Rebecca’s Wolves(27)

“Cream and sugar, if you have it.”

His grandmother sighed loudly.

“Grandma, hush,” he admonished as he padded back into the kitchen, only to return moments later carrying the two new containers. “We just met twelve hours ago. We haven’t had a chance to sit around a table and gab over coffee.”

“Twelve hours ago?” The woman seemed stunned. Where had she been? Had she not gotten that memo from all the other conversation?

He prepared Rebecca a cup of coffee, doctored it, and handed it to her as he spoke. “Yes, Grandma. Yesterday evening. And we’ve been busy dealing with Griffen’s injury and keeping our mate alive in the cold outdoors for the night. There hasn’t been time for anything else…like coffee.” He added that last bit as though it were an amendment that kept his sentence from sounding quite as suggestive as it did.

Notable was the fact he now referred to her directly as his mate also. Not just his, but the implication was that Griffen was included in the equation.

Mrs. Bartel stopped glaring daggers at Rebecca and turned toward Griffen. “Tell me about the spirit, son.”

Griffen stiffened. His gaze jerked to Miles.

Miles slumped down in the other armchair in the room and tipped his head to the ceiling. “You might as well tell her about your experience. She’s not leaving until she’s satisfied.”

“Young man,” his grandmother said, “I won’t be satisfied, and neither should you three, until this claiming is completed.”

“Well, Grandma,” he lifted his head to face her, “you want us to do that right here in front of you? Or wait until you finish hounding us and leave?”

She harrumphed and squirmed in her seat. “Don’t sass me, boy.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He grinned, the obvious love and devotion he normally experienced around her covering his face.

She turned back to Griffen. “Talk.”

“I’m not sure what to say. I only saw a shadow. I assumed something got between me and the sun, maybe a cloud in the way or something—until Miles suggested otherwise, and then it happened again this morning.”

“A shadow?” The old woman leaned forward, perching on the edge of her seat.

“Yes, as though the sun were blocked for a moment. I assumed it was a bear at first, but it seemed larger. And I didn’t see a physical presence. The sun draped around it from behind.”

“And you were at the summit?”

“Yes.”

“And again this morning?” Mimi asked.

Griffen nodded. “It seemed to hover over us as though trying to get our attention.”

She shook her head in dismay. “This is bad.”

“Why?” Griffen asked. He probably had no idea his fingers had worked their way around the edge of Rebecca’s pants and gripped the material above her ass.

“It’s a bad omen, I tell you.” She stood, set her coffee mug on the little table, and smoothed her thick blue dress. If Rebecca wasn’t mistaken, she’d probably sewn it herself. She lifted her long narrow finger and pointed at each of them once more in turn. “Mark my words, you finish this. And you do it now. Every second you hesitate angers the spirits more. You hear?”

“Yes, Grandma. I hear you.” Miles stepped forward and followed his grandmother to the door. The woman held her head high as she left without saying good-bye or glancing back.

Soon after Miles shut the door, Rebecca heard the engine of the woman’s car start, and then she pulled slowly out of the gravel driveway. “Um, forgive me, but what in the hell was that all about?”

Miles turned around and leaned against the door as though he were too exhausted to make his way across the room. He probably was. If he’d slept at all last night, she’d be surprised. Every time she woke up, she found him staring at her, his hand drawing circles on some section of her body.

The memory of the night, combined with her memory of the previous evening when Griffen had kissed her senseless and then stroked her cheek as she fell asleep, came crashing down around her in a rush. She jumped up from the couch, dislodging Griffen’s grip on her pants. “I really need to get home.” She didn’t care that no one had answered her previous question. She needed to escape.

“Love…” Miles groaned. “It doesn’t work like that.”

“He’s right, baby.” Griffen stood too. He reached for her, but she darted out of his grasp. She couldn’t think when either of them touched her.





Chapter Ten


Miles smiled as he stared at his flustered mate. He shouldn’t have, but he couldn’t help it. She was so damn cute. “Why don’t you go first in the shower? I’ll make breakfast. And then we’ll talk after we’re all clean and fed.”