The Mating (11 page)

Kane looked at her steadily. “Thomas just told me that he scented Ryne immediately before the gun went off.”

Elise felt her mouth fall open in surprise. “Ryne shot a member of his own pack?”

“Quite likely. We thought his scent was around the traps too. It was vague, but detectable. And the oil spill? Boot prints left behind looked like the kind that Ryne used to wear.”

“So are you out trying to catch him?”

“We have patrols looking, but he’s too clever a wolf to stay out in the open. He’s holed up someplace, we just can’t figure out where that might be.”

“So why did you need to tell me all of this? Helen and Carrie said there was something personal involved.”

A curious blend of sadness mixed with anger seemed to wash over Kane’s face. He picked up a stone and tested the weight in his hand before hurling it into the brush. The dull thud of it hitting the ground broke the silence. Looking at her out of the corner of his eye, Kane answered her question. “There is something very personal involved. Ryne’s my half-brother.”

Elise couldn’t keep the shock out of her voice. “Your own brother wanted to kill you in a challenge? And now he’s out there sabotaging the pack?”

“All signs seem to point that way. And as I said earlier, some even think he’s responsible for Zack’s accident.”

“Did he really want to be Alpha that badly?”

Shaking his head, Kane picked up a stick and snapped it in half. “I didn’t think so. He never questioned Zack over anything and seemed content as Beta. We both were—Zack was a good leader and a power struggle was the farthest thing from everyone’s mind. Ryne was even talking about settling down, and then out of nowhere this flared up.”

Not sure what to say, Elise reached over and laid her hand on Kane’s shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

“Thanks. I might as well tell you all the bad news at once. There’s one other problem facing the pack. An oil company called Northern Oil wants to do some test drilling on our land in the North.”

“I’ve heard about that. Helen or Carrie mentioned it.”

“Of course, we won’t allow it, but the company is trying to pull some legal strings to get their way. At one time, a few of the pack members were leaning towards allowing them in—there’s a lot of money on the table, but it’s not worth it. Letting the company in would diminish our territory, cause environmental damage, and increase the chances of exposure. Originally, it caused some dissension in the pack, but I’ve had a few meetings and everyone realises keeping them out is for the best.”

“But will the oil company listen?”

“They’re going to have to. Helen has a daughter, Chloe. She’s in university now studying Environmental Science. I’ve had her do a study of the acreage in question and we have a pretty good case for keeping them out. The area is the home to several endangered plants and animals. Chloe’s working with some of her professors to get the northern corner of our territory listed as environmentally sensitive and a protected habitat.”

“Well, that sounds promising.”

“It is and thankfully it’s a bit of good news for a change.” Silence fell between them and Elise noted how tired Kane looked. Stress lines bracketed his mouth and the muscle in his jaw continued to work. She wished she could ease some of his worry and instinctively began rubbing her hand in comforting circles on his back. Kane looked at her appreciatively. “Just between you and me, Elise, being Alpha is giving me a huge headache.” He chuckled and stood up, tossing the stick he’d been worrying aside. “Come on, we’d better get back. Who knows what calamity might have occurred in the past hour.” Taking her hand, Kane headed back to the house.

Back at the house, Kane went off in search of John, and Elise found Helen in the kitchen once again. She was busily making sandwiches and chatting to three other women who were also helping prepare lunch. They all moved about the kitchen with the ease of familiarity, obviously having spent a lot of time here. Looking up, Helen smiled.

“There you are! Elise, I want you to meet two of my daughters, Zoe and Phoebe.” Helen nodded at two young women who looked to be in their early to mid-twenties. Both bore a strong resemblance to Helen except that their hair was still dark brown, rather than liberally streaked with grey and their figures hadn’t rounded out yet, but they all had the same button nose, sparkly eyes and pleasant smile. “And this is Zoe’s friend, Rose. She lives near the edge of the territory, with her parents, and works at the local bank.” Rose gave Elise a shy smile and then leaned over the sink so that her hair hid her face. The girl was rather non-descript with pale blue eyes, brown hair, average height and weight. She wasn’t unattractive, but neither was there anything striking about her that made her overly memorable. Instinctively, Elise knew that Rose was probably one of the lower ranking members of the pack—not that it was a bad thing, but the girl would follow the lead of others and not cause any waves. There’d be no challenges coming from that corner.

