Every Sunset Forever (12 page)

“You are okay, aren’t you?” Jonathan asked.

She leaned heavily against Calvin, the oldest brother, and he kissed the top of her head as her two other fathers kept their hands on her shoulders.  “I’m better than okay,” she said honestly.  “I’m with my family.”

The group parted enough to let her mom join them, and they embraced again, each of them drawing comfort from the others as Whisper reveled in finding her family.

She decided she was going to stop referring to them as her ‘biological’ family and instead just call them her family.  She was lucky enough to have two families who loved her — the hyenas and the wolves — and she wasn’t going to keep them separate in her heart and mind.  There was room in her heart for everyone.

Eventually they sat down, and there was only a moment where no one said anything, and then they all started talking at once.

“Are you hungry?”  Lena asked.

“Are you tired?”  Calvin asked.

“Do your mates want to come in?”  Jonathan asked.

“Where are your brothers?”  Oliver demanded.

Whisper laughed and dabbed at her eyes with a tissue her mom gave her, and then she called for her mates to join them.  They walked in quickly through the open front door as her brothers and Bliss came from the kitchen.  “I’m not hungry or tired, but thank you.”  Whisper stood and hugged Bliss and then went to her mates.  “Come meet my family.”

Her parents stood up as she brought her mates over to them to introduce them.  Although they’d technically met through their Skype session, she wanted them to meet her parents officially.  Chairs were brought in from the kitchen and everyone sat down.  Lena said, “Your dads are grilling for dinner, and then I thought we could go for a boat ride.  It’s chilly, but it’s always so pretty on the water in the evenings.”

“Sounds good,” Whisper said.

The afternoon passed quickly as Whisper spent time with her mom and dads.  Her mates were with her, but kept a low profile, allowing her to have time with her parents.

“I should clean up and help with dinner,” Whisper said, as her dads left the room to head to the kitchen.

“They’d love that,” her mom said, “but first, I’d like to, or rather, would you like to see your room?”

She could tell that her mom really wanted her to see the room, so she agreed.  She left her mates and followed her mom up the stairs to the second floor.

“Your dads built this house for me when we were newly mated.  Their
baro
is from Florida, and I grew up here in Ocean City.  We met at a
gathering
, and they decided that it was better for us to stay here than for me to leave my family.  I guess they felt sorry for me, because I was only eighteen when we met and had never even left the state.  I think even when you grow up with the concept of mating to multiple males, that it can still be a surprise when you find yourself on the receiving end of all that attention.”  She smiled in a knowing way, and Whisper found herself blushing.

Her mother’s fingers trailed along a doorway near the top of the stairs.  “This was the room you were taken from.  After you were kidnapped, we boarded up the room and moved all your things down the hall.  I was afraid that when we got you back, you’d be scared to be in that room again.  I don’t go in there.  It hurts my heart.”

Whisper’s own heart began to hurt.  She hated that her parents had suffered.

“It was just like any other night.  I got you ready for bed, and the boys helped me read you a couple of stories.  They were always so indulgent of you.  All you had to do was puff out your bottom lip and they’d scramble to do anything you asked.”  She wasn’t looking at Whisper as she spoke, but staring at the closed door as if she could see the past through it.  “We all said goodnight to you, and I put you in your crib, tucked you in, and kissed your little cheek.  Then I closed the door, put the boys to bed, and went to sleep.  Your dad, Calvin, he’s a midnight snacker, and he always checked on you kids before he went back to bed.  But that night, when he went to open your door, he found that it was locked.  Immediately he knew that something was wrong, and he woke us up.”

Her dads broke the door down and rushed inside to find the window wide open.  A blanket had been tossed over the baby monitor so that they wouldn’t hear any noises.  The room had been sprayed with heavy perfume that overpowered any other scents that might have identified who had taken her.  The police were called immediately and the
baro
alerted.  All the males began to search for her, and the females stayed with her mom and brothers, waiting and hoping that she’d be found quickly and returned.  Hours turned to days, to weeks, and then years.  But her family never lost hope that she was alive and well and would be found some day.

