by Jen Talty
Life certainly handed him a cruel and unusual twist.
Chapter 7
THE SUN BEAT DOWN across the still lake as it began its descent into the late afternoon hours. Chaz floated on a raft a few feet from where Daphne sat on the edge of the dock, feet dangling in the cool water. A couple of families frolicked in the swimming area. Teenagers screamed and laughed as they dove from the sundecks.
The morning had passed in a fog of tension that he couldn’t figure out how to ease. He understood, more than Daphne realized, how hard it was to accept. If there had been a way to reverse the mating, he would have done it the second it happened. But now that he felt so deeply protective of her, as if they were cut from the same cloth, he bowed to tradition and when his father was ready to step down, he’d step up.
With Daphne.
But she fought the connection so hard that it made his bones ache.
Movement at the top of the hill caught his attention. Not only did he see Cosmo and his crew, but strolling down the path were his parents, his little brother, and Aron.
Fuck. He hadn’t expected anyone other than his father.
“Shit,” Chaz muttered, paddling his float toward the dock. “We’ve got company.”
“Who?” she asked, glancing over her shoulder.
“My parents, one of my brothers, and a guy I work with.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me?” her voice screeched a couple of octaves higher than normal.
“It gets worse.” He hoisted himself up on the dock, helping her to her feet. “Don’t look, but up on the hill, Cosmo and his buddies are watching and I’m fairly confident they’ve seen my tat and I’m sure they recognize my father.”
“Where is the nearest boulder? I want to crawl under it.”
“In this instance, I don’t blame you.” This is not how he wanted to introduce his mate to his family. To really make matters uncomfortable, his parents would know just by looking at him that he’d taken a mate.
He laced his fingers through hers and held on tight.
“Hey Mom, you look good.” Chaz used his free arm and pulled his mom in for a quick hug and a kiss on the cheek before shaking his father’s hand. “Dad, you on the other hand are looking a might rough around the edges.”
“Must be like looking into a mirror for you, son” his father said, with an arched brow, giving him a sideways glance.
“Daphne, I’d like you to meet my parents, Ellen and Titus.” Chaz pointed to the young man with white hair. “That over there is my baby brother, Drew, and the dude next to him is a buddy from work, Aron.”
“Nice to meet you,” Ellen said with wide smile, yanking her in for a hug. “I guess a welcome to the family is in order.”
Daphne coughed.
“Mom, don’t go there, please. It’s a difficult situation and I’ll explain later,” Chaz said, channeling only his parents.
“Sorry, I didn’t know,” his mom responded. “But really, considering how you’ve avoided this—”
“No one can avoid it, especially not a Ferguson,” his father said.
“Um, Chaz, why can I hear this entire conversation?” Daphne’s voice bellowed through his mind.
“What?” he asked out loud, staring at her.
“You heard me?” His mother stepped forward, cupping Daphne’s face. “And my husband?”
“I think I need to sit down,” Chaz said, tugging Daphne toward the picnic area.
“The Legend of the Princess and the Wolf,” Drew said with a snicker as he sat on the bench across from Chaz and Daphne. “Who would have thunk it.”
His father perched himself on the far end, keeping an eye on Cosmo, who had retreated to his front porch. Aron leaned against a tree and Chaz’s mother plopped herself down next to Daphne.
“How is it possible I could hear all of you?” Daphne asked, her eyes pleading with him for understanding.
“If you thought mating was crazy, you’re going to think this is utter lunacy.” Chaz took in a deep calming breath. He could handle a mate. He could even handle being next in line to lead all the wolves. But no way could he handle being the father of the royal bloodline of Fairies, essentially making him King.
“You’re freaking me out,” she whispered.
“Your story is thousands of years old,” his mother said, patting Daphne’s hand.
“My story?” Daphne asked with an arched brow.
“Stop beating around the bush and just tell the damn girl, because we’ve got other things to deal with,” his father said.
