Cullen drove back toward the reservation with a full belly and his wolf growling in his ear for not having spent some time alone with Aislinn before getting into the car. Her scent was driving him nuts. Everyone else at the reservation who was going to attend the funeral would be caravanning to the reservation that evening and the next morning.
Cullen listened to Aislinn and Sarah discussing the fact the new omegas had been overly friendly to her and though Ranaild had avoided her like the plague, Elise had hugged her and then spent the rest of the afternoon following her around and trying to do all Aislinn’s work for her. Cullen smiled figuring that his little comment about Aislinn changing his mind from killing them to just demoting them had made her a few friends. Aislinn had been so engrossed in her conversation with Sarah that she missed his thoughts about it. He noted that the next time he wanted to have his mind to himself he’d just get her involved in a conversation with one of the other women.
“I caught that one,” Aislinn said and shot him a look that made him chuckle as he drove. If it weren’t for the fact that they were headed for a funeral they’d have been in great spirits.
They arrived at the reservation in relatively short order. Cullen’s plan had been to go straight to bed with Aislinn. For the last hour of the trip he had been sending her images of what he intended to do to her. Aislinn had been countering with her own ideas of what would be fun and it was working them both up so much that Sarah had commented on the rapidly rising pheromone level in the car.
When they finally arrived at the reservation the hour was late, but most of the lights in the cabin were still on. It was a sign of the upset of the pack that so many people were still up. Cullen looked up at the building wondering if he would even be capable of making it to their room. He growled know full well he didn’t want to wait to have her at this point. Cullen shot Aislinn a predatory grin and nodded back toward the woods. “There probably aren’t any glass doors for you to hide behind that way,” he suggested.
Aislinn grinned and her eyes shifted. “No, probably not. But I don’t need to hide if you can’t catch me,” she grinned and started to back away from the car toward the woods.
When Cullen started to follow her Sarah growled at both of them. “This won’t go over well. You’re supposed to be more public. If this isn’t running and hiding I don’t know what is. What the hell am I supposed to tell them when I walk in alone?”
Cullen pulled his shirt off and tossed it at Sarah. He had no intention of going inside just yet. “I don’t care. Tell them to come out and join us if they like. I’m guessing that I’m not the only one who could use a run in the moonlight.”
Sarah watch Cullen take off the rest of his clothes, shift and the take off in the direction that Aislinn had disappeared in. She yelled after him that he was acting like a teenage idiot, but the last thing she got from him was a howl crying at the moon telling that he found her scent and was on the hunt.
Sarah threw the clothes she was still holding on the ground. She couldn’t believe he left her to deal with the pack tonight. “Why exactly did I not want to give this job to Aislinn?” she grumbled. “I hope she manages to completely snow your ass,” Sarah added as she stomped toward the cabin. It would be great if she managed to get away from the mighty hunter. But Gods he’d be frustrated if that happened. Sarah snickered. If anyone could manage to get away from him it’d be Aislinn.
When Sarah walked into the cabin the atmosphere was frigid. Keith approached her and the first thing out of his mouth was, “So where’s Cullen?”
“Playing hide and seek,” Sarah groused. “What’s wrong?”
“Hide and seek?” Keith asked incredulously.
“Yeah, hide and seek. They’re getting worse. He actually carried out of the Taigh-Oèsda on his shoulder when I told him to start controlling himself.” Sarah was watching the onlookers. The room was full of elders and Terrick was glaring in her direction. “What exactly is going on here Keith,” Sarah said growing increasingly more concerned.
Keith leaned in and spoke softly to Sarah. “Terrick’s instigating a pack split. He’s trying to convince everyone that Aislinn is currently running the pack and we just don’t know it. He doesn’t have many number, but enough. Cullen needs to get in here now.”
Sarah nodded. Her brain was scrambling for a way to diffuse the situation. “Leave it to Terrick to cause problems on the eve of funeral,” she growled angrily and eyed Terrick.
He smiled at her. “Has the druid gotten to you as well then?” Terrick asked loudly.
Sarah knew that he was setting her up to lose credibility. “Terrick, firstly Aislinn isn’t capable. You don’t know enough about druids to be able to talk on it. And secondly what kind of mas goes and start trouble the night before a funeral? I realize you’ve always be out to displace Cullen but this is low even for you.” That comment had a soft murmur rumbling through the room. Everyone knew that Terrick had designs on being the alpha. Now they were wondering if all Terrick’s talk while Cullen was out was really him being overly ambitious and trying to stir up discontent since he saw an opening.
Terrick noticed the turn in his tide. It had taken him quite a bit of work to set this up. He wasn’t about to let it go this easily. “Then where is our alpha. If there truly isn’t anything to be concerned about with this woman then why does he spend so much time keeping her to himself? And every time we’ve seen him lately they act strangely.”
Sarah rolled her eyes. “Everyone acts strangely when they meet the one they want to mate with.” That sent another wave of murmuring around the room. “You just think it’s weird from Cullen because he’s been so long in the choosing. And he’s keeping her to himself because she was raised human and doesn’t really understand what’s going on most of the time. You’re turning it into more than it is. You want to see Cullen and Aislinn. They’re having a run.” She pointed out the window. She chuckled to herself. Well, he did say to invite them all to join him. “I think that we could all use an outlet. There’s been too much upset of late. You want to see what Aislinn is up to with Cullen? I suggest you go hunt them down for yourself. I’m done playing babysitter. But I’ll warn you not to interrupt. He wants to mate with her and he’s getting more and more possessive the longer he’s being forced to wait.”