The Mating

by Nicky Charles

  “Just be careful, okay? I’m sort of getting used to you, and I don’t want to have to start breaking in a new mate.”

  Kane smiled briefly at her teasing. “Thanks a lot.” He rolled over and faced her. “You did well tonight, Elise. Staying on the phone, then getting hold of John, and you were really compassionate to Marla.” He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead. “That’s one of the things I like most about you.”

  Elise felt all warm and mushy inside from Kane’s praise, but shrugged in response. “I didn’t do that much.”

  “I still appreciate it.” A yawn escaped him, even as he brushed the pad of this thumb over her lips. “I guess I’d better get some sleep. Tomorrow looks to be pretty busy.” He reached over and turned out the light, then pulled Elise to his side.

  *****

  The next few days passed in a blur of activity. Elise had picked up her car and started her job, working a three-hour shift to help with the lunch crowd. Marla was now staying at the house, too nervous to return to her apartment and unwilling to go to work until the bruises faded. Kane left early each morning and came home late at night, busy heading up the search for Ryne. Each night he returned looking exhausted and even more frustrated, quickly eating dinner before burying himself in the office to catch up on the day’s work. A few nights he even went on patrol, hoping to catch Ryne sneaking about the property, but nothing came of it.

  Elise found herself reminiscing about the ‘good old days’ of the previous week when she and Kane had had time to themselves. Her mate was so tired at night that he fell into bed and was sleeping before his head even hit the pillow. There was no companionable cuddling or toe curling sex, though he did put his arm around her if she snuggled up close, but Elise doubted he was aware of what he was doing. Even when he was awake, Kane seemed preoccupied and spent what little free time he had chatting with Marla. The topics ranged from reliving childhood memories, to trying to think of where Ryne might be holed up, to offering the woman comfort and assurance that he wouldn’t allow her to be hurt again.

  At first Elise had sat in on these conversations, trying to contribute, but soon realised that her presence was superfluous. It irritated her, but since the attack, Marla was being so pleasant that Elise felt she could at least let the woman have an hour of Kane’s company each night. While it did mean he had less time with her, Marla had experienced something traumatic, and probably needed a bit of extra attention for a while. Also, Elise didn’t want Kane to think of her as a nagging, jealous mate. She trusted him and—she crossed her fingers—she supposed she could trust Marla too.

  While being attacked was never a good thing, it certainly seemed to have had a positive effect on Marla’s personality. She was quieter, a bit withdrawn and hadn’t said anything snarky since arriving. In fact, she went out of her way to be polite, offering to help around the house. Even when talking to Kane, she was even keeping a respectful distance rather than hanging on his arm. Elise felt herself relaxing around the woman, while even Helen had to admit that Marla wasn’t being her usual nasty self.

  With Kane working so much, Elise was more than happy to have her new job to keep her busy. Being out talking to people was fun and the work wasn’t too hard; her biggest challenge was keeping the orders straight. She admired the other waitresses who hardly had to write down anything.

  After her shift ended, Elise usually wandered the mall for a little while, always stopping at Bastian’s Art Gallery to admire the picture of Kane that she’d seen that first day. It was still on display in the window, the astronomical price making a quick sale unlikely. She didn’t mind that no one bought the photograph, though. It was like her own little secret. While everyone around her saw a wolf, Elise saw her mate and since he was working so much lately, it was one of the few times she did get to see him.

  It was with great surprise then, that she noticed the picture missing one day near the end of the week. At first, she wondered if they had just rearranged the displays, but a quick inquiry told her that it had been sold to a collector who focussed on art featuring wolves. Elise was disappointed that the picture was gone. She didn’t have a photo of Kane and from the sound of it he was not a willing subject. Possibly Marla, having been close to Ryne at the time, might have a copy and Elise could scan it on the computer. Making a mental note to ask her at dinner that night, Elise continued on her way.

  *****

  The meal was almost over when she remembered the photo and introduced the topic. Since Marla hadn’t returned to work yet, Elise thought she’d be pleasantly surprised to learn of the sale. There’d likely be a commission in it for her, as she was probably acting as Ryne’s sales agent.

  “Guess what, Marla? That wonderful picture of Kane finally sold at the gallery. I was by there today after work and it wasn’t in the window, so I asked inside and they said someone who collects art featuring wolves, bought it yesterday.”

  The whole table suddenly went silent and Elise looked around in puzzlement. Everyone was frozen in place. Helen, Carrie, and John appeared surprised. Marla’s face had turned white as a sheet and she was clutching the edge of the table tightly. Turning to Kane, Elise realised why. Kane was glaring at Marla, and without a doubt, he was absolutely furious.

  Helen was the first to speak. “I’d forgotten all about that picture. I’m surprised that you allowed it to be displayed, let alone put up for sale, Kane. It’s not like you at all.” Carrie and John nodded in agreement.

