Homecoming (12 page)

Cal registered the fact that Daniel could not even say the words “make her kill you” but he knew that was what Daniel meant. It was unfair, and he was going to say so, but Daniel kept talking.

“I get it, I do: she's mesmerizing. But her mother destroyed the Lawton pack, every last one of them, and it took, if I remember correctly, forty–five bullets and a flame thrower to bring her down.” Daniel turned his back on him, crossing his arms. “You run hot and cold with Sula, and I don't know where we stand in the meantime.”

Cal pointed at him. “You want her too!”

“I'm not
immune
.” Daniel's words dripped with fury, and that's when it all fell together for Cal: Daniel was terrified, flat out scared shitless about what Sula had told them. It was a rare day that Cal was holding together better than Daniel, so he stomped on his anger and slowly walked over to him. He carefully wrapped his arms around him, pressing his chest against Daniel's broad, strong back. Cal was maybe an inch or two taller, but it was Daniel who was bigger, more solid and heavier and bigger boned. He always made Cal feel safe, and while that was not something Cal thought he could offer in return he wanted to let Daniel know that he wasn't going anywhere.

“I run hot and cold for her but I love you.” He kissed Daniel's neck.

Daniel remained tense and cold in his arms. “She fascinates you.”

Cal shrugged. “You too.”

“True,” Daniel admitted it like pulling a tooth. “But she scares me, and I respect that. You seem to be…” He paused, searching for words.

“I'm not, I'm not,
I'm not
. I don't want to die, I've got a pack and a home again, and that means too much to me to do something stupid like get myself killed. But you're right, what you said the other day: it's wrong for her to be alone. I can't stand it.”

Daniel tipped his head as if thinking. “She reminds you of yourself, doesn't she? Right afterward, when you were alone and on the run.”

Cal rested his forehead against the soft hair on the back of Daniel's head. “Huh. Yeah, I guess so.”

For some reason Cal did not want to think about, the admission warmed Daniel up enough to turn in his arms and embrace him. They stood leaning against each other, Cal finally calming down now that Daniel wasn't pissed at him anymore. Or, at least, not actively so.

“Time to go, boys.” Tony announced as he stepped onto the porch.

Daniel broke off the embrace first, looking back at the house. “Lisbeth staying here?”

Tony nodded. “For a while, until Sula is well enough to eat something. One crack about berries out of you, Whitman, and you're sleeping on the back porch tonight.”

Cal gave his Alpha a rebellious grin because it was expected of him. For a moment things felt normal.

Tony walked off the porch. “Lisbeth'll meet up with us later tonight. We're going back up to our cabin and getting some rest.” He headed for the car without waiting for a response. Cal pulled Daniel behind him, following his Alpha and hoping for the best. Tony stopped at the driver's door and pinned them with a look. “Tomorrow is Monday, and we're registering as permanents.”

Daniel nodded solemnly. Cal shrugged, throwing himself into the backseat, figuring that it was just as well, because it wasn't as if things could get worse.

~*~

After Tony sent Daniel out of the bedroom after Cal, Lisbeth sat down on the bed again and gave Sula a despondent look. Sula looked away.

Tony stood up from where he had been propped up against the wall. “Will you register?”

Sula blinked. “No. Are you crazy? No!”

“If you register, I can protect you.”

Sula snorted at him.

“Okay, right, you can take care of yourself. No one goes up against a bear without an army and heavy artillery, I get that. I meant politically. A random bear hiding in the woods is dangerous and wild and uncontrolled. A bear aligned with and living with a legitimate, legal wolf pack? Still scary, but not as dangerous. Right?” Tony looked over at Lisbeth.

“He's right, Sula. If we stay here like Tony and I plan, then everyone is going to know you're some kind of shifter and demand that you register.”

Tony frowned. “Have you
ever
registered?”

Sula bit her lip. “No.”

Tony groaned.

Lisbeth sighed. “Sula and I have traveled under the radar. I didn't want my family finding me, if they are even looking, and Sula—” Lisbeth trailed off, waving her hand over Sula.

“The Registry Office is going to have kittens when a bear shows up. Your mother was supposedly the end of them.”

