Black Wolf (17 page)

Jesse saluted,
but obeyed, left his snowy boots with the numerous others and added
his jacket to the pile on the chest freezer behind the door.

"Find a spot,
if you can," Flynn said, claiming one end of the couch, which
already had two people on it: a woman with shoulder-length
copper-coloured hair, a little taller than Gisela but no heavier,
and Samantha from the pet store. Bane crossed the room towards the
one chair; the man sprawled in it, a leg draped over the arm,
resembled him quite a lot. Aha, that was Bane's older brother
Bryan. Bryan started to move, but Bane shook his head and sat on
the floor leaning against the chair.

Leaning
against the couch, on a pillow on the floor, was a curvy
dark-haired woman whose hazel eyes focused on nothing, but who
cocked her head a little to listen. A grey husky hovered near her,
like always. Jesse had never heard of a seeing eye dog that wore
nothing save a collar, but Gwyn did help Naomi get around somehow,
so he filed it as one more small mystery. Everyone else, he counted
seven more including the other newcomers, found space on the floor,
a few with cushions to sit on, most not.

The oval
coffee table bore a heavy load of bottles of pop, pitchers of juice
and one of water with ice in it, and a collection of mismatched
glasses and mugs; some of those present had obviously already
helped themselves.

Against one
wall were two women. One had hair so pale it was practically
blue-white, cut to shoulder-length, an interesting contrast to her
tanned skin; she was petite, but nicely curved under the simple
blue and silver short-sleeved dress she was wearing. He thought he
remembered meeting her briefly at some point, and that her name was
Evaline. She nudged the woman beside her with one bare foot, and
both moved aside to make room between them.

"There's not
much room," the second woman said cheerfully. "But we can make
some. Come have a seat, gorgeous. You have awesome timing, this is
going to be a great party. But then, we always have great parties
when we're all together." The dark red silky stuff she was wearing,
a cropped tank top with a ribbon tie gathering the bottom and
calf-length pants so loose they resembled a skirt, showed off her
athletic body nicely; Jesse thought he wouldn't want to mess with
her. Thick chestnut hair had been cut to jaw-length, around a
tanned face that was too strong to be called pretty. Still, they
both seemed friendly, so he shrugged and accepted the offered
place. Anywhere he sat, he was going to be right next to
someone
, so why not?

"Calm down,
Caitryn," Bane said, amused. "You can be a bit alarming when you
get excited."

"Oh, I'm not
scaring Jesse. Am I?" she asked Jesse.

He shrugged.
"Not particularly."

"See?"

Bane simply
looked at her, expressionless; it took only a couple of heartbeats
for Caitryn to look down and to one side, and Bane looked away.
Jesse had the feeling he'd just missed something he wouldn't get an
explanation for even if he asked.

"So, how's
life been treating you?" Deanna asked.

"It's life,"
Jesse said, with another shrug. "It's winter. Everyone in the city
is broke and stressed out 'cause they spent too much over
Christmas, and now they're depressed 'cause it's cold and grey and
slushy with short days. Doesn't make for the greatest
atmosphere."

"Sounds it,"
Samantha said. "Also sounds like a good reason to be here, not
there."

"How 'bout up
here?"

"Fairly
pleasant, now that we've finished exams," Cynthia said. "It was
kind of tense around here not too long ago. College exams, high
school exams..."

"To say
nothing of my needing to keep the library open extra hours," Bryan
said dryly. "I thought Coven Winter were going to collectively
collapse from sheer nerves, all four of them trying to work and get
through third and fourth year college exams."

"We survived,"
laughed the copper-haired woman Jesse thought was Sonja.

"And then
there was Kevin freaking out over his first college exams," Bryan
finished.

"We just
couldn't convince him that they aren't that much worse than high
school ones, and that he should treat them the same way," Bane
sighed. "It was not a pretty sight. I think Lori kept half the
people in this room fed for a good couple of weeks. I've never seen
so much stew and curry and such, stuff she could make in big
batches."

