by Lauren Dane
Manners, pfft. He was being a dick and she wanted to kick him. Instead she took a chance. “Can I be honest with you?”
The stiffness in Cade’s spine lessened and his formal demeanor wisped away, replaced by a genuine grin, complete with dimple. This one must have been a handful before he met Grace.
“I would be honored if you would be honest with me. We’re family after all and I value truth over fake manners any day.”
“I don’t much want to walk around and pretend like I’m not annoyed my mate is having an intimate moment with another woman and her kids. I know it sounds stupid as I have another man already. And probably insulting since the woman with her hands all over my mate is your wife and all, but I’ve had pretty much the most trying week of my life and I find myself incapable of pretense just at this time.”
Cade’s head tipped back and he laughed. A rich, sexy sound that brought a shiver and finally Jack’s attention. Grace turned and Renee sent a pointed look at her hands and back to her face.
A smile touched the other woman’s mouth as she removed her hands. She spoke to Jack, who handed the girls in his arms back to Grace. When he straightened, he sought Renee out, his face relaxing into a smile made just for her.
“Sweetheart, let’s go on through to the family room and the dining room. Grace tells me there are several wolves who can’t wait to meet you.” She felt his joy through their bond. Happiness at being with her, happiness at sharing that with his family. Her desire to snatch him baldheaded eased a tiny bit.
A tug on her sweater caught her attention. She turned and knelt to get eye to eye with the little boy trying to get her attention. Immediately she saw it in his eyes and on his skin. He was ill.
“Hello, you. I bet you don’t feel well.” Renee brushed the hair back from a clammy forehead.
Jack knelt with her. “Henri, this is Renee. She’s my mate. Renee, this is Henri, the youngest Warden.”
“It’s very nice to meet you, Henri. Your pictures, and more of your sisters too, are hanging on my wall at home. We live near a park, you know. Just right across the street. There are swings. One day when you’re feeling better, you and your sisters should come play. You’re very special to Jack, and that’s important to me. Would you like something to drink?”
“Everything okay?” Grace’s tone was edged in worry and threaded with condescension. God, did everything have to be so complicated?
Jack’s body language changed slightly. Whatthefuckever, this was dumb.
Henri snuggled up close to Renee, so she picked him up when she stood. “I don’t think Henri is feeling well, Grace. I’ve got some tea that will help his tummy. It’s at home, but it shouldn’t take too long for me to run back and grab it. Or you probably have—”
Grace interrupted. “I’m a doctor.” Grace reached and took Henri from Renee, putting him down.
She kept trying. Perhaps Grace was just one of those people who seemed bitchy at first but it was more that she didn’t have social skills. “Yes, I’ve heard. Jack was telling me about a clinic you’d started here in the area. That’s a heady achievement.”
Cade and Jack had been in conversation about something or other. It was just Grace and Renee and the elephant in the room.
“I’m sure actual medicine would help if there were anything wrong with my children. We don’t do that herbal stuff.” Grace’s look was smug and Renee wasn’t having any of it.
“Really? I know some stuff that might help with that obstruction blocking your colon right now.”
Grace looked puzzled for about half a minute until she got that Renee just told her she had a stick up her ass.
They locked horns, and Renee realized, as she spooled power from the air around where they stood, that she had something just as good as shifting into something with teeth and claws. Her mother-in-law had said pretty much the same thing on the phone to her the day before and of course, she’d been right. Renee was done taking shit and this bitch in front of her was going to learn the first lesson.
Henri head-butted Renee’s leg and smiling, she stooped to pick him up again.
Grace put her hand in between them. “I think he’s just tired and overwhelmed.”
“Overwhelmed by what? Has he had a busy day? I’m not worried he’s contagious or anything. It’s no hardship to hold him.” Renee saw illness around him, but nothing she could see any more serious than a stomachache.
“No. He’s just fine where he’s at.”
Oh no she did not.
