by Ines Johnson
Chapter Nine
Pierce followed Viviane off the lonely road and down a graveled path. He hadn’t seen any houses or other signs of life for the last ten minutes that they walked. It had been ten minutes spent mostly in silence.
He’d tried to make small talk with Viviane. She offered single-syllable answers. Or she trailed off mid-response. Obviously the encounter with her mother had upset her more than it had him.
Pierce had met a lot of quirky souls on his travels. True, no one’s mother had ever stood in front of him stark naked. Actually, no. That wasn’t true. There had been that one time in a fae town…
His feet trudged down the lane. If he were honest, he’d admit that the encounter with the Alpha of the Veracruz pack had rattled him. He’d seen naked female wolves pre and post shift. He’d seen older women and younger women shifting between their dual natures during Moon Festivals. But the power that oozed from Viviane’s mother was like nothing he’d ever encountered.
He hadn’t had the occasion to come across many wolves while out roaming. Lone wolves steered clear of other wolves. This was the first time he’d been in a wolf town on his travels. He hadn’t planned to stop in Sonora. He’d only planned to pass through on his way down to Mexico. Now that he was here, his steps slowed.
Out around him, he saw rolling fields of green and brown, pastures of blooms for miles without a fence or a building or a speck of concrete. Even though he walked slowly, he panted from the desire to shift and run.
He looked over at Viviane. She twisted and chewed at her lip. His slow gait came to a near stop. His incisors sharpened. His pupils glowed as his gaze focused on the plump, pink skin of her lip. It reminded him of a bubble that begged to be burst.
Her hand dropped. Her lips parted in an alarmed O. Then her mouth clammed down into a determined line.
Pierce realized he’d stopped moving and was now staring at her. He looked away, uncertain what had come over him, even more uncertain how to explain it to her. She was looking to him for help, not to leer at her like a dog in heat.
Before he could gather himself, Viviane marched over to him and locked her arm around his bicep. Her grip was like a vice.
“Don’t worry, it’ll be over before you know it.” She gave him a tug that propelled him forward.
He followed without protest. The vice-like grip tightened on his arm. He realized that the cinch was Viviane worrying he’d stopped in the middle of the road to back out of their agreement. He let her believe that rather than the truth; that he was trying to master his wolf’s desire for her, because surely it was the wolf and not man that had stopped in the middle of the road.
His wolf wanted to bite her again, but this time in a more intimate spot. The man knew they couldn’t go there, not with all she’d told him about her predicament. This was temporary, and it wouldn’t due to bring sex into the mix no matter how much her lips begged him to bite.
“I’m just going to introduce you to everyone. You’ll stay for dinner.” The command in her voice echoed that of her mother’s.
Pierce opened his mouth, compelled to respond to it. “I-”
But Viviane rushed on, propelling his body forward with her grip and not letting him get in a word edgewise with her mouth.
“It’s the least I can do,” she said. “Especially after my mother. And after Jesus. And, Goddess, after I lost my breakfast on you earlier this evening and got you kicked off the train. Dinner is the least I can do.”
“Viviane.” He planted his feet to stop their momentum. They came to an abrupt halt near a fork in the road. Viviane opened her eyes wide, wide as the Moon, and brought her hands to her chest in supplication.
“Pierce, please.” Her blue eyes glowed overbright, but not with moonglow. They glowed with unshed tears. She took a deep breath and with her inhale, the tears were sucked back into her person. “Just do this for me. I promise I won’t let my mother kill you. I was joking. She’s never killed anyone.”
“Viviane, it’s-”
“Okay,” she thew up her hands. “Maybe she’s maimed a few men. But she’s an alpha. A female alpha. Males challenged her, and she had to stand her ground. Sure, she’s broken a few bones. Maybe left a couple of permanent scars. But I swear no one has died. At least not since the last time I’ve been home.”
Her chest heaved from exertion at the end of her plea. With her exhale, the unshed tears glistened at the corners of her eyes. Pierce tried to look away from the twin orbs.
