Chapter 3 #2
Okay, Allie is head over heels. For a werewolf. I’m still hoping this is a dream, but I’ll roll with it for now. What else do I need to know? My therapist said to listen. I can do that. Not panicking. Listening.
“And his family are also werewolves? That’s what you meant when you said things are different for them.”
“Yes,” Allie said. “But I should tell you, they’re not technically his family. They’re his pack.”
“His pack,” Selene repeated, her head wanting to spin again. She forced it not to. If she passed out again, Josh would make sure she woke up in a hospital bed.
“Josh has brought me into a whole world that’s like having your dreams come true,” Allie breathed.
“You mean there’s more than the werewolves?” Selene wished she could walk out of the house, count to ten, walk back in, and find a mundane world where none of this was happening.
“I knew about, you know, the other side,” Allie said. “You can’t live in Avondale without being aware of it, but humans aren’t invited in. We kind of coexist, and that was cool, but being part of it is soooo much better.”
“Did your mom know about all this when she moved to Avondale?” Selene asked.
Frowning, Allie said, “You know, I’m not sure. I was so little, and she made me aware of it gradually. I started to notice stuff, and she filled me in as I got older, but she didn’t talk about how she found out. She always said that from the moment she set foot in Avondale, she knew it was home.”
Emma had spoken those exact words to Selene many times, but never had she hinted that Avondale was anything other than an idyllic small town.
Why hadn’t she said anything? This revelation was nothing short of earth-shattering, and Emma had kept it a secret all these years.
Had she not trusted Selene enough? Or did she worry Selene would never have believed her? No matter the answer, it stung.
“Basically, every myth you’ve heard is real, Aunt Sel.” Allie had been talking again while Selene wasn’t listening. “Everything. It’s fantastic! Can you believe it?”
“I’m not sure.” Selene rubbed her temples again. Fantastic was not the word she’d choose.
“Here you go, Ms. Jones.” Josh knelt beside her. He handed her a glass of water and two pills. He was fully dressed, and he laughed at the puzzled expression on her face.
“I always carry an extra set of clothes around. Just in case.”
“I see.” She popped the pills and chugged water.
When she started to rise, she swayed a bit. Josh picked her up with one hand and set her on the couch. Selene gaped at him.
“Sorry,” he said quickly. “Just trying to help.”
“How strong are you?” she asked.
“Strong,” he replied quietly.
“But he’s always gentle,” Allie said. “He would never hurt anyone.”
Gentle when he’s doing what, exactly? Selene shuddered and took another sip of water. After gathering her thoughts as best she could, she cleared her throat.
“Josh, I think Allie and I need some time. Just aunt and niece.”
“Aunt Selene.” Allie’s tone was plaintive.
“Allison, I’m serious.”
Selene turned back to Josh, hoping he read the help-me-out-here message she telegraphed from her eyes.
He gave a slight nod and flashed his high-beam smile at Allie. “Your aunt is right. You two should have a chance to talk this through. Now that’s she’s seen who I really am.”
“Okay.” Allie looked down and blushed.
Selene’s brow knit together. She appreciated Josh’s agreement, but the way Allie instantly deferred to him didn’t sit well with her.
“I do have one request, Ms. Jones,” Josh said.
Selene stopped frowning at her niece and looked at Josh. “A request?”
“My pack leader has asked to meet you,” he told her.
“Allison and I are petitioning for our relationship to be recognized by the pack. It’s our tradition that this acceptance be extended to her family, and while the whole pack is involved in discussing our request, the final decision belongs to our pack leader. ”
Selene swallowed. “Your pack leader?”
“You’ve been invited for dinner on Saturday, if you’re not busy.”
Allie’s eyes rounded and fixed on Selene, pleading. “Aunt Selene, it’s so important. I mean, it’s, like, a huge honor to be invited.”
Selene wondered how pasty she looked. Given Allie’s expression, she guessed her face resembled a puddle of glue. Pack leader? Dinner? Should I be worried that we might end up on the menu?
“I don’t think I have plans,” she said. “Who am I meeting exactly?”
“My pack leader didn’t want you to be overwhelmed,” Josh said with an eager smile. “So it will just be him, me, Allie, and you. The pack is pretty big, about one hundred wolves.”
“One hundred?” Selene repeated, stunned by the number.
Avondale had just over one thousand residents. Ten percent of the people who live here are werewolves?
“But there will only be four of us at the dinner,” Josh said again. “Two wolves, two humans. So it’s a fair balance.” He grinned.
This kid is a little too clever.
