Marina shook her head. “You can’t rush this. You’re going to scare her off if you act crazy.”
I hung my head. “Yeah. She’s pretty much told me that already.”
“Well, it’s time to listen!” Becky countered.
“I hear you.” I exhaled. “How much time do you think she needs?”
Becky snorted. “However much it takes. Definitely more than a week.”
“More than a week?” Fates, I wasn’t going to survive this. How long could a possessive wolf like me last without claiming his mate? Well, at least next week, she could be with these women instead of… ugh. “She probably couldn’t come to your ladies’ night, anyway,” I realized aloud. “She works evenings at Cody’s and wouldn’t want to give up the shifts.”
“Well, maybe we can go there,” Audrey said with a shrug. “We can try to make it seem casual. Not an ambush. Becky and I can stop by after work sometime. The hospital’s not far from the bar.”
“Not an ambush, right,” I replied. “Thank you. Thank you ladies so much. It really means a lot to me.” I pushed off from the rail and backed down the stairs. It was time to get to Cody’s. It wasn’t even near closing time, but I’d just tell her I was in the area. Whatever.
“You still have to do the work!” Marina called to me.
“Yes, ma’am,” I agreed, offering all of them a wave. “I will. Just as soon as I figure out what that means.”
The females’ laughter followed me to the truck.
I ground my teeth and gears as I shifted into reverse. I was no closer to claiming my mate. But I did feel marginally better.
I just needed to give Natalie my time and prove my love for her. So as long as I didn’t push too hard and make her run or shove me away, I could do this.
15
RAND
A few days later, Nash and I got to the pack lodge early to open it up and clean it for the monthly pack meeting. It had been built decades earlier as the central meeting place but also the starting point of the monthly full moon runs. It was away from any prying human eyes and a safe location to shift freely. The last time I’d been here was right before I’d veered off path because of Natalie.
I hadn’t been aware of it in the moment, but I’d somehow known my mate was out there, that I’d needed to seek her out. Now, I was stir crazy—which was putting it mildly—being away from her. Me, here with my pack—her at Cody’s working.
There was a time when Levi and Clint would be here helping us, too, but now that they were mated to humans, they didn’t come as early or stay as long. From what Clint had told me, Becky and Audrey would be stopping by the bar to meet Natalie. That and that alone kept me from jumping in my truck and heading into town.
Charlie and Becky, Marina and Audrey could come to pack meetings if they wanted, but not all the pack members made them feel comfortable, which fucking sucked. People like Nathan Brown, the guy whose chimney we fixed a few days ago, and other conservative members had old-fashioned ideas about how the pack should be run. They were traditionalists, old-timers who thought Rob was too… liberal. The alpha had done many things in the almost twenty years he’d been leader, all for the good, I thought. Most recently, he’d changed the pack law to allow the mating of humans, and not all the members agreed with it. Or him. No matter the example he set or the number of shifters who were mating humans these days, it didn’t make a difference.
Rob and Willow pulled up, looking every bit the alpha couple they were. When Rob’s wolf had chosen her, he hadn’t known she was actually a shifter—nobody did. Including her. Not until she was shot in the line of duty, and she spontaneously shifted to heal herself. Rob would’ve mated her anyway, shifter or human, but it sure took the pressure off that his human mate turned out to be a beautiful ginger wolf, and as alpha as could be for a female.
“Hey guys. Thank you for opening up,” Rob rumbled as he came in. He came over, slapped me on the shoulder. It was a sign of a good leader that he still thanked us every month. I’d be here even if he didn’t. He was like another big brother to me, and my family had been standing behind him as an alpha since the night the Wolf boys’ parents had died when we were kids.
My parents came in next, my mom carrying a casserole dish of her famous lasagna and my dad bringing a pan of brownies and a watermelon. “Rand, go and grab the bag of groceries in the back of the SUV,” my mom directed. She always over-provided on the food. Potluck meant everyone brought one thing, but my mom had to bring at least five to every meeting. No one would go hungry on her watch.
She was the pack’s mother hen, without stepping on Willow’s shoes.
I went out to her car and carried in a grocery sack full of chips and home baked cookies and a bag of freshly cut carrots and celery with ranch dressing.
Inside, Rand and my dad were setting up the chairs.
The pack members started rolling in, and Rob stood at the doorway to shake hands and greet them all.
“Hey, Clint. You didn’t bring the humans today?” Nathan Brown called to my brother.
It was a purposeful dig—implying that Clint’s daughter Lily was also human and wouldn’t shift when she reached puberty. Clint didn’t care if she shifted or not or if she grew wings and flew like a fairy. He was pleased with his daughter any way she turned out. Same went for me, my parents. Rob. Fuck, everyone in the pack but Nathan.
I growled on his behalf although it was probably drowned out with the noise of everyone arriving.
“Don’t call my family the humans,” Clint clipped and a staredown ensured between the two men—one young, one older. Clint topped him by several inches and at least thirty pounds of muscle. The only time Nathan had any strength was in shifter form but not compared to Clint or me.
I sauntered over to stand at my brother’s shoulder. If Brown thought he could fuck with Clint, he’d quickly find out at least six of the strongest pack members would have his back. Nash joined, too, arms crossed over his chest, most likely so he didn’t strangle the asshole.
Nathan shrugged. “Are you ashamed of what they are?”
Clint’s hand shot out, and he gripped a fistful of Nathan’s shirt.
Growls went up all around the large meeting room until Rob’s voice cut across the room in an alpha command, “Enough.”
The lodge went silent.
Boyd stepped forward, using his signature diplomacy the rest of us had never mastered. “Hey, now. Everybody take a breath.” To Nathan, he said, “I’m sure you don’t want to goad a former council enforcer into thinking you’re insulting his mate and pup, right? Because that would be ill advised.” His words reminded the pack that my brother had been chosen by the shifter council and had enforced their laws secretly for years. He probably had more kills counted than Colton had while serving as a Green Beret. Boyd’s words sobered the room.
“Take your seats,” Rob ordered, forestalling any response from Nathan.
Everyone immediately moved and settled. I sat beside my brother—not that he required my back up. The reminder of him being an enforcer without any of us knowing for so long still stung a bit. I knew it had been for his safety and ours that his role had been a secret, but it bugged the hell out of me that Clint had lived a double life.