Page 49 of Death and Divination
Chapter 18
Ophelia
Nash and I stood in the same room where I’d met Dallas before, except this time there were no offers of booze or other beverages. The werewolf who’d escorted us in had left us to wait, giving my golf club a puzzled glance and evidently deciding to not consider it a weapon. He had been a bit nervous about Nash, his nostrils flaring as he took in the reaper’s odd scent, but neither my companion nor my nine iron evidently warranted questions.
When Dallas arrived, this time he was accompanied by a short stocky female werewolf with light brown hair and a healthy amount of golden fuzz on her chin and jaw line. Her eyes were sharp as she took me in, hesitating on the nine iron and widening as she saw Nash.
Dallas stopped abruptly just past the doorway, also staring at Nash. “You smell… you smell like death.”
“Well, that’s not very nice,” I chided. “There’s no need to comment about someone’s personal hygiene.”
“I don’t mean death as in decaying flesh. I mean death.” Dallas scowled at Nash. “Whatareyou?”
“A reaper.”
Nash said it with all the cheerfulness of someone announcing free ice cream sundaes. What made it even more amusing was Ruby and Dallas’ reaction.
“Who’s going to die?” Dallas asked through clenched teeth.
“Everyone eventually.” Nash smiled. “Hopefully no one today. That all depends on you, though.”
Dallas sucked in a breath and Ruby took a step backward while I shot Nash a grateful glance. As far as we knew, he couldn’t reap more than plants, and he’d never had the ability to kill someone indiscriminately, but the threat would ensure Dallas and Ruby would behave. And if they didn’t…well, I had a golf club and a pocket full of balls.
I got right to the point. “Tink is in town, and she’s not coming back unless you break off the mating.”
Dallas eyed Nash, then turned to me. “This is ridiculous. She agreed to the mating. She’s already pledged, given her word. It’s a done deal and the ceremony is a mere formality. She needs to get her butt back here and honor her commitment.”
“What’s joined cannot be separated,” Ruby added. “Mating is for life. It’s our pack law. It’s our culture. This isn’t a single werewolf deciding to break their pack bonds and live as a lone wolf. She’s pledged. And a mate has every right to insist his mate return to his side. Even a Perkins witch can’t force a mated pair apart.”
“But you’renotmated,” I told Dallas. “And there are cases of divorce among werewolves. You don’t really want an unwilling bride, do you? You must realize how miserable she could make your life if you force her.”
“I’m the alpha,” Dallas blustered.
“Even alphas sleep sometimes,” Nash added.
Dallas snarled, and I held out my hands to pacify him. “I’m not saying violence. It’s the little things. Toenails painted bright red while you sleep. Hair removal cream in your bath wash. Every meal she cooks for you is overdone or your least favorite item. Clothing ruined in the laundry. Favorite items accidently broken. Rumors that you can’t perform in bed or that you’ve got a little dick. Trust me, Dallas, you do not want an unwilling woman for your mate.”
The alpha began to pace, keeping his eye on Nash the whole time. “She’ll rue the day she does any of that. I’m not letting her back out now. It’s too late. Her refusing to return and go through with the ceremony would be an unforgivably humiliating slight on me as the leader of this pack. First my own son defies me and fractures my pack without even issuing a challenge and now this? No. Just…no.”
Crap, this wasn’t going well. I eyed my golf club and wondered if it would be possible for me to knock some sense into the werewolf.
“Find a way to save face, then. Her mother jumped the gun and spread the news before you’d decided whether or not to offer for Tink. Yes, you considered it, but you’ve decided not to go through with it. Make up some excuse, like she’s not pretty enough or is a crappy cook, or doesn’t want pups, or shaves her legs. Make something up, cancel the mating ceremony, and let her come back to the pack as a single werewolf.”
Tink was going to be furious about this. Her ego was just as big as Dallas’ and she’d have a fit about being dumped. Too bad. Screw her pride. If Tink wanted to come back to the pack badly enough, then she’d have to suck it up and deal with a little humiliation. After all, she was the one going back on her promise here, and it probably was too much to ask for Dallas to look the chump in this whole thing.
“This is stupid,” Ruby snapped. “If she’s not back by nightfall, I’ll sniff her out and drag her home myself.”
Nash stiffened beside me and I reached out to touch his arm. We didn’t need this to get physical, and at the end of the day, it was Dallas’ decision that would be the important one, not Ruby’s.
“I’ll break off the mating,” Dallas finally said. “She’s crazy and a crappy cook and can’t hunt worth shit. And she shaves her legs. I’ll let everyone know the mating was a hopeful rumor spread by Tink and her mother, and that I wasneverseriously considering her.”
Ruby let out a cry and covered her mouth, then with a look from Dallas she bent her head in submission.
“There’s no reason for me to ever see her again outside of pack functions,” Dallas added. “Ruby will go into town at moonrise tonight to speak to Cassie about her daughter. It’s between them if Tink returns to the pack or decides to be a lone wolf. It’s not my business. I’ll abide by whatever Cassie and Ruby agree to.”
I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Cassie can meet Ruby in the park across from the diner. Ruby can have two or three werewolves accompany her if she would feel safer that way, as Cassie will have Lucien by her side.”
Ruby slumped but remained silent, knowing that at this point, she would have no choice but to do as Dallas said. This was the way things were in the werewolf pack.
