The woman is naked, probably in the process of shifting, but the humans who found it, of course, didn’t know that. Ms Thompson said that it was one of the earliest recorded depictions of our kind.
I did not tell the females (or Nana) about the painting that I used to look at the most – Klimt’s Mother and Child. Especially not after Grace pointed out that the teacher who left without saying goodbye had probably been a maternal figure I’d bonded to in my fragile, motherless state.
Instead, I told them about another bad thing I did. Or, was doing up until that point.
“There’s something else I’d like to tell you. I have a younger sister.”
“So?” Mira said, unimpressed.
“She also has an older brother,” Lynn explained, no trace of surprise on her face.
“You knew?” I said, at the same time as Mira said, “Shut up! You’re from the Blessed Family?”
Looking around, I could see that only Mira and Margaret were surprised. And no one was angry.
“Rowan vaguely remembered you from a visit he accompanied his father to, and this year he befriended your brother at school and put the pieces together,” Lynn said. “He told me, I told Charlotte.”
“And I remember seeing you on my visits to your pack as a child,” Grace smiled. “You haven’t changed much.”
“You never said anything,” I said weakly.
“You never mentioned your family, so I figured you weren’t keen on talking about it,” Grace shrugged.
“Anthony is the only one who’d just bring up another wolf’s private business, so we didn’t tell him,” Lynn smiled.
I suddenly felt so light and unburdened.
“It’s not my favorite topic in the world,” I admitted.
“You never have to talk about something you don’t want to,” Margaret said with a weird look on her face.
And I believed her.
Then Lynn went and ruined it all by saying, “These sleepovers are the best! I hope you never agree to accompany Alpha Dominic on one of his trips!”
I’d never even considered that he could have invited me to go with him.
???
Listen to this. When Dominic was away in Florida last week, I hosted Florence and her friends at the house. I made a smorgasbord-style spread with charcuterie boards, cheeses, pastries, and fruit, as well as tea and coffee. Sonya loved the tea so much that I’d promised to ask Marley about it. I now realize that I’d promised you the same and I completely forgot about it until now.
Anyway, I asked Marley, and she said she had no idea what tea I was talking about. She checked her records and said that she’d bought a normal supermarket brand of green tea the first time she did our shopping, and then it was never put on the list again.
So I asked Dominic about it and he said that he brought me new tea to try every time he went on a trip. It was him all along, can you believe it? How sweet. I had no idea.
It was far from sweet. The way he did it, in secret, not as a direct, open declaration of... affection, made me feel sad. I felt like he hated himself for giving into the bond, or his wolf, who I knew for a fact cared about me. But Dominic made me feel unwanted. Not that he knew that anymore.
“What’s the point of buying something for a person and not even telling them about it?” I asked.
He shrugged, those intense eyes trained on me like I was a knot to untie, and asked, “Why are you shielding your emotions from me?”
My head jerked back in surprise. He didn’t need the bond to be able to see that.
“Why are you shielding yours?” I lifted my chin.
His eyes softened and he gave me a little smile, like he was amused by my attempt at defiance.
“Were you just at the gym?” he asked. I wasn’t able to follow the thread of the conversation.