out her tongue at him and laughed, Ben slapped a hand to his forehead. “I can’t take her anywhere.”
Memory’s poor heart was mush by now. Then Ben took her free hand, his own soft and warm, and she just melted. No matter what anyone else in the pack said to her, this joyful welcome would carry her through.
“You smell weird, too,” Ben said conversationally as the four of them began to walk across the clearing. “Under the Lexie smell.”
“Bad smelly!” Elodie echoed after a sniff . . . but she kept her arms wrapped around Memory’s neck.
Memory took her cue from the pups’ open and friendly demeanor. “It’s from my work,” she said. “It makes me smell weird sometimes.” This was also why she hadn’t canceled her session with Amara—better she know now how the wolves would react.
Alexei had said they’d shrug it off as no big deal, but he was her mate. He loved her. She couldn’t forget how the other Es—such kind, gentle people who’d never hurt her on purpose—had reacted.
“Like after I fell into stinky mud,” Ben commented, while a small hand patted Memory’s curls with gentle curiosity. “Mama made me have a bath and it was better.”
Chest aching at the simple acceptance, she was about to reply when Elodie twisted out of her arms in such a sharp movement that she couldn’t hold the little girl in place.
A cry left her lips, but Elodie didn’t fall, shifting mid-jump into her wolf-pup form.
When she glanced back at Memory, it was with pride in every line of her tiny furred body. Memory’s heart, in contrast, was racing double-time.
“Dee! You can jump-shift!” Ben did a little dance before throwing back his head to emit a small howl.
Memory jumped when he was answered by a far stronger howl from next to Memory—and then the sound was taken up all around them from wolves she couldn’t see, the wild song carrying across the mountains.
The tiny hairs on her arms stood up, the haunting beauty of wolf song rippling in her blood. When her own wolf nipped playfully at her ear, she shivered and slipped her free hand into his. The three of them followed the tiny pup to what turned out to be a door hidden in the side of the mountain.
Beyond that door lay a stone corridor painted with scenes of wolves in the wild. The detail in the paintings was so exquisite that she knew she’d come here again and again, her brain absorbing it a piece at a time. But first she had to set foot inside the den. Her mouth grew dry, her skin hot.
Putting his lips to her ear, Alexei told her she’d already been authorized to enter and exit as she wished. “This door’s hardly ever locked anyway.” A growly kiss that made her feel at home. “Only ones who’ve ever breached the den are the cats, and they’re allies now.” She wanted to laugh at his pretend-scowl. “If the worst ever happens, we have ways to evacuate our vulnerable from deep inside the den, while the dominants fight on the front line.”
Memory trusted Alexei with her life, but she still had to clench her stomach to step inside; her abdominal muscles hurt from the tension.
“We can live outside,” Alexei rumbled. “My den is set up pretty much the same, but—”
“No.” Memory gripped her fear in an unforgiving fist. “I want to be part of a family, live in a big puppy pile.” A place where small pups might run up to her at any moment expecting a cuddle, and where passing packmates would wave hello.
Like the tall redhead currently heading toward them, her walk fluid and unmistakably feline. “Congratulations,” Mercy said, a wicked glint in her eye. “Guess the wolf food fetish paid off.”
Memory felt a giggle form in her throat. “I’m going to frame that Wild Woman column.”
Mercy winked, her grin wide.
Alexei, meanwhile, was sending the two of them a distinctly suspicious look. “Are you two friends? How did you end up friends with a cat? Have I taught you nothing?”
“I’m a lioness,” she reminded him. “Which means you’re mated to a cat.”
“Dear God.”
Ignoring his aghast words, Mercy kissed him on the cheek, then did the same to Memory. “I can’t wait to dance at your mating ceremony.”
“She smells bad because of her work,” piped up a small voice from beside Memory, while Elodie ran back to stand between Alexei’s booted feet, annoyed at missing out on the fun.
“We’ve all been there,” Mercy