Heart of the Pack

by Jenny Frame

  Lena murmured in her sleep and Caden slinked away. She was not prepared to risk being seen, but Saturday couldn’t come quickly enough for her. She would be able to spend the whole day with Lena, and try to show her how wonderful she was.

  *

  Caden sat in her truck outside Lena’s apartment waiting for her to come out. She had called Lena the night before to set up a time to pick her up. Lena had sounded surprised that Caden remembered her promised day out, as she hadn’t heard from her in two days.

  Caden hated the deception, but it was essential to maintain the pack secret. Of course, unbeknownst to Lena, Caden had in fact seen her every night while she slept. She prowled around the building, guarding, scent marking, and climbing the fire escape at the back to gaze upon her as she slept.

  She caught a glimpse of herself in the rearview mirror and checked the large aviator sunglasses she had chosen to wear today. Between the sunglasses and the brim of her Stetson shading her face, her healed injuries should be less obvious.

  When Caden saw the apartment building door open and Lena walk through, she felt that thrum of excitement in her blood, a new feeling since meeting Lena. She jumped out and took the picnic basket from Lena’s good arm. “Hey, you sure made a lot. Did you manage okay?”

  She had offered to pick up some food for them to take with them, since Lena’s arm was pretty useless, but Lena had insisted she wanted to provide food for them and that she would cope.

  “Yes, I hope you like it all, and don’t worry, there’s no salad in there for you. Stella and Vance took me to the store and did all the lifting for me. I asked them what you liked.”

  Caden laughed nervously, wondering what those two troublemakers had said to Lena. “Great. I can’t wait to eat.” She stowed the basket in the back, then helped Lena into the high truck cab and jumped in. “So, we ready?”

  “How’s your face? I’ve felt so bad about it.”

  “I told you—it’s fine. I’m made of tough stuff.” Caden looked straight ahead and turned on the engine. Don’t ask anymore. Please.

  “Caden?”

  When she turned, Lena reached up and took the sunglasses from her face. Caden didn’t stop her.

  “I don’t understand. You don’t have a mark.”

  She had tried to prepare what she would say, but now in the moment, her mind went blank. “Uh…it wasn’t that bad once it was cleaned up. The blood made it look worse than it was.”

  Lena stared at her openmouthed. “I expected you to have two large panda eyes at least, but it looks like nothing ever happened.”

  “Well, I’m a fast healer, and the doctor has this special cream. He makes it himself from plants that grow in the forest. It’s an old family recipe, and it takes away bruising superfast.”

  Lena was about to ask another question when Caden spotted Dion across the street, and it seemed the perfect way to change the subject. “Oh, look! It’s Dion.”

  “Where?” Lena looked around.

  “Over there, outside the flower store. It’s her big date with Tia tonight.”

  Lena brought her hand to her mouth. “That’s so sweet. She’s buying her flowers. What excitement she must feel. Her first date.”

  Caden did know what that felt like—she was feeling it now. “Can we get going now? We have a lot of things to see today. I have it all planned out.”

  Lena gave her a sweet smile and said, “I can’t wait.”

  *

  Caden marched up the incline holding the picnic basket as if it weighed nothing. Behind her, a struggling Lena tried to keep up.

  Lena stopped to catch her breath, and called in desperation, “Caden?”

  “What? Oh, are you okay?” Caden hurried back to her. “Is your arm hurting?”

  Lena stood cradling her cast and breathing hard. “I can’t keep up with you—you’re going too fast.”

  “I’m sorry. I’m forgetting my stride is a lot bigger than yours. The picnic spot is just over the brow of this incline. It’s a beautiful spot.”

  “You’re too everything,” Lena teased, still gasping for air. “You’re carrying that basket like there’s nothing in it. How strong are you anyway?” She’d noticed that every time she mentioned something about Caden’s physical prowess, Caden’s eyes flitted about nervously, as if trying to work out an answer. There was something different about Caden, and she was going to work out what it was.

