Chapter Ten
Kye
I woke up when Brodie slid out of bed and went into the bathroom to get his very early morning started.
Moving to his spot, I stretched carefully so I wouldn’t wake Carys. She’d had some nightmares, and I wondered if they’d come from meeting the cousins. She’d only seen them through the window before, but they must’ve been a reminder of the time before Brodie arrived, which would easily mess up with her mind enough to give her bad dreams.
Deciding to be useful, I got out of bed and padded downstairs in bunny slippers Carys had insisted on getting me. I went to the coffee maker and patted myself on the back for having bought some travel mugs for when we’d need drinks at hand during the renovation.
I made a quadruple espresso in a mug, then poured in enough milk to balance it out and turn it into a very tall latte. Werewolves didn’t get caffeine hits as easily as humans, just like their body and brain chemistry didn’t react to alcohol and narcotics the same way. I was sure Brodie would appreciate the caffeine as soon as he got on the road.
Then I realized the cousins would be traveling with him, and started on two other mugs as well.
“There you are.” He walked to me to see what I was doing. “Coffee?”
“Yeah, that one is yours, but I’m making Ben and Max some too. Try to remember to bring all three mugs back?”
The silence behind me made me turn to him. He had that same kind of awestruck expression on his face again. I blushed and turned away.
“Any thoughts on how they like their coffee?” I asked, then squeaked when strong tattooed arms wrapped around me from behind.
Brodie pressed his face against my neck and inhaled in a way that wasn’t regular human behavior. He soaked in my scent, then made a happy, rumbly sound that vibrated from his chest to my back.
“I don’t know. Maybe strong lattes?” he said finally.
I explained what I’d made for him, and he chuckled, then dropped a kiss against my temple before stepping back.
There was a sleeve of chocolate cookies in the pantry, so I went to grab it and added it to the loot, then snatched a bag of Skittles from Carys’s stash.
“Okay, I think you’re set.” I showed the goods to Brodie.
For a moment it seemed as if he was going to kiss me again, but then his phone dinged. He dug it out and smiled, answering the call.
“Morning, sweetness,” he said, and my brain got the cold shower it needed.
I lined up everything on the counter for him, then waited for him to be done with the call.
By now I’d figured out that “sweetness” was his friend Rian who seemed to be his favorite person in the world. They were definitely closer than most guys were with their best friends, and I found myself unable to ask him if they had a romantic relationship as well.
It didn’t matter to me if someone was polyamorous, but I didn’t think I could handle my partner being with someone else, too. It worked for a lot of people, I was too possessive of my lovers—not that I’d had many—to be able to let them be with someone else too. Besides, if we were to have a kink relationship, too, that was a whole other thing as well.
I’d only ever played with Doms I wasn’t in a relationship with, but I couldn’t see myself sharing Brody with another sub when it came to sexual play.
Once he’d ensured Rian that he was about to go pick up the cousins and that he’d call when he got them to the airport, they said bye and he put the phone into his pocket.
“So, here’s everything,” I gestured at the coffees and treats. “I’ll lock up and move the dresser just in case. Let me know when you get to the airport and when you start the drive back, okay?”
Brodie tilted his head minutely, as if he was trying to figure something out, then nodded. “Okay. I’ll drive safely and be back when I can. I don’t know how the traffic will be, but I’ll be careful.”
I was glad he was conscious that those were the words I needed to hear.
I followed him out to the porch and watched him get into the truck. Then I pulled the door closed and locked it so that he could see me do it.
I walked up the stairs and frowned. I still wasn’t sure why I’d kissed him, but it had felt right. Not only right, but right.
Since Brodie had moved the dresser right next to the door for me, all I had to do was close the door and push the dresser in front of it.
Carys sat up in bed. “W-huh?”
“It’s okay, go back to sleep. I just moved the dresser.”
“Oh ‘kay,” she mumbled and curled back up under the covers.
Smiling, I left my slippers next to the wall and then crawled into bed next to her. I checked to see that my phone wasn’t muted on the bedside table and tried to go back to sleep.
It didn’t feel unsafe without Brodie there, per se, but I preferred him at hearing distance.
I woke up a few hours later when Carys shook my shoulder.
“Can you help me with the dresser?” she asked apologetically. “I’m getting up and I can’t move it alone.”
I stretched and got out from under the covers, then shivered in the cool room. “Of course.”
I pushed the dresser back to its original spot and went to the bathroom. I might as well wake up, too and get some more studying done in the kitchen.
