Patient Mates: (Book 7 Grey Wolf Pack Romance Novellas) (4 page)

Chapter Six

20
th
November

Kira smiled as she flipped the sign to 'closed'. 
It was 11pm and she had just finished her first shift at the Honeypot Diner. 
And she had loved every minute
.

Before coming to Rose she
had worked as a secretary for the doctor in Charming.  Unless you considered finding out who currently had a sexual disease to be interesting it had been completely dull.  But working at the Diner was fun.  She got to meet people, talk to her new friends and free meals!

“Hey honey how was your first day?”  Asked Deedee, the bear shifter owner.

“It was great, thank you so much for giving me a chance.”

Deedee smiled warmly.  She was a middle aged mother of three who ran her kitchen with an iron first.  Kira had been a little daunted by the six foot two Deedee at first but by hard work she soon got on Deedee’s good side.

“No problem, it was good timing.  One of my regular waiters Dennis had to drop his shifts, he’s been training to be an EMT and just found a regular job at the hospital in Darlington.  I’m sorry to lose him but I’m glad you came along.  You sure you never waitressed before?”

Kira grinned.  “Never, I really enjoyed it though.”

“Jeez, I wish some of that enthusiasm would rub off on my kids.  Whenever I ask them to take a shift here you’d think I asked them to clean out a sewer with a toothbrush.  Ungrateful mites.”

Kira wiped her hands on her apron.  “Do you need me to do anything else?”

“No you take off, I think your ride’s here.  Night honey.”  Deedee nodded at the window chuckling as she went back into the kitchen.

Kira spun round
to find Gabe tapping on the glass, a puppy dog look on his handsome face.  Her stomach did flip flops at the sight of him and her wolf yowled in happiness.

Since the alarm incident she hadn’t seen Gabe, he had been busy working and Kira hadn’t really wanted to leave Lilah alone.  He had called though and they had
shyly made it through a few awkward conversations. 

Kira mouthed ‘one minute’ through the glass.  At record speed she ran to the back ripping the apron off.  She quickly combed her fingers though her hair and applied some lip gloss before applying a bit of breath fresh
ener. 
Well you never know…

Grabbing her coat and purse she eagerly ran back out to the Diner and breathing deeply stepped out into the cold night.
  “Hey!  What are you doing here?”

Gabe flashed her a dazzling smile and she almost melted on the spot.  “Given that you’re not using your car Alec said we should give you a ride home every night, so I volunteered.”

“That’s so nice.”

Gabe opened the passenger door for her and she hopped in. 
Such a gentleman
.  He slammed the door and oofed as he tried to walk away only to be pulled back against the car. 
He’d managed to catch his jacket in there. 
Kira stifled a laugh and pretended she hadn’t seen.

He
opened and shut it again before quickly jogging round and jumped in the driver’s seat, pretending his face wasn’t on fire with embarrassment.

As he drove
Gabe flicked glances in her direction.  “I was hoping to see you at the full moon run the other night.”

Kira fidgeted.  “Yeah we were planning on going but right before we left Lilah had a headache so we decided to stay home.” 

Truthfully Lilah had a panic attack about being around such a large number of other wolves.  She hadn’t attended a pack run in almost two years.  Not long after Kira left Charming Joseph stopped Lilah from attending full moon get togethers.  He became paranoid about other males looking at his mate and insisted she stay home.  Apparently six months ago Lilah’s wolf had been desperate to hunt and had run to join the rest of the pack.  After that night, for disobeying him, Joseph waited until she shifted and chained her to the ground every full moon. 
Kira was increasingly horrified by her ex-brother in law.

“I’m sorry to hear that.  I hope she’s feeling better now.”  Said Gabe amiably.

“Thanks.”

“So how did you enjoy your first day at the Diner?”

Kira beamed.  “I loved it.  I know it’s only been one day but I really enjoyed it.”

Honestly there wasn’t much she didn’t love about being in Rose.  Although she had niggling doubts about Joseph she had never felt more at peace before.  Her wolf yipped in agreement.