“What is your problem?” She asked it in a light enough tone to keep Henri or her idiot of a mate from being alarmed.
“Problem? You’re trying to work some magic on my kid without my permission. That’s my problem.”
“Magic? I picked him up and felt his forehead. I didn’t—”
Grace interrupted again. “We don’t need you and your tea leaves. We were doing just fine before you came along and turned Jack’s life upside down.”
“Tea leaves? What are you talking about? He’s pasty and has a fever. I can tell just by looking at him. I offered you some tea for him. You said no and insulted me, but I let that pass because I have manners even if you don’t. I haven’t done anything to you or anyone else. I don’t even read tea leaves, by the way. I’m not a fortune teller, I run a juice and coffee bar for goodness sake.”
“Yes, I heard. Congratulations, it’s a heady achievement.”
Renee blinked a few times, her inner bitch now fully engaged. “Oh no you did not just say that. Listen here, I don’t know who you think you are, but to me, you’re a nasty, selfish bit...person. You want to come at me, you do it like a big girl, why don’t you? I get that you don’t know me and so you’re not sure how I’ll be for Jack. But you don’t insult my work, my education and my life without even knowing me, you stuck-up, elitist C.O.W. I sincerely hope your bedside manner is better than this haughty little tantrum you’re throwing because you can’t have Jack anymore.”
Henri, who’d been patting a sticky palm against the window a few feet from them, turned and wailed as he projectile vomited. Renee only wished Grace had been closer to receive the full brunt of it. Being right was awesome, but she felt terrible for the sweet little guy.
Both men, who’d been standing by clearly not knowing what to do as they’d watched the increasingly hostile interaction between the women, managed to spring into action. Henri was not her child and his mother clearly didn’t want her to be near him, so Renee moved to gather her things. She needed to be done with this situation and as soon as possible. She’d made a promise to herself on the way over. No more taking shit from anyone. This was the first step.
“Thank you for inviting us to dinner. I’m going to head out now,” Renee said to Cade, who shook his head and reached for her. Reacting without thinking, Renee threw an energy wall around herself, and Cade staggered back. Wow, that was pretty cool and all, but whoa, she’d just assaulted the Supreme Alpha.
The room filled with growling werewolves wondering what the hell had happened. Jack yelled in the background, shoving people off him, giving orders and trying to get to her.
Great.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.” She halted, not sure what else to say.
“No, I’m the one who’s sorry. I shouldn’t have grabbed for you. You did the same any of us would do if someone rushed at us in the midst of an argument.” Cade took a step back, his hands open. “Please don’t leave.”
“I said, stand down!” Jack ordered in a terse bark. The wolves all around obeyed. “You mind telling me what you said to Renee?” he asked Grace, who’d returned with a far calmer and cleaned-up Henri. Now he wanted to deal with it? With a dozen pissed-off, wary wolves in the room too?
“I was unconscionably rude.” She turned to Renee, who nodded, agreeing. “I apologize. I was total
ly out of line. He was sick. He apparently ate seven pieces of sausage just a few minutes ago. Why no one thought to stop him I don’t know.” She sent a glare at Cade. “You were right and I didn’t see it because I wanted you to be wrong.”
“For Jack.”
Grace nodded. “You’re so lovely. Full of light and life. Calm and kind. I wanted you to be horrible. Which is stupid because I am happy for Jack and God knows I had difficulties with my sister-in-law at first too. I remember telling myself I’d never treat my anchor’s mate the way Nina had treated me. I was worse. Nina was just a grumpy, pregnant werewolf. I was a jealous, hateful cow.”
“Yeah.”
Grace’s eyes widened with surprise and then she laughed. “You’ll fit in just fine around here.”
That remained to be seen, but she wanted it to be true. “For what it’s worth, I would never do magic on a person without their permission. I don’t even know enough of it to do any harm. I meant peppermint tea. Nothing more. It soothes bellyaches. The warm liquid tends to relax too.”
