“Oh. Right.” Kane interrupted, sounding slightly miffed. He rolled onto his back. “I still don’t think it was an appropriate gift.” Disapproval radiated from him and Elise tried to keep her face expressionless. For all that he and Ryne had been joking that last day, there was still a faint undercurrent of jealousy between the two males, which she found rather entertaining. Ryne was a great tease and she was sure he’d never do anything to jeopardize her relationship with Kane. At least she hoped so...
“It was very kind of him and I didn’t appreciate you trying to throw it out.” She rolled onto her side as she scolded him, softening her words by trailing her fingers gently down his chest. Kane just rumbled, neither agreeing nor disagreeing.
After another moment of silence, he sighed. “He called today.”
“Really?” She raised herself up on her elbow, looking at him in surprise.
“Yeah. He’s headed for Canada. There’s this little town in Northern Ontario that apparently has no established pack.”
“Wow! That’s quite a distance away. We won’t be able to see him very often.” She settled back down on her pillow and stared thoughtfully at the ceiling.
“Uh-huh.” Kane rolled onto his side and set his hand on her stomach, moving his hand in slow circles. Even without looking, she knew he was smiling.
“Kane, that’s not very nice.”
“What?”
“Sounding so pleased that Ryne will be living far away. He is your brother, after all.”
“I know and I have only the warmest of brotherly feelings for him. I just think that, until he gets a mate of his own, we’ll get along a lot better if there’s some distance between us.”
Elise said nothing, but turned her head towards him, and gave him a doubtful stare.
“Elise?” He looked at her with a pleading, puppy-dog expression in his eyes.
“Yes?”
“I love you.”
Her heart melted and Elise rolled over so that she was on top of him. “I love you, too,” she said as she leaned down to kiss him. And as he caressed her back with his hands, bringing her into even closer contact with his body, she couldn’t help but smile. Who would have thought the mating she had so dreaded would have turned out this way?