Legacy Read online

  I didn’t see any of the harems they were talking about, but after we’d been given the tour, I realized the meaning. One woman. Multiple men.

  That was how they dealt with the low population of women.

  And by the time that all clicked in my head, we had been brought to a small but cute two-story cabin where we were going to spend the night.

  “I’ll get our bags, Christie,” Escher said.

  “Yeah,” she said, waving her arms. “I won’t let the sprite get stolen by the fairy king. Go.”

  He rolled his eyes but practically sprinted from the cabin.

  “So,” she said, plopping onto the couch and spreading her arms out against the back. “What do you think? Are you leaving us for this grandeur?”

  I snorted. “Not today.” Sitting beside her, I bounced my knee. “Explain a reverse harem to me really quickly,” I whispered, trying to get the discussion over with before Escher got back so I didn’t seem so completely ignorant. I mean, I was sure I knew, but I needed some kind of confirmation.

  “I think your man is wanting to have that convo with you.” She shrugged one shoulder.

  “Why me?” I asked her, and she leaned over putting her head on my shoulder.

  “You have no idea, do you?” She murmured as Escher came in.

  “What’d I miss?” He dropped everything right inside the door then made sure it was locked—twice.

  “Girl talk,” I replied, and Christie snorted. “I think I’m going to take a nap. We might need to order pizza later. Judging by their lands, I’m not looking forward to this feast.”

  “Coming, Escher?” I asked, getting up from the couch, but being serious. My legs were done for the day, but the day wasn’t over.

  “I think I could do with a nap, too,” he said and bent slightly before throwing me over his shoulder and taking me all the way upstairs.

  Chapter Six

  I don’t know what I expected from our “nap,” especially after he carried me upstairs, but it wasn’t for him to tuck me in, kiss my forehead, and disappear again. We’d never been alone in a bedroom before, and logic dictated a man who recreated a scene from some of the most romantic movies ever would at least have wanted to make out. Right?

  But then, what did I know?

  Disappointment lingered as I closed my eyes and willed sleep to come.

  I lay there a while, reasoning we’d probably be up late while the Rattlecreek pack showed me what a great group they were. I’d probably have to meet each member, or at least most of them, and hear lots of cheerleading about the group. And I’d never be alone long enough to come up with my own impressions of the place and the people.

  Outside, daylight waned, but I thought we still had some time before the event began. Conversations drifted through the open window as people walked past, many of them on their way to setting up everything. But nothing I heard gave me the information I sought. I had indeed made my decision as to which pack I planned to belong to. Had already formally joined. So, I didn’t really care about them as an official organization. I was more interested in personal details. Harems—of the reverse kind in particular—were the norm here, and it might be my only opportunity to observe them in action. So to speak.

  Sitting up, I fished with my toes for where Escher had left my shoes after he took them off my feet and tucked me under a light blanket—one I’d kicked off the moment he left. I hadn’t undressed at all, so once I was shod, I stood up and tiptoed across the room. I pressed an ear to the door, listening for any signs of Escher’s return or Christie moving around the house.

  Christie. Another conundrum. Why had she insisted upon coming on this trip? She’d simply said it was for moral support, but then she’d gone silent. Christie silent. Highly unusual. But I could spend time wondering what my friend’s motives were after returning home. I needed to focus on the opportunity presented to me right now and learn what I could from the members of a pack unlikely to show their true faces if they knew they were observed.

  They wanted me to think of them as the best option for my life moving forward and would hide any scars or flaws as best they could tonight. Since I heard nothing from the hallway, I opened the door a crack and peeked into the hallway before slipping out and moving as soundlessly as possible to the head of the stairs then paused again to listen. It wasn’t a big house, and I could see the entire open-plan first floor except, of course, the bathroom. Now or never. I started down the stairs then froze when the first stair I placed my weight on squeaked alarmingly loud. I waited, but Christie didn’t appear from her bedroom or Escher from the downstairs restroom, which I realized had its door wide open anyway.

  After a breath of relief, I moved the rest of the way down. The worn treads of the other stairs probably would be noisy, too. I hadn’t noticed the sounds when I was in Escher’s arms on the way up, but I’d been laughing and protesting, loudly enough to cover up a stair squeak.

  So, I placed each foot carefully, avoiding the middle of the steps, adding weight slowly to minimize the creaks and groans and ended up at the bottom nearly out of breath from the strain. A matter of days ago, this descent would have been impossible for me.

  Despite the nerves vibrating with strain, I grinned.

  How far we’ve come. The voice was low, with a growl toward the end.

  I spun in a circle, hunting for the speaker. “Who?” I slapped a hand over my mouth.

  Just me. Commenting on our progress lately.

  You’re my wolf.

  Silence.

  If you’re back, does that mean we can shift?

  I’ve never been away.

  Then why weren’t we talking.

  I was talking—you couldn’t hear me.

  This wasn’t the time to deal with something so huge. I was on a mission, but I’d do just about anything not to lose her again. Her voice was unlocking memories that would likely make it impossible for me to focus on any other issue.

