Chapter Sixteen

 

In the morning, the dining room at the lodge was filled with hungry werewolves lining up at the buffet table, grumbling and growling. The mood was tense; there had been too many attacks, too many unanswered questions.

Most of them would be staying there for about another week to finish up the database, and then heading back to their packs until after the full moon.

The Bronson pack and Celeste and Mandy were sitting together at one of the tables and finishing up their breakfast when Reynaldo walked up to their table with an unhappy look on his face.

“Really?” Celeste said, wincing. “Can we just have one twenty-four-hour period that’s disaster free? Sorry. I mean, hi, Reynaldo, did you sleep well last night?”

“You obviously didn’t,” Mandy said to her with a wink.

Truman, who was sitting next to her, looked down at the table in front of him. “I didn’t either,” he said glumly. He shot a glance at Mandy. Mandy shifted slightly in her seat, moving a little further away.

“It’s not a complete disaster,” Reynaldo said. “But my office just got a call from the judge. The CPS case worker complained that you weren’t at your house. She’s trying to claim that you fled the area, and she wants you arrested for kidnapping. I’ve already talked to the judge’s office and notified my pack. You need to return to Somerville today. I already have the helicopter ready. You need to stay there for two more drop-in home inspections from the CPS office over the next ten days, and one more meeting at the courthouse with the judge, and if the reports are satisfactory, the judge will give you full custody as of the fifth of next month. Me and Pete will stay there for the rest of the month, and if you need any more of our pack there, you just let us know.”

“The fifth? That’s two days after the full moon,” Grant protested. He shook his head in dismay. “Not that we can exactly point that out to the judge.”

Cliff scowled. “You can’t go back to Somerville. Someone there knows way too much about you guys. We still have no idea who tried to kidnap your son, or why.”

“What if you just ditched the whole court case?” Chantelle suggested.

“That’s a last resort,” Grant said. “I’m too public a figure to just disappear, and if I take my son and run, then CPS will be keeping an eye on the rest of my family. We don’t want that kind of supervision. It’s hard to drop off the radar these days anyway. We’d have to take Jeffrey and leave the country. It would be much better if we could resolve this legally. We’re almost there.”

“But Celeste will be alone in the house during the full moon,” Taylor protested. “Unless you’re going to turn before then?” she added, looking at her hopefully.

Grant shook his head. “No. Too risky. She needs a full month of preparation. Meditation exercises, training…we don’t have enough time. We’ll lock ourselves in the basement, and I’ll hire a firm that we work with, human security guards, to guard her.”

A thought occurred to Celeste. “Jeffrey,” she said. “What did… I’m trying to remember what we do with you during a full moon.”

He looked at her in exasperation. “You lock me in my room and go stay somewhere else. Sometimes you don’t come back for a few days.” He stared at the ground. “I don’t like that.”

Everyone at the table went quiet. They all knew the truth – that Jeffrey believed Celeste was his mother, and that she couldn’t convince him otherwise. Celeste saw the looks of disgust and anger on their faces, and she shared in their fury. The life that Jeffrey had lived because of Jennifer…

Jennifer, you vile, selfish bitch.

“It’ll never happen again,” Celeste said.

“I know,” Jeffrey said with utter confidence. “You’re better now. And I’ll be with my dad when I turn into a wolf, and then next month, he can make you into a wolf so you’ll be just like me.” He waved at the people at the table. “You’ll be like all of us. Like my pack.”

Taylor coughed and hid her face, dabbing at her eyes with a napkin.

“Let me guess, allergies?” Celeste said, but she was shiny-eyed too.

“They’re terrible at this time of year.” Truman was blinking hard. Then he looked at Mandy. “What? I’m sensitive and in touch with my feelings. That’s a good thing, right?”

“Sure,” Mandy muttered. “I’ll go pack so we can get ready to leave.” She grabbed her coffee mug and got up from the table. “I’m coming too,” Taylor said. She glanced at Celeste and made “follow me” gesture. “Me too,” Celeste added, and hurried after them.

“What’s up with you and Truman?” Taylor asked Mandy as Mandy picked up the pace and walked faster.

“Nothing,” Mandy said. “Nothing at all, nosey parker.”

“Hey, you meddled in my relationship with Grant, so I get to meddle with yours, right?” Celeste said.

Mandy shook her head. “That is not how this works.”

“So you don’t like Truman?” Celeste persisted.

“I never said that,” Mandy protested as Celeste and Taylor followed her into her room. “Truman’s a great guy. He’s just not for me. I’m sure he’ll make some were-chica very happy.” As she said that, she crushed the coffee mug in her hand, and it shattered. Hot coffee splashed her shirt. “Oops,” she muttered.

“Yeah, I can see how you wouldn’t like him,” Celeste mused. “You’re probably holding out for someone with a lot more money and prestige. He just works security for the pack, right? Low-level drone. Kind of a loser.”

“Quit being such a fucking snob!” Mandy snapped. “Who the hell cares about money? Truman’s gorgeous and funny and sexy, and whoever gets him will be very lucky!” Then she flushed red. “Oops.”

Celeste was grinning hugely. “Got you. You’re in luuuurve,” she said. “With your mate.”

She looked at Taylor.

“How did I do?”’ she asked.

Taylor held up her hand and high-fived Celeste. “You did great,” she said. “You have so nailed this pack/best friend thing down. I don’t know why you thought you weren’t good at it; you’re a natural.” Celeste felt a warm glow settling inside her.