“The Fairies have a royal family that went into hiding after nearly being destroyed by a group of witches who believed a Fairy’s magic was unholy.” Chaz couldn’t believe he was actually sharing this ridiculous narrative. Many wolves believed it to be an old wives tale. A legend that would never come to fruition.
“Fairies?” Daphne blinked. “As in Tinkerbell?”
That caught a laugh from Drew. “No wings and they aren’t tiny. They have a special kind of magic that scared the witches many years ago and rumor has it that they sparkle rainbows with an electric field that looks like snow.”
Daphne closed her eyes, shaking her head, remembering how she watched their love making in the mirror, and the slow fog that lifted from her skin. “What does this have to do with me and hearing your voices?”
“Legend has it that the only way the Fairies could save the royals, was to send them here, making their powers dormant in human form.”
“But there are Fairies living here and I’ve heard they can use their magic,” Daphne said, her wide eyes searched his.
Chaz swallowed the thump in his throat. “The royals couldn’t live anywhere but in their castle. If they left, they lost their magic because it was so powerful. So, when they left for diplomatic reasons, with no way of protecting themselves, a group of witches started killing them. In order to save the Royals, and their bloodline, they sent them here, erasing their memory of who they are and we wolves have protected the Fairies for generations. The legend is that one day a wolf would mate with one of the royal descendants—”
“Not just any wolf and not just one of the royals,” Drew interrupted. “The prince of the all wolves and the princess of the Fairies.”
“Unbelievable,” Daphne whispered.
“The point is, this union will unlock the royals and their powers.” Chaz let out a long slow breath.
“You’re trying to tell me I’m some royal Fairy and you’re a real Prince?”
Chaz nodded.
“My parents are going to kill me, right after they kill all of you,” she muttered.
“Why is that?” his mother asked in that concerned, but dark tone that made him want to turn and run wild in the woods. “One of them is a fairy and their powers will be unlocked too. This is indeed a good thing.”
“Her parents are Havernites,” Chaz said. Might as well get it all out in the open.
“Oh, I see.” His mother clasped her hands in her lap.
“That’s a problem,” Drew said, placing his hands on the table, leaning over.
“The bigger problem is her great-grandfather is Albert Lee Jadenson.” Chaz took both Daphne’s hands into his and held her gaze. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
“You can’t promise that.” Her face had grown pale. “Can everyone hear me?”
He glanced at his parents, gauging their potential awareness. “Only if you project to them, which you’ll learn how to control, but you’ll be able to hear all internal conversations by all wolves and Fairies if you focus on them.”
“I think that will suck.”
“Legend has it that you will be able to turn that off and on.”
“I hate legends.”
“Your last name is Jadenson?” Chaz’s father moved from his perch, motioning toward Aron, who shifted positions.
Chaz glanced up the hill and frowned. Cosmo had been joined by three other wolves, making eight total.
“It’s Jade now. M
y great-grandmother changed it after her husband was murdered.” There was a thickness to her tone that indicated anger more than anything else.
“This is why you wanted the files?” his father asked, standing over him with his arms folded.
Even though Chaz was a grown man, his father had the ability to reduce him to a whining puppy with just a look. “Yes. I wanted to show Daphne the truth, since we mated.”
“That makes Daphne’s mother a Fairy and her father has dormant wolf blood His father took in a deep breath, puffing his chest out before releasing it in a low howl. “Daphne, I imagine this is overwhelming.”
“You have no idea,” she said.
His father knelt at the end of the table. “I don’t know what you’ve been told about your great-grandfather, but I can assure you, he was not murdered, but you’ll need to read those files and that will take some time and right now we don’t have it because I don’t know what those wolves up there have planned, but I don’t think it’s good.”
“Aron,” Chaz called. “Did you find anything on Cosmo?”
“Just that he’s a rogue leader and doesn’t like humans, but other than a few barroom brawls, we don’t have much on him. His mate on the other hand was accused of killing a human mate, but there wasn’t enough to charge her,” Aron said.
