “I know, and thank you. You’re a great guy, Bruce.” He shrugged and a faint blush washed across his smoothly shaven cheeks, then walked out the garage door. Once he was gone, Annie called her girlfriend. She didn’t normally call Jesse at work; usually they just texted throughout the day. But she really wanted to hear her voice. She should have known that Jessie would worry about why she was calling.

  When Jesse answered, her voice was hushed and had an edge of panic. “Is everything okay, what’s wrong?”

  Annie rushed to reassure her. “Nothing’s wrong, sorry for scaring you. I just missed your voice.”

  “Aww, I miss you too, A! But you’ll be done soon, right?”

  Annie pouted, lip sticking out for no one to see. “I’m done now, and I’m bored, damnit!”

  Jesse laughed. “Your adorable bottom lip is poking out, isn’t it? Stop pouting cute stuff, I’ll be done at five and we can have a little fun before all the craziness hits at tomorrow’s festival. Are you nervous about tomorrow?”