Chapter 7

When Remy woke in the morning with his beautiful mate in his arms, he decided that there was nothing better than the way she felt against him. His wolf was happier than ever and so damn thankful to have found her. It boggled his mind that if he’d simply chosen to skip Kash and Bella’s mating ceremony, that he may never have met Thyme. Hell, if her half-brother had his way, he apparently would have tried to kill her so he could take over the pride.

“I have some thoughts,” he said as they dressed.

“Good thoughts?”

“One-hundred-percent. I was thinking that we could check in with Alpha Jason about the locations he’d gathered for me and then go on a road trip, make our way to your pride but stop first at the towns. Assuming they aren’t super far away, that is. I don’t know how soon you want to get back home.”

“I’d like to check in with the elders, but if we can hit any of the towns along the way that would be amazing. It would be cool to have a plan in place before we got to Marin.”

He nodded. “The other thought was that I wanted to know if there’s any kind of timetable with our mating.”

She tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“Do we need to mate and mark each other right away or by a certain time, or can we just go with the flow and do it when we’re ready?”

Well, Remy and his wolf were ready right the hell now to find out how many times they could make Thyme scream his name. However, he knew they were truemates and he didn’t want to rush her. It wouldn’t kill him to wait a while to mate her while they got to know each other. He was pretty sure, anyway.

“Well, it would obviously have to be before the full moon, because that’s the deadline. But as far as when, we could anytime. Once you and I mate and mark each other, then we’d have the joining ceremony in front of the pride, which will make us the official interim alphas, and we’d spend the rest of the time before the next full moon shadowing the elders, since my father passed away and we can’t shadow him. Then there’s an ascension ceremony on the full moon, when the position becomes ours to share.”

“I’ve never heard of an ascension ceremony, sounds mystical.”

“It makes it official for the pride to pass the torch, so to speak, from the alpha to his heir. But in our case, it would be the elders passing the torch.”

He’d been so sorry to hear about her dad passing away. Add that to the way she’d felt like an outsider with her stepmom and half-brother, and she had a lot to be pissed about. But she had a great attitude and clearly cared very much for the pride. “That’s pretty cool.”

They left the RV and headed into his parents’ home.

“Hello?” he called.

“In the kitchen, honey, come on in,” his mom called back.

He heard the soft, excited murmurings of his sisters and glanced at Thyme. “I hope you like getting hugged a lot.”

Her eyes went wide.

Then he heard the pounding of feet and his sisters burst down the hall, squealing and giggling.

“Yay! A new sister!”

All three hugged Thyme at once. She seemed too shocked to move and then she hugged them back with a laugh. “And new sisters for me too. Hi!”

They spoke at once, sharing their names.

“Oh gosh, I hope I remember them,” Thyme said. “I’m not the best with names.”

“I’ll help,” Remy said. “Come on you weirdos, let me get my mate to meet Mom and Dad.”

“Lennox isn’t home, he stayed at Gideon’s,” Kendall said. “He’ll be around later, but you’re probably taking off? When are you leaving?”

“We’re going to check in with Alpha Jason and then we’ll head down to Marin.”

“Marin? That’s close,” his dad said when they walked into the kitchen.

“Just a half hour,” Remy answered. “Mom, Dad, this is my truemate Thyme Olson. Sweetheart, these are my parents: Linus and Karly. You met the giggle bunch over there already.”

Karly stepped up for a hug and Thyme gave Remy a sweet awe-filled smile as they embraced. “Oh, you’re just so lovely! Welcome to the family.”

“Thanks so much,” Thyme said, shaking Linus’s hand.

“Girls, grab the rest of the dishes and let’s eat and get to know the newest member of the family.”

They sat at the table while his sisters set various breakfast dishes down. Coffee mugs were filled, juice glasses were brought out, and the smells of every good thing his mom baked filled the air.

“Oh wow, is this how you usually eat after the full moons? It could feed an army!” Thyme said, her eyes comically wide.