  “And what picture would that be?” Kane’s voice was a deep, low growl.

  Elise swallowed nervously. Something was going on here, but she didn’t know what. “It…it was a picture of you in your wolf form, down by the lake.” She licked her lips and glanced at Marla, who looked ready to leap and run at any moment. “Um…Marla said Ryne had taken it of you a while back. It was very good. I really liked it.” She ended weakly.

  “Marla, how could you?” Kane’s fist hit the table and everyone jumped.

  “N-n-now Kane, calm down. It’s not what you think.” Marla stuttered, pushing her chair back.

  “How can it not be what I think? As a favour to you and Ryne, I let him take that picture with the express understanding that it was a practice shot, never to be shown. Now I find that it’s been on display in a public mall for several weeks and you never thought to tell me? That is directly disobeying my orders!” Kane stood up and towered over Marla, who seemed to be trying to disappear into the floor.

  Gathering her nerve, Elise stood up and stepped between the two, placing her hand on Kane’s arm. “Now Kane, calm down. It really was a great picture. You’d be proud of it and there’s no harm done. Besides, no one will ever know it’s you.”

  Kane shook her hand off and glared. “No harm done? Didn’t you say the picture went to a collector? A collector of wolf art, who no doubt has other similarly minded collectors examining his purchases. What’s going to happen if one of those people starts to realise that there’s something unusual about that wolf? That the proportions are off, the slant of the forehead is different and the set of the ears isn’t quite right? And don’t you think someone might question where such a large wolf might have come from? To the average observer a wolf and a werewolf are identical, but we know differently. One of the collectors might decide that there’s a new undiscovered species in the area and start poking around here, looking for tracks and dens, maybe setting up time-lapse cameras or traps. What’s going to happen then? Hmm? I’ll tell you what. We’ll be constantly looking over our shoulders, worried about being discovered.” Kane whipped his head around and snarled at Marla. “We’ve spent years in this community, trying to stay below the radar. Your little stunt here might just have jeopardised the well-being of every member of this pack!”

  Marla started to cry. “Kane, don’t be angry with me. I…I didn’t want to do it. I know how you feel but…I have a confession to make. About a week after the challenge, Ryne came back to see me. He needed money to leave the area and start fres
h somewhere else, and he wanted me to sell off all his remaining pictures. I said I could find buyers for all of them, but not the picture of you—I remembered what you’d said—but he was desperate for money and I…I loved him and I wanted to help. I never thought that the picture could endanger the pack. I…I’m so sorry.” With that, Marla ran from the room. A minute later, her bedroom door slammed shut.

  Kane stood with his fists clenched, a muscle working in his jaw, then he shoved Marla’s chair against the wall and stormed out.

  *****

  Elise woke the next morning and saw that Kane’s side of the bed was undisturbed. Had he been that angry, that he’d not come home at all or had he been out on a patrol? Maybe he’d come across Ryne and there’d been a fight! He could be hurt somewhere with no one even realising he was missing! Hurriedly she threw on her clothes and ran downstairs to look for him. He wasn’t in his office or in the kitchen and there was no note on the fridge. Worrying her lip with her teeth, she wondered who might know what was going on. Thankfully, at that moment John walked in.

  Grabbing the Beta’s arm, she spoke in a rush. “John, Kane never came to bed last night and I’m worried. He was so angry when he left. Do you know where he might be?”

  “It’s all right, Elise. I talked to him about half an hour ago. He went on patrol since he didn’t think he should be anywhere near Marla.”

  Relief washed over her, and she released her death grip on John’s arm. “Was selling that picture really as bad as Kane made it out to be?”

  “Yes and no.” John wandered over to the stove and poured them both a cup of coffee. Handing one to Elise, he continued. “There’s always a chance that someone will notice something unusual about the photograph, and the fact that it went to a collector who specialises in wolves makes it even riskier. Kane is extremely protective of the pack and the idea of someone endangering it is really hard for him to take. Then there’s the whole obedience and trust thing. Marla not only broke his trust, but disobeyed a direct command, basically flaunting his authority. On top of all that, he’s stressed to the max and working way too hard. It’s not a good combination.”

  “I didn’t think he could get that angry.”

  “I’ve seen him worse, and believe me, it’s not something you want to see. Our Alpha keeps himself under a pretty tight rein. He tries really hard to be civilized and not let the wolf take over, but sometimes it just slips out. When it does, it’s usually justified, like last night. Marla was lucky. A few generations back, the Alpha might have killed her.”

  Elise shivered at the thought. While she was proud of her heritage, there were some aspects of it that she wasn’t as fond of. “So what’s going to happen?”

