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Cade and Ally MacDougall are the hero and heroine of Yours, Mine and Howls.
“Becca? Becca! Baby,
where are you?”
It was hard to scream a whisper, but Ally was doing her
best. She didn’t want folks in the house to hear her calling for her daughter.
So she crept along in an uncomfortable walking crouch—the
better to see small animals on the ground—behind the building which contained
the gym and swimming pool, softly calling for Becca and hoping the girl hadn’t
run off into the woods.
Thirty or
forty yards to her right, over by the wood shop, she heard Michael calling for
Becca in a whisper-yell much like her own.
"Hey!
Stinky Butt! Where are you?"
She couldn’t see him,
but her hearing was as acute as the werewolf’s.
"Michael! That's not gonna make her want to come in!”
At five and a half,
Becca was a Big Girl, and Big Girls didn't like being called by their baby
nicknames.
“Shit,” Michael muttered. “Fine. Rebecca Jane MacDougall, where the hell are you? And why the hell does she have to come in,
anyway? I don't blame her for running off—those kids are a pain in the
ass!"
Ally could just
imagine the look of disgust on the big wolf's face, and she smiled. He was right—her
cousin Bethany's children were
obnoxious. They were also seven, nine, ten, and thirteen.
Becca would be obnoxious
when she hit that age range in a couple of years, but Ally didn’t plan to tell
Michael or Cade. They wouldn’t believe it until it actually happened.
“Ally, go back inside
and deal with your family. I’ll find Becca.”
Her relatives had to
be wondering what the hell was going on. Becca had been gone almost an hour. Her
aunt and both her cousins had already come out several times, offering to help
her look, and they’d probably pop out again any minute. The thought of them
catching Becca in mid-shift made Ally’s heart stop.
Still…
“I can’t go in,
Michael. I’m getting scared. What if she’s hurt? It’s so cold out here.”
It had been snowing
for the past couple of hours. and it would get a lot colder when night fell.
Oh God. What if we don’t find her
before it gets dark?
“Stop it, Ally. She’s
fine. She never goes very far into the woods and she hasn’t been out that long.
Her fur is plenty warm enough.”
When Ally had first thought
about inviting her relatives to the ranch to celebrate the holiday with her new
family and pack, she hadn't foreseen spending Christmas Eve like this. She
didn't blame herself for that, though.
What she blamed
herself for was not realizing that having eight strangers, half of them kids,
in the house for a week might be stressful for Rebecca. The child had spent her
first four years fairly isolated from other kids. After a year of preschool,
her social skills were much improved. She was happy and outgoing by nature. But
four very loud older kids in her home was freaking her out, and she dealt with
it by shimmying out of her clothes, shifting into a small black cat, and
running off somewhere. And when a small cat had ten thousand acres to roam,
"somewhere" was a lot of ground to cover.
“Oh
fuck it,” Michael continued. “I say we go back inside and let Cade handle it
when he gets home. She’ll come to him.”
The
non-panicking part of her brain realized Michael was right. When she was
outside in cat form Becca always stuck close to the compound—the house, guest cabins,
and woodshop—or the horse barns. Cade had told all his wolves that his daughter
was a shapeshifter. It was a big risk—females weren’t supposed to be able to
shift—but it would have been far too dangerous not to tell them, since most werewolves in furry mode found cats
pretty tasty.
Cade
had also promised to kill any wolf who revealed Becca’s nature to anyone
outside the pack. Between the threat of excruciating death and their natural
protectiveness toward the little girl, Becca’s secret was safe. And the
presence of so many werewolves kept bears and coyotes and big cats away from
the ranch.
But what about owls?
And hawks? She’d never even thought about that before! Airborne predators
wouldn’t be scared away by werewolves.
When Cade got back
from town she was going to tell him they couldn’t let Becca wander the ranch by
herself. She’d already been gone longer than she’d ever done before. With every
passing minute, Ally’s imagination came up with bloodier, more terrifying
scenarios of what might have---
Still in the
increasingly uncomfortable crouching position, Ally was mid-step when something
small darted between her legs. She lost her balance, tipping backwards to land
on her butt, narrowly missing the small black cat, which yowled in protest.
