Seven mates for seven brothers

31- You remembered.

Cassy was getting slightly more on edge, the closer it got to dinner time; but luckily, the sauna seemed to have done the trick for Alex. 

He was more relaxed, and was even happier when he saw that Cassy was right once again about the guys getting more done while he was out of their way.  He made a mental note to leave the guys to their own devices in the future more often.

When Carter and Conrad arrived from their last appointment with a client, they had the same mixed reactions the others had to the news that their father might be coming for dinner.  Alex privately shared his thoughts about the effect the oath might have had, or in this case; not have had.  Most of the brothers decided to wait and see how things developed, although all of them told Brian that they thought Alex was being much too forgiving.  Carter did mention that being mated did affect how he viewed his father’s actions and Derrick agreed with him; leaving the unmated brothers with food for thought.

As usual when it was a pleasant evening, Cassy made the boys take a table out for dinner; and was grateful again for Lucy and Lee’s assistance in preparing dinner.  They had left as soon as Cassy came to take over, Lee saying that they had been invited to dinner at Duncan’s.  Cassy suspected that the invitation to dinner was to try and find out how things were going at the pack grounds.  The four guys from Blue Rain pack had moved in to one of the houses temporarily and got their dinners brought to them.  Apparently, they preferred spending the evenings more quietly; so they would not be present if William came to dinner.

With so many things claiming her attention at once, she missed the appearance of the brown and black wolf just inside the tree line.  She did notice the others when they became tense, but they all relaxed at Alex’s command.

The last thing he wanted was for his father to take off again.  With the meeting three days away, it would be good to get things back to normal.  Or at least as close to normal this bunch could get.

Alex had the others carry on with what they had been busy with and kept his eye on the skittish wolf; it looked as if he was ready to sneak back into the trees at any time.  Gratefully he saw him edge closer after a sniff; he had a short moment to regret Cassy did not do the cooking; her cooking could lead people around by the nose.

Slowly but surely he crept closer and closer, staying just inside the trees until he was standing directly across from them, and he had to decide to stay or leave.  It was clear from the twitching ears and the way he kept glancing into the trees that he was not sure about coming out.

Cassy could not stand the suspense any more.  She folded her arms and tapped her feet.  “Are you going to watch us eat or are you going to join us?”

A shocked silence filled the air, but to their amazement, the wolf straightened up a bit and walked up to them slowly; sniffing the air as he got closer.  When at last he stood in front of them, Cassy stood to the front and held a robe to him.

“Please shift.”  She asked.

At first it seemed as if he was going to bolt, but when Cassy said ‘please’ again, he sniffed at it disdainfully.

“I suppose I could fetch a dog bowl if you want?”

“Cassy!”  Alex called out, stunned that she could be so blunt; but to his relief, the wolf just stared at her before shifting.

‘Thank you William.”  Cassy said, holding the robe out to him again.

He stuck his hand out and took the robe but hesitated to put it on.  When everybody stood quietly waiting for him, he clumsily threw it around his shoulders.  Cassy stepped up and helped him by tying the sash in front for him, taking notice that his mark was not as strong as any of the mated brothers.  She speculated that all the brothers would be better marked than their father once they were fully mated.