Falk Clan Tales - Chapter 77: Chapter 77
You are reading Falk Clan Tales, Chapter 77: Chapter 77. Read more chapters of Falk Clan Tales.
“Sunny, I’ve got a customer with a question over here?” Mom called from the front of the shop.
There was nothing wrong with her ears—a Wolf could hear perfectly fine without all the yelling—but in order to pass in front of normals things like shouting were necessary—horrible, screechy, and possibly deafening, but still, necessary.
Sigh.
Sunny rolled her neck and shoulders, trying to relieve the tension that seemed permanently stuck there. She knew what her best friend would say.
Minerva Lykos was a renowned artist, and a bit of a dog, even for a Werewolf. Whenever anyone had a physical ailment or complaint, the she-Wolf always found a way to blame it on sex, or the lack of.
“Sunny, you need to get laid.”
It was her favorite sentence whenever they talked, and that had been rather infrequently these last few months. Minnie was on tour, and there was no one to give her any of those fabulous pep talks about her dull social life.
Double sigh.
Even Sunny’s Wolf was antsy. The beast was scratching at her insides, impatient to be let out. It was just another fall morning, before the Thanksgiving rush, and Sunny had a ton of work to do in the office for the organic produce and garden center she ran with her parents’ help. This store had been her dream, her baby, and it was finally turning a profit.
“Sunny?” Mom yelled again.
“Just a sec,” she called back.
Sunny adjusted her apron and patted her hair to try to minimize the fly-aways that were the bane of her existence. That’s what happened when you had a head full of frizzy curls that refused to be tamed.
Come on, hair, behave. Grrr. Damn. Oh well.
She frowned at her reflection and rolled her eyes. This was as good as it was going to get thanks to her parents, Moonbeam and Leaf Daye. The pair had been hippies in the sixties, as their names suggested. They still wore tie-dye clothes, worn out jeans, hemp headbands, and woven bracelets—like they’d never gone out of style.
Truth was, her parents were the most open, free, honest, and madly in love Werewolves she had ever met. They cared for each other with a fierceness and romance that spanned the ages, and secretly, Sunny aspired to be them when she was finally ready to grow up and find a mate of her own.
Smiling, she skipped down the aisle and tried to locate her mother and the customer who needed her help. It would have been easier had she been able to sniff them out, but with all the scents in the shop, it was harder for her to differentiate fragrances than she’d liked to admit. That didn’t get her down though, nothing hardly ever did.
Sunny was luckier than most of the Macconwood Wolves she had grown up around. The Curse of Natalis that had bound them all to the moon had really done a number on Wolf Shifter-kind, but her folks had shared their love with all three of their three pups. It was difficult when she’d had her first Change back in junior high.
She still remembered the terrible feeling that lurked in the pit of her stomach from being separated from her Wolf during the weeks between full moons. It had hurt like hell.
Still, she was lucky. Her parents and siblings, Crystal, the older sister, and River, the younger brother, had been there for her, and for each other. They were the ones talking her down from the ledge every single time she thought it got to be just too much for her.
Moonbeam and Leaf had raised their pups right, teaching them to be confident, compassionate, well-mannered, and true to each other and themselves. Sunny could not have asked for a better family. In the years since the Curse of Natalis had been broken, their kind had to figure out how to handle the sudden reality that they were Werewolves all the time, and not just once a month.
Even Minnie had some difficulty. Lucky for Sunny, she had her siblings and parents to help. They’d learned to relish their new closeness with their Wolfy selves a lot faster than many of the Wolf Shifters in their large Pack.
The Macconwood Wolves covered almost the entirety of North America. How Rafe Maccon managed all those creatures from his home base in Maccon City, she had no idea. But he was an awesome leader, and she could not ask for a better Alpha.
His mate, Charley, frequented One Daye at a Time for their organic produce, and she brought her adorable pups with her whenever she went shopping. Imagine triplet Werewolves rumored to have special problems, and another on the way—she was so happy for the Alpha pair.
It was a new dawn for the Werewolves of the world, and she was just so happy to be part of it. Truthfully, Sunny loved children. Someday, she wanted a whole gaggle of them. Boys girls, ten of each—snort, JK. Not ten, maybe two of each.
Sigh.
It was a nice dream. She even had it on her vision board in her bedroom. A house, four point five kids, a big sexy man waiting for her. Oh yeah. That sounded good. Sunny just had so much love inside of her, she was ready to burst. But she was saving it, waiting for the right mate.
“Sunny, you need to get laid.”
