“That is good,” Wachei said. “We all have the same stones in our pouches, even the diamond.”
“Cassidy,” Brice said with a smile. “I don’t think you have to worry about not being able to afford to buy a new place. Once these precious and semi-precious stones, along with the gold nuggets, are converted to cash, you’ll have more than enough. If they agree to it.”
“I can’t take it. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Then don’t, but you can help us find a home where we can all live together,” Edensaw said.
Cassidy slowly nodded. “All right, I can do that.”
Edensaw turned her face toward his. “So that means you won’t be leaving us, correct?”
She smiled. “Correct. It looks as if your shaman made sure you’d be well-prepared for this world. He gave you the means to survive in it. He must have had some strong magic.”
“He did.”
“In your story, Brice, does it say what happened to our shaman after he put us to sleep?” Kajakti asked.
Brice gave the wolf brothers a solemn look. “Yes. Sadly, he died right after he finished his spell to put you into your long rest. It drained the remainder of his magic and his life force. His son took his place as tribe shaman, but he was nowhere near as powerful as his father.”
“The shaman’s son was there when we went into our long sleep. Only the two of them were to keep the knowledge of where we rested,” Edensaw said.
“And that knowledge became lost through the many years that past afterward. The shaman’s son must not have told anyone and took it to the grave with him. None of his descendants knew of it, which helped to make your story seem as if it wasn’t fact.”
As the conversation turned to Brice asking questions about the wolf brothers’ lives during the ice age, Edensaw placed Cassidy on her feet in front of him before he stood. He took her hand and walked her over to the far corner of the room. He placed her in it and crowded her with his body, blocking her from the others’ view.
He ducked his head and looked at her. “Are you still willing to give us a chance?”
Cassidy saw the worry in Edensaw’s brown eyes. “Yes. I only thought to do what would be best for you and the others. I can’t give you everything you need.”
Edensaw put his hands on either wall near her head. “You are the only thing I need. It took ten thousand years to find you, and you now own my heart. It beats only for you.”
Cassidy swallowed back the emotions that threatened to rise to the surface. In the den of the local pack leader was not the place to make a scene by blubbering like a baby from the strong feelings Edensaw’s words invoked in her.
“You’re leaving me almost speechless here, Edensaw,” she said as she gave him a trembling smile. “No man has ever told me I’ve meant that much to him before. And my history with the opposite sex hasn’t been great.”
“They weren’t meant to have you as theirs. You were fated to be mine. If that wasn’t the truth, I never would have awoken. I would claim you today if you would let me.”
“And turn me into an immortal werewolf? You forgot to mention that part when you first told me I was your mate.”
Edensaw gave her a small grin. “You didn’t exactly react well when you learned we were werewolves. And I can still claim you and have the mating bond form between us without you being turned. We can wait to do that.”
“You really have given me an awful lot to think about.”
He closed the distance between their lips and took them in a possessive kiss. Cassidy soon forgot about where she was, and that there were other people in the room with her and Edensaw. He turned her world upside down, but she had to think it was in a good way. Already she felt more for Edensaw than she had for any man before him. At the rate she was going, it would only be a matter of days before she handed him her heart and accepted all that her immortal werewolf mate offered her.
Chapter Seven
The days went by with the wolf brothers spending a fair amount of time with Brice and the local werewolf pack. Also the pack leader managed to get fake ID for all of the men. Along with that, he helped them convert over all the gold and precious and semi-precious stones into cash, which now sat in a joint account all the hunters had access to.
They’d even found a big enough house with a lot of treed land that would be perfect for everyone. And lucky for them, the owners were quite happy to have a fast closing date since the place sat empty. Cassidy had given her notice on her apartment and they were to start moving things to the house in a week’s time.
Cassidy was also growing closer to the wolf brothers. With no family of her own—her parents had died in a small airplane crash when she’d been twenty and there were no other close relatives—the men had filled that empty slot in her life.
As for Edensaw, their relationship grew stronger with each day that passed. Every night he held her in his arms, giving her pleasure, showing her exactly what she would be missing out on if he weren’t there. She also saw the strain it was becoming for him to hold back from claiming her as his mate. Even though he kept assuring her that he managed his mating urge, Cassidy knew it was going to come to a point where he wouldn’t have as much control.
So for the past week, Cassidy had done some long, hard thinking about Edensaw and her feelings for him. No man had made her as happy as he did. And she was falling for him. The idea of becoming his mate looked better and better. With the mating bond that would form between them, she’d never have to worry about him leaving her. He would always be by her side. Hers to love. And when she allowed him to turn her, she’d have an eternity to share with him.
The decision made to accept all she could have with Edensaw, Cassidy planned to tell him that night after they went to bed. It wasn’t something she wanted him to learn in front of the others.
