{"id":625,"date":"2014-12-21T08:54:07","date_gmt":"2014-12-21T16:54:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rhiannonheld.com\/?p=625"},"modified":"2022-06-08T20:13:30","modified_gmt":"2022-06-09T03:13:30","slug":"temper-a-silver-universe-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rhiannonheld.com\/?p=625","title":{"rendered":"Temper: a Silver universe story"},"content":{"rendered":"

As promised, I have a solstice gift for all my fans today! While it’s a DVD extra for Book 3, exploring events that happened around the time of that book, it’s designed to be interesting for anyone at all familiar with the Silver<\/em> universe.<\/p>\n

Enjoy!<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Temper<\/p>\n

Tom turned off the highway, such as it was, following the lead of the car ahead of him. They both bumped over a set of railroad tracks that cut a thin line of scrub between green, irrigated fields. Their goal stood out against the same fields, the cemetery\u2019s stones barely visible among a tangle of golden, dead grass. Green rose farther back, trees probably gathered around some creek bed, perhaps dry at the moment. Tom found himself sniffing for Were through the open window, which was stupid. Even if the photograph he\u2019d seen turned out to be legit, that gravestone would have been carved by Were who lived more than a century ago.<\/p>\n

The car pulled onto the shoulder, but the ditch veered so close to the road immediately before and after that spot Tom had to go about a hundred yards farther to find a spot for his battered pickup. Clearly, no one had conceived of more than one visitor to the cemetery at once. The young human woman waited by her car as he crunched down the road to join her. Tricia looked even more out of place now than when he\u2019d first met her in the coffee shop in town. He\u2019d asked about her photographs, displayed on the walls in the usual \u201clocal artist for sale\u201d style, and the barista had offered to call in the photographer herself. Most of the customers had been stylish enough in a battered-jeans rural farming town sort of way, but Tricia had walked in with store-weathered jeans and very expensive sunglasses.<\/p>\n

Even those must not have been enough now against the low, early evening sun, because she shaded her eyes as she examined the little cemetery. \u201cThey don\u2019t get much vandalism out here, fortunately. Overgrown as all hell, but so many of the little family plots are. When the owners don\u2019t try to cart off the stones in the night like that will make it all right for them to build on it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom set his worries aside long enough to crack a smile, stuck his hands in his pockets, and ambled after Tricia. Who\u2019d have thought someone could be so interested in cemeteries? Not something normal like genealogy research with the names from the stones, but documenting their locations and conditions, and helping to restore them. In the coffee shop, she\u2019d called it a hobby. Cemetery hobby. Crazy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd the one in the photograph? Where\u2019s that?\u201d Listening to a hot woman talk about something she was passionate about was one thing, but it wasn\u2019t idle curiosity that had brought him here.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis way.\u201d Tricia pointed and strode out confidently. Expensive sunglasses aside, she wore sturdy hiking boots. \u201cYou\u2019re lucky I was around when Mare\u2014Mary\u2014called. I live in Spokane, but I\u2019m here often enough visiting my aunt and uncle that they suggested the display. Then again, you probably don\u2019t need me to direct you. There are a number of stones with those motifs in this plot. Some kind of family thing, clearly, but I can\u2019t figure out what. I\u2019ve never seen it anywhere else.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom sure hoped not. He paused and tore at grass obscuring a stone beside his path. It was clearly one of the ones Tricia had mentioned. Lady damn it. Moon phases framing the name, running wolves along the bottom\u2014how could they? How could any sane Were carve a stone like this and leave it for humans to find?<\/p>\n

Tom took a deep breath. He couldn\u2019t read the Cyrillic characters, but the years were comprehensible. If humans had managed to overlook these stones for a century and a half, they couldn\u2019t be the end of the world now. \u201cDo you know what it says?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tricia backtracked and leaned over the stone. She absently fit her thumb into the circle of the Lady at full and brushed some blown soil from the bottom edge. \u201cI keep meaning to send my photographs to someone who speaks Russian for a translation, but I haven\u2019t yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Small mercies. Tom gave her his best smile. \u201cYou know\u2014I\u2019m kind of wandering at the moment, but the reason I wandered this direction is I was trying to trace where my family came from. No one\u2019s mentioned any Russian immigrants before, but I could be related to some. I know my ancestry\u2019s a mixture of various pioneers who headed out West. And my family breeds dogs, maybe…\u201d<\/p>\n

