“Is he also part moose?” Zack asked as the dog nosed him in the crotch, leaving a large drool mark behind on his jeans.
Lacey laughed. “He might be. He does have a habit of using people and furniture as napkins.”
Lina grabbed Elain’s arm and pulled her up next to her. “Lacey, this is Elain Pardie.”
Lacey smiled. “Hello, dear. It’s nice to finally meet you. I had a nice chat with Aindreas last night on the phone.” She opened her arms and Elain gave her a hug.
Elain immediately felt enveloped by a warm, friendly welcoming feeling. “Thank you,” Elain said, reluctant to step back. “This is my mom, Carla Taylor. And my dad, Liam Pardie.”
Lacey hugged Carla. “Very nice to meet you. I guess this has all been quite the shock for you.”
Carla laughed. “You could say that.”
Liam stepped up. “Hello, Lacey.”
She smiled warmly as she took his hand in hers. “Hello, Liam. It’s been a very long time. How have you been?”
“I’m a lot better now.” He glanced at Elain and Carla.
“I would imagine so. You’ve been away for so many years.”
“Did I do the right thing?”
Lacey shrugged. “That isn’t up to me to say. Your daughter is happy and healthy and you will all find healing. It wasn’t your decision alone. Maureen knew what had to be done to keep Elain safe.” She pulled him in for a hug. “Let your past heal and focus on the present and what is before you. Or, should I say, who is before you.” When she stepped back, she looked at everyone. “I called Daniel and Callie. They’ll be here soon. They’re looking forward to seeing you all, and meeting Elain and her parents.”
Parents. That was a term Elain was still trying to come to terms with after so many years of only having a mom.
“Well, I hope you all are hungry,” Lacey said. “I’ve got lunch waiting for you.” She smiled at Elain. “I’d rather fill our stomachs first before we do our talking.”
Daniel and Callie Blackestone appeared to be a very nice couple. Callie seemed like a normal woman, not an immortal one. Lina greeted them both with big hugs and introduced Elain first.
Daniel, also called Blackie, smiled as he shook Elain’s hand. “You able to keep Brodey in line? I know he’s a handful.”
Elain laughed. “I do okay.”
When she hugged Callie, she felt a wave of friendliness tinged by something she couldn’t decipher from her. Perhaps a deep sadness? It disappeared when their embrace ended.
“Nice to meet you,” Callie said with a smile.
“I’ve heard a lot about you.”
Callie grinned. “Don’t believe all of it. Only most of it.”
Lacey had prepared a simple but delicious lunch of ham with sandwich fixings, potato salad, and some of her famous banana nut bread. Elain felt at home with the Seer. While she missed her men, she couldn’t help but relax in the midst of her newfound “family.”
Callie, Carla, and Elain insisted on helping Lacey clean up, but they shooed Lina back into the living room with the men. It didn’t take long. Once they’d finished, Lacey dried her hands on a dish towel and reached for a leash hanging beside her back door. “Lina, are you up for a walk, dear?”
She heaved herself, with Rick and Jan’s help, up and off the couch. “Yo!” She waddled over to the back door. “Are we going where I think we’re going?”
Lacey smiled as she clipped the leash to Jasper’s collar. “Yes. Elain, I’d like you to join us. Not to be rude,” she said to the rest of them, “but I hope you all understand that I need to talk to them alone.”
“No problem,” Callie said with a smile. “Actually, I think we need to get going.”
Daniel nodded. “Yeah, I’ve got some work to do.” They bid everyone good-bye.
“Ready, girls?” Lacey asked.
Lina’s men nervously looked at each other. “Um, as long as you’re sure it’s safe,” Jan said. “We don’t need the Lyall men killing us for letting something happen to her.”
Lina jammed her fist against where she assumed her hip was supposed to be, although with her pregnancy belly it was hard to be sure. “Honestly? Do you think we have anything to worry about?”
Jan quickly shook his head and took a step back. “No, sorry, lovely. Of course not.”
Lina let out an amused snort and hooked her arm through Elain’s. “Come on, girlfriend. We want to show you something.”
Out on the porch, Lacey took Elain’s other arm. “We’ve got a lot to talk about.” Jasper led the way, not pulling but definitely eager to get going. The path led through Lacey’s garden, which was lushly blooming with the last of her late-summer flowers and herbs. A sundial sat on a pad of paving stones. Past the garden, the path gave way into a needle-strewn path through the forest.
“Ain and the guys said you could tell me if I’m a shape-shifter like them.”
Lacey nodded. “Yes, I can.”
Elain tried to hold in her nervous irritation. “Am I?”
“Are you what, dear?”
“Am I a shape-shifter like my guys?”
“No.”
Relief threatened to overwhelm her. “Oh, thank God! That would have been too much extra wackiness I don’t need right now.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I think you misunderstood me. You are a shape-shifter, but you’re not a shape-shifter like your men.”
Elain stopped. “What?”
Both Lina and Lacey urged her forward. “Keep walking, chica,” Lina joked. “We haven’t finished frying your brain yet.”
“But…but you said I wasn’t a shape-shifter!” She really, really wanted to hold on to that little nugget.
Lacey kindly laughed. “I’m sorry, dear. That was a poor choice of words on my part. You are a shape-shifter. You’re just not like your men.”
“So what am I? Are you going to tell me I’m a raccoon or something?”
Lina snickered. “I’d pay money to see that.”
“Not helping!” Elain screeched.
Lacey patted Elain’s arm. “Calm down, Elain. You are a wolf shifter. But you are not just like your men. Your men are Alphas, yes. As are you.”
The longer Lacey talked, the more Elain watched her hopes for any semblance of a normal life go up in a puff of despair.
“But you are far more than your men,” the old Seer continued. As they walked, Elain felt the path descend. The woods around them had thinned, and Elain distinctly smelled cold, salt water nearby.
“Is there some sort of cure for this?” Elain grumbled. “Some way to un-wolf me?”
Lacey smiled. “No, dear. Believe me, once you wrap your mind around everything, you won’t want to let go of your new life.”
“Can I tell her?” Lina asked.
Lacey laughed. “If you must, Lina.”
Lina squeezed Elain’s hand. “You know how we talked about my Seer gig?”
“Yeah?”
Lina grinned. “Guess what? You’ve joined our club.”
Elain stopped short, her feet planted firmly enough Lina and Lacey both had to stop, too, or let go of her arms. “Say what the fuck?”
“You’re a Seer, like me,” Lina said. “Well, not exactly like me. I’ve got all the Goddess crap and found out about that first before the Seer shit. But you were born to the office, as it were.”
“But…but I don’t have visions or dreams or whatever they are like you do.” Then she remembered the visions she had about her and her men and children.
She shoved that memory out of her head. She already had too much to deal with.
“You don’t have to,” Lacey said. “That will come as your power develops. Have you noticed lately that you seem to be able to read other people’s emotions?”