Maxwell Anderson, Max, to everyone who knows him, sat next to Josette picking up on her every emotion. They were a whirlwind of sensations, making his skin break out in goose bumps and then heating up until his skin was moist with sweat. They took his breath away and quickened his heart. His limbs would feel heavy and then he’d get tingling sensations in his stomach and sometimes, of all places...his knees. What was that about?
He’d arrived a week after her grandmother died. It was the worst timing possible. He’d mourned with her as he watched her the week before introducing himself. He watched her long hours sitting outside on that rusted death-trap of a swing, smoking cigarette after cigarette. He’d spent countless hours memorizing her every feature, her every movement. Caramel color skin that was flawless, dark brown hair that when left down stopped right before reaching her shoulders, with a natural curl that fanned it out around her head making her look wild. No, not crazy, but free. Wild in a way that made him think of home. Her body was as a woman’s should be: soft, curvaceous, thick. He’d caught himself breathing like a damn bull the first time he’d seen her come out of her house. And her smell...her smell. Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it took everything in him not to howl when her scent slapped him weak kneed on that first day he stood on the steps of the school. It’d taken ever fiber of strength not to grab her head and mark her right then and there, to claim her as his and his alone. Because that’s what she was. His. Well...maybe not his— not yet anyway. He’d been sent to protect her, not fall in love. Mission failed. On a nuclear level.
In the time he’d spent with her it only cemented what he’d know since that first day in front of the school—scratch that—since the first time he’d seen her. His grandmother, God bless her, he loved her but he wanted to strangle her, reported that there were minor...complications. She was willing to look the other way for Max’s feelings, but when it became obvious that Josette felt the same way, well, that was a different story. He cleared his throat to mask the growl rumbling in his chest. The argument had been intense between him and his father. It was the first direct order that he’d refused. The first time he found out he could. Which meant only one thing, they were a mated pair. She was ulrich to his ulric. It was the stuff of legend.
His arms were fatigued from fighting the overwhelming need to assert his dominance. He wanted to touch her, needed to touch her. Needed to hold her in strong arms, needed to feel her skin beneath his hands as he held tight and explain how it was going to be. But there was no time for that now. Now was the time for answers.
He had to get her out of the house. Rule number one: Hide the evidence. Pops lay in the back with a knife sticking out of his chest. But that’s not why Max couldn’t call the cops. No, that would be the shredded, ruined remains of the man’s chest and stomach...and face...and neck. There was no easy explanation for that. Well, there was, but not one he could or even wanted to tell the police. So yeah, first thing first, he needed to get Josette out of the house.
“I’m going to take you to my grandmother’s.”
“But—”
“No buts. I need you to do what I tell you okay?”
She nodded. Thank the heavens.
God knows what Josette and his grandmother would talk about, but he didn’t have time to sit around to see. He’d handed her off and ran back to the house. He didn’t have much time. He wasn’t worried about the police. If anyone had heard the fight they would have already been there. But phone calls had been made and he wanted to be back by the time the party started.
Yeah, that’s one way to put it.
Max tore the bedding off Josette’s destroyed bed sending up a prayer of thanks that he and Mr. Denton had not bled through the covers onto the mattress. He threw the pile on top of the dead man before lifting the mattress and box spring against the wall. Dammit. The metal frame was fine, the wood on the head and foot boards were not. Nothing he could do about that now. He was wrapping the body up in the bedding when Frank and Liza joined him, and God bless him, the man had glass for the window.
“Nothing we can do about that paneling tonight,” Liza said. She crossed her arms over her flannel shirt covered chest. Why she wasn’t fainting was a mystery to Max, but he’d never seen her in anything else, that and blue jeans and hiking boots. She looked Appalachian chic.
“You can’t see the paneling from outside. I’m just glad you have glass for the window,” Max said standing up from wrapping Mr. Denton’s remains.
“No need to ask. I saw you tearing out across the yard like your hair was on fire,” Frank answered the unasked question. Frank was dressed like his wife, his flannel shirt was covered by his overalls. They looked like a couple of moonshiners. Max wouldn’t be surprised if they had a still in their house.
