by Maddy Barone
By the way he treated Kit, it was obvious to Olivia that Uncle Hawk was taking his position far too seriously. She hoped he wouldn’t round up every man in the pack to guard her while Kit visited.
She had just finished combing her hair when Victoria poked her head into their bedroom. Her older cousin watched with a knowing eye. Olivia wished she could tell her to go away, but this was Victoria’s room, too. She lifted an eyebrow at her cousin.
Victoria laughed. “Getting all dolled up for your date?”
“Don’t start, Vic,” Olivia warned.
The laugh gentled to a smile. “Okay, sorry. I like him.”
Olivia’s eyebrows pulled together in an expression of dubious inquiry.
“No, really,” Victoria insisted. “I like your cat. He has guts. And he must think a lot of you. He came all this way to find you, and he stood up to Uncle Hawk, but not arrogantly. His little speech was precious.”
“Precious? He’s not a puppy.”
“No. Miaow.” Victoria curled her fingers into claws and slashed at the air. “He’s a yummy little kitty.”
Instead of replying—and what she would have said, she wasn’t sure—Olivia pushed past her cousin into the hall to the living room. As she went by, Victoria murmured, “Prepare for the gauntlet.”
As soon as Olivia entered the living room she understood Victoria’s comment. Uncle Hawk stood before the apartment’s front door. His elder son, Sharp Tooth, was on his right, and his younger son, He Charges, was on his left. All three men stood in identical stances of spread legs and arms folded over their chests. She sighed and walked to the door, only pausing when Hawk placed his hand on the door to keep her from opening it.
“We won’t stop this man from seeing you,” he said in his low, slow voice. “But you will be careful.”
“Of course I will,” she said with patience. They were only doing what all the men of the Clan did, and at least they weren’t forcing her to stay in her room while they sent Kit away. And only the three of them standing guard over her wasn’t too bad. “I promise.”
He opened the door and led the way out. Charges and Sharp followed behind her. At the foot of the stairs stood Uncle Des, the Alpha of the House, with his two sons behind him. She faltered when Des nodded at Hawk.
“The woman thief hasn’t come yet,” the Alpha said darkly.
“Maybe he won’t show up,” Des’ younger son, Gray Shirt, suggested in a hopeful tone.
His brother, Broken Rock, gave him a glare. “We should be so lucky.”
Des raised one hand. “Boys, go down and make sure there’s wood enough for the stoves. We don’t want our guest to be cold.” His voice suggested the opposite. Rock and Gray turned and went toward the restaurant. “Charges, you take your brother and keep watch at the door for the caller.”
That left her alone with Uncle Des and Uncle Hawk. Des wore his habitual grim expression, but it was just as little darker than usual. The light hanging above them glinted in the silver wings in the black hair at his temples. On another man of his age it would look distinguished. The Alpha just looked severe.
“Olivia,” he said sternly. “You won’t be alone with him. If he does one thing to make you uncomfortable, just raise your hand and we’ll escort him out.”
Yes, but will he be alive when you do? She didn’t say it out loud, but knowing her male relatives, it was a valid question. And really, who knew what Kit would do? He was practically a wild animal. “Thanks, Uncle Des,” she said. “I’m sure it will be okay, but I’m glad you’ll be there. Where are we meeting? In the kitchen? Or the family dining room?”
“In the restaurant. Renee is still in the kitchen and he’s not family, so he doesn’t come in to the family areas.”
She nodded. That was fair. And six of her menfolk as guards wasn’t too bad. Actually, everyone seemed to be behaving pretty reasonably. For wolves.
When she entered the restaurant she saw why they were being so unusually reasonable. Another dozen men of the House and Taye’s den were there, seated at the scattered tables and drinking coffee or hot cider. Colby raised his mug to her with a fierce smile.
“Oh, no,” she groaned. She turned to the men behind her. “Uncle Des, this is ridiculous.”
“It’s just caution,” he said mildly.
