“No, just patronizing.”
“Ah, the little wolf is a feminist.”
“So what of it? Is that an evil thing?” she asked, turning his words back on him and gaining a smile in return.
“Oh, you’re a lot of things, I wager. But not evil. So will you? Marry me? Be my Mate? Rule the Cherchez Clan at my side?” As the words came from his mouth, he wanted to kick himself for rushing her after she’d agreed to stay and get to know him. He was usually way more suave than this. But she did things to his head. Still, he didn’t want to scare her away. He wanted to bend her over and fuck her until neither of them could walk, but he certainly didn’t want her any more spooked than she already was.
“You don’t know me well enough to know if I’m evil or not. Cherchez? What does that mean?”
“Well, I told you we’re French in origin. The Clan left France to come here several generations ago. Cherchez means ‘searcher.’ We’re voyagers, searchers.”
“Interesting. That’s actually quite lovely. And maybe.”
“Maybe? Maybe you’ll be my Mate?”
“Yes, maybe. I’ll consider it.”
He smiled and pulled back her chair for her. “‘Maybe’ is a good thing. I could always get my mother from ‘maybe’ to ‘yes.’”
She sat down and smiled up at him. “I bet you could. But Andreas, I’m not your mother. Let’s get that straight.”
He threw his head back and roared with laughter. “I should hope not! You do have a fire similar to hers, though.”
Sean sat down across from her. “Maman will be very pleased to meet you.”
Kari grunted noncommittally and took a bite of the eggs. “Who cooks for this crowd?”
“The oldest of our Clan are a couple who take care of the lodge. Anna cooks and helps with the cleaning and shopping and Gregory, her Mate, is the groundskeeper. We have fifteen cabins as well as the main house. It’s a big job and one they’ve performed well for my entire life. Bigger when the entire Clan gathers. By nightfall tomorrow there’ll be twenty-eight of us here. Well, twenty-nine counting you. A full house.”
“Twenty-eight is the whole Pack?”
“Yes. That includes my mother and father, who live in Olympia now.”
“So what do you do for a living anyway? Living out here in the middle of nowhere still costs money.”
“We own a few businesses. We have real estate holdings. I just bought a small software company. For you. It can easily be run from here. Ryan is also an engineer and has experience with software and tech work. Right now he’s working as a naturalist for the Parks Department.” He nodded toward the man who’d brought her back that morning.
“You bought a company? You didn’t even know me until yesterday.” Each time she began to get a little comfortable, he’d spring something else like that on her. A girl could only take so much at a time.
“I knew you from the moment I saw you at the convention center two months ago. I want you to be happy. Here with me. With us.”
She blew out a breath. “This is all just way too much. What the hell am I going to tell Jack? What about my job?”
Laurent leaned over and squeezed her hand briefly. “Andreas has been a leader his whole life. He’s not used to having his will or his actions questioned. He doesn’t mean to be a steamroller, Kari. He just wants to make life easier for you. Hell, for all of us. It’s his way. I know you’re overwhelmed but it comes from a good place.”
Looking down the table at the people sitting there, seeing them all laughing and talking like family, gave her a pang of regret. She’d never had any family she felt close to other than Jack. Even before her parents died, they had been too busy to be around much for their children. Skye gave her a little wave and an encouraging smile and she couldn’t help but return the gesture his way.
“It’s hard not to be charmed by all of this. We’re all happy you’re here. We can be your family too.” Sean looked at her, head cocked to one side.
“How did you know?”
“Well, I wish I could tell you I was a wolfen sort of mystic but I’m not. I’m a psychiatrist by training. I practice in Shaw, a town about half an hour south of here. But I’ve seen the information about you. You didn’t have a whole lot of closeness and family life as a kid. This has got to be a bit overwhelming. It’s not just how we are as humans, although we’re all in each other’s business. It’s how we are as a Clan, a Pack. Touch, laughter, togetherness, it’s all part of who we are as a unit. I was born a werewolf. I don’t know any other way personally, but I know that humans don’t usually grow up with such constant physical closeness to others. That’ll take some getting used to. Probably the biggest adjustment. Well, that and the fact that no matter how independent you are and how much Andreas respects that, he’s not human and he’s simply biologically driven to want to take care of you.”
