Mythical Mate for an Alpha

Chapter 9

It was still dark when I opened my eyes with just the slightest tell that the sun would soon be on the horizon. I stretched out my arms and legs, enjoying the feeling after being curled all night. I looked over and realized Trish was next to me still asleep. She had one arm over her head, the other over her stomach, and her legs sprawled out in a wide ‘V’. I chuckled to myself and slipped out of bed 

I grabbed my bag and headed into the adjoining bath. I quickly got ready in my leggings and t-shirt. It was the weekend, so I didn’t think I would need to dress up the same way as at school. 

I slipped out of the room and down to the kitchen. I took a few wrong turns through the massive house before ending up in the kitchen. Sleek stainless steel and deep gray granite adorned the counters. Everything else was a marvelous crisp white. It was a sharp  contrast to my wood stove and pantry basket.

I saw another door leading out the back. I made my way and realized I was on a deck overlooking the whole forest behind the house. It was simply breathtaking. I inhaled deeply, taking in the scents and elongated my ears. 

The birds were just starting to wake and I could hear the faint babbling of a brook. Turning back toward the house, I strained my ears to listen for any movement. Satisfied they were still asleep, I bolted down the deck stairs and into the tree line.

I stripped as fast as I could before my tails ripped through my leggings. I don’t think I have ever shifted so fast in my life, and that is saying something. I couldn’t contain the joy I felt. My first sleepover! I had friends! I felt like I had experienced a whole lifetime in a matter of a week. 

I took off darting through the forest. I yipped and growled, jumping over logs and rolling through the fresh underbrush. My tails were whipping wildly behind me. I tried to let out only one, but today they would not be tamed. I had too much excitement inside me to hold them in.

I found the little brook running a few miles from the house. It wasn't quite cold, but it wasn’t as warm of a morning as usual. No matter, I dipped into the brook and rolled around, coating myself in the translucent flow. I rubbed against the rocks, cleaning out my fur. I shook off and rubbed through honeysuckle bushes to perfume myself from nature.

I heard a twig snap off in the distance. Instantly I was on alert, reeling in my tails until I had only one. I crept further toward the sound. Soon, I picked up the sound of voices. About a mile in, I could see through the thinning tree line. It was their pack house.

I must have heard one of their wolves out in the woods, probably hunting. I hadn’t realized I was so close. I took refuge beside a tree and watched them for a while. I was surprised just how many of the pack were up at this hour and moving around. Pups too were starting to bound out of different clearing around the house, finding their playmates. It all looked so wonderful.

I could sit here all day watching, but it would be harder to explain my disappearance if Trish realized I was missing.  Reluctantly, I pulled myself away and slowly made my way back toward the house. I passed a vibrant looking rhubarb plant on my way back and pulled it out.

I trotted back, dressed, and padded into the kitchen with my rhubarb. I decided a nice breakfast and pie as thanks for having me was a proper gesture. Well, I hoped it was anyway. I knew that some human women became offended with strangers cooking in their kitchen. Though, 1950 was a pretty odd time for women anyway. 

Rummaging through the cabinets I hummed to myself and got to work. I found eggs, bacon, flour, and a slew of other ingredients. I had never worked in a kitchen this glorious in my life. I wondered if Orla and Andre would come for breakfast. SInce it was the weekend, I figured it would be better to have too much than to have too little. 

I got to work on the pies. Once they were safely in the oven I started working on breakfast. If I recalled correctly, even wolves liked coffee. It took a bit of trial and error, but I eventually figured out how to work the coffee dripper. Thankfully, Mrs. Anders had just as much tea and honey as coffee. 

I was so lost in my pancake perfecting that I didn’t hear the other person that had entered the room. I continued to flip bacon and wrestle with pancakes as the pie timer went off. Afraid it would wake someone, I rushed to the over and pulled them both out. 

“Those smell delicious”. Came a voice from behind me. 

I was so scared, a growl ripped from my lips and immediately I could feel my claws and canines elongate. I turned to find Mrs. Anders leaning against the doorway. She was fully clothed in soft white linen pants that exposed her ankles and a navy three-quarter sleeve shirt. Her black hair was styled half-up and half-down, while delicate jewelry adorned her neck and ears. Her blue eyes never left me, with a knowing expression across her face. 

All I could do was stare. I didn't know if I should run or fight. The panic was setting in. I have never been caught like this before. It wasn’t even her fault. My emotions got the better of me and now here I was, I realized, with fangs and claws. I was caught.

Slowly she pulled off the door frame setting her cup on the long pine table that stretched between us. I felt frozen in place as she got near. I growled again as she outstretched her hand. She paused only for a moment, staring at me intently with her deep blue eyes, before she started to stroke my hair. 

She continued to run her fingers through it as she brought me closer to her body. Soon she was hugging me tightly, whispering sweetly as her fingers rolled circles in my tangled red mess. In that moment, I had no idea what came over me. I burst into tears. 

For so many years I had been grateful just to exist. I always kept my positivity. Any negativity or doubt I had immediately shoved aside. My life was a gift and I wouldn’t let emotions make me see it any other way. But right now, I felt them. I felt the centuries of loneliness explode from deep within my soul. I never even knew it was there. 