Ally grabbed her before
she could run off.
“Thank you Jesus.
Becca, shift. Right now.”
The girl had already
started doing it. Truth be told, it kind of grossed Ally out to be touching, or
even very close to, Becca or a wolf when they shifted. She’d never show it,
though.
“You got her?”
Michael asked.
“Got her.”
The back door of the
main house slammed. Then her cousin TJ called out, “Ally? Where are you? You
find Becca yet?”
“Shit. Becca, hurry up!”
Which was an utterly
stupid thing to say, since no shapeshifter could control the amount of time it
took for the transformation to be complete.
Ally heard TJ’s
footsteps heading in their direction. They had a only a few minutes before her
cousin would reach the gym, walk around it, and see them sitting in the snow.
Fortunately, Becca
shifted much faster than a werewolf did. Maybe it was a matter of size. They
couldn’t exactly consult anyone about it, since according to Declan McSorley,
there were maybe five female shifters in the whole world. (And all of them were
related to Cade and Becca.)
Becca was back to
human form and shivering in Ally’s arms when TJ appeared from around the
corner, Michael right behind her.
“There y’all are,”
said TJ. “And hey look—it’s a naked Becca! You’re gonna freeze your cute little
tush off out here, girl.”
Rebecca managed a
grin but didn’t say anything. Michael held out a hand so Ally could stand up
without letting go of Becca.
“Okay, Stinky Butt,
where’s the clothes?”
Rebecca shrugged and
buried her face in Ally’s neck.
“She’s embarrassed,”
Ally mouthed to them.
TJ ran a hand through
Becca’s lustrous curls and patted her back. “I don’t blame you for wanting out
of the house. It’s loud in there and those kids are getting the hell on my
nerves.”
“Mine too,” groused
Michael.
“Oh shut up, Wargman,”
said TJ, whose boss was Michael’s younger brother. “Everyone gets the hell on
your nerves. Ally, you need to get in there before my mom does something
stupid.”
“What? Why?”
“She keeps going into
the kitchen to see if she can help Sindri with dinner. I’ve told her a million
times brownies don’t need help, but--”
“Christ,” said
Michael. “I bet he’s gone underground.”
“No—I just saw him a
couple minutes ago—but he looks exasperated. I mean, I think he does. I’m not
really familiar with brownies’ facial expressions.”
“Okay, I’m going in.
Michael, take Becca. Baby, where are your clothes? I really don’t want you
going back in there naked.”
“I left ‘em over by
the woodshop.”
“What?” Michael said.
“How come I didn’t see them?”
“Never mind,” said
Ally, depositing Becca in her godfather’s arms. “Just take her over there so
she can get dressed and go inside. Becca, stop pouting. TJ, come with me so we
can drag your mom out of Sindri’s kitchen.”
“Sindri, I promise
you my aunt will not step foot in here again.”
“I cannot have people
in my kitchen when I prepare food for so many.” The little brownie’s expression
was actually the same as always, but Ally could tell he was frustrated and
disturbed.
“I understand that.”
“I do not require
help. I require calm, and silence, and--”
“Hi Sindri!” Becca
chirped as she streaked (fully clothed) into the room. “I need a drink of
water, please.”
“Of course, little
one. Are you hungry? I can make you a snack. Sit down.”
“Becca, you had a big
lunch two hours ago, and we’re going to have a big dinner in just a little
while. You can wait.”
“But the child is
hungry!” Sindri protested.
“No, she’s bored. And
you need calm and silence.”
Now
he looked exasperated.
“Come on,” she said
to Becca. “Let’s go see what the kids are doing.”
“They’re not doing
nothing--”
“—anything.”
“Anything. The
teenager’s on her iPad--”
“Her name is Annie.”
“Yeah, her, and the
boys are watching TV and yelling at each other. They’re not fun.”
“I’m sure we can
think of something for y’all to do.”
“Hey!” said her
cousin’s husband, Brent, as they walked into the den. “Michael was just saying
we should take the kids outside and let them play with the BB and paintball
guns.”
