Tad tried to look casual and relaxed as he sat and waited for his sister to appear. Being around large groups of werewolves no longer freaked him out, but now he was in the midst of the Granite Lake pack elite. Beside him, Keil fidgeted with the medallion that was the symbol of his new position as they waited for Robyn.
Since Tuesday night and his date with Missy, it felt like Tad had worked twenty-hour days. The rest of the researchers had arrived and were in the process of establishing camp. Tad flew passengers and ferried supplies as quickly as possible but each day passed without time for more than a friendly public hello with Missy when he passed her at the camp where she slept.
The remaining hours he spent alternating between sleeping and taking cold showers.
He was going to force himself to relax tonight, try to forget big blue eyes, soft skin and passionate kisses, and celebrate his sister’s wedding…wolf mating…whatever it was called.
Tad rotated the ice in his drink as he checked out the faces of the men sitting around him. There were no visible signs they could change into wolves, nothing to set them apart from the rest of society.
Other than, as Robyn put it, they were all freaking gorgeous.
While he’d been friends with these men for years, the stakes for the evening were much higher than flying a sightseeing party or back-country adventure group for Keil’s guiding business. Tonight was invitation-only to celebrate Robyn’s first shift to her wolf, and the acceptance of Keil and Robyn as the new Alphas for the Granite pack. Not only had Keil mated with Robyn, the two of them had shut down an attack on their lives and won the leadership of the pack.
He was never going to let his sister go anywhere alone ever again. Well, Keil would probably have something to say about it too, but sheesh. She was a danger to herself.
“She really made them shift?” Tad asked.
“Oh, not only that, she made them stand around and introduce themselves. Butt naked in the cold. Then they had to apologize to us both for ‘disturbing the serenity of our honeymoon’. I thought Jack was going to pop a vein when she suggested he might like to look into purchasing some of the penis enhancers they advertise online.”
Tad choked on his drink. “My sister?”
Keil exchanged knowing looks with his younger brother TJ. “Oh, yeah. She’s amazing. Don’t piss her off any more than you usually do. Now that she’s wolf she’s even more of a handful.” Tad sat back and swallowed hard. Keil grinned at him. “Wait until she starts ordering you around.”
All of a sudden Keil’s sharp concentration on Tad blurred, his attention turning toward the door Robyn had disappeared behind. Soft scuffling noises came from the other side, and Tad realized Robyn and Keil were speaking to each other through their mate connection.
Another bloody amazing thing werewolves could do. One of the neatest as far as Tad was concerned, because Robyn had been deaf since she was four. She’d not only found her partner but she could hear again in a special way. Tad would still use sign language with her and she could read people’s lips, but to hear someone speak again…
It must be amazing.
The door opened and Robyn stepped through, a pale blue robe draped over her shoulders. Her dark hair swung loose, and her eyes were bigger and brighter than Tad remembered.
His mouth fell open. He’d never seen Robyn look so gorgeous. She was his little sister, for heaven’s sake, and he’d never thought of her as a girl before. As he watched her saunter toward Keil, it dawned on him she wasn’t only a girl but a woman, and the woman to the highest-ranking wolf of this pack.
And she was head over heels in love. She and Keil both were. In fact it was damn uncomfortable to be in the same room watching the two of them. They looked like they’d forgotten others were present, and Tad thought some hot and heavy action would be starting in the next five seconds.
“Oh, gag.” TJ rose from his chair and cut across the room pretending to slip his finger down his throat. He slid in front of Robyn and kissed her cheek before stepping back to ensure she could read his lips. “While I’m glad you’re going to be my sister-in-law and my Alpha, can you save the sex for when you get in front of the pack?”
Tad choked again. Holy crap.
The colour drained from Robyn’s face. She whipped around to glare at Keil. Tad’s soon-to-be brother-in-law swallowed hard and shrugged. They were doing it again, he realized. Talking silently to each other.
Meanwhile TJ leaned over and patted Tad’s shoulder kindly. “Don’t worry, you can stop freaking out now. They’ll be wolves. It’s just one of those things,” he whispered.
Tad shook his head in disbelief. “Yeah, well, excuse me if I still don’t watch.” He shivered. Damn wolves and their openness about sex.
Robyn flushed when Keil offered his arm, pausing for a second before shaking her head. She laid a hand on his elbow, and with a regal air they strolled through the door toward the main hall and the ceremony.
Tad loved to see the connection between them, see how much they cared for each other. If only he could find someone to complete him as well. Missy turned him inside out with sexual need and he loved being with her. The longing for more squeezed his throat shut. Could he really give up on the possibility of being able to shift into a wolf? He watched Robyn and Keil walk away, cuddled close and intimate, and his heart and mind fought to come to a decision.
Tad leaned against the wall in the shadows watching wolves and humans in various stages of undress wander the hall floor after the actual ceremony had finished. Seeing Robyn shift to wolf form for the first time had brought him to tears. He managed to wipe his eyes before anyone noticed and stood back to observe. Some of the pack removed their clothes and shifted to head outdoors with Robyn and Keil for a run. Others seemed content to visit at the tables lining the side of the hall.
Then it started.
“Well, what have we here? A half-blood lurking in the corner? Someone take out the trash for me.”
Tad glanced down at an older woman, skin leathered by the sun. “Hey, I was—”
An overgrown ape pounded up to Tad and grabbed him by the arm. He gave Tad a brief sniff then choked. “Gag. Untriggered too. Move along, little puppy. This event is for big boys and girls. Invitation only.” He began to drag Tad toward the exit doors.
“Hang on, I was invited—”
“Right. And I’m the Queen of Sheba.” She tossed back her bleached hair. “It’s riffraff like you that make me worry about bloodlines. Nasty thing.”
Tad pulled hard and slipped away. He backed up quickly, darting a glance around the room to try to find a friendly face. A hand touched his shoulder and he acted on instinct and swung his fist landing a solid blow on…TJ’s jaw.
Damn. That wasn’t on the to-do list.
TJ flew backward to collapse at the feet of an angry crowd.
“See, just what I’ve said all along. We get no respect from half-bloods anymore.” A skinny man pulled TJ to his feet and tried to brush him off. “I do hope you’re all right, TJ. How extremely rude of this bum to hit you. Don’t worry about him, we’ll show him out.”
TJ slapped the man’s hands away and stomped up to Tad. Shaking his finger in Tad’s face, TJ glared at him. “Do you know what you’ve done? Jerk. You cost me twenty bucks.” He clapped Tad on both shoulders and his scowl turned to a grin. “I thought the brown-nosing would require at least a couple of hours to start. You’ve managed to get the suck-ups to show themselves not even fifteen minutes after Keil left the room. Good job, buddy.”
TJ turned and stared back at the gathering crowd. “I suspected some of you were assholes, now I know for sure. Did any of you think to ask my friend who he was? You know, a visitor in town for a special occasion, let’s welcome him, that kind of thing?”