The Mating (The original Law of the Lycans story)

Chapter 22

When they finally made it downstairs, dinner was over and everyone had gathered in the game room. Elise apologized to Helen for their absence at the table, but the older woman just smiled knowingly. "Don't worry about it, Elise. There's some leftover pasta in the fridge, despite the best efforts of those two," she nodded towards the group who were circling the pool table. "Thankfully Daniel and Franz didn't eat us out of house and home this time."

The two young men in question grinned and Franz called out, "We're growing boys. We need our food."

Giselle, who was also there, simply rolled her eyes, and resignedly shook her head.

"Are you sure you want to be bonded to this one, Giselle?" Kane asked from his position leaning against the doorframe.

"I ask myself that question every day." She responded dryly. Franz affected a wounded pose before turning back to his game.

Rose was standing in the corner observing the others and being her characteristically quiet self. When the girl glanced her way, Elise gave her a friendly, encouraging smile. Just because Rose was near the bottom of the hierarchy, there was no reason not to acknowledge her. In fact, Elise was sometimes uncomfortable with the whole ranking system. It went against the Western culture they lived in, yet it was an instinctive wolf habit to develop a pecking order.

With some surprise, Elise realized that rather than smiling back, Rose was looking at her rather oddly. As their eyes met, Rose looked her up and down and then, seeming to find her worthy of contempt, the usually shy girl pointedly turned her back. Elise felt a brief flare of anger combined with shocked disbelief at the girl's actions, and it took her a moment to push down the desire to march over there and demand an explanation. So much for her ideals of equality! Glancing around, she saw that no one else had witnessed the exchange. Had it actually happened? She quickly replayed the event. No, she hadn't imagined it.

Elise's mind raced trying to find an explanation. Was Rose attempting to assert herself and move up in the pack? If she was, picking on the Alpha's mate was certainly not the place to start! Maybe it was her own fault, Elise speculated for a moment. She wasn't the most aggressive individual and her rank had usually been guaranteed by association— first , due to her father and now because of Kane— rather than her own strong personality. Possibly, she should be asserting herself more and letting others know where she stood, though with the exception of Marla that first morning, no one had really challenged her; they just instinctively accepted her position.

Briefly, Elise thought of dealing with the incident immediately then quickly dismissed the idea. There was no need to create a scene by putting Rose in her place in front of everyone. No, she'd wait and speak to her privately.

Kane pushed off from the doorframe. "Well, I'm going in search of food. How about you, Elise?" With another thoughtful look at Rose, Elise nodded and followed Kane upstairs into the kitchen.

~~~

"It will only take a few minutes to heat up the pasta." She peered into the fridge and pulled out the food while Kane took plates from the cupboard and set them on the table.

"All right. Do you want me to make a salad?" Kane inquired while getting out the cutlery.

"No, I can do it."

"Okay, then while dinner's heating, I'm going to check on something in the office." Kane headed down the hallway and Elise nodded absentmindedly as she pressed the appropriate buttons on the microwave. Once it was on, she pulled out a head of lettuce, cucumbers, and tomatoes in order to make a quick salad.

Marla wandered through while she was working and snatched a cucumber slice out of the bowl. Casually leaning a hip against the counter, she munched on the veggie, then grabbed a piece of tomato. "So, how did it go? Did the perfume work?"