Page 46 of Dual Nature

twenty-nine

When the others returned, they found me snuggled up in my giant bean bag pillow, reading, with Zander working next to me on his laptop. The book had good information on omegas, and researching new situations or unknown topics had always helped me feel more grounded.

"Don't you look comfortable, sweetheart," Lane said as he leaned down to kiss me on the forehead. "Did your day end up getting better once you got put with Mike and Kelly?"

"Yeah, they’re both too sweet to ever upset anyone," I answered, sitting up. "Did you guys have a good day?"

"The batch of trainees that we have are looking very promising, which is a pleasant surprise. Sometimes we never know what we're going to get," Colt shared, then kissed me. "Zander mentioned something about going out tonight?"

"If you guys are up for it." I hesitated before saying more, my wolf worrying they might be too tired.

Colt's expression softened as if he could read my hesitation. "I think a night out is exactly what we need. Plus, this town will be your home now, so you should explore it. Let us get cleaned up. Elias should be back soon, and then we can head out. Sound good?"

"Sounds awesome," I assured him.

Another quick kiss from them both, then they headed off to get ready.

"Zander," I ventured.

"Yes, little dove?"

"Is everyone going to move in here? Or are they still going to live in the pack house?"

Zander wrapped an arm around my waist and pulled me onto his lap. "We haven't really had a chance to talk about it much. What do you think we should do?"

"Your house is bigger, giving everyone more space, but it’s farther away from the core of the pack," I mused. "It's hard because both locations make sense, but living between both doesn't. If I had to pick, I’d vote for making your house our main living environment while still keeping things at the pack house in case we need it. I know I should want to be around the pack, but I like that we’re set apart from them. And if they need something, it’s not hard to get here, especially in shifted form."

"Selfishly, I agree with you," Zander shared, his lips ghosting along my neck. "Knowing that I have you safe in my home makes me feel better, and I have to agree with your want for privacy. Being a celebrity, it’s nice to be out of the watchful eye of others. For you, though, I think it has to do with your elf nature. They lived in communities with each other, but they weren’t as crammed together like werewolves prefer. Elves like to be near enough that if they needed help, they would get it, but not close enough that you’d see the others all the time. With your empathic abilities, I would think that it’d be healthy for you to get some more physical distance from the pack."

I hummed my agreement to that. Having the six of them home and safe with me was one thing, but knowing that the pack was surrounding us put me on edge. "How do you think Colt and Lane will feel about it?"

"You're not worried about the twins or Elias?" Zander questioned.

I shook my head. "They’ll be wherever I am; they can't help it. Even though we aren't fully bonded yet, the connection is still there. To be honest, I'm surprised the twins could be gone from me this long without feeling a pull."

"How do you know that?" Zander asked, his voice awed. "That was something the man I spoke with today warned us about."

"Oh? What else did you learn?" I inquired, shifting so I was sitting sideways on his lap.

Zander grinned at me. "You're not going to like my answer on this one."

"When you put it that way, how could I?" I grumbled.

"He said the best thing to do is not to tell you anything more until we discover what happens once you've matured into your elven powers. There are many different branches of magic, and it's better to not influence you in one direction or another. Some things will be instinctual, like you just proved, and others we will tackle together with the information I've gathered. This man offered to come out and meet you if need be, but he’s overseas at the moment, so it won't be soon," Zander explained.

I sighed and relaxed into him, not having the energy to stress about such things right now. I’d rather focus on the evening’s agenda instead. "When you say going into town, what kind of town are we talking about?"

"Well, we back up to the Great Smoky Mountains, so we have a lot of small towns around us and a few tourist trap areas with shopping and restaurants. For tonight, though, I think we need to make the journey to one of the bigger towns with more to offer."

"Are we that out in the middle of nowhere that it's a journey to get to a substantial town?" I chuckled.

Zander just winked at me. "Let's keep some things a surprise, hmm."

"Do I need to change, or will what I'm wearing work for going out?" I questioned, looking down at my jeans and off-the-shoulder sweater.

"Like we would allow you to show any more skin to others," Elias growled from the doorway. "It's already questionable if I need to remove someone's eyes for staring at your sexy ass in those jeans."

Grinning at my surly protector, I winked. "You think my ass is sexy?"