Tameka's Smile (30 page)

Come along, child. Let’s get these pups back to safety
.

Meka wanted to follow Chad, but remembering her oath to put their welfare above her own, she joined the others herding the youth back to the alpha’s house. Kiesha gathered all the children inside.

Meka dressed and was on her way to join them when Lulu came to her. “Your house is on fire.”

She felt the blood drain from her face. “My house?” she echoed hoarsely. “I’ve got to…” she looked around, “I’ve got to go. Where are my keys?”

“Here.” Lulu handed her Chad’s keys which she’d withdrawn from the pants still in her hand. “I’m coming with you. You shouldn’t be alone and that mate of yours is going to need his clothes.”

In the end, Lulu drove. Meka hadn’t been in Refuge long enough to be familiar with the roads, especially at night when time was of the essence.

“My things: my furniture, clothes,
pictures
. Oh God, everything I own is in that house,” she moaned. “Momma E’s things.” How do you replace memories? she wondered in despair.

“Quit your fretting, child. Maybe it’s not as bad as you think. Even so, it’s just stuff. Things can be replaced. Life is what’s important.”

It was worse. The place was an inferno. The volunteer fire department had arrived. There were people everywhere, shouting orders, running around. It was a madhouse. Lulu pulled to the side of the driveway near the road, out of the way of traffic.

“You stay here. I’ll go see what’s happening. No sense both of us adding to the confusion.”

It was a picture of hell, the black sky lit up by towering 200

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flames and plumes of water shooting into the air. The fire crackled and the water hissed. The smoke was thick; the scent strong enough make her gag. The heat must be blistering. She sent up a brief prayer for the safety of the workers.

Tameka got out of the truck and leaned against its side, arms crossed over her chest as she watched her life go up in smoke. She should be happy that they weren’t in the house when it happened, but all she could think of was she’d now joined the ranks of the homeless. The clothes she was wearing was all she had left. She was just grateful she had a little cushion in her savings. It should be enough to replace the essentials and tide her over until she could find another place to live.

The unmistakable sound of a rifle being cocked brought her out of her maudlin musings.

“Step away from the truck and keep your hands where I can see them.”

Meka froze as a thousand thoughts ran through her mind.

The strongest and loudest of them all was what she’d taught the women in her self-defense class.
Don’t lose your head and you
just might keep it.

“I’m good where I’m at, thanks.” She settled more firmly against the truck, eyes trained on the burning building, where help was just a yell away.

“Move or I’ll shoot.”

“No you won’t. I have something you want. You need me alive,” Meka spoke with a calm confidence she wasn’t quite feeling.

“I can shoot you without killing you.”

Her heart jumped, then reason kicked in. “True, but the minute you fire that gun, you’ll have all of them,” she pointed to the men fighting the fire, “after you.”

Silence was her response.
Score one for me
.

Lulu should be heading back this way soon. She just had to keep stalling until help arrived. “I take it this is your handiwork?” She nodded to the burning building. She debated calling the woman out by her name, then decided that might not be too wise.

“Yes. It’s amazing what a few cocktail bombs can do. Too bad that beast of yours wasn’t inside when the fire ignited.” 201

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Her wolf bristled at the scorn in the woman’s voice.
Not yet,
wolfie
.
Calm down. You’ll get your chance
.
Let’s find out where
she is first
. She’d managed to pinpoint the direction the voice was coming from, but still couldn’t see her adversary. “You know, you’ve tried to buy me, scare me, and now you’re trying to intimidate me. Instead of all this…” she waved her hand, searching for the right word, “this…foolishness, why don’t you try talking. Simply explain to me why you want my land so bad?

I mean, it’s not like it’s the only land around. There’s plenty of property for sale around here. There’s a huge lot with more acreage and in a better location down the road a bit.”

