“We are not scary.”
“Well, I’m trying to silence years of being told that you are, and that werewolves want to steal our children in the night.”
“They say a lot of ridiculous things about us,” he said. “It’s almost like the outlandish children’s fables they used to tell to teach kids to behave. Except that now, even adults believe the fables, and somehow, they’ve taken on a life of their own.”
He stopped, his free hand out to grab the door handle.
“I’m sorry we are coming here at dinner and you’ll have to meet the entire pack all at once,” he said quietly. “Just stick by me, and it will be fine.”
“I’ve got this,” she said, her voice sounding braver than she felt. “I’m going to be fine.”
“I know,” he said.
He opened the door, and the noise of people talking and laughing overwhelmed Maci in an instant. She took in the sounds and the smells, noting the impossibly long table running down the center of the cabin. Another door on their left pushed open, falling back and swinging forward again on the hinge, revealing little glimpses with each swing of the pendulum, until the movement finally stopped, and the door rested in the closed position again.
The woman who had stepped through the door, laden down with bread bowls on a tray, smiled at Logan and leaned over to kiss his cheek as she dropped the tray into his free hand.
“Pass these out,” she said as Logan let go of Maci’s hand to balance the tray. “Maci and I will finish up in the kitchen with the rest of the women.”
Before Maci could protest, the woman had taken her hand, sweeping her into the kitchen and setting her to work.
“I just need someone to keep stirring the stew so it doesn’t form a skin while it cools,” the woman said. “It’s nearly ready, but the sauce has to thicken. I hope you like venison; it’s my boy’s favorite dish, and we haven’t seen him in so long.”
Maci took in the woman, who was tall and curvy but somehow dainty all at once. Her brown eyes and hair matched Logan’s coloring, and like Logan, her lips spread into a smile from one side first before the expression took over her entire face.
“You’re Logan’s mom?”
“I am.”
“You don’t look old enough to have a thirty-year-old.”
“He’s thirty-five, and thank you.”
The woman floated off before Maci could say anything else, leaving Maci there at the giant stove, stirring carefully. Her mouth watered, the smooth, creamy broth almost thick enough to hold the spoon upright on its own.
Another woman came by, sprinkling fragrant herbs into the stew and smiling at Maci before moving away and onto the next task.
The kitchen took up almost as much space in the two-room cabin as the dining room. The cabin itself was almost as big as her own house, with the dining room taking up as much area as three of her bedrooms did.
She could see why it was so big as she watched the women coming in and out of the kitchen. She added that number to the mental count of the men that were already milling about the single, long dining room table as they set metal plates and utensils out. The younger men went around the table with pitchers of honey-colored liquid, filling metal cups and putting them at each place setting before they moved to the next.
Maci felt a hand on her back and almost jumped.
“Sorry, dear,” Logan’s mother said. “I should have warned you that I was coming behind you. I need your help.”
“Okay,” Maci said, not knowing what else to say.
“They’re going to file through here in a line, and this will go so much quicker if you ladle out the stew for me so I can hand out the fruits.”
“I can do that,” Maci said, not sure what other option she had.
She was starving; the food smelled delicious, and she was eating for free. She figured the least she could do would be to help out.
“Good,” Logan’s mother said, looking a little less frazzled than she had moments before. “They’re probably going to introduce themselves to you as they come in, but the only names you need to learn right now are Sara and Sam.”
“And who are they?” Maci asked.
“I’m Sara, and Sam is my husband. Family first, then you can learn everyone else’s name. Just smile and nod, and they’ll be happy. It’s not every day the Alpha’s firstborn brings home his woman.”
Maci’s stomach dropped at her words, but she did exactly what Sara had said. She smiled and nodded, and silently vowed to deal with Logan and whatever he had said to his family later.
The line went by quickly, despite the fact that the men and women did exactly what Sara had said they would; each one introduced themselves to Maci while she poured the stew into their bread bowl and then moved on to the next.
Logan brought up the rear of the line, followed by a man who could only be Sam. Logan was the spitting image of Sam, though Sam was several inches taller and more stout than Logan was. Logan held two bowls in his hands, as did his father.
“Well, hey there, beautiful,” Logan said, handing her bowl to her once it was filled, then filling his own. “This smells so delicious.”
“I just stirred it,” she said. “But your mom is very nice.”
“She is,” he said, winking at Sara over Maci’s shoulder. “I have a feeling the two of you are going to get along nicely.”
“Me too, though I doubt I can live up to the stories you’ve told about me,” she said the last part quietly so that only Logan could hear her.
“I’m sure you can,” Logan said, leaning down and kissing her quickly on the cheek.
She grumbled inwardly but kept the smile on her face. He was trying to get under her skin, and she wasn’t going to let him. At least, not this time.
She followed him out of the kitchen, and they took the seats at the end of the table, with Sam and Sara sitting across from them.
