Seven mates for seven brothers

57- A loaf of bread

“Can’t you see that your body is finally starting to catch up with your true age?”

His words stunned her into silence.  Was it true?  Was this only her body developing and not her getting fat?  Conrad saw the doubt in her eyes as she weighed his words.

“No; it can’t be that. I am getting fat and you are just trying to make me think otherwise!”

Conrad threw his hands in the air.  “And tell me why you think I would do that?”  He shook his head at her.  “Or do you somehow think I make a habit of lying of lying to people I care about?”

Grace went flying at him; her eyes with a scared wildness in them.  “Because you …”  She began the sentence with vehemence; but interrupted her rant in confusion.  “You care about me?”

Conrad was dumbstruck at her question.  Didn’t all males care for their mates?  He groaned when he remembered that her previous experience proved the opposite.  “Grace;” he began as he took a small step away from her to give her space; “there is nothing in this world I care more about than you.  I know there is no way for me to prove this to you; so you will have to take my word for it.”

Conrad almost laughed out loud when she stamped her foot once on the ground.

“How can I believe something I do not know?”  She pleaded with him to understand.

Carefully he stepped closer to her; reaching for her with his one hand.  Grace looked frightened for a moment and he thought she would step back; but she stood her ground and allowed him to take her into his arms.  He folded his arms around her and hugged her while he rocked her gently.  His wolf was going crazy.  Being so close to her knowing that she did not trust him was eating him up alive.  But they both knew that she would come to trust him when she changed and realized he was telling the truth.

Grace stood in the circle of his arms; and slowly, very slowly; the internal storm abated until it felt as if she were inside the eye of a storm; leaving her completely calm and serene in his arms.  Feeling the struggle leave her; she sagged and he held her tighter against him; supporting her.

At last she could not keep quiet any longer; she was still troubled by his actions the previous day.  “Then why did you look so mad yesterday when you saw me?”

Conrad sighed.  Yesterday had been exceptionally hot; and the younger kids had put on a sprinkler.  The older kids who were supervising had joined the kids and that is how Conrad and the group of sixteen year olds he was training had found them.  Cassy had told him later that Lucy had lent her a short and a tank top to wear.  Remembering how almost adult she looked with her wet clothes stuck to her body shocked through him again.  He had in all honesty not paid any attention to that; he had only been concerned with how she was coping with her new life here.

Grace shifted uncomfortably.  He had not answered her yet and she suddenly felt sure she did not want to know.  “Don’t answer me if you don’t want to.”  She said as she tried to wriggle out of his arms.  The sound of loud swallowing had her looking up in surprise.

Conrad shifted nervously from one foot to the other.  How to tell her what she asked without making him look like an idiot?  When she forcefully stepped out of his arms he winced and let the words run out of his mouth.

“I was jealous OK?”  He stammered as embarrassed heat flooded his face and neck; he could not face her so instead, he stared holes in the ground.

“What!?”  Her surprise at his confession made him look up at her.

“I was jealous of the other boys I was with.  And angry with them at the same time.  And angry with myself as well because I knew I was over reacting.”