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  Karen turned to face her mother. Tears pooled in her eyes. Diana leaned in and captured her daughter’s face between her hands. “Then you will have to deal with some very grown up heartache. You’re sixteen—“

  “Seventeen.”

  Diana let go and leaned back on her hands. “Okay. Seventeen. Just don’t let your fear keep you from achieving your dreams.”

  Diana’s advice to her daughter ran through her head while she drove to the Supercenter for a present for Adam’s new nephew. Beside her, Brandon, in human form, stared out the window, lost in his own world. That was a new rule. Nobody furry went to the store with Diana.

  “Keep on your own side butt-face.”

  “I’m not on your side. You’re taking up my side. Move over.”

  Diana let Mark and Seth’s arguing from the backseat roll over her for now.

  She’d overcome some of her relationships fear by letting the pack into her life. She was dating Adam wasn’t she? Not that she had any problems dating a hunky guy that literally panted after her.

  It was the commitment, the thought of being trapped in another disastrous marriage that frightened the spit out of her. And she wasn’t stupid, becoming Adam’s mate would be the ultimate commitment. It was some kind of magical, permanent, binding. No divorce option.

  At the store, Brandon crowded close and fell into step beside her. His shoulders slumped while he kept a silent and vigil eye on the parking lot.

  “Can we go to the video games?” Seth bumped into Diana’s other side. His dark face turned up, excitement bright in his eyes.

  “Yeah!” Mark ran ahead and turned around, jogging backwards in front of Diana. “Do you think Adam’s mom and dad will come back for Christmas? They’re awesome.”

  Diana hadn’t met Cheryl and William Weis last summer after Grady Dobbs had tried to kill her and Karen. She’d been too busy with work and trying to get through to a traumatized Brandon while Adam cleared the werecoyotes out of his territory. She’d heard all about the wonderful and extraordinary Gramma Cheryl and Grampa Will from Karen and the boys. That didn’t make her any more eager to meet Adam’s relatives.

  “Can we go to the video games? We don’t want to look at stupid baby stuff.” Mark dodged a grocery cart with the same agile grace that all the wolven pack possessed. Seth’s hand found Diana’s sweater sleeve and he hung on. Diana didn’t mind the touchie feelie nature of the pack. She felt and understood their need to touch and be touched. At least she did now. At first the tingles from the constant brushes and small touches weirded her out. She finally realized that the tingles were the result of tiny magical energy exchanges. Somehow the energy exchanges were necessary for pack’s well-being.

  “Can we get something to eat? I’m hungry. Aren’t you hungry too, Brandon?” Brandon glanced over and shrugged off Seth’s question, then returned to whatever thoughts consumed his mind these days. In his human form, Diana could see that he’d lost even more weight. His clothes already hung on him and he could ill afford to loose more. She worried for his mental and physical state.

  Diana stopped and freed her arm enough to look at her watch. She sighed and pulled her purse around enough to dig for her wallet. “Okay guys, here’s some money to get something to eat. Don’t get into trouble.” Diana suppressed the urge to wince as she handed Brandon a twenty. Adam was sooo going to take up the slack in her finances that feeding the constantly hungry wolven teens took.

  “All right!” Mark pumped a fist into the air. “You rock!” The blond boy spun around and darted to the sliding double doors.

  “I’m going to page you when I’m ready!”

  With an assortment of baby supplies in her basket, Diana took a moment to smell the flowers. Under the shaded canopy of the garden center, Diana bent to admire the late blooming flowers.

  “Nice view.”She jerked around, grinning at the short statured man behind her.

  “Jax.” Jaxeramilix the gnome gave her a friendly leer. His expensively cut white hair lay against the collar of his pale blue name brand button up shirt. A white close trimmed beard and mustache gave his pointed features respectability and set off the odd marine quality color of his aqua colored eyes.

  “In town on business?” Diana couldn’t imagine anything short of a financial emergency bringing the gnome into wolven territory. Jax had told her often enough to stay far away from the super powered supernaturals.

  On the other side of the aisle of bright purple, pink, and blue petunias, beside the display of plastic garden gnomes, turtles, and other small critters, Xena, warrior princess paused in her perusal of the little people. Power unlike she’d ever experienced radiated from the woman.

