Cassie figured Carver had to know that, since his daughters said he'd been searching for the other wolf. So what was this really all about?
Several of the men stood a little taller, interest reflected in their intrigued expressions. If the wolf Carver and Leidolf had smelled was the mother with the pups, the bachelors were sure to be disappointed. Cassie wasn't about to mention the she-wolf had pups. She probably had made a big mistake mentioning to Laney that she intended to return to the forest at all.
"Is she related to you?" Carver asked, his voice serious, as if he were already letting the other men know his interest in the woman, but a hint of hopefulness made her sympathize with him.
"No," Cassie said, hating to disappoint him, but she wouldn't expound on the wolf any further than that. Not that she knew any more about the wolf in Forest Park than what she suspected.
Carver didn't look dissuaded. He stuck fairly close to the couch and her while he sipped a glass of wine and watched her. Did he think that if the wolf was related to Cassie, she would put in a good word with her? She would, if it meant the twin girls would have a mother.
She glanced over at Alice and... she and her sister, Sarah, weren't together as she expected. Cassie surveyed the room full of people and saw Alice inching her way over to a boy around her age, tall with sparkling amber eyes and lifted lips as he watched the girl slip closer to him. He had the devil in his expression, every bit as enticing as Leidolf himself. No wonder Carver didn't want his daughters near the boy. It had to be Evan, the boy they had described as a real alpha. She sighed. The girls needed a mother to ensure boys like him didn't get the best of them and that a father like Carver didn't kill the boy in the interim if he went a little too far.
While she attempted to ignore everyone around her, Cassie enthusiastically forked up some more gravy and mashed potatoes but flinched when a twinge of pain spiraled through her shoulder. She breathed through the pain and then ate the bite of potatoes. She hadn't had a home-cooked meal like this in ages, and it sure was good. Although the dinner she shared with Leidolf at the Forest Club sure had been delicious. Eating freeze-dried stuff on the trail got really tiresome after a while. And she had every intention of getting another plateful of the home cooking as soon as she was done with this one.
Conversations renewed in hushed voices, too many of them were speaking for her to catch any one topic in particular, although she heard snippets of conversation--She's perfect... right for him... have to keep her... won't be easy.
She tried to ignore them and enjoy the food instead. Leidolf stuck close to her, his leg pressed against hers, showing her just how much he wanted her, which was triggering her own cravings. No man had ever turned her on with such a gentle, unimposing touch. She still wondered what it would be like to experience his kisses.
Her gaze wandered to his lips as he spoke to Elgin. Leidolf had manly lips that she imagined would be darned pleasurable pressed against her own. Elgin glanced at her, which triggered Leidolf to look also. Her face heated, and she looked back at her food, the remainder almost gone.
She clenched her hands, trying to stop the tingling in her nipples. "You could give me a little more room," she said to Leidolf. She spoke in her normal voice, which shouldn't have garnered any notice.
It did. Every conversation in the room instantly died.
Some out and out watched for Leidolf's reaction. Others just smiled and were less obvious about it.
"I could," Leidolf said, smoothly. He didn't move. His steady gaze challenged her to do something about it.
She let out a heavy breath in exasperation. Choose your battles wisely, her father had always warned her when she was a kid and wouldn't take any guff from others in the nearby town.
Was it worth it to take the alpha leader down a notch or two?
She wouldn't have hesitated if they'd been alone. Every pack member watched to see how she would react to the leader's challenge. Fine. She drew close to Leidolf, pressing her breasts against his shoulder, tilting her chin up to speak with him privately. He leaned over so she could whisper into his ear.
"Give me some breathing space, or you can wear the rest of my glass of wine." She tilted the glass a little from side to side, warning him, her expression deadly serious.
He tsked and leaned down to whisper in her ear, which felt way too sensuous. "What a waste that would be." His warm breath and silky words did a number on her already heightened senses.
She leaned away from him, waiting for him to comply, armed and ready if he didn't.
His eyes focused on hers, Leidolf smiled broadly and then slapped his thighs. "Cassie's getting a little too hot."
She could kill him! And gave him a look that showed him so. She swore a couple of muffled chuckles erupted deeper in the crowd.
He slid a few inches away from her and continued to speak to Elgin as if nothing had happened.
Her face still flushed, she was hot all right. Stirred up in the beginning, embarrassed in the end. She couldn't tell from the pack members' smiling faces if they thought she had won the confrontation or Leidolf had.
She shook her head at herself. No sense in rationalizing the outcome. Leidolf had won, hands down. Although she should have been irritated, she couldn't help but admire the crafty wolf. Never had anyone bested her in a situation like this. He definitely was her match.
Nearly finished with her meal, she set her fork on the plate. Leidolf motioned for a bottle of wine, and when Fergus brought it to him, he poured Cassie another glass. Alice and Sarah hurried over to the couch, eager to please her, too.
Sarah stretched out her hands. "Would you like some more of anything to eat? We'll get it for you."
The two girls reminded her of herself and her twin sister when they'd been about their age. Nearly always together, except for when Cassie visited the wolf pack a few times. Recalling the last time she'd been with her sister and cousin while they were still alive, swimming in the river near their cabin one hot summer day, she blinked away the mist of tears forming in her eyes. "Mashed potatoes and gravy and another slice of beef. Thanks, girls."
The girls were too eager. Everyone smiled a little too much. The room seemed to tilt some. Leidolf still talked to Elgin, something about getting a nurse and an accountant in their pack. He'd seen the tears form in her eyes, probably heard the slight hitch in her voice when she spoke to the girls. He seemed more aware of her struggle to keep her emotions in check than anyone else she'd ever known. More than that, he appeared concerned. No one had ever worried about how she felt, and his expression disconcerted her. Much easier to deal with her past regrets when no one else cared a whit about what she was feeling.
He watched her now, and she worried he'd put his arm around her shoulder and pull her close. She didn't need his comfort or his strength. She could deal with her issues on her own just fine, like she'd always done.
Her strength sliding away, she couldn't seem to garner the strength to do much of anything. Against her will, her body leaned back into the couch cushions, her head dropping onto them. The cushions were soft, like pillows filled with fairy dust. Leidolf and Elgin looked at her. And smiled.
Calculating smiles. Traitorous smiles.
The girls returned with another plate full of food, but Cassie couldn't seem to lift her head and sit up, or raise her hands to take the plate. And sometime or another, the refilled wineglass had disappeared from her grasp.
She wasn't hungry, either, anymore. Rather, she felt like her whole being was slipping, slipping, slipping away.
Leidolf's words were muffled as he spoke about all that Cassie had been through and how she couldn't eat any more right now. The girls looked disappointed, but then their sweet expressions faded away.