Just when the damage control story Tom was spinning seemed to be going well, his phone rang. He cursed under his breath and checked the screen without answering. Felicia. Of course it was. Lady damn her to the void, when was she going to get the message that he didn\u2019t want to talk to her? Some things you couldn\u2019t apologize for that easily. He sent the call straight to voicemail, to join the probably thirty-seven other ones that had accumulated by now, and shoved the phone back in his pocket.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyway.\u201d Tom cleared his throat. Damage control. That\u2019s what he was doing. Not thinking about Felicia. \u201cBreeding dogs. Maybe that\u2019s what this is about.\u201d He pointed to the wolf silhouettes. And Lady, didn\u2019t he hope that if she did get the stone translated, it wouldn\u2019t be a prayer to the Lady or something. He wouldn\u2019t have thought any Were could be that stupid, but he wouldn\u2019t have believed any Were could be so stupid as to carve wolves on their gravestones.<\/p>\n

Rather than giving the beep of a voicemail recorded, his phone started ringing again. Tom rejected that call too and shoved the phone away before he could crush it. He knew he\u2019d regret the loss later. But it would be so satisfying to crush it into dust. Why wouldn\u2019t Felicia stop?<\/p>\n

Tricia grimaced in vague sympathy. \u201cForget to call your mother often enough while \u2018wandering\u2019?\u201d She wasn\u2019t mocking, but Tom could hear the quotes in her tone that made \u201cwandering\u201d into \u201cunemployed and needing to get out of parental hair for a while.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom bristled, barely keeping a too-canine growl to a vaguely human rumble in his chest. What was she, two years older than him? Certainly not more than twenty-six. She wasn\u2019t far enough from her own irresponsible early twenties to look down on him, and besides. Irresponsibility wasn\u2019t his fucking problem, it was Felicia\u2019s. He was perfectly capable of finding a job the moment he felt ready to go back and face Seattle again. \u201cFor your information, it was a bad break-up, and she\u2019s in denial, okay? I don\u2019t want to even see her, not after she chose her bully of a childhood sweetheart or whatever he was over\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

That came out all in one breath and only a need for air let Tom wrestle himself back under control. What in the Lady\u2019s name was he doing, blowing up at strangers? And not just any stranger, but one he was trying to charm so she didn\u2019t think too hard about wolves on gravestones. He took a deep breath, but no charming words entered his mind with it. All he could think of was what he\u2019d say to Felicia if he did answer one of these times. Flay her voice with his, he would.<\/p>\n

Tricia\u2019s expression twisted with embarrassment. \u201cI\u2019m sorry.\u201d She looked at his pocket with the phone, lips parting to add something, then she pressed them together before changing the subject with unnecessary brightness. \u201cI\u2019ve never seen dog motifs like these before, but I have seen that moon one somewhere else.\u201d Her voice trailed into a questioning intonation, checking if he was interested before she continued.<\/p>\n

Tom dredged up an encouraging smile. Concentrate. Focus on solving this immediate problem. Moon emblems were nowhere near as bad as those of wolves\u2014or the combination of the two\u2014so he wasn\u2019t too worried about whatever lunar connection she was making. Tricia relaxed. \u201cIt\u2019s in the car, actually.\u201d She jogged off. Tom followed more slowly, meeting her on the way back.<\/p>\n

He\u2019d expected her to have her camera, to show him something in the memory, but instead she held something small enough to close her fingers over. \u201cI found this in an antique store in the next town over. It\u2019s the same design, look.\u201d Tricia opened her fingers, revealing a large pocket watch of tarnished brass. She traced her finger over the arc of the Lady\u2019s faces there, then traced it in the air before the stone they\u2019d been examining.<\/p>\n

Tom\u2019s heart picked up with anxiety instead of anger, as it had when he\u2019d happened to glance at the photograph in the coffee shop, Were symbols in artful black and white. She was right, that was remarkably similar. What in the Lady\u2019s name\u2014?<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best part is inside. Like a proper eighteenth century miniature.\u201d Tricia pressed a knob to pop the watch\u2019s lid. The hinges must have needed cleaning because it stopped about halfway up. Tom took it and nudged the lid the rest of the way.<\/p>\n

He stopped breathing for a second. The painting was exquisitely, delicately done, colors preserved inside the watch case, but what it showed…a white wolf walked beside a lean, black-haired man, his hands lifted as if in some comfortable conversational gesture. It must be\u2014but it couldn\u2019t be\u2014the Lady\u2014but that was blasphemous. The Lady and Death were trapped in human and wolf, respectively, and to show their other forms was simply\u2014<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s wrong?\u201d Tricia\u2019s incredulous stare brought Tom back to the cemetery, the golden dead grass, the low sunlight. He\u2019d been properly growling, he realized, and cut the sound off immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust concentrating. There\u2019s a lot of detail.\u201d Tom almost couldn\u2019t bear to keep seeing the image, but he pretended to examine it more closely. He focused his eyes on the wrong distance, and it settled into a safer blur. \u201cI wonder if that\u2019s my ancestor. Family stories say that we used to be known for our white dogs, but that bloodline died out. Like white German Shepherds, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n

