Sarah wasn’t a bad liar, but she wasn’t an overly good one either. As Cain hadn’t seen fit to coach her on what to say to his family—or even bother telling her anything about his family, for that matter—she decided to be honest with his little sister. Mostly.
She told Clover how she and Cain had met, and how he’d agreed to take her to the nearest town in exchange for her help with a sick pack mate. She omitted the fact that she hadn’t even known he was in need of a doctor until long after he’d agreed to help her.
Clover seemed impatient as Sarah recounted the details of their trip. As Sarah was telling her about the bear chase, something she had considered to be one of the highlights of their trip, Clover cut her off.
“Are you going to be my brother’s mate?”
“His what?” Sarah replied, grimacing. She had a pretty good idea of what that meant to werewolves, but was taken aback by Clover’s readiness to brand her with the title.
Giving her an impish look, Clover said, “I can smell my brother all over you.” She stepped in front of Sarah, lowering her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “I know that you’ve been together.”
Sarah blushed, but didn’t let herself become flustered. She could only imagine what she must have smelled like, and there was really no point in denying it.
“I like your brother,” Sarah admitted. “I like him a lot, but I can’t be his mate. I’m just here to help, and then I have to go home.”
Now that there was a little distance between her and Cain, the words were easier for Sarah to say, and they sounded pretty believable.
Clover’s shoulders slumped. “I suppose I misunderstood,” she said with a small sigh. “I just assumed, from the way he was looking at you…”
She let the sentence hang, turning to continue walking. Sarah jogged to catch up.
Trying to sound casual, she asked, “What do you mean?”
Clover shrugged. “I dunno, I kind of thought he was in love with you or something.”
For a split-second, every muscle in Sarah’s body froze. She recovered almost instantly, marshaling her face into what she hoped was polite interest.
“That’s silly,” Sarah said, her voice a little too loud and a little too breathy.
Clover gave her a saccharine smile. “I know. It’s just that you’re exactly my brother’s type. But I guess I shouldn’t make assumptions.”
Her heart thumping loudly, Sarah asked, “What makes you think I’m his type?”
Clover stepped in front of her again. One look at the gleam in the teenager’s eyes and Sarah finally saw the resemblance between Clover and her brother. They were both predators.
“You’re in love with my brother!” Clover exclaimed, beaming triumphantly. She wagged a finger at Sarah. “I knew it!”
Sarah groaned inwardly, annoyed more with herself than anything else. ‘Love’ was definitely too strong a word for what she felt towards Cain, but she’d be lying to herself if she said there wasn’t something there.
She wasn’t about to explain the intricacies of this to a teenager. Holding up her hands and giving Clover a tired smile, she said, “Look, why don’t we talk about this another time?” She motioned down to her bare feet, which had surpassed pain and entered the realm of disturbing numbness. “I would really like to get to your den.”
Thankfully, Clover didn’t seem bothered by Sarah’s hedging of the subject. “Okay, it’s a deal,” she said brightly, before walking past Sarah.
Turning around, Sarah asked, “Where are you going?”
Clover pointed to a gathering of large stones in the distance. “The den is over there.”
Sarah squinted, following behind Clover. “Didn’t we pass those stones already?”
“We did, but I wasn’t finished talking to you.”
Okay, now she was starting to get annoyed with Clover.
On the surface, the stones appeared to be nothing more than a small hill. But underneath two large slabs was an inconspicuous entrance that was tall, but narrow. Sarah slipped in behind Clover, not the least bit put off by the dark passageway. By now, spelunking was becoming second nature to her.
Unlike the other den, there didn’t seem to be any main room in Greystone. The passageway opened into a wide corridor, only to branch off into half a dozen different tunnels. Clover veered off towards the left, pausing only briefly to take Sarah’s hand.
“It’s pretty dark down here,” she explained, guiding Sarah forward.
Rather than becoming colder, the air warmed as they descended, and as the chill left Sarah’s body, a weighty exhaustion settled over her. As soon as she was done helping out, Sarah decided, she would take a nice, long nap. Whatever there still was to sort out between herself and Cain, it could wait until later.