"Leidolf will let me go shopping with you to buy you some more things, once you've healed up a bit more."
She had to have permission? Cassie harrumphed. That would be the day. Although she had to give him credit: his reasoning was sound, as he knew she wouldn't stay put. Hmm, what if she went to the Army-Navy store? Got some nice camouflage clothes like the hunters wore? Although she knew that wasn't a possibility, it sure appealed.
"Do you need help dressing?" Laney motioned to Cassie's injury.
"No, thank you. I just need some..." Privacy, that's what Cassie nearly said. But lupus garous who lived in packs didn't need privacy when dressing. "... uhm, shoes?" Cassie managed to say without blowing her tenuous cover.
"Mine are probably a couple of sizes too big," Laney apologized.
Alice pointed at her small feet. "I'm probably more your size. And Sarah, too, since we wear the same size shoes."
"We didn't think to bring any with us, and we live two hours from here," Sarah said. Then her eyes widened. "You weren't the red wolf our dad smelled in the park, were you? Dad would have a fit if he learned you were the one he had smelled earlier. Although he knew he'd have to give the wolf up to Leidolf if he found her."
Alice added, "He hoped he could locate her and befriend her, and Leidolf would take pity on him and let him have her for a mate if she was agreeable. He looked for the red wolf for days while Leidolf was in Maine, taking care of important pack business. Dad even had us help him search. We never could find any sign of where she slipped off to. And she didn't seem to return."
Before Cassie could respond, Sarah cleared her throat. "Leidolf looked for her yesterday, and we were afraid he was going to be mad that Dad didn't tell him about her."
"Yeah, and he really wanted to go with Leidolf to see if he found her this time."
"Why, we didn't know." Sarah tucked her hair behind her ear. "I guess he thought he still might have a chance with her."
"Leidolf wouldn't let Dad go with him. Dad was really not happy about it."
"Which park?" Cassie asked.
Alice offered, "Forest Park in the city of Portland."
"No, it wasn't me." Cassie suspected it might be the wolf with the pups. The girls' father would be disappointed to hear she was a real wolf. Cassie got out of bed and pulled the shirt on, then the pants. They might have been a little snug on Laney, but they were way too loose on Cassie. If she let go of the hip-hugger pants, they would be puddled at her feet. "You didn't happen to bring a belt, did you?"
Laney shook her head. "Oh my, no."
Alice lifted up her own shirt and shook her head. No belt. "I meant to put one on, but we were in such a rush to get here that I forgot."
"I never wear belts," Sarah said. "Too cumbersome if I want to shift quickly. Not that we do that very often, except when we have to. Leidolf's very strict about when and where we shift. Unless it's in the privacy of our home. A belt is just one less thing to have to remove."
"Maybe Leidolf has one." Cassie headed for the closet.
Everyone was dead silent, and she figured they were afraid he wouldn't like it if she came to the meal wearing one of his belts without his permission. She was sure he wouldn't want to see her wearing only a short, cropped shirt that rested high above her belly button and hip-huggers that gathered around her feet.
She grabbed a black leather belt off a rack, hurried back out of the closet, and nearly laughed to see the girls and Laney, their mouths gaping. Then the three smiled.
"Well, if she lives through this, we know he's got a mate," Sarah said and giggled.
"Absolutely," Alice said.
Laney shook her head. "Why didn't I think of that?"
Then the problem was that Laney's floral pants had no belt loops. Trying to make do, Cassie fastened the too-big belt around the pants. "No one happens to have anything I can use to make another hole in the belt, does anyone?"
"Uhm," Alice said. "That might be going a little too far."
Cassie looked around at the dresser and desk, but she didn't see a sharp instrument she could use. Just as she reached for a desk drawer, Elgin poked his head into the bedroom. "Food's on the table. Is everyone ready to eat?"
The girls and Laney looked really relieved for the interruption to what Cassie was about to do.
Giving up her quest to make another hole in the belt, Cassie buckled it, but the black leather slipped down low on her hips and made her feel more exposed than when she wasn't wearing anything. She hoped the feast wouldn't take too long before she could return to bed, pretend to sleep, and then slip out into the night, but she was afraid the pants would never stay up if she was on the run. And the fabric was so silky that it would be way too cold to wear in the wilderness. Not to mention way too bright.
"I'm taking her to see Felicity first," Laney said and directed Cassie down the hall.
"We want to go, too," the girls both said at once.
Cassie thought it odd, figuring the bedridden wolf probably wouldn't want all the attention at once.
