"None of that," I told her. "Now go put some clothes away. I'm going to do what Dr. Ashley ordered and enjoy a full-size tub for once."
"Ok," she agreed, hurrying to the stairs. "And I'm going to text my friends about the new people I met. They'll be so jealous!"
"Just find your clothes for school while you do it!" I yelled after her.
Then I flopped back against the door and watched her go. Only one day after we got here, and she was already starting to accept this. It was going to actually work out. This was not nearly as bad as I had expected.
Which meant it really was going to be ok.
CHAPTER 8
When the last guest finally left, I began to gather up the trash. Once I had an entire garbage bag full, I headed inside to find my sister at the sink, rinsing glasses to put them in the dishwasher. Seth was on the other side of the kitchen, putting away the leftovers. Pax and Trent were nowhere to be seen, but Lane was sitting in the living room, in his human form, sipping a glass of scotch.
"How ya doing, man?" I asked.
He bobbed his head a few times, took another sip, then grunted. That seemed to be pretty much all he was willing to say.
I kept going, carrying the garbage out to the bin in the garage, then came back, pausing by the sink to see how much more Ashley had to do. She caught my eye and leaned closer.
"Is he ok?"
"Not really." I turned, leaning my rump against the counter so I could see both of them. "Lane? You gonna tell Ashley?"
"Nope."
"Then I'm going to, because she needs to know."
He just took another drink, but my sister had turned off the water and was looking at me with worry in her eyes. "What's going on?"
"Seems your former beta has met the woman of his dreams. He got hit with a fate reaction tonight."
"No shit?" she asked, sounding a little too excited about that as she hurried across the room to him. "Who, Lane? Please tell me she's not married to someone else!"
"Well, she won't be soon." With a sigh, he put down his drink. "It's Elena."
Ashley's eyes went wide. "Really?"
He slowly nodded. "Fire on my skin, light in my eyes, ringing in my ears. The whole thing. I just think I scared her while I was at it, because I was leaning over her, and all I could think was that she smelled so good, like strawberries and syrup. It's her shampoo."
She blew out a heavy breath. "Lane, she doesn't know about us."
"Yep, I've been told that. A lot."
"What are you going to do?"
He shrugged. "I thought drinking might be a good start. Ash, she's never going to go for a man like me. She's..." He fumbled for a moment, starting and stopping words before he settled on, "Perfect."
"She's not," Ashley assured him. "Elena is too timid sometimes and too stubborn at others. She's never been allowed to make her own decisions, and her big goal is to be independent. Look, just... Go easy on her, ok?"
"Doesn't work that way," I pointed out, lifting my voice so it would reach them. "His hormones are going to be on overdrive for a while, and he's more likely to rip someone apart than buy flowers. C'mon, Ash, you know how this goes."
"Kinda don't," she told me. "I have never met anyone with the condition, have you?"
I nodded. "When I was in boarding school, one of the teachers was fated for one of the dads. Thought she was going to tear the man's wife apart. No idea how that ended, but Dad said that's what it was."
"Ok," she breathed, shifting to her knees before Lane. "What are you going to do?"
"I dunno," he admitted.
"You know you can't be her mate, though," she reminded him. "Not while you're Ian's beta. It's one or the other."
"Actually..." I said. "If she's my mate, he could."
And she dropped onto her butt, her mouth hanging open to gape at me. "No. She's not some bimbo for you to bend over, use up, and dump. That's my best fucking friend, ok?"
"Yeah, and you didn't notice that she's exactly my type? Or Lane's? Pax thinks she's hot, Trent's cool with it, and Seth doesn't seem to care."
"You don't just decide someone's going to be your mate, Ian. She gets a bit of a say in this as well!"