Dreaming of the Wolf (Heart of the Wolf #8)(37)

Except he would not let them know why he wasn’t sleeping. Hell, at the very least, if he died from lack of sleep, it would be with a smile on his face.

What gnawed at him most was that Darien had said the dream mating that had occurred between him and Lelandi before they had met was fate and that their family had a history of such occurrences. Which Jake couldn’t believe in.

Yet the truth of the matter was that he felt as though he was linked with Alicia through his nighttime fantasies, which couldn’t be. She was human. The lack of sleep was driving him slowly mad.

Except for the clinking of forks as Tom and Darien scooped up their mashed potatoes and gravy, the dining room was silent. Then Lelandi spoke up. “Everything’s fine at the leather-goods factory, right?” She had asked Darien, but her gaze again slid to Jake, as if she thought something was bothering him about some trouble with the factory.

“Everything’s fine,” Darien said, “Everywhere. No pack problems at present, no problems with the mine. The town is running without any difficulties, and the factory’s doing well. Just as everything should be.”

Lelandi set her half-eaten slice of bread on her plate and rubbed her belly. She was due this fall; another month and she would have the triplets. That was making Jake antsy. And he felt guilty about it. All pack members revered the pack leaders’ offspring. They took care of them and provided for them, just as they did other pack members’ children. Yet, as much as he hated himself for it, he felt twinges of jealousy for his older brother when he’d never felt that way before.

Normally, Lelandi was beautiful and glowed with motherhood, her red hair spilling over her shoulders, her green eyes bright with laughter. But now, she seemed just as concerned as his brothers. They wouldn’t prod him too hard. But Lelandi? She was bound to ask him before long what was wrong. And he didn’t want to lie. But he wasn’t telling her the truth, either.

He respected her for bringing Darien out of the deep pit of despair he’d been wallowing in. And with the impending birth of their children, she certainly didn’t need to be worrying about Jake.

But then she smiled a little as if she’d figured out what was bothering him. Maybe she’d been able to work out the mystery intuitively, or maybe he’d given himself away. Or maybe it was something altogether different. He still couldn’t read her like he could his brothers and they, him. Although he was certain they couldn’t figure out his behavior right now.

Lelandi turned her attention to Tom and lifted her bread from her plate again. “Woman trouble?”

Tom immediately glanced at Jake. Hell, Jake didn’t have woman problems, except in the form of a damned beguiling woman who continued to appear to him in his dreams, and who in the worst-case scenario had gotten into trouble with the Mob. Lesser worst-case scenario, she’d just stood him up. Jake scowled further.

Tom gave a small smile. “Can’t have any woman trouble if there’s no one around to give me difficulty.”

Lelandi looked at Jake, but she didn’t repeat the question, although it lingered in the air as if it hung invisibly between them, begging to be answered. He imagined his expression said she’d better not pose the question.

But damned if both of his brothers didn’t look to him to answer her query as if she’d blatantly asked him. He finished his meal, not intending to be drawn into this, took the plate to the kitchen, rinsed it off, put it in the dishwasher, and then returned to the dining room.

All three watched him.

He paused, thinking to ask them about dream mating—could it involve a human woman? But not wanting to get into a discussion about this when he was dog tired, he said instead, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

The looks they all gave him showed surprise. If they’d worn watches, which as lupus garous they didn’t, he figured they’d all be glancing at them now to determine just how late it was. And see that it was way too early for him to retire when he normally didn’t hit the sack until midnight. Unless he went for a midnight run as a wolf in the woods. Then it was even later.

Darien cleared his throat. “Do you want to talk to me privately about something?”

“No. And there’s no sense in putting this off any longer,” Jake remarked, not intending to mention it again, but it was time. He’d been renovating their grandfather’s home, which was situated farther from town than Darien’s house. The renovations were complete, and it was past time to settle in there.

Tom cast a glance at Lelandi. She’d been the one attempting all along to convince him to change his mind. Darien and Tom knew better than to try.

“I told you and Tom, both, you don’t need to leave. Just because the babies are coming, I don’t want you feeling like they’re pushing you out of your own home,” Lelandi said softly, her eyes welling up with tears, her throat choked with emotion.

Hell. She wasn’t often emotional, but with being pregnant, she’d had unnatural bouts of weepiness, which was another reason he couldn’t stay. He hated to see her cry—especially when he had anything to do with it.

Darien reached over and took her hand and squeezed.

“The cabin is so… isolated. It has electricity and running water, but no television or telephone service. It’s so primitive. What if you run into trouble out there?” she asked, quickly dabbing with a napkin at tears trailing down her cheeks.