Chapter 3
Honor Parkins listened to the members of her all-female pride as they sat around the dining room table. There were two factions of females within her pride – those who wanted to leave the past in the past and move on, and those who wanted revenge. Honor was among those who wanted to move the hell on. She’d left King, Pennsylvania, years ago to start a new life with the females who felt the same as her. The male mountain lions wanted to have relationships and families, and Honor and the other females weren’t wired that way. She didn’t know why, but she didn’t actually care. She only cared about herself and the females. The males could do whatever the hell they wanted down in the states, as long as they stayed down there.
A small group of them, led by Tanya and Hannah, had stayed in Pennsylvania and spied on the males, attempting to disrupt their plans to mate with humans and other types of shifters. A female named Melody had come to stay with Honor and her pride after the falling-out with the males. She was different. Even though she was a full mountain lion, she wasn’t like Honor and the pride. Melody wanted a family and a mate. She’d eventually run away from the pride, which had made Honor furious, but she’d opted not to pursue the issue. Melody appeared to be an anomaly. If she wanted to enter into a relationship with one or two males, or a baker’s dozen, it didn’t affect Honor.
But what did affect Honor and her pride mates was Tanya and Hannah and their never ceasing plotting and planning to get revenge on a female named Jilly. Jilly had stayed in Pennsylvania with Tanya’s pride, and according to all the reports, she’d been the perfect female – hating the males, never wanting any sort of permanent relationship. Something had changed in Jilly’s life, however, and she went from just-like-the-others to just-like-Melody, taking up with a black panther clan and claiming twin panthers as mates.
“I just have to ask,” Honor said, looking at Tanya and Hannah who sat at the other end of the table. “Why are we still talking about Jilly? It’s been three years. Let it the hell go.”
“I agree,” Gretchen, one of Honor’s pride members, said. “Who the hell cares that she’s living with the males? They’re hundreds of miles away, in a freaking different country.”
Tanya snarled. “Because of her, Layla’s dead.”
Honor ignored the urge to roll her eyes. “Melody killed Layla, because you guys were trying to fuck her mate and were planning to kill her. If you were smart, you would have left the female alone, then Layla would still be alive.”
And you’d still be down in the states, not up here bugging the hell out of me, she added mentally.
“Melody didn’t betray us. Jilly did.”
“That makes zero sense,” Honor said.
Tanya slammed her fist into the table, making several of the females jump. “I want to destroy Jilly. I want to take what she loves so she’ll know that leaving the females was wrong. I want her to suffer, the way we’ve suffered without our leader.”
It occurred to Honor just then that arguing with Tanya was futile. She’d never shut up about Jilly until she got her revenge.
“What are you planning to do?” Honor asked.
Tanya leaned back in her chair, a smile quirking the corner of her mouth. “The pride hunts on the full moon because of that wolf bitch. We’ll hide in the pride’s hunting grounds and lie in wait for the betrayer and the males she’s mated. We just have to get close enough to dose the males with the poison I’ve procured, and then they’ll die. But not before they’re in so much pain that they’ll beg for death. Jilly’s last memories of her mates will be their tortured end.”
Hannah laughed. “If we’re lucky, Jilly will kill herself when they die. But if not, we’ll stick around and finish the job ourselves.”
“You do realize that what you’re planning is murder?” Honor felt compelled to ask.
Tanya shrugged. “In the old days, people killed those who betrayed them.”
“What history books are you reading?” Gretchen asked. “She’s down there, and we’re up here. Why can’t you just move on? I don’t care what the males are doing anymore. And we sat down tonight to discuss who among us would procreate to begin the next generation of our pride and where we’d find the males we need.”
“I want my revenge,” Tanya said, folding her arms across her chest. “Then I’ll be the first to carry a cub. Give me what I want, and I’ll be the first to produce our next generation.”
Gretchen glanced at Honor and then at Tanya. “Where will you get a male?”
“There are humans in other towns. I’ll find one at a bar. And there’s a wolf pack, too. It would be good to mix the aggressive nature of the wolf males with our female DNA.”
At one time, the females had only cared about the purebred children, born of mountain lion males and females. But with the splitting of the pride, the females now knew that the only way to continue their species was to have sex with other shifter types or humans and hope for the best. The worst-case scenario was that they’d give up any non-shifter children for adoption.
“Fine, fine,” Honor said. “We’ll accompany you to Ashland to get your revenge on Jilly, but I’m taking the lead on this. If I say it’s too risky, we walk away and this is the last time you bring that name up.”