“What was I thinking asking you to help me?” She covered her face with her hands. “It was too much, and I knew it.”
Pierce froze at the accusation. His hand rose to the back of his neck to work out the twinge that returned. The same hand trailed down to his heart to scratch at the ache there.
He hadn’t been about to run. Well, he wanted to run, but not away. For the first time in… perhaps forever, he didn’t itch for something new. He was curious about what was before him.
He wanted to poke at the cacti. He wanted to roll around in the endless fields. He wanted to chase after the abundant life that scurried through the night in the underbrush. He wanted to find the end of the horizon in the fields that stretched off into forever.
But clouds of doubt hung low on the horizon. Pierce looked back at Viviane’s covered face. He wondered if any of those unshed tears were falling into her palms. His lips formed in a grimace at the straightness of her spine and the tension in her shoulders. He ached in his gut to pull her close and hold her until she went supple and soft in his arms.
Viviane Veracruz was a strong woman. But that strength could be the death of her if she didn’t let anyone in. Pierce got the impression from the menace in the male alpha and the eyeful he’d received of her alpha mother, that Viviane didn’t have the opportunity to be vulnerable often.
He reached up and tugged at the hands that covered her lovely face. “It’s not too much. I can do it.”
Her eyes were moist, and she looked away from him. “No, you can’t.”
“I said I would,” he said. “And I will. I’m not backing out.”
Pierce held onto Viviane’s hands and she let him. She turned her face to him. When she did her eyes were dry and her chin was high.
“But you hesitated back there.” She took her hands back.
“Because I wanted to run.”
Her face fell.
“No, I mean, on the land. I wanted to shift and run.”
“Oh?” She turned and looked out at her homeland as though it was the first time she’d seen it. “Yeah, it does have that draw on shifters.”
“I can run later.” He grinned at the double meaning of his words. “I’ll come and meet your family. I’ll stay for dinner. Then I’ll run; figuratively as well as literally. Just like I promised.”
She pressed her hand to her stomach. The movement looked unconscious to Pierce. She took a deep breath and bounced her head twice in acceptance. Then she turned and took an unsteady step towards her home.
They began walking again. Their shoes left the spongy earth and crunched over a graveled pathway. A house came into view. It was a sprawling ranch that spanned nearly a quarter of an acre. Artificial lights shone bright as the sun from each and every window. And unlike a traditional ranch, there was a second story.
“The operation is a bit smaller after the turf wars,” Viviane explained. “Many of the cubs who were born here left the ranch and now live in town. There’s just my mother and sister, and my mother’s sisters and their families that remain.”
Pierce nodded as he looked at the smaller houses that fanned out around the manse. They were all dark with a look of abandonment about their faces.
“My family’s a little different from… normal,” Viviane said as they drew closer.
“Isn’t that the definition of different? Not the norm.”
“What?” Viviane alternated between chewing at her nails and twisting her bottom lip.
Pierce’s incisors throbbed at t
he motion of her fingers. She twisted her bottom lip until it plumped. While she twisted her bottom lip, her tongue struck out at her top lip. Pierce found himself moving closer to her.
She released her lips and rushed away from him. Pierce blinked. He balled his hands into fists as his arms reached out to catch her. When his vision cleared he saw Viviane rush into the arms of two dark-haired women.
“Tia Stella. Tia Bianca.”
“What have you done now, girl?” A tall, thin woman with long limbs embraced Viviane. Her height and limbs reminded Pierce of the Saguaro cacti they’d seen on their walk here.
“Your mother ran by in a flash of fur.” The other woman was the exact opposite of the first; short, and stout with a healthy set of curves all around.
“Nothing new,” said Viviane as she received hugs and kisses from each in turn. “We had a disagreement.”
“Who is this?” said the stout woman with eyes as bright blue as Viviane’s.
Viviane turned to Pierce. She took a deep breath. Her chest rose and her spine straightened. “This is my mate.”
The way she said the statement brooked no argument. Pierce felt the urge to rub his hand at his own collarbone to feel for a claiming mark.
