Homecoming (13 page)

The shifter registry was in the licensing office, which was not unusual but always amused Cal no end because he often wanted to ask for a marriage license instead, just to fuck with people. The guard stopped inside the door, clearly planning to stay right there, as he waved Tony forward towards the clerk.

“Sherry, got some visitors for you. Some werewolves come to register.”

Sherry, who was a little plump and a lot young, gave the guard a startled glance before collecting herself.

“Oh. Uh. Okay, let me, uh, get the forms, Mr…?”

“Anthony Mandalari, Alpha. My pack mates, Daniel Carter and Calvin Whitman.”

Sherry continued to look shell shocked as she gathered the forms and put them on clipboards for them. It took a while to fill out the paperwork, and by the time she got around to fingerprinting them people started walking in and out of the office on obviously bogus errands just to see the werewolves. Cal knew gossip traveled fast in a small town, but he was impressed by the speed of the vine in Hartsville's Courthouse.

“So, uh, Alpha Mandalari, is there, uh, anything else I can do?”

“I'd like some guarantee that there will be a hunting moratorium put up around the property we're renting from Mr. McBride.”

Sherry nodded earnestly. “Once I get you in the system, an automatic notice will go out to the sheriff's office and the local park rangers, state and federal.” She shuffled the papers. “Oh! I forgot, you need to sign the lien stating that you forfeit your property if you or your pack attack any local livestock. Sorry, it's a state law, but we're cattle country so you know?” Sherry looked genuinely apologetic, which brought out the paternal in Tony.

“Not a problem, Sherry. Had to do the same when we traveled through Texas. We intend to be here for a long time, and don't want any arguments with the local ranchers. We can all get along.” He gave her his winning politician smile, which worked to ease Sherry's nerves a bit. Tony signed the paper and handed it back. “Sherry, it surprises me that no pack claims this territory anymore. I consider myself fortunate to land in such fine countryside, but surprised. What happened to the last pack?” Tony was laying it on thick, which got Cal a poke in the ribs from Daniel when he snickered.

“Oh, I…uh?” She gave the guard a panicked look.

Officer Wells stepped forward, looking at Tony and ignoring Cal and Daniel, proving that he at least had some familiarity with pack manners. “The last pack that used to live around here was a branch of a larger pack out of Fort Collins. That was back in the late '90s, but I remember the Franklins pretty well. Nice, uh, pack. But some kind of shifter politics went down in Fort Collins, and the Franklins picked up and left. We've had a few rogues come through, but no Alphas that I know of. Guess we're just too far from all the action.”

Cal did not like that explanation, it left too many gaping holes, but it remained that if the territory was claimed by any other pack the Registry would show it and the locals would know it. It was all the information they were getting, so Tony hustled them out of the building and back to their cabin. A police cruiser trailed them for a while at a distance, but broke off halfway up the mountain.

Tony was officially “out” in the community, and Cal was not looking forward to the fallout. It was going to be a while before things settled in Hartsville. But it was his home, and he was willing to fight for it if it came to that.

~*~

Sula's shift at the feed store started at noon on Monday, signaling the end of her weekend. Business had been slowing down for weeks, so she knew she it was going to be a long boring day even before she walked through the door. They were expecting a small spate of action the following week when a major horse trial was going on, but otherwise it was mostly a lot of cleaning, reorganizing, and selling bulk feed and hay. And gossip.

“Werewolf!” Fred said instead of hello when she walked in. Sula froze, wondering what the hell had happened to make Fred think she was a werewolf. He was not acting nervous or scared though, which threw her.

“I know! It's crazy! We haven't had werewolves in town since the Franklin pack up and left in '98! But it's true, I heard it from my wife's sister's best friend, who knows someone at the Courthouse. Apparently an
Alpha
registered this morning with his pack!”

Sula slowly unfroze herself, shock at Tony's registration warring with fears about everyone in Hartsville knowing. “Really?”

Fred nodded, looking for all the world like a young boy, excited about the strange news. “Yep, yep, they rented McBride's cabin before they registered, he's hot on that, but laws being what they are he can't toss 'em out. Anyway he said they're really fixing the place up nice. Go figure!”

