by Lisa Ladew
“Of course, mom, it wasn’t your fault either.”
“Agreed. No one’s fault. And look at you, standing here short as me and beautiful as a flower and with this fine man by your side.”
Deborah held Dahlia with one hand, and pulled Crew into a hug with the other. “Hi, Crew. Thank you for taking care of my baby girl. I’m Deborah, but you can call me Deb, or the moon lady, if you like. That’s what my neighbors call me. They think I’m crazy.”
She pulled back and touched him on the cheek. “Or you can call me Mom.”
Chapter 36
Dahlia walked slowly around her home for the last time before the movers came. She touched her notebook and pen in her pocket, still glad to have them back with her.
She and her mate were breaking ground on a cabin behind Trevor’s house that afternoon, and they would be staying in one of his guest bedrooms until it was finished, the one her mother wasn’t sleeping in.
They’d been back in the world for four days, and she and Crew had had a small mating ceremony that had doubled as a wedding the day before, then spent the night almost alone here, at her old house. She said almost because the six burly cops surrounding the house and coming in occasionally to use the bathroom hadn’t wanted to bother them, but their presence was definitely felt.
Dahlia whipped out her notebook and pen and waited for the words to flow through her, then wrote swiftly as they did.
If I have to be in a world where the ultimate evil would like nothing more than to find me and kill me, I’m glad Crew has such strong and loyal friends. I can tell that each and every one of them will die before they ever let anything happen to me or my sisters.
She waited a moment to see if there was more but there wasn’t. She flipped back a page to reread her thoughts about the wedding, a small smile on her face.
My mom being there was the cherry on top, the icing on the cake, the gilding on the lily, and the feather in the cap. She cried the whole time and pulled everyone into a hug several times. I couldn’t look at her or I would start to cry, too.
I can’t understand how I got so lucky. I’ve never been so happy in my entire life.
She went back a page.
Crew wants small. I want small. I can tell Ella wants to throw us a party as big as the one she had, but I know that would make Crew uncomfortable, and me, too. Heather said small is good, and my mom just cried. So we are going with small. Crew says another one true mate has been found already, even if the male doesn’t quite believe it or know it himself, so maybe Ella can throw a big party for them. He won’t say who the male is, but by the worry on his face and the strange things he said in his dream last night (I hope it was a dream!), I think it is Beckett.
She frowned, remembering. Crew had tossed and turned so badly he’d woken her up. She’d shaken him and tried to wake him, but he’d opened his eyes and looked right through her, holding his hand straight out.
“Beckett, she’s not who you think she is. Follow her.”
When she’d finally gotten him to wake, he’d brushed it off as a nightmare he couldn’t remember and made a joke that it was his first nightmare since he was thirteen years old.
She turned a few more pages slowly, and reached her first thoughts since she’d gotten her notebook back.
I can’t believe that Ella is Fern from my dream world!!!! !!!! It’s like I haven’t lost her at all, except she doesn’t remember me like that. Beginning to believe in fate more every day.
Stranger than that, they’d discovered they’d known each other online, in this world. Ella had read her stories and they’d talked via instant messenger most days, mostly about wolves, although neither had known the other’s real name.
Crew’s voice called to her from her bedroom. “Doll? Are you all packed up?”
She shut her notebook and slipped it back in her pocket. For a few moments, at least.
***
Crew kissed her on the cheek and eyed the construction going on in Trevor’s back yard, a bunch of big males gathered around a table. “I’m gonna head out there and see what’s going on.”
She smiled at him and nodded, then walked through the house, listening to the rare quiet. As she reached the kitchen window, she saw Ella and Heather in the back under a large tree with snow-covered branches. A large circle of snow around them was melted down to the bare, wilted grass and neither woman had a coat on. Dahlia slipped the window open a crack so she could hear what they were saying.
Ella held a stick in her hand and was giving Heather a pep talk. “Focus, Heather, I want the fire on the end of stick. You gotta get it burning. Then I’ll drop it and you do that puff of hot air thing you do to catch it and make it fly backwards.”
Heather put her hands on her hips. “I hate practicing on you. Trevor will slay me if I burn you.”
“Have you burnt me yet?”
Heather’s voice was pouty, like a young girl caught in mommy’s makeup. “No.”
“You focus better when I hold it. Just like I was able to lift you off the ground before. I can’t lift anything else that’s near as heavy as you are. Just you.”
“Are you calling me fat?”
Ella’s voice was teasing. “Probably not, since you’re taller than me and still weigh less than me. But if you want me to call you fat, I will.”
Dahlia slid the window closed and headed out to where her sisters were training.
When they noticed her the smiles on their faces welcomed her home.
“Ladies,” she said. “I think I know the secret to what you two are trying to do.”
She paused for effect, until Heather rolled her eyes. She laughed and stepped forward, looking up towards the sky, trying to think of something to wow them with.
The way she was feeling, it had to be something joyful. Clouds shaped like kittens, maybe, or flowers bursting through the snow, blooming four months too early.
“About that secret. It’s emotion. Watch.”
She closed her eyes and opened her imagination, excited to see what happened next.
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Notes from Lisa
(If you read OTM3 first, be sure to go back and read OTM1 and OTM2, there’s a lot of back-story in those books.)
Crew was so fun to write, and boy did I enjoy watching his and Dahlia’s journeys. Crew never saw it coming, and when it all turned around for him, he jumped in with both feet. I hope you enjoyed reading him. I am a bit nervous about all the world hopping and I can’t wait to hear from a few people whether it was too much or not (crossing fingers it wasn’t).
So, what’s next for OTM? Beckett’s coming next (what’s his big secret?), then maybe Mac (is his otm gonna be sweet or spicy? What do you think?). Then we’ll have to see what happens. Don’t ask me, I don’t have a clue, but I hope it’s sexy and fun and a little bit dangerous ;)
Please, join me in my naughty women-only (sorry guys) writer’s group I share with Jamie Garrett and Adele Huxley.
OR, come talk about OTM in my spoiler group.
Wondering what to read next of mine? Depends on what you like. (all are romantic suspense)
Firefighters/FBI?
Billionaires?
Female cops?
Thriller romance?
