CHAPTER TWELVE

"Dinner's ready!"

Leah pulled away from Noah's kiss abruptly, startled by Colin's sudden entrance.

There was an awkward pause when the two younger brothers came out to the patio, their arms laden with dishes.

Christophe glanced over at Leah and Noah with a knowing grin.

Colin proceeded to put on an innocent act.

"Did we come at a bad time, big brother?" he asked Noah, who looked two seconds away from committing murder.

"Would you like us to go back inside so you guys can finish… talking?"

A giggle escaped Leah, and she covered her mouth to prevent it turning into a laughing fit, particularly because Noah still looked mad as hell.

"Do you think you two can manage to behave until we finish dinner?" Christophe asked as he went to set the dishes on the table.

"No promises," Colin answered, following Christophe to finish setting the table.

"Don't encourage him," Noah instructed her, taking her hand gently and leading her to sit at the table.

"Yes, Sir."

Noah cupped the back of her head firmly and pressed his lips close to her ear.

"Call me Sir like that again and see what happens."

Leah cleared her throat, but remained silent. Noah was half-amused, half-disappointed in her retreat. He needed to get through dinner and the discussion ahead and then…

"Let's eat," he announced, taking his seat directly beside Leah, while his brothers occupied a chair on either side of them.

*~*

"What are you doing love?" Colin asked suddenly, stopping in the middle of his story about Christophe setting their mother's kitchen on fire.

"Huh?" Leah mumbled, pausing in her actions. She looked down at her hands hovering above Noah's plate.

"I'm...just, taking the tomatoes...out."

Dinner consisted of a mouthwatering braised pork dish with a host of sauteed veggies. She had, without much thought, began removing the tomatoes from Noah's salad before she had taken a bite of her own. After months of making sure he had all his meals on time, she had become partial to his eating habits. One of which was that he hated tomatoes. He never said it out loud. Nor had he made much fuss about it whenever it made an appearance. But, she’d noticed either way. If she had to order food, she always made sure to leave that ingredient out, and whenever it made an appearance on his plate, Leah had simply removed it. The first time she’d done it, he’d only raised an eyebrow at her but said nothing. Afterwards, he never seemed to take notice of her habit. Like tonight.

However, being the first time all four of them were eating a meal together his brothers very much took notice.

“I can see that,” Colin said, tilting his head as he observed her, “why?”

Both Colin and Christophe seemed genuinely confused by her actions.

She glanced nervously at Noah, who was back to wearing that unaffected look of his. He remained silent at his brother’s question.

“Because he hates them.”

“Since when?”

“He does?”

Colin and Christophe asked simultaneously.

She completed her task since she’d already started, even though she felt a bit self-conscious about it now.

“You hate tomatoes?” Colin persisted with his brother, still skeptical.

Leah took a bite of her salad, “This is amazing!” she announced around a mouthful, hoping to detract from the awkwardness she suddenly felt.

Christophe smiled at her, reaching over to wipe a drop of tomato juice from her lips and licking it from his thumb.

“Why are you so adorable?” He whispered, almost to himself.

“I don’t like carrots,” Colin declared, lifting his plate over to Leah.

Christophe snorted in amusement, and Noah rolled his eyes.

Biting down on a smile, Leah took his plate and proceeded to remove the carrots.

“You always get carrot cake from the cafeteria when you stop by the office,” Leah reminded him as she passed back his plate, sans carrots.

“Desserts don’t count,” Colin grumbled, earning another giggle from Leah.

“Is there anything you don’t like?” Christophe asked.

Leah shook her head, “My brother was more the picky eater.”

The statement left her lips before she’d even realized it. Three pairs of blue-green eyes focused on her.

“You never talk about your brother,” Colin started carefully. “Were you two close?”

Leah stared intently on her plate, telling herself not to freak out. A conversation about her brother was bound to come up. Especially if she were to consider getting closer to these men.

She forced a smile on her face which suddenly felt frozen.

“We were. He felt more like my kid than my brother, even though I wasn’t that much older.”

“Why did he feel like your kid?” Christophe asked.

“I want to say because I sort of raised him, but...I guess..it was more like we raised each other. He took care of me as much as I took care of him.”

“What about your parents?”

Leah glanced up at Noah who had asked the question. His tone was as hesitant as his brothers’. As if he were afraid he’d ask the wrong thing. It was so unlike him, Leah felt her smile gain some sincerity. And she could much more comfortably talk about her parents than her brother.

“Uh… well, I never met my father. He died before I was born. I don’t know what he meant to my mother. She never really talked about him.” Leah had always wondered if her father had been just another random boyfriend that her mother had forgotten about, or if he’d been...more. Oftentimes, Leah had imagined it was the latter. That her father had been her mother’s soulmate. That his passing had been something so painful, and that was why Leanna Perry had never spoken about him.

“And my brother’s father decided later on while my mother was still pregnant that he didn’t want a child. So, he left. And our mom...she much preferred hanging out with random strangers than staying at home with two kids who demanded too much from her.”

