Of Beasts and Wolves

Chapter Seven: Revelations

Once Max got herself under control again and had reassured Gavin that she wasn’t upset with him, they went back to preparing their tacos for dinner, then sat down and had a nice meal together. For Max, it was a nice change from the lonely meals she’d experienced over the last five years when she hadn’t been able to escape to Jessica’s house. For Gavin, it felt as though a piece of his puzzle had finally been fitted into place. He’d known of Max, and had known that she was his mate, but he’d had no idea how much he’d been missing her presence in his life until now. It was an enjoyable experience for both of them, and they laughed and talked about their lives before they had met. They talked about mundane things, and Gavin told her how he’d grown up in the Forest Whispers pack with his parents, but he hadn’t gone to the school in town with the rest of the wolves his age. He’d been homeschooled by his mother until both she and his father had been killed in a rogue attack. Alpha Rhys had taken him under his wing then – Gavin had been 16 – and trained him on how to be a Sentinel. At the age of 17, Gavin had applied for the job and taken the oath to their Alpha. Being a Sentinel was his whole life, which is why he lived alone, in a cabin, up in the woods away from the rest of their pack. Like Max, he wasn’t fond of socializing, and preferred his solitude. He had a few good friends, mostly other Sentinels like Teagan, and, of course, Alpha Rhys, who was more of a father figure to him than a friend.

When they finished eating, they cleaned up their mess together, then stood side by side at the sink to do the dishes. Max washed while Gavin rinsed and then loaded the dishes into the dishwasher. As they were finishing up and Max was washing the silverware, a spoon slipped out of her hand and plunked back into the sink, sending a small shower of soap suds and water toward Gavin.

His expression as the water splashed his face and left him sputtering was both priceless and comical, and Max couldn’t help the laughter that pealed out of her, even as she scrambled to apologize. She expected some sort of retaliation, especially after he narrowed his eyes at her laughter, but she was not expecting Gavin to disconnect the water spigot from the faucet, turn it on, and spray her directly in the face with it.

This time, it was she who sputtered and wore the comical expression, and Gavin who laughed.

From that point, it turned into a full-scale water war, with each of them fighting for control of the faucet head and only soaking each other more. Amid shrieks of laughter and enjoyment, the pair ended up on the floor somehow, Max in Gavin’s lap trying to reach the faucet while the much taller Gavin held it over his head and out of her reach, soaking them both in the process and eliciting more shrieks of laughter.

Finally, both sputtering, they called a halt to the waterworks and decided to get cleaned up so Gavin could head out to Alpha Rhys’ house. Max didn’t want to go see the man who had ordered her father to be killed, and nor did she want to be inside his house - she felt as though it would be a betrayal of her father – but she also didn’t want to be left alone at Gavin’s house while he had his meeting with the Alpha. Thus, she decided she would accompany him and do her best to make the most of the situation.

Together, they cleaned up the rest of the kitchen and mopped up the puddles they’d created, then separated to their own rooms to change into dry clothes and, in Max’s case, to attempt to dry the long mass of her hair.

After changing and making themselves presentable, they met in the kitchen again where Gavin pulled Max in close to him for a hug, then pressed a kiss to her forehead that made her smile. Leaving the cozy cabin and heading down the hill and into the heart of town, they walked hand in hand, and Max kept her head up as they moved, returning the smiles and greetings from other people who were out and about. She was more pleased than she would admit that she wasn’t being shunned nearly as much as she had previously imagined.

Gavin noticed that Max was holding herself differently than she had earlier that day, and she seemed more comfortable and more confident not only with herself, but also with the greetings she was receiving from the other wolves in their pack. “You seem more relaxed already,” he mentioned, smiling. “Not worried about what everyone thinks of you anymore?”

“Not so much,” she told him, returning his smile and waving back at Mrs. Gould – her high school chemistry teacher – and her husband. “It’s like, now that I know that William and Melissa’s treatment and opinion of me was theirs and theirs alone, and not a reflection of the rest of the pack, a weight has been lifted off my shoulders and I’m able to keep my head up now.”

“Good! That is so good to hear!” Gavin smiled at Max again, pleased to see that she truly seemed to feel better about herself. Then again, he knew to expect that she wouldn’t always feel like this, and there would be some days that would be more difficult than others, simply due to her low self-esteem. She’d had five years of manipulation and programming from her foster family that she would have to battle through.

