“You’re lucky my family’s business just got a couple of huge new contracts and they’re too busy right now to worry much,” Chantelle sighed. “Dad’s running around interviewing and hiring new staff and doing tons of paperwork, so that’ll help keep him and Mom out of your hair for a little while at least.”
“Oh, congrats!” Taylor said enthusiastically. She meant it. The Zywickis had struggled when they were first starting up their business. She’d been in grade school then. But they’d always made sure she was fed when her mother forgot to feed her, and they’d bought her clothing and new knapsacks for school so she wouldn’t have to wear ill-fitting, stained castoffs. Every bit of success they had delighted her.
“Was that luck?” Cliff countered. Taylor and Chantelle both stared at him.
“Wow. Both of those new contracts came totally out of the blue, and they doubled the size of our company overnight. You got us those contracts to keep him busy.” Chantelle’s eyes widened. “But those weren’t Bronson companies. They weren’t even in the same business. One of them was a tractor supply company and one of them was a mall management company.”
“We have more shell companies than there are stars in the sky,” Cliff said. “You never know when they’ll come in handy.”
“Damn, you’re conniving,” Taylor said with grudging admiration.
“My parents will still want to come to the wedding. And from what you’ve told me, it’ll actually be a mating ceremony. And you guys are going to turn into wolves at some point and run into the woods for a while. That’s going to be a little hard to explain,” Chantelle pointed out.
Cliff snorted. “Two ceremonies, of course. We just have to wait until after the full moon, and after the trials are done. Then we’ll have the traditional mating ceremony here, and another one outside the pack property, with an actual priest, in a church, for human friends and family.”
“You’ve thought of everything,” Chantelle conceded. “This could work.” She glanced at Taylor. “He’s smartandsexy. Wow. I can’t even come up with an insult right now.”
“Oh God, no. No, Chantelle, don’t feed his ego,” Taylor begged her.
“Too late.” A smirk spread all the way across Cliff’s face. “I’m too sexy for my clothes,” he hummed to himself.
“See? See? You’ve created a monster.” Taylor shook her head reprovingly. “Well, technically he was already a monster, but you’ve made him even worse.”
“Deal with it. You’ve got a sexy billionaire boyfriend, and I’m trapped here under guard twiddling my thumbs.” Chantelle glanced over at Rusty, who was staring at her. “What are you looking at?” she yelled.
He snarled. “A rude, obnoxious creature who reminds me why I hate humans,” he yelled back.
“Come over here and say that.” Chantelle smiled menacingly. Even though she was only five foot four, she somehow managed to look rather frightening when she did that.
“And have you cattle-prod me? Thanks, I’ll pass.” He looked away in disgust.
Chantelle sighed. “It’s going to be a long ten days. But at least I can amuse myself by doing everything possible to annoy the living crap out of him every waking minute of the day.”
At that, Taylor grinned. “If he wasn’t one of Jerrold’s men, I’d feel sorry for him. Oh, hey, here’s James plus rugrats.”
James came striding up to them, hands in his pockets, whistling. He was accompanied by four of his cubs, whom he introduced and whose names Taylor promptly forgot. They ran off with Roger and Dax, chasing each other through the bushes. Taylor watched them. She could have children like that someday…children who could turn into wolves. They’d be fierce and strong, and they’d be children of nature, at home both in the world of man and in the forest.
If she decided to stay.
“You look as if you have some good news for us,” Cliff said.
“Better than good. Amazing. Leota’s injuries are even worse than we thought. She’s near death, in fact.”
“Quit smiling,” Taylor said, appalled. “That’s horrible. Why is that good news?”
“Because her injuries are so severe that she has to stay in seclusion with Anita to be healed for the next two weeks. More than enough time to get us past the Alpha Trials.” He winked at Taylor. “And there is no provision in the pack charter for appealing the healer’s diagnosis and treatment plan, or even getting a second opinion. Grant apparently checked all of that. The Elders can do nothing, Jerrold can do nothing. A little bird told me that he beat one of his packmates into a near coma when he got the news. But I know which packmate it was, and the guy was a nasty, abusive bully, so it’s no loss.”
“Oh, thank God. Finally, some relief for that poor woman. Do you have any idea how she got that bloody nose and split lip?” Taylor asked James. “I believe Jerrold was telling the truth about never hitting her in the face, because he’s the type who’d leave bruises where they don’t show. So I don’t think he did it.”
James shrugged. “No idea. I assume she did it to herself. I’m not entirely clear on how we got word to her to do that, but obviously someone did, and it worked.”
“James winked at you,” Cliff complained to Taylor, and his claws curved out of his fingertips.
“Seriously?” She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Seriously?” James echoed her. “If Anita were here, she’d kick your ass for suggesting that I’m checking out your mate, Alpha or no. And then she’d refuse to heal you afterwards.”
“Sorry.” Cliff groaned and retracted his nails. “It’s not rational. I know. I just can’t stand the thought of… Never mind, I’m being ridiculous.”
