Chapter Twenty One - For Better or Worse?

The next Friday evening, Liana sat on the floor of her room with her head tipped back against the side of her bed with a mug full of very strong feverfew tea that was doing nothing to ease the buzz and pounding in her head. Jake’s car had given her the freedom to go about her life as normal as it could be without Gran, who still hadn’t woken, but the time away from the pack house and the routine of her studies had done nothing to get rid of the annoying buzz in her head. She couldn’t concentrate on her work at all. Fortunately, the school was putting it down to worry and stress, so they were “freezing” her grades for the time being. Naturally, she’d have to pull off the final exams though, which wasn’t likely unless she could fix her head.

So much for the assumption that being around werewolves was the issue. Even when she was in class with no werewolves in sniffing distance she couldn't get the noise to stop. Jake wasn’t likely the cause of it either. She’d hardly seen him all week! She had started joining everyone downstairs for mealtime. Mostly so that Zinnia didn’t feel obligated to bring her up a tray. The omegas really did seem happy to be doing their work, but it still felt wrong to her. Jake was always there but hadn’t insisted on sitting next to her. She was fairly certain that he had noticed she couldn’t eat with him beside her. The hum was always louder when he was around, and on Wednesday evening she hadn’t been able to swallow a bite because of the nausea that the sound was causing. Being away from him wasn’t making it better either though. A tired sigh escaped her lips just as someone knocked gently on her door.

“It’s open Zinnia,” she said softly, expecting the young girl to be there checking on her again.

“If it’s not Zinnia, is the door still open?” His voice sounded so soft and tentative that Lia felt a bit bad. It was his house after all, and he’d done everything imaginable to make her stay comfortable.

“Sure Jake,” she answered, “but I won’t be very good company.”

He cracked the door open and peered in at her, his nose twitching. “Feverfew? Do you have a headache?”

“Something like that.,” she answered vaguely, “probably stress.” His lips thinned. “Gran’s no better,” she elaborated, “and I can’t seem to concentrate on my schoolwork. I’ve got a grade-free pass for the month, but I don’t want to be behind when I go back. I’ll lose my scholarships if my grades drop, and without them, I can’t go to university next fall.” She closed her eyes and braced herself as he walked toward her and sat beside her on the floor. She was sure the noise would be worse, and she was half expecting him to question her about the university and start making demands or planning changes.

“Maybe you should try taking the weekend off,” he suggested tentatively. “Maybe have the Rogue sisters up for a visit?”

“They told you I’ve been avoiding them.”

“Not exactly, but I guessed. This isn’t their fault, Liana. They were your friends before you learned the truth, and they would like to continue being friends. They didn’t choose to hide your werewolf heritage or that half of their lives from you, they were told to. Besides, from what I hear, you were pretty good at coming up with your own reasons for things if there was any hint of something other than human.”

“I suppose so,” Lia tipped her head back again and closed her eyes. The hum was louder than it had been, almost a whistling like Gran’s old-fashioned kettle.

“Let me take that,” Jake said, lifting the cup from her hand, “it looks like you need a rest more than a tea.” His fingers brushed hers as he lifted the mug from her grasp. Her skin tinkled where he’d touched her and the whistle did a sort of hiccup pause, stopping with the contact and restarting as he moved away.

“As your intended mate, I should be able to use our bond to help this tea work faster.” Lia cracked her eyes open and looked up at him skeptically. He was offering his hand, but not insisting that she touch him. “Did you have a chance to read any of the books about bonds before school started?”

“A bit,” she answered vaguely.

“Skin to skin or fur to fur work best. Holding hands should be enough for a simple head ache. Or maybe I could give you a neck massage?”

“I think I just need rest. I’ll check on Gran, then hopefully get a good night’s sleep.” She didn’t miss the slight drop of his shoulders or the defeated look on his face.

“Can I tell the Rogues to come for a visit? Hotel Transylvania will be playing in the media room at about 10 am and a pool tournament in the games room for the whole weekend. Maybe the lot of you could join in and have some fun. It could be a good way to get to know some other local werewolves too.”

