Page 25

That evening, as the sun started to sink lower behind the Blue Ridge Mountains, the real celebration started.

Booming laughter and conversation echoed across the huge backyard. The scent of roasted meats and herbs hung in the air.

The feast made the previous night’s dinner look like a little snack, but now Faith knew not to stare at the Wrasa while they ate, no matter how much food they devoured. She kept her gaze on her own plate.

This time, the festivities weren’t held in the dining room, probably because there were so many guests, they wouldn’t have all fit.

Benches and tables had been set up outside, around a bonfire. Several smaller fires formed circles around the central one, creating a ring of flickering light.

The seating order appeared to follow the same system as the order in which people had gotten their food at the previous night’s dinner, likely reflecting the pack’s hierarchy. Only the children darted freely between the tables, while the adults each had a designated place that reflected their status.

Faith found herself next to Tala at the center table.

Mirella’s pack seemed to be sizing her up. A few were frowning as if her mere presence was an affront.

Was it because of who her father was? But why was it mostly Mirella’s family giving her those weird looks?

She leaned closer to Tala, their shoulders pressing together. Under the pretense of brushing a light kiss to her cheek, she whispered: “Is it just my imagination, or are Mirella’s people staring at me?”

Tala reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind Faith’s ear.

The intimacy of the gesture sent a shiver through Faith. Her body didn’t seem to remember that it was only an act.

“Don’t let it bother you,” Tala whispered back. “It’s not about you, per se. Some of them aren’t over me and Lasandra breaking up. They don’t like seeing me with someone else.”

Faith glanced toward the other end of their table, where Tala’s ex sat next to Mirella.

She was as stunning as her sister, with the same raven-black hair that gleamed in the light of the fire. Thick lashes framed her green eyes, and her lips were the color of berries—Tala’s favorite dessert.

Faith wondered if Tala had enjoyed nibbling on them as much as she’d loved her berry crumble.

Okay, that’s enough method acting for today! She was getting into her role a little too much. It wasn’t as if she really was jealous.

Still, she couldn’t help asking: “Why did the two of you split up?”

“Our families hoped we’d unite the packs, like Rey and Mirella are doing now,” Tala said quietly. “But we were young, and it was a lot of pressure. I realized I wasn’t ready. I wanted to explore the world and prove myself beyond the confines of our packs before I settled down.”

Confines, Faith mentally repeated. Interesting choice of words for someone who had declared it her life’s goal to take over as the pack’s natak. Had Tala even noticed what she’d said?

Before Faith could decide whether now was the right time to point it out, she felt another gaze on her.

Lasandra was looking back at her—at them. Her smile seemed genuine, but Faith thought she detected a hint of sadness.

“Hello, Tala.” Lasandra’s voice was soft like velvet, and she didn’t raise it, making her greeting seem even more intimate.

The people sitting between them fell silent. Heads swiveled around. Apparently, no one wanted to miss a word of this conversation.

Faith squirmed.

“Hi, Lasandra.” Tala put her hand on Faith’s thigh as if to calm her, but all it did was make Faith jump and hit her knee on the table. “Good to see you.”

“You too,” Lasandra replied. “You’re looking good.”

Faith frowned. Was she supposed to react? Maybe growl at Lasandra and tell her off for complimenting her mate so openly?

Well, Faith couldn’t blame her. Tala did look good. The flickering firelight cast a warm glow over her angular face with its high cheekbones, and the hues of her hair reflected all the colors of the quilt on the bed they had shared the night before.

The memory made Faith blush.

Lasandra glanced at her. “Happy,” she added quietly.

Tala took Faith’s hand and tangled their fingers together on top of the table for everyone to see. “I am.” Her fingers felt stiff in Faith’s and her grip tighter than usual.

Clearly, there was some unfinished business between these two. Did Tala regret their breakup?

“That’s wonderful to see.” Somehow, Lasandra managed to sound both genuine and forced at the same time.

“How about you?” Tala asked. “How are you doing?”

