4. Cecil

Chapter 4

Iabsolutely loved to bake. I didn't do it often because then I would eat all of the baked goods. Not that I couldn't simply burn them off with my higher metabolism. But I always felt bad about eating an entire batch of cookies in one night because I was still working on decades of guilt ingrained into me from my parents. I knew a lot of my self-confidence issues came from my mother. She was human, and although she was mated to my father, she still had to watch what she ate if she wished to remain slender. How she had ended up the mate to my father, I'd never know, but there you had it.

They'd met when he was on vacation with one of my uncles, and that was the end of my father's party-boy days. They proceeded to have four sons within eight years and then me a little over three decades later. I was the only omega, and it was no secret that I'd been a disappointment since I was born with an omega line.

Then puberty hit, and although I could shift, I looked like a juvenile polar bear when shifted. Another strike against me. But then my first heat never came. And the next year, still nothing. By the time I was eighteen and still no heat, my parents couldn't even look at me. Their only omega child, and I was "defective," according to them.

I stayed only long enough to secure somewhere else to live and pack my things. I took the coward's way out and left in the middle of the night. It took my parents almost two weeks to realize I and my things were gone from my room. By that time, I was already settled into my own place while waiting to go to college in the fall. I worked three jobs to be able to afford my rent until I could go off to university.

Done with my parents, I'd muted their numbers, but when Grandpa Lev had called, worried, I simply told him I was all right, I just wanted to do something for myself. Hindsight being what it was, I should have said something to my grandparents then. Actually, I probably should have long before then, but I didn't wish to cause any issues with them and my father. They were his grandparents, after all, and they of all people should know what type of asshat he was.

A loud buzzing sound brought me from my thoughts, and I realized it was the buzzer on my oven. I rushed to it, wondering how long I'd been reminiscing about my life growing up. The cookies looked perfectly fine, and I placed the baking sheet on top of the stove and slid the last one in before resetting the timer. Those would need to sit on the sheet for a few more minutes before they could be moved to the cooling rack. They smelled divine, and I couldn't wait to have a few in a bit. Yes, I was going to thumb my nose at my mother and eat cookies not only now but later on this evening at the family dinner.

I was a shifter. I actually didn't have to watch what I ate. I burned everything off faster than my body could store it. There had even been a time when others around me had questioned if I was eating enough because I had become dangerously thin. It was that concern from those I considered friends that I took a step back and realized that my mother's obsession with food and watching every bite she put in her mouth had been unhealthy not only for herself but for me as well. I needed more calories. I needed meat. She could choose to count every calorie she put in her mouth if she chose, but I wasn't going to any longer.

One of the reasons I came here was to get away from my family. They were unhealthy for me. Not only that, but they really didn't care much for me. I was fairly certain I was an oops baby. I was born thirty-two years after my next older brother. Just me. No more since, and I was pushing a hundred now.

I shook my head and took several deep breaths. I was dwelling on my shitty upbringing again, and I had promised myself that I wouldn't. I wasn't going to give my parents the satisfaction of having that control over me any longer. I glanced around my tiny kitchen, and when my gaze landed on the cookies, I snatched one up from the cooling rack. I shoved it in my mouth, and two bites later, it was gone. I was still chewing when I moved the cookies from the baking sheet over to the first batch I'd made. They would finish cooling on the rack before I put them in a container to take up to Treasure Ridge.

The buzzer sounded again, and I pulled out the last of the cookies and placed them on the oven to sit for a few minutes. With the baking completed, I went to the bathroom and stripped out of my sweats and T-shirt I was wearing. I turned on the water in the shower, and as it was heating up, I turned to look at myself in the mirror. I was a polar bear omega, and as such, I was able to grow facial hair. Sort of. It was still splotchy, and because of my dirty-blond hair coloring, it wasn't exactly dark. I didn't need to shave just yet, so I turned and stepped into the shower.

After that was complete, I dressed and then went to the kitchen to pack up the cookies. A glance at the clock told me I wouldn't be too terribly early if I left now, and with nothing else to do, I gathered everything and left my tiny cabin.

I grinned as I closed and locked the door. It wasn't that I had anything too valuable inside and felt I needed to keep others out. I lived in a cabin on den lands, but the area was full of tourists, and they didn't always like to obey the private property signs. It really made for some interesting times when you were walking through the forest and suddenly came across a group of tourists who were "just out hiking."

I placed the cookies in the back of my little car and then slid behind the wheel. It was one of the first things I'd purchased when I arrived here in Montana. Hindsight being what it was, it probably would have been better to pick something else because my little vehicle wasn't exactly the greatest when it came to driving on the snow. There were several times last winter when I needed someone to come take me to the dragon's cabin so I could get to work. True, the roads were plowed, but the snowplows couldn't always keep up when the snow started to come down.

