“Izzy,” Lori called out as soon as the door opened. She ran over to her daughter and threw her arms around her, pulling the girl into a hug so tight it had to hurt. “I’m so sorry we didn’t tell you sooner, baby. We always thought it would be better if you didn’t know until you were older. We didn’t want to take the chance of you or your sister saying something in public, or well… we just weren’t sure how to handle things.”
“I get it,” Izzy conceded. “I don’t like any of this, but I understand it. Every bit of it.” She glanced around the room and took in each person standing near. I don’t know what she saw in the each person, but she ended up taking a step backwards toward Garrett. His hands came up and rubbed her arms in a show of support. I had to look away, because that was supposed to be my job. What a kick to the gut. I couldn’t even get angry, jealous, or anything else, because Garrett was just being a good friend. Honestly, he was being a friend to both of us. He offered her kindness, and did what I longed to do for her.
“I’m not keeping this from Liz. She needs to know. While I was talking to Garrett the thought occurred to me that somewhere out there Liz probably has a potential mate too, and she needs to know that before…” her words trailed away, but we all got her meaning loud and clear. Her sister needed to know before things got mucked up for her like they were for Izzy.
“When she gets out here after the semester,” Jackson started to say.
“No. She needs to be brought out here now. I don’t care about her class. I will take it online for her if necessary.”
“Izzy!” Lori called out, shocked at her daughter’s offer to cheat for her sister.
“What?”
“You can’t cheat for your sister on that class. She needs to earn her degree the same as you did.”
“Yeah, because her teacher failing her simply because she reminds him of his evil ex-wife is fair?” Izzy huffed out a big breath, and then continued. “We’ll do whatever is necessary to get her through to graduation on time, but she needs to hear all this before her life gets turned on its head one day too.”
“I’ll call her, and set up a flight for tomorrow,” Jackson offered.
“Okay then. Here’s the thing. I’m done for today. I’ve had about all I can take from each of you. I just want to go crash, and try to sleep off this, whatever this is.”
“I’ll take you back to the apartment,” Lana offered.
“Actually, I think I’m just going to find a hotel room. No offense, but I really don’t want to be around any of you tonight. I don’t want someone slipping in his or her thoughts, commentaries, or anything else. I just want peace and quiet to think for a bit.”
Lana looked hurt, but nodded her head. Nana had a better idea. “There’s no reason for you to get a hotel. Why don’t you go back to Lana’s place? She can stay here for tonight so you get some quiet time to think.” Lana didn’t disagree with her mom so Izzy agreed with a quick nod of her head before turning around to face Garrett. “Would you?” She didn’t even need to fill in the blanks of her question.
“Come on, my truck’s outside.”
“Thank you,” Izzy said as she followed him out. She hadn’t even acknowledged me beyond the one glance after she came in. Jesus. I knew I had a battle ahead, but this night was the biggest kick in the gut there was. I don’t know what I expected. I suppose I thought the truth would set us free, you know, to be with one another. Apparently, hope’s a bitch, and things didn’t work out the way I had envisioned. I didn’t bother with goodbyes or anything else. I turned on my heels and followed them outside. I didn’t try to insert myself in Izzy and Garrett’s little bubble of friendship and trust. Instead, I walked right over to my own truck, got in, and pulled my phone out and sent a text to Garrett.
Me: Let me know when she’s safely tucked away at Lana’s place.
Garrett: Will do.
I was almost home when another text chimed through, but I waited until I pulled in my driveway to check it.
Garrett: She’s all tucked in. Sorry about how things went down, man. I don’t think it’s as bad as all that. She just needs time to process. Make sure you give her that.
Me: You sound awfully protective of her all of a sudden.
Garrett: I just get that her world has been turned on its head, and she needs a minute to breathe. She may be your mate one day, and it will be part of my job to help protect her then, so I figure I might as well start now.
Me: Even if it’s me you’re protecting her from?
Garrett: Even if.
Me: Good.
