CHAPTER THREE
Valdez
The last time I was laid out on my back on a sidewalk, I’d been in Las Vegas. We’d been exhausted after hunting a thunderbird just outside of town, and laid down on the sidewalk and fell asleep for a bit.
The pavement wasn't a nice warm slab beneath me. It was a frigid, slush covered mess. Even a near concussion couldn't make me forget it was winter in Alaska.
And it was soaking through my coat.
Zom bounced on to my stomach as I lay in the slush. I sat up too fast; everything spun.
“Are you okay?”
My head was between my knees. I wasn't sure if I was going to puke, but I was in pain. “Nothing's broken.”
“Can I take you somewhere?”
“No. Just go. Whatever you were doing, just go. Zom, heel.”
“Zom?”
I squinted up at her, groaning as I saw turquoise eyes and red hair the shades of a flaming sunset. Why was it always the red heads that put me on my ass?
“Yes. Zombie. Got tired of yelling at him.” I took a deep breath. My ribs didn't feel broken from the fall. I was just bruised—more so my ego than anything. “Look. I'm fine. Not sure how you managed to not see me when you threw open your truck door, but I’m fine.”
“Can I buy you lunch at the bar over here to make up for it?”
She sounded sincere.
My favorite merman watched from the window of my sister's bar, laughing. Caleb had wasted no time looking for my sister. The scaly bastard would spend most of the next eight months in town. I'd deal with him later.
I looked over the petite girl from head to toe. The scent of lavender and sage drifted to me as the slightest breeze kicked up. She'd freeze in that thin jacket. The jeans with scrolling flowers may as well have been painted on her skin the way they hugged her body. Those fluffy boots she wore were not meant for Alaska. A thick ribbon of freckles ran from cheekbone to cheekbone and across the bridge of her nose. That hair of hers, backed by the sunlight, made her look like a cute fire demon—albeit one I wouldn't mind snuggling. Given the way she was dressed, I might get the chance. She’d have hypothermia if she stood there much longer.
Shaking my head, I tried to banish those thoughts. I had what could be described as an addiction to red-heads. I didn’t need caught up with another.
“No. You’re new here. Go home.”
Yep. I couldn’t even be nice.
She huffed as she turned away, her red hair streaming behind her as she stormed away toward Broken Tusk Inn. They’d tell her who I was; that I shouldn’t be crossed. And then she’d run home without a second thought. My town was not a tourist attraction.
I waited in the hall of Gold Frost Holding’s office, listening to the conversation between my siblings. It had been weeks since we’d been in the same room together.
“Come on, Ken. You know as well as I do we never know what we're getting with him. He could be fun Dez and be cool, or he could be that monster crazy that everyone in town hides from. You really think this conversation will go well?”
“No. I don't. But if you want any help from him, you need to come clean.”
What had she been hiding from me lately? Hiding the fact that she was housing Others in her bar was bad enough. Now what trouble had she gotten in to with that damn selkie?
I contemplated leaving. I didn’t need more injuries.
Koda sighed. “You think this would be easy.”
Kenai snorted. “It’s Dez. Only thing easy about him is the women he likes.”
“Are they really easy? Or just manipulative?”
“That was uncalled for,” I said as I stepped from the hall.
Koda swore. Kenai just shrugged and fished in his pocket for his clove cigarettes. He lit one up and relaxed back in his chair as I stared them both down.
“Last time that three of us were in one place, you left me knocked out with my dog. You really think this is going to go well?”
“Make it four, Pop.”
I swiveled my head to see my son sitting at my desk. Connor never was involved with the family’s supernatural business. I’d made sure of that. I didn’t like where this meeting was heading.
“What is this? An intervention? All that's missing is your mother, Connor, and that damn seal. Where is the seal, Koda? Shouldn't you be on your honeymoon?”
“He went to talk to Mel.”
Off to see the mermaid queen.
“Maybe he'll stay.”
She lunged at me. Kenai grabbed her by the belt.
“Chill,” my little brother breathed.
I couldn’t contain my chuckle.
“So why are we all here today?” I asked, shooing my kid from my chair. “The text said werewolves, Kenai.”
My brother sighed heavily, his eyes not leaving Koda as she settled back against the wall.
“Yeah. A pack of them have been hanging around town. The full moon starts tonight, and they’ve been spotted around the Hayes’ place.”
“First we’ve had since Minnie’s been gone.” I leaned forward on the desk, my eyes traveling from one family member to the next. They were too somber for the conversation to just be about a pack of werewolves in town. “Two days from now is when we’ll have to worry. Last night of the full moon; those that haven’t eaten get vicious.”
