“Black,” said Glen.
“Lots of sugar,” said Rosie. “And cream. Lots of cream. If you have it.”
Deep chuckled. “You hear that, Emma? The girl likes her coffee same as you used to.”
Glen and Rosie sat down on the sofa, but didn’t have to wait long for Deep to return with coffee.
He handed a mug to each of them and sat down in the big chair. “You’re kin to me. No doubt about that.”
“I’ve lived my whole life thinking I didn’t have any family. So, please don’t take this wrong, but how do you know?”
“Even if I didn’t have eyes, I can smell.” Laugh lines formed around Deep’s eyes when he smiled. “Then when you told me your name…”
The door opened and Hunter walked in without knocking, but clothed, Rosie noted, in jeans that would have been fashionably worn if Hunter was the kind who cared about fashion, and a charcoal gray Henley that made the pale gray of his eyes even more prominent. He walked over to the old woman, bent down and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“Hunter, sit down and help us sort this through.” He motioned to Hunter. “This is our son.”
As Hunter sat on the stone hearth, Glen said, “We’ve met. Sort of.”
“Hunter,” Deep said, “this is Glendennon Catch.”
“I heard,” Hunter said.
Deep cleared his throat. “So you say you don’t have any family.”
“From what I’ve learned recently, my parents were killed in an accident when I was two. The authorities couldn’t find any family. So I went into the foster care system.”
“You just now began looking?”
Glen looked down at his hands. “I’d always thought that, if I had any family who cared about me, they would have shown up before now.” Deep nodded, looking both sad and thoughtful. “I have pictures of my parents.”
Glen withdrew the folded photo-copies he’d received from Rosie.
Deep took them and stared for a long time before passing them over to Hunter.
Sitting back with a deep sigh, he said, “There’s a whirlwind of feeling in my heart. I’ve just learned that my son has passed beyond the veil. I’ve suspected as much for a long time, but wasn’t sure until now.” He looked at his wife. “I’m glad she’s beyond caring. I would hate to imagine what this would do to her.” He glanced at Rosie before focusing on Glen again. “Your father’s name was Catch.”
Deep looked away for a moment with a wistful smile. “Got the name as a pup because he caught fish in the air.” He chuckled. “Most amazing thing you’ve ever seen. I would take him out on the water on a pontoon. He would change into wolf form and crouch on his haunches. If a fish jumped anywhere near, he’d leap into the air almost like he could fly, catch the fish in his jaws before it reentered the water, and swim back to the pontoon.” He looked at Hunter. “We’d have to pull him up, of course. But it was entertaining as a circus act. When he decided to live in the human world, I suppose he chose to use Catch as a surname. To fit in.”
He looked at his wife, who, so far as Rosie could tell, hadn’t moved a muscle. “Emma’s family name was Glendennon.”
Glen looked at Rosie for her reaction. She gave him a little encouraging smile and reached for his hand.
“So you’re my…”
“Grandfather,” said Deep. “Hunter, here, is your uncle.”
Hunter gave Glen a little smile. “Guess it’s a good thing I didn’t eat you.”
Deep ignored him. “So, Glendennon…”
“Glen.”
Deep nodded and looked at his wife lovingly. “Emma, this is our grandson, Glen.” Turning back he said, “We’re glad you found us. I wish we had known about you. If we had, no power on Earth could have kept us from you.”
Rosie heard Glen’s breath hitch and she knew he was struggling to keep from breaking down. Going from believing no one wanted him to learning that people would move mountains for him was a lot of change to assimilate.
“Why did he leave?” Glen asked.
“Oh, he wanted to go down to the human world. Find out what it was like. I guess he must have fallen for a human.” He looked at Emma. “Can’t blame him. That’s what I did.”
“So my father could shift, um, into a wolf?”
Deep laughed quietly. “Oh, yes. I think your question must mean that you don’t?”
Glen shook his head. “I can smell emotions and I have the vocal cords for making sounds that humans don’t make. I might be a little quicker than most humans. But that’s about it.”
