Lex put an arm around her shoulder. “My parents, my grandmother, two of my sisters, one brother-in-law and their two children. Megan and Tegan are here already, they’re in Cade’s guard.”

“What? Jeez, that’s a baseball team! And Megan and Tegan?”

“They’re twins. They’ll come up when everyone else does. You’ll like them.”

“Wow, your mom is a fertile Myrtle!” Nina placed her palms flat over her stomach, almost protectively.

Cade and Lex laughed and she went to the windows and watched three cars pull into the large drive and park. The cars spit out ten people, all beautiful or handsome and very well dressed. The children looked to be about seven and nine and they waved toward the windows and headed into the large yard while the adults headed inside.

A tall, lithe, silver-haired woman walked in first, followed by a burly man with dark brown hair and big green eyes, and at his side a petite redhead. Another couple followed and then two younger women who appeared to be around Nina’s age.

“Grandmother,” Cade said with a grin. He embraced the silver-haired woman and turned toward Nina and Lex. “This is Nina Reyes.”

The woman narrowed her eyes and looked Nina up and down to the point that she wanted to run, but instead she squared her shoulders and stood tall. She had nothing to be ashamed of.

The woman saw it and a smile broke out over her face. “Fortune has blessed you, Alexander my boy.” She walked to Nina and took her hands. “Welcome to the Pack, Nina. Welcome to our family, I’m pleased to meet you.”

Relief rushed through Nina and she smiled back. “Thank you, I’m pleased to meet you as well.”

Lex turned her to face his parents. Cade motioned to her and spoke to his mother and father. “This is Nina, as you can scent, he’s formed the bond and claimed her. Do you accept her into the Pack?”

The man stood forward and cocked his head. “Lex, you smell content.”

Lex nodded. “I am.”

The woman moved beside him. “She’s strong? Can she be the mate to the Enforcer of this Pack?”

Cade spoke this time instead of Lex and Nina was beginning to get exasperated, feeling like they’d start looking at her teeth any minute. “I watched her deliver a roundhouse kick to a full-grown werewolf two nights ago. Surrounded, facing the death of her brother, she continued to fight, never showing any sign of giving up. She stood up to Lex as he kept her under surveillance for weeks. She even managed to elude him while he was tailing her.”

The man raised an eyebrow at that and Lex made a growling sound but didn’t contradict the story.

“Will she accept her wolf?” Lex’s mother asked Lex.

“She and I will discuss that later. Right now there are bigger issues,” Lex said solemnly. He could feel Nina beginning to get impatient with everyone talking around her.

“And she knows and accepts all aspects of our culture, then? The tri-bond included?” His father asked.

“We were just about to discuss that when you pulled up,” Lex said this quickly and Nina turned and narrowed an eye at him.

His father sighed. “Lex…”

“I said we’ll talk about it later.” Lex’s tone brooked no further discussion. “She is my mate, you can clearly see that. She’s beautiful and intelligent and strong. She’s mine and that’s all there is to it.”

His mother smiled at that. “Nina, I’m Beth Warden, this is my husband Henri. Welcome to our family. The next weeks will be very confusing as you become immersed in our world. Please don’t hesitate to come to me or to my mother or your sisters-in-law for help. You’re one of ours now.” She kissed Nina’s cheeks and stood back.

His father stood forward and kissed her forehead. “Welcome to Cascadia Pack. You are one of our own now, Daughter.” He turned to Lex and pulled him into an embrace. “You’ve been blessed, Lex. She’s going to be good for you.”

There was a general lessening of tension then and Nina was presented to Lex and Cade’s sisters and brother-in-law, who all seemed quite happy to meet her and eager to welcome her into the Pack.

While Cade was telling his father about the situation with the laptop and their tentative plans to draw out the killer, Nina leaned over and hissed into Lex’s ear, “Don’t think I’ve forgotten that you aren’t telling me the whole story.”

He winced and then kissed her temple. “I’d never dream of it.”

The family stayed until well after midnight, talking and laughing. Lex refused any talk of how to go about catching the killer, admonishing them all over Nina’s wellbeing. Instead they spoke about Pack business.

Henri had been Pack Alpha and before him it was his father. He’d stepped down ten years before, and handed the reins to Cade.

Lex had been in the Army and served as Ranger for eight years after that, which had trained him even further. He’d gotten his training as an architect while in the Army. He returned to Cascadia when he felt truly ready to take his place as Enforcer, when he was twenty-eight. The same year Cade became Alpha.

She wanted to hear more about his reputation as the “Big Bad” but Lex got embarrassed and made them stop so Nina whispered to his sisters that she’d talk to them at a later time about it.

Chapter Four

After everyone had been seen out, Lex turned to Nina. “Why don’t you go and get ready for bed. Relax a little, read one of those books in that stack you bought today. Now that everyone is gone, I can finally move your things into our room.”