I had to force myself to stop fantasizing about Marcus that way.It couldn’t be.It wasn’t.Like the Tasmanian tiger or the dodo, omegas were a thing of the past, barely still existing in living memory.On top of that, Marcus deserved to be known and discovered for the person he was, not as an extinct sex or potential parent to our children—children he might not even want, omega or not.It was reductive.
I managed to keep my focus on the conversation after that, for the most part.Once we’d finished our lunch, I thanked Vanessa again for the salad, then excused myself.
Like all hospitals, Pleasant Peak County General had its quiet spots only staff knew about, and in this case, it was a weathered picnic bench around back, just a stone’s throw from where they parked the ambulances for cleaning and restocking.
I made my way to the bench and checked that no one was around, then called my aunt.Vi was a pack elder, even if she was about ten years younger than her sister, my mom.She was Cool Aunt Vi to me and my baby sister, but when it came to pack business, she was unrelenting and mercilessly protective; a typical alpha.
“Ellie!”she said when she picked up.“Are you calling to set up a coffee date?Or are you bringing your men over for Sunday dinner?”
“I can ask them that, but, um…”
It occurred to me that I hadn’t even considered how or if I should tell my family about Marcus.They were still reeling from three alphas making our relationship work.That, and Linc moving to Pleasant Peak for us, had made a far bigger impact in the werewolf community than it had in the human populace.I didn’t even want to think about all the talk and speculation that would happen if we told people about Marcus.
I cleared my throat and started over.“I wanted to ask if anyone bit a human?I just heard that a colleague of mine treated one for an alleged wolf bite yesterday.”
There was a beat of silence on the other end.“Not that I know of, and if that had happened, I would know.Why’re you only calling me about this today?You had a shift yesterday.”
Of course Pack Elder Vi knew my schedule.How she knew and kept track of half the things she did, I had no idea.It was why she’d been fun to be around when we were kids, but it was also why we never got away with anything she didn’t want us to get away with.
I let out a slow breath.“I took yesterday off.”Better to come clean.For all I knew, she was already texting whoever her informant was anyway.
“What you’re saying is, there might be a hunter here in town, and we may have missed it because you took a day off?Which you don’t ever do.Ever.Why’d you skip work yesterday, Ellie?What’s really up?”
Well, that had gone in a completely different direction than I had anticipated.So much for subtlety.
“Look, Vi, that has nothing to do with this.It’s personal, okay?”
I silently rapped my knuckles on the wooden bench, hoping she’d back off.
“Of course it is.To all of us, if the one thing has to do with the other.”
She laced her voice with both reason and the commanding force of a werewolf elder.Any beta would’ve caved and told her then and there.
But I was an alpha, so I just said, “It doesn’t.”
“Hmm.You can’t be sure of that, and I don’t like how evasive you’re being, nephew.Tell me why you weren’t at work yesterday, and I won’t have to go and find out myself.”
I bared my teeth but managed to suppress a growl, then cursed myself for not thinking this through before calling her.I could lie, but it was never a bright idea with Vi.The woman could smell a lie three miles away against the wind.The same went for prevarication or omitting things.Also, she was family.
I went with: “You won’t guess what happened in the woods night before last.”
“Well, you won’t guess what I do to little wolves who make me guess the answers to the questions I asked them.”
Vi’s voice was deceptively sweet.Alpha or not, that made me squirm.
I pushed off the picnic bench and started pacing.
“Fine.Listen, this might sound a little out there, but hear me out.Linc found his mate in the woods.A human.He was hurt, because he was stumbling around in the darkness and fell.You know how the terrain out there can get the better of a hiker.
“Anyway.He calls for Dom and me, and when we get there, we realize the hiker isn’t just Linc’s mate, but all of ours.Which we know is a bit unusual, but we also know we’re right, because what everyone says about the mate bond hitting you like an angry rhino, that’s definitely true.Funny how these things go, huh?”
I waited for her reaction, counting the seconds.I got to eight.
“Are you joking?”
“Nope.”I kicked away a hollowed-out hazelnut shell some bird or squirrel had dropped.
“You said you’re all in a mate bond together with a human?Did I hear that right, or was I hallucinating?”