“You were in on the investigation too?” Kari still felt uncomfortable about all that.
“Well, not in the sense you think. Andreas wanted to know you, to get a feel for you so he could bring you over in the best way. It really was an accident the way Michael lost control and bit you. Michael is...well, he’s our cousin and we love him. But he’s low in the Pack because he doesn’t have a whole lot of intelligence. Or self-control, for that matter. There’s been some internal tension in the Clan for a long time between Michael’s father, who was my uncle, and my father. Andreas thought that if he let Michael watch you—protect you—that he’d gain some confidence. Feel included. Phillip was there that night too, you know. To be sure something stupid didn’t happen. But of course, when Phillip decided to run to the bathroom, you left the club and Michael followed. Not in human form, where he’d be safest, no, in wolf form.”
Sean sighed, leaning across the table. Flicking a tendril of hair out of Kari’s face, he tucked it behind her ear.
“Michael’s a good wolf, he’s just dim. He doesn’t have anyone to lead him other than Andreas. Andreas wanted to help but only made it worse, I’m afraid. In any case, I hold Phillip and Andreas more at fault than I do Michael.”
Kari finished her food and thought over everything that had happened to her in the last several days. As soon as she finished the last of her coffee, Andreas leaned over to fill her juice glass. He also got her another cup of coffee to replace the empty one. It felt odd but not necessarily uncomfortable.
“Anyway, Kari, welcome to our family. If I can help at all, please don’t hesitate to come to me. I know this will be a rough transition but you can do it. I know you can. What’s more, you know you can.”
“Thanks, Sean. I appreciate it. If I stay, I’ll do that.”
She knew she would stay. Even at that moment, they were all weaving their spell around her heart. He was right. Her lack of close family made the way they all treated her even more potent. She belonged there. She belonged to them.
Surreptitiously, she watched Michael, sitting at the far end of the table. A pang of sympathy cut through her. She should be furious at him. But she looked down the long table, through the ranks of the Pack, and saw him—a blood relative of these strong males—and yet he sat all the way down there. It was odd but she felt a sort of kinship with him. In a way, he was an outsider too.
Making her mind up, she stood and went to sit in the empty chair next to Michael. He looked at her and cast his eyes down quickly, blushing. All around her the room grew silent.
“It’s okay. Not that I’m all that thrilled to have been made into a werewolf without permission or anything, but I understand that you didn’t do it to hurt me.”
He fell to his knees and put his face into her lap. She stiffened at the intimate intrusion, not knowing what to do.
Elaine whispered into her ear, “It’s okay. He’s showing his submissiveness to you and his devotion too. You did a good thing.”
Reaching down, Kari touched his hair hesitantly, stroking a hand over his hair and neck. She didn’t know why, she just knew it was what she should
do. When she looked up, she saw Andreas looking on with satisfaction and pride.
He stood up and came to her, holding his hand out. “Shall we take a walk now? I can show you around. Unless you are tired from your...adventures?”
Michael immediately backed off and sat back in his chair. “Thank you. My life for yours, reine.”
She gave Michael a last smile and stood up, taking Andreas’s hand. “I’m not that tired. A walk sounds nice. But I’d like to meet Anna first to thank her for breakfast. Can we do that?”
Andreas looked as though she’d just announced he’d won the lotto or something. “Yes, of course. Let’s go into the kitchen.”
Phillip and Laurent got up and trailed behind them. She turned to look at them and then back to Andreas. “What are they doing?”
