Chapter 8

Thyme sat in the front seat of Remy’s truck and stared at the phone, waiting for Dana to respond to her text. They were on the way to Marin after stopping at two towns and checking them out. Neither were a good fit for them, but they had a few more to check out.

But first things first, she and Remy needed to meet with the elders, plus Brilla. She didn’t really want to meet with Brilla, but she was her stepmom and family, even though she didn’t really treat Thyme as if they were family.

Then after all the pleasantries, she and Remy could go to her place. Because she was feeling…something.

Hot.

Turned on like she’d never been before.

They hadn’t even done more than kiss and she was affected like she’d never experienced. She knew Remy could tell she was turned on, because he would occasionally growl softly, the sound rumbling in his chest. And wasn’t that even more of a turn on for her!

Her cat wanted to mate him immediately, and she was trying to keep a lid on the excessive purring, but it was taking all of her effort.

I just left, it’s all yours babe , Dana texted.

Thyme sighed in relief. Thanks! How was the full moon hunt?

A bust! You knew it would be though. There were at least four fights I heard about. The elders were snarling at everyone.

Hopefully that will change when we find a new place to move the pride to. I hate what the factory did to our hunting grounds.

Me too! Assholes. When can I meet your truemate? I’m swooning at your story. I can’t believe you got rescued by your mate on the full moon, girl! You’re a lucky bitch.

Thyme laughed and read the texts out loud to Remy.

I’ll let you know what our plans are after we check in with the elders. Thanks for letting me have the house.

You bet. I don’t want to hear you two go at it and the walls are thin.

Lovely.

Hey, I tell the truth! And the truth is that I’d be noisy as hell with my truemate too. Talk to you later. Mwah! Dana included a few kissing emojis as well as some inappropriate ones, followed by several laughing ones.

Putting the phone in the cup holder, she leaned on Remy’s shoulder. “She’s a nut.”

“Is she excited for you to take over?”

“Oh yeah. She was hoping I’d find you so I didn’t have to choose a random mate to take over the pride. Of course, that was before we found out that Leif and Brilla were threatening the males to stay away from me.”

“How do you think they’ll react now that I’m here?”

“Well, I doubt Leif will come. When I sent a message to Brilla, she said she’d be at Liam’s but didn’t mention Leif. Either way, I expect they’ll be nice. I don’t think they’d be rude to you in front of the elders.”

“I’m not made of glass. I don’t really care what they think of me, I only care what you think of me.”

“I’m thinking I want to get home. Like now.”

“We’re almost to town.”

“No, I mean like to my actual home. You know.”

Her cat took that moment to purr and the sound spilled from her lips.

Remy wiggled his brows. “I’m feeling exactly the same way. I want to get to your house now .”

“Our house. At least until we find a new town for the pride.”

He hummed in agreement.

She put her hand on his leg, her fingers pressing into his thigh for a moment. He snarled a bit and brought her hand to his lips. “If you move that hand up any higher we might not make it into town.”

“Sorry,” she said with a laugh.

“Hell no, don’t apologize.”

She saw the sign announcing the town, and she straightened and watched the scenery blur by. The place was so familiar, but it didn’t feel like home anymore. It hadn’t for a long time, actually, not since her dad had died. Now she had Remy, and once they found a place for the pride to settle, everyone would move and they could start over, with her and Remy as the alpha pair.

He followed her directions to Liam’s home, where Jacob and Brilla had agreed to meet them.

“Ready?” he asked.

“Yeah. You?”

“One-hundred-percent. No matter how your stepmom or her dad feels about me, it only matters to me that you’re happy to be with me.”

“I am.”

“Good. I’m happy to be with you, too. I’m so fucking glad you trespassed through the Tressel Pack territory.”

She grinned.

They got out of the truck and met at the front where they linked hands and walked up the sidewalk to the front door. She opened the door and called out.

“We’re in the living room,” Liam answered.

Her heart started to pound. She didn’t think she’d be nervous, but she was suddenly quite nervous. It wasn’t that she thought anyone would have a problem with her and Remy, it was that she wondered if her stepmom would say something awful. What if Thyme had to punch her because she insulted Remy? That certainly wouldn’t be a good look. Not that she’d ever hit her stepmom, but she’d sure thought about it a dozen times over the years.

“It’ll be fine,” Remy murmured, his lips near her ear and his warm breath making her want to close her eyes and turn to him for a nice, deep kiss.

Instead, she smiled at him, thanked her lucky stars that they’d met, and took him into the living room.

The living room was more formal than any other room in Liam’s home, because his mate thought it was important to have a room that was reserved for special occasions and decorated in what she viewed as a classy way. There were no overhead lights or ceiling fans, but several lamps with colorful Tiffany lampshades offered some warmth to the sterile-feeling room, with the stark white tile, white marble fireplace, and beige silk couch and matching armchairs.

