“Why do I feel like you’re playing ‘see how dumb my daughter is’ with your answers?”
“I know you’re not dumb, Sally. But sometimes the less you know about the supernatural world the better.” Cindy knew it was a flimsy excuse, but she had to try something and hope Sally would simply let it go.
Sally seemed lost in thought for a moment, and then her body stiffened. “My mate is a little ticked off and coming to find me.”
Lilly laughed. Sally glared at her. “This is not funny. You know what the male Canis lupus are like.”
Lilly raised her hands. “Hey, don’t growl at me. You know it’s hilarious when Decebel goes all caveman on Jen and when Fane does it to Jacque.”
“A little possessive and overprotective?” Cindy guessed.
“Understatement,” Lilly and Sally said at the same time.
“We’d better get back to the car. If he gets here and can’t find me, he’ll get all hackley.”
“Is that a word?” Cindy asked.
“Today it is,” Sally quipped.
Lilly stood at the same time as Cindy and Sally and pulled Sally in for a hug. “I’ve got to get back to my mate. I’m not going to tell Jacque anything until you return home. I think we should tell her everything at the same time.”
“She’s going to be annoyed at you,” Sally pointed out.
Lilly rolled her eyes. “Not for long. Fane will do something soon enough to annoy her more, and I’ll be off the hook.”
Sally laughed so hard she even snorted. “It’s funny because it’s true,” she said through the laughter. When Lilly turned and walked toward a wall, and then through it, she stopped laughing.
Sally’s head swiveled back and forth between Cindy and the wall. “What just happened?”
Costin could feel her fear and alarm, and he followed it like a beacon. He’d told Sally’s dad that he was going to go for a run. He failed to mention that he would be running as a large, ticked off wolf.
The Beta tried to stick to back roads, but he had to follow the direction of the bond’s pull, and that required traveling on a few major thoroughfares. He just hoped people would mistake him for a very, very large dog. Perhaps pack magic would help him out by giving his body such an illusion. He pulled on his Beta power and directed the magic to do his bidding. It was all he could do at the moment, speeding down the roadway. He also prayed to the Great Luna he wouldn’t get shot by an overzealous hunter.
He’d run only a few miles when he found Cindy’s car. Costin walked around it, nose to the ground, hoping to sniff out which way his Sally had gone. All of a sudden, he caught the scent of the real thing. His head whipped around just in time to see his mate walk out of a massive tree trunk. She’d been telling the truth. Sally had been in a tree trunk. What the hell was she doing walking out of a tree trunk?
And he asked her just that. “Why in the world are you walking out of a tree trunk?”
“Why does anyone walk out of a tree trunk, dimple boy? Coming from another realm, duh.”
He growled at her. Mouthy little thing. “You were in another realm?” He was going to stay calm, that’s what he kept telling himself. Just stay calm. “I thought you were joking.”
“I’ll tell you everything,” Sally assured him. “Just give me a minute to get my bearings.”
He was about to phase when Cindy materialized out of the tree. Guessing that standing stark naked in front of his mate’s mother wasn’t the best idea, Costin stayed in his wolf form.
“Are you okay?” he asked Sally as he walked over to her and brushed up against her hip and leg.
“I’m fine. There was no need for you to come,” his mate responded then looked over at her mom. “Mom, do you happen to have a blanket in your car?” she asked while still looking at him.
“I think there’s an emergency blanket in the trunk.”
“Could you get it please? Costin’s going to need it after he phases back. Pretty sure you don’t want to see my mate naked.”
“Why is your mom not shocked that I’m a werewolf? I mean considering she just walked out of a tree from another realm, she obviously knows something about the supernatural world, but she’s never acted like she knew what I was before?” Costin asked.
“I’ll explain everything in a sec,” she told him.
Her mom scurried to get the blanket, a look of horror on her face. It made Costin want to laugh.
When Cindy returned with the blanket, she handed it to Sally and then turned around, giving them her back. His mate began unfolding the unwieldy blanket, and Costin phased. Before Sally could get the fabric completely spread out, he stepped forward and ran the back of his hand across her cheek. A lovely blush spread across her beautiful face. She hurriedly started yanking at the blanket, only causing the cumbersome object to further resist her clumsy efforts.
Deciding not to torture her longer, Costin took the blanket from her fumbling hands, shook it open, and then wrapped it around his waist. Holding it with one hand, he reached out with his other and wrapped it around Sally’s neck and pulled her to him. He buried his face in her hair and closed his eyes as he took in the scent only he could smell.
“This is what I need,” he murmured into her mind.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t keep the bond completely open. I panicked. And you might too when you hear what my mom and Lilly told me.”
He pulled back to look down at her. “You were in another realm, and Lilly was here?”
She nodded.
“Can I turn back around?” Cindy asked.
“Yes,” they said at the same time but kept looking at one another.
“What realm? What was Lilly doing here? How’d she get here?” he asked, his mind moving a million miles a minute trying to puzzle out why on earth Jacque’s mom had been there.
“She came because I asked her to,” Cindy answered before Sally could. “Her story intertwines with mine and, when it became apparent I would need to tell Sally of her heritage, I decided she needed to know it all.”
“Sally’s heritage?”
Cindy nodded. “She is more than just a gypsy healer, and she is more than just your mate, wolf.”
Costin looked from his mate to Cindy. “And I’m guessing you’re more than just a human?”
“How about we go home, and we can discuss it on the way?” Cindy asked.
Costin agreed. Standing naked in the woods with his mate and his motherin-law wasn’t his idea of a good time. Now, if Cindy wanted to leave them alone, well…. “Ouch.” He stepped back from Sally. “What was that for?”
“You know exactly what it was for, you pervert.” There was a smile hidden beneath her annoyance. She’d been listening in on his thoughts. He liked it when she did that. It was an intimacy that couldn’t be explained, and it was incredibly special.