  “Well, I…”

  “You’re the strongest person I’ve ever met,” Lena said and saw a smile form on Caden’s face and her chest puff up at the compliment.

  “Thank you. Take my arm for the last part of the climb. I’ll get you there.”

  Caden did indeed help get her over the brow of the hill. It led to a meadow, which looked down over the lake and made for a stunning view.

  “Wow. This is beautiful. It’s just breathtaking.”

  “I hoped you’d like it.”

  She looked over to Caden and smiled. “Like it? That’s an understatement. I’ve never been in a place as beautiful as Wolfgang County. You’re very lucky to live here.”

  “We all think so.” Caden laid the blanket she had brought from the truck and said, “So? Can we eat? ’Cause I’m starving.”

  Lena dropped to her knees on the rug and began to organize the food, which wasn’t easy with one arm in a cast. Caden sat and reminded Lena of a puppy waiting for a treat.

  She pulled out various containers from the box and placed them on the blanket. “Okay, we have chicken wings, basted with my own spicy sauce, turkey, corned beef, and ham sandwiches, some slaw, potato salad…what would you like?”

  “Some of each, just pile it on. I’m ravenous.”

  Lena started to pile up the plate with a bit of everything with a chuckle. “I think you must have a hollow leg the way you eat.”

  Caden took off her checked shirt and tossed it to the side, leaving her in a sleeveless T-shirt. Lena was mesmerized by Caden’s muscular arms and shoulders.

  She took the plate Lena was holding and said, “I need a lot of energy, you know.”

  Without thinking, Lena replied, “Yes, I can see that.”

  Caden grinned, and Lena felt the familiar feeling of a blush climbing from her neck. The feeling of embarrassment was different from her usual sort of anxiety—it was a heat rising from inside that made her heart beat fast in a good way. She was ogling Caden like a schoolgirl with a crush, and it was making her look like an idiot.

  Before Caden took a bite of her food, she asked Lena, “You are going to eat something, aren’t you? You did promise if I took you up here to burn calories, you would eat.”

  “Technically, I promised I would eat the large breakfast you bought the other day, but I will eat some, don’t worry.”

  “Great.” Caden attacked her food and was obviously enjoying it so much, Lena was sure she could hear a soft growl. “Mmm, these chicken wings are so good, Lena. You can really cook.”

  Lena smiled shyly. “Thank you. That’s one thing I’m proud that I can do. I spent a lot of my childhood in the kitchen with our cook. She was my best friend and taught me all she knew.”

  Caden finished her huge plate and watched Lena nibble at her own. “Will you tell me about your family? I’d love to know more about you.”

  “If you like. We’re not very interesting. My father, Luther, is a judge, and my two brothers are partners in one of the top law firms in New York. My mother, Veronica, owns her own fashion magazine company.”

  “Wow, an accomplished family.”

  Lena stared downward to her plate and set it aside. “Yes, career success is very important in my family. My brothers—Greg and Tom—graduated top of their class at law school. Father and Mother are very proud.”

  “So you thought you’d be different and be an accountant. Do you enjoy that?”

  Lena smiled. “I love numbers. They’re predicable, they never change or let you down. But I didn’t want to be an accountant.”

  Caden raise
d an eyebrow at this news. “Oh? So what did you want to be when you grew up? A ballerina? An astronaut?”

  Lena giggled and nudged Caden with her good arm. “No, silly. Since I was in junior high, I wanted to be a math teacher. I wanted to show kids that numbers didn’t have to be scary or boring—numbers can be beautiful and fun.”

  “Why didn’t you do it, then?”

  Lena was fascinated watching Caden eat her food. She stripped every last piece of meat off the chicken wings, leaving perfectly clean bones. She sucked at the bones with a low growl until she saw she was being watched, then quickly put them down and inhaled all the side dishes in a minute.

  Caden put down her plate and lay back on the blanket, resting up on her elbows. “So?”

  Lena shook herself from her thoughts and said, “What? Become a teacher?”

