by J. J. Massa
* * * * *
Yancey paced his small house from one end to the other. He’d always been happy there. Over the past decade, since he’d moved to Montgomery Mountain, he’d felt entirely at home here. Welcome.
Now, he felt completely left out and alone. He had a mate. There was a female out there who was his other half and he didn’t know who she was. He didn’t know where she was. She should be here with him in their house. How could this be happening?
He stopped in front of the series of pictures he had showing Riker and Bethany’s marriage, their two pups, Kaden and Kameron, dressed in sweet little bowties.
It wasn’t necessary for werewolves to marry but Riker and Lakon had mated with humans. It was only fair that they observe their mates’ beliefs. He picked up the picture of Mya and Lakon during their wedding ceremony. And beside it, a picture of Tav and Tracey on their wedding day. Ashley had been so small and shy back then.
Yancey put the picture back down with a rattle. He’d almost shattered the frame. It was just that his mate, whoever she was, could be Ashley’s age, but she was a Were.
What did she look like? How did she feel? Why was she not with him now? What had their pairing been like for her?
He remembered dancing with her, and later, how good and tight she’d felt around him. Her satin skin under his fingers, his teeth and tongue. She’d been perfect. Perfect in every way. He couldn’t remember her looks, just her. His body hardened, remembering how she’d felt to him, under him, her scent, her taste.
Where was she now? Why had she gone and left him? He inhaled deeply.
He had to get out! He couldn’t stand his own company anymore!
* * * * *
“I know what she did, Lake,” Yancey had his arms folded on the table with his face buried in them. Neither he nor Lakon seemed to realize that Mya Montgomery, Lakon’s wife, was hovering just beyond the kitchen door. “She poured soap on her shoes and clothes so that I couldn’t track her. I’ll never find her.”
Mya backed out of the room and headed for the phone. First, she called Ashley’s private number at home, but she got another girl telling her that Ashley would be home soon. She left a message on Tracey and Tav’s answering machine, too.
After that, Mya called Myles’s number at Tav’s old house. Myles told her that Ashley wasn’t with him, though he’d make sure she called her.
It was nearly midnight when the phone rang. Mya snatched it up right away, hoping that her husband wouldn’t wonder who was calling so late. She was pretty sure that he had gone out hunting with Yancey anyway.
“Ashley! Thanks for calling me back. I know it’s late. Is everything okay?” She tried to keep her voice down knowing that, if they were listening, Yancey and Lakon would hear every word.
“What’s wrong Mya? Philly said you called hours ago. Mom said there was a message from you, too. Are the boys okay?” Ashley asked, referring to Jaymes, Mikhel and Linkon, Mya’s triplets.
“They’re fine, sweet. Um, Ashley, were you in Atlanta early this morning?” Mya asked, point blank.
“Yes,” the girl responded, guardedly. Mya’s stomach lurched.
“Did you see Yancey at all while you were there?” She sat with her eyes closed, waiting.
“No, Mya, I didn’t see Yancey at all,” Ashley said firmly.
Mya released her breath. “Are you and Myles getting along okay?” She still didn’t open her eyes.
“No, Mya, we aren’t. Not really.” Mya rubbed her face, flopping back on the bed.
“Ashley?” her voice was a croak. “You wouldn’t…do anything to get back at Myles if you were mad at him, would you?” She opened her eyes and the breath left her. Lakon was standing over her, glaring down at her angrily.
“Sure, yeah, I might do something to get back at him. What did you have in mind?” Ashley sounded more than a little put out.
Mya’s eyes locked onto her husband’s glittering gaze. “I mean like—sleeping with someone else.”
Ashley was silent for a minute. “I doubt Myles would notice, Mya. He’s been pretty busy in that arena himself. I did not, however, have sex with anyone in Atlanta last night or this morning. Was there anything else?”
There were a lot of questions that Mya wanted to ask Ashley right then, but not with Lakon’s emerald glower fixed on her.
“I’m always here if you need to talk, okay?” Mya finished lamely.
