Page 2 of Mating at Midnight: Book 1

Kenia places her hand on her hip, tilting her head to the side. “Then what is it?”

I peer at her, then respond, “The hotel has been bought by some bigwig from Texas, which is fine, but not only will I be starting my new position, I have to meet with him tomorrow as well. What if he’s nothing like old man Harris? I heard some of the other employees talking about him and from what they were saying, he’s an asshole. Mr. Harris cared about his staff and if the new guy is not like that, then I can see him and I bumping heads often.”

Kenia takes her hand off her hip, then grasps my shoulder. “Little sister, I have no doubt you will be able to handle any type of situation with your new boss. You’ve worked too hard to get to where you’re at only to let some dip shit take that away from you. Always remain professional but if he gets out of line; waitfor him in the parking lot in your wolf form and take a bite out of his ass.”

I choke, laughing as her fangs appear and she starts biting into the air.

Wiping away my jovial tears, I reply, “and you know I have no problem with that. Professional or not; you know one of my triggers is disrespect to others.”

“That I do, but you have to understand; you’re not the same clerk working the front desk. You’re now over those who do. You now have the power to train them any way you see fit.” Kenia winks at me. “That is what a good leader does.”

She was right. If I wanted to have a dutiful staff behind me, then I need to address them on the same level. I worked with most of them when I first started at the hotel. I learned some were human and others were shifters like me.

I weigh in her words before declaring, “Let’s load the deer and take it back to the house. Maybe, daddy’s outside to dress it.”

We work together, lifting the deer, then placing it on the back of the four-wheeler. After strapping it down, we hop on and head home.

Chapter 2

Nyah

When we made it home, we took the deer to daddy who was in the back chopping wood. Since our momma, Willa, passed away seven years ago from a rare blood disease that only affected female shifters, which is one of the reasons why Kenia became a Veterinary Specialist. While I appreciated daddy’s insights on life because he never sugar-coated shit with us; I missed my momma tremendously. When I turned eighteen, Kenia and I got Alpha Female tattoos on our left wrists to honor our momma.

Luckily, I had Kenia to help me through my pubescent years. Poor daddy, I worried about how he was going to take care of two girls, but he did his best to make sure we had everything we needed and taught us about our heritage.

He unstrapped the doe, then strung it up to start dressing. A lot of people couldn’t deal with this side of our way of life, but along with the rest in our community, this is how we were raised. We’re not savages, just people who like to stick to our customs.

After leaving daddy, Kenia parked the ATV inside the barn. We hopped off, then went inside to get cleaned up. I decided to take a long hot bath to relax. By the time I was finished and dressed, I met Kenia and daddy outside, sitting at the hand-crafted picnic table he made.

“This is so good, daddy,” Kenia praises, sampling a piece of back strap.

Daddy must have some kind of world record time in skinning and cutting up any game. It still astounds me, but I guess since he’s been doing it most of his life, it’s probably like cutting up a whole fryer for him.

“The fresh deer is a welcome addition to tonight’s meal. Thank you, girls, for that,” he says, taking the last of the meat offthe grill and putting it onto a platter. He sits it next to another platter of mixed grilled vegetables on the table.

I sit at the table as Kenia returns, “Thank Nyah, daddy. It was her kill.”

Daddy takes his seat at the head of the table, then spreads his hands out for us to take. “Thank the Gods, that was enough for you to come home.”

I wondered how long it would take for this conversation to come up. Daddy objected when Kenia told us she would be leaving for the outreach program. He wanted her to stay here to use her degree with the local wolves, but Kenia’s eyes were on the bigger picture.

Intervening, I suggest, “Daddy, why don’t you bless the food.”

Daddy kept his eyes on Kenia before closing them. Kenia glanced over at me. I shrugged my shoulders, then closed my eyes as well.

The prayer seemed to calm daddy down because afterwards we began to pass around the meat and vegetables. He cut into the meat, then took a bite.

His chocolate eyes flash yellow. His wolf was close.

“This deer has recently given birth. The both of you know the laws of our land, we don’t take those from their young.”

I swallow the lump in my throat. One thing about daddy, you couldn’t easily push shit past him without him sniffing out the truth. I started not to admit it, so I hesitated. Although I had every opportunity to take down the deer, I did see the tiny fawn hiding in the underbrush, waiting for its mother. The human part of me didn’t want to leave the fawn to be an orphan to fend for itself, but I wanted the kill more than the morals. Hearing daddy’s acknowledgement and to have that moment with Kenia giving her praises, all earthly laws escaped me.

“Nyah,” daddy calls.

Moving the potatoes around on the plate with my fork, I slowly replied, “The doe had a fawn, but it was too late.”

Kenia peers at me. “Really, Nyah? You know this is how we’ve done things for centuries. In these woods our wolves are the superior beings, but we let those live who will keep their species going. We don’t kill off the nurturers. It has always been that way, and it will never change. You need to remember that.”

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