CHAPTER THIRTEEN
THE NARRATIVE WE CAN NOT CONTROL
Some days come bearing good news. Other days just leave you with aches and sad news. The latter was such that Peterson McGuire was having somewhere in Seattle. It had started with Marie Jones' unexpected visit. He was just stepping into the office that morning, all happy and expectant, when the secretary informed him of her presence. "She's what?" he asked, rubbing his head gingerly. The lady was becoming a pain in his ass. And if not for his friend, he would have dealt with her. "I told you not to let her in ever. Didn't I?" he fired at the lady in anger. Watching her shake like a leaf being tossed left and right by floating water. He strode into his office in anger.
Whenever Marie visited, he ended up having a bad ache in his chest. In all the years he had tried to be good to her and her mother, the young lady never quite understood him. Neither did she appreciate his effort. Not that she even acknowledged it. Her misconception of that night's event clouded her judgment. She never even listened to his side of the story in all these years. And her deranged mother couldn't precisely explain what had happened to her that night.
At his office, he stopped. Then opened the door slowly and waited till the door was wide enough to take whatever she was throwing at him this time. Counting to five, he waited. Seeing nothing flying past him, he began walking into the office. "Hello you," he greeted, watching her intently. "Are you all right."
"I got in," Marie said, throwing a paper in his face. "I got selected."
Peterson staggered back, thinking the paper was something dangerous and harmful. "I warned you about throwing things at…." He was saying, then stopped. He scoffed, "Of course, I know you got in."
The offhanded way with which he said it made Marie pause. He knows! "Did you by any chance influence this?" she glared at him.
"Even if I wanted to, I cannot." He said, walking to his seat. We should get another man for our bidding, his wolf said. And he couldn't agree less. He wanted things going his way. Not the other way around. He was a man who called shots. The man who determined the outcome of things. Not one to sit back and watch. But in this show, he was momentarily handicapped. Perhaps, it was for a good course. Picking up the list that had gotten him all hyped up this morning, he went through the selected contestants again.
Yes, she was there all right. He had been surprised to see Ava Davis was one of the contestants. Little wonder the chef no longer applied to his company anymore. She was aiming for more it appears. So, if he were to pick a candidate, he would have been in a bind. On the one hand, was his friend's daughter, Marie. A superb cook. On the other was Ava Davis, a chef catching his fancy recently. It would have been a hard choice considering both chefs were good cooks. He had seen first handwhat Ava could do. And Marie was a badass chef.
After graduating from school, he had offered Marie Jones a place in his company. He had done so because he knew her to be a great chef and someone he might need to rebrand his company. He had seen her trying so many creative combinations some chefs wouldn't dare. Whenever she cooked, he could hardly see any flaw. She was perfect. A great and creative one. An idea he wanted to build his next restaurant around. But the proud lady had seen that as another food crumbs thrown at her family. "We're not your dogs," she had yelled at him. And oh, how that hurts. Her words always jibbed hard at his chest. "We cannot and will not always be on your payroll." She added.
He let her think that was it. His pride never let him explain why he really needed her for the job. A company that would have been hers eventually.
"A penny for those murderous thoughts." Marie snapped her fingers across the wolf's face. "Do I need to repeat myself or do we have it?" she asked.
"What was that?" Peterson inquired, as he turned his attention back to the lady. Her uncanny resemblance to her father constantly gnawing at his conscience. This was really why he avoided seeing her. She was living proof of all that went wrong that night.
"I asked you not to interfere in this," Marie repeated herself. "Do not have anything to do with the show," she warned, then added, "Well, other than to watch and enjoy." She shrugged.
"I won't," he said, "As I said earlier, my hands are tied." He showed her his hands, locked in front of him.
"My mother?" she asked.
"I'll take good care of her till the show is over."
"Good," she started walking out of his office, "Now that we agree," she said, closing the door firmly behind her. Turning around, she cussed him angrily, knowing he could hear her. The receptionist watched with her mouth opened. Marie didn't hide her disgust. She dusted her clothes and walked out of the place.
"What does she think she's doing?" Peterson walked towards the door. He held his head as he heard every obscene word she used to describe him. As she walked away, he remembered the night that had set them off on the wrong foot.
It started with meeting her father, Jones. The wolf who would turn his life around. Jones had invested all his life earning in a Ponzi scheme when they met. He needed to sell off a golden chain which he had gladly purchased. The purchase had been placed on the promise that he would get it back if he won his money. Because they were both lone wolves in Seattle, they hit it off. Their friendship bloomed considerably.
