by R. E. Butler
He wanted to see her photography albums, so they spent one evening going through them. She had several professional cameras and loved to take nature pictures. One particularly stunning picture of a solid charcoal gray wolf standing in a snow laden forest stopped him. “This is incredible.” He said quietly.
“It’s my favorite. That’s my dad.”
“No kidding?”
“My mom wanted a picture of him in his shift for her birthday. He told me if I could find him, I could take his picture, and he shifted and took off. I’m a pretty good tracker, but it took me all day to catch up to him and he wasn’t really trying that hard not to be found, too. Would you let me take your picture some day?”
“Yeah?”
“Sure. If I have a picture of you, I could do an oil painting from it. I think it would be smashing over the fireplace.”
“I would love it.”
Although he hadn’t seemed to want her to go out on her own in town, when she insisted that she wanted to go to the grocery while he was at work, plus to get out of the house a little, he left her cash on the counter before he left that morning. She tooled around the small town before she went to the only grocery. She found the bar called Jake’s that was only open on Friday and Saturday nights, the bank, the deli, and the grocery, and then Pete’s Garage, where Linus worked. She was extremely tempted to drop in under the pretense of getting gas, but she wasn’t sure he could handle it. They’d just marked each other, and some wolves got territorial with their mates for the first few weeks. If her presence caused him to attack his friends, she would feel terrible.
He suggested they could go to the bar on Saturday to have a drink and so she could meet his alpha and some of the pack, but only if she promised to let him be all possessive and nuts, which she happily agreed to. She was curious about the pack that he was part of that was so modern that they had abandoned many of the old ways that she’d grown up with.
“Um, no.” He said Saturday night, leaning against the doorway of the closet and folding his arms in a final sort of way.
“No, what?” She looked at him in confusion as she adjusted her favorite Ed Hardy leather belt on her low rider leather pants.
“No on the top.”
She looked down at herself. The top was plain black stretchy material that had one long sleeve and no sleeve on the other side, and cut across from the one shoulder down under the arm, leaving the whole other shoulder and arm bare. It was just the right length to hit above her belly button.
“You don’t like it?”
“I like it very much, Karly, but so will every other man in the bar. So, no.”
She narrowed her eyes at him and put her hands on her hips. “I’m not going to dress like a nun in front of your friends forever.”
“Not a nun, just less like you’re advertising things that aren’t for sale.”
“I wasn’t aware I was dressed like a billboard,” She said dryly.
“Sweetheart, please? I want to introduce you to my friends, but I, hell, maybe this isn’t a good idea.” He sighed and went from looking like he wasn’t going to take no for an answer about her clothes to looking defeated. She hated that look. It was as if he thought his feelings had no value.
She gave him a shove towards the bed. “Alright, give me a minute to pick out something less-billboardy.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. She stripped off the top and flipped through her things. “Can I keep the pants on?”
“Depends. Are you wearing panties?”
She peeked her head out of the closet. “A thong. I don’t do panty lines in leather; it’s like a cardinal girl rule.”
He frowned in thought, “I guess you can keep them on.”
She chuckled to herself as she turned back around and finally made a choice that she thought he’d appreciate. She had given most of her summer things to charity before she bought clothes for fall, but she kept a few things she liked. One of them was a black tank. It had a shelf bra in it, and was form fitting, extra material from the sides gathered in a knot in the front. She pulled one of his casual button down shirts from the hanger, black of course, and slid it on. After she put on her black ankle boots, she walked out as she rolled up the sleeves.
“Wait, I’m not done.” She walked into the bathroom and pulled her hair up into a high ponytail. If someone looked at her neck, they’d see his marks. Four white dots, two thicker than the others, on either side of her spine.
“Better?” She asked, when she came out of the bathroom.
He stood up and pulled her into his arms. She let out a yelp and laughed as he kissed and hugged her close. “Much. You’re covered and you smell like me even more with the shirt.”
“Linus, you have to know that even if someone was stupid enough to approach me that there isn’t anyone else that I want to touch me for the rest of my life but you.”
“Well,” he smoothed his fingers to where the marks were, “they wouldn’t just be stupid they’d be hospitalized very shortly after.”
“And?”
He blinked. “And what?”
“And, you don’t want to touch anyone else for the rest of your life either.”
He snorted and rolled his eyes, “Hell, Karly, I don’t want to even look at another woman for the rest of my life, let alone touch one. But women don’t look at me the way that men will look at you.”
It was her turn to snort. “You’re overestimating my appeal.”
He got that pissed look in his eyes when he thought she was undervaluing herself. “Um, not even close. If we make it through tonight without me punching my friends then we’ll be doing great.”
She went up on her toes and nipped at his jaw and he squeezed her lower back with both hands and sighed, the stress of whatever situation he was imaging might happen at the bar sliding away from him. At least for now.
