Furever Yours by Catherine Vale Page A

stared at her for a long moment. “What?”
her Abuelita finally asked. “What kind of nonsense is that? Are you trying to
say he’s a magician?”
                Jade
shook her head. She wished he were a magician. That would be so much
easier to deal with. “No. He... he’s not human, Abuelita. He can change into a
beast... a, a wolf, and he’s the leader of a group of people who can do the
same thing.” She swallowed. “I... I, I saw him.”
                Abuelito ’s eyes narrowed. “What exactly did you see?”
                In detail, Jade described the way Dawson’s face
had changed, a chill spreading through her veins all over again as she
remembered the way his fangs had flashed in the lamplight. “He’d been about to
show me his full wolf form, I think, when his friends showed up and told them
they needed him. I... I didn’t want to believe him, Abuelito, but I think I do.
I think he’s a monster.”
                "Well, ” Abuelita said, sitting back in her chair. “I
don’t know that he’s a monster just because he can change into a beast.”
                "Are
you crazy? ” Abuelito stared at
her. “How do you know he isn’t dangerous?”
                Abuelita
smiled. “My mother... she was
Portuguese, and they have a local legend about a creature called lobis-homems. He is a man who was put under a spell by a witch and every evening would roam
the land in the shape of a wolf. Usually, they were very shy and sad—but
quite nonthreatening.”
                "I
don ’t know that I would call
Dawson either of those things,” Jade said slowly.
                Abuelito
scowled. “What exactly does that mean?
Has he threatened you in some way?”
                Jade
shook her head quickly. “No, of
course not. He’s been very sweet and charming and attentive and...” And, well,
basically perfect, she realized with a sinking heart, perfect in every way
except for the shifting thing. Was she really being so stupid as to throw him
away just because of a genetic mutation that made him different? “He’s never
laid a finger on me.” Except to cause her great pleasure, of course, she
thought, heat creeping up her neck.
                “Well, he sounds like a good man regardless of
whether or not he fits the legend,” Abuelita decided. “You should give him another
chance.”
                Jade
sighed. “I’ll think about it,” she told
them. “For now, I’d really just like to take a break from everything and
relax.”
                "Of
course, ” Abuelita soothed. She stood
up and then leaned down to wrap her arms around Jade. Jade sighed again as she
sank into the comforting embrace and hoped her grandmother was right. She
really, really wanted Dawson to be the good man Abuelita thought he was.
    * * *
                "Jade!
Jade, wake up! ”
                Jade
sat up in bed, the sound of her Abuelto ’s
voice piercing through the fog of sleep. For a moment she experienced a sense
of deja vu, wondering if he needed her to help man the front desk again, but it
was far too early, only four in the morning. And besides, he sounded happy, not
stressed.
                "Jade!
Are you awake? ”
                She
shuffled out of bed to open the door. “What
is it?” she asked, curious and bewildered at the sheer joy lighting her
grandfather’s face. He was practically bouncing up and down on the balls of his
feet, his dark eyes sparkling with excitement.
                "Santa
came last night, ” he
said, giving her a million-watt grin. “Hurry and dress. You must see!”
                Abuelito
gave her enough time to slip on boots and shrug on
a robe before dragging her downstairs to the lobby. Jade’s jaw dropped when
they reached the bottom of the staircase. In the middle of the foyer was a huge
tree, twice as tall