“I think it’s a fantastic idea,” said Charlie. “And I’m sure my father will agree. He’s been talking to a lot of the guests, and everyone has been receiving his messages of peace and reconciliation incredibly well.”
“That’s great to hear!” Alex sighed and leaned her head against Charlie’s chest. “I just want to make a better world for Miranda.”
“Us too.”
In due time, Alex managed to get each of the brothers out on the dance floor with her. Teddy and Xavier shared similar enthusiasm for her idea to be on the council, and it was agreed they would bring it up to Bartholomew that very night.
It was nearing midnight and the party was winding down. Alex was sitting at one of the tables, alone, tired and a little drunk. Xavier was sitting with her, giving her a rundown of the night’s events.
“There was one tiny security breach, but it was taken care of fairly quickly,” he said. “Crisis averted.”
“What happened?”
“Someone was caught trying to sneak some sort of weapon in. They searched him, confiscated it, and kicked him out. They found this too.” Xavier pulled a crumpled up flyer from his jacket pocket and laid it out on the table. It read “Justice for Perry –– Meeting to raise money for his legal fees and to discuss strategy. This Sunday, regular spot.”
“Perry?” Alex frowned. “That’s the skinny weare who was tagging our place right? The one that Billy used to be friends with?”
“Yeah, he was arrested shortly after we brought the sheriff into custody,” said Xavier. “He is looking at some pretty serious time, unless he can get a better lawyer than the state appointed one. That’s what they are trying to raise money for, I guess.”
“So, Perry has supporters. That’s just swell.” Alex spotted Hera making her way towards her off in the distance, guiding a woman Alex didn’t recognize, by the hand. She waved her over.
Xavier stood up. “I’m going to go get another drink. Want one?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
He kissed her forehead and walked away, nodding politely at Hera as he passed.
“Hey,” said Hera, as she approached the table. “I guess congratulations are in order.”
Alex laughed. “I guess. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but I didn’t even know about the wedding myself until five minutes before the party.” She looked past Hera’s shoulder where the other woman was standing awkwardly. “Who’s your friend?”
“Oh! Right!” Hera moved aside and motioned for her guest to step forward. Alex stood up. “Alex, this is the new Swan City Sheriff, Danielle Oliver. She wanted to meet you. Mayor Rowland is here too, if you can believe it. Last I saw, he was talking with Bartholomew.”
Alex stuck out a hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Sheriff Oliver. I’m Alex Green- er, I guess now I’m Alex Armstrong.” Sheriff Oliver brown took her hand and gave it a single, firm shake.
“It’s a pleasure,” said the sheriff. “What a lovely party you’ve thrown. The turnout was absolutely astounding. By my count, you had more humans here than you did weares.”
“Well, when you offer free food, you can expect Swan City folks to swarm,” said Hera. “The sheriff said they just did another cut to rations.”
“No.” Alex’s breath caught. “They can’t do that.”
“Unfortunately, they can do whatever they want,” said Oliver. “Seems to me they took advantage of all the drama and distraction over this Sheriff Brown business and hoped nobody would notice. Well, as you can imagine, they sure as hell did notice.”
“Of course they did,” said Alex. “This is their food we’re talking about, their livelihood. Oh, this is just awful. I’ve been so out of touch since moving here. I had no idea things had gotten so bad.”
“Hopefully we’ll get the city turned around soon,” said Oliver. “I’ve got some plans I’d like to set in motion as soon as possible. In fact, some of them I think you would be very interested in hearing about. I would love to sit down and have lunch sometime.”
“You want to have lunch? With me?” Alex looked around as if there might be someone with more political sway standing behind her. “I would love to, but I’m not sure exactly how much help I would be.”
Sheriff Oliver frowned at Hera. “She told me you were part of the weare council, are you not?”
Hera leaned in close to Alex and whispered. “Sorry, Charlie mentioned something about it earlier and I may have let the news slip to a few people.”
“But I’m not officially on the council yet,” Alex whispered back, somewhat aware of the fact that Oliver could likely hear everything they were saying. “I still have to talk to Bartholomew.”
“Oh, he’ll give you a seat!” Hera moved back as if to invite the sheriff back into the general conversation. “Look, the point is, she’s now the daughter of the head of the council. She has his ear. Lunch with her is basically lunch with him.”
The sheriff smiled. “I’ll call sometime this week to set up a time.” She shook Alex’s hand again, this time softer and with a smile. “Nice to meet you.”