~*~ IZZY ~*~
Garrett dropped me off at Lana’s and I had to physically stop myself from calling my sister. When she tried to call me it was the first time, ever, that I let her call go to voicemail on purpose. My heart was hurting, and I wanted nothing more than the comfort of her voice on the other end of the line, but she didn’t know what I was upset about, and I refused to fill her in on the world we know it falling apart over the phone. Our dad can turn into a wolf. How crazy is that? I don’t have anyone I trust to talk to this about anymore. How depressing is that? Ugh. I definitely couldn’t talk to Lana about Dre. What a damn mess.
I must have finally fallen asleep at some point because I woke to the smell of coffee brewing. I stretched my muscles as I yawned wondering when Lana came home and if she was going to give me hell about supposedly being Dre’s potential mate. “Morning, sweetheart!” The deep voice was familiar, but still shocking to hear when I was trying to wake up and expecting my aunt’s very feminine voice instead.
I screamed, and jumped so high I literally fell off of the couch and stumbled to a stand while trying to put distance between myself and whoever was in the room with me.
“Whoa, there PTSD. I just came to get some coffee started for you. I figured you had a rough night, and your dad should have your sister here in about thirty minutes.”
“Garrett!” I yelped out, trying to get my heart to stop racing. He just chuckled. “Don’t ever do that again. I could have killed you with my ninja moves or something.”
“Sure, would that be the not-so-stealth drooling you were doing all over Lana’s couch? I don’t know, I suppose I could have drowned in that if you managed to get me close enough. Maybe you were referring to your horizontal to vertical flailing maneuver you used to get off the couch? Now, that one was dangerous, sweetheart. It’s a good damn thing I was in the kitchen. For sure you could have taken an eye out with that one.” He says all this deadpan as I roll my eyes and try desperately to refrain from laughing at the imagery.
“You’re an asshole,” I comment.
“Yeah, well, you’re the one who wanted to be my friend, so what does that say about you?”
“I have shitty taste in friends,” I laughed out.
He laughed too. “Okay, I deserved that one.”
“Wait, did you say my sister will be here in thirty minutes?”
“Yup, sure did. Are you ready for some morning fuel?”
“I don’t do coffee.”
Garrett clutched his chest as if I’d personally wounded him. “Seriously? Who doesn’t DO coffee?”
“Me.” I think I still have Mt. Dew in the fridge. That will work for a quick caffeine fix. Garrett wrinkled up his nose, but turned to dig in the fridge anyway. He snatched the soda out that seemed to offend him personally, and turned to hand it to me. “I’m going to grab a quick shower.”
“Is that an invitation?”
“Not in your wildest dreams, Garret.”
“Oh, sweetheart, my wildest dreams are far worse than a co-ed shower, trust me!”
“Over sharing!” I called out to him as I disappeared into the bathroom. When I passed the mirror to go turn the water on in the shower I couldn’t help but notice the smile on my face. Garrett put that there. He made me forget, for a few minutes, about all the drama currently running my life. I switched the water on, and ran back out to the living room where Garrett was just settling into the couch. I ran
over and threw my arms around his shoulders, hugging him tightly, and then released him just as quick to go back to jump into the shower that should be warm now.
“What was that for?” He called out before I shut the bathroom door.
“Thank you for taking my mind off everything this morning.” I didn’t speak loud, and had it been anyone else in the other room, they probably wouldn’t have heard me. I knew he did though.
By the time I got out of the shower Garrett had breakfast set up for us on the kitchen table. I knew from the Styrofoam containers that he didn’t make it himself. “Did you run out for food?”
“Nah, it was delivered a couple minutes ago. Sit and eat before your family gets here. They’re coming here today, because your Nana Beth had company stop by unexpectedly.”
