Werewolves in Love 2: Yours, Mine and Howls (15 page)

“No, Sindri, that’s okay, really. I’m ready to turn in myself. Sarah Jane, I’ll take her on back to her room. Unless you’d rather do it?”

Sarah Jane laughed. “Oh, honey, these old legs can’t make it up those stairs with thirty pounds of sleeping girl. I’ll let you do it.”

“Okay.” Ally stood up and gathered Becca in her arms. “Well, good night.”

“Good night,” they both replied.

She listened as she climbed the staircase to Becca’s room, but she heard nothing more from the kitchen.

Chapter Thirteen

“Has Cade called yet?”

“Yeah. He’ll be home around eight.”

Ally knew Michael didn’t want to talk, but anticipation was killing her. “Did he say how the meeting went?”

“It went fine.” The tension in Michael’s voice was contagious.

She couldn’t leave it at that. “Did you tell him about Sarah Jane? How’d he react? Was he okay with you not telling him sooner?”

“Yes. Bad. Fuck no.”

He stalked off in the direction of Cade’s office.

Ally was nervous about Cade’s arrival as well, but for a different reason.

She and Sarah Jane had taken Becca to Mass that morning and then to lunch. It thrilled the child just leaving the ranch two days in a row. Becca had to start spending time with other children. She needed a real nanny, someone young and active. Someone who took a personal interest in her development. Someone, despite what Michael might think, like Ally.

Asking for the job would cost her nothing except maybe her dignity. When it came to Cade MacDougall, her dignity wasn’t all that safe anyway.

Only Michael, Ally, Dec and Sarah Jane were in the house for dinner that night. A heavy blanket of tension smothered their halfhearted attempts at conversation. Becca took her dinner in the kitchen with Sindri. Seth and Dylan were now eating and sleeping in the bunkhouses with the rest of the pack.

It felt weird, not seeing them every night and each morning, but they both seemed happy. Seth was more relaxed than he’d ever been, and Dylan had shown no signs of teenage angst in over seventy-two hours. She didn’t feel she had any right to whine, no matter how much she missed them.

Everyone scattered immediately after dinner. Michael shut himself up in Cade’s office, Dec disappeared, and Sarah Jane said something about needing to go to town.

Ally thought equine company would be preferable to anyone else’s under the circumstances, so she pulled on her boots under her sundress and headed for the stables.

But not even the horses could relax her tonight. She didn’t know what disturbed her more, the prospect of asking Cade for a job he wouldn’t give her, or simply seeing him again. It made her neck tingle and her pulse pound and her stomach flip to think about being in the same room with him.

And you think you can work for him? Stupid Dead Girl.

Walking back to the house, lost in thought and worry, something in the twilight shadows caught her eye. If there’d been a lot of wolves around as usual, she might have missed the two figures standing close together between the house and Sarah Jane’s cabin. As she got closer, she observed Dec and Sarah Jane deep in conversation. She was surprised, since it had been less than two hours since Sarah Jane left for town.

She took care to approach unobtrusively, walking softly toward the north side of the house to remain out of their line of sight. For one of the few times in her second life, she liked being able to hear like a wolf. She didn’t even know why she wanted to eavesdrop. It just seemed weird to see them talking like that. First Sarah Jane and Sindri, now Sarah Jane and Dec? She’d figured Dec had the hots for the older woman, but if so, they’d already hit turbulence.

Sarah Jane stood stiffly, glaring up at the Irishwolf with her arms folded tightly beneath her breasts. Dec paced restlessly, gesturing as he peppered Sarah Jane with questions in cold anger.

“Are you
trying
to provoke him, girl? Do you
want
an alpha wolf at your throat?” Dec’s accent was heavier than she’d ever heard it before. It almost didn’t sound Irish—it was thicker, more guttural. “Or,” he grabbed Sarah Jane’s upper arms as if he were about to shake her, “are you thinkin’ you can provoke him and take the
barn
away? Because I’ll not let you do it, darlin’, you better know that right now, I’ll…”

“Leave off, Declan MacSorley!” Sarah Jane exclaimed, putting both hands on his chest and shoving him away. Her accent, too, had changed, but the difference was subtler. The soft Southern smoothness was gone, the words harder around the edges. Her voice had taken on a strange but pleasant lilt. “I don’t want to take her away from her father. I just want some time with her and I can’t ignore what I’m sensing! Something’s wrong, something bad is coming…”

“Aye, and we’ll handle it. Cade can take care of himself and his daughter, and we can… Ally, what are you doin’ here?” They both turned to look straight at her.