Although Tanya agreed, Honor knew that she was just paying lip service. Tanya didn’t have enough females on her side to pull off a coup, but there was something very dangerous about her nonetheless. She wanted to punish Jilly for betraying her, and Honor didn’t think she’d ever let it go.
When the room was empty save for Gretchen, Honor said with a low voice, “Maybe we’ll get lucky and Tanya and Hannah will die while we’re down there, and we can go back to our plans for the future.”
“That would be nice,” Gretchen said. “But I don’t think we’ll be that lucky.”
“Probably not.”
“We could just let them do it on their own. We don’t have to go with them,” Gretchen pointed out.
“I know. But if the others are caught, the males could demand to know where we are up here, and I don’t want to deal with that. All they know right now is that we’re in Canada. They don’t know where, and I want to keep it that way. If there’s collateral damage and a few of the other females who follow Tanya are killed in the assault, I won’t be sorry.”
Gretchen sighed. “I wish things were back to the way they were before Tanya and Hannah and their merry-bunch-of-bitches came here seeking refuge.”
“Me too.”
* * *
“How did you meet Georgette?” Jilly asked as she sat between her mates in the second row of Hanai’s SUV.
“Well,” he said, glancing at them in the rearview mirror. “I was looking for some herbs for a healing balm and I trespassed on her property.”
“She was mad?” Jilly asked.
“No. She said she hadn’t had company in a long while and invited me to have tea in her garden. We talked about natural healing, and she offered to teach me what she knew. She’s a blosomfae, so her fae power comes from plants.”
“There’s more than one kind of fae?” Wyked asked.
“Yep. Among the fae there are two classes – noble, or upper class, and non-noble, or lower class. The upper class are those fae who have spell casting power. The noble fae are the rulers of the realm. Those without spell-casting power are considered low class. They have powers related to their fae abilities, but they’re more like the working class of our realm.”
Wyked sniffed. “I think having any kind of powers would be cool. You wouldn’t think they’d need to separate their people into classes.”
Fate shrugged. “When everyone has powers, it becomes normal and not special. I think it’s just a natural thing for people – whether they’re shifters or fae or humans – to try to classify their own kind.”
Jilly supposed that was true. Wolf packs ranked themselves by strength. Mountain lion females looked down on everyone who wasn’t their own kind. Even the panther clan had a leader and warriors who were stronger and better at protecting others.
“Regardless of what other faes think about their powers, I’m glad Georgette lives in our realm and that you trespassed on her property so I can learn from her, too,” Jilly said. She hugged her journal to her chest and clicked her favorite pen as she looked out the windshield.
Hanai turned down a narrow path cut into the woods that ran along a main road. The path twisted and turned, and Jilly was fairly sure it was cut that way on purpose to discourage lookie-loos. After several minutes of navigating the tricky route, Hanai stopped in front of a quaint cabin that was partially obscured by the trees and plant growth around it. Wyked opened the door and climbed out, turning to help Jilly from the SUV. She inhaled deeply, and her beast purred at the feeling of utter content that emanated from the woods.
“Is that a spell?” Jilly asked, turning in a slow circle and taking in the plant life. The trees were thick and tall, and dense moss that looked like dark green carpet covered the ground. Colorful flowers and bushes surrounded the house.
“Is what a spell, dear?” a woman’s voice spoke.
Jilly turned toward the house and saw a woman with long, pale blonde hair standing in the doorway.
“It’s so peaceful here. I was just wondering if it was a spell.”
The woman said nothing for a moment, and then smiled. “Yes, it’s a spell. I like my privacy, and I like peace and quiet.”
“Me too,” Hanai said, striding to the house and giving her a hug. “It’s nice to see you again, Georgette. How’ve you been?”
“Good, Hanai. And you?”
“All’s well with the clan. Let me introduce you to my nephews and their mate.”
After he made the introductions, Jilly shook Georgette’s hand. Something sparked between them and she let out a soft gasp. “What was that?”
“I’m not sure.” Georgette frowned slightly and then shook her head. “No matter. Won’t you come in?”
Jilly rubbed the center of her palm where she’d felt the little spark. There wasn’t a mark on her skin, but it still tingled as if she’d been shocked. It reminded her of when she and Henry were young and they made a game of trying to shock each other with static electricity.
“Are you okay, kitten?” Wyked murmured, grasping her elbow to stop her before she walked into the house.
“I am. It’s just weird. I felt a little jolt in my hand, and now…”
“Now what?” Fate asked.
She shrugged. “I feel like I’ve already met her.”
“But you haven’t,” Wyked said.
