After finishing off the beer, I toweled myself dry and went in search of clean clothes.
Maybe I was asking the wrong question. Perhaps instead of wondering what Ben or Callum would do, I should think of a different role model.
What would Genie McQueen do?
She would help Wilder save his brother.
Chapter Nine
The whole house smelled of roast chicken and garlic. Soon enough other pack members would start to come in for supper, and there’d be no escaping them. If they knew I was coming home, they’d expect me to be at the table when Lina served up the food, meaning I couldn’t run away yet.
There were other things that could derail my plan as well. Like my car being in Wilder’s possession, for one. Callum had several other cars I could use, but he’d want to know why I was borrowing one.
Being duplicitous wasn’t a skill I’d had a lot of practice with. With Memere in the bayou there’d been no reason to lie, and since I’d come back among the pack, I hadn’t needed to hide things from anyone. I didn’t keep secrets from Cash either because he knew what I really was. Lying was new territory for me, and my palms were sweating from nervousness.
On the plus side, the other wolves would assume I was freaked out because of the incident on the highway, so they wouldn’t mention anything when they smelled how uneasy I was. One of the major downsides to living amongst werewolves was that you couldn’t pretend you weren’t afraid when the smell of it was all over your skin like cheap perfume.
I followed the mouthwatering aroma of chicken towards the dining room, my stomach gurgling its strict orders to eat as much of Lina’s home cooking as I could before I split. I might look small, but like every wolf I knew I could pack away two thousand calories in a sitting without thinking twice about it.
I’d almost reached the dining room when a hand grabbed me roughly by the arm and yanked me into the library. I wrenched myself free and turned to lash out at my assailant, until I got a good whiff of him and realized it wasn’t a random stranger. I should have known that from the beginning since no outsider would be able to get inside the house without someone noticing.
“Jesus, Ben, you scared the hell out of me.”
He didn’t apologize, but he did drop his hand, not attempting to hold me against my will. I hadn’t seen a lot of Ben since I’d left for Tulane, but I wasn’t a fan of who he was becoming while he tried to climb the ladder to the throne.
“I’m assuming you have something to say that couldn’t wait until supper?”
“Stay away from Wilder Shaw.” He sneered when he said Wilder’s name, and I didn’t like his bitter tone. And I really didn’t like being told who I could and couldn’t spend time with.
There was a point in my life I would have listened to whatever Ben or Callum told me to do. I used to be meek and a world-class pushover. But I wasn’t that girl anymore, and it was time the men started showing me the respect I was due.
Then make them, a nagging voice scolded me.
“Sorry, that sounded an awful lot like an order, Ben.”
“Could you listen to me, for once, and trust me about this? Stay away from him.”
“I’d be more willing to listen to you if you gave me a real reason. Just glaring at him and telling me to steer clear isn’t good enough. Not to mention it’s insanely presumptuous of you to assume I was planning to spend more time with him. We just met.”
“Don’t play dumb with me. I could smell it on you when he dropped you off.”
I froze, my eyes narrowing at him. “Smell what?” If he said sex, I was going to punch him in the nuts so hard he’d never have pups or sing in a tenor again.
“Attraction. I could smell the wanting all over you. He’s beneath you, Genie. You’re a princess, which means you have a soul-bonded mate out there. Someone who isn’t a fucking mechanic.”
Ugh. “Snob, much? First thing, whether or not I’m attracted to someone shouldn’t matter to you. Period.” But, oh God, had Wilder known? Was it that obvious? Focus, Genie. “Second, if I ever hear you tell me to wait for my soul-bond again, I’m going to throw up. They’re not exactly common, and what’s more, I have a boyfriend.”
“The human?” He snorted.
“Wow. You’re really trying to insult me in every way possible today, aren’t you? You’ve never met Cash, so don’t give me that attitude.”
“I don’t need to meet him. He’s human. You’re not marrying a human.”
“You don’t get to decide that,” I snapped, my voice lilting higher than I’d expected it to. “You’re not my king. You’re my brother. And even if you were the King of the South, it’s not up to you to decide who I marry. Human, mechanic or otherwise.”
Ben looked stunned by my outburst. I guess he’d been expecting me to nod and accept his ruling like everyone else in the pack had learned to do. But he wasn’t the only one who had changed while I was gone.
“Are you really thinking of marrying the human?” He seemed surprised by this, and his expression was somewhere between pain and panic.