Of Doms & Subs

Fire Good, Bring More Trees

While the others debated the merits of burial at sea vs woodchippers and lye, Ellie caught my eyes with her own hazel ones before she ducked her head and went upstairs with several empty popcorn bowls. I followed a moment later.

"I-if," she stuttered, swallowed hard, then started again as she loaded the dishwasher. Everyone else knew to leave the cleanup to Ian and Gordon as it was their turn, but she seemed to need something to do with her hands. "What's my timeline for making a decision?"

"The ceremony to bring a new member into a pack is done on the full moon, which is in eleven days." A look flickered across her face that suggested she was aware of the math, but refrained from interrupting as I gave a brief description of the ritual. To her credit, she didn't bat an eye at the thought of consuming my flesh.

I fell into a practiced relaxed pose in the hopes that it would put her more at ease as it often had with others in the past. Even if she wasn't adept at reading body language, or even consciously aware, her wolf would pick up on my cues. I was glad that she had not yet learned to smell emotions and would have to believe what I allowed my face to reveal, which was currently wearing the mask of patient mentor. What I felt, however, was worlds away from what showed.

"If I were to join a pack, what would be expected of me?" I smiled at the conditionals, though they lacked the same determination as before.

"Monthly meetings. A ten percent tithe once you find employment, which goes towards things like helping members get back on their feet, new wolves, and the like. No one would ask you to fight, but any pack would benefit from your medical expertise." Her eyebrows quirked up in surprise. "Fast healing can present its own issues, like bones that aren't set properly." Soft, dusky pink lips pursed in thought as her sharp, sky-blue eyes with a touch of green and honey at the center flickered back and forth in contemplation of various scenarios.

"You already have Alan for that." That was not the conclusion I was expecting.

"As great as Alan is, he's only one person, who has a full-time job," I pointed out. "What if, God forbid, he was hurt? Or there were more injured than he could handle at once?"

"Does that happen often?" Instead of appearing stricken at the prospect, or for not having considered those possibilities first, her eyes narrowed shrewdly as if she were already calculating assets and performing triage in her mind.

"Even once is too often." Ellie accepted that non-answer without digging further.

"Even though I have to give it up as a career?" she asked bitterly. That was when realization hit like a hammer between the eyes. Nursing was more than a job to her. She'd all but said that her ex forbade her to work. Then she took his money to rebuild herself by going to school.

"Your wolf will see frightened patients as prey," I said gently. The dismay she tried to hide nearly broke my old, cynical heart. "Even if the humans would let you once they figured out who you are."

"Any specific duties for an unmated, submissive female?" She turned her back to me to wipe down the counters in a way that suggested they'd personally affronted her. Her scent was a confusing mix of fear tinged with arousal. Evidently, she found her emotions bewildering as well because when she worked her way around to face me again a rosy pink had blossomed across her cheeks even as a furrow developed between her brows.

"Help out when and where you can as the situation calls. As a submissive, your presence can have a calming effect on us sociopaths." And Shane accused me of having no sense of humour.

"I think you mean 'psychopath'," she muttered. A smile threatened to lift the corners of my mouth. "And I seem to have the opposite effect on ya'll."