Chapter Seven

(Tracy)

"What if it's all true?"

His question danced around in my head all afternoon. The cave was his secret place. And he was the one who wanted to share it with me. Did that mean he was the man from my dreams? The wolf? How was any of this even possible?

As I sat on the front porch of my cabin, my mind rattled with more questions than answers. James and I had spent only an hour or two in the cave, but what I'm sure he meant to be a fun…possibly even romantic…fieldtrip, it was more of an odd adventure. Dream become reality.

That thought made me want to remember more of my dreams, not only the good parts, but the ones that were fuzzy. What would ever have me running there? And who would I be hiding from? None of it made sense. To top it off James was going to be here any minute to pick me up for this family barbeque thing and I had yet to start getting ready.

I could hear his truck coming down the gravel road, and watched until it came to a stop in the same place he'd parked earlier. He slid out of his truck wearing black boots, snug in all the right places blue jeans, and a black button down shirt beneath his leather jacket. He looks like yummy on toast.

And this is all pretend. Just like my dreams weren't supposed to be real. Ugh!

"I see you haven't moved."

He was stating the obvious. I knew that. Yet, I just looked up at him and nodded.

He sat beside me. "Tracy, talk to me."

Where oh where to begin… I needed to know if I was going crazy so I asked the craziest question that kept plaguing my mind, "Are you a wolf?"

He stared into my eyes without answering. I watched as the sapphire blue shifted into a deeper and darker blue, a familiar blue. But just as quickly they changed back. "You should get ready. We need to leave soon or we'll be late. And my parents hate tardiness."

He didn't answer. Then again I didn't need him to, did I?

"Give me five minutes." I quickly ran inside, changed into a clean pair of jeans, a red sweater, and knee high brown boots. Then I threw my hair up into a ponytail, put on a little lip gloss, and called it done.

As I walked back out into the front room James stood there holding my coat. I stepped into it, letting him wrap it around my shoulders. "Thank you."

"James, are you sure this is a good idea? I mean are your parents really going to buy the fact that you just met and fell for some stranger?"

He glanced at me then turned his focus back onto the road. "What's so odd about that?"

"People don't usually fall in love at first sight." Or at least they didn't outside of movies and books.

"In my world they do."

"What?"

"What I mean is I know lots of people who have done exactly that. Haven't you ever looked at someone and just knew you wanted to be in their arms forever. Or couldn't wait to see what their lips tasted like? Or knew that having them near meant comfort?"

"No." Yes. The man in my dreams. The black wolf. And although I'd never admit it to him…James.

We pulled up to this large mansion of a house. There were kids having a snowball fight in the yard, and several people talking on the front porch. "Um…James? I thought this was a small family thing."

He smiled and reached for my hand. "I said family. I never said I had a small family."

He got out, walked around to my door and reached for my hand. "Come on, it'll be okay."

My arm was held within his as we made our way into the house. I could feel the eyes on us. It was a little unnerving, but I held my head up high and reminded myself I could do this. It was after all my fault I was in this situation. Me and my dang clumsiness.

"Oh wow, it smells delicious in here," I said, just as my stomach grumbled its second opinion.

James leaned in closer to me. I could have sworn he smelled my hair. "Yes, it sure does."

The moment we rounded into the kitchen I relaxed. "Hi, Miss Bonnie. This smells wonderful. Can I help?"

"Of course you can." She handed me an apron.

I winked at James and started to walk away, but he gently pulled me back to him and placed a soft kiss on my cheek. I'm sure my cheeks were now the color of my sweater as I turned away from him.

That man and his sweetness were slowly killing my heart.

"I'm going to go find Anthony. Will you be okay here?" he asked with what sounded like worry.

"Oh dear, she'll be fine. Go on now." I chucked at her dismissal of him. "So how was the rest of your day?" asked Bonnie as soon as he'd left the room.

I thought of the trail, the cave, James. "Interesting, to say the least."

"Interesting can be good."