Mandy looked away, out the window. “You want the truth? I liked Truman from the first second I saw him, back when I was pretending to date Grant, and I avoided him because I knew I could never be with him. I consider you guys my friends. If you are my friends, please don’t ask me why.”

“Oh. Suddenly this isn’t so fun anymore.” Celeste looked at Mandy with sympathy. “I won’t ask why, and I won’t bring it up again. But if you ever want to talk about it, I’m all ears.”

And Mandy and Celeste split up to pack their bags.

Jeffrey was very excited to take the helicopter back to Somerville.

He was less excited when they went into court that afternoon and he had to talk to Rhona again.

This time, when they headed back to the house, they had a whole parade of cars with them. Grant had rented ten SUVs, all of which were the same make, model and color. He and Jeffrey and Celeste rode in one of the middle vehicles, to make it harder for any would-be kidnappers to figure out which vehicle they were in. They had a total of fifty werewolves with them, including Mandy and Truman. They would travel to and from town in a group.

When they went back to the house, Grant went to the media center to confer with Talbot and Ford, and Jeffrey played in the yard outside, with Reynaldo watching.

A little while later, Jeffrey came back in to the house. He was unusually quiet.

“Do you want to tell your mother something?” Reynaldo asked.

Jeffrey looked at Celeste. “Reynaldo and me were playing tag but he was too fast for me. So I changed into a cub and ran into the bushes because I wanted to win. I’m not supposed to do that.”

“Took me a couple of minutes to find him,” Reynaldo said, looking flustered. “I’m sorry.”

“Jeffrey!” Celeste said, exasperated. “You put yourself in danger doing that. If anything happened to you, I would be sad forever and ever. You need to have a grownup watching you all the time.”

“I know,” Jeffrey said. He looked so miserable that Celeste was taken aback.

“It’s all right. Nothing happened. All right, let’s go find your dad and see what time he wants to eat dinner.”

“I’m going to send myself to bed without supper or TV right now,” Jeffrey said. “I’m not even going to get a bedtime story.”

“You don’t have to do that,” Celeste protested.

“I’m not hungry anyway,” Jeffrey said quietly, and marched off to his room.

Celeste went and fetched Grant to tell him what had happened.

“I’ll go talk to him.” Grant closed up his laptop, went and got a plate of cold cuts for Jeffrey, and went in to his room.

She stood in the hallway, listening. Jeffrey refused to eat. So Grant started reading one Jeffrey’s favorite storybooks, but he deliberately got it wrong.

“That’s not how it goes!” Jeffrey said indignantly.

“You know what, you’re right. You’re better at reading than me. Can you help me?” Grant asked.

“Really, Dad. You need how to learn to read better. What if you see a sign on the road and you can’t read it? You might get lost.” Now Jeffrey sounded a little worried.

“That is very true. I bet if you practice with me, I’ll get up to speed really fast.”

“All right, all right.” She could practically see Jeffrey rolling his eyes as he said it. “My mom is teaching me, and I’ll teach you. But you should have paid more attention in school.”

She listened to Jeffrey reading to Grant, and felt a swelling of pride in her chest, so fierce and strong that tears stung her eyes.

Grant was amazing. He’d had this small, damaged boy dropped into his life, and he’d stepped right into the role of dad as if he’d been born to it. He knew just what to say to him. Grant was a big, terrifying killing machine, but when it came to his child he was so gentle and so patient.

She wiped tears from her cheek with the back of her hand as someone walked down the hallway.

“Yeah, he bores me to tears too.”

She looked up at the unfamiliar, gruff voice, and gave a start of surprise. It was Austin Bronson. She’d never met him, but when she’d been cyber-stalking the Bronson brothers, she’d seen him in one family picture online. Only one. Apparently he wasn’t too close to the rest of the family. Grant told her that Austin had left the pack and lived out west with a small pack of his own.

“Austin Bronson. Pleased to meet you. I’m Celeste. What brings you here?”

“Heard about the kidnapping attempt. I came to offer some backup, if it’s needed.”

She nodded. “It’s up to Grant, but I’m personally grateful for all the help we can get. Let me go get you a beer while we wait for Grant.”

“I wouldn’t say no,” Austin said, and followed her to the enormous drawing room. They sat down with half a dozen other wolf shifters.

Grant came out later, and headed straight for Celeste, who was sitting with Mandy drinking red wine. “Something’s bothering him, and he won’t admit it or say what’s wrong,” he said to Celeste. “It’s more serious than his usual minor freakouts, though. I can tell. He’s asleep right now. Or pretending really well.”

Then he saw Austin, who was shooting pool with Reynaldo. “What a surprise. The prodigal wolf returns.”

Austin leaned his pool cue against the table and walked over to him. “You didn’t want me at the conference, so I didn’t know if you’d want me here. If you don’t, say the word.”

“Who didn’t want you at the conference?” Grant looked at him in surprise.

“I thought it was all of you. Although actually, when I think back on it, it was Cliff who called me and told me not to come. He suggested that my input wasn’t needed.” Austin raised an eyebrow. “Which was interesting, considering that I hunt down feral lone wolves for a living.”

Grant swore, shaking his head. “Fucking Cliff. Just when I think I can trust him… I had no idea, Austin. I thought you just didn’t want to come, which isn’t that unusual for you. And yes, if you and your pack are willing to stay here, I could use your help.”

He put his arm around Celeste, shaking his head. “Fucking hell,” he said irritably. “I just don’t know who to trust these days.”