“Thanks,” Ashley said in a clipped voice. It was pretty obvious they wouldn’t be having any heart-to-hearts any time soon. “Hug the boys, I’ve got to go.”
Ashley hung up. Mya hung up. Lakon continued to frown angrily at her.
“It wasn’t Ashley,” Mya breathed, relieved.
“Why did you think it could be, Mya?” Lakon growled.
“The soap on her shoes and clothes. Ashley knows how to mask her scent. I told her once.” She hated admitting that to her husband of over ten years.
“Yancey said it was a Were, Mya,” Lakon countered.
“She can make herself smell like a Were, Lakon. She has girlfriends who are Were,” Mya hoped against hope that her suspicions were unfounded. She and Lakon stared at each other in dread.
Chapter 5
“Well, did you like that last one, Ashley--you know, the secluded house with all the trees?” Philly asked over lunch at a little diner.
“Philly, it didn’t have running water. Running water is really important to me,” Ashley stressed as she took a sip of her drink.
Philly turned red in the face. “Yeah, I guess I kinda like running water myself. What’s left?”
Ashley consulted her notes. “There’s this log cabin just outside Ararat, Virginia. That’s only about twenty miles from Pinnacle. It sounds good. Two bedrooms, two baths and all furnished.”
“You don’t mind living out in the boonies with me, Ash?” Philly was feeling a little self-conscious. It was because of her that Ashley was leaving her home and family and moving to—wherever they ended up.
“You know what, Philly? I really did need to get away. I’ll miss Jacob, Christopher, the girls, and Mom and Tav. I really will. But I needed to get away,” Ashley assured her friend, reaching over to squeeze Philly’s hand.
“Thanks for being such a good friend to me, Ashley. I don’t know what I’d ever do without you. It feels like everything in my life has…I don’t know…changed somehow.” Philly’s eyes filled with tears.
Ashley scooted out of her booth and moved over to sit next to Philly. “I know what you mean, Hon,” she commiserated. “Right now, I feel the very same way.”
Both girls put their arms around each other and sniffled, fighting tears.
“Let’s go find a home, huh?” Philly finally said. She was sure everyone in the diner was staring at them.
Philly understood why Ashley’s life seemed different to her now. Jacob had forced his sister to take a hard look at her relationship with Myles, the Were she’d loved since she was eight.
Ashley and Myles had written to each other every week for the last decade. He’d come to various graduations and events and hadn’t missed her birthday once in the last nine years. Somehow, though, in all that time, he’d been able to convince himself that Ashley didn’t really love him or know her own heart. Somehow, he’d managed to miss significant details of her life.
Up until two years ago, the news accounts of Myles’s social activities didn’t ever seem to bother Ashley very much. After she turned sixteen and more and more men began hounding her for dates, she was no longer able to ignore his many romantic liaisons.
* * * * *
“I think this one is it, Philly,” Ashley said proudly as they met back in the living room. “It just has that feel.”
“Yeah!” Philly grinned. Ashley smiled fondly at her friend. Philly was practically vibrating like a live wire. “I’m gonna put stained glass in the door there, and my studio will go right in back, where that shed is. It’s perfect!”
“I think so, too,�
�� Ashley agreed. “I can sit on the front porch and do my homework and everything! I can’t wait to tell the real estate agent that we’ll take it.”
“We’ll go pay the deposit and the first month’s rent and then let’s see if we can find a big store, okay? Like a Mega Mart or something?” Ashley shrugged. They’d need a lot of things, she was sure they’d find a big store in the larger town nearby.
This time, she let Philly slide behind the wheel of her little car, tired from the hours of driving. Philly could have had her own car but felt it was too much trouble since she was on the road all the time.
“Ash, wake up!”
“Huh?” She had drifted off to sleep, emotionally wrung out. They had stopped and the car was parked in front of the realtor’s office.
“Ashley, I think--well there seems to be a problem.” She didn’t know what Philly was talking about. The tone of her voice got Ashley’s attention, though.
“Wassamatter?” Ashley swept her long dark hair from her face and then she saw him. “Sheriff Timmons,” she gasped.
