Falk Clan Tales - Chapter 71: Chapter 71

Jozette looked down at her laptop and frowned. She’d been trying to work on her History of Maccon City, but for some reason the only words that came to her were utterly ridiculous.
Or were they?
She wondered as she opened a new document. There’d been a lull in customers after the morning rush, and Crescent Moon Books was blissfully quiet just then. She had an hour till story time, so why not sit down and write?
Mind made up, Jozette did something she’d never thought possible. She trusted herself and let her imagination run wild. A smile played on the corner of her mouth as she wrote page after page of a fantastical romantic adventure.
Her parents would be horrified, she thought with a laugh that soon had her frowning. Dammit. She did not want to think of them. It had been days since she’d last seen them. Jozette had no choice but to go back to their house to gather her clothes and the few things she’d not placed in storage.
It had been uncomfortable as hell, but necessary. She did not want to have to explain to her parents her sudden attachment to Castor. It should be enough for them that she was happy. But it never was.
They obviously would not understand, even if she was allowed to tell them about his circumstances. One of the first things Marissa had explained was the Shifter world was a secret world. They existed apart from humans by necessity.
No wonder, Jozette thought with a shake of her head. After all, what would society do to people like her BFF and her boyfriend? They’d put them in a lab and dissect them most likely. Just before they rounded up a crazy mob to attack them.
Yeah. No. Humans were not the best at dealing with things that were different. Just thinking about it gave her chills. And not the good ones.
“Hello?”
Jozette closed her laptop after clicking save and ran to the front of the shop.
“Hey there,” she greeted a woman with a gaggle of small children with her.
The woman was beautiful with long blonde hair and Jozette recognized her as a frequent customer and story time attendee. She crouched and said hello to the kids.
“How are you all doing today?”
“Well,” the woman said, grinning, with a toddler snug in her arms. “We could not wait for the plows to come through so we could get over here for story hour. Are we too early?”
“Not at all. Come on and let’s find some cushions for you guys,” Jozette said, leading the way.
“Alright, now what are we going to do today?” she asked.
“Story! Story!” The older children chanted, giggling as they sat down criss cross applesauce on the various cushions on the story time rug.
“Is it okay if I stay for this one?”
“Sure. And I apologize, I forgot your name, I’m Jozette,” she said and held out her hand.
The stunning blonde smiled and shook her hand in return. She was tall and rather strong, but maybe that was mommy muscles or something. The glint in her eyes reminded Jozi of Marissa, and she started getting a rather strange sensation just over her chest.
“My name’s Fred. This is little Eddie, my nephew, and my daughter Calla, niece Nicky, my son Castor⁠— ”
“I’m sorry,” Jozette said, interrupting the woman. “Did you say Castor?”
“Yes,” she replied warily. “It’s a family name.”
“You’re last name?” Jozi asked, pulse racing as she dared hope.
“Falk, my husband, is Callius Falk. Are you okay, Jozette?”
Before she could stop herself, Jozette was in tears and hugging the poor woman in what could only be described as a death grip. She couldn’t believe it. She found them. Castor’s family! He was going to be so happy.
“Oh! Okay, there there,” Fred said, obviously humoring her.
Jozette couldn’t help but notice when the other woman sniffed her. Then she stilled, and Jozette pushed back. Wiping her tears, she shook her head.
“You smell familiar,” Fred said hesitantly.
“Yes, and with good reason,” Jozette began.
“We want our story!” Little Castor exclaimed grumpily.
“Um, let me read for the kids first, okay? But in the meantime, maybe text your husband and his brothers, too.”
“How do you know he has brothers?”
“It’s a good thing. I promise,” Jozette said.
“I think you should tell me first,” Fred replied cautiously.
“I will.”
Jozette nodded at her. She could not blame her. After all, Jozette was only a human. Would have smelled human too, especially to the woman who was obviously a Shifter. It was in her height and strength, and that special glow to her eyes. Now that Jozi got a good look at her, it was a wonder she did not see it before.
Fred would be a fool to trust a normal, except for the fact that Castor’s scent was all over her. Only that morning, Marissa had said that Jozette’s mate’s scent clung to her skin like perfume. Apparently, it would forevermore now that they were mated.
She loved the smoky richness of Castor’s natural scent and loved even more that she would carry it. The rose tattoo above her heart warmed whenever she thought of him, and she placed her hand there now. Jozette sat down in front of the children, her eyes went to Fred’s as she started to tell them a story.
“Once upon a winter’s night, a maiden sat alone and watched the snow fall on the seashore from the window seat inside her warm cottage,” she began telling the tale, embellishing here and there, and leaving much out for the children’s sake.
“Oh my,” Fred gasped.
The toddler she’d been carrying was now cuddled on his cousin’s lap, leaving Fred free to grab her cell phone. Jozette nodded, but didn’t stop spinning her story to the children gathered around. Since the weather was bad, the Falk children were the only ones there.