Colby stood with a scrape of his chair over the wood floor. “I don’t trust him,” he said flatly. “He stole you before. He’d like to do it again. He won’t get the chance.”
There was no sense trying to argue with them. “Fine,” she growled. She moved to a small table that seated two. Des took her arm in a gentle, but firm, grasp and led her to the longest table in the room, the one reserved for groups of twelve.
“You sit here on this side facing the door,” he said. “When the young man arrives, he’ll sit opposite you.”
“But we’ll be ten feet apart!”
“Exactly.” There was satisfaction in his growl. “You’ll be alone at the table, so that’s nice, right?”
Alone at a table, separated by ten feet, and with eighteen of her dearest male relatives watching them. Great. She took the chair Uncle Des indicated. What did she expect? And maybe it didn’t matter anyway. Like Gray said, he might not even show up.
Kit arrived at exactly one minute to eight. Olivia wasn’t permitted to go to the front door to greet him, of course, but he was immediately shown into the restaurant. Olivia stared at him, heart beating fast and breath suspended for a long minute. With his silky, caramel-colored hair lying in shiny waves over the shoulders of a perfectly fitted, dark brown corduroy suit coat, he was amazingly handsome. And he appeared unexpectedly civilized. She compared her memory of Kit, feral, living in a cave with snarled hair and wearing few clothes, to this almost elegant man.
He paused in the doorway for just a moment while his gaze swept quickly around the room before settling on her. When he looked at her, such joy filled his face that Olivia stared.
“Miss Stensrud,” he said formally, and hurried toward her. Uncle Des caught him and shoved him toward the chair at the other end of the table.
“You sit there,” the Alpha growled.
Kit twisted lithely away from Des’ grip, and stood looking down the table at her for a long moment before turning to extend his hand to Des.
“Christopher McQueen, sir,” he said.
Des looked at the long slender hand like it was a dead fish, but he gripped it and shook it twice. “Des Wolfe. I’m Alpha here. If you behave yourself, we’ll let you live.”
“Thank you.” Kit’s tone was perfectly respectful.
After a moment, Des grunted. Approval? “Have a seat.”
Kit pulled out the indicated chair and sat down. Des took up his position a yard behind Kit, arms folded and mouth turned down in its usual scowl. She and Kit sat in silence, staring at one another. All she could see was awe and happiness on his face. He was well dressed and well groomed, looking like a civilized man, yet his expression retained something of the feral openness she had seen on it when she had been his captive. Hiding his emotions didn’t seem to come easily to him. Silence stretched. Olivia wondered if she should speak first. Was allowing a woman to speak first a polite thing? He seemed to be trying so hard to be polite.
“Good evening, Kit,” she said. “How have you been?”
“I’ve been well, thank you. And you?”
“I’ve been good.” This was excruciating. Olivia flicked a glance at her male relatives lining the wall. At least half of them should go away. She tried to use her eyebrows to convey that thought to them, but they either missed it entirely, or ignored it. She looked again at Kit. “You look good.”
The small smile that curved his lips grew. “Thank you. You are even more beautiful than I remembered you.”
She blushed and they stared at each other in silence.
Kit swallowed audibly. “The weather is a little cold, but the sun has been shining. That’s good.”
“Yes, it’s been nice.�
� She cast around for something else to say. “How do you like Kearney? Have you been here long?”
He brightened. “I’ve been here for only a day. I’m staying at a bunkhouse at the edge of town. You live here? At the Plane Women’s House? That’s an unusual name. Do you know where it comes from?”
Some of the tension loosened in her. The story of the Plane Women was an old one, but it gave her something to talk about. “An airplane travelled through time from 2014 to 2064 and crashed not too far away from here. My mom was on the plane, and Colby’s mom too, and just about all the women who live here.”
“Airplane?” Kit echoed. “What is an airplane?”
She stared at him. “You know, a plane. Big metal bird thing that people used to fly in to go to faraway places, in the Times Before?”
He looked utterly baffled. “A metal bird? What’s the Times Before?”
