Uck, I was nervous. I am an Alpha; I shouldn’t be nervous. But I could feel the clear signs as I walked next to Amie to have dinner with her brother and his mate. I had known Amie and her brother were close—she had told me stories—but after seeing the two of them together, I got it. They had this bond between them. I needed to get along with this wolf; it was important to Amie. She hadn’t told me as much, but I just knew it.

I liked Beta Elder; I had done so from when I first met him at the Alpha summits. If nothing else, we both had an interest in protecting Amie. But his best friend was her true mate. That had to make him standoffish toward me. I didn’t fool myself into thinking he saw me just as Amie's Alpha and friend. He had to see the truth; if nothing else, his mate should have told him. I didn’t think he was okay with us just because he seemed to keep his Alpha away from Amie. That would be more for Amie’s sake than anything. So, I needed this evening to go well.

‘Are you okay? You are acting weird,’ Amie mindlinked me.

‘What do you mean? I’m just walking,’ I told her.

‘Yeah, in this weird kind of way. If you feel uncomfortable having dinner, you can just drop me off,’ she offered.

‘No. No! I can do this,’ I insisted. Amie stopped and looked at me.

‘You sound like you are heading into battle. It’s just my brother and Becky. You have met them before.’

‘I know. I’m blowing this out of proportion. I just really want them to like me.’

She smiled at me. ‘Of course they will like you. And if my brother gives you any trouble, you tell me, and I will tell Mom,’ Amie told me, and took the hand that wasn’t holding the food basket and gave it a light squeeze.

‘Deal,’ I told her. I relaxed a little and looked up to head toward the communal building where we would have dinner in one of the rooms. I froze, and my hand went to Amie’s shoulder to keep her from turning. ‘Don’t look,’ I said. Of course, she turned her head and looked at what I was looking at. I should have known she was too stubborn to do what I told her. James stood at the entrance to the communal building. He was in the middle of a make-out session with a woman. They were as close to having sex in public as was possible without actually having it. I looked down at Amie, worried about what the mate bond would do to her. She scrunched her nose at the scene.

‘I would have thought he would go for someone better than Cindy, but to each their own, I guess,’ she said.

‘Are you okay?’ I asked. She looked back at me, and I searched her face for hidden pain. I didn’t find any. She smiled.

‘Don’t worry. The mate bond is too frail to cause any issues. If anything, it just got weaker.’ She took my arm and made us move forward. ‘When he first rejected me, I would lie in bed and torture myself with images like that one. I always knew Cindy had her eyes on James, and on my brother, too. She likes power. Back then, I spent countless nights crying over the idea of him accepting her into his bed. That was until I figured out I was just hurting myself. I accepted that what he did was on him, and I stopped torturing myself,’ Amie told me.

I had to fight against the need to punch James in the face. He had caused her so much pain, and even after all of it, he refused to accept she would reject him. He even tried to play dirty and get her jealous. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind that was what he was doing. We walked past them without looking at them. I saw James stop kissing the woman and look after us. He was waiting for a reaction. Amie didn’t give him what he wanted. We got to the room her brother had booked, knocked, and stepped inside. Beta Elder and his mate were setting the table. Becky smiled at us and walked over to give Amie a hug.

“We brought mini pizzas, fried rice, and blueberry pie,” Amie said, reaching for the basket I was holding. I placed it on a side table.

“Sounds amazing. I have made sliders, pasta with red sauce and meatballs, and cucumber salad. Thank you for coming, both of you,” Becky said.

“We were happy to come,” Amie said. She gave me a look, saying I needed to talk as well, and I saw Becky give her mate the same one.

“Hmm. Yes, thank you for making sure Amie got here safe, Alpha Finlay,” Amie's brother said.

“Not at all, Beta Elder. She’s been looking forward to it,” I replied.

“Honestly,” Amie said.

“Men,” Becky agreed, and they both rolled their eyes. I concluded I had done something wrong. I felt better, as it seemed the Beta had made the same mistake.

“We are not here on official business,” Becky told us.

“Exactly. In here, we are family, and titles are put to the side,” Amie agreed.

“Any objections?” Becky asked, and looked at both me and her mate.

“Of course not, sweetums,” he told her.