She held out her hand, but he couldn\u2019t\u2014he couldn\u2019t relinquish it. \u201cHow much did you pay for it? I\u2019ll give you double. My parents and everyone would be delighted to get it back into the family.\u201d Even if it was expensive, Tom knew the Roanokes would pay him back. This kind of artifact needed to be out of human hands yesterday.<\/p>\n

Tricia pulled it away from him. She grimaced in vague apology, but did it anyway, and Tom didn\u2019t think he should make this into a physical struggle, even if he was sure to win. \u201cI\u2019m sorry, it\u2019s not for sale.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deep breath. Tom usually considered himself fairly good with words\u2014though he couldn\u2019t line his kills beside those of the Roanokes\u2014but they seemed to have deserted him once more, even without his anger at Felicia tangling his thoughts directly. \u201cAre you sure? You could name your price\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

A bark echoed from downwind, beyond the line of creek-fed trees. Tom figured Tricia would assume it was a dog\u2014most humans weren\u2019t aware wolves could do more than howl\u2014but he knew a wolf bark when he heard one, especially when said wolf was one of a pair being jackasses and sneaking up on him. He\u2019d told Mark and his brother Sean that he wanted to roam alone for a while. At least they weren\u2019t howling.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s probably my cousins now.\u201d Tom maneuvered as if to get a better view, in reality trying to separate their scents, so the fact he was with a human would stand out better to the jackasses. \u201cI knew they were camping somewhere out here. I was supposed to meet up with them.\u201d Mark was twenty, his brother seventeen, both part of the Billings pack, and Tom had thought at least Mark might be mature enough to be fun to run with, but apparently even three years was too big a difference given Tom\u2019s experiences Their juvenile humor had grated before a week had passed. He hadn\u2019t thought they\u2019d be so hard up for entertainment as to follow him.<\/p>\n

No more barks sounded, and no one appeared, in human or wolf, so Tom dared to hope they\u2019d gotten the message of the human scent. He still had a job to do. Maybe he could soften Tricia up by getting her talking about her hobby again, then bring up the watch once more when she\u2019d relaxed. \u201cHow do you find these old cemeteries?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, through a variety of methods. Talking to people in town, old maps. Those can be a lot of fun, though they\u2019re often inaccurate\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

A furry blur barreled into the back of Tom\u2019s legs. He could have saved his balance\u2014if he\u2019d wanted to\u2014 but a human would have tumbled back onto his ass in the grass, so Tom let it happen. And then Sean licked his face. Lady bright. The morons. Tom slapped away Sean\u2019s muzzle.<\/p>\n

Mark strolled up a moment later, hands in his pockets and thumbs in his belt loops, probably to keep his jeans secure since he\u2019d forgotten his belt in his quick change. Though the boys had the same parents, the same mixture of ancestry, Mark had inherited his human Native grandfather\u2019s features, where Sean had the coloration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my cousin Mark.\u201d Maybe Tom could salvage this yet. \u201cI was just telling Tricia how our family has a history of breeding dogs.\u201d He got a good grip in Sean\u2019s ruff and stood. The boy was colored dark with a bit more brown than people probably expected for gray wolves. He had completely the wrong build for a domesticated dog, too narrow in the chest, but hopefully cemetery research didn\u2019t leave any time for canine biology.<\/p>\n

Of course, rather than playing along, Mark just stared at him. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean tore out of Tom\u2019s grip and romped around Tricia. Tom could see the trick coming a mile away. \u201cBear, you damn\u2014\u201d He swallowed a too-Were curse and practically choked on it. He was only lucky one of the dog names used for male Were came so automatically. Sean stuck his nose right in Tricia\u2019s crotch. She only laughed and pushed him away. He yielded good-naturedly, but Tom grabbed his ruff again anyway. He clenched his fingers very close to Sean\u2019s throat so he\u2019d feel the strength of Tom\u2019s embarrassment on his behalf. Just because a human didn\u2019t know any different didn\u2019t mean you did something like that.<\/p>\n

Mark would probably much rather have flirted with Tom than Tricia, so he snorted, ignored Tom\u2019s lead about breeding dogs, and wandered off, thumbs in belt loops, to stare at a stone. Tom crouched. If he chewed Sean out in a whisper right next to his ear, Tricia shouldn\u2019t hear anything. Before he could start, though, he could have sworn he heard Mark\u2019s eyes widen. Lady, that was just what he needed, Subtlety Personified and Subtlety Personified\u2019s younger brother blundering into that situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s this?\u201d Mark demanded.<\/p>\n