“Oh! Yeah, yeah!”
Becca was bouncing now.
“I figure we let the little monsters burn off
a bunch of energy before they sit down to eat.”
“Michael!”
“It’s okay, Ally,”
said Brent. “They are little
monsters. Cept for Annie. She’s just a sulky teenager, but at least she’s
quiet.”
Michael and Brent got
all four kids out of the house, leaving Ally with a moment to just stand still
and bask in the warmth and comfort of the house.
Her house.
Her home. Her family.
The whole place smelled of Sindri’s amazing cooking. She
didn’t even know what they would be eating, but she knew it would be delicious.
There was a crackling fire going here in the den. Cade
thought Ally’s love of fireplaces was kind of hilarious—as soon as the weather
hit sixty degrees she insisted on a fire in the den and in their bedroom. She’d
explained to him that, as a child growing up in trailer parks in hot and humid
Louisiana, and later as an adult living in apartments in equally hot and humid
Texas, fireplaces seemed exotic and luxurious. Fireplaces were where happy families
cuddled together in the winter time, and celebrated the kind of Christmases she
and Seth had never known as kids.
And there was something about a fireplace in the bedroom
that made her very horny.
After hearing all that, Cade was happy to make a fire
whenever she wanted.
The Christmas tree came from the woods here on the ranch,
and very nearly touched the cathedral ceiling. The bottom branches of the tree
were impressive in diameter, yet the gifts beneath it extended far beyond the branches.
They had to keep reminding Becca that not every present was for her. She was
paying much closer attention to her share of the haul than she had last year.
She probably basked for a good minute, minute and a half,
before she realized that all was still not well with Aunt Jocelyn.
“But I don’t
understand how he can make dinner for sixty people without any help at all!”
“Mom, I told you,
it’s a brownie thing. He doesn’t need help with the cooking or with the
cleaning.”
“But where is
everyone going to eat?”
Not having anything
to do in preparation for a big meal was wholly alien to Jocelyn.
“We’re going to eat
here in the house, Aunt Jocelyn,” said Ally. “I promise it’s under control. The
guys are setting up tables here and in the living room. We’ll let the kids help
set the tables when it’s time.”
A wolf tapped her on
the shoulder.
“Ally?”
“Hey, Justin. What’s
up?”
“Cade just called. He
said he and Seth were gonna be another couple of hours in town.”
“What?”
“Maybe three.”
“What the f…what are
they doing? Cade said he needed to go over some stuff with Seth. How is that
taking all day?”
Her husband owned one
of only three car repair shops in Fremont. Ally’s cousin Seth ran the shop.
This year he’d decided to stay open Christmas Eve.
The hapless young
werewolf shrugged. "I don't know?"
“That is not okay. I know they’re just sitting
around drinking beer because they don’t want to deal with all this.”
Shit.
She glanced at TJ, who was smirking. But
at least Aunt Jocelyn hadn’t appeared to hear.
Ally pulled out her
phone and began dialing. Behind her TJ was suggesting that maybe Jocelyn would
like to get a short nap before dinner, as TJ's sister Bethany was doing.
“But I'd feel
terrible leaving Ally to handle such a big meal all by herself.”
“I can help her,
Mom.”
“Tyler Jean, you know
you're no good at this type of thing!”
Ally turned around at
that. TJ just gave a very TJ-like grimace and said, "My mother, ladies and
gentleman."
“I'm not exactly a
domestic goddess myself, you know,” Ally grinned. “Jocelyn, seriously, I don't
have to do anything. I get to just sit back and relax.”
"Then why aren't
you?" asked TJ.
“Well, because....you
know. There are all these people, and Becca ran off, and...”
“But she came back.
Now the kids are having fun and—”
"Look out!
Incoming injured—need some ice, stat!"
It was Brent, leading
his youngest son (either Carter or Reid, Ally couldn't keep them straight) by
the hand. The boy was crying loudly, one hand clapped firmly to his eye.
“Oh my Lord!” Aunt
Jocelyn wailed.
