“If you don’t want to marry Emmitt, we would be okay with Jim, too.”

My face flushed, and the bed started shaking due to Emmitt’s silent laughter.

“We’ll talk about who I marry some other time, but I’ll keep what you said in mind.  Now, go get dressed and wait with Jim.”

Both boys scampered out of the room, and I got out of the bed without looking at Emmitt.  I’d never given marriage a thought.  Had Emmitt?  He might have because he’d called me his repeatedly.  I wasn’t sure how I felt about a permanent relationship, though, and couldn’t afford to dwell on it.  There were bigger issues in my life.

I grabbed some clean clothes and left the room, pretending I didn’t notice Emmitt’s scrutiny.  Shutting myself in the bathroom, I started to get ready.  I didn’t take too long.  The boys were probably hungry and trying to talk Jim into leaving without us.  I pulled back my wet hair and opened the door.

Emmitt leaned against the wall, waiting.  His sleepy smile and slow appraisal had my stomach doing acrobatics.  He winked, and I realized he knew what he did to me.  With an embarrassed smile, I indicated the bathroom was all his and fled to the bedroom where I ditched my dirty laundry.

I went to join Liam and Aden in the living room where I could hear Jim entertaining them with stories from Emmitt’s youth.

“Morning,” I said, walking into the room.   “Did you two sleep well?”

“Yep, until Aden woke me up,” Liam complained.

“I’m hungry,” Aden said to explain his purpose for waking his older brother.

Jim reached forward and plucked Aden from the floor.  “Me, too.  Let’s hope Emmitt hurries or we’ll have to leave without him.”  He used his big hand to cover Aden’s stomach and flexed his fingers.  Aden squealed and giggled, the childish laugh making me smile.

Freshly showered and dressed, Emmitt strode into the room.  He spared me a quick wink then focused on Aden.

“I’m starving, too.  Let’s go eat.  If I get there first, I’m eating all the food.”

Aden flipped off Jim’s lap and made a dash for the door, but Emmitt reached it first.  Jim and Liam shared a brief look.  Jim smiled mischievously, and Liam took off running after Aden and Emmitt.

Jim laughed.  “Come on, little sister, or you’ll be left crumbs.”

*    *    *    *

As we finished eating, Paul and Henry came and asked to take Liam and Aden on a tour.  Jim immediately offered to go with.  I watched my brothers leave the common room, both excitedly following the younger pair of werewolves, then helped Emmitt carry our plates to the adjoining kitchen.

He deposited the dishes into a large tub of soapy water and turned toward me.

“Are you ready?”

I looked at him blankly.

“The pack meeting.”  His gaze flicked to the doorway behind us.

I looked over my shoulder.  In those few moments since leaving the room, a growing number of people had entered it.  I wrinkled my nose and shook my head.  He smiled, gave me a tender look, and took my hand to lead me back.  As I suspected, ready or not, I would be attending the meeting.

People gathered along the outskirts of the room.  Those that didn’t have a place to sit stood near the picnic tables or the open patio doors.  They looked like normal people, but I knew better.  This was the pack.

As we headed toward Charlene, Thomas, Mary, and Gregory at the front of the room, I scanned the faces in the crowd.  Thankfully, I didn’t see anyone I recognized.  Most just looked curious about me.  However, the intense stares of a few made me nervous.  I tightened my hold on Emmitt’s hand.

The hush that fell as we delved deeper into the crowd drew Mary’s attention.  She smiled reassuringly, and I tentatively smiled back.

Emmitt stopped next to his parents, and we turned to face the pack.  My anxiety reached new heights as I stared into the sea of bodies that watched us.  Thomas stepped forward, drawing their attention.

“There was a challenge last night, which Elder Winifred declined. Michelle has acknowledged Emmitt in front of Elder Winifred.”

Challenge?  I’d acknowledged Emmitt?  What were they talking about?

The collective eye of the pack focused on me.  Emmitt’s hand lightly squeezed mine as I struggled not to squirm under the sudden attention.

“All challenges will end now,” Thomas said.  “Not only is this a command from me—”

“It’s from me as well,” Nana Wini said from the back of the room.

There was a minute shuffling in the crowd then everything stilled.

“Just as we count Charlene as one of our own, we now count Michelle.”  Thomas glanced at me and gave me a warm smile.  “Michelle has brought two cubs with her.”

Cubs?

“They are under pack protection, but I am looking for a Mated pair to protect them as their own, to put the safety of the cubs above the safety of the pack.”  There was a slight murmur at this.

“I’ll keep them as my own,” Mary said from beside me.

“We will,” Gregory agreed.

Thomas nodded to Gregory.  As if it were a sign, people started to leave.  Many of them looked back to study me before they quit the room, and I wondered what they were thinking.  I wasn’t even sure what I was thinking.  The six of us stayed where we were.

“I’m sorry about that, Michelle,” Charlene said.  “We needed to lay down the law right away so you wouldn’t run into any trouble.”

“And my brothers?”

“That’s what Mary and Gregory are for.  While you’re here, they will be an extra layer of protection.  Mary and Gregory will always be close by, and if you need to leave your brothers for any reason, they will step in while you are gone, protecting Liam and Aden even more ferociously than you could.  They were guardians for Jim and Emmitt while they were growing up.”

It touched me that they already knew Liam and Aden’s names.  But I wasn’t sure I could trust complete strangers to watch over my brothers, even knowing they were friends of Emmitt’s for a very long time.

Charlene must have sensed my hesitancy.  “Nana Wini also spoke a command to the room.  No one will harm them.”

I wasn’t about to mention Nana Wini’s word didn’t seem to work too well if Nana hadn’t already mentioned it.

“Now that that’s settled, we are hoping you will discuss your past with us.  We want to help you,” Charlene said.

I gave a slow nod, not knowing what more I could share other than Richard’s address.  I didn’t think the address would do much good.  I highly doubted Blake would be sitting at the house with all the news coverage I saw online.

Charlene motioned for Thomas to lead the way.  Emmitt’s thumb smoothed over the side of my hand as we followed.  His touch momentarily distracted me from my thoughts.

Thomas opened the door to a small, windowless room.  Its sole furnishing was a battered rectangle dining table, surrounded by mismatched chairs.  Nana Wini and another man I’d never met already sat at the table.  Everyone moved to join them.

“Michelle, this is Elder Sam,” Emmitt said as he held out a chair for me.

I recognized the name of Nana’s stock market friend and said a quiet hello as I sat.  Sam nodded in greeting but remained silent.  He looked just as I imagined him; aged, but not stooped, with neat, grey hair and kind brown eyes.

Emmitt took a seat beside me.  “This room has been soundproofed, so we won’t be overheard.”

Charlene nodded.  “Nana Wini told us the Forlorn ignored her command to leave.  That is cause for concern.  But I’m more concerned about the things you said on the way here.”

I gave Emmitt a sidelong glance.

“You shouldn’t need to live in fear,” Charlene said.  “I’ve seen these people do amazing things.  Let’s face this together.  But in order to do that, we need to know everything you know about those men.  Do you have any idea why they could ignore an Elder?”

I wanted to laugh.  “How could I possibly know anything like that?  I’ve known about werewolves less than a month.”