Ginger and Thyme (Kootenai Pack Book 4)

by Lynn Katzenmeyer

  I yearned to talk to them. Offer to babysit, learn to cook. Even just see other people. But it wasn’t appropriate. It wasn’t safe to leave my apartment alone. Angus would have a field day if he heard I’d started talking to human strangers.

  I texted my mate asking if he’d be home for dinner but received no response.

  Probably at the library. When he wasn’t in class, at an internship, or home, he was at the library, nose buried in a book.

  When Jules did come home he went right to bed. Hardly any conversation. He was exhausted, that I knew. He was constantly studying. After waking, he’d leave some cash on the table next to the takeout menu and disappear with little more than a grumbled promise to call.

  I texted and called Olga frequently, but contrary to what she’d said on the drive, vet school kept her almost as busy as med school kept Jules.

  Eventually I just gave up.

  When my phone rang I jumped on it. I’d talk to telemarketers for hours just for some basic human contact. The only calls I avoided were from my mother. She was so worried about Thyme she never wanted to talk about me. And if we did talk about me, she’d tell me to be grateful my mate was working so hard for our future. But what did the future mean when the present was so mind numbingly boring.

  The only respite I had from my endless tedium was when Thyme called.

  I answered the same way every time.

  “Tell me about your pack. Tell me about your school. Your friends. The sun. Ty Ty, what does the sun look like?” I flopped onto the bed.

  After a month trapped in doors, vicariously living through an agoraphobe was better than nothing. She hadn’t started school yet, I knew. I was counting down the days until her first day. I wanted to hear all about it.

  “School doesn’t start for like a month. Stop reminding me about it. Let me live in my fantasy that I don’t have to study with humans come September,” Thyme groaned.

  “Twelve days,” I told her, “Don’t hold out on my Ty. I’m dying here. Tell me about your friends. How’s Simon? Did you go to the bonfire?”

  “Bonfire’s this weekend and I’m trying to get out of it. I managed to get out of the picnic and the pool party.”

  “What?” I sat up, “You ditched out on a pool party? What is wrong with you?”

  “Rosie, it’s awful. It’s hot-”

  “Hence the pool!”

  “-All the time… except at night when it’s freezing. And school? I asked-no- begged Alpha Hill to let me finish online, he says I can’t. No matter what I’ll have to go. And don’t even get me started on Simon-”

  “No, no no no no, you do not get to whine about Simon. That wolf adores you,” Thyme’s complaints were my dreams. Simon was too clingy. Too clingy? I was lucky if I saw Jules more than once a week. I couldn’t fathom it.

  “You don’t understand,” Thyme whined. Springs creaked as she dropped onto her own bed. One Simon probably cuddled her in before going to his own bed.

  “You don’t understand Ty,” it was my turn to whine, “I’m trapped here. I can’t leave because our apartment is in the middle of the bad part of town. I can’t make friends with the neighbors because I’m still a minor… And I can’t even get logged onto my online learning classes because Jules still hasn’t set up the internet and only some of the neighbors have their Wi-Fi open and even then it’s a crapshoot. All I have is an ancient television with two channels.”

  “The grass is always greener Rosie,” Thyme muttered.

  “You wouldn’t last one week stuck indoors. You like the sky too much.”

  Thyme grumbled something unintelligible.

  “What I would do to get out of this apartment. To feel wind. The sun. Oh, I miss the sun.”

  “Would Jules let you come visit Red Rock? Alpha Hill says you have a standing invitation as my guest. Well, you and Jules but I think just you would be fine too,” Thyme seemed excited by the idea, “Yeah, and you could come visit maybe stay for a week, it’d really take the heat off me. Maybe they’d forget about-”

  “I don’t think Jules would agree to let me just leave.”

  “You said yourself that he hardly notices you when you are there. What are the odds he’d even realize you were gone?”

  That was a good point. In the past two days she’d only gotten a text from him saying he was staying on campus to study.

  “Do you have internet?”

  Thyme snorted, “Of course I do, what do you want me to look up?”