“I’m great. I’m working on a children’s book in the Old Language to help teach our pups before it gets lost completely.”

No mention of a new relationship, Faith noticed.

Had Lasandra stayed single because she held out hope that she and Tala would get back together?

“That’s fantastic.” A hint of warmth softened Tala’s usually fierce demeanor.

Lasandra nodded. “It is. Your sister”—she pointed at Kiera, Tala’s youngest sister—“is providing the illustrations, so I’m over here at your parents’ house almost every day.”

“Easy there,” Tala whispered out of the corner of her mouth. “I didn’t know humans had such a strong grip. Don’t break my hand please, or I might accidentally shift.”

What? She hadn’t been holding on that tightly, had she? Faith quickly loosened her grip. “Sorry.”

A few of Tala’s older cousins nudged each other, grinning. They probably thought she was jealous of her mate’s ex.

“So, how did the two of you meet?” Lasandra’s gaze rested on Faith for a moment before returning to Tala.

Faith’s pulse sped up. So far, no one had asked a lot of questions about their relationship. Just their luck that someone would ask now, in front of the entire pack.

They glanced at each other.

“Go ahead and tell her, hon,” Tala said.

Faith gave her a light kick beneath the table for trying to pass the buck to her. “Oh, no, babe. You tell it so much better than I. Especially the part where you heroically rescued a little girl’s balloon.”

Before one of them was forced to give in, Tala’s father rose from the head of the table. “Family, friends, honored guests.” His voice carried over the cacophony of voices, silencing the gathering. He nodded at each of the fires, in an order that seemed to follow a ritual. “Tonight, we came together to celebrate our son, Reynard, and his mate, Mirella, but we are celebrating so much more than a union between two people—we’re celebrating the alliance between two packs. After centuries of fights and hostility, we’ll become family. I hope that going forward, we can leave the past behind us and will be bound together by respect, love…and shared grandchildren.”

The two packs erupted into cheers and laughter.

Brennan lifted his hand, silencing them. He turned toward his future daughter-in-law. “Mirella, we welcome you with open arms and open hearts. It’s always a happy day when we can add a new member to the pack, and tonight, we are blessed with having not one but two new members with us.” He grinned and pointed at Faith.

A few murmurs rose. Not all of them sounded like approval.

Rey’s jaw had tightened, and his grandmother scowled from her seat.

Tala put her other hand on top of Faith’s too, cradling it gently. It was supposed to be a show of support to make the pack believe they were really in love, but the gesture warmed Faith anyway.

Mirella’s father stood, his silver hair gleaming in the firelight.

For a moment, Faith thought he would speak out against her, but instead, he launched into a short speech, welcoming Reynard into the family. He finished by saying, “Mirella and Reynard, may your bond grow stronger with each passing moon. It is my hope that one day, the two of you will lead the Silver Falls pack with wisdom and strength.”

Several pack members turned their heads and glanced at Tala as if to check her reaction.

Tala sat with her head held high, pretending to be unworried about what her brother’s marriage would mean for her chances of becoming natak. But her grip on Faith’s hand tightened.

Faith turned her hand and tangled their fingers together.

Brennan and Mirella’s father turned toward the couple and spoke together: “Our home is now your home; our family is your family, and our food is your food.”

“Let us eat together, as a pack, before we head out to the yasi makamar,” Brennan added. Instead of raising his glass for a toast, as Faith had expected, he picked up his plate, walked over to Mirella, and deposited a small piece of wild boar on her plate.

His wife followed, leaving a potato on Mirella’s plate.

“What are they doing?” Faith whispered to Tala. Sharing food seemed to have a special meaning in Wrasa culture, but she didn’t know what it meant in this context.

Tala leaned closer. “It’s part of the twere ritual.” Her warm breath tickled Faith’s ear, sending goose bumps down her body. “Every member of the pack offers her a morsel of their own food, and then Mirella’s pack will do the same for Rey. It indicates that they’re not just marrying each other; they’re marrying into the pack.”

“Oh. That’s really beautiful.”

