Temper

by Mary E. Twomey

  I clawed at the couch as Finn slid out from under me. He grabbed my wolf by the snout, prying Mason’s jaw open without caring that his own fingers were getting sliced. Mason wriggled his head free and lunged at my belly, jaws snapping. “Get her out of here!” Finn ordered, a determined snarl in place. “Ow! Damn Matruculan!”

  Ezra helped me up and ran me to the hallway bathroom, shutting me inside. “Lock the door. Mason’s not in control of himself anymore.”

  “Don’t hurt him!” I cried, hobbling to the toilet and closing the lid so I could get a good look at my calf. Mason hadn’t done a ton of ripping back and forth, but the bite had gone deep. Blood was cascading down my leg and pooling onto the hardwood floor. My lower lip started trembling as the air hit the angry bite marks. Immediately I did my best to compartmentalize the pain so I didn’t lose it altogether. I bit down on my lower lip and set to cleaning out the wound, which was impossible to do properly without some kind of antiseptic.

  Mason hadn’t recognized me. He attacked, and even when I screamed, he didn’t know who I was. I guess I’d romanticized that there would be logic left in him even as his desire to eat September grew stronger. He talked to her every night, spooning me while he stroked my belly protectively. He promised my daughter things as if she belonged in part to him. He even referred to himself as Uncle Mason when he spoke to her. Mason loved us.

  And now Mason wanted to eat my baby. Ain’t no shrink qualified to guide me through that bucket of nonsense.

  Danny banged on the bathroom door. “Let me in!” When I unlocked it, Danny nearly crashed through to the opposite wall. “Get up. You’re leaving now. We’ve got him contained to the basement, but the second he gets it in his head to turn back into himself, he’ll be at top strength and there’ll be no stopping him. Get in the SUV.”

  “Get Mariang! He might smell her baby and go after her instead!” I was scared of the damage Mason could do at full strength.

  Danny’s eyes widened when it dawned on him that there were two babies ripe for eating. “Oh, shite! Get in the car!”

  I grabbed the hand towel off the rack and limped as fast as I could to the driveway. I was barefoot and cold as the light dusting of snow that had been accumulating after the sun went down iced my toes.

  “October? October!”

  The voice that reached me cut worse than the teeth marks and stiffened me more than the snow on my bare feet. I turned as if in slow motion and saw none other than Von tearing up the driveway toward me at full speed.

  I reared back in shock, my butt bumping against the side of the SUV. My mouth fell open at the sight that had once been beautiful, but now was only painful. The man with messy black hair, lips meant for kissing, a tall, lean and muscular body, but totally devoid of the smirk I adored stood before me, taking my breath away and shocking me even more than an attack from Mason.

  He reached for me, but then inhaled sharply the scent of my blood. He looked down at my leg in alarm and recoiled.

  “No!” I cried, cocking my fist and taking a wide swing. I didn’t want to make contact, only to show him I was ready to defend myself if it came to it. “Back up! You can’t have my blood! It’s mine!”

  “I’m completely under control. I don’t care about your blood; I care that you’re bleeding.” He gripped my shoulders, looking down at my belly in fear and wonder.

  I recoiled from his touch, pushing him back and putting up my fists in preparation to fight my ex-vampire if he attacked. “Don’t bite me. Don’t even think about it. Dad!” I shouted, hoping anyone heard me.

  Von voluntarily took a step back, his arms raised. “I’m not thirsty at all. I promise you, I’m safe. Why are you bleeding? And you’re barefoot and pregnant! Get back inside!”

  “Mason bit me!” I wailed, shivering. I was wracked with pain from the freezing snow on my feet and the bite that was still oozing on my leg. “I have to get out before he hulks out and tries to eat the baby!”

  Von’s eyes widened, flinching at my shriek when he lunged forward. I didn’t realize he was just opening the car door to usher me inside. “Get in and warm up. I’ll see if I can lend a hand with Mason.” He ran into the house before I could respond, though what I might’ve said, I couldn’t tell you. I was reeling, shocked that Von was here, and that my Mason wasn’t.