“You too.” She left. Alex hit Hera gently on the shoulder. “Who else did you tell about me being on the council?”
Hera shrugged and avoided Alex’s gaze. “Just a few people. Nobody important. Besides the sheriff... maybe the mayor.”
“The Mayor?” Alex frantically looked around the backyard for any sign of Jonathan Rowland. “You mean the same mayor you saw talking to Bartholomew?”
“... Possibly.”
She saw a flash of Bartholomew’s dark red suit as he turned the corner, walking someone around the side of the house. Alex took off in that direction.
“Bartholomew!” she called. “Bartholomew, can I talk to you for a second?” She tried to keep her voice calm.
By the time she reached the two men, they were saying goodbye. The mayor said thank you to his host and got into his town car. Alex, breathless and panicked, arrived at Bartholomew’s side just as the mayor’s car pulled away.
“Hello, dear,” said Bartholomew. “My goodness, why on earth were you running? Is everything alright?”
“Did the mayor say, uh, anything?” Alex said through strained breaths. “About me? Or about some sort of new council position?”
“You mean about this new council position that you apparently now hold?” Bartholomew smiled. “I believe he did mention something about that.”
“I can explain. I mentioned something about asking for a position to the brothers. Next thing I know, Hera has found out and has spread the rumor that I already work for the council. I promise I had nothing to do with it.”
“The mayor thought it was my idea to put you on the weare council,” said Bartholomew.
Alex felt the blood rush to her head. The impromptu exercise she’d just done was making it hard for her to think straight. She couldn’t think of anything good to say, so she simply repeated that she was sorry.
“Of course,” Bartholomew continued, talking right over Alex’s apology. “At first, I had no idea what he was referring to. He kept going on and on about how wonderfully open minded it was of me to appoint a human to the weare council. I was this close.” Bartholomew put his thumb and pointy figure up to gesture just how close. “To correcting him when he made a very interesting point.”
He stopped mid thought, causing Alex to hang on his last word. “What, what did he say?” she asked.
“After he was done praising me for coming up with such an ambitious, intriguing idea, he asked me if there were any weares whom I might want to recommend be appointed to the human council. It seems he wants to start mixing the political porridge a little bit.”
“That’s… amazing. Wow.”
“I agree, it was a great idea of mine to give you a seat on the council.” Bartholomew winked at her. “I am a very smart man.” He put his hands on Alex’s shoulders. “You have the job, my dear, if you want it.”
She hugged him. “Thank you. I won’t let you down.”
“I
know you won’t.”
Alex smoothed down the front of her new navy blue pantsuit and examined herself in the mirror. She looked good, professional, and just the slightest bit masculine, but in a cute way. Now that she had money, and a high powered job, she figured it was time to start cultivating a sense of style. She combined her knowledge of men’s fashion with her newfound passion for women’s clothing and the result was sleek, and she thought as she checked herself out from behind, a little sexy.
“You excited for the big meeting?” Teddy appeared in the doorway behind her.
She smiled at him in the mirror. “Excited and nervous.”
“You look great.”
“Thanks, you don’t think it’s too much?”
Teddy walked in and wrapped his arms around her waist. “I think it’s perfect.”
She turned around and kissed him. She and the brothers made a schedule after they got married. Similar to the one her mother shared with her husbands, the brothers would switch off being her partner every week. They would all three be fathers year-round and whenever they were needed. They’d been trying this arrangement out for a couple of months now and it seemed to be working well.
This was Teddy’s week.
“You’re going to be there tonight, right?” asked Alex.
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world.” He pushed some of her now chin length hair out of her face and cupped her cheek. “I’m so proud of you.”
“There’s nothing to be proud of yet. First we have to see how the meeting goes, and if it’s anything like the last one your dad put on…” she trailed off.
“It will be great,” said Teddy. “People will know better what to expect now, and you’ve got Sheriff Oliver in your corner.”
“I know, but the anti-mixing groups have been growing larger every day, and they’ve managed to spread their messages of hate across the entire region.” Alex sighed and stepped out of Teddy’s embrace. “And now that Perry guy is out of prison, who knows what kind of trouble he’s going to stir up.”
“Whatever it is, we will handle it,” said Teddy. “You worry too much.”
“Well one of us has to!” Alex threw her hands up in the air, defeated. She went over to the crib in the corner of the room where Miranda was laying, calmly sucking on her pacifier. She was almost six months now, but she looked more like nine or ten months. “When do you think she’ll have her first transition?”
“Soon,” said Teddy. “It usually happens within the first year. She might be a late bloomer though, because of her being half human and all.”
