by Ryan Michele
“Kenly, what is going on, dear? You know your father and I are on vacation.” And you’re bothering us, she leaves out. Ugh.
“This is important. Do you know a guy by the last name of Camp? David Camp?” She makes some movement on the other end, like she’s covering up the speaker and talking, hopefully to my father and not one of her flavors of the minute.
“No. Your father and I don’t know anyone by that name. What is going on, dear?”
And this is going to be the hard part. “Mom, I need you to put Dad on the phone for a minute.”
She hmphs.
“Hello?”
“Hey, Dad. I have Grams here with me.”
“Hi, son.”
“What is going on? Is something wrong?”
“Son, we need you and Mary to get on your private jet and come to us. It’s very important,” Grams demands more than asks.
“Are you hurt?” My father actually sounds a bit concerned. Just a bit though.
“Not anymore, but I could be if you don’t come.”
“Son. For once, listen to your mother. She knows.”
He sucks in a deep breath. “Kenly knows?”
“Oh, son, she knows and now she needs your help.” There is so much more to this story that I want to know, but right now isn’t the time.
“Shit,” he mutters.
“Dad, how long would it take you to get here?”
“I can have the plane ready in twenty minutes. Shit. Kenly, are you sure you’re okay?” For that brief moment, I actually feel his concern. It’s kind of nice and I’m holding onto it. Don’t know when I’ll ever get it back.
“Yes. I am fine. But I really need your help. What airport can you fly into?”
“First, you’d have to tell me where you are.”
“I’m near my apartment in Lakeside.”
“Then we’ll land at the airport there in about four hours.” Four hours. Geez.
Tell him that there will be two guys with a sign that says Conner and they need to go with them, Max says in my head.
“Dad, there will be two guys at the airport. They are helping me and I need you to come with them. They’ll be holding a sign that says Conner.”
“I think you should just give me an address, young lady, and your mother and I will meet you there.” I look to Max. This is how my father is. Wants everything his way or no way. Control freak.
“Sir, this is Max. I need you to come with the guys. Your daughter needs your help.”
“And who are you?”
“My boyfriend,” I jump in. No need in scaring the shit out of him yet. “Just hurry up and get here.”
“Fine.” My father disconnects.
“Well, he sure is something,” Max groans, flopping down onto the bed.
“Try raising him. He totally abandoned all of the magic and went on to be a doctor. Not that I’m not proud of him for that, but he never should have denounced the magic. Never.”
All of this is very interesting, and I want to know it all, but not now. I’m tired and need a break.
“Grams, I need a nap. All of this is too much and I need a break.” I plead with my eyes.
“And that is my cue.” She smiles. “This may not have been what I thought your life would become, but this is your destiny and you need to embrace it. And not just the wolf inside of you. The magic too.” She smiles, leaving the room.
“Magic,” I whisper. Never thought everything would flip so far upside down in my life. I flop down next to Max who wraps me in his arms, kisses the top of my head, and I fall fast asleep.
Kenly
MY NERVES ARE SHOT. Not only am I pacing, but my wolf is too. I feel the urge to run and run far. But I can’t. Gary called a bit ago and told Max they were on their way with my parents in tow. What if they refuse to go along with this? What if I can’t convince them to?
Strong hands grip my hips, stopping my movements. Max. I feel him all the time. When he went to get something to eat for us earlier and was only gone for like ten minutes, my wolf whined and I felt horrible pains in my chest. As soon as he got back, perfectly fine.
So I’m really rethinking this whole moving away thing. If I can’t be without him for ten minutes, how in the hell am I going to be away for days? My wolf growls. I hear you, sister.
“Relax. It’s going to be fine.” He pulls me into his body and I suck him in, completely relaxing my wolf. I love that he can do this for me. I love that one simple touch erases all the anxiety in my body. It’s like he takes on the burden of it and lets it rest on him instead.
Xavier and Zara enter the room, his arm wrapped around her shoulder. Their love is clear as day, but from what I hear they have only been together a short time. In my old human world, it would never work, but here it just does. It’s strange but beautiful.
