Little Prick (2 page)

“Of course, child. I call a piece of toast with jam.” She grinned and shooed Pansy back to bed. “They are coming up the stairs.”

Keelie sat next to her on the bed, her legs extended almost to the footboard. She tucked Pansy back in, and together, they greeted her siblings and father as breakfast was served.

“Hello, Karl. Isn’t it amazing that she is twenty-five today?” Keelie’s eyes were sparkling with mischief.

“Keelie. I wasn’t expecting you this soon.”

“Oh, were you planning on having a talk with her?”

Karl Medeela, alpha of the Northfur pack, flexed his features until he could provide a happy smile to Pansy. He came to her side and kissed her cheek. “Happy birthday, Prix. Your
fairy godmother
will give you some information that you have been missing. Have a good day. I will see you at dinner.” He kissed her other cheek and ruffled her hair.

That just left her six brothers, and they all gathered around and greeted Keelie, asking her if she had brought them any presents.

Pansy put jam on a slice of toast and handed it over to her auntie before diving into a selection of her favourites.

Andrew asked, “So, Aunty Keelie, why are you here so early?”

The entire collection of Medeela siblings was grinning.

Keelie snorted. “I can come with the dawn or with twilight. This year, I smartened up and picked dawn.”

Andrew chuckled and Dougal smirked, the others laughed quietly. “I pencilled that idea onto the invitation.”

“Thanks, Dougal. It was helpful. Catching Pansy’s birthday is the highlight of my year.”

Pansy ate her eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, toast, croissant and muffin with determination. They made it, and she was going to eat it. With the wolves, everything started with protein.

When her tray was empty, she was sipping at a twelve-ounce cup of coffee and contemplating sliding down the stairs to leave the house for a walk.

“I can’t believe you finished that, little blossom.” Keelie was rummaging through Pansy’s clothing.

“I can’t believe it either, but they made it for me, and I appreciate it. Was there a candle on that muffin?” She was suddenly worried in her food-filled stupor.

“No, just the blueberries, cranberries and what looked like half a banana.”

Her aunt pulled out some clothes and frowned. “Don’t you have anything pretty?”

Pansy shook her head. “Only the jewellery you have given me. Nothing else lasts beyond a day.”

“That is sad. Now, what do you truly want with all your heart for your birthday?”

“A place, a life of my own.” The words came from her soul.

“Good. I am very glad to hear it. That is what you are getting, Pansy. Now, today is the day you learn about your mother and how exactly I came to be your godmother. Have a shower and I will hopefully have found something suitable.”

Pansy got out of bed with a groan and paused before she entered her private bathroom. “Have I expressed how happy I am that you are here, Auntie?”

“I can feel it, little flower. Now, let’s start your birthday properly.”

Pansy showered and tiptoed out wrapped in a towel. She wasn’t holding out much hope of Keelie finding something acceptable.

Surprise was the best way of describing what she was feeling as she walked into her bedroom. Keelie was sitting at her dressing table, waving one finger in the air and changing a plain oxford-cloth shirt into a soft and pretty blouse and a set of jeans into a soft skirt of dark faux suede.

“That is…I didn’t know that you could do that.”

Her aunt laughed. “There is a lot of wild magic in this area. It is very easy to shape and twist to my own purposes.”

“Oh, I didn’t know that.”

“Yes, I was in the area doing a magical census when I met your mother. She had just married Karl, and they were settling into being alphas. I had to get their agreement for me to be in their territory, and Bethanne was friendly and willing to show me the caches of power all around the area. We became friends at that moment.”

As she spoke, she finished the clothes, and they floated to rest at the foot of Pansy’s bed. “I will wait downstairs.”

Pansy wrinkled her nose. As a shifter, she wasn’t too worried about clothing, but Keelie must have different sensibilities.

A bra, panties and the new clothing later, she sat at the edge of her bed and pulled on boots that would keep her from running afoul of any poisoned ivy in the area.

