Chapter Five

 

 

Silas arrived accompanied by a handful of pack mates. Taylor recognized two of the larger males as his betas. She had only ever met them in passing and couldn’t remember their names, if anyone had ever even told her.

Olivia was there, too, as well as Silas’s youngest sister, Feather. Though she couldn’t be much older than twelve or thirteen, Feather was one of the sweetest and hardest working shifters on Taylor’s farming crew, and Taylor adored her. The native heritage that was part of her family’s bloodline was more pronounced in Feather. She had long, willowy limbs, dark skin and eyes, and sleek black hair. Embracing her name, she always wore a decorative headband of feathers.

Tonight, Feather went all out, wearing not only an elaborate headdress, but also a long, flowing cape of strung goose feathers and beads. Taylor made a mental note to ask her who made it, because she absolutely had to have one for herself.

Silas grew handsomer with each year. Taylor remembered the first time she’d seen him. He’d been good looking for a boy, but still going through the awkward transition from adolescent to man. Now, three years later, the transformation was complete. Years of eating well on Halcyon territory had bulked up his once wiry limbs and he had one of those long, muscled chests that Taylor had only ever seen on movie stars, models, and shifter males.

Framed by chocolate-colored hair that now reached his shoulders, Silas’s face was classically handsome. Two small scars, one under his left eye and the other on his jawline, only served to make him look more rugged and mature. In the years she’d known him though, Silas’s eyes had never changed. They were amber, a common color among wolf shifters. What was so striking about them was that they were not only wise, but also guileless. Silas always had the look of someone who was too busy analyzing everything to spend any time plotting.

At the moment, Silas’s gaze was fixed on Carly. His eyes belied little of what he was thinking, but his lips were pressed tightly together, as if he’d just bitten into a lemon.

Silas’s displeasure was to be expected, but Taylor was confused when she saw that Carly looked equally averse to Silas. She stared back at him, her jaw clenched and her shoulders stiff.

Hale was closer to the Whiteriver wolves, but he made no attempt to greet them, so it was Taylor and Alder who reached them first. When Silas saw Alder, his expression sobered, as it always did. While Silas and Hale’s relationship was combative at best, Silas was clearly intimidated by Alder.

“Welcome,” Taylor said. “It’s so good to have you all here.”

Silas rarely spoke to Taylor even when she wasn’t at Alder’s side, and so she wasn’t put off when he gave her only a nod of acknowledgement. Feather more than compensated for her brother, rushing up to Taylor to give her a big hug.

“We missed you in the fields today,” Feather said.

“I missed you all, too. You have no idea.”

Taylor and Holly both spent almost every morning in the fields with the Whiteriver wolves, usually with one or two pups in tow. The soil had been tilled and seeded in the spring, and now all that was left to do was to pull weeds and check for pests. Nevertheless, the farming crew passed entire mornings in the fields, chatting and exchanging stories until the afternoon heat pressed them to seek shade or sleep. Though Taylor would never admit it, she’d grown closer to the Whiteriver wolves over the past few months than she had to many of her own pack mates.

Feather sniffed at the air, her eyes brightening. “Do I smell boar meat?”

Boar meat was a rarity in Whiteriver. The roaming bands of wild boars lived on the other side of Halcyon Mountain. They were a bit out of the way for the Halcyon wolves to hunt, but still common on the menu. For the Whiteriver wolves, boars might as well have been on Mars for all they could hunt them.

“That you do,” Taylor said with a smile. “Come, all of you. Let’s eat.”

They all sat around the large bonfire where Carly had already been sitting with Lark and Hale. Lark lacked the presence of mind to get up when Silas sat beside her, effectively partitioning the would-be mates. The months that she’d been held prisoner by Whiteriver seemed not to have daunted her, because she immediately struck up a conversation with Silas as if they were old friends.

While Taylor tried to find an opening to introduce Carly, Hale simply interrupted Lark.

“Carly, this is Silas, alpha of Whiteriver.” As he spoke, he put his hand on the back of her neck, guiding her to look in Silas’s direction. “Silas, this is Carly Jasmine Wright, the mother of one of our pups.”

