Ever Cynical

Chapter 4- Dinner... Mates?

Anais POV

I had to be dreaming. There was no way that this cloud I was sinking into was real. Clouds weren’t solid masses-. They were water vapor that looked pretty but had no substance. And what cloud is close enough to a restaurant or maybe a barbecue that you can actually smell it? Like the best smell in recent memory, and I was starving. I half expected a steak to float past me or something.

I was right, I was dreaming, but the cloud was my guest bed, and the smell was apparently dinner.

Wiping off my drool, I got up and dug in my duffle for the only pink thing I own, a pair of bunny slippers. I slid them on and went downstairs. I have this thing ever since I traveled to Japan about wearing slippers inside. I checked my phone and disabled my alarm. 5:40 PM. When I reached the kitchen, I saw a woman bustling around with two other girls. She smiled and waved at me. Well, at least somebody around here was welcoming.

“Hi, you must be Helga?” I asked. She nodded.

“Have a seat in the dining room, Ms. Allard. Just down the hall a bit.” She gestured to her right.

“Sure, but please, call me Anais. No need for formality.” I grinned, and she winked back before returning to her task.

I found the massive dining room, set up with rows of tables for eight, with one main table turned perpendicular to the rest. Right, private community. I found Kieran and his team already seated at the odd table and walked over to them. Ever get that feeling like people were just talking about you but stopped and now everyone is silent? Ugh.

“Hello, boys.” Their heads all whipped to me. Ooh fun. Now I knew their best insta-button and it was an easy one. “I will apologize now, because I tend to offend people with my lack of filter and sense of humor. Sorry about that, don’t take it personally.” They nodded, though Kieran’s eyes remained on my face. What he was looking for, who knows. I looked out the windows at the setting sun, feeling oddly uncomfortable under his stare. “After all, it’s temporary. I won’t be here forever.”

The table rattled as Kieran stood suddenly, breathing hard and looking at me sharply. Oooookaaaay. Geoff tugged at his hand, and just as quickly as he’d appeared beyond angry and... hurt? He was back to normal, jaw clenched and seemingly annoyed I was there. How I had managed to get on his bad side so quickly was beyond me.

I really didn't need his weird-ass bullshit. I was still exhausted and all I really wanted was peace and quiet. Maybe it was good that I usually only watched people rather than interacted, if this was the kind of attitude I was going to have to deal with. I still had no idea what it was about me that pissed him off. If I knew, maybe I could adjust, but it was like everything I did rubbed salt in some sort of wound.

“You know what? I’m sure the lovely Helga can just make me a plate and I’ll go eat in my room. I mean, your whole group eats here, I doubt they want an outsider, right?” Kieran glared daggers at me and opened his mouth before Lugh put up a hand, shushing him.

“No need, we have guests all the time. We’re not a closed-off cult or something.” Lugh smirked. “Pretty sure your place is right here at this table, as our... honored guest. Okay? Please sit next to Kieran.” He gestured to the chair on Kieran’s right. Sighing, I sat. Kieran’s cheeks were flushed as people began to filter in. They looked over curiously, but I noticed that even the older people didn’t look that old. In fact, I could not tell you how I instinctively knew they were any older than their appearance, but I did. Maybe their auras? I shrugged.

Once everyone was seated a delicious meal of ribeye steak, fully loaded baked potato, and kale salad with poppyseed dressing and dried cranberries was served. The girls from the kitchen also went around handing out beverages if people needed a refresh. There were in total about two hundred people. Once everyone was settled, Helga and the girls also sat down and set to eating. I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a meal more, and that is saying something.

Other than the glares Kieran was tossing my way, of course.

I could feel Kieran’s intense gaze on me, but decided to ignore his grumpiness and enjoy both the excellent food, red wine, and the fact that I had slept for five hours straight. My constant insomnia meant that I rarely slept for more than two hours, if at all. Occasionally I’d get so exhausted I literally passed out, but I took cat naps to prevent that most of the time because put simply, it was dangerous. I had done so well keeping myself unknown. The last thing I needed was a hospital visit, or to be kidnapped.

Weird fear I know, but during my travels, I’d seen some pretty crazy s**t.