Fascinated by the fight, she’d crept closer without realizing it. And Dec could smell her, of course. She didn’t attempt to act casual or make up some lame excuse.

“I was coming back from the stable and I heard y’all arguing.”

Dec folded his arms, waiting for her to go on. Somewhat defensively, she continued, “Sarah Jane, how’d you get to town and back so fast? I didn’t even hear the Lexus come back.”

Sarah blinked in surprise. “What? Oh. Oh, well, I got halfway there, realized what time it was, and decided I’d rather wait and go tomorrow, when I don’t have to worry about driving home late at night. Besides, I’d rather spend a little more time with Rebecca before her father gets home.”

At the mention of Cade, Dec shook his head and muttered something about Sarah Jane being an idiot.

“I’ve already put her down for the night,” Ally replied. “I’m sorry, I—”

Sarah Jane appeared to brighten a little. “It’s all right, dear. She wasn’t asleep yet. So I took her out to my cabin and we had a little slumber party, just the two of us.” She beamed with grandmotherly contentment, and maybe a calculating glint in her eye.

“What? You just hauled her out of bed? I mean, that’s—” She stopped, flustered. Granted, Sarah Jane was Becca’s grandmother, but still, it seemed…weird. Presumptuous.

“Daft, is what it is,” grunted Dec. “And maybe suicidal.”

At Ally’s shocked gasp, Sarah Jane rolled her eyes and patted Ally’s arm. “Don’t pay any attention to him, Allison. He’s a fine one to be calling other people daft.”

Ally, still stuck on Dec’s “suicidal” crack, recalled Michael’s tension earlier in the evening, and his report of Cade’s reaction. “Dec, do you think Cade will be upset when he finds Sarah Jane here?”

“I think he’ll be ‘upset’—” his tone put audible quotes around the word “—to know that Mrs. Ferguson showed up unannounced. I think he’ll be livid to find Becca in Sarah Jane’s cabin tonight on top of it.”

“And
I
think that if the young whelp’s going to be furious with me just for showing up, Rebecca doesn’t need to hear it.”

“That young whelp is a Pack Alpha! You do not ambush a Pack Alpha on his own feckin’ turf, woman, especially not when he thinks you’re after his child!”

“But if Sarah Jane just explains how she wanted to see Becca…”

“And if she just explains it before Cade’s so enraged that he shifts, maybe all’s well. But it’s not the kind of thing I’m comfortable assuming. And since when do you spy on me, Ally girl?”

“Leave the child alone, Declan,” Sarah Jane said from behind him. Her normal accent had returned. Ally wondered if she’d imagined her losing it.

He held up a hand. “I’m asking Allison a question.”

Sarah Jane thumped him on the back, hard. He stumbled forward a bit.

“And
I’m
telling
you
to leave the girl alone, you arrogant gobshite. I’ve no reason to be afraid of Cade MacDougall, and you know it.” She smiled at Ally again, and this time Ally was certain about the gleam of calculation in Sarah Jane’s eyes. “As long as Ally’s here, Cade will be fine.”

“What?” Ally squeaked. “What on earth are you—?”

“Good night, dear,” Sarah Jane said calmly. She looked up at Dec, rolled her eyes, and walked back to her cabin muttering something about “daft” and “hundred years”.

“Dec,” Ally said slowly as the older woman walked away, “is Sarah Jane crazy?”

“Eh,” he said heavily. “It’s hard to tell with females like that, love. Very hard to tell.”

Before she could ask what the hell that meant, he ambled over to the house and flopped down in a rocking chair on the porch. “Would you care to join me for a while until the fireworks start?”

Ally got a little chill down her spine. This grave and troubled wolf was a stranger to her.

When she had settled on the top step of the porch, she asked, “You think I should go get Becca and put her in her own room?” She didn’t care if it made Sarah Jane angry as long as it kept Cade from freaking out.

Dec didn’t answer right away, running his hands through his dark hair and scratching at his unkempt beard. “Shite. I don’t know— No, she’s probably right. If he goes mad, the child shouldn’t be in the house.”

“Why’d you call her a barn?”

“What?” he said, looking startled. “Why’d I call who a
barn
?”

“Becca. I thought the word was
bairn
.”