Frank and Liza Grey lived in the house across from his grandmother. They knew the whole story, was part of it themselves.
“I’m guessing that that cat’s out of the bag,” Liza said. She walked to the foot end of the shrouded body and bent over. Max picked up the head.
“Not yet, but soon,” he said.
Liza and Max walked the body outside and put it in the bed of a truck that was parked in Josette’s driveway. Max cleaned the glass from below the window outside while Liza and Frank worked on Josette’s room from the inside. It took them less than an hour to replace the glass and get rid of the blood.
“I’ll go over and pick up a new piece of paneling in the morning. You better go on now. I see Josette’s momma’s car pulling up in front of your grandma’s,” Liza said.
Max propped the metal frame of the bed in the corner and walked over to the window. Sure as shit, Ms. Freeland was pulling into his grandmother’s drive. She didn’t even look in the direction of her house.
“Thanks for your help,” Max said turning to the fantastic duo. “I owe you.”
Neither of them said anything, just nodded once and went back to clearing away all evidence of Pops. Max closed and locked the door behind him and walked home.
“Is everything alright?” Mrs. Anderson asked Max as he stepped up on the porch. She eyed his bloody and torn clothes.
“Fine,” he said. His grandmother nodded once and Max put his hands in his pockets and leaned over to give his grandmother a kiss on the top of her head.
Josette had gone out to meet her mother. They were standing next to Josette’s mother car hugging. They were standing there when a large black car pulled up and stopped in front of the house. The car was shiny; almost mirrored it was so clean. Even from the porch Max could see the reflection of the house in it. The car was turned off and the driver’s side door opened. Max glanced in the direction of the women. They were watching the new arrival as well.
He was halfway down the walk, his pace slow, hesitant when Brianne broke the silence.
“Julian?”
Max body tensed and he held his breath, this wasn’t going to be good. It may end that way, but for starters, things were going to be ugly. The night was young and promised to be long. Josette’s mother took the first step, and then another.
“Julian?” Brianne said again.
He nodded once. Max saw his throat move as he tried to find words; words that would make it all right, even though there were none. Not anything short and sweet anyway. Brianne took the last step off of the grass and onto the sidewalk and stood in front of the man. He dwarfed her. She was a tiny woman. She looked almost like a child standing in front of him, shorter by a foot.
“Brianne,” he said in a low voice.
She slapped him. The resounding crack filling the night like a gunshot. She slapped him again. He lowered his head...no, hung his head and closed his eyes. Even from where he was standing Max could see the tears that wet their faces, even though neither made a sound.
He rubbed Brianne’s hair and comforted her as best he could. He had been missing for seventeen years. Josette stood in quiet disbelief. He raised his head and looked at her. He didn’t speak, just looked. Josette moved close
r to her parents, crossing the small strip of grass very much in the same manner as her mother; slowly, one hesitate step at a time. She reached out to touch his arm to make sure he was real. He took an arm from around her mother and touched her face.
“Hello Josette,” he said.
“Dad?” The word was foreign in her mouth and on her lips, but it was the right one.
“Yes.”
Josette moved away from the man and her mother and may have even attempted to leave if it was not for Max. With each step he took she felt better, grounded. It was a good thing. The night so far had turned out truly...unbelievable. He opened his arms and she went to him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He held her tight to his body. She found comfort in his above average body heat. It was hot outside, probably ninety degrees, but she’d grown use to it since they’d met. Josette took a deep breath, taking in his scent. Pine needles, orange peels, fresh cut grass and a hint of honeysuckle; he smelled like home.
“What the hell is going on here!” Brianne yelled. The hysteria had been delayed.
“Why don’t you sit down, we can explain everything,” Julian said in a voice used to talk off wild animals attack.
She’d pushed out of his embrace. They’d crowded into Mrs. Anderson’s living room and Julian had closed the door after they crossed the threshold. The room was too small to offer much room so Brianne was still standing in the same spot.
“Like hell you can,” she all but screamed. Her anger was suffocating. It beat moth balls and old lady perfume.
