The Mating (The original Law of the Lycans story)

Chapter 25

By the time she arrived home, Elise's stomach was in knots over the prospect of talking to Kane. Even though she hadn't done anything wrong, it still wasn't a conversation she was looking forward to. After all, who knew what Rose might have said? It had been an innocent meeting but apparently Rose was willing to believe the worst of her and jump to conclusions, which was rather upsetting given the fact that she had tried her best to be pleasant to the other girl.

Mentally, she played out what she'd say to Kane and how he'd react. How did she start? 'Did you hear a rumour about me?' No, that probably wasn't a good opening line. Neither was, 'You know that rumour Rose told you about me and another man...?' No, a straight out explanation would be best. She would simply tell him she'd had lunch with Bryan but what with one thing and another, it had completely slipped her mind. Not because she was trying to hide anything, but simply because it wasn't that important. Yes, that sounded good and it was the truth. She nodded, satisfied with her plan.

Now all she had to worry about was Kane's reaction. Surely it wouldn't be that bad, her rational side told her. Kane wasn't one to jump to conclusions; he'd listen calmly and understand. Unless, the other side of her brain told her, Rose had got to him first. After all, he really hadn't liked Bryan the one time they'd met. He'd told Bryan to stay away and implicit in that command, she was to stay away from Bryan as well. In a roundabout way, she'd directly disobeyed his orders. Darn but this wasn't going to go over well at all.

Elise suddenly realized that she'd been standing on the porch for some time, staring blindly at the door. Swallowing hard, she wiped her sweaty palms on her pant leg and stepped inside.

The house was unusually quiet and she strained to hear a sound that might indicate where everyone was. When nothing reached her ears, she gave a sigh of relief. She'd have to face the firing squad eventually, but any reprieve was welcome.

Peeking into Kane's office, she saw that it was empty. A late afternoon sun streamed weakly into the room, leaving the corners in shadow. The smell of leather mixed with the unique scent of Kane permeated the space and drew Elise inside. Tucking her hands in her pockets, she looked around curious as to where Kane might be.

The desk held the usual piles of paper and the answering machine was blinking, indicating several messages were waiting for Kane's attention. Briefly she wondered if he'd replaced the tape or not—the quality really had been poor this morning. Impulsively, she wrote a reminder on a sticky note and attached it to the machine. While at the desk, she noticed that the computer hadn't even been started yet for the day. Had he even made it into the office? Seeing nothing that would provide an answer to her question, she exited the room, shutting the door behind her.

Next stop was the kitchen. Despite the fact that it was mid-afternoon, there was no sign of Helen or dinner preparations being made. The coffee maker held the dregs of the morning's coffee and the dishes weren't done. Something was definitely up; Helen never left her kitchen in disarray. Heading to the message centre on the fridge, Elise scanned the notes and found the answers to everyone's whereabouts.

Carrie had gone into early labour and John and Helen were at the infirmary with her. Ah! That explained the state of the kitchen. Well, since first births usually took a considerable time, it wasn't likely she'd be hearing from them anytime soon. Elise thought for a moment and then frowned. The baby was only a few weeks early but still there was always a chance of complications. She crossed her fingers and sent positive thoughts towards the infirmary, hoping both mother and baby would be fine.

The next message was from Kane. He'd been called away to the lake region. A patrol had found something that needed his attention and he wasn't sure when he'd be back. Relief washed over Elise as she realized she wouldn't have to tell Kane about Bryan for a while. This was immediately followed by a large dose of worry. What if someone else told him first? The longer he was gone, the greater the risk and the more likely it was that others in the pack would hear the story. It had only been twenty-four hours since she'd met with Bryan, but rumours spread notoriously fast. Putting a stop to it was paramount.