Tala nodded. She disentangled her fingers from Faith’s and rested a hand on her shoulder as she climbed off the bench and carried her plate over to Mirella.

Was Faith supposed to get up too? But she and Tala weren’t married yet, so despite Brennan’s words, she wasn’t an official member of the pack.

Yet? Faith realized what she’d just thought. They wouldn’t get married, not even once it was legally possible, but the pack couldn’t know that.

One after the other, all pack members got up and deposited morsels from their own plates onto Mirella’s until it was heaping with food.

Did the poor woman have to eat all of that to complete the ritual?

But Mirella didn’t seem to mind, and neither did Rey. They both wolfed down every bit of food on their plates and tenderly fed each other the best morsels—then even got up to get more of the wild boar that was roasting over one of the fires.

Incredible. How could they eat like that?

Even Tala, smaller than most other pack members, rose again to refill her plate.

Without Tala’s heat next to her, Faith shivered. Now that the sun had gone down, it was cold outside despite the fires. The Wrasa didn’t seem to mind…or maybe they didn’t even notice.

“Are you cold?”

Startled, Faith looked up.

Several pack members had gotten up to get more food, and Lasandra had slid closer on the long bench so she was now next to her.

“Um, yeah, a little.” Faith tried to sound casual, as if she weren’t nervous to find herself more or less alone with her pretend mate’s ex. “My favorite heat source seems to have momentarily left me for the boar.”

“I can relate,” Lasandra muttered.

Was she talking about the heat emanating from Tala? Or about Tala leaving her?

“I just realized that I never got to hear the story of how you met our Tala,” Lasandra said.

Our Tala. The possessive pronoun wasn’t lost on Faith.

“We both attended the Wrasa Pride parade in DC,” Tala said.

A huff came from the end of the table, where Tala’s grandmother held a place of honor. “Attended. Right. You were there with your father—Peter MacAllister—setting up barricades to stop the parade and protest our rights.”

Loud murmurs and growls rippled through the two gathered packs.

Someone gasped. “She’s MacAllister’s daughter?”

“Why would Tala get involved with her?” another voice muttered.

The air was thick with tension.

Cold sweat beaded on Faith’s forehead. Oh shit. The atmosphere seemed to shift against her. She looked around for Tala, hoping she was on her way back.

Her gaze immediately found Tala’s slim form. She stood next to the bonfire. Its light made her hair shimmer with streaks of copper and gold and cast shadows over her tense face.

Her brother Rey stood directly in front of Tala, leaning forward, into her space.

Over the noise of the celebration, Faith couldn’t hear what they were saying. She didn’t need to. By now, she knew Tala well enough to interpret her body language. Her stiff posture spoke volumes. She was in the middle of a fiery argument with her brother.

Faith swallowed. Tala couldn’t rush over to help her. She was on her own, and she couldn’t just meekly duck her head and say nothing.

The pack thought she was Tala’s mate. She had to take a stand and show that she was worthy of their respect, or Tala’s position in the pack could be weakened.

She lifted her head, chin held high, and looked Tala’s grandmother in the eyes. “I wasn’t at the parade to support my father,” she said, trying to keep her voice firm. That much was true. “I was there because I was curious. I had a feeling that there was more to the Wrasa than the things my father told me, and I wanted to see if I was right.”

Okay, that wasn’t true. At least it hadn’t been true when she had attended the Pride parade. Chloe had been the one who’d been fascinated by the Wrasa, while Faith had longed for the peaceful life before the shape-shifters had come out to the human public and her father had become preoccupied with them.

But now, she found it was true.

“Tala rescued my daughter’s balloon when it flew away, and we started talking. It didn’t take me long to realize the Wrasa aren’t the monsters my father made you out to be. We have more in common than I’d thought.” It was easy to hold the matriarch’s gaze because it was the truth.

“Nonsense.” Tala’s grandmother swiped her hand through the air so vehemently that she nearly knocked over a jug of water. “We don’t have a single thing in common!”

