Two.
"Oh, my girl. You know, it warms my heart to see you, and so like your Mother too." Maureen smiled as she placed a cup of tea unbidden, in front of where Colt was sat, on the stool by the kitchen island.
"Oh, thank you." Colt smiled, wrapping her hands around the thick mug and allowing the heat to pleasantly seep through into her skin. "I am really glad to be here, and I would love to hopefully be able to get to know you both more, if that's possible. All of this side of the family really." She answered genuinely. "I feel like, I have been in the dark about my Scottish family members, and I guess I decided it was time to make myself known." She laughed awkwardly, feeling like she was rambling on.
"Well, tell me then, how long are you visiting us for? I will see what I can arrange. We don't exactly live too closely to one another, you see? So, I can't make any guarantees." Maureen warned. "But, I'm sure you're Uncle Robert will want to say hello, and he has a daughter Iona who can talk the hind legs off a donkey, so she will definitely want to meet you, even if it's just for a fresh set of ears to set alight." Colt's grandmother laughed.
"Well, I'm actually here for the foreseeable future. I bought a little house that's in need of some renovations, down by the coast." Colt answered, sipping the tea that tasted eerily like how her Mom would make it. She found it soothed some of her homesickness, and her wolf personality enjoyed the feeling of being around family.
"Oh? Can you do that? I thought they were clamping down on immigration and the like." Her grandmother asked with a frown.
"I, well all of us really I suppose, except Dad, have dual citizenship, with Mom being born here. So, the boys and I, by way of having parents from both countries can choose where we live, though there was stil a fair bit of paperwork. More for Solaris though. You wouldn't believe how expensive it is to fly a horse across the Atlantic." Colt paused again, realising her nerves were causing her to over share. "So, yeah, long story short, I, erm, moved over here." Colt added, in response to her grandmother's raised eyebrow.
"And how are my grandsons? They were all wolves right?" Maureen asked with a scowl, appearing to not noticeably be picking up on Colt's nerves. "No matter." She shook her head. "Ignore me Dear, our wildcat numbers are dwindling rapidly with each generation, and it's such a shame to hear that there weren't more Wildcats in your Mom's extra large brood." She sighed.
Colt was taken a back by her grandmother's change in attitude, but thankfully was saved from responding when her grandfather reappeared. Sullenly walking into the room with a demanding air around him.
"Where on the coast is your house, Girl?" He demanded, frowning away.
"Oh," Colt jumped slightly at his abrupt tone. She was putting her nerves down to her desire to make a good impression, but even then, something seemed off, and she couldn't quite work out what it was. "It is on the south-western edge of the Ardair peninsula. Do you know it? The yard, I mean the garden opens right up onto the dunes, and down to a white sandy cove. It was so beautiful, when I seen it I couldn't resist, even if the house does need a fair bit of updating." Colt had started rambling, her grandfather's attitude setting her off.
James scowled and shot a worried look to Maureen. Colt looked between her grandparents, confused by the sudden silence that had over taken them, and the silent communication that seemed to be going on between the pair of them. Till suddenly, her grandmother tutted, and shook her head.
"Ignore us, Colt." She said, "There is a very old rivalry between the Campbell clan and the Macgregors. The house you have bought sounds lovely, Dear, it is just on their clan lands, so it gave us pause that's all." She answered, sliding a plate of chocolate chip cookies across to Colt. "I'm sure none of it really matters now anyway."
"It must be a pretty strong rivalry, to give this much concern?" Colt asked, curious about what she had stepped into unknowingly.
"Aye, well." James began, "There have been a lot of boundary disputes, and we aren't exactly a breed of shifter known for our sharing. One of ours being there could cause..."
"Oh, will you wind your neck in and settle down, James Campbell." Maureen interrupted him. "Ignore your Grandad Colt, he is full of outdated ideas about modern reality. Just like his wardrobe is full of outdated clothes. You're just a grumpy old man." She threw at him.
James just sighed and turned his eyes on Colt. Really studing her for the first time. There was a certain look of his mother in her, and as soon as he recognised it his heart softened slightly. She was definitely a Campbell wildcat, but there was something else about her. He could see it in the way she carried herself, she had a threatening edge, something that made her that bit more intimidating.
"You're not just a cat are you, Girl." He stated, rather than asked. Taking a deep breath in through his nose, he spoke to a startled Colt again, "You smell of wolf, mated wolf."
Colt paused, feeling uncomfortable all of a sudden. She knew this conversation would come up sooner or later, she just hadn't envisioned it coming up so quickly. It forced her to discuss things she didn't want to, things she didn't even want to think about.
