Chapter Six
The shanty town that had sprung up outside Juniper was a far cry from the toney California neighborhood Morgan had grown up in – or anywhere he had ever lived.
Silver Peak and Juniper were now crowded with hotels and resorts and condo buildings catering to all the wealthy humans who were flocking to the mineral springs.
However, there were many people who couldn’t afford the high-priced hotels or condos but still needed healing. They’d been pushed out to the outskirts of Juniper, right outside the city limits, and ended up forming a shanty town where they scraped out a living. Many of them worked as handymen or maids or waitresses at the new businesses in town. They lived in tents and battered mobile homes and rickety, hastily erected shacks. Some people lived in their cars.
Valerie had roped Morgan into donating a half-dozen used construction trailers to the shanty town. They now served as a school house, town hall, and rec center/church/soup kitchen/whatever it needed to be.
Valerie was standing there with a small cluster of women from the Juniper Ladies Benevolent Society. The women came by every night with hot soup and grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for the families who couldn’t afford their own groceries. Morgan knew that Valerie joined them here on weekends, handing out food and mittens.
There was a folding table outside the rec center, stacked high with pine wreaths, and Valerie and the other women were nailing hooks up outside the buildings, getting ready to hang the wreaths.
Teddy was standing in the snow watching them. She’d walked over toward him, but he’d scowled ferociously enough to chase her off.
Teddy’s mother Liane was one of the people who’d come to town for the mineral springs. A former waitress at a diner, she was only forty, but suffering from early-onset Alzheimer’s, which ran in her family, Valerie had informed him. Teddy’s aunt had come with her to start using the springs as a preventative. She didn’t have any symptoms yet, but she was hoping to ward them off. She had eight kids of her own, all by different fathers, none of whom had stuck around. She worked as a maid at one of the hotels in Juniper.
How did Valerie learn all these people’s life histories? And why? She was always stumbling across some stray who needed help.
Morgan shook his head. He didn’t have time for that kind of nonsense. He had his pack to think of. His family.
The scent of pine needles drifted his way. A memory flashed through his mind, of him and his father marching out into the woods together to cut down a tree for Christmas. Every year that had been their tradition. Every year until…well. Until.
His father had been a good man. A compassionate man.
And look where that had gotten him. And Morgan’s mother.
Morgan’s phone beeped with a text message from one of his contractors, and he read it and quickly clicked out an answer. Valerie said that he lived for work. What, exactly, did Valerie live for? To needle and nag him, he assumed.
So what would she do to occupy her spare time when she left?
The thought made a sudden chill settle over him, and he shivered for the first time since he could remember. Shifters had a very high cold tolerance, even when in human form.
He tried to think of what life would be like after Valerie left. Quieter. Calmer. Dark and empty.
Well, that was the way it had to be. He had nothing to offer, emotionally. What he had to offer was money and prestige. There were plenty of women who’d be delighted to sign on for something like that. Easy-going, eager-to-please women who’d never argue with him.
As soon as he ended things with Valerie and found a suitable replacement, he’d be mated to one of the women on that list. Women who didn’t crowd into his thoughts in the middle of the night, women who didn’t make his heart beat faster when they walked into the room. Of course, they wouldn’t be soft and round and curvy like Valerie. They wouldn’t smell like her. They wouldn’t sound like her. They wouldn’t—
“Good heavens. Who taught her to decorate?” His mother’s voice yanked him out of his reverie. He started and looked around.
His mother and Arthur came strolling up, boots crunching in the hard-packed snow. Arthur shrugged and flashed him an apologetic look.
“Ms. Rosemont wanted to come join you, but she doesn’t like driving in the snow,” he said. “Sorry, should have called ahead.”
“Yes, you should have. What are you doing here?” he demanded of his mother.
She flashed him a poisonous smile. “You’ve got a new mate. I need to get to know her better.”
He scowled at her. Did his mother think he was stupid? “You will not insult Valerie again.”
