Seven mates for seven brothers

28 - A bear with a toothache

When the other wolves came back from their run, they all piled into the sauna and joined Ethan, who had adamantly refused to come out.  Cassy stripped and joined them before serving lunch.  While they were all relaxing, Ethan told Alex about Cassy’s theory the sauna speeding up the transformation process.  Everybody had an opinion about the likelihood of it being true, so Alex suggested Cassy study up on the records that were kept about the pack.

They also discussed the website Liz had created for their new business, and Alex agreed with Brian that they were ready to place an advertisement in the local newspapers.  When the boys started complaining about their empty tummies, they went for lunch.  As usual, everybody had a break until about three, when they all got together in the kitchen for training.  Because it was the first time that Liz and Tina were present, Cassy simply got them all talking and asking questions from each other.  It turned out to be such fun, that they were all still in the kitchen when Cassy, Liz and Tina started preparing dinner, and they carried on, right through dinner, dishes’ a substantial amount of coffee, and a late night snack.  When it got late, Cassy wished them all a good night while dragging a willing Alex up behind her.

The rest of the week followed much in the same pattern, except that Alex had convinced Ethan to finish as much of his schoolwork as possible before he changed, so that he would have some extra time for goofing off once he shifted.  To make Alex’s offer more agreeable, Cassy had suggested they move their afternoon pow-wow to the sauna.  Everybody had agreed to that!

Alex had contacted Harris; and he had agreed to officiate during the subjection ceremony, but due to some other obligations he had during the week, the earliest he would be able to come through, is Saturday.  Alex asked Harris to bring his family with and to stay for lunch so the two women could get to know each other.

In a surprise twist, Rudi had phoned and asked Alex if he and Dinah could join the pack.  Alex was stunned at first, and made sure Rudi had thought it through before agreeing.  Rudi’s father had passed away when he was sixteen, so Duncan had always stood in as a father figure.  Rudi told Alex that Duncan was less upset than he was surprised; and he in turn had surprised Rudi by telling him that he was well able to make his own decisions by now.  Alex asked Rudi then to be sure he was back by Saturday so he would be able to participate in the ceremony as well.

Alex sighed.  He was trying very hard to concentrate on some paperwork he had been putting off for quite a while now, but the temptation of joining Cassy in the bubble bath she was taking right now, was rather distracting.  And to top it off, he still did not know what to do to make his proposal a special event for the both of them.  He had considered going to a fancy restaurant, a hot air balloon ride, even a boat trip, but none of them tickled his fancy.  Besides, he wanted to do something that would make her feel loved and wanted.

 Loved.  It had stunned him the first time he realized that he was falling in love with her.  He was so surprised that his front legs forgot he was running and he had a literally fell over his own feet.  Or paws, to be correct.  His brothers had thought it was hilarious, him taking a tumble like that. To be honest though, he had to admit that he shouldn’t have been too surprised about it.  Everything about her was so amazing that it was pretty much inevitable for him to fall for her.  He often caught himself wondering when exactly it happened, but the only conclusion he had arrived at, was that he had not fallen for her from the start, but that this feeling had sneaked up on him while he wasn’t looking.

When first they had met, it was purely a wolf thing.  During the time he had spent learning from Timothy, he had also learnt to appreciate that she would be giving him more than just strong, healthy babies.  Her wisdom and insight, the way she drew people towards her, the way she handled herself; these were skills that could not be learnt and she had those and even more to spare.  These were all essential qualities for an alpha female, and she had them in abundance.  He had even noticed the way she was subtly guiding Liz and Tina as well.  The thing with Cassy though, you never knew that she was teaching you; or changing you.