Dawn Redeemed

"I'm not a baby," Fallon protested.

"You will always be my baby." Erica turned off the tap and pushed off her perch on the edge of the tub. She helped Fallon wiggle out of her t-shirt. "No matter how old you get. You'll always be my baby girl." These were cherished times that were all too quickly coming to an end. Fallon sank into the steamy bath and handed her mother a plastic cup. Erica filled the cup and gently poured it over her daughter's head, making sure every strand was thoroughly saturated. "I won't let fear break us apart. Ever."

After a thorough head scrubbing and conditioning Fallon shooed her mom out of the bathroom. "I can do the rest by myself."

Erica dried her hands on the towel and pulled Fallon's nightgown off the hook on the back of the bathroom door. "Ok, I'll leave you to it then. Let me know when you're finished and I'll come tuck you in."

"Love you, mom."

"Love you too," Erica said as she closed the door behind her.





Chapter 107

Torr looked out over the expectant faces of his pack. They'd come so far and yet had so much farther to go. He'd done his part and seen them on the first leg of their journey. The rest was up to them. "Quiet!" he barked, sounding more like his father than he'd ever intended to. The crowd snapped to attention, awaiting his words with anticipation and eagerness. The way they responded to him. The way they looked up at him. Left him with a deep sense of awe. These people would willingly and unquestioningly give their lives for him. He could almost understand, almost, how his father had gotten drunk on the power of his position.

"Tomorrow night we begin a new chapter in our history. I brought you here, not to follow me, but to join me in brotherhood. The old ways no longer serve us. The burden of the wolf has always been one of survival. If we wish to continue on, we have to embrace a life, not filled with strife, but one filled with unity and peace.

"My father dreamed of such a dream. He dreamed of one great pack. Unfortunately, he sought his dream by force and bloody conquest after bloody conquest. I command no one into this new way of life that I propose. Rather, I ask you to consider carefully and come of your own free will. No harm will befall any of you who seek to follow a different path. But, those of you who do shoulder your burden on your own. There will be no intercession by the pack. You are on your own. Free. Yes. But confined to a life of secrecy and loneliness, which is a heavy cross to bear."

"Come," Torr said, lifting his arms high up into the purple twilight sky. "Let us hunt one last time as brothers and sisters of the West Texas Pack for tomorrow at moonrise our pack exists no more." Murmurs of hushed voices and roars of approval echoed in his ears. Clothing flew into careless abandoned heaps as nude bodies transformed into wolves. Over the din, Torr didn't hear the familiar ring tone of his cell phone. His clothes fell into a loose pile at his feet. The hot night air covered his bare skin. The scent of wild, wolf, and pine was thick in his nostrils. The pain of his second shift of the day assaulted his limbs. Those last few brief flashes were the last thing his human mind remembered before his wolf took over.

Fallon dejectedly snapped the cell phone closed. "Dad didn't answer," she said with a frown.

Erica tucked the sheets tighter around Fallon's body and slid the cell phone into her pocket. "He's probably asleep by now. You left a very nice voice mail and I'm sure he'll call you back first thing in the morning."

"If he calls before then, you'll wake me up, right?" Fallon asked.

"If he calls and its not too late I'll wake you up," Erica sighed in agreement. "But, I don't want you waiting up for him to call. It's time for you to go to bed. I'm a couple of days behind in my work and I want to get an extra early start. Do you want me to check under the bed and in the closet before I turn out the lights?"

"Nope, my dad will protect me," Fallon answered confidently.

"So much for dear old mom, eh?"

"Sorry," Fallon giggled with a shrug.

Erica shook her head and flipped out the lights, "Go to sleep, kid."

"Mom...could you turn on the nightlight?" Fallon asked hesitantly. She was trying so hard to be a big girl and sleeping with a nightlight was something that little kids did. Maybe, she wasn't as ready to grow up as she was thought ... not quite yet.

Erica sidestepped the Barbie Dream House and plethora of pink Barbie paraphernalia scattered across the floor and flicked on the nightlight. "Better?"

"Yes, G-night, mom."

"Night, Fallon."

Erica gave her cell phone a last glance before she tossed it on the nightstand. Torr had a life beyond her and Fallon. It wasn't like they'd made plans to see or call each other tonight. She snatched the phone up and hit send before she could change her mind. The call went straight to voice mail.