Gabe sighed.  They were already at Jolene’s house. 
The journey was far too short damnit!
  There was so much he wanted to say.  His wolf howled at him to tell her she was his mate, he wanted her mated and bonded to him and couldn’t understand the man’s reticence.

Kira deflated a little. 
“Oh we’re here already.” 

She was kind of hoping that Gabe was going to make some kind of move on her.
  She was convinced that he was her mate. 
But at one time she had also thought that Airis was her true mate
.  She needed some kind of encouragement from him before she laid her heart on the line.  After all she just moved to Rose, how embarrassing would it be if she threw herself at him and told him he was her mate only to be rejected?  She didn’t want to draw any more attention to herself.

Kira unbuckled her seatbelt.  “Well thanks for the ride.”

“Kira I…”

“Yes?”  She said hopefully.

“I… ummm… I’ll pick you up same time tomorrow night.” 
Wuss
.

“Cool.  Good night.”

“Good night Kira.”

Kira
waved and jogged up to the front door.  She turned back to see Gabe banging his head on the steering wheel.  Slipping into the house she leaned back on the closed door and smiled.  There was no way he wasn’t affected by her.
She just had to be patient…

She jumped as the phone started ringing
. 
She walked to the kitchen and reached to answer it but hesitated.
 
Jolene hadn’t said anything but she might not like her guests answering her phone,
and besides it might be Joseph on the other end
.

Instead she dropped her hand and waited until the answer machine kicked in.  She heard Jolene’s recorded message and then froze as
deep breathing came over the line.  After a couple of beats a low male voice said ‘sorry wrong number’ and hung up.

Kira exhaled loudly and willed her hammering heart to slow.  Her wolf whined and Kira willed her to settle down.
  It wasn’t a voice she recognized; it wasn’t a member of the Charming pack.  Kira shook her head and crept up to bed.  The joy she felt only minutes before dulled.

*

22
nd
November

Kira hummed as she and Lilah raked leaves together.  Last night the car journey with Gabe had almost been a repeat of the previous night
.  Alright so they hadn’t made any progress but for now she was just happy spending time with him.

Her wolf yowled in disapproval
.  If the animal had her way they’d be bonded, living together and expecting their first pup! But Kira shushed her. 
Slow and steady wins the race
.  She didn’t want to admit it out loud but Lilah’s experience with Joseph had soured her a little on male wolves.

Lilah and Joseph had met and married within two weeks. 
Everything about Gabe told Kira he was different and wouldn’t treat her badly, but then there really was no reason to rush things. 
But god knows it wasn’t easy, he was just so darn hot! 
Her sex fluttered thinking about him.

Kira yelped as something hit her back.  She spun round to find Lilah grinning at her gleefully grasping a handful of slimy leaves. 

“You just threw some leaves at me!”

Lilah stuck out her tongue.  “You were just stood there staring into space
dummy! I was worried you’d stop breathing.”

Kira raspberried.  S
cooping up some leaves she returned the favor.  Lilah squealed and pelted some leaves back at Kira.

“That’s it!  It’s war!”  Declared Kira.

The twins yelped and giggled as they ran around Jolene’s yard hurling leaves at one another.  Finally exhausted they collapsed onto the ground hiccupping with laughter.

Kira felt an alien surge of happiness flow through her and gasped.

Lilah turned on her side.  “What’s wrong?”

Concern now
rippled through Kira and she beamed excitedly.  “I can feel your emotions again, my Omega abilities are coming back.”

Lilah’s mouth curled up.  “Yeah me too.  Why do you think I threw the leaves at you in the first place?  All that lust you were emitting was making me jealous.”

“What?!  I wasn’t… I mean… I…”  Kira groaned and slapped her hand to her forehead.  “There’s really no point in pretending is there?”

Lilah sniggered.  “There really isn’t.”

Kira snorted.  “I’ve missed this.  I’ve missed us hanging out.  I wish I’d been around for the last couple of years.”

Lilah sighed.  “Me too.  But I understand why you weren’t around.  I’m sorry about what happened to Airis, and I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you when it happened.  Joseph…”  She sighed again.  “I never really noticed at first how controlling he was.
” 

Kira grunted.  “All male wolves are pretty possessive.”

