“About… you and them… becoming… mates,” he said slowly then cringed and look like he was waiting for an attack. Her mouth dropped open and she just stared at him for a moment.
“What?” She demanded when she finally came out of her stupor. “But I have James mark,” she said, completely blown away by what she was hearing.
“I know and I even told them so but everyone knows you haven’t accepted James as your mate,” he replied. She opened her mouth to argue but he stopped her. “These guys clearly don’t care about the mark.”
“I don’t care what they care about. Tell them I said go to hell,” she told him and Tony gave her an apologetic grin.
“I can’t… while I told them I’m not your alpha and your free to do what you want I, uh, kind of agreed to introduce you to them,” he said and Lily glared at him.
“You did what?” She yelled then pointed a finger threateningly at him. “You are so lucky you’re my brother or I’d make you my dinner!” She said, not really serious but he didn’t need to know that. “And I am so telling Liz you banged half the pack in the tree house!” She yelled, stomping back towards the house, ignoring her brother begging her for forgiveness. Oh no! She was so not going to let him set her up and get away unscathed.
Her step faltered as she saw that the Roberts home was filled with people. Damn, it had to be the alphas! Why were they here? She complained silently. “Dad invited them to dinner,” Tony said catching up to her. “Enjoy little sister,” he teases and jogged into the yard and greeted some guy she’d never seen before. She was so going to tell on him to Liz. Avoiding most of the bulk of the crowd, Lily went to the playground with hopes she’d find her son there.
She relaxed when she saw him playing with his cousin Matt. She didn’t know all these people were going to be here or she wouldn’t have left him alone… well he wasn’t alone. Sandy had been taking care of him. Lily saw Sandy sitting on a chair next to the playground ever vigilant. She was just about to join her when she heard someone call her name. Lily turned and again relief swam through her veins. “Wendy, oh man, you’re here! You’re alright? And your dad,” She said, letting the teen girl hug her.
“Yeah we’re alright. We lost our territory and almost half our entire pack but we’re still kicking,” she replied. Lily gasped and looked at the fifteen-year-old horrified.
“What happened?” She demanded.
“The leeches. While Dad and I were visiting my uncle they attacked our pack and forced them out,” she explained.
“Damn, I’m sorry Wendy,” Lily told her and giving her a hug.
“Yeah, I know,” she said darkly. “But it’s going to be okay because you’re going to kick their asses like you did the doc,” she said with total conviction. Xavier was going to experiment on Wendy but Lily stopped him before he could. Since then the girl seemed to adore her, much to her father’s displeasure. Her dad was an alpha, and Lily had the habit of getting on his nerves. He’d threatened to ban her from northern Montana on more than one occasion.
“I’m going to do what I can,” Lily told her, not sure she deserved the faith the teen had in her. “I’m going to check on A. J.” She said, giving Wendy one more squeeze. Lily walked over to the toddler and ruffled his dark hair.
“Hi momi,” he said sweetly, looking up at her and giving her a grin. It was just like his father’s, breathtaking and beautiful. Add in those pretty hazel eyes, the little boy was almost a spitting image of James.
“Hi aun Lily,” Matt greeted her too. Matt looked a lot like Tony but he had the dark brown eyes of his mother. She didn’t know what was going to happen to the world with a Roberts that wasn’t blue-eyed. Lily knew that when these boys hit the teen years there was going to be trouble.
“Hey Boys, having fun,” she asked them. Both of them gave her an exaggerated nod along with a “uh huh” as a reply. She kissed A. J. on the top of his head and walked over to Sandy, her mother by adoption. “Did he have to bring them all here,” she said as greeting. The older werewolf chuckled and grinned at her. Sandy, like all the Roberts had blonde hair and blue eyes. Although her hair was turning platinum blonde with age. Lily thought it made her beautiful.
“You know your father. Andrew loves to entertain and many of these men he’s not seen for years, ” she replied.
“Yeah, well hope he knows I’m getting out of here,” Lily said with a scoff.
“Oh I don’t think so, young woman,” Sandy said and Lily looked at her with a frown. “If Tony hasn’t told you already, there are a few men who want to meet you,” she said and Lily groaned.
“Do I have to,” She whined like a petulant child. “Do you know why they want to meet me?” She said with growing disgust.
“I do and it’s your own damn fault,” Sandy scolded her. “If you wouldn’t be so insistent that you and James aren’t mates then you wouldn’t have this problem,” she told Lily with a no-nonsense tone.
“Sandy this is the twenty-first century! I don’t need to be claimed by a man,” she said frustrated and the older werewolf laughed again.
“Sunshine, the male mind, especially a male werewolf’s mind, hasn’t yet caught up. They see a free female, a powerful free female, and they want to make her theirs. She’ll make their pack stronger and hopefully give him strong children,” she explained and Lily laughed.
“That’s absurd! My werewolf is like James’,” she said, disbelief in her voice. James was Xavier’s first experiment. He made James’s wolf form into a horrible man/wolf hybrid worthy of Hollywood. He did the same to Lily’s wolf which is probably the only reason she was able to have A. J. and she told that to Sandy. “That I could conceive a child with a normal werewolf would most likely be impossible!”
“True but that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t want to try and if there is nothing more a man loves more than the act of trying to conceive a child,” Sandy said with a wink and Lily rolled her eyes but was grinning.
Lily watched the children play until it was time for them both to head to bed. The boys were laying down in Lily’s old room since it probably was going to be a late night. Liz got up carefully from the bed as both of them were sound asleep. Lily gave her a thumbs up before sneaking out of the room. “So Lily, tell me what dirt do you have on my mate,” Liz asked with a sly grin. “He’s been way to nice tonight. Telling me how important I am to him and so on.”
Lily grinned with a soft laugh. “He ruined my tree house is what,” Lily replied as they walked down the stairs. Liz looked at her confused. “He banged his teenage conquests in the tree house. Now I’ll have to burn it down,” Lily explained with a dramatic sigh. Liz jaw clenched and Lily could see a muscle tick on the left side. Liz was beautiful, like movie star beautiful, but the woman was possessive and jealous like nobody’s business.