As soon as Enola and Gideon crossed the threshold of her grandmother’s house, they were greeted by Margo and Ruby. Ruby squinted at the tight tank top and short skirt that Alice had given Enola to wear. Instead of commenting on her attire, she said, “Mamma’s waiting for y’all in the kitchen.”

She pulled the strap of Enola’s top and looked at the bite mark that Gideon left on her shoulder. She smiled, and walked across the marble floor.

“It’s three am,” Enola remarked.

“I am aware of that,” Ruby replied over her shoulder.

Enola looked over at Margo.

“Heeeey, Gideon,” Margo sang.

“Heeeey, Margo,” Gideon mocked.

Enola chuckled at their silliness and asked, “What’s this about?”

Margo shrugged. “Don’t know. But girl, that skirt is too cute.”

Enola looked down at the micro-mini and frowned. Her ass and Alice’s tiny ass had no business in the same anything. The seams of the skirt had to be literally holding on by a thread.

Gideon chuckled, grabbed Enola’s hand, and raised it to his soft lips. “Shall we?” he asked after softly kissing her hand.

“I supposed,” Enola grumbled.

When the they entered the kitchen, they found her grandmother sitting at the old-fashioned wooden table, kneading dough.

“Gran, its three in the morning. What are you doing up? And why are you baking?”

Marie looked up at Enola with beautiful hazels and gestured towards the chair next to her. Enola smiled and sat as instructed.

“Gideon,” Marie greeted.

Gideon took the chair next to Enola. “Madame Roux,” he responded with a nod.

“I see you are mated.”

“Oui, Madame.”

Marie offered a smile, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. “And how is your brother handling this news?”

“He is adjusting.”

As if watching a tennis match, Enola’s head turned from Gideon to her grandmother back and forth during their exchange.

“What am I missing?” Enola asked them both.

“Thank you!” Margo blurted. “I’m always so confused around here.”

“Yeah. Tell me about it,” Enola agreed. “Why would Gabriel care about us dating, uh,  mating?”

“Gabriel? That’s his name?” Margo asked.

Enola nodded, but she was still waiting for an answer from one of them.

“Is he cute?”

“Margo!” Enola snapped.

“Is he cute?”

“They’re twins!” Enola shouted. “Now shut the fu—”

“Enola Roux!” Marie yelled out in warning.

Margo smirked for having been successful in getting a grown woman in trouble.

“I’m sorry, gran,” Enola apologized.

“Its fine. And to answer your question, Gabriel and Auriette were lovers.”

Enola was shocked. “From two hundred years ago?”

“Not quite, but close.”

“Gabriel’s over a hundred years old?” Enola marveled. “Wait, that means that—”

She turned to Gideon.

“I’m an old man, baby,” he replied with a grin.

The whole situation was becoming more unbelievable every time someone in Louisiana opened their mouth. “This still doesn’t explain why Gabriel would care about our relationship,” Enola pointed out.

“Auriette was standing in front of him when Gabriel was spotted in mid-shift. The parish believed she’d caused him to turn into an animal by curse. She was executed by the church, which was being led by, what they thought at the time, a priest. It was later discovered that he was a witch. He placed a spell that placed a barrier around Auriette so that Gideon and Gabriel couldn’t rescue her. Gabriel was destroyed. Since then, a pact, agreed upon by our ancestors and Gideon’s pack, prohibited relations with each other.”

“They clearly broke that pact,” Margo chuckled under her breath.

“Chile, if you don’t shut up,” Ruby warned through gritted teeth.

Margo blew out a harsh breath and threw her hand in the air.

“Nola, Gideon is the Alpha of that pack, and it was Gideon who decided that the bloodlines shouldn’t mix. In fact, he’s just broken his own rule.”

Enola looked at Gideon who simply smiled and shrugged.

“Who’s gonna punish me?” he asked bluntly.

Enola jumped when Marie’s fist slammed against the table. Apparently, Enola’s grandmother had mistaken his bluntness for arrogance. Her expression turned angry and her eyes began to glow gold.

“I could punish you!” she screamed in a distorted voice.

Gideon growled, hopped up from the table, and held his hands out in a defensive manner.

“Don’t you start nothing, Miss Marie. You know I don’t like it when you get mad. And you definitely ain’t gonna like it if I get mad. You know I got no quarrels with you.”

Marie exhaled slowly and relaxed her shoulders. Immediately, her eyes returned to normal.

“Sit down, boy. Comin’ in here growling at an old lady,” Marie fussed.

Gideon narrowed his eyes, studying her for a few seconds, before slowly returning his seat. “I’m older than you,” he pointed out under his breath.

Enola placed her head in her hand and groaned.

“And, you…”

Enola’s head snapped up and, of course, her gran was talking to her.

“Nobody told me it was forbidden,” she said in her defense.

“Do you even know what mating means?” Ruby asked.

“It means we go together,” Enola snickered.

“Uh, no. Guess again.”

Ruby’s response was rather stank.

“It means, my sweet niece, that you are waaaay more than married. Baby, you are stuck with this man for the rest of your life.”

Enola recoiled as if her aunt had slapped her across the face. That sounded way more serious than it should have.

She turned to Gideon. “More than married?” she asked.

“Oh, yeah,” Ruby continued. “He’s tasted your blood, my dear. That li’l love bite he gave you is his very own GPS tracker.”

“Daaaaayum,” Margo murmured.

“Now you’re just exaggerating,” Gideon mumbled.

Enola’s eyes went buck. She inhaled a sharp breath. Gideon hadn’t told her anything close to what her aunt was describing. And to make it worse, he was just sitting there with no emotion in his cool gray eyes.

“Talk, Gideon!” Enola shouted.

That time, everyone in the room jumped back, obviously afraid that Enola couldn’t handle her power. But Enola had gotten better. Being attacked and training with Ruby had made her considerably stronger. She had gotten better at maintaining control.

“Listen, darlin’, I told you that wolves mated for life,” he defended calmly.

“More than married?” she asked.

“Well, I don’t really know what that means.”

“Married people can divorce!”

“Well, we can’t,” he replied boldly. “So…yes. We are more than married.”

Enola ran her fingers over the spot where he’d bitten her.

“Yes, I can find you,” he offered before she even asked.

“Get out.”

“Only if you’re in trouble, baby. I can only find you if you’re in danger,” Gideon explained.

“Gideon, get out.”

“Nola, ba—.”

“Get out!” Enola screamed.

Gideon stood and smoothed out his slacks. Enola could tell he wasn’t ready to end their conversation, and Enola knew that if they had been alone, he wouldn’t have.

“I will call you tomorrow.”

“Don’t bother,” Enola snapped.

Gideon roughly ran his fingers through his hair, and gave her a look that could give chills to a penguin. Even as pissed off as she was, Enola couldn’t stop herself from noticing how goddamned beautiful he was.

“I said, I’ll call you tomorrow,” he gritted before walking out of the kitchen.

“Ughhh!” Enola grunted her frustration.

“Congratulations, cuz,” Margo teased, before laughing and leaving the room.