Chapter 16: Chapter 15 - Auden

Saturday 5 December

~*Auden’s POV*~

“Nat? You got a sec?”

I had gone looking for her after Cody had told me she’d headed to the library downstairs. Apparently, Nat had gone through all of Cody’s small supply of books already and had asked where she could get more. Cody had sent her down to the library.

This was only her fifth day with us, and she was reading like there was no tomorrow. I’d never seen such a voracious book lover before. Her appetite for reading was just as great as her appetite for food — insatiable.

She looked up at me with tired eyes from her curled position in one of the library’s swivel sofa chairs. “Of course, Auden. What do you need?”

“I’d love to spend a few minutes just checking in with you to see how things are going. Can we chat in my office?”

“Sure.” Nat grabbed the book she was reading and followed me out and down the hall.

“Sit where you’d like,” I told her as I closed the door. I had pushed my desk against a wall long ago to accommodate the plush sofa and chair set. In all the other offices, the desk was the central feature. I had wanted to give my office a warm, welcoming feeling, so had opted to shove it out of the way as much as possible. It certainly helped that I did most of my work in the medical centre upstairs, so I never felt like I needed the extra desk here for any work-related purposes. I had hung an abstract painting on each wall to complete the home-like vibe.

Nat looked around the room and headed for the sofa. She sat on the left-hand side and leaned against the armrest. I sat in the chair opposite. She shifted her eyes to each of the paintings before settling on me.

I saw she was avoiding my eyes, though. I’d noticed that it had begun a couple of nights ago, but I didn’t know what had started it.

“I’m assuming that your memories haven’t returned yet, as I can still hear you of a night,” I began. “The frequency of the nightmares seems to have lessened, though, so that’s good.”

Nat sighed. “That’s only because I’m not sleeping as much.”

“Ah.” I had hoped that the fewer nightmares meant she was heading in the right direction, but it appeared I was mistaken. “The herbal drink isn’t working?”

“Not really,” she said. “I had it on Thursday night, but my bladder woke me up after a couple of hours. Then it was a struggle to get back to sleep. I found it made me tireder than if I hadn’t had it at all, so…” She trailed off with a shrug of her shoulders.

I nodded in understanding. The concoction wouldn’t work on everyone, but I had hoped it would for her. I’d have to see if I could find something different. Maybe I could get Takeshi to approach his Bunyip friend for help? It was worth a shot. Nat looked exhausted.

“You look happier with your clothes, at least,” I pointed out. The dark denim jeans that she was wearing were fitted, but not as skin-tight as what Cody preferred. The three-quarter sleeved pale blue top matched her eyes perfectly. I had to hand it to Cody and Zelda; they certainly knew how to shop. “The sneakers you’re wearing; they’re not hurting you at all, are they?”

She looked down at the black sneakers with white laces on her feet. “No.” She took a second to think. “Well, not now, at least. Yesterday they still stung, but I think my feet just needed to get used to wearing shoes again.”

“Good to hear,” I said, relieved that she was healing nicely. I glanced quickly at her hands to see that they had almost healed completely as well. She was in good shape, considering how much damage she’d suffered less than a week prior. “Any luck with your memories?”

Nat shook her head. “Nope. The only memories I have are the ones that go back to Tuesday.”

I noticed she was still avoiding my eyeline. “I have to ask. Why are you struggling to look me in the eye? I noticed it on Thursday night, but it seems to still be happening. Have I done something wrong?”

She startled, then blinked. A rosy blush spread from her cheeks down to her shoulders. Whatever it was, it must be good to get that reaction.

“Oh… Umm…” she stuttered. “Zelda and Tatum told me how you were marked.” Her voice was quiet, and her blush deepened.

I laughed, relieved that it wasn’t anything serious. “Oh! Is that all?”

That got her attention. Nat’s cool, clear eyes penetrated mine with curiosity. “You’re not mad?”

I frowned. “No. Why would I be?”

“Because they explained how you were marked. In clear, very vivid imagery…”

I laughed again. This time, louder. “I bet Cody was thrilled!”

That brought a smile to her face. Her blush faded.

“Yeah…. Nah,” Nat snickered. “Tatum grabbed hold of her and wouldn’t let her leave. They forced her to listen.”

Oh, this just got better and better! I knew how much it creeped Cody out to think of my husbands and me in that way. Mind you, I would have felt just as awkward if I’d had to listen to other people talking about my own parents’ sex lives, so I guess I couldn’t fault her for wanting nothing to do with the conversation. Still, it couldn’t help but make me laugh. I tried to settle my amusement, but I think Nat could still tell how hilarious I found it, because she had finally relaxed around me for the first time in days.

“I’ll have to tease her about it later,” I told her. She really grinned at that. “Did they answer all the questions you had?”

Nat thought for a moment. “Yeah, they did. I still don’t quite figure out how you got the marks. You know… Physically. But I figure I really don’t need to know something so private.”

Ooh, I couldn’t let this opportunity pass me by. Let’s see how awkward I could make her feel.

“Well…” I began. Nat’s eyes widened as she realised I was going to tell her. I honestly didn’t think she thought I would want to discuss my sex life. Oh, how wrong she was!

“Did they tell you that for the three of us to be marked, there had to be a threesome?” I asked, with a twinkle in my eye. Let’s see how she handled that bit of information.

Her jaw dropped. “They…” She coughed. “Alluded to it, yes.” She coughed again. Her blush was returning.