Jack moved to touch Renee and she allowed it only to keep from making a scene. He had stood there the whole time and done nothing. This after freaking all over Galen about what his cats had done. She needed to handle things on her own, but the way he’d just stood there while Grace had inferred she was low class and stupid had hurt her more than Grace being a bitch.
“Please stay. We have so much food and I really would like to get to know you.” Grace smiled around her to Jack, reminding Renee it was time to lay out all the ground rules so there’d be no further incidents like this.
“Here’s how things are going to work. First, you won’t go around me to Jack. Ever. I realize he’s close with you and up until I met you just now, I thought that was a good thing. It’s good to have family. But you are not his wife. I am. You are not his mate. He is your anchor. I respect his connection to you and Cade. However, there’s a difference in who we each are to him. Remember that.”
Grace said nothing for a few seconds and nodded. “That’s fair. For the record, I’ve never—”
It was Renee’s turn to interrupt. “I don’t care about anything between Jack and someone else before I came into his life. I care about from now forward. We got off on the wrong foot. I’m willing to accept your apology and offer of friendship at face value. But, since you alluded to all the drama in my life—” she sent the appropriate disapproving look to Jack, who responded with the corresponding hangdog look, “—and I do not appreciate you sharing that without my permission, Jack. That’s a habit you need to break, by the way.”
“It’s not like I gossiped about you. It’s my job to protect you and this pack. I had to keep them apprised.” Jack was caught in a difficult place and she knew he hadn’t done it as a complaint. But he needed to remember other people and their wishes too. She’d talk to him about it later, and about what her real issue with that evening had been.
“No, but you shared things it took me years to share with anyone else and you did it without asking me first. I don’t like that at all, Jack, and it’s not the first time. You might notice these things if you hadn’t simply stood there and watched as someone cut me to shreds.” She returned to Grace. “Anyway, since you brought it up, yes, as a matter of fact, I’ve got all the drama I can handle and more in my life right now. I’ve made a zero tolerance rule. By that I mean, I’ve been walked all over for some time and that’s not going to happen again.”
Jack tried to move closer but she stepped away.
“I can respect that.” Grace smiled. At Renee. “How about a drink? I can’t have one, but I bet you could use one.”
Henri put his arms out to Renee. She looked to Grace. “Is that okay with your mom?”
“My back is killing me. I’m pregnant, which is probably why I’m extra touchy. At least that’s my story.” She handed Henri over to Renee and he snuggled into her. “He’s a picky kid. I should have taken that as a sign.”
Galen strolled in, his normally handsome features hard. “Every time I go away, I come back to an enraged woman, Jack.”
Renee, happy to see him, sent him a tired, but genuine smile. “I’m okay. Really.”
He looked her over closely, smiling at Henri who stared at him with big, wide eyes.
“Indulge me, please. Let’s talk for a moment.” He held out his hand.
“The garden is quiet if you’d like to step outside for a bit.” Cade took Henri, who narrowed his eyes at his father. “She’ll be back, kid.”
“Excuse us a moment,” she called over her shoulder as they went out.
The quiet murmurs of the city, of the waterway, traffic, trains, all combined into a particularly comforting white noise as the cacophony of wolves inside faded. “Nice out here.”
Jack stepped outside too and Renee felt the tension between the two men spike. Galen nodded in his direction and turned his attention to Renee again. “For the last several minutes I’ve been headed here I’ve felt your emotions and there was nothing I could do to help you. Do you have any idea what it felt like to experience your shame from a distance? I don’t like feeling shame come from you. I never want to feel that ever again. What happened and who made you feel that?”
“Shame?” Jack asked.
Renee realized Jack finally got the depth of what happened between her and Grace at Galen’s use of that word.
“Jack, you were a few feet away.” Renee didn’t want to push them into a fight but really it had to be said.
