Page 23 of Combust
Cade was suddenly glad he’d taken the time to shower and change into clean clothes before coming over.
He’d been raised to respect women, and to protect them. But Elle Swanson sure didn’t seem like someone who needed much protecting. He suspected that she was perfectly capable of kicking asses and taking names all on her own.
“Pleased to meet you, Mrs. Swanson,” he said, and stuck out his hand.
Smiling, she extended her hand in turn, and they shook briefly. Her palm and fingers were warm and lightly callused from a lifetime of work.
He guessed that he’d passed muster when she continued. “Welcome to our home, Cade. Dane speaks very highly of you.”
“Thank you, ma’am.” Cade couldn’t deny the relief he felt at her words.
He’d only been here for a day and a half, but he already liked this place a lot, and so did his bear.
Elle resumed her seat. “Has Dane explained our clan code of conduct and ranch rules to you?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Cade replied, as Dane nodded.
“And did he explain to you that as a clan member, even a provisional one, you’re expected to attend our weekly clan dinner?”
Nope, Dane hadn’t mentioned that part. The prospect of sitting down to eat with a whole clan of shifters threw him for a loop.
How long had it been since he’d attended any type of family dinner?
Longer than he cared to remember, that was for damned sure.
But he sensed that refusal wasn’t an option. “I’ll be there, ma’am.” Unwilling to throw Dane under the bus, he added, “Uh, could you remind me when that might be?”
She smiled with genuine warmth, and glanced up at the old wooden clock perched on a bookshelf. “At six. So, please stay and join us. Everyone would like to meet you.” She added, in a more formal tone, “I recognize and welcome you, Cade Hunter, as a provisional member of our clan. While you’re in our employ, you will be subject to our rules and under our protection.”
He nodded. “I thank you kindly, ma’am.”
Then, to his astonishment, she came back around the desk and opened her arms. “Welcome to the family, Cade.”
Aware of Dane’s keen gaze on him, Cade stepped awkwardly into her embrace. She gave him a quick, warm hug, surrounding him with her comforting, strangely maternal scent.
She released him and stepped back.
His chest tightened, and an unexpected lump settled into his throat. “Thank you, ma’am,” he managed to croak.
Welcome to the family?He hadn’t expected that, and it simultaneously warmed him and scared the shit out of him.
* * *
What kind of a clan is this, anyway?Cade thought an hour later, clutching his bottle of beer.
He was standing with Dane and his brothers Mark and Evan in the ornate living room, engaged in a discussion about how best to manage the stockpile forage in the river bottom pastures. This was intended to feed their hoof stock through the winter, with some hay supplements.
He was beginning to feel more at ease in these formal surroundings. Everyone seemed to actuallylikeeach other here and enjoy each other’s company, as evidenced by the good-natured joking between the clan members.
And they’d greeted Cade with curiosity and friendly welcome, rather than the suspicion and hostility normally directed at clanless shifters.
As the other dinner guests drifted in to partake of the pre-dinner wine, beer, and snacks, he discovered that this clan included wolf shifters along with the expected Ordinary humans. That last hadn’t surprised him in the least. Most shifter clans intermarried with Ordinaries to some degree.
But wolf shifters in abearshifter clan? That was a new one in his book, for sure. And wouldn’t you know it, it was the police chief herself, Mary Jacobsen, who’d mated one of Dane’s cousins.
Her mate Tyler was absent tonight, gone on a business trip, but she’d turned up. She joined them now, a tall, blonde woman with an easy smile. The conversation immediately shifted to the theft of the family’s Christmas tree grove.
“Yeah, Christmas tree poaching is already in full swing on the National Forest lands,” Evan told them after Dane had finished relating the story.
