Faithfully Yours (Book 2, Dominantly Yours Series)

One

"Find the place inside where there's joy,

and the joy will burn out the pain."

― Joseph Campbell

Chaos. The kitchen in the pack house was in chaos.

Food containers lined the table, some items inside identifiable, some not. Along the beige granite countertops rested cans of beans, corn, tomatoes, pineapples, and asparagus, all stacked together into a jumbled pile. Scattered throughout the room sat cleaning supplies. There was no empty space anywhere.

Claire's gaze swept throughout the room. How had all of this stuff fit into this kitchen? It seemed impossible.

"Theresa?" Claire called out. She was a bit frightened to find out where the woman would be and in what state of disarray she'd be in.

"Here!" A head popped out from the pantry. "Hi, Claire!"

"Hi." Claire dragged out the word, unable to make her tone match the peppy one Theresa had. "Do you...do you need help?"

"Oh no, honey, I'm fine. It's better if I do this myself." Theresa came out of the pantry to grab a few cans of beans. "Thank you, though."

Theresa had a tendency to clean out the kitchen at least once every two months, and while Claire had lived in the pack house long enough to see her do this multiple times, it still surprised her.

She bit her lip. "I was going to ask if you knew where Nate was, but it looks like you haven't left this room in a while."

"Sorry, dear." Dark strands of Theresa's hair snuck out of her ponytail and Claire watched as she brushed some behind her ear. "Have you tried his office?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Theresa waved her hand in front of her like she was shooing away a fly. "Oh hush, none of that. He's probably in the field today then. Marcus wanted to start up a new training routine and I know Nathaniel loves to be a part of those things." She sighed. "The boy never could resist the chance to train his wolves."

"I'll try that. Thank you." Claire tilted her head. "Have you eaten lunch yet?"

Theresa hesitated, and that gave Claire her answer. "Not yet. I wanted to get these cans reorganized. I swear, someone must be putting stuff back all willy-nilly. I told all the ladies that there is an order to these things, but..." She trailed off.

"Why don't we go out for lunch?" Claire suggested. "I'll find Nate, and that'll give you some time to finish up in here, then we can grab a bite to eat."

Theresa smiled at her. "That sounds lovely, Claire."

With that, Claire went out in search of her mate. It was odd that he'd be anywhere other than his office. They'd had such an influx of wolves joining their pack since Justin's demise. It left Nate with an overabundance of work to do and not enough people to do it. As it was, he'd had to work with the local architect and building designer to set up a new apartment complex to house some of these new people.

Luckily, the next town over had recently opened a new amusement park. The local people had assumed that their town had become popular because they were so close to all the fun. Or at least, that was what the new pack members had been claiming.

They had delegated Gabe to work with Marcus to train these new wolves, while Theresa had showed Claire the ins and outs of being the pack Luna. So far, she'd met so many families she had a hard time keeping names straight.