Hometown Pride, page 13
“Are we giving a reason for calling them in?” Angelica asked.
“An outside threat?” Britt’s voice went high and nervous.
Mellie shook her head. “Sounds like a challenge to me.”
“No one’s going to be fooled, no,” said Tremaine.
“Wait, you’re challenging?” Britt asked, her eyes wide at Angel.
Angelica shook her head. “I’m a librarian. Ella would kick my a… behind.”
They sat in silence for just a moment as the kids clung to their mothers, listening closely.
“I want you three out of it with all the cubs,” said Angel. “I want you to go to ground. Mellie, you especially are known to be my friend and your family comes from dominance. If anything goes wrong, they’ll target you.”
The three lionesses nodded, but Mellie and Jess glowered fiercely while Britt, who was extremely submissive, looked ready to panic.
“I’ll make calls,” said Mellie. “Give me a list and I’ll call anyone I can.”
“Me too,” said Jess.
Britt shook her head. “Matt is Ella’s cousin or something.”
Third cousin once removed, thought Angelica.
“I mean, they’re not close, but he’s always given his support to her. Sort of, you know, quietly.”
“OK, well, you make sure the Ella supporters are informed,” said Tremaine, drawing everyone’s attention back to Angel’s tinny phone speaker. “We’re not trying to sneak in.”
“This is a blatant power grab?” Mellie said with a chuckle.
“It’s a blatant justice grab,” said Tremaine. “Angel, I’m going to email you a list. You divide it up however you want with your friends.”
“I’ve got Macey. I don’t think she’s done with her thesis defense, though.” She was pretty sure she said it less than nonchalantly, since Macey was the cornerstone of the plan.
“Of course,” said Tremaine. “I should go. I’ll see you tonight?”
The others were looking at her again, but with smug smiles and that teasing light in their eyes. She felt herself blushing again as she pressed the phone to her ear and narrowed her eyes at them. “I’ll be over at five,” she whispered even though she knew it was pointless to try to keep them from hearing. “I’ll make you dinner.”
“Excellent,” he muttered, his voice a growl in her ear. He whispered “see you later,” and hung up.
“Well, this is crazy,” announced Mellie, gently removing her somnolent baby from her breast and plopping her into Angel’s lap before closing her nursing bra and tugging her shirt down, “but I’d like to take a small break from the serious consideration of the future of our pride and our hometown to say that man is all kinds of hot for you.”
Angelica covered her face with her hands as the others laughed.
Britt sighed as her face went back to tight and worried. She started to gather up her things. “I need to call Matt and his family.”
“Britt,” said Mellie.
But their friend shook her head. “I know it’s going to be a transition of power, but Matt’s family stands to lose. My babies stand to lose.”
“It doesn’t have to be a zero-sum game, Britt. Ella has made it into one, but it doesn’t have to be. We will all be stronger with more lions here in the territory. We will all be stronger with our young people staying nearby and our children safe.”
She cuddled Mellie’s sweet baby close as she thought of the time she and her mother had taken a bus most of the way back from Montana, not long after her father died. They had only enough cash to get them to about a hundred miles away and hitchhiked the rest of the way. It would have been a great adventure if it weren’t for their grief, her mom’s anxiety for their safety, shame that they were broke, and anger at Ella who’d flat-out refused to help them. Still, they’d come home to Freiburg to regroup. Come home to safety and extended family.
She thought about her mother’s cancer treatments which had cost too damn much and about her own college she hadn’t been able to afford. And about Macey taking out insane loans and working crazy hours to pay for her training as a physician’s assistant. And about Ella’s brand-new luxury car and nice clothes.
