One Insatiable(69)
“Your mother, my adopted sister’s kid, wanted a ‘normal life.’” She makes little curly cues with her fingers as she says normal life. “She didn’t like all this paranormal activity. Witches and such.”
“My dad was a shifter.”
“Exactly, and I blame his sorry ass for turning her away from her gifts.” She resumes banging around her kitchen. “Your mother was a beautiful witch. Her aura…” She straightens, pushing lavender hair out of her face, “was the most gorgeous shade of blue-violet. And her powers… Well, they were truly immense.”
I feel like my head is spinning. “Are you trying to say—”
“Your mother was a great witch? Why is that so hard for you to accept?”
Thinking back, I can only shake my head, remembering. My mother was a professor. She made me come right home after school and do my homework. She cooked me mac and cheese and complained when I got into boxing. She disapproved of just about everything I did from the moment I hit puberty until I was kicked out of the pack.
“She was always so… normal.”
“Welp,” Doris sighs, holding up a hand and shaking her head. “That’s what she wanted. Your mother was perfect at anything she set her mind to doing.”
“Well, she was perfectly f*cking normal.”
“Language, you brute!” She opens another drawer and lets out a little squeal. “Well, f*ck me, I found it!”
That makes me laugh. “So you drew me here?”
She ducks her head and tilts her hand side to side. “With the help of the ley line. I needed you to save Mercy.”
“How did you know I’d be able to save her?”
Pausing mid-brew, Doris leans against the counter, and a dreamy look fills her eyes. “I knew from the moment I saw that beautiful baby lynx she was perfect for you.” She gives me a little smile and pats my arm. “Sounds like I was right, yes?”
Shaking my head, I laugh. “How the hell did you know Mercy as a baby?”
“Oh, her great aunt was my best friend. Persephone wasn’t very smart, but she was smart enough to get her ass out of the underworld.”
Catching her narrow shoulders, I make her stop and face me. “What was in that vial?”
She sighs. “I knew from your grades in school you never were one to apply yourself…”
“You sound like my mom.”
“I worried as soon as you got there, you’d drink from that River Lethe—”
“Which I did.”
She nods, pressing her thin lips together. “I concocted that little potion from the Narcissus flower. Loads of galantamine.”
“Galantamine?”
“It’s actually not such a mysterious ingredient. Scientists are testing it as a treatment for dementia.”
Leaning back against the counter, I look up at the tiny flowers on my newfound aunt’s ancient wallpaper. “Have you ever felt like your entire life is not what you thought?”
“All the time.” She pats my arm. “You get used to it in this business.”
All at once, I’m feeling grateful, humbled… and undeserving. “After all I’ve done…” I look down thinking of my past, my record. “I don’t deserve her, Aunt D.”
The small woman drops her spoon in the pot with a loud CLANG! She returns to stand right in front of me, holding both my arms. Her head barely clears the center of my chest.
“You have a heart of gold, Koa.” Her eyes are serious, and I don’t miss she said my name right for the first time. “I knew you would redeem your past. After what you did, you’re worthy to rejoin your pack… if that’s what you want.” Releasing me, she gives me a wink. “You just needed Mercy.”
I lean down and hug the little woman, who isn’t really my aunt. Still, I’ll go with it. “I guess that makes Jim my cousin?”
“In a round about sort of way.”
Straightening up, I have to ask. “What happened to him anyway?”
“Ahh,” she shakes her head. “Wandered into the middle of a sparring spell I was crafting. Got hit right in the head, bless his heart. I thought we’d lose him for a little bit.”
“He’s a good guy, though.”
“He can’t help it. It runs in the family.”
* * *
Mercy
Koa’s strong arms surround me, and I close my eyes as my body hums with all the beautiful sensations of this moment. The sun has set, the moon is on the rise, and I know bright sunshine will greet us when the morning comes. My gorgeous panther is in my arms, and I’m taking deep breaths of freedom.
When Slayde and I fell through the crack between the worlds, all I wanted was to get back here to my love. When I discovered he had gone after me, that he was left behind in the underworld, I almost had a breakdown.
No one would let me return to find him, but I couldn’t rest knowing he was somewhere in that place searching for me. If Slayde hadn’t assured me he had a plan that included both breaking my family’s pact and freeing Koa, I would have sneaked away and returned on my own.
“I was so afraid I wouldn’t reach you in time,” he says, kissing my neck, leaving a trail of fire following the path of his lips. “I kept getting trapped or being caught. I made stupid mistakes…”