by K. R. Smith
“I’m tempted to instantaneously phase you somewhere time where the stupid Lokoti Werewolves will never find you!” She grumbled in a low voice. “My own daughter - a Circulator - being told who to marry, before her 18th Birthday just because she’s also a Werewolf!” Next, she stormed out of the kitchen to wipe down the table. “This is ridiculous! My daughter who’s a month away from her 18th Birthday is being forced into adulthood by a fucking arranged marriage?!”
I paused in surprise at my mother’s language. “Did you just say ‘fucking’?”
“I said ‘fricking’!” She quickly tried to cover. “Fricking is not a swear word!”
“No, but the word ‘fucking’ is.” I smirked.
“Bianca Grace Wisetail you will not use that kind of language!” She pointed the multipurpose spray my way.
“OK then Jessica Grace Wisetail.” I tittered. “I won’t if you won’t.”
Just then there was a loud knock on the door which made us look on each other in surprise.
“Is that for you?” Mum queried.
“It can’t be for me as I’m not allowed to have any visitors, remember?”
Out of curiosity, I came to stand in the entranceway of the kitchen so I could watch her answer the door…as soon as she did though, I jumped backwards to hide myself! Aunt Julienne and her two married daughters, Vine and Hannah stood on our front veranda. They were Uncle Ian and Grant’s mother and sisters. What the hell are THEY doing here?
“Aunt Julienne.” My mother greeted and I heard the surprise in her voice too.
“Jess.” She returned. “Can we come in?”
“Er, of course.” I heard her move back to let them enter the house.
“I expect that you know why we’re here.” She came straight to the point.
“I suppose so.” Mum forced herself to be polite. “Because of B’s upcoming arranged marriage to Grant.”
“You might as well come out, Bianca.” Aunt Julienne called. “I saw you duck into the kitchen.”
Frickin’ hell, I’ve been sprung! Reluctantly, I came into plain sight as I moved to stand beside my mother. Although I was now taller than her, she still placed a protective arm about my shoulders.
“Jess.” The older woman saw this. “Ian tells us that you’re worried about your daughter’s union with my son.”
“You could say that.” Mum said diplomatically.
“I suppose you’re thinking that B is too young for this.” Vine spoke.
“You could say that too.” She said crisply as her hold on me tightened.
“Jess,” Aunt Julienne started, “your husband and my eldest have been best friends all their lives. They became Werewolves just a few months apart when their grandfathers died in protecting their homes and the tribe. I saw you grow up from knee-high to the Circulator you now are, when you helped save this tribe from the Invaders.”
“Our families go back awhile.” Hannah summed up.
“Grant knows this.” His mother stated. “He’s fought as one of the pack for the past thirteen years for his family and his people. Your husband helped initiate him after he turned from the death of his father, my beloved Yule.” I caught Aunt her eyes turn misty from the mention of her late husband, but she stood steadfast as she cleared her throat. “Grant in some ways is like a little brother to Hunter as well as to Ian. So you can be damn sure that my youngest is going to take good care of your little one!”
Mum took a deep breath as she planned her words carefully; “thank you Aunt Julienne. I appreciate your words as I appreciate you coming over to say them, but -”
“But nothing!” She interrupted. “Jess, I think in many ways you’re more ‘Light Person’ than you are Lokoti!” she eluded to Mum being a Circulator which the Lokoti called ‘Light People’.
“You may be right but - ” Mum started but she was interrupted again.
“Your daughter is a Lokoti Werewolf!” Aunt Julienne fired up. “B is the first female Lokoti Werewolf in the history of the tribe. It’s only natural, right and proper that she ends up with another Lokoti Werewolf like Grant. Someone who will be patient, kind and understanding with her since he went through the same thing when he changed.”
“I’m not disputing that but - ” She tried again.
“We all know about B and Derik.” Vine said. “The whole tribe does.”
They do? I pondered what exactly it was that they thought they knew? Does everybody think that Derik and I were a couple? The Elm’s looked on in sympathy.