“We will help mate through anything,” Rowan assured him.

“Yes, we will.” Well, at least his wolf agreed him on that, anyway.

As if reading his thoughts, Max smiled up at him again and said, “I know that every day won’t be like today. I’ve felt ostracized from the pack for so long, it seems odd to me now to be welcomed in. I’m sure I’m going to have bad days and will feel just as shunned as I have over the last five years. But today? Right at this very moment? I feel good.”

“I’m glad you feel good,” he told her honestly, mirroring what Rowan was saying in his head. “And we can work on the bad days together.” After a moment of silent contemplation, he offered, “If you want, we can see about having you talk to a counselor, too.”

“I appreciate that,” Max said, smiling broadly. “I’m not sure it’s going to be necessary, but it’s nice to know that the option is there if I ever feel like I need it.”

Gavin squeezed her hand in reply, but didn’t say anything. For the moment, it was enough that she knew he was willing to help.

Hand in hand, they kept walking, each lost in their own thoughts and enjoying the companiable silence. As they approached the house that Alpha Rhys shared with his wife and mate, Max began to walk slower and slower, her feet feeling more and more like lead until, finally, she came to a full stop, her whole body trembling.

When Gavin stopped beside her to ask what was wrong, Max could only shake her head and stare, wide-eyed, at the house. As he was debating on how best to help her, the front door swung open to reveal the alpha and his wife.

Max shrank visibly and whimpered quietly, a complete change from how she’d responded to the alpha earlier that day. She seemed frozen where she stood, her eyes glued unblinkingly on the imposing figure of Alpha Rhys. When Gavin tried to lead her toward their host, she shook her head again and dug her heels in, refusing to budge.

“Mate is scared!” Rowan snarled inside his head. “She doesn’t want to go in there!”

About that time, the alpha’s mate, Cora, extracted herself from Rhys’ arms and moved gracefully down the path toward them. “Gavin,” she called, drawing his gaze to her. “Go inside with Rhys. I’ll stay with Maxanne.” As she spoke, she curled her arm through Max’s and grinned at the younger girl. “We’ll go for a walk and have some girl talk.” When Gavin just stood there helplessly, not wanting to abandon his mate when she was feeling so unsettled, Cora pinned him with a fierce gaze. She may not have been an alpha in the same sense that her mate was, but as the pack Luna, Cora had just as much steel in her voice and gaze as Rhys did.

With a quickly mumbled, “Yes, ma’am,” Gavin planted a hasty kiss on Max’s cheek and tried to ignore the pleading look she gave him. He mouthed an “I’m sorry,” at her, kissed Cora’s upturned cheek, and turned tail in the face of his Luna’s command.

As Gavin reached their alpha, he heard Cora say to Max, “Don’t you worry about a thing. You don’t have to see my husband if you don’t want to.”

“Why didn’t you think of that?” Rowan wanted to know. “She’s terrified of Alpha. He had mate’s father killed.”

“She was fine being around him earlier today. I didn’t think she’d be so affected by him now,” Gavin admitted, ashamed of himself.

But then Alpha Rhys was there, drawing Gavin into the living room and presenting him with a tray of apple fritters that Cora had baked earlier that day.

Outside, Cora turned Max away from the house and led her back down to the street, saying, “I know Rhys looks big and scary, but he’s a big teddy bear. He feels awful about happened to your parents.”

That took Max by surprise, and she turned wide, shocked eyes toward the older she-wolf. “He does?”

“Of course he does! You actually think he wanted to have your father killed? That he wanted to leave you an orphan so soon after you’d just lost your mother?”

Max shrugged. “I always thought he just didn’t care.”

But Cora shook her head. “He cared very much. Rhys and your father were good friends. They would spend hours discussing their favorite books and author’s.”

“I never knew that. I didn’t know that Alpha Rhys even knew who my father was.”

“Rhys takes great pride in this pack, and makes it a goal to get to know every member, be they wolf, human, or otherwise. After your mother died, he panicked. He tried to find a way to allow your father to live, but pack law wouldn’t allow it. Your father came to see him after your mother passed away. He left the pack hospital and came straight here.”

“He did?” Max felt ridiculously dim-witted, but all of this was news to her. She thought she ought to be forgiven for suddenly having a mono-syllabic vocabulary.

