On the Prowl by Kate Rudolph

39

Stasia ledEm to a small clearing at the edge of the nearby woods that must have been used by the pack. There were chairs set up all around the fire pit, and Em could just imagine how fun it would be to roast s'mores on a cool night. But the sun was high overhead, and she and her sister weren't out here for snacks.

Though Em could have used one. The drive out to the farm was long, and she had found that her werewolf metabolism had her eating a lot more. Oh well. She could suffer for a little while.

"Dad’s talking with divorce lawyers," Stasia said as she settled into her seat. "I swear AR did a little dance when he heard that." AR was their oldest brother and their father's right-hand man.

Em felt just a little satisfaction at the news. "Serves the name stealer right," she grumbled. Her father's wife, Riley, was technically her stepmother. She was also four years younger than Em. And when she had given birth to their father’s tenth child, she had somehow managed to give Em's youngest sister the same name as Em: Emerald Selby. And then when Em pointed it out, she refused to change the kid's name.

Rude.

"Are you ever going to get over that?" Stasia asked with a grin. Em knew that her grumbling just amused Stasia.

She didn't care, it was the principle of the thing. "Is it really so much to ask that none of my siblings have the same name as I do? Is it really so much to ask that a woman that Dad marries knows all of our names? I don't think so."

Stasia tipped her head back and laughed.

After a moment Em joined her. "Okay. Maybe it's not such a big deal compared to… all of this." Werewolves. Magic. Mates. What was one name-stealing stepmother compared to that? Especially if she was soon to be an ex-stepmother. "I bet she gets screwed because the prenup."

"Do you feel bad for her at all?" Stasia actually seemed concerned.

That was cute. Em shrugged. "She had to know what she was getting into." That's what happened when a woman married a man nearly fifty years older than her.

Stasia didn't look so sure. "Dad is… Dad. If I didn't know better, I would say he could set spells on people. But he probably wouldn't have so many ex-wives if that’s true."

Em didn't want to think about that. "Let's not think about Dad as a wizard." She could just imagine him in some ridiculous robe and hat. She shuddered. "Any other family updates?" she asked, desperate for a change of subject. Though Selby family updates could be horrifying in their own right.

Stasia shook her head. "I've been staying out of most of it. Just the normal nonsense."

Em knew exactly what she meant. Their father was the third richest man in New York. With that came a lot of bullshit, and Stasia had dedicated most of her life to trying to keep as far away as possible. Em couldn't blame her. It was one of the reasons she loved going on world tours so much. It was the perfect excuse not to visit home.

"Speaking of bigger things…" Em splayed her hands out in front of her.

"Oh my god, you're pregnant." Stasia's eyes were wide, and Em imagined her sister holding a baby.

"What? No!" Em put a hand over her stomach, as if she was defending it from invaders. And she was glad Andre wasn't here to hear the suggestion, if only so he didn't hear her horrified rejection. "Things are still new between Andre and me. We haven't talked about kids yet. That's a later thing. Much later." She wanted kids. Eventually.

Very, very eventually.

Not less than two months into her relationship and werewolfdom.

"Okay, so what bigger thing?" Stasia slumped, clearly not as excited by whatever Em was about to say.

And that got her to thinking. "You're not pregnant, are you?" Now she had babies on the brain.

Stasia's eyes got wide and she shook her head, not quite as startled as Em, but clearly not ready to consider it. "No. Let's make a pact not to talk about that for like a year. Or a decade."

"So no babies for you?" It had never been something she and her sister had discussed before. Neither of them had ever been serious enough about someone to really think about it. And now Em was with her forever guy, and it was crazy to think about how things could just fall into place like that.

"We want to figure out the werewolf thing first," said Stasia sensibly. "Will our kids be werewolves? Will we have to bite them if we want them to be wolves? Do we want that? There’s so many questions. One thing at a time."

And that Em could understand.

She held out her hands again. "I've learned a couple tricks." She had to close her eyes and concentrate hard, but she could feel the energy swirling all around them and summoned it to her fingers. They lit up like Fourth of July sparklers, and she waved them around in front of her.

"What?" Stasia's mouth hung open in shock.

"So I might have accidentally inhaled the ghost werewolf that was stalking me and now I have magic powers. Maybe." It didn't sound any less crazy, no matter how many times she said it.

At that, Stasia blinked. "What?"

Em wished she had another trick to show, but all she had managed so far was the finger sparklers. It looked fun, but it wasn't exactly useful. Andre had been willing to be her guinea pig to see if they actually hurt, but when she touched his skin, he said they just tickled. Not exactly a weapon.

"I'm going to give Vi, the witch that helped us, a call pretty soon. She said the powers might dissipate, but so far nothing's changed. I don't know if I have enough power to be a witch or if I'm going to learn a few cool tricks. But apparently that's the thing now." She didn't know when she would have time to figure out these new powers. The tour still had months left on it, and she'd be going into the studio to record a new album soon enough. Her life was busyness on top of busyness on top of busyness on top of werewolf bullshit. And apparently, she would have to add witch crap to that as well.

"Maybe we should wait two years to talk about babies," was what Stasia finally said.

Em laughed. Two years was plenty far away. They could re-negotiate then. "You've got a deal."