“To me the most important thing about you is that you’re Catch’s son. Welcome home.”
They lingered for hours listening to stories about Glen’s father. It was clear that both Deep and Hunter had loved and respected him and grieved when they’d been cut off from contact and news of him.
Glen found that the idea of a grandfather who appeared to be not much older than he took some getting used to, but not as much as might be expected. Rosie sat next to Glen, quietly supporting the blood reunion, pleased that his quest had led to something resoundingly positive.
At length Glen asked, “Why did he stay away? Had you had a falling out?”
“Oh, no,” said Deep. “I couldn’t answer why. I wish he hadn’t.” His eyes warmed when he looked at Glen. “For so many reasons.”
When they rose to leave, Deep pulled Glen into another hug and made him promise to visit often. Glen caught Hunter winking at Rosie which meant that, before their departure, Deep and Hunter got to hear that Glen was telling the truth about having the ability to snarl like a full wolf.
“Settle down,” Hunter said in a placating way. “I’m just flirting. I would never take what’s yours, nephew.”
“You got that right, wolfman,” Rosie said.
“See?” Hunter held up his hands. “Everybody agrees the witch is yours.”
As they stepped out of Deep’s cabin, snow was starting to fall in flakes so big the icy patterns were almost visible to the naked eye.
Rosie said, “Maybe he stayed away to protect your mother. I mean there had to be a reason why her ID was fake.”
Glen nodded. “Maybe sometime we’ll look up some of those people who worked at the lodge. Find out what they know.” He smiled at Rosie with a twinkle in his eyes. “But not today.”
She caught his meaning. “Your pill still working?”
Glen looked at his watch. “Yeah. I should still be good.”
“What a day, huh?”
“Yeah. What a day.” He smiled. “Thank you. This means…” He seemed at a loss for how to finish that sentence.
“I know. No explanation necessary.”
“You hungry?”
“Have we met?”
He laughed. “Surprise me.”
When they emerged from the passes, Glen looked around.
“This is your apartment.”
“Yeah,” she said with a predatory grin.
“Thought you were hungry.” He returned her grin as she removed her scarf and cashmere sweater.
“I am, but I’ve got some stuff in the refrigerator. We can eat later. Let’s celebrate now.”
She pushed his jacket off his shoulders and ran her hands under his shirt, coming in contact with bare skin. His abs tightened as he jerked back. “Oh my gods. Your hands are like icicles.”
“Forgot to warm them up.” She pulled her hands away, laughing. “I’m going to jump in for a quick hot shower. Don’t go away,” she purred. Pointing to the bedroom, she said, “You can wait for me in there if you want.”
Rosie hurried to turn the shower to hot and wiggle out of her boots and jeans. She clipped her hair on top of her head to keep it from getting completely wet and stood, shifting her weight from foot to foot, impatiently waiting for the water to heat.
She took a shower in record time using the unscented soap because she remembered that Glen’s nose was ultrasensitive, dried off, and threw on a midnight blue silk robe. When she opened the bathroom d
oor, heavy steam wafted into the bedroom.
The bedside lamp was on, illuminating Glen lying on his back. The sheet was pulled up just high enough to expose the waistband of black cotton boxers. Otherwise, he was bare.
Rosie had known that he had filled out from years of claiming manhood and, no doubt, Black Swan workouts, but she hadn’t seen the rippled and defined expression of that carved into the flesh until that moment. He was beautiful enough to be the centerfold of a gay magazine.
He was luscious. He was inviting. He was a fantasy come to life. He was also snoring with a volume that could only be achieved by a person with a werewolf’s vocal attributes.
Thinking back, she realized that he’d lost a night’s sleep and had also had an emotionally exhausting day. The pleasure of seeing him asleep in the bed she currently called hers quickly overrode any disappointment she felt about the sexual encounter she’d been anticipating. She turned out the light and crawled under the covers. When she laid her head on his chest, his arm immediately came around her and everything about that reflex, even in sleep, felt so right.
