Grabbing the Beta’s arm, she spoke in a rush. “John, Kane never came to bed last night and I’m worried. He was so angry when he left. Do you know where he might be?”
“It’s all right, Elise. I talked to him about half an hour ago. He went on patrol since he didn’t think he should be anywhere near Marla.”
Relief washed over her, and she released her death grip on John’s arm. “Was selling that picture really as bad as Kane made it out to be?”
“Yes and no.” John wandered over to the stove and poured them both a cup of coffee. Handing one to Elise, he continued. “There’s always a chance that someone will notice something unusual about the photograph, and the fact that it went to a collector who specializes in wolves makes it even riskier. Kane is extremely protective of the pack and the idea of someone endangering it is really hard for him to handle. Then there’s the whole obedience and trust thing. Marla not only broke his trust, but disobeyed a direct command, basically flaunting his authority. On top of all that, he’s stressed to the max and working way too hard. It’s not a good combination.”
“I didn’t think he could get that angry.”
“I’ve seen him worse, and believe me, it’s not something you want to see. Our Alpha keeps himself under a pretty tight rein. He tries really hard to be civilized and not let the wolf take over, but sometimes it still slips out. When it does, it’s usually justified like last night. Marla was lucky. A few generations back, the Alpha might have killed her.”
Elise shivered at the thought. While she was proud of her heritage, there were some aspects of it that she wasn’t as fond of. “So what’s going to happen?”
“Well he’s decided that part of Marla’s punishment is that she has to get that picture back. I don’t know what kind of a tale she’s going to have to spin or what it will cost, but that’s her concern. Beyond that, if she’s smart she’ll lay low for a while. Kane doesn’t carry a grudge. He blows up and then cools down. He’ll be fine by tomorrow.”
*****
Kane didn’t come home for lunch, but Marla—just to be on the safe side—stayed in her room most of the time. Since it wasn’t her day to work, Elise found herself with nothing in particular to do and decided to make a call back home to help fill in the time. Sarah answered the phone and Elise was surprised to feel tears welling in her eyes. She hadn’t realized how much she missed the woman.
They chatted for over half an hour, catching up on the news from home. Elise wanted to ask how Bryan was, but the conversation hadn’t worked around to him yet. Finally, Sarah mentioned his name in passing and Elise jumped on the chance to inquire about him, unconsciously squeezing the handset tighter.
“How is he? ... Really? ... He’ll be coming this way tomorrow? ... Well, yes of course I’d love to see him ... Maybe he could meet me in town. My shift is done at one o’clock ... Uh-huh ... Well, pass the information on to him and if it works for him, he can call me and make it definite ... Okay ... I miss all of you too ... Yes, I promise to call again soon, but you can call me too, you know! Right ... I’m looking forward to it. Bye. I love you!”
Elise hung up the phone and gave a little twirl of happiness only to come face to face with Marla. “Oh! Hi, Marla. How are you doing today?”
Marla had a strange look on her face, but it quickly disappeared as she answered Elise’s question. “Oh, I’m fine I guess. Still feeling like a whipped puppy over that incident with Kane last night, though.”
“I’m really sorry I brought it up. Like you, I never thought it would be such a big deal.” Elise gave Marla a sympathetic smile.
“I know. And I shouldn’t have given in to Ryne, but he can be so persuasive and I was in love.” Marla studied Elise for a moment. “Have you ever been in love?”
Shifting a bit uncomfortably, Elise felt her face grow warm as she tried to think of a diplomatic answer. She didn’t mind Marla that much anymore, but she didn’t want to discuss close personal matters with her either. “Well...I...”
“It’s okay, Elise. We all know that you and Kane didn’t make a love match, but it will work out in the end, you’ll see.” Quickly changing topics, Marla asked about her phone call. “I wasn’t eavesdropping, but I couldn’t help overhear part of your conversation. You sounded pretty enthusiastic about meeting someone tomorrow.”
“Just an old friend from back home. We grew up together.”
Marla nodded. “That should be fun. Well, I’d better get moving. I’m going to grab a bite to eat and then hide upstairs again. I figure by tomorrow, Kane will have calmed down a bit and I can try to make some apologies.”