“Everything okay?” Emily was the first to express concern when Alex and Danny came back in.
“Well.” Danny knew he had to say or do something, he just wasn’t sure what. All eyes were on him, waiting for some type of announcement. “Alex and I are mates.” Madison and Emily looked at him with curious expressions, while Zach and Jacob seemed stunned that he came out so boldly with his statement. They both knew about her and how they were mated, but didn’t think he’d just come right out in the middle of their group and say so.
“So, what do you mean?” Madison knew exactly what he was talking about, but wanted him to be the first to explain so that way they could all come out of the closet per se.
“It means.” Danny glanced over at Jacob, who nodded his head, meaning Madison knew who and what they were. A quick nod from Zach indicated that Emily also knew. “Shit, you all know already. I might as well show you.” He walked out of the family room, stripped down naked in
“I didn’t know any of this until her aunt told me, that’s why I left before winter break last year. I don’t know how we are able to be mates based on our backgrounds, but that’s how it is and I love her.” He turned and looked at Emily curled up on the sofa looking like she wanted to sink right in and have it swallow her up from this moment. He mouthed the ‘I love you’ to her and she did the same to him. She nodded her head for him to continue and turned back around to face eight piercing eyes. “Her father is Orfeo.” He glanced at Jacob and then Danny and saw confusion then recognition of who and what she was crossing over their faces. Jacob stood up and took two steps forward. Zach automatically let out a low growl and stood in between him and Emily.Madison pulled on Jacob’s arm so he would come back to her, which he did by one step. “I don’t get it. I thought they could only have sons.&rd
The following three weeks passed and nothing had changed as far as telling anyone else, meaning Zach and Jacob’s father, about the bonding that had gone on and who Emily was. The group was getting ready for prom and most were scheduling everything that they needed done before graduation. ***“Why the hell can’t I get these stupid things buttoned?” Emily was wrestling around with a pair of her favorite shorts that she’d bought last fall. They fit perfectly then, but now seemed to be tight at the waist. “Auntie, would the drier make my shorts shrink?”
“No to what?” Zach and Danny both sat down with their lunches. Zach looked at all three girls, seeing if anyone was going to answer his question.Emily gave a slight shake of the head to Madison and Alex, then turned to address her mate. “We were talking about prom and what’s going on afterward.” That was the best she could come up with on limited time and the pressure Zach was putting on her with his intense stare.Zach knew Emily was lying about something, he could tell by the fact that she wouldn’t look him directly in the eyes. “So, what is going on?” He decided to play along with her little charade and get the answers that he wanted later on.Madison held up her finger and took a drink of her water. “I thought we were all heading back over to your house afterward, that’s what Jacob said.”Zach shrugged his shoulders and took a big bite of his burger. He held it in front of Emily’
Zach drove down to West Lakes Park and pulled into the deserted top-of-the-hill parking lot. “You don’t have to be home right now, do you?” His eyes traveled over to Emily, who was still staring intently out the front window. She shook her head no, but didn’t turn to face him just yet. “C’mon, Em, talk to me. What’s wrong?”Emily didn’t know how to tell him what could be wrong. It wasn’t a definite yet, so why get him all panicked about something that may not even be true. Because you’d probably have to go see a special kind of doctor and not just a regular one, Emily thought to herself as she tried to rationalize the whole big picture of what could be happening. “Um,” she started off slowly, “do you know of a family doctor or someone who deals with our kind?”Zach was confused about her question. First, he wasn’t sure what she meant about their ki
“Bro’, you’re on Adam’s shit list now.” Jacob greeted Zach at the front door when he finally got home the next morning. He had exactly fifteen minutes to get a short shower and change before heading back over to Emily’s house to pick her up for school. “Yeah, for what now?” Zach jogged up the stairs with Jacob following behind. “You didn’t show up for the planned hunt yesterday. I told them last time I’d seen you were in the library studying for some final exam coming up.” Jacob stopped outside of Zach’s bedroom as his brother rummaged around his room, looking through a pile of clothes on the floor. Zach was shocked his brother had covered up for him. Seemed since he’d gotten with Madison and they all had revealed their individual secrets, his whole demeanor had changed. Not to be fooled, though, Jacob was still a cocky, arrogant son-of-a-bitch at times, but for the most part, it seemed that Madison had tamed a portion of the wild beast. “Thanks for the alibi
“Have you decided what you’re going to do?” Alex and Emily were seated at the lunchroom table, waiting for the guys to bring their food back.Emily knew what she was hinting around about, but she was unsure as to what she and Zach were going to do. “We’re going to talk to my aunt after prom. After that, I’m not sure what we’re going to do if it comes out positive.”“If you are pregnant, you guys will keep the baby, right?” Alex couldn’t imagine Zach allowing his firstborn be given up for adoption, especially with the baby having the possibility of being either shapeshifter or vampire.“Yes, we are.” Zach sat his and Emily’s lunch trays down on the table and looked at Emily, waiting for her response to his answer.“So, it could be true.” Danny sat down by Alex. “You and Em are going to be mommy and daddy.”“We don&rsquo
Jacob waited patiently in the parking lot for school to be let out. He’d spent the day out doing a lot of nothing. He realized without having Madison around, or any of the pack, there just wasn’t much to do in West Lakes. He heard the final bell ring and saw the students flooding out through the main doors. Most were heading to the buses parked along the curbside but there were several walking down the sidewalk toward the student parking lot. One was Madison. He got out of his car and stood by the rear bumper so that she would see him when she came around the corner.Madison wasn’t paying any attention to what was going on around her. The events of the morning still played fresh in her mind and the fact that nothing had been resolved was enough to make her even more frustrated. She turned down the final row of cars and looked up as a car went past. She waved as she recognized the girl from her English class. Madison looked down the row of cars to where she h
Zach and Emily stopped at a local bar and grill on their way back into town. It was time for dinner and neither wanted to go home and cook.“Oh, look.” Emily pointed to the poster that was stuck to the announcement wall. Zach took two steps backward and looked at the picture she was pointing to. “It’s the band that played at the school dance. ”Zach looked more closely at the picture and now recognized the group. “Yeah, they played the eighties stuff, right?”Emily nodded her head. “Yep. I’ll have to tell Aunt Maureen that they’re playing close. Maybe she can have a night out on the big town.” Emily chuckled at her last comment. West Lakes was one of the smallest communities she’d ever lived in, like nothing ever happened here of significance.They grabbed a booth to take a seat and a waitress came over with menus. They were looking at what to order when they heard the chime