Page 14 of Diners, Damsels & Wolves

Fourteen

Thomas

B y two in the afternoon, he was back at the house, sitting in his home office library. His brother on video call, the tablet propped up in the corner. A spread of paperwork littered his desk. Tom pinched the bridge of his nose as he exhaled.

“Okay, so what does all of that mean?” he asked, his patience wearing. “Is the board mad? Do we need to hire more so we can increase output?”

“The board is never happy,” James said. “They care too much about their money.”

“Oh, my mistake, I was under the impression money is what kept my family and my employees fed and housed.”

“You know what I mean.”

“Do I?” Tom lifted his head to scowl at his brother’s image on the tablet.

“Don’t pull that angry face on me. Your Alpha bullshit doesn’t intimidate me. I’ve seen you with Mom’s lipstick smeared across your face, playing tea with Maria.”

“I’m not in the mood, James, just tell me straight. Are we in trouble with the board or not?”

“We are not in trouble with the board, Mr. Grumpy,” James clipped. “The numbers are good, but they always want them to be better. What’s up with you, Tom?”

He grumbled in response, sifting through his messy desk. Through the commotion of the pack milling about the mansion, he heard a familiar set of steps making their way to his office. Great. He was about to get yelled at and had no means of escape.

A knock sounded at his door, then it flew open. Maria waddled in belly first, a hand bracing her lower back.

“What are you doing here?” Tom got up to help her settle into a chair across from the desk.

“I came down here to kick your ass. What’s it look like I’m doing?” Falling into the chair, she let out a huff.

“Should you be driving?” Tom deflected. “You know I would have come to get you if you’d called me.”

“Oh, you would have, would you?” she shot back. “Did I or did I not ask you to call me when you got back?”

“What’s going on?” James yelled from the tablet.

Grabbing the tablet, Tom turned the camera to face Maria.

“Hi, James.” She waved.

“Holy shit!” he yelled. “Are you sure you aren’t having triplets?”

“Ugh.” Groaning, her head fell backward.

“Seriously, your stomach is gigantic. Can it even get any bigger before you explode?” James said.

“Wow, you sure know how to make a girl feel good about herself.” She flipped him off. “You know, I didn’t come here to argue with you , I came here to argue with you .” She pointed at Tom.

“Me? What did I do?” he asked, knowing full well what she meant.

“Why have you been ignoring me?”

“I’m not,” he lied.

“You disappeared last night, and now you’re not returning my calls. Is this because of her ?”

“What?!” James exclaimed. “Tom has a girlfriend! No one tells me anything. Wait, then why are you bitchy? Getting laid is supposed to make you happy.”

“Oh no, the house is going through a tunnel. I can’t hear you, you’re breaking up.” Tom made static noises and shook the tablet.

“Don’t you dare—”

Ending the video call, he turned off the tablet. Getting up, he moved to sit behind the desk across from Maria. Leaning back, he stared at the ceiling.

“Where were you last night?” Her voice was softer.

“You know where I was,” he said.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going to be out all night? At the very least you could have called me or texted to let me know everything was okay.” He didn’t answer. “You know we have bears running around our territory. Everyone was worried, I was worried. You might be the Alpha, but you’re still my brother and it’s my prerogative to check up on you. Especially since you’re the Alpha, the whole pack was—”

“I know.” He swallowed the lump in his throat.

“Something happened,” she said. “Did it … not go well?”

A growl lingered in the back of his throat. He really didn’t want to have this conversation right now. Nevertheless, he knew Maria wouldn’t shut up unless he said something. “I thought, I mean it was, until … I don’t know if I’m going to see her again.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t think she wants to see me. I don’t think she wants anything to do with me anymore.” Still staring at the ceiling, he blinked hard.

He felt the heated creep of a flush crawling up his skin. Damn his ginger complexion. Both his siblings were lucky enough to be born with black hair and olive skin. Why was he the one cursed with fair skin?

“Was it because of the shifting?” she asked.

“No, I haven’t told her yet.”

“You haven’t told her!” Maria shrieked. “You slept with her before telling her? Forget that, you think she’s being hunted by the bears, and you didn’t tell her? The woman is in the middle of a shifter war, and she has no idea!”

“No, she doesn’t.” He sat up to glare at his sister. “And she’s not going to know, not like this. There is no evidence, other than a hunch, that she is being targeted. If I can spare her that fear, I will. Until we know for sure, she stays out of it.”

“You’re sleeping with her, that’s not exactly staying out of it,” Maria countered.

“Have you forgotten the High Council has rules about humans being in the know? The nineteen eighty-seven amendment was very clear about that. I am not about to bring them down onto our pack.”

“Have you forgotten there are exceptions to that rule including life-threatening scenarios from the supernatural underground and romantic partners?”

“Like I said, I don’t think she wants anything to do with me.”

“Have you tried a grand gesture?” Maria rolled her eyes. “I seem to remember you’re somewhat of a drama queen.”

Skin blazing, he flushed scarlet.

“Oh no, I was joking! What did you do?”