“I would like that,” I agreed. Both women smiled at us. All of us helped to set the table, and it helped to ease some of the tension. Becky and Amie chit-chatted, and when we sat down to eat, it actually felt like a family dinner.

“Amie, do you have another story about Elder?” Becky asked.

“Oh, no. The one she already told you was bad enough. I need to keep some of my dignity,” Elder objected. I saw my chance.

“I have a question, Elder. Has Amie always been such a fan of snow? As soon as the snow comes each winter, she practically turns into a pup,” I asked. Elder laughed as Amie elbowed me.

“Always,” he told me. “When the first snow came, our mom always insisted our dad took a couple of hours off work, and she would make lunch, and we would head out into the woods, and we would sled and play in the snow, eat lunch, and just spend time as a family. You know that it can be difficult to get those family moments as a top-tier family, so snow days were special.”

I smiled and nodded. It all made sense now. Amie had adapted her family’s traditions to fit into her new life.

“I always take the pups in the pack out to sled in the first snow,” Amie told them.

“You do?” her brother asked. She nodded.

“Elder insisted on taking the day off when it snowed for the first time last year. Mino was just a couple of months old, but we all went for a hike,” Becky told us.

“It’s a good tradition,” Amie said. Her brother happily nodded.

“Finlay, is my little sister still as stubborn as a mule?” Elder asked.

“Elder!” Amie objected. I pretended to sigh deeply and shook my head.

“She is making my life difficult. To have a Beta like her tests my patience on a daily basis,” I told them and played up my despair. They both smiled. “Has she told you what she made me go through before she would even speak to me the first time we met?” I asked.

“Oh, I need to hear this,” Becky said.

“I am already feeling for you,” Elder told me with a grin.

“Hey! Before Finlay tells you a hugely over-exaggerated version of what actually happened, just remember I was trying to stay away from werewolves,” Amie defended herself. I hid my smile and started to tell them about my brave attempt to talk to the strange wolf I had found in the small diner, and Amie’s stubborn attempts to keep away.

“You let him take a hot pot of coffee to his privates?” Becky asked Amie.

“It wasn’t like I knew she would pour it in his lap. I was as surprised as anyone that he came back after that,” Amie told them. I shrugged.

“At that point, it had become a game. I hate to lose.”

Elder laughed. “A true Alpha,” he said.

The longer we talked, the easier it was to keep the conversation going, and I found myself laughing and joking. The easy nature of Amie and her brother’s relationship was contagious. As we finally got up to leave, it felt like I had spent the evening with friends.

“I’m happy we took time for this,” Becky said as she hugged Amie.

“So am I, and I’m happy we have a plan for meeting up in a couple of months,” Amie agreed. Elder and I shook hands, and then Elder got a hug from his sister, and Becky gave me a tight hug.

“Thank you for coming. The two of you look good together,” she told me.

“Thank you for inviting me. I have had an amazing evening,” I honestly said. We were ready to leave. “Wait just one moment, Red,” I said, opened the door, and scoped out the place. I didn’t want any unwelcome surprises.

“Not that I don’t approve, but are you really thinking about armed assassins?” Elder asked when I got back.

“Not really,” I said. I didn’t want to tell him about Alpha James. It was still his Alpha.

“When we came here, James was outside making out with Cindy,” Amie said. I saw Becky make a face, not a fan of Cindy.

“Are you okay?” Elder asked, looking over his sister.

“The bond is too far gone for something like it to affect me,” she told them.

“Still, Cindy,” Becky said, making the face again. Amie giggled.

“Let me guess, she tried to come after Elder?”

“She did. She even tried to convince me they were a thing when we first met. That I should give him up. As if I ever would,” Becky said in a condescending tone.

“My brother is too smart to fall for her tricks. That and my mother would skin him alive,” Amie said. Both women laughed in a little unsettling way. I would never betray Amie, so I didn’t need to worry, I told myself. We said goodbye and started walking back to our cabin.

“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Amie asked after a while.

“It was fun. I like your family,” I told her. She smiled and took my hand.

“They are practically your family now as well. I wanted you to have an evening like this with them, so when I call home to my parents and tell them we have mated, Elder and Becky can tell them what a catch I have made,” she said. I couldn’t stop smiling. Something about her calling home to introduce me as her mate made my heart swell.