Page 81 of Legally Mated
“I won’t,” I promised, and watched him walk away, slowed by the constant greetings and small talk that seemed as much a part of his job as looking after his mate and his mate’s pack. He was probably right, though watching Laine as he interacted with the slowly growing crowd around him—listening more than he talked, and deferring to the shifters in the group—I thought he might have figured out most of thathimself.
Not long after Holland left, the dancing started up. There wouldn’t be much tonight, just a few songs to entertain the teenagers before we ran as wolves. Then a few days later there would be Christmas, when Midwinter Wolf would visit and bring gifts for everyone in thefamily.
Oh, that was something I hadn’t considered. Well, I could skip changing form for one month to keep Lainecompany.
April and Pip found us hiding underneath one of the trees to watch the teenagers whirl around each other in time to the music. I saw Bram drag Duke up there, and even Jason and Mac for one dance, and watched Pip try to teach April one of the children’s dances. I was enjoying myself more than I’d expected, and from the expression on his face, so was Laine. We smiled at each other, easy promises that floated silent across the space between us. I was ready for the night to be over, to invite Laine back to my apartment, like any other full moonliaison.
People started to strip out of their human form, leaving puddled blobs of clothing scattered about the clearing likestones.
“Are you going to run?” Laine asked,surprisingme.
“I’m not going to leave you here,” Itoldhim.
He shrugged. “It’s a part of who you are. Don’t deny yourself.” He leaned over and kissed me gently. “April and I will wait here and listen toeveryonehowl.”
I thought about it, watching him intently. He seemed to mean it, and I decided I needed to stop second-guessing him. He was a grown man, and entitled to make decisions and live with the consequences of them. Plus, this was as good and simple a test of his devotion as any I could come up with. “All right. Pip, do you want to come runwithme?”
“Yeah!” she yelled and began throwing her clothes on theground.
Laine’s eyebrows went up and he started to turn away. I moved to stand between him and Pip, protecting his delicate human sensibilities while his daughter giggledmadly.
“You know we aren’t bothered by it,” Iremindedhim.
“She’s a kid,” he muttered, staring stubbornly up at thestars.
I sighed and shook my head. “Would you like me to go behind a tree to do myshiftthen?”
“Please,” he said, and pulled his daughter against his chest to block her line ofsight.
I laughed, waited until Pip’s fur had filled in, then ducked around the tree and did the fastest change of myentirelife.
The world was different when I was in this form, less color but more information. I could smell even more than I could with my human nose. In particular, I could smell Laine, and I knew then that he was mine and I wanted to keep him for as long as he’dletme.
Trotting out into the open, I jumped up and put my front paws on his shoulders so I could lick his face, which made April laugh even more, and then Pip was there, tugging on his pant legs and running in circles around April, yipping loudly. I stuck my nose in April’s ear, knowing the cold wetness would make her shriek, then danced away with mywolf’sgrin.
Pip was trying to get April to run with her, the cuff of April’s jacket caught in Pip’s teeth. Good idea. I grabbed Laine’s wrist gently with my mouth and pulled him in the direction I wanted him to go. Most of the pack would run in the far end, where our mock forest grew, but there was also the grove with the creek, which would be fun to play in. I dragged Laine over to my clothes and stared at him until he picked them up, then did the same for Pip’s. He caught on faster this time, and then we were all four jogging toward the creek. April kept asking where we were going, and Laine kept telling her, “Into an adventure.” I liked that he thought of itthatway.
At the creek, Pip and I jumped in and splashed around despite the chill. Laine found some twigs and leaves—with a bit of help from me to get him looking—and I taught him how to drop them in the water and race them down theripples.
April was definitely his daughter—they both had a competitive streak a mile wide, and it wasn’t long before they were so engrossed in their competition that Pip and I were completely forgotten. I looked at Pip and shrugged my wolf shoulders and she yawned and bowed her head, then we changed back to human form and went for ourclothes.
“It’s getting late,” I murmured in Laine’s ear. He jumped and nearly fell into the creek, which made the two girlslaugh.
“Hey, you changed.” He put an arm around my waist. “You’refreezing.”
“Yeah, I am. Let’s go back so we can getwarmedup.”
He stood and called April to him. “Let’s go, honey. Before Pip and Garrickfreeze.”
“You two are going to Bax’s,” I told them. “I think they’re still up watching movies or playing video games. Bax’s mate has a lot ofgames.”
April yawned suddenly. “Can we stop at the tablesagain?”
“That’ll all be gone now,” I told her. “But Bax will have snacks at hisplace.”
“Okay,” she said sleepily, and leaned against her father as theywalked.
Laine glanced over at me, then bent down and picked her up. I followed suit with Pip, and we made it back to the daycare just as Bax was picking up the pups inthevan.