“I didn’t want to believe it either, but we do,” Faith said softly. “For one thing, we both value family. Or at least I thought we both did.”

The matriarch rose from her seat and let out a low growl, then hurled words in a language Faith didn’t understand at her. “How dare you insinuate—”

“Look,” Faith said calmly, even though she was shaking inside. She stood too so the older woman wouldn’t tower over her. “You can hate me all you want. I know you’ve got your reasons. But tonight isn’t my twere. It’s Rey and Mirella’s celebration you’re interrupting with your hate.”

A stunned silence settled over the table. Clearly, no one had expected a mere human to stand up to their alpha’s mother.

Then all hell broke loose as everyone started shouting at the same time.

~ ~ ~

With her attention fully fixed on the boar roasting over the fire, Tala reached for the carving knife.

Another hand shot out and gripped it before she could.

Tala didn’t even have to look up to know whose hand it was. She lifted her top lip but kept her snarl inaudible out of respect for the traditions of the twere. “Rey.”

“Reynard,” he said. “At least pay me that much respect.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Tala put her hands on her hips, making herself appear broader.

“You know exactly what it means. You’ve done nothing but disrespect me since you got back.”

Tala snorted. “We talked for all of ten seconds. How am I supposed to have disrespected you?”

Mirella joined them, taking up a supportive position next to Rey, but didn’t interrupt them.

“This is my…our twere, but, as always, you couldn’t stand that I was the one in the limelight.” Rey shifted closer to Mirella, until they were shoulder to shoulder, forming a bulwark against Tala. “You had to get Dad to welcome your little human girlfriend, like it was your twere!”

Tala clenched her fists so tightly that her knuckles cracked, audible even over the popping of the fire. “I didn’t get him to do anything. He did that all on his own—because unlike you, he has manners and wanted to be nice.”

“Nice. Right.” Rey kicked a branch into the fire. “It wasn’t nice for me or Mirella to have the spotlight stolen from us at our twere!”

“Oh Great Hunter! Would you get over it? The twere has never been solely about the couple. It has always been about the pack.”

“It’s been years since you fully lived with the pack, and now you’re suddenly the expert on our rituals?”

Tala’s skin ached as if her fox threatened to burst through it and leap at him. “I’m as much of an expert as you are. And it’s not like I was gone because I didn’t appreciate the pack. I was doing my job—an important job that I took a break from to come home and support you!”

“Who do you think you’re kidding? I know why you came home—and why you brought her.” He stabbed his thumb over his shoulder toward Faith.

Tala resisted the urge to grab his hand and rip off his offending thumb. “I brought her because she’s my mate.”

“Right. You’ve shown absolutely no interest in relationships for years, but now that I got engaged, you suddenly show up with a fiancée.”

“You seriously think I got engaged because you did?”

“What else am I supposed to think? No one even knew you’re seeing someone, and the moment Mirella and I set the date for our twere, boom, you’re engaged!”

“Exactly,” Mirella said. “You weren’t interested in marriage when you were with my sister, but now you suddenly are?”

“That had nothing to do with you two getting married.” Of course, she couldn’t tell them the true reason. “Besides, what you’re saying makes no sense, Rey…Reynard. If I wanted to compete with you, why would I show up with a human mate, knowing it wouldn’t earn me any bonus points with Grandma? I bet you’re secretly glad because now you’re her favorite since you’re marrying a Syak, while I brought home a human!”

“But she’s not just any human, is she?” Rey glowered at her. “I’m uniting two packs by getting married, so you had to outdo me by trying to unite two species!”

His accusation made her speechless for a second, even though he was right about her trying to create peace between the two species. “You seriously think I would marry a human just to get a leg up on you?”

Before Rey could answer, a weird shift in the energy surrounding them made Tala pause.

The table had gone silent.

Shit. Was everyone watching their fight? Tala swiveled her head.

But her family wasn’t focusing on her, Rey, and Mirella. They were staring at Faith, who was clutching the edge of the table with both hands.

