Chapter 12: Breakfast

Evan

I hadn’t told anyone that Dominic never came back to our room last night. He vanished out of the Ball almost as soon as we got there, and I didn’t see him the rest of the night. It really was a blast, everyone was partying hard after the excitement with their Alpha and Janine. They took off immediately too, but it didn’t stop us from all partying for the rest of the night. The girls of this pack are a lot of fun. I was out very late, and am very slightly hungover, but my wolf healing is taking care of that as well as it did my injuries from yesterday’s fight.

“You’re welcome,” my inner wolf says sarcastically, and I chuckle at him.

When I get downstairs and find the kitchen, basically following my nose to locate the delicious smells of cooking bacon and other things, I find Beta Nolan is already sitting at a table and digging in to a large plate of food. It’s basically like a cafeteria in here, plenty of seating for dozens of people. He waves me over.

“Go get some breakfast then join me,” he says. “We’re going to have a busy day.”

I nod and move over to a huge counter stacked with food, and start filling a plate. I’m his assistant, and that’s why I’m here, to help Nolan with his work for the week that we’re staying at River Moon. He and Alpha Ross have a plan that they have put together to try to form an alliance between our packs. We’ve been working on it for a couple of months.

Nolan looks amused at the mountain of sausage and eggs and bacon and biscuits that I’ve brought with me, teetering on my plate, but he doesn’t say anything. My inner wolf kept asking for more, who am I to deny him?

“Okay,” Nolan says once I have started eating, “We’re going to be coordinating with River Moon’s Beta, Malcolm. Their Alpha told him to work out the details. He and Janine - I mean their Luna - took off and will probably be gone for a few days. So in a couple of hours we will have a meeting with their Beta and Gamma, and probably their assistants, to negotiate treaty terms.”

I say, around a bite of sausage, “So you think it’ll work out?” I know how much Ross and Nolan have been wanting this.

“I can’t imagine it won’t,” Nolan replies, “especially now that their Alpha is mated to someone from our pack. It’s pretty inevitable at this point. It might end up being an even closer merger than we anticipated.”

I nod, and we continue talking about the plans, and in a couple of minutes I see Dominic come in. Considering that he was up all night apparently boinking some River Moon girl, he looks all right. At least he changed out of his fancy suit. I lift my eyebrows to him as his eyes rove around the room, to let him know that he could join us if he wanted. But his gaze settles on a table in the corner, and when I glance over there I see a cute blonde smiling at him and lifting her fingers in a subtle wave.

Ah. Now I think I know where he was last night. She’s hot, he apparently has good taste.

Amelia

As soon as he leaves, I tear off my ball gown and rush into the bathroom, for a very quick shower. I toss on some clothes, business casual like I usually wear on days that I’ll be working. Black slacks, a light blue shirt that I think brings out the color of my eyes which I hope he’ll enjoy, and a dark blue cardigan. I only partially blow dry my hair, slap a tiny bit of makeup on my face, and rush upstairs, not going around the back. I use the main hallway inside to try to save time.

The whole time, from the second that he left me, I feel an ache in my chest, like I want him so bad that it literally hurts. Am I imagining this? “No,” my inner wolf mopes. “It hurts to be away from our mate.”

Oh. I hope he’s not feeling this. I wouldn’t want him to have any pain.

I ignore it as best I can while I scurry around getting ready.

I come skidding into the kitchen and grab a table in the back, glad to have found an empty one and even gladder that I made it here before Dominic.

He comes in not five seconds later, and immediately starts looking for me. Just seeing him again, and smelling his scent, even from across the room, my heart feels like it is in one piece again. Is it always going to be this way?

My wolf purrs.

He sees me waving over at him, and he grabs a plate of food and brings it over. He looks around before sitting down to see if anyone is watching. “Aren’t we supposed to be a secret?” he asks very quietly.

I find myself lost for a moment in his dark eyes before I answer. “Um, yeah,” I say, “but there’s no reason not to hang out. I just don’t want to make this week all about us. It’s going to be all about Alpha and Luna. Just, you know, don’t be super obvious.”

He sees that I don’t have any food, so he pushes his plate to be between us, and we start sharing. Mmmmm. Sharing a meal with him. Our first meal.

“I can’t be obvious?” he murmurs. “You mean, like, jumping on top of you and kissing you in front of everyone is right out?”

I giggle. “Definitely. Later. Save it for later.”

“Oh, I will, Impossible Girl.”

I look at him. “What?”

He grins, picking up some bacon with his fingers since he gave me the only fork to eat the scrambled eggs. “I figured out who you remind me of,” he says.

“Really?”

“Yeah, a Companion of the Doctor.”

“Who?”

“Yes!”

“What?”

He laughs. “The Doctor. From one of my favorite shows. He had a companion that he called Impossible Girl, and I have realized that you look just like her. Your hair is lighter, but you could be sisters.”

Awww. I keep realizing that everything we do is going to be the first time we do something. I smile at him. “You’ve just told me the first thing about what you like to do,” I say. “Now I want to watch the show with you.”

He grins. “Oh man, you don’t know what you’re getting yourself into, Impossible Girl.”

He reaches under the table, and where nobody can see it, his fingers brush against my knee, and it makes me shiver.

I might not know what I’m getting myself into, with his t.v. shows or anything else, but I know that I want it. Whatever he wants, I want it too.

“What are you doing today?” he asks me, looking around at the room full of busy people coming in and out.

I wish that I was just spending my day with him, but I know it’s impossible. I have a job to do. “Whatever Gamma Michael wants. He has meetings with your pack’s leaders, and he wants me there to take notes or whatever. What about you?”

He sighs, and looks sad, and I realize it is because he also knows that we won’t be able to stay together today. “If I can’t be with you, I’ll go find wherever they have our cars, so I can check them over after our long drive yesterday. It’s really my only job, just the car mechanic.”

Oh! Here’s a way we can spend more time together! “Well, why don’t I take you out to the garage? It’s out back behind the packhouse. I’ll just tell Michael that you need someone to show you where it is. The meetings don’t start for a couple of hours, so I have some time.”

He smiles into my eyes. “Perfect.”