The Lone Wolf's Rejected Mate (Five Packs #3)(37)

Life is good now, and tomorrow I’m going on the first date of my life. It’s a weird thing for a shifter to do, but Lenox is into human culture like I am. He loves music and TV shows and comic books.

No one in Quarry Pack likes comics, so I hadn’t read one until he passed a manila envelope full to Fallon at a fight. Fallon made me give him a jar of Old Noreen’s moonshine before he’d hand it over, but it was worth it. I loved the art.

For a long time after the thing with Darragh, I lost interest in the things I used to get excited about. I got skittish. I didn’t want to shift, and I’d only do it for full moon runs, which you’re pretty much required to do unless you’ve got wasting sickness. I could only get my wolf to come out if Kennedy was right there.

But these past few months, things have turned around. I’m sleeping better, and I’m not just going through the motions.

It’s nice being excited about things again. Even if Lenox turns out to be a dud, it feels good to look forward to things. To like things again.

After the water cools, I drain the tub and fill it again to shave. I go over each leg twice, ankle to butt cheek. I even slosh onto my stomach and crane my neck to make sure I got everything behind my knees. After scrubbing myself dry with a terry cloth towel, I rub baby oil all over my skin and dab lavender on my pulse points. I want to get a good night’s sleep so that I don’t have red eyes tomorrow.

Kennedy and Annie are back from dinner and hanging in the common room by the time I’m done in the bathroom. I say goodnight and head for bed. I have trouble falling and staying asleep normally, so tonight, I’m gonna give myself lots of time to stare at the ceiling, and hopefully, I’ll drift off from boredom by one or two at the latest.

I’m nowhere near sleep when there’s a gentle rapping at my door.

“Mari?” Annie’s soft voice calls out. “You’ve got a visitor.”

All my relaxing is undone in an instant. Is it Darragh? It can’t be. Not twice in one day.

“Who is it?” I ask, but Annie must’ve already walked away.

I fight the urge to hide under the covers like a pup and shrug on my robe. My stomach is a knot.

As I make my way down the hall, I hear Kennedy chatting away and take a breath. It’s not Darragh. She wouldn’t be that open with any male.

I smell baby before I see our company. Una’s come by. She’s got Raff in his baby carrier. He’s curled up like a shrimp, conked out, his little fist balling her shirt, his bald head nestled in her cleavage. My heart goes mushy.

Una greets me with a smile and cocks her head toward the door. I follow her out to the porch. She never drops by this late just to chat. Killian wouldn’t let her.

I hope this is about candles, but from the careful kindness in her expression, I bet it isn’t. Shit. Was Annie right? Did she find out from Liam that we’re borrowing the truck? She can’t bust us for that, not after all the years that she snuck off pack territory to the farmers’ market, and it was against the rules then.

She leans back against the railing, facing me, smoothing her palm over her sleeping baby’s butt, her weight on her good leg.

“Want a chair?” I ask, making to go back inside.

“No, I’m good. If I sit, he’ll wake up. He’s got something against me taking a rest.” She smiles. It’s strange seeing her so happy. She’s changed since she mated to Killian, and it’s a good thing.

“So like his daddy, eh?” Killian’s notorious for running the males into the ground.

Una chuckles, dropping a kiss to the top of his head, pausing a beat to sniff. New dams are so weird.

“We had a visitor after dinner,” she says, changing the subject. Or rather, probably getting around to the reason she dropped by.

“Yeah?”

“Darragh Ryan.”

“Yeah?” I don’t let my face show a thing. I don’t know how much Una knows about Darragh and me. Sometimes I think Killian must have told her everything by now, but she’s never brought it up. She’s not one to poke her nose into anyone’s business, though.

“He wanted to talk to Killian. He won’t ever come inside, of course, so Killian had to go out to the porch.”

I hum, polite yet uninterested, but my stupid heartrate speeds up.

Una waits for a second like she’s giving me the opportunity to speak, but when I say nothing, she goes on. “I wasn’t eavesdropping, but the window was open.” Most people would be lying, but there’s no doubt she’s telling the truth. “Darragh was saying he brought you a kill? A pheasant?”

“Yeah.”

She waits again. I keep my mouth shut.

Her eyes warm, and she begins to idly rub Raff’s rump again. “Darragh said there’s buckshot in the bird.”

This can’t be why she came over so late. “We’ll keep an eye out. No worries.”

“I know.” She cups Raff’s little head and strokes him with the lightest touch. His mouth works like he’s dreaming of milk. “He was…on edge.”

I shrug.

“He said he’d talked to you.”

I nod, folding my arms.

As she idly traces Raff’s tiny ear, she gives me a soft smile. “You can always come to me, you know? Even though I’m busy all the time with this little guy and getting the online store set up and the plans for the warehouse—” She stops for a breath, her smile turning wry. “I’ve always got the time. If you want to talk about it. Or not talk about it. Either way. I’m just over there.” She nods in the direction of her cabin. The lights are blazing.