Laurie’s Wolves(80)
That wasn’t a bad analogy. Laurie winced. “How do you know?”
Her voice rose. “Because that’s what you look like. You’re exhausted. You haven’t slept. There are bags under your eyes. I can smell your arousal, and I’m pretty sure it has nothing to do with me being in the room.”
Laurie glanced away. It embarrassed her that her sister could scent her that way.
“It’s like the pheromones that fill a room when two people, or in this case three, need to mate. Except you already did mate, and now you’ve decided to play God and take that claiming and throw it out the window and pretend it didn’t happen. It’s too late.
“So imagine how your mates feel. They’re hurting too. Badly.”
Laurie bit her lower lip. Why did Melinda have to make so much sense?
Melinda opened her mouth to continue and then held up a hand. Her eyes glazed over slightly, a sure indication she was communicating with her mates. She smiled and nodded—comical since it was the equivalent of hand gestures while talking on the phone and driving. They couldn’t see her.
Finally she shook away the connection and met Laurie’s gaze again. “It’s snowing in Cambridge.”
“See?” She perked up, hopeful.
“Yeah. It’s fucking December. It snows most days in Cambridge. That’s why they built a ski resort there at the base of a mountain. Laurie, get your head out of your ass.”
Laurie flinched.
Melinda’s shoulders drooped. “However, it is snowing hard. It wasn’t in the forecast. And it hasn’t let up for hours.”
Laurie smiled, crossing her arms under her breasts and ignoring the pressure it put on her chest. She scooted back down the bed and lay flat. “I need sleep.”
“Seriously?”
Laurie closed her eyes and nodded.
“You know better than anyone you won’t be able to sleep one minute until you’ve been reunited with your mates. Don’t even fake like it’s all hunky dory.”
Laurie opened one eye and lifted that brow. “Hunky dory?”
Melinda ignored her. She stood and grabbed Laurie’s bag from the corner, stuffing her belongings into it. “Let’s go.”
“Where?”
“Home. Where you belong. Before things really get out of hand.”
“I can’t do it. I’m ruining both their lives with my presence.”
“Because you mated two men, and you happen to be of mixed races?”
Laurie shrugged.
“What year is this? That’s idiotic. Anyone who believes that shit needs to have their head examined, and you know it. Admit defeat. Come home with me.”
She lifted Laurie’s bag and set it on the bed. She pulled out a pair of jeans and socks and tossed them at her sister. “Get dressed. It’s fucking cold out there.”
The jeans landed on her belly. She winced but didn’t move. Instead she put her hands behind her head and feigned nonchalance.
“Girl, I will physically drag you out of this house and throw you in my car without caring a bit about your state of undress.” She put her hands on her hips. “Mom will gladly help. She thinks you’re cracked.”
Laurie felt cracked. She rolled her eyes back and stared at the ceiling. “What if I’m right?”
“About what? The weather?”
“What if I’m right about the town? What if they can’t accept the three of us as an entity? What if they get increasingly more violent? I would feel awful if anything happened to either of my mates or any other innocent bystander if those religious zealots tried to kill someone and succeeded. Or worse, the jerks from the reservation stuck in a time long gone who want to keep the wolf line pure. That’s insane. They’re crazy. And crazy people do crazy things.”
“True. And their actions are on them, not you. All you can do is follow your heart and what Fate has arranged. Can you tell me you don’t love those two men with every fiber of your being?”
Laurie couldn’t move. Of course she loved them. Both of them. With every inch of her body.
“I’ll take that as a no. And would you deny yourself or either of them happiness because some other assholes are spouting religious nonsense at you?”
“Of course not. But I have to consider more than my own feelings. What about the Masters? What if they lose their livelihood because I came to town? How is that fair?”
Melinda rolled her eyes. “No one’s losing their jobs. The resort will not go under because one strange fundamentalist backward church thinks the races shouldn’t mix or consenting adults can’t enjoy sex with whomever they want. Purity of the white man? That’s rubbish. It’s a small handful of people who believe in that shit, and most of either town would never support it. You can’t let a dozen bigots dictate your life and take away your happiness.”