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“Was there a reason Mordecai didn’t tell you who he was until you knew him well enough to figure it out?”
“Technically, I don’t think he told me at all. I had to figure it out, but he had to know I’d do so once he introduced me to his son.”
“Perhaps eventually I’ll feel comfortable sharing this information with Lauren.”
“Jupiter was introduced to me as Jupiter the first time I met him.”
“Jupiter lives on Olympus and rarely visits the earth realm.”
“Mom,” Lauren said, resting her hand on her mother’s forearm. “It’s okay. Gavin trusts him, and in the short time I’ve been around Ambrose, nothing has told me he’s untrustworthy. For now, I think that’s as much as we’re likely to get.”
“Well, I do trust your intuition about such things, so we’ll go with it, for now. Mordecai didn’t see a problem with you living here.”
“If you’ll go into the jail cell in the back corner,” Ambrose told Lauren’s mother, “and close the door without locking it, you’ll be able to pop back to Chattanooga without having to leave the property. After you’ve used it once, you’ll be able to pop in whenever you want, so long as the door is locked. This means you’ll want to call one of us and make sure we’re available to unlock it, as you won’t be able to leave again — physically or magically — until it’s been unlocked.”
The two went into the small cell, and seconds later, they were at Homewood.
Lauren went to Smokey on his bed in the great room as soon as they arrived. If she had her choice, she’d lie with him the entire time she was there, but she was supposed to have dinner with Mordecai, Nathan, and Cora to discuss strategy.
Chapter 6
“Off with the shirt,” her mother said when they were alone. “Let me see what you’ve done.”
Lauren had a spaghetti-strap shirt under her blouse, and she took the outer layer off so her mom could see her tattoo.
“It’s beautiful. Turn around so I can see the back.”
She felt her mom’s hands pulling the undershirt away so she could see the bottom part of the hawk, and then gently releasing it and smoothing the fabric over her back.
“And you just felt as if it was important you have a huge tattoo?”
“Yeah. Do you think that was the genetics in me, or just dumb luck?”
“I have no idea, but magic can do some unexpected things, so it could be your bloodline showing itself. I know you’ve been pissed at your biological family since I met you. Has this changed anything in that regard?”
“If anything, it makes me evenmoreangry with them. I mean, they threw me away.Abandonedme. It was bad enough when I thought I was just a uselessthingwithout value to them, but knowing this, it makes it even worse, somehow.”
“Unless the guy didn’t know he’d gotten his girlfriend pregnant, and it’s his bloodline that’s given you your gift. Perhaps, if he’d known you existed, either he or his family would’ve raised you properly.”
Lauren shook her head. Being pissed at the family who didn’t want her had given her a purpose in life when she’d lived at the orphanage all those years. To think otherwise now was unthinkable. It would destroy her to know people wanted her while she’d been so miserable.
“Okay,” her mom said. “You need time to sort through your thoughts before we make a decision in that regard. For tonight, our strategy will look at all other options. Okay?”
Lauren buried her face in Smokey’s fur and breathed in. Peace filled her heart and then her body. She nodded and lifted her head. “Yeah. Okay. We’ll have to address it. I know that. Thanks for giving me a little time.” In truth, it didn’t have to be addressed, but her mother wasn’t ready to accept the fact Lauren could embrace her abilities without embracing the strangers who apparently gave them to her.
“Mordecai is bringing the food, so we’ll probably get takeout from one of his favorite Italian or Greek restaurants. Do you want to choose the wine?”
“I want Concorde from my favorite winery if it’s a red sauce. Maybe a muscadine blend if not. Let’s see what he shows up with.” Because when Mordecai brought Italian food, it meant he’d stopped off in Italy to get it, and it would be mouthwateringly delicious.
* * * *
Lauren’s heart was healed just by eating good lasagna while surrounded by her family. The table in the kitchen was round specifically so no one got a better seat than anyone else. In the dining room, when a bunch of wolves were present, Cora had the seat at the head of the table, and her second in command had the seat at the other end while Lauren’s mom was at Cora’s right. For other social functions, sometimes Lauren’s mom was at the head of the table, sometimes it was Cora, occasionally it was Mordecai. If they had cats over, it had to be Nathan. It depended, but who-sat-where always had to be carefully thought out with lots of politics weighed before a decision was made and a seating chart created.
But in the kitchen, they were just family.
“From what I can see,” Mordecai told her after she’d explained everything she’d learned so far, “the tattoo is healed enough so your hawk can take flight whenever the two of you are ready for him to.”
“I have no idea how to make that happen.”