Sula nodded slowly. It wasn't as if she and Lisbeth hadn't been seen with Tony and the guys, both at local restaurants at the club on Saturday. She had even talked to Fred about Lisbeth dating some new stranger in town, and wondered how long it would take Fred to put it all together.

“Now, I got nothin' against shifters, you know, the Franklins were okay people. Well, Mrs. Franklin was, she was the one who shopped here. Her kids were little hellions, all five of them. They have litters, right? Not just kids. She called them puppies, which was weird and cute, but they obeyed her well enough so she was doing something right. Hell those boys paid more attention to their mother than my girls ever did to me! Still, right rambunctious crowd.”

Sula nodded along as she signed her time card and logged into the ancient cash register.

“Heard the new pack is here to stay, claiming the territory or whatever it is shifters do. I wonder if that means they have to pee on everything, like dogs?”

Sula snorted at that, unable to stop laughing. Fred joined her.

“Stupid question, I guess. They are at least half human, right? At least the law says so.” Fred shrugged when he stopped laughing. “Thing that worries some is, it's three guys. No womenfolk. So you think they'll be trying to, I don't know, date? Because I sure don't want my girls gettin' into it with shifters, no good'll come of that.”

He did not sound like a bigot, just a thoughtful, concerned father, and Sula figured for Fred that's where it began and ended. Still, it was the kind of offhand comment that would be unacceptable by any other civil rights standards. Sula was torn between calling him on his racism and easing his fears. She did not have to decide, because right then she saw the gears clicking into place as Fred pulled all the facts together.

“I'll be damned, that's the crew your sister is wrapped up in, isn't it?”

Sula nodded sullenly, worried about where the conversation was headed.

“Well no wonder you're a might miffed about it! Damn, Sula, I'm sorry.”

“Nothing to be done about it,” Sula said, trying to remain non–committal, but once Fred got on the train he was not getting off.

“Shit! That nice boy who took you to lunch! He's one of 'em, isn't he?”

Sula started slamming boxes of dog treats around as she re–sorted the display near the front counter.

“Sula?”

“Yeah, Fred, he's a shifter.”

Fred whistled. “And he looked so normal.”

“He is normal.”

“Well sure, sure, of course he is. You know what I meant.”

Sula could not stop herself from throwing him a glare.

“Oh. Oh! You're, ah, dating him, I take it?” Fred coughed out, trying to back pedal.

“No.”

“Oh. Okay.”

“Just, looks like the lot of 'em are going to be my in–laws now.”

Fred looked genuinely sorry at that.

“I don't mind shifters, Fred. I've met plenty in our travels, and I—” She stopped as Bracelet flared on her arm, warning her off. Admitting anything was dangerous, and Bracelet was trying to warn her about the risk, although she suspect more for its own sake than hers.

The truth was, though, that Tony had already taken the risk. Lisbeth would have to register now, and it would look weird for Sula to hold out when everyone thought they were sisters. One way or another, she was already 'outed', no matter what story she spun for Fred. Straightening up, she looked him in the eye.

“We're all shifters, Fred. My sister is an Alpla–female, and she's all but mated to Tony, the new pack's Alpha.”

Fred's jaw dropped.

“So I'd appreciate it if you kept an open mind about shifters. We're not half human, we
are
human, even me.” She stopped there, figuring that letting him assume she was a werewolf was the best compromise she could get to right then.

“Damn, Sula. I had no idea.” To his credit, Fred did not run out of the building. He shifted nervously, casting about the place with his eyes, his forehead wrinkling up.

“That's kind of the point of hiding in plain sight.” She took the empty shipping boxes from the floor and hiked off for the back warehouse area. It was unheated and barely qualified as enclosed space but the chill of it was refreshing. Just the admission had brought up the sensation of her pelt weighing down on her, making her skin run hot. She breathed deeply, holding still in between pallets of horse feed and ranch equipment. Nothing smelled acrid or scared, and sirens weren't on the way. Fred had not called the cops, so that was one point in Sula's favor. After a moment to let her panic seep away into the cold air, Sula started moving again. She stayed in the storage area, sorting and counting boxes for the upcoming inventory.

