Tatum and Henry

POV – Tatum

“Are you ready?” Jed, my stepbrother asks as he takes my hand. I scan the open-plan living space one more time.

“Yeah,” I say. I know the cleaner will come in sometime during the week, and our scents will disappear, but, oh well.

I place Rhiannon in her baby seat and buckle her in before getting into the driver seat and taking off.

“Oh shit,” I swear as we head towards the National Park.

“What?” Jed asks.

“We’re still bound to the pack,” I state.

“Don’t worry, let’s get to the boarder and I’ll tell you what we need to do,” Jed says.

“Okay,” I agree. I park in front of the tree with the ‘no entry, private property,’ sign nailed to it. Jed gets out of the car, and I follow him.

“Repeat after me,” Jed says.

“I Jed Delaney, rescind my position in the Silva Luporum pack,” he says. Jed then holds his head, in pain.

“Are you okay Jed?” I ask, running over to him and pulling him into a hug.

“Yeah, I just felt my link to the pack break,” he replies. He then stands up and looks at me. I nod, knowing it’s my turn to break my bond.

“I, Tatum Sullivan Erstad, rescind my position in the Silva Luporum pack,” I state. Immediately I feel an ache in my head as my link to the pack severs.

After the pain subsides, I stand back up and sigh.

“Oh shoot, I forgot something,” I then say, running back to the car and pulling two things out of my handbag.

“What is it?” Jed asks.

“My phone,” I smile, chucking it into the woods. I then look at the bank card my mate Henry gave me to access his account. I bend and fold it in two, pulling the card apart. I give Jed one half and we both throw it into the bush.

“Let’s go,” I smile at Jed. He nods.

“Let’s go,” he replies. We fist-bump each other and walk back to the car.

<<//\\|\/|//\\>>

I drive all day, only stopping for food and petrol. I had been taking some money out of Henry’s bank account since the Christmas day, when Jed asked me if we could move in with my dad’s cousin. I haven’t taken much, about six-hundred dollars only, and I have my own savings and account from when I worked at the diner anyway, but this doesn’t stop me from feeling guilty.

While I drive, I think about what had been happening in our lives since the birth of my baby girl, Rhiannon, in October. Henry, my mate, took two weeks off work to be with us when Rhiannon was born. He was attentive and loving. But after he returned to work, he changed. He became distant, cold. He stopped taking Jed to school and coming home. Days would pass and we wouldn’t see him. Days turned to weeks, my birthday, his birthday passed, and still not a word.

I tried to make an effort, I tried to keep in touch. I asked to have lunch with him one time, and Alpha Bridie and Luno Paul joined us. The words he said to me will forever haunt me, ‘Did you have the baby naturally, or was she cut out of you?’ Luno Paul had asked me, just like the man who had kidnapped me had threatened. I tried to get Henry’s attention, to see my fear, but he didn’t. Tears roll down my face and I feel Jed’s hand squeeze my arm as I drive. I know I’m scared, but I feel guilty that Jed has to be the strong one out of us two.

I tried to keep in contact with his parents, I did. But I don’t really know them very well and without Henry, our contact became less and less. I felt increasingly isolated and alone. I mourned my mum for the help and love I would have gotten had she been alive. I was too shy to open up to everything that was going on with Henry and ask them for that.

<<||\\//\\//||>>

We spend one night at a roadside motel and then leave early the next day for my cousin’s.

Eight hours later and I have a sleeping baby in my arms as I’m standing outside the door of my dad’s cousin. Jed knocks and we wait for the door to open.

A middle-aged woman opens the door and smiles when she sees me. I look at the woman who I remember meeting as a child. Before my dad passed away we would go to his family gatherings, but she would always be with the adults and I would be with the kids. Genevieve was older now and heavier, no longer the young adult from my memories.

“Tatum! Look at you, all grown up,” she smiles, then she turns to Jed.

“Hello young man, and who may you be?” she asks him.

“I’m Jedediah Delaney, and I’m all grown up too,” he says, holding out her hand for her.

“Well, Mr. Jedediah Delaney, I am Genevieve Sullivan, I am your dad’s cousin, and it’s an honour to be in your presence,” she says, shaking Jed’s hand.

“Come in, you must be tired,” Genevieve says, closing the door as we walk into her house. She leads us down the hallway towards two rooms.

“This room can be yours Jed,” she says, opening a door. I walk in and see a small room with a single bed in it. It looks good, small, but perfect for one.

“And this room, is for you,” she smiles, showing me a middle-sized room with a double bed and a bassinet in it.

“Where did you get the bassinet?” I ask, placing Rhiannon into it. She almost fits into it entirely.

“My cousin has four children, but it looks like you may need a cot,” she muses.

“Thank you, Genevieve,” I say, giving her a hug.

“I bet you’re both hungry,” she says.

“Yeah!” Jed cries out. I smile and we walk into the kitchen.

Jed and I watch Genevieve heat up some lasagne in the microwave and then place two plates in front of us. Jed smiles and eats it up quickly, asking if she has any more. Genevieve chuckles and goes back to the freezer to get out her left-over lasagne.

//\\//\\//\\

Having a small baby you’re still feeding means sleeping through the night is still interrupted by feeds, and I’m still tired when I wake up the following morning. I walk into the kitchen and see Jed sitting down at the kitchen table with Genevieve eating cereal for breakfast.

“Good morning, Tate, you’ll find some cereal in the pantry and milk in the fridge,” Genevieve offers.

“Thanks,” I reply.

