Her pupils dilated, and she swallowed. “I was going to go through Uncle Adam’s things, donate some clothes. There’s stuff in the basement that could be cleared out. But the idea of spiders had me procrastinate, and I got the mail instead.”
“I’ll move whatever you need out of the basement,” I told her. Her fear of spiders was extremely irrational, but I was smart enough not to tell her that. I also thought it cute, that I could be her white knight when it came to anything in her basement.
“Thanks. It’ll still take time to go through even if it’s all piled in the living room. I can do it this weekend.”
“Did you get a call from Willow? I gave her your number. She wanted to invite you personally to a barbecue at the big house. More procrastination for you.”
She nodded, her curls bobbing, then catching on the breeze. I couldn’t resist reaching up and tucking it behind her ear. “She did.”
“I think she feels bad that she hasn’t stopped by. I know you saw Audrey and Becky at Cody’s, but no one’s come over to make you welcome.”
“You’ve made me very welcome,” she replied with a sly grin.
Just like that, I was hard.
“You haven’t met anyone else in the pack besides Nash. I want you to meet the whole gang.”
“I did meet one other pack member. At least, I assume he’s a member based on where he said he lived. An older man came by to introduce himself and offer to buy the place.”
I stilled, set my hands on the top edge of the truck bed. What the fuck? “What do you mean?”
“A guy from the pack came over. The day you and Nash first came over. Said he’d give me a fair price if I wanted to sell.”
I had a guess who it was, but I had to be sure.
“How do you know he was from the pack?”
She rolled her eyes but thankfully wasn’t picking up on my change in mood. “He said he lived above Wolf Ranch. So I figured he must be. I know it hasn’t been long since you found out that I know about shifters, but I’ve known for most of my life. It’s pretty obvious now to me.”
I wanted to ask her how it was obvious because if it was clear to her, I wondered if it was to anyone else. But that wasn’t what I wanted to deal with now.
“Did he introduce himself?”
“Yeah, Nathan Brown. Older guy. Big gut.”
I nodded stiffly. “I know him.”
She studied me. “You don’t seem happy.”
Shit, I couldn’t hide my feelings from her. It would be impossible. Nathan Brown had shown up at my mate’s home. “I don’t like him coming by here. He’s not dangerous, but he’s kind of a dick.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean…” I rubbed my face. “I don’t like that he was making a grab for this place. It feels like he was trying to move in on Rob Wolf’s territory, you know? And—” I stopped myself. I didn’t want to infect Natalie with pack relation toxicity.
“And what?”
“Nah, nevermind. It’s probably not that big a deal.”
To me, it felt like a threat. Not outright but in a shifter way. Showing up and asking to buy the place. That was before he even knew she planned to turn it into a bed and breakfast. So he’d been interested in this property all along. His beef wasn’t about Natalie. It wasn’t even about me. It was about Rob, as alpha.
Natalie peered at me, brows lowered.
I sighed. “It’s complicated. He’s an old timer, and I don’t mean in age. He’s set in his ways, in the old ways of the pack. He probably doesn’t like that a human owns property that adjoins our hunting grounds. I know he doesn’t stand for stuff Rob’s doing as alpha.”
She frowned. “Like what?”
“Like mixing with humans.”
She stared at me, then ducked under my arm and walked back to the mailbox, then spun back around. “You mean mating humans.” Her face was flushed. Shit. I should not have told her about the division in the pack. “I knew it.” She tossed up her hands, the mail in her hand forgotten. “I told you this!”
“Nathan Brown is an asshole who likes to stir up shit. This has nothing to do with you, of course. His interest here was in your property. But he’s the type who’s pissed that almost every shifter match in the past two years or so has all been to humans. Guys like Nathan say that mix-mating means a diluted pack.”
“You mean kids?”
“Yes. Audrey and Becky have both had pups.”
“Pups?”
I ignored her question and kept going. “I’d think Marina will have one sometime soon. Maybe even Charlie. It’s just a trend in a direction Nathan doesn’t want the pack to go.”