Hey, it’s Imri. I’d love to meet you when you’re ready.
Message sent, I thought about everything I’d need to do while I waited.
Fuck, my moms were coming in a few weeks!
No, I’d get something in place for the kids. We’d make something up if they decided to stay in the house once we got it livable… I’d figure something out.
Once more, my eyes strayed to the town. I couldn’t bring myself to hate the place. There was a reason I’d been picked by my uncle for this over my moms. We were both big believers that fate guided us. Something told me fate was giving me a push, and my gut told me part of that was waiting for me in Haenvale.
I found a comfortable spot near the fallen tree to wait. My property line was marked by a crumbling fence, which I’d get around to replacing at some point with a betterone. I’d laid the candy out with a brief note explaining who I was in simple words along with the offer of safety. Then I promised at the bottom to help them in any way they needed. Finally, though it went against what I was supposed to do, I swore to keep their secret.
It was dark when I finally saw signs of movement in the trees surrounding the house.
“Are you Imri?” a hesitant voice asked.
“Yeah. That you, Rowan?”
From the short distance between us, I could see his relief. “Did Malik really tell you about us?”
“Yeah, he did. Are you all there? Are you okay?” I felt this need to see them and check them over properly.
“We are alright.” They crept closer.
“Do you want to come in for dinner? I make a mean mac and cheese.”
“Cheese?” A younger voice asked, the boy, Sandy. He popped out of some bushes much closer than I’d anticipated. I barely restrained my flinch.
“Is that alright?” Rowan looked hopeful. Fuck, he was so young to have somuch on his slim shoulders.
“Of course. You can all sleep here if you want? It’ll be a tight fit, but we can make it work.” I really didn’t want them going back into the woods alone.
“Mom said not to bother Uncle Malik. He was sick.” He looked so sad. “I don’t think she would mind if we stayed with you. I don’t see the sickness in you.” Rowan’s eyes swirled with his magic, then he snapped out of it, his cheeks heating with a blush. “He told us a lot about you. We miss him a lot.”
“Uncle Malik is gone like Mama, right?” the girl, Berry, asked.
“Yeah, he is, but Uncle Malik sent me to help you.”
Berry smiled easily, but lingered close to Rowan.
The kids needed reassurance.
“Look, I’m here for you. I know you’ve been alone for a while now and you’re clearly doing okay, but I think it’s time you had someone to take care of you again. Listen, I’m not sick. I’m not planning on going anywhere. Will you let me take care of you all?”
It didn’t even take him a moment to decide. “Yes. I’d like that, Imri. Sandy, Berry, let’s go have dinner and talk.”
Five
Sully
Everymorningfornearlya week after my first night shift at the hotel, I returned to the same spot next to the west woods. Closer and closer, I would venture further into them until I was sure I was going to be in trouble. With each step I was proving to myself that I wasn’t a coward just because I was prey. Rules be damned.
We were only allowed to go into the west woods in groups. Never alone. It had me wondering about the other rules of Haenvale. I’d been completely safe in my wandering. I didn’t sense any danger in the woods, so why was it like this?
On the surface, life was perfect. Everyone was the same with the inhibitors hiding our scents from each other, but wasn’t that a bad thing? Weren’t we maybe a little too sheltered? What would happen if they suddenly stopped working?
Even in the time I’d been away, I’d been cosseted. Trisha’s aunt had guarded me zealously after Trisha left for law school, her genius IQ getting her through what she needed to be a lawyer in half the time it took most people.
That hadn’t been an option for me. It wasn’t because I was lacking the smarts, I just didn’t have the same opportunities as Trisha. I’d gone to a prey only college for heaven’s sake! It was the only one my parents would allow me to go to. All four years of my degrees, because I’d taken two, had been tucked away from the world for my safety. They’d only let me go to college in the first place because of the gossip in the town. Their first plan was for me to attend the community college until I was at mating age. I put an end to that when I was too afraid to leave the house to make things work in Haenvale.