“Jed and I were talking, and he says he likes doing karate, just like Jason,” Genevieve smiles. I nod in agreement. Jed is seven, and his age means that there is no way that he is related to my father, Jason. I gained custody of Jed when our parents, my mother and my stepfather, were killed a year ago.

It’s school holidays and unlike most little boys his age, Jed is outside in the garden playing with some outdoor toys Genevieve bought for him when she agreed on having us live with her. I grab a playmat and spread it out on the ground outside so I can bring Rhiannon out and watch my little family enjoy playing in the sun.

I walk back inside to pick up Rhiannon when I hear Genevieve open the door and let some people inside the house. Adjusting Rhiannon on my hip I walk into the living room and see two women talking to Genevieve. One looks slightly older than the younger one, who is holding a toddler.

“Hi,” I greet, looking at them both.

“Hi, I’m Vas,” the younger woman with dark brown-hair and brown eyes with the toddler in her arms greets.

“And I’m Margot, Genevieve’s cousin,” the older woman with lighter brown hair and dark blue eyes greets.

“It’s nice to meet you,” I smile. Both woman nod and the toddler in Vas’s arms wiggles on her hip.

“Baby,” the toddler says.

“This is Zoe,” Vas smiles, indicating her daughter with light blonde hair and green eyes. Her daughter looks a little bit like Vas, but I guess her features are more like her fathers.

“I didn’t expect to see you today, Margot, I was going to call you about getting a cot for Rhiannon, she’s too big for a bassinet,” Genevieve says.

“Oh, we needed to come by anyway,” Margot says, looking at me.

“Yes,” Vas agrees, purposely taking her hair and sweeping it over to the other side of her shoulder, revealing a bite mark on her neck.

I take a step back, unsure what to make of this. Genevieve doesn’t have a mark on her neck, and I had deliberately not mentioned my connection with werewolves because I wasn’t sure how much Genevieve knew.

“Um, sure, I was just going to go outside" I say, walking out through the back door and putting Rhiannon on the playmat.

“How old is she?” Vas asks me.

“Almost four months. Yours?” I ask, watching Zoe sit down and join Rhiannon.

“Twenty-six months,” Vas smiles. Jed walks up to us then.

“Hello,” Margot greets.

“Hi, I’m Jed,” Jed says, introducing himself.

“Hello Jed. How old are you?” Margot then asks.

“Seven,” Jed smiles.

“I have a son close to your age, William. My names Margot,” she says, offering her hand to Jed, who shakes it.

“I’m Vas,” Vas says, offering her hand. Jed shakes her hand as well and then looks at them quizzically.

“Are you werewolves?” he asks them. They both grin.

“I am,” Margot states.

“I have the genes, but I was born human,” Vas says. Jed nods.

“Okay!” he smiles, running off to continue kicking his ball around.

“He took that well,” Vas observes. I nod.

“He’s been through a lot this past year,” I admit.

“And so have you. Would you like to tell us about it?” Margot asks.

I look at them both and don’t reply. I don’t know these women, but there is something about them both that makes me want to trust them.

“Well,” Margot says, adjusting herself on her seat, “my name is Margot Hembry, and Vas here is a descendent of a white wolf, her daughter Zoe is also a white wolf,” she begins. I look at them. Vas smiles.

“A white wolf is rare amongst werewolves. It is said that white wolves are direct descents of the moon goddess herself, they are imbued with certain gifts normal werewolves don’t have. In my family, white wolves are passed through the female line,” Vas explains, realising my lack of understanding.

“But you’re not a wolf?” I ask Vas. She smiles.

“My parents were human, as were my grandparents and their parents, but my great-great grandmother was the last white wolf on my family line. I’m the just the first female born in four generations. My mate is a Beta, which is why Zoe is a wolf” Vas adds.

“My mate is Vas’s cousin,” Margot smiles, “anyway, we both work for an organisation called ‘Alba.’ Alba rescues rejected, lost, and refugee werewolves. Mainly she-wolves, sometimes males, sometimes families, like yours,” she continues.

“Like mine?” I ask.

“One of Zoe’s gifts is to find lost wolves, like her great-great grandmother. She drew a picture of your family with Genevieve,” Vas says, passing me a piece of paper. I open it up and see a kid’s drawing of two woman, a young boy and a baby.

“She told us all your names, Gen, Tate, Jed and Anna,” Vas smiles. I nod, taking this all in.

“I’m like you, Tatum. When I was fourteen, I escaped my old pack and came across Elizabeth Hembry, Vas’s grandmother. Four years later I learned that Vas’s cousin was my mate, and the rest is history,” Margot admits.

“Why, why did you have to escape your old pack?” I ask. I watch as Margot lets out the breath she was holding.

“My parents were deltas, but when I was ten, my pack was attacked by rogues, and they were killed. The pack I came from was small, and we lost a lot of omegas and deltas. Because both my parents were killed in the attack, I was seen as weak. My parents were seen as letting the pack down, so me, and some of the other orphans, were abused and treated like slaves,” Margot stops, tears going down her face.

“I’m sorry,” I begin. She nods.

“That’s okay. A few of us escaped. We went to the next biggest pack and sought refuge. They were wonderful, kind, friendly. They went to war with my old pack and took over them. Some of the orphans I escaped with went back once the pack’s hierarchy was taken down, but I decided to continue on. I ended up in Sefton and was found by Elizabeth Hembry. Now I help the organisation that helped me,” Margot smiles.

I watch Margot, knowing that everything she’s just told me is true.

“Tatum, can you tell us your story?” Vas then asks.