Page 40 of Ice Devil

“Pat. Get back in bed,” our mother told him, her grip on his arm the one she used with her three boys when needing to drag one of us from a toy store. She’d needed superhuman strength then, even more so now.

“I am perfectly fine, Maggie. Why can’t anyone see that?” He was the only person to get away with calling her Maggie, Mags for short. That didn’t mean she liked either term of endearment. Even now, she was gritting her teeth to keep from lashing out.

“If you get back in bed,” she pushed, “you’ll get a surprise when you get home.”

Her singsong voice was also exactly the same as she’d used with us as children and every so often as adults.

When our dad’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, I could tell my sister was taking notes. How to handle a wayward husband in three easy lessons.

I’d never admit it in public, but women were much smarter than men. Now why was it that as soon as the admittance rolled through my brain I thought of Sloane?

My mother never lessened her grip while taking the newspaper from his hand and leading him back to bed.

“There. There. That’s a very good boy,” she cooed while rubbing his face.

For all the coddling she had to do with him, I’d never seen two people so very much in love. Their relationship was something to aspire to.

“Why are all the newspapers and social media posts reporting that Daddy is on death’s door?” Samantha asked. Since I was standing closest to her, she showed me what she’d been looking at, even scrolling for convenience.

She was right in that all the pertinent online news sources had a similar caption.

“What I want to know is where they got the name of the Shadow Dancers Wolf Pack,” Ford snorted.

The sheepish look on our father’s face was a clear indication he had an idea. When I took a step closer, my mother pointed her do-and-you’ll-be-cut-out-of-our-will finger. Her expression was no more comforting.

I wasn’t a stupid boy. I clammed up.

Cole, being the youngest of the three boys, apparently had a death wish. “Didn’t I hear that name at some point? Didn’t Grampa tell us stories that included shadow dancers?”

A sound from outside the room interrupted the family gathering, Nurse Ratched thumping into the room. She could certainly rival our mother in a mud wrestling event. “Visiting hours are over. You need your rest, Mr. Kendrick. We don’t want to find use for those restraints again, now do we?”

Pops ground his teeth. “I want to go home.”

“Tomorrow, Mr. Kendrick. But only if you’re a good boy.”

Maybe I was the only one who noticed the nurse winking at our mother on the sly.

I moved closer to the door, both Cole and Ford following me. While the nurse discussed our father’s care after he left the hospital, we had a little family meeting sans our sister. We’d catch her up to date later. She was our decoy so we could talk.

“What do you remember about the Shadow Dancers?” Ford asked, doing his best to keep his voice down.

“Just that the packs all used to have a name. Now they’re just listed by territories.” Cole leaned his head against the wall.

“That’s because there’s less pack mentality and more community connections,” Ford offered, more amused than anything else.

I don’t know why, but I was anxious. Our father’s heart attack had come out of the blue. The man was healthy as a horse. Or so his old timey doctor had told him.

Maybe it was time for Pops to come out of the stone age. There was something to be said about modern medicine. With Georgia being a pioneer in bridging the gap between shifter and human medicine, there were hopes that fears would eventually be dissipated. Maybe not for the old timers, but the crop of young pups.

From what I understood, her exploratory work held respect from her peers on both sides of the DNA strain.

“Who would tell members of the press Dad was dying?” Cole glanced from one to the other of us.

“The better question is why.” Another hospital worker walked into the room. In her hand was a lovely plant instead of flowers. Since I was the closest, I moved into the doorway. “I’ll take those for you.”

The girl nodded, her eyes lighting up and I could tell instant recognition as soon as she turned her head toward the other two.

“Could I get your autograph?” Her voice was wispy.