Luckily, Tricia seemed amused by his reaction. Maybe she figured Mark couldn\u2019t imagine why Tom was interested in cemeteries. \u201cTom was telling me he thinks these might be his ancestors. The stones with the moon and canine motifs. There\u2019s a bunch of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

So now Mark knew not only that there was a pattern of Were secrets on display, but that a human had noticed it. Great. His idea of damage control would probably be to come back at night and steal all the stones, like no one would notice that. \u201cI am taking care of this,\u201d Tom hissed into Sean\u2019s ear, then released him with a shove to his flank. \u201cGet the hell out of here, both of you.\u201d He kept himself from shouting, but Mark\u2019s shocked expression as he whirled to face Tom suggested it hadn\u2019t been enough. Tom didn\u2019t care. As long as they got. Mark wiggled fingers beside his hip and Sean slunk over and leaned his ruff into the touch. \u201cI guess we can talk later, Tom.\u201d Mark\u2019s tone slipped from meaningful almost into threat. Fine. When Tom had taken care of the problem with the gravestones, he would be sure to let Mark know.<\/p>\n

Tom took a deep breath as he watched their backs recede over the long-shadowed scrub. The scent of Tricia\u2019s surprise reminded him he\u2019d added a whole new layer of damage control to the situation. Okay. Okay, he could do this. \u201cSorry. Bear\u2019s trained much better than that, if Mark didn\u2019t let him run wild.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was just being friendly.\u201d Tricia dusted her knees, dislodging a guard hair or two. \u201cNo worries. I love dogs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom stalled a beat longer by shading his eyes and frowning in the direction the boys had disappeared. He pulled his thoughts together with an effort. The watch was the priority. The gravestones were bad, but one point of strangeness was just one point. Two points of strangeness made a line. The watch was so much more specific, as well. It was clearly no good coming at that head-on, though. He needed to get to know Tricia better so he could figure out what might motivate her to sell.<\/p>\n

He pulled out his phone to check the time. \u201cI don\u2019t know if you have plans for tonight already, but I was thinking about grabbing some dinner…\u201d He only let the words lift into a question at the last second.<\/p>\n

Tricia looked him over and raised her brows. \u201cRebound?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, dinner.\u201d Lame as the joke was, Tom smiled at her, trying fill the expression with simple friendliness. Even if it was somewhat exhausted friendliness. After a beat, she reflected it back, and Tom felt almost like his old self for a second. Things weren\u2019t so bad if you could smile about them.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

As they stepped out of the diner into warm twilight, Tricia laughed, and Tom judged it the right time to mention the watch again. \u201cDo you think I could take a picture of that watch to send to my folks? Maybe they could tell you more about it, and the graves.\u201d He wasn\u2019t absolutely sure, but he thought maybe Tricia might trade the watch for information.<\/p>\n

Bars and other restaurants had filled the closest city parking lot, so both of them had parked in another, a couple blocks away. It served stores, now all closed for the night, leaving the lot surprisingly quiet. Small towns: desolation falls at six pm sharp. Tom didn\u2019t suppose she noticed it, but Tricia walked closer to him, unconsciously defensive in the way many humans, especially women, were after dark.<\/p>\n

Tricia sighed after a moment. \u201cJust a picture?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cPromise.\u201d The streetlights were old and deeply orange, so Tom had steer them right under one before he judged that a human would be able to see the small mechanism to open the watch. He popped it open while leaving it on Tricia\u2019s extended palm.<\/p>\n

Only a whiff of scent warned him, because they\u2019d come up from downwind again. Both of the boys were in wolf, and running so fast that there was little time to think. Tom stepped between them and Tricia, she closed her hand over the watch, then the boys were on them.<\/p>\n

Mark leaped and slammed into Tom, a dove-gray missile at that stole his breath and folded him over. Payback…? But why would he do that in front of the human?<\/p>\n

Oh, Lady. It came to Tom all at once, hearing Mark\u2019s snarl and smelling him intimately as they both tumbled to the pavement. He smelled like frustration Tom was in the way, not anger. He and his brother were trying to take care of Tricia directly. Kill the human who\u2019d seen something revealing, then vanish that something. Far too simple a solution for this situation. A wild dog attack might hunt very slightly better out here than in suburban Seattle, but that didn\u2019t mean it would hunt well.<\/p>\n

\u201cGonna have to get through me first,\u201d Tom spat, rage rolling up to fill him. His voice went almost too tight to speak. Mark had him on his back, and he risked a look to see Sean landing from a jump that had snatched Tricia\u2019s phone right out of her hand. He crunched it with a proud air, so thoroughly that Tom could tell he was stalling. He didn\u2019t want to kill Tricia. This had been Mark\u2019s idea.<\/p>\n