The man in question walked over and tapped on her window. Ashley looked at Philly who shrugged. Shrugging back, Ashley rolled down her window.
“ Darke, um West, um…Montgomery…shoot,” the Sheriff rubbed his forehead, looking strained. “Ladies, hello. I hope you’ll take a minute and let me talk to you here.”
Philly leaned over and put a hand on Ashley’s shoulder. Ashley covered Philly’s hand with her own, giving it a squeeze. “Um, sure, Sheriff, we’ll listen. You want to sit down? Maybe in the backseat?”
The older man seemed surprised and then looked grateful. “Yes, thank you, I’ll sit.”
Both young women shrugged again and Philly hit the button that unlocked all the doors. The Sheriff pulled open the rear door on the passenger side and scooted in, pulling it closed with a loud thunk.
Philly crossed her arms in front of her body protectively. “Okay, Sheriff, what’s up? I know you didn’t come all the way up here to visit.”
Ashley was surprised at her friend’s aggressive demeanor. As a werewolf though, Philly had information that she didn’t, like scent, and hearing, both much more sensitive then that of average humans.
Sheriff Timmons wiped a hand across his brow. “No, I’m sorry, I didn’t. I have a lot of respect for both of you young ladies. Unfortunately, my boys don’t. I know that.”
Ashley nodded solemnly. He was right, the Timmons boys did not have a shred of respect for her or Philly. That had always surprised her. Sheriff Timmons seemed like such a good man. In this case, the apples had rolled far away from the tree.
“I know that,” Philly agreed. “Its almost common knowledge how they tried to overpower Ashley a few month’s back. They’re still bragging about how they nearly ‘had’ her.”
The man looked saddened for a moment. “I really don’t understand them, but they’ve always been like that.” He shook his head vigorously, almost as if he were trying to clear it. “Well, they resent that they didn’t get what they wanted and they resent that you,” he nodded at Philly, “stopped them. They seem to believe that they could have both of you if they hadn’t been surprised.”
Philly and Ashley looked at each other. Ashley didn’t know what to say. “Uh…” she started.
“I don’t know where they are exactly,” Sheriff Timmons interrupted her. “I don’t know if they know where you are,” he went on. “Is there any chance you two would just move next to some of your family?”
Ashley went to open her mouth but Philly spoke first, nearly panicked. “Oh, no! Oh, no, no!” she shook her head frantically. Turning in her seat she gasped, “We can’t, Ash, we just can’t!”
“Its okay, Philly,” Ashley soothed her, patting her hand and locking eyes with the Sheriff in the backseat. “Sheriff, you heard her. For reasons of our own, we just can’t right now.”
He looked long and hard at Ashley until she had to fight to resist the urge to squirm in her seat. “Yeah, okay,” he finally sighed. “I don’t mind if I hang around some, do you? I’ll stay out of the way as much as I can. It’s just that I can’t take a chance either of them getting a hold of you. Those boys just ain’t right, you know?”
Philly looked over at Ashley. What could they do? Ashley smiled and shrugged. “All right, Sheriff, just, let’s try to stay out of each other’s way, huh? I’ll be in school and working somewhere around here. Philly will be working in Pinnacle. I guess you can stick around if you just let us do our…things.”
Sheriff Timmons beamed at them. “I don’t know why that won’t work. I just don’t know at all.”
* * * * *
“Well, shit!” Stan Timmons tossed a spoon down onto the tabletop, earning him a glare from the waitress and several concerned glances from other diners. “Yeah, shit,” Stewie breathed, no force at all in his voice. He slumped back in his seat, shaking his head morosely. “What do you want to do, Stan?” he asked.
Stan looked at his brother, really staring through him, eyes narrowed. Stewie wasn’t the brightest bulb, far from it. Still, he would do just about anything he was told and he was usually easy company. Looking at him helped Stan think. In fact, there was never any dispute about who was in charge when it was just the two of them. He liked that.
“Okay, it’s not that big a deal. It’ll just make the winning all that sweeter when we do,” he considered aloud.
Stewie shook his head again, as if he wasn’t sure of his hearing. “But Dad’s there, Stan. He’ll keep us from ‘em.”