“So,” Sam began, his voice booming in the room that suddenly fell silent. “I hear that my firstborn has finally found his Fated Mate. I’m a little shocked that you’re human, but we are glad to have you, just the same.”
Maci looked at Sam, his words taking a while to sink in. Then she looked down the table and at all the eyes on her before she gave Logan a sidelong glance that promised retribution. When she finally spoke, the room was silent, and her voice echoed off the wooden walls of the cabin.
“Trust me,” she said, her voice firm, and unwavering, “no one is as surprised by this as me.”
She felt Logan tense beside her as his hand went to her leg in a silent attempt to stop her. She smiled wider, her hazel eyes dancing with amusement.
“Don’t worry; I’ll make sure your son gets the woman he deserves.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” Sara said. “It will be nice to have a woman in his life who can finally give as good as she gets. We wouldn’t want Logan with a woman he could just plow over. His ego is big enough.”
The table dissolved into good-natured laughter, and the conversation flowed as easily as the honey-sweetened tea in her cup. Pretty soon, the sun had gone down, the kitchen had been cleaned, and the group had shared a few more laughs before couples and families started trickling out one by one, headed off to their homes in the darkness to end their days together.
*
Maci walked hand in hand with Logan in the dark, moonless night, following the well-beaten path from the social hall to Logan’s cabin, which was on the furthest end of the village, well away from the other cabins and on the opposite end from his parents’ home.
“I’m glad you had a good time tonight,” Logan said.
“I did. My favorite part was when your mother told me that I was your Fated Mate. I have no idea what that is, but it sounds serious.”
“I told you to go along with anything that came up. As much as you want to believe that you would have been accepted any other way, the safest way is for you to be my Fated Mate.”
“You could have asked me first.”
; “Would you have said yes?”
“To pretending to be your Fated Mate, or to actually being your Fated Mate?”
“Either,” he said, laughing quietly in the still night.
“No.”
“No to both?”
“No to both.”
“In this case, it was easier to get forgiveness than ask permission.”
“Who says I forgive you?”
“I would say that your jokes at my expense throughout most of dinner made us even.”
“Your mom said you have a big ego. I was just trying to knock you down a peg.”
“Or six,” he laughed. “Don’t worry. Paying you back for that will be fun for me.”
“I can’t believe you told them that. Couldn’t I just be your girlfriend?”
“That is not how we do things here. Everyone has one mate, and there’s no dating around or trying out different relationships before making a choice.”
“Really? So, that is just it? One and done.”
“Unless one mate dies while the other is still young.”
He opened the door to his cabin, turning on the foyer light so that Maci could see and closing the door behind them.
“And what about when I leave? Are you just going to die a bachelor then?”
“No.”
“No? That is it? Do you have an exit strategy for this?”
“No.”
“Wow.”
“It will be fine,” he said. “Now come on, let’s not talk about this stuff right now. Come look at the place that will be your home for the next week. I want you to be comfortable.”
He walked her through the cabin, which was much bigger on the inside than it had looked from the outside in the darkness.
“I have a small kitchen here, though we don’t really use our own kitchens.”
“Do you eat every meal together?”
“Most meals. It’s just easier that way.”
“Where do you get everything?”
“We have fields that we farm not too far from here, and almost everyone has a small garden. We share what we grow, and combining our resources means that there’s almost no waste. We compost everything else.”
“It’s incredibly efficient.”
“Very,” he agreed. “There’s no signal of any kind here, so no televisions, and cellphones get a signal every once in a while when the wind blows just right.”
“I left my cellphone at my house, so it doesn’t matter.”
“If you need to text your family that you’re okay, I can-”
“I have no family.”
“You said that once before, but you have to have someone that is worried about you, right?”
She shook her head.
“There’s no one. My foster parents cut me loose as soon as the support checks quit coming. My parents were addicts and overdosed when I was a baby. If I have any other family, I don’t know them.”
She waited for the judgment that didn’t come, looking into his eyes and daring him to find her lacking in some way because of where she had come from. When all she saw on his face was compassion, it was almost her undoing.
“I don’t need your pity,” she said finally. “I have a good life, and I made myself who I am today. I don’t need a family. I have my job, and I have Archer and his family.”
She stopped, her voice cracking, startling them both. She was silent, taking deep, slow breaths before she continued talking. The wave of despair that hit her was surprising, catching her off-guard and throwing her defenses up.
A single tear slid down her cheek, and she hated herself for crying over people she hadn’t thought about in over a decade.
Logan reached up, gently brushing away the tear from her face and cupping her cheek in his hand.
“It’s alright to be sad. Everyone deserves a family,” he said quietly. “Just because you didn’t know them doesn’t mean it doesn’t hurt.”
She nodded, not trusting herself to talk. He pulled her close, holding her tight in his arms as she closed her eyes against the pain.
“I just wish my foster parents would have loved me,” she said finally. “I think that would have made all the difference in the world.”
“I’m sorry,” he said softly.
