Homecoming (17 page)

Sula shook her head. “So? You've sent the message loud and clear you aren't interested in being a part of that pack.”

Lisbeth nodded. “Yes, but it would give our own pack some real power to be publicly aligned with a bear.”

“This Tony's idea?”

“Honestly, no. He's kind of scared shitless of you.” Lisbeth grinned and sipped her coffee again.

Sula picked up own mug and toasted her. “So this is for you.”

“When we were rogues, it didn't matter. But now we're not, and it does. I feel bad putting it like that to you. I'm not trying to
use
you, I'm asking for your help.”

“I guess we'll be helping each other then,” Sula said, putting her hand over Lisbeth's. “I never got a sister, before you. And I'm not made to be a part of a pack, but you're like home to me. Now Daniel and Cal are part of it too. I guess I'm going to figure this out as I go.” She let go and leaned back in her chair. “I'll be going in before work to register.”

Daniel walked in, smelling clean and soap and warm. He walked over and gently put a hand on Sula's shoulder. “Would you care for company?”

Lisbeth tried to hide her smirk but Sula glared back at her. Giving it up, Sula sighed and leaned back against Daniel, her head resting against his torso. “Sure. Pack up Cal and let's drive in. No time like the present. You guys can show me where to go.” She tried to keep the nerves out of her voice.

“Sounds like a plan,” Daniel said, his voice infused with happiness. He kissed her temple and then walked out again to go collect Cal.

“Hearts in his eyes,” Lisbeth sighed dramatically. Sula threw spoon at her but Lisbeth caught it, laughing.

The ride into town was quiet. Cal voluntarily sat in the back, and Sula teased him about being chauffeured around.

“He's used to it. Lowest member in the pack so he almost never rides up front,” Daniel shrugged.

Sula turned to look at Cal, who was half–asleep, strewn out across the back of the sedan. Cal opened one eye and looked at her. “S'not an insult. Just the way it is. I was never born to be high on the pecking order.”

“That would annoy me,” Sula said, turning back around.

“It feels safe. I'm always taken care of,” Cal answered simply.

Daniel looked over at Sula. “Different instincts, I guess. I don't think bears look at safety and security the same way we do.”

“No, we don't. That's the truth,” Sula said, nodding.

They pulled into the parking lot at the courthouse. As they walked in, Daniel raised his hand in greeting. “Officer Wells!”

The security guard looked startled, but smiled pleasantly when he saw them. “Mr. Carter. More pack business?”

While Daniel chatted with the guard, Cal subtlety looked everywhere but
at
the guard. Sula considered it for a moment, but figured that if Cal really had anything to hide he would never have registered in the first place. And, she sympathized with his discomfort. The Courthouse represented everything she had spent her adult life avoiding.

“Not exactly. We're here so that Sula can register.”

Sula smiled at Officer Wells, who just looked confused.

“But that's not pack business? Isn't she, ah, pardon me ma'am, but don't they call you bitches?” He blushed heavily, and Sula could almost imagine his mother yelling at him for talking to a lady like that. She smiled.

“Not me, no.”

The four of them stood there awkwardly a moment until it became obvious that Sula wasn't offering up anything else. Wells nodded. “You boys know where the office is. Don't give Sherry too much trouble, she's still rattled from last time.” He smiled at them, working at being friendly.

Daniel nodded. “Yes, I remember. Officer Wells, would you do us the favor of accompanying us again? My Alpha isn't here, and he has a way of setting people's nerves at ease. Sherry might not be so intimidated with you there, though.”

Sula thought Daniel was brilliant. Once she put “were–bear” on the form, everyone in the building would be on high alert. Having security present would help.

She hoped.

The girl Sherry was sweet looking and young, and obviously still high on the gossip fodder of having registered four werewolves that week. She smiled encouragingly at Sula, who took the form on the clipboard with steady hands.

She sat down and stared at it. Daniel and Cal bracketed her.

“If you check the 'first registration' box you can skip parts two and three about previous addresses and locations.”

Sula tapped the paper with her pen. “It'll look suspicious.”

Cal snorted. “Nothing you do once you write your breed in the 'therianthrope classification' box is going to matter. That's going to override every other flag the computer system might have about you.”

“He used to be a police officer, he's very familiar with this sort of thing,” Daniel nodded.

Sula closed her eyes briefly, but then opened them and filled out the form as best she could. It was about 75% blank. She signed the end of it and then shook her wrist, looking at Bracelet, which sat inert but heavy on her wrist.

“Sula?”

“It's not well pleased but not causing me grief. So I guess no turning back.” She stood up and handed the form to Sherry.

Sherry typed in her name to the computer system—an obvious holdout from the late 1990s—then gasped. She looked up at Sula, fear in her eyes.

“Sherry?” Officer Wells sidled over. Sherry didn't move, just kept starting at Sula. Wells wrangled the form out of her grasp and looked at it. When Sula's therianthrope classification sunk in, one hand dropped to the butt of his gun.

Daniel and Cal were standing next to Sula in the next moment, tense and on guard but quiet.

Wells looked up at Sula.

“I'm not here to cause trouble. I'm settling down with the wolves.” She pointed at the form. “Says right there under 'alliances' that I'm bound to the local pack. I have a job, see? Had it for four months now.” She forced herself to shut up before she was reduced in inane babbling.

“Officer, our pack swears to the safety of this town. I can call my Alpha in, if you need.” Daniel said, putting his hand on the small of Sula's back. She leaned into it, just a little.

