"Yes, you could, but you won't. I'll say this only once, rhoda. You fuck with me again and I'll bury you. Now, call your friends back and tell them it was all a great big misunderstanding and a practical joke that went too far. Oh, and rhoda, if you test me on this, you'll find out I'm not the little quiet mouse you thought I was. Do you understand me?"Elena's expression went cold and she stared into Rhoda's eyes with an intensity that smoldered with menace. Rhoda started to say something in response, but when she saw the look in Elena's eyes, she stopped. She swallowed and nodded."Yes.""Good. Let's keep it that way, shall we?"Elena turned and walked back to her truck. She drove off down the street smiling. She still couldn't really believe that she had done that. Two weeks ago, and she wouldn't have dared, but now she was more assertive. She knew that some of it had come from her new condition but after seeing Rhoda's face and her reaction; Elena didn't mind the change so much.S
"I don't have to listen to you. You are just as sick as she is."Wendy's voice finally returned after her anger overrode her shock."Oh, yes you do, Wendy, and I'm not sick, you are the one who needs help. Now, here's the deal, Wendy. You are going to chill out about Marie and her lifestyle. You aren't going to use the kids against mark anymore either.""Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to order me around? You can't--""Oh, yes I can, Wendy, and I will. I have the right because I love Marie with all my heart and because I like mark, he's a damn nice guy and he's my friend."Then Elena caught it, just a flicker of the eye, but she knew exactly where that look went and just what it had been looking at. OH MY GOD! Wendy just checked out my tits! I'm chewing her out and she just looked at my tits! Holy Shit! Now it makes sense! She suddenly knew what she had to do and say."Mark, you need to go upstairs and read a story to Michelle and Stephanie. Now."She turned to see
Wendy laughed and nodded."Thank you, Elena. So, what do I tell mark? He's up there right now wondering if we are killing each other.""I have an idea. Why not let me go up there and finish reading the story to the girls? While I'm doing that, you can talk to mark. Trust me, Wendy, he'll understand.""Okay. Aunt Elena, huh?" Wendy smiled."Yeah, uh, it was the only thing I could think of when I walked in.""Well, Aunt Elena, go upstairs and read to my girls while I talk to my husband.""Yeah, why don't I do just that? What a great idea! Too bad I didn't think of it first."Elena gave Wendy a grin and walked up the stairs. She heard mark's voice and followed it to the bedroom door. She looked around the doorframe and watched for a minute.The girls were in their beds and mark was sitting in between them on a chair with a book on his lap. He was looking from one daughter to the other as he read the story. It was obvious from watching him that this was the same story he told them every
"Oh, okay. So, what are you going to do now?"Elena could sense the relief in Mark's voice at the news of Damien and that he wouldn't be coming back, but she also read between the lines with his question. Damn it boy, don't you ever give up?"Well, I thought I'd just go back to work this week and then either go see Marie or have her come up here. Actually, I know she's coming up here. We're going to have dinner together."Elena didn't add, with mark and his family. Anyway, Mark didn't need to know every last detail."Oh, so you and her are really going out, then?"Mark sounded disappointed. Good."Yeah, we are, Mark. Exclusively."Give up you bastard. She didn't want to think of him like this, but he wasn't giving her much choice."Oh. Okay. Well, I'll talk to you later then. Bye."Elena was relieved and annoyed. Glad that he didn't push the ranger issue, but pissed that after all they had discussed last week, he still had the balls to think he could have a shot at dating her. What wa
"Good morning, Elena. How are you feeling? Ready to get back to the grind?""Yeah, and thanks for being there for me, mark. You don't know how much all of this means to me. Thank you.""You're welcome. I'm glad I could be there for you. I've always liked you, and, well, I've thought of you as my long lost cousin, sort of. Anyway, I'm glad I could help out.""Cousin, huh? Well, it looks like I'm going to be your sister-in-law, even if it isn't legal yet. Speaking of sisters, Marie is coming up to dinner tomorrow night and I would greatly appreciate it if you and your family would join us. I want to surprise Marie and I can't think of a better way to do it other than dinner with everybody.""Wow! Yeah, I would love to have dinner with you and Lena. I think the girls would enjoy it as well. Yes, I'll tell Wendy. What time?""I think six o'clock would be fine. Any requests? I'm cooking.""No broccoli, other than that, whatever you want to fix would be fine.""No broccoli? Allergies?""Yea
Charlenne stopped and looked at elena to see if there was going to be a bad reaction. Elena snickered and nodded, well, at least she did as I asked."Yeah, something like that. So, what's the problem, Charlenne? If Rhoda told you it was a bad joke, why are you staring holes into my back?"Elena was still grinning to let Charlenne know that she wasn't upset about the revelation. Charlenne blushed again and couldn't quite meet Elena's gaze. Then Elena smelled it, very faint, but a distinctly recognizable scent. An aroused female. Elena eyes suddenly widened and she looked at Charlenne closely. Charlenne saw her look and turned pale."Oh! Charlenne, its okay. I think I get it now. You didn't want it to be a bad joke did you?"Charlenne was shaking and tears started to fall down her cheeks."Come with me, Charlenne; let's go into the lunchroom so we have some privacy."Elena grabbed her hand and Charlenne, although still looking like a scared lamb being led to the slaughter; let elena pul
Elena hadn't planned on revealing this much about her private life to anyone, but when she thought about it, she was telling the absolute truth and she was glad she could share it with Charlenne.Charlenne smiled and looked at elena in awe. There was a dreamy wistful look in her eyes as she listened to Elena tell her about her girlfriend."Wow! You really are in love with her. I hope one day I will find someone like that for myself. You look so happy when you talk about her. I'm jealous of her. Yeah, I know. We can't be like that, but I'm not upset about it anymore. Not now. We can be friends, Elena. I'd like that a lot.""I would too, Charlenne. Really. One of these days soon, you will have to come over to my house and meet her. I think you'll like her too. I know she'll like you. Oh, and one piece of advice, Charlenne; don't ever let Rhoda catch you looking at my ass like that, she won't have an ounce of mercy, she'll go for the jugular."Charlenne blushed furiously and snickered."
