She gave him an annoyed look. “I feel pushed into making a decision I don’t want to even consider right now.”
He shook his head, his tone an attempt to be reassuring. “You’re not going to be made to do anything right away.”
She didn’t believe that for a minute. And “not right away” meant what? She had days? Weeks? A few months to make a decision? She understood their concern—that she had to be watched constantly, that a wrong move on her part could put them all in jeopardy, and that having a mate would help her adjust more easily to her new role. Still—
His chestnut hair lighter than Jake’s and his eyes more amber, Tom sauntered into the kitchen and cleared his throat. “Give it a rest, Jake.”
Tom was always her knight when she needed one, but even he had kept his distance as far as any kind of emotional attachment since the Thanksgiving feast. She’d wondered if Jake and Tom had only stuck close to her then because Darien had told them to watch her, to keep the other males away from her until he said the timing was right.
She harrumphed under her breath, and Jake raised his brows. “Got something you want to share?”
She cast him an irritated look and chomped down on another piece of bacon.
“Mervin’s real interested,” Jake said.
She didn’t care that Jake was teasing. She was tired of the conversation.
“Jake.” Tom slanted him a warning look. Being the baby of the triplets, even only by five minutes, Tom couldn’t help that the pecking order was well established. Jake wasn’t about to listen to his younger brother.
“Get free haircuts if you mated with him,” Jake persisted.
“He’s the barber. He doesn’t cut women’s hair.” Carol knew Jake’s comment was intended to ridicule her for having a chin-length haircut and not growing it longer like other lupus garou women. That she wasn’t going to change.
“A bunch of us are going for a romp through the woods late tonight,” Tom said casually. “Did you want to go with us, Carol?”
“Thank you, Tom, I’d love to.” Not. Poor Tom. His heart was in the right place; he kept trying to make her feel like one of the pack. But she couldn’t shift. Not willingly. For five months, he’d been trying to encourage her to really join in and be one of them. “But not tonight.”
Jake and Tom shared looks—as if they agreed their houseguest was impossibly difficult to deal with.
To change the subject to one she wanted to resolve, she asked, “When is Puss going to be allowed to come home to me?”
Even if it wasn’t her home, and even though she stopped to visit him at the kennel every night after work, she wanted her fur ball curled up in her lap at night when she relaxed and read a book or watched TV, or to play with him with a flashlight beam as he tried to capture it, or to run her hand under the covers as he tried to tackle the hidden object. Sure, Doc Mitchell, the vet, let Puss have free reign over the clinic and kennel, but she wanted Puss home with her to cuddle and play with! She’d considered sneaking him home with her, hoping Darien would see how much her cat meant to her.
Her words met with silence, and then Lelandi and Darien walked in. He had his arm wrapped around her waist, and they both looked perfectly satiated. Carol caught herself before she shook her head, wistfully wishing that she had someone in her life like that. They seemed perfect for each other, even though they had their disagreements. Carol would cheerfully suffer discord with a prospective mate, if she could have the glow that Lelandi had worn ever since taking Darien on.
“Good morning, everyone,” Lelandi said, giving Carol a big smile. With her long red hair curling over a navy blue velour running set, Lelandi looked ready to compete in the festival games, although Carol had heard that Darien had suspended the tug-of-war competition. He wouldn’t say why, and no one would even speculate, which she thought was odd.
Casting a cursory glance at Carol, Darien was back to his business look, as usual. “Jake, I need you to make arrangements for a gathering tonight.”
Jake turned his attention to Carol. Great. What now?
Could they be thinking of having her debut to polite society as if she’d just reached the age of maturity and was eligible to “court” like they did in the Regency novels she loved? Some regions still held coming-out parties or balls for groups of well-connected young women. She supposed she was now well connected—if living with Darien and Lelandi was the werewolf equivalent. Yet presenting her to “werewolf society” at her age seemed preposterous.
“Did you have a coming-out?” she asked Lelandi. She’d learned Lelandi’s mother and father had both come from pack-leader families, so she imagined they’d been high in werewolf social circles.
“Oh, yes.”
Carol fidgeted with the napkin in her lap. “But you mated with Darien,” she said pointedly.
“Um, yes. I wasn’t quite in the market for one of my pack members, not when the man of my dreams kept coming to me in my sleep.” Lelandi glanced at Darien, who reached for her hand and squeezed.
