seemed to go okay. You were more comfortable once the food arrived. Are we good?”
I waited until we were in my sunroom to answer. “I have no idea what we are, but it feels like you’re wanting this to go faster than I think I’m prepared for.”
“Fair enough. I love this room.”
“Me too.”
He walked to the back of it, where I have easels set up, and a worktable. Several low storage units hold my painting supplies.
“What an incredible workspace, with all the natural light you can stand during the day, I’m sure.”
“Yes. The lighting in here is full spectrum, for when my creative jags go into the night.” It was twilight outside, so the room was as softly lit as the landscape outside.
He looked out, towards the pool area, and asked, “Was the waterfall flowing into the pool already here when you bought the property?”
“It was, but it was growing green things when I viewed the house. Didn’t matter — my cat wanted it as much as me.”
“I can see her on top of it, watching over her territory. You didn’t show me this room before.”
He said it as a statement, but I heard his unasked question.
“No. It’s personal. Not for guests. My space. The cat wanted me to show you.”
“Your bedroom is your space, too. I smelled a hint of Nora, but not the boys. Their scent is mostly in the kitchen and media room.”
“And the backyard. They love the pool in particular, but they also climb the trees and run and play. Little wolves in training.”
“The cat sees them as kits?”
I shrugged. “Pups. She’s a realist, but they’re still our pups.”
“Nora is beyond pup.”
“Children most need to be loved at the exact moment they are the hardest to love.” I turned to look out at my backyard again. “She’s teetering on the line between child and young adult. Between pup and wolf. I need to love her like a child while expecting her to figure out how to be an adult.” I turned back to him. “We can’t coddle her. I guess I’m learning what the term tough love means. She can’t show aggression to guests, especially not while in her wolf form. I have plenty of yard work that needs to be done. I’m going to tell Gil that his naughty little princess needs to mow and trim and weed my yard Saturday. Maybe pressure wash the portion of brick fence you see as you pull into the driveway.”
“Sounds reasonable.”
I sighed. “You think she needs more?”
“I have no idea what she needs, but I know if she pulls that shit as an adult, the Pack Alpha will have to take action a whole lot worse than that, and if she does something like that to a human, she’ll face the Concilio.”
He wasn’t wrong, and the thoughts of her screwing up and coming to the attention of the Concilio turned my stomach to lead. “Yeah. Might be good for me to remind Gil of that.” I was ready to talk about something else. “You gave me orders, tonight.”
“Only when you needed direction.”
Was he right? I considered the times he’d given them, and he was. It’d been when I wasn’t sure what to do. He hadn’t just bossed me around willy nilly.
“You caught me off guard. I wasn’t prepared to face... them.”
“I know, and you’re welcome, since you didn’t have to stress over how it would go ahead of time. I helped you through the rough parts, but you did fine. I have a few texts from my brothers, telling me they understood what I meant now. You’re Cheyenne now, not Banshee.”
“Yes, but I still have to make things right — with the club as a whole, and with Squatch, personally.” I’d talked to Squatch when he came out of the bathroom and apologized to him, but I knew that wasn’t going to be enough.
“Yes. The other sweetbutts need to see a resolution.” He shrugged. “It’s more than that, but I don’t think I have to explain it.”
No. He didn’t. I got it. You can’t disrespect a biker and expect things to be okay. Payment had to be made. It wasn’t even about them saving face, but about making a point. That wasn’t exactly it either, but I still understood that I’d have to publicly show humility and accept pain.
“Yes,” I told him. “Which is why I’m surprised you seem to be moving so fast. What if I won’t go through with whatever has to happen?”