“Pretty much,” Linus said. “Karly runs the Lonestar restaurant and is a whiz in the kitchen. We’re pretty spoiled.”

“Do you like to cook?” Karly asked.

“I do, but I don’t make anything fancy, not like this.”

“Well, I’m happy to send you any recipes and offer you advice whenever you need it. My mom’s a great cook, and the girls are too. It’s a family heritage.”

Remy helped Thyme fill her plate with a wedge of ham and cheese quiche, thick slices of french toast, fresh fruit salad, and several slices of brown sugar dusted bacon.

“Save room for cinnamon rolls,” Karly said. “Brenna made them.”

His oldest sister smiled but didn’t say anything.

His sisters were all different. Brenna was a lot like his mom: great in the kitchen, always wanting to take care of everyone. Dakota was the middle daughter, and she loved to fix things and make things, she was always helping their dad at the garage or building something. She’d made him a shelf system for the RV so his supplies didn’t go flying while he was driving. And then there was Kendall, the youngest, who was a little rebellious and could be grumpy. He wondered if it was because she was anxious to get out on the road and find her truemate.

While they ate, Thyme shared her story with his family, who all listened intently. They asked questions periodically and then shared their stories with her too. He was so thankful to have such a welcoming and warm family.

“So you have three brothers and they’re all alphas, but your dad isn’t alpha?” Thyme asked his mom.

“Yes and no,” she said. “My brothers are all alphas of their own packs. My mom is an Angel Mate and my dad is high ranked in the pack. My dad could have been alpha, he was strong and a great leader, but he was loyal to Krayne, they grew up together. I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be, too. Like in our pack, Jason is the alpha, his brother, Michael, is his number two, and the others, including Linus, all grew up together.”

“Except for Logan,” Brenna said. “He came in and fought for rank, right?”

“Yep,” Linus said. “People leave and join packs, they can change from time to time if the alpha allows it.”

After the cinnamon rolls, they said goodbye, promising to stop back after checking in with Alpha Jason.

“At least you’re going to be close,” Karly said as she and Linus walked them to the door. “I worried you’d end up on the other side of the country or something.”

“Fate really was on my side last night.” Remy smiled at his mate and she gave him a sweet one back.

He opted to take his truck out of his parents’ garage where he’d stored it while he’d been traveling, instead of driving to the alphas’ home on his motorcycle since he only had one helmet.

“They’re really down to earth,” he said once they’d arrived and were walking up the front steps. “I’ve met some other alphas and they can be power-hungry or arrogant, but Jason and Cades aren’t like that at all.”

“Good to know,” Thyme said. “I’m still nervous about meeting them.”

The front door swung open and Cades smiled at them. “Don’t be! I promise we don’t bite. Come on in and welcome.”

They followed Jason and Cades into the front room, where Remy introduced his mate to the alphas. They sat and Cades offered them food and drink, which they declined.

“So, first we wanted to say welcome to Allen and congratulations on finding each other,” Cades said. “And we’re very sorry you were chased by some of our young males.”

“Thanks,” Thyme said. “I’m sure they didn’t realize I was a shifter.”

“They didn’t, but it doesn’t excuse their behavior,” Cades said.

“Right,” Jason said. “We’ve got expectations for our people and those males, even though they’re young, didn’t act up to snuff. As punishment, they’ve been put on guard duty during the next full moon and won’t be allowed to hunt.”

“I didn’t want anyone to get into trouble,” Thyme said with a grimace.

Remy gave her hand a squeeze.

“What if you’d gotten hurt? They should have realized you were a shifter even if they’d never seen a wildcat before.”

“Exactly,” Jason said. “We’re going to change things going forward, and now the younger wolves will have to have an experienced hunter with them to make sure they don’t do anything stupid.”

Remy nodded. Jason and Cades were great alphas. He’d grown up in their pack, been friends with their kids, and learned a lot about running a pack from them. His own father wasn’t alpha, Linus was fourth-ranked, but he had uncles who were alphas and had taught him a lot as well.