Mark\u2019s teeth came right for his face and Tom barely got his forearm up in time. Mark chewed on it, and pinpoints of pain joining into one solid wad of agony. That fire burned and dribbled and flowed into the massive inferno around his voice and he got a grip on Mark\u2019s leg.<\/p>\n

He hauled. Hauled with everything he had, and Mark\u2019s shoulder crunched and squished right out of the socket. Lovely sound. Mark yelped, as close as a canine could get to a sob. He stumbled off Tom, back, nearly falling before he got the hang of three legs. Sean had Tricia backed up against the bricks of the nearest building. He glanced over, clearly torn about wanting to help, but he continued to menace Tricia, preventing her escape without making a real move to hurt her.<\/p>\n

Tom shoved to his feet and advanced on Mark, who got himself braced and snarled. Tom kicked him right in the good shoulder and he went down. That would heal too fast, though. He needed to break something, if Mark was going to hurt enough to realize Tom meant business. He stood over Mark and kicked. His belly, again and again, giving him so much to heal that he\u2019d run out of energy, then stomp on his jaw. Crack. Yes. \u201cFuck you.\u201d Tom wasn\u2019t sure if he was shouting or not. His throat felt like he was screaming. \u201cFuck you!\u201d Mark, Felicia, Felicia\u2019s Spanish boyfriend, the universe? He wasn\u2019t sure.<\/p>\n

Mark whimpered, and the sound finally made it through to Tom. Mark stopped trying to get up and lay there. Surrender. Tom backed up, panting. What was he doing? Sean rushed up, whining, and helped his brother up, dragging at his ruff and then standing firm to lean against. The two of them vanished back into the night as fast as they could go, though from his limping gait, the speed must have been agonizing for Mark.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh my God. Where\u2019s your phone? We need to call\u2014\u201d Tricia crossed to Tom. It took him a moment to realize she was reaching for his arm because it was all gory with blood.<\/p>\n

His anger drained away to a level that at least let him think, but left him a bit shaky with reaction. His arm was bloody with no wound underneath. Healing was long finished and he felt no hint of pain. Hiding that was one of the things he could do on autopilot, though. He hunched over his arm, careful not to smear away any of the camouflaging blood. \u201cIt\u2019s not actually that deep. By the time anyone gets here, I could have driven to the ER twice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tricia looked wildly around, checking for additional threats. \u201cI can\u2019t believe they just attacked you…\u201d<\/p>\n

She thought the attack had been aimed at Tom. Good. His head felt fuzzy, but he could work with that. \u201cTold you my cousin\u2019s dogs weren\u2019t well behaved. They probably thought they were playing.\u201d He dredged up an awkward laugh and Tricia looked like she didn\u2019t quite believe him. Lady grant that she\u2019d been too focused on Sean to notice him laying into Mark. That especially didn\u2019t fit the story. What in the Lady\u2019s name had he been thinking? Disgust with himself started to congeal into nausea. Mark hadn\u2019t deserved that, no matter how much of a purse dog he was being.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry, I\u2019ll get it bandaged up.\u201d Tom cradled the \u201cinjured\u201d limb against his chest with his other hand, but Tricia keep hovering close.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I\u2019ll drive you.\u201d Tricia\u2019s face set into stubborn lines, so Tom didn\u2019t try to fight her.<\/p>\n

\u201cLet me get my stuff.\u201d He headed for his truck, and pointed to the crunched remains of her phone. \u201cDon\u2019t forget your SIM card.\u201d He grabbed his jacket while she leaned over the phone, picking up all the pieces to avoid littering, he supposed. Good of her.<\/p>\n

There wasn\u2019t much town to drive across, so they reached the ER in only a few minutes. Tom hopped out, frowning at the entrance. Well-lit, small…it would make his job harder. \u201cThanks. See you,\u201d he muttered to Tricia, frowning at the doors ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cCall me\u2014give me your number. I\u2019ll call you tomorrow, make sure everything\u2019s okay.\u201d Tricia gave him an embarrassed smile, lips pressed together. \u201cAnd I\u2019ll send the pictures.\u201d She rustled around and came up with a pen and gas receipt while Tom was still hesitating. A lot of him wanted to walk away, but he really should have prompted this next move himself. He still needed the watch, even if he managed to figure out what to do about the brothers. He rattled off the number.<\/p>\n

Tom took his jacket and walked up to the hospital\u2019s well-lit sliding doors, with the reception desk right there. He bundled the jacket over his arm and rummaged in his pocket with his off hand. People forgave a lot when they thought people were checking important messages. He stepped inside and looked from his phone to the receptionist. \u201cHas Mark Milton come in?\u201d It was honestly the first name that occurred to him, but reminded of Mark, Tom couldn\u2019t help but catalog all of his injuries. If he\u2019d been human, he definitely would have been here. Tom didn\u2019t even hear the receptionist\u2019s reply, he was too busy pushing Mark to the back of his mind and watching Tricia out of the corner of his eye. She got into her car. Thank the Lady.<\/p>\n

