Chapter 17
W orry stalked her steps as she paced her shop around noon the next day. Granny'd drilled into her the old adage "don't go borrowing worry," but she felt pretty damn sure now was a time to worry. Boreas never returned. He went off gods knew where doing what she supposed gods did when they were being blackmailed. On top of that, Ryan had given a clear deadline for today.
She wouldn't give into his demands. That wasn't close to happening, consequences be damned. She wouldn't give up her freedom, her sanity, her body for another. Boreas also wouldn't want that for her. He might leave, had left in the past even if he always returned, but she knew, in the place where their bond stitched itself to her soul, he'd never do anything to hurt her, physically or emotionally. He couldn't. Just as she knew she couldn't do anything to hurt him. Still, life had a way of ripping through happiness, and she worried their bond might be shredded in the process.
Three whole customers had come through that morning, each in a last-minute-gift rush, so she'd had plenty of time and space to keep this level of fretting going strong. A sigh rose out of her chest, and she checked her phone for the nine hundredth time in an hour. Only 11:42. Eighteen minutes to close and forever before she'd know the fate of her relationship. Pessimistic thoughts for sure, but her thoughts nonetheless.
Suddenly, a boom sounded, like a plane hitting super speed above them. A sonic boom, which she'd not heard often in Appalachia, far from any military base. Hell, they were hours away from a regular airport. Then a scream, long and terrified. It started faint, as if coming from far off, and got louder and louder, a speeding train of sound coming right toward her.
No, not a speeding train. A plane. A god, in fact, landing in the middle of the street, right in front of her shop. Boreas stood strong, his knees barely bending to take the brunt of the landing, a ghost-white Ryan wriggling in his outstretched hand like a dangling trash bag. Ryan's scream died seconds after landing, but his angry hysterics picked right up where the screams of terror left off.
"See? See everyone? He's a monster! He's not human!" He wiggled more violently, but he might as well have been a kitten caught by the scruff. The god stood stoic and tall, letting Ryan scream his fool head off about monsters and safety and what-about-the-children nonsense. Slowly, one by one, business doors swung open around her, and her friends, her neighbors, her townsfolk started to file out into the street.
Lily rushed out herself, not as hesitant as the others, only stopping a few feet away from Boreas because she'd rather not get too close to the frantic Ryan. When she stilled, Boreas let the man go, throwing him onto the dirty street where Lily figured he kind of belonged. The god then crossed his arms, and Lily took in the meaning of the sight in front of her. Boreas had flown into the middle of the downtown Holly Hollow business district in the cold of winter, wings sharp and gleaming in the gray winter light. His claws splayed across his bulging arms, and the sneer on his lips showed off his elongated canines to full effect. His clawed toes tapped the ground because he wore no shoes, only the toga he favored when not out in public.
But he was. Very much out in public. On full display for the whole damn town to see.
"What are you doing?" Lily asked, hushed and worried.
Before Boreas could answer, Ryan, still on his knees, shuffled over to her and gripped the front of her denim apron. "Lily, run! You're not safe. None of us are safe from this thing!" The ass was laying it on thick, intentionally, to try to rile up the town.
She literally brushed him aside. Not a second too late, because Ryan putting his hands on her had Boreas out of his stoic stance, massive hands fisted and a clear growl ripping through the air.
She asked again, "What are you doing?"
Boreas's flippant answer: "Attempting not to kill this foolish man."
A snort had her snapping her head around to find Betty standing there, arms crossed and a hate-stare clear on her face. Not directed at Boreas or her, though. She stared daggers at Ryan. "Don't go stopping on our account."
A nervous laugh bubbled up and Lily couldn't keep it in. "But you--you're—." She gestured to all that was him out in the open.
Boreas nodded then reached out a clawed hand to bring her into his embrace. The warmth, the smell, the proximity of him calmed her. Then she remembered to trust him, and to feel the rush of relief at the fact he'd come back to her.
Without preamble, Boreas spoke, his gruff voice carrying to all the spectators gawking at the scene unfolding in the middle of Main Street. "I am Boreas, God of the North Wind. I have resided in your woods for many years, and I believe some of you caught glimpses of something you could not explain there. Now, I come to you as I am. In my true form. To ask you to accept me as one of your own."
