Page 77 of Shifting Years
"In a little over ten years," said Dawn softly.
Once, they said Wyatt would have heartbreak in the eighties and he wasn't the only one. A little girl will grow up to be a teenager and wonder why a father and non-existent mother gave her up.
Todd's shiny gaze met my own. She's my blood but she's his daughter too. I forced the words out. "She's not abandoned. She's just healing somewhere safe. Somewhere we can't follow."
I turned to two ladies, wondering if I'd hate myself later. "P-promise me she'll be okay and that I can love her again."
"You will never cease," said Tina with her silky-smooth voice. "For all our power, we cannot stop love."
Dawn spoke. "You will see her again before she remembers you, but she will not see you."
Images of future birthdays with her sisters filled my mind. As soon as they solidified, I tried burning the images into my memory, but they fell apart like a sandcastle on the beach. My head flew back with tears streaming down my face. I needed her to be happy and be whatever she wanted but around me.
So why did I feel like a worse monster than an armored worm?
***
I already had Kleenex tissues ready for Kim and Penny before they looked.
"You know she doesn't hate you," said Penny.
"She was confused," said Todd. "But she eventually understood."
Angel and I weren't as close as we were with our other pups. Living in two worlds does that. She worked around humans who wouldn't understand her power. Even her new mate would never know unless he was latent.
A deep male yell came from outside. "Hey, rooster! You in this chicken coop? Bawk, bawk!"
Kim slumped, touching his red mohawk.
The door dinged and in came a grim-faced mountain of a man with a similar bright red mohawk. The hair dye smell said he did it recently and he used egg yolk to make it stand tall.
Todd and I lived through the seventies and eighties, arguably the Golden Age of Punk, but it was neverourmusic. Only certain men could pull off the look well. Kim's Alpha was a 'good ol boy' or Bubba as they were called in The South. He loved cold beer, football, and taking his truck out for spins along muddy roads. He was as far from punk as you could get.
Kim blurted, "What did you do to your beautiful hair?"
Jack, the big Alpha, slouched. "Dammit. I made another mistake, didn't I?" He tried running his hand over his head, but the hard hair stopped him.
"No, it…" Kim paused and my eyebrows rose to a sugar scent. "It's kind of hot, well,reallyhot, but you love your hair."
Some folks here got described one way. Truman was our comic book geek, and I had the restaurant. Todd owned the grocery store, and Westley was a former vampire. Mary led our town, Penny sensed fear, and Kim's Alpha had a beautiful mane of soft curls that belonged on a woman or fantasy warrior.
Now it was a tall, red mohawk like I've seen in post-apocalyptic movies. We used to joke he was more of a lion shifter than wolf.
"Why?" asked Kim.
"He did it for you," whispered Todd.
Jack shrugged. "Now we're both roosters." He looked down at the wooden floor. "I'm…sorryfor what I said about your hairand saying you need to clean for both of us." His cheeks puffed out. "So… I got rid of the mess I made and did the dishes."
"Dishes? Omega work?" said Kim.
His neck tensed. "Yeah, and I'm sorry about that too. You listen to my 'sawdust' music, so—"
"Country and Western," explained Kim.
"So, I should do the same for you." He reached into his jean's back pocket for his phone. "One of those punk bands is coming to Dallas, so I got us tickets. It's a bit back in the nosebleed section, but best I could afford." He paused. "Is Rammstein punk?"
"No," whispered Kim.