There was no Marie Jones in the scene then, and neither was her mother. Until one evening when Marie's mom had bumped into her old-time lover, the father of her child. The two love birds rekindled their love. Peterson was all too happy to know his friend had a life after all. When Jones heard he had a child, he wanted to meet her. But her mother insisted he earned her trust. She wasn't about to let the man who got her pregnant and ran off, break her child's heart.
Jones would have waited. He didn't mind. But then, he found out about her sickness. As a wolf, losing loved ones was always heartache. Not ready to take that path when he just barely found his love, he started to look for any means to get her cured. There was no money for medical help. All he had was locked up in the scheme. "I don't know why the child isn't a wolf," Jones told his friend one hot afternoon.
That had nothing to do with his dying lover, so Peter had no idea where he was headed with that. Still, he replied, "Not every wolf births its kind," he shrugged. "And she's human," he said, talking about Marie's mother. Some human genes were dominant. They suppressed the wolf gene from their partner. When that happens, the kid would most likely be a human. When that child becomes an adult, married to another human, the recessed wolf gene may become dominant, which explains why two humans could end up having a wolf child, as in the case of Peterson.
His own parents had been humans. His earliest memory was plagued with confusion as they didn't understand what was wrong with their child. Then they had died and he was sent from one orphanage to the other. Thankfully, he didn't turn fully until he left the orphanage. So, his identity had been kept safe from the world. "Why are you thinking of that right now?" Peterson asked his friend, who sat thoughtfully across from him.
"I'm thinking that I should turn her."
"No, no," Peterson shook his head vigorously. "Don't do it." He warned. He had no idea where Jones got such an insane idea from. It should be a last resort. Something to think deeply about. Not a spore of the moment decision.
"It's just a bite." Said Jones with a shrug.
"Yes, it's a bite," he agreed, "And many things could go wrong with that bite." Turning humans into wolves was done easily in most cases. The wolf just needs a deep bite in the neck, and the human is left to undergo transformation. But a lot of humans die in the process. If the procedure wasn't successful, the human might die.
"I cannot watch her die," Jones disagreed. "She's already drinking herself to stupor to hasten it. I can't watch her die."
Peterson McGuire wasn't one to give a hoot about another. But somehow, his friend had come to grow him. "Don't do it," he warned. But he could see that his friend wasn't listening. The night he planned to carry out the deed, Peterson eventually agreed to let things be. This was Jones' decision and choice. As a friend, he could just be supportive. The plan was to let her be drunk then carry out the procedure. He was to stay with Marie's mom in the bar while Jones prepared the necessary. He had done just that. He made sure she was drunk, so she wouldn't be scared when she saw them in their wolf forms.
When he was sure she was well past reasoning, he took her to the cottage they were to turn her. Jones heard them coming and was in his wolf form already. Though drunk, Marie's mom had been shocked to see such a huge animal. Before she could scream, Jones' wolf pounced on her and bit her.
The two stayed back to watch as she started to convulse. They looked at each other in confusion and back at the woman. Jones sensed immediately that something wasn't right. He began to panic. Peterson tried to reach him, willing him to be calm, but he just lost control. Forced to do something, the man turned into his wolf form too. It would be easier calming him down in that form than as a human.
The timing couldn't have been wrong. Marie's mom opened her eyes then, saw two big dogs, screamed, and passed out. Jones was over her instantly, aiming for another bite. It was obvious that the first wasn't going to work.
The mark has disappeared, his wolf howled at Peter's
But a second bite could be lethal, Peter warned. At that point, Marie rushed in. The two wolves ignored the girl. What mattered right then was the half-turned woman lying almost dead on the floor.
"Don't do this," Peterson tried to caution his friend using their wolf connection. The humans in the room had no idea they were communicating. "Calm down," he pleaded again. But he was enraged and beyond reasoning. "You have to fight that urge; there's nothing you can do for her now."
But his friend had been out of it. He did the only thing he knew to do. Attack! And everything had gone wrong after that. He lost his friend. The woman wasn't turned; she remained sick and half-human. Her daughter saw him not as the man saving her mother but a monster dripping blood over her. In her eyes, he was the man responsible for her ailment.
"The one time that I try to be nice look what it got me," Peterson hissed. "The one time, and I ruined it all."
His wolf came out to tease him then. You did warn him.
"I did." He replied. "And…."
He didn't listen. She could have died.
"Wouldn't that be better?" he asked, "She's not exactly alive."
The wolf howled in response, but said nothing.
"I lost a friend, and his daughter hates me. She thinks I did that to her mother." He murmured sadly. And she wouldn't listen to his side of the story. He scoffed.
"You got compensated for it, his wolf snarled.
Peterson smirked. Of course, his wolf was right. In a way, all that happened played out in his favor. After Jones' death, the Ponzi scheme was a hit. The money became Peterson's as the known relative of the deceased.