Chapter 26

Cass remained in the office talking to Sebastian for only a few minutes, but it felt like forever. I simultaneously amused and annoyed Finn with how I paced back and forth down the hallway. “Calm down, it’s only been a couple of minutes,” Finn said with a sigh, dropping his head back against the wall.

I shot him a glare, and his lips twitched. “Maybe your watch is slow,” I suggested, not bothering to comment on how he told me to calm down—something you should never tell a woman; unless you wanted to get your ass kicked.

When Cass finally came out, I couldn’t help but scan his face, trying to discern the nature of their conversation from his expression. He didn’t give anything away, like a selfish bastard, and instead smirked at how he caught me mid-pace.

“She’s been doing it the entire time, and yes, it’s annoying,” Finn supplied, and I considered punching him.

Cass placed his hand on my lower back, guiding me down the hall. “Taking her on the grand tour?” Finn asked as he walked on the other side of me as we headed down the stairs. We’d barely gone anywhere, and already my feet were hurting. I probably hadn’t helped matters with my pacing.

“That’s the plan. It’ll be good for her to know the layout and for me to explain everything away from prying eyes.” He shot a pointed look at a woman we passed in the hallway, who had stopped and was staring at me in open curiosity.

“You might want to start with breakfast…well, a late lunch. I hear you have to feed humans quite often.” Finn gave me a lopsided grin, and I decided he was just as big of an asshole as Leon.

“Why do I have the feeling that you eat at least twice as much as me?”

Finn let out a small chuckle as he reached out to ruffle my hair, his laughter growing when I batted his hand away.

Cass pursed his lips as he glanced down at me. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“What, feeding her? I think that’s quite necessary. I’ll bet she’s the type to get pissy when she’s hungry.”

“I’ll show you pissy if you don’t stop talking about me like I’m not here and referring to me as if I’m some sort of pet.”

Finn waved a hand toward me, his focus remaining on Cass. “And I rest my case.”

Before I could rip Finn a new one, Cass sighed and ran a hand through his tousled hair. “I don’t know if it’s the best idea to take her to the kitchen just yet. It’ll still be pretty crowded,” he said, shooting another glance in my direction.

“She’ll have to meet them eventually—unless you’re planning on hiding her in the human cabin all weekend. It’s best to get it out of the way. Hiding her will only make them more curious.” Finn shrugged like it was a simple thing. It wasn’t hard to figure out that Cass was hesitant for me to meet the other werewolves. The knowledge wasn’t the least bit reassuring. If he thought it was a bad idea to meet others, maybe I shouldn’t.

“Your hesitation is making your girl nervous,” Finn added, jostling me from my thoughts. I’d been wringing the ends of my hair without realizing it—a habit I only did when I was nervous and my tell, or so I’d been told.

Cass’ gaze shot to me, darting down to my hands twisting my hair, and I immediately dropped my hair. “It’ll be fine, I won’t let anything happen to you,” Cass said, his gaze holding mine. It wasn’t lost on me that he didn’t say anything about me being safe here or not having anything to worry about.

We passed several others on our way to the kitchen, and like the woman earlier, they each paused and watched me.

My heart rate had picked up during the walk, and I had to fight not to fidget or touch my hair again. As we walked down the stairs to the first floor, Cass grabbed my hand, lacing his fingers through mine and giving a tight squeeze. My gaze shot up to his, surprised by the sudden contact. “It’ll be alright. I’m here, and even though Finn can be a jackass, he’s here too.”

I’d thought I had done a decent job at hiding my building anxiety, but apparently, I hadn’t. Maybe he heard my racing pulse—a thought that made me even more nervous than before.

My stomach pitched as we approached the kitchen and heard multiple people talking at once. There were at least twenty others in the kitchen, either sitting at the tables eating or cooking. Soon after we entered the kitchen, the many overlapping conversations came to a halt, and they looked my way. I assumed werewolves could somehow sense the difference between humans and their kind, but even if they couldn’t, I was confident they knew everyone in their pack. Whatever the case, they instantly knew I was human and stared at me as if they’d never seen one in person. I doubted that was the case with how Cass and his friends went to school with me and lived in town.

“You guys are acting like you’ve never seen a human before,” Leon said, and I nearly sighed in relief that he was also here. I hadn’t noticed him at the edge of the back table before he spoke. “Don’t you fuckers have anything better to do?”

Many went back to eating and resumed their conversations, but there were still several watching me, but at least they were less overt about it. Even those who resumed their conversations still glanced my way as Cass led me to where Leon sat.

“How are you feeling, Strawberry?” Leon asked as Cass pulled out the chair across from him and offered for me to sit down.

My eyebrows shot up at the new nickname he’d apparently given me. “Strawberry? Wow, so creative. Did you come up with that yourself?” I infused dubiousness and sarcasm into my tone at the possibility of that nickname working.

Leon shrugged, unaffected by my less-than-enthusiastic reaction. “I think it’s perfect: you have red hair and green eyes.”

“It doesn’t work. Just like Red or any other uncreative nicknames out there for redheads.”

“I don’t know,” Cass murmured, leaning down so he could whisper in my ear, his warm breath sending a shiver racing through my body as I leaned back in my chair to get closer to him. “You taste as sweet as a strawberry.”

My entire body flushed with desire as I caught onto his meaning. Leon nearly choked on the food he’d been chewing, having easily heard it. Finn didn’t bother hiding his grin, which made this all the more embarrassing. Hopefully, no one at the nearby table had been paying attention. Stupid werewolves and their amazing hearing.

