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Imri

I was beginning to wonder if Uncle Malik had secretly hated me. When I’d gotten the letter about my inheritance, I thought it was a gift, not a curse. For a moment, I’d felt like I’d won the lottery. A man I barely remembered from my childhood, had only seen sporadically through my early adulthood, had thought to give me all he owned in the world upon his death, aside from a couple of small things for my siblings.

Then I’d rocked up to the outskirts of this strange haven town, Haenvale, to be horrified at the “house” he’d left me. There was so much to do, I had a minor panic attack at the thought of making it livable. Then I went into town for supplies, only to be ticketed for not having an inhibitor, then told there were back taxes to pay on my property.

Luckily, Uncle Malik had left me a tidy sum, along with the sizable chunk of land and ramshackle house. I would need it to get the place in order! Once the taxes and fine were paid, I still had more than enough to really make this place somewhere I could settle down in the long term. Really, I’d barely made a dent in the cash from all his many inventions.

The place would be amazing, as long as I could deal with the residents.

Haenvale was like most haven towns. Holier than thou and painfully smug about how safe they were without actually teaching their inhabitants to get along with each other. I liked the idea behind the inhibitors, truly, but far from giving an even playing field, they masked future issues or shoved them behind closed doors.

When shifted, minus those handy inhibitors, the prey and predator shifters were segregated. Not that Haenvale had much of a predator population. We were very much in the minority. I felt it everywhere I went in the town. Not to mention my inhibitor seemed different from other ones, like those the prey shifters had.

Yeah, I got one of the damn things, of course. There was no way I was paying a fine every time I went into town to get food and things for the house without it on. I would follow their rules while still being grateful I’d grown up in a city where we were taught the benefits of controlling ourselves instead of relying on fickle magic. Sue me, I wasn’t a fan of magic users after a bad ex. Not enough to tar them all with the same brush, just a natural wariness after being burned.

The inhibitor made me feel strange, though. I felt like there was a barrier between me and my dingo. My senses weren’t as sharp. At first I thought it was just my sense of smell, the reason for having the bracelet on, but no, it was more than that. I felt disconnected from my animal side completely.

“Imri, are you sure you want to take the place on?” my mom asked, with no small measure of concern. We were on a video call, the signal surprisingly strong in the middle of the woods where Uncle Malik’s, or rather my new house, was located. He had several crystals and rune engraved metals boosting the signal. Likely why the call was so clear. His inventions were in evidence throughout the large property, from the water heater powered by crystals, to the solar panels for electricity.

The building itself wasn’t new. The deed said it had been standing for maybe a hundred years. They weren’t sure the exact date of construction, which wasn’t concerning at all.

“Sure,” I replied, not sounding at all sure. “Mama taught me well. The place has good bones.” The right things to say, even if they might be lies. I still had to check the plumbing and wiring. The roof, at least, was new, or newish. I gathered no one had been in the place for about three years, maybe slightly longer. Ever since Malik had gotten too sick to manage alone and moved into a hospice. “Some new drywall, fittings in the kitchen, and it’ll be golden.”

My mama, Mom’s omega partner, had a construction business she inherited from her dad when he retired. It was being passed on to my alpha sister when it was time. She was already learning the ropes. My beta brother was getting Mom’s café, hence why Uncle Malik, Mama’s only sibling, had left his estate to me, the youngest of the family.

“Do you need us to come out? Mama can get the crew to cover if you need us. Nasir can run the café for a week or two if needed.” My brother would love the opportunity to prove himself to Mom .

Looking around the place, at the faded wallpaper, the spots of mold which suggested a leaky pipe, I sighed. “You’d have to find somewhere to stay in town. There’s no room here. I’ve got a trailer until I fix up the primary bedroom and bath. It’s small, though.”

“Give me a few days to figure out when we can come visit. We could take our camper?”