“I don't see any
blood spurting, Mama. I bet it's not fatal,” said TJ.
Neither Cade nor Seth
were answering their damn phones, so Ally hung up.
“What happened?”
“Reid hit Carter in the
eye with the butt of his BB gun,” said Brent.
“He did in on
purpose!” Carter sniffed.
“Oh, honey, I'm sure
he didn't mean to,” said Jocelyn.
“Hell yeah he meant
to” Brent grunted. “Little bastard's been tormenting Carter and Joseph all day
and I'm done with him. Jocelyn, would you get him some ice?”
“I want Mommy!”
“Carter? Honey,
what's wrong?”
They all looked up to
see Bethany leaning over the upstairs railing.
“Reid’s being a dick
again, baby,” Brent said.
“Ally?”
This time it was a
young wolf named Felipe.
“What is it?” she
yelled, and then immediately felt guilty. Felipe was a sweetheart and one of her
favorites.
“Michael said we need
to set up tables in here now.”
“Can it wait for a
bit?”
“Michael said it
can’t wait because then he’ll never get all the females out of the way and
Sindri will be ready to serve dinner and--”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. I
get it.”
“Sorry. Just telling
you what Michael told us.”
Among the wolves of
the Rocky Mountain Pack, “Michael said” was just as compelling as “Cade said.”
Maybe even slightly more, actually, because Cade was quite a bit more laid back
than his
lieutenant and didn’t think every wolf under forty was stupid and/or
lazy.
“Come on, let's get
out of the way,” said Ally. She was not going back into the kitchen if she could
at all help it. "Okay. Brent and Bethany, y'all take Carter to the guest
cabin next door—the one to your right when you're facing the driveway. There's
a fridge in there, it has ice. He can chill out there til he's ready to join
the kids again.”
“Honey, why don't you
take him? Carter, go with Mama. I'm gonna have a talk with your brother. Ally,
can I stick Reid in another cabin? I want to kick his ass but I'm just gonna
park him somewhere by himself for a couple hours.”
“Sure. The cabin on
the other side of the one Carter's going to. It's empty and there's nothing in
it to keep him entertained.”
“That’ll work.”
“I should go with Bethany
and make sure Carter’s okay,” said Jocelyn.
“NO. You should go
upstairs and lay down. Like, right now.”
“TJ's right, Aunt
Jocelyn. Go rest so you can stay up later tonight.”
“Well, if you're sure
you don't need anything—”
“She's positive, Mama.”
They both breathed a
sigh of relief as Jocelyn climbed the stairs.
“All right. I’m gonna
go make sure we have enough beer and wine iced down, and I need to get the guys
to move their bikes and cars back behind the woodshop so the people coming in
from town can park in the circle. And—oh shit. I forgot to tell Michael—what
are you doing? Leggo!”
TJ had grabbed Ally’s
wrist and was pulling her across the room. They stopped to let werewolves
bearing fourtops get by, then TJ dragged her behind the bar.
“Nick said your
husband is a wine snob. Let’s see—hello! You drink red, right?”
“Yeah. TJ, I don’t
have time to—”
“Okay, is there a
wine fridge—yes there is! Let’s see.”
She picked out a
bottle of white—if Ally remembered correctly, her cousin was partial to dry
whites.
TJ thrust the bottle
of red at Ally. “Here. You carry this one and I’ll get the glasses.”
Glasses in hand, TJ
turned back to Ally. “Well? Come on!”
“Where?”
“I thought we'd go out
to that building in the back—the one with the pool.”
Ally was about to
protest when she realized she really, really didn’t want to.
“No. Let’s go in
Cade’s office. I’ll lock the door but I can still hear if something blows up.”
“Okay. This is
better,” Ally admitted. “Wanna pour me a little more?”
“But of course. Think
I’ll have some more too.”
Ally was in Cade’s
battered old leather desk chair while TJ was stretched out on the couch.
“I really need to get
out there, though. I feel like I’m neglecting my duties.”
“Ally, you keep
saying how you don’t have to cook or keep house.”
“I know. I don’t. I
look after Becca and I work with the horses.”
