Seven mates for seven brothers

32- To the sauna

It was in the early hours of the morning that Alex, Carter and Derrick came back home, the bachelors had decided to stay out longer with Ethan; and when Alex softly and quietly tried to get in bed; he was surprised when Cassy grabbed his arm and pulled him down next to her.

“So, how’d it go?”  She asked sleepily as she snuggled closer to him.

“Ethan wanted to come back soon after we started; would you want to guess why?”

“Lucy?”  Cassy answered in a ‘duh’ tone of voice.

“Lucy.”  He shook his head.  “That boy has almost convinced himself that she is his mate; what happens when he finds out she isn’t?”

Cassy sighed before commenting, and Alex watched the way the moonlight caught her hair and made it shine in the dim light.  “They will both be disappointed for a while, but it should not stop them from being friends.  Their relationship will just not go any further; well, much further.  But; if they are, that is what you should be worried about.”

Alex chuckled softly, the sound vibrating through her body.  “Why should I be worried about him finding his mate when I am so lucky to have found you?”

Cassy trailed her finger lightly over his lips; so very pleased at his words.  “You say the sweetest things sometimes.”

“Only sometimes?”  He pretended to be hurt by her words.  “And don’t think you are going to get away with it.”

She frowned.  “Get away with what?”

“Changing the subject.  Why should I be worried if Lucy is Ethan’s mate?  I think it is a very good match.  She is a sweet child.  A bit spirited perhaps, but kind and honest.  She and Ethan are well matched actually.”

“OK.  Let’s speculate.  Ethan finds that Lucy is his mate.  He is fifteen, four months away from sixteen while she has just turned fifteen.  Do you think that he would want to claim her and finalize the mating right away?”  Cassy asked, and Alex could see that she was genuinely concerned, and he hugged her closer.

“Don’t worry about it my love.”  He assured her and gave her a noisy kiss on her nose.  “Ethan has been doing hardly anything but think about her the whole time we were out running.  The others were quite fed up about it, and made us mated brothers only want to come back home to our mates.”

Alex lay back, staring at the ceiling.  “He has already decided what he is going to do; so if she is, and he hopes she is; and for his sake, so do I.  He is going to wait until she changes before claiming her.  He feels that it is the right thing to do.  Although, in the back of his mind, I was rather sure he had plans to make sure she spent as much time in the sauna as possible to speed up the process as much as possible.”

They laughed together at that.

“But what if Lucy insists?”  Cassy wanted to know.

“I am sure that he will be able to convince her to go along with his idea.  He can be pretty resourceful sometimes; if he has to.  Besides, he said he wanted to finish school first; and is going to try and convince her to switch to homeschooling as well so that she can try and finish sooner as well.  By now he only has a couple of months left before he starts exams.”

“And do you think he is going to be strong enough.  He is a new wolf you know; restraint is going to be a bit hard at first.”

“He thought about that as well; and asked me a few questions.”  Alex teasingly did not say anything else.

Cassy looked at him expectantly and he only smiled back at her.  “OK,” she growled at him.  “I’ll bite.  What did he ask about?”

“Well, he wanted to know if her scent would be the same before as after she shifted, or if it would be different.  So I told him that I was not too sure how it would be for him if they were mates; with her not changed yet.  Honestly; I told him to ask you in the morning.  I have not dealt with pre-shift girls at all, and I never really noticed.  Most of the women I met were mated, so they did not appeal to me at all.”  He shrugged.  “I do not have any advice to give in this situation.  Just make sure I am present when he asks.”