When he looked at his little girl, Tore could not imagine her transitioning. He was positive it wouldn’t happen to Johan either. It was a relief, to be honest. The thought of his kids sharing the same genes as his murderous brother repulsed him. It was bad enough that Rune and Kjell had no choice over their destiny. If his youngest two didn’t need to know, he’d protect them from their cruel ancestry.
***
After Tore dropped the kids off at Liam’s, he shared a glass of wine with his wife and they made out on the sofa. As things started to heat up they moved to the bedroom. Tore closed the door behind him and turned the key. Kachina laughed, “Why the lock, Tore?”
“I want to make sure there is no chance of Eveline or Johan appearing at the foot of the bed, while I ravage their mother!” He’d been only half joking earlier about needing an early warning system for those two.
She smiled and patted the bed next to her. Tore didn’t need any further invitation.
***
Kachina sipped her wine and stared into space, her book forgotten. She seemed distracted.
“You okay, baby?” Tore put his own book down and slipped his arm around her shoulders.
“Mmm.”
But he knew she wasn’t. “Is there something bothering you, my love?”
She bit her bottom lip. “Hey, what’s the matter, Kachina? You haven’t crashed the truck or anything have you?”
She smiled. “No, it’s nothing like that…” She looked around the room before making eye contact. “It’s just…” He pulled her in tight and pushed their books away. Giving her his full attention, she continued. “Tore, I don’t want you to get mad or anything, but…”
“I won’t get mad. How much did you spend?” She’d probably been on a shopping spree with Jessie. She always worried that she spent too much, but she never did.
She shook her head.
“No, it’s not that. It’s Johan and Eveline.” He frowned at her. “I know you said you didn’t want to tell them about… you know… the wolf thing and everything, but…”
He sighed. Why she was bringing this up again! They’d just spent a great couple of hours exploring each other and now she was going to ruin the moment. “Kachina, I’ve said all I’m gonna say about this. You agreed it’s for the best. They were born human. There is no way they are going to transition. There is no need for them to know this stuff.”
“But Tore…”
“Kachina, do we have to go through this again? Look Russell will be seventeen in another year; let’s see what happens to him. If our nephew transitions, I’ll reconsider, but I don’t want to discuss this anymore.” He picked up his book, his good mood gone.
“Tore, I think you’re wrong. I know what you believe, but look at them. They each have both of our genes in them. They might not follow you, but they could follow me.”
“Damn it, Kachina, will you drop it? You told me it was rare for skin walker abilities to pass down. Why should we burden them with this stuff? They’re just little kids who don’t need to know any of this.” Why was she so persistent tonight?
“But Rune and Kjell are only a few years from transitioning. They’re gonna find out by accident or overhear a conversation between you guys. What if they see you or their brothers shifting? You’ll scare them and…”
Anger welled up inside him. He hated it when she brought this up, and she knew it. He’d explained everything to her at Johan and Eveline’s birth. When they were born human, she agreed it would be best if they didn’t know about their Lycanthrope side.
“So you want me to tell them? It will ruin their world if I tell them they are wild animals? How much do you want me to say Kachina? You want me to tell them how dangerous they’ll be? How evil their uncles are? Should I also tell them how my brother killed Annike?”
“No, I don’t mean all that stuff, Tore you know, just the…”
“But where do we stop? What secrets do we keep and what do we tell? If it’s okay to tell them they’re Lycans, won’t it be okay to tell them about the commune and the killers that live there? They’ll want to know where I’m from, where they come from too. Do you want Eveline knowing that stuff? You want Johan growing up resenting me? My family? Run the risk that he will hate them too. Or worse, hate me?”
He saw tears beginning to spill from her eyes, but she’d hit a nerve and there was no way to stop himself. “And what about you? Will you tell them that they could be like you too?”