Brodie sent a message that he was at the airport with Ben and Max while I made Carys and myself coffees. Then he sent another one half an hour later like I’d asked.
We ended up zoning out around the table a little. Carys used the iPad to research therapists and I was on my laptop, finding out everything I could about Professor Finlay who had written the foreword in one of my wolfy books. I found her website, and realized that she might have all the answers I was looking for. She had written several papers about wolfpack dynamics and even lectured about it all around the world.
She had a couple of the smaller papers on her website for free, and I immediately downloaded them both. The thought of emailing her about my situation and what she would recommend flitted through my mind, but I decided not to bother her yet.
For some reason it surprised me to read in her bio that she wasn’t a werewolf herself, or even a human. She was a vampire, and she’d been born in the early nineteenth century in France.
I began to read the paper titled Alphas, Betas, and the Rest – Designations Inside a Balanced Pack .
It was all very fascinating. At some point Carys pushed a plate of toast and bacon into my view and topped off my coffee. I continued reading while trying to remember to eat something on occasion.
“Kye? There’s someone in the yard,” she said suddenly, her voice startled and nervous.
I got to my feet quickly, then went to peer outside. How had we not heard a vehicle?
A young person with a long blonde braid down their back walked by the barn.
“Stay here.” I went to the front door and cursed that I didn’t have my gun. “Lock it behind me.”
I pulled on my shoes and jacket, then unlocked the door and stepped out quietly. The shitty porch betrayed me though, because the top step creaked loudly.
The person didn’t turn around, which basically told me they were human. Either a werewolf or a vampire would’ve heard it for sure.
I glanced over toward the driveway and saw a truck with some decals parked in the first possible spot farthest away from the house, as if they didn’t want it to be in the way.
“Can I help you?” I asked, and the person whirled around, a hand to their chest.
“Holy crap you scared me!”
“Well, to be fair you scared us, too,” I deadpanned and tilted my head.
“I’m sorry, my Pop said I shouldn’t have come without warning you beforehand, especially on a weekend like this, but I was driving and….”
At my quizzical expression, they walked closer and stuck out their hand. “I’m Lina Keller, my dad owns Keller Construction in town.”
I shook her hand. “Right. You guys are coming to tear down the barn on Monday?”
“Yeah. I’m an apprentice still, but all hands on deck and all.” She turned to look at the house, a frown marring her features.
Her hair was almost wheat blond, the braid thick and a bit messy in a way that told me she probably didn’t care to keep up appearances. She wore some carpenter style overalls under an open denim jacket with a sherpa lining.
I took in the house, too. In the daylight it appeared as rundown as parts of it were.
“It needs a lot of work,” I said, then gestured toward the corner of the house. “Wanna see the other side?”
Her expression brightened. “Yeah, absolutely!”
As we started the trek around the dumpster and my sedan, she kept cataloging things with her gaze in the same way I’d seen Brodie do.
“It could be such a gorgeous home,” she murmured.
“That’s Brodie’s goal. Alpha McRae’s.”
“I heard about this house when I was little. My grandpa worked on some renovations back in the day. He said there was a rose garden?” She glanced around the backyard.
“There in that corner. I’m going to try and see if I can save it in the spring.”
She smiled. “Oh, roses are surprisingly hardy, I’m sure you’ll do fine.”
“The sunroom is in a shitty condition.” I walked to the back porch steps but didn’t climb them. “I fell through the floor the other night. I also have no idea what the porch here is like, so I’m not gonna risk it.” I grinned a little.
She backed up a little from the house to get a better overall picture. “Yeah, you definitely need to do something to the sunroom before winter. Maybe even get new glass instead of just redoing those tarps.”
“The floor is already rotten, but I see your point. I think Brodie said that he’ll at least insulate the door between the sunroom and family room so the heat stays in during the winter.”
We chatted about the house and she had some solid thoughts for a—“How old are you?” I asked. “I mean you said you were an apprentice.”
“Oh, I’m twenty. I was in an accident in high school, so studying was a pain for a couple of years. I graduated last year and started apprenticing with Pop.” She was clearly proud of herself as she should be.
“My sister is nineteen, she lives here as well.”
Lina’s expression betrayed her. She realized I knew where her thoughts had gone and winced. “Yeah, so there was this rumor in town….”
I shrugged. “There are always gonna be rumors. What I know is that she’s the strongest person I know, and that Rusty Douglas is no more. This is the McRae pack now and things are a whole lot different.”
“Well, it would be a dream come true to be able to renovate a house like this,” she said wistfully. Then a song I recognized as Guns N’ Roses sounded from her pocket, and she grimaced. “That’ll be Pop.”