She skipped getting a beer tonight. She figured that since she had drunk two last night, she'd skip a day to make up for it. Besides, her stocks were getting low and she'd need to order another three cases soon. She liked to order that much at a time to save on the shipping costs and that way she only had to order once every three months. Oh, yeah, Marie wanted some too. I guess I'll order her a case with mine.She changed out of her work clothes and put on a pair of workout shorts and a tank top. She went into the living room and turned on the stereo, putting on Beethoven's 9th to relax to. She went into the kitchen and tried to think of what to cook for dinner. She found a package of steaks and went to put them into the microwave to defrost like she usually did but then stopped.Crap! I'm going to have to get rid of that infernal machine. I'm going to have to start a new habit and get out my dinner in the morning before I leave for work. She got out a large bowl and filled it with w
"I forgot to eat dinner last night and camping always gives me a huge appetite. I'll burn it all off before the day is over. Well, maybe. You have brought some horses but when I go camping, I'm always on foot. So I normally hike ten miles in one day when I go out.""Oh, okay. Yeah, I'd eat that much too if I was going to hike ten miles."Gab just sat there and grinned as he sipped his coffee. Marcy and Elena finished their breakfasts almost simultaneously. They washed their plates and cleaned out the skillets. Gab doused the fire while Elena and Marcy drank their coffee. She watched Gab as he saddled the horses. She was still nervous about this exercise. She didn't know if the horse they would try to get her on would stand still enough for her to do so. She went through her calming exercises in her head, trying to still her nervousness. She figured that if she didn't feel nervous, the horse would be calm as well.They finished their coffee and went over to where Gab was waiting for th
This was the truth, so she knew her voice wouldn't detract from her excuse. They both stared at her a few seconds; and then at each other, they shared a look together before they turned back to her. Marcy was the first to break the silence."I'm sorry to hear that. Again, I didn't mean to embarrass you."Gab was looking at her, and she could see that he was mulling something over in his mind; finally he shrugged and grinned."Well, I guess if you're willing to forgive our lapse in manners, then I'm willing to forget about it and just enjoy the weekend with a new friend."Elena smiled and let out a big sigh of relief."Thank you. I'm sorry too, I should have warned you, but it slipped my mind in all the excitement and rush to get out here."They all smiled their relief at the averted social faux paux. They started chatting about the next day's plans and Gab reassured Elena that she would be just fine around the horses. Eventually they all yawned, Marcy first and then the other two in s
Elena blushed again and she saw Marcy shoot a look at Gab that was a mixture of surprise and annoyance. Goob just grinned and shook his head. He had wanted to surprise his wife with his new friend, and it had worked."I surprise a lot of people, Marcy. So don't feel embarrassed about it, you should have seen Goob's face when I shot that rifle for the first time and just grinned at him like a kid at Christmas. He didn't know what to say or do for a minute there."Marcy laughed and nodded, immediately taking to Elena's easy-going personality and humor."Yeah, I've managed to do that to him a couple times myself. Let me just get the rest of the food into the cooler and then we can hit the road."Marcy went back into her kitchen and Elena waited with Goob."Okay, Elena, we're heading for a friend's ranch and the roads are almost non-existent once we get into the higher elevations. Here's a radio for you to use so we can stay in contact if we get separated. It's got a 12-mile range out on
Damn, but at least with this one I can clean the outer shell of any accidental blood stains and re-proof it with a can of repellant. Hopefully it will pay off in the long run. If I go out every month and ruin a cheaper bag, I'd be spending more than this in four months time.The next morning she was happy when she went to work. Yes, I'm leaving but Rhoda won't be there to ruin my mood anymore. Charlenne proved herself to be as smart as Elena thought she could be. She had no trouble getting her acquainted with the software, but she needed to find some inspiration with the graphics layout. That's where natural talent comes in, you are either inspired or you are not. It's an artist part of the job, and this was where Charlenne had the most difficulty."Honestly, Elena, I've never thought about art or graphics. Can I take a class or something?""Well, yeah, you can. However, this is where you need to let your imagination flow and try to feel for the client. Find out what they are looking