After greetings were exchanged, Elise pitched in with preparations for the late lunch. She found out that both Zoe and Phoebe were married with two children each. The young ones were off with their fathers to pick out pumpkins for Halloween, and the ladies were having a ‘girl’s day out,’ with plans to go shopping once lunch was over.

“You should come with us.” Phoebe invited. “Since you’re new here, we can show you where the best stores are and maybe stop at the teahouse for a mid-afternoon break.”

“Well… It does sound like fun.” Elise hesitated briefly wondering what Kane would say but then shrugged. He’d likely be busy and not even miss her. “All right, I’ll go.”

“Great! Now let’s get this food on the table, feed the men and then we can be off.”

Zoe went to fetch the males and the other women carried the platters of food into the dining area. Elise noticed that the table had been stretched out to accommodate about a dozen people and sure enough, several men came traipsing in with Kane and John. The meal was noisy with everyone talking at once. Elise just sat back watching the interaction, making mental notes of the relationships that she saw unfolding around her. Kane mostly sat and ate quietly while listening to the others, but she noted that the other men kept glancing at him for approval. When he did speak, the others listened without interrupting and seemed to take his comments seriously. Even if being Alpha did give him a headache, she could easily see that Kane definitely had all the needed qualities for the job.

Helen and her daughters were close and chatted about the children with Rose only occasionally chiming in to the conversation. Elise noticed that the shy young woman kept glancing towards a blonde haired young man named Daniel, but always looked away if he turned towards her. A smile played over Elise’s lips. Rose had a crush on the fellow but was too timid to do anything about it. After studying the male in question, Elise decided he was equally interested, since he paid more attention to what Rose was doing than to the conversation the men were having.

Glancing towards Kane, she saw that he too was aware of the undercurrent between Rose and Daniel. For a moment, their eyes met and Kane gave a slight nod towards the soon-to-be-lovebirds, a smile ghosting over his lips before rolling his eyes. Elise gave him a mock frown and then smiled back. It felt good to have that little connection with Kane—a silent communication just between the two of them. The smile slowly faded from her face as she studied her mate, taking in his features one by one. She loved his thick black hair, recalling how it felt as she ran her fingers through it. His nose was straight, his jaw firm and his eyes were the most amazing amber colour that seemed to see right into her. Her mate—it was still hard to believe at times. With a start, she realised that Kane was studying her too and had a softer look about his eyes. She felt her heart catch in her chest for a moment, and hoped he’d make eye contact with her again. For some reason, it felt vital that she see that look directly, but then John called his name and the moment was lost.

Making a little moue of disapproval over the interruption, she returned to her meal and idly listened in on the ladies’ conversation, while puzzling over her exchange with Kane. It had been companionable, causing a pleasant feeling of belonging and warmth inside of her. She thought that possibly, they were becoming friends and she hoped that was the case; it would be good to have more than sex in common. While they might not ever love each other, a friendship between them would make her life here much more comfortable.

Soon the simple meal was over and the men went off to do whatever they were doing—she had never quite grasped what the conversation had been about. Oh well, she and the other women had their own plans for the afternoon. Looking forward to exploring the shops that the local town had to offer, she grabbed her purse and climbed into the waiting van.

Zoe and Phoebe were teasing Rose about her crush on Daniel while Helen chided them. “Now girls, leave Rose alone. If she and Daniel end up together or not, it’s none of your business.”

“Aww, Mom” The girls moaned in unison then looked at each other and burst out laughing.

Helen shook her head. “Honestly, sometimes I wonder if you two are still just pups rather than grown women with your own families! Don’t pay them any mind, Rose. When they were dating, they mooned about the house worse than you do.” Rose blushed and murmured something indistinguishable, then stared resolutely out the window.

Relenting, Zoe left her friend alone and turned to Elise. “So, now that we’re away from the house and no one can walk in on our conversation, tell us what Kane is really like.”

