“Oh my,” she said faintly as she rose to obey.
Chapter Four
Some hours later, Tracy and Nick drove up the pretty driveway of the Pacific Pack house. Tracy felt languid and satisfied. Nick had made love to her all afternoon long in every room and on every piece of furniture that would hold them up. She felt thoroughly taken care of and desired.
She snuck a look over at him and smiled. He had a bite mark on his neck that he hadn’t bothered to try and hide. In fact, she suspected that he’d forgone a shirt with a collar to show it off. At one point her wolf had surfaced and she’d bitten him, hard, right as she came. Because the bite was from another wolf, it would be there for a while instead of healing within hours.
Happiness stole over her when she saw her parents’ BMW and Cade’s Mercedes along with the SUV they’d driven down in the day before. Her family was there! She suddenly felt the need to hug her mother.
Nick parked and turned to her. “Wow, look at you. You’re brimming with joy. It’s seeing your family here?”
She nodded. “That and the bite on your neck that you’re showing off like a teenaged boy.”
He laughed and kissed her quick but hard. “Baby, this mark is hot. You’re hot. I’ve never had a bite before. Of course I want to show it off. Now come on, let’s go inside.”
Milton came tearing around the house to greet her, goofy grin and all, and she squealed in delight. “Hi, Milton! Oh, I missed you!” She got to her knees and hugged him. She turned and caught Nick’s look of horror. “Nick, this is Milton. Milton, this is Nick.” She smooched Milton’s nose and went on seriously, “Nick’s uptight but quite okay once you get to know him. I fear he is freaked out by your lack of a leg.”
Nick smiled despite himself. How could he deny her a thing that clearly made her happy? Even if it was a three-legged dog. He bowed low. “I am pleased to meet you, Milton. Any dog of Tracy’s is welcome in my Pack.”
Milton looked him up and down and nodded, tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. He leaned forward and licked Nick’s hand. Nick tried to pretend that it didn’t touch him and Tracy tried not to fall over dead at the utter cuteness of her two bestest guys.
Nina came around the house with Haley and Chris, Sarah and Ben’s children. “Hi, Stinky! I see your mom is here with your new dad. I’d make him buy me a pony if I were you.”
The kids looked up at Nina, decided she was hilarious and laughed loudly as they spilled over to where Tracy and Nick were standing with Milton.
“Uncle Nick! You didn’t tell us that Tracy had a dog!”
“I’m sorry, guys. A terrible oversight on my part that I will not repeat.”
“Have you been playing with Milton?” Tracy asked Haley.
“Oh yeah, he’s the funnest dog ever. Well, the only dog I’ve ever played with really. And he’s great. He runs and gets the ball and it doesn’t even bug him that he only has three legs and he gets the ball all gooey with his slobber and then Chris tries to gross me out with it but he’s just a lame boy ’cause that doesn’t gross me out at all.” Haley had to stop to take a breath after that run-on sentence but the smile never left her face.
“Tell you what. When Nick and I move into our new house and Milton comes down to live with us, you can come and play with him any time your mom and dad say it’s okay.”
Nick reached out and squeezed her hand.
“Really? Cool!” The kids jumped around and Milton followed suit, barking.
“He’s safe to leave out here? He won’t hurt the children?” Nick asked as the kids ran into the side yard with Milton.
“He’s a gentle soul. He would kill or die to protect them but he’d never hurt them.” He kissed her temple. “Thank you for making the kids feel welcome at our home.” She looked sideways at him, surprised. “You think you’re the only person family is important to? Of course I want them to feel welcome. They’re my niece and nephew now too and they seem like great kids.”
Sarah was standing on the porch and Tracy looked up at her. Nina reached out to grab her arm.
“Can I talk to you a second?”
“Sure.” Tracy turned to Nick. “I’ll be up in a minute.”
He caressed her cheek. “All right. I’ll be waiting. I see that Gabe is here too, surrounded by females.” He laughed and Tracy felt a stab of jealousy.
