by Livia Quinn
Ridge said, “I’ve had an opportunity to study some high-level interactions between the animal and human species. There are more similarities than commonly thought.”
We looked up as a Conor’s shadow passed over us. He landed with an encouraging report. “There were only two goofus at the shelter and one feckit heid.” Translation: ugly head. I liked it.
Tempe hugged Ridge. “Thank you, Ridge. You and your friends allowed Jack to hold off the worst until we could regroup.”
Conor shook hands with the soldiers. “I’m sorry I was’nae here earlier. I was intercepted by a giant squonk that may have been leading the goofus.”
“Did you kill him?” Tank asked.
“Yes.” Conor nodded and I noticed Tank’s eyes narrowed on Slade. What was that about? I’d never be able to repay Ridge, not that he expected it. The guy was mega-rich. His bionics contracts worth billions. Ridge’s big hand settled on my shoulder. “We’ll be going, Jack, if you no longer need us.”
I shook his hand and said, “I don’t know how to thank you for what you and your people did for us, Ridge.”
True to his nature, Ridge shook his head. “No, Jack. Thank you. To think we would have missed out on all this fun.” Just before they got in the van each man saluted and I returned the gesture.
Once they were gone I returned to Tempe. Nodding at Montana, who was with Conor, I asked, “Is she back to normal?”
“Mostly.” Tempe smiled. “She’s trying to talk him into going to the parade.”
I slapped my forehead and groaned aloud. “Surely they won’t still have the parade.” I was thinking of everything I needed to do. I checked my phone. Service was back.
Tempe looked up at me and smoothed my hair back from my forehead. I probably looked pretty scruffy and I knew I smelled worse, especially since the feckit head had probably splashed me with somebody’s guts. “I love it when you get irritated. You’re eyes turn silver and I just want to cuddle you.”
My eyes widened. “Cuddle me?” Now I was smiling.
“Yes, but later. If you’d been born and raised in Louisiana, you’d know the answer to your question— nothing stops Mardi Gras except Katrina and don’t forget there’s a certain young lady with a very special date with her dad, the Grand Marshal.”
Tempe
It had been a while since I’d had a warm fuzzy feeling…like never.
I laughed as Jack pinched the bridge of his nose and pressed a number on his phone. “Basil, let everyone out of the shelter but before you do tell them the parade is being moved to 7 p.m. due to the storm.” He listened for a minute then disconnected. His face when he turned to me was full of relief and… wonder. “They’ve already divided up into teams to clean up the parade route and set up the derby.”
“Marty!” I gasped. Where was Marty? I spun around searching the street for our little imp.
Then I heard the yapper. “Your dog is headed this way,” Jack quipped with only a hint of sarcasm. I could’ve done without the derby but Marty was looking forward to it, not that I owed Marty, but I’d promised. Who would have thought the imp would become so fond of this dachshund form? He was a sight running toward me, long and shiny black with a short legs and floppy ears. I wasn’t imagining the grin either. He was happy. He licked my face, just like a real weenie dog. Yuck!
“Marty, that’s carrying things too far,” I said, but his grin was so wide, his eyes so bright, I laughed and realized again how happy I was.
I looked at Jack and sucked in a breath. The look on his face had nothing to do with the parade, cleanup, the weenie derby or his teenage daughter. The heat in his eyes, the color of his aura, and the bulge in his trousers were for me. My eyes relayed a message I hoped he was receiving. Tonight.
He ducked around Marty and kissed me. Checking the time again, he said, “See you at Aurora’s at 6:45?”
“Ha! Can’t handle a fifteen-year-old and a ball gown?” I curled my arm around his neck and kissed him back. So did Marty.
“Blagh!” He wiped his cheek and glared at Marty’s grinning doggy face. “That is so wrong on several levels.” He stroked my cheek with tenderness and yearning in his eyes and I knew he didn’t want to leave, but with a quick kiss on my lips he strode over to speak with Dr. Shone.
Several teens and adults turned the corner and ran to the animals in the street. The healthy animals had left, trailing back to their environments without hanging around expecting acknowledgment of their deeds like humans do. If that didn’t say unconditional love, I didn’t know what did.