They clapped and roared when asked, participating in Jozette’s tale about a maiden who helped a Dragon make his way through the modern world. The boys loved it when he learned to play ping pong and wrestled with a Lion. The girls giggled when she told them how the maiden gave the Dragon his first kiss.
“Who wants to draw a picture of the maiden and the Dragon?”
“Me!”
“Me! I do! I do!”
Jozette laughed and handed out crayons and paper to the kids. Then she turned to Fred, who was smiling at her nervously.
“Well?”
“My husband is on a trip, due back this afternoon,” she began. “But he is very excited to meet Castor and to hear his story. Will you bring him to our home tonight, around eight?”
“Yes. Of course,” Jozette said, taking down the address.
“They won’t be cruel though? I won’t have anyone hurt him⁠—”
“Of course not,” Fred said, immediately alleviating Jozi’s sudden fears. “The Falk brothers are as close and protective as anyone, believe me. But they would never harm anyone unless they were attacked, or their families threatened. They never knew your mate existed. I think this is quite a shock, but a good one,” Fred replied.
Jozette paused a moment and thought about the incredulity of it all. Fred seemed honest and trustworthy. The woman obviously loved her mate and her family. Of course, she would be cautious. Jozi would too.
“Okay. We will come by later.”
“Great!”
An hour later, Fred and all the children were gone, and Jozi was gathering her things. Delia came by to finish the afternoon and close the store.
“How was business today? Anyone come round for story hour?”
“Okay. Slow at first, but yeah, story hour was fun,” Jozette said, smiling.
She waited for Castor and Marissa and Hector to swing by to pick her up, but they were a little late. Tapping her hands on the counter, she thought about the story she told the children and how she’d plotted it out on her laptop afterwards.
She was going to do it. Jozette was going to write a series of books based on it. The first one was going to be The Maiden Meets Her Dragon, and it would be the tale she told today. Of course, she wanted to run it by Castor to get his approval.
Her stomach tensed. She was nervous as hell, but excited, too. Her sweet Dragon had come so far to find his half-brothers. Men he had never even met who did not know he existed before today. She only prayed they were as kind and welcoming as he deserved.
Jozette hadn’t really considered that they might not want to meet him. From what she understood, he was the son of their father and another woman he’d met after their own mother had died. She didn’t really understand the particulars nor the context. It was mindboggling to imagine. After all, it had happened over 500 years ago. The world was very different than in some respects.
Did I do the right thing?
She bit her lip, her brows creased pensively. So lost in thought, Jozette hardly responded to the sound of a horn beeping outside. When she looked up, she gasped. Castor was standing beside a stretched limo with a bouquet of roses in his hand.
“Hubba hubba! Isn’t that yours?” Delia asked, her boss laughed and waved at the man she’d met several times.
“Oh yeah. He’s mine all right,” Jozi grinned and said her goodbyes before running outside to meet him.
Struck by how gorgeous he was, she stopped a foot away and looked him up and down. He wore a simple pair of jeans and a black shirt, but he was spectacular. Jozette realized she was more in love with each passing minute. And those were so precious, she realized she couldn’t keep him waiting.
“Castor!” She exclaimed, jumping into his arms.
“My treasure,” he murmured into her hair, spinning her around.
“What is all this?”
“For you, my love,” he said, placing her back on her feet and handing her the bouquet of slightly smashed roses.
“Sorry.”
She giggled, sniffing the pretty flowers. The only times Jozette had ridden in a limo were for her prom, her cousin’s wedding, and her grandfather’s funeral. She’d never been picked up from work in one, and it was an unexpected treat.
“Champagne?” he asked, offering her a flute, which she accepted.
“Thank you,” she murmured.
“I have news,” Castor began.
“Me too,” she said, excitement bubbling within.
He was still smiling and nodded for her to proceed him. Jozette shook her head.
"No, no. This was your surprise first, tell me what’s going on.”
“I insist,” he said, nibbling her ear and skating his teeth over her mate mark.
Shivers and chills spread throughout her body at even the slightest contact, and Jozette wondered if it would always be that way. She loved him so much, her heart nearly strangled her to death when she thought about the little time they had.
She could not accept that he was dying. Hated that she didn’t know enough about his kind to do anything about it. But how did a human save a Dragon? She couldn’t possibly know, though she would give everything she had to do just that.
But Jozette could not save Castor. It was a hard truth to face, but one she had to accept. Only maybe his brothers could? All she knew was however long he had left on the earth, Jozette intended to spend it with him. Laughing with him. Cherishing him. Loving him. So, yes, going to meet the brothers Falk was risky, but she had to try.
“Castor,” she began.
“Yes, my love,” he said.
“I found them. Or, actually, they found me.”
“Who?”
“Your brothers.”