Tom nodded to the receptionist. \u201cThanks.\u201d He frowned at his phone and turned aside as if to read a new message. Now the hard part. Second hard part. Tom angled his body away from the receptionist and the waiting room beyond and tried to think boring thoughts at her. He was just some asshole checking his phone. No need to look at his arm as he shook out his coat and pulled it on, right arm first.<\/p>\n

She didn\u2019t yell at him. Tom drew one breath, then another. He wanted to be somewhere private before he started drowning in guilt. He checked for Tricia in the parking lot, then strode out. At least he\u2019d survived the night. Tomorrow was another day for dealing with problems he\u2019d caused himself. And for making apologies.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

The day wasn\u2019t done with him, though. Tom made it to his truck, parked it on the shoulder of a rural side road, and collapsed on his back in the bed. He lay there for a while, glaring at the grimy ceiling of the canopy, without getting out his sleeping bag. It wasn\u2019t that he\u2019d enjoyed Mark\u2019s pain, he\u2019d just been so angry he hadn\u2019t cared about it. He didn\u2019t\u2014didn\u2019t understand how he could have felt that way, even though he remembered taking those actions in crisp detail. He\u2019d wanted to\u2014what? Expend the anger until it was gone? That sure hadn\u2019t worked. Or maybe he\u2019d just wanted to burn away the remembered helplessness of getting his ass beat by Felicia\u2019s Spanish boyfriend. He hadn\u2019t been helpless with Mark.<\/p>\n

Mark had been.<\/p>\n

His phone rang and Tom immediately felt an almost overwhelming impulse to smash the phone against the metal of the truck bed lip above the liner. Hadn\u2019t Felicia set all this in motion, by inviting her Spanish boyfriend to stay in Seattle? But Tom knew better than that. This anger wasn\u2019t him. He wasn\u2019t like that.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t Felicia anyway. It was worse. Tom stared at the ROANOKE DARE on the screen and then answered before he lost his nerve. \u201cAlpha?\u201d He flopped one arm across his eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in a quandary, Tom. On one hand, I have Billings, howling to me about one of his roamers being viciously attacked and beaten half to death, and on the other, I have a pack member I\u2019ve never known to even sprain someone\u2019s wrist. It doesn\u2019t match up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom fought the urge to curl into low-ranked body language. Roanoke Dare wasn\u2019t here to see it anyway. \u201cHe attacked first. I stopped beating him when he surrendered. Then they ran off. That\u2019s all.\u201d<\/p>\n

A sigh carried over the phone\u2019s speakers. Tom supposed he should keep explaining, but he didn\u2019t want to hear his mistakes stated out loud, stark and incontrovertible. \u201cWhy?\u201d Roanoke Dare prompted, and didn\u2019t sound pleased about the fact he\u2019d had to.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhy were we fighting?\u201d Tom checked, then winced. Enough stalling. He knew what his alpha meant. Once he started talking, all of it tumbled out, more or less in order: the cemetery, the watch, Mark and Sean\u2019s apparent plans for Tricia. When he was finished, Roanoke Dare was silent once more, this time wielding it like a weapon.<\/p>\n

Tom couldn\u2019t stand it any longer and filled it with the essential truth of all of this. \u201cI was angry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Thoughtful silence, this time. \u201cThat isn\u2019t like you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom clenched his free hand. \u201cNo fucking shit.\u201d He coughed. \u201cSorry, Alpha.\u201d<\/p>\n

Roanoke Dare laughed rather than getting annoyed at the language. \u201cOnly you can fix that, though. Not even my daughter can. She told me that you\u2019ve been avoiding all of her apologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not ready to\u2014deal with that yet. Thinking about it makes me angry. And then I act without thinking to get rid of the anger, that doesn\u2019t work. It only makes things worse.\u201d Tom cleared his throat. He didn\u2019t want this to turn into a bunch of excuses. \u201cThat\u2019s the past. I guess the situation here isn\u2019t as bad as it could be. No one shifted in front of the human. There\u2019s room to shove things along the backtrail yet.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so. Don\u2019t think about my daughter for a while.\u201d Roanoke Dare\u2019s voice warmed, giving the vaguely familiar words extra weight. \u201cAnd your punishment will be to deal with the situation there. Walk it back. Calmly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom noted his alpha\u2019s choice of words: calm, not peaceful. And he could add one of his own: not so serious. He\u2019d do his best. He mumbled his goodbyes and started thinking\u2014not about the past, or Felicia, but what about he was going to do next. Here.<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