"Thank all the
gods for the Lioren family's love of cooking," Cynthia said.

"And
everyone's willingness to chip in on the groceries required," Naomi
added, her hand never still, always stroking Gwyn's fur or playing
idly with his ears. Gwyn, Jesse thought, looked completely blissed
out. "Not that Bryan and Lori and I wouldn't do it cheerfully under
conditions like that, but the three of us just don't make enough to
feed a dozen or so people."

"It's your
anniversary?" Jesse asked Bryan.

Bryan nodded.
"Lori and Naomi and I have been a coven for four years today."

"While parties
are fun," Deanna reflected, "we'd be doing nothing else if we were
to celebrate holidays, and coven anniversaries, and birthdays. So
we have a party for each coven's anniversary, and birthday parties
for our solitaries. That would be Gisela and Cait and, when Bryan
can talk her into it, Sam. Plus holidays. We don't do presents
often, either, otherwise the rent would never get paid and Kev and
Lori would starve to death. So we all have a feast and rent a
couple of movies and just hang out for the night."

Jesse thought
of birthdays and Christmas mornings when he'd gotten all the
presents his well-off adoptive parents could afford, but which he'd
nonetheless spent wishing he didn't have to be there. "I like your
way."

"So do we,"
Sonja laughed.

For a little
while, Jesse stayed quiet, simply listening in on one or another of
the ever-shifting multiple conversations in the room. It wasn't
really so hard to allow himself to be drawn into a debate between
Deanna and her cousin about a current movie. Liam had much the same
smile Deanna did, and similar colouring, though he lacked her
height and was much slenderer. Long dark brown hair was, as usual,
held out of his eyes by a colourful woven headband. Caitryn got
involved, too, and all four lost track of time in the animated
discussion.

"Somebody want
to set the dining room table?" Kevin called.

"Hear and
obey, milord," Evaline answered. Caitryn rose a heartbeat later.
"We've got it," Evaline said. "Any more than two and we'll be
tripping over each other."

"There are too
many to sit at the table," Jesse said, puzzled.

"Very true,"
Samantha said. "Which would be why we're all going to get a
plateful of food and come back here, once everything's on the
table."

"Ah. Got
it."

"Come and get
it!" Lori called.

"And the
stampede begins," Flynn chuckled. "Don't worry 'bout hurrying,
Jess. We'll all be able to stuff ourselves senseless and still have
leftovers. Kev and Lori tend to get a bit over-excited in the
kitchen when they're together."

"Stay, Gwyn,"
Naomi said, getting to her feet and tucking her hand around Bryan's
arm. "Mm, I smell that honeyed chicken Kevin makes."

The dining
room table was heaped with more food than Jesse had ever seen in
one place before. Chicken, ham, steak, rice dishes, noodle dishes,
vegetable dishes, potatoes. At one end of the table was a stack of
mismatched plates, and beside it, a pile each of forks and knives.
Everyone simply picked one up and started choosing foods, with some
degree of good-natured squabbling when someone grabbed a spoon
someone else had been reaching for, or got in someone's way.

Classically
tall, dark, and handsome Nick from Coven Winter slid an arm around
Naomi's waist and leaned past her to scoop up a couple of
still-warm rolls from the basket, then retreated to put one on each
plate that Evaline held. The pair retreated, like others, to the
living room. There was an awful lot of casual physical contact,
with total disregard for relative sexes or covens or anything else
Jesse could see. That was something he was beginning to get used
to, but currently it was highlighted in neon by the number of
bodies in close proximity. Somehow he couldn't quite work out, they
managed to keep uninvited contact with him to a minimum without
giving him the feeling that they were avoiding him.

Jesse had
trouble deciding what he wanted, since everything on the table
looked and smelled good. He took a little bit of each, and found
his plate full before he'd gotten to everything.

"Come back for
seconds," Caitryn advised, and waited for him before going back to
the living room.

That Kevin was
an excellent cook, Jesse already knew. Kevin and Lori together were
phenomenal.

