“Go grab one for me too, will ya darlin’?” Darrell asked her as she handed the bottles to Lachlan and I.
“Yes, sir,” she murmured with a bob of her head before scurrying away to do as he asked.
When Darrell faced us, his eyes dropped to our hands, which were still clasped together, and his face darkened. I jerked my fingers away from Lachlan’s grasp and growled low in my throat.
Darrell’s expression cleared a little and he laughed. “Don’t worry, Lach. She’s just like her grandmother. You’ll work your way around her in the end.”
My lip wanted to curl into a sneer at his words but I bit it back. He was right on one account though—I was just like my grandmother. I would wait until I had proof that he was mistreating his pack and that he participated in my parents’ murder. Then I would make him pay.
Chapter Eight
Lachlan
By the endof the evening, I was convinced there was definitely something wrong in the MacArthur pack. Though Darrell never said or did anything the least bit aggressive, the pack members were beaten down. There was no other way to describe it. The she-wolves scrambled to make sure that their alpha’s every need was attended to, even before he had a chance to ask.
The males weren’t much better.
No, it was only Darrell’s deputies that seemed normal, but even that was suspicious.
It had taken several hours, but the pack members had finally begun to thaw toward Chloe. Even then, it only began after a she-wolf approached her. The female looked to be in her forties, which meant she was likely over two hundred years old. Maybe more. Our kind aged slowly, decades could pass and it would appear as though we had just aged by a few years.
“Chloe MacArthur, it has been too long,” she greeted, pulling Chloe into a hug. “How are you, child?”
“I’m fine, Miss Emma,” she replied, hugging the woman in return. “How are you?”
“Feeling every one of my years,” the she-wolf answered as she released her from the hug.
For the first time since we arrived at the barbeque, Chloe smiled and genuinely meant it. “Come on, I want you to meet my friend, Lachlan.”
She turned toward me, holding Miss Emma’s hand. “Lach, this is Emma Copeland. She’s a teacher at the elementary school here and one of the best she-wolves I know.”
I held out my hand, happy to meet someone who could make Chloe smile like that. “Hi, Mrs. Copeland. It’s nice to meet you.”
The older wolf took my hand and just held it rather than shaking it. “Call me Emma.” She paused. “You look just like your father, Ian,” she stated, her eyes misting over. “I know you don’t remember me. The last time I saw you, you were just a pup, barely out of diapers.”
“You knew my father?” I asked, ignoring the fact that she used my first name. A name I’d hated all my life.
She nodded. “He was a good man, a fierce wolf, and one of the best alpha’s I’ve ever met.”
“Thank you.”
“From what I hear, you’re just like him.”
I shrugged, feeling uncomfortable with the comparison. For years, my father was the yardstick I’d measured all my accomplishments against. “Thank you, ma’am.”
She smiled at me and smoothly changed the subject. “So I hear you’re my little Chloe’s mate. I also hear you’ve already mucked it up.”
“Uh, well, you see, Miss Emma—”
Before I could formulate an intelligent response, the she-wolf laughed and turned back to Chloe. “Good for you, girl. Don’t let him get away with anything this early on or he’ll try to walk all over you for the rest of your lives.”
Chloe arched a brow at me. “That’s excellent advice, Miss Emma.”
The older she-wolf laughed as she took in the two of us. “Y’all make a lovely couple. I’m so glad I got a chance to see it.” She laced her arm through Chloe’s and looked up at me. “Why don’t you go get us something to drink, Ian, and give me a chance to catch up with Chloe?”
I sensed that she wanted to talk to Chloe privately, so I did as she asked. I took my time, giving them a chance to discuss whatever it was Miss Emma had on her mind.
When I returned, they both looked a little upset, but their conversation seemed to be finished.
