Yvette, meanwhile, kept running. Her escape had been fortunate, but she knew that she couldn't go straight to William or straight after Martha or William's son's. Not knowing that Martha was a werecat already, she figured she could easily deal his wife, but knew she needed to loose the policemen pursuing her. One was a werewolf and three were weredogs, who she figured to be the desk officer, the jail guards, and their dispatch officer that was on the night shift, and she new she could just run for her target. It felt a bit like a fox hunt as the weredog officers bayed "stop" at her. And given that one of them was based off an English Foxhound in his weredog form, it could be considered a fox hunt. Interestingly enough, this weredog was Frances' older brother.
Yvette could heard them chasing her and new she had to loose them before they could do anything more with regard to claiming William and killing his wife. As such, she ran away from where Ben's pack would be welcoming Nate into their body. She was headed toward the river that ran to the sea and fed the lake for which Moon Lake got its name. Once there, she could use the flowing water of the river to wash away her scent and get to a point where she could hide and let the weredog and werewolf officers lose her. After that she could plan out her revenge.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
William, Martha, Samantha, and Frances stood by their cars for a few moments with Eric after being ushered back to their cars. They were far enough away that they couldn't see what was going on with Nate as he began his journey into were society. William strangely felt a great deal of pride in seeing his son happy, and hoped that Alex wouldn't claw him too hard or take too much of a bite out of him, as that seemed to be the most likely way Nate would want to be transformed given his taste in movies. Nate's joining would meet the official requirements for his family, even if his and Martha's transformations would mean that technically Nate didn't HAVE to become a werewolf. It'd mean that Eric would be the only human in the family, but with Yvette in jail, he figured things would be fine. Eric would of course have his choice, and if he decided to join his family, that he would make it willingly and when he was ready.
"The right way?" Martha whispered to him, "are you saying Samantha's and Frances's welcome for me was wrong?"
"Given what caused it?" William answered, "Yes. You agreed to become a werecat because MY transformation scared you and you didn't want me to attack you. Your transformation should have been peaceful and because you were happy to become a werecat... NOT because you were SCARED of me."
Martha blinked at this and then realized, he wasn't blaming Samantha or Frances. He was blaming himself. She noticed Samantha and Frances looking toward them as well, with Eric standing nearby.
"I was actually starting to be more interested becoming what I am now before it happened," Martha told him, "about all Yvette's attack on you did was accelerate a decision that was probably going to be made anyway."
"You're sure?" William asked her, "I didn't scare you into changing?"
"I may have been scared at the time... but I was scared I wouldn't get to become a werecat," Martha told him.
Martha found herself being pulled into a hug and William began kissing her forehead gently, "That's good then... then you did get it right... the only one of us who got it wrong was me."
"You couldn't control that vixen!" Eric spoke up. That made William look up to seeing Frances and Samantha standing by their younger son.
"He is right there," Frances spoke up, "You may have made your mistakes, William... but you cannot control the actions of someone else with a hormone imbalance."
"I'm just grateful she's in jail and we've seen the last of her," William said as he ran a finger through Martha's brown hair, the gray hairs that had been there were gone. "And we can begin to make a new start... heal old wounds."
Martha rubbed her head to William's and then smiled to Frances and Samantha, "and enjoy ALL our loves. You and me... and me and the Twists."
"Yes," Frances smiled, "to let you enjoy who and what you truly are."
"A bisexual werecat with a werefox husband and mate," Martha smiled, "and two lesbian werecat lovers."
Samantha and Frances both nodded and smiled to Martha. Eric let this go, as he really didn't want to be involved the sexual tone of the conversation that the conversation was headed.
"So what now?" Eric asked to get the subject matter off of who his mother was sexually attracted to, "Do we wait for Nate to come back?"
"No, they'll be busy for the rest of the night," Samantha answered, "we are free to go home. Nate and Ben will be back in the morning and will come back on their own before changing back."
"And in the meantime, there are things your father and I need to show you," Martha said to Eric. She referred to what she and William had discussed before William returned to his work with the gutters. For them to transform and show Eric what was now their TRUE forms, Martha's a brown furred werecat which seemed to be based off a cross between a Domestic Short-hair for build and fur length and the Havana Brown for coloring and William's a werefox based off of the red phase of the Red Fox. That way Eric wouldn't be afraid of them if he got up at night and found a fully transformed parent staying up late. They'd also told Nate that he'd need to show Eric his form in a controlled setting at some point so that HE wouldn't frighten his younger brother.
