Of course, Carter’s pack mates heard that he was going to get some pie and immediately started asking for their own slices, as well as burgers, steak, and beer—if he didn’t mind. Carter snorted, grumbling something about werewolves too lazy to get their own food.
Hadley laughed, wondering how her soul mate would manage to carry so much food back to the table by himself and whether she should help. Then she shivered as a draft of cold air slipped into the room as Carter walked outside and decided that staying inside was a much better idea.
Movement from the corner of her eye caught Hadley’s attention, and she glanced over to see Mike stiffen, brow furrowed, and his nose lifted slightly upward like he’d caught a scent in the air.
“What is it?” she asked, recognizing what werewolves looked like when trying to identify a particular smell.
Why hadn’t any of the other werewolves picked up on whatever Mike was worried about?
Mike shook his head. “I thought for a second that I had smelled someone familiar, but that’s not possible, so I guess it’s just a memory from somewhere in my head breaking loose.”
She was about to ask him if he wanted to talk about that memory—sort of an occupational habit for her as a psychiatrist—when Kamden leaned over and interrupted.
“So, Carter all moved into your place yet?” he asked.
On the other side of the table, Hadley couldn’t miss the fact that Mike seemed more than thrilled by the distraction. She promised herself that she’d talk to him later.
She smiled at Kamden. “Uh-huh. We moved the last of his stuff to my condo this past weekend. Not that there was much to move. Besides his TV, DVDs, and game console, the rest of his stuff pretty much fit in one box.”
“Bachelors,” Lydia said with a snort, giving Kamden a little nudge with her shoulder. “Give them a wide-screen TV and a ham and cheese sandwich and they’re happy campers.”
“Not really a fan of ham and cheese,” Kamden pointed out. “I prefer PB&J. But you’re right about the TV.”
They were in the middle of discussing men and their obsessive need for bigger and bigger TVs when Hadley heard something at the other end of the table that caught her attention.
“Wait a minute. Did I hear that right? You lost werewolf DNA from someone in the pack?” she asked.
Gage brought Hadley and a few others up to speed on what happened with Trey’s genetic sample and the licensed disposal facility that’d been cooking the books when it came to the bio-waste they were supposed to have destroyed. Then he told everyone that there was still a possibility the sample of Trey’s blood had been stolen.
“Unfortunately, the investigation is taking a long time,” Gage said. “The facility’s disposal records are a complete mess, and it doesn’t help that the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality is getting less interested in digging through boxes of paperwork to track down every little batch of bio-waste the facility was supposed to incinerate. Not when they already have enough evidence to fine the company out of existence and send half a dozen people to prison for a decade.”
“So, that’s it?” Carter asked as he entered the training room with a pile of paper plates and bottles of beer in his hands. “We’re just giving up on ever finding out whatever happened to Trey’s DNA sample?”
“We’re not giving up,” Gage promised. “I have some friends on the investigation team willing to keep digging for me, but they can only do so much, especially when the samples we’re looking for were just a few vials among the thousands the facility handled over the last few months. We might get lucky, but it’s possible we might never know for sure if Trey’s DNA material was destroyed or not. Even if we do find out one way or another, it might take a while.”
Hadley could only shake her head when Carter handed her a slice of pumpkin pie large enough to feed three people. She didn’t complain too much, figuring he’d end up eating anything she didn’t want.
The pie was just as scrumptious as everything else she’d eaten, and she smiled as she watched her soul mate enjoy a double-decker cheeseburger. Over the past few weeks, she’d come to realize that seeing him eat had turned into a guilty pleasure of sorts for her. It was one of the few moments outside of the bedroom or their continuing therapy sessions when he let himself open up. Which, these days, meant letting his inner omega out to roam.
Even devouring the oh-so-traditional Thanksgiving cheeseburger, his eyes glowed vivid blue.
“Are you eating for two now?” she teased.
“Very funny,” he said with a snort. “I didn’t eat a lot for breakfast because I knew there’d be a lot of food here.”
“Uh-huh,” she said with a smile, thinking of the stack of pancakes he’d eaten that morning. “I’m just glad you two are relaxing and enjoying yourselves.”
Carter flashed her a grin, his eyes flaring brighter for a brief moment before he went back to eating his burger.
Right after what happened at Eastman Manor, she and Carter had discussed his continued therapy sessions. While he’d obviously had a breakthrough during his fight with Strickland, even Carter accepted that he had more work to do. Trying to keep it professional, and wanting to give Carter some options now that they were officially together, Hadley suggested getting another therapist so he could be open and honest about his issues without concerns about how that might affect their relationship.
In typical fashion, Carter had waved the idea aside, telling Hadley there was no one else he would ever consider opening up to about any of this. Secretly, she was thrilled. It might be unprofessional, but truthfully, she didn’t want him sharing secrets with anyone else but her.
Ultimately, that had been a good decision, as their sessions over the past few weeks had worked wonders. It was complicated and admittedly bizarre, but Carter and his inner omega had developed a good working relationship. They were two aspects of the same person, distinct and separate, coexisting to create one stable whole.
Word of Hadley’s success with werewolf therapy had gotten out to the supernatural community somehow, and she now had therapy sessions with two other omegas, an alpha werewolf, and a supernatural shifter who had yet to tell her what she actually was. But if Hadley could help, she didn’t care about the little details.
Sitting there beside Carter, Hadley had a hard time envisioning how things could be better. Her soul mate was back working full time now, Gage and Mike fully accepting that he’d gotten everything under control. Their opinions—which Carter echoed—was that he was more focused and relaxed than he’d ever been.
