Bonded Pair

by Lauren Dane

  Nina’s eyebrows rose in alarm and Megan laughed.

  “You’re shitting me?”

  “I told you it was going to be like chewing tinfoil. I told you we should have flown. But does anyone listen to me? Nope. And you’re the Alpha so get on over there and start squealing too.” Megan shoved her and Nina sent her a look of alarmed murderous intent as Beth caught her arm and dragged her into the melee.

  “Dude, she’s going to get you for that.” Tegan sidled up to her side, chuckling. “Still, it’ll be worth it just to remember that look on her face. Over and over again. Do you think she’d notice if I took a picture with my phone?”

  Megan had the camera out already. “Well, it’s a wedding. We need pictures don’t you think?”

  Grace approached. “I saved you at the restaurant last night,” she said quickly.

  “So you did.” Megan snapped a few pictures of Nina smushed up against several women wearing blouses with at least two dozen pieces of flair on them. She hoped she could find a way to work it into the conversation that Nina needed one just like it. Payment would be steep so she had to make it worth the retribution Nina would heap on her head.

  Nina’s eyes flashed as the camera did and the other Warden women who’d stayed in the background burst out laughing.

  “I’m going to get checked in so we can get the bags squared away,” Megan announced as she quickly stopped at the throng, kissing and hugging everyone. She didn’t even wince when Nina pinched her side.

  Thankfully, her grandmother seemed to want to get away from all the noise so Megan helped her to her room with her bags.

  Once she got her grandmother settled, she turned to leave but Lia Warden wasn’t ready for her to go just yet.

  “Megan, darling, I’ve been thinking about you a lot lately.”

  Uh oh. She turned and smiled but her grandmother had that faraway look in her eyes she got when something witchy was brewing in her head. And the thing of it was, as much as they all made light of her grandmother’s little pronouncements, she was always right. Damned spooky.

  “Is that so? Should I be worried?”

  “Well, big things for you. All of my grandchildren are destined for greatness. But none of you has had an easy path. I wish I could say I thought it would be different for you. But I don’t. You have a trial ahead. I don’t know if the ending will be something you want or not.” Her grandmother cocked her head and touched Megan’s cheek. “But you’re strong. Your heart is full and you know to count on your family and who you are.”

  “Is this about a dude or politics or what?”

  Her grandmother shrugged and then leaned in to kiss Megan’s cheek. “I never know. I didn’t know about Nina, just that her brother would get killed. I sensed Pellini but not Grace. Could be your mate, could be something else. You’ll be ready for it. I know you will. You’re my girl.”

  With that, she was dismissed as her grandmother turned on the television and exclaimed when she saw it was an episode of Law and Order. Once Jerry Orbach was on the screen, Megan knew she’d been forgotten so she waved absently, called out her thanks and an I love you, and let herself out.

  Despite her grandmother’s little talk, Megan was free. Blessedly so for the first time in a few days and that in and of itself was cause for happiness. She quickly got herself to her room, sighing happily after she closed the door and began to root through her suitcase for her swimsuit.

  But of course ten minutes after she’d ensconced herself in the sun, a cool iced tea at the ready, her iPod working and her sunglasses shading her eyes, her mother showed up.

  “Megan, we need an extra set of hands. We’re stuffing the favors for the tables. Well, don’t you look nice? My goodness that’s a very sexy swimsuit.”

  With a sigh and a bit of a cringe at her mother saying her suit was sexy, she heaved herself up from her lounger. She barely had time to yank her cover-up on as her mother dragged her over to the big table just across the pool area where she saw the rest of her family had gathered.

  “Okay, I’ll give you a freebie because, as Dave reminded me, I did give you a hard time just last month with Lex.” Nina looked so magnanimous when she said it Megan snorted.

  “I let your ass go off to the garden show with just one guard and then you got your butt hauled in to the station house because you started arguing with a cop. Lex yelled at me for twenty minutes.”