“I never, in my wildest dreams, expected that your brothers would find you at a
gathering
or that you would have been so close all these years.”

“Oh, Mom,” Whisper said, turning to her as tears filled her eyes.  “I’m sorry.”

Her mom faced her and cupped her cheeks with her warm hands.  “What are you sorry for?”

“I waited.  You worried about me all these years, and I was selfish and afraid.”

“Baby, baby,” she said in a soft, broken voice, “I wish you’d never been taken, but I am not sorry that you were raised by a caring male who protected you and loved you.  I wished and prayed for so many things each night — that you’d be brought back to me, of course, but that if you weren’t brought back that you’d be safe from harm and loved.  Put away the guilt.  I’m sorry you were taken.  I’m sorry that you were raised away from us and I missed out on so, so much.  But I’m not sorry that you love your adopted dad and brothers and that they took such good care of you.  We’re here now, Whisper, together, and that’s all that really matters to me.”

They hugged, and Whisper’s mom gripped her tightly and sobbed.  When the tears were gone, they walked down the hallway, and her mom opened a door that had a plaque in the shape of a butterfly with the name ‘Savannah’ printed on it.  The carpeting was a dark rose color, and the walls were painted pale pink with white stripes.  Pink curtains, detailed with satin bows, covered two large windows that overlooked the front yard.  A full-sized bed sat against one wall, a pink quilt on top, and a matching dresser, desk, and nightstand decorated the room.

Whisper walked into the room and turned around in a slow circle.  Her mom chuckled slightly as she ran her fingertip over the footboard.  “Do you like pink?  I love it, but being in a house full of males, I don’t get much chance to use pink.  When I found out I was having a girl, I was so thrilled.  Jonathan said that your bedroom looked like someone had thrown up Pepto Bismol all over it.”

“I do.  The room is so pretty and feminine.  I would have been proud to have this room.”

She twisted her hands together and said, “I wanted to make sure that no matter when you came back to us, you knew I’d never forgotten about you or given up hope.”

Whisper looked out of the window.  The street was lined with one and two story houses on small parcels of land.  Nearly every house had a miniature lighthouse in the front yard.  She would have grown up here.  Ridden her bike on the wide sidewalks.  Played with other hyenas.  But then she would have never known Mack, Kross, or Kayne.  Mack always told her that she’d saved him when she came to live with him.  That if it weren’t for her becoming the light in his life, he wouldn’t have survived the loss of his mate.  And who knows what would have happened to Kross and Kayne if they hadn’t been able to find refuge with Mack.

Whisper turned and leaned on the windowsill.  “Did anyone ever speculate why you couldn’t find a trace of who took me?”

Her dad, Calvin, came into the room and put his arms around her mom.  “I could feel how sad you are, love,” he said in a low voice, kissing her ear.  He looked up at Whisper.  “Your old bedroom faced the lagoon.  The police believed that whoever took you used the lagoon as a mode of travel, possibly came on a small boat and paddled in and out of the lagoon before turning on an engine.  What did your adopted dad say about it when you were brought to him?”

“Only that they knew I was a shifter but not what sort.  Did I have a special blanket when I was a baby?”

“No,” her mom said. “You had a teddy bear that you really loved.”  She gestured to a pink bear in the center of the bed.

“The only thing I had on me was a yellow baby blanket with an embroidered elephant on it.”

Her parents exchanged glances.  “You were two when you were taken.  How old were you when Mack took you in?”

“Four.  Social Services thought I was two because I was so little, but the pack didn’t believe it.  Then I shifted, and they knew they were right that I was older than the police thought.  I hadn’t been physically abused that they could tell; I was just filthy and malnourished.  I didn’t talk for a long time, and I didn’t know what my name was.  That’s why they named me Whisper.”

