house, put you off me. I’d like to know what it was. I can’t fix it, if I don’t know what’s broken.”
I took a deep breath, while I considered my next words very carefully. “Calvin, I know that Terry is your daughter.” When I’d gone to see Calvin when he’d gotten out of the hospital after being shot, I’d met Terry and her mother Maryelizabeth at Calvin’s house. Though they clearly didn’t live there, it was equally clear that they treated the place as an extension of their own home. Then Terry had asked me if I was going to marry her father.
“Yes,” Calvin said. “I would’ve told you if you’d asked me.”
“Do you have other children?”
“Yes. I have three other children.”
“By different mothers?”
“By three different mothers.”
I’d been right. “Why is that?” I asked, to be sure.
“Because I’m pure-blooded,” he said, as if it were self-evident. “Since only the first child of a pureblood couple turns out to be a full panther, we have to switch off.”
I was profoundly glad I’d never seriously considered marrying Calvin, because if I had, I would have thrown up right then. What I’d suspected, after witnessing the succession-to-packmaster ritual, was true. “So it’s not the woman’s first child, period, that turns out to be a full-blooded shape-shifter . . . it’s her first child with a specific man.”
“Right.” Calvin looked surprised that I hadn’t known that. “The first child of any given pureblood couple is the real thing. So if our population gets too small, a pure-blooded male has to mate with as many pure-blooded women as he can, to increase the pack.”
“Okay.” I waited for a minute, to collect myself. “Did you think that I would be okay with you impregnating other women, if we got married?”
“No, I wouldn’t expect that of an outsider,” he answered, in that same matter-of-fact voice. “I think it’s time I settled down with one woman. I’ve done my duty as leader.”
I tried not to roll my eyes. If it had been anyone else I would have sniggered, but Calvin was an honorable man, and he didn’t deserve that reaction.
“Now I want to mate for life, and it would be good for the pack if I could bring new blood into the community. You can tell that we’ve bred with each other for too long. My eyes can hardly pass for human, and Crystal takes forever to change. We have to add something new to our gene pool, as the scientists call it. If you and I had a baby, which was what I was hoping, that baby wouldn’t ever be a full Were; but he or she might breed into the community, bring new blood and new skills.”
“Why’d you pick me?”
He said, almost shyly. “I like you. And you’re real pretty.” He smiled at me then, a rare and sweet expression. “I’ve watched you at the bar for years. You’re nice to everyone, and you’re a hard worker, and you don’t have no one to take care of you like you deserve. And you know about us; it wouldn’t be any big shock.”
“Do other kinds of shape-shifters do the same thing?” I asked this so quietly, I could hardly hear myself. I stared down at my hands, clenched together in my lap, and I could hardly breathe as I waited to hear his answer. Alcide’s green eyes filled my thoughts.
“When the pack begins to grow too small, it’s their duty to,” he said slowly. “What’s on your mind, Sookie?”
“When I went to the contest for the Shreveport packmaster, the one who won—Patrick Furnan—he had sex with a young Were girl, though he was married. I began to wonder.”
“Did I ever stand a chance with you?” Calvin asked. He seemed to have drawn his own conclusions.
Calvin could not be blamed for wanting to preserve his way of life. If I found the means distasteful, that was my problem.
“You definitely interested me,” I said. “But I’m just too human to think of having my husband’s children all around me. I’d just be too . . . it would just throw me off
I took a deep breath, while I considered my next words very carefully. “Calvin, I know that Terry is your daughter.” When I’d gone to see Calvin when he’d gotten out of the hospital after being shot, I’d met Terry and her mother Maryelizabeth at Calvin’s house. Though they clearly didn’t live there, it was equally clear that they treated the place as an extension of their own home. Then Terry had asked me if I was going to marry her father.
“Yes,” Calvin said. “I would’ve told you if you’d asked me.”
“Do you have other children?”
“Yes. I have three other children.”
“By different mothers?”
“By three different mothers.”
I’d been right. “Why is that?” I asked, to be sure.
“Because I’m pure-blooded,” he said, as if it were self-evident. “Since only the first child of a pureblood couple turns out to be a full panther, we have to switch off.”
I was profoundly glad I’d never seriously considered marrying Calvin, because if I had, I would have thrown up right then. What I’d suspected, after witnessing the succession-to-packmaster ritual, was true. “So it’s not the woman’s first child, period, that turns out to be a full-blooded shape-shifter . . . it’s her first child with a specific man.”
“Right.” Calvin looked surprised that I hadn’t known that. “The first child of any given pureblood couple is the real thing. So if our population gets too small, a pure-blooded male has to mate with as many pure-blooded women as he can, to increase the pack.”
“Okay.” I waited for a minute, to collect myself. “Did you think that I would be okay with you impregnating other women, if we got married?”
“No, I wouldn’t expect that of an outsider,” he answered, in that same matter-of-fact voice. “I think it’s time I settled down with one woman. I’ve done my duty as leader.”
I tried not to roll my eyes. If it had been anyone else I would have sniggered, but Calvin was an honorable man, and he didn’t deserve that reaction.
“Now I want to mate for life, and it would be good for the pack if I could bring new blood into the community. You can tell that we’ve bred with each other for too long. My eyes can hardly pass for human, and Crystal takes forever to change. We have to add something new to our gene pool, as the scientists call it. If you and I had a baby, which was what I was hoping, that baby wouldn’t ever be a full Were; but he or she might breed into the community, bring new blood and new skills.”
“Why’d you pick me?”
He said, almost shyly. “I like you. And you’re real pretty.” He smiled at me then, a rare and sweet expression. “I’ve watched you at the bar for years. You’re nice to everyone, and you’re a hard worker, and you don’t have no one to take care of you like you deserve. And you know about us; it wouldn’t be any big shock.”
“Do other kinds of shape-shifters do the same thing?” I asked this so quietly, I could hardly hear myself. I stared down at my hands, clenched together in my lap, and I could hardly breathe as I waited to hear his answer. Alcide’s green eyes filled my thoughts.
“When the pack begins to grow too small, it’s their duty to,” he said slowly. “What’s on your mind, Sookie?”
“When I went to the contest for the Shreveport packmaster, the one who won—Patrick Furnan—he had sex with a young Were girl, though he was married. I began to wonder.”
“Did I ever stand a chance with you?” Calvin asked. He seemed to have drawn his own conclusions.
Calvin could not be blamed for wanting to preserve his way of life. If I found the means distasteful, that was my problem.
“You definitely interested me,” I said. “But I’m just too human to think of having my husband’s children all around me. I’d just be too . . . it would just throw me off
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