  “Bus tickets? Alpha Redford has my passport so I don’t think I can fly, but I should be able to get on a bus, right?”

  Thyme squealed, “You’re going to do it?!”

  Before I dared change my mind, I started writing Jules a note. But lucky me he came home before I finished it.

  “I’m going to visit my sister for a week okay?”

  He blinked a few times, “Run that by me again.”

  “Thyme is struggling with acclimating to the new pack and well... you’re never here and I’m bored out of my skull and-”

  Jules wrapped his arms around me, “Of course, yes, go visit your sister. I’ll miss you.”

  “Thanks Jules.”

  “I don’t have money for a plane ticket right now,” he said.

  “That’s okay, I’ll take the bus, it’ll be an adventure.”

  He didn’t seem as sure of the bus idea as I was, but he acquiesced after several reassurances that I’d text him at each stop.

  That night I could hardly sleep. I was so excited.

  Thyme here I come.

  Chapter Nine

  Ginger

  Tooth and Claw Pub, Easterville, Minnesota

  4 years ago

  Cain was insistent that we go to the pub that night. Four other wolves would be there who had puppy piled and because it was Cain’s idea to puppy pile in the first place he was bound and determined to take the fall or the credit.

  “How do I look?” he asked. He ran his fingers through his hair again.

  “Great,” I said. Cain always looked great to me. He dressed in his best jeans and t-shirt. The ones he kept for special occasions.

  I was dressed in my borrowed clothes from Mercy. They were much too large but covered me.

  “Do you have money for dinner tonight?” Cain asked.

  I shook my head, “None that I want to spend on overpriced burgers.”

  “Fair enough,” he said, checking his hair in the mirror again, “You can hang out here as long as you want, but do come inside before closing, okay?”

  I watched him cross the street and disappear into the front entrance of the pub. I snuck in as a group of humans were leaving and ducked into the first empty booth I could find. Cain sat at the bar; eyes glued to Lee.

  He looked hungry despite the empty basket in front of him. Maybe he hadn’t eaten enough.

  I flinched at the sound of a high-pitched whistle. The other occupants of the pub were the other strays. They’d flinched at the sound, too.

  The waitress left the building with an excited call over her shoulder to have a goodnight and it was silent in the restaurant.

  The bear came out from the kitchen, he commanded the attention of everyone in the building, “Cain, Ginger, Olly, Charlie, Lottie, Ed,” he said, nodding to each wolf in the bar. I ducked further into the booth. It was safer out of sight.

  “Hi,” Lee waved her purple arm, “I’m Lee. But Evan’s probably told you that. Um, are you guys hungry? Order whatever you want, it’s on the house.”

  I watched Cain stare at this woman like she was everything he’d ever needed in life. Lee continued talking, despite her confident posture, she seemed nervous, “I’m sorry if I scared you this morning, Ginger. I just wanted to thank you, all of you for...”

  I hid further into the booth. I didn’t understand what was going on. I didn’t understand why Cain was acting so weird about this woman.

  “You’re one of us, Lee.” Cain. He called her one of us. She wasn’t one of us. She had a
home, a job. A building adorned with photography praising her name. She didn’t understand what it was like to be alone. She never would.

  “We’re all packless. When Evan called I know my wolf jumped at the chance to not sleep alone.” Cain’s word cut me like a knife.

  He wasn’t sleeping alone. He had me. He didn’t need Lee to not be alone. Why would he lie like that?

  “Best I’ve slept in decades.”

  “It was no hardship.”

  Cain said he was sleeping alone. I was alone. “I don’t want to be alone anymore.” I said to myself.

  “We don’t either,” one of the twins said. Apparently having heard me.

  “I don’t know what Evan told you about me. I don’t want to know. He’s told me less than squat about all of you. But you need to know that I appreciate what you’ve done. You are all welcome to stay. I don’t have much room right now, but I’ll figure it out. You won’t go hungry. You won’t be alone.”

  We should leave

  The pup wants to leave?

  We should get Cain and get out

  What happened to ‘we can trust him?’