“Who said anything about insulting?” She gave him a polite, wounded blink of her eyes. “I’m just…helping.”
Great. Helping.
He shoved his hands into his overcoat pockets and walked over with her as she approached Valerie.
“Goodness. Well, bless your heart, trying to decorate,” she said to Valerie in her sweetest voice. He chewed his lower lip but refrained from saying anything. Yet.
“Doing my best,” Valerie muttered without looking at her. She hung a wreath on a hook on the side of the rec center, and looked at it skeptically.
Morgan’s mother looked over the wreaths. She smiled at Valerie, showing lots of big white teeth. She nodded, “Yes, I can see that.”
Great.
Morgan loved his family, but he had to admit it. Nobody did passive-aggressive bitch like Nelda Rosemont.
Valerie stepped back from the window and looked Nelda up and down.
“You know, somebody as well-dressed and perfectly accessorized as you would be so much better at this. Here, you pick out where the wreaths go. No, no, I insist. Maria!” she called out to one of the Benevolent Society ladies. “This lovely shifter Nelda’s going to finish up the wreaths for us! Isn’t she great? You should tell her all about how you ended up joining the Benevolent Society! In fact, she’d love to hear your whole life story!” She thrust a wreath into Nelda’s hands, grabbed Morgan by the arm, and dragged him away.
Nelda stood there, looking horrified and holding the wreath up as if it were roadkill as the bouffant-haired, polyester-clad ladies gathered around her. She was swallowed up by the sea of eager, chatty human women. She frantically looked around for an escape route. There was none.
“Did you just manage and manipulate my mother the same way you do me?” Morgan demanded of Valerie.
Some other secretary might have backed down. Might have melted under his stern gaze. Might have apologized and scurried off. Not Valerie.
“Yep.” She kept tugging him along toward the end of the parking lot where volunteers were frying burgers on a donated grill and boiling water for hot chocolate. There was a pavilion set up there with plastic tables and chairs underneath it. And even better, there was mulled Christmas wine.
“Good woman,” he said approvingly. “I taught you well.”
“Ha!” she said scornfully. “I was born knowing how to bitch-wrangle. Oh, sorry, that’s your mother I’m talking about.”
“No, no, the description is quite apt,” he said.
They each accepted a cup of mulled wine.
“And God bless you for your generous donation of hats and mittens this month,” one of the women said to Morgan as she handed him his mug.
He scowled at Valerie, who avoided his gaze. “What donation is she talking about?” he asked her as they crunched through the snow.
“Shut up, that’s what donation she’s talking about. Finish your drink before it gets cold.” They sat on the creaky plastic chairs and sipped, and Valerie enjoyed the pleasant burn of the alcohol.
“Stop giving my money away to poor people,” Morgan said, frowning at the raggedy crowd of shanty town residents who were lining up for free dinner.
“Who else would I give it away to? Rich people?” Valerie smiled at him and did the eye-batting thing. “By the way, you can’t get away with yelling at me right now, because yo
ur mother’s here and you have to pretend you like me.”
“Where’s your family?” he asked, suddenly realizing that Valerie knew all about his family and he knew nothing about hers. He’d only learned about her grandparents when Eileen had mentioned them. He felt a sharp twinge of guilt. Yes, he made it a policy to keep all business impersonal, but this was Valerie.
She shrugged and took a sip of her hot chocolate. It left a mustache of foam on her lip, and he fought a sudden urge to lean forward and lick it off.
“My grandparents are my only family. They raised me since I was in grade school. They’re swamped with Christmas orders and can’t make it out here this year for Christmas, which is actually a good thing, so I don’t have to explain…” she glanced around her to make sure no one was listening and then finished, her voice lowered, “this whole mating thing.”
Then she broke out in a grin. “Oh, look, things are going to get even more fun for your mother.”
Nelda had managed to chase off most of the women by giving them jobs to do, which left her wide open. Teddy saw her standing alone, ran straight to Nelda and was pulling on her coat. “Is that real fur?” Teddy demanded. “What kind of fur is it from? Is it wolf fur?”