So much for that whole obsessive girlfriend thing she was trying to avoid. Jealousy smacked her right between the eyes. Ashamed of herself, she returned the phone to the nightstand and grabbed a paperback. Lady Asher and Lord Croft were on the verge of getting it on in the last chapter. Maybe, Lady Asher would get her petticoats thoroughly ruffled in the next. At least, if she wasn't getting any, she could read about it. Anything was better than sitting around brooding over a man that was too busy to answer his phone.

Chapter 108

Morning came way, way too early. The new day escorted in by an incessant pounding on her bedroom door. "Come in," Erica mumbled sleepily.

"Erica, we need to talk." Alexander woke up early every morning expecting to find the tri-county newspaper neatly rolled up on his front step. For the last couple of days or so, waking up and opening the front door had become quite the adventure. "Hell, just let me show you."

Erica tottered behind her uncle's bounding boot steps. He was pissed about something. What? She wasn't sure of yet. But, she had a feeling she was about to find out. She tiptoed around the mess on the porch and gulped to keep the bile from rising in her throat. "What is that?"

"It was a possum," Alexander grumbled scooping up the bloody, fly ridden carcass with a shovel.

"Who would do such a thing?" Erica asked in revulsion as a trail of entrails oozed over the side of the shovel and dripped onto the porch.

"Most men give flowers or candy to show their interest in a woman. Apparently not Torr. I wouldn't mention this, but, this is the third time just this week. At this rate, I'm going to have more graves than I've got grass. I really hate to mow, but I really, really like my lawn, just the way it is." The rigid carcass landed with a hollow sounding thwack in the smallish cardboard box he'd scrounged from the garage.

"Torr did this?" Erica asked in shock and disbelief. Only a sick-o would do such a thing. The stink emulating from the left over possum goo drying on the front porch in the early morning heat was horrific.

"Not Torr," Alexander said, squirting dish soap on the porch and aiming the hose. "His wolf did. That," he said, pointing to the bulging sides of the box, "is how a wolf says, "I love you."

"You want me to burry it?" Erica asked meekly.

"No, I'll do it. Just talk to him. Ok?"

"Yeah, definitely. I'll ask for chocolates instead."

"I'll tell you right now, girl. You get chocolates out of him, they're mine." Alexander doused the front porch with the hose. Loose bits of possum guts and blood mixed with the bubbles and ran down the weathered grooves in the wooden planks, dripping over the edge into his flowerbeds.

Erica nodded and swallowed back bile. "Deal."

Torr awoke in a strange bed. Groaning, he rolled onto his back and stretched out the kinks in his sore muscles. Peeking under the sheets, he realized he was naked and he had no idea where he was or where his clothes were. He tried to piece together the fragmented memories from last night. A sense of great joy filled him as he remembered running and hunting with the pack. He got the impression that he knew where he was, rather where the wolf had dumped him off in human form. He just hadn't figured it out yet. Grasping the edge of the sheet, he wrapped it around his body in a loose toga and opened the bedroom door to find out.

He limped down the stairs, gripping the sheet tightly around his waist. Trying to look dignified as one could muster clad in nothing but a pastel sheet printed with an innocuously cheerful daisy pattern as he passed through the mass of people gathered in loose groups throughout the living room and dining room.

"Good morning, Torr," Eloise said in a chipper voice. "Care for some coffee?"

"My clothes," Torr muttered, ignoring Eloise's cheerful greeting.

"On the dryer. Come have breakfast with us once you are appropriately attired. If you run around in a sheet, everyone will want to join in. And it's a little early for a toga party." Eloise chuckled at his grunt of discomfort.

Torr followed the direction of Eloise's pointing finger to the laundry room and snatched his clothes off the dryer. They were freshly laundered and folded in a neat stack. Socks, underwear, keys, cell phone, and wallet on the top. Boots on the bottom. His cell phone buzzed angrily and annoyingly, announcing that he had a missed call. He picked up the phone clumsily in his fingers and read the display. He had two missed calls and one voice mail, both from Erica's number. Great. Awkwardly, he cradled the phone against his shoulder as he grappled with the sheet and his clothes. The voice mail was an excited message from Fallon. Torr hightailed it up the stairs nearly tripping over the sheet. By his estimation, they'd be here any minute. The last thing he wanted was to get caught by Erica with his pants off.