She and Nina walked down the yard a bit, out of hearing of the wolves on the porch. “What’s up?”
“You tell me. I thought we’d hear from you today but nothing. I know you’ve been fucking like crazy, but what gives? I thought you were my Best Friend Forever?”
Tracy laughed and hugged Nina. “Just like Lucy and Ethel. You are my BFF, goofus. And we have been fucking like crazy. It is so totally like sexual crack! But we had a bit of trouble last night and then the tri-bond. It was so...intense. I didn’t expect it to be so... I didn’t expect to feel so deeply for Gabe. It scared me.”
“Well, I know you’re not blind so you must see that I’m just a bit in love with Cade. Not anywhere near what I feel for Lex, but a part of me yearns for Cade and I’m guessing it always will. Lex knows. Of course, he also knows that Cade and I would never do anything to hurt or betray him. It’ll get easier to process over time, Stinky’s mom. And you want to elaborate on the trouble from last night?”
Tracy told her about the overheard phone call and Nina looked back over her shoulder at Sarah, who winced slightly. “That blonde bitch had the nerve to talk shit about you to Nick? Oh uh-uh! You’re coming back home with us right now!”
Tracy took Nina’s arm, which had been gesticulating wildly, and laughed. “Nina, it’s okay. Nick and I talked for a long time about it and worked through it. I believe him when he says he just wanted to share his happiness over the bond with his friend. I don’t like that he called her his best friend, but I’m hoping that over time he’ll think of me that way instead.”
“And what about her?”
Lex came out onto the porch, sensing Nina’s anger, and began to move toward them both.
“Shit. Listen, please let me work this out. Lex will just try and protect me and I need to do this on my own.”
“What is going on?” Lex demanded curtly and over his shoulder, Tracy saw Cade come out onto the porch, followed by Gabe. Nick looked worried.
“Nothing! Sheesh, can’t a girl share the juicy details of her bonding night with her best friend?”
Lex put his hands over his ears. “Never mind! Don’t elaborate. Let’s get this thing started before an incident happens.”
Nina kissed Tracy’s cheek softly. “I got your back, sister.”
Tracy smiled. “Thanks, Nina. That means so much to me. I love you.”
“Everything okay?” Cade called out as they approached the porch.
“Fine, fine. Just girl talk.” She sent a look up to Nick, who exhaled and held out his hand.
“Before you go inside, Tracy, can you stand a bit more girl talk?” Sarah asked.
Nina touched her back and moved away, murmuring to Cade and Lex, and everyone walked inside.
Tracy leaned against the porch railing and Nick moved beside her, banding his arm about her waist.
“Tracy, I understand from Nick that you overheard some of the things I said to him on the phone this morning.”
“When you talked smack about me? Told my mate you loved him? That conversation?”
Nick tensed up and Tracy told herself that if he didn’t back her up, she’d walk off the property right then, mate or no.
Sarah sighed. “Yes, that one. I realize that it caused a fight between you two and led you to consider not joining Pacific to serve as Second with Nick. And I’m terribly sorry. What was said was said in a moment of high emotion. God, I’m so embarrassed. It was petty and small and I hope that we can
get past it because Nick means a lot to me and you mean everything to him and you’re family now. You’d also be one of my wolves. And it would break Ben’s heart to know that my jealousy had broken the Pack this way.”
“Nick, I need you to go inside and wait for me please.”
“Tracy, I...”
She looked at him with one raised brow.
“All right. Tracy, I love you. I want you here with me, in my Pack, at my side.” Nick kissed her and pulled back, tucking a wayward curl behind her ear.
“I love you too. I’ll be in in a moment.”
He looked back over his shoulder at her and left them alone on the porch.
Tracy turned around to Sarah. “Now that we’re alone I just have a few things to say. First, I could not possibly care less if you like me or my eyebrow ring or how skinny I am. Certainly I would have preferred a warm welcome without fake smiles and pretending to like me in front of others. But whatever. The raw fact is that you had no business slagging me off to my mate. The wolf in me finds that very hard to get past. Nick is not yours. Ben is yours. Nick may be your Anchor but he is my mate. Don’t think to ever try and get around me to him again or there will be trouble.