“Just tell you why I want the land and you’ll give it to me?” There, in between those two trees about twenty feet away, was a dark shadow. When she moved, the firelight glinted off the barrel of the rifle. Her wolf bared its teeth.

“You think I’m stupid?” Meka could hear the anger in Frances’s voice.

“Since I don’t know you, I really couldn’t say what your level of intelligence is. I’m just saying, you’ve tried everything else. What could it hurt?”

“I know what you’re trying to do. Don’t try that psychoanalytical bullshit with me. It won’t work. I’ve been around shrinks all of my life.”

It obviously didn’t help
. Meka bit back the retort, choosing instead to say nothing. Sometimes the best way to get a person to talk was simply to remain silent.

“This should have been mine, you know? He owes me.

They both do.”

Meka caught a flicker of movement out the corner of her eye, but kept her attention centered on the shadow. “Who are

‘they’?”

“Animals aren’t meant to mate with humans, Ms. Jones.

When they breed, the results are…unnatural, freaks of nature.

Like me.”

“You don’t sound like a freak. I’m sure you’re exaggerating.”

“Am I, Ms. Jones? Am I really? Do you know what a hermaphrodite is?”

Tameka searched her memory. “A hermaphrodite is an 202

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animal that’s neither male nor female, but both. They have characteristics and features of both sexes, including both sex organs,” she said slowly as her studies in biology came back to her.

“That’s right. Give the counselor a star.” She stepped forward into the muted, flickering light. “An animal, something not quite human. That’s what I am. That’s what they made me.” No wonder she’d had a hard time seeing her. The woman was dressed in all black, with a black skullcap on her head and black stuff on her face, the kind men used to keep their skin from reflecting light at night. She was tall for a female, but then so was Meka. She had narrow shoulders and broad hips. Her face, what could be seen of it, appeared masculine, but the body was female. Suddenly it clicked. This was Emily Carstens’ child, Franklin. “You’re a true hermaphrodite?”

Her tone was doubtful, but it couldn’t be help.

Hermaphrodites were very rare. It was a genetic disorder in which a child was born with both male and female sex organs.

Gender reassignment, a surgery performed to classify the child as one sex or the other, was usually performed within the first fifteen months of life. Intersexuality, as it was called now, was gaining more media attention, especially after Oprah did a show on it. They even had their own organization: Intersex Society of America. There were thousands of people coming forward now, angry with the choices doctors and parents had made for them when they were too young to decide for themselves.

“Shall I drop my pants and prove it to you?” came the angry reply. The woman’s grip on the gun tightened.

“No, I’m sorry. It’s just that the condition is so rare.” Tameka thought for a moment. “So you believe that your condition is the result of Mr. Ned being…”

“An animal, like I said. Take a good look at me and do yourself a favor, get rid of the beast before he impregnates you.” Meka’s wolf flexed again, reminding her of its presence, but she ignored it, too caught up in trying to imagine what life must have been like for this person, born during a generation when people were less understanding and tolerant of sexual differences. There wasn’t even a word in the American language to describe a gender that was neither male nor female, but a 203

TAMEKA’S SMILE

strange combination of the two, and no one wanted to go through life being an “IT.” Sounds like her mother wasn’t much help either. From what Chad discovered, Emily never settled on a gender for her child, but switched back and forth between the two. Her innate sympathy kicked in and she tried reasoning with her. “Shifters and humans can’t procreate. They’re two different species.”

“I see they brain-washed you with the same bullshit he tried to sell me. ‘I can’t be your father. Your mother was human. It’s just not possible that her child was mine,’” she spat at Tameka.

“Like my mother wouldn’t know who got her pregnant.”

“Actually, she wouldn’t. Bluntly speaking, your mother was a whore. Spread her legs for any male who came sniffing around.

Ned was just one of many. He was too polite to tell you the truth.”

They both swung ’round in surprise as Lulu’s voice came out of the darkness.

“Umm, Lulu? You think that was wise?” Meka asked, her gaze focused on the rifle, which was now trained on Lulu.