Minnie’s favorite refrain echoed in her head, but Sunny was not listening. Aches or not, Sunny was on a dick boycott. In other words, she wasn’t up for any kind of tomfoolery unless the male had the words “mate me” tattooed on his privates. She’d played the fool too long to waste anymore of her time.
The clock was ticking, as her older sister—a CPA obsessed with numbers—liked to point out. Crystal had always hated their lifestyle growing up. The years when they’d had to scrimp and save were hard on Sunny’s sister. But it was what drove her in her studies. Crystal had wanted to distance herself from their hippie upbringing the second she’d landed her first accounting job.
Sunny was proud of her. Even if she did not agree with a damn thing she said or did. Nothing wrong with growing up in a trailer in the middle of a field on the outskirts of town. Hell, it was full of nothing but fond memories for Sunny. That lot had seemed so big when she was a pup, always overrun with dandelions and daffodils in the spring.
It was poor and cheap, but she never remembered feeling ashamed or wanting for more back then. That came as she got older, not the shame, but the wanting. That was when Sunny had understood her sister a little better.
She’d even moved in with Crystal after high school, while she’d commuted to college, and her parents had understood. They loved and supported her decision, and when she’d come to them with a business plan, they’d jumped right in to help.
Armed with her degree and a solid proposal, Sunny had gone to the Maccon City First National Bank seeking a loan. After they’d turned her down, she went to see their Pack Alpha.
Rafe Maccon had approved of her plan after giving it a quick perusal. The man had looked at her with ice-blue eyes and then, he’d asked one question, “Is this truly what you want, Sunny Daye?”
She had only one answer for him, and that was yes. The Wolf had stared at her a moment longer before he nodded, then the big dark -haired Alpha had signed off on a hundred and fifty thousand dollar loan.
It was a huge amount, and he was taking quite the gamble. Sunny’s mother had always grown things, and her dad had a way with people his inner beast should not have allowed but did. He was a smooth talker. Friendly and handsome, and he could set people at ease with just a smile. That little bit of charm had worked wonders on customers when they’d started out.
Her parents hadn’t wanted a partnership, but she’d insisted. Werewolves lived a long time, and even if money was not important to them, Sunny wanted them to have it.
So, they’d opened One Daye At A Time Produce & Garden Center, and a couple of years later, it was doing even better than she could have imagined. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears had gone into it, but now—that very morning—Sonny was mailing the last payment to her Alpha.
A sense of profound accomplishment filled her as she patted the envelope in the pocket of her apron, finally tracking down the customer her mother had sent to see her. Sunny paused a moment, almost tripping over her own feet. Grace was part of a Werewolf’s makeup, but not hers.
Sunny was a certified klutz. Something she’d proved time and again as she landed in a heap at a pair of enormous, work boot clad feet.
“Oof,” she muttered, as the wind got knocked out of her.
Sunny’s gaze traveled up, and up, and up, until she was staring into the stormy eyes of the agitated man—no, not man. Sunny gulped. Could it be? She had heard of them, knew there were a couple in town, but she had never seen him before.
“Are you always so elegant?” the male muttered, his eyes glittering angrily as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet.
Sunny would have been put off by his rudeness, only she was too tickled to meet him. A mate. Her mate. He was her mate. Christ, he was good looking, but she sincerely hoped he was interesting too. Sunny appreciated beauty, but she was a realist. She needed interaction, honest conversation, laughter, and affection to be happy. Was that too tall an order? She hoped not. Because if this male was really hers, she might just have the happily ever after she had always wanted.
Please be real. Be mine. Mate.
“I need help with this,” he growled, rolling his eyes as he held a half-dead potted plant in his hand.
She really should answer him, but Sunny was too caught up in wondering what he looked like when he shifted, and why he smelled so good like sandalwood smoke and marshmallow cream, and what was he doing in her shop? Today of all days!
Christ, he was good-looking. He had short dark hair and stormy blue eyes, so dark they could have been black. He was easily eight or ten inches over six feet tall, and she wondered if that would be a problem cause she was only five foot three.
That was Sunny for you, short, curvy, and she had a mind that could run away with a thought faster than a runaway train. She could not believe he was standing in front of her. Her pulse was racing and the Wolf inside her whined and growled.
“Do you speak?” he asked a little too loudly for her sensitive Wolf’s ears.
She winced at his volume but nodded. Of course she spoke. Sunny was even considered a good conversationalist by some members of her acquaintance—and not all of them were family members.
She wanted to regale him with her wit, to prove she was intelligent—contrary to the opinion he seemed to be forming. Christ, she was making a jackass of herself. Steeling her nerves, Sunny prepared to say something charming.
Unfortunately, the only thing that came out of her mouth when she opened her lips was one word, and she probably should have kept it to herself.
