Purity (32 page)

“Amelia!”

She held up her hands. “Well, I haven’t done this before, you know. I know it will feel uncomfortable, and you might puke, but at best, you’ll sweat it out of you. Don’t worry so much. The wolfsbane is just to make doubly sure.”

Nathan began to undo the buttons on his shirt.

“Not in front of my daughter!” Dad bellowed.

Nathan widened his eyes at me, and I tried not to giggle. He left the room, and a couple of minutes later, returned as a werewolf. Joey covered his eyes, unable to deal with looking at a werewolf. We hadn’t given him many details, but we weren’t exactly careful about keeping secrets around him either.

Cú yawned, but when Nathan opened his jaws too close to Dad, the dog growled until I laid my hand on his collar.

“It’s okay, Cú,” I whispered. “This is what we want.”

“Try not to struggle,” Amelia said in a soft voice to Dad. “We don’t want to provoke him, okay?”

Dad clenched his lips together tightly, making faces at the taste of the putrid-looking gunk Amelia had made him put in his mouth.

Nathan glanced at me once, but I refused to look away, and he sank his fangs into Dad’s forearm. Dad’s face reddened, but he didn’t cry out or try to move.

“That’s enough,” Amelia said, pushing Nathan’s head away. “Go do whatever you have to do.”

Nathan ran back upstairs. Amelia smoothed some salve over the rather nasty-looking wound on Dad’s arm. Since her grandfather had disappeared, there had been nobody to tell us what to do, so Amelia had come up with a ritual based on further research with Joey and her own instincts. She had been relying on those a lot since she was able to find me.

Dad’s face paled, and he began to tremble, sweat slicking his forehead.

“Is he okay?” I asked.

“He’s fine. His body is purging the werewolf juice for good, I think.”

Dad rolled over suddenly and puked on the floor. Black puke.

“Yeah,” Amelia said, studying the vomit closely. “I definitely think he’s going to be okay.”

Dad puked for the rest of the day, but he claimed to be feeling better, so we let him relax in bed, but still kept an eye on him.

“I should get on,” Joey said. “As interesting as this has been, I have plans. Oh, happy birthday, cousin. Sorry it sucked.”

Nathan’s hand tightened around mine.

“It’s not over yet,” I said.

“Well, if you two are going to keep making eyes, I’m going to see Connor,” Amelia announced. “Don’t forget to check on Stephen. If he gets sicker or seems… weird, give me a call.”

When she left, I cosied up to Nathan. “I think this might be the first time we’ve been alone in forever.”

He kissed my forehead. “And you’re so badly injured that I’m afraid to touch you.”

“Cuts and bruises never killed a soul,” I whispered, and he leaned down to meet my lips.

A bang from upstairs had us jumping apart.

“Ah, but fathers have,” Nathan said with a grin. “I’ll go see if he’s okay.”

I rolled my eyes. At this rate, we would never be alone for longer than five minutes.

***

By the time Amelia’s sixteenth birthday rolled around, Dad was much better. His recovery seemed almost miraculous, according to the hospital. He still had time off, but he would eventually go back to work, and he was working on things with
Erin
.

Byron, his date Monica—the lovely brunette who had organised Lia’s memorial service—Nathan, Amelia, Joey, Dad, Erin, and I all got together for Amelia’s birthday dinner. We raised a toast to those who weren’t there: Jakob and Lia, Nathan’s parents and Byron’s deceased wife, Jeremy, who had moved on with the new pack, and Ryan, who was still spending time with his daughters in
Scotland
. We even raised a silent glass to
Willow
, who had died because she helped us.

It was our way of putting it all in the past. The horrific things that had happened. The fighting, the danger. It was all over.

Nathan squeezed my leg under the table. Not everything was over. Some things were just beginning.

Perdita

Four years later

I closed the hall door behind me as gently as possible, but a giggle let me know it wasn’t necessary. I ditched my stuff and ran into the living room to untangle my ten-month-old brother from a grey, wirehaired, half-grown wolfhound pup.

I waved at my stepmother as I pretended to scold the dog. “Setanta, no eating the baby.”

Erin
laughed. “I think it’s the other way around. Poor Setanta’s full of baby slobber.”

“Oh, no, Robbie.” I held my brother up over my head, enjoying the way his stomach tightened as he held up his legs with another gleeful giggle. I loved making him laugh. “No chewing on the puppy.”

Chubby hands grabbed my hair, pulling me closer for an extremely wet, open-mouthed kiss.

“Lovely,”
Erin
said with a snort of laughter as I wiped baby drool from my face.

Robert let go and reached down for Setanta. I was not as much fun as the dog.

“You’ll be the death of me,” I said as he made a good effort to somersault out of my arms. I let Robert down and moved out of Setanta’s way. “You can’t chew my shoes while I’m wearing them,” I scolded, but I scratched behind his ears.

The lanky pup had been a gift from Byron Evans. To grow up as Robert’s protector, he had said.

“You look wiped,” I told
Erin
. “No nap again?”

She nodded. “No nap and the dog decided to climb into the high chair for scraps while Robbie’s dinner was still cooling. It’s been a long day.” But she was the happiest I had ever seen her.

“Want us to take Robbie to Gran’s tonight while you rest? You could follow on tomorrow; give you and Dad the night off.”

“And get in the way of the big lover’s reunion?”

