Out of Smoke and Ashes

  “So what are we doing down here?” Liam asked.

  “Saying good-bye,” Elain softly said. She looked at Lina. “Am I right?”

  Lina nodded, her smile sad. “She’s ready to let go for good.”

  “Who?” Carla asked.

  “Maureen,” Lina said. She closed her eyes and relaxed. Okay, Maureen. It’s your show.

  * * * *

  Elain watched, her eyes widening, as the shift happened again as it had that day on the way to the hospital. When Lina opened her eyes, Elain knew she wasn’t Lina.

  Liam immediately sensed it. “Maureen?” he softly asked.

  She looked around and smiled at them. “This is what I hoped for,” she said, her voice not sounding like Lina. “I wanted the three of you to be happy.” She leaned over and hugged Elain. “I am so, so proud of you for standing up and fighting for your family.”

  Elain didn’t bother choking back her tears. “Yeah?”

  Maureen cupped Elain’s cheeks in her palms and kissed her forehead. “Yeah. You did good, baby girl. Don’t be ashamed for what you did to Paul. I would have done the same, or worse. He deserved it and more.”

  Elain let the emotions break free. She fell, sobbing, into her arms. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to know you.”

  She stroked Elain’s hair. “Me, too. But I couldn’t have asked for a better mom for you than Carla.”

  Elain heard her mom sniffle behind her. Knowing time was short, she didn’t want to hog Maureen’s final visit. She sat up and wiped at her eyes. “Thanks.”

  Maureen hugged Carla next. “You have not only my blessings, but my eternal gratitude. I couldn’t move on until I knew you were both happy again. You gave up so much to help me and Elain.”

  “You’re…not upset?” Carla asked.

  “No.” She smiled at her friend. “You both deserve happiness. I want that for you, and for him.” She looked at Liam. “Happiness has been in short supply for far too long in your lives. You both have earned it.”

  She hugged Liam. “Thank you for loving me,” she said. “You were a wonderful mate and father.”

  He tearfully snorted. “I wasn’t there for ye. How can ye say that?”

  “You risked everything for us.” She palmed his cheek and stared into his eyes for a moment. “It’s time to release me for good, mate. You now have a mate who needs you and who deserves your heart. All of it.”

  “I loved ye more than my own life, Maureen.”

  “I know.” She looked at Carla. “May I?”

  Carla let out a sad laugh. “Yeah.”

  Maureen leaned in and gently kissed him on the lips. “It’s okay to let me go. I have a new journey ahead of me.” She hugged him, Carla, and then Elain once more. “Don’t be sad. I’m not in any pain, and I got to see the three of you find happiness.”

  “We won’t see you again?” Elain asked.

  She smiled. “Not in this life. I refused to move on until I could be sure. And now, I am. I can’t see the future like Lina or even you sometimes can, but I can finally put my soul at ease now. This is what I needed, the closure I’ve been hoping for.”

  “Thank you,” Elain said. “For telling us.”

  “I didn’t want any doubts left in your minds.” She took a deep breath. “I love all of you. Good-bye.”

  She closed her eyes and the shimmer happened again. This time when her eyes opened, it was Lina.

  She looked at her friends. “Are we good?” she softly asked.

  All three of them laughed and took turns hugging her, even as they brushed their tears away. “Yeah,” Elain said, taking her time before releasing Lina. “We’re good. Real good.”

  * * * *

  On the way back to the house, Lina held back. “Hey, Mom, Dad? Can you go on ahead? We’ll be there in a minute.”

  Elain got a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach. The two looked a little curious, but nodded. “We’ll see ye there,” Liam said. They headed up the path, hand in hand.

  “What’s up?” Elain softly asked, well aware of her dad’s keen wolf hearing.

  Lina gave a little shake of her head and waited until they were far enough away to ensure privacy. “We need to talk,” Lina finally said when sure they couldn’t be overheard.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “You know that Tablet of Trammel that keeps cropping up?”