“Good luck.” I grinned.
“Yeah, hi. No, no I didn’t go to the McRae house.” She widened her eyes at me. “No, I’m just driving around—” She stopped, horror filling her gaze. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll be right back home. Sure. Okay!” She ended the call, clearly pissed off. “So apparently Pop didn’t want my brothers and I to use the trucks for leisure drives without permission, so he put trackers in them.”
We looked at each other, then the absurdity kind of caught up with us and we started to laugh.
She sighed and rolled her eyes. “I’m a legal adult. Have been for a couple of years. I’m definitely not the hellraiser of the family, that’s my brothers. Besides, they don’t even work for Pop!”
Privately, I thought that maybe her accident, whatever it had been like, had made her dad overprotective. Or maybe her brothers were prone to mischief and taking the company truck, who knew. Either way, I gestured forward, and we walked the rest of the way around the house and stopped by the barn again.
“I’ll see you on Monday,” she said brightly, then glanced at the kitchen window. “Your sister is very pretty.”
I chuckled, and she seemed to catch what she’d said and blushed.
“I mean—”
“No, you’re right. She is pretty. We have good genes.” I batted my lashes at her.
Giggling, she shook her head and started toward the truck. “See ya!”
“Bye!”
I watched her do a three point turn and drive off, then went inside.
“So, that was Lina Keller from Keller Construction. She’s the apprentice,” I clarified.
“I liked her hair,” Carys said from where she was standing by the stove, mixing something in a big pot, as if she hadn’t just been in the window. Curious.
I continued to read and got to a chapter titled “The Mate.”
Frowning, I tried to recall anything I might’ve known already. I vaguely remembered hearing about mates and how rare they were before, but that was about it.
“Mates, whether you believe them to be something brought on by absolute natural chemistry between two individuals or something fated, are a rare occurrence that only happens with born werewolves.
The mate can be another werewolf, a vampire, or a human, but the mate can’t feel the mate bond in the same way a werewolf is able to. There have been a handful of recorded cases of two werewolves being each other’s mates, but normally the bond is one-sided in the way that only one can truly sense it.
That is not to say that a mate bond isn’t real; it is a very real phenomenon that has been both thought of as something sacred and at times, vilified in the greater community. Some people see it as sacred for its rarity and the perfect compatibility of such a union, while others think it strips people from the ability to choose for themselves.
In some ways, that does happen to the werewolf. It is known, after all, that a werewolf who has found their mate will not be as compatible with another person, and often that knowledge is enough to make a wolf that has lost or been rejected by their mate give up on romantic relationships for the rest of their life. There are also many reported cases of such wolves having taken their own life rather than live without their mate.
In a werewolf pack, a mate, especially a mate to the Alpha, is always a welcome thing. It has been said that a wolfpack with a mate in it has been blessed. Some old beliefs state that a werewolf pack with an Alpha with a human mate is the most blessed one.”
I skimmed through a bunch of more text, then came to a section that explained about typical werewolf behavior when meeting their mate for the first time. There were paragraphs about courting and providing, and about being unable to keep from being physically affectionate even when meeting the person for the first time.
“While werewolves are known to be the most physically affectionate of the three species, the emotions of the inner wolf run high and protective once contact with the mate has been made.
In its purest form, the bond makes the wolf want to provide, and in the olden times, this often led to hunting for the mate and leaving the prey as offerings of sorts at the mate’s doorstep.
In current day, however, the—”
“Brodie’s back!” Carys startled me enough to make my heart race.
I left the laptop behind and followed her to the door.
Brodie got out of his truck appearing exhausted and gorgeous, because there was no way that man could look anything but.
When he saw us, he smiled widely. “Hey you two, how has your morning—” His head snapped to the side, and I could see his nostrils flare. “Who has been here?”
“Relax, it was just Lina Keller. I’ll tell you about it. We’ve been completely safe,” I assured him as I walked closer.
He was still on high alert, so I took a page from Dr. Finlay’s paper and went to wrap my arms around him.
“I promise, Alpha. It’s okay.”
The way he melted into my arms, giving me some of his weight too, told me he needed a nap. Then he buried his face against my neck and let out that rumbly sound again.
“Come on, let’s get you inside. Carys has lunch and then we’re going to take a nap.”
Brodie’s tall form swayed, then he pulled back from the hug and yawned. “That sounds perfect.”
He kissed my forehead and for a moment it felt like he was about to say something else, but decided against it, and we walked inside together.