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Rune’s eyebrows shot up. “You trust me around children? After what you saw today?”
“I do.” My answer wasn’t precisely rational, but it was truthful. An Alpha learned to go by her gut, and mine said Rune wouldn’t harm a hair on a child’s head.
Plus, he’d just sworn on his true name to protect me and mine. Kale and, yes, even the baby were very much mine.
I didn’t have time to elaborate, however, because we’d arrived at our destination. Natalie’s house sat in front of us. Meanwhile, the car I’d completely forgotten to deal with yesterday was parked right alongside the curb.
I frowned. Old Nellie should have still been stranded in the alley where I’d met Ryder and Lupe. I certainly hadn’t mentioned the issue to any of my pack mates. And, in the midst of everything, I’d forgotten to have it towed.
It was almost as if Rune read my mind since he answered the question before I asked it. “Ryder fixed the car.” My disbelief must have been obvious because he added, “He’s a good guy. Just a bit rough around the edges.”
“Rough around the edges?” That was the understatement of the century. Still, I let the issue drop and unbuckled my seat belt...just in time to have the door flung opened without my help.
Natalie poked her head inside, ignoring me and considering Rune. “Still here?”
“Still here,” he agreed easily. Despite her confrontational tone, there was no wolf about Rune now. He was back in complete control.
Natalie’s eyes narrowed. “And you’re coming to brunch with us?”
“No.” Rune slipped out his door, leaving a curl of persimmon behind him. As I sniffed, he skirted the front of the van, his walk sufficiently slow but too graceful to appear fully human. No wonder Natalie watched him with her head cocked. I couldn’t quite tell what she thought about this rarity—a male in my life who wasn’t pack.
Given the fact that Natalie had been known to wolf whistle at passing construction workers, I decided to change the subject before she did something that would mortify all of us. “Butch is here to watch the kids,” I explained.
Not that Rune seemed prone to mortification. “May I?” he asked, having achieved his destination. I wasn’t sure what he wanted, actually, until I craned my head for a closer look.
During previous brunch dates, Kale had been roped into babysitting his little sister. But apparently I wasn’t the only one feeling odd about leaving the children unattended, because Natalie currently had the infant bound in a sling across her chest.
And Rune was asking to hold said infant.
I expected Natalie to deny him, and not politely either. After all, their introduction had been less than favorable. I tensed, preparing to protect...both of them from each other?
But Natalie passed the baby over to Rune without mentioning last night’s leap across the fire. She raised one eyebrow at me, though. I’d be answering questions shortly.
For the moment, however, we both watched Rune collect the infant as easily as if the bundle wasn’t a deluge of vomit just waiting to happen. The kid babbled something entirely incomprehensible. Rune nodded and murmured, “Excellent point.”
Then Kale was there at his elbow. “Wanna see my room?”
That wasn’t usual. Kale didn’t like to share his personal space. Except, it appeared, with this man who’d taught him how to lean against a tree.
Rune half bowed by way of answer. The baby squealed as he dipped her. “I’d be honored,” he agreed.
The passenger door slammed shut and Natalie grinned at me. “Let’s get out of here before anybody changes their minds.”
***
I CLUED NATALIE IN on the hard stuff during the short ride to Fluff Enough Bakery. Her terse responses to my recitation proved that she’d just been putting on a good face in front of Rune. I wasn’t forgiven yet.
And why should I expect to be? Natalie was a prime grudge bearer, and she had every reason to be pissed with me. We were halfway to town when I slammed on the brakes.
“We’ve stopped in the middle of the road,” Natalie pointed out, as if I hadn’t noticed.
“I know.” I could barely breathe. “But our friendship is important enough to risk a head-on collision. Look, I’m sorry. I screwed up. I—”
A car horn broke Natalie’s silence and I reluctantly eased my foot down onto the gas pedal. I didn’t really intend to risk her life to rebuild our friendship. I’d just hoped....
My friend’s fist came out of nowhere to tap my temple. Gently yet firmly. “Okay, I’m over it.”
