Dark Wolf (Spirit Wild) - By Kate Douglas Page 0,94
at Lily, and as so often happened, he couldn’t look away from her. She wore a crop top and loose yoga pants and her long hair was twisted up on top of her head, held in place with what looked like a couple of chopsticks.
He’d never seen a more beautiful woman in his life.
“Sorry, Mr. Cheval. I can’t seem to help myself.”
Her dad let out a long, dramatic sigh. “I think you can drop the ‘Mr. Cheval’ and go with my given name. I have a feeling we’ve moved beyond formalities.”
Lily glanced at Sebastian, and he knew she expected some kind of teasing comment, but he was looking at her, not at Anton. “Thank you. I certainly hope so.”
Did she have any idea how he felt about her? How much he hated the fact that his father stood between them? Somehow, Aldo Xenakis had to be stopped, but the first thing they had to do was figure out how to keep him out of their heads.
The memory—or lack of memory—of his time running with Lily haunted him. That couldn’t happen again. He wouldn’t allow it to happen again.
He turned abruptly away from Lily and focused on her father. “Okay, Anton. Where do we start?”
They broke for lunch around two, only because Lily’s mother swept into the den with a tray of sandwiches and insisted her husband take time to eat. “He gets grumpy when he misses a meal,” she said in a rather loud whispered aside to Sebastian.
Lily hugged her mom, Anton kept his mouth shut, and Sebastian wanted to bless the woman for feeding him before he keeled over. Breakfast had been hours ago, and the work Anton had them doing, though it was mental, not physical, was exhausting, drawing on whatever reserves he might have had.
They ate, cleared away the mess, and Sebastian carried the empty tray to the kitchen. Keisha stood at the big restaurant-sized range, checking the temperature on a roast that looked like it could feed an army.
“We do feed an army,” she said when he commented. “It’s my night to cook. You’ll see Stefan and Xandi Aragat, Alex’s parents—you met them last night. Possibly Oliver and Mei. You might have seen them as snow leopards last night. I know Lisa and Tinker McClintock will be here. There might even be more than usual, as I imagine they’ll be curious about you.”
He didn’t ask, but she answered, anyway. “You’re the first young man our daughter has ever brought home. The pack is already buzzing about your presence, so be ready to answer a lot of questions, some not at all subtle.” She slid the roast back into the oven, stood, and leaned against the counter beside the stove.
“I hope Alex and Annie come. Lily always said those two were meant for each other, but I never could see them as a pair. I was wrong. It’s a lesson well learned.” She smiled at him. “I need to pay heed to what our daughter says. Anyway, Sebastian, our doors are always open to members of the pack. To you, as well, since you obviously have our daughter’s blessing.”
She was so warm, so accepting that he stood there a moment, speechless. He felt as if something inside broke free, and he wondered if it was the darkness he’d carried in his soul. Then he sensed Anton’s call. It was time to go back. “Thank you,” he said. And for some reason, he, who was never comfortable with people he didn’t know well, leaned over and kissed Keisha’s cheek. “You’ve made me feel very welcome. It means more than you can possibly imagine.”
She took both his hands in hers. “You are welcome, Sebastian. I feel the good in you, and I feel my daughter’s love for you.” She smiled. “Like I said, I’ve learned to trust Lily. In case you hadn’t noticed, she’s an amazing young woman. Now hurry. I sense my impatient spouse growing anxious.”
It was after five before he and Lily escaped, with plans to return for dinner by eight, but Anton’s parting words stayed with him. Lily had gone ahead when her father stopped him at the door and put both his hands on Sebastian’s shoulders.
“You’re a good man,” he’d said. “A worthy man. Aldo Xenakis may have provided the sperm that gave you life, but you are not your father’s son. You are your mother’s, and I believe she was Chanku.” Then he’d laughed and dropped a bombshell on Sebastian.