Calvin said, “No one knows what happened to you during those two years?”

She shook her head.

Silence stretched between them.  Her mom cleared her throat.  “We’re glad you’re here now, honey.  And that you’ve brought your mates with you.  You must feel like your life is getting pulled in different directions.”

She laughed lightly.  “Yeah.”

“Well, we’re not pulling.  Wherever you decide to live, we’ll make sure that we stay in touch with phone calls and Skype and visits.”

She smiled.  Mack had said something similar.  Everyone seemed to assume that they were going to live in Kentucky, and maybe that was the case.  She just hoped that Kentucky would feel as much like home to her as Beyton and Ocean City.

* * * * *

Whisper woke up the following morning sprawled over Fade’s body on the full-sized bed in the overly pink bedroom.  Azrael was on the bed on his side, and Nyte was on a sleeping bag on the floor, having lost a game of rock, paper, scissors with Az for the rights to the comfy bed.

“Sleep well, sweetheart?”  Fade’s voice rumbled pleasantly in her ear.

She lifted her head and smiled at him.  “You’re very comfortable.”

He growled softly, almost purring.  “You made parts of me
uncomfortable,
wiggling on top of me all night.”

She wiggled experimentally, and he groaned.  Az sat up on his elbows and said, “This is weird.”

“How so?” Nyte asked as he got up off the floor and stretched, cracking his neck.  “Because you two selfish bastards chose to bogart our sweetheart all night or because we’re in a pink bedroom and her parents are in the next room?”

She giggled and snuggled a bit closer to Fade.  “It does seem naughty.”

Az whispered in her ear, “If you knew what I’d been thinking all night, ‘naughty’ is definitely the word you’d use.”  Then he spoke a little louder so his brothers could hear, “And it
is
kind of strange because we’re sleeping in the bedroom next to our mate’s parents.  There’s a part of me that wants to climb out the window so we don’t get caught.”

She grinned at Az, and he winked.

After a few minutes, they decided to get up, especially once their noses caught the scent of frying bacon.

They offered to let her use the shower first, but Fade said he wasn’t done cuddling with her, so Nyte went first.

“We should get up sometime,” she said, rolling to her back and looking up at her mates.

Az’s hand spanned her stomach, and she could feel the heat of his skin through the thin top she wore.  “Nah.  This is nice.”

“Bacon.”

“Bacon what?”  Az asked, frowning.

“Just bacon.  It’s a delicious statement all by itself.”

He laughed and lifted his hand to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear.  “You’re beautiful, sweetheart.”

She felt her cheeks heat in a blush.  “Thank you.”

Fade reached over and gave him a punch in the arm.  “Stop being sensitive.”

With a laugh, she hooked her arms around both of their necks and leaned up to kiss them on their cheeks.  “I like the sensitive stuff.”

Fade snorted.  “I’ll bet.”

By the time Nyte came out of the shower, she was enjoying snuggling with her mates and really didn’t want to get out of bed.  Even if there was bacon.

Nyte reached between his brothers and lifted her out, setting her on her feet.  “Come on, sweet love, it’s time to spend time with your family.  Once we’re home, we’ll have plenty of time to cuddle.”  He curled a lock of hair around his finger and gave it a light tug.  “You’re gorgeous in the morning.”

“I’m going to get a big head with you guys complimenting me all the time.”

“Get used to it,” Az said, reaching over and giving her a swat on the butt.  “We’re not stopping anytime soon.”

“Oh, okay, that’ll be a real hardship,” she said with a laugh and went to the suitcase to gather her things for her shower.  Blowing her mates a kiss, she went into the bathroom to get ready for the day.  She met her parents down in the kitchen where she helped her mom and dad, Calvin, get the massive breakfast on the table, aided by Bliss, who left her mates at the table with Whisper’s mates and joined in to pour juice.

Bliss asked, “When are you leaving tomorrow?”