She twirled the stem of her wine glass absently. “She wasn’t a bad mother,” she added as an afterthought. “I think she was just searching for … something...something we couldn't give her.”

“I’m sorry you had to experience that, little one,” Christophe whispered, resting a hand on her knee beneath the table. Leah hadn’t even realized she needed that comforting touch until she felt the stirring in her stomach calm. She turned a grateful smile to him.

“Where’s your mother now?” Noah asked, hoping he sounded calm, despite the anger burning in his gut.

“I don’t know.” Leah thought about the last time she’d seen her mom. Shortly after her high school graduation, Leanna had disappeared and left Leah with her 13 - year-old brother. She remembered feeling so afraid that she wouldn't have been able to take care of Liam, and she’d end up losing him. But, more than that, she’d been determined to protect him from everything and everyone.

She hadn’t even been able to do that.

Leah drained the remaining wine in her glass.

“What about your parents?” she asked abruptly, needing desperately to direct the attention from herself.

Seeming to sense her desperation, the brothers went along with the change in subject.

“Both our parents passed away a few years ago,” Noah informed matter-of-factly.

“Oh.” It felt odd that this was the first time she’d heard about their parents after being here for half a year. She’d known about it before she’d moved to town, but no one here ever spoke about them. “That must have been hard.”

Leah’s father had died before she had met him, and her mother had simply disappeared after years of being an absentee parent. She’d still felt a tremendous loss when she’d found herself alone. She couldn't imagine how it must have felt losing parents who had actually raised you.

“Were you close?” she asked tentatively, not certain if they were uncomfortable with the subject.

“As close as you could be to the Alpha and Luna of the pack,” Colin said.

Leah knew that Luna was a title of respect given to the mate of an Alpha.

“They were good parents. Just...busy,” Christophe added, “their first responsibility was to each other, as mates, and to the pack.” There wasn’t a trace of bitterness in his voice, though the small smile covering his lips was one of understanding.

“They were...True Mates?” Leah asked, staring intently at her empty glass, unable to look up at them when she asked that question.

There was a pause of activity around the table, the sudden silence making Leah even more nervous.

“You know about True Mates?”

She glanced up at Noah who had asked the question.

She chuckled nervously, “I live in a werewolf town. It would be ridiculously weird if I didn’t know what a True Mate was.”

“Tell us.”

“Huh?”

“Tell us what you know about True Mates.”

“Is this a quiz?” she joked.

“Humor us.”

All three of them were staring at her with a serious expression.

Oookay.

She gathered all the info she could from her brain about Mates.

“The closest approximation I think of in human society is the concept of a soulmate.”

I really sound like I’m taking a test. Leah thought absently.

“It’s not quite the same, because a lot of people...humans, don't believe in soulmates. The idea is similar...that fate...the universe...God..? created two halves of a whole, and when those two halves find each other, there’s a bond. Physically, spiritually...mentally. That bond can never be severed. Not by any means. Not even death. That bond is the same for Mates that are Chosen...though ...I’m not sure how that one works.”

“Do you believe it?” Noah questioned.

“Does it matter?” Leah asked seriously, “I’m human.”

“What do you mean?”

“Aren’t Mates a werewolf thing? Does it matter what I believe?”

“It does,” was Noah’s simple response.

She saw from their faces that Colin and Christophe felt the same way too.

She thought carefully about her answer.

“I believe it. It would be nice to think the universe hand-picked someone for me.”

“So you would prefer a True Mate over a Chosen?” Noah continued.

Why did this feel like a life-changing question?

Leah nodded hesitantly.

“Not because I think one has more value than the other. It’s just…”

“What?” Noah pressed.

“Isn’t that a lot of work? That’s such a permanent decision. How would anyone make up their mind about something like that.?”

Colin smiled at how she said the word permanent. As if it were a bad word. Her adorable little nose scrunched in distaste.

“You’re lazy,” Colin teased.

Leah resisted the urge to throw a sliver of carrot at his head. “Am not!”

She also resisted the urge to smile at him, determined not to encourage his bad behavior, though grateful he’d lightened the mood a bit.

“I’m just...indecisive. And for someone who's spent her whole life making decisions, I just thought it would be nice to have someone else do it for a change.”

She looked at Noah. He had that furrow between his brows that he wore whenever he was deep in thought.

“You’ve regretted all the men you decided to date?” Christophe asked her.

Leah chuckled at that bit of ridiculousness.

“What men? I've dated a grand total of one time. And it was a disaster.”

“One time?”

The comical way in which Colin’s glass paused mid-air earned another chuckle.

“Shouldn’t you guys at least pretend to be less shocked? At least for propriety’s sake?”

Even Noah, who wore a poker-face ninety percent of the time, seemed shocked at her announcement.

Leah knew this conversation was bound to come up tonight, but she hadn’t drunk enough wine to be ready to discuss her near-virgin status with three men who had seen her at least half-naked.

Colin placed his glass back to the table, and said seriously, “Define date.”

Nope. Definitely not enough wine.