“You ready for this?” Bailey checks. “And you do realize, once we tell you this, you’re deeper into a non-verbal but very binding contract to say nothing about anything to anybody. Anyone that finds out our secrets joins into a pact that’s punishable by death if it’s broken.”
I gasp. “I’d never…”
Tyson leans toward Bailey threateningly. She squeaks.
“I’m not… I know, we know you wouldn’t. You’re Tyson’s soulmate. Tyson, chill,” she requests. “I’m being cheeky.”
Tyson leans back but still looks tweaked at the perceived threat.
Aunt Lucy speaks up. “You wouldn’t be his person if it weren’t meant to be. We know that. He wouldn’t have come back to us if he wasn’t meant to be here, with us, leading us. We’re all comfortable with you, Ivy. Shifters are taught from a young age how important it is to keep our lives secret. This all comes natural to us. People like you are outsiders, not of much consequence to us unless you link up with someone we care for. Believe me, we aren’t here living in shame. People are just a nuisance we ignore, for the most part.”
“Maybe you guys shouldn’t tell me stuff,” I change my mind.
“Tell her,” Tyson orders. “And me.”
My eyes meet his and my heart skips a beat at the intensity coming from him. Of course he wants me further entrenched, so entrenched I’d have no hope of ever extricating myself. I almost feel angry about that, but really, I’m more freaked out than anything. And what the heck… if I tell my family when I get home about what’s happened here, I’m risking my life? Their lives?
“Just to say,” I announce, knowing that not everyone here is listening but those in our immediate vicinity are. “I’d never, no matter what, do anything to put anyone here at risk.”
“We know,” Cat says, looking at me with a gentle expression.
“So, beyond us, do you believe in vampires, witches, aliens?”
“Not really. Or I never did before…” I say.
She nods.
Wow.
“Other shapeshifters. Fae. The list goes on…” Aunt Lucy adds. “Narrow minded people are abundant. There are lots of things that exist that they either don’t see or that we simply choose not to let them see.”
“Holy crap,” I breathe.
Vampires? Witches? Fae?
“What about fortune tellers?” I ask, again thinking about Aunt Nelle.
“Fortune tellers are usually witches,” Cat says. “Occasionally they’re not, though, and in many of those cases it’s because they’re charlatans. Though some are descendants of witches and don’t truly know it.”
“Ah.”
Whoa.
I focus on my food.
“Oh. You guys haven’t got drinks. What to drink, guys?” Bailey asks.
“Something sparkly and clear. Like Sprite or 7-up if you have it?”
“Water for me,” Ty says, and Bailey nods and slips away from the table.
Ty then leans over. “Sprite,” he whispers and then kisses the mark on my neck. I shiver. “One of my first thoughts of you was that you looked like a sprite.”
I snicker. “My Auntie Nelle used to tell me she thought I was switched at birth and came from fairies.”
I see smiles on Cat’s and Lucy’s faces.
“Do fairies and werewolves pair up often?”
“They do,” his mother chimes in. “And if they pair up with people, it’s usually a calamity. Often, other supernaturals need to wade in to untangle the messes. I think Mason got back from one such mission a few months ago.”
Wow.
“So, maybe I’m descendent of a sprite,” I say. “Maybe way back.”
“I painted a sprite when I was a kid and have that painting. I checked it the other night to see if she looked like you. Did I predict my future?”
I smile. “Did she look like me?”
He nods. “Yellow hair. No silly purple bits, though.”
“Silly?” I lean back. “My purple highlights are silly?” I pout.
“They’re cute,” he says, “But a little silly. You should know I didn’t ever find things cute before you.”
I beam at him. “Aw shucks.” I twirl a lock of blonde and purple.
He kisses the tip of my nose and steals another bite of my potato salad.
“Hey! Eat your own!”
***
“Everyone, I need your attention?” Riley is on the stage with a microphone in his hand.
He’s smiling as the room hushes.
“You guys love any excuse for a party, so we agreed to come for the strawberry moon tonight, but turned out it was serendipitous timing because we had no idea when this got planned, that Tyson was about to come home.”
Applause erupts in the place and Tyson looks caught off guard by it. His eyes sweep the room as Riley continues.
“Tyson, cousin, brother, we are beyond thrilled that you decided to come tonight. On behalf of all of us, I just wanna say welcome home. We hoped the day would come. We’re thrilled it has. Congratulations on finding Ivy, and thank you Ivy for being here, too. We know it’s down to you that he’s here. And maybe also a pissed off rattler.”