“Phillip is your bodyguard, Kari. He’ll be with you most of the time. Laurent is my bodyguard and Lieutenant. He’s with me most of the time. As my Lieutenant, he oversees all security enforcement for the Clan.” Andreas opened the swinging doors leading into the kitchen. A tall, beefy, gray-haired woman stood stirring a huge pot of something that smelled heavenly.
“Anna?”
A big grin broke over the woman’s face when she turned and saw them. She dropped to her knees and touched her forehead to Kari’s calves. “My life for yours.”
Kari stiffened. This kneeling thing was just weird. She looked up at Andreas, who nodded as if to tell her she was doing fine. “Uh, I just wanted to meet the woman who made that delicious food,” Kari said, reaching down to help Anna up.
“Oh my! Thank you, reine. It was nothing. You just let me know what you like so I can be sure to make it for you.”
Andreas looked at Anna with mock dismay, “Replaced in your affections so quickly?”
She swatted his behind with a kitchen towel. “You’re a scalawag! There’s always a treat for you in my kitchen but your Mate, she needs to be spoiled. She needs some meat on those bones.” Giving Kari a thorough once-over, she nodded to herself. “I’ll take care of you. Don’t you worry!”
Kari laughed at that. “Thanks, I think. Can I do anything to help?”
Anna’s face dropped in astonishment. “No! Thank you for your offer but you don’t lift a finger. I’m here to take care of you. Not the other way around.”
“Well, thanks then. I do like to bake cookies every now and then, though. You’ll have to abide my presence in the kitchen from time to time.”
“Ah well, cookie baking isn’t work! It’s fun. You’re welcome here anytime.” Anna went back to her giant soup pot and Andreas led Kari out a back door into a large herb garden.
“You may not understand this but in paying her those compliments you honored her greatly. Anna is integral to this Pack in many ways and you’ve won her over without even trying to. And Michael? Thank you for that.”
“For what? Letting him off the hook because he made a mistake? A big one—don’t get me wrong—but it seemed cruel to make him feel bad because he wanted to be a bigger fish in the pond than he’s capable of and he messed up. I’ve been there.”
They walked a path down to the lakeshore. She picked up a few flat stones and skipped them.
“You’re pretty good at that.” Andreas bent and scooped up a few of his own. Straightening, he winked at her. “I’ll make you a deal. A wager, if you will. If you can skip it more than me, I’ll answer any of your questions. As many as you skip.”
“And if you win?”
“You allow me to kiss you.”
She laughed. Well, win-win for me then. “Okay. You’re on.”
She stood and threw. One, two, three, four, five, six skips. Excellent.
The smirk on her face died as he threw. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight skips.
He smirked at her then. “I’m quite good, you know. I’ve lived on this lake for pretty much my whole life.” He stood close to her, looking down into her face.
“Okay, you win. No tongue,” she said, trying not to sound as breathless as she felt.
He chuckled then, the sound caressing her skin. When he leaned down, she felt like time slowed. The soft brush of his hands over her skin as he moved them to her throat brought a shiver. He held her, fingers cupping her jaw. Her breath caught as he lowered his lips to hers and the kiss was there, a faint brush of contact.
Instantly the electricity she’d felt earlier arced up her spine with enough impact to cause her to arch into him. It crackled in the air around them. She opened up under his kiss and he sucked her lower lip into his mouth and nipped it ever so gently. True to his word, he kept his tongue in his mouth and admittedly, she was disappointed by that.
He broke off, running the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip. Her body tightened at that small touch and wanted more. Her mouth tingled with the memory of the kiss. Her pulse hammered in her ears and it occurred to her that if he made her feel that way with a simple kiss, the sex was going to be spectacular.
He stepped back and she could think a bit clearer. “Wow,” she murmured.
“Yes,” Andreas returned softly.
Over her shoulder she saw Phillip and Laurent sitting on a bench, trying to act like they hadn’t seen anything. But above them in the house, at least six people stood at the window watching them. Skye gave them a thumbs-up and a dopey grin. She gave him the finger back. Andreas roared with laughter, as did Skye.