“Mate.”
There was nothing wrong with her ears—a Wolf could hear perfectly fine without all the yelling—but in order to pass in front of normals things like shouting were necessary—horrible, screechy, and possibly deafening, but still, necessary.
Sigh.
Sunny rolled her neck and shoulders, trying to relieve the tension that seemed permanently stuck there. She knew what her best friend would say.
Minerva Lykos was a renowned artist, and a bit of a dog, even for a Werewolf. Whenever anyone had a physical ailment or complaint, the she-Wolf always found a way to blame it on sex, or the lack of.
“Sunny, you need to get laid.”
It was her favorite sentence whenever they talked, and that had been rather infrequently these last few months. Minnie was on tour, and there was no one to give her any of those fabulous pep talks about her dull social life.
Double sigh.
Even Sunny’s Wolf was antsy. The beast was scratching at her insides, impatient to be let out. It was just another fall morning, before the Thanksgiving rush, and Sunny had a ton of work to do in the office for the organic produce and garden center she ran with her parents’ help. This store had been her dream, her baby, and it was finally turning a profit.
“Sunny?” Mom yelled again.
“Just a sec,” she called back.
Sunny adjusted her apron and patted her hair to try to minimize the fly-aways that were the bane of her existence. That’s what happened when you had a head full of frizzy curls that refused to be tamed.
Come on, hair, behave. Grrr. Damn. Oh well.
She frowned at her reflection and rolled her eyes. This was as good as it was going to get thanks to her parents, Moonbeam and Leaf Daye. The pair had been hippies in the sixties, as their names suggested. They still wore tie-dye clothes, worn out jeans, hemp headbands, and woven bracelets—like they’d never gone out of style.
Truth was, her parents were the most open, free, honest, and madly in love Werewolves she had ever met. They cared for each other with a fierceness and romance that spanned the ages, and secretly, Sunny aspired to be them when she was finally ready to grow up and find a mate of her own.
Smiling, she skipped down the aisle and tried to locate her mother and the customer who needed her help. It would have been easier had she been able to sniff them out, but with all the scents in the shop, it was harder for her to differentiate fragrances than she’d liked to admit. That didn’t get her down though, nothing hardly ever did.
Sunny was luckier than most of the Macconwood Wolves she had grown up around. The Curse of Natalis that had bound them all to the moon had really done a number on Wolf Shifter-kind, but her folks had shared their love with all three of their three pups. It was difficult when she’d had her first Change back in junior high.
She still remembered the terrible feeling that lurked in the pit of her stomach from being separated from her Wolf during the weeks between full moons. It had hurt like hell.
Still, she was lucky. Her parents and siblings, Crystal, the older sister, and River, the younger brother, had been there for her, and for each other. They were the ones talking her down from the ledge every single time she thought it got to be just too much for her.
Moonbeam and Leaf had raised their pups right, teaching them to be confident, compassionate, well-mannered, and true to each other and themselves. Sunny could not have asked for a better family. In the years since the Curse of Natalis had been broken, their kind had to figure out how to handle the sudden reality that they were Werewolves all the time, and not just once a month.
Even Minnie had some difficulty. Lucky for Sunny, she had her siblings and parents to help. They’d learned to relish their new closeness with their Wolfy selves a lot faster than many of the Wolf Shifters in their large Pack.
The Macconwood Wolves covered almost the entirety of North America. How Rafe Maccon managed all those creatures from his home base in Maccon City, she had no idea. But he was an awesome leader, and she could not ask for a better Alpha.
His mate, Charley, frequented One Daye at a Time for their organic produce, and she brought her adorable pups with her whenever she went shopping. Imagine triplet Werewolves rumored to have special problems, and another on the way—she was so happy for the Alpha pair.
It was a new dawn for the Werewolves of the world, and she was just so happy to be part of it. Truthfully, Sunny loved children. Someday, she wanted a whole gaggle of them. Boys girls, ten of each—snort, JK. Not ten, maybe two of each.
Sigh.
It was a nice dream. She even had it on her vision board in her bedroom. A house, four point five kids, a big sexy man waiting for her. Oh yeah. That sounded good. Sunny just had so much love inside of her, she was ready to burst. But she was saving it, waiting for the right mate.
“Sunny, you need to get laid.”
Minnie’s favorite refrain echoed in her head, but Sunny was not listening. Aches or not, Sunny was on a dick boycott. In other words, she wasn’t up for any kind of tomfoolery unless the male had the words “mate me” tattooed on his privates. She’d played the fool too long to waste anymore of her time.