“Mmhm,” Cora hummed. “He wanted to make sure that Rhys didn’t feel guilty, and to extract a promise from him that he’d look after you.”

“But why didn’t ever come to check on me himself? One visit, and he’d have known what William and Melissa were doing.”

“He felt guilty. He thought you’d hate him for his part in your father’s death.”

“I did,” Max admitted. “I blamed him for my father’s death, then just assumed that he never cared about what happened to me. I never knew about the inheritance, or that he was sending a monthly allowance.”

“Adela was one of our top Sentinels, and Tomas was a good friend to Rhys. Of course he cared about what happened to you. He just felt so guilty about your dad that he couldn’t face you.”

Max had never known any of this, and her thoughts were left spiraling yet again. Even Beryl didn’t know what to say.

“I know that this is a lot to process for you,” Cora said quietly, “but if you can bring yourself to talk to Rhys, I know that he would be more than happy to talk with you and answer any questions you may have.”

“I’ll think about it,” Max promised. “I just don’t know that I can do it today. It’s already been so overwhelming, I’m not sure I can handle any more revelations.”

“I understand,” Cora assured her, gently patting Max’s hand where it rested in the crook of Cora’s elbow. “It’s been a long, busy day for all of us. The mating bond ceremony is a tiring experience. No matter how many times we go through it, I never get used to it.”

After that, the conversation turned to much less personal subjects, and Max found herself relaxing more and more. Cora had a very motherly nature to her, and the younger wolf found it easy to talk with her. It was refreshing, especially since she hadn’t had a mother-figure in her life for the past five years. Jess’ mom had done her best, but she had always been careful not to overstep her bounds or make Max feel like she was trying to take her mom’s place. At the time, Max had appreciated her efforts, but now, talking with Cora, she realized just how much she had needed and missed the wisdom and guidance of an older woman.

Cora eventually invited Max back to the house she shared with Alpha Rhys, and somehow managed to bypass the younger girl’s fears by promising they would enter from the back of the house so as not to disturb Rhys and Gavin while they were talking. Added to that, she promised to show Max how to make the apple fritters that Gavin loved so much.

They stepped into the kitchen through the back door, and Max breathed a silent sigh of relief to see that Cora had been truthful in saying that they could get to the kitchen without seeing the men. As much as she wanted to see Gavin again, she most definitely did not want to see Alpha Rhys. She believed everything that Cora had told her, but that didn’t make it any easier to forget or let go of the beliefs she’d held about the man for the last five years. Finding out that he’d been a good friend of her father’s certainly hadn’t helped, even despite Cora’s insistence that he’d tried to find a way out of enacting that particular pack law. It was too hard for her to reconcile the idea of the man who had ordered her father’s death with the man that Cora had described as her father’s good friend.

So, instead, Max chose to focus on the apple fritter recipe that she had been promised, and she paid close attention to what she was told. Occasionally she would interrupt to ask a question, but declined the use of a pen and piece of paper when it was offered to write down the instructions, saying only, “I’ll remember.” She still remembered recipes that her mother had taught her, even though she hadn’t been able to use them in at least five years. Now, though, she was looking forward to making her mother’s recipes for Gavin, in addition to having Cora’s recipe for apple fritters.

Surprising herself, Max had a lot of fun with Cora, and found herself sliding easily into the role of helper, just as she used to do with her mother when she was younger. The familiar feel of the knife in her hand as she chopped up the apples, the smells of the oven preheating and then, later, of the fritters baking on their tray all brought back happy memories that had Max smiling and talking in a way she hadn’t done since her parents had died. She had so much fun that she completely lost track of the time and was utterly surprised to look up and see Gavin and Alpha Rhys standing in the doorway of the kitchen, just watching her and Cora. Max’s cheeks heated up, and she quickly dropped her gaze and spun around so they wouldn’t see. She caught the questioning glance sent her way by her hostess, but only shook her head and stubbornly refused to turn around. She knew from the things that Cora had told her that Alpha Rhys didn’t hate her, didn’t wish her ill or want to see her fail. But she had held that image of him for so long, and she just wasn’t quite ready to let it all go yet. She felt highly uncomfortable in the man’s presence, and was grateful when Cora crossed the room to her husband to press a kiss to his cheek, but didn’t insist that Max turn to greet him too.

Instead, Gavin crossed the room to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, his nose nuzzling through the long hair by her ear to murmur quietly, “You okay?”