Cassidy had dropped the wolf brothers off at Brice’s place earlier that day and had returned to the apartment to get some graphic design work done. Edensaw hadn’t been too thrilled with the idea of her not being with him, but when she explained that if she didn’t do her job there would be no extra money coming in, he’d backed down a bit. Though that hadn’t stopped him from kissing her as if it would have to last him a year instead of the mere hours they would be apart.
Now she couldn’t wait to see him again. Cassidy pulled into Brice’s driveway and parked at the end of it. She got out of the car and walked to the front door to ring the doorbell. Lindsey answered it and waved her inside.
“Hey, Cassidy. Come on in. They’re all in the back.”
“Thanks.”
Cassidy followed Lindsey through the house to the glass sliding doors that led out to the deck in the backyard. Once she stepped out onto it, she found six dire wolves and a modern-day wolf running around on the lawn. At first it looked as if they were playing, but on closer inspection, it appeared as if the dire wolves were teaching the other wolf fighting skills.
Lindsey proved Cassidy’s theory correct when she said, “Edensaw and the others are teaching Dad some better defensive moves while fighting in wolf form. They’re a lot stronger than us. And those dire wolf teeth are a heck of a lot sharper and bigger.”
Cassidy leaned on the deck’s railing and watched the wolves. It was easy to pick out Brice. Side by side, the differences the dire wolves had in body shape and size were evident. They were stockier and more muscular. As for telling the dire wolves apart from each other, she had to work on that. She just hadn’t seen the wolf brothers in that form enough to tell who was who.
Lindsey nudged her. “Why don’t you go down? I’m sure they’re just about done, anyway. And Edensaw has missed you.”
Cassidy smiled as she looked at the girl. “He did, huh? He was that obvious?”
“Well, he did seem distracted a lot.” Lindsey shook her head. “I still can’t believe he’s in the throes of the mating urge and can be so controlled. I’ve seen other male werewolves who are in the middle of it and their mates were holding them off. They’re not themselves. All they can think about is claiming their female almost every minute of every day until it’s a done deal.”
“I guess being the first of your kind has some perks.”
“I’d say.”
Cassidy left Lindsey and walked down the steps to the lawn. One dire wolf’s head jerked in her direction before he left the group and loped toward her. Right away she knew it had to be Edensaw. He met her halfway and came to a stop in front of her. She watched the wolf’s body shimmer and blur, and then the man she wanted as her mate stood before her.
Edensaw wrapped her in his embrace and tugged her close to kiss her hungrily. Cassidy fisted her hands in the front of his t-shirt, losing herself to the passion that built inside her. Only Edensaw knew how to make her body sing with a single touch.
“I told you he missed you,” Lindsey said from the deck, laughing.
Cassidy ended their kiss and smiled at Edensaw. “I guess you really did miss not having me around.”
“Of course I did.”
“Well, if you’re going to kiss me almost senseless every time we’ve been apart, I might have to do it more often.”
“No, you won’t,” Edensaw said with a mock growl. “Brice has told us how terrible separation anxiety can be. There is no way I want either of us to experience it.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Yes, but it is supposed to not be as severe after a couple of years. We’ll be able to stand to be apart for longer periods of time then.”
“That’s good.” Cassidy looked around Edensaw and noticed they had an audience. The others had shifted to their human forms and stood around watching them. “I think fighting lessons are over.”
Edensaw glanced over his shoulder before he turned back to smile at Cassidy. “We were almost finished shortly before you arrived.”
“Then let’s go home.”
He put his arm around her shoulders and walked over to the other men. “I think we’re done for the day,” he said to Brice.
The pack leader nodded. “I know I am. Taking on one of you guys is like tangling with a supercharged werewolf. You can move faster and more agilely than I, and I’m one of the best fighters in my pack. I’m glad you don’t want to challenge my leadership, Edensaw, because I’m sure you would have me eating dirt,” Brice joked.
“Well, you’ll never have to worry about that, my friend.” Edensaw looked at each of his wolf brothers. “Are you ready to leave?”
“I will be as soon as I go say goodbye to my granddaughter,” Ketah said with a devilish smile.
He took off at a run with a speed no mortal could ever achieve and made a beeline for the deck where Lindsey still stood. Ever since Ketah had gotten up into her space at their first meeting, Lindsey kept reminding him how weird he’d seemed when he’d sniffed her. Now it had become a game where Ketah tried to see how many times he could catch her and repeat what he’d done at the mall. Of course Lindsey attempted to avoid getting caught, but most times she couldn’t. Then Ketah would hug her tight enough until the teenager begged for mercy.
Cassidy heard Lindsey let out a shriek as the girl tore into the house with Ketah hot on her heels. She looked at Edensaw and laughed. “You really should tell Ketah to stop pestering Lindsey.”
He shook his head. “I don’t have the heart to do that. Ketah truly thinks of Lindsey as his granddaughter.”
“And don’t look at me,” Brice said. “I’d rather he went all grandfatherly on my daughter than on me. Plus, it keeps Lindsey on her toes. It’ll give her lots of practice in getting away if another male werewolf should get too pushy.”