Chaz glanced toward Cosmo’s cabin. Their standoff had been what triggered his mating, though it would have happened anyway. Wolves don’t choose their mates, fate does, a hard, cold fact he knew now to be true. When you have two mated wolves go rogue, their offspring can create a large pack of wolves living by a different set of rules.
Knocking off any of the pack leaders of Crescent Moon would be a big coup for this group of bandits, but killing the Chief, or the Chief’s son, who just mated with a Princess, and together would produce a mixed wolf, with greater powers, that could potentially destroy all that the Twilight Council had been trying to protect.
“We’re outnumbered,” Chaz said.
“Not to mention we’ve got two humans with us.”
“Thought I was a Fairy,” Daphne said, sarcasm dripping off every syllable.
“She’s right. She can hear them if she focuses,” his mother said.
“No. We’re not using her like that. Besides, just because she can hear her mate’s family, doesn’t mean she’ll be able to hear Cosmo, much less keep from projecting back to them,” Chaz said.
“Don’t talk about me like I’m not sitting right next to you. I have no idea what half of this shit means, much less want anything to do with it, but if I can help prevent a crime or anyone’s death, then I’m going to try to listen to their projections.”
Chaz dropped his head to the table. This was an argument he’d never win. “Yes, dear.”
Chapter 8
ELECTRICITY SIZZLED across Daphne’s skin as she walked into the main lodge, located at the entrance of the cabin grounds, on Chaz’s arm. Loose fitting jeans hung low on his hips and a black V-Neck shirt enfolded his upper body. But what made the outfit was his flip-flops. She’d chosen a light blue sundress with sleeves that fell off her shoulders and fabric that hugged her curves like a glove, accentuating her voluptuousness.
Chaz had liked it until his buddy Aron had made a snide comment about how sexy she looked, but she wasn’t going to let anyone dictate what she wore. She’d done that her entire life with her parents and hell, if she was some Princess, why not feel like one.
“All these people can’t be wolves, can they?” she asked Chaz as the room practically parted like the red sea, giving them direct access to the bar. There had to be a good forty people mingling about, drinking and laughing while engaged in conversation.
“Nope. Thus far the only wolves here are me and Cosmo and his crew, along with their mates.”
“That makes for sixteen and eighteen when your parents get here.”
“Your math skills are excellent,” Chaz said, smiling at her as he handed her a Dirty Martini.
“Thank you,” she said, at his observation and his drink. “I’m surprised that Cosmo is here considering he knows who you are.”
“He’s an arrogant prick and he knows we have nothing on him, or anyone he’s here with, so if he left, that would make it look like he had something to hide.”
“Make sense.”
“You like talking this way, don’t you?” He winked.
She let out a dry laugh, though it was cut short when Cosmo and Heidi approached the bar.
“Glad you could make it,” Heidi said as if there wasn’t any conflict to speak of. Her grey-blue eyes glimmered devilish mischief in the evening light.
“Are you?” Daphne hadn’t meant to be curt, but considering yesterday’s events.
“We wanted to apologize for the misunderstanding of last night.” Heidi placed her hand on Cosmo’s arm. “Didn’t we, babe?”
Cosmo grunted something that might have sounded like an agreement.
“I’d say you both owe my mate more than an apology,” Chaz said, looping his arm around her. “It doesn’t matter that you didn’t know who I was, your actions were rude, and actionable.”
Daphne leaned against Chaz for strength while she tried to keep her mind open to any possible projections that might occur between any of the wolves in the room, but thus far all she heard was silence.
“Marking my territory,” Cosmo said with a gruff. “And, if I might add, you started it by sniffing around my cabin. I took that as an act of aggression. Just protecting my own.”
“Fair enough,” Chaz said, raising his glass. “But you have to understand and respect my concern about your pack and your feelings towards humans, which includes my mother and my mate.”