Carol loved how the two of them looked at each other, as if the world stood still while they searched each other’s souls in that powerful moment.
However, the point she was trying to make seemed to be lost, although she didn’t figure it had any bearing anyway. Darien would have his way in this, no matter what.
As if reading her mind, he said, “It’s our way, has been for centuries. Not all find mates this way, of course, but…” He shrugged.
What was left unsaid was more telling than anything else. Carol sat taller and tried not to frown too much. She had been doing a lot of that lately, and her mother had always said that if Carol continued with it, she’d have wrinkles permanently etched in her forehead. “But since I’m newly turned, I have no choice, right?”
“Oh, no,” Lelandi said quickly. “The choice of who you want to see, date, and mate is up to you. Up to both of you.” She gave Darien a look indicating he’d better agree.
Jake gave Carol an evil smile. “Mervin’s invited, right?”
If the table leg hadn’t been in the way, Carol would have kicked Jake.
“Sure, if he’s interested.” Darien carried plates to the table for Lelandi and himself, set them down, and then pulled her chair out for her as she brought their mugs of coffee.
“He’s interested, all right. Real interested,” Jake said.
“Guess that means I’m forgoing my romp in the woods tonight,” Tom said with a sigh.
Avoiding a look at Carol, Darien sat at the table. “No need to. Jake can handle it.”
“I’ll help him out.” Tom gave Jake a look like he’d better behave or else.
Why couldn’t Tom be interested in her? She’d noticed that when Lelandi and Darien were together, or Sam and Silva, she smelled a distinct sexual attraction between them. She hadn’t noticed that special scent whenever any male was near her. Which meant? She guessed no one was that interested. Heck, she hadn’t had a real boyfriend since she’d started nursing school four years ago, and now that she was a werewolf, she couldn’t even excite a bunch of horny wolves who didn’t have mates.
The way Lelandi was casting surreptitious looks, Carol knew she wanted to speak to her about something out of the guys’ earshot. Probably sisterly wolf advice about meeting with a man alone in the woods. Even if he’d been a wolf. At first.
Darien quickly devoured his breakfast, kissed Lelandi’s cheek, and then said to his brothers, “Come on. The celebration doesn’t truly start until we show up.”
She knew that included Lelandi, but… something was being left unsaid.
Jake and Tom glanced at Carol. Yep, the secret society of wolves, and she really wasn’t part of it. The men hurried to leave while Lelandi began clearing away the dishes. Carol rose to help her.
“What did he want, Carol?” Lelandi asked casually, but Carol noted the disapproval in her tone of voice.
Trying to appear nonchalant, Carol asked, “Who?”
Lelandi turned and touched Carol’s arm in an appeasing way, her eyes worried. “I can’t imagine what it’s like for you trying to adjust to our ways, but you have to realize Darien only does what’s best for you and for our people.
“I hadn’t wanted you to be changed against your will or to suffer as you did. But I thank God you survived the attack. You’re like a sister to me now, always and forever.” She hugged Carol and breathed in deeply. “Always know that.”
A feeling of belonging washed over Carol briefly. She was glad to have a sister when both she and Lelandi had lost their own. She expected Lelandi to say something more about Ryan, to warn her off him, but for whatever reason, Lelandi continued to rinse the coffee mugs and put them in the dishwasher without saying another word. Maybe she figured Carol wouldn’t listen anyway. And she had that right. Carol couldn’t be a beta like most of the people in the pack. Most of the time, she wouldn’t roll over and play the subservient wolf unless she felt she had no other choice.
The issue of the vision she’d had the day before kept plaguing her. She knew she had to tell Lelandi. Even though the more she considered it, the more she was afraid Lelandi wouldn’t believe her.
Keeping her hands busy so speaking about the subject would be easier, Carol rinsed off a dirty dish and put it in the dishwasher.
“Lelandi… I… well, I know it’s sometimes difficult for others to believe how I can see things that haven’t happened yet. Until they can be proven. I mean, if I give a warning and then whatever I predicted actually occurs. Then it’s perfectly verifiable. I know sometimes you feel that’s true even when the vision hasn’t come to pass, but sometimes…” She shrugged.
Lelandi set the washrag on the tile counter and stopped wiping off bread crumbs and coffee spills, her expression an attempt at neutral, but her jaw tightened marginally. “What’s the matter?” Her voice was even but tinged with concern.