Heat

VI.

Dinner. Most important things happen over dinner. Jeanne, Ethan's mom, greeted me when we came back in. She seemed to have a warm hug for anyone that she met. She had a warm and cozy atmosphere about her like a cabin in snow but she was seated by the warm fire instead of the blistering cold. Dinner wouldn't start for another hour or so but people slowly made their ways through the door and spread out to either the kitchen or the living room. I felt a bit useless just standing around and not knowing anybody so I looked for Ethan or his mom.

"Mrs. Mahoney?" I say softly approaching her. She turns and beams at me.

"Oh dear just call me Jean, no need for formalities with me" she said grasping my shoulder and laughing a little at my formality.

"Oh, sorry Jean" I laugh feeling more awkward now too.

"What's up lady" she asks smiling and turning from the group of moms she was talking to.

"I was just wondering if there was something I could help with, maybe in the kitchen?" I offer to her. Her eyes light up and she hugs me tightly.

"Oh that is so nice of you, we don't need too much help" she gushes at me. She seemed a bit too happy that I had offered to help out but it didn't seem like they were short handed in the slightest so I wasn't sure why she was so happy.

"Let me go introduce you to some people you should familiarize yourself with" she hugs my shoulder and ushers me to a new group of ladies. They were significantly older than her and as we approached them their noses scrunched up as if my odor was assaulting them. I silently sniffed the air but couldn't find a foul odor around. It was mostly wet bark, dirt, grass and pine. I awkwardly tugged my hoodie up my neck a bit more with my free hand and tried to avoid eye contact with them.

"Ladies" Jeanne captures their attention with a firm motherly voice, "this is going to be our newest member once her training is done. Her name is Edan" Jeanne's eyes were menacing but he smile was forced to be sweet and endearing. Almost like a mother introducing her child and threatening the crowd to be nice.

"Hello, p-pleasure to meet you all" I stammer and wave awkwardly with a smile. Their faces are etched with skepticism and eye brows raise slightly as they take in my appearance. One of them breaks the awkward silence to embrace me in a hug. It takes me completely by surprise, which takes me a bit to respond before I hug back.

"Good to finally meet you Edan" the lady pulls me back to take a good look at me. She was smaller than me about five foot and covered with wrinkles. Her eyes have greyed and her hair was wispy white. She couldn't have been more than seventy-five years old, definitely an elder.

"Pleasure dear" the next of the four elder ladies speaks up and reaches out to tug on my shoulder. The other two just bowed their heads and kept their feet planted with weary stares.

"Darling this is Mrs. Matilda, Ethan's grandmother" she pointed to the one hugging me, "this lovely young lady here is Mrs. Connor and the two standoffish old timers are the sisters Hazel and Rhea" Jeanne sent a sneer to the sisters and they averted their gaze. I noticed Jeanne must hold some power around here. She was the respect mother of the Alpha which probably did mean she was a too dog.

"Lovely to meet you all" I smile at them but feel a little overwhelmed. They were the ones that would be judging me at the ceremony to become a pack member. As if on que I feel Ethan's hand on my shoulder and tug me away from the two clinging elders.

"Ladies, I see you've met our new pack member to be" Ethan greeted them with a warm smile but he appeared very annoyed with them.

"Oh Ethan did you bring her in!" Mrs. Matilda gushes and latches on to him now. I see Ethan roll his eyes and I let out a quiet giggle. It was cute seeing his grandmother cling to him.