She snorted. Lex looked horrified and Tracy and Megan kept their gazes down so as not to laugh.

“I’ll take that as a compliment then, shall I, Gabe?”

He laughed then. “Absolutely.”

He then dealt with the other members of each group. Despite his normally calm demeanor, his heart sped up when he shook the hand of Tracy Warden. Normally he’d have been none too thrilled to meet someone with a facial piercing, at the very least turned off, but on her it was wicked sexy. Made him wonder if anything else was pierced, and if she had tattoos.

“Okay, do you all know each other?” Gabe asked, looking around at them, forcing his mind off stripping those clothes off Tracy Warden and searching out the answers to his questions.

“I’ve not met anyone from Pacific.” Tracy was surprised that her voice didn’t crack under the pressure of all that testosterone in the room.

Gabe took her hand, led her over to the others and introduced her to Nick. When Nick touched her hand her body tightened and erupted into gooseflesh.Oh shit.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Tracy.” Nick said this in his usual debonair way but he was fighting down panic. Fighting back the urge to push her back to the table behind her and grab the flesh of her neck between his teeth.

She knew she must have mumbled something and met the others. She realized this as she sat in the chair next to Lex and began to take notes. The time began to tick by and she didn’t quite know where it had gone.

The feel of her hand in Nick’s had warmed her. Turned her insides molten. She was achy and her wolf was agitated. Several times Lex had to repeat himself when he asked her a question as she found it increasingly more difficult to pay attention.

Nina watched her sister-in-law with careful eyes. All the fidgeting and distractedness was unlike her.

“Excuse me, can we take a break?” Nina asked, standing up.

Lex turned around, concern on his face. “Are you all right?”

“I just need a break. I think I need a piece of fruit or something.”

“Of course, we’ve been at this for a few hours. Let’s take half an hour and then we’ll work through lunch. I took the liberty of ordering in, I hope you don’t mind.” Gabe stood, smiling.

Nina nodded and moved forward. “Tracy, honey, can you come with me, please?” And before Tracy could answer she found herself being dragged out of the room.

Just outside the building, Nina hustled her around the side. “What the hell is going on? Are you all right?”

Nina examined her through narrowed eyes.

“Wha—what do you mean?”

Nina rolled her eyes. “If you don’t tell me, I’ll just tell Lex and then it’ll be all dramatic. I’ve been watching you, Trace. You’re the attention-to-details queen and for the last two hours you’ve been mooning—and yes, I said mooning—over Nick Lawrence and he’s been just as bad.”

Tracy put her head in her hands, unable to deny it. “Oh god, Nina. I think he’s my mate!”

“What? Are you kidding me?”

“Do you think I’d kid about something like this? I’ve never been affected by a male like this before. I want to rub my face all over him. I want to give him my neck. I want him!”

“Nina! Where the hell are you?” Lex yelled from the doors around the corner.

“I’m back here. Go get me some fruit and a bagel or something, please.”

He came around the corner, emanating menace. “What is going on, Nina? Are you all right?”

Nina sighed and patted his arm. “I’m fine. Thank you, baby. Now, please, I need to talk to Tracy alone.

Can you please get me something to eat?”

“Are you pregnant?”

She stared at him, mouth agape and then burst out laughing. “No, studly. I’m not. I promise. This is female-type stuff, though, so I’d appreciate the privacy.”

Thinking that he may be sent off to retrieve tampons or something equally horrifying, he set Megan on watch and headed to get some food.

Nina giggled and turned back to Tracy as Megan hustled over to them. “He thought I was going to send him for feminine hygiene products or something. I’m going to have to keep that reaction in mind for the future. Now, back to you.”

“What am I going to do?”

“What do you mean? If he’s your mate, there’s only one thing you can do!”

“Mate? What the hell did I miss?” Megan hissed.

“Tracy is pretty sure that Nick is her mate,” Nina explained in low tones.

Megan’s eyebrow went up. “Well, nice one! He’s a hot number.”

Tracy’s misery was chased away when she had to laugh at her sister. “He’s from another Pack.”

“And?”

“I’d always imagined my mate to be from Cascadia.”

“Yes well, I’d always imagined my mate to be a human man with a normal job who didn’t turn into a wolf at will and carry a gun. We don’t always get what we think we want.” Nina’s face softened. “But a lot of the time we get what we need.”

“Just get a good sniff and let him get one too. Nature will take over from there, Trace.” Megan’s matter-of-factness was a comfort and Tracy snorted.

“I need some time alone,” Tracy said with a sigh. “I need some fresh air and time to think. We’ve got fifteen minutes left. I’ll be back.”