"It's got a custom ladder sight and the wood has been reworked and reinforced to take the recoil of that brutal cartridge, they hand rubbed five coats of Tung oil into it."She really didn't know about the wood finish, but the ladder sight was neat."Okay, sold."He smiled and nodded. He got out the paperwork for her to fill out and he called in her ID and information and the NCIC check came back clear. He put the sling kit on the rifle and slipped it into the carry case and handed it to her."I do have one more favor to ask, if you don't mind?""Miss Brandt, anything for the lady who can shoot a Rossi .454 Casull and smile."Elena laughed."I need to find somebody who can teach me how to hunt and skin the animals. I want to go hunting so I can fill my freezer with good meat. I want to be able to do that myself.""Miss. you just went up three notches on my respect scale. I would gladly teach you how to do that. My wife goes hunting with me and I know she would love to have another wom
He smiled at her confident response. Well, what the hell? Why not?"Okay, so you won't need a scope or at least a big one.""No, no scope. My eyesight is perfect.""Okay. Any preference on caliber or action?""Nope, that's where I need your expertise. I've never hunted before, but I really want to learn.""Okay, great. Well, in that case, um, have you ever shot a rifle before?""No, but I'm an expert with a H&K Tactical .45 ACP."His eyes widened again and he started laughing."Okay, I had that coming, sorry. Well, if you don't have any preference on action or caliber, I'm not sure where to start. How about I show you a couple of standard hunting rigs and you tell me if it's something you might be comfortable with, okay?""Yeah, that'd be great."He reached back on the rack behind him and pulled off a bolt-action rifle with standard iron sights. He handed it to her with the bolt open. She hefted it and put it to her shoulder. She looked at the bolt and then slid it forward and down, l
"There you go mark, all your troubles are answered. It's my resignation. I quit."Elena turned, went to her desk and gathered up her things before heading for the door. Rhoda had just heard her announcement and she was pissed. She had wanted to get Elena into trouble and here she was walking out before that could happen. She had hoped to get her fired, but by quitting, Elena still held the high ground."Elena, wait a minute. Why?""Well, mark, I have had it with that little bitch over there. I was in a perfectly happy mood when I came to work today. But when she jumped me three seconds after walking in and implied that I was trying to get her fired because I wouldn't let her finish the interview, which by the way, lasted over two hours yesterday. Then she had the gall to grab me physically, which I told her was a really bad idea and to not ever do it again. Since I was planning on it anyway, that just put the icing on the cake and instead of in two weeks, I'm out of here today.""She
"Me moving in with you, silly. I still want to keep this house. It's paid for, thanks to dad's life insurance policy. So all I have to pay for is the taxes and homeowners insurance. I will need it for the down time after my monthly trip into the woods.""Heh, the way you keep saying it like that, you make it sound like you have a bad case of the monthly cramps, not, well, you know.""See, even you can't say it out loud. It's like if we don't say it, it won't be true. Yes, Marie, once a month my PMS goes all to hell and I turn into a werewolf.""Yeah, okay. I guess maybe because I haven't seen you like that, it really hasn't sunk in.""Trust me,. Until Damien teaches me to control the shift, to become aware inside myself when I've shifted, you don't want to be anywhere near me. I killed and ate someone who was near me last time.""I'm sorry, Elena, I didn't mean to bring that up.""No, that's okay. If I keep these thoughts inside, it'll make it worse. I do know how you can make it up t
Elena nodded that she had and took it out of the fridge for her. She finished cooking her bacon and eggs. She then smothered honey-butter on her toast. Marie watched her in awe and still wondered how she could eat so much. When she wiped up the last of the egg yolk with her toast she popped it into her mouth and hummed contentedly. She sipped her coffee and felt the rush of caffeine hit her system. Marie sipped hers and smiled, Elena had been right, it was very dark and very rich but it wasn't bitter at all."Well, now that I don't have the raving urge to fill my mouth with eggs and bacon, we can talk. I saw that look, and I'll eat that for dessert, now hush. I want to run an idea past you, but I don't want you to feel pressured in any way. I'm thinking of quitting at the Acantha and trying to find something in Helena."Marie beamed and snickered."You're trying to see if I want you to move in with me, aren't you? Well, the answer is YES! I would love it if you would move in with me."