“Okay. Who delivered breakfast if my family hasn’t been by?” Garrett gave me a look that said I shouldn’t have to ask, but honestly, it wasn’t like I knew that many people who stop by and drop off breakfast. I took a bite of blueberry pancake before the answer hit me. I looked down at the take-out orders sitting on the table then. My favorites sat before me. Sausage gravy on biscuits, eggs cooked just the way I like them, blueberry pancakes. “Okay, I’m beginning to worry that someone may be a stalker.”
Garrett burst out laughing. “Not a stalker, but definitely observant.”
“So, the non-stalker has observed me eating breakfast out on the town, and took notes?” I asked as I took another bite. “I shouldn’t be worried about Ruffies in my breakfast should I?”
“Ehm, not our style, sweetheart. I speak for the entire pack when I say we all prefer our women a little feisty, and definitely lively participants in whatever plans we come up with.”
“Fine. Tell him thank you for breakfast then, I guess.”
“No need,” Garrett managed before stuffing his face full of his own breakfast.
I huffed out a deep breath then. “I guess that means he’s somewhere close by then?” Garrett pointed to the shop down below the apartment. “You might as well come up then. It’s creepy if I can’t see you listening in.” Garrett laughed so hard then, knowing I was talking to Dre and not him, that he spit out a little bit of his breakfast. “Gross, Garrett!”
“Sow-wy,” he spit out awkwardly between trying to swallow the food he still managed to keep in his mouth. A minute later there was a knock on the door. A nervous shutter rolled through me. Yeah, I just invited him up here, but that didn’t mean I was really ready to see or deal with Dre.
Garrett’s eyebrows rose in question when another knock came after I ignored the first. I just nodded my head, and Garrett got up to go answer the door. I saw him shake his head to Dre although I wasn’t sure what he was answering in the negative to. Garrett came bouncing back over to the table and sat back down in front of what was left of his breakfast. I ignored Dre’s approach, and when he sat down beside me I kept my gaze lowered to the food that I no longer had an appetite for.
“You didn’t like it?” He asked quietly.
“I liked it just fine before I lost my appetite,” I huffed out before taking what was left of my breakfast over to the trashcan and disposing of it. I caught sight of his frown, but couldn’t bring myself to feel bad. Okay, I’m lying to myself. I felt bad, I just didn’t want to care about it. I heard the grunt Dre made, but I chose to ignore it. He may have grown up in this life where a perfect mate exists and you don’t question the pull you feel to that person, but I didn’t. Nothing my dad could say now would change that either. It may have been different if my sister and I had grown up with the same knowledge, but we didn’t. I also enjoyed thinking that I had free will to make my own choices.
“I’m not trying to be a bitch here. This is the life you’ve always known, it’s the one that was just thrust on me yesterday,” I say by way of apology.
“I get that,” Dre offered as he sifted his fingers through his hair in frustration. “I’m not pushing for anything beyond your understanding of the situation.”
“That’s why you were downstairs ordering breakfast and listening in to my conversation?”
He cringed. “I just don’t know what to do here. I feel like I fucked everything up, and you not knowing about any of this stuff didn’t help ease that at all.”
“Yeah, well, it is what it is.”
“They’re here.” His face fell as he walked over to Lana’s sofa and took a seat on the far end. I glanced at Garrett and he just shrugged my way. I’m not even sure what that shrug was supposed to mean. I suppose we were all feeling a little lost in this situation. A minute later and the front door opened. Lana was the first through the door since she was the one to unlock it, and as Dre sitting on her couch came into view I saw the spark alight in her eyes. At first, it was pure unadulterated interested that flared there. Then, the frustration crept in and I watched as she bit her tongue to keep from kicking him out.
Her eyes came up to meet mine and I saw the myriad of emotions flick across her face before she got herself in check. Talk about feeling like being stuck between a rock and a hard place. It seemed I was damned if I do or don’t. He wouldn’t be with her again no matter what I decided and that weight was suddenly placed on my shoulders. Great!
“Izzy!” My sister yelped as she ran through the door and came to embrace me in a warm hug. “I gotta tell you, I didn’t think you’d stoop so low as to create a family emergency to get me out of that horrific math class, but yay you for doing it!” I chuckled into my sister’s hair before I sputtered to get the rogue strands out of my mouth.