  We can trust him. I don’t trust her

  Well, I do. I want to see how this plays out

  You’ve got to be kidding me

  You’re not the only one who's been lonely, pup

  Even my wolf was betraying me.

  “I can’t be in a pack.”

  You sure about this, wolfie?

  Nope, but you’re the one that started this risk taking

  I came out of the booth and slid into a closer one. Slowly but surely, making my way to the table with food on it. “This isn’t a pack, at best it’s a puppy pile,” Lee said. She carried herself with confidence I hadn’t expected. She was strange. Her wolf howled every night with the same grief Cain’s did, but this Lee person seemed unaffected in the waking hours. Her eyes didn’t have the same dark circles of grief that Cain had.

  I moved closer. Moving like a shadow from one booth to another while Lee continued. The males had begun to eat the delicious smelling food on the table. They must truly have been starving. What if this was all a trick? What if this wasn’t the safety that was being promised.

  Cain’s eyes didn’t follow me. His attention was on the speaking wolf. The grin I’d once thought was for me was now directed at her. He tracked her as she pulled out a chair with her existing arm and sat between the twins and the old wolves.

  I moved another booth closer. The mountain of burgers was slowly disappearing. Once again, my fear would lose me dinner. Cain pulled a chair between the twins and Lee. Interposing himself between the other young males and his prey. At one time Cain had interposed himself between me and the twins. I moved another booth closer.

  Cain met eyes with me for an instant before refocusing on his conversation with Lee. He offered to run with her in wolf form and she seemed thrilled at the idea.

  I slid between the elder wolves. Lottie squeezed my arm while Ed slid a burger in front of me, careful not to make contact. The other wolves at the table didn’t notice me. Lee and Cain got up from the table, walking over to the bar where Evan stood with his arms crossed.

  “Looks like Cain’s met his match,” Ed whispered to Lottie.

  “You think they’re going to…” Charlie held one hand in the shape of a circle and thrust his pointer finger through it.

  “Stop bein’ crass,” Lottie said, tossing a napkin at him.

  “Just curious,” he muttered.

  I watched the three at the bar. Evan and Cain watched Lee with hunger. I knew what Cain hungered for, but why was the look so similar in the bear’s eyes?

  “I love you, Lee,” Evan said. He held Lee’s purple arm in his hand and rubbed her shoulder with it.

  “I love you too, Ev,” Lee said.

  Love she loved the bear? Then why was Cain, my Cain, looking at her like she hung the moon? She turned back around. My eyes were drawn to the now bare stump. Cain was smitten to a shewolf who was in love with a bear.

  Chapter Ten

  Ginger

  Tooth and Claw Pub, Easterville, Minnesota

  4 years ago

  Cain and Lee came back late in the night. Or early in the morning. All I knew was that dawn was near, and I hadn’t gotten any sleep. My wolf took over once the twins shifted and went to sleep on the couch. She didn’t trust the young wolves, even though I was reasonably confident they were harmless.

  When Lee finally arrived, she made a cooing sound like she saw something cute, “I’m going to shower,” Lee’s whisper alerted me from my half slumber inside my wolf. She wasn’t back alone. Cain was with her.

  “You know where my room and bed are, make yourself at home.”

  The door creaked open further and Cain walked in, “Don’t have to tell me twice.”

  Cain gave me a sheepish look when he came in. I thumped my wolf’s tail at him, but Lee touched his arm and pointed to her room. He went right in.

  I was prepared to follow. To join him. The door closed and echoed like thunder through my ribs. He didn’t wait for me.

  The shower filled the apartment with steam and the scent of soap. Minutes later, Lee reappeared for only a moment before disappearing into her room. Shutting the door again.

  I didn’t hear Cain or Lee’s howls the entire night.

  I knew in theory that Cain’s wolf calmed Lee’s like mine calmed his. I just didn’t realize that hers calmed his back.

  See, pup, he doesn’t need you

  No, you’re wrong. He needs me. He’ll be back

  The bear’s waking up. Look alive

  As promised, the bear stirred next. He came out and started cooking breakfast. I whimpered and sat next to him. After a while the twins woke up and the bear fed us.