Georgette cleared her throat. “Maybe we’re old souls, Jilly. Meant to be friends in this life.”
She smiled and shook her hands, dispelling the last of the tingling sensation. “I like that idea.”
“I do most of my work in the kitchen and garden,” Georgette said. “I made tea, and we can sit in the morning room and get to know each other before we start our lesson.”
Jilly sat between her mates at a wrought iron table in the morning room, which was just off the kitchen. The room had floor to ceiling windows, and ivy dotted with purple flowers covered the ceiling. “This is an amazing room,” Jilly said, taking a sip of tea.
“I have plants in every room in the house, but this is my favorite room. The flowers are clematis.”
“It’s lovely,” Hanai said.
After they shared some of their lives with each other, Jilly jumped right in and told Georgette what had happened at the bonfire.
“I felt so helpless,” Jilly said.
“Why?”
“His mate was angry that I couldn’t help him. I let everyone down.”
Georgette tutted. “You can only know what you know, and according to Hanai, you’ve only been training for a little while. I’ve been healing for most of my life, and I’m still learning new things.”
“I just want to know more, so I can do better.”
The fae smiled gently. “I understand. We’ll start today with some basics and then you can come visit me again for another lesson.”
“I can come next week,” Jilly said. “But the week after I’m getting mated and married, plus it’s my birthday.”
“Oh, my! Busy girl,” Georgette said. “We’ll get together next week, and then we’ll schedule for another time.”
“Sounds good,” Jilly said.
Hanai, Wyked, and Fate stayed in the morning room while Georgette took Jilly into the kitchen and showed her a tall cabinet where she kept her supplies. “I cast spells, like the privacy spell you felt outside, but my main power is over plants. I can grow anything from a seed, even in the dead of winter. I can force a plant to flower or produce fruit off-season. And I can even locate old roots buried deep in the ground and revive plants.”
“Wow,” Jilly murmured, looking at the shelves of glassware, tools, and books.
“You get to change into an animal, though,” Georgette said. “That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah.” Jilly smiled. “Are there fae who can change into animals?”
“Only one sort, a Wulfen, which is a fae-wolf. They’re extremely rare, the product of a mating between a female fae and a male wolf.”
“Wings and fur. Now that would be neat,” Jilly said.
“Indeed,” Georgette said.
They left the kitchen and walked outside to a lush garden. A knee-high white picket fence had been erected around the garden, and a cobblestone pathway separated the plant beds.
“I grow herbs, plants, and flowers, and then I dry and store them for later use. I’m sure that Hanai has a good collection of dried items for healing, but you’ll want to start your own collection. I can give you plants to start your own garden with.”
Jilly’s mind flitted to the clan and how they’d be traveling again. She wasn’t sure when they would leave Ashland, but she suspected it would be before the snow came.
As if she could read Jilly’s mind, Georgette said, “All you need to grow a simple garden is a grow light and a shelf.”
“Now that I can do,” Jilly said.
Georgette pointed out the flowers and plants as they walked through the large garden. “Passionflower is a sedative. You can mix it into a drink, and depending on the strength, it can be a mild calming agent or a powerful sedative. You can use echinacea to stop bleeding wounds, and it’s also good for pain and swelling. Lavender is good for relaxation and also for treating burns and wounds. And Devil’s Claw is useful for pain relief.”
Jilly delicately touched the lavender and brought her fingers to her nose and inhaled the sweet scent. “A lot of plants are good for pain relief.”
Georgette hummed in agreement. “Humans are very reliant on modern medicine, but there’s wisdom in the old ways.”
There was a small wooden bench beneath the shade of a willow tree, and Jilly and Georgette sat under the tree for an hour. Jilly wrote down everything that Georgette said about growing and harvesting healing plants, and she noted what she needed to set herself up for success the next time someone was injured.
Georgette took a paper sack from the kitchen and snipped several varieties of plants so Jilly could start her own indoor garden. “When we get together next week, I’ll give you some more plants to add to your garden, and we’ll talk more in depth about harvesting the plants and making essences and drying them for storage.”
Jilly hugged Georgette. “Thank you so much for teaching me today.”
“Hanai mentioned that you’d be moving on later in the fall, so whenever you want to stop by when you’re in the area, feel free to do so, and we can even chat by phone and email, too.”
“Thank you,” Jilly said. She looked at the house and saw her mates and Hanai waiting. “See you next week.”
Georgette gave Hanai a hug and said goodbye, wishing them a safe trip home. When they were in the SUV and on their way back to Ashland, Fate said, “She seems nice. Did you ever date her?”