“Before the terrorists blew up the world.” She didn’t see any comprehension on his face. She supposed the pride didn’t know about it, although she couldn’t imagine people not knowing. “When you were travelling, didn’t you ever see empty houses falling down? Big rusty metal things by the roads? Or roads that weren’t roads anymore because they had trees and stuff growing on them?”
“Yes.” He nodded. “When we went near any towns, we saw things like that. Not in the mountains so much.”
“In the Times Before, there were lots of people, and they drove cars on roads and flew in the air in special cars called airplanes. During the Times Before, my mom and a bunch of other people were in an airplane, but it somehow flew in time, not just in the air.” She nodded at Des, standing behind Kit. “Des’ mate was the one who drove the airplane. It came here, and some of the women found mates, and some of them decided to live here. They called this building the Plane Women’s House, and they opened a restaurant that they called the Eatery. That’s the story of the name.”
His eyes were round. “So your mom is really old.” His eyes opened even wider. “Was that a rude thing to say? Sorry!”
That was all he had to say to such an incredible story? They settled again into uncomfortable silence. After a minute, she tried again.
“Your suit is very nice. I don’t remember you having a suit.” Actually, most of her memories were of him nude, or covered with the light fur his cat form had. “Is it new?”
He smoothed a caressing hand down his arm, stroking the chocolate brown corduroy of his sleeve. “My brother’s wife made it for me. She said that I should dress my best when I go to court you.” His expression turned very serious and he leaned forward as if to lessen the distance between them. “I want to do it right. Last time I did everything wrong. You are my mate. I didn’t know any better than to take you home with me the minute I found you. But I was wrong. You said you wanted a civilized man, so I went to my brother, Justin, to learn how.”
One of the cats knew how to be civilized? Olivia couldn’t imagine it. “I don’t think I remember Justin.”
“No, he doesn’t live with the Pride anymore. A few years ago, he met his mate and left us to live with her human family. After your father and brothers took you home, I went to find them. I spent the last year living with them and learning how to be the man you want. Please let me court you.” His eyes gleamed as tears welled in them. Even across the table, she could see them. “Please don’t send me away without giving me a chance.”
Olivia gripped the edge the table so hard her fingers hurt. She swallowed. “That was quite a speech, Kit.”
“I practiced parts of it,” he confessed. “But that doesn’t make it less true.”
She stared at him. Victoria was right. It took guts for him to come all this way and face off against her menfolk. “Okay.” It was hardly more than a whisper, so she cleared her throat to speak louder. “You can court me. We’ll see how it goes.”
She wasn’t surprised to hear the growls coming from the men. “This is my choice,” she told them with a fierce tilt of her chin. “I won’t be stupid. I won’t be alone with him. But he deserves a chance to prove himself to me.”
Colby broke from his position against the wall to loom threateningly over Kit. “If he puts one toe over the line, I’ll kill him.”
Kit rose to his feet and stared Colby dead in the eye. “That’s fair. I won’t do anything to hurt Olivia. I promise I want to do this right. I want her to be safe and happy, just like you do.”
The sound of derisive disgust came from more of the men than just Colby, but no one said anything. After a minute, Uncle Des waved Colby back. He laid a heavy hand on Kit’s shoulder and it looked like he squeezed a little more than necessary to get his attention. Olivia saw Kit’s slight flinch.
“Tomorrow,” he said, “you can come here and have lunch. 11:30. Don’t be late.”
Kit looked at Des and nodded. Olivia noticed that Kit was an inch or so taller than the Alpha, but more slender. He might be slender, but he hid great strength in his lithe body. She remembered him carrying her for hours at a run. She also remembered how angry and frightened she had been then. Was she still frightened? No, she was safe here with all the men of the Packs on hand.
“I’ll see you tomorrow, Kit,” she said, smiling.
He smiled back. “I’m looking forward to it.”