“What can I say? I missed you,” I whispered into her ear.
“Who are the hotties in the room?” She whispered back to me. Garrett laughed and my sister removed herself from my arms to eye him skeptically.
“That’s Garrett, and the hotties have incredibly sensitive ears, so they both heard you.”
“How in the hell could they?” Liz turned to see that everyone was busy staring at the two of us. “Okay, let’s get this business over with so that I can enjoy some time with my sister. What was so important that I am going to have to do a killer semester with the woman-hating bastard of a teacher again next year?”
My dad was busy eyeing Garrett’s reaction to my sister. Garrett was simply eye-fucking Liz, which was weird to me, because we’re identical. “Really?” I asked him, and then he just grinned at me and offered a sheepish shrug.
“Please, tell me there’s no link?” My dad looked worried, but I wasn’t, because Liz’s attention never really waivered over to Garrett outside of normal curiosity.
“Nope.” Garrett sauntered over to the chair in the living room and parked his ass while trying to look indifferent instead of ogling my sister and I.
“I guess there are small miracles still in play,” my dad huffed out.
“Hey, now!” Garrett looked perturbed now. “It could be worse. I’m not all that bad, you know?”
I smiled at that. “Honestly, you are who I would have picked for my sister.” Garrett’s grin wound up to mega-watt smile status then.
“Okay?” Liz questioned while eyeing me suspiciously again.
“Liz this is Garrett and Dre,” I spoke while pointing to each as I named them.
“And they’re crashing our little reunion, why?”
Now it was my turn to sigh out the deep breath I took in. “I’m going to let daddy explain that one while I sit here and hold your hand.”
“Is this some weird mail-order bride business where you sell your daughters off to the highest bidder, because if it is I call dibs on the one Lana hasn’t been with.” Liz laughed out. When she realized no one else was laughing, aside from Garrett, she pressed on. “Sorry, I might have been reading one too many cheesy romance novels lately.”
“Oh, which one was that plot from?” I asked, ignoring the glares from everyone else.
“Oh my God!” She laughed out. “I have it on my kindle, I’ll show you whenever we’re done with whatever intervention-scale
event is going on here.” We both giggled, and I was suddenly elated to have my sister here. She was the piece of me I had been missing.
“Girls!” My dad’s exasperation could be felt in his words as he called us back to order. “Take a seat, so we can get this over with.”
My dad continued to stand, Lana took the other chair in the living room, my mom took the opposite end of the couch from Dre, and Liz plopped down right beside momma. That left me either standing like a loon or sitting between my sister and Dre. I wasn’t really thrilled about that, and he winced at my apprehension to sit next to him.
“I’m not going to bite,” Dre grumbled under his breath. That ruffled my feathers and I plopped my ass down as close to my sister as I could. I grabbed her hand and held on tight, as I said I would a minute ago. The gesture made my sitting so close to her seem normal anyway.
I listened, almost in disbelief again, as my dad explained everything for Liz’s benefit. She was unsurprisingly not ready to believe anything that came out of our father’s mouth until Dre and Garrett cleared the coffee table out of the way to make space for the shift my dad was about to undergo. Within moments he sprouted fur and turned into a wolf. Liz reached out for my hand with the one of hers I hadn’t already been holding. She held on so tight I thought she would break the bones there.
“That did not just happen,” she began to chant. “That did not just happen. That did NOT just happen.”
“Liz,” I whispered quietly as I put my arm around her. “It did. Our dad is a goddamn werewolf, our parents kept it secret our whole lives, and suddenly we’re finding out that we are each something known as Kindred, or a potential mate for a werewolf. Oh, and we’re supposed to drop everything for our destined werewolf and hook up with him, no questions asked.” I huffed out my little spiel with a small helping of simmering rage thrown in for good measure.
Entwined (Vukodlak Brew Book 1) Page 11