  I shoved myself to the backseat of Ezra’s SUV, knowing Danny would never let me drive, bloody as I was. Plus, I didn’t have the keys anyway. I buckled up, shivering in the freezing temperature that the last days of winter just refused to give up on. I wrapped the towel around my calf, scared that at any moment, Mason could come out as his human self and rip the car door off its hinges. I held my belly, singing softly through my panic to September, assuring her that Mason still loved us, and that I’d keep her safe.

  Fourteen.

  Von, in the Flesh

  Von was back, in the flesh. For what purpose, I couldn’t begin to imagine.

  One by one, everyone came running out of the mansion, piling into the car in various stages of shivering and disarray. Ezra had his arm around Mariang, who was wild-eyed in her pajamas, hair in a messy bun, but luckily unhurt. Still I clutched her to me protectively while she cried out her fear at being awoken for such a terrible reason. Danny flew us out of the driveway once Boston clumsily shut the door. I didn’t know where we were going, but I knew we couldn’t stay and wait to see if Mason could calm himself down.

  When Von tried to sit in the empty spot next to me in back, Finn barked, “No! You’re up front. She’s bleeding, and you’re a whore for blood.”

  Von snarled as Finn slid in next to me. “I’m in control!”

  “I’ve been reinforcing the charms around the house while you were off doing who knows what. I’ve done everything I could to protect her from you. You’ll do as I say, kendi. Stay up front with Ezra.”

  Von obeyed, angrier than ever. “Oh, I could’ve bet it was you who reinforced the charms. You made it so I couldn’t find the house! I’d get close, and the address would slip out of my head. I’d try to call Ezra, and the number would be gone. I’ve been trying to get back for a month now, but I couldn’t because of you!”

  My mouth fell open as I blinked up at Finn for confirmation.

  Finn was unperturbed at the accusation. “The charm didn’t work on people who were in the mansion at the time I put up that particular protection, or on members of the council. Had you been around instead of running out on your responsibility, you wouldn’t have needed to fight through the charm at all. How’d you even get through it?”

  “I’m brilliant, that’s how. I’m brilliant, and you’re getting old. I’ve been working nonstop to try and break through. Then I do, and this is what’s happening? This is how you protect her?”

  “My job isn’t to protect her; that’s your job as her Duwende. I’m looking out for October because I love her.”

  “I will end you if you say another word like that about her! She doesn’t belong to you!”

  “Shut up, both of you!” I shouted, holding my hands up to stop the stupid fighting. The car jerked, and Finn’s arm settled around my shoulders to anchor me.

  Ezra’s tone was clipped. “We knew this was inevitable. Mason was doing so well. I thought we had another week or two with him.”

  “We’re just leaving Mason in the house by himself?” I asked, watching Ezra take his cable knit sweater off and hand it to Lynna, so she could tug it over her white hair. Even in a crisis, Ezra was a gentleman. Gotta love him.

  “I put a twenty-four-hour charm on the house to seal it. Mason can do all he likes, but the worst he’ll do is upset the house. I don’t care about that. We’re all out. That’s what matters.” Ezra was buckled with Lynna in the middle row of seats, moving his feet so Von had a little more room on the floor where he sat, fuming. “Drive to the nearest hotel, Danny. Does anyone have a phone? We have to make sure Ollie stays away.”

  Boston belched loudly, his weighted hand landing on Von’s should
er from his place in the front passenger’s seat. “Good night for you to come back, mate.”

  “Get off me,” Von sneered at his brother. “You’re drunk on the job? You’re supposed to be watching her for me.”

  Finn’s arm was around my back while his other hand clutched at his long, crooked knife. “How’s the baby?”

  I cupped my hand to where September’s head was, doing my best to calm down. “Okay, I think. Mason only bit my leg a little. It’s fine. No big deal.” I was scared and in pain, but we would live. I wouldn’t make a big fuss about it, so help me. I didn’t want Mason to feel the guilt of this misstep.

  “I’ll patch it up once we get to the hotel. Can you hold on till then, sinta?”

  “Call her that again, and I’ll kill you where you sit!” Von shouted back at Finn.

