The ride to town is a long one. I sat in the middle, between Grayson and River, messing with an old iPod shuffle that plugged into the radio via cassette adapter. The iPod was a throw back from their college days and it was exciting to see what kind of music Grayson liked. Apparently, he is a 90s punk and grunge lover. The playlists are filled with Sublime, Weezer, and Ben Folds.
Before we left, we went around to the pack members and asked if they needed anything. Now I'm rewriting their personal lists into separate lists for each store.
"Are you excited that Bug is going to be here soon?" I ask River, using the nick name that everyone else seems to use.
His face lights up immediately and Grayson laughs at him. "So, just a little bit?" I ask, holding up my thumb and pointer finger to indicate the small amount.
"What do you expect? Mama Yara put us together with her voodoo magic?" River says.
"What?" I laugh. "What does that mean?"
River goes wide eyed and looks to Grayson. "You never told her?"
"Told me what?" I ask impatiently.
Grayson is laughing, one hand on the wheel and the other resting on the seat behind me. "No. Go ahead and tell her."
"Yara is part human."
"What?" I gasp.
Grayson laughs again and River continues, "Yeah, like a quarter..." He looks to Grayson, who nods. "Doesn't matter anyway, all that matters is that her human grandmother was some kind of witch and Yara inherited some of her powers."
"Really?"
This time Grayson speaks up, "Who really knows? I have no idea if it is that human part of her, but she is able to recognize perfect mates. Mates that compliment each other completely, their pack prosperous, and their children bountiful. She can't tell you who your mate is, but if she thinks of two wolves and they are perfect, something just clicks."
"And you and bug are a perfect mates?" I ask River, then I jump to look at Grayson, not bothering to wait for River's answer. "Are we perfect mates?"
He gives me a silly smile, "Of course, baby."
"And all your brothers?" I ask, thinking about the crazy amount of children they each have. Shifters tend to have a hard time getting and staying pregnant, so one or two pups are normal. Grayson comes from a huge family and then each one of his brothers is hard at working creating their own extensive brood.
"Yep."
"Oh shit," I say, not filtering my thoughts, "We are going to have a ridiculous amount of pups too, aren't we?"
River and Grayson roar in laughter. "I can't believe how much shit your pack kept from you. You didn't even know about you and Gray. That match was made when your mother was still alive."
My brows knit together. Seriously? It's bad enough when I thought they kept it from me since I was nine, but now we are talking younger than three? Grayson sees my face and leans in for a quick kiss. "That isn't her pack anymore. I'm not keeping her in the dark. We get to decide how we want things done now."
I'm so in love with him.
"Do you want to hear the story of when my mom first matched us together?" He asks.
"Please" I say, leaning into his side and breathing him in. He smiles down at me and I search for his lips for a little peck.
"A pack to the east of Pine Mountain, where your father's mate is from..." He starts and I interrupt him to supply him with a name, "Monadnock?"
"That's it. Their Alpha wanted you for a mate. Your father was interested because it would tie together the two packs closest to civilization on that side, but your mother was hesitant. You were a baby and the Alpha was already in his twenties."
I blanched, realizing who he was speaking of. Sable, my father's mate, has a brother that is in his forties and has been alpha for some time, having stepped up when his father was killed in a freak hunting accident. When the Pine Mountain pack meets with Monadnock, they usually go to Monadnock's land, but I have seen him a few times. Large and burly, with eerie wolf-like yellow eyes, the Monadnock's alpha is nothing like my muscular, handsome mate.
"My Mom says that your mother convince your father to hold off and see if there were any other potential suitors. When the Harbor Spring pack and Pine Mountain pack merged for their biannual meeting, she pulled my Mom aside and asked her to feel out the match. Of course, there was nothing there. My Mom had never considered matching us together, but after seeing your mother so distraught, she thought of us together and we were perfect. Your father wasn't convinced. I'm the youngest and so I should have to go start another pack or mate with an Alpha's daughter to gain his pack. At that point, your mother was pregnant and your father was adamant that it would be a boy and his heir. Bug was just a little thing and my mother couldn't stand the thought of either of us being so far away. My Mom and your worked out all the details, then got my father in on it. Finally they brought it to your father and he agreed. The rest was history. All the fine details were worked out before they informed me."