Lily gripped the fine silky white of his toga, her breath caught in her ribcage, as she waited.
Betty spoke first. "Ppsshht. You were a part of us once you danced with our Lily at the masquerade. Anyone with eyes could see you were gone for her, and we love our girl."
Isa was there, too, somehow. She must have been out and about running errands or something, because she hadn't worked that day. "Yeah, my dude. No worries."
Lily, of course, still had all the worries.
Madison stepped up. She came closer, stepping around Ryan and giving him a mean girl look that translated clearly to "You’re nothing but some worthless piece of dirt I don't want anywhere near my designer boots." She walked up to Lily and Boreas. Betty clucked her tongue, warming it up to give Madison hell if she said something out of line to Lily, but there was no need. "I like him for you. Looks like he took out the trash, too. I say he has a place here as long as he wants one."
"That'll be a long while," Boreas said, a grin finally stretching across his broad face, his teeth flashing.
"Anyone got a problem with this?" Madison called, turning in a circle to stare down every other person on the street. Lily didn't exactly go for intimidation tactics, but for this cause, she'd let Madison do her thing.
"I do!" Ryan yelled, finally on his feet. He reached to snatch Lily's hand, but Boreas acted quickly, bringing her several steps out of his reach in a heartbeat. "Careful," he warned. "I let you live after all you have done, but my patience grows thin."
"What's he done?" A man's voice carried the question, and Lily turned to make sure she had it right: it was Mitch, the silver worker who owned the jewelry store down the way. He frowned at Ryan.
"Noth–" Ryan began to say but Betty cut him off.
"The fool harassed Lily ever since he got back to town, that's what. Caught him myself a time or two being handsy in her shop." Betty spoke clear, Ralph at her back as always.
“He came in and started trouble with the two of them at my place the other night,” Archie, the owner of Hickory added, looking at Ryan with a disgusted sneer.
"Yep," Madison said with a pop of her lips. "He stalked her. Even went to her house late at night to spy on her."
"He called, too. Like, all the time," Isa added, standing next to Madison in solidarity, a sight Lily never thought she'd see.
"No. It's not like that," Ryan said, whatever lie he had packed away tripping over his tongue before he could get it out.
"He placed cameras on her property," Boreas said to a round of gasps. No one liked the other stuff, sure, but one thing you did not do in Appalachia was mess with someone else's property. Big no-no there.
"He's a monster," Ryan screamed, waving his hands at Boreas. "He kidnapped me, put me in a dangerous situation to fly me here. Lily must be saved."
"Yeah, from you," Isa said, with a snort. "Looks like Boreas did just that. Plus, he ain’t no worse than the vamps who come to shop or the werewolves roaming around Western Kentucky. Get over yourself, bro."
The circle of people, which now included the sheriff Lily’d known her whole life, closed in on their smaller group. Ryan smiled at the sheriff, "Thank God someone is listening."
"Oh, we've all been listening." Mitch had apparently become the town spokesperson at some point. "Listening to how you've harassed Lily, how this young man helped her, and maybe taught you a lesson you needed teaching."
Boreas snorted at ‘young man’. He'd likely never get away from it here, despite his centuries and centuries of age.
Still looking at the Sheriff, Ryan asked, "Aren’t you going to do something?"
"What would you like me to do? Throw harassment charges at you?"
In the face of his failed plan, Ryan turned to something else to get his way. "He kidnapped me."
"I didn't see anything like that," Betty sniffed. Murmurs of agreement went up all around.
"He's a monster."
"The only monster here is you, Ryan," Lily said, holding onto Boreas tight. Looking around at the people she’d known most, if not all, of her life, she didn’t see hate or fear directed at Boreas. She saw assessing looks, sure. The type any good Appalachian gave a newcomer. But no sneers his way. Ryan, on the other hand, got more than a handful of dirty looks.
"I'm thinking it might be best you go. Not back to your office or your mama's place. Go on out of town," the sheriff said. Not to Boreas, but to Ryan.
A laugh from Betty broke the tension. "Not like you'll get any business here now anyways."