Once I was done, the weight of Kieran’s gaze and accompanying silence got to be too much. I planned to hide out here for as long as I could, and I needed their leader to be on board. I had to make this hater my best friend. I turned to him and smiled brightly. He pulled back as if I had gone rabid and was about to bite him.

Great, looking good so far! Full sarcasm, right there.

“Now that I am absolutely stuffed with Helga’s wonderful food, I’m going to shower and go to bed. We’ll get started at seven AM. Sound good?” He just stared back at me and nodded slowly. Better than nothing, I suppose. I waved to everyone else, and they tentatively waved back, still unsure of my presence. Kieran was still staring after me with an odd expression. I hurried back to my room, pulled out my “pajamas,” a soft old black tee I’d cut into a slouchy crop top and short black plaid flannel shorts, and made my way into the bathroom.

I know I said shower, but this girl had herself the first fully immersive hot bath she’d had since... well, a while. I’d been ducking in and out of barely functional dingy motels for far too long. Not to mention, despite Kieran’s apparent hostility, I felt totally safe. Relaxed and even sleepier than before, I dried off and put on my PJ’s. My hair was still wet, but at this point I was so sluggish I didn’t care. I set my alarm for six thirty AM and promptly fell asleep to dreaming of Kieran’s intense eyes and eminently kissable lips. I wonder how his slight stubble would feel if I rubbed my cheek on his? Don’t judge me, he’s hot, okay?

Kieran POV

I’m not sure what all just happened, and the utter confusion she has me suffering from is mortifying. Geoff waved his hand in my face. Everyone was watching me, so I smiled reflexively. They quickly returned to their conversations and food, reassured. If only I felt reassured. I sighed heavily. This was getting complicated. My hands were itching to plunge into my hair, yet again.

Guess that's my stress tell.

“Kier, you gotta chill out, or she is going to realize something is off here.” I snapped my eyes to Geoff's. I hated it when anyone referred to our community as anything... strange.

“Nothing is off with-” He raised his hands in surrender at my combative tone.

“We all know that, but you know how the world is. While I doubt Anais is the type to share secrets, we have to be cautious until we know for sure. I mean, she’s your mate. We will have to tell her. She had no idea she was partially rejecting you.” He whispered to me.

Yeah, I know what you’re thinking. A werewolf, really?

Yeah, and not just any werewolves. Immortals. Generally speaking, werewolves are pretty long-lived, and self-heal but we’re basically indestructible. This is why I got pissed when Anais called us boys. I am nearly two hundred years old, born on the Oregon Trail as my parents traveled out here. My team was born within a few weeks of me, as is typical for ranked wolves.

Back before our birth rates dropped so abysmally.

The thing with Immortals is that there are two specific circumstances in which we cannot recover, and with how... experimental and creative other supernaturals and humans could get, a select few knew how to end our kind permanently. This is why we were so private. At this point, after we’d been reduced to less than five hundred worldwide from our peak of five thousand, we had mostly been left alone as long as we kept to ourselves. We didn’t even get involved with politics other than a single annual alpha conference. There was no way the Alpha King was letting me get out of that. I’d barely managed to convince him he didn’t need one of us on the Elder Council. I wasn’t going to be the one to tempt fate. About half of our total population were here with me. They trusted me as alpha to keep them safe.

Hence the upgrades. We had to have at least as much as the people or beings that might come after us.

We could only have pups with our fated mates, which is why Anais made me both excited and totally freaked out. As far as I can tell she is human, and Immortals are never fated to humans. That I know of, anyway.

Unless I missed something?

I mean I was so flustered it was completely possible. Information on our kind was limited, since so much had been destroyed over the years. I knew my ranked friends were wondering why I didn’t just claim her, knowing I definitely wanted her. We had not survived this long undisturbed for me to mess it up until I was sure. Immortals also were not the most fertile, even with their mates. Heat only came once a year, and the success rate had declined to around 30% of heats ending in pregnancy. Year after year the numbers of pups continued to drop.

I turned to Geoff and sighed.

“I know that it’s just painful is all, even if unintended. I will just have to see how tomorrow goes.”