“I, um …” Averting his eyes, he shifted in his seat. “I sort of paid off her mechanic work on her car. And I hired a home nurse to care for her ‘sick’ aunt.”

“Why did you say it like that?” She narrowed her eyes.

“Her aunt is diagnosed with dementia, but she doesn’t act like a normal dementia patient. I’ve been around her, there’s definitely something wrong, but I don’t think a human doctor would be able to diagnose her. I think they gave her that diagnosis to explain away unusual symptoms.”

“You think it’s supernatural?”

He nodded. “But I need more time alone with her to confirm.”

Maria scowled at him, disapproval radiating off her. “You need to tell her about the supernatural underground.”

“Not yet.”

“Fine,” she spat. “So, you paid for her car and a home nurse, and she thought you were being overbearing?”

“Well, she might, if she knew I’d done it.”

“Excuse you?”

“I sort of did it anonymously.”

“Oh, Thomas.” She rolled her eyes. “Wouldn’t it just be easier for you to tell her how you feel?”

“I brought her flowers,” he said, incensed.

“Oh, well, I didn’t know about the flowers.” Maria rolled her eyes again; she was doing that a lot today. “So, if it wasn’t the shifting, or the bills, or the secrets , then what was it?”

“I don’t …” He ran a hand down his face. “I don’t know. I tried talking to her this morning. I tried to ask her … She seemed, I don’t know, embarrassed.”

“What do you mean?”

“She wouldn’t even look at me.”

He couldn’t believe he was talking about this, least of all with his sister. He still liked to pretend his sister didn’t have a sex life and tried very hard not to think about how she got pregnant. After all, he liked Samuel and didn’t want to feel the need to rip his throat out. Yet here he was, spilling his guts. What was wrong with him?

“I see.” Maria rubbed circles over her swollen abdomen, thinking. “This was what, your fourth date?”

“Second,” he grumbled.

“Second? Oh, Tom, she’s probably just worried she put out too early. Now she’s going to think all you want from her is sex.”

“Why would she think that?!”

“Because if you’re a girl and you put out, so to say, everyone makes you feel like a slut.”

He winced, remembering her chastising herself in the car.

“And if you don’t put out, everyone makes you feel like a prude. It’s ridiculous. When you’re a girl, you get so much chatter and noise in your head about sex, when you should or shouldn’t; it makes life more complicated than it should be.”

“Great,” he said.

“What did you tell her this morning?”

“Maria, I’m not doing this with you.”

“Don’t be such a pussy. You want her back, let me help you. What did you say to her this morning?” she asked.

“Maybe it’s better this way. There’s nothing tying her to the dangers of the supernatural underground and nothing distracting me. I need to be able to take care of the family. The first few years of being Alpha are vital. I shouldn’t even be dating now.”

“Thomas, you’re thirty-five. You take great care of the family, it’s about time you took care of yourself and let yourself be happy.”

“You and I both know when I took this job I forfeited the luxury of my own happiness.”

“Thomas,” Maria whispered, her brows pulling together. Eyes welling, she looked close to tears.

“It’s fine, Maria.” He held up his hands to soothe her. Part of the reason he took the position was so she and Sam could focus on being parents. He didn’t want her to think he regretted that sacrifice for her.

“So, what did you say to her?” she asked, blinking hard.

“I told her I wanted to see her again tonight,” he admitted.

“Oh …”

“I offered to take her to the park! There’s nothing insinuating about going for a walk.”

“No, you’re right. Hmm, I wonder. I think you should invite her to the picnic.”

“The family picnic?”

“Yes.”

“The one all the shifters across the Midwest were invited to? Yeah, no. I’m not having her within twenty miles of that.”

“Why not?” Maria asked.

“Because she doesn’t know.”

“No one will tell her. But you should.”

“You never dated a non-shifter before, you have no idea how nerve-racking that is. Worrying they’ll either call you insane, or they’ll run away screaming. With you and Sam, it’s different, it’s a secret you shared, not one you kept from him.”

“Fair enough,” she said at last. “I still think you should invite her. The others will keep quiet, I’ll make sure of it.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“You do that.” She winced.

“What’s wrong?” He ran to her.

“The baby, it’s kicking my ribs. Ugh, I am so ready for this to be over. I haven’t been able to shift and go on a run in months.”

There were dozens of complicated theories on why women couldn’t shift when they got pregnant, but no one knew for sure. It wasn’t like they could show up to a medical research center and ask, so they all rolled with it and used it as an early indicator.

“Tell ya what, as soon as you’re healed and ready, I’ll have Sam watch the baby so you and I can go on a midnight run just like we used to.”

“I’d like that. Now help me up, I need to pee.”

Laughing, he hooked an arm under hers and heaved. “By the way, how did you know I was home?”

“Don’t you know by now, I know everything.”

“Uh-huh. You owe Michael a matching pair of slippers. He almost got away with spying on me.”

“I prefer the term ‘intelligence gathering.’”

“Of course you do.” Tom rolled his eyes.