Keil pinched the bridge of his nose and TJ attempted to stand in one place and not fidget like a naughty school kid hauled in front of the principal.
“She’s your mate.”
“Screw it, Keil, I’ve told you a dozen times. If all you’re going to do is repeat ‘she’s your mate’ in a tone of voice suggesting I’m more than slightly brain-dead, we’re hardly going to get anywhere with this conversation, are we?”
Robyn laughed.
“It’s not funny,” Keil complained.
Robyn tugged his arm and cupped her mate’s face in her hands, staring into his eyes.
TJ watched as his brother and sister-in-law discussed him. He knew they were doing it, that talking-between-themselves thing mates could do. He sighed. Well, most mates. He doubted he and Pam would be able to, since she wasn’t wolf. Still, he wasn’t going to argue with fate.
She was most definitely the one. Kissing the woman had been better than any sexual experience he’d had before in his life. He’d been rapidly approaching the point where he would have embarrassed himself and come in his pants. Then he’d managed, again, to muck things up.
So now he waited to be disciplined like a disobedient puppy by his Alpha pair. What he wanted to do was figure out a way to find Pam and finish what they’d started. If she’d even speak to him after being rescued from the tangled mess they’d ended up in on the floor. Thankfully the lights had been dim enough everyone thought it was nothing more than his usual clumsy self, and not the two of them fooling around, that caused the accident.
A tug on his sleeve brought him back from his mental wanderings. Robyn smiled at him and used American Sign Language to talk to him. She signed slowly—he had learned a lot, but still wasn’t fluent.
“If Pam is your mate, how are you going to deal with it?”
TJ hesitated. “You mean, like will I tell her about being a wolf?”
Robyn nodded.
Shit, he hadn’t thought about that. Hell if he knew. He tapped his right fingertips against his forehead several times then flung his hand to the right, ending with his palm out and all five fingers raised.
Robyn blew out a long, slow breath. “You don’t know. So if we suggest you proceed slowly until you have figured it out, would that make sense?”
Fuck. “Why do you have to be so logical?” he complained.
“Would you prefer we ordered you to stay away from her until she leaves Alaska?” his brother asked. Keil came and stood next to Robyn, the two of them together an immovable wall.
“She’s my mate. You wouldn’t be so cruel.” Would they?
“We’re not trying to hurt you, but we have to figure out the best thing for the entire pack. If she is your mate, and I’m not denying it, it’s going to make things bloody awkward around here.” Keil crossed his arms and leaned back on the table. “We’ve finally got the pack to the point they aren’t complaining about full-blood and half-breed issues nearly so much, and now this?”
TJ ran a hand through his hair in frustration. “I didn’t do it on purpose.”
“No, but it’s potentially pretty volatile to have a full human enter the mix.”
“I’m not giving her up.”
Robyn shook her head. She pushed Keil until he moved his bulk away with a sigh. “Fine, you talk to him. I’m going back to the party to make sure none of the pack gets into too much shit.”
Keil kissed Robyn before he left—a sweet and tender kiss—and TJ’s throat tightened with something between happiness and envy. He’d always wanted to have a mate. To have someone to care for and enjoy their company, like he’d witnessed between his older brother and his wife. And now? It was potentially within his grasp.
Robyn settled on the couch. She checked him over carefully and TJ’s skin crawled.
“If you’re planning on using your Super Alpha Powers of Obedience on me, I want to say upfront—that would totally suck.”
She laughed as she lifted her hands to sign at him. “Keil tries so hard to be fair to the pack he forgets to be fair to you. No alpha shit, just one question.”
He sat across from her. In the past two and a half years since Robyn had joined the pack, she’d come a long way from being clueless about werewolves. Being deaf didn’t stop her from being one of the most powerful—and creative—leaders he’d ever known. Maybe she had an idea of how he should deal with the mess.
“One question?”
“You don’t know if she wants you…”
Well, if the little episode in the hall meant anything.
“…for anything other than a fling.” Robyn stared expectantly.
Damn. “She’s my—”
“Mate. I know, but she’s not a wolf. You want her, and will always want her, but I don’t think it works the same with humans, does it?”