  Nina snickered. “Yeah, like I said. But don’t abandon me again.”

  “Whatever. I got years of freebies after being your guard. Don’t forget it the next time I need a favor.”

  She really got a look at the table and suddenly wished for those hours back in the car on the way south. Piles and piles of neatly cut squares of... “What is this?”

  “Tulle! Isn’t it precious? It matches my bridesmaids’ dresses perfectly! You see how I’ve got three shades of purple?” Sherry actually giggled and Megan had a few uncharitable thoughts about her cousin and her predilection to speaking in exclamation points.

  “So you take this cashew mix, and isn’t that clever? Because you know everyone else does Jordan almonds but we did cashew mix with a little bit of sugar on the outside!” Sherry’s mother had the same giggle. “And you put three or four pieces here in the center and then tie it in a bow like this.” Nancy made quick work of the little packet and put it aside. “Just be sure to use the ribbon that coordinates with the tulle.”

  And so began three hours of stuffing nuts into tiny squares of differently hued purple net. Three hours. Even Layla began to get cranky after hour two.

  Finally they broke for dinner and headed back to their rooms to get changed.

  Nina’s and Megan’s rooms adjoined so Nina threw the connecting door open and then dramatically fell on Megan’s bed with a howl. “Oh my God. Seriously? Your mother is insane. She enjoyed that. Every minute of fucking ribbon talk and she got a spoon and ate it up. I’m officially brain-dead.”

  Megan laughed as she swiped some lip gloss on and zipped the side of her dress. “And you thought she was on you to have kids before you finally ponied up and had Gabby. At least you didn’t have to go through this to get married.”

  “Yes well, I nearly died and all, which sort of gives me a get-out-of-tulle-free card.” Nina rolled over and sat up.

  “Whatever. You can’t live off that one forever. You’re like the queen of the Pack now so stop whining. Anyway, you snuck off four or five times to call home. And by the way, calling home does not include hanging out having ice cream on the other side of the pool. If you’re going to skive off, at least hide it better.”

  Nina wandered into her room grumbling and returned some moments later, yanking a dress on and turning her back to Megan. “Zip me, sister.”

  Megan zipped the dress and swatted Nina’s rear. “Zipped. And you know? I mean, silly tulle and twelve shades of purple aside, she was totally happy to be getting married. That’s pretty cool even if she works my nerves. You should be that excited to be uniting your life with your partner. Sure, sure, in a less annoying fashion would be my preference, but when I finally sniff out Mr. Right, I’d like to be that flipping into it.”

  Nina smiled. “Yeah, you’re right. But if we have to do anything like that tomorrow I’m faking appendicitis. Do werewolves have appendicitis?”

  Megan laughed as they left to meet the rest of the group for dinner.

  * * *

  After the three-hour dinner where yet more exclamation-point-littered conversation about tulle and purple ribbon took up nearly every last bit of oxygen, Megan escaped and fell into bed, exhausted.

  At least she’d managed to have a quiet word with Tee about heading off for shooting and shoes, two of their favorite things. They hadn’t schemed together like that in a while, so that had made her heart lighter.

  Visions of targ
ets and the perfect pair of heels danced in her head as she finally dropped off to sleep.

  But she should have known it was too good to be true.

  As she and Tegan quickly and quietly made their way down the back stairwell and through the side of the lobby to escape for their day of freedom, they halted at the sight of their mother blocking the doors.

  “There you girls are! You two look so pretty today. It’s funny,” she said, grabbing them both and turning them away from freedom and leading them back toward the interior of the hotel, “you two look so much alike when you’re together trying to outmaneuver me like you did when you were little. You weren’t leaving were you? Because Layla is over with the groom’s mother and sister at the fitting and I just caught Nina and sent her to go ride along with Sherry to take one last look at the flowers. Isn’t it nice we had an expert? And Tracy is sleeping in this morning, she says she’s not well after the trip, poor dear. But you two and Grace can help with errands.”