“Really?” That seemed unlikely. When Natalie’s high-school boyfriend had cheated on her, we’d spent the entire next year plotting and implementing her revenge. There had been molasses involved. And fire. I’m pretty sure her ex never cheated on anyone ever again.
But now Natalie merely nodded. “As my BFF, you get one free pass. One.” She held up a single finger to assist my counting.
And I was so grateful my words tumbled out on top of each other. “Thank you. You won’t regret it. I promise—”
“You’re being boring,” Natalie interrupted. “Tell me something more interesting. Like the specs Lenny dropped off this morning along with scones from his wife. What’s that all about?”
Glitter consumed the rest of our drive. Glitter and neighborhood gossip. To my surprise, Natalie gave her whole-hearted endorsement to working with the lovesick realtor. “He’s slick, but he puts the town first. And his wife’s a doll. She babysat for me a few times and refused to take payment. Instead, she showed up the next day with cookies and daffodil bulbs.”
Cookies and daffodil bulbs aside, if Natalie had let Lenny’s wife babysit then the whole family might as well have passed an in-depth security check.
So that was settled. While I parked, Natalie went above and beyond by fixing another problem I hadn’t had time to delve into—keeping human employees out of the factory until fae were dealt with. She tapped at her phone for a while then tilted the screen to let me read what she’d written.
I had to laugh. “An explosion in the lab?”
“Minor combustion episode,” Natalie corrected. She pointed to the last line. “This is the part I wanted to check with you.”
The email, going out to all employees, promised a week of vacation with full pay. Which, yes, would scrape the bottom of our dwindling coffers...but we’d be scraping the bottom anyway if we didn’t move some glitter along soon.
And moving glitter had to take a back seat to protecting the Whelan pack from fae invasions. So I nodded. “Perfect. Thank you.”
I’d just have to sort out the fae issue fast to ensure we didn’t continue hemorrhaging cash.
***
“WHAT’LL YOU HAVE?”
Megan showed up at our table seconds after we sat down. Unlike with my Consort dates, she knew that Natalie and I were friends. So there was no need to watch my cutlery management this time around.
There was, however, need to watch Natalie’s ordering. “We’ll both take pancakes and hot chocolate. Tara wants hers with strawberries and whipped cream.”
“That’s dessert, Natalie....”
She spoke right over my objection. “If Ash is out of your good graces, then nobody’s been cooking for you. You deserve a treat.”
Megan scratched notes on her pad, which didn’t prevent her from nosing into my business. “Too bad Tara turned down that hunk she came in with last time. This order’s on the house, by the way. Because I kept my trap shut just like you told me to when he asked about the mess at the end. And he gave me a fifty dollar tip to thank me for cleaning up.”
That was a stark contrast from other Consort dates. Most had stormed out after my dunking, slamming the door so hard it rattled. Once, Megan had been forced to call the police after a rejected applicant started breaking chairs.
The thought of Rune sliding Megan a fifty dollar bill in apology for something that hadn’t even been his doing made me smile. And my friend noticed.
“Aw!” Natalie reached out and poked my dimple. Then, turning to Megan, she stage whispered: “Good thing Tara changed her mind about ditching him then.”
“She did?” Megan sank into a chair rather than heading back to the kitchen. “Really?”
I gazed back and forth between their eager faces. I felt like I’d fallen into an alternative reality. Or maybe into a romantic comedy, the sort in which the heroine kibitzed with her two best friends over tea.
But I wasn’t an overworked wage slave trying to make it in the big city and Megan wasn’t on my very short list of trusted parties. My Consort choice had nothing to do with hefty tippers and overwhelming hormones. I couldn’t forget I was Alpha, above and apart.
So I speared my friend with a telling stare. “Natalie, I’d rather not talk about this here.”
“Are you going to keep seeing him?” Megan interrupted.
Despite everything, I nodded. Because I was seeing Rune at that very moment. Through the plate-glass window, I watched as he pulled Old Nellie into the parking lot with Kale in the passenger seat. The baby, I could only assume was strapped in back.
None of them should have been there. So much for emulating a character in a chick flick.
“Cancel our order,” I told Megan, voice harder than it should have been around humans. “Natalie and I have to go.”