Taylor bristled. How the hell did he know her full name? Taylor wasn’t even sure that Hale knew her full name. She certainly couldn’t remember him ever saying it aloud.

“Good to meet you,” Silas said with zero inflection.

“You, too,” Carly said, glancing up at him briefly, before looking back to her feet.

Taylor’s stomach clenched with the awkwardness of it all. Unable to let the moment drag on any longer, she clapped her hands together loudly and put on her widest smile.

“Well, I’m starving. How ‘bout you guys?”

The chemistry between Silas and Carly showed little signs of improving as the meal began. Though everyone seemed intent on conversing with their closest neighbors, they were all watching the pair with clandestine interest.

It was painful to observe them. Though separated only by Lark, neither of them spoke to one another. Carly cast a few glances in Silas’s direction, but the young alpha didn’t once look her way.

As though oblivious to her brother’s lack of interest in Carly, Feather wedged herself between Carly and Hale, engaging the human in conversation about her pack and how much Carly would love living there.

“This boar meat is so good,” Feather gushed in between bites of skewered meat. “Do you know that we’re going to have pork next year? We’re building pastures and a barn. Since there are no herds in our territory, we’re going to dominate some animals.”

“Domesticate,” Taylor gently corrected.

Feather’s eyes brightened. “Right, domesticate. Oh, but don’t worry, Carly. We have still have plenty to eat. You’ll never go hungry.”

“That’s good to know,” Carly said softly. She was staring down at her meat skewer, twirling it around but not eating.

“Yeah, you’ll never go hungry,” Hale said. “As long as you don’t mind eating frog legs from time to time.”

At that, Carly looked up, a small smile gracing her lips.

“Frog legs?” she asked skeptically.

Hale leaned in, pushing Feather back to whisper conspiratorially. “I hear that frog legs are a Whiteriver staple.”

Clearly paying more attention than he’d let on, Silas shot Hale a warning look. Taylor’s mate ignored him.

“It’s not so bad,” Hale said. “I hear they taste similar to quail, except with an aftertaste of pond water.”

His comment earned a small chuckle from Carly, as well as a disbelieving shake of her head.

“You’re making that up.”

“He is,” Feather said, forcibly reinserting herself between them. “We don’t eat frog legs, not anymore. I mean, some people still like them, but there are plenty of other things to eat.”

“Yeah,” Hale agreed. “They also make bread out of ground pinecones. It tastes like ass.”

“How would you know what ass tastes like?” Feather shot back.

In her exasperation, she’d raised her voice and it carried over the crowd, garnering the attention of several groups of shifters. To Taylor’s complete and utter mortification, Hale looked directly at her and smiled. After shooting him a look of pure contempt, Taylor looked away, feigning interest in her food. She could only be grateful that none of the pups were there to witness what he’d done.

Carly seemed to think that Hale was hilarious, though she had the grace to try and hide it. She kept a hand clamped over her mouth, her face red with exertion as she tried to keep from laughing. Once she recovered, she gave Hale a playful smack on the leg.

“Stop being so gross. Everyone’s eating.”

Briefly, Taylor wondered if she’d stumbled into another universe, one where Carly was so familiar with her mate that she thought nothing of touching him. Her sense of unreality only intensified when Hale responded with a flirtatious grin.

As her mouth ran dry and her blood began to pump faster, Alder’s arm looped around Taylor. He gave her a quick squeeze and offered her a piece of fragrant meat, fresh from the fire.

“Everything’s fine,” he said softly.

Taylor followed his gaze to Silas, who was finally looking at Carly. She looked back to Hale. He was holding a piece of meat in his hand, offering it to Carly.

“Try this. It’s the best part.”

Carly pursed her lips. “What part is it?”

He waved the meat in front of her face. “If I told you, you wouldn’t eat it. Just open your mouth.”

“No way,” Carly protested.