My body took over as my pants ripped. Out flew all 6 of my tails. My ears grew. I just cried harder as Mrs. Anders stood there holding me in her kitchen. Heck, I was older than she was. I could have been her great-great-great-great grandmother. Instead I felt no different than a child. I guess I had always truly stayed a child, no matter how many years I had been living.

“Sweetheart, please calm down. We can talk about this.” her voice tried to soothe me.

“I can’t stop.” I sobbed.

“Honey. I need you to please try. There are vines growing out of the sink and I am pretty sure you have sent the bacon and pancakes up in flames. While I’m tempted to say that might be a coincidence, the tips of your tails are glowing.”

“Oh no! I’m so sorry.” I cried harder.

Mrs. Anders could only laugh. She stroked my hair again and then reached for my tails. One by one she stroked them with her left hand, and her right hand stayed in my hair. After a few more minutes. My sobbs turned to sniffles and I finally calmed down. 

She moved me to a chair and made her way to the counter. She refilled her coffee and made me tea. She sat down diagonal so she could face me. “Want to tell me about it?”

And so I did. I recounted every single thing I could remember about growing up in Oregon, not having parents that I could remember, meeting humans in the late 1830s, moving around, trying to fit in, my life as I tried to adapt to so many years of change, the whole nine yards. 

“So how old are you Kitty?” she asked once I had stopped. 

“Well, over time I realized I get my tails every 50 years. So, that puts me at 298.” I said, still wiping my nose and eyes from stray tears.

Mrs. Anders almost spit her coffee. “Oh honey.” She reached out and squeezed my hand. I thought she was going to make a comment about my age, that somehow it would disgust her. Instead, “That’s an awfully long time to be alone.”

I looked up at her. Her face was so intent on mine. I could see and feel the pain and sorrow coming from her. She hurt for me. She felt toward me every bit of what I imagined a mother would feel, if her own child were in pain. It was the most wonderful feeling. It was like I was seen for the very first time. 

I leaped from my chair and into her lap. She pulled me close and held onto me tightly She gently rocked me in the kitchen. Her chin rested on my head. She pulled back a bit and looked down at me. “You are a Kitsune, aren’t you Kitty?”

I pulled back from her chest and looked at her, nodding my head. “How did you know?” I was genuinely curious. I didn’t know that anyone else had ever even heard of my kind. I assumed that anyone reading about a Kitsune would think they were just a myth.

I moved back to my chair and grabbed my tea. I sippied it lightly, still delicious despite being cold.

She took another sip of her long chilled coffee and smiled over the rim at me. “Well, Trish and the twins had told me about you. They said their wolves could sense there was something about you that wasn’t completely human. We had pretty much ruled out witch and Dragon. From your skin and eye color, there was no way you were a vampire.”

It was then that I realized what she had done at dinner. “The serving spoon. It was made of iron and the pies were cooked in Iron. You were testing to see if I was Fae.”

She nodded. “Last night you danced around questions like a practiced artist. I almost forgot that I asked you anything about yourself. Every conversation you managed to maneuver so adeptly. Almost slyly. Like a fox.” she said with a wink, reaching out her hand to tap the tip of my nose. A smile crept onto my face as a blush rose up my cheeks. 

She went on, “You also slipped when you said that you were rotating winter crops. There was no way you could have done that with only just getting here to live with your grandmother. I knew you must have been here for quite some time. I went into the study after I left you kids and did some digging through my old wolf texts. There you were, among the pages staring back at me.”

Suddenly, her hand tightened on mine and her smile faded. “Kitty, do you know your history? Have you ever been able to read werewolf texts?”

“No. I haven’t. I have watched packs from afar as I moved around, but never felt bold enough to get close.” I began to wring my hands. There was a sudden seriousness to her tone and I was beginning to get nervous. 

“Come with me to the study. I think you need to read a bit more. There are some things about your heritage that I think would be best for you to know if you are going to stay.” She rose from the table expecting me to follow, but I was frozen in place. She turned back to me confused.

“What do you mean, ‘stay’?” I asked hesitantly. 

She walked back to me and cupped my face in her hands. “Oh my sweet Kitty.” She leaned over and kissed my forehead. “You will stay here of course. You will never be alone again. I couldn’t bear it if you were.” 

The tears started again and poured from my eyes. I clung to her with all my might. My tails were whipping furiously behind me. I barely registered the ground was shaking or the sound of splintering wood. 

Mrs. Anders tensed in my grasp, but then let out a sigh and chuckle. “Sweetheart.” she said, as she pulled back from me. “We are going to have to work on controlling your emotions.” She pointed toward the back door. The wood in the middle section of the deck outside the door was splintered and torn. In its place was a full grown Cedar tree. 

Staring wide eyed I gasped as at the tree and immediately snapped my gaze to Mrs. Anders. “Oh no. I can explain..”

She let out the deepest heartiest laugh I think I have ever heard. I soon joined in too. There were vines all over the kitchen, a tree swaying outside the door, and pancakes that now resembled charcoal briquettes. Today reigned supreme as the best day of my life.