“That’s what I want to talk about. You see…”
By now, Tore wasn’t listening to her. “Do you want them to know what you are? That you’re a witch and so is their grandfather? Will you tell them that people will fear them for the magic they can do? Will you tell them that everyone will hate them? Which do you think they would prefer, Kachina, to grow up into a werewolf or an evil witch?”
As soon as Tore said it, he regretted his words. Tears slid down Kachina’s cheeks. He should have pulled her into his arms and begged her forgiveness but he didn’t. He knew she didn’t deserve what he’d just thrown at her. He was being cruel and obtuse.
Unable to face her, he climbed out of bed and unlocked the door.
“Tore, where are you going?”
Ashamed, he stormed out of the house, shifting to wolf as soon as his feet hit the Lodge lawn. He sensed Kachina standing at the door to their home, knew she watched him as he slunk off into the woods.
***
When Tore returned several days later, he was exhausted. He’d been living in the forest in his wolf form. At first the anger inside him kept him away. Then, as that subsided, it was his stupid stubbornness. Later still, he was terrified that his words had driven a wedge between them.
Tore found his wife sitting at the kitchen table working on one of her projects. She looked tired and miserable. “Kachina?”
She threw down the dream catcher and ran to him. Flinging her arms around his neck, she held him to her and sobbed into his chest. Tore held her back and hung his head in shame.
She lifted her head and dried her eyes. Pulling him to the table, she sat him down.
“I’m so sorry, Tore.” She held his hand. “I never wanted to hurt you. You’re right. Let’s not tell the children. The chance they’ll become Lycanthrope or skin walker is so minimal. We have more chance of winning the lottery. We’ll let them grow up in peace and if, for any reason, we see signs that either Johan or Eveline have yours or my genes, we’ll find a way to deal with it then.”
25
Two Years Later, May 1997.
“Jeez, Rune, what happened?”
A moody, seventeen year old Rune shrugged at Tore. He’d let things slide. His report cards never featured many A’s but things had gotten away from him this last term.
“How the hell do you get an F in Phys. Ed? And a C in wood shop! Rune that was your easy A.”
Rune had to admit it was pretty hard to fail P.E. But the damn thing was unfair. The three projects he didn’t turn in seemed to have taken precedence over acing all the fitness tests. But wood shop wasn’t his fault. The last project took longer than he’d expected because the marquetry had been intricate.
“It was just Mr. Bronson being pig headed. My piece was only two days late, but he still gave me only half credit. It’s not fair. Even if I’d handed it in unfinished, it would have been twenty times better than anything else the other kids produced. Mr. Bronson can’t recognize skill when he sees it. I’ve been selling my stuff for the last three years. The guy just has it in for me.”
Tore shook his head. Rune knew it wasn’t worth reeling off his excuses, but his mouth had run away with them anyway. He felt uneasy, shuffling from foot to foot. He hated disappointing Tore.
Kjell smirked and handed over his report card. Now you’re in for it. You’ll be grounded for half the summer. Kjell was careful to use their private frequency when he bated Rune, so his dad wouldn’t hear.
Why don’t you just, keep your nose out of it! Rune wasn’t in t
he mood for his brother’s holier-than-thou attitude.
Tore sighed and picked up Kjell’s report card. His grades were always better than Rune’s, but then he didn’t have to try. He was more academic.
Rune was surprised to see more B’s than A’s. Was that a C in Math? Your grades don’t seem that hot, smart ass!
Kjell shot him a well-timed middle finger when Tore looked down at the grade sheet. “Kjell, this isn’t what I expected, either.”
Kjell shrugged. “They’re better than Rune’s.”
Tore swept his hand through his hair, his patience waning. “That’s not the point. They’re not good by your standard. I’ve told you before, I don’t do comparisons. You need to get them up next year if you want to get into college.”
Now it was Rune’s turn to smirk. Yeah, Kjell, you can say goodbye to following Cassie to ASU. That had the desired effect. It wiped the stupid grin off Kjell’s face.
Tore placed both cards on the desk and pinched the bridge of his nose. Finally, pushing their itemized lists of failures to the side, he told them to sit.