“Good heavens, you smell,” Nelda said in horror.
“That’s because I didn’t take a bath this week.” Teddy sounded as if she were annoyed that Nelda was so dense.
Nelda pulled a packet of handy wipes from her purse. “Arthur! Come over here and wipe this child’s face! No, wait, it’ll have germs.” Arthur walked over and started wiping Teddy’s face anyway, while Teddy peppered Nelda with questions and Nelda tried to ignore her.
“Where are you from? This is a human town. Why did you come here? Your scarf is pretty. Can I have your scarf? Why not? Can I have your earrings? Why are you putting that wreath there? Will you read me a book? What’s your favorite book?”
Nelda gave the child a severe look. “You are a lazy, shiftless child, standing around watching the adults work and doing nothing. No wonder your family is poor, with that kind of work ethic.”
“We’re poor because my mother’s not right in the head,” Teddy said, apparently not at all offended.
“What a surprise.” Nelda handed Teddy a wreath. “Go put that wreath on that hook over there. And when you’re done, you will start stringing up lights.” She waved at Arthur. “You, put up some hooks there, on that door, over there, and there… You, human woman – no, I don’t want to know your name – you’re putting the wreaths too close together. Take them all down.”
“Well, at least she’s getting her aggression out in a productive fashion,” Valerie mused. “Maybe by the time she’s done she’ll be too tired to bitch at me.”
Morgan gave her a look.
“Right. She’ll never be too tired.”
Twenty minutes later, Teddy’s mother, Liane, and her Aunt Rosa showed up at the pavilion. Liane went to get a hot toddy, and Rosa made her way over to Valerie and Morgan.
“I heard Teddy came over here?” Rosa said in a tired, harassed voice. She had circles under her eyes. “She was supposed to stay with my kids while I was at work, but she keeps wandering off,” she muttered. “We won’t have this problem much longer. As soon as the mineral waters start working, Liane will be able to start watching Teddy again. That child is constantly running off. Just like her mother.”
She looked over at Liane, who was wandering off by herself.
“Liane, get back here!” she called out sharply.
Liane looked around in confusion, and one of the volunteers steered her back toward Rosa.
“The springs aren’t working yet?” Valerie asked, looking mildly alarmed. “I mean, you’ve seen some improvement, haven’t you?”
“Well, it’s only been a week.” Rosa rubbed her face with her hands and yawned. “I expect it takes different amounts of time to work on different people.”
“Teddy’s been no problem. You can always call me if you need help with her, and I’ll find someone to watch her,” Valerie said. The Benevolent Society ladies tried to help, she knew, but there were only a dozen of them, and they had their own families too.
Rosa nodded. “Well, gotta get home to my kids,” she said. She hurried over to Nelda and said, “Sorry, I hope she wasn’t bothering you.”
“Well, of course she was,” Nelda said crossly. “I’m trying to get some work done here. You should keep her locked up.”
As Rosa led Teddy off, Nelda walked over to Morgan and Valerie. Arthur came to join them, brushing his gloved hands together to knock off the pine needles.
“Got all the garlands hung. What’s next?” he said.
“What’s next is we’re leaving. I’ve had quite enough of this dreadful place. And that child couldn’t hang a wreath for beans. I kept having to fix them,” she said irritably. “Wasn’t she dreadful, Arthur?”
“I expect so, ma’am,” he said complacently.
“We’re about to head back too,” Morgan said, standing up and helping Valerie to her feet.
Nelda looked around at the shanty town residents who were packing up the empty wreath boxes and heading back to their homes. “You know, there would be an excellent opportunity for a good tailor here,” she said.
“How’s that?” Valerie asked.
Nelda shook her head in puzzlement. “All these people with holes in their clothing. They clearly need a tailor. It’s a wonder that it hasn’t occurred to them.”
“You’ve never actually hung out with poor people before, have you?” Valerie asked, staring at her.