The whole
evening was a lot of fun. Jesse volunteered to help clean up; they
didn't take all that long, with Bane and Bryan clearing the table
and packing up leftovers, Nick washing the mountain of dishes,
Jesse and Deanna drying, and Gisela putting everything away. It
didn't feel like so much work, with the radio on and all the
laughter and gentle teasing in the kitchen.

Only once they
could all relax did Flynn turn on the TV. The first movie sent the
entire room into fits of hysterical laughter; Jess couldn't
remember the last time he'd laughed so hard, or with company he
could simply share the moment with. The second was a well-done
science-fiction action adventure. There was a third one, a truly
bad '60s B-movie, but by then everyone was so worked up and tired
both that it was more funny than terrible—or was it the commentary
from the people around him that was funny?

"Oh, man,"
Lori yawned. "I think it's about time we all headed home to
bed."

"Wish parties
never had to end," Gisela said wistfully, but she looked like she
was having trouble staying awake, her head resting on Deanna's
shoulder.

"They end so
we can get all rested up for the next one," Liam said. "So. How are
you all getting home?"

Jesse saw a
number of glances flicker in his direction, then away again; only
Kevin's stayed, thoughtfully.

"Why do I get
the feeling I'm stopping you from something?" Jesse asked, through
a yawn.

"Just do it,"
Sam said, and Flynn added, "I was going to say that."

Gisela nodded,
and yawned something that sounded like agreement.

Kevin and Lori
looked at each other, and Kevin shrugged. "Oh, why not. I don't
think anyone's awake enough to drive. Just don't freak when you see
how, okay, Jess?"

"Okay," Jesse
agreed. "Can't be any weirder than some of what I've seen."

"Mine's
straightforward enough," Lori said. "One gate to my focus in Sam
and Bryan's living room, one to our apartment, and Cait can come
with Naomi and I, she doesn't live far away. Yours could get
tangled."

"Nah," Kevin
said. "I'm still wide awake, and there's lots of moonlight. I can
do three. Hmm. Would be easier to do the other two from home,
though. One to our place, then one to Flynn's house and one to
Gisela's house and Dia can make up her mind by then where she's
sleeping."

"Show-off,"
Deanna said affectionately. "Brace yourself, Jess."

Sleepy
good-nights were said, and hugs traded—Caitryn gave Jess a bear-hug
that left him slightly breathless and grateful she'd left his ribs
and spine intact, but it felt good.

The silver
moonlight pouring in through the windows began to visibly gather
itself in front of Kevin. With both hands he gestured, outlining a
rough doorway. The light strengthened, and formed into an archway
covered by a filmy curtain of rainbow light; through it, he could
see Sundark's familiar living room. Jesse couldn't help staring.
Cynthia just laughed, took his hand, and stepped through the
glowing door, drawing him after her. A couple of steps later, they
were home, and the others were following. Kevin came last, and the
bright doorway imploded in a shower of silvery sparkles.

"Nice trick,"
Jesse said. "I'm impressed. Can you do that anywhere?"

"No," Bane
answered, while Kevin repeated the whole process twice more—once to
send Flynn somewhere, once for Deanna and Gisela. "He needs a very
clear link to the other end, which can be done in a few ways. There
aren't many who can do it at all, but the ability tends to run in
that family."

"Right. I'm
getting the feeling a lot runs in that family that I don't
necessarily want to know about. I'll ask some other time. Can I go
to sleep now?"

Kevin
chuckled. "Go ahead. You can have my bed, I'll steal Dia's or crash
with someone."

"Sure,"
Cynthia yawned. "If you're quiet."

Sleep, Jesse
thought dreamily, getting comfortable in Kevin's bed between silky
sheets. What a wonderful invention sleep was...

12

Rebecca
trotted on four feet along the snowy road, enjoying the clean scent
of the wind, the winter's peace. This was how a wolf was meant to
live all the time, not fenced in on all sides by buildings and
roads, people who took for granted you'd risk your own life to
protect them, too many other wolves all compressed into one
too-small territory like animals in a zoo...