“All right, Kenly. You know the plan?” How could I not? We’ve gone over it and over it the past hour, backward, forward and inside out.
“I know it, but I also know my parents. If it will affect their careers in any way, they will have issues. And this will.” I sigh. “But I’ll do my best to convince them.”
“Where is your grandmother?” I haven’t seen her the past thirty minutes. She said she needed to do something, so I left her to it.
“Who me?” The woman I knew as my Grams is just a figment now. A stunning young woman stands in her place. I’m not sure how long it will take me to get used to this.
“Hey, Grams. They’re on their way.”
Grams glides into the room, almost floating on air. Wow. “Child, whatever happens we will deal.” Max’s arm tightens at her words. “My son is stuck in his ways, but we will figure this out.”
She’s not lying. I always wondered had I grown up with normal parents, how different my life would have turned out. Had I had the ones that would watch a movie or play a game with me, instead of pawning me off on whoever was around at the time. What if my dad took me for a hike in the woods or to the father/daughter dinner I asked him to, which he excused himself from because he had to work.
Xavier’s phone rings. “Yes.” He nods, putting his phone away.
“They’re here. Walking up to the steps.” I suck in a breath. Shit. This is it.
Max pulls me into his body, squeezing me tight. It will be fine, babe. Breathe. I try to follow what he says but it seems as if my chest is constricting. This is not how one is supposed to act when they see their parents.
The entryway door opens and all eyes focus on my parents. One look and I want to roll mine. Both in pristine tailored suits. My mother in a soft gray and my father in charcoal gray. Well, aren’t they matchy-matchy.
My mother’s brown hair is pulled back into a tight bun at the nape of her neck and her makeup is done to perfection. You won’t see a pimple on that woman’s face. My father’s dark hair is cut and styled with so much with gel or something that it would probably prick someone if they touched it. Their eyes are clouded in confusion when they focus on me.
“Hi, Mother. Hi, Father.” I give a slight wave and the nerves really kick in. I start bouncing from foot to foot, almost swaying. Max pulls me tighter, halting me, and I’m thankful, his presence calming me.
“Dear, where are we and what is this all about?” My mother steps to me but her eyes are taking in the home, every single detail. When her brows scrunch as she looks at the dining area, I say nothing. She’s not ready to hear that we have huge pack of wolves that will be here to eat in a few hours. I need to get her past this first.
“Mother, this is Max…” Shit, do I call him my mate or how does that work? I’m your mate, his words demand in my head. “My mate,” I finish to a gasp from my father.
“Thank you for coming,” Max says politely but doesn’t outstretch his hand.
“Mate? Who talks like that?” my mother asks and scans the people in the room, eyes passing right over my Grams. I want to laugh at her for not recognizing her, but don’t. “And who are all these people?”
“This is Xavier, our alpha, and his mate, Zara. The males who picked you up are Gary and Mal.” I look over to Grams and she shakes her head no. What the hell is that about?
My mother shakes her head in obvious confusion. “Alpha, mate. What does all this mean?”
“Why don’t you two have a seat?” It’s not every day you learn your child is a wolf. Maybe they need to sit for this.
“I will stand, young lady. Tell me what is going on.” My mother crosses her arms over her chest and taps her foot like she did when I was a child. I didn’t do a lot of bad things, but this is the pose she would take when I did. Ugh.
“She asked you nicely, now I’m telling you, sit down,” Max booms, his voice level and lethal. My parents stand there in momentary shock, and I have to wonder if Max flashed his don’t-mess-with-me eyes at them.
“Young man, you will not talk to us this way. We want answers. Now.” My father demands and Max’s body vibrates with anger. The tension in the room grows thick. I can even feel scary-as-hell waves coming off of Xavier.
“Let me, Max.” My Grams steps forward, but still neither of them have a hint of who she is. “Robert, I expected better from you. You do not walk into someone else’s home and show your pretentious ass. And you.” Her gaze focuses on my mother. “You act like you are owed everything in life. Princess, I have news for you, you are not. These kind people asked you to sit. If you don’t, I’ll make you.”