“I will join Pacific. For Nick. As to whether I forgive you or not, only time will tell if what you did and said is an aberration. Now that I have an Anchor, I understand your reaction a lot better. But actions are the proof, I don’t put much stock in words. I’m going to pledge my fealty tonight but I want to tell you, alone out here, that you haven’t earned it. I’m doing this for one reason only, because Nick asked me to and I love him. But make no mistake, Sarah, I will tear your fucking head off if you ever try it again. Alpha or not.”
Sarah’s face was red and her eyes narrowed. Tracy knew that part of Sarah’s apology had been a front for Nick’s benefit, but how much of it would only be clear over time. “Okay.”
Tracy lowered her chin slightly, just enough to show deference and she was sure Nick relaxed from the place he’d been spying on them.
When they walked inside, she saw her parents and grandmother there with Nick’s parents. She rushed over to her mother and let herself be comforted by her presence.
“Oh, sweet girl! A million congratulations on you both. Let me meet this boy.”
Tracy held her hand out and Nick took it. “Mom and Dad, Grandma, this is Nick Lawrence. Nick, this is my mother, Beth, and my father, Henri Warden. And my grandmother Lia.”
Nick bowed to her parents and took her mother’s hand, kissing it and then her grandmother’s. He shook her father’s hand solemnly. “Mr. and Ms. Warden, Mrs. Warden, it’s my honor to have you here in Pacific House and doubly so to have Tracy as my mate.”
Her father looked Nick over carefully and slowly nodded. “Welcome to the family, son.”
Cade came forward and shook Nick’s hand and then Ben came up and there was a lot of sniffing and other status marker behavior that made Tracy look to Nina and roll her eyes.
“Oh, and Mom and Dad and Grandma—” she reached out and grabbed Gabe’s hand, the connection shocked her but she tried to hide it “—this is Gabe Murphy, my Anchor.”
Her grandmother looked closely at the two of them but smiled and shook his hand.
“Shall we perform the joining ceremony?” Ben called out and the room quieted. Nick looked to Tracy, holding his breath until Tracy nodded.
Walking to the center of the room, Ben and Sarah stood facing Tracy and Nick. As her Anchor, Gabe stood to the other side as well.
“Do you swear fealty to Pacific Pack and her wolves? Do you pledge your life to her well-being and your obedience to her Alphas?”
“I do.”
“Then stand and be recognized Tracy Lawrence, Second and new Packmate.” There was applause and Tracy became a member of Pacific Pack.
A feast was awaiting them in the large dining room and soon Tracy began to relax and get to know her new family. The wolves from Pacific, for the most part anyway, seemed to be happy to have her there. She did notice the small, all-female contingent hovering around Gabe and pointedly ignoring her, but she tried not to let it bother her. Gabe was her Anchor and hers on a level those skanks could never understand.
Gabe watched her all evening. The light shone off her skin and hair and she seemed to glow with her happiness. She was so beautiful and animated and he wanted to kick Nick’s teeth in for having her. Tracy Warden should be his, damn it.
“So are you going to be around Portland a lot more now that you’re her Anchor?” one of the females who’d quite obviously been rubbing against him all night, asked him.
“Well, probably. I like it here. It’s a nice change of pace and scenery from where I live in Boston.”
“So please explain her appeal. What is it? She’s gawdawful, like Hot Topic exploded or something. Who pierces their face? A guy like Nick gets snatched up by her?”
Gabe heard the whispered discussion from behind him and turned slowly.
The other wolf continued, oblivious to Gabe’s presence. “She thinks she’s better because she comes from Cascadia. We’ll see how it feels for her now that she’s down here where every damned female in this room has had her mate.”
“I think you’d best close that nasty mouth of yours,” Gabe said in a low growl and the three wolves who’d been gossiping jumped.