“So Becca’s occupied
and the horses don’t need you right now. Just relax and hang out with me. I
haven’t seen you since you left Houston!”
“I know. And I’ve
missed you.”
“Same here. Emails
and phone calls aren’t the same.”
“They’re really not.”
A lot of the family
had been upset to learn Cade and Ally had wed without a wedding. They did it
one Sunday before their parish priest, with just Becca and Michael and the few
wolves who managed to get out of bed in time for eleven o’clock Mass as
witnesses. Ally knew a lot of people wouldn’t understand, but she didn’t want
to take the time to plan a big wedding. Big formal social events were not her
thing at all, plus she wanted to adopt Becca as soon as she could. So they got
married on a Sunday, filed the adoption papers the following Wednesday, and one
month later the state recognized her as Becca’s mother.
“You hit the fucking
jackpot, didn’t you? Hot Pack Alpha, adorable little girl, and you don’t have to cook or clean.”
“Damn straight,” Ally
grinned.
“You’re happy here.
You’re comfortable here. This is so
where you belong.”
“It’s pretty amazing.
I never, ever thought I’d be this happy.” She couldn’t begin to explain to TJ
how it felt to finally live among people with whom she didn’t have to hide
anything about her nature, as she’d had to hide it from TJ and all her family
since she was eighteen.
“Dylan’s looking
good. At least I think so. I only saw him for like ten minutes.”
“I know. He’s pretty
much living at Heather’s place these days.”
“How’s Dec? You hear
from him?”
“Oh, yeah. He emails
us at least once a week. He’s doing fine. Just, you know, travelling and
hanging out.”
Actually, he was
attempting to contact his far flung, long lost Vargalf and much rarer dyrkona
relatives. TJ knew a lot about werewolves, having had her heart broken by one
years ago and having worked for the past six years as personal assistant to the
Houston Pack Alpha. Still, Ally was pretty sure TJ had never heard of the
Vargalf—fae werewolves. Fortunately, keeping secrets came naturally to Ally.
Speaking of which…
“So…did your mom or
Bethany say anything about Becca running off this afternoon?”
TJ shrugged. “No.
Bethany felt kind of bad because she figured Becca was sick of the boys. I
mean, Bethany never says so out loud but I’m pretty sure she knows Reid’s a
pain in the ass. Plus Becca’s an only child and you said she’s not used to
other kids staying in the house, so this must be overwhelming for her.”
A rush of gratitude
flooded through her. “Yes, exactly. I should’ve expected it. Um…and about the
naked thing?”
TJ threw her head
back and laughed. “Oh my God, that was so
cute! It’s fucking twenty-something degrees out there and Miss Thing is
bare assed naked!”
“I just didn’t want
Jocelyn or Bethany to see that because…I mean, you know…”
“My mom’s June
Cleaver and my sister’s Junior League Barbie and you’re afraid they’ll judge
your parenting skills?”
“Well, kind of! I
mean, I know it sounds or vain or something, but I don’t want people thinking
my kid’s weird, you know? When I take Becca to Texas next summer I don’t want
them to be all that’s the naked girl
or that’s the kid who freaks out around
other kids.”
“Baby, believe me,
there are plenty of weird kids in our family. Ricky’s boy Ryan—he’s fourteen now—they
found some seriously disturbing porn on his computer. You remember Mary Anne’s kids?”
“Um…yeah, vaguely.
Haven’t seen ‘em since they were little bitty.”
Ricky and Mary Anne
were second or third cousins to TJ and Ally.
“Well, her girl’s
sixteen or seventeen now. She dropped out of high school and moved in with her
boyfriend, who’s in a band. In fucking Vidor.
Shit—even Bethany’s had to loosen that stick up her ass. Joseph’s seven years
old and still eats paste, and Reid’s an asshole.”
“What’s the deal with Annie?”
“She’s thirteen.”
“Ah.”
“I mean, no one’s got a perfect kid. Anyone who acts like
they do, something’s wrong with them. And at the end of the day, don’t you have
to just go, this is my kid, fuck you if
you think you could do better?”
