Feeling the need to communicate properly, I stretch as I stand, readying myself to shift again. Grabbing my clothes between my teeth, I head for the trees at the edge of the garden. “What’s happening?” I hear Selena ask as I trot through enough trees to give myself some cover as I change.
“He’s shifting back,” Theo explains.
“But why is he going away to do it?” Selena’s confusion comes clear through our new mate bond, and I pause, ready to shift now to explain my reasons.
Theo takes over, obviously reading my mind again. “He didn’t want you to feel uncomfortable about him being naked in front of Bel.” The love that pours through our bond tells me I did the right thing. I push my love back through to her, hoping she can feel it as well as I can, even though she’s human. We haven’t had the chance to really learn what she can and can’t feel through the bond. I don’t know many mated humans. I should have asked Kelly when I was with the Rossi Pack. His mate was human. Although, she’s no longer with him and I’m sure my mentioning her loss would only cause pain for him.
The shift comes over me as quickly, as it had earlier, and I’m pulling my clothes on in no time. I grit my teeth at the sensitivity of my skin as the material brushes against it, feeling like sandpaper.
I walk through the line of trees, my eyes falling immediately on Selena. She’s struggling to stand, a hand on the floor and her belly almost up in the air. I run over. “Let me help,” I offer, placing a hand under her armpits and lifting her with ease.
Once on two feet, she throws her arms around my neck, her baby bump pushing into me adorably. “Thank you.”
I place a kiss on her temple. “I’m sure Theo or Bel would have helped you up if I hadn’t got here first.”
“Not for that, silly.” She gives me a knowing look; she’s talking about my shifting under the cover of the trees. Maybe she didn’t feel me through the bond after all.
“As much as this was nice and all”—Theo ruins our moment—“we need to chat business for a bit.”
I give Selena an apologetic smile. “It looks like I need to earn my beta badge.”
Bel clears her throat. “I was planning on going to spend some time with Misty. Would you like to come?” she offers, referring to her boss and friend. I can tell by the way Selena stiffens in my arms, she’s going to decline the offer. “I’d love to get to know you better, Selena.”
Selena snaps her head around to face Bel, probably in the hopes of trying to see if there’s any truth to her words. I don’t know what she sees, but she relaxes in my arms and nods. “I’d like that. Thank you.”
“Great,” Bel sounds genuinely happy about Selena’s reply and even though I hadn’t felt a lie, I realise she really meant what she’d said. I watch as she pulls my brother towards her, his shirt fisted in her hands.
His appreciative growl has me laughing. “Come on, guys. You do have an audience you know?”
Selena taps my arm gently. “Leave them alone. They’re newlyweds.”
I lean into her and let my arms slide down her sides. “We’re newly mated. Does that mean I can get carried away with you not caring about our audience?”
“Mated?” Bel appears at my elbow and tugs Selena away from me. “You’ll have to tell me all about that, but right now we need to leave or they’ll never get to discussing pack business.”
The sound of Selena’s laughter is music to my ears as it fades away with every step she takes. I’m thankful for the effort Bel is making to get to know Selena. Having your true mate’s estranged wife turn up acting like a mighty bitch and wanting him back, can’t have been easy for her. Selena’s personality change and willingness to sign the divorce papers probably went a long way to help though. As they round the side of the house, heading towards the car, Theo claps me on the back. “Come on then, brother. Let’s deal with our responsibilities for a bit.” He leads the way to the house, and I follow, planning to grab a beer on the way. “If we do it quickly, we might be able to meet the girls at the bar.”
I pause midstride. “Misty’s? Will Selena even be able to go in? Surely it’s not safe for the baby.” I shake my head with the words, unable to keep the panic out of my voice.
Theo grabs two beers out of the fridge on his way past and offers one to me over the counter. “I’m sure Misty will keep that in mind as she makes one of those bracelets of hers. Anyway, she’s your mate. Pack magic may even negate Misty’s wards.”