When her dad was alive, all the meetings happened in his and Brilla’s home in his office. But now they were generally held at Liam’s with his sweet mate fussing over everyone, and occasionally they’d be held at Jacob’s, but as he’d lost his mate a few years ago, he didn’t care to host.

Jacob and Brilla were on the couch and Liam and his mate Arlene were standing next to them when she and Remy walked into the room. Liam greeted her with a warm hug and shook Remy’s hand.

“Remy Mayfield, this is one of the elders, Liam Brahm, and his mate Arlene.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” Remy said as he shook hands with Liam and Arlene.

They both greeted him with big smiles. Then she turned to face the others. “This is Jacob Kitter, the other elder, and my stepmom Brilla.”

Both seemed tense, as if they either weren’t happy to be there, or they weren’t happy about her mating. She supposed since they wanted Leif to be alpha instead of her, that learning she’d found her truemate last night was a bitter pill to swallow.

Thyme plastered a pleasant smile on her face.

Jacob rose slowly and extended his hand. “It’s nice to meet you, Remy.”

“It’s nice to meet you too,” Remy said.

Brilla didn’t rise, but tilted her head and gave a tight, forced smile. “Yes, it’s nice to meet you as well.”

Even though she could have let it go, she couldn’t help but notice that Brilla looked like she’d eaten something sour, her disapproval of Remy clear on her face. “Is everything all right?” Thyme asked.

“Of course,” Brilla said.

“Have a seat,” Jacob said as he sat next to his daughter.

After she and Remy sat in the armchairs, Liam, who sat with his mate in chairs next to the couch, asked for the full story of how they met.

“Wait, I’d like to hear this,” Leif said as he strode into the room.

“What are you doing here?” Thyme asked.

“I wouldn’t want to miss meeting my future brother-in-law. Aren’t you going to introduce me?” Leif drawled as he stopped in front of them.

Remy stood slowly. He was taller than Leif by a few inches, broader and more muscular too. Leif’s eyes widened just a fraction, as if he hadn’t realized how big Remy was, and that made Thyme want to laugh out loud.

“I’m Remy,” he said.

“Leif.”

Remy moved on from the interaction with Leif by looking past him to Liam and Jacob as he took his seat. “She came into my former pack’s territory last night. I was visiting my family and we crossed paths in the woods, I brought her to my family’s home last night, and we journeyed here today.”

Leif straightened his shoulders as if he was trying to look bigger, but Remy didn’t pay him any attention.

“That’s great news,” Liam said. “Leif, sit down or leave.”

Brilla made an annoyed sound at the mild reprimand from the elder but didn’t say anything. Leif cleared his throat and sat by Brilla on the couch.

“Well, it’s certainly interesting that it happened last night,” Brilla said.

Brilla’s tone made Thyme take pause. She looked at her stepmom, bleached-blonde hair pulled into a high bun like a prima ballerina, making her sharp features even more prominent. Thyme had always thought she was trying to look regal, like a queen ruling over her subjects, more than an alpha female or even a mom.

“What do you mean?” Thyme asked.

“Well,” she snorted delicately, “you were told you had to find a mate before the next full moon, and none of the males in the pride want to mate with you. Then you come home in less than twenty-four hours with a male who you claim as your truemate?” She made an exaggerated I-don’t-believe-this motion to Jacob. “It’s a little convenient, isn’t it?”

“How the hell else do you think truemates meet? Of course it was fate that I wandered through Allen on the full moon and Remy just happened to be there when he’d been traveling for months. It doesn’t make it any less real.”

She didn’t particularly like Brilla’s tone.

“He’s a wolf,” Leif said.

“I am. Is there a problem?” Remy asked calmly.

“We’re wildcats,” Leif said. “I’m sure she told you she’s next in line for alpha, but she can’t take over unless she’s mated. Without a wildcat mate, it would figure she’d go slumming to the wolves. I heard they’re not picky at all.”

Thyme jumped up as Remy stood, and this time there was nothing calm about his demeanor.

“If you have a problem with me, come right out and say it, but I won’t allow you to disrespect my mate or our bond.”

“You’re not even mated,” Brilla said. “How serious can you be if you didn’t even mark each other?”

Liam stood and hissed, his eyes flashing to the red of his cat. “That’s enough. Thyme is next in line for the position of alpha female in alignment with our laws, and I will not allow anyone to treat her or Remy disrespectfully.” He glowered at Leif and Brilla. “You pushed the issue, both of you, as did Jacob. You demanded that Leif be allowed to challenge Thyme for the position once he turned twenty-one, which I’ll point out won’t happen for two more weeks. According to our laws, she was granted a month to take a mate. She’s done just that, but now you want to treat him like garbage and I won’t stand for it.”