“Okay.” Selene wanted to navigate these straits very carefully. It was becoming clear there were far more dangers lurking beneath the surface than she’d imagined. “And who is your pack leader?”
“Fenris Hall.”
Selene dropped her water glass. Josh caught it before it hit the floor.
Holy reflexes, Batman, she thought before her mind shot back to the reason she’d dropped the glass in the first place.
“Fenris Hall . . . is a werewolf?” Her question came out strangled.
She’d only seen his name on checks. Fenris Hall was the single highest contributor to every fundraising campaign she’d managed that related to environmental conservation.
The number of zeros on his checks always made her do double takes.
But he never came to events and didn’t return phone calls thanking him for his generous donations.
She had yet to lay eyes on him. He was something of a legend in nonprofit circles.
There were debates about whether he really existed and lived as a recluse, or if the name was a front for some kind of super PAC.
It turned out the answer was option three: he was a werewolf pack leader.
Josh nodded. “He’s eager to meet you. He admires your work.”
Selene didn’t know whether to say thank you or worry about offending a major donor at her first dinner among werewolves.
Worlds collide. Could this get any more complicated? Does my work even matter anymore when monsters are real?
Josh stood. “Can I tell Fen to expect you at eight o’clock on Saturday?”
Selene didn’t trust herself to speak, so she nodded.
“Thanks, Auntie!” Allie threw herself onto Selene and hugged her. “I’ll walk Josh out, then we can talk.”
Yeah, we are so not doing that again. “Say good night here, Allie. You’re right, we need to talk this out.”
Her tone was enough to keep Allie from arguing. Instead, she threw a wary glance at Selene before giving Josh a quick kiss.
“See you tomorrow.”
“Can’t wait.” Josh nuzzled her cheek.
When he was gone, Selene went to the writing desk in the corner of the living room, where Emma kept stationery and envelopes.
“Okay, Allie. Tell me the whole story about you and Josh.” She opened a drawer to retrieve a pen, pausing as she took in Emma’s array of elegant writing utensils.
Letter writing is becoming a lost art, Emma had liked to say. Selene agreed wholeheartedly, but the sound of Emma’s voice in her head made Selene’s heart ache.
“You’re going to take notes?” Allie stared at the pen in Selene’s hand.
“No,” Selene replied. “I’m going to start writing thank you notes for the fundraising campaign I just finished. I think more clearly when I’m working.”
And I need something from the realm of normality to keep myself from losing it.
She pulled up the list of donors’ names and addresses on her phone. The third name on the list was Fenris Hall.
Shit.
Allie curled up on the couch while Selene began to write.
“What do you want to know?” Allie asked.
“How did you and Josh get together?”
Allie sighed. Selene pressed the pen harder against the note card.
“He says he watched me for a long time before he asked me out.”
Selene’s hand jerked and smudged the ink. She tossed the card and started over with a new one. “Like a stalker?”
“No!” Allie protested. “Aunt Sel, are you gonna be totally judgmental?”
“I want you to be safe.” Selene tried to keep her hand steady.
“I am safe. Josh loves me.”
And there’s the L word. I am so in over my head.
“And he protects me.”
Can he protect you from himself? Selene stopped herself from voicing the thought. Listen first. Then act.
“He only watched me because there are rules about paranormals dating humans,” Allie said. “He couldn’t ask me out without being sure he was really serious about it.”
“Paranormals?” Selene managed to finish the first note.
I’m going to act as though all of this is real. I’m having this conversation as I continue with life. Go through the motions, and maybe I’ll hang on to my sanity.
“That’s what they refer to themselves as, as a group.”
“And who are they exactly?”
“Well, there are the wolves, like Josh. Then there are vampires, witches, and faeries.”
Vampires, witches, and faeries. Oh my.
“Is that all?” As if that didn’t constitute more than Selene had ever wanted to imagine.
“Um, I think there are a few others, but those are the major ones. And they’re the ones who interact with humans the most. The rest keep to themselves.”
“So werewolves, vampires, witches, and faeries are in class with you. Every day.” Selene frowned and reached for an envelope.
“Not vampires because of the whole sunlight-can-kill-them issue,” Allie answered.
“No vampires,” Selene said. “But the rest?”
Allie nodded.
“Is that a good idea?”
“Where else are they going to go to school?”
“Maybe they should be homeschooled.” Selene licked the envelope and pressed it closed. “Just to be safe.”
“God, Aunt Sel.” Allie scoffed. “Are you seriously advocating paranormal segregation of schools?”
Selene’s eyes widened. “Is that what you’d call it?”
“I would.”