“Yeah but Joseph took it to an insane degree.  Things just gradually got worse as time went by.  He started telling me what to wear and who I could talk to.  It got so bad that I didn’t have any friends.  I didn’t have anyone.”

Kira’s wolf whimpered sadly.  He opened her mouth to speak but Lilah quickly interrupted her.  “And even if you were around I doubt it would have made a difference.  Joseph would have just used you to control me.”

“What do you mean?”

Lilah closed her eyes and relaxed into the leaves.  “Whenever I tried to get away from him he told me he wouldn’t let me shame him.  He threatened to hurt
you if I did anything stupid.  When you were away I kind of thought you were safe and out of his reach and tried to leave a few times, so instead he started threatening our parents and baby sisters.  I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone getting hurt because I’d married an asshole.  Then when you came back to town, I kind of froze you out.  I wanted you to just go back to New Mexico, away from Joseph.”  Lilah sniffled.  “I’m sorry.”

“You have nothing to be sorry for.”  Said Kira fiercely

“I’m just glad you came to me when you did.  I’m glad you made me come here.  I haven’t been this happy in a long time.”

“Me either.”

Lilah twisted a leaf between her fingers.  “What did Adam mean when he said you’d earned both our places in the pack?”

“It was when I was trying to find Airis’ killer… I tracked her here to Rose.
  When the pack discovered me here we found her and we… uh… we killed her.”

Lilah remained silent.  Kira twisted on her side to look at her twin.

“She was insane, she was trying to kill Alec’s mate – her own niece!  We had to do it.  If I hadn’t been there the pack would have done it anyway.  She had to be stopped.  Even the Council of Shifters agreed.”

“I know Ki.  I know you wouldn’t have done it unless you had to. 
I am sorry you had to though.”

Kira scrubbed a hand over her face.  “
It’s more like a bad dream now; I try not to think about it.”

Lilah sprang to her feet and held out her hand for her twin.
  “Come on, we should probably clean up Jolene’s yard.  We kind of made a mess…”

Leaves were strewn all over the place.  “Yeah whoops!”

They grinned at one another and got to work.

Kira shuddered as she felt a hot flash of rage.  She glanced at Lilah
who seemed not to have reacted.  Kira pushed at her admittedly weak Omega powers and tried to scan the area for other people.  She couldn’t sense anyone near.  Maybe the rage came from Lilah, although she seemed pretty peaceful.

It was probably nothing.  Her powers were still faint she must have just imagined it. 
But it had felt so real…

Chapter Seven

25
th
November

Kira stood impatiently waiting for Gabe.
  It had gotten to the point where her ride home with Gabe was the highlight of her day.

Over the past few days Kira had told him the highlights of her life, about growing up in New Mexico, about her mother the witch and her father the wolf.  She told him about how her father owned a
horse riding stable and that she adored riding.  She and Lilah had shared a horse when they were children called Thundercat. 
It had seemed like a good name at the time
.  She even reminisced about the first pony she ever rode, a powder blue horse with bubblegum pink hair on a carousel at the county fair. 
She went back every year to ride it right up until she left home.

Boy Gabe must be sick to death of listening to her prattle on.  He hadn’t said one word about his own life. 
Which was a bit odd…

Her wolf yipped as Gabe pulled up to the curb and rushed out to her.  “Sorry I’m late.”

He said he’d pick her up at 11.05pm, it was now 11.07pm.  “I’d hardly say you were late.”

Gabe shrugged.  “Hey two minutes is still two minutes.”

Kira giggled as she climbed in the car.  “Well if it makes you feel any better I’d only have wasted them anyway.”

Settling into the driver’s seat Gabe turned to her.  “So when we left off yesterday you had just won the county horse riding competition.  What happened next?”

She grinned.  “I’m impressed that you remembered but I think it’s probably time we talked about you.”

Gabe sobered
and scowled at her.  “Why?”

Kira was momentarily dumbfounded.  “Well… ummm… to get to know you I guess.  That’s what I thought we were doing.  Getting to know each other.” 
Had she really read the situation that badly?

He grunted and started driving.
  “My mom died when I was nine, after that I was raised by my aunt.  End of story.  The rest is none of your business.”