My eyes widen as I place the bottle on the side before I squeeze it too hard in my tightening fist. “I wasn’t thinking about the wards. It was the customers I was more concerned about.” I pull my phone out of my pocket and before even unlocking the screen, I place it back in my pocket. “I need to buy her a phone,” I mutter to myself. “You need to call Bel and tell her not to take Selena to the bar. I thought they’d be going to Misty’s apartment, not the bar.”
Theo pulls out his phone, glancing at the locked screen but doesn’t bother to put his pin in. Maybe he has one of those thumbprint things set up. “It’s only lunch. They’ll go to Misty’s apartment for a couple of hours first.” He places his phone back in his pocket and grabs my beer off the side before marching towards his office. “If we get through business quickly, you can get to her before they even leave Misty’s apartment.”
I grunt, not entirely happy with his decision. But not having any of the Pack’s contacts in my phone, it’s not like I can do anything else about the situation.
Sixteen
WE BELONG
Selena
I give the bracelet a nervous glance as Bel ties it around my left wrist. It looks like an ordinary leather bracelet, but it’s supposed to counteract the magical wards on Misty’s bar, the ones meant to repel humans. “Are you sure this is going to work?”
Bel runs her hand over it. “I know it looks like any other bracelet to you, but I can sense the magic.” She closes her eyes, and it looks as if she’s really feeling something out of the ordinary.
I glance across to Misty as she walks in the room with her work uniform on. “The baby will be safe?” I ask cautiously. I’ve always wanted to go to Misty’s, but I won’t put my baby’s life at risk. I’ve heard how powerful the wards are, how a human could have a heart attack if they were somehow forced to go in. Living around a pack of werewolves who think you’re a ditz, means they sometimes forget what they say in front of you.
After I lost my father and brother, I wasn’t the carefree girl I’d been before, but Theo helped me slowly find her again. The day Cain told me about their secret, that’s when I became a nasty bitch, and played up to the ditzy image everyone seemed to be treating me as. I thought Theo would eventually tell me himself, but with every day he didn’t, I completely lost myself.
A hand rubs against my bump, pulling me back to the present to find Misty giving me a serene smile. “I wouldn’t put ya baby in danger. I adjusted the spell to cover ya both. It’s much stronger than the one I gave Ruby when she was a human.”
“When she was a human?” I ask, my eyes widening in surprise.
They both snap their eyes towards me. “You don’t know?” Bel asks, before shaking her head. “Of course, you don’t know. We thought you were in the dark when all that happened.”
“Is it something to do with her being mated to Eddie? I’ve put two and two together and worked that much out.”
Misty looks at her watch. “I’ve gotta get to work. We can fill ya in on the way.” She reaches out to hook onto my casted arm before thinking better of it and walking a few steps in front. “I can’t believe Cain did that.”
“Guilt must be eating him up.” Bel glances across at me from where she’s walking beside me, her arm hooked in my good arm. “His wolf will be having a hard time. We protect our mates. We don’t hurt them.”
I sigh. “We weren’t mated at the time.”
“Maybe not, but his wolf has thought of you as his mate for a long time. Technicalities like that won’t make a difference.”
/>
We walk out of the apartment complex, Misty giving the guard a polite “Catch ya later” on her way past. As we slip into Misty’s purple VW Beetle, I change the subject.
“What did you mean about Ruby when you said she was human?”
Bel turns in the passenger seat to look at me through the gap between the two front seats. “Do you remember when Cain turned up and everyone was pretty much yelling at everyone?”
I nod, of course I remember that day. That’s the day I saw the man I never thought I’d lay eyes on again.
“Well, she was attacked by a vampire, and Dominic, the king of the local vampire coven turned her in order to save her life.”
My heart picks up speed. Surely, I didn’t hear that right. “Vampire? Did you just say vampire?”
“Yes. Just remember they’ve existed all the time you haven’t known, and you weren’t killed,” Bel states, before giggling at my raised brow. “That probably isn’t as comforting as it sounded in my head.”
