Chapter 8 #3
Allie spoke so matter-of-factly that Selene simply stared at her.
The way Allie described Daniel didn’t track with what Selene knew about their relationship.
Allie had had a starry-eyed view of her dad because Emma didn’t want to break her heart with the truth.
Even so, if Allie wanted to frame Daniel as never having been an important part of her life, that was fine by Selene.
Allie managed to keep a straight face for a few more seconds and then she burst into giggles.
“I can’t believe I just said sperm at the dinner table.” She cast a sheepish glance at Fenris. “Sorry, Fen.”
Fen grinned and shook his head. “No need to apologize for honesty. I appreciate your candor.”
The entire exchange knocked Selene off balance again. Nothing had been predictable since they arrived at this fortress of a home.
What do you expect, Selene? You live in a world full of monsters and magic now. And your super-hot dinner host is Crusades old.
She guzzled more wine than advisable.
Fen refilled her glass without comment, then gestured to her plate. “All my questions are keeping you from your meal. Please eat.”
Selene smiled gratefully and returned to the feast before her. She needed a break from the interrogation, and she’d had too much to drink without enough food in her stomach to buffer the alcohol’s effect. She was starting to feel a little dizzy.
Fen turned his attention to Josh and Allie. Selene finished her meal while the young couple answered his questions about their week at school. The main course was cleared, and the wood sprites replaced her plate with a ramekin of crème br?lée.
“This is decadent,” she said as Fen signaled Anu to open another bottle of wine.
“Does it please you?” The question made her toes curl.
An innocent question. Not a double entendre. Calm down.
Selene nodded even as she crossed her ankles to keep herself from squirming. “Everything was delicious.”
“I’m fortunate to have a talented witch in our kitchen. Never a disappointing meal.”
“But you only eat raw meat.” She raised an eyebrow.
“I have many guests who are not werewolves,” he replied.
Selene suddenly felt childish. Until that moment she’d assumed she was somehow special for having received the dinner invitation.
But of course that wasn’t the case. Fen was arguably the most powerful man in Avondale, and her own work bore witness to the fact that he had influence well beyond the borders of this small town.
He likely had a revolving door of high-profile visitors.
She became quiet as she finished dessert. Allie chatted happily about the latest antics of some faeries in her gym class that involved their substitute teacher, a pommel horse, and petroleum jelly.
When all the dishes had been cleared away and Selene realized that she was on her fourth glass of wine, oh boy, Fen turned to Josh.
“Would you play for a bit?”
Josh nodded and went to the piano. Allie rose and followed him across the room. She settled beside him on the bench.
Music after dinner? I am in a Jane Austen novel.
When Josh began to play, Fen moved his chair closer to Selene and spoke in a low voice. “I am concerned about Allie’s involvement with Josh, and I’d like to hear your thoughts on the matter.”
“I also have concerns.” Selene watched as Allie leaned her head on Josh’s shoulder. “First and foremost is that Allie is very young, and I don’t know that rushing into a serious relationship is wise.”
She looked at Fenris. “That would be the case with anyone. Josh’s . . . unique qualities add another dimension to my worries.”
“As they should,” he replied. “Considering how recently you learned about our world, you’re remarkably levelheaded about the situation.”
“Even though I fainted?” Selene laughed, cheeks pinking.
Fen shook his head, expression solemn. “You didn’t try to hurt Josh after you saw him change.”
“I didn’t . . .” She stared at him with dawning horror. “Of course I didn’t. I would never—”
“Many would,” he said, and she saw the weight of too much pain in his eyes, but it was chased by a razor-sharp smile. “Despite the futility of such an attempt.”
Twin urges filled her. The first, to shudder, she resisted. Despite the menace in Fen’s latter words, Selene understood the reason for it. The second she gave in to, resting her hand on top of his.
“I’m sorry that fear so often provokes violence,” she told him. “It’s the source of too much pain and destruction in the world.”
“It is.” He was staring at her hand, and she started to draw it away, but he turned his palm up and wrapped his fingers around hers. “You also didn’t run.”
She smiled at him despite the sudden galloping of her pulse. “Violence or running? Those are my options?”
“Those are the options too often chosen by humans upon first encountering our existence.” He brushed his thumb over the back of her hand, and she had to swallow a gasp at the flurry of sensation it provoked. “But there are other, much more pleasant options.”