  “Would you two shut up? Finn, you don’t get to call me anything that I don’t know what it means anymore. And Von? You don’t get to care about who calls me that. Both of you need to chill out. There are bigger things going on right now. Ezra? How’re you holding up?”

  “I’m fine, sweetheart. Mason didn’t bite me at all.”

  “No, I mean are you jonesing to eat my baby right now?”

  Ezra exhaled, hanging his head. “I’ll get something to eat once we’re settled. I feel the pull, but it’s nothing I didn’t master when Mariang’s mother was pregnant. I’m much older than Mason, so I control my urges better. You’ve nothing to fear with me around.”

  “Okay. Sorry if that was rude to ask. I just have to be sure.”

  “No apologies needed. Your daughter’s safety comes first. You’ve got good mothering instincts.”

  Von perked up. “You’re having a girl?” His eyes fell on Finn’s arm around me, and the flicker of tenderness dissolved into a sneer. “Congratulations. Though I do hope she won’t get her father’s fetching gills.”

  Finn scoffed as Danny reached down between his seat and Boston’s and whapped Von upside the head. “Finn’s not the father, you wanker.”

  I put my hand on Finn’s knee to steady his temper. “Finn’s not the father. You don’t know who the father is. He’s a friend of a friend I met up with one night. Casual one-time thing. I didn’t know how to tell you.”

  Von looked over the middle seat at me and mimed stabbing himself through the heart. “You cut me, Peach. You cheated on me. If I had to put my money on who’d be the one to step out of line, I never in a million years thought it’d be you.”

  Danny glared at me in the rearview mirror while Mariang squeezed my hand. I held my chin up, flipping Danny the finger. I hoped September wasn’t listening in. “Yup. I’m a big, giant slut. Boston can pull for me, and when Mason gets ahold of himself a month or two after the baby’s born, he can reap with me. You can go back to doing whatever you were doing before this. We’ll drop you wherever you like. You’re off the hook.”

  Von turned and glared at me, speaking through gritted teeth. “I came back for you, no matter what or who you did.”

  I had an angry retort all ready for when he told me off, but when his reply came back loyal, I deflated, not knowing what to make of it.

  Boston let out a snort of derision through his buzz from too many nightcaps, his chuckle interrupted by a hiccup. “You two are terrible at this.”

  No one spoke as Danny drove us to the nearest hotel, passing up on two gross looking motels, thank goodness. Ezra checked us into adjoining two-room suites, shaking Finn’s hand in silent warning. “Thank you for your help, Captain, but it’s time our family had a few hours to sort things out, yeah?”

  “Yes, your majesty.” Finn was rigid as he waved goodbye to the others, but soft when he said goodnight to me, though there was only an hour or two left until dawn. There was a hardness in his eyes, but his words were gentle. “Be safe. I’ll come back in a week to check on you two.” His finger traced the outline of my belly, as if silently promising September he’d be back for her, as well. Then he pulled me into his arms, holding me for a moment before we parted to brave our separate storms.

  “Thank you for helping with Mason. Go on home; your country needs you.”

  He snapped his fingers at Danny. “You. Her leg’s still bleeding. See that it’s wrapped up before the vamp destroys an Omen.”

  Danny nodded with a scowl. I knew he hated anyone telling him how to do his job, with the exception of Ezra. Danny shoved Boston into the suite on the right and corralled Mariang, Lynna and Ezra to the room on the left. He turned to me with a business expression. “Go into the room and wash your leg off. I’ll get a first aid kit from the front desk and be right up.” He jabbed his finger at Von. “Stay in the hallway until I get back. Her blood’s still too fresh. And if you so much as step a toe outside of this hotel, it’ll be the last thing you do. You’re done running out on your life.”

  When Danny skulked off, Von jabbed his thumb over his shoulder. “He’s gotten cheerier since I left, yeah?”

  Fifteen.

  Danny’s Intervention

  Danny broke his eyes from dressing my wound in the cramped beige bathroom to glare at me every so often. “You should’ve told him.”

  “I don’t see why. If he’s going to run, might as well be now. I don’t want him to stay out of obligation.”

  “Would you wake up? You are his obligation, even before the baby came around. He’s your Reaper. He’s bound to you for life. So is Mason. Baby or not, he ditched his responsibilities.”