  Tegan looked over the top of their mother’s head at Megan and they both rolled their eyes. It’d been a long time since the two of them teamed up to outwit their mother and it’d been fun while it lasted. At least she wasn’t off with Sherry looking at roses like Nina was.

  Chapter Two

  Well, at least she wasn’t tying bows to chairs.

  Instead she sat in the bar at LAX, sipping a club soda with lime, absently watching a baseball game on the big screen across the room. Her mother had sent her to pick up a relative from the groom’s side, who also happened to be Layla’s Anchor, Shane Rosario.

  Shane the doctor. Shane the purported pretty boy who practiced medicine in Las Vegas and lived like a human, outside a Pack. Which was why she’d never met him. In a culture where an Anchor was like a member of your family, it was common for Anchors to spend good chunks of time with the pair he was bonded with.

  But not Shane. Aside from the one weekend he’d come up from medical school over a decade before to perform the tri-bond with Layla, he’d not ever been to Cascadia territory. He’d met her family once and Megan had been away on a high school ski trip and wasn’t there. Tracy talked about him for years afterward though.

  Lay and Sid traveled to Vegas at least twice a year to see him and they often emailed and spoke on the phone but he didn’t have a close relationship with the kids.

  Frankly, Megan thought it was strange and sort of offensive. But Layla defended him, saying he was raised to be suspicious of werewolf culture by his mother who’d never made the change from human to werewolf. What sort of mindfuck would it be to be raised by someone who hated what you were? She couldn’t even begin to imagine.

  And in the end, what difference did it make? If it was all right with Sid and Layla, her feelings were irrelevant.

  * * *

  Shane hefted his overnight bag and headed toward baggage claim. The plane had arrived early so he’d just get his suitcase and call Layla to let her know he was there. She was probably here already anyway. He smiled, thinking about her. If it weren’t for her presence at this wedding he’d have never agreed to come.

  As it was, his paternal aunts would be there and would pester him relentlessly about when he planned to settle down and live within a Pack. His father had given up years before and Shane ignored the twinge of pain he knew he’d caused by his rejection of half his racial identity.

  He was doing just fine in Las Vegas. He dated human women and one day he’d find one he liked enough to marry and then they’d adopt children. He didn’t want to raise a child like he was, part of something he didn’t understand or want to accept. He shuddered to think how his mother would react anyway.

  Once he’d exited the security area, he passed by a small bar. The Dodgers game on the big screen caught his attention first, but nearly immediately he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of the honeyed blonde sitting alone, sipping her drink. Slow green eyes, heavy lidded but sharp, slid from the game to his face and recognition hit, holding him rooted to the spot.

  Her otherness radiated from her body. She wasn’t human but her smile, the way one corner of her mouth tilted up like the curve of a waist, was more than reason enough to overlook it. He was in Los Angeles after all, loads of shifters in the Southland.

  He ambled over and she cocked her head as she leaned back and pushed the chair opposite hers out with a prettily sandaled foot.

  “Hi there.” He grinned.

  The scent of the lime in her soda water tickled his nose. But it was her elemental scent that made his hormones sit up and take notice. She smelled like honey and heady flowers.

  She tucked her hair behind an ear and simple gold hoops winked in the low light. “Hi yourself.”

  “So the story goes like this,” he said, leaning in to take a deep whiff of her and liking it. A lot. “Here I am, dreading seeing a bunch of relatives and I walk past and see you. The sight of those green eyes of yours just made my day a lot better.”

  God he was usually way smoother than this but she made him feel sort of giddy. Stupid with wanting to touch her.

  She laughed. “My goodness, I bet you say that to all the werewolves you meet in airport bars.” Her graceful hands fiddled with her napkin, shredding it into long strips and then balling the strips up. Over and over. Silly but it mesmerized him.

  He figured Layla would forgive him for being late if he stayed and chatted this lovely lady up for a bit longer. His plane would only be arriving just now anyway, he thought as he checked his watch.