It was a special day, so she took out her mother’s shawl and put it around her shoulders. Her hair was in a thick braid down her back, and when she looked at herself in the mirror, she had to blink at how pretty she looked. With a whimsical smile, she put on a set of dangling pearl earrings, and after a little bit of work, she managed to slip them through the holes in her ears. It had been a while since she had snuck out to get her ears pierced.

She wiped off the little bit of blood and turned her head from side to side. Aside from the red irritation of her lobes, the pearl earrings looked pretty. They swung slightly as she moved.

With a skip in her step, she headed down the stairs.

It was a Sunday, so there was no activity at the shop, but the house was empty as all the men in the house were out doing something else.

Keelie was sitting in the family room, flipping through the family albums. “She was lovely and she had so much life in her that she could have lived.”

“If I hadn’t taken it.”

Keelie jerked. “Oh, Pansy, it wasn’t you. She found out she had cancer two days after she found out she was pregnant with the daughter she had always wanted.”

Pansy swallowed the lump of emotion. “She could have lasted longer if she wasn’t carrying me.”

Keelie came to her and lifted her chin with her hand. “Never doubt for a moment that she fought the entire time. That is why your father doesn’t want me here. I was part of that fight, and we lost. He can’t forgive me for the loss.”

Pansy took her aunt’s hand. “Can you tell me the whole story?”

“Of course. It is quite the tale, so I need to pace. Sit down and I will explain it. All of it.”

Pansy took a seat in one of the heavy leather chairs that easily held her brothers but made her feel like she was a small child.

Keelie started to pace, and as she paced, she started to speak.

“Bethanne always wanted a little girl. With every pregnancy, she hoped and prayed for a girl, but she had boy after boy. I visited as often as I could, but it wasn’t as much as I should have or I might have noticed the illness earlier. Then, she got the news. She was pregnant with a girl. I came to visit that weekend, but the joy had been marred by finding out that she also had breast cancer.

“Karl was devastated and told her to abort the pregnancy, but Bethanne put her alpha female foot down and refused. She asked me for help, and I did research as fast as I could. She could get treatment and have the baby at the same time if I helped protect the baby.

“I found the spell and asked her if she was ready. Bethanne held my hand, and I called the wild magic to protect you. There was a small matter of my having to be named your godparent that was an easy decision for Bethanne.” Keelie smiled.

“You used wild magic to protect me?”

“I used it to change you into something that could withstand the chemo. The magic chose what it turned you into. Your father never forgave me for that one as well.” Keelie sighed and returned to pacing.

“You were normal when you were born. Your mother named you after my suggestion and Karl was so delighted that she and her baby had survived the treatment, he was happy to see me. Then, we found out that the medical centre had given her a placebo because of the pregnancy. They refused to damage the child, and we had done all of that preparation for nothing. The cancer had advanced to a stage where all options had been taken from her. She had fought for you, and it amounted to shadow boxing.”

Pansy inhaled sharply.

“The medical centre settled out of court. There is a huge settlement waiting for you today, as well as the one that bought this house and the surrounding territory for the pack. It increased the territory by several hundred acres.”

“I didn’t know.”

“Your father didn’t want you to know. It would have been hard as you grew up and depressing when you became a woman. Now, do you know how your mother’s mother passed?”

“No.”

“Breast cancer, as did your great grandmother and many of your great aunts. The change that you underwent altered you. You are the first woman in your family who isn’t in immediate danger of death via your own body. It is hard for your father to deal with. He thought he was getting a wolf cub.”

“When did I first show the change?”

“Ah, that was a good day. Your mother was holding you to her breast and your snuffling turned to snorting. She peeled back the blanket and there you were, spikes and all. She laughed so hard, I think she peed a little.” Keelie paused and stood by the window. She looked over her shoulder. “Your father was shocked. He knew you were his child; there was no doubt. There had even been blood tests after your birth just to check on your health. There was a definite match to the Medeela bloodline.”

“My mom was amused?”