Chapter 109

Ruby was making it her life's mission, or at least her mission for today, to avoid Hanning. After her embarrassing display yesterday, she couldn't possibly face him. Luckily, the crowd downstairs was so deep that she should be able to keep well hidden. She had to admit the fact that she was beaten and accept her humiliation with grace and some measure of dignity.

This morning, she hadn't bothered with makeup or elaborate clothes. Her hair was gathered up in its usual loose ponytail at the base of her scalp and she wore a baggy pair of shorts and an even baggier t-shirt. Maybe, she should try with all the strangers here, to look more attractive. Who knew? Maybe if her husband wasn't interested in her someone else would be. Dejectedly, she conceded to the fact that if she couldn't have Hanning, she didn't want anybody else.

"Mommy, I can't see." Evan tugged on the hem of his mother's shorts and stood on his tiptoes, stretching to see around the crowd.

"Baby, there isn't anything to see. We're just waiting our turn in line like everyone else."

Evan was bored and tired of looking at nothing but the man's butt in front of him. "I'm hungry," he wailed. "Can't we go on another picnic like we did yesterday?"

"No, not today sweetie." Evan acted so mature for his age. He was usually very well behaved and intuitive enough to know what was expected of him. When he acted like any other almost seven-year old kid, it was a bit of a shock. Ruby rubbed the top of his head and sang the alphabet song in an attempt to quell the temper tantrum that was building like a tempest.

"Mom, lift me up!" Evan ducked under his mom's hand and stretched out his arms. He knew he was being bad, but he didn't care. He was hungry. He was tired of people stepping on him, bumping into him, and shoving him around with their big butts and other enormous body parts as if he weren't there at all. Nobody apologized to him when they bowled him over. They just kept right on going. Somebody had even dribbled something sticky from their overflowing plate down his back. "Mom!" he whimpered grouchily.

"Evan, enough!" Hanning pushed through the crowd and snatched his son by the neck of his t-shirt and hauled him out of the line. Evan clamped his lips shut and quickly fell back into the obedient child he usually was.

Ruby wiggled out of her place in line and mumbled apologies. "He's just hungry and a little grumpy this morning."

Hanning looked down at the Styrofoam cup of steaming coffee in his hand and the donut he'd managed to swipe off the table. A pang of guilt shot through him. He was being a bad dad. No matter what was going on between Ruby and himself. He'd gone about his own business and hadn't bothered to help her with their son this morning. Wasn't that the way it usually worked though? He got to play with Evan and do all the fun stuff while she got stuck doing all the work. Making sure their son was fed, bathed, and well cared for. He broke the donut in half and handed one piece to Evan to placate him and the other to Ruby, as a peace offering. "You want to get out of here? There's a nice little restaurant in town."

Puzzled by his change of heart, Ruby took her half of the donut from his fingers and shot glances between her son and Hanning. Nervously, she tucked a stray strand that had fallen out of her ponytail behind her ear. Evan was happy with his half of the donut, for now. Strawberry flavored crumbs fell to the floor in a shower of pink bits. "I...," Evan was eagerly nodding his head as he munched triumphantly. "Sure."

"I'll go find us an escape vehicle and meet you on the porch," Hanning said with a wide grin. He was happy, although the outfits, makeup, and hairdos were entertaining, to see Ruby looking more like herself than she had in a long while.

Ruby returned Hanning's smile and wished she had time to change into something better and slap on a little makeup. But, she wasn't about to give him time to rethink his offer. A cup of coffee and a cream cheese bagel weren't much to lend hope. At least, though, it was something.

Carter avoided the pack and they did their best to sidestep him at every turn. A nice arrangement actually. He preferred intimate gatherings to the shoulder to shoulder crowd amassed downstairs. The air was charged with the energy radiating off so many preternatural beings stuffed into a singular location. The one good thing about being an outsider was that whatever had the pack going wasn't directly his problem. And as long as it didn't pose a threat to Shayla, it wouldn't be his problem.

The Great Father, well, that might be a different story. The man had a rapidly growing power base. He had control of a large portion of the United States, legions scattered about on constant patrol, countless devoted followers, both human and vampire, and as of tonight, a majority of the known wolves in the country would join his ranks.