And for the first time since her relatives arrived three
days ago, Ally relaxed. The knot in her shoulder that she hadn’t even realized
was there, wasn’t there anymore. “Oh, TJ. I missed you bad, girl.”
“Same here.” TJ wiggled the bottle of cab at her. “More?”
“One more. Then we have to go get dressed. I need a shower.”
“Me too. This isn’t gonna be dressy, is it? Aren’t y’all
pretty much casual all the time?”
“Yep. Jeans and a sweater will be fine. I will be wearing…a
Christmas sweater.”
TJ froze. It was one of only a handful of times Ally had
ever seen her extremely fashion conscious cousin speechless.
It was funny.
“Yep. A Christmas sweater. A sweater, with Christmas on it.
Lots of Christmas. Like, Christmas threw up.”
Ally took another gulp of her cab and savored TJ’s undoubtedly
momentary flusteredness.
TJ knocked back the rest of the wine in her glass and then
poured another one.
“Okay. So this sweater…is it ugly?”
“You ever seen a Christmas sweater that isn’t? I mean, it’s
not the worst one I’ve ever seen but yeah, this isn’t something you should even
look at til you’re at least seventy-five. But Becca picked it out herself.”
"Oh shit.
How?"
“Cade took her shopping last week—this is the first year
he’s let her pick out her own gifts for people. He promised he’d get whatever
she picked out for everyone. And for some reason she decided I just had to have
a sweater with reindeers and snowmen. And bells. It sparkles. My girl loves
sparkly shit.”
“Did Cade realize this sweater was ugly?”
“Of course he did. My husband has a perverted sense of
humor.”
“And you’re gonna wear this monstrosity?”
“Yep. At home. On Christmas Eve. Or Christmas day. Not both.
And Becca will be nine or ten before she realizes I never wear it outside the
house.”
“I don’t think I could do that. Not even for my own kid.”
“You could. You just—”
They both jumped when the door flew open.
“There you are!” said Cade MacDougall. “Starting on the
Christmas cheer a little early, aren’t you?”
“Werewolf. You made me spill my wine. And I don’t have any
left.”
“Shit. Neither do I. TJ, we polished off a bottle each.”
“Eh. We can still
walk.”
“So. I’ve been helping out at the shop while you two were
sitting around guzzl--”
“Oh, shut the hell up,” said Ally. “You and Seth were
sitting around guzzling beer.”
Cade flashed his customary “fuck ‘em, I’m in charge here”
grin. “Yep. But now we need to get it together because Sindri says dinner’s
served at six.”
Several hours later, dinner consumed and children tucked
into bed after one last bout of fun in the snow, the two couples and TJ sprawled
in the den. Jocelyn had turned in, and the werewolves had scattered. Michael
was overseeing a poker game in the woodshop.
“That was incredible,” yawned Brent. “I wish we had a
brownie.”
“So do I,” sighed Bethany.
“I don’t think they can all cook like that,” said Ally.
“That’s one butt ugly sweater,” said TJ.
Cade didn’t open his eyes or lift his head from the back of
the couch, but there was a smile in his voice. “She wears it with style,
though, don’t she?” His hand flopped up to ruffle Ally’s hair.
Brent yawned. “I’m sinking, folks. My kids are gonna be up
before the sun.”
“Oh, ours is too,” Cade murmured.
“Come on, honey. Let’s go.” Bethany pulled Brent off the
couch. “Night, everyone.”
“See what happens when you have kids?” said TJ. “You’re
tired all the damn time. I’m going to steal another bottle of your fine Merlot
and go play some poker.”
“I’ll be sending the kids to wake your ass up in the
morning,” warned Ally.
“They can try.” TJ tucked a bottle under her arm and left.
“Hey.” Cade gave her a little pinch. “Wanna go play some
cards?”
“Nope.”
“Okay. Want me to go make a fire in our room?”
“Nope. I wanna cuddle here and watch the tree for a while til
I fall sleep and then you can carry me to bed.”
“My pleasure.” He was silent for a couple of beats. “The sweater’s
not that bad, is it?”
“It’s hideous. I love it.”
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