“She thought wolves having to raise a porcupine was hilarious. You are the one creature that they would not screw with, and therefore, you had a chance to make your own place in the family. You don’t fall within pack protocols, but they can’t intimidate you, so you have a solid family. Bethanne figured out all the rules before she died and wrote them down for Karl. Every time he pretended to lose the list, I materialized another one. It drove him nuts.”

“Were you here more often when she was sick?”

“I was. I was with her every day.” Keelie swallowed. “I helped her with you while she was getting near the end. I even wear the scars that you left on me. You were a little nibbly.”

“What happened after she died?”

“Her will kicked in, and the fae take being a godparent very seriously. Your father wanted me to leave and not return, but my position meant you would see me each and every birthday.”

“Yikes. Did he really try and keep you away from me?”

“Yes, but he couldn’t. Your mother had made sure of it. I am bound to this land.”

That was news to Pansy. “What?”

“I am bound to the magic of this land. That means you. The wild magic that protects you binds us together, and today is a very special day.”

Pansy blinked. “What is it aside from my birthday?”

“Today, you go from being a member of your father’s family, to being a member of mine. He only had you for the first twenty-five years.”

Pansy was stunned.

Keelie grinned, “You might be getting the hint, but when your mother made the agreement, she gave you to me beginning with your twenty-fifth year. She knew your father would keep you close. I am here today to send you to the shifter’s Crossroads. I have a transporter meeting us at midnight. Shall we get started on that walk?”

Blinking as she absorbed the information that she had not been the direct cause of her mother’s death, Pansy took Keelie’s hand and went for a walk. What else was she going to do?

Pansy didn’t know what to think. She had to ask, “So, Mom knew that she would have a better-than-average chance of dying of breast cancer.”

“She did. It was the topic of one of our first conversations, and she hadn’t even had the eldest of your brothers yet.”

“When Dad told me, I did research and had myself tested. I don’t have the cancer marker that my mother and her sisters had. I always wondered why that was. It would be one thing if I was adopted, but my father assured me that I was my mother’s blood, and so, it was a mystery that I couldn’t solve.”

“Yeah, Karl was not pleased when it became obvious that you were a porcupine. He demanded to know how it was possible, so Bethanne left it to me to explain. She wasn’t up for the confrontation, so I faced him down, and he banished me from his territory the moment that Bethanne was gone. It was only on your birthday that I would be allowed back and only because of the contract with your mother.”

“So, I am yours now?” Pansy thought that the idea of being adopted at age twenty-five was amusing.

“You are. If you were more amenable, I would set you up with a fae, but I think your father would explode, and you are attached to this area, so the fae would have to move here. It would be complicated.”

Pansy snorted. “You think? You mean that there are fae out there who would mate with me?”

“With your power signature? Oh my, yes, there would be a line around the block.” Keelie grinned.

“Is that what the fae are after?”

“We are attracted to magic. It sings in our blood and hums in our brains. Power is literally an aphrodisiac for us.”

“Do you have a family?”

“You are my family, Pansy.” Keelie hugged her with one arm.

“I mean aside from me. A fae family.” Pansy smiled.

“I have parents and one sibling. My brother is far too elevated to associate with shifters.”

That brought up an interesting topic. “Is there much of a class system around the fae, even today?”

The bluster of laughter spilled out of Keelie. “You could say that. The fae don’t know where shifters come from, and they don’t care. They treat you like a spontaneous rash in the magical community. Humans are tolerated because they can hold tremendous power, and it doesn’t restrict itself to bloodlines. You never know when a new wave of power will come from an unexpected source.”

“So, you give the humans respect?”

“Well, the fae generally admire humans. They are lovely and so full of energy.”

“So, what is their problem with shifters?”

The leaves were crunching under their feet and the woods were silent. Pansy waited while Keelie formulated her answer.

“Shifters can smell us, so from the moment the fae tried to mix with humanity, your people were giving us away. It created an animosity that still remains to this day.”

“I see.”

“Probably not, but it is a problem most of the time when we run into each other in public settings. My brother works with the state department, and he dreads running into shifters when he is at a function.”