“I know that!” Sula snapped. Her head started throbbing again and she rubbed her temples. “I learned my lesson, watching her. Cubs—puppies—don't need to be registered until they are of age, so I was off the list legally when she died. Given how welcoming everyone was the two times she did register, can you blame me for never stepping up?”

“Okay, no I can't. Still. Gonna be messy.”

“No, because I'm not registering. Once you are all settled in, I'm leaving.”

Lisbeth stood up, her expression dark and angry. “No you aren't!”

“We've had this discussion!”

“I need you here, Sula! You're the only family I have!”

“You got a family!” Sula pointed at Tony.

“And what about Cal and Danny?” Tony interrupted, his voice low and dry.

“What about them?”

Tony shook his head, turning to Lisbeth. “You deal with this. I'm leaving and taking the boys. Tomorrow, we're going to register. You can do it whenever you like, but I want us legally 'packed up' by the end of the week.” He turned and walked out.

“So you're really going to register? Under your real name? Does Tony know what that is?”

Lisbeth sat back down. “Yes, I am, and yes, under my name. But I'm having the Registry Office seal it. Even Tony won't know my real name.”

Sula put her hand on her friend's back. “Miss Emily Lisbeth Kater, you're playing with fire.”

“The Katers burn everything we touch.” She laughed a bit, then shook her head again. “Father is ruthless. He's taken out whole packs just to prove a point, or as punishment. He may not be looking for me, but I know he's got his eyes on the Registry, waiting for me to turn up.”

“So why bother? Why register at all? We could both play at innocent humans caught up with a bunch of handsome werewolves. People might judge but they wouldn't know the truth. Our secrets would be safe.”

“Because this is important to me, Sula. I really do want a family, and kids, puppies, whatever I get. I want them. I want a house in the wild and a pack around me, keeping the hearth warm for me and my alpha. I'm falling in love with Tony and with these mountains. I need this.” She looked down at her hands, twined up with worry. “And if Father shows up, it won't matter how much force he brings with him if I'm with Tony, legally and personally. I'll be the alpha–bitch to my own pack and nothing Father does can contravene that. It's law: if I'm part of another pack, if I've made that allegiance, there is nothing he can do.”

“Nothing?” Sula raised an eyebrow.

“Sure, he could kill them, but he tends to draw the line at family. He'd be furious, but then he'd calm down and see it as just another political marriage. Honestly he's got nothing to gain by killing Tony other than me, and Father is too much a tactician to throw those kinds moves onto the board for so little gain. Once I'm bonded to an alpha, I don't have anything Father would need. All he ever wanted from me was a good marriage anyway.” Lisbeth shrugged again. “He'll make things difficult for Tony for a few years, probably, but Tony's been rogue long enough not to need any favors. That's one reason I like him so much: he's resourceful and independent. He is one of the few shifters I've met who actually wouldn't want anything from the Katers. I can't tell you just how rare that is.”

Sula shrugged back at her friend. The politics went over her head and she did not really care, just so long as Lisbeth would be safe.

“So that just leaves you.” Lisbeth stared at her.

“No.”

“Sula!”

“No! It's more dangerous for me to register than not. How many times do I have to explain this?”

“Until you realize that you aren't making sense! Your mother was crazy, you say so yourself. Who knows how differently things would have gone if she had stopped playing lone bear and made some kind of alliance? No one is going to say 'no' to having a bear guarding their territory, if the bear is legal and respects politics. You're mother never did, she was always on her own and outside of both human and shifter laws. No wonder!”

“You don't know that. And our history is one layered in blood, all over the world. I've read the stories and the myths, and we're two things: loners, and murderers. Everyone is terrified of berserker werebears for a damn good reason, Lisbeth!”

“Not me!”

“Which is crazy! Do you even remember Baltimore? You've seen me tear werewolves apart—”

“They were going to rape me! That was totally justified!”

Sula crumpled. “I can't. I can't give any of you what you want.”

Lisbeth bit her lip. “We're back to Bracelet again, aren't we?”

Sula rubbed the beads, the cold from them seeping into her fingers. “Yes.”

“It's always been more than what you've told me. I know that. I've touched it, I
know
it's evil, Sula. Why can't you let it go?”

