ONE
In the Past She’s Been a Nasty
Ithought longingly of the cool air skating across the waves outside.Soon.Wiping the sweat off the back of my neck, I secured my mass of curls piled on top of my head.With a torch and tongs, I pulled and shaped tentacles on my latest glass octopus.I’d been commissioned for a very large order and had been working long hours every day, trying to get it done before pregnancy consumed me.
With our latest—and hopefully last—sorcerer in the family taken care of and the demonic grimoire destroyed, I had time to focus.Unfortunately, I also had time to think, as my mind often wandered when I was creating something I’d done countless times before.
I was a murderer.
Was it necessary?Yes.My cousin Calliope and her demon had harmed and killed many.They’d had to be stopped, and I was the one there to do it.It had to be done.I knew that.I couldn’t make peace with it, though.
I didn’t worry the Goddess was angry with me or that the Corey curse would be triggered because I’d killed one of my own.It wasn’t a fear of being punished.It was a feeling of being irretrievably sullied.I now carried a black mark that would stay with me forever.I’d taken a life.
I kept telling myself it had to be done.Cal would never have stopped.She’d killed her own mother and grandmother, but now I was a murderer too.The moment I’d leapt over the hell hound and thrown the athame at her haunted my nightmares.
When my boyfriend—my mate?My significant other—Declan, the werewolf Alpha of the Big Sur Pack, slept with me, the nightmares were silenced.Unfortunately, the pack was still dealing with the after-effects of a sorcerer prodding them into rages.Their morning and night runs continued a few times a week.He thought in another month or so, they would be settled enough to go back to once-a-week runs.Until that happened, however, I was dealing with nightmares I had a hard time feeling I didn’t deserve.
A shadow slid across my peripheral vision.Turning, I saw my great-uncle standing on the deck outside.“Don’t open the door!”I shouted.
A cool wind now could crack the glass.He waited, studying the accordioned glass doors while I finished curling my last tentacle.During the remodel, I’d had my contractor put in special doors that opened a wall of glass for maximum air circulation.
I put the octopus in the annealer to cool down, took off my work gloves, and went to open the doors.“Sorry about that.I couldn’t let cool air in.”
“Not to worry.I know not to open the door.I’ve been thinking, though,” Bracken said.“I’d like doors like these on my apartment.”
“I love that idea.”I tipped my head up to the wind.“Declan said his crew could come over and build your place as soon as they’re done at his—which shouldn’t be too long.”
“Perfect,” he replied.“That gives me time to decide if I want them to duplicate my RV completely or if I should make some changes.”He glanced at my no doubt very red and sweaty face.“Can I get you something to drink?”
“I’m okay.You’d consider changes?”Bracken had trouble with new things.The fact that he was considering altering the home he’d been living in for years was amazing.He’d once told me he feared that his world was becoming smaller and smaller, that he’d end up in a tiny room somewhere unable to come out and interact with the rest of us.This would be a huge step in a healthier direction for him.
“I think I’d like a larger living room.When you and your mother visited, you had to share that small bench.”He paused, considering.“Possibly big enough for a couch, so I can have visitors from time to time.”
He gave me a surreptitious look.“Perhaps—if you’re comfortable—I could babysit.Only if you think your child would be safe with me, of course.And I understand completely if you’re not comfortable.”He shrugged a shoulder, feigning an equanimity he wasn’t feeling.
I caught his eye and smiled.“I have complete faith in you.It’s still really early yet.”
He stood a little taller.“Then I think I’ll need a bigger living room.Maybe even a playroom for when she visits me.”
My throat was suddenly tight, but I nodded.“Great idea.”
He stared at the waves for a moment.“Maybe you could paint the walls, so she knows it’s her room.”
I cleared that tight throat and said, “I absolutely could do that.When I’m further along and it feels safer, I’m going to paint an underwater scene in the nursery at Declan’s.In your room, I can do a forest scene, since her daddy’s a werewolf.”
“That sounds lovely and restful,” he said with a wistful smile.“Good for nap time.”
I moved to the nearby bench and sat, with Bracken following.“I’ve been meaning to ask.Do you know if werewolf babies have a shorter gestation period?I asked Mom and she said she was pregnant for the normal forty weeks with me.Declan told me natural wolves are pregnant for about two and a half months.When you were researching werewolves, did you ask about the length of pregnancy?”
He thought a moment.“I didn’t ask—though you’re right.I should have.I do recall Alexander, Declan’s father, making a comment about his mate’s pregnancy.”He tapped his lip, lost in memory.“I don’t recall what he said, but it made me think that Quinn wolves—the origin line—were closer to natural wolves.”He patted my leg.“Let me check my journals and do a little digging.I don’t know that I’ll find anything, but at least there are two healers in the family who can track your pregnancy and perhaps give you a better estimate.”
“Thank you.I’m trying to get this order of glass octopuses done as soon as possible because I don’t know how all of this is going to affect me.”
He stretched out his legs.“Understandable.”
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like your apartment at Declan’s?”I wanted to move into the gorgeous home Declan had built for us, but I didn’t want to leave Bracken behind, not after he’d been alone for so long.He finally had family again.
He shook his head.“That’s your new home for your new family.I love it here.The beauty and constancy of the ocean calms my mind, and your Cecil and Wilbur bring me joy.Besides, it isn’t as if you’re far away or that you won’t be here most days.When the gallery is open, the little one can stay close by with me—unless your mother pulls rank and takes her,” he added on a smile.