“We know the transition will be hard for you B,” Vine continued, “and we know a person can’t just switch their feelings like that.”
Huh? What feelings were these per se?
“But we also know that you’ll grow to love Grant,” Hannah added on, “and that our little brother will take care of you.”
I exchanged a puzzled look with Mum as she too wondered what the hell they were going on about?
“Derik and I are best friends but nothing more!” I quickly put in.
However I don’t think they believed me as Aunt Julienne next looked Mum’s way, “we know that the Sabre’s are old friends to the Riverclaw family. We know that you, your mother and Susan Sabre were hoping for a union between B and Derik instead. But consider this Jess, the Elm family are just as much old friends to the Wisetail family. With the experience of the pack which goes back for hundreds of years, we know that this marriage is a good thing for B. Otherwise the pack and the Tribal Elders wouldn’t have suggested it in the first place!”
I could sense the anger building up inside of my mother, if she were a Werewolf she probably would be growling right about now! However Vine recognized the dangerous look in her eye so she tried a different approach.
“Let’s all sit down and talk about this calmly.” She suggested.
“Yeah, like a negotiating table.” Hannah agreed.
Next we found ourselves hustled towards the dining table. We were sat down with Vine sitting at the head of the table like the mediator as she sent Hannah into the kitchen to procure coffees for everyone. I think she was hoping to use the caffeinated beverages as a 21st Century version of the ‘peace pipe’.
“Now Mom.” Vine looked towards her elderly mother. “Nobody is saying that Grant isn’t a suitable husband.” Aunt Julienne looked away offended by the very idea. “Now Jess.” Vine looked towards her. “Nobody is saying that you’re reaction to B’s early marriage is unreasonable.” Mum looked away in annoyance too. “But let’s all agree on one thing, shall we? That B’s unique situation has called for a very unique solution.”
I groaned as I fell forwards to bang my head on the table, “I don’t want to be a Werewolf!”
“Now aside from the over-dramatic moaning and groaning.” Vine threw me a wry look. “Let’s try to come up with an amicable arrangement between us women.”
“Too true sister!” Hannah called enthusiastically from our kitchen.
“A bunch of males may have come up with the idea of B’s early marriage,” she rolled her eyes, “and now it’s up to us women to try to smooth out the bumps to their less than cunning plan.”
“As women typically do.” Hannah readily agreed as she prepared the coffees.
“So.” Vine clapped her hands together. “B, you are a Circulator and a Lokoti Werewolf, is that correct?”
“Um yeah, I guess my torn clothes can confirm that.”
“Grant can sew!” Hannah called out. “He’s an expert from years of experience of doing his own!”
“B,” Vine continued to look my way, “when you change into a Werewolf, I hear that you can outrun the pack because you’re a Circulator too.”
“I guess.” I shrugged.
“I see.” She continued in her role as the negotiator. “Your mother and your grandmother being Circulators could catch you because they’re as fast as you, but you would be stronger than them as a Werewolf. When it comes to the male Lokoti Werewolves, they’re strong enough to stop you but they can’t catch you,
am I correct so far?”
“Uh huh.”
“Go the girl power!” Hannah cheered as she poured in the milk.
“So,” Vine went on, “the pack have recommended that if you mate with a male Lokoti Werewolf who will become attuned to you, he will sense when the bloodlust is upon you and take you hunting for animal instead of human.”
“Supposedly.” Mum rolled her eyes as she stubbornly crossed her arms.
“Jess.” Vine looked on her. “Has Hunter ever been a bad husband?”
“Excuse me?” She retorted. “Of course not!”
“Has Hunter always sensed what you were feeling?” Vine asked again.
“Well yes he has but - ”
“When your father told you that he believed that Hunter would be a good mate, was he wrong?”
“No but - ”
“Then we can promise you the same thing, Jess.” Aunt Julienne said firmly. “Grant will cherish B for as long as he lives.”
Mum jumped up from the table to start pacing up and down once more as she wrung her hands.