  Will you come with me now, while I go see what’s up with the harem thing? Maybe get a peek at this pack and see how I can turn them down without causing a war?

  The Helen of Troy thing again?

  Hearing it from my wolf made my cheeks hot. It wasn’t because I thought I was beautiful or anything. Stay with me, okay?

  Always.

  Gods I’ve missed you. I’d had a few feelings of her, even a word or two here or there, but never enough to really communicate, and now I wanted to plop down and catch up, like with an old friend or a relative I hadn’t seen in a decade and a half. I’d lost her when I’d lost my mom and dad—my whole family in one fell swoop. You didn’t answer my question about shifting. Can I?

  Not now.

  It sounded so final, as if I shouldn’t ask anything else for the moment. But if she was back, always with me, and now able to talk to me, there’d be time to pursue this later. And she hadn’t said no. Just not now.

  When, then?

  Shrugging everything else away, I slipped outside the little house and into the gathering shadows, determined to learn what I could before they knew they were under observation.

  Chapter Seven

  I stood in the shadowy spot for a few moments, listening and watching for anyone to come by before moving to the next area I thought provided some shelter. Those who’d passed earlier were nowhere in sight, and I could hear voices at a distance, but not well enough to make out what they said. With the feast imminent, they were all probably busy with their tasks, and I didn’t think I’d find out a whole lot, but with no other options I had to try.

  The guest house where we stayed was not too bad on the outside, and I passed a few similar buildings, all of which looked fairly well maintained, before finding myself surrounded by a whole other variety of buildings. These were smaller, and every one needed paint and landscaping. Many had broken windows here and there, and their curtains hung limp and faded where there were any at all. Who lived here? Perhaps the pack had once been larger, and these structures were abandoned?

  I crept up to one missing window and peeked inside. It was a bedroom, of sorts, but instead of an actual bed, pallets lay strewn about, heaps of bedding here and there, and the glimpse I got of the bathroom connected was equally dismaying. As in dirty, with a cracked tub and buckled flooring. Not dirty, though as you’d expect from an abandoned building. Some clothing was piled in the bedroom corner, and a chipped glass filled with water stood on the sink. Someone lived here. Or was staying here. Did squatters spend time on pack lands? Maybe nobody knew?

  I turned away from the window and caught a glimpse of a fire between two other of the hovels. The buildings I’d seen on arrival were much nicer than this. And they were not far from here. The pack had to be aware of the occupancy of the shacks.

  Who lived here?

  I moved from one of the buildings to the next, finding similar places. Some were neater, others were dirtier. The kitchens had mostly wood stoves, and I realized I’d seen no signs of anything electrical operating in any of them. Was there even running water, or had that been shut off as well?

  Finally, having been utterly distracted from my mission of observing the pack members, I turned toward the guesthouse. I didn’t want to be caught here, although I did want explanations. Many members of our pack lived in town or on their own properties, but those who lived on pack lands, at least so far as I’d been able to observe, occupied neat homes or cabins. While none were as big or nice as the alpha’s home, they seemed nice enough, and most had satellite dishes on their roofs, as well as glowing windows at night and small lawns or planter beds. Some grew vegetables, others flowers. Picnic tables occupied many yards, and I’d run across a playground with an admirable selection of swings and slides and other equipment recently set up for the kids.

  When I stepped onto the porch of our accommodations, the door swung open to reveal Escher and Christie silhouetted in the light behind them.

  “Where have you been?” she demanded, but Escher’s expression drew my focus.

  His eyes bored into me, asking without asking.

  “I went to see what I could learn on my own about this pack,” I told them both. “I’m sorry if I worried you.”

  “And what did you learn?” His voice was low but tense. “About where I was born?”

  “Can we go inside?” I stepped past them, and they followed, Escher closing the door. “I didn’t want to discuss this outside, but who lives in those shacks? The ones without electricity or even furniture? Escher, I don’t understand.”

  He took my hand and led me to the comfortable sofa, where we sat down. Christie sat on the other side of me, looking puzzled. Escher cleared his throat. “Of course you don’t understand. You’ve never lived in a pack as twisted as this one. Those in favor with the alpha’s mate, and all the females live in the nice places. Any male out of favor, and their children, are relegated to the local slum.”

  I studied his face, but he would not meet my gaze. “Children? Children live like that? Sleeping on the floor and with no running water? There is no water, right?”

  “Right, oh there might be in one or two. They don’t actually cut off the water, it’s just when things break, nobody fixes them.”

  “Why not?” Christie sounded as upset as I felt. “Don’t they have tools they can use? People need water.”

  “They have tools. They are not allowed to make repairs, so unless they can do it without getting caught, they just live there while the place falls down around them. Those were the original homes built when the pack settled here, and long ago were nice. Small, but nice. Now they are punishment hovels.”

  I licked my dry lips, still clinging to his hand. “So, the males go there for a while”—I couldn’t process the children being there—“and when their punishment is over, they go back home?”

  He shook his head. “No. At least not that I ever saw. Once you go there, you stay until you die or give up and move on. But your mate is still here, and you can’t take the kids, so you stay. And work slave-level jobs for almost no pay, and suffer.”