Tala’s grandmother had risen from her seat so she was towering over Faith. She was calling her names in the Old Language.

Fire flared over Tala’s skin. She whirled around, ignoring Rey, and stormed toward the table. No one, not even her grandmother, was allowed to speak to Faith that way!

But Faith calmly rose from the table and faced Tala’s grandmother. “Look. You can hate me all you want. I know you’ve got your reasons. But tonight isn’t my twere. It’s Rey and Mirella’s celebration you’re interrupting with your hate.”

Despite her tension, a proud grin spread over Tala’s face. There was something incredibly sexy about a woman standing up for herself.

Uh, generally speaking, of course. Not just Faith specifically.

Everyone started shouting—at Faith, at each other.

“She’s right,” a quiet but clear voice spoke up over the chaos before Tala could.

It was the last person Tala had expected to intervene on Faith’s behalf: Lasandra.

“Tonight isn’t the right time for this,” Lasandra added. “My sister and her mate deserve a twere they can remember with a smile, not one that makes them cringe.”

But Tala’s grandmother refused to back down. “Then Tala shouldn’t have brought—”

“Enough.” Tala projected her voice across the table.

“Yes, Mother,” Brennan added. “You said your piece. Now it’s—”

“Let me do this, Dad. There’s something that I’ve been meaning to tell her since last night.” Tala stepped closer to her grandmother and lowered her voice to a hoarse whisper. “You were my biggest supporter when I was little. Whenever someone dared to say that I didn’t belong…that I wasn’t part of the pack, you tore into them until they slunk away in shame. And now you’re doing to Faith what they did to me back then, just because she’s human?”

Her grandmother had already opened her mouth for a passionate response, but now she closed it without saying anything. Her shoulders drooped, and for the first time, she looked each of her eighty-four years. “It’s not the same,” she finally whispered. “They’re not the same as us.”

“How do you know?” Tala asked. “You never spent enough time around a human to find out otherwise. Faith is as clever and kind as any of us, and she’s as loyal and protective of her family as you are.”

“Yes, but her family is Peter MacAllister,” her grandmother said with a pained expression. “Of all humans, did it have to be her?”

Tala reached out without looking. Even without inhaling the mate scent perfume, her body knew exactly where Faith was. She wrapped one arm around her and pulled her close.

Faith latched on to her. As she pressed against Tala’s side, Tala could sense a light tremor going through her.

She wrapped her other arm around her too, protectively cradling Faith against her body, and held her grandmother’s gaze. “Yes, Grandma. It had to be her.”

The wave of hostility surrounding them began to ebb.

Her grandmother sighed and sat back down. “Enough of this nonsense. As much as I hate to agree with a human, she was right about one thing: this is Reynard and Mirella’s twere. Let’s focus on that.”

Tala’s father rose. “Right. It’s time to leave for the yasi makamar. Everyone, help clear the tables and then go get changed. We’ll meet at the cars in half an hour.”

~ ~ ~

Faith was very quiet as they climbed the stairs so Tala could get changed.

Tala watched her out of the corner of her eye. Usually, conversation flowed easily between them, so now Faith’s silence was concerning. Had the confrontation with her grandmother scared her? Had she thought the pack might turn on her like the wild animals she had assumed they were at the beginning of their acquaintance? She didn’t still believe that, did she?

“I’m sorry,” Tala said as soon as the door to their bedroom closed behind them.

Well, her bedroom. Just because she shared it with Faith for the weekend didn’t make it theirs .

Faith looked at her as if an apology was the last thing she had expected.

It was the last thing Tala would do under normal circumstances, but when she had taken Faith home with her, she had assumed the role of her protector. And she had failed at that role. “I shouldn’t have left you alone for so long. I should have walked away from my brother and returned to the table, but he just gets under my skin.”

“I know.” Faith brushed her fingertips along Tala’s forearm.

Normally, Tala didn’t appreciate uninvited touches from someone who wasn’t part of her pack. But the fleeting brush of Faith’s fingers didn’t set off the urge to snarl at her. Maybe that shouldn’t have surprised her after the heating pad incident.