“Sula.”

She looked up from her scratch pad to find Fred standing at the end of the aisle with two cups of coffee.

“It's cold in here, thought you could us a bit of a warm up.” He held out one cup.

She approached cautiously, wary of attack but not sensing anything but slight discomfort on Fred's end. She took the mug and sniffed it, but it was all coffee and sugar, just the way she liked it. “Thank you,” she said, sipping a bit and trying not to sound ungrateful.

“Threw me for a bit there, you know. Being one of them.” He sipped at his own coffee.

“I figured.” Sula sighed.

“I'm glad you told me straight up, though. Would have been embarrassing to find out from Harry, my brother–in–law, he'd never let me live it down.”

Sula tried to hold back a laugh. “You're welcome.”

“You, ah, always…?”

It seemed to be humanity's greatest fear, to be bitten and turned. As incredibly rare as it was, and for how few people actually lived through their transitions, the horror of it was what drove most myths about shape shifters. Sula thought that she should have guessed that would be his first question. “Always, born to it. My mother was a shifter too.”

“And your family? I mean pack?”

“None to speak of, that I know of.”

“You poor girls,” Fred clucked, the paternal instinct rising as reliable as the sun in the morning.

“We do okay.”

“Two lady wolves without a pack? Isn't that dangerous?”

The fact that Fred wasn't turning his back on her hit harder than Sula had anticipated, and she basked a little in his concern. Bracelet kept sparking, warning her off, but she was not going to stop. Lisbeth was right, Sula did have control over it to a degree, something that Sula had never considered before. She pushed back at its displeasure and kept going. “Yeah, it is. We've had a few unpleasant encounters with packs who thought we were easy pickings.” Sula tried to keep the images of a bloody Baltimore bar out her mind as she talked.

Fred chewed on that for a few moments. “I sure wouldn't want my girls running around hill and dale that way, and they're just normal girls. Oh, uh, I mean, well.” His words trailed off as he faltered.

“That's okay, Fred. We call you guys 'normals' ourselves. We know we're different; that just doesn't make us any less human.”

The idea seemed too big for Fred to take in quickly, but he didn't do anything but hum a little while they finished their coffees. He took the empty mugs and left her to the inventory work. It was a quiet afternoon after that, although Sula gratefully noted that on the whole Fred did not seem to have changed his attitude towards her. She hoped the fact that he was lost in thought most of the day was a good sign. By the time Fred's shift ended at three, Sula had spent a few hours ruminating, less about Fred than the news that Tony and his pack had registered. Sula knew, logically, that it meant the death knell for her in Hartsville. There was no doubt that Lisbeth had or would soon register, and Sula would be locked out for good, not not physically then at least metaphorically. What would a pack of wolves do with a bear?

Fred logged out of the register around three p.m. but before he walked out from behind the counter, he lightly grabbed her arm.

“Whatever else you may be, Sula, I think you are a good, smart, hard working woman. I'm glad to know you, and that won't change.”

Sula smiled at him before she could stop herself. Bracelet finally calmed down too, although from relief or mere capitulation she couldn't tell. Sula give Fred a friendly hug. “Thanks, Fred.”

“Okay now. Just, ah, be safe. You got my phone number?”

Sula smiled and nodded, figuring “paternal uncle–mode” was as good a setting on Fred as she was likely to get. She finished out her shift in a fairly good mood, despite the disconcerting news of Tony registering his pack as permanents. She went back to wondering if Lisbeth had registered yet, and what the fallout of that would be with the rest of the Kater clan, whomever they were, back East.

The store was as busy as she expected it would be, which meant it was pretty dead. A few people stopped by after five p.m., picking up pet food on their way home from work, and every single one of them mentioned the new werewolf pack in town. Sula smiled and nodded and pretended to be amazed along with them, wondering how loud they would scream and how far they would run if they knew that kitty's pet food was being sold to them by a were–bear.

Sighing, she closed up the store at seven and headed back to the house, stopping to pick up a few groceries at the small road–side market on the way up the mountain. She was shying away from committing to a plan of action about leaving, she knew that. Part of her wanted to put the decision on hold forever.