Island Stripe Pride - Chapter 45: Chapter 45

“Mara! I am leaving with the Carlson’s order,” Toni called out from the back door.
“Wait! You forgot the juice boxes,” Mara, Toni’s younger sister, and her partner in Any Time Eats Diner & Catering, came running with three cases of juice boxes in hand.
“Oh crap,” Toni said, snorting and shaking her head. “I did forget. Thank you.”
“No problem. You have everything else you need for their party? I gotta say I love the idea of a Kindergarten social for the little guys before school starts,” Mara said, looking over the contents of the delivery van to make sure Toni had everything she needed.
“Me too. It gives them a chance to get to know each other first,” Toni replied, allowing her sister to double check her work.
They swapped duties often, but Toni’s favorite would always be the actual cooking. She simply loved the textures, colors, scents, and flavors that went with preparing good, wholesome food. She never met a dish she didn’t like, regardless of ethnic origin or the time and effort it might take to produce. Toni was always up for a challenge.
“Alright, see ya later, sis. I’ll hold down the fort,” Mara said, waving her off.
Verona Falls was a pleasant sort of town. As the summer months were winding down, Toni worried whether she and her sister were going to make ends meet over the next few months now that tourism would fade until the snow set in sometime in January.
That was usually when snow living Shifters would book the Island Stripe Mountain Resort for snowboarding, skiing, ice skating and other wintry outdoor sports and entertainment. The local Cottontail Flock, or Fluffle, as was one of the rarer names for a group of Rabbits, was not a huge fan of the predators coming so close, but it had been years since they’d had a problem.
It was the 21st century, after all, and lines had been blurred between the hunters and the hunted. A fact Toni knew firsthand. Her heart ached as her mind wandered to that secret place inside her head where she’d buried all her memories of the one male who had ever meant anything to her.
Don’t go there, Toni.
Exhaling, she signaled right and turned down a narrow road that would lead to the Carlson’s abode. One of the wealthier families in their Flock, Jules, and Jill Carlson had been married going on ten years now and had a dozen children give or take. Blending with humans was easy for some Shifters, especially Rabbits. Their natures were just such that they were cautiously friendly.
Jules was the Flock’s Alpha Buck, his mate Jill, the Alpha Doe. They lead the group, which included over two hundred adults and several dozen kits, with a lenient hand. New changes had come to the Flock with their ascent to leadership, changes that would have meant the world to Toni back when she was a teenager.
Her father was the previous Alpha Buck, and he’d ruled with an iron paw. Insisting on following the old ways, he refused to allow his oldest child to choose her own mate. Arranged matings were the way of things back when Shifters had to work harder to hide from humans, often causing them to live far apart from each other.
Gio Casabella had arranged for Toni to mate with a Buck from a nearby Flock, but the young Bunny she had been refused. She’d wanted to mate for love. Her father had used the only thing he could against her to make her bend to his will, and that was her younger sister, Mara.
If Toni refused the betrothal contract, then Mara would fill it. How a man could easily exchange one daughter for another in what was basically a sale, Toni had no idea. She’d agreed to the contract on the condition her sister be freed from the obligation.
It was just her luck the Buck in question had asked to be released upon having found his fated mate by chance while away at college. Toni released him happily, and after that, she’d refused every male her father had presented her with. He’d died hating her, but she was free now. And so was Mara.
“Hi Toni!” Jill Carlson was waiting at the entrance of her garage, as Toni backed down the driveway.
“Hello Jill,” she returned the greeting warmly. “I have everything in the back for the party. Where can I set up?”
“Outstanding,” the chipper Alpha Doe said and smiled warmly while holding her newborn kit in her arms.
Toni had gone to school with Jules, and though Jill was from a neighboring Warren, she fit right in with the Verona Falls Cottonwood Flock. Together, the Alpha couple was bringing their group into the 21st century, getting rid of old-fashioned ideas like betrothals.
Once upon a time, prey Shifters like Rabbits, Horses, Chinchillas, and many others, used to steer clear of predators. Call it survival instinct, and in a way, they were simply doing what their wild counterparts did to survive.