As they pulled into the parking lot of Jake's Bar, it didn't look like anything special to her. The pack had their own entrance at the back of the bar so they didn’t have to stand in line out front, which in the winter was a very good thing. The bar had only been open on the weekends for the last two weekends and they were waiting for feelers that the alpha had put out to other packs in surrounding states for wolves that would want to jump ship and join up with them and run the bar. So far that hadn’t panned out.
Linus pulled her into his arms and began to carry her across the parking lot. “Linus, I can walk.”
“I know, angel, but the parking lot is icy and it’s cold as hell and your legs are short so I can carry you faster than you can walk.”
She huffed, “My legs are perfectly sized for my body. We can’t all be giants.”
He stopped walking and looked down at her, “You’re right. Your legs are the perfect size to wrap around my waist when we’re making love. But I won’t let you walk over ice. I’m not an asshole. It’s not safe.”
She let it drop because he had this way of arguing about her safety and she wondered if he would prefer she was covered in bubble wrap. And sometimes she thought that he wondered what would have happened if she had died out in the snow. It seemed like whenever that thought crossed his mind, he got a little over protective. She truly didn't mind; she just enjoyed giving him a hard time.
When the door opened, they were in a dark, wood paneled hallway. Music was muffled though the walls but loud enough she was sure it was going to burst her ear drums, and she was totally right. When he put her down and opened the door into the bar for her, she was nearly bowled over by the music. He took her hand firmly in his after a quick scan of the tables, and pulled her behind him towards the right side of the very busy bar.
He didn’t give her much slack, holding her hand very close to him as he maneuvered them through the throng of tables, around the small dance area, and to the line of u-shaped booths along the wall. She felt him grow nervous and squeezed his hand for reassurance.
He stopped at a booth in the middle. There were four people in it. Two dark blon
de males, one brunette female, and a black haired male.
“Linus,” the male in the center of the booth said, sliding his arm around the brunette female possessively. He had dark blonde hair and a goatee and serious blue eyes.
“Jason.” Linus took a slow breath and said, “This is Karly. Karly, this is our alpha Jason, his mate Cadence, Michael our second, and Bo our third.”
Everyone at the table stared at her in silence. Not unfriendly but not exactly welcoming either. They stood in silent limbo for several moments and then Cadence elbowed Jason and he shook his head as if clearing thoughts from it. “Nice to meet you Karly. You can join us, if you’d like.”
Everyone shifted and Linus put her inside next to Cadence and sat on the end. He put his arm around her and held her hand with his other hand under the table.
Bo stood up, “Would you guys like a beer or something? We don’t have table service right now.”
Linus said, “Just a couple sodas, Bo, that would be great.”
Bo nodded and walked off as Michael grunted in disbelief, “Since when do you drink soda at a bar, Linus?”
Linus bristled, “Since I have someone riding in the truck with me and I don’t want to impair my driving ability.”
The frowns and stunned looks told her that it wasn’t typical for Linus to talk like that or to turn down beer. She wouldn’t embarrass him by pointing it out, though. She would offer to drive, but she didn’t know the town well enough yet to get them home in the dark and he would most definitely turn her down anyway.
Bo returned a few minutes later with two sodas. At that moment, the DJ who had taken a break started the music going again. Some women walked by, giggling in that way that girls will when they’re out with their friends and she caught Michael looking after them in a longing sort of way. Maybe Bo wasn’t the only one that was lonely. Karly thought it was different for wolves. Not all of them were lucky enough to get a real mate; they stayed in their own pack and settled down with someone they loved but not necessarily the right wolf for them. Mates weren’t always in the home pack. Looking for a mate, waiting and taking your time – that was how the packs stayed fresh and didn’t grow stagnate. If no new wolves went out and found mates and started families, then, eventually the pack imploded on itself from lack of new blood. Teenagers left for greener pastures but not with the pack in mind, and families disappeared to nothing.
Linus was very calm but she could tell it was partly from holding onto her but also because he was doing a very good job of reining in his emotions. If he was nervous, everyone around them would know and wolves were really funny about nerves.
A woman with honey brown colored hair came over to the table, “Hey guys,” she turned to Karly, “Hi, I’m Callie.”
“Karly, nice to meet you.” She said and extracted her hand from Linus’ with some difficulty to shake her offered one. Bo scooted over and Callie sat down.
“So are you from around here, Karly?” She asked.
“I’m from West Virginia.”
Brows raised at everyone around the table. Michael said, “Did you come here for work or something?”
“No, I was traveling, trying to figure out where to settle down.”
The curious brows shifted slightly to wary and she felt Linus get tense and then he purposely picked up her left hand and put it on the table and five pairs of eyes caught the ring on her ring finger.
Linus said, “I asked Karly to marry me last weekend. Her father is second in his pack, her mother is human.”
Bo and Michael looked dumbfounded. After several quiet moments, Callie broke the silence, “Congratulations, Linus, Karly. I’m so happy for you both.” She smiled genuinely, and Cadence and the others gave their congratulations as well.
