Times Like These Read online

  "But!"

  "I said, leave it. Our son loves us and wants us with him. You should be proud he figured this out."

  The First blinked. "You don't expect..." he said looking bewildered.

  Sean's eyes were open wide as he looked from the First to Keairra and back again.

  "Course I do. Now get up. We're going through."

  "But..."

  "Dad!" Estrella growled. "You can either walk through, or we'll drag you!"

  The First looked at Sean. "You, young man, are in trouble. We will be having words!"

  Sean watched as the First went over to the gateway. "Come through a hundred at a time, with a half hour break between groups!" the First said, looking around the hillside.

  "Who's going?" Kearu asked.

  "I'd like ten volunteers to stay for now. Otherwise, everybody." The First looked at Sean, and then Estrella. "You two might as well wake up."

  §

  Waking up, Sean opened his eyes and sat up just as the First walked through the gateway. Sampson was already standing there, and Sean couldn't help himself; getting to his feet, he threw himself at Sampson and hugged him.

  "Sampson! I can't believe you're alive again! Well, okay I can believe it! But it's so great to have you back! Oh, god, how I've missed you! I know Mom's missed you too! And everything that's happened and the whole world's gone crazy and..."

  "Sean!" Sampson interjected.

  "Yes?"

  "You're babbling, and yeah, dying sucked but," Sampson laughed, "it is great to be back! And without having to grow up all over again, too!"

  Sean gave him another hug and then all but charged the First and nearly bowled him over as he threw his arms around his neck. Estrella was already tangled up with Keairra.

  "Dad! It's so great to have you here!"

  The First sighed. "You've been seeing me constantly."

  "But it's not the same! You're alive again!"

  "It has been a while, but when you've been around as long as I have, it's not all that different really, Son."

  Sean laughed. "Yeah, but now I can hit you and you'll actually feel it!"

  "We better move out of the way," Sampson said. "This room is going to fill up rather fast. Where are we, anyway?"

  "The machine room for an old fallout shelter the dwarves built for some friends. Let's head upstairs, and I'll tell the local werewolves what to expect."

  "What are we going to do about the gate?" Keairra asked.

  "I'm certain I can collapse it once everyone is out, and reopening it shouldn't cost me as much the second time around. From what I've seen of these abilities, it's the initial establishment of the gate that sucks up all the energy. After that, I'm hoping it's much cheaper to use," Sean said as he led everyone up the stairs. "But for now, I think I'll just leave it up."

  "First, you know where everything is here, give me a moment to run up to the garage and let everyone know it's safe to come back in."

  "Why are they all up there?" the First asked.

  "Because I thought it would be safer."

  "You didn't know what was going to happen?" the First grumbled, eyes narrowing as he looked at Sean.

  "Well, you didn't know what would happen, and you've been doing this mystical shit a lot longer than I have!" Sean said with a smile.

  The First watched as Sean went up the stairway to the garage above. Estrella was off talking to one of her friends; Sampson was watching him and Keairra, who was standing beside him.

  "Notice anything?" she asked him.

  "I notice a lot of things," the First replied.

  "I feel a lot stronger than the last time I was alive."

  The First ducked his head in a nod. "There are more lycans alive now than there have been in a very long time."

  "How many are you going to let them make?" Sampson asked.

  "Until this war is over, as many as they want."

  "We'll end up with problems," Keairra warned.

  "Then we'll deal with those problems," the First said. "But think about it, even if only half of one percent of the population becomes lycans, that's still over thirty million."

  "Aren't you worried about trouble?" Sampson asked.

  The First snorted. "There will always be trouble, Sampson. It is the nature of life for there to be trouble. But I think enough of us have learned our lessons that we won't be the ones starting it this time." The First looked around a moment, thoughtful. "It's going to take days to move everyone out of our world back here. I guess I'll have to talk to someone about setting up a ferry. Maybe Oak."

  Sampson suddenly laughed.

  "What?"

  "If you try to take over your son's job, you know he's going to beat you to death."

  "Oh, I don't think he's that strong yet."