Olivia studied him. He looked like a normal young man, the type she might meet at one of Aunt Carla’s concerts, all dressed up for the event. Just how deep did the civilization he’d acquired at his brother’s hands go? As a couple of the men herded him out, she found herself hoping the hours would pass quickly.
* * * *
Kit walked away from the house his mate lived in, feeling the eyes of at least two of her kin on him. Joy bubbled fiercely inside him. She’d agreed to his courtship. He wanted to lift his head and scream his elation. What did a civilized man do when he was this excited? He glanced up at the stars and began to count them to control his urge to yowl. The wolves ghosting behind him wouldn’t like him to scream his victory here in the middle of this town.
He never saw the wolves, but he was sure they followed him all the way to the place where he was staying. John Hudson, a townsman with a house on a large lot, had given him a bed in a sort of bunkhouse behind his house for a small amount of money. Kit walked past the house and entered the bunkhouse. It held six beds that Hudson rented out to men passing through Kearney. It wasn’t fancy. There was no electricity or running water, but for a man who had lived in caves until recently, it was a perfectly acceptable shelter. The linens were clean and there was a chest at the foot of the bed where he could keep his few belongings. At the moment, Kit was the only one staying there.
He could see well enough in the dark, so he didn’t bother to light the lamp to open the chest at the foot of his bed. It had a lock, which was one of the things about civilization he hated. Why should anyone have to lock their possessions away? To keep other civilized people from stealing them? But he used the lock Hudson gave him because he had only a little money and couldn’t afford to have someone take it. He crouched now and carefully counted the coins and snips of gold. Justin had given him all he and Teresa could spare, but it wouldn’t last long. He might have to find work to earn more. How long would it take to court Olivia and gain her consent to their mating? He tucked the bag of money back into the chest.
He carefully took off the suit Teresa had made for him. He stroked the soft fabric, enjoying the plushness of it. Olivia had liked it. He remembered her quick expression of pleasure when she’d first seen him. She had instantly wiped it away, but he’d seen it, and he treasured it. As he neatly folded the suit coat and trousers into the chest, he folded the image of Olivia’s pleasure into the little box in his mind, where he kept all his best memories. He’d opened it often in the past fourteen months, taking out precious memories of Olivia to comfort himself when he struggled and failed to comprehend civilized behavior. The lessons Justin and Teresa had drummed into him were paying off. Olivia had smiled at him. Her male kin hadn
’t tried to hurt him. He’d made friends with other cats. The friendships were cautious, and maybe not true friendship, but he was happy with their acceptance. They could have chased him off, and how could he have courted Olivia then?
He lay on the narrow bed and pulled the sheet up to his waist. Tomorrow he would see Olivia again. He would begin his formal courtship.
Chapter Eleven
Olivia checked the small round table one more time to be sure the tablecloth hung evenly. The usual beige tablecloth had been replaced with one of bright, Christmas red. She was surprised that uncle Des was allowing her and Kit to sit alone for their lunch date. Well, not really alone, since there were a dozen other people already eating lunch in the restaurant. But at least they would be at the same table, and unlike last night, the table was small, so they could have at least the illusion of privacy. She stepped back and jumped when she bumped into somebody. Something prickly poked her shoulder.
“Hey.” Victoria’s voice was a growl. “Look what you did.”
Olivia brushed at her shoulder and admired the small arrangement of pine boughs and cinnamon sticks tied with a cheerful red ribbon. One of the pine twigs was broken. “Sorry.”
Victoria carefully pulled the broken piece free and set the arrangement in the center of the small table. She stepped back, head tilted to the side to check the placement, and made a minute adjustment. “There. Festive, don’t you think?”
“It’s nice,” Olivia agreed. She glanced around the restaurant, noting that all the tables had cloths of red or green, but not centerpieces. “Did you make enough for all the tables to have an arrangement?”
Her cousin shot a teasing look over her shoulder. “Nope. Just the one, for our special guest.” She put extra emphasis on the word special. “We want everything to be perfect for him, don’t we?”