The Mating (The original Law of the Lycans story)

Chapter 15

Elise and Helen worked together to clean up the meeting room, having sent Carrie off to bed. With her pregnancy so far advanced, she tired easily and her ankles were swollen. As Elise gathered paper plates and napkins, she glanced towards the front of the room. A few people still remained talking to Kane and John. Marla was standing near the edge of the group and seemed to be trying to catch Kane's attention, but the Alpha was too busy to notice.

Helen walked by with the remains of the slab cake and paused, taking in the scene. "Marla made a strategic error tonight when she mentioned selling the land. Now she's trying to backpedal. Kane loves this place and he's been worried sick about losing even a corner of it. Her 'playing devil's advocate' line didn't go over well. William could get away with it—Kane knows he's a crafty old coot and was just setting things up so the facts could be stated—but Marla was simply planting seeds of doubt. It's going to take something pretty big to get her back into Kane's good graces." Smiling smugly, Helen went on her way.

Elise finished collecting the garbage, keeping one eye on the group at the front. Eventually, it was down to Kane, John, Marla, and Franz. Marla was looking distinctly irritated that Kane was basically ignoring her, and Elise wondered how the woman couldn't get the message. Shrugging, Elise began to gather the chairs, stacking them in the corner.

"Elise, I can do that." Kane began to walk away from the group, but Marla grabbed his arm.

"Kane, I need to talk to you—" The curvaceous blonde pressed herself closer to Kane, but he stepped away.

"Marla, I'm tired. Whatever you need to say, you can tell John."

"Oh, but I was hoping you'd be able to drive me home tonight. One of my headlights isn't working and..."

Kane cut her off. "Franz is heading into town, aren't you Franz?" The man nodded. "I'm sure he'd be willing to give you a lift, or follow behind your car, to make sure you get home in one piece." Pulling his arm free, Kane walked away and started to fold up chairs, failing to see the astonished look on Marla's face, which then turned into a pout. Abruptly, the woman turned and stomped out of the room. John and Franz just shrugged and continued their conversation.

Elise had watched the whole incident with interest. Helen was right. Kane was upset and Marla would have to do some fancy footwork to get on his good side again. The thought pleased her and she was barely able to stifle her smile. Kane was her mate, and while she wasn't sure exactly how she felt about him, she did know that she couldn't tolerate the idea of Marla getting her claws into him.

Between the two of them, they had the chairs put away in no time. John carried the coffee urn upstairs and Helen declared that the room was 'good enough' for the night. "We can vacuum, wipe the tables, and deal with the presents tomorrow. I don't know about you young people, but my old body doesn't appreciate being up until midnight anymore." With that, Helen took her leave and John headed upstairs as well. Turning off the lights, Kane put his arm around Elise's waist and led her to their suite.

Once upstairs, he wearily began to pull his shirt off, stretching his neck as his tense muscles twinged. "What a day. I'm exhausted." He dropped to the edge of the bed and pulled off his shoes and socks then rested his forearms on his knees. "I don't know how it was for you, but the unease of the pack during that meeting was really noticeable to me. I'm not sure if John and I managed to reassure them sufficiently or not." He exhaled gustily and rubbed the back of his neck.

Remembering her thoughts during dinner, Elise sat down beside him and began to rub his shoulders. "I think you did the best that you could, given the circumstances. It seems to me that with so much happening all at once, there's really no way to completely soothe everyone's concerns. You presented the facts, stated what you were doing to deal with the issues, and now they have to have faith that their Alpha will do his job."