  "He will be if I'm holding you down!"

  The First looked at Sampson challengingly. "Think you can, Grandson?"

  "I'll be helping him, dear!" Keairra laughed.

  "I should have known better than to let the two of you come out together," the First grumbled with a shake of his head.

  "Don't worry, Dear. We'll still let you pretend to be in charge!" Keairra teased. "Ah, here he comes!"

  They watched as Sean came down the stairs with Jolene.

  "Jo, this is the First, whom you recall used to live in my head."

  "Hi, Dad," Jolene said and dropped to her knees to give him a hug.

  "And now that you're not in my head anymore, she's hands off; same for the rest of my wives," Sean said with a slight growl.

  The First smiled and hugged Jolene back with a massive paw. "It's nice to see you again, Jo, as unexpected as it is." He glanced up at Sean. "Of course. Though with Keairra and my pride around, straying isn't something I do."

  "Cause we don't let him," Keairra said with a grin.

  "Jo, this is Keairra, and I believe you've met Sampson?"

  "Hello, Keairra," Jolene said, rising back up and giving her a hug. She then turned to Sampson and shook hands. "Actually, I've never had the pleasure."

  Sean made a few more introductions, and then introduced the wolf who was currently in charge of the bunker.

  "This is Rider, he's the one in charge this week. We rotate some of our more experienced people through here on a regular schedule. This place is still secret, so only about two hundred lycans know where it is now."

  "Great. Pele!" the First called to one of the lions.

  "Yes?"

  "You can stay here for now and help. Work with Rider here and make sure everyone here knows they can't talk to anyone about the gateway. Ever. Not even to each other, just one of us lions."

  "Got it!"

  "Now, if it's all the same, to you, Son, I'd really like to go outside and take a look at the place. I haven't been here, in the flesh, in a very long time."

  "Of course!" Sean said, and led them all up the stairs and out of the bunker.

  "We're going to need a couple of buses or something," Jolene mused.

  Sean nodded. "I told Rider to call for transport when I led everyone back inside."

  "You know there are going to be a lot of very shocked people when you show up with a hundred lions," Jolene pointed out.

  "Just wait until they see the other twenty thousand of them," Sean said with a sudden realization.

  "And what are you going to do with Sampson?"

  "Huh?"

  "Roberta and he used to be an item?" Jolene said, prompting him.

  "Actually, we um, sort of had this discussion a while ago. Rob's mine now. They're exes."

  "Sarah might not understand that."

  "Sarah is his daughter. Don't worry, I'm sure we'll work it out," Sean told her.

  "Oh, you brought the van," the First said. "Why don't the six of us head back to your new place?"

  "Six?" Sean asked.

  "You, me, Esti, Jo, Key, and Sampson. Howart and the others can either wait for ground transport or get there on foot."

  "It's thirty miles," Jolene wa
rned.

  "Just make sure to stay out of the way of traffic!" Estrella said, turning around to the group of lions who had followed them upstairs. "The people around here drive like maniacs!"

  Sean had to laugh at that. "How long has it been since these folks have been alive?"

  "For some, centuries," Keairra said. "Then for certain others, like say your dad there, a couple millennia."

  Sean looked at the First, who shrugged as he padded along beside them on all fours. "I like it in our little world. Now, someone get the door for me and let's go."

  Shock to the System

  Someone had asked Rider if they could borrow the other van that was used to ferry people and goods into the bunker, so Rider had supplied a driver, and when Sean parked by the new buildings that had been set up for them, another dozen lions got out along with Sean and his group.

  To say people stopped and stared would be very accurate.

  "You know what?" Sean said, looking around. "I just realized I now have twenty thousand people I have to find places to live, feed, and outfit."

  "Don't worry, most of them won't be staying here," the First said.

  "What?"

  "Almost half will be sent to South America to help down there, and at least a quarter of them I'm going to send to Europe to help Raban."

  "That's still a lot to coordinate," Sean said, looking around.

