Laurie's Wolves (25 page)

This couldn’t be happening. She refused to believe it.
“I’m sure people separate. It happens. I’m not saying it’s forever. I just need to prove my point.”

Zach laughed sardonically.
“I’m sure
people
do leave their relationships, but shifters do not. We can’t, baby. It’s physically impossible.”

“It can’t be that bad. I don’t believe it.”
She hoped they couldn’t sense her teeth chattering through the connection. She’d begun to shake again. And now her breasts hurt. They were sore like they sometimes got right before her period or when she ovulated. Heavy. And her nipples puckered against the sheets.

Corbin lowered his voice to a calmer level in her head.
“Babe, we need you. You can’t leave.”

“And I’m asking you to give me a few days.”

“A few days? It’s already been a few days for me,”
Corbin said.

“I need a few days away from town. Let’s see what happens.”

“What happens?”
Zach continued.
“What happens is that all three of us curl up in a ball and die a slow death, that’s what. My mother had a friend who left her mate and came to stay with us for about a week when I was ten. The woman was completely confused and sick within a day.”

“How long had she been mated at the time?”
Laurie ventured.

“About a month I think. They had a few fundamental differences. But they eventually worked them out. There aren’t other options. No matter what we may disagree about in our lives, separating isn’t an option, baby. Wolves mate for life—both the real ones and the shifters. We’re lupine, Laurie. Our bodies are aligned now. We won’t be able to tolerate separation.”

Laurie’s teeth chattered again. She closed her eyes and tried to control her racing heart. She needed more sleep.

Her mother walked in and set a glass of orange juice on the bedside table. She walked back out without a word, probably recognizing the dazed faraway look of a shifter communicating with their mate. Or in this case—mates.

“We’re coming to get you, babe,”
Corbin said.

“No.”
She tried to remain calm.
“Don’t do it. I’ll never be able to forgive you if you don’t heed my wishes on this. Give me three days. Then we’ll talk again.”

“Three days? That’s like a lifetime, baby.”
Zach’s voice was strained.

“That’s my request. Please honor it. I’ll contact you in three days and check in.”

“Check in?”
Corbin interjected.
“You make it sound like that’s the timeline after which you’ll reevaluate.”

“It is.”

“That’s not going to work, Laurie. Not for any of us. Not even for you.”

“Humor me.”

There was a long silence. She imagined her two mates standing in Zach’s bedroom shouting at each other out loud, trying to figure out how to make her see reason.

“If by the end of three days there’s no change in the weather and no reason to believe anything dire is about to occur in the community, then we’ll know.”

“We’ll know what? Laurie, this is insane. You think if we don’t get a significant snowfall in that time, it must be because you left town?”
Zach paused.
“If you want to get out of town, that’s fine. We can all three leave. Hell, we can leave the state if you want. But you can’t separate from us.”

“Three days,”
she repeated.

“Have you talked to Melinda or Mimi?”
Corbin asked.

“Not yet.”

“And what does your mother say?”

Laurie balled up smaller, like a child. Her arms hurt. Her legs hurt. Her entire body felt beaten and bruised. Had to be the flu. She gritted her words out.
“She agrees with you.”

“Smart woman,”
Zach grumbled.

“But I make my own decisions. I’m a grown woman. I’ll reach out to you on Monday, and we’ll renegotiate.”

“Renegotiate,”
Corbin stated matter-of-factly.
“Fine.”

Laurie flinched. She’d pissed him off. It couldn’t be helped, but she felt bad anyway.

Zach never said another word.

After a few moments, she shut her mind down and cut them off. It hurt. The silence was awful. But she knew she was doing the right thing. They would see. Everyone would see.

Eventually.

She thought about reaching out to Mimi or Melinda, but then thought better of it. They would try to talk her out of this thing. And she had her mind set.

Her mother stepped back in. “You okay?” she asked as she resumed her spot on the edge of the bed. “Zach and Corbin coming?”

“No.”

“No?”

“I told them not to. And I don’t want you conspiring with them. I need this. All of you are going to have to humor me and let me have my way on this issue.”