Interesting can be unnerving. "So what are we making here?"

I was having so much fun with Bonnie in the kitchen. It had been a long time since I'd done anything like this. It made me miss my mom, but at the same time it wrapped me in a happy nostalgia. All the food was finished and we'd just finished wiping down the counters when two girls came in.

"Oh my goodness did you see how yummy he looks?" said the blonde.

"I know, right," said the brunette. "This may sound completely wrong, but I'm happy he hasn't found his mate. Her loss, our gain."

Mate? Did she just say mate?

"I'll second that. I honestly can't believe his parents are forcing this. But hey, if I get to wake up next to that sexy hunk of man every morning…. I'm all for it."

"Speaking of…do you know how many more girls are coming in for this?"

"I think I heard there's supposed to be a total of about twenty or so."

"In that case, we should go give James our undivided attention now. You know, win his favor early." She chuckled and started to leave when Anthony walked in.

Were they talking about my James? Not that he was mine, but…

"Hi, Anthony. It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Well hello, Tracy, the pleasure is all mine." He strolled right between the blabber twins toward me.

If I wasn��t pretend dating his friend I may have paid attention to how cute Anthony was, but I didn't. "James was looking for you. Did he find you?"

"No, I just got here."

"How about we go find him together?" I turned toward Bonnie. "Need anything else before I go?"

"Oh no, child. You go right ahead. I will see you both out there shortly."

Anthony put my hand in the bend of his elbow and escorted me into the backyard. There were torch heaters scattered around to keep the cold at bay and groups of people chatting. Again, all eyes seemed to be on me. I guess maybe because I'm the only newbie here I stood out like a sore thumb.

I recognized James from the back as he talked to an older gentleman. As we neared he turned. His eyes met mine, then his gaze moved to Anthony, and then to our joined arms before coming back to mine. I could have sworn I heard a growl come from him, but his lips never moved.

"James, I found this beautiful lady looking for you." His smile was friendly, but his tone was full of mischief. I wondered what he was up to.

"Why, thank you," James replied while smoothly replacing the arm of Anthony's I held onto with his own.

"And who is this lovely lady?" asked the older gentleman.

"Father, I'd like you to meet my date. Tracy." I caught as his eyes widened slightly, but he recovered quickly. Guess I didn't have to ask if I was a surprise. I already knew I would be. "And Tracy, this is my father, Al.."

"Jacob." His father interrupted as he reached for my hand. "Nice to meet you, Tracy. I wasn't aware my son was bringing a date. Are you new around town?"

"I am. I actually only met James yesterday, and we've hit it off miraculously. Which to be honest kind of surprised me."

James clutched his hand over his heart. "Oh, how you wound my ego."

I laughed at his display. "I'm sure your ego can handle it."

"I like this girl. Come on Tracy, I'd love to introduce you to my wife." Jacob took me by the arm and led me with James and Anthony following slightly behind us.

We approached a group containing the two I was now referring to as the blabber twins and another lady who radiated poise and elegance. She turned to us as we approached. "My dear husband, who do we have here?"

"This is Tracy, James' date. And Tracy, this is my lovely wife, Anna."

I couldn't miss the look of surprise on her face or the strange tone behind his words, but I chose to ignore both. "It's lovely to meet you," I said as I reached to shake her hand.

She took mine with only a slight hesitance. "Likewise. And let me introduce Brianna and Stacy." She motioned toward the two girls standing beside her. At least now the two would have names I could identify them with.

Before I could reply Bonnie appeared beside me and her timing couldn't have been more perfect. "Dinner is ready. Oh, and Tracy, those rolls you made are simply divine. Thank you gain for lending me a hand."

"You helped in the kitchen?" asked Anna. She looked slightly stunned when I nodded.

"I did. It was such a pleasure to be able to help. And I hope everyone likes the slight modification I made to the rolls. It's an old family secret."

"Well, I for one cannot wait," said Jacob. He turned toward the majority of the guests and announced, "Let's feast."