  "They're adults, they can handle it themselves," the First said with a dismissive gesture of his paw. "Now, let's go inside. You can introduce us and see if you can talk the twins into making lunch."

  "Hungry already?"

  "Actually, I need to go down for a nap soon, seeing as I just left everybody without any real orders," the First said with an embarrassed look.

  "You did just blindside him, you know," Keairra added.

  Sean gave an embarrassed look of his own. "I guess I sorta got carried away in the heat of the moment. But we both know if I'd warned him, he would have found an excuse to say no."

  "He's right, Mom," Estrella said. "Everyone says Dad is nothing if not fond of sitting on his mountain all day and telling the rest of us how to live."

  The First just shook his head as Keairra chuckled and hip checked him. "They're on to you, Dear."

  Sean opened the door and led them inside to the area his wives had claimed as their living space. The second they set foot inside, Sarah streaked by, yelling "Daddy!" and latched onto Sampson's leg.

  "Daddy! You're back! You're back! They told me you'd gone away!"

  Sean watched as Sampson kneeled down and gave his daughter a hug.

  "Yes, well your other daddy, Sean, did something special so I could come back and see you."

  "Sampson?"

  Sean looked up, and Roberta was standing there looking very shocked, and obviously a little conflicted as well. Sean took two large steps and, standing beside her, he put an arm around her. Sampson looked up and sighed, but then smiled.

  "Yes, it's me. Sean opened a gate into the lion world, and we're coming back, all of us. Umm, I know he's your husband now, and I'm okay with it. I was dead, after all."

  Roberta looked at Sean and smiled. "Yes, I'm married. But can I at least give you a hug? I missed you, Sam, I missed you a lot." Roberta gave Sean a hug. "Don't growl, Hon, he may have been my first, but you're my one and only now."

  Sean blushed; he hadn't even realized he'd been growling.

  "Sorry, Sampson."

  "Don't be," Sampson said with a shrug, looking up from Sarah, whom he'd picked up. "It happens."

  Roberta freed herself from Sean's arm, walked over and gave Sampson a big hug, and smiled up at him. "Thanks for biting him. Sean told me you really didn't want to do it, but events forced your hand."

  Sampson looked a little sad. "Yeah, they did. But I guess it all turned out alright."

  Roberta laughed. "Oh, did they! Hate to diss you, Sam, but, well..."

  "You prefer Sean."

  Roberta nodded and gave him another hug, then looked at Sarah. "Your daughter, however, may have other feelings," she said with a giggle.

  Sampson smiled at that, and Roberta walked back over to Sean and gave him a kiss. Sean suddenly felt a lot better about things.

  "Well, now that Rob has defused that situation," Roxy said, looking down at the First, "you just gonna go native all day, or do you think you could do the polite thing and go on two legs for a while?"

  Keairra laughed at that, and with a sigh the First shifted into his hybrid form.

  "Damn, he really is big, isn't he?" Daelyn said, walking up next to Roxy. The First was at least a foot taller than Sean, who was eight-foot-tall in his hybrid form.

  "You need higher ceilings," the First noted, as his ears were now brushing up against it.

  "Everyone, this is Keairra, the First's mate, and also the next in charge after him," Sean told them. "Keairra, this is Roxy, Daelyn, Peg, Cali, Roberta, and of course you already met Jolene, and I think you still remember your daughter's name?"

  Keairra smiled and gave each of the girls a hug.

  "I find it interesting that you have the same number of wives as your father," Keairra said with a glance at the First.

  "You have seven wives, First?" Roxy asked, looking at him.

  "The others haven't come through yet. I suspect they're riding herd on everyone as they come," the First said.

  "Come through?" Roxy asked, looking at Sean. "What has he done this time, and what do I need to do to him for doing it?"

  Sean heard both the First and Keairra snicker at that.

  Sean shrugged. "Oh, I just figured out how to open a gate to the lion la-la land and get everyone out of it."

  "How many is 'everybody'?"

  "A bit more than twenty thousand?" Sean said, trying to look innocent, and failing miserably.

  "Twenty thousand?" Roxy asked incredulously.