  “The one the cockatrice want?”

  “Yeah. Exactly.”

  “What about it?”

  “You’re about to become one of the new keepers of it.”

  “Oh, fuck me. I thought we were friends?”

  “I’m serious, Elain. You’re a Seer. You need to know where it is.”

  “I don’t even think I’m sure what the hell it is other than some stupid piece of rock people will kill for.”

  “That’s pretty accurate.” Lina quickly gave her an abridged version of how the tablet was created and why, and how her former self had sent it away to safety.

  “Sooo, now there’s a fake version where the real one was back in France at your place there?”

  “Yes, the house Bertholde left me.”

  “I thought you hate flying?”

  “I do, that’s not the point.”

  “So where’s the real one?”

  “This is what you cannot tell anyone.” She hesitated. “Not even your men.”

  “They won’t edict me on something like this if that’s your worry. But what difference does it make if the damn thing doesn’t mean anything anyway? Wouldn’t dragging it out in public and destroying it and showing the cockatrice it’s just a piece of rock mean they’d give up?”

  Lina slowly shook her head. “They would have nothing left to lose at that point. Right now, they stay concealed and use stealth to try to locate it. Keeping their heads down. If they are as vicious as they are that way, can you imagine the wholesale murder and mayhem they’d commit if they figured they had nothing left to lose by taking out as many people as possible? Think suicide-by-cop mentality on a worldwide, paranormal scale. Only instead of just wanting to die, they want to take as many people, innocent people, with them as possible. Imagine if they decided to out all shifters. Then we’d also have all sorts of people coming after us. After our children.”

  Elain blinked, stunned. “Oh,” she softly said.

  Lina nodded. “Oh is right. The only thing holding them in check right now is that they don’t want to be discovered. The most dangerous people, shifter or not, are the ones who think they have nothing left to lose and want to go out in a blaze of glory. And if they do that, they’ll expose all shifters to scrutiny. And then we’ll have a shitload of problems on our hands from the government and scientists and religious fanatics. It’ll make the burning times and the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades all put together look like a preschool bake sale.”

  Elain leaned against a tree as the full ramifications hit her. “Holy shit.”

  Lina nodded. “That is why the cockatrice must be allowed to believe the stone is as powerful as they think it is, and they cannot be allowed to find it.”

  “Because if they do, they’ll realize they’re screwed.”

  “Exactly.”

  Elain chewed that over for a few minutes. “You know,” she said, “I think I was a lot happier not being a Seer.”

  Lina snorted. “Join the club, sister.”

  “So where is it, and who else knows?”

  “For the who, Blackie knows, as do Wally and Jocko. I told Bertholde’s brother, too. Lacey suspects although I didn’t confirm or deny it.”

  “And the where?”

  “Come on.” Lina led her back to the house, but stopped in the backyard garden. In its fall mode, it wasn’t full of flowers like it had been earlier in the year.

  “Guess,” Lina said.

  “What?”

  Lina nodded toward the garden. “You’ll figure it out, in time.”

  “I hate riddles,” she grumbled, but looked around. Her attenti
on caught on the ornate sundial sitting on its base of paving stones every time her gaze swept past it. It was several minutes before the answer finally smacked her between the eyes.

  “Oh, duh.” She looked at Lina. “Ironic, much?”

  Lina grinned. “Well, it is a rather ‘timeless’ problem we’re having, isn’t it?”

  Elain groaned at the pun as she followed her into Lacey’s house.

  * * * *

  That night, Elain knew she could completely relax and enjoy, guilt-free, time with her men. Her mom was not only safe, but happy. Her dad was happy. Her friends were happy, and, at least for now, they were all safe.

  And she and Lina had talked their men into a leisurely RV sightseeing trip home.

  However, Liam and Carla were flying on ahead to have a few days alone in Arcadia before their return.

  She made it into bed first, knowing they probably wouldn’t have much in the way of sexy time during the trip home.

