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Though it is common practice for otsos—snow beasts—to have many males form a breeding pack around one female, I don't intend to practice it. I barely like sharing my house with strangers. I cannot imagine sharing my mate.
“Zora is pregnant, yes?”
“Hugely so, though we all pretend not to notice. She has yet a few more weeks to go, but still. No travels for her, makes her too sick, otherwise we would have all made a trip of it.”
I suppress a shudder at the thought of all three of my cousins visiting at the same time. One is enough of a disruption. Three?
I don’t know how Zora can handle them. As far as I’m concerned she’s a saint. Aunt Jadzia, too, despite the fact she birthed the three louts. It’s not her fault that they turned out as they did.
“Well, if she prefers different scenery, she is welcome here any time. Aunt Jadzia, too.”
Jack picked up on the omission of him and his brothers from that invitation, and replies by flipping me off while sipping his tea.
Classy.
I place my teacup down before I hurl it at his head. I don’t need the house any more irritated with me. “So tell me what this death certificate notice is about?”
“You tell us? Lucky for you, we intercepted it before it reached Ma. As she is the closest matriarch, she would have gotten the news and been upset.”
That would have been catastrophic. The last time Aunt Jadzia was angry, it caused a blizzard that covered the eastern seaboard. The humans called it a snowpocalypse.
“As it is, you also somehow missed several notices that the Avalon Vale Chamber of Commerce now have a legal claim to your lands. Due to the fact you’re dead and all, and oh yeah, you didn’t have any other contact information let alone next of kin or you know, a will!”
I get up and pace, tamping down the surge of emotions that can set off a killing frenzy. There’s no battlefield outside for me to offload this extra energy, and I’m nowhere near finding a mate.
Not that I’ve been looking. That’s one kindness I can commit to—not inflicting myself on an unwitting female.
“Surely, I have a will.” I rack my brain thinking through the tedium of papers I must have signed off on.
“Nope. Nada. Zip.” Jack emphasizes the last with a swipe of his hand.
Gods, I want to punch him in the face. He’s always been good at that stuff. Hell, he keeps the books for Aunt Jadzia’s spa business.
I can't see straight. The winds howl outside covering my property in a blanket of snow as if that will somehow hide my home from outsiders.
I touch the batch of flowers I keep in a window planter to liven up the space. Calanthe immortalis. My greatest design.
It will never fade.
Never die.
Unlike so many others in my life…
The extrait from this species will grant healing, and even longer life spans.
I’m supposed to make another batch for some fae creature in the midwest. I’m supposed to do a lot of things…but how can I if I don’t have a home.
I admit as much to my cousin as I slump back into my seat. “Years of serving in war only to be defeated and killed by paperwork.”
Jack sighs, and leans forward, elbows resting on his knees. “It won’t come down to that. I’ve already swung by the town, dropped off some documents to get the ball rolling. I made sure to update your contact information as Vernados Enterprises, just in case.”
I acknowledge his words with a nod. “What must I do to keep my property, then? Sign forms?”
“I'm afraid we're past the point of forms. The Chamber of Commerce legally owns this property now. How in the world did you—” he holds his hands up when I look at him. “You know what, that's not important. What is important is that the process is in motion, and no one is kicking you out unless the house wills it. The mayor knows this. At any rate, I'm sure he will be more than happy to give you back legal ownership. In the meanwhile, you will need to play host.”
The moment of relief dissipates like vapor in sunlight. “Host? What? Strangers? in my home?”
“It was the compromise I came up with. There's a gala coming up to mark Avalon Vale's unveiling from the mist. The mayor had already planned on converting the house into an inn.”
