Xander walked out with two large plastic bags filled with chocolate bars. It was a damn good thing; she was going to need a lot of bars. She unlocked the truck and nudged Shay who sat up, rubbing her eyes. She saw the little boy and grinned.
“I have a brother?” she chirped and scooted over.
“You sure do. This is Jack. Jack, this is Shay,” Zahara said, setting Jack beside Shay. Shay reached and drew Jack in for a hug and Jack grinned and hugged her back.
“He’s a werecub. Jack, Shay is a werepup. She’s like me.” Zahara handed over the keys to Xander and he started the truck.
“Are we a secret family now?” Shay asked.
“Yep. We are.” Xander pulled out and put the store behind them. Only a couple more hours and they’d be home. He kept the truck a little slower. There weren’t enough seatbelts and so Zahara had buckled the children into the middle one. His mind was spinning. Grizzly bear. What in the hell? He’d never once in his life ever heard or met anything other than humans and werewolves. He thought about the license plate of the vehicle. Colorado. He’d never been up there and maybe if he had he might have met one. He’d never know. What did Jack mean about they couldn’t find his father? Had his mother been going to meet him?
He’d opened the storage room door to find Jack’s mother tied up. She’d done it to herself, he could tell. She had also tied a gag over her mouth. She had also wedged a folded-up piece of cardboard under the door and it was hard for him to open it. He guessed she was afraid Jack might try to open the door at some point and she’d bite him. He saw the bite mark on her arm and her eyes were just starting to cloud over. She’d been bitten roughly a week ago, maybe less. He shook his head and his eyes slid over to Jack, who was now sound asleep in Zahara’s lap. He smiled, Shay was holding his hand, her fingers caressing his hand. Shay understood better than anyone what it meant to lose a parent.
Ž
Ethan shifted the framework in the yard. The solar panels were set up so that they could rotate the frame if they needed it to move. He and Reggie had dug a long shallow trench and laid the cables so they were underground. The battery banks and converters of the original system were in the barn and already connected to the power panel for the house.
He let Reggie take care of this part, since he was pretty sure if he got electrocuted, werewolf or not, it would kill him fast. He was a handy kind of man, but he knew his limits. He did the grunt work for Reggie and did what he was told. Rose took the twins in when they wanted to help. The two were very disappointed when Reggie said no.
“Sorry, this is dangerous work. You never touch electrical equipment, boys. You understand? Even Uncle Ethan doesn’t touch it. It would kill you quick,” Reggie said. Their eyes were huge and they nodded but there was still disappointment on their faces.
“I think that’s about it. We’ve got enough extra panels and converters along with the deep cell batteries to last us for years. Tomorrow, we’ll go over how to change out and troubleshoot. I want Lauren and Rose to learn as well. If any of us are hurt or die, the others will need that knowledge base,” Reggie said.
“That’s a good idea. Redundant knowledge. How about we all go swimming? I’m about to die from this heat,” Ethan said as he wiped at his face. He’d never been so overheated in his life. He hoped that over time, he’d get used to it.
“I could do with some downtime,” Reggie laughed and walked toward the house. The boys were playing on the porch with little cars that they’d found in the attic. Lauren was laying in the swing reading a book and Rose was snapping beans in a bowl. She and Lauren had canned thirty quarts of green beans earlier in the day. The kitchen was too hot to enter so Rose was working out on the porch.
“We were thinkin’ about going swimmin’, y’all wanna come?” Reggie asked and the boys jumped up like tightly wounds springs.
They jumped off the porch and ran for the pond. Rose started laughing and got up.
“I’ll go get the towels, I don’t want them drippin’ all over my floors,” she said.
“I’ll get a couple of lawn chairs and we can put our feet in the water,” Ethan said and headed to the barn. He heard Lauren laughing at something and Reggie was clapping his hands. The mutt, Rufus, was barking and the boys squealed with joy. He grabbed three folded lawn chairs and bounced them on the ground to get the dust and cobwebs off of them. The cow mooed and he knew at some point he was going to have to learn how to milk the creature. He shook his head. He couldn’t believe he was even contemplating milking a cow. He was an assassin for shit’s sake. He was a government sanctioned, highly trained CIA operative turned farmer/werewolf. He would never have imagined himself here in the middle of an apocalypse with a former KKK member with three orphaned children.
Ethan laughed and shook his head. He watched as Rose walked down to the pond with towels draped over her arm.