  “A baby won’t fix that. Von is who he is; you’ve been telling me that from the beginning. Now that I’m listening to you, you want me to let him in and cut him some slack? Now who’s the one with mood swings?”

  “Yes, well,” Danny grumbled, pulling the bandage a hair too snug around my leg, “you should still tell him.”

  “I’m sorry, Danny, but that’s just too tight.”

  Danny harrumphed like I’d told him he was an idiot or something. He fiddled with the bandage so it was on correctly, and stood, helping me up off the toilet lid. “Von’s better than no one. Not by much, but still.”

  “Go worry about your own fetus. When you pretend to care about what happens to me, you come off sounding like a jerk. Practice growing a heart elsewhere. I’m not interested in investing time in your learning curve.”

  Danny stomped off, glaring at me. He flung open the door and looked down the empty hallway. “Well, it’s a moot point anyways, because your prince charming split already.” His shoulders relaxed. “Oh, there he is.”

  Von’s voice forced lightness, but I could hear the strain. “Miss me already? I can’t say I blame you. How you all got along without me to brighten the mood around here is beyond me.”

  “We managed.” Danny shoved his brother into the suite with me and Boston, and left us with a bang of the door. Boston was snoring in the queen-sized bed atop the thin burgundy comforter, shirt twisted around his torso. He had his hand over his belly, and his lips were parted as he slept off too much vodka and far too much grief.

  Von and I just stood, blinking at each other in the dim lamplight. To break the building tension, I reached for the phone, calling down to the front desk for a cot.

  “You’re pregnant. You’re not sleeping on a cot,” Von said, his insistence gentle, but firm.

  “I know I’m not. You are.” I focused on Boston, who was in the dead center of the bed. I scooted him gently over to the side so I had a place to sleep, not that I’d be able to calm down now.

  “I’m not tired. I want to talk.”

  “There’s no need. I got pregnant, and you split. Anything else to add?” The whole lie of me cheating on him and sleeping with some random guy made me feel even more alone than usual, but I was firm that Von didn’t need to know what he didn’t want to know. If he wanted to be a dad, he’d have to be around first. Once he managed that, then I had options.

  No, this was not covered in any of the baby books. I was winging it, for better or worse. I’m pretty sure Mrs. Brady had never b
een in this situation before, so I had no role model to pull from who’d been psychically knocked up and abandoned.

  Von’s red garage rock band t-shirt was thin and stretched across his torso, giving me a hint at the musculature beneath. It would be a lot easier to keep him out of my head if he didn’t look like that.

  Von sighed, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jeans. “No. That’s about the size of it. You want to tell me who he was? Who was so great you threw us away for?”

  “There was no ‘us’. You were clear that you didn’t want anything serious. There was no one to cheat on, because as you made it abundantly clear, you were never my boyfriend.” I stopped myself and held up my hands. “I’m not doing this. I’ve got enough on my plate. You want out? You already know how to make good use of the door.”

  “You’re not even giving me a name?”

  “What for?”

  Von’s hands flew out animatedly. “He should be here! It’s his baby you’re carrying. I’d want to know if it was my child.”

  “You would?”

  Von blew a loud raspberry, and I could tell he was nervous. “I didn’t even really know Angela, but the day I found out I was going to be a father was the happiest day of my life. Even though it was all a lie, and Penny was never mine, it was the best lie that ever happened to me.” He stared at his sleeping brother, taking a beat to collect himself. “Penny’s the best thing that ever happened to me, apart from becoming your Reaper.”

  “Weren’t you scared?”

  “Of course I was scared. I didn’t even know if I could be around her. What if she skinned her knee and I lost my head? But I’ve learned how to be there for them as best I can.”

  “What about my girl? I mean, you’re stuck with me. Should I be worried about you losing control around her?” I hugged my belly with one hand, drawing Von’s eyes.

  “Not in the slightest.” Von sat down on the chair by the mahogany desk in the corner of the room, facing me with his elbows resting on his knees. “Let me get a few things off my chest, yeah? Let’s get it all out so we can move on. Can you handle that?”