Chapter Seven
2890 Words
Chapter Seven
Sarina heard the commotion outside and stepped out the front door to see what was going on. “What’s up?”
“It seems that this man is the alpha of this little pack. He wants to join ours.”
“Why?” Sarina asked Jason.
“I don’t know, but Dad’s talking with him now.”
“Hmm,” Sarina mumbled. “It doesn’t seem like much of a pack. Maybe they need more numbers to survive.”
“Possibly,” Jason agreed. “You up for a game of racquetball?”
“Not right now. I didn’t sleep well last night and haven’t really felt myself lately.”
“Alright, Sis,” Jason smiled. “If that’s the excuse you want to go with to keep from getting your a*s kicked, I can live with it.”
Sarina, who normally would have jumped at the bait, let it go. She was intrigued by this small band of wolves and wanted to know more. She stepped up next to her father and grinned at the alpha of the small pack. He was older, but not unfavorably so. His hair had started to go gray at the temples, but his eyes, those were what drew her in. There was something so warm and inviting about them and Sarina found herself entranced by them. What was it about them that made them seem so familiar?
“I’m Sarina,” she said, sticking her hand out. The man took it as if it were made of gold, pressing a kiss to her knuckles.
“It’s nice to meet you, Sarina.”
Turning to her father she asked, “Should I get them some refreshments?”
“I think that’d be wonderful dear,” Romeo smiled. Sarina walked back toward the house, the whole time feeling the stranger’s eyes on her back. Was there something going on that she didn’t know about?
“We need drinks and food for the guests, Mama.”
“Can you get them? I’m talking with Aunt Penelope.”
“She’s not having the baby is she?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Phew, for a second I was excited that this day might actually be awesome. Come on, Aunt Pen!”
Amanda chuckled as Sarina poured sweet tea into glasses and arranged three dozen cookies on a tray. Hopefully that would be enough to satiate the small pack outside. She carried the large tray out to the porch and placed it down, inviting people to come and help themselves.
“Thank you,” a young girl said as she took a bite of a chocolate chip cookie. Another little boy gulped his tea as if he hadn’t drunk anything like it before.
“You’re welcome,” Sarina said, smiling at the children. She turned from the group, who seemed to be enjoying the treats, and found her father again.
The man’s attention almost immediately turned to her. “Thank you very much, for feeding my people.”
“You’re welcome,” said Sarina, giving a slight nod to the leader of the small pack.
“It seems,” Romeo said, diverting Sarina’s attention back to him, “that Fenris, according to this group’s former alpha, had a very, very strong bloodline. However, some years ago that bloodline split into two separate lines. His pack is from Fenris’ line, ours apparently, is from the second line. This man, and I think he’s on the right track, wants to merge our packs and bring the bloodlines back together.”
“How do we do that?” inquired Sarina.
“The natural way. The ones of his pack that haven’t found a mate yet, will hopefully find their spouses within our pack and vice versa. By doing so, their offspring will combine our two lines and create one solid line for all werewolves. No matter who or where we are, we’ll be amongst family, even if it is distant.”
“It’s not a half bad idea,” Sarina agreed. “How many of his people don’t have mates?”
“I’m not sure to be honest. He said that his mate died recently and that may be true for more of his pack, but as he’s willing to submit to my authority, I’m going to consult your mother, but we’re going to put them up for the night. Can you ask your mom to see to the accommodations?”
“Certainly,” Sarina smiled, looking at the older man again. She’d felt attraction before, and he was definitely handsome, but that didn’t explain the urge she had to tear her clothes off and ask him to mount her. What the hell had gotten into her?
>>
“Dad needs to put those people out there up for the night,” Sarina said as she walked into the kitchen.
“Alright,” Amanda said, smiling. “Aunt Penelope said to tell you that your unborn cousin is just as stubborn as the rest of the Traverse family and that he or she will come when they’re damned good and ready.”
“Of course. Excuses, excuses.” Sarina laughed and helped her mother get everything that they’d need. All the while her mind kept running the handsome, older stranger through her thought mill, desperately trying to figure out why he seemed so familiar.
The next morning, Sarina was up earlier than usual, finding it difficult to sleep once her mind was engaged. She poured herself a fresh cup of coffee and headed out to the front porch. It seemed that most of their guests had fared well through the night and were now up and busy with taking care of their pack.
“Good morning,” Sarina heard, turning to see the sexy stranger. He’d propped one leg on the step and was leaning toward her. “Did you sleep well?”
“Not so much,” she smiled. “That’s what coffee was made for.”
“You can never go wrong with coffee,” he returned, his own smile setting her system on overdrive. Who knew that turning twenty-four would boot her s*x drive from normal to crazy? Sure she’d looked and even touched some, but this man made her want to do so much more than first base.