“No kidding.” I shake my head. Unbelievable. I’d never imagined vampires were real. But then again, if you’d ask me all those years ago, before Cain shared his secret, I wouldn’t have thought werewolves were real either. “So, Ruby’s a vampire.” I raise a hand to my mouth as I think of all the adjustments a change like that must take. “How is she coping with all the change?”
Misty pulls into an abandoned alley and stops beside some large bins at the back of a building. Bel jumps out the car. “She struggled at first but seems to be doing well now. She’ll be here once the sun goes down. She’ll be more than happy to chat to you about it,” Bel states as I heave myself out of the car. “Do you need a hand?”
After a bit of effort, I straighten beside the car. “Thanks, but it looks like I’ve got it. Although I might need to take you up on that in the next couple of weeks.”
Misty lets us in and goes about opening up. I pause before the doorway, taking stock of my body, searching for any reaction to the wards that are supposed to be here. I feel… nothing. Well, nothing unusual.
“All good?” Bel asks, giving me a curious glance.
Smiling, I step over the threshold and release a breath as again, nothing happens.
“Fabulous,” Bel says, before getting me seated on a stool at the side of the bar. It has no back support so I know I’m not going to last long on it, but before I can say anything, Bel tells me we’ll move to a table once it starts getting busy.
An hour passes and customers have been slowly filing in. My back is aching on the stool, and I’m desperate to move but Bel is distracted, chatting to someone at the other side of the bar and I feel that if I try to slide off the stool, I’m likely to fall off the damn thing.
Warm hands glide around my back and rest on hips, causing me to jump. The stool wobbles on the spot, but the strong hands hold me steady.
“Hey, I didn’t mean to startle you.” Cain’s breath falls over my neck in a caress, causing goosebumps to rise.
I lean into him, and my back screams out at the movement. I let out a grunt of pain as I try to reach around to rub my lower back.
Cain pushes my hands away and takes over. “I can take you home if you want?”
“No, I want to hang around for a while and see what you guys have been getting up to all these years.” I let out a moan of pleasure as his hands ease away my aches.
He leans in, and I can feel a familiar hardness pressed to my back. “If you keep making noises like that, we’ll have to make use of Misty’s office.” He presses a kiss to my shoulder before I hear him breathing in my scent. “Let’s get you sat somewhere more comfortable.”
“I don’t think I’ll ever get used to you doing that.” I let him help me off the stool and lead me towards a round table near the dance floor.
He pulls out a chair and I take a seat. “And what might that be?” he asks, sitting beside me. I let out a squeal as he tugs my chair closer to him. Once next to him, he runs a finger over my shoulder and inhales in again.
“That. Sniffing me.” I laugh. “It’s weird.”
“I can’t help it. It’s a were thing. You’ll just have to get used to it.”
Theo takes a seat opposite us and glares over at the bar. “It’s her night off, yet she’ll spend most of it behind the bar.”
I glance over at the bar for a second and watch Bel serve a customer before I give Theo a sympathetic smile. “She did say once Lucy turns up for her shift, she’ll join us. If you sit at the bar, she’ll probably talk to you between customers.”
He stares me down with a raised brow. “Are you trying to get rid of me.” He drops his eyes to follow Cain’s hand caressing the skin at the edge of my top, dropping dangerously close to my breast. “I know you’re newly mated, but you’re in a bar full of people. People who can smell arousal.”
I slap Cain’s hand away, earning a laugh from the pair of them. “Aw, beautiful, I can’t help it. You bring the sex beast out of me.”
“Oh my God.” I lift my hands to cover my flaming cheeks. “Maybe I should have gone home.”
“And miss out on all the fun to come? No way,” Bel states as she drops into Theo’s lap. He thoroughly ravishes her mouth, making me feel the need to avert my eyes.
“I thought you were waiting for Lucy to arrive.” Theo’s voice makes it clear it’s safe to look back in their direction, and I do in time to catch him breathing in her scent, just like Cain seems to love doing. I can’t help but grin at the sight.
“You were staring daggers at the customers. Misty said I should come over here before you scared them all away.” Bel leans in and gives Theo a gentle kiss on the lips, which he instantly deepens.