I snuggle into his side and he looks down at me with those beautiful brown eyes that are so dark you can barely tell where his irises end and his pupils begin. "I'm glad my mother had the insight to speak with Yara," I tell him.
"Me, too," He smiles and gives me a loving kiss on the top of my head.
I drift off for the rest of the drive, dreaming of sinister yellow eyes, warm dark brown ones, and even affectionate grayish blue that look just like mine, but I know they aren't. They belong to my mother, my angel, who saved me the day she traded her life for my own, but also saved me long before that when she fought to give me my perfect mate.
~
The town we arrive in is smaller than the one adjacent to Pine Mountain. It's just a little tourist trap, really, with one long strip of stores, a playground, and a bar. Grayson parks in front of a building with a grand log porch. The sign above has Wapack Woodworks carved into a large plank of wood, similar to the dining room table Grayson built.
As we step out of the truck, an old man with a long white beard and a red flannel shirt comes out to great us. "What are you doing here, boy?" He asks, glaring at Grayson. "Did you bring me some more shit? I barely sold the last batch!"
I look to Grayson, assuming this crazy old man is offending him, but he's just grinning. "I bet you sold out in a week, old man."
"Cocky little shit," the man mutters, then peeks in the back of Grayson's truck. "Did you get those custom pieces done?"
"Of course," Grayson says, pulling out a large plaque etched with the name Carson and surrounded by skiers flying down the mountain in a cloud of pines. The man gives a low whistle. "Ain't she a beauty. We are going to get a pretty penny for this and I saw that Carson lady looking at that fancy table in your book the last time she was in. Wouldn't be too surprised if they ordered one of those to be done by the winter when they come pick this up."
When the man looks up from the plaque, he seems to notice me for the first time. "Well, well, what do we have here? Who's this pretty little thing?"
Grayson wraps an arm around my waist. "This is my wife, Clara. Clara, this is Billy, the owner of Wapack Woodworks." The way he says wife makes my heart melt a little. Really, mating is even more permanent then human's marriage, but the ease and swiftness in which he dropped that word makes me happier then he could ever imagine.
"Wife, eh?" Billy asks. "You too look mighty young to be married."
Grayson smirks and pulls me even tighter against him. "We got married the day after her eighteenth birthday."
BIlly chuckles. "You dog! I remember what that feels like. I knocked my wife up when she was seventeen, so her daddy let us have a quicky wedding. He didn't want no bastard grandchild. Best thing that ever happened to me."
He congratulates us and goes back to looking through the bed of the truck. Grayson lines our hips up and pulls me so close that every inch of the front of his body is touching every inch of mine. He leans in so close that I can taste his breath on my lips. "I'm going to be here for a couple hours getting things priced. Stay close to River. I know you can take care of yourself, but I worry about you when your not right next to me." He hands me an envelope of cash. "This will cover what everyone asked for and more. Get anything you think we need. Maybe some more books or games. If we don't keep this pack occupied, we are going to end up blowing all our money on alcohol." We both laugh.
My lips are tingling from being so close to his so when he finally gives me a sweet kiss goodbye, I'm not ready to let go. I grip his jaw and pull him towards me, sneaking my tongue into his mouth and sucking on his soft lower lip. He growls into my mouth before pulling back. "I'll see you later," He says with one last kiss.
Our last stop is a little bookstore across the street from Wapack Woodworks. "This took way less time with the way you organized the lists. I'm going to go check on Gray and see if he's almost done," River says, hooking his thumb behind him.
"I'll be in here," I say, pointing to the bookstore door. He walks across the street and I enter the store. That powerful smell of books hits my nose and I cough. There's a petite girl standing behind the counter beside the door. She's my height, but much thinner and I wonder if she's naturally thin or if the human ideals have led her to look this way. She has should length blonde hair and blue eyes that fade to hazel around the pupil. Its intriguing and beautiful and I can't help but to stare for a moment.
"Lucky girl, he's a hottie," she smiles and I don't understand what she's talking about. Noting my confusion, she points out the window to where River is walking up to Wapack Woodworks.
"Oh, he's not mine," I say surprised. Despite the little conversation I had with Iris, I haven't had any girl time where we just giggle over boys since I left my best friend, Paloma, at the Pine Mountain pack.