“Coffee’s ready!” Hannah sung cheerfully as she carried over the mugs. “Aren’t I a silly goose? I should have brought the choc-chip cookies I made yesterday.”
She sat down in the seat beside her mother before we all picked up our cups, all except Mum that is.
“Look,” she spoke as she paced, “I’m NOT discounting the kind of husband Grant will make for B or for any girl for that matter. But I’m concerned about B’s age and her future.”
“Aren’t we all?” Vine tried to point out.
“Jess, the Lokoti aren’t a group of people who just happen to inhabit the same land - we’re one. We’re strong because of this fact. What happens to one person affects us all.” Aunt Julienne said formally.
“We all want to help B.” Hannah agreed.
“At the moment this means marriage to Grant.” Vine said simply.
“But why?” I spoke up. “How is marrying me off going to help curb my bloodlust?”
Vine next exchanged looks with Hannah and her mother.
“I’ll answer this one.” Aunt Julienne told her daughters. “After all, I was married to a Werewolf and I have two sons who are Werewolves.”
Vine and Hannah’s husbands were human so they let their mother go right ahead. They quietly sipped their beverages, occasionally snickering at their mother’s words.
Aunt Julienne began, “B, you never knew my husband who was Ian’s, Vine’s, Hannah’s and Grant’s father, since he died fighting the European Werewolf that turned Declan Sabre. When I first met Yule Elm and before I knew he was a Werewolf, I thought he was arrogant, immature and a compete smartass.”
Her daughters erupted into giggles and even Aunt Julienne had a chuckle, before she pressed onwards. Although she spoke humorously, I still detected a great deal of emotional attachment especially by the expression on her face.
“Yule Elm thought he was the ‘bees knees’ and because he had a small gaggle of giggling girls thanks to his Werewolf pheromones? He got quite a shock the first time he asked me out and I refused him. He didn’t believe his ears so I had to scream the word ‘no’ to make him go away!”
Now Mum let out a snicker as her pacing began to slow and she listened to Aunt Julienne tell her story.
“I moved to Alma with my parents when I just entered my teens. As you may know, I’m not Lokoti by birth but my mother’s from the Haida Tribe. I met Yule when we attended school in Alma, long before the War. Yule was in the year above and he didn’t pay much attention to me until he was in his Senior year. I happened to wear a new perfume one day as well as my hair differently to attract the attention of a boy in my year? But I ended up attracting a teenaged Lokoti Werewolf instead. I didn’t know he was a Werewolf of course as I wasn’t a part of the tribe then. All of a sudden this physically attractive but obnoxious boy kept throwing himself into my face and into my life at every possible chance he could. Before we married we fought about how much time he spent with his friends, or the stupid dare-devil stunts he used to pull or his secretive behavior around a full moon, when he would disappear for three days straight and I had no idea what was going on! But somehow or rather I took leave of my senses and I agreed to marry him… and my word the transformation he underwent made me even wonder if he was the same man!”
I noticed in the corner of my eye Mum had returned to her seat and picked up her cup of coffee, as she listened with interest. Aunt Julienne saw that she had captured all of our attention so she went on.
“After we married, Yule told me he was a Werewolf. He had to, as one week after our wedding day it was a full moon. He assured me as did the tribe that Lokoti Werewolves don’t hunt human and since I grew up in Alma and we didn’t have any people go missing, I believed them. But the first time I saw Yule as a Werewolf? I very near fainted, which of course hurt his feelings. As it came to be when you’re married to one of his kind, I was soon with child and Yule’s attentiveness during those nine months was legendary…! For the first three years of our marriage I didn’t even open a door for myself – I kid you not! If I was walking towards a door then Yule would suddenly appear and open it for me. He wouldn’t let me carry anything remotely heavy and he was always rushing about, buying whatever food that he sensed I craved.”
“Our Granny said her son turned into a new man.” Vine joked.