Alex picked her up out of the crib and supported her on her hip. Miranda smiled, the pacifier dropping from her mouth. She let out a little giggle, which made Alex and Teddy laugh as well.
There was a soft knock on the open door. “Sorry to interrupt,” said Xavier. He smiled at the baby. “But we have a little surprise for you downstairs – to celebrate all the hard work you’ve put into the weare-human forum.”
She frowned. “You know I don’t like surprises.”
“This is a good one, we promise,” said Teddy. “Just come on.”
He walked out of the room and Alex followed, bringing Miranda with her. She got out into the hallway and looked down at the entryway where her family had all gathered to carry a sign that said “Congrats Councilwoman Alex Armstrong”.
Although she’d been working for the Swan City Weare Council as their official liaison between the weare and human communities, Alex had only just been voted in as a council woman. That night was not only the night of her weare-human forum, it was also her coronation party, which she had specifically asked everyone not to make a big deal about.
“You guys!” said Alex. “I told you I didn’t want to celebrate. I just want to focus on the forum.”
“Oh, it’s just a sign!” said Uma. “Nothing to get all worked up about. Can’t a family just show their love and support for their incredibly talented and accomplished daughter and wife?”
Alex scoffed. “But if I know you guys, it isn’t just a sign, is it?”
Xavier, who was now at the bottom of the stairs looked down at his feet. “We also may have hired a caterer and told everyone we were holding a party here after the forum.”
“You guys!” Alex tried to sound angry, but it was obvious she was both excited and touched by their gesture. “You’re ridiculous.”
“We just love you,” said Pete.
“And we’re proud of you,” added Joel.
“You’ve come so far, and you’re going to take Swan City so much further with all your brilliant and progressive ideas,” said Bartholomew. He’d been saying stuff like this for weeks now as a clever ploy to try and convince her that she should run for mayor in the next election.
Alex rolled her eyes. “Can we get going, please?” She started down the stairs. “We’re going to be late.”
“Okay, okay,” said Uma. “We’re going, sheesh.”
They all filed out of the mansion house, one by one. A few piled into Joel’s truck, the others into two different town cars. Following each other out of the driveway, the Armstrong-Greenford family turned onto the main road and drove towards a better tomorrow.
More By Hollie
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I'm on the ground, again.
I have been punched and slammed by someone far bigger and tougher than me.
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"This is why someone like you should never be allowed to fight side by side with war brothers."
Still, I get up. Not complaining.
This is the life I chose.
So when a stranger challenges me to a duel two minutes later, I don't hesitate to take him up and agree to his terms that I will do something for him if I lose.
Then it all went black.
I wake up in a cell and realize with terror that I'm probably in werewolf territory, high up in the mountains.
Two hours later, I'm presented to both, the prince's step-cousin and the prince himself.
"You are lucky, you have been chosen to be our new human concubine. A rare opportunity, given only to the most worthy of women."
You've got to be kidding me?!
This was NOT what I meant by a favor!!!
"Have you bred before?"
WHAT?!
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EXCUSE ME?!
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Next thing I know, I have a royal collar attached to my neck, to denote I belong to them.
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I'm gonna kill them both.
One Girl Five Hungry Beasts
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Pick five.
Pick them yourself, or we'll pick them for you.
But... but how will I know who's my baby daddy!?
It's my twenty-eighth birthday.
They have imprisoned me to stop me from escaping.
They know I don't want to be taken by the wolves - I'd rather be dead.
But still, I'm taken, sold off by my own family for a few coins.
Let's keep it real; my parents never loved me.
I'm half expecting the wolves to eat me or something.
But instead, I'm taken to a ceremonial palace.
I am to pick five husbands...
I will live with them in a marriage home.
Yeah, you heard that right.
I'll also be expected to bear their children.
The more children, the better...
Like, seriously!?
I had barely accepted the idea of just one normal husband.
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They can turn into vicious animals at the slightest provocation...
Five hungry, aggressive men who have not seen a woman in 100 years...
Yeah, 100 years.
How could I possibly handle all that?
Let’s Be Friends!
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© Copyright 2019 by Hollie Hutchins - All rights reserved.
In no way is it legal to reproduce, duplicate, or transmit any part of this document in either electronic means or in printed format. Recording of this publication is strictly prohibited and any storage of this document is not allowed unless with written permission from the publisher. All rights reserved.
Respective authors own all copyrights not held by the publisher.
The BabyMakers’ Shared Property Page 16