“M-mom?” Dad questions, his brows furrowed in concentration as he stares at her face.
My mother gasps. “That is not your mother. Your mother is an old bitty. Okay, so she has the bitty part down, but she’s obviously not old.”
“All these years, Mary, and you still haven’t learned.” Grams lifts her hands and says a few soft words. Instantly, her body is transformed into the Grams I’ve known all my life. The one with her gray hair in a small bun, flowered blouse, and knee-length skirt. “Now. Do you see me?” she chastises, but her voice is still the sing-song one, not the one I grew up with.
“How did you…? What did you…? Maggie?” My mother steps backward, running into my father who closes his eyes.
“Guess the cat is out of the bag, Dad. Or should I say witch?” I joke as my Grams busts out laughing, changing herself back to young. “Now, please sit.”
My mother hastily moves to the brown leather couch to her right and my father follows. “Father, you want to fill Mom in on something or you just want me to get down to business?” Mother’s eyes slice to his and narrow as her lips pucker. Hell, she didn’t even get this ticked when she caught him with a woman at an office party in the coat room.
“Yes, Robert, why don’t you fill me in here?”
My father sighs loudly and grumbles beneath his breath, “I have a touch of witch in me.”
Grams scoffs. “A touch my ass, son. You should have been the next Ultimate Wizard.”
Father’s eyes turn to her. “I didn’t want any part of that evil.”
My Grams’s face turns stony as ice, something I’ve never seen in all my years. Even Max jolts and not much gets him. “Son, you’d best refrain from the name-calling. You know what can be done to you with a flick of my hand.”
Fear glints in my father’s eyes. “Let me rephrase.” I hold back a small chuckle at his change of heart. I wonder what Grams has on him. A question for later. “I didn’t want to be part of that magic so I opted out.”
Grams rolls her eyes in annoyance. “You don’t ‘opt out’ like it’s some sort of business deal. It’s in your blood, young man.”
“As entertaining as it is watching you two babble back and forth, we have more important things to cover,” Xavier says in his don’t-mess-with-me tone, and everyone takes notice. “Ma’am, your husband is a full-out wizard. He hides it and doesn’t practice, but it’s there. Your daughter is also part witch.”
Mother’s eyes come to mine, unsure of the words. She really had no clue. Wow. That’s interesting. “This isn’t possible.” My mother’s hushed voice spreads through the room, the disbelief dripping from it.
I need to get this moving along. “Yes, Mother, it is. Okay, here is the situation. I am now a wolf.” My mother and father look at each other and burst out laughing. I’ve been in their spot and felt the same way so I let them have their moment. “Okay, now that you’ve gotten that out of your systems, I need your help. You are in Raber wolf pack territory right now. Xavier is the alpha of this pack and Max, my mate, is the beta. That means that Xavier runs the show and Max is second in command.” I’m happy for those talks with Max when I was too exhausted for more sex, but not quite ready to sleep. During our bed chats, I learned a lot.
My parents stare at me like I’ve gone mad. I sit in the chair in front of them, Max standing behind me with his hands on my shoulders for comfort. “Remember the guy I told you about? Camp?”
“Yes, but we don’t know of him,” my father snaps.
“Well, he says that you two sent him here to our pack to rescue me, going on about some wolves attacking me, which is totally asinine.” I’ve never been a good liar, but I think that came out okay. “He wanted me to go with him and his small army of followers. I need you to talk to Camp and tell him that everything is fine, and he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. That I was born part witch and part wolf.”
My father stands abruptly. “You want me to go out there and lie for you? Do you know what that will do to my reputation…to my career? If it ever got out that you were in fact not born wolf, which I want to know how in the hell you became one, it would destroy everything that your mother and I have built. Not to mention, the fact I have witch magic inside of me would be revealed. It would ruin us. I will not lie. I refuse.”
“I won’t lie, either,” My mother tacks on.