“Ah, would you look at that? Even her face becomes red when she’s embarrassed,” Leon said after drinking half his water.

“I’ll get you some food,” Cass murmured in my ear again, and before I could protest and tell him he didn’t have to do that, he headed toward the island counter along with Finn. I hadn’t had too good of a look at the kitchen before, but I now noticed there were several light-colored stoves, where a few men and women were cooking on the stovetops. The layout of the food on the island counter appeared to be buffet style, with pans of steaming food, plates, and utensils.

“I’m sorry we weren’t there to keep you safe last night,” Leon said, pulling my attention back to him. His grin had vanished, along with any traces of humor that had previously been present in his expression.

I waved away his apology as I adjusted in my seat. “It’s not your fault; the only one to blame is that fucking creep. You couldn’t have known he would go to those lengths. We all underestimated him.” A shudder worked its way through my body as memories from last night tried to resurface.

Despite my reassurances, Leon didn’t look convinced, but before he could say anything, a woman with shoulder-length blonde hair came to stand at the end of the table. “Hi, Leon.” Her tone was overly cheerful—too cheerful to be genuine.

Based on the low sigh Leon was unable to hide and the way his focus quickly flitted to me before he met her gaze, I knew this wasn’t a conversation he wanted to have. My curiosity was now piqued, making me wonder if she was a past hookup and couldn’t take a hint. Or did he like to keep his hookups outside the pack?

“Is this her?” Light brown eyes met mine as she pasted on an expression like she was surprised to see me, as if she’d only come over to talk to Leon and not to gawk at the human. Her act might fool others, but not me. I could hear the false, polite tone in her voice. I had a sneaking suspicion that she was a secret bitch. While her expression was polite, the way she scanned over me was anything but.

Once she was done with her assessment, she gave me a look that all girls knew. The look another girl gave you after she sized you up and found you lacking. In her mind, we were in some sort of competition, and she just realized she won.

“I thought she’d be prettier.”

I didn’t rise to the bait like she wanted. Why would I? I wasn’t so insecure that I’d lose it if someone insulted my looks. I doubted I looked all too good anyway, with how I hadn’t even finger-combed my hair after sleeping for several hours. If only I had a ponytail holder on me, I could pull it back into a ponytail and tame this mess. It took everything in me not to touch my hair since it would only make me look insecure and make her think she won.

Leon opened his mouth, probably to say something in my defense, but I cut him off. “And you are?”

The woman blinked, taken aback that I didn’t know her name. “Lindsay,” she said slowly, as if I was stupid.

“I’m Rhea,” I said equally as slowly, rolling my eyes at how she seemed to think I would know her name.

“I can already see where this is headed, and I’m not in the mood,” Leon muttered before turning his focus to me. “Lindsay is pissy that Cass never mentioned her to you or told you they used to fuck, until he got bored of her fake bullshit that is. There? Are we good?” He directed his questions at Lindsay, raising his eyebrows as he leaned back in his chair.

Lindsay gaped at him, and I wasn’t unaffected either. I was floored.

It wasn’t like I expected Cass to have been celibate over the years. With the skills he displayed, it was clear he was experienced and knew what he was doing. I wasn’t even surprised he slept with someone in this pack. It made sense werewolves would sleep with their own kind. What had me so surprised was why she seemed to think Cass would mention her. Either she thought their relationship was more serious than it was, or Leon was seriously downplaying their relationship. No wonder she’d been playing mean girl with me, and had tried to get a rise out of me.

My question was how she knew to play the role. Did everyone here think Cass and I were an item—and if so, did they have a problem with it?

I was saved from having to respond by Cass returning to the table, carrying two plates, and placing one before me. I’d been so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn’t noticed him approaching. “What do you think you’re doing?”

Her gaze was on Cass, and based on the way she was pursing her lips, I figured she hadn’t wanted to act like a bitch with Cass around and she would return to her false sweet act. “Why her?” Or maybe not.

Cass took the seat next to mine, so I was between him and Lindsay and grabbed my hand that I had clenched under the table. With no effort, he loosened my fingers and threaded his fingers through mine as he brought our joined hands up to his lips and placed a kiss on the back of my hand. “Why not?” His tone was casual as his gaze briefly flicked over to her. I carefully gauged his expression, looking for any warmth or interest, but I found nothing.

Good. That may sound petty, but I didn’t give a shit.

He didn’t pay her any mind as he picked up his fork with his free hand, resting our joined hands on the table in clear view of Lindsay. “You should eat. I have a lot I want to show you today,” he said to me, and the innuendo lacing his voice wasn’t lost on me or Lindsay. She failed to hide her indignation as she stood there for several more seconds, hoping Cass would pay attention to her. He didn’t.

She let out a frustrated breath before leaving the table in a huff. My lips twitched as I watched her leave, trying to hide my amusement at how she hadn’t gotten her way. “She seems lovely.”

“She has her moments where she isn’t that bad,” Finn said from beside Leon, shoveling forkfuls of eggs into his mouth.

I made a noncommittal sound as I glanced down at the plate Cass assembled for me and noticed it was full of food I liked. It seemed he remembered more than I previously thought. The knowledge only confused me further, and I knew I’d soon have to ask about our childhood and if he ghosted me because he shifted into a werewolf.

“I’ll have to take your word for it.” Based on how it was painfully obvious she wasn’t over Cass, I’d say I wouldn’t see her not-so-bad side for a long time, if ever.