“I feel like I’m the one who should apologize,” Faith added.

“You? Why would you apologize?” Tala shook her head at her. “You did great, standing up to my grandmother! I can’t remember the last time that happened.”

But Faith seemed anything but proud. “Yeah, but my being here is causing conflicts within your family, on a day that should be a happy day full of celebrations. Maybe I shouldn’t have come.”

“No,” Tala said vehemently. “If this silly argument proves one thing, it’s that you need to be here. People like my grandmother need to interact with a human who’s decent so they realize you’re not all selfish, ignorant assholes.”

A grin chased away the somber expression on Faith’s face. “So I managed to convince you I’m not an ass?”

Tala put on a nonchalant expression. “You’re all right. For a human.”

Faith’s grin grew. “You’re not so bad either. For a Wrasa.”

They stood in the middle of the bedroom, smiling at each other.

“Five minutes!”

Her mother’s shout from downstairs made Tala jump. “Um, I need to get changed.” She got the outfit she had packed for the yasi makamar from her bag and ducked into the bathroom but left the door open while she stripped off her pants and top so they could keep talking. “Are you sure you are okay staying here on your own?”

“I’ll be fine,” Faith answered from the bedroom. “And I will hardly be on my own. There’ll be a few others who aren’t going…right?”

“Yeah, that’s why I asked if you’re okay with it. My grandmother will be one of the few adults who’ll stay behind. She’s the babysitter in charge.”

“I’ll be fine,” Faith repeated.

She didn’t sound too sure, though. Or was Tala just imagining it—maybe projecting her own hesitancy onto Faith? For some reason, she found herself strangely reluctant to leave her behind. And this time, it wasn’t because she was concerned Faith would use the opportunity to spy on her pack.

Maybe it was naive, but it felt as if something had shifted between them since they had arrived in Silver Falls.

She stuck her head and shoulders around the doorframe to get a look at Faith.

Faith stared back wide-eyed, but the expression on her face wasn’t exactly one of fear. She whirled around, turning her back on Tala.

“What….?”

“You’re naked!” Faith squeaked.

Tala quickly shushed her. “We don’t want my siblings wondering why you’re panicking at the sight of your mate naked.”

“I’m not panicking.”

“And I’m not naked. I’m wearing socks.” Tala stripped them off. “Now I’m naked.”

Faith made a strangled sound.

“Great Hunter, you humans are such prudes.” Tala chuckled but couldn’t help wondering if Faith had liked what she’d seen. She pushed the thought away and slipped the simple, loose-fitting shirt—no buttons or zippers—over her head, then put on a pair of pants with an elastic waistband.

“I’m not a prude! I just didn’t think you would be so…so…” Faith trailed off.

Tala stepped back into the bedroom, fully dressed now, and flashed a grin at Faith’s turned back. “Would be…what? Attractive? Beautiful? Breathtaking?”

Faith muttered something that even Tala’s sharp ears couldn’t catch. “An exhibitionist!” Faith said.

Tala shrugged. “It makes no sense for a Wrasa to be shy about their body. You can turn around now, by the way.”

“Are you decent?”

“Depends on who you ask,” Tala said with a smirk. “But I’m dressed.”

Faith turned around. A tinge of red still lingered on her cheeks, making Tala smile.

“Two minutes,” her mother called from downstairs.

Tala ran her gaze over Faith one last time. “Are you really okay?”

“Yes, of course. You’re not the first woman I’ve seen naked, you know? Just because I haven’t had a serious girlfriend doesn’t mean I’m completely inexperienced when it comes to…uh, women. Naked women.”

“I meant are you okay staying behind alone.”

“Oh.” The rosy hue on Faith’s cheeks turned into a deep crimson.

Tala chuckled. “But thanks for that enlightening information.”

“You’d better go before I hit you over the head with your own pillow!”