“You take that back,” Frances screeched, finger poised on the trigger.

“It’s time you heard the truth. Ned really loved that woman, would have married her if she hadn’t lied and tried to pin a child on him that obviously wasn’t his. All he asked for was the truth.

Me personally, I wouldn’t have been shocked to hear that she was doing her own cousin. They were always unnaturally close.

You can’t keep secrets in a small town,” she added softly.

“You’re lying, just trying to distract me.” She swung the rifle wildly, back and forth between the two.

Meka tensed, ready to take action.

“Shifters don’t lie. We can smell them. This has gone on long enough. A good man’s dead because your mother still can’t speak the truth. This child lost her home, all because of a woman’s delusions. Ned owes you nothing. Blame your mother if you need someone to blame for the way you turned out. He told me himself he would have raised you as his own, if she’d just been honest. He loved her that much,” she finished sadly with a shake of her head. “Broke his heart when she left town rather than deal with the truth. That’s why I was so happy when 204

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he found Emma.” Lulu said to Tameka.

“It’s a lie,” she screamed. “No, I don’t want to hear anymore. You’re wrong.” Her hands came up to cover her ears.

Lulu dove for Meka, knocking her to the ground as the sounds of scuffling filled the air. When she could breathe again, Meka rose up on one elbow and looked. Rome had the woman on her back and was cuffing her. Bull had the rifle in his hand.

There were other deputies in uniform gathered around.

“How did you know she was here?” Tameka asked Rome as she rose to her feet. She turned to help Lulu but she was already standing.

“I still had one officer shadowing you. And, Lulu told us what was going on.”

The woman was on the ground, screeching and hollering.

“You can’t do this to me. This land is mine. He owes it to me.

You all owe it to me.”

Rome spoke over her. “Take her to lock-up and call Raleigh police. Tell them we have Franklin Carstens aka Frances Carter in custody.”

Tameka looked at the screaming woman being dragged to the patrol car and couldn’t help but feel sorry for her. “What will happen to her?”

“She’ll be charged with arson, extortion, and attempted murder. Then the Raleigh police can have a shot at her for the death of Emily Carstens.”

As she leaned against the truck watching the proceedings, she asked Lulu, “You think she killed her mother?”

“I don’t know. Can’t say I’d blame her if she did. It’s a damn shame what that woman did to her,” Lulu commented.

“Emily should have stayed here in Refuge. We’ve got enough stuff going that even if she’d have been born with three eyes and two noses, she’d have been accepted.”

“Did the real father ever come forward?” Meka asked.

“I honestly doubt if Emily knew who he was. By all accounts, she got pregnant sometime during a blue moon.” Tameka shot Lulu a puzzled glance, wondering what the moon had to do with anything.

“Sorry, I forgot you’re not from around here. Things get a little hairy then. I won’t tell you what the younguns call it, but 205

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there’s a lot of sexual activity during its peak. From what Ned said, Emily was supposed to spend that time with him. Instead, she ditched him and went to a party thrown by some of the fellows. It turned into an orgy and she was right in the thick of it.

Tried to lie about it later. Said she wasn’t there. For Ned, it was the last straw.”

“Sounds like you two were really close,” Tameka commented.

“We were.” Lulu fell quiet.

Now that the excitement was dying down, she realized someone was missing. “Where’s Chad?” She couldn’t believe he’d missed all the action.

“He went into the house,” Rome stated.

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Chapter Fourteen

“What house? That one?” She pointed to her home that appeared to be no closer to having the flames doused than when she arrived. “And no one stopped him?” she yelled at Rome and then took off running.

Face a madwoman with a loaded rifle and she’s as calm as the sea. Find out her mate’s in a burning building and she loses it. Part of her marveled at the irony of it.
He’d better come out
there alive in one piece, ‘cause when I get my hands on him, I’m
going to kill him
.