Oh, this was so much fun!

“Good. We have taught them correctly, it seems. Yes, my husbands and I had to be in the process of a threesome for the first marking to occur.”

Her blush darkened. “So… you were the filling…?” She cringed. “That sounds terrible. I’m so sorry.”

I laughed. I didn’t think it was possible for her blush to get any darker, but she was proving me wrong.

“Don’t worry about it. You’re right,” I grinned at her. “I had Caelan in front of me, and Jackie behind. Once they both marked me, they shifted me out of the way so they could mark each other. I could mark Caelan after they had both marked me, but I had to mark Jackie later.”

She seemed to take all of this remarkably easily. Let’s see how she handles the kicker.

“They also had to complete their portion of the mating process afterwards. I got to watch. It was most enjoyable.”

She coughed so hard that she started to choke. Uh oh. Maybe I had pushed too much information on her all at once. But she had asked. I jumped up to grab a glass of water for her.

“Are you okay?” I asked, handing her the glass before sitting next to her on the sofa in case I needed to tap her on the back. Her coughing had eased, thank goodness, but she gladly accepted the glass and took a swallow.

Nat nodded. “I guess I didn’t think you’d be quite so… forthcoming… with your description…”

I shrugged. “You were curious, and you asked. Who am I to refuse your thirst for knowledge?”

She took another long sip from the glass. “Have you told Cody any of this?” she asked, somewhat raggedly from all her coughing.

“No,” I admitted. “But she’s never asked.” I grinned at her cheekily. “I guess you now have something to taunt her with if she pisses you off too much.”

Nat couldn’t help but burst out laughing. “Oh my God, yes! You’ve given me enough nightmare fuel against her to last a lifetime. Thank you!”

“Happy to help,” I replied, still grinning like a Cheshire cat. “You’re more than welcome to let her know it came from me.” She laughed so much that tears rolled down her cheeks.

“It’s honestly not a big deal.” I shrugged. “I admit it’s not common, but it’s not exactly rare, either. Werewolves are pretty open about anything to do with sex.”

Nat didn’t respond, just took another long sip of her water. I could see the wheels turning in her head. Eventually, she nodded and set the glass down.

“You don’t mind me asking you stuff like that?”

I shook my head and shrugged again. “That’s what I’m here for.” I leaned back on the other sofa arm. “Other than awkward conversations with my daughter and her friends, are you settling in okay to pack life? How was yesterday’s wander around the town with Cody and Zelda?”

“Great,” said Nat. “A little sore on my feet, but I figured that was more breaking in the shoes than anything else. The town is beautiful. I’m glad that everything we need is so close by.”

“We’re proud of it,” I agreed. “It’s still quite new. We built everything from scratch when we moved here after Black Saturday.” A sadness filled me when I thought about it, like it always did. I missed Caelan terribly. Even after all this time, that hadn’t changed. I decided to change the subject to brighten the mood.

“I spoke to Takeshi about Monday,” I said. “He’s organised a two-bedroom apartment in the camp quarters for you and Cody. We had already booked Cody in for a single apartment. It was a relatively straightforward thing to shift her across to a two-bedroom.”

I could see Nat go to object, so I held my hand up to stop her. “We know you could get your memories back any time. This is still a back-up for you, just in case they don’t. It’ll give you something to do whilst you’re here. And if you haven’t got your memories back by the time the camp has ended, we’ll sort out something more permanent for you.”

Nat reluctantly nodded. I think she was still hoping that someone was looking for her, or that her memories would return in a flood all at once, but we had had no positive responses to Takeshi’s enquiries, nor did it seem that her night terrors had slowed in any way. I was willing to bet that they would slow down in frequency before she started getting her memories back, but I didn’t want to tell her that, in case it jeopardised her recovery process.

“We’ll get you and Cody moved in tomorrow,” I told her. “The main camp quarters are on the fourth floor of this building, only two floors above our apartment. It shouldn’t take too long, but I’ll have to duck out around noon for the weekly council meeting. Whatever you forget, you can come and grab easily enough.”

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Nat asked nervously. “They will all know each other. I only know Cody, Tatum, and Zelda. I’ll be an outsider. Won’t that be a problem?” I could tell that her nerves had started to get to her again, if how much she was nibbling away at her bottom lip was any indication.

“It’ll be fine,” I responded, kindly. “Zelda and Tatum are good kids, so is Cody, even if she is a pain in the arse occasionally. They’ll look after you. And Takeshi will look after things for at least the first week. You’ll be in excellent hands, I promise.” She didn’t look convinced, but nodded anyway.

“I’ll let you get back to things now,” I said, wrapping things up. “But if you’re still here next Saturday, I’d love to check in with you again. Make sure you’re in the right headspace and all that, especially after the first week at the camp. Would that be okay?”

Nat thought about it. I loved how she was a woman of few words. She seemed to only talk when she had something to say, but I could tell that her mind was constantly in motion; always thinking about things. She was an interesting person to get to know.

“I’d like that,” she finally replied. “If for nothing more than for you to give me more things to embarrass Cody with.” She smirked with a wild gleam in her eyes.

I grinned wickedly in response. “I’m sure that we could arrange that easily enough.” Surrounded by so many men, these easy but amusing conversations were currently missing from my life, so I loved the fact that we could talk like that.

I sure was going to miss her when she eventually regained her memories and left our little town of Matlock.