“Ooh.” The single syllable stretched across both women.
Viviane came to stand by his side. “Pierce, these are my aunties. This is Stella.” She pointed to the short woman who gave him a sly smile. “And this is Bianca.” Aunt Bianca’s eyes were a shade darker than Viviane’s. She frowned at Pierce.
“Well, he’s upright,” said Aunt Bianca. “So I guess he doesn’t need any medical attention.”
“No,” said Viviane. “She didn’t harm him.”
“Yet.” And with that single word, Aunt Bianca’s dark eyes twinkled.
Gravel crunched and a well-used pickup truck pulled up. Viviane hopped from one foot to the other and then took off for the truck’s driver’s-side door.
“Tio Diego.”
The door opened and a large man in a cowboy hat and checkered shirt swooped Viviane into his arms. “Hello, precious girl.”
“Hey, cuz.” Another big male approached from the passenger’s side. “You’re back.”
Viviane hopped down from her uncle’s embrace and embraced the younger male. “DJ, look how you’ve grown.”
DJ dodged her attempt to scruff his hair. “I turned eighteen while you were away.”
“Who is this?” Uncle Diego eyed Pierce. Unlike with Jesus, there was no hostility in the older male’s eyes, only curiosity.
Viviane came to stand between her two, male family members. “This is my mate, Pierce.”
“You mated?” DJ said.
Viviane’s jaw steeled and her fists balled. “I am not a lesbian.”
“I never thought you were.” The younger male threw up his hands in a block. When he found no punch forthcoming, he lowered his hands and dared to continue. “I just never thought you’d find a man who could handle you.”
Pierce chuckled. Viviane flashed her eyes at him next. Undaunted, Pierce sauntered over to her and put his hand at the small of her back.
“I don’t know what everyone’s talking about?” he said. “Vivi is the most level-headed, thoughtful, and sweetest woman I’ve ever met.” He planted a chaste kiss on her forehead.
She gaped up at him. As did everyone in her family.
It was DJ who broke the silence, whispering to Stella. “Has he met Tia Gloria?”
Stella shushed him with a shove into his abdomen. DJ winced and stepped out of the woman’s range of fire.
“Welcome to the family.” Diego extended his hand. “I’m Viviane’s uncle, by marriage. Stella is my mate.”
Pierce took his hand and shook. Diego pulled him in close for a hug, but then whispered in his ear, “If you ever need to… talk, you come find me in the fields.”
He released Pierce with a glance that said both Good luck and I’ll be seeing you soon.
DJ stepped up next and offered Pierce his hand. “I’m his son, Diego Junior. Just keep your head down and you might make it out alive. Ouch!”
His mother got in a sneak attack on his ribs.
Viviane stepped in and pulled Pierce back to her side. “We’re going to head inside now.”
Everyone nodded. Solemn expressions lit their faces in the moonlight. Viviane and Pierce turned to leave and headed for the big house at the end of the drive.
“That went well,” Viviane said.
Pierce wasn’t so sure. He looked off into the horizon. Down beneath the Moon all he could see was free ranging land. His wolf itched to break free and run in the pastures. Soon, he soothed it. Soon.
From the corner of his eye he caught movement. Each member of Viviane’s family trailed after them a short distance. Their movements slow. It reminded Pierce of a funeral march.
Chapter Ten
Viviane took a deep breath as she reached for the door that led into her home. It was shut tight. When she was a cub, the big white door had always been open, and she’d simply pass through the screen door to get inside. But there were no more cubs on the land.
Until now.
Viviane slid a hand over her belly. She had to go in there and make peace with her mother. If not for herself then for her unborn baby. She pushed open the large, wooden, white door and then pushed open the thin, metal screen door.
Her feet paused at the raised threshold. It was all as she remembered it. The muted, yellow walls with fingerprint stains starting at the ankle and rising all the way to her hips. Those stubborn smudges still ignored the insistent press of a wet cloth. The plush, red sofa set was the same, but the blankets covering its spills were different since her last visit.
