Meg nodded. After she put the sheep on the dresser, she gathered the new clothes up and put them in the laundry. Then she came back and sat on the bed. Her tea had gotten cold, but she drank it.
“You tired enough to want to go to sleep?” she asked.
“I was thinking a movie would be nice,” he said. “Sex would be wonderful, especially in that little nightie, but I just hurt too damn much,” he thought.
“How about Ironman 2?” she asked.
“That would be great, but we don’t have it,” said Luc.
“Yes we do. I got a copy today,” she said as she pulled it out of the last bag.
“What’s taking you so long to load the movie then,” he said with a smile.
Meg laughed and shredded the shrink wrap and then got the movie into the DVD player. She grabbed the remote control and crawled into bed next to Luc. As she leaned back, she paused for a moment. When the pillows didn’t baaa, she settled down and turned on the movie.
*
Friday rolled around and Luc was getting restless. He had almost full range of motion and was down to aspirin for pain. The only thing he hadn’t done was shift. Jeff had told him he had to stay home until he could shift. He’d tried, but the pain kept him from being able to shift. “Dammit!”
Pacing up and down the living room, he waited for Meg to get back from work. She had gone into work on Wednesday. Ginny said she needed the help and Meg had a client to visit this morning. He heard a car pull up and looked out the window. It was Kevin. “What the hell is he doing here?” Luc wondered as he opened the door.
“Hi Kevin,” said Luc.
“Sorry to bother you Luc, I know you’re suppose to be resting, but…” was as far as he got.
“Come inside before you tell me your woes. I think I will need to sit down for this,” Luc said. The two of them sat down in the living room. Kevin pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. It was a list.
“Luc, Duke is driving everyone crazy. He’s contradicting things you have set up, fought with Ginny, pissed most of us off, and today he started hollering at Meg,” Kevin said. He hadn’t wanted to mention the last bit, but knew he needed to do so.
“What the hell has crawled up his ass?” asked Luc, trying not to growl. His neck started to pull as he tensed.
“Not certain, but I think he decided that if you hadn’t started dating Meg, you wouldn’t have gotten mauled by the bear and therefore Alpha Wolf Tech wouldn’t be in chaos right now,” Kevin said. “This is a list of the stuff he’s been saying or doing that is pissing the rest of us right off.” Kevin handed the list over to Luc.
Luc took the list and read it. He nodded over some of it, like he expected it while other bits made him growl under his breath. “I take it that Duke is transferring all of his anger about Penny onto Meg,” he said quietly.
“Yes. Ginny ripped him about it today. When Meg showed up, he went off on her and while she stood up well to it, we got in there as fast as we could. He was beginning to shift and Ginny hit him in the ear with the canned air,” said Kevin.
“Canned air in his ear?” asked Luc trying to figure out how that would stop Duke.
“Yeah, believe me, she’s deadly with that damn stuff. Blasted him right in the ear canal and nearly gave him frostbite. Couldn’t hear out of it for over an hour,” said Kevin.
“Hmm,… I’ll have to remember that for later,” said Luc.
“Once Ginny got his attention, she hauled him out of the office, took his keys and told him to go pick a fight somewhere else far away from work, town and even the county,” said Kevin.
“So why are you here if Ginny took care of him?” asked Luc.
“We both figured that Duke would show up here. We wanted you to have both sides of the story, knowing full well that Duke wouldn’t provide it. Plus, the last thing I wanted him to do was ambush Meg after work. You’re in no fit shape to protect her. Ginny said you haven’t shifted again yet, so I decided to take first watch,” Kevin said.
“When is Meg due home?” asked Luc looking up at the clock.
“Ginny was going to keep her there until I had time to come talk to you,” answered Kevin. “Peter from the warehouse was going to follow her home.”
“Okay, I’m not happy about this,” said Luc.
“I knew you wouldn’t be, which is another reason I’m here,” said Kevin.
“You are about the most neutral shifter at work, aren’t you,” said Luc.
“Yeah… me, the beta,” Kevin said with a bit of disdain.
“Hey, not everyone can be an alpha,” said Luc. “Hell, I’m glad I don’t have to deal with issues at work, because you are there. You’re dominant enough when needed, and I appreciate that too,” said Luc.
Kevin just sighed and fell back against the couch cushion. He wasn’t sure which he hated most, politics or pack issues. Either way, they drove him crazy. His cell phone chirped. Opening his phone, he read the text message, replied and sent it. “Ginny just asked if we’d had time to talk. I told her we had and she’s sending Meg home,” he said.
“Okay, I think I’m going to get dressed. If this is headed where I think it is, there are going to be too many people here to be sitting around in my sleep pants,” said Luc.
“I agree. I had hoped we’d avoid this, but Duke is such a loose cannon lately,” said Kevin.
“Be honest, when hasn’t he been a loose cannon?” asked Luc.
“When he was actually in bed with Penny screwing like coyotes?” said Kevin.