“Oh, come on!” Ruby shouts from behind us. “I thought moving out meant I wouldn’t have to witness you two playing tonsil tennis anymore.” I glance across to Cain as Ruby kisses his cheek. I can’t help but look for vampire signs, but she doesn’t look any different to any other time I’ve seen her. She’s got the same long wavy blonde hair and green eyes, which are a sage rather than emerald like Theo’s. “I hear congratulations is in order.” She looks at Cain with raised eyebrows, and I feel like shrinking into my seat. When it became clear that Theo was never going to tell me about his secret, I started to resent him. I never cared what the pack or the Wilson family thought of me. Now, I do. I love Cain, and I want everyone he loves to like me. I don’t want them to think I’m the evil bitch I once was. I was only that person because the resentment was eating me up.
Cain slides his hand down my arm and takes my hand in his, making me wonder if he’s sensing my anxiety somehow. He did say there may be some weird feelings that may come through to me, like a side effect of our mating, but I haven’t felt any different. So I hadn’t thought it would have affected him either. I’ll have to remember to ask him later when we are alone. “Thanks, Rubes. It’s been a long time in the making.”
Ruby gives him smile and a nod before turning her smile on me. “Welcome to the family again, Selena. I’d love to have a chat and compare our mate bonds. The one between me and Eddie seems to be normal. Although when I’m dead for the day, it’s completely severed. Like I’m really dead…” She frowns, before carrying on. “Which I am, so that makes sense… I guess.”
“The first time that happened I freaked out. I shifted and tore up the bedroom.” Eddie sidles up to Ruby, who spins around and throws her arms around him before planting a kiss on his lips. “Hey, baby. I missed you too,” he says as he pulls away.
“Weren’t you just telling me off for playing tonsil tennis?” Theo laughs. “Hypocrite,” he jokes, with a shake of his head.
“There was absolutely no tongue action. I do know how to behave in public, unlike some,” Ruby snaps back while peeling herself off Eddie and taking a seat next to Cain.
Eddie pulls a short stool up beside Ruby and straddles it. “I can attest to that. I’m disappointed to say there was absolutely no tongue action.” He looks genuinely disappointed.
&nbs
p; I can’t help but laugh.
Cain slides into my space, my laugh having obviously caught his attention. “I think we should show them what a proper kiss looks like.”
Before I can argue, his lips are on mine and I’m melting into his arms. A shrill wolf whistle has me pulling away, remembering we have an audience. “It’s looking like couples’ corner over here. Maybe I should take these drinks and drown my sorrows elsewhere.”
Eddie stands and reaches for one of the drink-laden trays Billy’s holding. “Don’t even think about it, buddy.”
“Ginger ale for the beautiful Selena,” Billy says, giving me a wink as he places a glass on the table before me. My eyes widen in surprise as I wonder how he knows what I drink. “I’ve seen you drinking the stuff by the gallon at the house,” he says with a shrug, correctly guessing my thoughts.
“Thanks, Billy.” I give him a grateful smile. “It’s one of the only things that kept my stomach settled in the beginning. Now I think I’ve become addicted to the stuff.” I laugh.
Billy pulls a chair over from the next table and sits to my right. “Holy shit! What happened to your arm?” His eyes are focused on my cast.
Cain stiffens on my other side, no doubt dwelling in the guilt once again. I give him a quick glance and seeing his jaw tight with tension, I give his hand a comforting squeeze. “My ex turned up yesterday. Things got a little heated.”
“I got a little heated,” Cain snaps, pulling his hand from mine to run it through his dark hair.
I ignore the numerous gasps around the table and turn to him. “Cain,” I plead. He’s staring across the room and I don’t want to use my cast-covered arm to turn his head so I squeeze his knee. “Look at me, Cain. Please.” He turns his head stiffly. “You didn’t do it intentionally.”
I let my eyes roam around everyone at the table, pinning each one of them with a glacial stare, daring them to disagree with me. “He was fuming at my ex, who tried to drag me away.”
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