86)

Yuki looked shocked. My kid looked confused. The grandkids…

Sara turned on her mother. “Mom, don’t make grandpa move. He loves this house.”

Before my daughter in law could defend herself. Ami started in on her as well. “Why can’t we live with Grandpa? He’s right, this place is huge. I can have my own room!”

Drew was staring at me with a concerned look. I just shook my head at him. It just didn’t matter.

It was Aran who caught on. He began pulling on Brianna’s arm. “Grandma, what did you do?”

She looked down at her grandson and then at me. “John? I think we need to have that talk, now."

"If you will excuse us for a bit.” She glanced at her mother and Otaru and hesitantly started to reach out toward me. Only to stop with her hand half raised at whatever look I giving her.

“Is there a good place to talk?”

I shrugged and turned to head out the front door with Bree trailing along behind me.

Just short of the door, Drew caught up with her. “You already broke him once when you disappeared on him.”

I stopped with my hand on the door.

“I don’t want to hear it and I don’t care whatever the hell you are. Fix him or I will find a way to hurt you.”

I headed outside and began walking out to the flower garden and the gazebo I had paid to have built over the hole where a fountain had been supposed to be built into. Sitting down on one bench I waited and a moment later she sat down opposite me before I started to speak.

“You got what you wanted. I don’t even mind since it was for the kids. I got the money you arranged for me to get. I headed right to the place you chose so they had a safe place to stay. You turned me into a werewolf so I could protect them... Did you arrange for the sheriff to take an interest in me to get the locals ready to rush to my aid if I needed them?”

I looked up at her to see her leaning forward. Looking down at the ground with her arms crossed. Shaking. Her mouth opening and closing as she tried to find her words.

“I’ll get out your way, but I want enough money to support me for a while. To find a new place to live. John can have the house and the rest of the cash. I wanted this to be a place for my family, so at least we’re on the same page for that!”

I stopped as I realized that I had stood up and had began yelling at her. While she had began to weep. She pulled her hands away from her face. Which was flushed red with snot running down her nose. “I didn’t...’

Turning away from her I gripped the railing of the gazebo until the wood began to groan under my hands. “Get it together Bree. I waiting to hear your excuses so we can move on and finish your plans so I can start packing.”

She sniffed a few times and then blew her nose. After a moment she asked. “Are you done yelling? Because you need to listen now.

”

I refused to look at her. “Say your piece.”

I heard her take a deep breath. “I don’t do magic like my mother, or my sister. For me, I just try to put things into motion and let the magic find its own way based on my intent. It usually ends up being more powerful than if I try to force it to go the way I want it to every step of the way.”

“I knew Ami was coming into her power and I needed someone who could look after her and the other children when the time came. Someone good. Someone who deserved the chance to know his son and his grandchildren.”

“So I tried to send you good fortune. Some windfall to let you be in a position to take care of them.”

I heard her get to her feet. “I swear on my life John. That was all I actually planned.”

Turning around I see her braced for my anger. As always she looked so damned small.

“I’ve never lied to you John. No matter how angry you made me. I never lied, and that was the first time I even used a spell on you. I never even looked in on you for fear of my mother knowing I still cared.”

I leaned back and glared. “Then how did it go this way? The house, the bite, the sheriff?”

She sighed. “My magic tries to find the easiest path. My wards on this house made it a safe place. So spell guided you to it as a lucky find that resonated with one of my spells to another.”

Her eyes narrowed. “The bite? I think having the werewolves all around you created an opportunity for you to luck out in a way to make you healthier. As well as longer lived with more time with the family I wanted you to meet.”

She smiled briefly. “As for your sheriff. Well, getting lucky with her isn’t the type of luck my magic would have given you. You two found each other all on your own.”

A few more tears began running down her face. “Please don’t leave them John. Ami might be safe now. But when Aran gets older. Endora will kill him.”

I jumped up. “What now?” I looked around and tried to make sure no one was working some magic to listen in on us. “Explain.”

She wiped at her tears. “Aran is different. He can sense magic even at his age in a way that no one else can. No one but my mother.”

“The men. Some of the men, in her family, had the ability. But by the time she was born, it was just her and her father left with sight.

So he decided to breed it back into the line by forcing her and her half-brother together. That was the beginning of her insane hatred for all men.”

She turned and looked back to the house. “To have a male with the ability, a male in her own family... She won’t be able to stop herself.”

I took a step in her direction, but not quite far enough to stand beside her. “You? Your sister?”

She shook her head. “She did everything she could to make sure we inherited. But it skipped us and now Ami. I think that’s why I’ve been able to hide what Aran can do so far. She just isn't expecting it to show up anymore.”

Turning back to me she steeled herself and looked up into my eyes. “I swear this isn’t what I planned or even something I meant to happen. But if John and his children move into this house. And my Mother is forbidden from coming here because John doesn't trust her around Aran. Then it's the best way to protect Aran.”

“But if it means that you feel like I’m taking something away from you again.” She bit her lower lip. “Then I’ll still do it, for our grandchildren, even if I end up hating myself as much as you do.”