“Your deal,” Ben said, handing Laurant the deck.
“How can you think of cards when Artie’s birthday is in two days?” Jet growled. “I want him taken to the pack lands where we can protect him. There would be wolves around him constantly.”
Artie smiled. He’d had this sense of inner peace since the visions the necklace had shown him. He stood in the kitchen door, watching as these people who had become so important to him argued over his safety. Where it would have annoyed him before, now it brought him a sense of tranquility.
He looked from one to the other and realized they made up parts of him. Laurant, his spirit, Sabine, his curiosity, Jet, his strength, and Ben, his heart. Then there was Tempest. Even though she’d just begun to hang out with the group during poker nights, her caring had touched each of them in every interaction they’d had. All his life he’d wanted to fit in, to belong somewhere, and he never realized he already did. Pulling in a deep breath, he walked to the table and did what he’d longed to do his whole life. He asked everyone to stand, then hugged each of them, gracing them with a kiss to the cheek. It was right, he decided. This was where he belonged.
“What’s going on, Mojo Man?”
Artie gave Jet a smile. “Over this past week, I’ve come to realize that for the past several years, I already had everything I said I wanted. I have a family, and when Ben and I get married, it’ll grow. If we have a child—”
Ben cleared his throat, and everyone laughed.
“I’m sorry. When we have a child, he or she will be the luckiest person in the world, because there will be these amazing people who are looking out for them.”
In an uncharacteristic show of tenderness, Jet reached out and stroked his fingers over Artie’s cheek. “You’ve only come to understand that now? You haven’t been paying attention then. I consider you—each of you—to be part of my pack. You’re under my protection, but there’s more to it than that. You all know what happened to my family, and then to Russ. It was you all that kept me from falling apart. We may fuss and fight at times, but family does that, right?”
Laurant’s laugh boomed throughout the house. “My family—my true one—isn’t something I think I’ll ever really understand. With our choice of meals, it’s not one of those things where we can invite them to Sunday dinner, you know? But Sabine’s lecture was a turning point in my life, too. I got to meet Rover, and then Artie, and finally the professor himself. My kind isn’t known to have a lot of friends, but the family we’ve made? That means the world to me. Even if you won’t let me see you naked.”
Sabine cleared his throat, and Artie couldn’t wait to hear what he had to say. “My whole life I grew up knowing there was more to the world than we saw. It consumed every waking minute for me. The more I learned, the more I needed to know. Then came the day when you guys came to me. Trusted me with the truth, and everything I thought I knew was blown away and replaced. Artie once said something about me being driven, and he wasn’t wrong, but I’m finding out that there’s more to life than I ever thought possible. And now, each of us has someone special, and that family has grown a little bit larger, but that only brings more love.”
Tempest stood up and raised a glass of apple cider. “To family and love. May the Earth Mother always see fit to guide us together.”
Everyone at the table raised their drinks to the toast, except for Artie.
“Tempest? Can I see you?”
She tilted her head, but followed him into the bedroom, where he pulled open the dresser drawer and extracted the box that contained the necklace. With trembling fingers, he opened the lid and pulled it out. Tempest’s eyes went wide.
“My grandmother’s necklace. Where did you get that?”
Somehow, the instant Tempest had called for the Earth Mother’s blessing, Artie had known. His grandmother had said he and her friend’s grandchild would grow to become friends. He gazed at this woman, whose history had been intertwined with his, and who had been the one to give him and Ben the chance to share their lives, and his heart could hardly contain the love he had for her.
“I think we have a story to share,” he said with a smile.
***
Ben drew Artie close. Everyone had gone, after assuring Jet that they didn’t need to move to a house on the pack land, and Artie had hugged a smiling Tempest, who hadn’t strayed more than a few feet from him the rest of the evening. “So you told her your grandma knew hers?”
“I did. She told me that her grandmother used to say a lot of enigmatic things about the people she would meet when she grew older. She never gave it much thought, since her whole life has been filled with witches, warlocks, demons, and the like. Personally, I think it was my grandma telling hers about our future. It’s so surreal that all of this was something she saw years ago.”
“So did Tempest’s grandma say how it all ended up?”
“Her knowledge of future events stopped right before my birthday,” he replied, snuggling deeper into Ben’s embrace. “She told Tempest there was a lot she didn’t know, and it’s probably better that way. If you knew how you were going to die, would you stop living because of it?”