With a slight mental adjustment, Rosie fell asleep even with the rumbling snoring occurring just inches from her ears.
The next time she opened her eyes, filtered daylight was streaming through the south-facing windows. She was turned on her right side with a very large, very warm body spooning her from behind, alternating little kisses with little licks and delivering intermittent nips so light that they produced no sting.
“Hmmm,” she said, wiggling back to indicate receptiveness and bring her in even closer contact. He responded by pressing back, revealing unmistakable evidence that her bedmate had ideas for how they might spend the morning.
The hand, at the end of the arm that was wrapped around her waist from behind, came up to palm her breast and that prompted an echoing, “Hmmm,” from him.
She smiled to herself, feeling her nipple harden from the light friction of his thumb. Turning around to face him, she smiled like she was delighted with herself. “Good morning.”
“Good morning,” he answered with a lazy smile of his own.
She reached up and ran her hand over the stubble that had formed on his face. He answered by playfully rubbing his face the wrong way against her shoulder.
“Ow,” she protested. “Stop.”
“What will you give me if I do?”
“What do you want?”
“You. Forever.”
“Deal.”
He grinned. “That was the easiest deal made with a demon in the history of demons.”
She grinned. “Probably. Just remember I have all kinds of creative ways to make you sorry if you make me mad.”
“You can’t threaten me.”
“Why not?”
“Because I’m friends with your parents.”
“Since when? The way they tell it, you stopped returning calls. And texts. And emails.”
“Yeah. I did. But I fixed it.”
“When?”
“Between Paris and Edinburgh.”
“How did you fix it?”
“Groveling.”
She nodded. “I believe you because I know from experience that groveling works with them.” She reached for his waistband. “Now that we agree on what the rest of our lives…”
He stopped her. “About that.”
“What about that?”
“When we were at my grandparents’ house?”
“Yes?”
“It was a clarifying moment. The consequence of mating somebody of a different species.”
“The age difference.”
“Yeah. I know none of us know how long we’ll live, but it’s almost a certainty that you will outlive me, by a long time, even if I live three times as long as most humans.”
Rosie searched his face. “You’re worried about how I might feel if you’re old and I look the way I do now.”
He nodded slightly. “I think you should give it some thought.”
“Okay.” She smiled and rushed in for a kiss.
When she released him, he said, “You’re sure you’ve thought this through?”
“Absolutely. If you turn into the cryptkeeper, I’ll hire somebody to go down to the basement and check in on you once every few days.”
Even though he was sure she was joking, he looked a little stunned. “Has anyone ever told you that your sense of humor is unusual?”
She laughed. “I was just kidding. I’ll feed you oatmeal myself and I won’t put you in the basement unless you start to smell.”
“Good gods, Rosie!”
“Glen, I’m kidding! Really. Why don’t you just relax and think about the here and now?” Her tone changed to seductive. “If you want me to reward you with maple sugar in your oatmeal when you’re old, you need to give me a reason to dote on you now.”
“Do you know what incorrigible means?”
“Must have sex now?”
He grinned as he pulled the tie of her robe to loosen it. “Yeah. That’s it.”
He treated her to one of his long slow almost-better-than-sex kisses and reminded her of why he was unforgettable.
He pulled the silk away from her body and threw it in the general direction of the foot of the bed. Pushing the sheets out of the way, he took his time looking his fill at how Rosie’s body had changed, marveling at the fact that the changes were for the better. Her breasts were fuller and heavier and her hips flared more from her waist. But the best thing was the womanly expression she wore on her face telling him that his lover knew who she was and what she was doing.
Rosie preened in response to the pleasure she saw in Glen’s eyes and pulled on the waistband of his boxers indicating that she wanted them off. He was still struggling with compliance when she took his cock in her hand. He instantly forgot what he’d been doing and froze except for the soft growl that rumbled in his chest. That response was a stimulus that went straight to Rosie’s core as if Glen’s vocal cords had invisible fingers.