Hale leaned in close, once again pushing Feather out of the way. The juvenile looked indignant, but she wasn’t bold enough to argue with Hale a second time. Even Olivia, outspoken as she was, was hesitant to stand up to an alpha.

“Open your mouth,” Hale ordered, his voice nothing short of sultry.

Taylor’s skin crawled.

As soon as Carly’s mouth popped open, Hale placed the meat onto her tongue. After wiping invisible residue on her bottom lip, he placed his thumb on her chin, shutting her mouth.

“Now chew.”

Face flushed, Carly moved the meat around in her mouth. Before she could swallow, Lark burst out with, “It’s brains! You’re eating brains!”

Carly immediately gagged and coughed up the food, prompting laughter from many of the shifters. If she hadn’t been so livid over Hale’s antics, Taylor might have felt some sympathy. She remembered the first time she’d tried tripe and the laughter it had garnered once she’d realized what she was eating.

Shaking his head at Hale, Silas offered Carly some of his own meat. “Try this instead.”

She looked up at him warily. “What is it this time? Pig colon?”

“It’s a rib.”

“Oh, duh,” she said, cringing as she accepted the meat. “Thank you.”

Silas continued to watch her, and after a moment of being under his gaze, Carly brought the meat to her mouth. She glanced at him again, and Taylor noticed her chin wobbling a little just before taking a small bite of the rib.

Carly chewed it exactly once before swallowing, forcing it down like a bitter pill.

“You don’t like it?” Silas asked.

“No, it’s really…”

Carly trailed off, her chin wobbling again. Suddenly, she burst into tears. Everyone was caught off guard, but none more than Silas. He shouldered past Lark to put a hand on Carly’s back.

“What’s the matter?” he asked.

Carly looked up at him with a pitiful expression. As if making some dark confession she said, “I don’t eat meat.”

Silas’s eyes widened in alarm. “You don’t? Then why did you take it?”

“I don’t know,” she said helplessly. “I didn’t want to insult you guys. Plus, I’m really hungry and there isn’t exactly a salad bar here.”

Feather was quick to chime in, “Not yet! But in a few months we’re going to have loads of vegetables. You’ll never have to eat another rib again if you don’t want to.”

“I’m sorry,” Carly said, hanging her head. “I’m sure I’ll get used to it. I’m being dramatic.”

“No,” said Silas. “There must be something here that she can eat besides meat.”

He was speaking to Hale, who in turn looked to Taylor. Herself a former vegetarian, Taylor had given into her meat cravings during her first pregnancy and never looked back. However, she did still enjoy and need variety in her diet.

“I have plenty that you can eat,” Taylor said. “Spinach, potatoes, canned tomatoes, berries. I even have quail eggs if you aren’t a strict vegetarian. We can make a soup for you.”

Carly’s eyes were shinning with gratitude as Taylor moved to stand. Alder put a hand on her shoulder to stop her.

“Lark knows where the food is kept. Stay.”

Taylor said, “Lark knows where the food is, but I’m the only one who knows which ingredients to bring. Besides, I’m itching to check on the pups.”

She turned her head to kiss his wrist before brushing him off.

No one paid much attention as Taylor slipped away, their focus already returned to Silas and Carly, who were at last conversing with one another.

“But why don’t you eat meat?” she heard Silas asking for the second time. Apparently Carly’s first answer of ‘because it’s not right’ wasn’t satisfactory for the wolf.

Before stepping into the drafty tunnel, Taylor glanced over her shoulder to get another look at the pair. Lark was no longer between them. Though they weren’t touching one another, their nearness was rather intimate.

Taylor couldn’t remember the last time she had felt so conflicted. Maybe it had been after she’d gotten that first letter from Sarah, mentioning that Carly wanted to be reunited with her son. It had taken her days to formulate her response.

She had never wanted Carly in her life and would be glad to see her gone, but she also wouldn’t delight in seeing her rejected. It was hard to tell if Silas had any real interest in Carly, or if he was just being polite, and Taylor wasn’t sure which would be worse.

Everything will be okay, Alder had told her. She had to believe him. He wouldn’t let anything happen to their family.