Mom sounded so hopeful they could come help me out. I knew they had a lot of guilt about me not getting a business from them because I was the oops baby, but I didn’t mind striking out on my own. Besides, what I’d gained from Uncle Malik was likely worth a lot more than both businesses combined.

“If you’d prefer. The hotel in town is busy, so it must be nice. Maybe you’d be more comfortable there.” I liked my space. Loved them dearly, just didn’t want them crowding me.

There was a beat of silence. “We’ve not been anywhere for a while. If they’re busy, there might not be room… We’ll give it a try. If not, we’ll use the camper.”

I knew my parents. They were going to move heaven and earth to get to Haenvale just to help me out. It’d alleviate some of their strange parental guilt over leaving me to my own devices so much when I was younger. I didn’t think it had done me any harm, just made me more self-sufficient.

“Okay, let me know when, and I’ll leave something decent for Mama to get her claws into.” Mama loved tiling. She could lay a floor like no one’s business, and there was plenty for her to do.

“Sounds good. I’ll give you a call in a couple of days. Don’t struggle alone! Call us if you need help!”

“I will,” I assured her before ending the call.

Giving the place another look, I held back my sigh. It would all be worth it when I got it the way I liked.

Haenvale was pretty. What? I could appreciate the beauty of the place even as I judged them for being smug over safety that really wasn’t true safety. The beaches were long, sandy stretches into the horizon. Each part of the main stretch was designed with tourists in mind, with plenty of places to shop, eat, or rest. I liked the feel of the place and how easily I vanished into a crowd.

When people saw me with my inhibitor on, they assumed I was one of the many visitors or even a townie, maybe. Upon check-in, hotels and bed and breakfasts—all experiencing a booming year-round trade—provided each visitor with an inhibitor, making it difficult to identify year-round residents unless you’d been there a while.

I’d like to think I had an eye for spotting who belonged and who didn’t. Maybe I was kidding myself, but some of them were easy to spot. The residents had a sense of purpose and confidence about them the tourists lacked. They weren’t the friendliest to me. Maybe they didn’t like outsiders all that much despite taking their money.

Had to give it to Haenvale, the atmosphere was super chill. No one was on edge, hoping a wolf wasn’t going to get all fangy when he scented a tasty rabbit shifter. I couldn’t help but feel this was just masking a larger problem.

As a predator shifter, I’d learned control from a young age. My dingo wasn’t the biggest and baddest out there, but I could still be a menace to some rabbits or mice if I caught their scent. Sending me to a mixed school was the best thing my moms had done for me and my siblings. We’d been tested constantly. Puberty, with the added risk of hormones, was a nightmare. We got through it, though. A few scrapes here and there, yet no one was seriously hurt, and I even had a few prey shifters I counted as friends.

If I was approaching a rut, I did pose more of a risk to prey shifters, particularly omegas, but more out of a need to force them to submit to me. I’d never take anything that wasn’t offered willingly, no matter how powerful the rutting urge was. The chance of me hurting one, even out of my mind with lust, was minimal. A couple of times in my past, I’d been put in dicey situations and come out friends with the prey shifter. I knew myself and what I could handle.

The local hardware store was pretty impressive. I’d tried it on the off chance it had what I needed. There was a large chain store about a hundred miles away, in case they didn’t. Doing my research made me feel less anxious about the task I was undertaking in this house.

I found a large flat-bed cart for all the materials I would need and wheeled it into the blessedly cool interior. The store was clearly laid out, with all I needed and more. It was about twenty minutes before anyone approached me. I’d been wandering the aisles, picking up things on my ever-growing list of necessary items when a member of staff strolled over to me. He frowned when he clocked my inhibitor.

“Need any help?”

He was young, like probably not of legal drinking age, and tall with wide shoulders. Looked like he played football in high school not all that long ago. He had a summer tan already. Blond with green eyes, which were slightly narrowed in suspicion. A nametag told me his name was Ralf. I didn’t think Ralf liked me for some reason.

“Yeah, I’m looking for sheets of drywall, and these fittings.” I held out my hands with the worn bolts and pieces of pipe in my hands.