The clock was ticking, as her older sister—a CPA obsessed with numbers—liked to point out. Crystal had always hated their lifestyle growing up. The years when they’d had to scrimp and save were hard on Sunny’s sister. But it was what drove her in her studies. Crystal had wanted to distance herself from their hippie upbringing the second she’d landed her first accounting job.
Sunny was proud of her. Even if she did not agree with a damn thing she said or did. Nothing wrong with growing up in a trailer in the middle of a field on the outskirts of town. Hell, it was full of nothing but fond memories for Sunny. That lot had seemed so big when she was a pup, always overrun with dandelions and daffodils in the spring.
It was poor and cheap, but she never remembered feeling ashamed or wanting for more back then. That came as she got older, not the shame, but the wanting. That was when Sunny had understood her sister a little better.
She’d even moved in with Crystal after high school, while she’d commuted to college, and her parents had understood. They loved and supported her decision, and when she’d come to them with a business plan, they’d jumped right in to help.
Armed with her degree and a solid proposal, Sunny had gone to the Maccon City First National Bank seeking a loan. After they’d turned her down, she went to see their Pack Alpha.
Rafe Maccon had approved of her plan after giving it a quick perusal. The man had looked at her with ice-blue eyes and then, he’d asked one question, “Is this truly what you want, Sunny Daye?”
She had only one answer for him, and that was yes. The Wolf had stared at her a moment longer before he nodded, then the big dark -haired Alpha had signed off on a hundred and fifty thousand dollar loan.
It was a huge amount, and he was taking quite the gamble. Sunny’s mother had always grown things, and her dad had a way with people his inner beast should not have allowed but did. He was a smooth talker. Friendly and handsome, and he could set people at ease with just a smile. That little bit of charm had worked wonders on customers when they’d started out.
Her parents hadn’t wanted a partnership, but she’d insisted. Werewolves lived a long time, and even if money was not important to them, Sunny wanted them to have it.
So, they’d opened One Daye At A Time Produce & Garden Center, and a couple of years later, it was doing even better than she could have imagined. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears had gone into it, but now—that very morning—Sonny was mailing the last payment to her Alpha.
A sense of profound accomplishment filled her as she patted the envelope in the pocket of her apron, finally tracking down the customer her mother had sent to see her. Sunny paused a moment, almost tripping over her own feet. Grace was part of a Werewolf’s makeup, but not hers.
Sunny was a certified klutz. Something she’d proved time and again as she landed in a heap at a pair of enormous, work boot clad feet.
“Oof,” she muttered, as the wind got knocked out of her.
Sunny’s gaze traveled up, and up, and up, until she was staring into the stormy eyes of the agitated man—no, not man. Sunny gulped. Could it be? She had heard of them, knew there were a couple in town, but she had never seen him before.
“Are you always so elegant?” the male muttered, his eyes glittering angrily as he grabbed her arm and pulled her back to her feet.
Sunny would have been put off by his rudeness, only she was too tickled to meet him. A mate. Her mate. He was her mate. Christ, he was good looking, but she sincerely hoped he was interesting too. Sunny appreciated beauty, but she was a realist. She needed interaction, honest conversation, laughter, and affection to be happy. Was that too tall an order? She hoped not. Because if this male was really hers, she might just have the happily ever after she had always wanted.
Please be real. Be mine. Mate.
“I need help with this,” he growled, rolling his eyes as he held a half-dead potted plant in his hand.
She really should answer him, but Sunny was too caught up in wondering what he looked like when he shifted, and why he smelled so good like sandalwood smoke and marshmallow cream, and what was he doing in her shop? Today of all days!
Christ, he was good-looking. He had short dark hair and stormy blue eyes, so dark they could have been black. He was easily eight or ten inches over six feet tall, and she wondered if that would be a problem cause she was only five foot three.
That was Sunny for you, short, curvy, and she had a mind that could run away with a thought faster than a runaway train. She could not believe he was standing in front of her. Her pulse was racing and the Wolf inside her whined and growled.
“Do you speak?” he asked a little too loudly for her sensitive Wolf’s ears.
She winced at his volume but nodded. Of course she spoke. Sunny was even considered a good conversationalist by some members of her acquaintance—and not all of them were family members.
She wanted to regale him with her wit, to prove she was intelligent—contrary to the opinion he seemed to be forming. Christ, she was making a jackass of herself. Steeling her nerves, Sunny prepared to say something charming.
Unfortunately, the only thing that came out of her mouth when she opened her lips was one word, and she probably should have kept it to herself.
“Mate.”
End of Falk Clan Tales Chapter 77. Continue reading Chapter 78 or return to Falk Clan Tales book page.