“Of course not, why would I?”
Chapter Seven
“It’s nothing personal,” the silver-haired man said, looking down his nose at Valerie.
“That’s funny. It sure feels personal,” Morgan said with irritation.
Valerie didn’t know a lot about shifter packs, but she did know that they all followed their own set of rules, mostly formed back in the 1930s when shifters had first been created. The rules of Morgan’s pack were enforced by the Pack Elder. His name was Boothe Suggit. He was a tall, lean man with salt-and-pepper hair and deep lines like parentheses running from his nose to the corners of his downturned mouth.
Someone had summoned him from the pack’s home in California, although he refused to say who and nobody was ‘fessing up. Now he stood there, holding a copy of the contract in his hand and looking at them all with an imperious, disapproving gaze.
Morgan’s entire family was already at the main house, where they’d gathered for an uncomfortable and awkward breakfast.
They all stood there looking innocent and staring at various points on the ceiling.
“It wasn’t me,” Arthur said to his boss. He’d moved into the house to help Morgan out while his family was there.
“Well, obviously. You’d never do something that would stir up a fight,” Morgan said, scowling at his family.
“True,” Arthur agreed.
“I know it was you,” Elmira said to Nelda.
Nelda looked at her haughtily. “You’re the one who actually thinks either of her sons would have a chance at Alpha.”
“Well, that’s just ridiculous. Of course my Hud would be Alpha,” CoraBelle said indignantly, stroking Hud’s arm.
“Would not!” Camden said loudly, glowering and bunching his hands into fists. “I could whip him with one paw tied behind my back.”
“So could I,” Festus added quickly, but he didn’t sound as sure of himself.
Elmira patted his arm. “Of course you could, dear,” she said.
“Neither one of them is fit to be Beta, much less lead the pack!” CoraBelle snarled at her.
All the women went furry-faced and started snapping at each other.
“Knock it off!” Morgan barked at them.
They kept snarling.
“This is your Alpha speaking,” he growled, and they retracted their fangs and smoothed their fur back under their skin, but kept glaring at e
ach other.
“That contract is at least eighty years old. It’s got to be horribly outdated,” Honoria said.
“Still legally binding,” Boothe said coolly.
“Aren’t you a distant cousin of Hud’s? That means you’re related to someone who’s got a vested interest in who becomes Alpha,” Honoria continued. “That’s a conflict of interest.”
Boothe gave her a superior look. “Shifter law is entirely different from human law. And my blood relations don’t change what was written in the contract eighty-five years ago.”
He turned to Morgan. “When did you announce that you’d selected a mate?”
“He told us one week ago,” Nelda said. “Why?”
“Exactly one week?”
Nelda nodded. “Yes. To the day.”
“Has he taken his mate out for their wilderness retreat yet?” Boothe asked.
“What’s that?” Valerie asked.
Nelda nodded eagerly. “Ah, yes, the wilderness retreat.”
“Within one week of the Alpha announcing his selection of a mate, he’s required to take her out into the wilderness, naked. They remain there for three days and hunt their own food. This symbolizes their strength and their ability to lead the pack.” He looked down his nose at Morgan. “That’s one reason why the Alpha usually announces the mating in the summertime. But your call, not mine.”
He flashed Morgan a triumphant look. “It’s been a week. You failed to fulfill the contract,” he said.
Nelda let out a sigh of relief. “It’s okay, we’ll find you someone much better suited for you, dear,” she said, nodding at Morgan.
Valerie felt her heart sink. Of course she knew this mating was fake. Of course it was a torment to be around Morgan and pretend to be his mate when she knew she could never have him. She’d barely slept the night before, wrapped up in her flannel pajamas and listening to the sound of Morgan’s breathing, so close to her and yet so far away. She should be relieved that this farce was over and she could go ahead and quit, like she’d told him, and…never see him again.
Shifters of Silver Peak: A Very Shifty Christmas Page 4