“Like dinner?” Selene slowly pulled her hand from his. Fen’s touch was setting flares off all over her body, stoking desire she wasn’t prepared for.
He didn’t stop her retreat, instead nodding. “For example.”
“You have options too,” she said. “It’s obvious you have considerable influence over Avondale, and I imagine even more over your . . . pack?”
“I do.”
“But Josh was free to pursue Allie?” Selene asked. “Despite her being human and him being what he is?”
She cringed at her phrasing. “I’m sorry . . . who he is. I’m still figuring this out.”
“No offense taken, Selene,” Fen assured her with a teasing smile. “You’re doing very well. And it’s a good question. The answer is both yes and no.”
“Forgive me if I don’t understand how it’s not one or the other,” she teased back, leaning toward him.
He leaned in as well, which sent Selene’s pulse skipping.
Damn it. Galloping. Skipping. My heartbeat will probably do a jig next. This can’t be good for my blood pressure.
“Though our world is mostly hidden, we live side by side with humans,” Fen told her. “Crossover, interaction, and mingling are unavoidable and not necessarily bad. Though they often have tragic outcomes.”
The shadow of pain slid over his eyes once more and had Selene fighting the urge to reach for his hand again.
“Even if I forbade relationships with humans,” he continued, “it would only be a matter of time before someone broke the rule, and I don’t want to be forced to punish my pack for crossing that line without good reason.”
A chill crawled up her neck. “What would constitute a good reason?”
“If the relationship would do more harm than good.”
“But how do you determine what’s harmful and what’s good?” Selene asked.
“I don’t,” Fen replied. “Time does.”
When Selene frowned, he explained. “Rules have been established—formalities, if you will—to ensure that any relationship between a human and one of the pack is born of true love and can withstand hardship.”
“I understand rules,” she replied. “How does time factor in?”
“When immortality is involved, time plays an essential role,” he said. “Our relationships can span infinite lifetimes; thus, they may only be entered into by proving true devotion.”
Selene sat up, stunned. Infinite lifetimes.
Her voice came out in a whisper. “Allie is only sixteen.”
“Yes.” Fen’s reply was gentle. “Josh genuinely cares for her. He is a good person, and I do not doubt his affection for Allison. But affection alone isn’t enough.”
“So what happens now?” Her eyes found Josh and Allie, snuggled together at the piano, a picture of sweet, youthful adoration. She didn’t want to cause them heartbreak, but everything Fen was saying made perfect sense.
“Josh has requested formal recognition of his relationship with Allie,” he told her. “I asked you to dinner this evening because I will not allow that to happen without your consent. Allison is your ward, and as you’ve already pointed out, she is very young. Even younger in my eyes.”
Selene swallowed a hard lump in her throat.
Allie is going to hate me forever. But how can I say yes to an eternal relationship?
Fen read the imminent despair in her expression and placed his hand on her shoulder, his steady gaze calming her. “Let me explain what will happen if you agree and then you can tell me what you think is best.”
She nodded, and he briefly pressed his fingertips into her skin.
Another array of sparks went off in the wake of his touch.
It was a cruel twist of fate that the man she was this attracted to happened to be the linchpin of her first major parental crisis.
She couldn’t afford to let her attention become divided.
“After receiving recognition, Josh and Allie would begin formal courtship,” Fen continued. “If, after ten years, they remain committed to one another, the pack would approve a mating.”
It took some time for Selene to process that. “Did you say ten years?”
He smiled slowly, and her stomach flipped over.
Stop it, she silently scolded her body. Just stop.
“At any time during their courtship, either party may end the relationship,” Fen told her. “And other members of the pack may submit concerns they have about the viability of the relationship.”
Selene considered that. “So, in other words, it takes a village?”
“I prefer pack,” he returned. “But yes.”
“Ten years,” she mused aloud. “That will make Allie twenty-six.”
After she’s eighteen, she’s an adult. I can give her my advice, but what she chooses at that point is out of my control.
And a lot can change in ten years. Maybe she’ll be past her supernatural crush phase, if that’s what this is.
In the meantime, I’m no longer the bad guy.
That will go a long way to helping Allie and me adjust to making a life together in Avondale.
Wow. And just like that, I’m a big fan of werewolf traditions.