Page 35 of Castings & Curses

“How did you get in here anyway?” he demanded.

The cat ignored him and continued leisurely cleaning her fur.

He groaned, rubbed his hands over his face and climbed from his bed. “This is a sign, isn’t it?”

When the cat didn’t reply, he just shook his head and headed for the bathroom.

Thirty minutes later, feeling refreshed though still not rested, he left the bathroom and headed downstairs, the cat on his heels.

Walking into the pack dining room, he made a beeline for the coffee and took several large sips, before turning his attention to the food set out buffet style against the back wall.

He built himself a plate, tossed a couple slices of ham to Chester, Hocus Purrcus—andfine—the beast from Hell before heading to the table where he plopped down and began to eat.

It took him several bites before he registered the silence in the room.

Glancing up, he realized all conversations had ground to a halt and everyone was staring at him. “What?”

“You stole her cat?” Jared asked incredulously.

“Of course not! The damn thing was sitting on my face when I woke this morning.” Corwin narrowed his eyes at the smirks and snickers that followed this announcement. “Why would you assume that just because her cat is with me that I stole it? Maybe I won over my mate last night, did you ever think of that? Maybe Natalie’s upstairs, waiting for me to bring her breakfast right now.”

At that, the snickers turned into outright laughter.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sal hooted. “That witch waspissedlast night. There’s no way you won her over that quickly.”

“I might have.” Corwin scowled.

“Not a chance,” Pippa said. “Natalie’s not exactly the forgiving type and you’ve done nothing to endear yourself to her.”

“Well, she’s done nothing to endear herself to me either. Did you ever think of that? Maybesheshould try to winme!”

Pippa snickered. “Yeah, good luck with that.”

“Hey, it could happen!”

"Of course it could,” Mallory said soothingly, reaching over to pat Corwin’s hand. “No one means to imply you’re not a desirable wolf.”

“Hey!” Warren scowled at his mate.

She waved her hand as if to dismiss his protest. “You know what I mean. For someone else. The point is, Corwin, you’re a desirable wolf. To another wolf—who isn’t me,” she said in an emphatic aside to Warren.

“The problem is,” she continued. “Natalie’snota wolf. Which means she’s probably not impressed that you’re the beta. Or that you can shift into a wolf faster than any other wolf we know,includingthe alpha.

“She’s also probably not interested in all the things you’ve done to help the pack or that you’re the one who found us new territory after we lost our old pack lands. In fact, I’d be willing to bet your hard-nosed negotiating probably did the opposite of what you could have accomplished had you only known she was your mate at the time.”

“It was probably a good thing I didn’t know,” Corwin muttered. “We might have ended up paying twice as much for half the land.”

Everyone chuckled.

“What I’m sayin, Corwin, is that you can’t approach this whole courtship ritual as if she were another wolf you’re trying to mate.”

“Hold on a second. Who said anything about courtship rituals?”

A hand slapped against the back of Corwin’s head, shoving him forward.”Don’t be an idiot.” Clarissa settled into the seat beside him.

“Hey!” Corwin glared at her.

“I can’t believe we’re related,” Rissa said. “I maintain you must have been switched at the hospital because there’s no way someone as stupid as you could be my blood brother.”

---