Except Frances went stiff when she walked in, and her expression was not friendly.
“Frances, quick, I need to use your phone,” she said. She was sure that the Killingworth pack were hot her trail already. They’d be here in minutes.
Frances winced and shook her head. “Not without permission from Maddox or one of his officers. I can make a call and ask him.”
“What? Seriously, Frances?”
Frances didn’t answer, just stood there with her hands on the counter.
“Frances, what is going on here? This is crazy. Why is it that my own friends won’t even talk to me?”
Frances raised an eyebrow. “I’m friends with Stacy too.”
“So am I. Remember that pajama party where we raided Stacy’s parents liquor cabinet? And what does being friends with Stacy have to do with anything?”
“Why don’t you ask the gophers?” Frances blurted out. Then she went pale. “Forget I said that. Please, don’t say anything to your stepfather.”
“I won’t.” Katrina was puzzled. “Frances, I don’t understand why you’re treating me like this. If you’re upset with something that my stepfather has done, that’s fine, but do you think I’ve suddenly changed in to a terrible person?”
Frances looked her right in the eye. “You live on pack property. You, of all people, must know what goes on there.”
“Why me of all people?”
“You’re a Sensitive. You pick up on emotions when people that you’ve met are in pain for frightened.”
“If they’re physically close enough to me, yeah. But what…” she trailed off. “There’s a large portion of our property that’s off limits right now, because my uncle is building some new buildings for a furniture factory and stuff like that. Like miles and miles of it. Are you suggesting that something is going on there?”
“Maybe you should do a little exploring.” Frances was still wary, but her belligerent tone had turned uncertain. “If Roman will let you,” she added, raising an eyebrow.
The front door jingled, and swung open. Katrina turned around – to face Jaden and Maddox. She wanted to scream with frustration. This was unbelievable – she’d been so close, and Frances had probably seen her coming and called the Killingworth pack before she walked in the door. Still – they’d gotten her more quickly than she would have expected.
Frances shrugged apologetically and walked away, into the back section of the store.
“Well, if it isn’t Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumber.” She looked at Jaden. “That was fast.”
“Yeah, you need to work on your technique a little bit, princess.” Maddox flashed a feral grin. “I figured you might try something like this. Told Jaden to just play along if you did. I was curious as to what you’d do. I drove to town, and I had my men following you far enough behind that you couldn’t scent them.”
She just stared at him, silently thinking of all the things she could do with a wolf skin pelt. Matching jacket and boots. A fur vest.
“I think this is the part where you start screaming, throwing things, and questioning my manhood.” Maddox was striding towards her. Him and his ridiculous t-shirts which showed off his huge biceps and molded to his washboard abs. Big, stupid, show-off.
“You’d have to be in possession of some manhood in order for me to question it.” She bit the words out.
“There we go.” He flashed his white teeth in an infuriating smile. “Had me worried there for a second. Now, which way are we going to do it this time? Am I going to carry you, or are you going to walk? Either way’s good with me.”
“I. will. Walk.” She strode angrily towards the door, and the two of them followed right on her heels, steering her towards a pickup truck.
Chapter Six
It was 8 a.m., but the common area was already bustling with activity. In different parts of the yard, shifters were drying herbs, chopping firewood, or socializing and eating breakfast at picnic tables.
Katrina sat at the picnic table where Caroline and the others were gathered, and let out a huge yawn as Caroline set a cup of coffee down in front of her. She’d slept badly again last night. Different shifters kept bringing meals to her room; it was never Maddox. This irritated her on a very deep level, although she wasn’t sure why.
Michael had again been assigned to guard duty, and he sat nearby, chatting up his girlfriend, a shifter named Roberta. All of the women who’d been at the table the day before were back, with their craft supplies laid out.
Caroline had brought out Katrina a notebook so she could jot down some ideas for the bridal feast.
“Thanks for the coffee. What’s on the agenda for today?” Katrina was incredibly grateful to have this wedding coming up.
“We were hoping you could share your recipe for those mini sausage snacks you made for Riverville’s 150th anniversary celebration,” Caroline said. “I actually had some. They were amazing.”
“Loved them,” Peony added.
“We won’t be having them for the wedding reception, though,” Myrtle said. “Much too casual and lowbrow. Now for my reception, which was done in excellent taste – well, excuse me, I was talking,” she said, as Peony got up and stormed off.
Caroline rushed after Peony, but Peony waved her off and kept walking.
Katrina got up and jogged over to Caroline. “Let me try. Sometimes people will talk to a friend more than they will a family member,” she said. Caroline shrugged helplessly.
She caught up to Peony, who was walking fast and blinking back tears. Michael trailed behind Katrina, watching her closely.
“I’m pretty sure I’m calling the wedding off,” Peony said, wiping her nose with her hand. “I’m sorry I wasted everyone’s time with all of this planning.”
“I know your mother in law’s a bitch, but once the wedding is over, you can just avoid her, can’t you?” Katrina asked. “Unless you feel like he’s not the right one for you.”
“That’s just it. He’s perfect for me in every way, except for this thing with his mother. And she announced that she’s building a house right next to ours so she can come over every day and cook and clean because I obviously never got any training in those departments, and there’s no reason think that I’ll suddenly learn how just because I’m married. So, great, she’s insulting my parents and me at the same time. And she said that when I have cubs she’ll need to be there to help raise them right. Alexander was sitting right there and he didn’t say a word.”
“Oh, hellz no,” Katrina swore. “You’re right. You need to find him and take a stand, post haste. She can not live next to you, and unless she starts treating you with respect and stops insulting you all the time, there’s no reason she should set paw in your house.”
“Am I being unreasonable? I keep trying and trying to be nice to her no matter what she says.”
“You are perfectly reasonable,” Katrina said firmly. “Go find him. This can’t wait.”
Back at the picnic table, Caroline and the helmet haired woman were shouting at each other, and the group quickly packed up their supplies and headed off – all except for Teresa, who gestured at Katrina to come talk to her.
Katrina glanced over at Michael, who was standing five feet away.
“Do you mind?” she said. “Private conversation here.” He shrugged and didn’t move. Scowling, Katrina lead Teresa another ten feet away.
Maybe Teresa could give her some insight into whatever was happening with the Mordhaus pack, that she wasn’t seeing.
“I just wanted to say that maybe you should stay here,” Teresa said. “You fit right in, and Maddox is obviously crazy about you. No, don’t laugh! Everybody’s talking about it. Why do you think Lula is so jealous? She wants Maddox, and he obviously wants you.”
“Is there a collective case of crazy going around here?” Katrina shook her head in astonishment. “Maddox does not like me.”
“Yes, he does,” Teresa insisted. “Every time there was some public event in town and both packs were there, I would see him watching you and ignoring all the other girls. He’s very handsome, isn’t he? And, you know – Alpha. Who doesn’t want to be with an Alpha? ‘Nuff said there, right?” she winked at her.
More than enough. What would Katrina even do if Teresa were right? But of course she wasn’t right. Maddox had never made a move on her.
“Teresa, sorry to change the subject, but I need to know,” Katrina said. “Why did you leave our pack? Was there something that made you unhappy?”
“Well, your stepfather is a bit…tempermental.” She smiled politely.
“Was he abusive? Everyone in town is acting really weird to me. Maddox claims that it’s because my stepfather has alienated everybody.”
“I did not ever see him being abusive.” Teresa was speaking very carefully. Was she trying not to offend Katrina, or was she that afraid of Roman, even now that she was here at this camp?
“You know that I’d never tell Roman anything that you say,” Katrina said. “If there’s a problem with his behavior, I need to know. I can talk to my mother. He always listens to her.”