Wells took a deep breath. “No point in bringing Mandalari in.” He handed the paper back to Sherry, rattling it in her face when she didn't respond. She grabbed it and quickly bent over her keyboard, punching in the information. Wells turned back to Sula. “Heard your kind were wiped out.”

Sula nodded. “After Oklahoma. I know. Honestly I think we
are
wiped out. I don't know any others, never met a one.” She pointed at Daniel and Cal. “This is my family now.”

Wells nodded. When Sherry finished, she printed out the official form for Sula to sign, and gave her a receipt and a copy of the form. Sula smiled at her, but Sherry kept her eyes averted. Sighing, Sula took her paperwork. Wells walked them out of the building, all the way to the front steps.

“Thank you for your help,” Daniel said, holding out his hand.

Wells shook it, giving Sula a quick glance. “Glad you decided to have me walk in with you. Clever move. Better than Sherry yanking the alarm in a panic.”

Daniel shrugged. “The thought did occur to me.”

Wells gave him a small smile, then turned to Sula, pulling himself up tall. “Don't make me regret not chasing you out of town.”

Cal growled and surged forward, but Daniel pulled him back, walking him forcibly a few steps down and away.

“I understand. I really do. But I don't aim for trouble, I swear. They're my family, I mean that, and I just want everyone to be happy.”

“That's not what I've heard about bears.”

Sula nodded. “I suppose not, but then, you've never met one before either, right?”

Wells nodded with a resigned look. “Have a good day, Miss Price.” He turned and walked back up the steps into the Courthouse. There were already people gathered around windows to stare out at her.

Daniel all but threw Cal into the back of the car, where Cal slammed himself into the seat like a five year old. Sula got in the passenger side and clutched the paperwork to her, remembering the looks of awe and fear of the people in the windows.

“That went well,” Daniel said cheerfully as they pulled out of the parking lot.

“How do you figure that? You saw how they treated her!” Cal snarled.

“I registered and no one shot me. I'm gonna count that as a win, if you don't mind,” Sula sighed.

Daniel reached over with his free hand and put it on her thigh. “You called us family.”

“Oh hey, she did, didn't she?” Cal leaned forward between the seats. “You did!” He poked her in the ribs.

Sula smiled, the stress of the situation lifting a little. “I did.” She wasn't entirely sure what she meant by it, or what it would entail down the road, but for the moment it made them happy. She was just glad that Bracelet was neutral, laying low for a while.

Cal jumped forward to kiss her on the cheek before falling into the back seat again.

Sula looked out scenery, the mountains awash in the gold light of early morning. Even with registering, she'd be at work before nine a.m., where she would start the first day of the rest of her life as a registered werebear—a werebear aligned with a new werewolf pack in a town that had not seen hide nor hair of any shifters in years. She wondered if they would get kicked out of the dance club, and if she would get fired (although it was illegal to discriminate against shifters, Sula had seen enough bigotry to know that laws didn't stop hate). The landscape rolled out majestically around them, the shifting colors of fall already tinting the leaves of the trees that flowed up the sides of the mountain ranges around the town, and it was beautiful. Sula had always wondered what “home” would look like, and if this was it, she could not be disappointed.

Daniel's spare hand landed on her thigh again, squeezing a little, his touch warm and soothing. Cal hummed from the backseat, apparently picking up on Daniel's contented feelings. Sula did not sense them the way she assumed she would if she had been a werewolf herself, but she was okay with that. She liked her space.

Settling back in the seat for the rest of the short drive, Sula decided that it was probably highly unusual for a bear to align with a wolfpack. There weren't even tales of such a thing, among all the legends of raging werebears she had heard in her life, but she didn't care. Cautious and wary, she was still willing to try something new.

Bracelet sparked with a low charge, neither pleased nor angry, just reminding her that it was there. She shook her wrist and shut herself off from it as much as she could. For the moment she was too happy to allow the bastard magic to own even a piece of her.

Cal and Daniel were radiating fulfillment and satisfaction, a wolfish form of happiness that Sula matched with her own sense of lazy contentment. The sun crested the mountains at last, washing everything in the warm light of day, and Sula smiled.

Lisbeth's family shows up to demand what they feel is theirs: Lisbeth herself. The pack rallies around their Alpha female, while Sula begins to wonder if being involved with pack politics is too much for her to handle. Everything starts to escalate and things turn violent, but not before Sula realizes to her horror that her magical bracelet has a much bigger role in her life—and in the lives of the werewolves around her—than she ever imagined.

Bio:

Cooper West is my nom de plume. I'm a cisgendered pansexual woman with a day!job I resent just a little and a burning desire to move the hell out of Florida. I like hot men in kilts, thick women in bikinis, fandom, whiskey, and writing. And Chris Evans (please let him know, if you can). I'm 40+, single and owned by one cat.

My stories:

I write romance in a variety of genres (modern romance, fantasy, supernatural, science fiction) in multiple categories (mostly M/M and poly M/F/M) and different ratings (light romance to hardcore). I sometimes explore kinks and fetishes, but almost always within the context of a romantic relationship. My characters often swear as much as you do and have real–life issues that effect their relationships with everyone around them. I rarely write very violent stories, although the supernatural ones can get gory occasionally. I enjoy writing plotty stories where the characters have to overcome some kind adversity or another, but in the interest of full disclosure, I love happy endings and almost never write stories that end in tragedy.