Two years later:
I don't know where time goes. I swear I updated this a few days ago, but in reality two years have gone by! We have a little girl. I'm a mother! Isn't that amazing? I never knew I wanted a child before I felt her growing inside of me. She's the most beautiful, precious angel. Onyx. Her hair was jet black when she was born. Her eyes are the same jade-green as mine. Max adores her. She's definitely a daddy's girl. She's already saying one word phrases like “mama” and she's only eleven months. She's so smart! I know she will get to follow my dream and go to college. If that's what she wants I will do everything I can to make it happen.
A tear slipped down Onyx's face and Cole brushed it away with his thumb. She read on to the next entry which was dated two more years later.
Again! Two years have gone by Onyx will be three next month. She talks like crazy! She started walking early and she zooms around everywhere. She's so busy and curious about everything around her. Marie jokes about Nyx and her newly adopted son, Denny, being a couple when they grow up. That's sweet. But I want more for my baby girl. Not that I don't love Max. I do. And I don't regret our marriage for one second, but I wish I had seen more of the world like I wanted to before I settled down. Now I feel like I'll never get the chance to do any of the things I wanted.
Onyx sniffled. Her mother had never gotten to do the things she wanted. She'd been robbed of the chance.
Five years later:
Onyx is the brightest joy in my life. Without her I don't know that I could stand to stay here any longer. I hate this place. I love Max, but he won't
ever leave here. I should have known better. I wish I had found a non-were
mate. I've met “others” who aren't shifters but are magical and know what
we are and aren't repulsed or afraid of us. They call them magic makers, and we use them in our rituals from time to time. As I look back, I think that's what he was. It's why I felt so attracted to him. I wish I had the courage to act on it back then. Maybe my life would be different if I had. I hope Onyx is more aggressive in going after what she wants than I was.
Two years later:
Marie keeps “joking” about Onyx and Denny. At least I hope she's joking. I have nothing against Denny. He is a wonderful, beautiful, intelligent child. I know he has a crush on Onyx. She's too young to understand, and I want her to stay that way. This damn clowder expects its females to grow into women much too soon. I think if my parents had understood that, they never would have allowed me to visit here. I hardly ever think of home anymore, but I don't remember it feeling this repressive.
Wilson is the new Alpha and Max is the new Beta. It was a bloody battle and I have never been so horrified. I know bigger shifters like the wolves or bears do things that way, but I never imagined we did. Max seemed as surprised as I was and he grew up here. I don't know what I would have done if I lost him. What we would have done. Onyx says she wants to be a history teacher. She loves history. That makes me smile, because it was my favorite subject. I can't wait for the day when I can share her actual history with her. I know it's forbidden to talk about the change until they are older, but I wish I could tell her. I've tried to instill a love of learning and a desire for adventure in her. I want her to leave this place and its crazy beliefs as soon as she's old enough.
“I don't remember this. I had to have been, what? Ten? I remember my father having an accident at work and being laid up for a few months.”
“I never thought werecats were especially blood thirsty.” Cole looked puzzled and something occurred to her.
“You've known other werecats?”
He was slow to answer. “Yes. I'm drawn to the magic energy that surrounds larger were groups. I've been around cats, wolves, bears...all different ones. There aren't a lot of them anymore, but werecats seem to propagate the best. They're tiny, but pack a magical punch.” He winked at her.
Onyx considered his words, but she was too excited. Learning about her mother like this was fascinating. It was almost like her mother was here talking to her directly. She wished her mother had updated the journal more frequently, but every bit of information it did contain was precious.
Cole seemed to sense her thoughts. “Keep going.”
Two years later:
Onyx is starting to discover boys. She told me about her crush on Kincaid and I tried very hard not to giggle. Or cry. She is so sweet and so innocent. She's not ready for boys yet. I made the mistake of telling Marie and she flipped out. She's still stuck on this idea of Nyx and Denny. I told her it was no big deal. Jesus Christ, like she never had a crush on a boy besides Wilson. Ever? She let it go, but it pissed me off no end. My sweet little girl is becoming a young woman. I don't think I'm ready for this!
Onyx blushed reading that last passage to Cole. He grinned at her. She didn't even remember who Kincaid was. Then it hit her. He had died when they were in eighth grade. He tried to dive over one of the waterfalls. She had forgotten he was her first crush, but now she remembered how sad she had been when he died.
“Kincaid died when we were in eighth grade,” she whispered.
Cole raised his eyebrows at her. “How?”
“An accident. He tried diving off the falls. We were on a class picnic and...Marie was one of the chaperones on that trip.” She didn't know why her mind made that connection, but it did.
“What's your mother's next entry?”
A few months later:
Poor Onyx is so heart-broken. What a horrible thing to happen to such a young boy. How do you explain death to your child? She was there that
day and I shudder to think what could have happened if she had also tried going in the water. Thank god I've instilled in her a healthy fear of those falls her whole life.
