Page 46 of Havoc's Fox
She walked away leaving him sitting at the table as she walked past her father, smiling at him and shaking her head to let him know she was fine. She touched Brandt’s shoulder and accepted a quick hug from Christian as she stepped between them and went out the back door.
Havoc’s Wolf raged in the back of his mind, trying to force him to go after her, throw her to the ground and claim her no matter what she said. Instead, he clenched his jaws, closed his eyes and reached for their connection as he had daily for years praying that she’d finally stop blocking him and let him in, even if just a little.
Suddenly his eyes popped open, and he sat there with a shocked expression on his face. He’d felt her. She’d let him in. It was only for a moment, and if he was being honest with himself, she probably didn’t even realize he’d slipped in, but he’d felt her. For just a flash of time, he’d felt her.
Taking a deep breath, and letting it out slowly, he got to his feet and walked out of the house. Things weren’t great, were far from good even. But he’d felt her psyche for the first time in years, and the peace it brought him only confirmed what he already knew… she was his one. She’d always be his one and there’d never be another.
He refused to accept that they were done. That was an admission that he’d never experience for a single moment in time, because he’d never give up.
~~~
Shortly after, outside, helping the family gather wood and dead trees that had fallen since the summer to add to their bonfire, Tempest felt a pull at her periphery and turned back toward the house. She walked toward the house, but stopped before she went in, realizing that was not where she felt the call from. Walking past the house down toward the opposite end of the road, where it became a dead end with a circle to turn your car around in, she wandered up to a two-story building with a work shop on the first floor, and a small apartment above. She tried the door to the first floor and found it locked. Peering through the windows, she realized there were wonderful things inside and simply imagined the doorknob unlocking to let her inside — and it did. She turned the knob and went inside, taking her time walking through and admiring all the sculptures. Whoever did these, presumably Everly from the little she’d learned, was insanely talented.
She felt a tug at her periphery again and reluctantly followed the cry of a soul in need. She set one foot on the circular metal staircase in the far end of the small workshop and climbed the stairs, intentionally making noise, intentionally letting whoever she’d find there know she was on her way up.
“I told you, to let it go. Go. Now! Leave me alone!” Analise shouted angrily.
Tempest hesitated, but decided that she was needed, so she continued on up. Only once her head rose above the floor level of the apartment above her, did she announce herself. “It’s me, Tempest. Are you alright?”
Tempest had no problem seeing in the dark, so she clearly watched as Analise who was stretched out along a double bed, still neatly made, sat up and quickly wiped her eyes.
“Oh, hey. I thought you were someone else.”
“No problem. I just thought I’d come see if you were alright.”
“How’d you know I was in here?” Analise asked. “I used the inside staircase so no one would see me going up the exterior stairs.”
Tempest shrugged slightly. “Honestly? If I open myself up, I hear souls from multiple planes calling to me. I unconsciously keep most blocked, but once I’ve accepted someone as my own, they kind of burrow themselves into my awareness and I’m more likely to pick up on their need. You’re clan, and consider Brandt your Alpha, so, I felt the need, but I didn’t exactly know who was here, just that someone that mattered to me was hurting, and that maybe I could help.”
Analise watched her spellbound for a moment. “That just boggles the mind.”
Tempest laughed. “Yeah, it can boggle a whole lot more than the mind if it gets out of control. But that’s not important right now. How can I help? What can I do to ease your pain?”
Analise sighed. “No one can help. This was a such a bad idea.” She smiled despite the fact that she swiped at the tears still falling from her eyes.
“The whole coming home for Christmas thing, huh?”
“Yeah.”
“Mind if I sit down?”
“No, go right ahead.”
“So, first, who made all those amazing things downstairs?” Tempest asked, turning the conversation away from the obvious issue at hand to hopefully make Analise relax a bit.
“My mom. She’s a very gifted sculptor. Or sculptress,” Analise said animatedly, dramatically striking a pose when she said sculptress.
“Yeah, she is,” Tempest exclaimed.
“This apartment used to be my dad’s when he was single. His work shop was underneath. He worked on air conditioners, and radios, whatever kind of machinery that needed fixing, he’d take it apart, fix it and put it back together. He lived up here. When they got together, they lived here together until he finished building their house.”
“The house where your family lives now?”
“Yes. The same house. He closed in the workshop downstairs so my mom could have a place to work if inspiration struck when she was home, but left this apartment because neither could quite make themselves change it. It’s where they started, you know?”
“I do know. Yeah, I can certainly understand that.”
“She’s got another shop in town, but works here more and more. Just takes the things to town that customers may want to buy.”