Linus relaxed slowly after that, slipping into a conversation with Bo about trucks and she leaned into his side and watched the beads of water gather on the outside of the glass in front of her. She wasn’t really thinking about anything in particular but she wasn’t paying attention to the conversation either.
“Karly?” Linus said.
She snapped from her thoughts of nothing and blinked up at him. “Sorry, what?”
He smiled in that understanding way he had, like he thought she couldn’t ever do anything wrong and apparently repeated himself, “I just offered to host a pack meeting tomorrow night, around dinnertime, at the house. I wanted to make sure you were okay with that.”
She straightened. The chance to cook for the pack was quite an honor, especially for someone so new like her. “Of course, Linus, whatever you want.”
Michael grumbled under his breath and Linus darted a glare at him but looked back at her with adoration in his baby blues, “It will just be the top ranked, so not the whole pack.”
Her head spun as she started to plan the meal in her mind and he looked into her eyes for a little bit longer as if he thought maybe she wasn’t okay with them being at the house, but she totally was. She needed to show Linus that she could handle being part of his life because she’d grown up being taught just how to do it. Although their pack was more modern than hers, Linus was her mate and these people were his closest friends; and if they were unsure of her because they thought she was human and his ex was a nutcase, then she would just have to prove otherwise. And the greatest proof would be Linus’ happiness…and time.
Eventually, everyone at the table relaxed and although she was only half listening because she was putting recipes together in her head, she did find out that Jason and Cadence had only been married for about two months and they were still getting used to being with someone full time. Karly guessed that spoke to how a person viewed marriage and mating. She’d spent so much time alone, searching for the man that she could wake up to every morning for the rest of her life that she craved their coming marriage. But some people, perhaps Jason and Cadence, spent a long time alone and enjoying their solitude. Those were the sorts of couples that fought over which side of the bed they slept on, or who controlled the remote. Personally, Karly didn't care what side of the bed she slept on as long as Linus was holding her, and as far as the remote went, she couldn’t say how often he’d turned on the TV to watch something and they’d ended up missing it completely.
As time dragged by, she was not only bored stiff with sitting in the booth and not really being included in any conversations but she also had to pee. She patted Linus’ hand that had been parked on her shoulder for at least an hour and told him she needed to get up. He walked with her to the bathroom even though she protested she could go on her own, but that possessive look was back in his eyes and she knew he wouldn’t want her out of his sight so she dropped it.
“You’re being really quiet,” he said as they made their way past the throng of tables towards the back where the bathrooms were located.
She didn’t want to sound petulant, because in truth she only really cared about talking to him, but it wasn’t as if any of his friends were being overly friendly. She wasn’t sure she could say anything that wouldn’t make him feel bad. “I’m not exactly being included in any conversations.”
He stopped abruptly and she crashed into his shoulder. He looked worried and angry and he cast his eyes back towards the booth and then he dropped them to hers and slid his thumb across her jaw and hooked his hand behind her neck. “You don’t really like this, do you? Sitting in a bar and basically doing nothing.”
She shrugged, “It’s not really my thing. I’d much rather be home with you, or out doing something, not just,” she stumbled trying to find the right words, “not just sitting at a table with people that don’t trust me not to hurt you.”
“I’m really sorry. I should be doing a better job of including you in the conversation. I basically hung you out to dry.”
“It’s okay, Linus, I promise. Now, I really need to pee, so you know, lead on or get out of the way.”
His smile was forced, but he gave it to her anyway, turning and taking her hand in his and leading her to
the bathroom. She left him in the hallway and went inside and used the facilities. As she smoothed her hair back and adjusted her top, she wondered what they saw when they looked at her. Another chew toy werewolf groupie, looking to bang the big bad? Maybe. Probably. She shuddered at the thought
When she walked out of the bathroom the first thing she saw was that Linus looked furious. His face was harsh planes and banked anger, and it was all directed at a tall woman with dark hair, wearing trampy club clothes. All that anger – she had to be his ex. Well, wasn’t that just icing on the cake of the evening?
Karly slid her arm around him and the woman looked down her long nose at her with surprise that quickly flickered to hurt and anger when her left hand rested on his stomach and the ring glinted in the light. Linus put his arms around Karly protectively and made motions to turn away from her without a word when the woman sneered, “Aren’t you going to introduce me, Linus baby?” The sneer slid into a pout that was all practice. She was clearly used to getting her own way.
A fine tremble went through Linus that Karly recognized as fury. She wasn’t too thrilled with the woman calling him Linus baby, either.
Sucking his teeth in annoyance, he said, “This is my fiancé Karly. Karly, this is Brenda, my ex-wife.”
Karly stared at her and only nodded. She was kind of pretty in that angular way that some women could be, prettier from a distance than close up. She couldn’t imagine that Linus was attracted to her, but then he’d said that he tried to force things with her, so she may just have been one of the first to express an interest in marriage.