Four years later:
Onyx's sweet sixteen party was tonight. Four years from now, she'll go through her change! I can't believe how much time has gone by. She wants to study History or something like that. She's picked out the exact program at River Edge College. Thank God it's so close. We could never allow her to go away to school before her change. But we'll buy her a car and she can commute back and forth. Max agrees with me. I think he's become just as disillusioned over the years. He wants better for our girl; he wants her to get away from here too.
Marie has started to more formally and vocally insist on Nyx and Denny's mating. The final decision is still ours she says, but in the same breath she tells us we'll do what's best for the clowder. Well, frankly I don't give a shit what's best for the group. I care about what's best for my daughter, and that's to get away from here. Maybe she can be the one to go to Rome and run with the feral cats. Maybe that's where I will send her when she graduates from college.
Three years later:
I sent my baby girl off to start her second semester of college. Winter break was wonderful. We talked and bonded so much. Her grades came in and she got straight A’s. I'm so proud! She'll be twenty next October. I can't wait to start getting her ready for the change. I tried talking to her about magic and all its forms over her break. She's so smart and curious and open to learning about everything. She's so capable, which is great because she won't make much money with her degree, that's for sure!
I think she has a crush on one of her professors. She talked about his class a little more than her others and is taking him again this semester. I worry about her, because she is so innocent, but then I wouldn't mind her being with someone smart and worldly. Someone not a werecat. One of the classes she wants to take is Medieval Magic, which startled me. It's what he taught. What are the chances it's the same professor? God, he'd have to be in his sixties now. Definitely too old for my Nyx. I tried to ask and she says he's young and sexy. She got all dreamy. What are the odds?
What were the odds indeed? She looked up at Cole. “You knew my mother.” She wasn't really asking. He didn't say anything. Just stared at her.
“You knew my mother?” This time she yelled.
“Onyx, I didn't—??
?
“You didn't know her?”
He swallowed hard and looked away from her.
“You did! How could you not tell me?”
“Onyx, listen to me. Yes, I knew your mother a long, long time ago. I didn't put two and two together until I heard about your parents' death. I saw their picture in the paper. Once I saw the picture I put the name with the face and I knew who she was.”
“Why didn't you say something?” she demanded.
“What was I going to say? I knew your mother twenty some years ago, she used to serve me coffee?”
She stopped and glared at him suspiciously. “Did you follow her here?”
“No. I never knew where she went. She was just gone from the coffee shop one day. I didn't find out that her parents had died and she left the area until months later. I came to River Edge maybe ten years after that when it was time for me to change schools. I told you I'm drawn to the magical energy surrounding were communities.” He threw his hands in the air and gestured to the space around them.
Onyx stood up. “This is too weird. My mother was in love with you. This is creepy. Did you love my mother?”
He stood up and tried to grab her hand, but she snatched it away. “I liked your mother very much. She was a sweet girl. Very inquisitive and intelligent. Very much like you. Very beautiful. I was enchanted by her.”
“But did you love her?” she persisted.
“Onyx, she was young. She had a crush on me, I never got to know her well enough.”
“I need to get out of here.”
“You can't go out. They're probably looking all over for you by now. You're safe here, protected by my magic. Once you leave these walls I can't protect you,” he warned.
Onyx couldn't listen to any more. She shifted into cat form and jumped up on the counter.
“Onyx!” She heard Cole shout at her, but she already had her escape route planned. He either hadn't noticed the sliced screen, or hadn't had a chance to fix it yet. She wriggled her way through and dropped to the ground, running as fast as she could for the back wall.
“Onyx! Don't!” He came running out the back door and tried to catch her. She scurried around him. He started chanting and she felt a magical pull, but she kept running. She scurried up a tree and hurtled to the top of the wall, then jumped down to the other side.
It was true, cats always landed on their feet.
11
Damn it! How could he have let her get away? He knew she wasn't safe out there. Why was she so damn angry? It's not like he had an affair with her mother and then one with her. There was nothing tawdry. Her mother had a schoolgirl crush on him.
Maybe Onyx thought he didn't take her seriously? Which, of course he didn't. He wasn't going to delude himself into thinking this was nothing more than infatuation. How he felt didn't matter. The slashed screen caught his attention and he shook his head. Onyx was nothing if not resourceful. He left the back door open, hoping she would come back soon. Jade's journal rested on the table. The little bit they had read earlier raised his suspicions. He picked it up and started where Onyx left off. It seemed to be the last entry and was dated about three days before her death.
Marie and Wilson have lost their minds. They are demanding Onyx drop out of school after her birthday. They want her to mate with Denny at Halloween and that's it for her. She'll be the Alpha son's mate and nothing more. No more school. No travel. Nothing but clowder life. She'll be a mother before she's even twenty-one. Marie threatened me. Threatened Max. I figured out years ago she wasn't really my friend, I just never wanted to believe it. This union will not happen. Over my dead body. I'm going to take Nyx away for her birthday so she can go through her change with me. I'll tell her everything and let her decide what she wants. I know my baby girl, this is not the life she wants. And if that's what she tells me, then we will go as far away as she wants to go. Max agrees with me and has started selling off some of our things and putting the money away where Wilson won't know about it. We'll leave and start over somewhere else. As long as the three of us are together, nothing else matters.
