She stared out the kitchen window, the dark not so dark, just to see if she could see anything any better. And she could. Birds moving about, looking for berries. Leaves fluttering in the breeze, catching her eye, when they wouldn’t have before. Anything that moved caught her attention.
Despite the restless sleep she’d had last night, she didn’t feel as tired as she thought she would. Maybe she could get in a nap later on. She felt more alert than she normally did at this time in the morning. Even so, she poured a cup of coffee, filled it with cream, and sipped from it, her obligatory jump start for the morning.
She heard Allan stirring again. He’d probably worry when he found she was gone, thinking she’d escaped. Or maybe not. If she could smell the coffee and everything else so well, he probably would too. Yes, she was irritated to the max with him about confining her to the bathroom, but she had to admit he’d been really good about not turning into a wolf himself and taking her to task for threatening him so viciously last night.
And he had offered her his bed, which she should have avoided, but she’d been feeling so out of sorts, she hoped sleeping with him would help her to settle down. And it had. But she wasn’t doing that again and waking up the way she had this morning.
The springs in the bed moved, the comforter and sheets were tossed aside, feet hit the floor, and then there was a pause.
Was he smelling the coffee? She put the sausages in the saucepan to start breakfast.
*
Allan’s heart did a leap when he discovered Debbie was not in bed with him any longer. He yanked his covers aside and jumped out of bed before he attempted to still his racing heart and listened. He didn’t want her to think he was going to run her down every time she was out of his sight. He heard movement in the kitchen: footsteps, a mug clunking slightly as she set it on the counter, a spoon stirring. He smelled coffee and sausages. Everything appeared to be fine. She was just making breakfast.
Even so, he left the bedroom and then strode down the hall. When he reached the kitchen, he found Debbie dressed in pajamas and that fluffy robe and slippers that made her look so cuddly and lovable as she made coffee, sausages, and eggs for breakfast.
He was glad she was back to looking her usual self if it made her feel like she had more control over her life, and he hoped she was feeling better today. “Good morning.”
She whipped around and glowered at him. So she wasn’t done being angry. She could be mad all she wanted, and really, they had altered her life to such a degree that he understood her animosity. But she’d have to deal with it. He’d help her cope the best he could by showing compassion and understanding.
Instead of backing off and allowing her the space she needed to get over this, he pulled her into his arms and gave her a sound hug. “I never wanted to turn you. Paul and Lori are the pack leaders. I’m a sub-leader and part of the original pack. They left me out of the loop on this one.”
She stared up at him, her expression turning from surprise to realization. “They were afraid I’d be angry with you.”
He smiled a little. “If that was the reason, they were right. But I was also angry with them. I didn’t believe you’d seen Tara as a wolf. I tried to convince them to listen to your side of the story first. We’ve been family forever. I thought…” He hesitated. How would it sound if he told her they had only a couple of choices when a human saw a wolf shape-shift?
“They were going to decide to terminate me,” she said, sounding sympathetic to his concern.
“We can’t let anyone know what we are,” he said, defending his lupus garou kind for what they felt they were forced to do when necessary.
“I understand. I had already died. They didn’t need to revive me,” she finally said, the tension in her body draining. She felt soft and lovable in his arms.
“Yes.”
She frowned up at him. “You wouldn’t have agreed to them changing me?”
He snorted. “What do you think? I’ve been head over heels over you since we first started diving together. And all I knew was the trouble that would get me into. I tried my damnedest to see you as just another dive partner. But it wasn’t working.”
“And the kiss?”
“I told you—it wasn’t working. We mate for life, Debbie. One partner for life. Some of us have marriage licenses to prove to the human world we’re together with regard to property ownership and for the children’s sakes. If something untoward happened to the parents, the pack would raise the pups. You understand we’re all in this together? We take care of each other’s kids. Love them like our own. It’s just part of our wolf nature. Our wolf half dictates we stay with one partner until death. Some take a new mate after that. Some never do. We do take mating seriously.”
“Mating.”
“It means courtship between our kind and then consummating the relationship. Once that’s done, there’s no annulment. No divorce. Normally, our instincts drive us to find the perfect mate. So once we find the mate we want to be with for life, we’re good after that.”