  Her men stared down at her. “You look like a woman with a plan,” Brodey teased.

  “Yep. Get busy, boys. Make it count.”

  Cail made it to her first and dove between her thighs. When his lips and tongue started working on her clit, she let out a soft moan that Brodey silenced by sliding his cock between her lips.

  The Alpha inside her couldn’t be any happier.

  And, she could feel from her men, neither could they.

  After Cail pulled the first orgasm out of her, Brodey quickly changed positions to lie on the bed, pulling her on top of him sixty-nine. Now with her hind end exposed and available, Brodey went back to work licking her clit while Cail took the opportunity to slide his cock home deep inside her pussy.

  She didn’t bother trying to quiet her moan, knowing the feel of it around Brodey’s cock in her mouth would drive him crazy.

  Ain sat at the head of the bed and wrapped his arms around her, cupping her breasts in his hands.

  Yessss!

  Somehow, in the space of less than six months, she’d not only accepted she had three hot and hunky guys all to herself, but she’d grown greedy for them, too. She liked having private time alone with each of them…

  But this is sooo much better. Three sets of hands, three hot, skilled mouths, and three hard cocks.

  I’m a lucky, lucky lady.

  Cail fucked her hard and fast, amplifying the pleasure Brodey gave her with his mouth on her clit.

  “That’s it,” Ain said. “You just enjoy every second of it.”

  She let out a soft whimper at his deep, dominant tone.

  He leaned in close, his breath hot in her ear. “You just wait until you’re ready to have a baby. We’ll be fucking your brains out all day long, making you come until you can’t think about anything except the next time we’ll be filling you with our cocks.”

  That triggered another orgasm, making her cunt eagerly squeeze Cail’s cock.

  “Fuck!” he gasped as he plunged deep inside her, throbbing as he filled her with his cum.

  Ain chuckled in her ear. “Or maybe we’ll make you wait a long while until we do that,” he said. “And just fuck your brains out every day for fun.” He nipped the shell of her ear as Brodey sucked hard on her clit. She cried out from the force of the orgasm that rippled through her.

  “And I still haven’t gotten to tie with you,” Ain rumbled. “When we get home, I’m going to chase you down while we’re shifted and when I catch you, I’ll fuck your brains out.”

  That orgasm robbed her of all strength as the mental image slammed home. Inside her, the Alpha wolf sat up and begged, whining for it to happen.

  And then…

  Not now!

  There were no children around in this vision. She stood shoulder to shoulder with Lina and Callie, fierce looks on their faces. Behind them, she knew, stood their men.

  In front of them lay a rocky hillside, with a dark cavern at the base.

  And just like that, still another orgasm slammed her back into her body. The moans she let out over that one triggered Brodey’s climax. His body tensed beneath hers as his balls emptied jet after jet of hot cum into her mouth.

  And then with his wolf speed, Ain quickly took Cail’s place, lifting her off Brodey and putting her on her hands and knees so he could slam into her, ramming his cock hard and deep inside her ready cunt.

  She fisted the sheets as he fucked her, trying to keep time with him and muffling her howls of pleasure in the pillows.

  “Is that what you wanted, baby?” he asked through gritted teeth.

  “Yes!”

  He hooked an arm around her body and pulled her up onto her knees against his body. She wasn’t ready when he bit into her shoulder and Brodey had to kiss her to muffle her scream of pleasure as one final orgasm blasted through her.

  Ain let out a deep, rumbling growl against her flesh as he, too, emptied his balls inside her before they both fell to the bed in a panting, sweating jumble of limbs.

  Somewhere to her side, Cail softly laughed.

  “What?” she mumbled.

  “I don’t know about them, babe, but I’m glad there’s three of us. I think if we were just one man, you’d fuck us to death.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  In the weeks after returning from Maine, Elain was getting used to not seeing much of her parents when they were both in the house at the same time. They quickly married a few days after their return to Florida at the courthouse in Arcadia.