The barbeque Tom had bought was cold by the time Sean showed up at the truck\u2019s open tailgate, but that wasn\u2019t the point. The brothers couldn\u2019t get any warmer food of their own, not with even the bars closed this far past midnight. Tom opened one box of the three and nudged it out onto the gate. Though he was in human, Sean\u2019s ears practically perked up, under glossy black hair that blended into the dark sky behind him. The cold food must not have been giving off much scent as the boy approached.<\/p>\n

\u201cMark\u2019s fucking pissed.\u201d Sean paused a few feet short of Tom and shifted his weight skittishly.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe has a right to be.\u201d Tom looked at the other two takeout containers. \u201cHe\u2019s got to be hungry, after all that healing. I just want to apologize to him. Do you think you can talk him into coming out?\u201d He scanned the horizon, downwind, but didn\u2019t see anything move. Mark wouldn\u2019t be letting Sean wander around all alone, though.<\/p>\n

Sean considered that for a bit and slid his hands into his pockets. \u201cThat was all his idea, you know. I didn\u2019t want to kill her. She seemed nice enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we have to. I just need your help. And Mark\u2019s.\u201d Tom grimaced. \u201cKind of a challenge. Do you think he\u2019d go for it?\u201d Tom explained his plan, and when Sean laughed, he knew he\u2019d crafted it right. Now it all depended on whether he could apologize well enough that Mark accepted it. He was willing to sacrifice any appearance of rank, and his pride, but he didn\u2019t know if those would weigh against physical pain for Mark.<\/p>\n

Tom extended the open box to Sean, who dug with his fingertips. \u201cMm,\u201d he said, raising his voice pointedly. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll just keep Mark\u2019s share for myself, so he can keep sulking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShut up.\u201d Mark spoke softly, and walked up delicately. He showed nervousness, of all things, in the way he kept rubbing knuckles along the side of his jaw. Tom couldn\u2019t catch his scent to confirm his mood.<\/p>\n

Tom held out the two boxes atop each other. Mark should start eating while he talked, but it appeared Mark didn\u2019t want to come any closer yet. \u201cI\u2019m sorry,\u201d Tom offered. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t have tried to deal with the human that way\u2014but I\u2019m sure your alpha already told you that\u2014but I shouldn\u2019t have beat you like that.\u201d He paused. Nothing from Mark. Now for the pride swallowing part. \u201cEver since I got my ass handed to me by Felicia\u2019s Spanish boyfriend, I\u2019ve been wanting to do that to him.\u201d The admission sounded even more pathetic out loud. First he was too weak to defend himself, and then he took it out on others. But it was true.<\/p>\n

Sean looked up from stuffing his face. \u201cWere you really with Felicia? The Roanoke\u2019s daughter?\u201d The words were indistinct until he swallowed properly.<\/p>\n

All right. Time to practice not getting angry. Tom tried to answer without thinking about all the complexities involved. Sean didn\u2019t even care about those. \u201cSort of. Briefly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean rocked forward on his toes. \u201cShe\u2019s only a year older than me, isn\u2019t she? What\u2019s she like?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom was silent a moment, finding that he didn\u2019t want to call her any of the names he had called her before in his head, not out loud to people who didn\u2019t know her. \u201cIntense.\u201d That was true enough.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd she\u2019s single now?\u201d Sean grinned, like he was considering hopping a bus for Seattle the next morning.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy the Lady\u2019s name, don\u2019t you dare\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, Lady, no, don\u2019t\u2014\u201d Tom\u2019s warning overlapped Mark\u2019s threat. For a moment, their eyes met, sharing a certain protective exasperation. Then they broke the gaze to avoid measuring dominance. A feeling of empathy lingered, though, at least on Tom\u2019s side. He still couldn\u2019t tell what Mark was feeling. Mark had been trying to be mature and protective by dealing with the human as well, Tom supposed. The very same things Tom had felt when he saw the gravestone photograph in the coffeeshop.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyway. Felicia\u2019s not evil.\u201d Tom didn\u2019t realize he meant it until he said it. \u201cShe\u2019s just got so much shit of her own to deal with, it\u2019s almost guaranteed to splash out and burn you, Sean.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sean shrugged philosophically. \u201cI was kidding.\u201d Or so he claimed now, anyway.<\/p>\n

Tom jumped off the tailgate to set Mark\u2019s food on neutral ground, but Mark finally met him to take it from his hands. \u201cSo what is it we\u2019re doing about the human?\u201d<\/p>\n

* * *<\/p>\n

When Tricia called, Tom asked her to meet him in the same parking lot where he\u2019d been \u201cattacked.\u201d The breeze was right\u2014partially because Tom had scouted where the buildings funneled it\u2014and the three of them smelled Tricia approaching before she walked up. The day hadn\u2019t warmed completely yet, and the breeze\u2019s chill made it feel even more capricious when it danced over the skin.<\/p>\n