  “Yeah, if you loved it like you said you did, why not?”

  Lena’s breath caught at the sight of Caden lying back, her arm muscles taut and the afternoon sunlight blazing down on her. She was magnificent.

  She realized Caden was calling her name and had caught her dreaming. “Huh? Oh, Father would never allow one of his children to be a teacher. He always says, People who can do, do, and people who can’t, teach, Selena. We are a family that do.”

  Caden looked annoyed. “He said that? Who does he think teaches the next generation of lawyers, doctors, judges, and accountants? People who teach cu—children are respected in Wolfgang County.”

  “I know, but that’s who Father is, and Mother too. They said if I wanted to work with numbers, I should be an accountant.” When she saw Caden shake her head and scowl, she said, “There’s no changing them. I just have to accept it. But I love kids—I used to do tutoring all through high school and college. It was the most fun part of my day.”

  Caden thankfully let the matter drop. Lena was embarrassed trying to explain her dysfunctional family.

  “In a way I’m glad you took this career path, because I would never have met you otherwise, and your friendship means the world to me.”

  “It does?” Lena asked with surprise.

  “Sure, I feel like I’ve known you all my life, like I was meant to know you.”

  Lena couldn’t quite believe somebody as good looking and supremely confident could think she was anything more than a weird, strange oddball, but Caden did, and that had never happened before. She had a connection with Caden that she couldn’t explain. Every failing she saw in herself, Caden seemed to possess the opposite quality. Her utterly unashamed confidence in her body and place in the world made her so attractive.

  “Me too. I’ve never been able to talk with someone like this, without them thinking I was weird, anyway.”

  Caden reached up and brushed her long hair out of her face. “You’re not weird. You are perfect.”

  Lena opened her mouth to speak, but nothing would come out. She was struck dumb by that comment. No one, apart from her uncle, had ever said anything like that to her before, and with such kindness. She didn’t know how to respond.

  An awkward silence settled between them until Caden said, “Tom and Greg are very everyday names. How did you get a beautiful name like Selena? It doesn’t seem like a name your parents would pick.”

  “It wasn’t. Uncle Joel chose my name. He was my mother’s brother, and the black sheep of the family. He was a musician, an artistic type. The only one who really connected with me.” Lena smiled sadly. “I was an unexpected baby, to say the least, for my parents. My brothers are six and ten years older than I am. Mother often tells me how I came at a very inconvenient time. Her first two magazines were a huge success, and she was just about to launch them overseas when she became pregnant.”

  “How could a child be inconvenient?” Caden said angrily.

  Selena shrugged her shoulders. “It wouldn’t be to me, but my parents are life planners, down to the very last detail. A third child and a girl did not fit that plan. Anyway, when I was born, my uncle asked what they had called me. Mother told him they couldn’t think of a name, as they had picked out all boys’ names. Uncle Joel wasn’t like my parents, he was kind and loving, and the only person to ever look at me and find nothing wrong with me.” Until you.

  Caden looked utterly horrified at her description of her family, and she was embarrassed. “Mother and Father told him he could name me. He told me that when he walked over to the hospital window and looked out on the cold, clear night and saw a full moon, he chose Selena. I loved him a great deal.”

  “He sounds nice, and he couldn’t have chosen a better name. Magical things happen on a full moon,” Caden said with a smile.

  Lena smiled back and started to clear up the picnic things.

  “Hey, Lena? Once we’ve got everything cleared up, how about I take you down to see the lake?”

  “That would be really nice. It’s beautiful.”

  Caden stood and began to help gather up the picnic things, and a question popped into Lena’s head. She summoned all her courage to ask. “Caden? Will you have dinner with me?” She held her breath for the reply. Caden had turned down dinner once before and it had hurt. She was taking a big chance asking a second time, but she really did not want their day to end.

  Caden hesitated for a few seconds before saying, “I’d like that, but only if you let me help you. Your arm’s going to be really sore after this afternoon.”