When she walked into the bedroom after Laney, she found a wolf sound asleep in a bed with wolf pups sleeping beside her or on top of her, their eyes squeezed shut, their tiny paws pink, their fur slick and dark. Passed out in a comfy chair near the bed was a snoring, bearded man with dark circles beneath his eyes.
Cassie slowly approached the mother, who opened her eyes and watched her.
"This is Cassie," Laney explained. "And Cassie, meet Felicity and her brood. She chose to have wolf pups instead of babies, easier to birth and easier to take care of when they're that many. And that is her mate, Harvey." She motioned to the sleeping man.
He looked like his mate's ordeal had worn him out also.
"Felicity," Cassie said, motioning to the pups. "May I?"
Felicity bowed her head.
Cassie walked over to the bed and picked up one of the pups who wrinkled his nose and licked his lips but continued to sleep.
"Oscar. He's the alpha male so far. Firstborn, first to suckle," Laney said, sounding like a proud grandmother.
Sarah and Alice stood at the footboard and smiled at the pups.
Cassie picked up another pup, and it cried out, startled. Cassie rubbed her face against it. She loved wolf pups. She couldn't help it, but she felt a kinship to all the wolf kind, whether they were lupus or lupus garous.
"That one's Melissa. She's sweet and quiet and better learn to take charge or she'll be at the bottom of the heap," Laney said.
Cassie stroked the back of the next pup, also a male.
"Keith, next in charge. And the other female is Pamela, and she's a real fighter. No bossy brother is going to steal her place at her mother's teat at feeding time."
Cassie smiled. She'd heard that's exactly the way she was when she was a young wolf pup. "They're beautiful," Cassie told the mother, and she swore the wolf breathed a sigh of relief.
The wolf's gaze shifted toward the door, and Cassie turned to see what caught her attention. Leidolf stood in the doorway watching Cassie. Not what she wanted to see. All at once she felt maneuvered into the matchmaking bit again. Come see what you can have if you give Leidolf a chance. Her face felt hot first and then the uncomfortable sensation spread all over her body.
Despite not wanting to feed into Leidolf's delusions, Cassie didn't want to hurt Felicity's feelings, so she said, "If I ever settle down for good, I'll be lucky to have offspring as beautiful as yours."
Felicity gave her a wolf smile. Even though Cassie had never had children of her own, she still always felt connected to mothers. Maybe because she had a caregiver personality. Or maybe because she had always loved pups and kids, and they seemed to adore her just as much.
When she turned around, Leidolf was still waiting for her. She got the distinct impression he wanted her company again.
She sighed. No way to avoid the issue.
Chapter 14
Cassie joined Leidolf and he walked her down the hall, not leaving an inch of free space between them, just like wolves who were courting or mated would stick close together. Trying to ignore their close proximity, she peeked into five more bedrooms, all well furnished, each having sitting areas and patio doors. The ranch must have cost a fortune.
When they reached the living room, the place was just as elegant with leather couches, Persian rugs, crystal chandeliers, and oil paintings of the Oregon coastline. All around the room, brass wolf sculptures were displayed in various poses--from resting in packs to nuzzling each other or snarling at one another.
Why then was Leidolf's bedroom so austere? It almost seemed he preferred to live in the most primitive of settings. A cave if he could have managed, she imagined. Ah, a loner, the girls had said. Kind of like Cassie, living out of a suitcase half of the time or out of a backpack. No place was home anymore.
"We didn't want to be real formal," Laney said, motioning to a table set up as a buffet with tons of food--beef tenderloin, chicken, ham slices, mashed potatoes, and chunks of cheese, as well as tomatoes, salad, melons, and grapes.
Leidolf stood apart from Cassie, giving her some room to maneuver around the table. She didn't notice the spread of food as much as she did the way Leidolf watched her in the crowd of people, probably twenty to thirty pack members. He stood out among them, his shoulders straight, his dark gaze fixed on hers, his head lifted high, in charge, the dominant male. No matter that the room was filled with tension as everyone watched them, his gaze was steady and unaffected.
He was a calming presence, although she had never felt as self-conscious when she was speaking to an auditorium full of people as she did now. Maybe because that was impersonal. She lectured, answered questions, then disappeared again into the wilderness, looking for another wolf pack to observe and grow attached to.
This was different. These people expected her to stay. And they expected Leidolf to make it happen. Every eye was on her, and she figured they all had every intention of making her welcome and would aid Leidolf in any way to ensure she stayed.