“What happened?” asked one teenager who knelt beside an unconscious goat.
A big man, the one who ran the grocery store downtown said, “There are more people coming. Tell us what to do.” He looked around. “Odd how so many animals were hurt in the storm, isn’t it.”
I nodded, overwhelmed. It’d been a while since I’d had a warm fuzzy feeling, like never… but I felt it now. The caring of our residents, all of them, for each other in a crisis, was something we could depend on. It hadn’t been apparent before.
Phoebe knelt beside Chris Shone as she administered first aid to the fallen. I was suddenly aware that she had been part of both communities, human and Paramortal for so long I couldn’t begin to grasp the concept. So it was only natural that when she and my father came up with a plan to protect River and me, they would be supported completely.
Granted, I’d been unaware of this and had only seen with my limited understanding and hurt ego. I regretted that. I’d wasted so much energy on the resentment toward my mother. Though I know now, they used that resentment to keep me out of the loop. Where was the rest of my family? Was River okay? Father had said he was taking him away to heal, but where? When would I see them again?
Marty wiggled in my arms as we walked up Harmony Lane to the monstrosity. I even looked at Harmony in a different light. Jordie was on the porch watching for us. Petre and Arabella had guarded her and my home, and the Forge, another blessing and another piece of the fabric that was Destiny.
I got the whole Paramortal ancient pact thing. We defended innocent lives in our world—all of us, that was our mission. What we hadn’t expected was when we needed them, our human friends, even the four-legged ones, would be there for us.
I no longer doubted that some citizens might become aware of Destiny’s true nature and still stand beside us as Jack had. He’d gone through quite a transformation. But then Jack was an extraordinary man.
I may not remember much from the early hours of the Para-moon but I remembered his strong arms holding me, the male scent of him as he vowed to do everything possible to protect our town. I smiled. No, he hadn’t said it aloud. It had been the first time I’d heard his thoughts, a silent vow from his heart. “…for the woman in my arms, I would fight; and for the people in Destiny... By God or Zeus, or whoever was controlling the Para-moon, our side was going to win. And we had.
I didn’t know what I was going to do about that little gift yet. Right now, I wanted to blow up a bush just to make sure I could, but Jordie was there. The girl was an honor student and a new Paramortal for Zeus’ sake, and there was a whole lot she knew that she wasn’t saying, but I decided to play it safe.
“Is it over?” she asked when I stepped onto the sidewalk. “Is Daddy okay?” She reached for me, her eyes wet, “Are you okay? I was so scared.” Gripping my arm, she said, “I love you, Tempe.”
I pulled her close. “I love you, too, Jordie. Your father’s fine, and Montana, and my mother.” I had a rush of warmth when I’d said “my mother”. I’d truly put our past behind us. Which brought someone else’s mother to mind. I set Jordie at arm’s length. “Any sign of Georgeanne?”
Her look of relief told me more than anything else that she was back to normal. Mystiq’s magic had worked. But had Georgeanne given up? “I’m going to drop you at Aurora’s—”
She turned around so fast her ponytail slapped her in the face. “They’re still having the parade?” He
r eyes lit up and she bounced a little on her Nikes. “Yay!”
“As my friend Freddie would say—or used to say—Youuu betcha. Nothing stops Mardi Gras around here. Neither rain, nor sleet, nor (underworld badasses)—”
She giggled. “I think that’s your other job.”
“Oh, right. You need to grab your gown and once your dad has things situated around town and gets changed into his Navy dress whites—ooh, I love him in uniform—he’ll meet us at Aurora’s. I have to get this little man to the derby race.”
Jordie accepted a kiss, not knowing the dachshund’s true form was uglier than her worst boyfriend nightmare. I said, “Load up, Mardi Gras Princess. You too, mutt.”
Chapter 31
Tempe
Euuuw, really? I slept through that?
After dropping Jordie at Aurora’s I delivered Marty to the derby field. He wasn’t happy about being placed in a crate but in order to play the part, it was unavoidable. I spotted several of the pets and wildlife on the periphery; some who had helped us fight earlier. No one would be shooing them away today.