  “Well he’s decided that part of Marla’s punishment is that she has to get that picture back. I don’t know what kind of a tale she’s going to have to spin or what it will cost, but that’s her concern. Beyond that, if she’s smart she’ll lay low for a while. Kane doesn’t carry a grudge. He blows up and then cools down. He’ll be fine by tomorrow.”

  *****

  Kane didn’t come home for lunch and Marla, just to be on the safe side, stayed in her room. Since it wasn’t her day to work, Elise found herself with nothing in particular to do and so decided to make a call back home to help fill in the time. Sarah answered the phone and Elise was surprised to feel tears welling in her eyes. She hadn’t realised how much she missed the woman.

  They chatted for over half an hour, catching up on the news from home. Elise wondered how Bryan was, but the conversation hadn’t worked around to him yet. Finally, Sarah mentioned his name in passing and Elise jumped on the chance to inquire about him, unconsciously squeezing the handset tighter.

  “How is he? … Really? … He’ll be coming this way tomorrow? … Well, yes of course I’d love to see him … Maybe he could meet me in town. My shift is done at one o’clock … Uh-huh … Well, pass the information on to him and if it works for him, he can call me and make it definite … Okay … I miss all of you too … Yes, I promise to call sooner, but you can call me too, you know! Right … I’m looking forward to it. Bye. I love you!”

  Elise hung up the phone and gave a little twirl of happiness only to come face to face with Marla. “Oh! Hi Marla. How are you doing today?”

  Marla had a strange look on her face, but it quickly disappeared as she answered Elise’s question. “Oh, I’m fine I guess. Still feeling like a whipped puppy over that incident with Kane last night, though.”

  “I’m really sorry I brought it up. Like you, I never thought it would be such a big deal.” Elise gave Marla a sympathetic smile.

  “I know. And I shouldn’t have given in to Ryne, but he can be so persuasive and I was in love…” Marla studied Elise for a moment. “Have you ever been in love?”

  Shifting a bit uncomfortably, Elise felt her face grow warm as she tried to think of a diplomatic answer. She didn’t mind Marla that much anymore, but she didn’t want to discuss close personal matters with her either. “Well…I…”

  “It’s okay, Elise. We all know that you and Kane didn’t make a love match, but it will work out though, you’ll see.” Quickly changing topics, Marla asked about her phone call. “I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help overhear part of your conversation. You sounded pretty enthusiastic about meeting someone tomorrow.”

  “Oh! Just an old friend from back home. We grew up together.”

  Marla nodded. “That should be fun. Well, I’d better get moving. I’m just going to grab a bite to eat and then hide upstairs again. I figure by tomorrow, Kane will have calmed down a bit and I can try to make some apologies.”

  With that, Marla left, humming slightly under her breath. For some reason, Elise felt a sense of unease wash over her. Looking back on the conversation, she couldn’t think of anything in particular that would have caused it though, and finally shrugged it off.

  Chapter 18

  Marla and Kane had a long conversation in his office just before dinner and she left the meeting looking rather subdued, her face tear stained. Elise wondered what had been said but wasn’t sure that she dared ask. She tiptoed past the office, peeking in the open door and saw Kane sitting in his chair. He had his fingers steepled and his eyes closed. A troubled look was on his face, almost as if he were sad… She wondered what he was thinking and how he was feeling. There could be no doubt that recent events were weighing heavily on him, and she speculated that he probably felt everything was falling to pieces around him.

  Hesitating by the door, Elise waged an internal battle. Part of her wanted to go in and offer comfort, or at least a listening ear, yet she wasn’t sure if it would be welcome. Possibly, he just wanted to be left alone for awhile without anyone making demands on him. Then again, maybe he was wishing he had someone to share with… Did he feel ever feel lonely? Frowning, she realised how very little she knew about her mate. Kane had allowed her small glimpses inside himself—she knew a few of his likes and dislikes with regard to food or music, but for the most part he seemed to be a very private man.

  Elise felt a bit guilty when she reflected back on their time together. They’d developed a physical relationship and she was comfortable with Kane on that level, however their relationship outside the bedroom was rather superficial. She knew next to nothing about his background, and hadn’t really made a great deal of effort to find out much about him. So far, she’d been worried about herself—her own feelings, her own insecurities—and hadn’t spent much time thinking about the inner workings of his mind, beyond the fact that as Alpha he felt responsible for the pack.

  He did want some form of relationship with her—he’d said as much the other night—but she hadn’t really pursued that conversation, which really wasn’t very fair of her. She needed to try to find out more about him—ask him some questions about himself—but then again, maybe he didn’t want to have a heart-to-heart talk. Lots of men weren’t into that; her father certainly never opened up about anything, at least not s
ince her mother had died.

  Nervously, Elise hovered outside the office door. Should she go in or should she leave him be? She was almost about to walk in when the decision was taken from her. The phone rang. Kane reached for it and she walked away, relieved yet also a bit disappointed that moment was lost.