Eric nodded and wondered what they were going to show him. Julie had helped him get over a lot of the issues he had with Moon Lake and its were-beast society. He wanted to say that, but he didn't want to reveal the fact that he was mentally wrestling with how he viewed his relationship with Julie and whether or not he might have to become a merman to be able to love her. He didn't even truly know if he felt more than simple friendship with Julie, or if Julie felt more than friendship toward him. He was about same when the tune of "All You Need is Love" by the Beatles began to ring out. Eric looked back to see Samantha fishing her cellphone out of her purse. William and Martha only looked on, and focused with their enhanced hearing. Eric didn't hear, but William and Martha heard a soft male voice speak on the other end.
"Hello," Samantha spoke.
"Ms. Twist," came a male voice, who Samantha recognized as the mayor's voice, "we have a problem."
"A problem, sir?" Samantha asked, "Can this wait, sir, I'm with the Andersons... their son just went through the official welcome into our society and has gone to enjoy his transformation into a werewolf."
"The older son?" the mayor asked.
"Yes, Nathaniel, Nate, Anderson," Samantha answered, "it should be on the paperwork I filed when he agreed to become a werewolf... older son of Martha Anderson, who's agreement to become a werecat I emailed to you, and William Anderson, who was forced to transform by Yvette Elizabeth Smith... his official welcome and paperwork was probably filled out by the Skulk leader when you or the police contacted her. The younger son, Eric, is still human."
"Okay... it's good you're with them," the mayor answered, "as the problem relates to the werevixen at the heart of this."
Samantha's eyes widened for a moment. She remembered her brief talk with William before going in for dinner and briefly talking with Frances and Martha before calling Ben, Eric, and Nate down for dinner. Akane had told William and Martha of the threat Yvette potentially posed, and both had concerns. While she might be willing to give William a small chance of becoming a better person, because Frances wanted her to and because his transformation WAS forced, she wasn't about to give Yvette Elizabeth Smith that chance. Forcing transformations on normals was one of the worst crimes in Moon Lake, as that created the risk of were-beasts going out of control and bringing down forces that they couldn't defend themselves against.
She was privately certain that William hated Yvette for forcing his transformation and the fact that she might threaten Martha or Eric, which did signal that a loving bond of mateship between William and Martha was there. In a way she and William agreed whole completely on that issue. Both of them loved Martha and both would fight to protect her. A part of Samantha was even beginning to see Nate and Eric as either extra "adopted sons" as Ben was, or as nephews through the bond that she shared through Martha and Frances as part of their small Pride.
"What has happened?" Samantha asked.
"Apparently a female werecoyote with anger management issues tried to kill her ex-boyfriend," the mayor answered, "Officer Samson Carter..." Samantha blinked at the name of Frances' brother and remembered that Frances took her name when they married, "took her into the female wing of the jail. The werecoyote decided to fight against going into the cell. By the time that Officer Carter got the werecoyote under control and in the cell, Miss Smith had slipped out in the confusion. He and the other officers pursued her toward the river and the lake and they lost her scent there..."
Samantha gave an angry hiss and barely noticed that Martha and Frances hissed as well. She also thought she heard a low growl that was sort of a cross between a dog's growl and a cat's growl, which she knew was William's fox growl.
"Best to tell them... and inform the younger son as tactfully as you can," the mayor answered, "Ms. Tachibana might not want to spread unnecessary fear... but that only would work while she was in jail. Now she's out and COULD do something worse. Better to be smart than sorry."
"Of course," Samantha nodded.
"Oh and Samantha..." the mayor spoke.
"Yes, sir?" Samantha asked, ignoring the more informal tone from the mayor in the last line.
"Do your best to work with the Andersons to keep young Eric safe," the mayor spoke, "as a favor."
"For you, sir?" Samantha asked in a puzzled voice.
"For Julie," the mayor answered and then hung up.
Samantha then hung up and put her phone back in her purse to hear the angry growl from William, Martha, and Frances.
"SHE ESCAPED!!?"
"We'd best go back to your home and discuss this," Samantha spoke, "You and William can show Eric what you need to show him... and we can begin discussing what measures we can take to protect him."