Unmarked Mates

Chapter 34: "Curses, like chickens, come home to roost"

Nick Brody above

Terry POV

I look with a feeling of disappointment at the sentence dashed off the bar's wall as Doggy sits next to me, wagging his tail, totally unfazed by what happened last night on his watch.

"I blame you," I say slowly as he doesn't even bother to make any sound. It's actually all Pearl's fault; before Jewels, Doggy used to spend nights guarding the bar, and now he spends them snuggled into Pearl or Pearl's wolf, and he abandoned his hostile attitude towards werewolves.

"Do you think it is about you or me?" Danny asks, standing at the entrance to the bar.

Of course, they chose the wall seen from the road so that everybody could see it too. I guess the pack's teenagers were bored last night.

"I dare to think that the hunter is a more important topic in the pack than domestic violence," I say a bit bitterly, and Danny smiles but not too brightly.

The big red letters made one word: COWARD. Well, I shouldn't be surprised; something like that should've been expected. But, on the other hand, I ought to be happy the sentence was made with paint, not my blood.

"I don't care who it's about; I want it gone now," Aunty Mae says, coming to us with brushes and buckets of soap." I have taxes to do, so make sure it's gone when I finish with it."

Well, it's better not to argue with her. Danny won't be a big help because he still has problems with moving, so I give a look to Jewels, and we get to work. They actually used perfect paint. It isn't easy to get rid of it.

"Well, it's definitely not a peaceful town."

I hear a voice and turn around to face Nick Brody, looking at my wall. Well, the guy for sure is persistent in being my new buddy; I guess he is lonely.

"I warned you we have family problems," I say " Danny, this is Nick Brody; he's just moved in. Nick, this is Danny Stone, my nephew."

They shake hands, and Nick stays with us; the girls and I are cleaning as Danny talks with Nick about art and working for a big company.

As we finish and the girls go to wash, Nick has already walked to the shop and back with cold beers for us and soda for Ivory and Pearl.

"You don't have a place to go?" I ask him, not because I want to get rid of him but because I find it problematic that he has so much free time.

"My uncle had a bad night; he was walking around looking for his dead father so I couldn't sleep anyway. I was doing my job on a computer and drank so much coffee I can't sleep now," he sounds kind of sad.

"Your uncle is sick?" Danny asks.

"First stage of Alzheimer's, private care is expensive. He can be difficult, but he is the only one I have had for years now; he shaped me into who I am, so I can't leave him in some institution. And you? Have you got more relatives?"

At that moment, I see Trist running towards us from across the street.

"What are you doing here?" asks Danny, totally surprised. "Julius won't be happy that..."

"Dad is not around, he went in some business, and I missed you," Trist doesn't seem bothered either by the fact that he disobeyed his father or skipped school today.

Danny smiles happily, and Trist comes to sit with us. An hour later, Mae is feeding us all with her famous baked potatoes, Trist is playing darts with Pearl and Ivory, and Danny, Nick, and I are talking about stupid things like cars and football matches. It's good, especially for Danny.