I leaned back against the sofa.
“She wasn’t sucked into the vortex, right?” Bree asked.
I’d recounted the whole thing for Bernard and the ladies when I calmed down enough to stop hyperventilating the night before. Normally I was unflappable but being pregnant had made me more emotional than normal. Also therapy had been leaving me more emotional than before. My therapist said it was because I finally felt safe enough to feel my emotions.
“No,” I said. “She had a door. It was like she was walking into the sky right after sunset.”
“See. Wherever Sharon Claudis was headed Pami’s path is different. Maybe she’ll get her head sorted out.”
“You’re a bigger person than me,” I sighed. “She tried to kill you.”
“She didn’t get to, though,” Bree said. “I can feel bad for her because she died and she could’ve laid around somewhere reading or she could’ve found someone bingeing a really good show and watched with them. She could’ve fucking done anything and she tried to kill me. If I die, I’m not murderingpeople. I’m going to float around the ocean and maybe startle people on ships for fun.”
“I’m going to haunt Bernard until it’s his time to join me,” I said, grimacing as another contraction shook its way through me. Bree held my hand and I squeezed. She didn’t even wince as my grip turned to a vice. She simply breathed in and out with me as Doctor Mallory suggested.
Outside the world was in the midst of chaos. Not the sort of chaos caused by death and destruction but the chaos that came with something new being brought into the world. Apparently, the night before Vatten had called Canton, asking if they could live on the farm. Canton said yes, of course. Now a house was being birthed as a group effort so that it might be finished before Vatten had his puppies. He was expecting five. When Bernard first told me I thought it was a dog joke told in bad taste, but no, he was having five puppies.
After the contraction passed, I stretched out on the sofa and rested my head on Bree’s lap. She played with my hair, smoothing it out and then curling it around her fingers. She repeated the rhythm over and over again until I dozed off. Maybe she was right. Maybe when it was all said and done things were no worse off. Maybe they were a little bit better. Earthside was supposed to be my fresh start after all.
Chapter 34
Mori
Moonscale London
Before going back to the Nightshade Bear Territory to pick up Snowy, Venal, and to burn my death letters, I had to rent a flat. If I was going to stay in London, I had to have somewhere proper to stay. I buzzed with energy that came from somewhere deep within me. I had worked with a mad woman to defeat Sharon Claudis, and it had fucking worked! I was a bit in a daze as the slender blonde realtor led me from flat to flat. His name tag read ‘Rugly’ and he knew I came from money. He kept offering to show me grand estates or a condo for sale but Snowy and I didn’t need all of that. Just a little ground floor flat. If my life had been less ghostly, I might’ve even rented a room from one of the many older shifters that rented their spares out.
For as long as I could remember, I lived at home or with someone else. The house or accommodations sort of came with the situation I was in. Now, I was being a proper wolf and touring flats with the intention of renting one for myself. That felt almost as mystical as defeating Sharon Claudis. It took two days of touring before I found something in a decent neighborhood. It was part of a little single story duplex. The wolf shifter next door was an artist who mostly worked for scientific publications drawing plants and animals. He was a quiet omega who I thought I’d get along with well enough mostly because hesmelled like the sort of wolf who would mind his own business. That sort always made the best neighbors.
The place came mostly furnished and allowed pets with a small deposit. There was a little shared back garden divided by a little brick pathway straight down the middle as if the landlord hadn’t wanted to deal with feuding tenants. Before committing to it I did some research about the property to ensure that if it was haunted the entity was something I could live with. It didn’t seem haunted but then again, most places didn’t at first. The house was originally built for the twin children of the couple who owned the place, but their families had quickly outgrown the space and now they rented it out at a fairly decent price. The landlord was even okay with me installing a little fence around the place as long as I didn’t kill the lawn by taking it out when I eventually moved out. That was already underway by the time I left to pick up Snowy.
This time Preston was waiting up for me. Baby Andy was asleep on his chest in the rocking chair on the porch. My little nephew had gotten so big while I was away. My heart ached but something deep inside me said to wait before moving back stateside. My little Snowy, who had also grown quite a bit since the night a wild wolf had carried him through the snow to me, slept at my twin brother’s feet.
“Really?” Preston said in lieu of hello. “You locked the bastard in a ring?”
Preston didn’t usually acknowledge he could see spirits. I sort of counted on his avoidance of the topic to get by with what I’d done. I opened my mouth to defend my choices but Preston narrowed his eyes on me. He looked so much like our carrier when he did that.
“Well, your nephew recognized his daddy and spent an hour banging the ring on the kitchen table trying to get him out,” Preston said. “You’re really an ass sometimes, Mori! Really you are! You drop off your dog without warning and without any real explanation! Then you tie a ghost ring to his collar!”
I glanced at Snowy’s collar. The ring was gone.
“I had to take that ring to our carrier to get Venal out because Andy was so upset! I love you and I forgive a lot but if you ever make any of my babies cry like that again because you do something so shortsighted I swear I’ll call down every element to ever touch this territory on your furry ass and make you wish you’d never learned the meaning of the word magic!” Preston said, his voice sounding almost sweet because he didn’t want to wake the baby.
“I… I’m sorry,” I said but the words even sounded flat to my ears.
“Are you here to stay?” he asked.
“Preston...”
“Of course not. You got Andy’s hopes up, you know. He thought Uncle Mo was coming home,” Preston shook his head. “I really hope that ghosts can keep you warm because if you keep pulling away from everyone that’s all you’re going to have left.”
“I got rid of Sharon Claudis!” I tossed my hands up.
“I know. Venal felt it last night. He’s gone through his door by the way. Said he would’ve done the damn spell himself had you trusted him,” Preston said.
I opened my mouth to explain but every word that came to mind fell short. I had reasons. So many reasons. Only, Preston wouldn’t care because nothing I could tell him would take back Baby Andy crying.
“I don’t want Baby Andy to die. Everything else is secondary,” I said. “Getting rid of Sharon Claudis and making sure she stays gone is the best thing I can do for him. Maybe staying away makes me the villain but if she figures out a way around all of this, I’m the one she’s going to be gunning for.”