“Leif should lead, not her!” Brilla said.

Liam let out a low roar. Remy positioned himself in front of Thyme, shielding her from whatever might happen, and right then, she fell in love with him a little bit.

Okay. A lot.

He was sexy and protective.

Be still her freaking heart!

The silence in the room was broken only by the sound of the grandfather clock ticking.

Leif stood and stalked away.

When Brilla looked like she was going to get up, Jacob shook his head and she settled back on the couch.

“Now,” Liam said, sitting and taking his mate’s hand, “before we go any further, you will be mating and marking each other before the full moon, yes?”

“Of course,” Thyme said. “We just met last night, it didn’t seem right to rush into things.”

“I understand,” he said. “When you’re marked and mated, we’ll have a joining ceremony in front of the pride and you’ll be interim alphas, shadowing me and Jacob as we transition the authority to you. Then on the full moon, we’ll have your ascension ceremony and you’ll take over.”

They talked about the towns they’d gone to see already, and the rest that Alpha Jason had given them. Jacob didn’t speak until that point, when he said, “I don’t really see why the pride needs to leave Marin. It’s been in your family for generations, hell your ancestors founded the town and started the pride here.”

“It’s toxic,” she said. “We’ve been over this, Jacob. You know that the pride is falling apart because there’s no good hunting.”

“So we stay here and travel to hunt on the full moons,” he said with a shrug.

“That’s wildly ridiculous,” she said. “And at any rate, it’s mine and Remy’s decision to make when we become alphas during the next full moon. We will be looking for a new town to move the pride to, and if you’re not a fan of that, you can stay here with the dying flowers and trees, the gross chemical smells in the air, and the lack of prey.”

Jacob snarled, his upper lip curling.

Remy responded with a growl that made Jacob’s eye tick, but he stopped snarling.

Liam smiled, looking all too pleased with the interaction. “When you decide on a town, meet with the leaders of the town, figure out housing, and then we’ll bring the family leaders there to explore.”

“We’ll be ready,” Remy said.

They spoke to them for a while longer, Remy talking about his work as a mechanic before he went off looking for a place to start a pack or find a pack already in place that needed a leader.

When they were finished talking, Brilla rose to her feet. “I’d offer to have you join us for dinner, but I have nothing prepared.”

Thyme was thankful, because she hadn’t really wanted to be in their presence any longer than necessary.

“That’s all right, we’re going out for dinner,” Remy said. “Thank you anyway.”

“Keep us posted,” Liam said.

Arlene gave her a hug and whispered, “He’s so handsome! And protective. Your dad would have liked him a lot.”

Thyme smiled, her eyes stinging. “Thank you, and I think so too.”

Liam followed them out to the porch. He leaned on the railing and cleared his throat. “Things have been brewing for a while in the background. It’s not really about you being a wolf, Remy, it’s that there’s a lot at play in the pride right now. Leif wants to be alpha and Brilla and Jacob want that as well, because Leif has promised he won’t move the pride from Marin which is Jacob’s main concern.”

“I’ve never understood why he’s so adamant about keeping the pride here,” Thyme said.

“I’m not sure,” Liam said. “He keeps saying it’s the pride’s heritage, but it has to be more than that. Whatever his reasoning, he’s keeping it close to the vest, and he wants Leif to be alpha to keep the status quo.”

“Well, it’s not up to Jacob,” Thyme said. “We’re following the laws.”

“Exactly,” Liam said. “You know most of the pride is on your side. They love your family and want an Olson to be alpha, and Leif is not an Olson, even though he’s got your father’s genetics.” He sighed. “It would be one thing if Thyme never wanted to lead, but she’s a born alpha female, and now she’s got an alpha male ready to step up. I’ve heard of Angel Mates, but I’ve never met the child of one. I can tell you’re powerful, and the two of you will make an excellent alpha pair.”

“I promise to take good care of her and help her lead the pride.”

Liam smiled and nodded, then walked back into the house.

She took Remy’s hand and they walked back to the truck.

“You want to go out to dinner?” she asked.

“I’d like to take you on a date, if that’s okay, Alpha Thyme?”

She grinned at him as he opened the door for her. “I’d love that, Alpha Remy.”

He shut the door and got behind the wheel. “Let’s go to your house first. We can clean up and find a place to go for our date, and you can try really hard to keep your hands to yourself until after dinner.”

“What?” she demanded.

He laughed. “You heard me. I need to be wined and dined, baby.”

“Okay fine,” she said, joining in the laughter. “I can tell you’re worth the wait.”

“You are too,” he said.

He drove away, heading toward her house. She couldn’t wait for their first date. They had a lot to talk about.

The night was young, and she knew it would be full of surprises.