Still grinning, Tala slipped into her shoes without putting her socks back on. The less she had to take off later, during the yasi makamar, the better. She wanted to be the first to shift shape so she could take her position directly behind her parents before Rey could. “All right. I’m off, then.”

~ ~ ~

Faith walked back downstairs with Tala, trying to get the mental image of creamy skin and small, firm breasts out of her mind—not an easy task because Tala was beautiful.

At the foot of the stairs, they encountered an unexpected obstacle.

One of Tala’s cousins was sitting on the bottom step, watching as the rest of the pack got ready to leave. If Faith remembered correctly, she was Uncle Seth and his husband’s youngest, a teenager of around fourteen.

“Hey, Sutton.” Tala paused on the step above her cousin. “Aren’t you getting ready too?”

Her uncle turned around from where he’d been putting his shoes on and made a throat-cutting gesture to silence her.

But it was too late.

The teen hung her head and kicked at the rug. “I can’t go. I have to stay behind with the little pups because I haven’t had my Awakening yet.”

Faith wasn’t sure what that was. Another ritual?

“Oh.” Even though everyone was waiting, Tala sat next to her cousin as if she had all the time in the world. She put her arm around her and gently bumped the girl’s knee with her own. “Well, you know what? I was a late bloomer too. I was sixteen before I could join the others for the yasi makamar.”

“Really?” Sutton cuddled against Tala’s side as if seeking comfort.

“Really.”

Faith blinked rapidly as her eyes began to burn. How touching! She knew how hard it must be for a proud alpha like Tala to admit a weakness in front of half the pack, but she had done it to cheer up her cousin and make her feel less alone.

Sutton straightened. “It’s not going to take me that long. Uncle Rey said he’ll be my mentor, so I bet I’ll learn fast. I’ll run with the pack for your and Faith’s twere.”

Faith suppressed a cough.

Tala glanced over her shoulder and sent her a wide-eyed look before turning back to Sutton. “I’m sure you will.” She patted the teen’s shoulder, then rose. “Walk me to the car?” she said to Faith, as if reluctant to say goodbye.

“Sure.”

They followed behind the pack at some distance.

“You’re great with kids,” Faith said, nodding back toward the house.

“Why do you sound so surprised?”

Because I’m a silly human who allowed herself to believe all the anti-Wrasa propaganda, Faith thought. But what she said was: “Because you carefully maintain a persona that isn’t exactly warm and fuzzy.”

“Good. Because I’m not.”

“Right. You’re cold and mean.”

Tala nodded. “I can be.”

“Just not with your pack,” Faith said.

“Not with my pack.” Tala turned as they reached the driveway, where several cars were parked. Instead of getting into one of them, she hesitated and ran her gaze over Faith. “Be careful please.”

A shiver ran through Faith—half because of the intimacy in Tala’s tone, half because of the concern in her eyes. “You don’t think someone will try to harm me while you’re gone, do you?”

“No.” The word sounded like a bark. “No one will lift a claw against you. I promise. I just don’t want my grandmother or anyone else to corner you with their hateful comments.”

“I’ll stay out of her way,” Faith said.

“Good. But if it gets to be too much and you need to get away for a while…” Tala held out her car keys.

Faith hesitated. “Aren’t you driving?”

“I’m riding with Arlyn.” Tala pointed at her sister, who was leaning against a car, impatiently tapping her fingers against it.

Car doors slammed shut as the pack dispersed into various vehicles. Engines roared to life.

“Tala!” Arlyn shouted, holding open the passenger-side door for her. “Come on!”

“I have to…” Tala gestured toward her sister.

“Yeah.” Faith quickly took the keys from her.

Their fingers brushed, sending warmth up Faith’s arm.

They lingered two feet apart.

For a moment, Faith thought Tala would hug her. Or kiss her.

But she didn’t.

Of course not. Most of her family had already driven off, so there was no reason to act like a besotted couple.

Abruptly, Tala strode toward her sister’s car. A short nod, then she banged the door shut between them.

Seconds later, Arlyn steered the vehicle along the gravel driveway, leaving Faith behind.