I really should look into getting something with a bit higher ground clearance. And maybe bigger tires. But I really loved my little car. I wasn't exactly large. I was only five eight and felt my car was perfect for me. Except when it came to winters in Montana, I discovered.

I sighed as I thought about what I was going to have to do. I knew I needed to get something more equipped for the upcoming winter; I just wasn't quite ready. It wasn't that funds were an issue. They weren't. I might not be nearly as old as others around here, but I had funds. My portfolio wasn't nearly as vast as some, but when you were part of the created polar bear's family, you didn't want for much. Except maybe fewer scowls. It seemed as if the males in Vitomir's family had the scowl gene down. Well, at least the alphas.

It didn't take long to make it to the dragon's cabin. I was walking into the garage door when my phone chimed in my pocket. I wasn't sure who it was because I'd not assigned anyone a special sound, but I figured they could wait a few more minutes until I was on top of the mountain before I replied.

"Family dinner time?" Timothy asked.

I grinned at the warlock. "It is," I told him.

Timothy had joined the council from Master Edison's previous coven in Amherst for the sole purpose of being on call to move people to and from the mountaintop. It was my understanding that he hung out in the cabin during the day, and later at night, he just popped in from his own place when someone needed to go up or come down from the mountain.

"Tell me something," I said.

Timothy nodded, reached out, and touched my shoulder, and then my stomach swirled before we were suddenly standing in the transport building by the council building.

"What is it that you'd like to know?"

"Do you ever worry about someone getting hurt when you're transporting them? Like on Star Trek when they weren't beamed up properly and they were lost in space."

Timothy chuckled while shaking his head. "No, I can't say I've ever worried about that. I'm over two hundred years old. I pretty much have teleporting down, I'd say. But what is this Star Trek you speak of?"

My eyes rounded in shock. "You've never watched Star Trek? Not the show or the movies?"

Timothy shook his head. "No. My One and I much prefer other activities in the evenings and weekends. But if it's something worthwhile, we could go searching for it."

I sighed. "No, if you've not ever heard of it, and you're as old as you say you are, it's probably not something that would interest you," I told him. "Thanks for the lift."

I waved as I walked out of the door. It was a fifteen-minute walk to my great-grandparents' place, but it was early October, and the weather was still nice. It would be much cooler this evening when I left, but that wouldn't bother me.

My phone chimed in my pocket again, reminding me that it had chimed as I was entering the cabin as well. I juggled the container of cookies while digging out my phone. I saw I had two text messages from Grandpa Lev. My heart sank when I opened them and read the first.

Grandpa: Heads up. Your parents arrived about 30 minutes ago.

Grandpa: You don't have to still come to dinner if you are uncomfortable. I didn't know they were going to be visiting, and neither did your grandfather. They just showed up unannounced. Nobody else in the family knew they were coming either.

I froze in my tracks. Did I really want to go face my parents? In front of everyone else? I wondered how they even got up here but then remembered that, as family members, they were already cleared because they'd not been banned. But still. This was my place. I'd been here for over a year, and this was where I felt safest. This was my sanctuary away from them.

I realized that my mistake was believing that anywhere I had family was safe from my parents. They would simply do what they'd just done—show up unannounced. I sighed, trying to decide what I should do. I knew that Grandpa Lev was trying to give me a heads-up and let me know they were here. He didn't have to do that.

I thought about letting him know I wasn't going to be joining them, but maybe it was time for the others in the family to see just how my parents could be with me. Maybe it was time to open up about the years of treatment from my parents. My siblings were all already gone before I came along, so they never witnessed it. I was incredibly torn. But in the end, I decided to go ahead and show up at my grandparents' place. I had made cookies, and I wanted to see them.

Despite working not far from Grandfather, I didn't see him often. There had been a few times that I'd been out running and had come across him and Grandpa while we were all shifted. I lingered around them a bit but then always moseyed away. I couldn't communicate with them, and I didn't want to interrupt their together time. I knew there was a lot of stress on Grandfather with everything going on with the council, and the last thing I wanted to do was cause him and Grandpa to lose out on any of their time alone.

With my mind made up, I continued on to their house. It was nice out, and I couldn't help but look around at the scenery as I made the walk to their place. There were very few trees on the mountaintop that weren't evergreens, which didn't really make for changing fall scenery like we had down off of the mountain. But they were pretty just the same. Especially in the winter when they were covered in snow. There was just something about a bunch of evergreens that were in the midst of a winter wonderland that called to me. Perhaps it was because of my bear, I wasn't sure.

I was so lost in thought, and thankful that I seemed to know the way on autopilot, that I found myself standing in front of their door before I knew it. I took several deep breaths before I raised my hand and knocked. I could do this. I had others here that would support me. I wasn't alone with them, and I was ready for whatever they threw at me.