“Kane?” Elise felt a bit like a deer caught in the headlights. She didn’t really know anything about him. Why would they be asking her? They were the ones that had probably lived with him all their lives.

“Yeah. He’s gorgeous and we’ve all had crushes on him at one time or another. That strong, silent thing he does is so sexy.” Zoe rolled her eyes and looked rather dreamy as if envisioning Kane giving her a smouldering, lust filled look.

Phoebe reached over and smacked her sister. “Quit drooling. You’ve got Bob and you know you love him.”

“Of course I do, but a girl can’t help being curious, and don’t you get all high and mighty with me. You think Kane is eye-candy, too.” Both of the young women giggled and then looked at Elise expectantly.

“Well…” She hesitated, unsure of what to say. “I don’t really know him that well, yet. It…it was an arranged bonding.” For some reason, Elise was a bit embarrassed to admit to that, as if it made her less worthy than those who had been allowed to choose their own mates. She knew it was ridiculous to feel that way—arrangements such as hers weren’t that uncommon in her old pack, and she had done it for the good of the pack but still, it gave her a strange feeling inside. However, the others didn’t even bat an eye at her pronouncement so maybe it was all just her.

“We know that, but what’s he like? In bed, I mean?” Zoe grinned, devilment dancing in her eyes, and Elise heard Helen gasp from her position in the driver’s seat.

“Zoe! I can’t believe you’d ask Elise such a thing.” Helen frowned at her daughter through the rear view mirror.

“Mom, don’t be such a prude. You’ve said yourself that Kane was a stud.” Phoebe spoke up in her sister’s defence.

Helen blushed and looked apologetically at Elise. “Well, yes I did—I mean you can’t help notice, but I’d never…” She sputtered and then just stared fixedly at the road.

Elise reached over and patted her arm. “It’s okay, Helen.”

“So?” Zoe wasn’t about to let the subject of Kane’s bedroom prowess drop and Elise tried to think of what to say. She’d teased her friends in a similar way before, but it was different when the shoe was on the other foot, especially since theirs wasn’t a love match. After all, she couldn’t really say how romantic he was, or talk about the sweet nothings he whispered in her ear. And Kane was their Alpha, for heaven’s sake! It just wasn’t proper to talk about his performance in the bedroom; it seemed a bit disloyal, somehow.

“He’s…er…”

Phoebe jumped in with some suggestions. “Hot? Talented? Well-endowed? He makes your teeth rattle and the earth move?”

“Uh…yeah, I guess that pretty well sums it up.” Elise felt her face growing red but the others didn’t mention it. They just sighed contentedly and sank back in their seats.

“I knew it.” Zoe had a satisfied smile on her face.

Phoebe just giggled and then nudged Rose in the ribs. “See, Rose. You get Daniel to make a move and soon you’ll be as happy as Elise is.”

Elise inwardly frowned. Was she happy? Hmm… She wasn’t exactly sad and her homesickness wasn’t nearly as bad as she thought it might be… But happy? Well, that might not be the right word, though she really didn’t know what would be the correct one to describe her present state of being. Kane pleased her physically and she
did
like him as a person. A future where they co-existed peacefully as friends was a definite possibility. Maybe she wasn’t
exactly
happy yet, but she wasn’t miserable either and the future was definitely looking brighter than it had a few days ago.

This realisation seemed to settle something inside her, and she looked around at the passing scenery with a much lighter heart and a more positive outlook, than she’d had when passing by yesterday afternoon. Hmm, had it only been two days since she’d mated Kane? Somehow it seemed longer—so many things had already happened: the bonding, meeting the new pack, Thomas being injured, encountering Marla and the ‘attack’ by the red car. Well, she thought philosophically, at least her new life wasn’t dull.

*****

Her new friends had a great time showing Elise all that the town had to offer. They checked out the clothing shops and the shoe stores, trying on the winter fashions that were just arriving. Both Zoe and Rose bought new winter coats while Phoebe lingered over a matching purse and dress boots. Elise tried a few things on, but didn’t make any purchases. First of all, she didn’t need anything and secondly, she wasn’t sure what her financial situation might be.