Sleeping With the Wolf by Maddy Barone

daughter’s only child. We’re going to see if we can make a match for them.”
    “How nice,” Carla said blankly. Matchmaking? Arranged marriages? What a screwed-up world. The remark had seemed to be pointed in Taye’s direction, but why?
    Taye was already married.
    Taye had stiffened slightly. “Ellie’s father is Mart Burnett.”
    “That’s right,” said Mr. Gray, still pleasant. “Mart died three weeks ago. Ellie’s moved into my place now, and she’s my responsibility. She’ll be glad to meet you on Sunday.”
    Carla was startled by Taye’s hand on her waist squeezing tight and the bitterness in his voice. “Will she?”
    It was Doug Gray who answered. “Ellie’s not like her father. She pestered us to bring her today so she could meet you. Heck, she even thought about coming here to live after her father died, but … That was before Mrs. Wolfe came. A seventeen-year-old human girl with an all-male wolf pack … I don’t think it would have been proper.”
    Taye’s hand relaxed. “Probably not. I would have liked for you to bring her today.”
    Old Mr. Gray shook his head gently. “I would have liked to, but traveling with a young woman would have required a larger escort than just two men, especially when one is an old man like me. We couldn’t take a crowd to Dane’s, and besides, it’s not appropriate to bring the bride-to-be to the marriage negotiations.”
    “Next time you could send me word, and I’ll send some of the pack to guard her. She could stay here and visit my mate while you go on to Dane’s.” Carla thought Taye’s voice was strange. Deep and rough and a bit uneven.
    “Sounds like a plan,” Mr. Gray agreed. “We’ll do that next time.”
    “Good. You’re welcome to stay for lunch.”
    “That’s an honor. We appreciate the invitation, but we’re hoping to make it to Dane’s before supper. Maybe when we bring Ellie up this way we could join you?”
    Taye nodded. “Anytime. It’s an open invitation.”
    Carla watched and listened with a hundred thoughts and questions whirling through her mind. Taye walked the visitors out to the yard. The Grays nodded to her on the way out without offering to shake hands. She held her new guitar while the pack drifted around her, stripping off their pants and shorts and leaving them on the floor. She roused herself from her confusing thoughts to point accusingly.
    “Are you just going to leave your clothes on the floor?” she demanded. “How will you tell whose is whose?”
    They looked at her and shrugged. It was the teenager, Sky, who said, “Who cares?
    What fits one of us will fit the others just as well. We just share them.”
    Well, yes, Carla realized, they all had the same lean, muscular build. Still. “Well, don’t leave them out here. Go put them away.”
    “Yes, Lupa.”
    Amazing. Werewolves obeyed her.
    Taye came in and wrapped his arms gently around her. “Sweetheart,” he said into her hair. His voice was shaky.
    “You okay?”
    “Yes.” He lifted his head and tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Just … happy. I have a beautiful mate who is pleased with my gift. And I have a cousin who wants to know me.”
    “That’s great. I love the guitar. Thank you so much for thinking of it.” Carla peeked around and saw some of the other wolves watching them and decided against kissing Taye. She put her arms around his waist and squeezed gently instead. “I guess you haven’t met Ellie? Don’t you have other cousins?”
    “Many, with the Clan on the plains. My father had three brothers and they all had sons. No daughters. But it’s different with my mother’s kin. Let’s go to our room, and I’ll tell you of my mother and father.”
    He sounded serious and sad. Carla put the guitar in its case and left it on the table.
    Taye sounded like this would be a serious conversation. She walked with him down the hall with one arm around his waist. In their room Carla sat on the couch and Taye sprawled on the