  “I— How can they be so cruel? To children? And their own husbands.” Horror ran over me. “Is it because of the reverse harem thing? Do those relationships work so badly people are discarded?” And if so, what did it mean for me and the others? Never. I could never allow anything like that to happen.

  He gave me the saddest look. “No. Of course not.” His grip on my hand tightened, to the point of pain, but I said nothing, just waited to see what was so agonizing to reveal. “My parents were a couple, not a harem of any kind. But my father wouldn’t go along with something the alpha wanted him to do. I don’t know what it was, just one day, he was living with us, and the next, he was gone. Moved to the worst of the shacks.”

  “Did he take you?” If the males all had their children with them?

  “No. He and my mother refused, and when the betas came to take me there, she packed her things and followed.”

  “You said no females lived there.”

  “No others. My mother would not allow my father and me to suffer without her. The leaders came every day and argued with her, insisted she take another mate and leave us, but she never would. She stayed there, fetching water from a central spigot, and my father worked at whatever demeaning work was assigned him to make enough to feed the three of us.”

  “That’s terrible!” Who were these people? And they wanted me to join them?

  “They were miserable. I knew though they tried to hide it from me. But we were together and—”

  A sharp rapping at the door interrupted his story. We had a party to go to.

  “How can I attend their feast now?” I wanted to cry and beat the walls at the pain Escher’s parents and others endured in this pack.

  “How can we not?”

  Chapter Eight

  The feast was just what the term said it would be. Piles and piles of food spread out on tables.

  The thing was, I couldn’t make myself take more than a few bites.

  Neither could Christie or Escher. How could I when the children and families in this pack basically licked their chops and drooled over the offerings? Some children grabbed hunks of meat and took them to the nearest spot on the ground to sit and gnaw on them, plates and all manner of patience tossed aside.

  It was clear, on days when visitors weren’t trying to be impressed, food was scarce.

  Rattlecreek had earned its name in my eyes. It was as menacing as it was grotesque.

  This pack was horrible to children and families, and the more time I spent with them, even though it had been only hours, the more my stomach soured and threatened to toss back the little I had eaten.

  “Come on, let’s get out of here.” Escher stood and took my hand. He hadn’t eaten but one chicken leg with a half spoonful of potato salad before deciding he was done.

  He’d eaten twice as much as me.

  “I’m gonna hang out a little,” Christie said, and we both nodded, but before we turned, she winked at me. It was her way of giving Escher and me some privacy, and, while I appreciated it, I was sure tonight would be more of the tuck-me-in variety of romance instead of more.

  We stayed silent until we got inside the little cabin, now looking like a palace among the other cabins where families were banished to.

  “No wonder you hate this place,” I breathed out as soon the front door had closed behind him. He faced me and huddled me up in his embrace, pressing my face against his chest and peppering kisses along the top of my head.

  “I do, but is it horrible to say I’m glad you do, too. I mean, I would come back if you wanted, but I think that’s the opposite of what they have in mind. There were so many roaming eyes on you, my wolf nearly slaughtered them all.”

  The sharpness in his voice made me shudder and believe him.

  He’d never shown jealousy with the other guys who spent time with me at Midnight Alder.

  “I want to go home, Escher.” I breathed out the wish, knowing he wouldn’t be able to grant it without a full-on war breaking out between Midnight Alder and Rattlecreek. There might be some women who would relish the chance to start a war over them, but not me.

  I wanted peace and to be surrounded by my men and my books in this moment.

  My men. Multiple.

  I yawned. The sun had set not very long ago, but this place drained me of all my mental and physical energy like nothing else.

  I could barely stand.

  “Come on, female. Let’s get you to bed. The faster you go to sleep, the faster we can wake up and get out of here.”

  He bent slightly and picked me up, honeymoon style, and, in less than a minute, we were upstairs. While I showered the day off my skin and hopefully off my mind, he sat outside the bathroom, waiting for me. It was as though he expected one of the guys who had ogled me to come crashing through the window at any moment and take me away.

  “Hey,” I said, emerging from the bathroom. I’d forgotten my pajamas in a flurry to get to the bathroom and ran across the room in only a towel to get them from my bag. He cleared his throat, but as I passed him going back into the bathroom, I knew it was taking every ounce of his strength to keep his gaze averted.

  And every ounce of mine not to drop the towel and take my chances.

  Too bad I was a chicken.

  A naive, inexperienced, virginal chicken.

  After chastising myself in the mirror for packing my most childish pair of pajamas, complete with lollipops all over them, I came out and sat next to him, our backs against the wall.

  “Penny for your thoughts?” I asked.

  Putting his arm over my shoulders and pulling me close to him, he sighed. “I don’t want to be here. I don’t want you here. It’s not easy being in the place my parents loathed. They would not approve of me bringing you here. In fact, I think they would’ve chosen war.”

  “Will you sleep next to me?” I asked after a breath of silence.

  “You don’t know what you’re asking.” His voice was all beastly again.