  That’s when she checked her watch and swore softly. “I’m sorry. I’m picking someone up. I need to get to baggage claim. If I lose him, my sister will kill me.”

  He nearly lost his mind when she stood. Her waist was so close he could have leaned in and brushed his lips against her belly. He smelled her, the heat of her skin, the full-on spice of her arousal. Licking his lips to try and get himself under control, he thought hard and realized what she’d said.

  “Wait.” He stood. “This is so weird. I’m Shane Rosario. I should have recognized those beautiful eyes. You’re one of Layla’s sisters, right?”

  She took a step back and a wall slammed between them suddenly. “Oh.” She heaved a breath. “Yes. Of course. I’m Megan. Nice to meet you. Shall we go get your bags then? I know Layla can’t wait to see you.”

  She hurried past as he tried to figure out what exactly had happened. Had Layla been angry with him and said something negative to her sister? Is that why she wasn’t there to pick him up herself?

  Scrambling to catch up with the younger and ever-so-fetching Warden sister, he took a moment to admire the long legs and the high, tight ass. A shocking vision nearly felled him. A vision of his fingers digging into that muscle as he fucked deep into her body, the sheen of sweat on her bare skin making her glow like moonlight.

  * * *

  Of course he was Layla’s Anchor. Why not? The first hot-looking werewolf who’d come on to her when she was pretty open to random sexing to take her mind off ribbon-and-tulle squares and he’s her sister’s man. Well, sort of. Enough sort of to invoke the sister rule.

  Funny how she’d felt this total connection with him right off too. Probably the anchor connection he had to her sister. She wanted to fuck the hell out of Jack Meyers too and he was Grace’s Anchor. Maybe that was it.

  She just needed to get his luggage and haul his ass back to the hotel so he could hang out with Layla while Megan avoided him the best she could until they returned to Seattle on Sunday.

  My goodness, though, but he was big. Big and brawny and really masculine. Just the way she liked her men. When a woman was five-eight, it was hard to find a man who filled that secret little thrill spot. Megan was a tough person, hard in a lot of ways, she could handle just about any physical threat and it was her job to do so. But it would be so nice to have a man who could take charg
e, make her feel cosseted from time to time.

  She sighed and his long strides ate up the ground until he’d caught up with her. “I was expecting to see Layla. Is she all right?”

  Oh now that was just rich, wasn’t it? Megan held her annoyance in check, barely, as they rounded the corner and headed toward the baggage area for his flight.

  “Sorry, you’re stuck with me for your ride. She’s been dealing with the groom’s family today, taking them places, all that stuff. Everyone was shorthanded so I got sent to pick you up.” She knew the smile she sent his way was tight when he winced a bit.

  “God, I’m really fucking this up. You’re mad and I didn’t...it wasn’t my intention to insult you. I was just curious about Lay. Believe me, it’s no chore to be picked up from the airport by a woman with legs as long as yours.”

  His grin was sexy too. She saw a bit of Sid in his face, not so surprising as they were cousins after all. He had the same black hair, the olive complexion. His eyes brown, not extraordinarily so, but they were big and nice. The dimple she saw when he grinned, just to the side of his mouth was positively delicious.

  “You’ll see Lay at the hotel. She’s excited you’re coming.” She turned back to the conveyor belt and he grabbed his suitcase and turned back her way.

  * * *

  “Okay, ready.”

  He had no idea what the hell was going on but that question about Layla had pushed her away even further. Gone was the sexy, flirty smile she’d gifted him with in the bar, replaced by a cool distance.

  Damned if his ridiculous need to touch her still wasn’t there, though. He didn’t want her to be upset with him. He certainly didn’t want her thinking he was an asshole. If for no other reason than she was Layla’s sister, he wanted to get along with her. But he liked Megan Warden. Liked the way she prowled as she walked.

  She was a woman totally at home in her skin and he envied it. Envied the ease with which she wore her otherness. It was sexy, exciting, incredibly enticing.