Most of the plumbing in the house was in decent shape. There were signs that someone had been working on the place. They’d likely stopped around the time Malik went into the hospice. Since then it had lain empty, jobs unfinished, and plenty of work still needing done.

“Um, sure. Over here.” Ralf led me to the fittings first. I took my time picking up the right pieces while getting a not welcome vibe from Ralf. His customer service skills were severely lacking.

“That’ll do for now, I guess. Drywall?”

“Here.” Again, he led me to the section and waited, watching me carefully. Did he think I was there to steal shit? I picked up a few sheets, comparing them to the small square I’d cut from the stuff hung in the house. The problem wasn’t buying all this stuff, it was getting it home.

“Don’t suppose you do a delivery service?” I asked, wondering how this was all going to fit in my truck. My precious car I’d traded in for something more practical for New England winters. Getting used to the thing was a task and a half. It was a stick shift, for a start! I didn’t get the fascination with modeling vehicles after Earth One’s cars. They were impractical.

“Depends on where you live. You local?”

“Don’t suppose you knew my Uncle Malik?”

Ralf shook his head. “Sorry, I’ve only worked here a year.”

Guessed it right. Not that it helped.

“Well, I live in the woods outside of town, the old Acreage cabin?”

His eyes narrowed. “What road do you use to come in?”

“Dunno, it winds past the lighthouse—“

“Those are the west woods. No one goes there.”

“Sorry? What does that mean?”

“It means no one will deliver there.” Ralf looked me up and down. “You know you’re not supposed to be there, right? It’s against the town laws.”

I snorted. “Dude, I’ve paid all the taxes, have all the land deeds and permission to be there. It’s my house. I own a chunk of the woods.”

“Well, good luck to you. The closest anyone will come is the mailbox, which is just off the main road. We used to get dared to head up the path when I was a kid.”

I vaguely remembered the dirt road. My map to the place took me on a different route and what was barely passable as tracks, not even proper roads. Maybe this one was shorter and easier on my truck.

“Right…”

What the actual fuck was I getting myself into? How had Malik done any of the work if no one came to the place? How did he get basic things when he was sick? I needed to investigate the mailbox. Since switching on the utilities, like the water, I hadn’t been out there to check if I had any mail.

“Maybe Jeff will deliver there. I’d have to ask him.”

“Okay, why don’t you then?” I suggested, already sick of this shit. How the fuck was I going to make this place livable without help?

Ralf sort of sneered at me, then went scurrying off. Jerk.

I stood there for a while and was starting to think no one was coming when Ralf came into view with a hulking man next to him. If I was going to stereotype, this guy was part troll or a bear shifter of some kind. His band was different from mine, so maybe not. I vaguely wondered why that was.

“Ralf tells me you’re out at Malik’s old place.” He glanced at my inhibitor with a frown.

“That’s right. I’m his nephew. He passed it to me when he died a few months ago.”

Although we weren’t close, I still felt bad about my uncle’s premature death. Shifting sickness was random and incurable. He’d lived a long life with the condition when the general prognosis is death before adulthood .

“Sorry for your loss. He gave the place a lot of business, always fixing up that house.” Jeff at least was a decent guy.

“Thanks. I hear people don’t deliver out there.”

“Yeah, that’s right. Not allowed as per the town rules unless you go in a group.”

“How did Uncle Malik get stuff, then?”

“Oh, he had a shed for deliveries. We have the code on file for the lock. We’d put everything away, food in the fridge, and what have ya, then he’d get it later. Well up until—“ His words cut off. “It’s probably still standing unless some kids got to it.”

I couldn’t see how he managed with it in the later stages of the disease, when he was robbed of his mobility.

Rubbing my forehead, I sighed. “Right. I can check, then could we go back to that?”

“Sure thing…”

Jeff was looking for my name. “Imri. I’m going to give living out there a go.”

“Well, good luck to ya!”

Figured I was going to need it.