Ben thought about it for a few moments. “I see what you mean. It would be impossible for me, I think.”
“I believe that’s why my grandma cut herself off from the world. She knew too many things. Saw the lives and deaths of people. I’m glad she had her friend, but wish she had been able to see the world.”
“If that was your grandmother who came here, why didn’t she warn me about what was coming?”
“Same reason, I’d guess. Who wants to know the future? If we knew, and tried to change it, we could have made things much worse for someone. No, I’d rather not know and face it with you, than to try to hide from it alone.”
“We’re going to celebrate your birthday, you know.”
“Yeah, I know. I’m not afraid. I probably should be, but I can’t find it in me. I watched my grandmother die. I don’t understand what’s going to happen, but if what I saw is true, in two days my whole life may very well change. That necklace holds a bit of my soul that is keeping me safe, or so they say.”
“If that’s true, then how were the demons able to hurt you?”
“We may never know the answer to that question. But it’s okay. Tomorrow you’ll go to work like normal. I’ll stop by the new house to see how it’s progressing. I’m not going to change my life for something that might happen. I’m tired of living my life without living my life, if that makes any sense.”
Ben wrapped his arms around Artie’s waist and kissed his neck. “It makes perfect sense. Now, should we talk about your birthday spanking?”
***
“Happy birthday, Artie.”
Ben nuzzled his neck, sucking up a hickey that had Artie moaning. Thirty years. Twenty-nine of them cut off from most everyone because of fear, but in these past months, he’d burst out of his shell because of this man.
“Where’s my present?”
Ben pressed his erection into Artie’s hip. “Got it right here.”
Artie glanced at the clock and laughed. “I may have to unwrap it later. You need to be to work in an hour.”
Ben hesitated a beat too long. “Not going today.”
With a deep sigh, Artie turned over to face his lover. “We talked about this. We don’t know what’s going to happen. Jet’s going to have someone patrol the area. He put Celeste in charge of my security. I said it was overkill, but you can’t tell the Alpha no. And Tempest is coming over later, too. I’d like to ask her to officiate our wedding, if it’s okay with you.”
Ben gave that smile which warmed Artie all over. “I think it would be perfect. I—we—both owe her so much. No, wait, that’s not right. You don’t owe family, you pull them close and thank them. I never thought I could count a wolf, a demon, a witch, a vampire, and a ghost as part of my loved ones, but I do. I’m thankful for them every day.”
“I’m glad. So you see, I’m well taken care of and you need to live your life, too. Get up, get dressed, and go make the city safe.”
He knew Ben wanted to refuse. He’d dropped not so subtle hints that he should be here today, but it had been twenty-five years since his grandmother’s death, and neither he nor Ben could stop living because of what the future might be. If something were to happen, it could be today, it could be next month, or hell, even twenty years. Laurant had said demons were practically immortal, so it wasn’t like they needed to act in haste.
Despite his protests, Ben left the house with just enough time to get to work. He’d made Artie promise to keep the door closed, not to let anyone he didn’t know in, and call if there were problems. Artie hoped Ben didn’t hear his sigh of relief when he finally left.
A few dozen phone calls to check on the status of the house—even paying extra could only get them to get it fixed up so quickly—and a call to Ally to talk about the wedding, and before he realized it, it was lunch time. He made a grilled cheese sandwich with sliced tomato, and a bowl of soup, then sat on the couch to take a lunch break. He’d just finished the last of his meal when there was a knock on the door. Dutifully, he checked the peephole and grinned when he saw Tempest. He hadn’t told Ben, but he wanted her to help him put together something special as a gift for his husband-to-be. He threw open the door and his blood turned to ice.
A bulky demon with charcoal gray scales stood there, holding Tempest by the scruff of her neck. Artie flinched from the acrid smell of charred flesh and stumbled back, trying desperately not to throw up. The demon casually tossed her body onto the floor and stepped over it.
“Happy birthday, Arthur. I hope you like your gift. It took me ever so long to pick it out for you.”
Artie couldn’t tear his gaze away from Tempest. A glint of light caught his attention. She was wearing the necklace he knew he’d put away, the one that their grandmothers had shared.
Then the demon took a step toward the door, leaving Artie broken inside.
~~Finis~~