Koda rolled her eyes at me. “You act like we don’t know that, Dez.”
“Don’t you?” I snapped. The thought of the three of them hiding something from me started my blood boiling. “Quit playing. The three of you act like I’m oblivious. What are you keeping from me?”
Kenai stared at me. His mismatched eyes were a stark contrast against his sun darkened skin. Most would freeze under his stare. I’d seen it since the day he was born. I didn’t fall for his tricks. He brushed his wavy hair back out of his eyes, the tattoos that covered his scarred knuckles drawing my gaze. He’d had them retouched, the red and black ink more prominent now.
“Someone talk,” my eyes drifted from family member to the next, “and someone do it quick.”
Koda turned toward the window, clutching something in her hand. She had dark circles under her eyes that obscured some of her freckles. I’d never seen her that trouble; not even when the seal left all those years ago.
Connor just sat there, rocking in the chair, ignoring me, ignoring his aunt and uncle. My little brother just sat there, running his thumb over his recolored knuckles.
No one answered me. I had better things to do than wait for the three of them to get up the courage to ask me to help.
I stood to leave, but my son spoke first.
“Pop, I want to help hunt the weres.”
“No.” My response was as quick as my son’s statement. “You're not hunting.”
“I'm twenty. I want to be part of the family business.”
“Connor, you can't work at the gold mine without breaking things. You're not hunting.”
“Aunt Koda and Uncle Ken have already taken me.”
I glared at my siblings. They had known my wishes. Neither spoke nor would meet my gaze.
“You took him hunting?” I growled.
“He’s more than old enough,” Koda mumbled as she played with her braided hair.
The gold ring twinkled on her finger. Kenai said it had been her idea to elope with the seal, but I wanted to believe the seal had been behind all of it. The Selkie had come storming to my door when he'd the gift I’d sent. He’d ended up with another black eye in exchange for re-breaking my nose.
“If my son wants to hunt,” she said softly, “I’ll let him.”
“You don't have a kid. So you don't get a vote. It's a little too soon to know if you're expecting from your Selkie escapades.” I was fighting myself not to yell at her.
Her eyes snapped up to me. “Rook’s six, Dez. If he wants to hunt, I will teach him.”
“And who the hell is Rook?”
“My kid.” Koda turned away from me, fumbling with her hair again.
I glanced from Kenai to Connor. Before I could wrap my head around the English language again from the shock of my sister having a six-year-old child, Kenai was already filling in the pieces.
“Her and Ravenwhite's kid. That's why she went to Seattle when you went to Vegas. And now Foxy's ran off with the kid after hiring the loup garou.”
I felt my lip twitch at his mention of Foxy. It galled me that my brother was still willing to call Willow Ravenwhite by a childhood nickname after the terror she’d brought to Corodova. If I ever saw her again, it would be too soon.
It took a few tries to get my words sorted through my rising anger. “Is this what you meant by shifters are in our bloodline, Kodiak?”
She only nodded.
“Son of a bitch, Koda.” My voice was hollow. Her comment in the cabin a few weeks ago had seemed out of place at the time. Now I understood. “Is this kid a shifter?”
“That's what Rhen says,” Kenai answered. Koda tossed a photo on my desk.
I refused to look at it.
I wanted to scream at them. I wanted to flip my desk. But, I closed my eyes and counted my breaths. The ominous presence hanging in the room threatened to consume me. I still had one family member that was too silent.
“What, Kenai? You are the only one left.”
“DNA results came back from the samples they took off River’s body. They found mine.”
He went silent. No one spoke for him. They didn’t know what he had to share either.
“And?”
He lit another cigarette before answering me. “The other DNA profile was too corrupt to tell if it was human or animal.”
“So, shifter.”
“Yeah.”
“Does Brooks know?”
Kenai squinted at me. “He’s the one that told me.”
Ask a stupid question, Dez, get a stupid answer. Of course, they would have told Brooks Morgan first. He was River’s father. Kenai would have been the last one they gave information to; they were trying to pin her death on him. I scrubbed my hand across my face, stubble raking across my hand as I covered my mouth. We sat there in silence. Even Zom and Czar, Koda’s husky, were silent.
I kept telling myself my family was alive.
That was what mattered.
That my family was alive.
The house would be mine at the end of the week. I could start my plans of turning it into a bed and breakfast.
That was what mattered.
That I’d done what my parents had asked. And I was content with that.
Every nerve burned as I looked from one member of my messed up little family to the next. Every one of them had done something to put themselves in jeopardy beyond what I was capable of fixing. Every one of them had gone behind my back while I’d tried to keep them safe.
I did the only thing I could do.
“Get the fuck out of my office. All of you.”