One thing he’d realized while he’d talked to Thyme about the wildcat pride, was that for her people, the alphas were a true pair with equal authority. The male wasn’t more important than the female, or vice versa. Unlike the wolf pack, where the alpha male was the ultimate authority.

Thyme explained to the alphas how she’d come to unknowingly cross into the pack’s territory.

“It’s really amazing,” Cades said. “You were just running on instinct and looking for a new home for your pride, and you found your truemate!”

“Fate’s pretty freaking amazing,” Thyme said. She glanced at Remy and her eyes flashed red and his wolf wanted to roll over so she could scratch his belly.

“So I’ve got some towns for you to check out,” Jason said, handing a piece of paper to them. Remy took it and showed it to Thyme. “One is in Tennessee, the others are all in Kentucky. These are towns that are okay with having a shifter group come in to live. The Tennessee town has a problem with deer overpopulation and could use the help with keeping things in control. Most of the others are just shifter-friendly and wouldn’t mind it. My advice would be to scout the towns on the down-low and then if you like one or more of them, meet with the town leaders and gauge their real interest. On paper they say they’re open to shifters, but once faced with it, who knows?”

“We’ll do that, thanks,” Remy said.

“Why did you have a list of towns like this?” Thyme asked.

“Well, Cades and I were out and about last year and we drove through the town of Timber and stopped for lunch. The mayor happened to be there and we chatted, and I was thinking about Bram and Gideon both being alphas potentially, and I wasn’t sure whether either of them would want to take over, and then I was thinking about you and Lennox, and your sisters. You just never know how things will shake out in the future. Plus, if something changed in Allen and we needed to leave, I wanted to have a contingency plan. So Cades and I compiled a list and here it is. Wherever you end up settling, know that the Tressel Pack will consider you friends and will be available for help if you should ever need it.”

“Thanks so much,” Remy said.

They stayed for a little while longer, talking to the alphas about what it was like to lead a shifter group, and then they excused themselves to get on the road.

“Thanks for everything,” Remy said.

Thyme and Cades embraced. “Best of luck to you,” Cades said.

“Thank you,” Thyme said.

As Remy and Thyme left and got into his truck, he said, “What do you think?”

“You’re right, they’re great and I didn’t need to be nervous. You can tell that Jason’s powerful. It’s an interesting dynamic that he and Cades have, like they’re not on equal footing.”

“Yeah, I was thinking about that too. I like how the wildcats do it, though. I like that you and I will be equals in the eyes of the pride and equal with each other. I think wolves just like to have one true leader, and everyone falls in line under that male.”

“It’s always a male? There’s no packs with just an alpha female?”

“Not that I’ve ever heard of.”

He backed out of the drive and headed to his parents’ home, where she helped him pack up his clothes and toiletries from the RV and park it behind their garage until he could sell it. He left the keys to the RV and his motorcycle with his parents, then he and Thyme got into his truck and headed down to Marin. She wanted to introduce him to the elders, her best friend and her family, and her stepmom and half-brother, although she didn’t seem too crazy about that.

He’d dated here and there, but never seriously. He’d known when he was younger that there weren’t any females in the pack that were his truemate. Everyone thought Jason and Cades’s daughter Lyric was going to be his mate, but while he cared for her, there hadn’t been anything between them but friendship.

“I can’t wait to go hunting with you for the next full moon,” Thyme said.

“Oh yeah?” he asked. “Think you can keep up with me? You’re pretty small, I don’t know if I can run that slow.”

“Hey!” she said indignantly. “I’m not small, I’m petite, and I can kick your butt at hunting, I guarantee it.”

He laughed and put his arm around her, drawing her against him and kissing the top of her head. “Fine, you’re petite, but we’ll just have to wait and see how hunting goes on the full moon.”

“Bring it on.”

He winked at her and she giggled.

“Oh, I like you,” he said with a chuckle.

“I like you too.”