The sponsors had waived the ticket price at the gate because of the “storm” to expedite the race start. The loud speaker announced the race would begin promptly at 6:15 so everyone would have plenty of time to get downtown for the parade. I scanned the bleachers, watching the single file line split as people chose s mouth closed and his ears perked up. Dylan.
It was Dylan, I knew it, and I could feel his aura. He looked happy—what canine doesn’t with his tongue lolling out trying to cool off. But I sensed other emotions from him —despair, frustration, fear. A white standard poodle pranced by and Dylan’s head whipped around so fast he risked needing a doggy chiropractor. I laughed. Maybe lust would hold him until we figured out how to get him back to his hunky man form.
I stopped short when a dark haired woman caught my eye near Dylan. She reached down as the wolf shot forward and snatched him up by the scruff of the neck before he could gain momentum. He yelped, and I watched as he was lifted into the woman’s arms. As she buried her nose down into his fur, I recognized her—Katerina. Relief was my first response.
I moved toward them. I had to hear this. I went fishing for Kat’s words on the breeze. As she held the Dylan up and looked into his eyes, she growled, “You may only be a handsome wolf pup, but you’re my wolf pup.” She nipped his ear. He yelped and then licked her face, his tail wagging hard enough to give her bruises. Good. She’d be looking out for him.
After turning Marty over to the handlers, I left. I had no doubt he would win the race but I didn’t wait on it. He wouldn’t miss me. He had the crowd, the competition, and…I spotted Mother in the stands near the ‘dog pound’. She just kept surprising me. I decided she could rout for him and take him home with her!
By the time I got to Aurora’s, people were starting to line the street. Some volunteers and shop owners were still sweeping the parade route. After all, we wouldn’t want debris mixed with the trinkets, beads and candy that would be thrown in massive amounts. Floats started arriving from the school gym pulled by tractors, luxury cars, 4WD trucks, and mules, the six-wheel kind.
The excitement of the parade was a welcome counterpoint to the negative emotions of the last twenty-four hours. The coincidence was almost over. Everyone but Dylan had come through pretty much unscathed, and we’d find a way to help him somehow. I was still trying to process what Mother had told me about our relationship. It would take some getting used to—a figure ducked into the alley beside Aurora Borealis. I was pretty sure it was Jordie. What was she up to?
I started walking in that direction but the whoop, whoop of a siren made me turn. Jack was driving down the street pointing at various people, calling out safety breaches, or a car needing to be moved off the route, encouraging the children playing in the street to move onto the sidewalk. Finally, he eased to the curb and got out.
My insides turned into molten jelly mush. Was there such a thing? Never say a soldier in his dress uniform didn’t send your lust meter banging beyond the red “10”. You’d be lying. I still had a problem understanding why this man wanted me, Tempe Pomeroy, freakazoid of nature, trouble magnet, sometimes flash tempered and undisciplined, but I figured I could get used to it.
“Hey, hunky doctor,” I said referring to my very first meeting with him when I got his profession so wrong. He hugged me and I looked up into his handsome face, which also looked haggard with two days of beard stubble. He was such a hunk. I couldn’t wait to get the shaving cream!
I scooted up next to him. “Need a date for tonight, flyboy? Oh, that’s right you have one.”
I remembered Jordie then. Frowning, I looked over my shoulder. “Jack, I think I just saw Jordie—”
“Let me go!” Jordie’s voice, full of irritation and anger reached us and we rushed down the alley to find a very frazzled looking Georgeanne holding a long sharp knife to Jordie’s throat. I didn’t look at Jack, not wanting to distract him or make her jerk and cut Jordie.
Jack’s ex had lost her fancy coiffure. Now she looked less like a blonde bombshell and more like a blonde who’d been bombed. With wild red-rimmed eyes and her yellow hair sticking out in all directions, she was a woman on the precipice.
I only heard Jack’s gun leave its holster subconsciously, because menori had surged in a flash, and power sprang through my blood, ready to bust out. I’d been wrong. I had discipline and I could wait my chance. It wouldn’t be good if Jack had to take down his daughter’s mother in front of her, and I wouldn’t think about the repercussions of me doing it, not while Jordie’s life was at stake.