  Diana blinked. Xena even had a sword buckled over her leather costume. There had been a time that Diana would have assumed Xena in a Supercenter meant a publicity thing. Now it meant a potentially dangerous thing that could get her hurt. At least no one had threatened to eat her yet. Already her day was looking up.

  Jax bowed from the waist, completely at ease. He reached only a couple of inches higher than her waist. His gaze shifted up from her breasts to her face. The lascivious twinkle faded from his eyes, replaced by concern. “My lady, I’ve come to check up on my favorite girl. I’ve been hearing some interesting things about your… ah, activities.”

  Diana straightened and looked down at her friend. She could never read Jax as correctly as humans. Usually, he was amused at everything and lusting after every female that crossed his eyes. Now, all she could determine was calm. A deep well of calm that didn’t feel like Jax at all.

  Diana crossed her arms. She tried not to stare at the warrior woman. That would be rude, and the lady had a sword. A really big, glowy, Conan the Barbarian type sword. “Excuse me?”

  “Your association with the local Canis Pater.” A part of her felt threatened. Okay, she felt a lot threatened. Diana took the couple of steps to her basket. Retreat and make your stand. It always amazed her how security or the police were never around when the freaky people started making moves in her direction. Her tone turned cool.

  “You know Jax, I don’t think that my personal life is any of your business.”

  “See? I told you that humans can be so unreasonable.” A fluttery burst of action drew Diana’s attention. Xena the leather clad dominatix barely glanced at the intrusion.

  Glitter shimmered around the form of a Barbie doll sized woman. Perfect almond shaped eyes. Perfect beach bunny boobs. And a tiny-tiny waspish waist over flared hips. Her perfect heart shaped mouth pouted. Her iridescent wings hummed in the air like a humming birds, creating a breeze that fluttered the trailing edges of her orange toga style wrap around dress.

  Just once, Diana wanted to meet a supernatural woman that didn’t look so darned perfect. She was starting to get a complex. Fairy Barbie’s dress started orange like her hair, graduating to bright yellow. The fairy lady’s feet were bare.

  “Nidia.”

  The small woman rotated in the air until she faced Jax. Her high pitched voice was testy. “No Jaxeramilix, You have not finished my introduction to the Canis Matra of the Anderson pack. Do not allow your male parts to rule your judgment.” Nidia shifted back around to Diana, a diminutive queen gracing the commoners with her presence. Though Diana had to admit, having been around Tank all summer, the aristocratic mien didn’t awe her much anymore.

  And since she’d finally passed the phase of going all drooly and hormonal over the men in the pack, Diana saved most of her fantasy moments for illicit dreams of Adam. Apparently, drinking all that wolven blood after her two attacks had affected her human body. For awhile she’d wanted to jump all her sexy new grown up pack mates.

  Poor Adam had been on pins and needles, growling and casting territorial glares everywhere. Then Tank had had mercy and told her that one of the side effects, one of the changes since she’d never actually Change, was that she’d gone into heat. Diana still wasn’t sure whether to be disgusted or alarmed. She’d definitely gone and refi
lled her birth control prescription though. She been delighted with weight loss of her slightly boosted metabolism. She still wasn’t model material, just not so seriously pudgy.

  Apparently, wolven had a thing for soft, plump females. Especially one really tall, seriously buff alpha wolf. For the longest she couldn’t understand what Adam saw in her. Because she felt every hot lustful possessive emotion he had toward her, she accepted that he apparently wanted her. And she wanted him. Even when irked at Fido for not telling her there was more to this den mother thing than riding herd on five teenage wolven and her daughter.

  Now she was scheduled to do politics tonight with his family, not to mention Fairy Barbie here holding court in the Wal-Mart garden center.

  “Gnomes rarely make decent servants.” Her tiny orange head tilted to study Diana. “I had heard rumors of a human Canis Matra, but had dismissed them as the fanciful imaginings of the ill favored.”