Nyx finally told me more about her handsome professor. I'm more sure than ever that it's Cole. My God, what are the chances? He must be a sorcerer to have stayed looking so young all these years. How funny that my daughter has fallen for him. I pray dearly that if anything happens to us, she will go to him for help. His magic must be powerful and he will be able to keep her safe. I'd give anything to meet him and see if it really is him. If it is, I wonder if he will remember me?
“Oh, Jade, I remember you,” he said out loud. It was as if she had spoken directly to him from the grave.
But he’d already failed her. Instead of helping Onyx, he'd fucked her, fallen in love with her and then let her get away.
“Shit.” He had to find her before that crazy pack did. It was pretty clear the Edmunds had orchestrated a number of “accidents” over the years to get to Nyx. The final one being the murder of her parents.
His favorite ward and talisman hummed with magical energy as soon as he touched them, even though he hadn’t used them in many years. He slipped them into his pocket and went to find Onyx.
12
Onyx woke, naked and cold on a cement floor. She knew before she even opened her eyes she was in the basement of the Edmund house. She just knew it. Damn it. Why didn't she listen to Cole and stay at the house? She shivered as she remembered how Marie had spotted her scurrying around the campus parking lot and captured her in a pillowcase. A freakin' pillowcase! Shock or lack of oxygen —she couldn’t be sure which—had caused her to pass out.
Darkness descended around the house. She took inventory of her body. No injuries. No signs that her heat had returned. She was thankful for small favors.
Looking around the basement was futile. They hadn't even had the decency to leave a blanket for her to cover herself with. She remedied that problem by shifting into cat form, then she stalked the perimeter of the basement looking for a way out. The windows were high up, but manageable, they just looked hard to open.
Footsteps on the landing above alerted her to the presence of someone. She scurried to hide in one of the dark corners. Two more sets of footsteps and then Marie, Wilson, and Denny came into view. Denny had a tray of food and a change of clothes. He came right to her and she wasn't able to warn him when his parents took off and locked him in the basement with her.
“Nyx, are you okay?”
“Mwrarr.”
“Look, I know what my parents expect. I'm not going to hurt you.” To prove he was sincere, he tossed the clothes at her and turned away. She shifted and put the clothes on quickly.
“Get me out of here.”
“I don't think I can,” he said miserably. “We'll just have to wait it out.”
“What if we can't?”
He seemed insulted. “I can control myself. How do you feel?”
“I feel fine. I think I already went through my heat early.”
“Are you okay?”
“Yes.”
He looked at her suspiciously. “How did you survive it without the drugs?”
She didn't want to answer him, so she looked away.
“You can tell me, I don't care. I'm in love with Bessie, you know. I want to marry her.”
That was the sweetest music Onyx's ears had ever heard. “That's wonderful! Have you tried telling your parents?”
“They won't listen to reason. Bess and I were planning to leave town and elope. I just wanted to make sure you were okay first.”
Even though Denny had probably made a bigger mistake than he realized, Onyx couldn't help but be touched by his concern.
Cole decided to try the university first. He didn't think Onyx would have been able to drive, since her car keys were still at his house—and she'd have to drive naked—but it was as good a place as any to start. As far as he knew she wasn’t very familiar with the surrounding neighborhood. Sure enough, when he reached the parking lot, he picked up
her trail. He also found the driver's side window of her car smashed in. That had definitely not been her doing.
Rage threatened to blind him when he pictured someone—anyone—touching Onyx. She belonged to him. His consuming need to claim her both terrified him and gave him purpose.
Blocking everything else out of his mind, Cole concentrated solely on Onyx. His mental search zeroed in on a location and Cole shimmered to her house in Catcall Falls. The magical boost he felt from being in the were-community was swift and electric. He hadn't been there since the day of her parents' funeral when he snuck in to leave the roses for her. He closed his eyes, and felt the emptiness of the house. Though her magical signature was all around him, it was clear she had not made it back here recently. He remained still and focused again on finding her. Now that he was in Catcall Falls, and his powers were amplified, he easily caught the pull of her magic.
When he reappeared in front of the large, secluded house, he knew this was the place. Onyx was here. Unfortunately another werecat was with her. A male werecat. Cole fought to control his jealousy. This wasn't about him, or his feelings. It was about getting Onyx safe.
13
Onyx stepped out of the shadows and hugged Denny. He slipped his arms around her and she allowed one of her oldest friends to comfort her. He kissed the top of her head and heat stirred deep inside.
Uh oh.
Denny's erection pressed into her stomach and she tried to pull away.
“Nyx, it's starting,” he groaned.
“I know. Get us out of here.” Slowly, he released her. She stepped back a few feet and the feelings subsided. They both turned to look at the window.