Huh, this didn’t seem good. Rune could feel a lecture coming on.
“I had another phone call from the principal today.”
Damn it, those teachers sure have loose jaws, Rune thought.
“This is the third time they’ve had to deal with your crap boys.”
They both hung their heads and tried to adopt remorseful expressions. Rune sighed. He bet the teacher didn’t mention that it was Kjell who’d started it. Tore surprised him by turning to his brother.
“What the hell were you playing at, Kjell? I expect better of the both of you, but my understanding is you were the ringleader in this instance. What was up with you this time?”
Kjell threw Rune a glare. He’d been banking on his brother taking the rap. “God, Dad! You know what he’s like. He’s always pulling that alpha-male crap. I just got fed up of listening to his macho bull.”
“That’ll do, Kjell. He’s your brother, show him more respect.”
“Yeah, bro, show me more respect.” Rune was enjoying this.
Kjell stood up, his fists balled. Okay, bring it on brother. You wanna do this now?
Rune got to his feet. He had a couple of inches on Kjell plus thirty pounds. If Kjell wanted to rumble, he was ready for it. Tore moved like lightning and stood between them.
He placed a hand on both their chests and pushed them away from each other. “That’s enough. Both of you sit down. Now.” They hesitated, each waiting for the other to back down. Rune smirked as Kjell buckled first. He sat, hiding the big fat grin on his face, from Tore.
“Stop that, Rune!” Tore muttered.
The guy had eyes in the back of his head! He looked tired and Rune suddenly felt like such an idiot.
“Okay, save your explanations, we’re getting nowhere. Right tomorrow, Kjell, you are with Liam. You can work on his accounts and then he wants you to update the brochures for the Lodge. Rune, you’re with me. I have a big hunting party to take out. You need to be up and dressed by six. You can checkout the guns to the clients and then join me. We’ll take two jeeps.” He pushed their reports into his desk draw. “Maybe that will keep you two occupied and give you time to cool down. Sunday, we’re going on a little father and sons bonding trip.”
Kjell sighed and rolled his eyes. Rune began to protest but Tore wasn’t having it.
“Look, I know you guys are pumped full of hormones, but this has to stop. One of you is going to do some serious damage to the other one of these days. I understand, I really do. It’s bad enough having normal teen anxieties running through you, but you have to learn to deal with the wolf ones as well, guys. Starting Sunday, we’re gonna step things up a bit. Now you’re off school for the summer, we’ll have more time to address some of your issues, okay?” Neither Kjell nor Rune said anything. “Right, well, why don’t you find something to do, as far away from each other as possible. Go concentrate on some of your other urges.” They looked at him, not understanding his meaning. “You’ve both got girlfriends haven’t you?” he said.
Rune sniggered. “I dunno! Kjell, who’s Cassie with this week, you, or that quarterback on the school team?” Kjell was back in his face and his brother was seething.
God, couldn’t the guy take a joke? Everyone knew that Cassie played him for a fool. Kjell was too caught up in the Romeo and Juliet stuff. He needed to open his eyes.
Tore was back between them, pushing Kjell away. “Rune, that’s out of order. Kjell, get out of here, go see Cassie.” Kjell stormed out. “Rune, you can entertain yourself. You’re not going anywhere until you can be more considerate of your brother’s feelings.”
“But he was the one who…”
“Oh quit whining and get to your room”
Rune stormed off. It wasn’t fair! Kjell got to go out and get himself some and he got his hand for company!
***
The next morning didn’t fare any better. At five a.m. Rune and Kjell had a stupid fight over the bathroom. Now, Rune was sitting in the kitchen, and his dad was cleaning him up. Tore was grumbling. He had no idea how his parents coped, raising seven boys.
“For eleven years they had to deal with battles, inflated egos, and macho bullshit. No wonder they both went grey!” he said.
Tore dabbed at a cut above Rune’s eye, and Rune winced.
He didn’t need a lecture now, thanks! Couldn’t his dad see his pride was hurt enough?
