Page 9 of Legally Mated
“No, you’re a grown shifter, you can make your own choices. I can see Holland’s side of this, but I’ll be the first to admit that being treated like a pup with a bedtime would rub my fur the wrong way. Problem is, if this blows up and comes to Holland’s or Quin’s attention, I don’t want to guess what they’ll do. Quin’s damn inventive at getting his point across. Maybe he’ll do nothing—the pack needs the money you’re bringing in, but I wouldn’t count on there not being some sort of consequence. And you’re not the only one here who might be impacted if this turned into athing.”
I wanted to protest, to complain that there was no reason for their concern, but the words stuck in my throat because I knew that he was right. The suspicion of my own people, the fear of Laine’s—how could thiseverwork?
Except I wanted Laine. I wanted his mind, his body, his cutting sense of humor and sheer stubborn will. He suited me, in a way that no one in the pack did, and I was at a loss to explain it. Until I’d met him, I’d been resigned to being the old bachelor wolf hunting around the edges of the pack’s families. Now… I sighed. “I have research and a couple of motions to get done in the morning, but if you want a break from the pups, I can be over sometime between two and three, I think.” A peace offering, and admission of my guilt and responsibility. Perhaps a small bribe, as well, to encourage him to keep my transgression tohimself.
“That would be appreciated. I have a desk I need to glue together, and I can’t do it with the twins rolling around underfoot. And Bram will be in class.” His acceptance of my penance—he knew I didn’t really careforpups.
I put the phone away and looked over at Laine. “I have to go over to the pack house after we’re donetomorrow.”
“I gathered.” He stared ahead of us, his eyes fixed on his car, the streetlights gleaming off its sleek blacksides.
“Laine,” I began again, but he stopped abruptly and turned to lookatme.
“No, don’t you dare apologize. Not for that, anyway. Maybe for not teaching me more about your people. Maybe for not letting me be more a part of your life inside walls. Are you ashamed of me?” His voice was fierce, but there was an undercurrent, like the deep movement of water at the very bottom of the pond at Mercy Hills where the spring fed into it. Something dark and unexpected under the gentlechill.
The idea that he was angry with me, not for caring about my pack, but for not letting him care about it as well flitted through my mind, to be pushed aside for later consideration when he shook his head. “Holland said something when we were in California. That there could be blow-back for you because you were spending time with me.” He took my arm and pulled me to a stop in front of his car. “Would you tell me if there was? Or would I just be as in the dark as I feel right now? I can’t build a case for us withoutinformation.”
It was going to be hard to shine a light on his confusion, when my own light felt as dim as a fog-shrouded night. I leaned in and kissed him lightly on the cheek, brave here in the relative anonymity of the side street. “Let’s go home and see if I can explain alittle.”
The kiss won me a smile, if a slightly ragged one, but I could be content with that. And we had all night tomakeup.
Chapter7
Some wall had comedown between them, and damned if Laine could figure out just which of this evenings’ disasters had created it. The catalyst had certainly been in that…encounter…in the ice cream shop, but only the catalyst. Frustration was building in Garrick, something that he refused to share with Laine and that Laine very much feared was the beginning of the end of their relationship. Such asitwas.
But that kiss had been like a spark of hope in his gloomy musings, despite Garrick’s determined guidance of the conversation away from more emotionally chargedtopics.
Once they were home—Laine thought he would like it if Garrick would call it home too, though that was a newer thought than many of the others he had about the other man. Shifter.Fuck it.Once home, Laine went directly to the liquor cabinet and poured himself a large portion of bourbon, then quickly mixed up a piña colada for Garrick’s sweettooth.
“What’s this one?” Garrick asked as he accepted the glass. His tone was bright and amused and it was only three years of acquaintance that allowed Laine to see the thread of darkness weaving through thewords.
“Piña colada. Coconut, pineapple, rum, some other stuff. Not fresh made—I cheated and boughtamix.”
