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I shook my head. “Mariam, you of all people should remember exactly how tightly wound I am. After basically raising you, and getting a few thousand grey hairs doing it, by the way, I don’t have it in me to try to raise another child. Especially one who is in his twenties.”
"Hmmm…" Mariam tilted her head, considering my words. "I wonder if that's why the moon goddess has chosen you to be together. Gabe is nurturing as hell, and you have always been the caregiver. Maybe it's time someone took care of you for a change, Ella."
"Enough," I said, throwing my hands in the air. "It doesn't matter because I'm not going to do it. If this is the best the moon goddess can give me, maybe I'm better off choosing someone on my own. Or maybe I'd be better off having casual relationships like you did before meetingTrace, Mare. Who even knows anymore?"
My wolf growled, indignant at that line of thinking. Mariam didn't look too pleased, either.
"You don't have to make a decision about everything right away, Ella, but please don't go and do something stupid. Gabe doesn't deserve that, and honestly, neither do you. I can promise you that sort of thing won't end well for either of you."
"Since when did you become the parent?" I huffed, sitting up and pulling my legs to my chest. "That sounds like something I would tell you if our roles were reversed."
"What can I say? I learned from the best."
She scooped me into her arms and tucked my head under her chin, just like I did when we were kids. Somehow, someway, she had become the wise bigger sister, and I had turned into the one with boy troubles.
Chapter 3
The next thing I knew, I was standing in the enormous kitchen helping Randy and his mate, Justine, make dinner. The alpha and beta couples took turns with the cooking responsibilities whenever possible, and tonight was their night. I could have stayed hidden upstairs, but after a while, I started to feel guilty that I wasn’t helping out. The last thing I needed was for the pack to think that Mariam’s only sister was a lazy bum.
And at least the huge ceremony-prepping crowd had dispersed, so I didn’t have to face everyone who witnessed the debacle upstairs.
So now, I was doing my best to throw together a stir-fry for the alphas and betas to enjoy, assuming that Gabe was, in fact, serious about coming back and taking me out on the date. If he showed up, I had vowed to use the time together to talk him out of pursuing anything with me.
“This is amazing! You’re doing great!” Justine said, tasting a bit of the sauce I was using to coat the vegetables. “Much better than Mariam when she first started living here.”
Her mate growled from across the kitchen, warning herto watch what she was saying. I tried and failed to hide my smile at her blunt honesty.
“Mariam has never been very lucky when it comes to cooking, I’m afraid. I actually help run the pack’s bakery. Cooking and baking are a few of my favorite things, so I guess there was never a reason for her to learn when she lived with me.”
Justine’s eyes lit up. “Ooooh! You’re a baker!? I can’t wait for you to move to Tumblewild and—“
“Justine!” Randy said, exasperated. “I told you. No talking about any of that. Trace said it was a sensitive subject, remember?”
“I agreed to that before I knew she was a chef, Randy,” Justine shot back. “That was before there were muffins and doughnuts and scones on the line.”
“That’s not all that’s on the line if you don’t cut it out.”
My eyebrows rose slightly at the threat. Randy’s face was dead-serious, and I thought I saw his hand twitch in anticipation of administering an impending spanking. I guess I shouldn’t be that surprised. Mom and Dad had made it no secret that domestic discipline was essential to mated life, but witnessing it between people my age was something completely different.
“You’re the one freaking her out with all the huffing and puffing, wolfman. Don’t you remember how much that shit used to scare Mariam?”
Randy shot a concerned look my way, but I waved him off. “Mariam and I are about as different as two people can be. She didn’t want the structure and the discipline, but I’m kind of looking forward to it.”
I snapped my mouth shut and felt my cheeks glowcrimson. I hadn’t meant to imply that I was looking forward to being spanked or anything.Especiallynot by Gabriel. I had only wanted to reassure Randy that he wasn’t freaking me out.
But now it was too late. The admission hung in the air, and Justine’s eyes danced with intrigue. She leaned forward on the counter, searching my ever-reddening face.
“Wait, youwantyour mate to discipline you?” Justine looked at Randy, silently asking him if he was hearing this. I could tell he had heard everything because he was looking at me rather thoughtfully like this had somehow made my presence infinitely more interesting. But for Justine, his only response was another weary sigh.
“Leave it, troublemaker,” he said. “This conversation is over. You’ve mortified enough people for one day.”
I thought for just a second that the sassy red-haired shifter might try her luck by ignoring her mate’s command again, but in the end, she just shrugged and went back to setting the table. I shot Randy a grateful look that he acknowledged with a short nod. Above us, the large Tuscan-style clock let out a few chimes to indicate another hour had passed, and I began to breathe easier. Maybe Gabe had changed his mind about coming back this evening. Maybe he had—
The thought was interrupted by another bell going off, this one coming from the front door.
__________
I had to admit Gabe cleaned up pretty well. Since leaving the alpha house that morning, he had showered and changed clothes, and it looked like he had even gotten ahaircut. When I asked him about it, he blushed and fumbled a response about wanting to look more presentable than he had that morning. Gabe had even stopped and bought a fresh bouquet of roses, which Justine had promptly grabbed from him and put in some water.
