Sun blared inside the open patio doors, and I took my time stretching.
Last week, waking after dawn would be laughable. But I wasn’t head steward anymore, so fuck it. Plus, things were kind of awkward with the pack, so sleeping in meant less time in their company.
We could live in the forest, Booker said hopefully.
I padded to the wardrobe. Good try. Hey, if you’re a sigma, does that make me a sigma too?
You’re human. Humans don’t have statuses off the media because they’re stupid.
I tucked away a grin. You mean social media?
She sniffed.
My wolf was vain and haughty and anti-social to the extreme. I’m so glad you’re with me.
Then listen to my plan. We leave the pack and eat the sister’s heart.
Booker liked to refer to Rhona as the sister and talk about eating hearts. To my knowledge, we were yet to eat any, but I’d blacked out for the night of the new moon, so…
I grimaced and opened the wardrobe. I’d love to dress in my own clothes again.
But then Sascha couldn’t see you in his shirts.
And he really enjoyed that.
I shoved his Den’s suits aside and peered into the back. Stacks of shoes. Man, his wardrobe was super organised. He really didn’t want to see what mine normally looked like.
Pushing his suits the other way, I crouched inside the wardrobe.
Boxes.
No clothes though. Ugh.
I stopped mid-rise as the scribbled name on the boxes caught my eye.
Andie Charise Booker/Thana
Craning my head, I took in the columns of boxes stacked to the ceiling. Two across. Two deep. Eight high. Thirty-two of them. All of those I could see had my name written on the front. “That’s not creepy at all.”
Standing on tiptoe, I heaved a box down and worked the lid free.
My brows drew together as I hooked underwear on my forefinger. Lacey and midnight blue. Definitely mine. “You are the biggest, biggest creep.”
Still, I did need underwear.
So, creepy… but handy.
This had to be Sascha’s research from the capture meet. How the hell could my life fill up thirty-two boxes? How about three lines?
Benefactor of crappy childhood.
Receiver of shitty lies.
Poorer than dirt (see above).
I drew out two dresses—one was an elegant crimson cocktail dress, the other a tube dress that, from memory, barely covered my ass.
Both went missing months ago.
Why do you hint at showing your butthole with these dresses instead of just showing it when he does something right? Booker asked.
Just a human thing, I guess.
Why did Sascha pick these dresses in particular? Digging deeper, I located a tee shirt and a mini skirt. Ha! Jackpot.
Maybe wearing my own clothes would mean fewer glares from the pack.
What will we do next? my wolf asked.
I set the box aside and dragged another down. Like, today?
No. What’s the next move?
Sitting back, I sighed. Even when Ragna died, I’d had a house to clean and sell, then came the car and driving to Deception Valley. Becoming a steward, then head steward.
Now…
I’d always coveted the life of people without a care—how they flittered from place to place. When I’d dreamed of that life though, I’d chosen it. The head steward position was taken from me. I still carried all the cares of that role but none of the power to do anything.
Entering tribal lands was a big fat no.
Leaving Deception Valley was a bigger fatter no.
I had to stay on pack lands, but the tribe were my people. Then there was what I felt for Sascha.
How did I make a single fucking move? What would you do?
Live in the forest and return to mate with Sascha Greyson at intervals.
I laughed despite my aching heart. You want to use Sascha for his body?
He has what I need for pups. We can accept the good part without any of the pack leader baggage.
She considered that baggage, not me, but I envied wolves’ clarity sometimes, if not their ruthlessness.
I riffled through the contents of box two. Several of the items were discarded capture-meet gifts. Fuzzy pyjamas, pine-scented candle, saxophone reeds, a sudoku book, and a yellow tulip he’d since preserved between two transparent boards.
My heart squeezed. He’d pressed the first flower he gave me. When he was stalking me against my will, but still. Adorable.
“What are you doing?
I jumped, inhaling thyme. “Mandy. I’m looking for clothes.”
“Are you sure? Because you’re really looking through boxes in Sascha’s wardrobe.”
Busted. I grabbed the Sudoku book and replaced the boxes on top of the column before swiping up my clothes.
Mandy blocked the exit
We were at the same eye level.
I smiled—that always freaked angry people out. “Can I help you?”
“You can leave.” She stood aside.
I deposited my finds on the bed.
Mandy smelled all kinds of sour. The thing about Luther senses… it was hard to keep feelings a secret. “For what it’s worth, I do wish that we hadn’t ended up on opposite sides.”
Mandy could have been a friend.
She crossed her arms. “I don’t care that you’re on the opposite side. You could hardly control that.”
“Would you like to tell me why you dislike me then? I have a busy day ahead.”
Her gaze shifted to the Sudoku book.
Bad joke?
Mandy balled her hands. “Sascha breaks his back to prove himself to you. He’s done so over and over again. What have you ever done to show him you’re worthy?”
Sascha’s patience and support were incredible, but I wasn’t about to beat myself up for using logic over my heart. Practical decisions had kept me alive during my childhood. Trusting emotion wasn’t an easy thing. “Did Sascha ask you to speak with me?”
“No—”
“So you took it upon yourself?”
Her cheeks tinged pink, but the tattooed blonde drew herself taller. “He deserved someone to speak for him.”
No one else had interfered so far. Was this a delta thing or a Mandy thing? I’d only learned a little about the differences between wolf statuses so far. “You decided that person should be you. Why?”
She’d struck me as playful and intelligent in the past. Not inquisitive. She definitely cared about pack losses and took them hard. Did she like to fix other’s problems?
Her lip curled. “No one else wants to stick up for him.”
I took a stab in the dark. “If the mating call between me and Sascha doesn’t work out, it’s not your fault. That’s just life. Nothing you do will change the outcome.”
Her eyes darkened. “He deserves more than someone who only ever hurts him.”
Nature had ensured that unless I moved toward Sascha, anything else would hurt him—and me—by default.
I dipped my head. “Noted. Anything else?”
“Sascha sent me to tell you that he’d left for his grid runs. The meeting ran over.”
Which explained why he wasn’t in here shutting her the hell up. “Sure.”
After a withering look, Mandy left.
Shaking my head, I grabbed the T-shirt, mini, and underwear, and entered the open-ceiling shower adjourning the bedroom.
Cool water from the stream flowed over my head, and I shivered. Luthers ran hotter than humans, and my showers since first shifting had dropped from hot to lukewarm, but the straight-up cold shower was hard to grow accustomed to.