Stan smiled affectionately at his brother. He had to give Stewie credit. He never minded pointing out the holes in Stan’s plans, or anyone else’s for that matter. Sometimes Stan got a little rough with his brother and was a real bastard toward him sometimes. It didn’t matter.
Stewie said what was on his mind and damn the consequences. Stewie’s other sterling quality, in Stan’s opinion, was that he always did what Stan told him. Sure, he may find holes in Stan’s plans, but he did what he was told, nonetheless.
“Dad can’t watch ‘em every minute, Stewie,” Stan told him now. “Some time or other, Dad will get busy, or leave one of them alone. If we have to, we’ll get one and then go back and get the other one later,” he explained patiently.
Stewie considered this for a minute, looking out the window at the little Honda across the street and then looking back at his brother. “I want the blue-eyed one, though,” he insisted. “Blue’s my favorite color,” he smiled. He looks like a little kid asking for a plastic boat or something stupid.
Stan rolled his eyes. “You won’t be thinking about color when you’ve got her naked underneath you,” he snorted, keeping his voice lowered.
“How do you know what I’ll be thinking when I’ve got her under me?” Stewie asked, sounding as if he really was curious.
“I know you’ve had sex before, Stewie,” Stan leaned forward, looking his brother in the eye. “I’ve seen you have sex. You know how it goes. Do you really think about her eyes when…” Stan made a loose fist, simulating sex with his hand.
“Well, when I’m doing that,” Stewie mimicked his brother’s hand movement, “I sure picture her eyes. Otherwise, I don’t remember.”
Stan burst into laughter, drawing the stares of the other diners once again. “Tell you what, Stu,” he chuckled. “When you’re doing it with Blue Eyes over there, I’m gonna stop you and ask you what you’re thinking about, okay?”
Stewie couldn’t stop laughing even after his brother led him outside, long after their quarry and their father, had all driven away.
Chapter 6
Yancey was out hunting when the scent grabbed his attention. It was her scent. Hers. It was the scent of his mate.
The wind was blowing in his direction so he was able to lope silently toward her. He heard a mournful howl on the night wind, low and musical. Then he saw her.
Standing with her snout open and raised, he could see that she was a tiny thing. Small, black and deli
cate, she lifted her head and sang her sad song again. She was so beautiful. She had silver fur around her eyes, snout, neck, and legs but the rest of her was blue-black.
Carefully, Yancey moved closer. When he was less than ten feet away, she caught sight of him. Her ears went back and her tail came down between her legs. The smell of fear wafted from her.
“Don’t be afraid, Little One,” he yipped quietly to her.
“Please,” she squeaked. “Don’t come any closer.”
“I won’t hurt you, I promise.” He slowly edged closer to her.
She was backed up against the wall of the hill. She couldn’t escape. The only way out was past him. He sat down on his haunches. She still cowered against the wall.
“Please talk to me, Little One. You are my mate and I don’t know you,” he chuffed to her. The idea of it made him so sad.
“You already hurt me,” she yipped in a tremulous voice. “I’ve always loved you and then you hurt me. I don’t want to be your mate anymore.” Her words cut right to his soul.
“I never meant to hurt you. I’m so sorry. Won’t you please give me another chance?” He scooted still closer to her.
She sank to the ground and pulled her paws over her eyes trembling and shaking. “No,” she squeaked in a whisper, afraid of his actions. “Please, just, no.”
He leaned forward and licked her nose. She continued to tremble. He nuzzled her cheek and ear.
She moved one paw enough to look at him through frightened, narrowed eyes. He saw that they were a beautiful gray-blue. When she moved her paws, he edged back a little and lay down on his stomach with his own paws stretched out in front of him. He hoped he came across as non-threatening to her.
The little black wolf relaxed a bit. She watched him nervously but she didn’t try to bolt past him. He wasn’t sure what he would have done if she had.
“Won’t you tell me your name, Little Mate?” Yancey asked gently. She shook her head “no”. He smiled. “You know my name though,” he pointed out.