“I can’t make promises that we’re all going to prosper right away or ever, but right now the only ones prospering are a few. People are leaving. How many people your age or my age live here and in Freiburg? 15 or so? Everyone moved away. How many more lions went to high school with us? Another 20? How many more didn’t live here as children and we only saw them when they visited grandparents or for the big meetings? Another 40? And how many have joined less dysfunctional prides and aren’t even on our rolls anymore? The pride is huge. We are down to about 500 people in the town and only half are lions. Houses and apartments and shops sit empty like a ghost town. Maybe 50 more pride members here in Middleton. 100 more within 100 miles. I don’t know what we can do to rebuild a town where there’s no industry and no university and we don’t want tourism, but we have to think of something.
“Even a few people commuting out every morning would help us. Bringing retirees back. Even a freaking café and playground that wasn’t falling down and a movie theater, so we didn’t all end up in Middleton all the time. I love Middleton and I love this café, but why can’t we have one of our own, too? Why can’t we have celebrations and meetings where everyone is welcome? And our people have a place to stay and friends to visit with?”
Britt didn’t look convinced, but she stopped packing up her things for a moment, her preschooler peeping around her legs.
“You know I’m not big and scary,” Angelica said, addressing the little boy who nodded seriously. “And you know I’m only half shifter. And you know Ella’s attitude toward half shifters. But without people with diluted strength, who is left? Nearly everyone has intermarried with humans somewhere in their family tree within the last few generations. If we go back further, we all have Indian and African ancestors. Some Chinese. A bit of everything in us and our common threads are human and lion.”
“Is this a political speech?” asked Britt, her mouth a wobbly line.
Angelica huffed a tiny laugh. “When have I ever been political? If I were political, I would have painted a rosy picture. I’m telling you this in my rambling style as one who cares about protecting our pride’s people and its legacy. What are we without our pride? Everyone’s a loner?”
The lynx brothers were not even trying to hide the way they were listening, one typing on his phone. The café owner looked up from her own cell phone and smiled when Angel looked over.
“I still have to call Matt,” said Britt, but she sounded a bit apologetic. “And his dad’s going to freak. But I’ll try to make them understand.”
She finished shoving her stuff in her diaper bag and said a quick goodbye and left.
The three of them were quiet for a moment, the children relaxing now and instead of cowering behind their mothers, begging for treats and the biggest ones going back to shoving each other.
“I hadn’t even thought of that,” said Angelica, still staring toward the door through which Brittany had left.
“Of what?” asked Mellie, wrapping her baby carrier around her in preparation of sliding her baby into it.
“That there would be people who are happy enough. People who would vote for Ella if given a vote. I mean, I knew those closest to her would because it gave them strength, but Britt’s so worried about Matt, who’s never been involved with the pride as far as I know.”
“Well, I’m happy enough,” said Mellie. “But I do recognize that you and lots of others have been given a raw deal and the whole town is suffering. Macey’s my cousin and she’s had a hard road. But then, lots of other small towns are suffering because the young people leave and never come back. Middleton is only slightly bigger, but it’s a lot closer to an actual city and the roads there are good, so people commute from here.”
She shrugged and plucked her baby from Angelica’s arms and slid her into the carrier. “And with JaQuan and DeAnthony also proud of our Singh blood, our family would like to see Ella ousted. It almost doesn’t matter by whom.” She wrinkled her nose. “And new blood in town, because JaQuan and I are fourth cousins and mated to each other and I’d like my family tree to branch better.”
Jessica was similarly preparing to leave, convincing her preschooler to stay in the stroller with a chunk of scone and fast work on the seat belt. “And I think I’m related to both sides, but Dan Monroe was my cousin. First cousin, not even distantly related like I am to just about everyone else. And I’d been trying to find a home for his boys when they ran away.” She made air quotes around “ran away,” then pursed her lips. Angel had told her she’d heard they were safe, but hadn’t shared any other info.
Except for Britt, they all went out to the park in the middle of Middleton for a while, enjoying the fall sunlight. Angel was pensive as she watched the kids toddle and crawl and climb. Would this ouster drive a wedge through what was left of the pride? And drive friends apart? Maybe trying to fix it, they would make it worse. Her phone buzzed and she found an email from Tremaine with a list of forty names and phone numbers. She sighed and sent a few of the names and the information about the meeting on to Jessica and Mellie and then kissed the children goodbye and went back to Carol’s place to make phone calls.