Kira was humiliated to feel tears springing forth.
  Her wolf whined at her.  “I’m sorry, I thought that you and I…”

Abruptly he pulled off the road and jerked to a stop. 
His wolf snarled at him for daring to use such a harsh tone with their mate.  “No I’m sorry.  I didn’t mean to… I really do… ummm…”

Kira groaned as shame, anger and remorse flooded through her.  Tentatively she reached out and stroked his arm.  His hands were still clamped around the steering wheel, his knuckles almost turning white.

Slowly under her gentle touch he relaxed and was bathed in a soothing wash.

Gabe looked at her dreamily.  “I’
m really sorry. I just don’t like talking about my past.  I have issues with my father.”

“Shhhh it’s okay, you don’t have to tell me anything.  One day I hope you will but not until you’re ready.”

“I hope so too.”   He breathed as he luxuriated in the calming sensation.

Kira removed her hand and Gabe blinked a few times.  He frowned.  “Kira are you an Omega?”

She nodded shyly.  “When I was living as a rogue I lost touch with my abilities, but since I came back to Rose they’ve been returning to me.  You’re not mad are you?”

“Mad?  Of course not!
” 
The little she-wolf was full of surprises
.

“I was kind of worried they’d never return, but apparently Rose agrees with me.
  I’m not a very strong Omega to be honest.  I’m probably a bit too bossy and opinionated to make a very good one.”

Gabe shot her a lopsided smile.  “Glad to hear it
… uhh about Rose agreeing with you, not about you being bossy.  Not that there’s anything wrong with being bossy but…”

Kira snickered.  “How’s that hole you
’re digging?  Coming along nicely?”

“Well I’ve dug better before now…”

“Oh I believe you!”  She teased before sobering a little.  “Lilah’s an Omega too, her powers started dwindling when her husband mistreated her but they’re starting to return too.”

Gabe looked at her thoughtfully.  “You should tell Adam.  As your Alpha he should know.”

“I will, I promise.”  She sighed.  “Is there any news about the meeting between Adam and my old pack Alpha?”

Gabe’s jaw twitched.  “No.  Alec contacted
the Charming Alpha about a meeting, he didn’t say what the meeting was for but I doubt the Alpha couldn’t guess. So far the Charming Alpha has politely declined, stating he’s too busy.  He’s just stalling, while he decides what to do.  If he desperately wanted Lilah back he’d have agreed to the meeting in a heartbeat and tried to force Adam to hand her over.”

Kira cut her eyes to Gabe a worried expression on her face.  He grinned.  “Don’t worry Adam would never have given in.”

Kira nodded.  Although Kira didn’t doubt the ferocity of her old Alpha Adam was bigger, stronger and younger.  She doubted Joseph Sr would risk challenging Adam.  Joseph Sr was slowing down, although he clung to his position it was only a matter of time before he had to step down or be pushed out.  Considering that his son was next in line to be Alpha it could go either way.  It would be a bad day for the Charming pack when Joseph Jr became Alpha, the father wasn’t the greatest but he was at least a little more reasonable then his son.

Kira felt a little tense as Gabe drove the rest of the way back to her temporary home. 
He ran round the car and helped her out.  Clutching one hand he slid the other round her waist and quickly placed a soft chaste kiss to her lips.  Warm jolts pulsed through her body and her wolf virtually fainted in happiness at even the smallest sign of affection. 
Silly puppy
.

“What was that for?”
  Kira asked breathlessly.

“Just a little apology
and to make you feel better.”  Gabe told her smugly.  He licked his lips savoring her sweet strawberry flavor.  His wolf rumbled his pleasure.

“Mmmm I hope you don’t use the same tactic on your boss.”

Gabe shuddered thinking of the six foot three Beta.  “No I doubt it would be appreciated.”

He kissed her again, harder this time and said goodnight. 
He was elated and practically walking on air.  Which was probably why he wasn’t watching where he was going and very inelegantly tripped over a rock. 
Damn what was it that turned him into such a graceless oaf around her?

Kira waved at him from the porch trying not to giggle. 
He was such a cute klutz!