“You really believe your presence in town is affecting the weather?”

“Among other things, yes.”

“What other things?”

Laurie licked her lips again. So dry. “The entire town is in an uproar over our relationship. Without me there, they can settle back down to normal.”

“An uproar? Why?”

Laurie rolled her eyes. “They’re conservative. They aren’t taking kindly to three people moving in together. Nor are they particularly receptive to mixed relationships.”

Joyce flinched. “What? I thought that was a thing of the past now. I never would have gone back or brought you along if I thought there were still bigots in town.” She stood, setting her hands on her face. “You think they’re a danger? Are you talking about white people or Natives?”

“Mom, there will always be bigots. Just because the man who threatened you and chased you out of town has died doesn’t mean there aren’t others willing to take his place, or worse—a coalition of angry racists.”

Her mother’s eyes widened. “What did they do? Your grandmother told me there were issues, but I didn’t realize it was this bad.” She resumed her spot on the bed, twisting her body to meet Laurie’s gaze. “Tell me.”

Laurie shivered again and tried to control her shaking body. She stiffened her legs where they were curled up to her belly. “Both races are having issues with us. And both have attacked us.”

“Attacked you. How?”

“You want the bricks thrown into Corbin’s windows in the middle of the night, leaving his peers standing outside shouting at us to get out of town? Or do you prefer the group of religious zealots in Cambridge who turned on the gas and let the condo fill with fumes while we weren’t home. That opponent is even worse if they intended to light a match after we stepped inside.

“Mom, people won’t even come to the ski resort because they’ve fallen for these rumors. I’m afraid both my mates could lose their jobs if I continue to walk the streets. People are furious.”

“Why didn’t they react this way to Zach’s older brothers and their mates? I’ve never heard a tale like this from Melinda.”

“No idea. I’m guessing they weren’t quite clued in. Melinda and Rebecca have lived significantly under the radar. And besides, Rebecca did have issues. She even had to quit her job at the hospital in Cambridge and take another in Sojourn where more of the clientele are shifters and slightly less condescending.”

“Sweetie, I’m so sorry. I had no idea it was that bad.”

“Oh, it gets worse. I’ve had the Native American spirit visit me multiple times. More than any other shifter in the area, including Melinda herself. And the weather has been weirder by the day. It can’t be a coincidence. Evidence would point to
me
as the common denominator in everything. My hands are tied, Mom. I need you to let me rest and get over this bug, and then we’ll talk again.”

Joyce stared at her. She tucked the blankets around her shoulders tighter and patted her arm. “Okay. I won’t fight you on this, but I’m warning you that I don’t need to fight you. Your body will do all the fighting. I spoke to my friend, Jenelle. She said she went through this. It was ugly. She gave it up before the end of one day.”

“One day? I’ve already been gone one day. And I’m not dying. I’ll live. I really think I just picked up a bug.”

Her mother stood. “Fine. I’ll let you go with that for now. I’ll check on you again in a bit. You’ll need to eat, sweetie. Hopefully we can get something in you. Rest for now. I’ll be back.”

When Corbin and Zach approached Mimi’s front porch, the woman was sitting on her swing slowly gliding back and forth.

“I was wondering when you two might get here.”

Corbin wasn’t surprised. He’d heard stories about Mimi knowing when people were coming. The woman insisted she wasn’t psychic, but he would beg to differ.

“Who told you we were coming?” Zach asked.

Corbin glanced at his mate and chuckled. “No one told her.”

Zach took a seat on one of the porch chairs across from Laurie’s grandmother. “Can you help us?”

“If by that you mean give advice? Yes. If by that you mean try to talk some sense into my granddaughter, no.”

Corbin sat next to Zach in another chair. He was fidgeting and exhausted. His legs bobbed up and down, and he couldn’t stop them.

Mimi smiled, but ignored his anxiety. “When did she leave?”

“Yesterday morning.”

“So, it’s been twenty-four hours.” She tapped her lips, thinking.

“Have you not spoken to her?” Corbin asked.

Mimi shook her head. “No. She blocked me. I assume she blocked both of you too.”

“Yes.”