“’Lo,” was the grunt she got on her first call.
“Mace? It’s Angel.”
She heard rustling. “What’s up?”
“Did I wake you? I’m sorry.”
“Anytime, babe.” Macey yawned hugely in her ear. “I was up late writing a paper and had a test today.”
“I thought you were done with classes.”
“Almost. Just these last two on health admin and my thesis defense – slash – oral exam.”
“When’s that?”
Macey sighed. “Thursday morning. I guess I’m ready, you know?”
“Yeah. So. Anyway.” She hesitated to tell Macey about the meeting.
“Ange. Something’s up. You sound exactly like you do when you’re not telling me something. Otherwise, you’d be complaining or super cheerful.”
“Well…” and Angel told her best friend what was happening Thursday.
Macey clicked at her computer keyboard and groaned. “I don’t know how I can swing it. There just aren’t enough flights from Vermont. I can maybe be there by seven-thirty if I get a fast Uber on your end. Couldn’t he wait a day?”
“Maybe I can get you a ride from the airport, but Ella called the meeting, not Tremaine. I don’t think she meant for it to be a full pride meeting, which is why Tremaine is trying to contact everyone.”
“Everyone? Or just lions who might be helpful.”
“I think it’s everyone.” She felt a rush of pride in him. “He wants a clean vote of confidence.”
“He also wants the dissatisfied people who don’t live there anymore to have their say.”
Angelica smiled. “Absolutely. Like you. I miss you, Mace. You need to find a job out here.”
Macey sighed. “I’ve applied to the hospital in Middleton and some of the bigger doctors’ practices. Assuming this works, I will take any job out there that I can.”
“Oh, thank goodness.”
“Because assuming this works, I’m going to be Tremaine’s beta or somewhere in his administration. If it doesn’t work, I might move there anyway.”
“His beta? Didn’t he...” Angelica was so surprised by her friend’s announcement that she couldn’t even form the words to tell her that if Angel had her way, Tremaine was definitely putting her in the hierarchy, but her as the alpha and him as the beta. Macey would be the roof as Tremaine fixed the crumbling building below.
“Yeah. You’re awesome and I love you like a sister, Ange, but though you are more dominant than you’ve ever copped to, you can’t be the beta. Ella’s daughter and Braindead are too weak to be so high in the hierarchy, so Ella’s administration is extra shitty. I mean, even her earlier betas only stuck with her for a short time each, right? An alpha needs to be challenged. I’m just the woman for the job.”
Angelica sighed. “You really are.”
“I’ll call Tremaine and talk strategy.” Macey sounded awake and as fierce as always. “I’ll talk to you soon.” And she hung up.
Her second call was to Carol, her touchstone and advisor and mentor and stand-in-mother, but that one didn’t go through so she left a voice mail. Then she hunkered down to make the rest of her calls.
“You’re not ready!” Angel spat out as he let her in his front door.
If Tremaine had been less busy and less nervous about the upcoming meeting, he might have been more rational about that statement. “I don’t see how waiting will make me more ready.”
Angelica waved her hand dismissively. “Most of the pride members I called can’t come on short notice or they don’t live nearby or they don’t care or they think Ella’s doing just fine.”
“I don’t know anyone who’s ready to be alpha other than me,” he growled. “You know I don’t want it, but Ella is forcing it. My birth father is still showing up all the time, but there’s no way in hell that asshole should have any power. Your friend Macey won’t be here. No one on the list I have been working on will be here and I don’t know if they would be any good anyway. You don’t want to be alpha. DeAnthony could someday in the future be strong enough. His sister and her mate don’t want the job.”
