Page 29 of Diners, Damsels & Wolves

Rachel was in a good mood when she returned to the double-wide. It was before noon, so Clarissa turned on music and they danced around the trailer while she deep cleaned. By one, every surface smelled of bleach or lemons. She saw Rachel had eaten her peanut butter sandwich, so she made a pot of spiced rice and beans for her dinner. After a walk, Clarissa put on one of Rachel’s favorite movies, then pulled out her small collection of nail polish.

“Doing your nails for the prom?” Rachel asked.

“Sure am, I can do yours too.”

“That would be great! My dress is baby pink, do you think you have anything that would match?” Rachel was having another one of her days where she thought they were both juniors in high school.

Before the movie ended, Clarissa had painted their toenails in pink sparkles and their fingers various shades of blush. Putting away the polish, she settled next to Rachel on the couch and took her hand.

“Did you hear back from that boy?” Rachel asked.

“Which one?”

“The one you asked to prom. Are you going together?”

“Nah, I decided to just go with the girls.”

“That’s good too. I’m still debating on if I should tell Billy-Joe yes. He’s the only one who asked me, and I’m not sure that’s a good reason to go with him.”

“That’s true. You should go with someone you want to, not someone you feel obligated to.”

Rachel nodded at her as if it was the wisest thing she’d ever heard. For a junior in high school, Clarissa supposed it was.

Rachel popped in another movie. Clarissa watched the flashing screen without paying much attention to what was happening. Pitter-patters of rain echoed off the trailer as night fell over them and her mind wandered to thoughts of good Samaritans and pleasure versus obligation.

At first she was worried spending time with Tom was an obligation because he’d saved her. But today had opened her eyes. She genuinely enjoyed him. He was so easy to be around, to talk and laugh with. That was certainly a pleasure. One Clarissa hadn’t had in … well, ever.

After everything in high school—the shower stunt, as she’d grown to call it—she’d shut herself down emotionally and physically. Then Rachel was diagnosed before she got the chance to start over. Maybe this was her chance?

Seven

Thomas

Bounding through the forest, Tom’s mind was in snarls. The pack had been running circles around the town and still hadn’t caught scent of the bears.

Maybe all of this worry was for nothing.

Maybe the bears really were just passing through and stirred up trouble by roughing Clarissa up in the parking lot. His wolf snarled. If he ever saw that bastard again, he’d rip his arms off.

As much as he wanted to believe the bears were gone, he knew it was too much to hope for. So, for now, they were pulling double duty on nighttime patrols, his top five leading the groups.

Tori couldn’t do patrol duty tonight because a pack member had gone into labor. As the pack midwife, that took precedence.

Sam and Sara were leading a patrol in the northern section of woods surrounding Fairville. Meanwhile, Nathon and Emmanuel were running the south section.

Every pack had five in charge under the Alpha. In his pack that was his brother-in-law Samuel, Sara, Nathon, Emmanuel, and Tori. That was, if he didn’t count his siblings, Maria and James.

Technically, since all three siblings were of Alpha lineage, either of them could challenge Tom for the position. Some days he wished they would, but he knew they wouldn’t. So, he delegated tasks to them, they stepped in to fill gaps when needed and sat on the totem pole on his left- and right-hand sides.

Nathon and Emmanuel were brothers and distant cousins to Tom. Tori was the pack’s sole midwife. When you had extra healing abilities and higher than normal body temperature, hospitals were typically avoided. As such, midwives were held in high esteem in the pack dynamic. When it came to the safety and health of the pregnant pack members, midwives could pull rank on the Alpha. Although some of the more traditional Alphas chose, or trained, midwives who wouldn’t dare.

Samuel was the strongest wolf in the Sinclaire pack that wasn’t from their Alpha bloodline. When he’d first made Sam his second-in-command, the elders huffed about him favoring his sister’s husband, saying it was a disgrace to let an outsider into such a coveted position. It took less than three weeks for Sam’s abilities and winning every challenge thrown at him to shut them all up.

The elders’ whispers about Sam were nothing compared to the upheaval when Tom made Sara third-in-command. She was a stray; in more traditional packs, that might as well be a death sentence. ‘Breed the pack better and stronger’ was a common slogan thrown around. As such, illegitimate children outside of approved mated pairs were scorned. The strays resulting from these trysts were ostracized and treated like dirt.

Even though Tom’s dad accepted Sara when he was Alpha, and tried not to treat her like a stray, the elders still held a prejudice. It was only recently they all stopped being so damn combative about it, then the other whispers started … The Alpha was supposed to mate the strongest female, or females, and vice versa for female Alphas. This meant the elders were all waiting for Tom to take Sara—he never would.

Shaking his head, he thought about what the elders would say if they knew about Clarissa. A human. No, he couldn’t let himself think about that right now.