Max nodded and leaned her head back to rest against Gavin’s chest, grateful for the moment alone with her mate to compose herself. “He just surprised me, is all. I wasn’t paying attention, and then I looked up and you were both standing there. I wasn’t expecting it, I guess.”

“That’s fair. We smelled the apple fritters baking and decided to come investigate.”

“Are you done with whatever the alpha wanted to talk to you about?”

“Yep. He just wanted to go over the Sentinal’s training schedule with me. We’ve had increased rogue activity near our borders lately, and he just wanted to make sure that our training schedule wouldn’t interfere with our time or ability to be on guard against attack.”

Concerned now, Max turned around in Gavin’s arms and pinned him with a worried gaze. “Do you really think the rogue’s would try to attack us?”

Gavin shrugged. “You never know. We’re one of the larger packs on the west coast, which should give the rogue’s pause, but then again, we hold a lot of territory that they probably want for themselves.”

“Oh. I guess I never thought of it that way.”

Having overheard their conversation, their hosts approached the couple slowly, and Rhys said, “You needn’t worry yourself, Maxanne. Our Sentinals have our safety well in hand. Your mother trained them well, and Gavin here continues to uphold her strict standards in training. His team is well prepared to handle whatever the rogues may throw at us.”

Flustered over the alpha’s sudden presence beside her, Max quickly dropped her gaze to the ground and struggled to find something appropriate to respond with.

Cora recognized her struggle and smoothly interjected. “Rhys, we’ve kept these young people long enough. Let’s let them get home so they can explore their mate bond together in peace.”

“You’re right, of course,” the Alpha told his Luna. “What was I thinking?”

“As usual, you weren’t,” she teased him, making both Rhys and Gavin roar with laughter.

Max, however, just stared back and forth between her alpha and his mate, unsure of what the correct response would be. Could she laugh at his expense too? She thought that might seem a little too disrespectful, but not responding at all seemed disrespectful to her Luna, who had shown her nothing but kindness today. Settling for a strained smile, she tugged on Gavin’s arm in an attempt to silently convey to him that she was ready to go.

Gavin looked down at her and nodded, then turned his attention back to their hosts. “We should be going. Thank you for the fritters, Cora. As always, they’re delicious.”

“Here. Why don’t you take this batch home with you?” While Gavin and Max had been talking, Cora had placed all of the apple fritters she’d baked earlier in the day in a gallon baggie, which she handed to Gavin. “Maxanne and I have just baked a fresh batch here that Rhys can have.” She was obviously well familiar with her mate’s love of baked goods, because he had opened his mouth to protest Gavin and Max taking home all of the fritters. His complaint, however, never made it past his lips once he heard that they would be keeping the fresh batch of apple fritters.

Grinning, Gavin accepted the offering, and said a heartfelt, “Thank you!”

“You’re very welcome, my boy. Now take your lovely mate home and spend the evening together!”

More than happy to do exactly that, the Sentinal said, “Yes ma’am!” and, curling an arm around Max’s waist, led her out of the house where they both turned to wave goodbye to their hosts.

After a moment of hesitation and deliberation, Max ran back up to Cora and threw her arms around the kindly woman’s neck. “Thank you for today,” she murmured sincerely.

“You’re very welcome, my dear. Please come back and visit me again soon. I love having someone to bake with.”

“I will,” Max promised with a smile. Then, slowly, she raised her gaze to her alpha’s face. “Have a good evening, Alpha,” she said quietly, quickly averting her gaze before turning tail and running back to her mate before he could say anything in reply. She was sure the alpha must think her to be a blithering i***t, but at least she’d managed to get past her own fear of the man enough to speak to him. That was groundbreaking progress, in her book.

As though reading her thoughts, Gavin pulled her close and whispered in her ear, “I’m so proud of you.”

Preening now, Beryl dancing giddily in her mind, Max smiled up at him and allowed him to tuck her in close to his side as they walked home.

“Did you still want to drop in on Jess and Teagan?” he wanted to know.

But Max shook her head after a moment of thought. “No. It’s been a long day, full of revelations and surprises. I think I’d just like to have a quiet evening at home with you, if you don’t mind.”

“I don’t mind at all,” Gavin told her gently, smiling down at her and loving the way she looked up at him and the way she’d called his house their home. That’s what he wanted for her, and he was more gratified than he could express that she was already so comfortable with him. “Let’s go home.”