“Would you care to take a walk with me?”
“Sure,” Sarina agreed.
“Thank you for being so kind. I wasn’t sure what to think when I decided to bring my pack under your father’s leadership. It’s not always easy, especially for a new alpha, like me, to submit to someone else.”
“My father values peace,” Sarina said. “He’s worked hard since Lilith’s death, especially, to build peace among the other packs. They stay within their designated communities and so do we.”
“It’ll be difficult for a while, finding everyone proper shelter.”
“We take care of our own,” Sarina assured him. “Have you had a chance to meet my family?”
“Not all of them, yet. I noticed a man who looked strikingly like you. And your mother is stunning, much like her daughter. Your father seems fair, but strict.”
Sarina chuckled. “Well, the man who looks like me would be my twin, Jason. My mother is beautiful and I’ve been told that I take after her some. My father is the fairest man I know and yes, he’s an extreme control freak.”
“So much so that he wouldn’t allow me to see you?”
“I don’t know about that, but it never hurts to ask. As an alpha, it would be a good start to showing my dad that you’re serious about joining our pack and giving up your alpha status,” Sarina continued. “Can I ask you something that may sound terribly odd?”
“Sure,” he said with a careless shrug of his shoulders.
“Do we know each other? I know that sounds weird and crazy, considering we’ve never met,” she rushed on, “but I just can’t help feeling that I know you from somewhere.”
Brody looked into her beautiful, intelligent eyes and wanted to jump up and down. Reggie thought he’d been so smart, taking away Sarina’s memories of Brody. Apparently, love can’t be entirely erased, because she remembered him despite having no clear memories. “We know each other very well, Sarina,” Brody answered as a huge smile spread over his face. “Although, if I were to tell you how, your father might just murder me where I stand as it would sound completely insane and implausible.” She leaned close enough to him that he could smell her. Nearly groaning, he stepped back.
“I like insane and implausible things. It means that they’re more than likely true,” she said.
How had he found a woman like her in such a short time? Witch, werewolf or whatever; she was phenomenal. “I need to talk to your parents, probably your whole family, before we go any further.”
>>
The talk that Brody wanted to have, however, had to wait. His people needed provisions and he needed to show Romeo that he was serious about joining his pack and integrating his own.
Romeo and Amanda had felt a familial bond with Brody when he first arrived with his pack. They couldn’t understand it, but they were silently pleased when they saw that Sarina seemed to share a bond with this stranger. Amanda tried to use her powers to discern the nature of their feelings but felt that something was blocking her visions. She also sensed that Sarina was the key to ridding this unknown blockage and that it would need to run its course.
“We found several houses for sale in and around the New Delta area. We need to know the financial situation of your pack before we proceed,” said Romeo
“Reggie was an extravagant spender. While none of us ever truly went hungry, our accommodations were miserable at best. Our cash and asset funds are almost depleted and our food stores are worthless as well,” answered Brody.
Brody heard Romeo sigh heavily and went on. “I don’t mean for my people to be a burden to you. I just want them to have a life worth living.”
“We’ll see that your people are taken care of as if you’ve always been with us,” Romeo assured him.
Over the next six months, Brody worked side by side with Romeo to move his people into the homes that Romeo and Amanda had made available. Seven homes and two near-sized mansions had been purchased under the Traverse name and would now house additional families under his considerable protection.
“I don’t think it’s over,” Brody said one afternoon as he and Romeo moved the last family in. On the way home they’d purchased food for the immediate Traverse family.
“You don’t think what’s over?”
“The war that’s coming,” Brody said, inhaling before he continued. “Reggie wasn’t a bad leader... he was just a weak one. Instead of seeing to the needs of his people so that we were comfortable, he scraped by on our needs to feed his own selfish desires. He was a line of Fenris and the weakest one of them, I’d say. However, he could be vicious when he wanted to be. He shot me with silver bullets and kept Sarina in chains, until she was finally let go, mainly because the wolf watching her felt badly. Reggie was a lap dog for someone much more powerful. I wouldn’t be surprised if Fenris himself was leading a pack somewhere out there, waiting and biding his time.”
“Sarina was never put into chains,” Romeo said, stopping his truck abruptly. “So would you like to explain why you think she was?”
Brody sighed, meeting Romeo’s eyes. “Reggie told me, before I killed him that he’d erased Sarina’s memories. He’d taken the last months before we met and shoved them so far down in her memory that she has no recollection of me, my people or anything that happened, neither does anyone in your family.”
“I take it you weren’t one of my favorite people back then?”
“You won’t kill me, will you?”
“Not if what you say is true.”