“Let her go, Georgeanne.”
In answer, she snugged the knife closer to Jordie’s jugular and ordered Jack to lower his gun. He had no choice, but he didn’t drop it, just held it at his waist, his arm rigid. I felt the tension pulsing through him.
“What are you after, G?” He was using his reasonable negotiator voice, though I could hear his teeth grinding and feel him slowing his breathing, preparing for the moment when he gained an edge.
She turned her eyes on me, eyes that looked— “Jack, her eyes…” I whispered. I listened for his thoughts but of course he didn’t know I could hear him so he wouldn’t think at me. He was focused. What was it with her eyes anyway? They were like…two different colors, not like when I’d first met her and they’d both been that crazy green.
Jack emitted a growl that was part frustration and part—I was to find out—realization. “I know you killed Fritz. And you carved his eyes out with a fork.”
Euuuw, really? I’d slept through that?
“What are you? You’re not human, I have the DNA to prove it.”
That, too? Shootfire, I was behind the eight ball. Or eye ball.
She hadn’t taken her gaze off me. Now she sorta purred, but like a tomcat who’d just eaten ground glass, “I could have had the power of the Forge at my fingertips if not for you.” For the first time I noticed the fingertips holding the knife were tipped in a brilliant red but her fingers were turning green and bulging at the knuckles like a bug’s.
She was changing while we watched. I didn’t think it was intentional. I doubted she even knew it. She made a coltish gesture with her head like she’d done before when she could toss that blonde mane over her shoulder, but now the thin stiff strands of hair simply dropped from her scalp in clumps.
“How were you going to take the Forge?” asked Jack.
Good job, Jack. Keep her talking. She whined and seemed to be having trouble moving her jaw. Ugh, I could see why. It was growing, her teeth getting longer and pointy, filling her mouth and pushing her lips below her gums, exposing them. Blonde “hair” dropped from her scalp like Super Lice had taken up residence and were cleaning house. As the wisps drifted down, she said, “Uh mada dil wiffa vingbuh.”
I glanced at Jack. His eyes narrowed and they did that little silver shimmery thing as his eyebrows slanted inward, conclusion reached. Then I heard him. St
eady, Lang, as soon as she moves an inch away from Jordie. “You changed our people into zombies?”
A horrible gurgling chuckle bubbled up from watery lungs. She must be a smoker. “Nah, Fnnbuh.”
“She’s just a dumb scavenger, Jack. There’s no way she could orchestrate what went down today.” Her head turned slowly toward me, her claws scraping awkwardly on the knife. Each change brought about another horrible phase, exposed veins, her torso expanding, busting through her blouse to reveal bloody red gills between green ribs. Yuck! The knife wavered at Jordie’s throat.
I wish she’d just change already.
Three things happened at once. The knife clattered to the floor as her full transformation created crooked grasping arms and “fingers”; Jordie elbowed her captor in her green ribs; and Jack’s gun went off in my ear.
“Ow,” I said. What had been Georgeanne, the thing that had apparently inhabited Jack’s wife’s body and pretended to be Jordie’s mother, was indeed one of the ugliest beings I’d ever seen. It was a cross between a bottom feeding slug and Madonna, with Madonna getting the short end.
It had webbed and hairy short front feet with those awkward looking fingers and red painted nails. The exposed gills were odd and her wide green buttocks surprisingly curvy. But the most appalling feature was her shriveled breasts which dragged the pavement, with roots growing out of where her nipples should have been. They looked like a mating between two gourds and some carrots.
“That is so gross!” I said as Jordie ran to her father. Had the bullet hole in G’s other good eye triggered her transformation?
No, I guess I’d done that. I’d have to watch my wishing. I had a hard time holding back a smile though when I thought about some of the opportunities I’d have to pass up. Besides, this time it had turned out okay.
“Oh my God, Daddy.” Jordie threw herself at Jack. He pulled her tight against him and held her face into his chest where she wouldn’t be traumatized by the sight of the thing at her feet. I’d planned on turning Georgeanne into a crispy critter first time I got an opening, but I was sure the way it went down gave Jack immense satisfaction. Zeus’ holey boxers! It gave me immense satisfaction.