Sula held her friend's hand in hers. “Because I suspect that it is evil, Liz. If I let it go, it will destroy anyone unlucky enough to find it. I think…I really think it's been in my family for all this time because bears are the only ones strong enough to hold it back, the only ones strong enough to give it the energy it needs and not die in the process. It's like a double–edge sword, you know? I'm scared of what it will do—to you, to Cal and Daniel, to the world. I don't know. I've never read about anything like it, anywhere, and I don't know what it is.”

They sat there for long time, Lisbeth asking no questions and Sula staring at the brightly shining beads on her wrist. Finally Lisbeth took in a deep breath. “It wanted you to kill Cal and Daniel, didn't it?”

“Yeah.”

“But you didn't.”

“You saw what happened. It was close.”

“Sula!” Lisbeth shook her. “It wasn't 'close.' It wasn't anything of the kind! It was you! You care for them, you want them and they want you. You couldn't kill them because you are stronger than Bracelet!”

“This time.”

“You couldn't stop it from forcing the change on you, okay, I know that. But you stopped it from controlling you while you were shifted, and that's the important part. Sula! Don't you get it? Registering is the only way to stay safe!”

“That makes no sense.” Sula pulled her hand back and sat on the edge of the bed, stretching her back. She was still so sore, the idea of walking was intimidating.

“Sula, pay attention. If Bracelet can force you to shift, it can do it any time, anywhere. What if you're at work? Or out shopping? Or dancing? What if I weren't there last night? You've gone out dancing alone enough, it could happen. Then what? You've shifted, and
surprise–werebear
is going to get shot. But if you're registered, then people know, and you're protected by law.”

Sula snorted. “The most endangered of endangered species?”

Lisbeth grinned and stood up, holding out her hands to help Sula do the same. “Whatever works, right?”

“Ugh.” Sula stood up and tried to stretch fully, reaching her arms up.

“Just think about it. You could get a home, a sister, and two men who are already in love with you.”

Sula glared at her. “Who said anything about love?”

Lisbeth flapped a hand at her in annoyance and walked out of the room. Sula had to admit, privately to herself, that Lisbeth did have several good points. Bracelet hung heavy and defiant on her wrist, but it wasn't piercingly cold or burning hot, so she figured she was on the hook about registering as long as Bracelet willingly came along for the ride. The only question was whether she planned on staying long enough to need to register. The memory of waking up with Cal and Daniel in her bed drifted to mind, warm and comforting, but she shoved it aside. The last thing a decision like that needed was to be influenced by rank sentimentality. She had to do what was right by all of them, no matter the cost.

~*~

Cal knew the advantages of registering, and his fake identity was nearly iron clad thanks to his own underground connections from back in the day, but it still gave him butterflies each time they did it. Calvin Jacob Whitman was totally legal, but Jacob Calvin Harper was supposed to be dead, and Cal always worried that something would screw up in the fingerprint records. He had paid a lot money for someone who worked at the Registry offices to alter the records, but if there was one thing Cal knew from his days as a cop, it was that crime was never fool proof. Whenever they registered, Cal waited for the ax to fall.

The drive into town was quiet. Cal worried himself sick, Daniel did not want to talk about anything, and Tony was lost in thought. It wasn't the dark ages anymore, so no one would riot on the streets if a pack of werewolves moved into town, but prejudices ran deep and chances were high that in a small place like Hartsville people would not be happy about it. A fact proved true when Tony walked up to the front desk at the Courthouse and asked where the shifter Registry office was located.

“Th'what?” The security guard, Officer Wells according to his name tag, snapped his gum as he asked. The receptionist herself squinted up at Tony through her glasses. Aside from the security guard, who was armed, Cal did not see any other security features, not even an x–ray machine for bags.

“The Registry. For shifters? You know, werewolves?”

The elderly lady scooted backwards while the security guard stepped forward.

“What?”

Cal could tell that Tony was manfully not rolling his eyes at the guard. “Yes, we are werewolves. We are moving into town. To stay. We need to Register. That's the law.” Tony spoke slowly, as if the guard was stupid, and Cal was beginning to suspect that he was.

Wells was visibly stunned, but Cal generously gave him points for not immediately pulling his gun. After a second, he nodded. “Okay, sure enough. It's…uh, I'll escort you.” He came out from behind the desk and waved at them to follow. The few other people in the rotunda area stopped to stare. It was pretty clear the guard did not escort too many casual visitors around.