Chapter Five
Serena didn’t sleep all night. At first, she and Robert had tried to share a bed, but she was so tense that she claimed that she couldn’t sleep and moved to the couch downstairs. Now, more than ever, she wished she had changed the layout of her section of the house to allow for a guestroom. It was going to remain awkward for them until they got used to sharing a bed.
Halfway through the night, she realized that her brain was going too fast to get any sleep at all, so she retreated out to her greenhouse and worked with the plants. Everything was growing well, which helped to put her mind more at ease. At some point she shifted, curled up on the stone path with the smell of earth on her paws, and slept.
When morning came, she hurried back to the house, and showered and dressed before Robert woke. She grabbed her planner from off her dresser and hurried to the kitchen to get some coffee started. Even though she knew that it technically didn’t do anything for shifters, since their metabolism was so fast, she liked the taste. It helped her wake up, even if it was just through the placebo effect.
As she waited, she checked what she had planned for the day. She groaned as she saw the first thing listed for the day. Milly Terrance.
Milly was a middle-aged badass who had a lot of plans for change. She had been very vocal in her displeasure about Serena being too young to take over. This meeting was going to go one of two ways. Either Serena would work with her to put some of her changes into action, or Milly was going to challenge her right to be matriarch. Probably the latter–Milly didn’t have much patience for cooperation.
It was the last thing that she needed to deal with on top of everything else. Part of her wondered if she should even go forward with her own plans for the clan when she might not even be matriarch. The other part of her said she couldn’t just give up, and she wasn’t going to.
Still, even the bitterness of the coffee brought no pleasure to her this morning.
Robert came down shortly after she started breakfast. He grinned at her. “Smells good.”
Serena looked at the sausages and eggs she had started and added more. She hadn’t considered making anything for him. As she did so, he pulled three plates from the cupboard and she rose her brows.
“Are we expecting someone?”
“Tristen’s coming, isn’t he?”
Heat flushed Serena’s face. That was right. Tristen had stayed with Clifford and Lori overnight. He’d be back over soon. She added the rest of the sausages and quickly grabbed out a box of pancake mix. There wasn’t enough other food for everybody. Robert offered to mix up the pancakes while she got the griddle turned on. Soon the house was filled with the aroma of meat and pancakes. It made her stomach grumble.
Tristen joined them soon after. Serena tried not to look at him as she loaded up her plate and started to eat.
“I need to get an assistant,” she sighed as she looked through everything she needed to do. “Robert, you’ll have to help me out today. I’ve got dry cleaning to pick up and… a lot of other things.” If only she had gotten more sleep. “The Bear Day celebrations are eating up a lot of time, too. Maybe we need another member on the board, since both Marcus and I have so much else to do.”
Robert shoved a whole sausage into his mouth. “Bear Day celebrations?”
Serena nodded. “Every month we have a day where we do a special activity for the clan to take part in, and hopefully educate the humans in the community.”
“Really?” Robert’s eyes widened. “That’s… weird. Cool but weird. In our clan, we do our best to blend in with non-shifters. It’s easier that way.”
“Easier, yes. For the day-to-day. I understand.” Her expression darkened as she remembered being a young girl and having slurs shouted at her on the playground because she was a shifter in a mostly non-shifter school. “But we’ve decided that it does more harm than good when it comes to long-term relations.”
Robert didn’t look convinced.
“For one thing, there is a lot of misinformation about shifters out there. By having these Bear Days that non-shifters are invited to participate in, we can clear up a lot of the honest misunderstandings. It’s no good for the radicals, but those who are genuinely good people get a lot out of it. And even if they didn’t, we want to instill a sense of pride among the next generation.” Serena smiled slightly. “We want our older populations to be proud of who they are, as well. We shouldn’t be ashamed of being shifters, any more than non-shifters should be ashamed of being born the way they were.’
Robert nodded thoughtfully.
Tristen cleared his throat. “Well, I’m afraid you’re going to have to throw that planner in the trash, Serena. Despite what you thought you were doing today, you’re not going to be around here.”
“What?” Serena frowned at him. “What are you talking about?”
“You have just been mated to a member of the McCloud clan. You have to go over to our clan territory, meet our parents and spend the day getting to know your mate’s clan’s culture.”