I heard footsteps inside, and when the door opened, I wasn't sure who to expect. It was a relief when I saw the friendly eyes of Grandpa Lev. Immediately, he leaned close and hugged me. "We had no idea they were coming. Vitomir is trying to find out why they're here."

I hugged him back with my free arm and then pulled away. "It's all right," I said quietly. "They'll either show their true selves, or they'll do as they've always done and hide it by behaving because others are around." I shrugged. I wasn't the only person to have a terrible relationship with my parents. I wasn't even the only paranormal to be in this type of situation. But I'd simply given up so long ago because of how they treated me. There was no escaping them.

As far as I knew, my parents weren't bad people. They just didn't necessarily want me. I had somehow messed up their plans.

"Well, I'm not sure what all has gone on between the three of you, but nothing but good things will happen today. Your grandfather and I will accept no less."

I grinned at Grandpa Lev. "I appreciate it. I love coming to your dinners. Not only are you an amazing cook, but I enjoy the company." I stepped into the house as Grandpa Lev moved back. After he closed the door, he was giving me a look I didn't quite understand. I was still pondering about it when we entered the back room of the house. It was huge, something that I didn't quite understand since it was just the two of them in the place, but then again, most created ones had large families.

I saw that I was the last to arrive, which had me questioning my memory. Had I gotten the time wrong? I was actually early, I had thought, but apparently not.

"Cecil is here, everyone. And from the scent, he's brought chocolate chip cookies."

That had the kids all running toward us, and I couldn't help but smile at their enthusiasm. I liked cookies just as much as they did though. But unlike them, I could always make a new batch when I got home. They were at the mercy of their parents.

"Only one until after supper," Grandpa Lev said as he passed out cookies. They were all shifters, and there was no way one cookie would ruin their appetites, even with as young as some of them were.

I continued to smile as I looked around the room. It wasn't difficult to spot my parents. They were against the far wall, talking to Grandfather. It seemed as if he was upset, and I absolutely did not want to be in their shoes. I knew he loved all of us, and he and Grandpa Lev still mourned the loss of their son Sergey, but that didn't change the fact that Grandfather could most certainly be gruff and harsh.

I spotted Jules as well as Grayson and immediately made my way over to them. Once there, I noticed that Orin and Jai were around the corner a bit, sitting on another love seat talking. I longed to be able to go over and hang out and talk, but I had next to nothing in common with them. So I moved closer to Jules, and when he glanced my way and smiled, I felt relief. When he paused whatever it was he was saying to Grayson, I wondered if I'd interrupted something important that I really didn't need to hear.

I offered an uncomfortable grin before I took a step away. "You should join us, Cecil," Grayson said.

I looked over to Jules. "Is that all right?"

"Of course it is," Jules said. He patted the couch beside him, and when I moved to sit there, it wasn't three seconds until Jai and Orin were walking toward us. I moved as far away from Jules as I could, allowing Orin enough room to sit beside his mate. I wasn't at all surprised when Jai simply plopped down on Grayson's lap, his legs dangling off the arm of the chair his own mate had been sitting in.

"Did you two decide on next week's plans?" Jules asked.

"Maybe. We've narrowed it down to two," Orin said. "It will really depend on Elliot and where he's willing to take us."

"We're thinking his cabin in Alaska though. It will be wonderful to play in the snow and swim in the sea," Jai added.

"Does your panda swim in just-above-freezing water, Jai?" Jules asked with a chuckle in his voice.

"Pandas are excellent swimmers. It's true that I've never swam in my panda form in the Bering Sea, but I'm game for it if Elliot wants to take us there. I'm actually just wanting to go and play in the snow. He takes Troy frequently, and he always seemed so relaxed after he comes back from a long weekend there."

Grayson snorted. Jai looked at his mate. "That's not because he's spent the weekend swimming. They were without their four kids," Grayson said. Jai seemed to pick up on what his mate was implying quick enough. When he did, he rolled his eyes.

"Fine. Maybe we should just go to somewhere warm and sunny, and we can lie on a tropical beach for a weekend," Jai suggested.

"That would be nice," Orin added. "What would you rather do, Cecil?"

"Me?" Jai and Orin both nodded at me. "I'm really more of a homebody. My bear likes the snow and cold water though, so I'd probably opt for Alaska. Or Russia. I've not been back there in a long time." I didn't really miss it all that much. Not really. My friends that I did have were all mostly mated and had families of their own. I'd never looked for my mate. There truly was no use.

"You two can decide about your weekend away without your broods later. It's time to eat," Grandpa Lev said as he came over and joined us. He held out a hand to me, and I took it, suddenly finding myself being pulled from the couch.

I sent my parents another glance, and although they were walking toward the group, they wouldn't even look my way. Not really unusual for them. I truly felt as if I was the unwanted child. I simply shook my head and followed the others to the large table. I could make it through one meal with my parents.