  She took Caden’s offered hand and stood up. “Okay. I’ll let you help.” You make me feel so much, Cade.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  After their day out, Caden and Lena stopped off at the store so Lena could pick up some things for dinner. Caden had persuaded her that it would be acceptable to eat steak after all the exercise she had done today.

  They were now sitting at the table enjoying what they had made, and Lena hummed in contentment at every bite. She had to let Caden cut the steak into bites for her, as she couldn’t use a knife, and that was embarrassing, but she couldn’t remember the last time she had eaten a steak. It was certainly a long time ago. She looked up and saw Caden grinning and watching her eat. “What?”

  “I enjoy watching you eat. Do you realize, the color has come back to your cheeks today. All because you’ve been eating well.”

  Every time Caden mentioned her eating habits, a small part of her felt resistant and annoyed. “I can’t eat like this all the time—besides, I’m still having a salad.” That was the one concession she had persuaded Caden to make. Caden had a baked potato with her steak, but she simply had a side salad.

  “Your body is crying out for nourishment, Lena. You don’t have to be a doctor to see that.”

  Lena sighed. “You know I don’t want to talk about this.” Caden couldn’t seem to help trying to dominate her again.

  They had nearly fallen out in the store when Caden insisted on buying the food for them, demanding it was her role—whatever that meant—to provide the meat for Lena’s table.

  Lena had been left fuming. The car ride home had been very quiet, but Caden managed to patch things up with her by laughing and joking as she helped Lena cook dinner.

  But now, Caden had gone quiet, and Lena felt the need to make things better. “Cade?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I have ice cream for you for desert.”

  Caden’s smile returned. “I can’t wait.”

  “Only if you’re good, though.”

  Caden snapped her head up and said, “I can be good.”

  Her heart started to beat double time. Caden had this way of looking her, which made her blood feel hot, something she had never felt before in her life. The only way she could describe the look was that Caden had predator eyes. Eyes that made Lena feel naked, and ready to give her anything she wanted.

  She ached for Caden to touch her, to take possession of her body, and the dreams that she continued to have about her left her frustrated and hungry. It was a strange, foreign sensation to feel hungry for another person, but one that was inescapable when C
aden looked at her.

  “How do you wish me to be good?” Caden asked.

  “Well, I’d like to know about you. I told you about my family earlier, and you never talk about yourself.”

  “There’s not much to tell. I live a very simple, uncomplicated life. What would you like to know?”

  Lena pushed her plate to the side, with the knife and fork perfectly positioned at an angle, and rested her chin on her good arm. “I’d like to know about your family.”

  Caden stabbed her fork into her last piece of meat, and then didn’t feel like eating it. She hated to talk about her past. She only ever had spoken about it with Dante or Eden, but she felt safe opening up to Lena. “If you want to know anything, I’ll tell you.”

  “Why don’t I take my meds, and we can sit on the couch. It’ll be much more comfortable.”

  “Sure.” Caden stood and cleared the table for Lena, then walked across the room to the couch. How would she explain it to a human?

  “So? The story of Caden?” Lena sat cross-legged on the couch beside Caden, cradling her cast, and eagerly waiting to hear what made her tick.

  “It’s hard to know where to start. I’m not much of a talker.”

  “Neither am I, but I can talk to you. I hope you feel the same.”

  Caden saw Lena looked unsure and was determined not to let her down. “My pater was…”

  “Pater?” Lena asked.

  “Yeah, it’s kind of a local tradition. Because we don’t assign roles based on gender, we say pater for what you would know as father.”

  “So a woman could be pater?”

  I’m digging deeper and deeper here. “Yes, my pater was a woman.”

  “Really?” Lena was learning a lot more than Caden ever intended. “Wolfgang County just keeps surprising me. It’s the most wonderful place I’ve ever been.”

  It pleased her so much that Lena liked her home. She was so proud of the Wolfgang pack, and it made her happy to see Lena see what every wolf did. “We think so. I’m glad you do.”