Tore applied a Band-Aid to his eyebrow. “I think this needs stitching.”
Rune grunted. If Kjell had left a scar, he’d get him back.
“Your animosity toward each other is getting out of hand,” Tore sighed.
Rune shrugged it off. “We’ll get over it,” he mumbled before apologizing.
He tried to make peace with his dad. Rune couldn’t bear to think he was even more of a burden to Tore. The guy had been doing him one hell of a favor for years. Rune wasn’t Tore’s son. He’d always been honest with Rune about that. Still, he always treated him and Kjell the same. He admired Tore doing that, but he harbored insecurities.
Rune could remember his mom and Tore spoke about her often. But now that his body was beginning to change, he found himself looking in the mirror and wondering whose image he bore. It was obvious he wasn’t Tore’s, and he didn’t see much of Nea in himself either. Does he have a pic of his mother, how does he know he doesn’t look like her? He was a baby when she left him?)
What niggled him most was the fact that his Mom had chosen some other guy over him. Tore had tried to reassure Rune over the years that she didn’t have that choice, but that didn’t quell his self-doubts.
He was also irked that Nea never told him who his real father was. During all the years she’d been back at the commune, she had never once written to him. You’d think now he was about to go through transition, she’d have been in touch.
Tore said he didn’t know for sure who Rune’s father was but Rune knew he had his suspicions. Rune needed to know who he looked like and wanted more than anything to find out why his biological dad hadn’t claimed him.
The rest of the day went better as he hunted with Tore and the guests from the Lodge. Rune avoided his brother until Sunday morning when, true to his word, Tore took them hunting. It was his attempt to improve what he called their ‘appalling attitudes and lack of respect for each other.’
***
The day was long but it had been a lot of fun. Tore tried to teach the boys how to work together as a pack. Even though they hadn’t landed a kill, they’d learned a lot. As they walked back to the Lodge after their last run for the day, Tore was lagging behind. He gave the boys space, hoping they would bond.
Rune took the opportunity to rile his brother. He was sure the rabbit escaped because of Kjell. It started as gentle banter back and forth. Rune listed his brother’s failings and Kjell countered with his thoughts on Rune’s. But then Kjell took it too far and threw in a low blow. “Bet you ge
t your poor hunting skills from your father,” he said, laughing.
Kjell thought it was hilarious, but Rune didn’t see the joke. Besides it was Kjell who had messed up. The argument heated up quickly and before either knew what they were doing, they thought wolf and shifted.
Rune, who was bigger, completed the shift first getting the edge on Kjell. He leaped at his brother, gripping him around the scruff, wrestling him to the ground before Kjell had time to react.
Take that back, Rune growled but Kjell wasn’t taking anything back. Kjell threw out a few more comments about Rune’s parentage, and Rune snapped his jaws in Kjell’s smug face.
At first, Tore stood back and watched.
Was he waiting to see which of them was the alpha? Rune was pretty sure he knew the answer.
Most dogfights were about posturing and bravado more than real fighting. Rune tried to maintain the upper hand by ramping up the intimidation. Despite pinning Kjell to the ground, he held back with the physical stuff. He knew enough about controlling his wolf to understand force should be the last resort. He also had enough control over his anger to know he could do serious damage to Kjell.
As Kjell was about to yield, a smug satisfaction washed over Rune.Yeah, he knew he was more dominant!
Kjell scrambled free.
Wondering how his brother had slipped out from beneath him, Rune was distracted and didn’t anticipate Kjell’s counter attack. He rammed into Rune. His impact sending Rune flying across the dirt, paws scrabbling in mid-air as his huge body twisted and turned in all directions. Rune managed to gain control of his limbs and scrambled to his feet. He swung to face Kjell, baring his teeth. Kjell flew at him again. All thoughts of force as a last resort, slipped away. His wolf’s blood roiled and his anger triggered his instincts.
The Wolf You Feed Arc Page 18