  “I’m pretty sure I’m the first. I wasn’t aware that the fairies kept up with wolven politics.” Diana tried to keep her eye on Xena during the conversation, but her gaze kept slipping away, until she finally forgot about the possible threat the woman posed, then the woman herself.

  The fairy claimed the majority of her attention. “It’s just as well anyway.” Fairy Barbie studied the tips of her dainty fingers. Diana thought she could see tiny dots of color. Nidia looked through her lashes. She smiled, a slow curve of her lips that would be put to better use aimed at a male. “ He who claims the wood cannot treaty with you anyway.”

  Diana tried pasting a pleasant smile on her face and tilted her head to one side while she tried to keep up with the conversation. Some habits were just catching. “Sorry. I’m not sure I’m following you. What do you mean by he who claims the wood?” It wasn’t like she was making international decisions with a lumberjack or anything.

  Nidia looked as irritated as one of Mark’s teachers.

  Maybe Diana needed to get one of the guys to give her a better job description. Was she supposed to be involved in the political stuff. Because whatever Tinker-slut here was chiming about felt political to her. Diana liked Nidia less and less and wanted to end the conversation soon.

  The fairy flew to Diana, hovering head height. One glamorous eyebrow arched expectantly. Diana decided that all that flying might be tiring. She raised her hand palm up and hoped it wasn’t an insult. Apparently, it wasn’t. Nidia sank into her hand and stretched her legs out over Diana’s wrist letting the fabric of her dress fall where it may. The fairy lounged back against Diana’s fingers. For a doll sized creature, Nidia weighed less than Diana would have guessed.

  Her gemlike eyes fracture and sparkled with color. With all the colors of the spectrum, and more. Diana felt dazed, pulled into the colors. Nidia’s voice pulsed pleasantly in tune with the vibrant colors. “You and I are going to be such fabulous friends.”

  There was something she should remember about fairies. Had Adam said anything about them? Just thinking about him caused her attention to redirect to the pack. She to just go with it. Her well ordered house had collapsed around her ears last summer when the pack adopted her.

  Diana shrugged, careful not to dislodge the fairy. She didn’t remember what the fairy said and the colors were beginning to give her a bit of a headache. Diana looked away. Wasn’t there someone else in the garden center? She glanced a Jax. Oh, yeah. The fairy and Jax were friends.

  Nidia’s arrogant irritation hummed in the air like a swarm of bees.

  “Diana.” Jax interrupted. Concern radiated from the lines in his face.

  “Silence gnome.” Nidia looked down her nose at Jax.

  Diana pushed at the sluggish energy that had taken up residence in her mind. She noticed that Nidia was beginning to glow. Jax reached for Diana and was suddenly knocked bay by the lean frame of an incensed wolven male. The fairy tumbled out of Diana’s hand.

  Brandon growled at the gnome. Possessive anger roiled inside of boys. Brandon’s emotions burned hot as a star. The others were meteors streaking to her side. Brandon’s eyes tracked the gnome. In that moment, she saw the promise of death of retribution in their brown depths.

  “Dude. Keep your freaky little hands to yourself.” Mark materialized beside her. Rick on the other side. A high pitched sound escaped from the fairy as a sinking feeling started in Diana’s belly. She sang like a bottle rocket and glowed twice as bright. This couldn’t be good.

  Diana didn’t see Jax anymore. She was staring at the fairy as she changed colors. She floated in place at chest height and sparkled all the colors in the spectrum. Bright blues, even more brilliant orange and yellow. Fairy sparkles swirled and jetted.

  Pushing the boys behind her, Diana stepped back several paces. “Man, she’s gonna blow like the fourth of July,” Rick ducked a head around her, forcing her to push him back again.

  Nidia’s voice was at the same high pitched whine of a bottle rocket. “Aaaiii! This insult shall not go unpaid. Aaaiii!” She streaked up. A roman candle flying over the fern and ivy baskets hanging from the garden center canopy. “Tit for tat, human!” The fireworks shot straight up and through the dark screen, burning a small hole in the canopy. “Tit for tat! Tat-tat-tat!”

  “Wicked.” Mark’s jaw hung open to his chest. His eyes were awestruck blue orbs? “Did we just piss off the fairy hordes?”