I grinned. “It’s only been five days.”

She made a face. “I’ve seen the way you say hello to him. No way am I getting in the middle of that.”

The door slammed, and Dad ran in, still sweating from his run. “Hello, my beautiful family,” he sang, and Robbie immediately crawled in his direction. Whatever Dad’s concerns had been, Robbie was his shadow.

“Perdy, do you want dinner before you leave?”
Erin
asked, getting to her feet to kiss Dad on the cheek.

“Nothing for me. Worked through lunch, yet somehow managed to consume enough food to feed a large family. We haven’t exactly gotten the whole ordering for a group thing on point yet.”

“Worked through again?” Dad asked. “Still busy at college?”

“Yeah, we’re working flat-out for the exhibition. Getting nervous now. It’s been insane all month, really. I haven’t had an evening to myself.”

“I’m glad you’re taking a break for this,”
Erin
said, taking Robbie from Dad.

“Couldn’t miss Amelia’s birthday. It’s been so long since I’ve seen her. I can’t wait. She’s going to freak when she sees how big Rob’s getting.” I rubbed at the paint on my hands, wondering if I had time for a shower.

“Did Meredith say if she was going to be around?”
Erin
asked.

“She can’t make it this time.” My relationship with my mother hadn’t set the world on fire, but she had gotten closer to Gran over the last couple of years, and if it made my grandmother happy, I was fine with that.

“Can’t wait to see Ryan’s face when his girls arrive,” Dad said.

He and Ryan had become close after everything happened. Byron, too. It made it a lot easier for my two worlds to join together. Rachel and Ryan had gone through a couple of tough years as she found it hard to adjust, but a year ago, she had turned wolf for the first time. Her dad was the person she had turned to, and she had been given a natural way to burn off the anger that had been festering inside her.

“I can’t wait to see them either,” I said. “Even Joey’s taking the night off.”

“I don’t know how you managed that one,” Dad said. “Just make sure you remember to spend at least a little time with Ruth this weekend.”

“I don’t need to be reminded. Besides, with everyone home, there’s going to be a lot of werewolf business going on.”

Erin
’s eyes lit up. “Imagine Robbie’s face if he caught sight of the entire pack together.”

Dad and I exchanged bemused glances.
Erin
had taken to the werewolf situation like a duck to water. No fear and not all that many questions either. Then again, Dad had handled it well, too. He had thrown himself into my new life as if he were making up for lost time. He had become the unofficial doctor for the pack, the one person who wouldn’t ask awkward questions, and he was working toward eventually opening his own practice at home.

“I should get ready. Himself will be here soon. I told him not to come in. We’ll never get going if Robbie and Setanta find him.”

I ruffled Robbie’s dirty-blond hair and ran upstairs to get ready.

Dad had been so supportive of my attendance at the
College
of
Art
and Design that he had upped sticks to temporarily move closer to the place.
Erin
had joined him, and while Gran had been upset, I went back home to be with her, and the other people in my life, every weekend.

I loved the city. I loved college. I even loved my part-time job in a café. But by Friday, I was always dying to go home again.

A car horn beeped outside, and I didn’t hesitate for a second. I ran downstairs in my bare feet and flung open the front door. Nathan had me in his arms before I could take two steps outside.

“I could have waited another twenty seconds for you to put some socks or something on,” he teased.

I coiled around him, stealing a kiss until we were both breathless.

He sighed. “I’ve missed you this week.”

“I know. Me, too. Sorry I missed your class on Wednesday.”

He pretended to frown. “No worries. You just missed out on how to escape from a headlock, that’s all. Your loss.”

“Oh, shut up and kiss me.”

He did, then I pulled away. “I’m not ready yet.”

“I only came here to hang out with the kid anyway.” But as he let me go, he cupped my cheeks with his hands. “I hate missing you.”

I hated it, too. But after school finished, we had both agreed to do whatever made us happy. For me, that meant moving away during the week so I wouldn’t spend half my time stuck in traffic on the way to college. For Nathan, that meant staying home to help the pack adjust.

He and Byron had set up a dog training business, and Nathan volunteered at self-defence classes while he waited to be paged for his job as a retained fire fighter. He was always on call, but he was doing things that made him feel like a better person, made him use what he once thought of as a curse to everyone’s benefit. All of these things had helped him fit in with the community. The past was long forgotten, and for the most part, his family had grown to be considered a valued part of the community.

“I should get ready. Like now,” I said, and he grunted, letting me go. He swatted my backside as I ran.

By the time I was ready to leave, Robbie was screaming with hysterical laughter, and Setanta was on his best behaviour. The single greatest thing about having a werewolf for a boyfriend was how obedient mischievous puppies were around him.

“We should head on,” Nathan said, knowing I had entered the room without looking in my direction. “Are we taking the little fella with us?”

“Not unless you mean Setanta,” Dad said. “He’s still freaking out at the sight of the car.”

“I’ll get him used to it this weekend. I have a class on Sunday morning. Can I make an example out of him?”

Dad grinned. “Please, do.”

“Okay, we should run if we’re going to make it to the bakery in time to pick up the cake,” I warned Nathan. “I’m staying at his tonight, Dad. See you all later.”

Dad ignored my words, somehow thinking only his open reaction would make the fact real, but when I hugged him, he returned the embrace even tighter.