“Sure.” She really just wanted him to leave. She needed to close her eyes and see if maybe tonight was the magical night that would make her feel better.

“Great! Well...I guess I’ll see you in the morning then?”

“Yep. ‘Night.”

“Goodnight.”

Jake prowled the back of the media room in his wolf form. Werewolves from the two local packs, plus a few lone wolves and some visiting highlanders were crammed into the Media room watching the cartoon. Most were in their human form, but he wasn’t the only wolf. The smells of pop, buttery popcorn, corn dogs, and jerky were thick in the air. There was a good dose of pheromones too as the older pups cuddled up in the back row, doing more making out than movie watching. Under that, he could still scent his mate.

The past week had been pure torture. Liana was still here, and she wasn’t openly hostile to him anymore, but she wasn’t making any effort to be more comfortable with her werewolf roots as far as he could tell. There were only a few days left until the full moon, and her agreeing to mate with him didn’t look any more likely now than it had last week. She slept down the hall from him, but barely even spoke to him. He hadn’t been sleeping much with her scent right there. He and his wolf were both getting very grumpy. Even coffee didn’t help anymore. Last night she wouldn’t even let him help with her head ache and it had obviously been a very bad one. Fighting his wolf’s instinct to touch and heal her had been excrutiatingly hard. He’d even considered going into her rooms while she sllept and just crawling in bed with her. He could have healed her then, but the thought of how she would react to finding him in her bed had stopped him.

Jake padded up the other side of the room, keeping to the shadowsand looking around now and then with the pretext of keeping an eye on their guests. In reality, he was there to watch Liana. He knew his black coat would blend well with the shadows and she wouldn’t be as likely to notice him. His wolf growled at that, he wanted to be noticed, but Jake knew better. Liana wasn’t ready to accept him in either his human or wolf form. She might never be, he admitted sadly. He wanted to build up some memories of this last week, in case it was the last week she was ever around him. From the shadows, he could watch her unnoticed and get to know her simply through observation. Solidify her image in his memory. He felt his wolf recoil at that thought and winced. The mourning process would begin soon. His wolf was starting to accept the fact that it was not only that Jake refuse to mate before her 18^th birthday, but their mate did not seem to be even slightly attracted to either of them.

At least she appeared to be forgiving the Rogue sisters. The three of them were cuddled up in the back row, behind the younger wolves but in front of the teens who had come to simply make out in the back. The girls' brother, Eric, was bedside them, scooping hand fulls of their popcorn whenever he thought he could do so without getting his hand swiped at. He’d said that he had come as his sisters. chaperon, but Jake noticed his eyes kept wandering to Stella, a young she-wolf who had arrived with the healer from the Highlands Pack. Jake watched as the girl turned in Eric’s direction, her nostrils flared a bit and her mouth dropped open. From the look on her face, Jake was fairly certain she had just scented her mate. Jake’s lip curled a bit revealing his canines. Lucky pair. Both would be willing. They weren’t even bound by the rules of this pack since neither of them belonged to it. Even if they weren’t yet eighteen they could mate today. He wondered briefly what David would think of his oldest son running off up to the Cape Breton Highlands. He lost that train of thought the instant Liana rubbed her temples. She still had that headache. If only she would let him help her with it.

Suddenly images flashed through his mind of a pack of wolves running behind a bunch of 4-wheelers that were just entering Cloud Lake land. The one in the lead was flying a flag bearing the Ocean Moon Pack’s crest. They appeared to be armed as well. Every adult wolf got up to leave the room for their assigned spots. The lights came on and the movie shut off as his mother came into the room. Several Cloud Lake wolves wove among the children and teens, picking out the Ocean Moon kids and herding them to the door. “Okay pups, There are vehicles from Ocean Moon on their way in, so I’m guessing it’s time for some of you to leave. If you’re from Ocean Moon, please head out with the escort now. Everyone from Cloud Lake who has passed level three combat, to your posts, everyone who hasn’t needs to the kitchen. Jake stayed long enough to be sure Liana and the guests were going to follow his mother’s direction, then he was off with the rest. The crowd of werewolves all automatically made space to allow their Alpha easy passage to the front.