“It’s not your fault. You’re just so lucky to have the family that you do. I’m envious; I won’t lie.”
“Well, for as long as you’re here, they’re your family, too.”
“And then I’ll have to leave them,” she said. “It’s almost worse to see what a good family can be than to never know.”
“What about Archer’s family?”
“His parents were so nice to me. And when Archer told me that I couldn’t go to Thanksgiving with them like I always had, I was devastated. His family is the closest thing I have to a family, and he’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a sibling.”
“I guess that is why you two never ended up together.”
She shrugged.
“Archer’s great, but I truly have no feelings for him other than the love I would have for a brother.” She laughed softly. “I remember when he first started dating Elaine. She was so sure that I was competition, and it took everything I had not to tell her to quit being so ridiculous. When she finally got over it, it was like I gained a sister.”
“Maybe family doesn’t have anything to do with blood,” Logan said, squeezing her again before setting her away from him so that he could look at her. “Family is about more than just who you’re related to.”
“You’re right,” she said. “But it’s not the same as growing up in a happy home. You have no idea how lucky you are, and I’m so happy that you don’t. I know that there are more good foster parents than bad, but mine were so horrible, and I never felt like I belonged. With Archer, first as his campaign manager, then as SSE, I always felt like I had a place. And now, if he’s dead, I don’t know-”
She took a deep, shuddering breath.
“I’m sorry. I know that now isn’t the time to think about this. We can’t do anything while they’re scouring the county looking for us, so it’s better to lay low and just prepare ourselves.”
“You know what? Why don’t I take you to the warm springs?”
“It’s forty degrees out during the day,” she said. “Not exactly weather for a swim, and I didn’t bring a suit.”
“You don’t need a suit,” he said, smiling at her wickedly. “And the water is so warm that it will be refreshing. The hike will do your soul good, too.”
“The thirty miles we walked today wasn’t enough?” she laughed.
“It was closer to twenty, and this is only two miles, and the views are stunning. The spring is near the edge of the mountain and looks over the valley below in some of the untouched wilderness.”
“That does sound nice,” she admitted.
“We can relax; you can let go of some of this stress and clear your head. You’re better for Archer if you’re calm and collected. We can’t help him if you’re frazzled and on edge.”
“You’re right,” she admitted. “I need rest, and I need to recharge. I’ve been going nonstop for years, and I just need some space to breathe.”
“Breathing is good.”
“Where’s the guest room?” she asked, looking at the doors behind him. “And a shower. I think a shower would be amazing right now.”
“I can help you with the shower situation, but I don’t have a guest room. I have one room and one bed.”
She shook her head, her stomach clenching at the thought of sharing a bed with him. Not because it would be bad, but because her body would betray her more thoroughly than it had been over the past twenty-four hours. It was bad enough that her nerves went haywire every time he touched her. If she was in bed beside him, it would only get worse, and she didn’t know if she had that much self-control.
“I can’t sleep with you,” she said.
“There really isn’t a choice. My house isn’t really set up for visitors,
and while I have more rooms for a family someday, I don’t have furniture in them.”
“I can sleep on the floor,” she said, a little too quickly.
“You really can’t. Our doors don’t lock, and my parents will probably send one of my nieces to wake us up in the morning. If you’re sleeping in another room, and on the floor, they will be suspicious. I know my family is welcoming, but they were hesitant to welcome a human into the fold. The only thing that convinced them was that you’re my Fated Mate. They don’t argue with Fate.”
“But I’m not.”
“That is not going to go over well. Trust me; your safety depends on you following my lead.”
“And that means sleeping with you?” she said, incredulous.
“No. But it means that there are certain expectations. I’m sorry if you’re unhappy about that, but we are on the run for our lives here. What you want and what needs to happen aren’t always going to be the same thing. I brought you into my home and my life, and I put my family at risk to do it. The least you can do is trust me as much as I’ve trusted you. This goes both ways.”
His words stung, but there was no anger in them. He was giving her the facts as he saw them, and she could take them or leave them, but he was the one calling the shots on his home turf. Maci wanted to argue, but in all honesty, she knew that he was right, and if they were undercover in the human world, they would probably be expected to do much of the same. If they had to pretend to be lovers to keep anyone from guessing why Maci was actually there, then so be it. It didn’t mean that she had to like it.
“Where’s your shower?” she finally asked, silently conceding without admitting it to him.
“I’ll show you. I think you’ll like it.”
“I would like a sponge bath at this point,” she laughed.
“That can be arranged.”
She followed him down the hall, through a door, and into a beautiful bathroom with an open shower on one side and a drain on the floor.
“This is amazing,” she said, looking around at the sink with the wide, metal basin and a small mirror above it.
She noted that the toilet was in its own little area, behind another door to her right. The shower itself took up the entire corner of the outer wall, with a floor made from smoothed stones that were obviously from the area.
The Wolf In The White House Page 9