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She closed the wardrobe and glanced around the room. Some of their stuff had been taken from their own rooms back in town. She spotted a couple of picture frames, and she went to them. Lucas with his father and his friends, Ben and Rupert. A family picture with his brothers and sisters.
Lucas was the eldest by several years, that much she did know.
She sat on the edge of the bed and glanced at the cabinet. Opening the top drawer, she found a photograph album. Pulling it out of the drawer, she stared at the blank front, wondering what it was.
His room was private.
She really shouldn’t open it. Only, she did.
Much to her surprise, a picture of her high school graduation stared right back at her. Why did he have a picture of her? Turning over the page, she was surprised to find more of them. Some of her as a baby, then a toddler. The first day of school. Playing at the park. Then when she’d moved up into high school. She scanned through each one until it must have happened after the mating, because the other pictures were taken at a distance. Some of them were out of focus. A few were close-ups of her face. When she turned to the final picture, this was of her staring out of her bedroom window.
Lucas had taken these, of that, she had no doubt. The others he must have gotten from her parents, but why?
After closing the book, she returned it to the drawer, and then paused as she saw an item of her clothing beneath it.
Lifting it up, she knew it was her shirt. Her scent was faint now.
She put the item back and went in search of Lucas, finding him at the stove, cooking them breakfast.
The shirt he wore was tight across his back and muscular arms. The ink stood out. Those arms had felt wonderful wrapped around her last night. The way he touched her, the feel of him inside her.
She sat down on the available chair at the counter and winced.
Lucas looked toward her with a frown. “Are you, er, sore?”
“It’s fine.”
“Do you want me to run you a bath?”
She shook her head. “I’ll be fine. We’ve got wolf blood, remember? I’ll be healed before you know it.”
Forcing a smile to her lips, she watched him. He stared at her as if he had doubts, but suddenly a piece of toast started burning and he quickly returned to breakfast.
She watched him, wondering why she didn’t know much about him.
“What have you been doing these past three years?” she asked.
He glanced back at her. “Learning what I need to in order to succeed my father. There’s a lot more to learn than merely taking the role of leader.”
“Like what?”
“Democracy, patience, not killing people for petty squabbles.”
“Really?” she asked.
“You’d be surprised. I don’t know, I guess being part of a pack, I naturally assumed everyone was civilized.”
“And now?”
“And now I know being in a pack with civilians close by, we’re always on our guard. The tensions can run high.” He finished dishing up their breakfast and she got to her feet, following him into the dining room.
“What else have you been doing?” she asked.
“Learning the family business. I don’t know if you’re aware, but my family owns several factories in town, and my dad also has several stocks and shares. It’s how he’s able to invest in the pack. They always come first, I mean, after my mom and us. But she’s always by his side, helping him.”
“Nelle is a lovely woman,” she said. She’d met his mother a few times during the three years she’d tried to be as far away from him as possible.
Lucas sat opposite her. “She’s been worried about this. Us.”
“Why?”
“I told her everything,” he said. “Dad knew I hurt you in high school. He didn’t ask for the details, but Mom, I told the absolute truth to. For a few weeks, maybe even a month, she wouldn’t talk to me.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. She didn’t realize she’d raised a cruel son, and knowing the shit I did upset her.”
“Oh.”
He nodded. “She was angry at me for risking so much. She told me repeatedly that mates didn’t come around often. I’d always done everything to make my parents proud, you know? That was the first time I’d ever upset them or let them down.”
She wanted to ask about the book. All the pictures.
“I … It was hard,” she said. “Staying away from you. I fought it all the time. Being in the city helped a lot. There were so many distractions that it helped not to think about you at all.” She scooped up some tomatoes and took a bite. “When I came home, though, I was sure I could feel you all the time. I figured it was because you lived there.”
