She swallowed hard. “I need more time.”
“You have as much as you need.”
Then he went out to his pack, and she watched him stride directly to a black-haired wolf and speak to him. The wolf glanced up at the window, met April’s eyes, and smiled at her before he looked back to Malachi.
An hour passed. She watched them all, analyzed every move. As her vigilance relaxed, she watched the women too, how they hugged and laughed, thronged together but didn’t isolate themselves. Kelsey especially flitted among the whole group, but she wasn’t the only woman to wander over and begin chatting with one or two wolves.
Everyone was safe.
Including the children—one teen boy and one younger boy, and three even younger girls who ran around with abandon. Actual children, living among wolves. Protected by wolves. When the younger boy slipped and pitched toward the fire pit, a wolf snatched him up and pivoted away from the fire. When one of the tiniest girls began to wail, a wolf lifted her into his arms and carried her to a tall burgundy-haired woman wearing glasses, who cuddled her until she was quiet.
So much was happening out there. April opened the window a few inches and knelt in front of it. Now she could hear snippets of conversation while the long serving table was set with various crockpots and banquet tins. She spotted a diminutive brunette with an enormous baby bump, the obvious mate of the black-haired wolf. He hovered frequently, and once he rested his hand on the crest of her belly and leaned in to kiss her. Malachi’s good friends. April wondered what their names were, if this wolf were one of the four she’d heard stories about.
She could go out and meet them. She could ask them how long they’d known Malachi.
The thought didn’t bring panic this time, but she wasn’t ready yet. She stayed in front of the window and listened to laughter, conversation, and frequent expressive growls that didn’t faze anyone. Wolf voices weren’t threatening here.
A minute later, Trevor came striding up to the window. “Hey, April.”
“Hi, Trevor.”
“Good to see you again.”
“Thanks. You too. Though…I haven’t exactly joined you.”
Trevor shrugged, smiled. “If not this week, maybe next week.”
They had to be wondering what was wrong with her. They could smell the cusp of panic she couldn’t seem to move past. She bit her lip and stared at her hands. Her cheeks burned.
“Oh, hey,” Trevor said. “The pack knows you have good reason to be cautious around wolves.”
She lifted her head. “What do you mean?”
“Malachi had to warn the others. We couldn’t be caught unprepared, if the rogues come here.”
Well, of course. This was a community with vulnerable members—an elderly couple, a pregnant woman, young children. They had to be prepared and protected. Yet now April’s embarrassment wasn’t that they wondered about her; it was that they didn’t have to wonder. They knew.
“Hey,” Trevor said when she ducked her head again. His eyes were kind when she forced herself to look up. “He only said you had to run away from them. Nothing more personal than that.”
“Oh… Really, that’s all?”
“Sure. Don’t worry, April, your wolf’s as discreet as they come.”
“I’m not surprised,” she said.
Then they both gaped at each other. Trevor said, “I didn’t say that to be pushy. I really didn’t.”
“I believe you.”
“It just came out of my mouth. I’m sorry.”
“Well.” She pressed her palms to her now blazing cheeks. “At least part of my brain accepted it without question, because it took me whole seconds to realize what you said.”
He grinned, then clapped a hand over his mouth. “Sorry, sorry. No baring teeth, basic etiquette with unacclimated humans. You just—uh, made me forget for a second.”
Her heart had lost a beat, and her body had threatened to bolt to the bedroom and lock the door. But the effect of seeing Trevor’s teeth lasted only as long as she could see them. “I’m okay now.”
“Good. No offending Mal’s— Well, I should just go now before I put my foot any farther down my throat.”