  Elain thought she’d never get used to her mom’s rejuvenated appearance, but after a while, she finally got to the point where she stopped staring at her mom every time she walked into the room. Carla now looked approximately as old as Liam. Not much older than Elain.

  She didn’t ask her parents, after they had paid Dr. Alberto a visit soon upon their return from Maine, what the result was. She didn’t want to know.

  Unlike Daniel, she didn’t have any problem dealing with the thoughts of her parents having sex. She just didn’t want to talk to them about it. And if she ended up being a big sister, well…

  It would be a little melancholy, thinking about Maureen not being there, but Elain knew if she could cope with all the other huge upheavals to her universe that had hit her in the past few months, a baby brother or sister was the least of her concerns.

  And it would give the Beasts another playmate.

  Ain had not so subtly suggested to Elain on more than one occasion that her parents could go live in her house in Venice, which she still owned.

  Elain shut him down every time. She didn’t want them that far away when she still didn’t know for sure if Rodolfo Abernathy was really dead. She didn’t care what everyone else thought, Lacey had told her to trust her instincts.

  In this case, her instincts told her they hadn’t seen the last of Abernathy, despite what Daniel and the others had decided.

  Someone was still in charge of the Abernathy Clan, no matter how tenuously.

  Not to mention Marston was still floating around out there, as was Abernathy’s illegitimate daughter.

  And then there was the matter of the cockatrice.

  That morning, three days after a gut-busting Thanksgiving Day dinner, Elain had awoken early, in a foul mood and crampy from the start of her period. She crawled out of bed before her men and grabbed a warm shower before she went to the kitchen for some Motrin and started the coffee.

  Maybe I should go back on the damn pill. Not like I’ve gotten pregnant since getting off it.

  Mai joined her in the kitchen a few minutes later.

  “You’re up early,” Elain said.

  Mai nodded, a pained look on her face. “I couldn’t sleep.” She gingerly lowered herself into a chair. “She’s dancing the samba in there this morning. I heard you moving around and decided to get up. Not like I’m able to get any sleep. I keep tossing and turning. I’m afraid I’m going to wake up the guys.”

  “Can I make you something for breakfast?”

  Mai shook her head. “I don’
t seem to have any appetite this morning. Although I wouldn’t mind a cup of mint tea, if you don’t mind?”

  “Of course I don’t mind. Coming right up.”

  While Elain was rummaging through the cabinet for the box of tea, she heard Mai let out a little gasp. When she turned, Mai was staring down at her lap.

  “Are you okay?”

  Mai didn’t respond.

  “Mai?”

  She slowly looked up. “Um, I think you better wake my guys up,” she softly said.

  “What’s wrong?”

  She looked close to tears. “I think my water just broke. Either that, or I just peed myself.” She let out a snort. “Although it wouldn’t be the first time I did that in the last couple of weeks.”

  Elain rounded the table. Sure enough, a puddle had formed on the floor under her chair. “I think it’s safe to say you didn’t pee yourself.”

  “You sure? Because I’m not due for several weeks yet. I would prefer peeing myself, honestly.”

  “It’s okay. Lina was early.”

  “Yeah, but she had twins and they didn’t have Down syndrome.”

  “It’ll be all right. I’ll go get your guys.” She headed down the hall and knocked on their door. “Micah? Jim?”

  She heard a sleepy mumble in reply and took a chance that she wasn’t interrupting sexy time when she opened their door. “Hey, guys, get up. Mai’s in labor. Her water just broke.”

  She nearly didn’t get out of the way fast enough as Micah jumped, naked, out of bed and bolted past her. Human Jim took a few seconds to sit up and had the decency to grab a pillow and hold it in front of him.

  “Um, I’ll be right there.”

  She smiled. “Bring Micah some shorts, please.” On her way back to the kitchen she opened her own bedroom door. “Rise and shine, boys. You’re going to be uncles again.” She closed the door without waiting for a response.

  When she returned to the kitchen, a naked Micah was helping Mai up out of her chair.