“No,” Alisha answers. “They, um, want to claim her. Together.”
The one called Janelle lets out a breath-filled, “Oh!”
However, Tu shoves their she-wolf’s shoulder with hers, saying, “Go’on with your bad self! And I thought you standing up to your dad was hardcore. This is like some epic MFM action you got going on, Tee!”
“No, no, it’s not.” Their she-wolf, the one they call Tee, turns her head to glance at Tu before quickly looking down to the snow. “Because I’m not getting claimed by either of them. That’s so not happening.”
“Uh, you weren’t saying ‘that’s so not happening’ when you were getting your pet on with Olafr,” Tu says, nodding toward the large red wolf loping in front of their she-wolf, his great head swinging from left to right as he scans the road for anything that might cause her harm.
“That was…a misunderstanding,” their she-wolf insists. “A really weird misunderstanding. And it doesn’t change anything.”
“You are right,” FJ answers. So great is his need to make certain she understands their intentions, he gives up his post behind her in order to walk beside her.
He takes a moment to admire her bountiful curves, sweet face, and long roped hair, before continuing on with, “It changes nothing. You are still our she-wolf, Varra, as fated by the gods.”
Upon hearing this, their mate crosses her arms over her generous chest and looks down at her feet before saying, “Okay, I know you’re from a different time period or whatever, but fated mates aren’t that big of a deal here. And if a she-wolf doesn’t want a wolf, it’s not like back in the day. She doesn’t have to accept his claim.”
Her voice takes on great edge as she says these words to him, leading FJ to wonder out loud, “Has this circumstance come to pass before, Varra? A wolf would claim you, but you did reject his claim?”
The entire group seems to become more quiet then. And though no eyes turn directly to their mate, he has the same feeling as he would if they’d all turned to regard her.
Yet does their she-wolf continue to stare at her strangely booted feet as she answers, “Kind of. Sort of. It’s a long, strange story—almost as long and strange as this one.”
She is odd indeed, their she-wolf. Forceful in her replies, yet refusing to give him even the smallest of glances as she answers.#p#分页标题#e#
But FJ persists. “If this be your tale, I would hear it. And if there be a wolf who would also claim you as his, I would know his name so my brother and I might find him and kill him for daring to claim what is ours.”
“So hardcore,” Tu says on the other side of their she-wolf. “It’s like watching a movie! Except it’s not a movie. It’s happening right now—to Tee!”
Their mate looks to the sky, seeming to give strange prayer to the gods as she mutters, “Shut up, Tu.”
“Just keeping it real,” Tu replies, seemingly unoffended by her cousin’s command. “This is better than, like, ninety percent of the shows Grady and I watch on TV.”
Ignoring the small she-wolf, FJ asks Tee, “Is it our beards that give you reason to reject our claim?”
“What?” The she-wolf’s confusion causes her to finally give him glance, albeit only for the smallest moment.
“My mother does not care for my father’s beard, and for her does he go without it. This is a story well known throughout our land.”
“Yeah, I heard about that, too,” she says, once again aiming her words at the snow-covered ground they walk upon, as if she is conversing with it and not him.
“Would you have us cut our beards so you might accept our claim?”
“W-what? No! That’s crazy!” she says. “I wouldn’t ask you to change anything for me.”
“Plus, you two are working them beards,” Tu adds. “You and your brother are straight up fine.”
And once again their mate raises her full head to the dark sky as if in supplication. “Shut up, Tu!”
“I’m just saying!’
“Do you think the same as Queen Tu?” FJ asks her.
Now the she-wolf truly makes a study of the ground. Then the sky. The collection of buildings on the side of the road. The many houses tucked into the mountain. The lake. Before finally muttering, “Yeah, obviously both of you are very fine.”
“’Fine,’ I do not know this word,” FJ admits.
“Handsome. Cute. Hot. Really good-looking. But that doesn’t really matter, because—”
“It pleases me much that your eyes like us as much as our eyes like you.”