He smiled. “Oh. It is, it is. That’s what I called her. You must’ve misheard me.” He gazed at her appraisingly, one eyebrow cocked. “Y’know, Ally girl, I’ve always found your nosiness rather charming, but it could land you in trouble one day.”

Her face burned as she stammered, “I’m not nosy, I’m— I’m curious.”

“All right, then. Your curiosity could land you in trouble one day. Cats and all that, y’know.”

“Never mind that, Dec,” she said impatiently. “Look, Cade already knows Sarah Jane is here, so it won’t be a complete ambush. Don’t you think he can control his temper when he gets home?”

“Under normal circumstances. With all the stress he’s under right now, the way she just showed up—it was stupid.”

“I like Sarah Jane.”

“I like her too, Ally. Always have. Shite,” he repeated. “Ah, well. Maybe we’ll get lucky and he’ll attack Michael first.”

“
What?
”

Dec abruptly ceased rocking and stared out across the front yard. He spoke slowly and softly. “Maybe Cade’s spent the drive thinking about what Michael told him, and by the time he gets here he’ll be angry but calm. Or he could’ve spent the two hours thinking about how Sarah Jane showed up without warning, and Michael didn’t call him, and he’s already got Aaron and his father to worry about, and he just had the most important meeting of his life, and he’s exhausted, and he’ll get madder and madder with each passing mile, and when he gets home he goes straight for Michael’s throat. It’s occurred to Michael. That’s why he’s so tense.”

“That’s too awful to think about.” She felt a stomachache coming on. “But…he did leave Michael in charge. Everything’s under control, and Cade didn’t have to leave Denver, and the meeting went well. So…”

“You’re right. And just like with Sarah Jane—if Michael explains all that before Cade rips his throat out, all’s grand. The two have been best friends for twenty-five years. That counts for a lot. But if Michael can’t explain, or Cade won’t listen… It could be bloody. And this pack couldn’t handle something like that right now.”

“Why?”

Dec appeared to consider his next words carefully. “A pack feeds off its leaders’ emotions. Joy, anger, fear—everything flows out of the Alpha to his second, to the other alphas and then to the betas. Rocky Mountain’s thrived, even without recognition, because Cade and Michael and the lesser alphas are strong leaders. But if Cade feels his family is threatened, and he loses faith in Michael, and the two of them go fang to fang—Christ. Louis’ murder destroyed the old pack, and it happened four thousand miles away. The psychological backdraft drove half of them crazy and turned the other half against each other. If Cade and his second fall out at a time like this, it could be just as bad.”

Ally’s spine was frozen now. “Dec, maybe the wolves told you how long Cade and Michael have been friends—”

“Michael told me,” he said smoothly. “He likes me. He tells me everything.”

“Maybe. But I don’t think Michael told you all about Louis MacDougall and the old pack. And I don’t believe you read it all on the Web. On the drive up here, you kept calling Cade by his first name and talking about stuff like you remembered it.”

He rocked slowly, eyes closed.

She could barely whisper her next question. “How well did you know Eirny and Louis MacDougall?”

He opened his eyes. “I never met Louis. I never met Carson or Cade, but I followed their lives. I knew Eirny well. Very well.”

She’d expected him to laugh her off. Having it confirmed so bluntly shocked her.

“Is that why you like Cade? Because he reminds you of Eirny?”

He shook his head sadly. “Cade looks like her, but he’s his father inside out. No. Carson took after Eirny. That’s why he’s dead.” He was staring out across the fields again. “Cade got past his parents’ murder, but Carson never did. He was okay as long as he was in the army. Once he lost that structure, he fell apart. Eventually the drugs and the drink did him in.”

“Were Carson and Eirny weak?” She couldn’t imagine that of a Valkyrie’s acolyte.

“Eirny wasn’t weak, she was…heedless. Undisciplined. She gave herself over to whatever she felt, or wanted, and never stopped to think about consequences. I think Carson was the same way. More feeling than thinking. Cade’s not like that.”

“How’d you know Eirny?” She sat riveted there on the step, not daring to move for fear of dispelling the mood. But apparently it was already over.

“I don’t think I want to talk about it right now, darlin’. And I don’t want you telling Cade anything about it either. I’m trusting you not to.”

“Why?”

His gaze returned to her face, and his emerald eyes bored into hers. “Why? Because I’ve been your friend for years, and I’ve been a good one. Because I’ve never asked you to keep a secret, and because I’ve kept your secrets without being asked.”