“I know you were arguing but you seemed calm enough. Cade said to let it be, to let you two work it out. He’s gone through this before, I figured he knew what he was talking about. I didn’t feel shame from you and I don’t know why. I’m sorry. What did she say?”
She just wanted to go to sleep. Even jog. Anything but have this conversation again. Or ever. “I really don’t want to go into it right now. There’s a house full of people waiting to meet me and I’ve just had a bitchfight with their female alpha within range of their hearing. I appreciate your apology, Jack, and I’m sorry you’re upset.” She took Galen’s hands, needing him to know she appreciated his concern. “I’m sorry you felt helpless to fix it. It’s okay now. I’ll tell you the whole story tomorrow, I promise. After a lot of coffee.”
“I don’t like this, Renee. I just had a conversation with my mother about this mess and I’m already annoyed by having my wife treated like crap. I’m not really up to sitting down at a table and eating with people who found delight in tormenting you.”
“And no, no, I’m not willing to wait until tomorrow to be told just what the hell happened!” Jack said, clearly annoyed. Like he or his little buddy had the right? Pfft.
“Yeah, well you know what? My warm feelings for you two are at an all-time low just now, so really, you need to back the fuck off.” She looked to Jack. “Both of you.”
“What the fuck did I do?” Galen tried to look innocent. Which was the wrong thing to do.
“Did I not just tell you both to leave it be? Must you both push until you get your way? Even when it involves me and what I want? Fine, if you want to play it, if you want to do this right now, let’s do it. You ran off to your parents to tattle after I begged you not to.”
Galen exhaled sharply. “I had to. Renee, you don’t understand how it felt to know you’d suffered and I hadn’t seen it. I had to protect you. I had to confront my parents.”
“Well, thank God all that was about you. You see, my mistake was in thinking it happened to me and I handled it myself like all the others who marry into your jamboree did. Since all this is about you then, did you get your answers, Galen? Do you feel better now that you’ve just undone four years of my constant fighting to fit in with your family?”
“I didn’t undo anything. My mother got mad at me for going around you. But she said some stuff to set me strai
ght. No one knows but her.” Galen reached for her, sliding his thumb over her bottom lip. “I love you so much, Renee. Knowing you were harmed by my people, when I should have protected you, it made me feel like a loser.”
Jack sighed, reaching out to touch her and she allowed it. “I told you I didn’t mean to gossip. It’s not that way. I just wanted to fill them in on our life. On you so they understood why I’d be with you more often, why I would be using more Pack resources to guard you.” Jack wanted her to understand, she got that part.
“That’s just part of it, Jack. You blabbed to Galen without my permission and then used guilt to get me here. I got here and your bitch of an anchor insulted me and you stood by and watched. Doing nothing. After you’d gotten up in Galen’s shit for not stopping the hazing I went through.”
“I didn’t hear that part. Honestly. I knew you were arguing, but you seemed to be handling it and I didn’t want to interfere after you’d just told us both how important it was for you to stand on your own.” Jack’s expression was forlorn and even with all her mad, she couldn’t bear to see either of them so sad.
“I concede that larger point about doing things myself. It is important to me. Like, you know, telling people stuff on my own schedule. In the future though, if your anchor is ripping me to shreds, calling me a low-rent, problem-ridden bitch, you could stop making googly eyes at her and, you know, take my side.”
“I did not make googly eyes. And I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry because if I had felt shame I would have intervened. I would have because I love you and also because it’s beyond out of line.”
She sighed out, hard. Part of this mess was hers to own. Most of it was them though, damn it. So sweet and overbearing, her men. Good Lord she was going to spend the next however many decades managing them and having to push back when they stepped over the line.
“If you two were bad in bed or not so pretty to look at, all this He-Man stuff would get old.” She tiptoed up to deliver a quick kiss to Galen’s chin, right where her favorite dent resided. “Lucky for you—” she looked around him to Jack, “—for both of you, you have lots of good qualities.”