“I do so love your sense of humor.” He held out his arm and this time she took it without hesitation. “Come, let’s keep walking. You can ask questions if you like. You never need permission for that.”
“So why the bet?”
“I wanted to kiss you.”
“Oh. Well good.” It’d been on her lips to reply that he never needed her permission to do that, but she held her tongue. She was shocked at herself for taking all of this so calmly. Once she’d seen Skye transform, she’d known that everything they’d all been saying was true and the hysteria that had been building just melted away. She might be sorry later but this all just felt right. In any case, if she was going to turn into a freaking mythological creature tomorrow night, she’d need help.
“So how old are you?”
“I’m forty-two.”
Surprised, she stopped and turned to look at him more closely. “No way! You barely look thirty.”
“We age differently. We have longer lives than humans do. You will now, as well.”
“I’m twenty-four. What will I look like in ten years?”
“Much the same most likely. Your hair’ll get thicker. You’ll be more resistant to disease and cold. Your eyes will take on a more—I don’t know how to describe it to you—I suppose, a more magical look, the closer to the full moon you get. Your eyes are already so beautiful, such an otherworldly color. In wolf form they’ll be incredible.”
A blush crept over her cheeks. “Does it hurt?”
“The transformation?”
She nodded.
“Well, it’s hard for me to say because I was born a werewolf. Most natural wolves are able to change starting at the onset of puberty, Alphas often earlier. It’s natural and painless for us. Apparently the bones hurt a bit as you change, especially the first time. Henry likens it to growing pains. But it happens quickly and there’s nothing on earth like being a wolf.”
“Can you talk to each other?”
“Yes, but not in words. The Pack shares a common mental link. We send short bursts of sensation, pictures, to each other. There’s also a lot of touching, growling, howling, whining.”
“Are there fights?”
“Yes. Over territory. Over females. Most of the time it’s more just show than anything else. Sometimes, though, especially if females and territory are involved, it can be bloody.” He went on to explain that the Cherchez territory spanned from just east of the Cascades to the Puget Sound and north to Vancouver and south to Eugene, Oregon. There were apparently a whole series of complicated treaties and agreements to keep the Packs from fig
hting with each other.
“Everyone else is scattered from Olympia to Bellingham. Most of them will be here at least a few times a year and always at Gatherings. We have one at least once a quarter and more often for celebrations like marriages, birthdays, births, that sort of thing.”
“That’s only seven women, including me. You said there were nine. Who are the two others?”
“Perri lives with her Mate, my youngest brother, Devon, in Portland. Unfortunately, she can’t have any children. She was in a car accident two years ago and almost died.”
“How awful for them, but thank god she’s alive.”
“Of course! I didn’t mean to make it sound as if all I cared about was her ability to have children. But children are important to us, we don’t have very many in the Pack right now.”
She skirted that one for a moment. “Okay and the ninth?”
“Oh. Well, that’s Johanna.”
He said it so quickly she stopped in her tracks, turning to him with one eyebrow raised. “Okay, I may be new to the wolf thing but not to the woman thing. Who is she and what is she to you?”
Busted. A wry smile twisted his lips. “As for what she is to me? She’s a female member of my Pack. We dated for a while. She hoped to be more to me than she was, and when I figured that out I stopped it. I knew she wasn’t my Mate, and I didn’t want to lead her on.”
“Ah, and she’s still hung up on you?”
“For a woman who doesn’t know if she’s going to be staying here, you sure are curious.”
“Yeah, spit it out. We both know that I’m not going anywhere.”
He smiled at that, white teeth gleaming. He hugged her tightly and she allowed herself to glory in the full-body contact for a few long moments before pushing him off.
“Spill.”
He sighed but his smile still lurked. “She’s confused. She’s been courted by many other Pack members but finds a reason to reject them all.”
Kari snorted with amusement. “Of course she has. She’s not confused, Andreas. She knows what she wants and that’s you.”
“Ah, but, little wolf, I’m taken.”