Hanai shook his head. “Fae can cast spells to be brought together with their truemates. She did that when she was younger, but her truemate was killed before they met. When I met her, I was attracted to her, but she told me that she had no plans to find a mate because her truemate was gone.”
“That’s sad,” Jilly said.
“Some people feel that if their truemates die, they can’t be happy with anyone else,” Hanai said. “I’m not sure that’s true, but if the heart isn’t willing, then it wouldn’t work out anyway.”
“Do you feel better about the things you learned?” Wyked asked, peeking inside the paper sack.
“Well, I’ve only learned about the plants’ medicinal qualities. I still have to learn how to prepare things like poultices and teas. But yes, I feel better already.”
“Now that we have those plants to start with,” Hanai said, “you can get your garden going, and we can focus on the uses of those plants.”
“I get to have a garden,” she said. “Somewhere?”
Fate nodded. “When we bought the RV, there were bay windows that we could have gotten installed. I bet we could put a bay window in the kitchen and you’d have plenty of space for your garden, and no need for a grow light.”
“And we’ll get you a big cabinet and whatever else you need,” Wyked said.
“You guys are the best,” she said, kissing both their cheeks. They purred at the same time, and she laughed and snuggled against Wyked, pulling Fate closer and sighing happily. She’d been discouraged by the events after the bonfire, but she felt like she was on the right path to becoming a great healer someday.
* * *
“Okay,” John, Jilly’s father, said as he sat at the table in the boarding house kitchen. “What did you want to talk to me about?”
Jilly sat stiffly between Wyked and Fate. Since she’d come back from meeting Georgette, she and her mates had been discussing the clan’s plans for leaving Ashland and beginning their travels. They wanted to leave Ashland October first, which gave her a little more than five weeks to be with her pride and family. When it was just her and her mates, surrounded by the panthers, she was absolutely one hundred percent positive she was making the right choice in leaving Ashland. But the moment she was in the boarding house, doubts crept in. She didn’t want to make her dad sad or hurt the pride. Wyked and Fate had sworn that they were happy with either path for their lives together. To them, the location didn’t matter, only that they were together.
If only she weren’t so bombarded with worry for her family and pride.
She was aware that she was over-thinking. Because of her tumultuous past with the mountain lion females and being emotionless for so long, she now felt everything more strongly, and that included the guilt she felt at leaving. But as Wyked and Fate pointed out the night before, she’d turned her life entirely around after breaking free of the females, and she’d spent three years with her family in the boarding house.
Inhaling deeply, Jilly exhaled and said, “Daddy, I wanted to talk to you about the clan. They’re going to be leaving October first, and they won’t be back here until June. They’ve already talked to the farmer they rent the field from, and whenever they return to Ashland, the field is theirs to use.”
John’s brows drew together and his lips pursed, but he didn’t speak, so Jilly pushed on.
“I’ve officially decided that I’m going to join the clan. It’s not just because Hanai has been training me as his apprentice, but because I believe it’s the right thing for my family. Wyked, Fate, and I will be mated and married in less than two weeks. After we return from our honeymoon, we’ll still have time together before we leave, and then we’ll get to see you all next summer.”
Jilly clamped her lips together because she knew she was rambling.
John spread his hands on top of the table, his wedding band gleaming in the overhead lights. “I’m not surprised.”
“You’re not?” she asked.
He smiled, but there was a hint of sadness in his eyes. “When you came back to us and were already unofficially mated to Wyked and Fate, I knew that you’d most likely leave with them.”
“How could you know when I didn’t really know?”
“Call it father’s intuition. The first year you were back, I thought you’d stay and the boys would move in here with us. But then you apprenticed with Hanai, and I saw you flourish in finding a purpose. I’m selfish enough to want you to stay here forever, sweetie, but I’m not such a dick that I would try to make you feel guilty. Making tough choices is part of growing up.”
He stood, his chair pushing back noisily, and held out his arms to her. She leaped up and ran around the table, letting him pull her quickly into his embrace.
“I’m so, so thankful to have had these last three years with you in this house,” he murmured, emotion choking his words. “I never thought I’d see you again after you turned sixteen and left home with the females. It was a dream come true to get you back.”
She sniffled as tears leaked through her closed eyes.
He chuckled and tipped her face to his. He brushed the tears from her cheeks. “No crying, Jilly. You’re going to have a wonderful life, and that’s all I ever wanted for you.”
He kissed her forehead and hugged her once more, and they stood there in the kitchen, a dad and his daughter, just enjoying their time together.