She growled. “You’re going to tear the pride apart. You said you wanted to rebuild the pride, but instead, you’ll destroy it. Win or lose, you’re going to destabilize it. If you defeat Ella, there are going to be five hundred challenges from everyone who thinks they’re strong enough to beat you. If you lose, you’re going to leave.”
“You are supposed to have my back!” He was trying really hard not to shout, but he was definitely getting louder.
She grunted. “Like I would do any good. I can run and hide and I can make snarky comments, but I don’t have the dominance to affect the outcome. If you challenge this week, you’re going to fuck everything up.”
He reared back. What the hell? He’d thought they were on their way to being mates, but maybe he was just some asshole whose sperm she wanted. “I can’t wait any longer. The bank account is empty. I had a forensic accountant go through the accounts and the evidence is damning, but I think Ella has figured out I did it. The town is going to shit right now. Not later. Now.”
“If you wait a few weeks. A couple months.”
“I can’t wait any longer,” he growled. “Ella’s suspicious. She’s targeting you and she’s making noises like she’s going to make Charity the treasurer. This is it. This is the time.”
“So you’re going to do this alone?” She bared her teeth in a snarl.
His heart sank. He had thought he was doing this with Angel, but maybe not. “If that’s what I have to do. I have DeAnthony and Perry, the two guys who work for me. De is strong and getting stronger and Perry has his back and probably mine, too. I have a lot of passive support. I even have my bio-dad and the dad who raised me. If I have to cobble together something precarious until we can establish a structure and find someone with the dominance and skills to run the pride, then that’s what we’ll do.”
Angelica scowled fiercely. “Didn’t you talk to Macey? She’s jazzed about being your beta. She could be alpha.”
“I talked to her and she’s trying to get back in time, but I don’t even know her. I just have your word for it.”
Angelica stepped back like she’d been slapped and Tremaine wished he hadn’t said anything against his mate’s best friend. His possible mate. The woman who was ready to tear out his guts instead of being his mate.
He softened his tone. “She said she was trying to get here on time to back me up. I can’t depend on her to be here at the crucial moment. We can drag out the meeting and cross our fingers, but Ella’s going to be making changes at the meeting. I don’t know her whole agenda, but I do have a place on it.”
What he had to say during his bullet point on the agenda was going to bring the whole thing to a head. The forensic accountant was affirming his findings and discovering more malfeasance. She also worked sometimes with the FBI, apparently, so the Shifter Bureau was probably eager to get involved.
Angelica was radiating hurt, but getting angry as usual. She hadn’t even taken off her shoes or set down her purse and she was turning to go.
“Wait,” he said, afraid to let her walk out that door. “I need your help.”
She glared over he shoulder. “I’m not strong enough. I’ve had enough boyfriends dump me because of ambition, so go ahead and be one of those.”
He grabbed her arm, desperate. “I’m not dumping you, I’m asking you to help me and stand by me.”
“Oh, I’ll be on your side when you’re alpha, if the alternative is Ella, but if you haven’t even asked Macey if she’s interested and if you fuck this up, I don’t know where I’ll stand.”
She turned and stomped out, banging his front door behind her.
He almost went after her, to beg or to yell or to kiss or to growl. He needed her and she left him anyway. She didn’t trust him to do his best for the pride.
No, she hadn’t left him. It was an argument and they’d work it out. If he won or if he didn’t, alpha or not, he would get her back. They’d figure something out because they already had a bond and her loyalties couldn’t be as divided as all that, could they? He had no idea what they’d figure out, but they would.
A couple of hours later, Tremaine considered the phone number ringing on his phone and sighed. He’d fielded dozens of calls already and was about to send this one to voice mail, but sighed again and answered, about to just tell them off for not re-listening to the voice mail he’d left. “Hello.”
“Is this Tremaine Jones?” The voice was vaguely familiar, but he couldn’t place it.
“Yep.”
A brief silence. “This is Macey. Smithson? Angelica’s best friend. We talked a couple of days ago.”
