Meg took in this new information with a bit of astonishment. George was a baby brother? She and Luc had lots to talk about. “I’ll be back as soon as I get the rest of the guests out the door,” she said to Luc. He nodded and curled up on the pillows.
Meg closed the door and went back to the kitchen. George, Sandy and the last of the people were in there cleaning up. “Okay, I don’t mean to sound ignorant or rude, but who is everyone? And how are you related to either Luc or Ginny?” she said to the five people in the room.
“Meg, I’m sorry, I took it for granted that you’d know at least some of us,” said Sandy.
“No, Luc and I have had a few lapses in details. Family being one of them,” she said.
“Okay, I’m Alexander Moreau. Luc is my younger brother. This imp is Jesse. He’s nine,” Sandy said as he rubbed the top of the boy’s head.
“I’m Luc’s little brother and one of a set of twins,” said George.
“There are two your size?” asked Meg.
“No, I’m a fraternal twin. Ysabel here is my other half,” said George pulling an average sized woman to his side.
“Hello,” said Ysabel holding out a hand to Meg. “Nice to meet you at last.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Meg shaking her hand.
“And I’m Marie, Ginny’s and Duke’s sister,” said a short gray haired version of Ginny.
“Nice to meet you as well. Now one more question, if no one minds,” said Meg. “Just how are the two families related?” she asked pointing from Marie to the rest of the people in the kitchen.
“Well, once upon a time, one of the great-great aunties sorta jumped the fence with one of the great-great uncles. I think our side was the aunty and Luc’s was the uncle,” started Marie. “They had three children and then he got himself shot. Hunter I think. So she went back to her family and remarried. So, if you go back far enough, we are all related. However, to be totally clear you’d have to ask the current crop of great aunties as to the how,” she finished.
Meg just blinked. Looking around the room, everyone was nodding like this was common knowledge. “Okay. That explains a bit more as to why Sara and Joe call him Unky Luc,” said Meg.
“And with that, we all need to go home and let you sleep. Plenty of time for family stories another day,” said Ysabel. She gave Meg a hug and then headed out the door. The rest of the people followed suit with George last.
“You need anything, you call,” he said and pointed to a phone number written on the dry-write board.
“I will. Good night George,” she said.
George hugged her and headed out the door. Ten seconds later and the house was silent except for the sounds of snoring coming from the bedrooms. Meg dropped her clothes to the floor and crawled into bed with Luc. It had been a very long day.
***
Luc woke in the middle of the night stiff and achy. “What the hell?” he wondered. As he tried to stretch, he remembered. Duke, the attach, Meg and the family meeting. “Damn, what a day,” he thought. Luc went to roll over, but Meg was snuggled up tight to his right side. Luc scooted back, stretched a bit more and then curled up around her. He was back asleep in a moment.
Meg woke up wondering who had turned up the heat. She tried to roll over and realized that Luc had shifted in the night and had pinned her under the covers. “Oh great. I need to go to the bathroom,” she thought. Meg tried to wiggle out of the covers, but it didn’t work.
“Luc, wake up Luc,” she said to the wolf curled around her. She started to shake his neck, but realized that even in wolf form, he was missing fur where he’d been injured. The other thing she noticed was that the chain she’d given him fit without being too tight. She smiled.
“Come on Luc, roll over, play dead, do something, but let me up,” she said as she shook his back near his hips.
The wolf raised his head and looked at his mate. “Soft One?” She was yapping at him. He yawned, and then sniffed. “Soft One needs up?” he thought. Soft one not safe,” the wolf thought as he sniffed the air again. “Two others in house,” he smelled. The wolf stood up and let his mate out of the bed and followed her into the little space. He sat in the doorway and watched.
Meg was glad when Luc got up off of the bed. She wasn’t too thrilled by the fact that he followed her to the bathroom. She could tell he was on guard by the way he kept sniffing the air. “Wonder if he smells Peter and Kevin in the guest room?”she thought.
“Come on, move out of the way,” she said as she tried to go back to the bedroom. Meg went to grab her clothes, and Luc blocked her way. He was herding her back to the bed. Looking over at the clock, she saw that it was 8:05 am. “Well, I guess I can go back to bed for a little bit,” she said to herself. Once she got back in bed, Luc wrapped around her and put his head on his tail. There was nothing to do but go back to sleep.
*
Meg woke much later to the sounds of clattering noises coming from the kitchen. Luc was still shifted, but she figured she could get off the bed without waking him. Meg was half way off when he woke, looked at her and jumped off the bed.
“Okay, I get an escort,” she said to herself as they walked out of the bedroom. The wolf preceded her just enough that he could see ahead. He sniffed and headed towards the kitchen and the noises.
Peter was trying to find a coffee filter when he felt the wolf enter the kitchen. He went very still, because while not loud, the growl was there. The wolf sniffed him and then bumped his hand. Peter relaxed. Then he noticed Meg standing in the doorway.