Carter worried for Drew and for everyone associated with him, including himself. No one with this much power could go unnoticed for very long. Carter had learned long ago, that existing in obscurity was much, much better than living in the limelight. The more a vampire had. The harder it was to keep someone else from trying to steal it away. Where Drew saw allies and friends. Carter saw potential enemies in wait around every corner. Pessimism was the only thing Carter could attribute his long life to. By expecting the worst, he was never, ever taken by surprise.

"Carter, you don't have to do this," Shayla protested for the hundredth time. "R.J. and I are fine."

"I want to. I can't think of a finer way to spend a glorious summer's morn than with the woman I love and our beautiful son."

Shayla smiled at Carter's slip of the tongue. He no longer called R.J. 'the infant' or referred to him as 'her son'. He held R.J. and rocked him with tenderness and love. In fact, she'd even caught him baby talking to R.J. from time to time. Somewhere in between falling head over heels in love and bouncing from one crisis to the next. R.J. had evolved from, just another baby, to 'our son' in Carter's heart. "They're your retinas."

Carter pulled the dark lenses out of his pocket and pushed them up onto his nose. "How do I look?"

"Like a vampire in sunglasses."

"Splendid." He sidestepped and held the door open as Shayla navigated the stroller onto the porch. Through the thickness of the lenses the morning sun was intolerably bright. He hid the pain behind a wide smile and closed the door behind him. Well hidden from casual view, at least a dozen blades, hung at various points on his person. To say that he expected the worst at any given time was an understatement. To say that he would face the worst fully prepared was an even bigger understatement.

Chapter 110

Erica pushed her way through the throng of people hanging out on the front porch nervously. Tightly, she grasped Fallon's hand, fearful to let go. She would not be afraid. For the most part, the strangers kept their distance and cast curious stares in her direction. If she didn't know what they were beneath the various shorts, tank tops, jeans and t-shirts, she'd think they were just like anybody else. Only, she knew they weren't. She couldn't help but feel a little like a lamb in a slaughter house.

Maybe, she was just as much of a stranger to them, but, she didn't think so. They knew exactly who she was and who Fallon was. Some even bowed as they walked past.

"Oh look! There's Marianne!" Fallon bobbed up and down, waving furiously, hoping to be seen through the crowd as she dragged her mom inside the house.

An arm snatched Erica around the waist and spun her. She squeaked in surprise as she was lifted off the floor and nestled against a powerful chest. Torr kissed her deeply, slipping his tongue inside her mouth and swabbing it around with passionate fervor. For a second, she kissed him back, forgetting her embarrassment at the display of very public affection. "What was that?" she asked breathlessly when he finally released her.

"Wolf greeting," Torr answered, grinning in his usual wide, wolfish, crooked grin.

"Yeah right," Erica said, playfully elbowing him in the ribs. Her face turned vibrant red as the sound of tittering little girl laughter reached her ears. "I don't see anybody else greeting me like that."

"They know I'd break their faces for even thinking about it," he answered, sliding a possessive arm around her shoulders. He bent down and gave Fallon a gentle kiss on her forehead. "Hello, beautiful."

"Aw Dad..." Fallon beamed up at her father. Just as any kid, her attention was soon diverted by the presence of so many other kids. "Mom, can I go play?"

Erica looked at Torr hesitantly. She didn't like her little girl being around so many strangers. Torr mouthed, "she'll be fine" . Erica sighed, knowing she was outnumbered. "Ok, but check in every so often."

"I will," Fallon called out as Marianne latched onto her hand and dragged her into the thick of the crowd.

"Torr, are you sure?"

"Absolutely."

Erica bit her bottom lip and slid through the mass of people toward her office. Torr was right on her heels. "I need to talk to you." She sat her stuff down on the edge of the desk and took a deep breath. A nervous, embarrassed flush burned her cheeks. How was she going to say what she had to say without sounding too harsh? When Torr was his wolf human rules and thoughts didn't always apply. A large portion of him was guided by his furry alter-ego's instincts and drives. "Torr...uh... I know your wolf likes me...but." This isn't going so well, she thought to herself.

She sat on the edge of the desk. She stood in the cramped office even more crowded by Torr's mountainous frame. She shuffled her feet uncomfortably. "It's just that my uncle. I appreciate the gesture and I know its not you...entirely... but can you not leave dead animals on my porch?"

"What?"

"The possum was really, really gross and my uncle is getting tired of having to bury Bambi's friends in the backyard."