“I met Sarina nearly a year ago. I was picking up an order for Reggie when I saw her walking from a store. Truth be told, I’d smelled her first as she was newly in season and I honestly couldn’t resist her. When I saw her for the first time I couldn’t believe how beautiful she was. We went to dinner and the next afternoon we met in secret. She paid Joshua two hundred dollars to go to town instead of tagging after her,” Brody sighed heavily before he continued. “New to the changes in her body, Sarina was persistent and I was nearly powerless to stop her. She got it in her head that she wanted me, in a forever sort of way. We mated that afternoon. You found out and it made you furious, for good reason. That’s when Sarina ran away. I found her and took her to my people, but Reggie said he wouldn’t have your spawn in his home. Then he had her shot with a silver bullet. She nearly died.”
At first, Romeo couldn’t believe what he was hearing. But then he remembered his conversation with Amanda regarding the familial feeling with Brody. His story made sense in light of everything that was going on. Sarina, his little girl despite her age, was a mated woman. Why hadn’t he seen her mark? If what Brody said was true, she would need him in another two weeks when she came into heat. “So you’re telling me that you and my daughter are tied together? You do realize you’re nearly twice her age right?”
“Actually I look nothing like what you see when you look at me. I’m only thirty, sir. For me to be myself, however, Sarina, especially, needs to remember me.”
Romeo could easily picture a younger looking Brody in his mind. “Alright,” Romeo said, deciding that if this man was going to be his son-in-law, he should give him the benefit of the doubt. “So how do we help her remember?”
“I need to do what we should have done in the first place.”
“And that is?”
“I need to court her, to show her the love she feels for me,” Brody said. “If I can do that, she’ll begin to remember the man I am and I should, in all truth, become the Brody I once was in her eyes.”
“What if it doesn’t work? What if she doesn’t fall in love with you?”
“Then I’ll have to let her go,” he said.
“And this is you asking permission to see my daughter in an intimate and otherwise romantic fashion?”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ll need to talk with Amanda, see if there’s anything she can do to help you. However, if there’s nothing she can do, we’ll go from there. I don’t see why it would be too much of an issue. Seeing as Sarina’s been walking around the house with moon eyes since you showed up, I don’t think it’ll be too difficult to let you court her.”
“Thank you and for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about how everything went down before. Maybe if I had acted sooner, Sarina wouldn’t have been hurt.”
Romeo grinned. “I suppose I never told you about how I met my wife?”
“No, you haven’t.”
“Her aunt died and she became the heir to her aunt’s estate. My father, being her dad’s best friend, had made arrangements through our lawyer, to rent a cabin for her. When she arrived, I was there, along with Joseph, Bryce, Elijah, Audri and Aurora. I told her within the first half hour of meeting me that she would be my wife. Talk about dropping the bomb on someone,” Romeo chuckled.
“She was furious, but there was a chemistry between us that was as tangible as this truck. It took less than a week for me to seduce her. She’d just turned twenty-four as well, although it’d been slightly longer for her than Sarina, I suppose. Love is a funny and very powerful force. After we’d slept together, I called the lawyer and told him she’d be staying, which sent her into a fit. She berated me about being her own woman and set me straight on the fact that she wanted a man who could stand beside her and not be inhibited in any way by her strength of character. A few days later she and I mated. That’s when she came into her full powers as a witch. Seeing her step into that role was amazing and beautiful. Then we got separated by her half-brother, Dean, and her uncle. Penelope, who was given Radiant powers from her mother, much like Amanda, was there to help her. She killed Amanda’s uncle, who was Penelope’s own father. He’d become obsessed with finding Radiant powers and killing the witch who had them so he could take them for himself. Penelope, aware of Amanda’s existence and the fact that they were cousins, stood up to them, and that day sent her own father straight to hell. Dean of course, survived and came looking for Amanda, along with Lilith, who’d disguised herself as a needy whelp. Once the other Radiants managed to help send Dean to his death as well, Lilith showed her true intentions and made it clear that she’d wanted me for herself all along. Unfortunately, Audri lost Remus, a man she truly loved, in the fight against Dean and Lilith. He’d been seduced by black magic and only at the end of his life had he given his to save Audri. After he passed, however, she was able to mature some and settle down with Benjamin.”
“That’s one hell of a story. If you don’t mind my saying so.”
“I don’t mind,” Romeo grinned. “I can’t hate you or even dislike you for falling in love with my daughter, Brody. I’ve gotten to know you over the last few months and I’d be proud to call you my son-in-law. Whatever Sarina saw in you, I hope she remembers, because I don’t think she’ll find another man, or wolf, who knows her so well. Good luck to you son.”
“Thanks,” Brody said with a grin.
- Writer
