* * * *
“We’ll meet you there,” Xavier said over his shoulder as he closed the passenger door of his car. Neither Daegan nor Isaac looked happy about traveling the winding mountain roads without their mate, but they probably realized arguing would just waste time.
He slid into the driver’s seat, leaned over to press a quick kiss to Andrea’s mouth, and then started the engine.
“Are you cold?” he asked as he adjusted the temperature. He knew from experience that newly made werewolves tended to feel the cold more keenly than their older counterparts. He wasn’t sure why, but he suspected it had something to do with the extra strength the change gave them temporarily.
“A little,” she said, rubbing her arms as if she’d just noticed.
He turned the heat up a few more degrees, put the car in gear, and headed to the highway. They drove in companionable silence for several miles, each seemingly lost in thought, but a quick glance at Andrea suggested that the woman wasn’t as relaxed as she first seemed.
He placed a hand on her thigh, gently caressing her through the denim.
“Everything all right, sugar?”
She looked startled at first, but then huffed out an embarrassed laugh, and her leg relaxed slightly.
“I’m just wondering what your home is like.”
“Our home,” he growled before he could hold back the words.
She seemed ready to argue the point, but then took a deep breath and ignored his comment for the moment. He had a feeling she was going to bite his ass on that one later. By changing her the way they had, she really had no other choice than to live at the compound. At least until she learned to control her wolf. He took a deep breath, trying to think clearly enough to answer her question.
“Have you ever seen a ‘gated community?’” She nodded. “It’s very similar. Each family has their own home. Most of the adults work for our community business or for the community in some way. We have a few who commute into town, but most are happy to stay within the compound.”
“They commute?” she asked with a hopeful lilt in her voice. He knew what she was thinking, and he needed to squash the impulse.
“They do, but none of them are newly made werewolves. In fact, all except one were born werewolves.”
“And the one?” It was obvious she wasn’t going to let it go. He didn’t like the idea of her not wanting to live at the compound with them, but he’d do what he could to make her happy.
“Her mate died a long time ago. She’s been a werewolf for longer than you were human and has shown a level of control previously not considered possible for created werewolves.”
“Oh.”
They fell silent again as he maneuvered the car up the mountain road. It wasn’t very far in a distance sense, but the winding roads made it quite a long drive. As they crested the final rise and turned onto the private road that led to their community, Xavier sensed Andrea’s curiosity rise. She sat up straighter as they approached the gate.
Xavier stopped the car, rolled down his window, and nodded at the security guard who waved them through. Isaac and Daegan were right behind them.
“How many people live here?” Andrea asked in a voice filled with wonder. He glanced around, trying to see the community that had always been his home through the eyes of a newcomer.
“At the moment we have one hundred and forty-two families.” It truly was a spectacular place to live. In a lot of ways it was similar to most suburban developments, but instead of destroying nature to build their homes, his pack had made an effort to blend into the land. Most of the structures resembled sturdy log cabins with one major exception—they were all huge. Well, that and the myriad of modern conveniences on the inside.
“No streetlights?”
He laughed quietly. “We’re all wolves. We prefer the light of the moon.”
She smiled softly, nodded her head, and went back to gazing out the window.
“So…um…which place is yours?”
“At the end of this street.” The alpha’s home was by necessity the largest in the community, but not because of his position. It had more to do with the need to have a meeting place big enough to hold the entire pack. It was also the headquarters for the pack’s business. Andrea seemed a little intimidated as he stopped the car in the driveway.
“This is your home?”
* * * *
Holy shit.
Andrea glanced around at what amounted to a damn parking lot. The front yard alone would park two dozen cars. What the hell had she stumbled into? She’d been joking about the royalty part, but maybe she hadn’t been so far from the truth.