“It’s embarrassing that you make like our pack’s not good enough for you.”
Cindy tried, in vain, to formulate a response to that ridiculous statement, but her mother forged on.
“You know that Brenda wouldn’t be a problem if you came back home, right? Whatever issues you girls had in the past, I’m sure you could—”
“Mom,” Cindy interrupted. “It’s not about Brenda. I like the idea of helping to build a new pack from scratch. I don’t know that I’ll ever go back to Texas.”
When she’d moved eighteen years ago, it hadn’t been because of her old boss, Brenda, though she supposed her mom would see it that way. Her first job out of college hadn’t gone well, mostly because she’d lost respect for her boss, who happened to be the fourth in her pack’s hierarchy. The respect issue had been about Brenda’s business decisions, but she couldn’t deny that it carried over into her respect of the woman as a pack leader.
The hierarchy was the pack leadership, with the pack alpha at the top—two, if they were mated—and then the first, second, third and fourth, down from there. The ranking was based purely on power, with each wolf or mated pair taking different responsibilities in the running of the pack. If Cindy had chosen to stay, it would have been a bit of effort to not let that lack of respect show amongst the pack, but she could have done it.
“Really, I didn’t leave because of Brenda. I told you, once I started looking for another job, I realized that the whole country was available to me, and I liked the idea of trying out somewhere new.” She had, in fact, told her parents that several times.
“You didn’t even keep the job in St. Louis for very long before quitting,” Dana said, as if that meant the choice to move there had been a mistake.
“No, because the blog took off in a way I never could have foreseen. It gave me an interesting challenge for a long time, but now it runs so smoothly, I think changing things up again will be good for me. Call it my midlife crises if you want.”
“Cynthia, you’re only forty-one.”
“The perfect age to try something new. It’s not like there’s a risk to it, Mom. My job is very stable and successful and I can do it from anywhere in the country. Heck, I could go to Europe if I wanted to.”
“You need to stop gallivanting around and find your mate.”
Cindy sighed, but not audibly. How in the world her mother could sound insulted over this conversation was beyond Cindy. And wasn’t gallivanting around going to make her more likely to find her mate than staying home, where she already knew her mate wasn’t?
Having no idea how to respond, she just waited.
“It’s not too late to have children, you know.”
This time, she let the sigh be audible. “I don’t have a whole lot of control with the whole finding-my-mate thing, Mom. You can’t blame me for that one. And traveling around, meeting more packs, that will help with my chances, don’t you think?”
Werewolves knew pretty quickly when they’d met their mates. They could have relationships before that, but they usually didn’t last long, as both parties knew it wasn’t the real thing. She’d enjoyed several relationships, but none longer than eight months. And it was very rare for a werewolf to get pregnant from anyone other than their mate, so even her mother couldn’t blame her for not producing grandchildren.
“That’s true.” Apparently this was a new idea to her mom, because Dana’s voice brightened at the idea. “You said you were going to help Myra interview some of the wolves who wanted to join the new pack?”
“That’s right.” Myra, her best friend for sixteen years, was her current alpha. She’d been the one to shut down the Mesa Pack when Hillary had mated Zach, and it had been discovered that there was a rogue pack doing horrific things out in Arizona. It had been Myra’s job as the National President, elected to serve a one-year term as the head werewolf in the United States, to determine the fates of every member of both packs. She’d had to condemn to death the wolves who had been actively involved in abducting, attacking and murdering people in the supposed effort to turn them into werewolves. Since that wasn’t how werewolves were turned, it wasn’t a surprise to any sane wolf that the process hadn’t worked most of the time, and only two people had survived—Hillary and Adam—several years apart.
Cindy couldn’t imagine sentencing anyone to death, but then again, her friend was the alpha for a reason. Personally, Cindy was happy to be a typical werewolf, not part of the hierarchy, let alone an alpha. The idea of choosing who would die versus who would be sent to other packs seriously made her nauseous. But Myra had handled it, finding homes for those who weren’t to die, working with the pack alphas across the country to determine the best situation for every one of the wolves.
Then she’d gone on a search for Adam, knowing only that a single wolf besides Hillary had survived being attacked by the rogue pack, and wanting to find him and ensure that he was living a safe and healthy life.
Cindy would never forget the moment her best friend discovered that the man was her mate. She shivered at the thought of that level of emotion ever going through her. Although maybe it wouldn’t be as extreme, since alphas were generally hit by the magic of the mate bond more strongly than the average wolf.
“You’ll come visit when we get settled,” she invited. Her parents had only visited St. Louis once in all the years she’d been there, so she felt fairly safe in issuing the invitation. “We’re just going to rent for a while, make sure the area we choose is a good selection for the whole pack. There are a lot of things to consider, and we may not find the right town the first go.”
“All right, I guess that will do. I’ll let you get to your packing and tell your father you said hello.”
“Thanks, Mom. And give my love to Bill, Juanita, and the kids when you see them.” Her brother and his wife were frequent visitors to her parents’ house, a fact that amazed her. She swore it was like she and her brother had completely different parents. For sure, they had completely different relationships with them.
She hung up and switched the phone to music, then went at the linen closet with renewed vigor. Maybe she couldn’t articulate exactly why this move felt like the right thing, but she was certain that it was. She’d been very seriously considering the idea even before she’d mentioned it to Myra and discovered that her best friend was thinking the same thing. That had just solidified it for them both, and nothing since had led her to question the decision.
Meeting Adam, shortly after he and Myra had mated, made it clear how right the decision had been. She’d instantly felt comfortable with him, and looked forward to him being her alpha and to helping him understand that he was meant to be a leader of wolves, not a loner.
After the linen closet, she tackled the guest bathroom. She had some friends coming over tomorrow to help with the kitchen and move the boxes into the container she’d rented, one that would be transported to their destination when she was ready. In the meantime, they just needed to explore a couple of cities and make a decision on where to begin.
Jonas groaned when the phone rang with his mother’s ringtone. He loved his mother, but she refused to acknowledge that his current job as a bartender, almost always covering the closing shift, should influence what time she decided to chat. The fact that he was in a time zone three hours behind hers also seemed to make little impact.
He accepted the call and brought the phone to his ear, flinging his other arm over his eyes. He kept meaning to get better drapes, but…well, who really wanted to go drapery shopping? Not him.