Tom and Mark straightened from leaning against the side of the truck and Sean picked up the end of his leash in his mouth and offered it to his brother. \u201cOkay, down.\u201d Tom sidestepped to give their tableau a little more room to play out on the asphalt behind the truck. He gave an exaggerated hand gesture, that Sean just stared at. \u201cMark, you say it, then pull him down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark glanced at Tricia, but pulled his attention back pretty quickly. \u201cDown,\u201d he said, without any conviction, and tugged on the leash slightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to mean it, or he\u2019ll run wild again.\u201d Tom judged Tricia had gotten close enough, so he glanced over and gave her an apologetic grimace. \u201cYou\u2019ll get arrested and Bear put down or something,\u201d he concluded, ostensibly still speaking to Mark.<\/p>\n

Tricia grimaced back. She halted well clear of all of them, but stood her ground when Tom ambled over without Sean making any threatening moves. \u201cHow\u2019s your arm?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

Tom showed her the bandage, which he\u2019d wrapped this morning himself. He thought it looked fairly professional, if he did say so himself. \u201cNo stitches. Some antibiotics to take, in case he\u2019d been eating roadkill.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mark tossed Tom a dirty look for the implication about his hygiene, like he didn\u2019t eat roadkill all the time in wolf, same as any other roamer. Sean, on the other hand, waved his tail a few times for Tricia. Tom knew wagging didn\u2019t feel particularly natural without practice, so he nodded in appreciation of the effort.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, good.\u201d Tricia glanced at Sean once more, then rubbed her hands together awkwardly. \u201cYou\u2019ll forgive me if I don\u2019t scratch his ears.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom allowed himself a trickle of relief. That was one layer of their problems peeled away, at least. Now they were just left with the gravestones and watch. And he had at least one plan to try for that last layer. A calm plan.<\/p>\n

He pulled the sheets he\u2019d composed and printed at the library from his back pocket and unrolled them. \u201cI took photos at the cemetery this morning and got my parents to ask around. I guess my great uncle recognized the writing. It\u2019s some lines of poetry.\u201d Not the greatest poetry, composed by Tom on short notice, but that could be blamed on the translation. He\u2019d made it bland, all about finding peace among rolling hills and flowing streams.<\/p>\n

Tricia accepted the sheets, and scanned the top two, glancing from the printed photo to the text beside it. She smiled, slowly. \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd…\u201d Tom looked at the ground. He was worried she wouldn\u2019t react well to this suggestion. But the translations might not be enough. He had to be sure. \u201cMy cousins live out here, and I\u2019m going to be around for a while longer. You talked about cemeteries getting overgrown, and clearing them\u2014I just thought, if you ever need grunts for the heavy labor, we\u2019re your guys. It\u2019s the least we can do.\u201d Mark nodded, not looking at her either. Tom could smell his embarrassment at having even considered killing her.<\/p>\n

Tricia looked surprised, then a wide smile suddenly bloomed. \u201cLeave the dogs at home, but\u2014yeah. Okay. I know just the place, actually. It\u2019ll take me a week or two to make sure I have the permission I need, but\u2014\u201d She laughed. \u201cThat\u2019s not an offer I get often. I\u2019m not going to turn it down.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom allowed his shoulders to slump in relief. Perfect. With that continued contact, he could keep feeding her safe information, stay on top of the situation. He tipped his head to release Mark, who strode off with plenty of slack in his brother\u2019s leash until they were out of sight. Tom only gave half his attention to the task of talking over possible schedules, double-checking contact numbers, and other business-like small talk with Tricia.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, and here.\u201d Suddenly Tricia had the watch out on her hand again and all of Tom\u2019s attention. \u201cI thought about it, and you\u2019re right, it does belong in your family. I just liked it so much it was hard to let it go. But I took a bunch of pictures for myself. I paid ninety-something with tax, so call it a hundred, and we\u2019re good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tom wanted to laugh with joy, to swing her around playfully, but that probably wasn\u2019t quite appropriate in this situation. Instead he dug out the cash, accepted the watch, and slipped it into his pocket immediately. He wanted it out of human hands, but that didn\u2019t mean he particularly wanted to see the painting inside again.<\/p>\n

Then he kissed Tricia\u2019s cheek, which turned adorably pink. \u201cRebound,\u201d she said, repressively, but with humor glinting beneath.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, gratitude.\u201d Tom grinned, then headed off after Mark, lifting a hand in farewell.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As promised, I have a solstice gift for all my fans today! While it’s a DVD extra for Book 3, exploring events that happened around the time of that book, it’s designed to be interesting for anyone at all familiar with the Silver universe. 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