  Diana blinked and looked down at Mark. He stared after the fairy with wide eyes amazement. She shook her head. She didn’t really have it in her to call down his language. They might have pissed off the fairy hordes after all.

  Another low, threatening growl caught her attention. Brandon hovered over where Jax was cornered underneath a tall soda shop style patio set. A stainless steel monster of a culinary barbeque grill blocked his exit.

  “Ahem!” Called the gnome. “a little help here.” She considered Jaxermilix the gnome for a moment. It was the little rat’s fault after all. His voice rose a little, holding what he could to his dignity. “Do you think you can call your watchdog off?”

  Ungoly glee lit Rick and Mark’s eyes. “He thinks we’re watchdogs.”

  “Watchwolves maybe. Watch this.”

  Diana didn’t let it get any further. “Enough boys.”

  She focused on Brandon, who steadily blocked Jax’s escape. For the moment, there was nothing shy or frightened about him. He looked as dangerous as any of them when provoked. “Brandon. Come. Here. Now.” She prodded at him mentally and he took a step back. Another step and he glanced at Diana before finally folding back into himself. The fangs and fur faded away. The aggression and personality drained back away into the private place he hid. Like a ghost, Brandon glided to her side. The boys gave him berth, the same distance one gives to the mentally unstable and the diseased.

  Diana let it go, watching Jaxermilix the gnome ease out from under the table. He dusted off his slacks, they looked expensive and probably were considering that the gnome would have to have them custom made or suffer the embarrassment of shopping in the boys department. He retucked his shirt and passed a hand over his white. He turned an aquamarine glance at the boys before settling the full force of his glare on Diana. “Keep your hounds on a leash, will you dear?”

  The boys growled. Diana settled a hand on her hip. She raised her eyebrows. “What’s up with the ballistic fairy, Jax? I thought hell would pass out popsicles before you came in a pack territory.” She waited a beat to watch the normally collected gnome fidgit. The sense that she’d forgotten something important nagged at her. “Or so you’ve said every time I invited you to visit.”

  Jax regained his composure and his sculpted cheeks pulled into a leer. He ran a thumb and forefinger over his mustache emphasizing the precise jawline cut of his white beard. “Well my dear, Nidia insisted on visiting the local flora and fauna. You know how the dimitae-fairies are.” He gave an offhand motion, dismissing her ignorance. “At any rate, as her companion I could hardly let her come alone. When we noticed you, Nidia was excited about mee
ting you. So, being the gentleman that I am, I offered an introduction.”

  “You’re not a gentleman, Jax. Manners are just a tool to get under every female’s skirt, no matter the species.” She snapped her mouth shut, appalled at her own blunt rudeness. She wouldn’t apologize though. The whole encounter just felt...hinky.

  Jax’s face reddened and he pressed a hand to his chest. He may be short, but he was well formed and his chest belonged to that of a semi-serious bodybuilder. “I am crushed that you think so little of me, my dear. Species does matter.” His lips firmed into a disapproving line and the white brows came down over the aqua depths of his eyes.

  Her lips twitched. She turned back to her shopping basket, settling her hands on the handle. The boys were hovering close so she had no fear about them not following while she rounded up Seth from the video games. “Goodbye, Jax.”

  “Diana?” She turned back. Something indecipherable filtered across Jax’s face. She didn’t try to read his emotional state. He settled on a friendly smile, or so it looked friendly enough. “Be careful. Fairykind have a tendency to blow slights somewhat out of proportion.”

  “So I do I have to watch out for a tiny winged hitman or is just the garden variety fairy fit?”

  The joke went right over Jax’s head. His eyes widened and he cast a startled look up at the canopy. “Nidia wouldn’t...”

  “I was just joking, Jax.” Diana couldn’t finish her wolven baby gift shopping and head home fast enough.

  The End…for now.

  Buffi BeCraft lives close to the East Texas woods that her werewolves roam. Still, she admits to being much more the hotel staying kind of girl, rather than the camping in a tent sort. Juggling a pack of her own filled with family, friends, and an ever-changing menagerie of pets, Buffi is working on another book.