“The whole tribe was astounded by the transformation in him once we married. Sure, his wise-cracks remained which consequently Ian inherited from his father.” Aunt Julienne flashed a smile to Mum.
She knew all about Uncle Ian’s loud sense of humor, as his jokes would usually be about her. They delighted in ribbing each other as they exchanged many a taunt, which made Dad laugh at the two.
Aunt Julienne spoke candidly, “but what amazed me was here was this Werewolf; who had this thing called the bloodlust, which demanded that Yule partook in feasting on fresh kill every full moon. Yet he was also the most loving, kindest and gentlest of husbands and fathers.”
Mum ducked her head as she stared at the table. I caught a small smile play on her lips, as I guess she saw Dad in the same way. The elderly woman wore the same nostalgic look, thinking back on her late husband.
“So you see B,” Vine turned my way. “The reason why the pack and Elders have suggested that you mate with Grant is because of this; by becoming your mate he will sense you craving flesh the way Dad sensed when Mom craved chocolate. He will be able to take you hunting every full moon as you take your place among the pack.”
“The change that Yule went through when he took a mate, it calmed his wild ways which is what we expect will happen to B. This in turn, will help her control the bloodlust.” Aunt Julienne finished.
Oh…I see. I stared into my coffee as their words slowly sunk in. The Elms turned quiet as Mum and I considered carefully what they had said. In turn, our visitors watched our faces closely.
Mum looked my way, “well, what do you think, B?”
I continued to gaze downwards, which probably caused some concern. The air was thick with anticipation, as I sensed everybody’s plans hung on my acquiescing to the pack and the Elders’ decision.
“I guess I’m going to get married.” I said as I still stared into my mug.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Chapter 6
New Chapter
~ 6 ~
25th September 2084
I knocked on his front door… Nothing. I knocked on his front door again… Still nothing. I knocked on his front door a third time, then I leaned forward to listen. I didn’t hear footsteps or a single noise at all. Hmm…I know he’s home as I can smell his scent.
I stepped off his tiny patio before I walked around the small, wooden house. I helped myself through the side gate, where I found him in the backyard. He was hanging out washing on the clothes line.
“B!” Derik beamed as soon as he saw me approach.
“He
y, I thought you were home.” I smiled back as I walked up.
“Did you knock on the front door?” He guessed. “Sorry I didn’t hear you. We tried fixing the doorbell, but it’s still busted.”
“No problem.” I shrugged casually, which belied my racing heart.
I picked up some wet laundry out of his washing basket to help him hang it out.
“How are you?” Derik asked with a serious expression on his face.
“Oh…you know.” I shrugged again.
“How’s it going?” He asked sympathetically, “I mean, with your change.”
“You mean what it’s like being a Werewolf?” I asked to which he gave a nod. “Oh…you know.” I repeated, my stomach knotting. I was starting to chicken out, but the fear of him finding out about my news from another source than me and hurting him even more, made me go on. “Um Derik, I came to tell you something.”
“Yeah?” he bent over to pick up a shirt to hang next.
“Um…” I faltered, “…you’re probably not going to like this, but I thought you should know anyways.”
“Oh?” He gave a funny look, picking up a pair of jeans. I paused as I watched him hang that up next and clip on the pegs. He looked my way inquiringly, “B?”
I gazed back guiltily as my stomach shrunk and my hands started shaking. I had to glance downwards as I kicked at the clothesline post. I wished I didn’t have to do this…I would have given anything not to.
“B, what is it?” He asked concerned. “You’re not sick or anything, are you?”
“Sick?” I echoed, before I let out a bitter laugh. “Sometimes it feels like that! But no, I’m not sick.”
“Then what is it?” he stopped what he was doing to meet my gaze as he waited.
“Derik…”
“Yes?”
“Derik, I’m sorry…”
“Yeah?”
“Derik I’m getting married.”
His face fell – literally. His mouth fell open, his eyes bulged outwards and his whole face looked ashen. “You’re…what?”
“I’m getting married.”
“To who?!” He erupted angrily.