She shivered as she stared out into the darkened woods.  The hairs on the back of her rose.
  She’d never noticed how quiet the woods were at this time of night. 
Too quiet
.  Shouldn’t there be some nocturnal animals blundering around?

No, everything was fine.  She was worrying and creating problems where there were none. 
Everything was fine
.

*

26
th
November

C
arly, Lilah and Kira sat in a circle in Jolene’s family room.  Kira had spoken to Adam that morning regarding their burgeoning Omega powers.  He told them they needed to immediately sit down with the pack Omega Carly so she could assess their abilities.

Within thirty minutes under the Alpha’s orders Carly arrived at Jolene’s house. 
Kira didn’t resent Adam’s wariness.  Whilst Omegas were treasured and useful members of packs on occasion they had been known to abuse their abilities. 
And create havoc among their pack mates
.

Wolf shifters were aggressive and dominant creatures by nature.  Omegas were physically weak and tended to shy away from confrontation. 
Probably why Kira’s abilities shriveled up when she was on the hunt for Airis’ killer, a vengeance quest wasn’t something an Omega generally did
.

Given their natures Omegas were often bullied and scorned by the stronger members of the pack. 
But a wolf could only take so much… and when Omegas fight back they mess with people’s emotions which generally results in chaos. 
Wolves don’t need any more incitement to be angry
.

Carly looked between the twins serenely.  Tendrils of her powers coursed through each of them making them shudder identically. 
Carly could sure pack a punch if she wanted to
.  Together the twins could be quite formidable but Kira doubted that both of them were a patch on Carly.

Carly sent waves of calm to them.

“Wow!”  Breathed Lilah, she was so relaxed from the strong Omega she felt like she might just melt into a puddle.  “You’re really strong.”

Carly beamed at them.  “Just practiced.  I’ve known I was an Omega since I was 5.”

Kira looked at her incredulously.  “You mean you were an Omega before you actually had your first shift?”

Wolves tended to shift for
the first time at about age 13; although in truth it could happen between ages 11 to 16.  Omegas generally didn’t develop until at least a year after their first shift and sometimes it took as long as ten years after. 
Carly was unusual to say the least
.

Carly waved her hand dismissively.
  “It’s not that big of a deal.  My mom was an Omega, so was my grandma and my great-grandma.  It’s kind of like a family tradition.  I don’t think there was ever any doubt that I’d be one too.”  Carly blanked out the anger her father had felt, he hadn’t been proud of his weak, Omega daughter. 
No, she didn’t want to think about that now
.

“When did you two discover you were Omegas?”

“When we were 14.”  Replied Lilah.

“Yep, it made high school a real blast.”  Said Kira sourly thinking of the aggressive females from her childhood pack. 
Bitches
.

Carly arched an eyebrow.  “I don’t think you’ll ever find an Omega who hasn’t got some sad stories about high school.  We’ve all been there.”

Lilah rolled her eyes.  “It wasn’t that bad.”

Kira huffed.  “Yeah because you were considered the hot twin. 
You were dating a bear shifter who was the captain of the football team.  They left you alone and went for me instead!”

“She’s being overly dramatic.  We knew what to expect, our father is actually an Omega too.”

Carly’s eyes lit up with interest.  “Really?  I’ve never met a male Omega.  Is your mother a wolf too?”

“Nah, she’s a witch.”  Said Lilah proudly.  “We’ve got two younger sisters who are witches too.”

Kira snorted.  “I don’t think our dad would have survived being married to a she-wolf, he’s a bit too easygoing.”

Carly fidgeted with her hands.  “You’re probably right, Omegas are better off sticking to other Omegas or humans.”

Sadness flickered over Carly’s face.  Kira tried to unobtrusively search her emotions but Carly was too strong and easily repelled her. 

Truthfully Kira was a little put out by Carly’s comment. 
Her wolf was grumbling.  Gabe was a wolf, and he had been nothing but sweet to her, apart from last night...
but he explained that
. 
Would she really be better off without him?

Carly clapped her hands together making Kira jump out of her reverie.
  “So why don’t we start with a few exercises to try and get the juices flowing?”