“Uh, oh. What’s it to you anyway?” one of the lesser wolves said, the light of too much alcohol and not enough brains in his eyes.
“Excuse me? Are you not speaking of your new Second in a derogatory fashion and now addressing me in that same disrespectful way?” Discipline at Pacific was sorely lacking, that much was clear.
Ben approached with Nick. “Is there a problem here?”
“We were just talking. We didn’t mean anything by it!”
“What’s going on, Gabe?” Nick asked.
Gabe looked to be sure Tracy wasn’t nearby before he spoke. “Just some of your wolves shooting off about your mate.”
Nick glared at the other wolves, who looked down, not bold enough to challenge their Enforcer.
Tracy, seeing the gathering of males with concerned faces, got up and went over. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing, baby.” Nick put his arm around her but she caught the looks the others were wearing.
“Okay. If you say so.” She knew it was a lie but she didn’t want to cause trouble. She just wanted to make the night a success.
Nick saw that and smiled at her, kissing her temple. “I like it when you’re this easy.”
Tracy laughed. “I’ll show you even more easy later,” she murmured into his ear.
“She isn’t worthy of you, Nick. Why are you all bending over for her?” One of the females who’d been sending Tracy dirty looks all evening stepped forward.
“What? You jealous that I’m getting bent over and not you?” Tracy asked, moving forward and directly into the personal space of the other female.
Shelley, the redhead whose scent had been all over Nick’s sheets, laughed. “She’s got you there, Jo.”
Tracy took the other woman’s measure. There hadn’t seemed to be any animosity and the redhead had been friendly and open toward her so she judged that she wasn’t a threat. Interesting, that.
She cut her eyes back to the incredibly stupid blonde challenging her. It was lunacy. Tracy was Second in the Pack and came from a powerful line of wolves. She was clearly far more dominant and capable of tearing Blondie apart. More than that, mates were mates, it wasn’t like jealousy would change the biological connection between her and Nick.
“I saw your little act out there on the porch,” Blondie hissed. “You think you can just waltz in here and take Second?”
Tracy snorted and stepped in closer. She could feel Nick’s tension and no small amount of arousa
l at her back. “Did you now? You sure are fascinated with me. What’s your problem anyway?”
Ben touched her shoulder and she turned, growling, and he backed off. “Tracy, let’s just calm down.”
Nick pushed between his brother and Tracy, muscles tensed. “Don’t touch her, Ben.”
“She should calm down? What kind of Pack is this, anyway? A far lesser wolf disrespects her and she’s the one who needs to calm down?” Gabe growled, tense from the sight of Ben’s hand on Tracy’s shoulder and Tracy’s growl of defense. He stood at Nick’s side, ready to defend them both if necessary.
Nick looked at Gabe and then back at Tracy and over to Ben. Everyone was still for a moment as Ben stood there, nose to nose with Nick.
Tracy sighed and turned back to Blondie. “You have a problem with me? Fine. It’s a free country. But don’t think to challenge me. You don’t have the slightest hope of winning. And even if you could, you don’t have a chance in hell with Nick. Sour grapes don’t look good on you.”
She turned and leaned into Nick’s body. “Back off, babe. It’s over now. I don’t want you fighting with your brother,” she murmured into his ear.
“We don’t need this drama, Tracy. You’re the new person here. You just need to understand that a new Pack member is slightly upsetting.” Ben’s tone was patronizing.
Suddenly Gabe was at her back and things began to really slide out of control. “Perhaps you can explain Pack governance to us then? A Second should allow herself to be disrespected because some female won’t be fucking Nick anymore? And so Tracy is the one who brought the drama? Over there on the couch trying to make friends?”
“Perhaps you can explain why you’re speaking for my brother’s mate,” Ben said with a growl.
“Perhaps you can all stop talking about me like I’m a chair!”
Nick was still holding her back and Cade and Lex had come over. Blondie smirked. “Control your mate, Nick,” Sarah said and Tracy’s eyebrows shot up.