Coming together, skin to skin, for the first time in so long, Rosie’s body recognized Glen and responded like it had been hours, not years. She was cast into an acute state of euphoria. Glen shared her eagerness to cut foreplay short. He put up a front of weak resistance, but when Rosie wanted something, she was a force not to be denied and Glen was just as eager to experience being joined with Rosie. She was his drug of choice. She always would be. So without much of a protest, he surrendered and slid into her slick channel, knowing that she was immune to both disease and pregnancy unless she wanted it.
She moaned when he entered her fully and he wasn’t entirely sure it was a pleasure response.
“What’s wrong?” Glen looked concerned.
She needed time for her body to adjust to the stretching and the invasion.
“It’s just been a really long time. Years.” He pulled out. “No. Don’t go away. Just take it a little bit slow at first.”
He reentered, taking his cues on how to proceed from her. When she began moving with him, he increased his pace until he was sure the sounds she made were pleasure responses.
“I think this feels better than it’s supposed to,” he said breathlessly.
“It’s supposed to feel this good. When you’re with the right person.”
He kissed her long and deep as he continued to thrust slowly, savoring the moment he’d thought would never happen again. When he pulled back, he looked into her eyes. “Do you love me, Rosie?”
“Of course. I loved you before I could walk.”
“It was hel without you. You know that? There’s nothing in life more important than being with you. Nothing will ever come between us again.”
“I know. So shut up and make love to me.”
They spent at least half of Glen’s leave in bed. Rosie responded to a few small tracking jobs, but they were easy and she was never gone long.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
With the help of pills that Glen called magic, Rosie delivered h
im to a command performance meeting at Jefferson Unit. She was going to take the opportunity to visit with her parents while Glen met with the J.U. Sovereign, Reverence Farthing.
Glen was standing in front of the Sovereign’s desk after the admin had been told to show him in. Farthing was on the phone, but he made a motion for Glen to sit. When he hung up, he said, “Dratblasted vampire.”
Glen was thinking that, even without knowing the context, he couldn’t have said it better, himself.
Rev looked up at him. “Sir Catch.”
“Yes, sir.”
“How was your time off?”
Glen tried to suppress a grin, but just couldn’t. “Good.”
“You certainly give every appearance of being refreshed, relaxed, and ready to go back to work.”
Glen’s face fell. He’d been so caught up in the deep and abiding pleasure of Rosie that he hadn’t given any thought to work or his future with Black Swan.
“Well,” he began, “I…”
“We’re not sending you back out as a floater.”
“You’re not?”
“No. In fact, Monq has launched a worldwide campaign to overhaul our policy on substitutions.”
“He has?”
Rev nodded. “Seems he thinks you, especially you, got a raw deal from us.”
Glen couldn’t argue with that, but was curious as to why they thought he’d gotten a raw deal. “Why’s that, sir?”
“Why does he think you especially got a raw deal? Did you know that before you the longest anybody had ever lasted as a floater was two years?”
“No. I didn’t know that, sir.”
“And it’s no wonder. It was conversations with you that brought it to our attention. Really says something about your character that you beat the record by two and a half times.” Glen’s only response to that was a deep sigh. He didn’t really feel like being congratulated for it. “Here’s the thing.”
Glen was glad that the Sovereign was getting around to ‘the thing’ because the discussion was beginning to make him uncomfortable.
“I’m retiring. Long and short is I need a replacement. I’ll be honest. I offered it to Storm, not because he’s more qualified, mind you. Just a matter of tenure. But whenever things die down enough for him to move on, he just wants to grow grapes. And maybe more children.” Rev shook his head as if to say that was a damn shame. “So I’m offering the position to you. You know it. You’ve done it. Damn fine job of it, too. Jefferson Unit would be fortunate to have you in this chair. What do you say?”
Knights of Black Swan, Books 7-9 (Knights of Black Swan Box Set Book 3) Page 84