But these days, Shifter society called for more cooperation and in turn, that meant more civilized behavior. Did everyone obey the social niceties? Of course not. But neither did the normals.
“I set up three tables for the food items. One is for children with food allergies, and the last one is for the dessert,” Jill explained.
“Great! I had Mara bake cupcakes in chocolate and vanilla, and yes, we have a gluten, nut, and dairy free option,” I told her, smiling as I answered her question before she could even ask it. “I have little pastry baggies filled with different color frosting and bowls of sprinkles so the kids can decorate their own.”
“Oh! They are going to love that! Brilliant!”
The day sped by quickly, and I was happy to stay and serve the children, helping where I could before it was time to clear everything up. Thirty kids had filled the Carlson home’s large backyard, and they’d loved every minute of it. The family had an awesome playground set up, and they’d even hired a clown.
“I sure wish we had something like this when I was a kit,” I told Jill as I finished loading the van.
“I know, right? I remember being sent to school not knowing anyone, and it was awful,” she said, shaking her head while she lent me a hand.
“Jill! You will never guess who just called me,” Jules came running outside.
“Who, honey?”
“Dean Romero! Neta of the . He’s inviting the Flock to his gathering next weekend, isn’t that wonderful?”
“What? But Rabbits are never invited to that retreat. It’s predators only,” Toni said, interrupting the Alpha couple.
“It was predators only, but the Neta feels like I do,” the Alpha Buck stated, smiling warmly at his wife first then turning to address Toni. “He believes we all need to work together to maintain the Shifter secret, and to create a unified front against normals discovering us and other supernaturals.”
“Wow, that’s, um, great news,” Toni replied, trying to match the couple’s excitement.
She said her goodbyes and returned to the diner, where she still had to clean and put away the equipment, she’d used for the Kindergarten social. Head in a fog, Toni was still not quite believing what she was hearing.
Her father had always been adamant in his belief that there was no way a predator could get along with prey. He’d been so angered by her habit of playing with the cubs and pups that had visited the Island Stripe Mountain Resort throughout her childhood. Her father had been harsh in his punishments, lecturing and grounding her whenever she’d been caught.
Toni never cared though. Those few hours of freedom had always been worth whatever punishment he’d dished out.
“What’s up?” Mara asked, stepping quietly into the commercial kitchen.
“Nothing,” Toni lied, but her sister was patient. She merely stood there, tapping her foot, and waited for her sibling to spill the news.
“Okay, fine, not nothing. Did you know the Flock has been invited to the ’s annual Shifter gathering at the lodge?”
“Really? That’s awesome!” Mara shouted excitedly.
Toni could not blame her. The lodge was beautiful, and it was a great feat for the local Flock to be asked to attend what had traditionally been a predator only gathering. She managed a small smile for her sister who was going on and on about what this might mean for their small community of Cottontail Shifters.
“I mean, I know our cousin’s in the Manhattan Warren think they are so cool cause they’re on the Council, but this is like the event of the year, sis,” Mara continued filling the commercial dish washer with the utensils and trays Toni had used at the social. “I wonder who they’ll send to organize the event!”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, well, their Beta and his mate are expecting a new cub any day now. I found out from Anna, you know her. She’s part of the Flock. We were in the same grade?” Mara asked, but Toni just shrugged. She simply did not recall the female.
“Anyway,” Mara continued. “She’s good friends with Violet Romero, the Nari of the , since they both worked at a salon down in Maccon City before she was mated. I hope it’s someone we know. I mean, it’s been ages since we hung around the lodge.”
Mara sighed wistfully, probably remembering their youthful and carefree days running across fields. That was before things changed and her father had put his foot down. Mara did not know anything about his threats or rigid rules. She’d been too young, but Tonie remembered them. Her heart squeezed inside her chest, and she felt lightheaded for a fraction of a moment.
“Yeah,” Toni mumbled, as a mixture of dread and anticipation filled her. “I wonder who they will send.”