Page 11 of Abundant Moon
William finished up in the kitchen, bypassing Robyn’s bedroom on the way to his favorite recliner. She didn’t enjoy company while working, always shooing them out but leaving the door open so her mates didn’t get anxious. Today’s goal; finish up the onboarding paperwork for Jarrod Hunter, Tom Kilburn’s future replacement at the Kalkaska branch.
The man seemed solid, with a clean background and excellent references. With him living out of town, a lot of emails and faxing were involved, and it slowed the process considerably. The last step involved setting him up in the payroll system and activating his direct deposit at the bank. She looked forward to welcoming Tom and his family back to Gladstone and congratulating him on his well-deserved promotion. She had no desire to live apart from her own kind, and couldn’t understand how the Kilburns had put up with it for so long.
Humans were fine in small doses, though great care must be taken around them - watching words and actions taken for granted when on packlands. It was too easy to slip up and reveal something they shouldn’t see or hear, and Robyn found it exhausting and stressful. Any shifter who lived exclusively among them for too long must deny their wolf, and she for one, thought it sad and totally unnecessary. Why would anyone do such a thing?
The haunting taste of dessert lingered on her tongue, and she took a moment to send a quick message to Perdy and Michelle. If the pack were to enjoy the new dessert, there wasn’t much time to get the necessary supplies or adapt the recipe for mass production. It wouldn’t occur to William until too late, showing up at the party with two pies for a hundred ravenous shifters! She sent the ladies a heads up, along with a glowing recommendation, and waited to hear the ping of William’s phone.
It went off, and a few seconds later he walked past the open door, wagging a finger at her. He fetched the recipe card from the kitchen, slipped on his coat and boots, and announced he was off to the packhouse to run an errand. Smiling to herself, Robyn logged into her computer and began entering the numbers for next week’s payroll.
Meanwhile, the quiet afternoon enabled Jack to concentrate on the difficult and exacting task before him. Given their age, the fragile journals must be handled with great care. While the leather covers were scratched and worn, the bindings were in decent shape. Unfortunately, the now-darkened pages were brittle and stained. Despite the faded ink, Jack delighted in reading what Hezekiah recorded for his instruction. Given how much new information he found in them, the long-lost journals represented a precious windfall of shifter heritage, custom, and practice - almost as good as listening to Hezekiah teach in person.
Refusing to allow the painful loss of his mentor to distract him, Jack gently relocated the memories to the back of his mind and re-focused on the problem before him. The journals consisted of four identical books, each of about a hundred pages - covered front and back with Hezekiah’s distinctive scrawl. Over time, many of the pages broke apart, leaving a pile of crumbled paper pieces. Without knowing which journal the pieces were from, where they fit, or what they said, Jack faced a daunting task of putting them back together and in the right order.
Though difficult, it must be done if he was to make any sense of what Hezekiah intended to reveal. Who knew what precious gems lay in the disintegrated heap before him, waiting to be re-discovered? Eager to find out, Jack slipped on the protective gloves, picked up the rubber-tipped tweezers, and got to work. He began by sorting the pieces according to size, and any that matched were set aside together. Soon, partial pages appeared – a center section here, a corner and side over there.
Instead of trying to reassemble them all at once, he decided to tackle the page with the fewest gaps and went hunting for the missing parts. By the time William returned home, Jack succeeded in re-constructing an entire page and prepared to secure the fragments together. Walter Denali had explained that the use of thin, transparent, acid-free tape was the only option, given the damaged pages contained writing on both sides. Later, when the journals were professionally photographed, some of the mismatched edges could be photoshopped back into place, leaving a like-new image.
Jack slipped off the gloves, washed and dried his hands thoroughly - and after a detour to William’s recliner for a quick kiss, returned to the work. Requiring a sharp eye and steady hand, the slow, exacting process brought the ancient page back to life and readability once again. Triumphant, Jack gently slipped the precious record inside a clear protective sleeve and set about reading it. The top third of the page revealed the end of a previous entry regarding Change Mates – something Jack already knew.
The next subject, however, revealed a concept he’d only speculated about in the past. The fascinating entry made perfect sense, answering a question which had dogged him for decades. The information would have to be disseminated with care, since it could put some of their most vulnerable at great risk of abuse.
Jack opened the mind-link with William, interrupting a saloon gunfight scene in the western novel he was reading.
“What have you found, beloved? Something important?”
“Indeed, my mate. Listen while I read the entry, and tell me what you think.”
When Jack finished, William put his book aside to join his mate and read the entry for himself. He set it down gently with shaking fingers and continued the conversation via the link.
“A significant revelation, my love, and not necessarily for the better. I think we need to share it with Ben and Evan first, and then with Alpha Sheppard before you announce the news to the rest of our people.”
“Agreed. And what of Robyn? She is Jonah’s best friend, after all, and may be able to tell us how he would react.”
“I don’t think we should involve her at this point. The yearly heats are coming soon and Jonah is already struggling. We’re overdue for a talk with Ben anyway, and since Jonah is his brother, he may have helpful insights. I’ll send them a text and make arrangements for a visit.”
William returned to his chair while fishing the phone out of his pants pocket. Jack resumed his work, wondering what Hezekiah might say about the effect of his nearly two hundred year old words. He shook his head and set about piecing together another journal page, hoping for something a little less disruptive this time.
Chapter 6
AFEW DAYS BEFORE CHRISTMAS
Expecting Lilly Howell any minute, Jonah exited the busy packhouse to wait in the crisp air and lightly falling snow. She’d volunteered to meet with him here instead at her home at Cooks, and he looked forward to venting some of his frustration. With the holiday pack party tonight, Jonah left work a couple hours early to help the decorating crew. Most shifters ignored the religious part of the holiday, favoring instead the food, family, and fun aspects. Gift giving also ranked high on everyone’s list, and he looked forward to seeing what his loved ones thought of their presents this year.
His phone vibrated with a text from security regarding Lilly’s arrival at the gate. Three minutes later, her royal blue Mazda cleared the last curve and entered the parking area. He waved as she pulled in, popped the hatch, and jumped out to gather an array of brightly colored packages and festive bags.