“Father. I am a wolf now. I went through the change. If we don’t get Camp to back off, he’s going to cause trouble, and right now we don’t need any trouble. We just want to live our lives and be happy.” I try, but Father’s brow tells me he’s not going for it.
“You mean to tell me that you are giving up everything to come here and live with these…animals?” my father yells, but at Xavier and Max’s growls takes a small step back, falling down onto the sofa. He quickly rises again.
“You will refrain from talk like that, unless you want your throat ripped out.” This comes from Xavier and I have no doubt that he would do it in a heartbeat. Might be better for all of us at this point.
“Sorry,” my father grumbles quietly under his breath. “How did you become this wolf?”
We all decided not to tell my parents exactly what happened. The less they actually know the better. “I must have had some wolf in me, too. I saw Max and felt an instant attraction to him.” That was not a lie. “Found out we were mates, and I changed over.”
“You’re lying,” my mother insists. Even when I was a child and I was telling the truth, she would accuse me of lying. Good thing I’m no fool to this threat.
“No. I’m not.” I look her dead in the eye. “He’s my mate. I will spend the rest of my life with him, and that is that.”
“I do not think so. You will marry someone of proper stature in our community. We already have suitable men checked out and ready to approach you.” My mother has lost her ever-loving mind and Max’s growl becomes hostile. I reach up to his hand on my shoulder and give him a slight squeeze, trying to soothe him. Hopefully it’ll work.
“First, Mother, I will never marry anyone that you have picked for me. I want nothing like you and father’s relationship. I want trust, honesty and monogamy.” My mother gasps, placing her hand to her chest like that word is killing her this very moment. “So you can get that out of your head. I just need you to tell Camp that you do not need any assistance. And if pressed, you will tell them that I was born witch and wolf.”
“No. Absolutely not. This will look horrible on our family. They will know your father is a…” She stumbles. “Witch or whatever.”
“Wizard.” Grams corrects.
“Whatever. No one can know that. They will think that they have been lied to all these years and been treated with some type of bad magic or something. And my career? Have you even thought about that? What will people think of me? What will the ladies at the club think? This is just atrocious! I will not do this,” my mother rambles on.
I rise, breaking free from Max. My wolf needs to move, I need to move. I feel like I’m caged and fighting to get out. But I can’t let my wolf out. I haven’t switched since I changed and Max wanted to wait until all this bullshit was over with. Fat chance of that happening.
“Look,” Max says, “you do this, your daughter’s out of your life and you don’t have to deal with anything again.”
“The words alone will ruin us. Absolutely not!”
I clutch my hands into fists, trying to calm myself, but it’s proving more difficult than I thought.
“Woman, don’t you give a shit about your daughter?” Max’s growl reverberates through the room.
“Of course we do.” Fat chance, Mother.
“No, you don’t because if you did, you wouldn’t even have to think about this. It would already be a done deal and we would all move on. Sure, it may affect how some look at you, but who gives a shit. If they really like you and respect you, they’ll come back. If not, fuck them,” Max says through clenched teeth.
Grams grabs my arm. “I like him,” she whispers and winks. I give her a soft smile, but it doesn’t stay there long.
My parents have no idea of the threat against the wolves if words gets out that I was turned over by an attack. They have no idea of any of it, but that isn’t an excuse I can give them. They flat-out don’t give a shit about me and that sucks ass. I bite my thumbnail as I pace back and forth. What am I going to do? How am I going to fix this? Xavier, Max, and the pack are counting on me.
I give it one last shot, moving in front of them so our eyes connect. “I need you to do this for me. It is important. I don’t ask you for anything. I stay out of your hair. I just need this small thing and I will be out of your lives. Please,” I beg and feel like a damn heel for doing so. Why can’t they see that this is just wrong? Flat-out fucking wrong? “Everyone needs to know that I am not a just human that got turned into a wolf. They need to know that I have magic inside my veins and that part of me is wolf, that way things between the wolves and humans will stay the way they are.” I plead with my eyes, but from their looks I can tell their answers. Their careers and “friends” are more important than I am. Always have been, always will be.