  Sean nodded.

  "Lions?" Daelyn asked.

  Sean nodded again.

  "Why do I feel like rubbing my hands together like Flounder and saying, 'This is gonna be great'?" Daelyn asked, looking at Roxy with a gleeful look.

  "Umm, because it is?" Roxy said with a sudden grin. "But we better go find Oak before he has a heart attack!"

  "Could someone find me a place where I can rest undisturbed for a while?" the First asked.

  "Just grab a corner," Roxy said. "If you have a pride coming, I'm going to have to find someplace special, a nice room for all of you. Peg, could you please tell Dania and Rania that we have some unexpected guests and to fetch over a bunch of food from the mess?"

  "Oh it!"

  "Thanks! Come on, Dae, let's get cracking."

  "Reminds me of you," the First said, looking over at Keairra. "Let me know when food gets here." With that he shifted back into a lion, curled up by the end of the couch, and dropped off to sleep.

  Sean looked over at Sampson, who was still entertaining Sarah.

  "Sarah, can I borrow him for a while?"

  "But he just got here!"

  "And he's going to be here from now on. But there are some other people who would like to see your father again, and it wouldn't be fair to them to wait, now would it?"

  "Ummm," Sarah said, looking back and forth, a little confused.

  "Sarah," Roberta called. "Sampson has things to do. Don't worry, he'll be back!"

  "O-kay, Mom," Sarah said in a sulky voice.

  "Don't worry, I'll be back," Sampson said in a voice a lot more cheerful and soft than Sean ever recalled hearing Sampson use before as he set her down.

  "Thanks, Sarah," Sean said. Grabbing Sampson's arm, he lead him out of the room and down the hallway.

  "I can walk, Sean," Sampson growled.

  Sean laughed. "Yup, and so can I. Besides, I don't want you getting cold feet, Dad."

  "I thought the First was dad now?"

  "You both are. So is Roxy's dad. But I thought it might be confusing." Sean stopped in front of a door and knocked on it. He could hear someone put
ting stuff away and organizing the room.

  "One minute!" Sean's mother's voice came from the other side of the door.

  Sean felt Sampson freeze.

  "You try to run off on me and I will magic your ass, Dad." Sean grinned.

  Louise opened the door then and saw two very large lion weres. One she knew was her son Sean, and the other she also recognized instantly.

  "Sampson?" she said, eyes wide.

  Sampson smiled, a little weakly. "Hi, Lou."

  "But, but I thought you were dead?"

  "We don't die; I thought your son told you that?"

  Louise looked at Sean.

  "We go to a sort of afterlife, a special place for lions. While we wait to reincarnate. Turns out there are ways to leave early."

  "Oh!" Louise said, and then to Sampson's surprise , she threw herself at him and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him, and even gave him a kiss.

  For his part, Sampson hugged her back, feeling just a little awkward. He really did love her, but...but she'd been his best friend's wife, after all. Looking over at Sean, he noticed Sean had a big shit-eating grin on his face, and he suddenly recalled what Sean had said to him almost two years ago.

  "Mom, Dad?" Sean said and putting his hands on Sampson's back, he pushed them both into Louise's room.

  They both looked at him and blinked.

  "Siblings. I want siblings. Don't either one of you come out until I've got one on the way, got it?"

  "But..." Sampson started.

  "No excuses!" Sean looked at his mother, who'd started to open her mouth as well.

  "Mom! Can it. I spent the last decade watching the two of you dance around this. Well, no more. Now go make me a little sister or something!" Sean said. Stepping out of the room, he adroitly closed the door.

  "I think we've been set up," Sampson growled.

  Louise laughed. "I think you're right. But do you really think he went through all this trouble just to hook us up?"

  "This is Sean we're talking about," Sampson grumbled. "So, yeah. I do."

  "You know, I just cleaned off the bed, maybe we should have this discussion over there?"

  Sampson looked down at her. "Is this what you want?"

  "Yes, it's what I want. Very much...don't you?"

  Sampson gave a lustful growl. "More than you can imagine."