They all filed inside the house in time to hear Lindsey shout at Ketah to let her go from somewhere upstairs. Brice’s mate, Marta, met them just outside the kitchen. She looked as young as Brice did, even though both of them were around two hundred years old. And just like her mate, Marta had good looks to the extreme and tallness—werewolf traits.
“You all will be staying for dinner,” Marta said as a statement rather than a question.
“We were just going to head home,” Cassidy replied.
“You don’t have to. I have dinner almost ready. Did you already start cooking something?”
“No, not yet.”
“Then there isn’t any reason why you can’t stay.”
Not able to come up with a good enough excuse to turn Marta down, Cassidy nodded. “All right, we’ll stay.”
“Good. I’ll just go set the table and then we can eat.”
“Do you need some help?” Cassidy asked.
“No, I’ll be fine.” Marta glanced at Edensaw before her gaze settled on Cassidy once more. “You stay with your man. He needs you at his side more than I do.” The other woman left with a smile and walked into the kitchen.
At that moment, Ketah came downstairs with Lindsey draped over his shoulder. “She gave it a good try, but I won again,” he said as he put Lindsey on her feet.
The girl scowled at him. “Just wait, Ketah. There will be a time I’ll be able to lose you. Then I’ll have to think of something to pay you back with for every time you’ve just about squeezed me to death.”
Ketah smiled. “I look forward to that, little one, but you aren’t fast enough yet.” He turned to look at Cassidy. “Are we leaving now?”
She shook her head. “No. Marta invited us to stay for dinner. Actually, she was pretty insistent we do.”
“Great,” Lindsey said. “Now I have to look forward to Ketah chasing me again later before you go.”
Ketah chuckled. “You know you like how I say goodbye, granddaughter.”
Lindsey rolled her eyes. “Whatever. And stop calling me granddaughter unless you want me to start thinking of you as a decrepit old man.” That said, she headed in the direction of the kitchen.
Cassidy chuckled when she saw Ketah scowling after the teenager. “Don’t worry,” she reassured him. “We don’t think you’re an old man.”
He looked at her. “That’s good because I’m far from it.”
They soon were all sitting around Brice and Marta’s large kitchen table, enjoying a meal of baked salmon, rice and steamed vegetables. Marta had told Cassidy that even though her family was small, with Brice as pack leader, they had other pack members as guests for dinner a lot, thus the table could easily seat ten.
Cassidy always enjoyed Brice and Marta’s company, along with Lindsey’s, but as the meal progressed, she found she had a hard time staying focused on the food and conversation going on around her. Her thoughts kept straying to what she planned to tell Edensaw that night. She was anxious to get him alone. She also felt a bit nervous, which was silly. It wasn’t as if Edensaw wouldn’t claim her as his. Since day one he’d told her he wanted that, wanted her. But Cassidy had never confessed to a man that she’d loved him before. And the commitment she’d be giving Edensaw was big. There was no breaking the mating bond once it formed. It was far stronger than marriage vows.
She finished her food, but it sat like a lump in her stomach. She squirmed in her chair, unable to sit still. Her thoughts raced at a million miles a minute. It eventually got so bad Edensaw noticed from where he sat next to her.
He leaned in and whispered into her ear, “You seem anxious about something.”
Cassidy forced herself to appear calm. “I’m fine,” she said in an equally hushed tone.
The look Edensaw gave her said he wasn’t sure if he believed her or not, but he soon joined back in on the conversation going on around them. Something Brice said to Edensaw and the others had Cassidy paying closer attention.
“Tanner is a particular nasty lone wolf,” Brice continued. “I’ve had a couple of run-ins with him since kicking him out of the pack. At one time, he’d even thought of trying to challenge me for leadership. But I soon had him with his tail tucked between his legs, literally. He’d left Juneau for a while, but I just heard he’s back in town.”
“Do you expect trouble from him?” Edensaw asked.
“I’m hoping not, but I’m a little worried he’s returned because he heard about you and the others. Even though Tanner is no longer pack, he still has relatives who are. I have a feeling some of them are keeping him informed about what goes on.”
Edensaw nodded. “We’ll let you know if we cross paths with any lone wolves.”
Shortly after that conversation, Cassidy and the wolf brothers were on their way back to the apartment. Once they were all inside, she felt some of her nervousness return. The men didn’t seem to notice as they joked in their native Tlingit, which Edensaw had started to teach her. It wasn’t easy, and Cassidy figured it would be a long time before she’d be able to join in on a conversation like this one with them.
Even though it was still early, Cassidy struggled to think up a reason to have Edensaw join her in the bedroom without being too obvious to the others. But it seemed his thoughts must have been the same as hers because he said something to his wolf brothers and came over to put his arm around her shoulders. She glanced back at the men to find them getting comfortable as somebody turned on the television.
Edensaw guided her to the bedroom, then closed and locked the door behind them. He turned her so she faced him once they reached the bed. He stared at her hungrily, his gaze seeming to focus on her lips.