“No margaritas then?” Garrick’s eyes danced with amusement and Laine was hit with a sudden visceral memory of the first time they’d slept together, of the taste of lime and tequila on Garrick’s tongue and Garrick’s hands sliding over his skin like warm silk. They’d been high on victory, on winning an unwinnable case, and they’d gone in the space of a breath from gazing intently at each other to ruining Laine’s second-best dress shirt as Garrick tore Laine’s clothes off while Laine herded him to the couch. The memory made his breath catch and for a moment, he didn’t know if he was here and now, or hereandthen.
Garrick sipped at the creamy liquid and his eyebrows went up. “Nice. Makes me think of the commercials on television.” He meant the ones for the resorts in the south, places he’d probably never be able to visit unless the shifter laws could bestruckdown.
No, until they werestruckdown.
Someday Laine would take him south, put him on a beach, and watch everyone drool. And then plot revenge against anyone who tried to flirt with him. He thought Garrick might find that amusing. In the meantime, he made a little half-bow and gestured Garrick out to the big couch in the living room to sit down and have this uncomfortable conversation they’d both been trying to pretend wasn’tcoming.
Laine turned on some music, a soft jazz that murmured out of the speakers hidden around the room, and sat down beside Garrick on the couch. He leaned his elbow on the back and propped his head on his hand. “Tell me what all this is about.” He kept his voice soft, his tone light, having picked up that shifters read more into innocently casual body language and vocal shifts than even the most hysterical ofclients.
Garrick sighed and leaned his head back on the soft leather to stare at the ceiling. “He’s worried that the pack won’t trust me anymore, if I prove too comfortable with humans. It’s been a long time, generations, since humans have seen us as anything but something to hold down or destroy. Like vermin. You know they make us burn our dead so we don’t contaminate the soil with our bodies?” He looked down at his drink, tipping it this way and that, and even Laine found himself mesmerized by the way the thick liquid coated the sides of the glass. “Every one of us who has gone outside walls has experienced something like tonight,” Garrick continued. “There was a shifter up north who was killed, attacked by four or five men and beaten until he ended up in the hospital.” He rolled his head against the couch to look at Laine. “I like spending time here, but I’m exhausted from trying to balance it all. And youdon’thelp.”
A shock of cold raced over Laine’s body. He pasted his courtroom face on, because it covered his emotions while he thought aboutthings.
Garrick watched him with narrowed eyes, then downed the rest of his drink. “Yeah, I know you mean well.” He pushed himself up to his feet, moving like a man closer to sixty than thirty. “I don’t know, maybe the omega pack is right.” He sighed and disappeared into the kitchen with his dirty glass, the movement followed closely by the sound of the dishwasher being opened andclosed.
Shit.Laine abandoned his bourbon and followed Garrick into the kitchen. He found the other man wiping down the already clean counters, as if waiting to give Laine a chance to collect hisscatteredwits.
“What do the omega pack say about us?” The words surprised him—it hadn’t been what he’d meant to say. He really didn’t give a damn about the pack’s opinion as long as Garrick was happy. But for the first time, it occurred to him that Garrick maybecouldn’tbe happy unless the pack was too, which was something to think about.That’s a hell of a big family you’re wanting to marry into.And that thought was a surprise too, though now that his subconscious had kicked it out into the open, he could see that future as well.Someday.
Garrick moved to the stove, despite the fact that they hadn’t used it tonight. “That there’s too much distance right now between our species, that I’m stirring things up and someone’s going to get hurt.” He bent to scrub at an invisible spot beside oneburner.
Laine snorted. “That’s funny, coming from Bram and Holland. And Bax, now that I think about it. So they’re the only shifters allowed out into humansociety?”
“You know that isn’t true. But they keep a safe distance.” Garrick took a step to the side and started in on the already clean stovetop. “They think I’m moving too fast, getting too close to you. That my allegiances are becoming muddy,” he muttered and stopped scrubbing, though he didn’t turn back to Laine. “And maybe they’re right. I’m…changing. I’m not as happy as I used to be, like I want things that just aren’t going to happen.” He turned and leaned back against the stove, his hands braced on the edge. “I want to be able to go out with you and not worry that one of us is going to be yelled at, or have things thrown at them. I want to walk into your office and just be another damn shyster, notthat creature. And I’m starting to realize it’s not going to happen in mylifetime.”