  “Looks like those two are sleeping in,” Evan muttered, “Can you three shift? I feel like a lunatic talking to myself.”

  Charlie and Olly shifted first.

  “You know lunatic is offensive,” one of the twins said. I couldn’t tell them apart immediately. As the conversation went on, the small differences became apparent.

  “Ugh, not this again Charlie,” the other groaned, “I’m very sorry sir. Charlie is very sensitive to moon-based insults.”

  “Am not.”

  Charlie’s face was more expressive while Olly was more reserved.

  The boys pulled on their clothes from the previous day. While the wolves and bear were focused on a debate on the evolution of words, I shifted behind the couch where it was safe. I dressed in my ill-fitting clothes and joined them.

  “What do you think, Ginger?” Evan asked, “Is lunatic offensive to wolf kind?”

  I shrugged.

  “See,” Olly said as if my shrug was proof of his point.

  “Morning, Cain,” Charlie shifted conversation.

  Cain crept out of Lee’s room, dressed in his clothes from last night, his hair mussed with sweat, “Evan you mind if I grab a shower?”

  “Go for it.”

  I watched him duck into the bathroom without a look my way. Maybe he didn’t see me. I was surrounded by giants. But he always saw me before.

  “Where’d you get that scar on your shoulder?” Charlie came up behind me and pointed at my shoulder. My oversized shirt with worn collar had dropped that the small circle scars near the top of my shoulder peeked out.

  “Buckshot.” I ducked away from his wandering hand.

  Finally, what felt like hours later, Lee came out of the bedroom. She had a laundry basket in her arms. The twins took her up on the offer to wash their clothes and one of them raced down the stairs to get it.

  Lee looked me up and down, sighed, “I should have some things that’ll fit you. After you shower, put on whatever fits in my room, we’ll get you your own clothes soon.”

  My cheeks flushed at her obvious insult. As if I was less than her because I didn’t have my own clothes. It’s not my fault that my grizzly protector bear didn’t fall head over heels in lo
ve with me and give me everything I need or wanted. Arcadia and Ursula spared what they could.

  If Cain noticed the insult, he didn’t comment on it. His eyes tracked Lee as she asked the bear about his laundry and when she got lost in thought he took the laundry basket from her.

  Ready to help her with laundry.

  He disappeared down the stairs after her.

  Evan showed me the shower and found a pair of Lee’s old pants and a branded shirt from the pub.

  When I was fully dressed, the twins were in similar shirts.

  “Okay so you said you wanted to earn your keep? We’ll start in the pub.”

  Evan took us on a tour of the restaurant downstairs. He pointed to the laundry room and moved on the tour.

  I didn’t know much about laundry, but I knew it shouldn’t take this long. Cain might have been hurt or gotten lost. We were in a den of strangers. Sure, he said it was safe, but he might have been blinded by the luxury of the apartment.

  I was just going to peek in, to make sure he was okay, then I heard him say my name, “…Ginger is, but she can’t be much older than eighteen.”

  “She’s so skittish, in wolf and human form,” Lee’s voice took over the conversation, “my wolf just wants to stand over her and never let anything touch her.”

  This is where Cain would defend me. Explain that I wasn’t skittish, I was careful. That I wasn’t weak.

  “In another life, I bet you would have made an incredible pack alpha,” …. or where he’d compliment Lee… “I... I said something wrong.”

  Cain could never say anything wrong.

  “I’m sorry,” Lee replied, her voice a harsh whisper, “I’m sorry. I’ve had really bad experiences with packs. Evan doesn’t even know the whole extent of it.”

  “Me too.”

  “My wolf really likes you. I don’t understand it. I’m sorry if I’m-” Lee’s words were cut off by a moaning sound.

  I cracked the door open. A blur of black hair and arms. The sounds of smacking lips and groans filled the space.

  I gasped, trying not to disturb them.

  “You get lost, kid?” Evan asked.