Mimi lifted her gaze to a spot behind them. “Melinda’s coming.”

“Of course she is,” Zach muttered. He stood and began to pace, running a hand through his disheveled hair.

“How did you both get off work?”

Corbin chuckled. “Did we have a choice?”

“I supposed not.”

A car pulled into the driveway
,
and Melinda jumped out and rushed onto the porch. “She left?”

“How did she keep this from you?” Corbin asked.

“She can block me same as anyone.” She dropped her purse next to the front door and sat on the porch swing next to Mimi, taking the woman’s hand. “And she didn’t reach out to you either?”

“No.”

“We assumed she was here with one or both of you.”

Melinda took a deep breath, leaned her head back, and closed her eyes. Corbin knew she was trying to reach her sister.

She righted herself. “Wow. She really won’t make contact.”

Mimi smiled, which annoyed Corbin.

“What do we do?” Zach asked.

“Nothing,” Mimi stated.

“Shouldn’t we go try to talk to her?”

“I’m betting she told you not to,” Mimi said.

Corbin nodded.

“Then I’d say no. Let her figure this out on her own.”

“What if she doesn’t?” Zach asked.

Mimi chuckled. “Son, Laurie’s very sensitive. I can’t believe she’s lasted this long. There’s no way she’ll survive many days without you. It will tear her apart.” She pointed at Corbin’s bouncing leg. “It’s tearing
you
apart. Mates can’t be separated. It’s that simple.”

“I asked my parents about it this morning,” Zach began, “and they said they’ve known only a few people to pull it off and only in extreme circumstances of incompatibility.”

Mimi nodded. “Abuse. Neglect. Not stubbornness.”

Corbin swallowed. “She thinks she caused all the problems in this area.”

“I know she does, son. And she’s wrong. But the only way to convince her of that is to let her prove it. Or disprove it.”

“So, what we need is another giant freeze or snowstorm.” Corbin lifted his face to the sky and glanced around. “I don’t see imminent evidence of either.”

“It will come,” Mimi said calmly. “In the meantime, I would suggest you both go about your lives. Sitting around waiting will only make things worse. Occupy your minds. Go to work.”

Melinda gave a small push off the ground, setting the swing in action. “If I wasn’t mated myself, I wouldn’t understand, but I did mate, and it was only six months ago. So, it’s fresh enough in my mind for me to remember how I felt one week into the process. No way in hell could I have walked away from my men. Lord, we were even fighting and arguing daily, and still I would never have been able to go without them for even one day.

“I don’t know how she has managed, but she can’t hold out long. Not with two men who adore her tugging on her heartstrings. I’ll call Mom in a while and get the scoop, but I wouldn’t worry. She’ll be back.”

Corbin wanted to believe Melinda. In fact, he willed himself to believe her. But he wasn’t sure. Laurie was stubborn. If anyone could break the bonds of a claiming, it would be her.

»»•««

Laurie rolled onto her back when her bedroom door opened. She squinted into the daylight a moment later when her mother more fully opened the blinds. “Mom, stop it.”

“It’s the middle of the day. You need to get up.”

Laurie groaned and rolled back into her pillow. Her entire body ached. And she didn’t even want to consider what it meant that her breasts were tender and her nipples hurt when they brushed against the T-shirt.

She gripped her legs together tightly, willing herself not to reach between them and take away the need for orgasm growing with every passing minute. It was insane.

“I’m sick, Mom. Leave me alone.”

“Heartsick. And it’s your own doing.”

She refused to believe that. It had to be a wives’ tale. Surely shifters didn’t really suffer from some sort of withdrawal when they separated from their mates.

Her body would argue otherwise, but she still had the frame of mind to deny that fact.

“Melinda called.”

“I’m sure she did,” Laurie muttered, closing her eyes and fighting the need to think about Zach and Corbin. If she focused on her mother’s words, maybe she could keep her need for her mates at bay. “What did she say?”

“That you can’t do this. Mimi too.”

“Can’t? Or shouldn’t?”

“Both. Does it matter? It’s awfully vain of you to think you can control the weather. Don’t you think?”