Page 37 of Wolf's Mark

We’d had a few conversations years before over drinks and whatever football team I’d been into and I’d explained our world. What it had been and what it had evolved into. Since then, the fact that I was a wolf almost never entered into a conversation. There was no need.

“Because you might be right,” I told him.

“As usual, Mother is fashionably late,” Riker said. I sensed he was still concerned but was able to hide his feelings better than everyone else in the family. “She’s doing this on purpose too. You know how she is.”

“I do have other business to attend to,” Chase insisted. He walked to the window, staring out at the parking lot. “And if she has some other rules about mating, fuck her.”

“Stop it,” I snapped. “She is our mother and she’s not happy about the council’s decision.”

I had business as well, although now I was thinking about dinner with Sedona. I was pushing the envelope. I knew that. Hell, when I’d carried her back to her bedroom, I’d noticed there was a child’s room in her house as well.

Getting involved with anyone was still risky given my ancestry. Doing so with a woman who had a child placed my actions in another category altogether.

A risky one.

Plus, she was human.

There was always a chance one or all of us would someday need to shift, which would mean destroying any concept of normalcy within a relationship.

Maybe that’s why the three of us remained unmarried.

Parker moved closer, stepping in front of me. “What’s going on, buddy?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“But you suspect something is on Mary’s mind.”

“She’s always thinking,” I told him. And she was. “There was a meeting of the council yesterday and it left some unanswered questions.”

“Wolves. You have more politics than any humans I know,” Parker quipped. “But your mother is damn good at business.”

Yes, she was. She’d been the one to think of new body styles and additional marketing methods, her keen sense of knowing helping us create an empire. She was also one of the oldest wolves that I knew, which made her knowledge of the past invaluable. As with all wolves, we aged at a much slower rate than humans.

She appeared in her late fifties when she was at least three hundred years old. Yet she’d had children much later in life. The specifics of our anatomy were the stuff science fiction novels were made of and scientists would love to expose.

Even if they had to carve us into little pieces to find the secrets of our longevity. It had occurred before.

Another reason to remain very human.

“Don’t kid a kidder, Jax. What is it?”

I turned my head slowly. He knew when to back down until we were alone and this was one of those times.

He nodded and headed toward the coffeepot.

“She’s here, driving her magical chariot.” Chase was laughing.

Our mother was also a speed demon. It was good that she occasionally dated one of the police sergeants or the woman would be behind bars for reckless driving.

I heard the sharp braking action from where I stood.

“One day she’s going to get herself killed driving that way,” Riker grumbled under his breath.

“Try telling her that,” I quipped.

“At least I have good news with the discussions out of France,” Parker threw in.

Traveling had always been something I’d loved to do. I’d volunteered to visit our other plants and dealers just so I could keep from staying in one place too long. It had grown weary like so many other aspects of life.

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