Serena shook her head. “You’re mistaken. That’s scheduled for next week. I don’t have time today, I have to—”
“It’s an important part of tradition,” Tristen rumbled.
Robert nodded. “Our clan is afraid that your clan doesn’t respect us as your sister clan anymore; to delay this would be seen as an insult. I mean, I did just beat up a bunch of my friends for you. I thought that this was the plan the whole time.”
“We need to work on our communication, then.” Serena looked at her planner, then chewed her lip as she considered it. There were a lot of meetings today, but most of them could be handled without her. As for Milly, she’d like an excuse to postpone that. She flipped through the next few days. There was a space on Thursday that she could fit her in.
She really, really needed an assistant to deal with all of this.
“Fine,” she muttered. Even if there wasn’t really time for it all, she could use a little break. The drive would also give her a chance to catch up on some sleep. “We can visit your clan today, but I don’t want to hear any complaints about me not being able to spend time with you for the next week.”
Robert grinned. He kissed her cheek, leaving behind a trace of syrup, and jumped to his feet. “Great! I’ll go call Mom and Dad. They are going to be thrilled to meet you.”
He dashed from the room, leaving her and Tristen alone. Serena saw him open his mouth and close it again. She focused on her breakfast, trying not to think about how tightly his shirt stretched over his muscles. Something swirled inside of her, though, and her bear urged her to go to him. But she didn’t. She couldn’t. She was mated to his brother now. And that was all there was to it.
***
As she had hoped, she fell asleep on the drive. Even though sitting in a vehicle wasn’t the most comfortable position, she was sufficiently rested when they stopped, that she felt like she could actually face whatever the day had to offer. To her surprise, though, they weren’t in a city. Instead, they were in a forest clearing. Tall trees surrounded them, blocking out most of the sun.
Serena yawned as she straightened. Robert opened her door and she stepped out. They weren’t in a paved driveway; a cabin sat partially hidden by trees and Robert, holding a suitcase she hadn’t seen before, gestured for her to go forward.
“This is where your parents live?” she asked doubtfully. But then, neither of them had said anything about where they lived, so she supposed they could live in a cabin in the woods.
“Not exactly,” Robert replied. He showed her inside. It smelled musty, like it had been shut up for a long time. Dust coated everything and Serena tensed. This wasn’t a cabin that was lived in. She turned to Robert, who set the suitcase on the floor and gave her a small smile. “We’ll be safe here until Tristen can take care of the Sawyer threat.”
It took a moment for her to understand what he was saying. Then her hands curled into fists and she narrowed her eyes at him.
“You kidnapped me?”
Robert’s smile vanished. “I wouldn’t put it quite like that.”
“Oh, really?” The sarcasm was strong in her voice. “This is unacceptable. You can’t just go around making decisions like this without telling me. People are going to be worried, now take me home.”
“Wait.” Robert caught her hand. “Look, I know that it’s not exactly above board, but we all agreed this was the best choice.”
Serena narrowed her eyes. “We? Who else is involved in this insane plot?”
“Your uncle and Marcus. We told them both and they agreed that the best course of action right now was to remove you from the threats. There are people who want to kill you out there and I think that—”
“That I can’t make my own choices about my safety, apparently,” Serena cut in. Her bear snarled. “How dare you? I am not some helpless, stupid damsel in distress for you to rescue. I am the matriarch. I intend to fill my position and do my duty. There will always be threats, I am useless if I can’t do what I need to do because you’re paranoid about me being unable to take care of myself.”
Tristen spoke from behind her. “Serena, nobody thinks you are incapable.”
“Milly Terrance does. And this? This is going to give her more fuel for her ammunition.”
“I’m not sure those two go together,” Robert said, but fell silent at Serena’s glare.
She turned back to Tristen. “Was this your idea?”
His face said it all.
“How dare you?” Her voice held more venom in it this time than it had when she said the same words to Robert. “I told you I wanted a mate who didn’t try to control me, and you do this? You will take me back to my clan at once. And you,” she pointed at Robert without looking at him, “you are no longer my mate.”
Robert made a protesting noise but she ignored him.
“No.” Tristen’s voice was soft.
Serena rose her chin. Well. If that was going to be how they acted. She grabbed the front of her blouse and ripped it open, buttons popping off and flying every which way.