It smelled different too. Her home always smelled of fresh cut grass, newly lain hay, and damp wood chips; like her mother. But Viviane noted a scented candle burning over the mantle. She wrinkled her nose at the sweet, vanilla scent burning off the wick.
The pictures on the mantle were the same. That shocked her. After their last argument, she’d half expected her mother to remove all traces of her from the frames. But that would’ve been a difficult chore with Viviane’s face appearing twice in each photo. The first iteration of her smiled brightly through thick, wavy curls. The second iteration of her frowned through a set of springy curls that clung around her head like a halo.
“Vivi?”
Viviane turned into the arms of her sister. “Rhetta”
She buried her face in Rhetta’s springy curls, inhaling deeply. Rhetta smelled of musty hay, with a hint of manure, and a strong whiff of wet dog. Viviane took another deep breath of it, at last feeling like she was home.
Rhetta pulled her away and looked at her collarbone. “So, it’s true. You’re mated.”
Viviane could only tug her lip into her mouth. She could never lie to her sister. Strong footsteps sounded behind her. She was already coming to recognize Pierce’s gait.
“By the Goddess, you’re a twin.”
Rhetta peered over Viviane’s shoulder and narrowed her already squinting eyes at Pierce who came up beside Viviane.
“I mean,” he cleared his throat, “by the Goddess, it’s your twin.” Pierce aimed that winning smile at Rhetta.
It didn’t move Rhetta. Nothing moved Rhetta.
They were twins, which of course was a frequent enough occurrence with wolf shifters. And like with all shifter twins, Viviane and Rhetta looked alike but not identical. Viviane’s hair fell down her shoulders in curly waves. But Rhetta’s hair curled tight to her head. Viviane’s eyes were bright, clear blue like her mother’s. Rhetta’s eyes were dark blue, near black, except for a few bright spots around her irises. It wasn’t hard to coax a smile or a laugh from Viviane if the mood was right. The best you could get out of Rhetta was a small, quick jerk at the corner of her mouth.
“I’m so excited to finally meet you,” Pierce said. He placed his hand at the small of Viviane’s back. The weight of that hand anchored her in th
is familiar place, like the stains and sofa and smells couldn’t.
Pierce reached his other hand out to Rhetta. Rhetta stared at it. Then back at him.
“I see I got the second prettiest sister,” Pierce tried. “But I’ll make due.”
Rhetta’s lips remained an unconvinced, unquirking line of unimpress.
Pierce turned to Viviane in defeat. Viviane almost chuckled. He was likely used to having women fall at his feet. He was in for a rude awakening with the Alcede women.
Only for the night though. He would be leaving in the morning. She couldn’t forget that, even though his hand at her back gave her a sense of security.
Viviane stepped out of his embrace. “Where’s mama? Did she go to her room?”
“She left out the back,” said Rhetta. “Said she was taking the herd out to graze.”
“In the middle of the night?”
Rhetta shrugged. “There’s not much in the fields.”
That worried Viviane more than her mother’s avoidance of the situation of her fake mating. Though these lands were more fertile than they were in the 21st century, the rain was a fickle master. Without it, the sheep had nowhere to graze. Without a steady food source, the sheep would perish. Without the sheep, the ranch would perish.
“Pierce?” called Tia Stella. “Will you give us a hand setting the table?”
“You’ll come to learn that everyone has chores in this house,” said Tia Bianca.
Viviane knew better than to defy her aunts, especially when they stood together. One Veracruz woman, you might take down. Two? Better off facing a stampeding bull.
But, as seemed to be his way, Pierce smiled good-naturedly. “Of course,” he said.
He leaned in and bussed Viviane on the cheek. She watched him take off down the hall. She placed her hand at the warm spot on her cheek.
“Do you love him, Vivi?”
Viviane dropped her hand as though her cheek burned. She opened her mouth and then closed it.
“Good.” Rhetta breathed a sigh of relief. She patted Viviane’s shoulder, covering her collarbone with her blouse. “They always hurt you when you love them.”