"I am a wolf, Grandad." She said, adopting the term her grandmother used, and deciding candid honesty may be her best bet at earning this man's respect. "I am both a wildcat and a wolf, I can transform myself into either. Originally I was a twin, but both embryos merged together it the womb, and now, I am who I am." She sighed, taking a deep breath before continuing with the hardest part of the conversation. "And, I am mated. Or at least, I was. To an Alpha wolf, my true mate. But, let's just say, it didn't work out." She finished quickly, her discomfort shining through and getting the better of her, as she desperately wished she could disregard the manners her mother had ingrained in her for the elderly. Even when they were being rude themselves, and she really wanted to yell at him to mind his own bloody business.
"So, that's why you're here then. Running away." James concluded. "What was wrong with him, then? Too controlling? Domineering? Violent? The wet dog smell get the better of you?" He prodded rudely, not knowing when to stop.
"James!" Maureen scolded him. "Enough!"
"No, it's fine." Colt stated, standing up as she felt the need to defend herself. "Elijah was thirty-two when we mated. He was suffering from solum rabidus as a result. It's where the wolf's mate drive causes a chaos in the mind, and the hormone imbalance leads to a specific sort of mental illness." She began.
"I know what it is, Girl." James stated, interrupting her.
"Well, Elijah had it. But managed to suppress it for Nora's sake, his daughter. Then she was killed, shot in a terror attack in her school of all places, and the pain overwhelmed him. He lost himself, and he then betrayed our bond. I can't forgive him. I understand why, but I just can't be with him now. So, yes. I ran away, but from myself more than from him." Colt concluded through gritted teeth, drawing a line under the conversation, while challenging her grandfather to bait her further at the same time.
For the first time in a long while Colt felt the urge to shift, and it seriously pissed her off that it was coming from her instinct to protect Elijah. That damn wolf was still influencing her life even now.
"Colt Dear, I am sorry you have had to go through that." Her grandmother responded, coming around the island and rubbing her arms gently, making sure her husband couldn't escalate the situation further. "And, you, James Campbell, will bloody well behave yourself, or so help me, I will not be responsible for my actions! The girl has been through enough. She is one of ours, and if you chase her off with your grumpy old manners, or your condescending attitude, I will skin you alive and make you into a pair of gloves! Do you understand me?" The old woman chastised her husband.
James stood with a frown, until a realisation dawned on him from Maureen's speech. Huffing, he stomped out of the room and through to the living room of the house.
Colt sighed and pulled out a card from her trouser pocket, with her new eleven digit cell number and handed it to her grandmother, "I should probably get going, I have a lot of unpacking to do." She sighed. "This is my number, if you need me." She smiled, and placed her now empty cup into the sink. "I would love to see you again."
Maureen walked Colt back through the house to the front door, "Would it be alright to give you a hug, Dear?" You do look so like your mother and, well, we miss her terribly."
Colt smiled at this as they reached the door. "Of course." She replied, stretching her arms out, and embracing her grandmother. "It was really great to meet you both." She stated warmly, "Thank you for the tea, Grandmother. "
"Come back soon, Dear. I will rein Grumpy in properly, so he behaves next time." She laughed, "And, please, call me Granny."
Colt laughed at this. "Alright, Granny it is, and you can count on it." Then she stepped outside and headed back to her truck.
Maureen joined James in the living room of their bungalow, and they stood together at the window and watched as their granddaughter drove away.
"You weren't very friendly you know." Maureen chastised him, moving to sit on the couch.
"She's mated, Reenie." He stated. "And to an Alpha, she's no use." He added, moving to sit on the couch beside her, while rummaging in the little wooden box on the coffee table for one of his mints.
"True. But, she isn't married James." Maureen pointed out, with a sly grin. "And the Alpha is sick, and I would put money on him not even knowing where she is. Actually I would put money on the fact that her parents don't even know where she is. Think about it, would she really be seeking us out if she knew?"
"You think they haven't told her?" James asked his wife.
"I think this would be the last place she would come if she knew what was expected of her." Maureen retorted, reaching for her own mint.
"What about the Macgregors, she is on their land, they will have a claim." He bit out.
"By the time they find out about her, it will be too late. Besides, with a surname of Merrier, there's no way they will suspect enough to investigate." Maureen replied, brushing off her mate's concern. "Don't go soft on me, just because she looks like a cross between your mother and Isla."
"You want me to make the call don't you." He sighed, asking for clarity, while looking at his mate in the eye. "Isla will never forgive us, you know that right?"
"Isla left. She hasn't been here in three decades." Maureen shrugged, unaffected. "Call them, I will work on the girl."
Author's Note: Poor Colt just can't catch a break huh?