“Dear, why don’t you have a seat and let us tell you—” Ms. Anderson started. Her words were cut short as Brianne shot her a look that would have struck her dead if looks could kill.
“I don’t want to have a seat, or calm down. I want to know what is going on here.”
“Brianne you have to give us a chance to explain, just calm down,” Julian said. He wasn’t talking loud but he had one of those voices. Deep, demanding; meant to be obeyed. His voice didn’t carry questions, it only gave orders. Too bad Brianne wasn’t having it.
“Like hell I do. Where have you been all these years and why come back now?”
“I never should have left you. I should have been brave and steadfast, like Maxwell but I was not.”
At these words Josette looked at Max. He had been asked to leave her but he’d refused. She guessed the same had happened to her dad.
Brianne turned and maneuvered around the coffee table and went into the kitchen.
“Brianne, please sit down,” Julian said from his same spot. He was smart, he hadn’t tried to follow.
Josette looked at her father. He and Max didn’t look anything alike, but they were the same in other ways. Strong but patient, confident to the point of cocky, and a dominance that all but took form. He may have walked away eighteen years ago, but he wasn’t leaving this time. Not without her mother. It was in everything from the rise and fall of his chest to the way he stood.
“Maybe you’d like to start with why you had to leave my mom,” Josette said.
“Yes, I suppose that’s an appropriate place to start.” Julian walked through the room, stopping in the archway that separated the front room from the kitchen.
“It is in my kind’s nature to love and mate for life. I have loved you since the very first time I laid eyes on you,” he said to Brianne’s back. “It was something of a surprise for my parents and sometimes me.”
My kind...mate. What the hell?
“I was betrothed to another.”
Okay. Not the right thing to say, but hey, the man had to start somewhere. Brianne swung around and the tears were in angry eyes. Her arms were crossed but her hands were balled into fist and Josette waited for her mother to punch her dad instead of slapping him this time.
“Wait Brianne, let me finish,” Julian said, holding up his hands. He’d gotten the same idea. “I was sent here with my guardians and enrolled in the local school. When I saw you in class something pulled at my very soul. It was all over for me. I knew that I could never marry anyone other than you and I never did.” Julian said the words quick. “I refused to wed or even meet the girl I was to marry and because of this my people have been at war for the last seventeen years.”
“War, what war? What are you talking about Julian?” Brianne said. She looked both confused and suspicious. It was a hard look to pull off.
“I’m a werewolf Brianne.”
That was an opening line, not the finishing one.
“Excuse me,” Josette said.
Brianne said, “I beg your pardon,” at the same time.
Josette looked up at Max and he was nodding his head. She looked at Mrs. Anderson who neither confirmed nor denied the statement, but continue to look at the long lost love birds.
“I was to marry a girl from a neighboring pack and her parents were quite upset when I refused. My parents were furious. You’d told me you were pregnant and I thought that I could reason with them but I was mistaken. I went to them and they held me there, refusing to even let me return to say goodbye.”
“Werewolf?”
The information was not computing. There was no such thing as a werewolf. Brianne lost all the suspicion and stuck with the confusion. The look of bewilderment on her face was priceless. It would have been funny if not for the insanity of the discussion. Brianne looked at Mrs. Anderson who nodded; she looked at Max who nodded until finally her eyes came to rest on Josette.
Josette was just as shocked at the statement but she was standing next to Max. His arm was loose around her waist as she replayed the night’s events. She fell more than sat down on the couch behind her. Max sat down beside her. She looked at him. She remembered the sound of something wild in her room attacking Pops. The growling and snarling that had stopped her heart in the dark of the room and then teeth and claws.
“Josette,” Max said and the sound of his voice drew her head up. His face was so close. So close she could feel the hot air of his breath blowing across her brow.
“Josette?” her mother said.
She raised her head higher to look at her mother. Brianne’s look was one of both disbelief and panic at the thought. Josette starting nodding slowly. Her mom’s mouth dropped open a second time and her eyes widened.
“Okay,” Brianne said in a shaky voice.