Francisco.
This solemn trip to Golden Gate Park had been unexpected. Eve still wasn’t certain why she’d been asked to come along, nor did she know why they were here.
Their somber procession passed by the Japanese Tea Gardens and crossed an open stretch of green grass. Trees swayed in the gentle breeze and Eve heard the sound of laughter from children playing near a small lake.
They stopped at the edge of the grass where a tangle of shrubs grew thick and green. The morning fog had burned away, but the air was cool. Eve shivered and wrapped her arms around herself. She’d expected warmer temperatures this late in the summer, but it was actually cooler here in San Francisco than it had been up north in Montana.
She stayed to the back of the small group, curious, wondering if anyone would explain the reason they were here. Tia knelt down and plucked some wild clover away from what appeared to be a small slab of white marble. There was nothing written on it, though the symbol of a wolf had been etched into the stone.
Tia carefully set her bouquet on top of the stone, touched the petals with her fingers, and then stood up. Tears coursed down her cheeks. Eve dug into her pocket and found a clean tissue. Tia took it from her with a grateful smile.
“Thank you.” She wiped her eyes and sighed. “Thank you for coming with me. Eve, I’m sorry. I realized just now that you probably have no idea why we’re even here. What significance this place has.”
Eve shook her head and shrugged. “No, but it obviously means a lot to you. I appreciate your including me. Can you tell me what happened?”
“My mother died here, right on this spot, when I was six years old.” Tia knelt once again and ran her fingers over the white marble and the beautiful bouquet of roses. The other women sat with her, forming a close ring around the marker.
“What happened?” Feeling oddly out of sync, Eve settled her fanny in the cool grass. That was the last thing she’d expected to hear from Tia.
“She was shot and killed by a young rookie cop. He saw a wolf in the park and thought it was after a group of children, so he shot it. He had no idea it was my mother. No idea he was shooting a woman, a wife. Someone’s mom.”
“Oh my God.” Eve touched Tia’s hand. “You poor thing. I’m so sorry.” She gazed at the mass of roses. Then she looked around her, at the beautiful, peaceful surroundings. It was hard to imagine violence in such a tranquil setting.
She turned back to Tia. “What about the cop? I can’t help but think of him, too. He must have felt terrible. Whatever happened to him?”
Tia’s chest rose and fell with her deep breath. “I married him.”
“Luc? You mean your husband killed your mother?”
Tia nodded. “It was a long time ago. He’s lived with the pain of what he did for all these years, but that horrible event led him to my father. Dad realized right away that Luc was one of us. That was the beginning of Pack Dynamics. Finding Luc was the catalyst for Dad to retire from the police force and go in search of more Chanku. He found Mik and AJ next, then Tinker and Jacob Trent.”
Once again, Tia stroked the white marble. “You haven’t met Jake, yet. He’s settled in Maine with Baylor Quinn and Manda, your mate’s sister. I know you’ve met them.”
Tala leaned close and gave Tia a hug. “Mik and AJ told me what happened. I had no idea. It’s hard to lose your mom, especially when you’re so young.”
“At least I had my father.” Tia hugged Tala back.
Before Eve could ask, Tala answered her unspoken question. “My father caught my mother with another man. He shot and killed both of them.” She said it so matter-of-factly, but there were tears in her eyes when she glanced over at her sister, Lisa, and added in a bare whisper, “Baylor and I testified against him at the trial, but it was Lisa’s testimony that really put him in jail. She was there when it happened. It was pretty ugly.”
Lisa reached out and took Tala’s hand in hers. “We were old enough to be on our own,” she said, “but it was really tough for a lot of years.”
“How awful.” Eve touched Lisa’s free hand.
Lisa nodded and actually smiled. “You’ll find most of us have had pretty unsettled childhoods. All of us who are shapeshifters now had mothers who carried the Chanku gene, but they never knew. Only Camille, Tia’s mom, understood why she was the way she was, but she died before she could pass on her knowledge to Tia.”
Lisa shook her head slowly from side to side, as if the memories were too painful to dwell upon. “Just think about your mom, our mom. Remember how unhappy you were before you found out you were Chanku? How unsettled? The drives and the unmet needs our mothers lived with must have been devastating for them. The knowledge there was something powerful missing in their lives.”
She glanced away, beyond the four of them, and stared into the distance. Then she turned her attention back to Eve. “What’s your mother like?”
Eve glanced down and studied her bare toes through her sandals “I have no idea. I was orphaned as an infant and raised in foster care. I don’t remember my mother.” She’d always felt so alone. Who was the woman who had borne her and then died? What had she been like? What would Eve’s life have been like if her mother had survived?
She rarely told anyone her story, but Lisa’s simple explanation made so much sense. “I never thought of what her life might have been like. Never even wondered what kind of pain my mother lived with. She was totally alone. She had no one. My father’s name isn’t even on the birth certificate. I always just figured she was a drug addict or a prostitute. I never knew what she died from. There’s probably a record somewhere, but I’ve never checked.”
“Still, that’s really tough.” Lisa rubbed Eve’s shoulder.
“At least I survived. I was a few months old when she died. I went directly into foster care. Mei Chen, Oliver’s mate had it really rough. She was abandoned in a public park. A little boy found her, umbilical cord and placenta still attached, all of it wrapped in bloody newspapers. Authorities never were able to locate her mother and she was raised in foster home care, too. That’s how we met.”
“Where was that?” Tala leaned against her sister.
“Tampa, Florida.”
“You’re kidding.” Lisa glanced at Tala, then back at Eve. “That’s where we’re from. We were raised in a little town east of Tampa.”
“Small world,” Eve said. “You guys, me…Mei Chen, all of us from the same place.” They sat there quietly for a moment. Eve figured they were all lost in their own childhood memories. She found herself studying the two women much closer. How come so many of this small group had come from that one community?
Tala’s voice dragged her back to the present. “What’s the significance of today’s flowers, Tia? Is it your mom’s birthday.”
“Nope.” Tia grinned and shook her head. Her long, dark blond hair curled in every direction and her beautiful amber eyes glittered with laughter and emotion.
“Well?” Exasperated, Lisa leaned forward as if she might be able to squeeze the secret out of her packmate.
