The Mating by Nicky Charles Page A

to her mouth. “I’m just so caught up in Thomas that I’m not thinking. Yesterday was your first day and—.”

    “Relax. You had more important things to worry about.” Elise hastened to reassure her.

    “I’m still sorry I wasn’t there yesterday when you arrived. I really wanted to be. We were all so excited when we got the news that Kane was finally bringing home a mate. Everyone has been secretly hoping he’d find someone suitable before Mar—.” Julia stopped herself mid-sentence and Elise wondered what she’d being going to say; before what? Had the word been ���Marla?’ From what she’d seen so far it was definitely a possibility that Marla had been in the running for the position of Kane’s future mate, but if that was the case, then why hadn’t Kane bonded with the woman already? Why had he agreed to this political joining if he cared for someone else?

    Julia continued talking, disturbing her train of thought. “Anyway, I really had planned on greeting you. I was waiting for Thomas to come home, thinking we’d go over to meet you together, but then…” She broke off as her voice cracked and she blinked rapidly for a moment.

    “Julia, it’s okay. Thomas is fine and neither Kane nor I mind that you didn’t make it over. To be honest, there were so many new faces swirling around me that you could lie, and say that you were there, and I wouldn’t even know the difference.” She tried to lighten the mood, feeling sorry for the other girl who had obviously been worried sick about her mate.

    Julia gave her a watery smile. “Thanks. I’m good now. It’s silly of me to be feeling teary, now that I know he’s going to be okay. Just a bit of delayed reaction I guess.” She shrugged and dug a tissue out of her pocket to wipe her eyes, then pasted a smile on. “So… Tell me about yourself.”

    The two of them sat on a bench outside the infirmary and started talking, soon discovering that they had several things in common. Elise began to feel more at ease and Julia seemed to be forgetting the drama of the past day, at least for a while. They were so engrossed discussing a recent book, they’d both read, that the sound of the door opening behind them caused them both to give a start.

    It was Nadia stepping out and announcing that she was going for lunch, but would be back in half an hour. Julia agreed to watch Thomas and page her if there was any problem. Nadia seemed to be a no-nonsense sort of individual who didn’t have time for idle chatter. As she briskly strode away, Elise hoped she wouldn’t be in need of the woman’s services any time soon. While she was probably good at her job, Nadia didn’t seem that friendly towards her.

    Julia leaned over and whispered conspiratorially in Elise’s ear, while keeping one eye on the retreating figure of the nurse. “I’ve never seen Nadia smile at anyone except Kane. Everyone else is a bit afraid of her and I think she likes it that way.”

    Elise looked at her new friend with wide eyes. “So it’s not just me?”

    Julia couldn’t suppress a giggle. “Nope, she treats everyone that way. I often wonder if she thinks that if she’s grumpy enough, we’ll all stay away and she’ll have less work to do.”

    Stifling a chuckle, Elise decided that Julia had a fun, quirky personality and by the time Kane was ready to leave, she had agreed to meet Julia for lunch the next day. Happy to have made a new friend, Elise hummed to herself as she and Kane walked back to the Alpha house.

    “You and Julia seemed to hit it off.” Kane commented as they walked down the driveway.

    “Uh-huh. She’s about my age, says she likes to shop, and has a great stash of books that I can borrow.”

    “She’s a runner as well—out every day rain or shine.”

    “Really? Great! Maybe she’ll let me go with her. Running through the woods was one of my favourite things to do back home.” Elise bounced at the prospect. Things were definitely looking