Heidi patted her husband’s chest. “Now, now, boys. Let’s just have a good time.”
“Do you smell that?”
Cosmo’s voice rang out clear as a bell inside Daphne’s mind. She hoped she hadn’t made any facial expressions, giving anything away.
“There’s a Fairy in the room,” Heidi projected.
“It’s coming from Daphne.” Cosmo glanced at his wife. “Shall we go mingle?”
“You know me well, babe.” Heidi nodded, then took Cosmo’s hand. “She didn’t smell like a Fairy last night.”
“That means the legend is true,” Cosmo said, walking away.
“I hate Fairies more than humans. You can do whatever you want with the Chief and his son, but that bitch is mine and she’s going to die tonight.”
Daphne swallowed. Her hands visibly shook.
“What did you hear?” Chaz took her drink from her hand as the clear liquid sloshed onto her fingers.
She was going to have to work on her poker face. No, her poker body. “They said I smelled like a Fairy and that she wanted to kill me. Tonight.”
“Not on my watch.” Chaz pressed his lips against hers in a tender, but protective kiss. “Besides, your own magic is powerful and you’ll figure out how to channel it. I’ve felt it and seen the colorful fog that lifts off your body.”
“You did? I have no idea what it all means or how to use it.” They’d spent a few hours discussing various powers Fairies had, but thus far, the only thing she could do was hear a wolf’s projections.
“Here come my folks.”
Daphne looked across the room and gasped. His mother wore a short skirt, dark tank top, and sported a pair of cowboy boots. Her lean, tanned legs sparkled and her smile commanded the room. She held her husband’s arm, who strutted with pride, wearing a similar outfit as Chaz, except Titus opted for boat shoes.
Everyone in the room stopped what they were doing and gawked.
“Your parents are breathtaking.”
“Not anywhere near as mind-blowing as you are.”
“Flattery might get you everywhere,” she said.
“God, I hope so.” He dropped his chin to her shoulder, pressing his lips against her neck, reminding her of the passionate, deep-seated connection she had with him.
She
rested her hand over her stomach, but kept her thoughts to herself. She really didn’t want to be pregnant. The idea, though, made her tingle from her toes right through her belly in a way she didn’t understand. She closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying Chaz’s lips on her skin and his hands on her body.
“It has to be tonight,” Heidi projected. “She’ll come into her magic quickly. Even more so if she’s with child, which I suspect she is.”
“We need to stop mind communication,” Cosmo’s voice commanded.
“Don’t you look lovely,” Ellen said with a bright smile.
“I’d say she’s glowing.” Titus glanced over his shoulder, seemingly scanning the room.
“They are shutting me out,” Daphne said, deciding she needed to jump right into business, ignoring the glowing comment. “I don’t think I will hear anymore conversations this evening, unless they want me to.”
“So, they know,” Ellen said.
“If you were a wolf, you’d smell the Fairy scent and it’s getting stronger every minute,” Titus said.
“What the hell do I smell like?” Not that Daphne really wanted to know, but she was tired of everyone talking about it.
“Sourdough,” Chaz and his father said in unison.
“That so isn’t’ sexy,” she muttered.
“Oh, the hell it is,” Chaz said, wrapping his arms around her waist, standing behind her. “Better than having the scent of a Vampire. They smell like vinegar.”
“That doesn’t make me feel better.” She let out a long breath. Without a shadow of doubt, she knew her life had changed forever. She knew she’d never be going back to her teaching job, or her apartment. And she sure as hell wouldn’t be returning to Havern. “I have a really dumb question.”
“What’s that?” Chaz whispered in her ear.
God, she could get used to his devoted attention. “Will my mother just all of a sudden know she’s a Fairy?”
“No,” Titus said, waving to the bartender and ordering another round of drinks. “But strange things will start to happen, so I’ve sent some of my people to get her and the rest of your immediate family and bring them here once we’ve handled this situation.”
