"According to Dimitris this is all pretty much as the previous owners left it. He bought it furnished, so everything you see here belonged to them. See there" she pointed to a chest of drawers in the corner of the bedroom. "They left all of their perfumes and body sprays. I mean, who does that?” Norah had to agree. It was very weird that a couple would leave so quickly and not take any of their personal items.
“Dimitris has someone come in to clean every week. He says it's better to have the house looked lived-in as opposed to leaving it empty. He’s probably right. I think all the knick-knacks and personal items make it feel more comfortable for me. Perhaps that’s why my wolf likes to run here every day.”
Cate opened the door to a walk-in closet and handed out a short purple robe. Norah took the fluffy wrap and quickly put it on. She sat down on the bed and watched her friend. Cate rummaged through the various robes as if she were trying to find just the right one. Norah rolled her eyes. The only woman she'd ever known that was as comfortable in her own skin as Cate was her best friend, Jessie.
"Can I ask you something, Cate?"
"Of course. Shoot." Cate picked out a green robe and pulled it over her arms.
"When did Dimitris first say he loved you?” Norah crossed her hands in her lap and attempted to look as if she was just curious and not asking for personal reasons.
"Hmm. Let’s see.” She tapped her chin with her fingers. “I’d say we had known one another for approximately two hours before he dropped the L-word on me." Cate laughed at the absurdity of it. “At the time the man honestly believed he was being cool about the whole thing, like I should have just thought it was normal that a man I'd known for two hours told me he loved me."
"Two hours? That’s incredibly fast." Norah tried to do the math on how many hours she had known Lukyan at this point.Almost four thousand, Norah. Four thousand hours without an I love you.
"What’s all this about, Norah? Has Lukyan told you he loves you?” Cate walked from the closet toward the bed.
Norah shook her head to ward off this conversation. She did not want to talk about this with Cate. She chastised herself for bringing this up in the first place. "Did I tell you my good news?"
"Don't change the subject, Norah. Tell me about Lukyan." Cate had her hand on her hip and was doing the alpha stare that Norah had grown to know meantI want answers and I want them now.
Norah continued, "So it turns out that I have the ability to compel humans. Today, during our ultrasound, Lukyan tried to compel Christie into not retaining any medical records, but she would not do it. She is apparently one of those rare strong-willed humans who is immune to the powers of compulsion. She rolled her eyes at him and told us to decide whether or not we wanted to go through with all of this. Lukyan was pretty much convinced that we were not going to have our ultrasound today, but I asked him if I could try. When she came back in I told her what she wanted to do, and it worked!”
Cate looked at her dubiously. "I know what you're doing. You are trying to change the subject. Lucky for you, this one time I'm going to let you, for no other reason than I just have to say, ‘How fucking sad it is that I can hear stuff really well, and you get to compel people?’ Once again we discover that I, the supposed Queen of all wolf shifters, gets to eavesdrop on conversations when all the other shifters around me have a really cool gift." Norah smiled. She perhaps had not been able to completely sway Cate from the subject of love, but she had at least pulled her attention far enough away that she wouldn't revisit it for a while.
"So, are you planning on getting an ultrasound, Cate? You could go back to where I went and I could compel Christie into letting you guys get one without medical records as well."
Cate looked lovingly at her own little swelling belly. She ran her hands along the growing bump. "As much as I would love to see the little guy or gal, Dimitris and I both decided that it would be a bad idea for me to get an ultrasound. We really don't want anyone to know what we are having. Clearly the entire pack, no make that the entire wolf shifter world, wants us to have a girl. They want me so desperately to be the Wolf Queen, the one that ends the curse against all wolves, the one that finally gives birth to a female child. But what if she's not a female? What ifsheis ahe.I don’t want anyone to be disappointed by the child I bring into the world because I won’t be disappointed. I will love him or her no matter what.
“That’s why we decided to wait. We figured that no one would be upset when the baby arrived, even if it’s a boy. How can you be upset when a happy, healthy baby is staring back at you?"
Norah couldn't argue with Cate. Although it was a little sad that she and Lukyan could never have a daughter if Cate wasn’t truly the Wolf Queen, the fact was there was no pressure on them either. She could not imagine the pressure that Dimitris and Cate felt by her supposed Wolf Queen status. There had to be a lot of fretting and worry that went along with her title. The really interesting thing was that no one even knew if she really was the Wolf Queen, at least not yet. Until a female shifter was born, no one could know for certain if the curse would be broken. Norah looked up at her friend. Cate might prefer to have been given Norah’s gift, but Norah was certainly glad she was not chosen to carry the burden of Wolf Queen.
The heavy thoughts weighed on Norah. She rose from the bed and began to explore the contents of the room. A gold bangle bracelet had been carelessly thrown on one of the bedside tables. She picked it up and tried it on. "I can’t believe all the stuff the former owners left here. Who would leave nice jewelry? It's one thing to leave Axe body spray, but is another thing entirely to leave a gold bracelet." She held out her arm to show Cate. For once, the alpha looked a bit demure.
"Umm, actually that's mine. Dimitris and I don't only use this place as a rendezvous point for my wolf runs. Sometimes we just need to get away." For the first time ever, Norah witnessed a sheepish Cate. Was she embarrassed that she and her mate ran away to have trysts at the little home on the edge of the estate? Norah found it charming. She wondered if she and Lukyan would ever know the same luxury?
Cate tilted her head to the side. "Shh. Did you hear that? What am I talking about? Of course, you didn’t.” She waved her hands at Norah, a visual cue to stop talking. If Norah wasn’t suddenly so spooked, she would have thought it funny. She hadn’t spoken for at least two minutes. “Shhh," Cate hissed again. Norah wondered what the alpha female was talking about.
"What is it?"
"I think someone's here. It sounds like –" Cate tilted her head further to the side and listened harder. Norah could see the concentration on her face. "It sounds like someone just hit Ivan and is trying to tie him up." She paused. “Shit! They are looking for me. Hide!” Sweat broke out all over Norah's body. What did someone want with Cate, and what did he do to Ivan? Norah ran her hands down the sides of the purple robe.
Fast thinking, Cate ran to the chest of drawers and grabbed a can of Axe body spray and sprayed it in thick clouds all over the room. Soon the room smelled just like a high school locker room.Gag.Norah thought she might die. In her human form, the scent would be overpowering, but as a shifter it was nauseating. Cate pushed and pulled at Norah before pointing frantically to the walk-in closet. The alpha ran towards the door and waved Norah to follow behind her. Norah could not move. She was frozen stiff with trepidation.
"Come on, Norah," Cate hissed before she slinked in the closet and cracked the door. Norah willed her legs toward the closet, but they would not budge. Her wolf bristled her fur and showed her teeth. It seemed the two of them were truly backed into a corner now.
The sound of heavy boots clattered on the wooden stairs. Someone was coming.