"Y'all are crazy. Every single one of you," Ryan screeched as he turned in a circle.
"No. We protect our own, like Lily. Like this new fella."
"I was born and raised here" he gritted out, hands clinched into tight fists he couldn’t sue in this crowd.
"May be. But you ain't one of us. Not the way you've acted." Mitch's voice spit venom with those words.
Ryan looked dumbstruck. He muttered, stuttered, but couldn't get out any more arguments. Not very lawyerly of him, but when one faced a bunch of pillars of a small community telling you off, it'd likely do your head in. Seeing he had no allies, no foothold, he cut everyone a withering glare and stomped away.
"I'm calling his mama. Tell her what a fool he just made of himself." Stella, the antique store owner, hurried away, clutching her Christmas cardigan to herself. Others muttered introductions, shook Boreas's clawed hands, had kind words for him and Lily both, but they soon dispersed. It was Christmas Eve after all, and past noon at this point. Everyone wanted to close up and get on home.
Betty, however, lingered, looking Boreas up and down. "You that white bear everyone's been ranting about, huh? I can see it."
"Betty..." Lily hesitated, the question she wanted, needed to ask stuck for a minute.
"Yeah, hun?"
"Um, why don't you care? You know? About--" she waved at all his godly glory. She appreciated it, sure, but no one else seemed even a little bit fazed by it.
"Lily dear, this is Appalachia. We know all kinds of things stalk those woods and hills and hollows. Nice to meet one of them in the flesh finally." She patted Boreas on his bare arms and dismissed the concern. "What I want to know is if y'all are still coming to dinner tomorrow night after all this mess." It wasn't a question, not really, and Lily knew it.
So did Boreas apparently. "Yes, ma'am."
Betty clapped her hands together in delight. "Whoo doggies, I'm going to have you at my table first. All the ladies at church will be green with envy."
Lily laughed at Betty's words, at the questioning, hawkish tilt to Boreas's head, at the way her community showed up for her. Showed her love. She found a lot to be joyful about in that moment, and Lily wasn't about to let it pass without sending that joy back out into the world, to twirl on the winter winds.
A fter Betty finally left them alone so she could close for the day, Lily dragged Boreas into the shop, locked the front door behind them, then sagged against it. "That sure was something," she muttered.
Boreas didn't reply. He pinned her in place, massive arms on either side of her head, and bent to give her a kiss. It sizzled on her lips, the spark and flare of her desire meeting his in a flash of want and need. She whined when he pulled away too quickly, but she had pressing questions that made her shake it clear just as quick.
"What happened out there?"
"I showed myself to the town in order to expose Ryan."
"Um, yeah. You sure did that. What about your exposure issues?"
He waved a hand in the air. "No longer a concern."
"Not good enough, Boreas," she said, a hard edge to her voice as she cocked out a hip.
He chuckled at her. Chuckled! Then twirled her around, pushing her all the way to the back counter. "I visited Hecate last night. Acquired a certain charm to help make sure my secret could be open in this town but not leave the confines of it. People here can talk of it here to people from here, but not anywhere else."
"Most wouldn't."
"I believe you're right. Ryan would, might even be trying to do so as we speak, but he'll find himself unable."
"It was just a geography issue? Keeping it contained?"
Boreas pulled her close so they were only a breath away. "No, my flower. I once dreaded what your town would do, but no longer. I learned more of you, your friends, and guessed the reaction would not be as bad as it could be. More so, I needed to do it. For you. My purpose. My love."
"Your love?" Lily's voice cracked on the question and Boreas moved a claw up to trace the outline of her ear as he pushed back some of her brown hair.
"You. My love."
A gasping sob left her, like something had been bottled up and came unstopped suddenly. "I love you," she managed to croak out around the swell of emotion.
Boreas held her tight, bringing her up so he could give her a sweet but heated kiss. A loving kiss, Lily realized.
When the embrace ended, she asked "Any other surprises for today?"
"Today I believe we may have had enough."
Lily agreed, and found herself bouncing through closing, happy to hop into Boreas's cozy arms when she finished up and head to his cave for the night. He loved her and she loved him. They were mated. He had no more reason to hide. It was Christmas Eve. All was calm and bright in her small world.