About Face. Amy Lee Burgess

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СКАЧАТЬ your twin sister?” She giggled. In that moment, she was heartbreakingly beautiful.

      “I know you don’t have a twin sister, but you know what I mean, don’t you?”

      Murphy’s face flashed before my eyes, damn him, and my eyes burned. I had to nod because I couldn’t speak. Lauren didn’t notice. She was too caught up in her own feelings.

      “I can’t wait to leave Massachusetts and go to Montana. I’ve never been farther than Louisiana, and that was just for a week. Jason says the forests there are deep and dark and the streams are so clear you can see your wolf’s reflection if you stand still. And it tastes sweet and pure, and it’s so cold it freezes your tongue, even in July. Can you imagine, Stanzie?”

      I thought the forests in New England were wild and wonderful places, but I wouldn’t say that to her. I tried to imagine this conversation she’d had with Jason about the forests in Montana. He’d never once even referred to his pack or his home in all the talks we’d had together.

      I’d known he was from Silverlake because it was the premiere pack in America, even if it wasn’t the oldest. He was one of the most influential and powerful Councilors in the United States and among the youngest ever appointed. He’d joined the Great Council when he’d been only forty-seven, which was nearly unheard of in the Pack.

      He’d been an Advisor from the age of twenty-four and Alpha of Silverlake at twenty-six. He’d served on the First Midwestern Regional Council for ten years before joining the Great Council.

      Someday he would head the Great Council, I was confident.

      All the things I knew about Jason Allerton’s life, I’d learned from Murphy or picked up through the Pack grapevine. He’d never shared much about himself with me, and I’d never questioned that. I’d been too busy looking up to him as a father figure to ask him anything about himself.

      I bowed my head. Tonight I’d vowed to suck it up and stand behind Lauren as she joined with Jason. I’d planned to put aside my reservations and fury and be there for her, even if I couldn’t believe she did the right thing.

      Now I was ashamed of myself. For two months she’d been falling in love, and I’d only seen a woman who couldn’t make a decision. A woman I wanted to morph into a responsible, nurturing mother who would make me feel as if I mattered as my life slowly fell to pieces around me.

      So goddamn selfish. I, I, I. Never a thought for her except in terms of how she related to me.

      Maybe Jason did care about her. Sure, he’d been on a search for a new bond mate, but perhaps Lauren had been a real candidate, not someone convenient.

      He’d only known her for two months and already reached her far more deeply than I had after thirty-two years.

      “Wren, I’m going to miss you so much, but I am so glad you’re happy. Of course I want you to bond with Jason. You two are going to be great together.” Tears spilled down my cheeks as I looked at my mother and knew I was once again going to lose her.

      Her smile was incredulous, and she crossed the room to fling herself in my arms.

      “Stanzie, you just wait. Everything will be different now that I’m with Jason. I feel like I’ve got a second chance, and this time I’m going to do it right.”

      Somehow the scent of Chloe combined with Escape worked with Lauren’s chemistry. Either that or my throat was too clogged with tears to really smell.

      “Come on, I’ll help you with your make up, okay?” I took Lauren by the hand and led her to the vanity. I wanted her to look especially beautiful tonight.

       Chapter 2

      The room glowed with candlelight. Golden light shimmered against the soft cream paneling and danced in circles across the ceiling.

      Six people stood in the front of the room before Kathy Manning, who was dressed in her ceremonial Councilor’s robe of dark blue trimmed with white.

      As the highest-ranked Regional Councilor in attendance, she would perform the bonding ceremony.

      Her serene expression gave no clue to her actual feelings. It had to hurt to be the one to preside over her ex-lover’s bonding ceremony to someone else he’d just met two months previously. Someone he couldn’t keep his eyes off.

      Jason Allerton was smitten, there was no escaping that fact. How I hadn’t seen it before tonight, I wasn’t sure. Perhaps he hadn’t allowed himself to look at Lauren the way he did tonight.

      They were the center duo, facing one another hand in hand, and simply drank each other in as the candlelight enveloped them in a soft, amber glow.

      The other duos were younger—first-time bonding for both of them—but Lauren and Jason were the ones who drew our gazes.

      The families and packs of the duos stood behind them as witnesses, and beyond us were several round tables with pristine white tablecloths and summer floral centerpieces. The sweet fragrance of tiger lilies perfumed the room.

      I’d managed to hop in the shower, wash my hair, throw on my new red dress and black spike pumps. My hair had even cooperated with the curling iron, although I was pretty sure all the curl would fall out halfway through dinner. It didn’t matter.

      When I took a deep breath, I must have made a wistful sound because my cousin Faith, who stood beside me, moved closer so her shoulder brushed mine. She took my hand and gave it a gentle squeeze.

      I hadn’t seen her in two months, and during that time her pregnancy had started to show. She had a definite baby bump beneath the wine-colored Empire maternity gown draping her body. She placed my hand across her abdomen, and I felt a tiny, fluttering movement. Had that been a kick?

      “My God,” I whispered and turned to her in excited shock.

      “I know.” Her whole face glowed. She was beautiful. “Grandmother Carolyn says it’s twins, Stanzie. Can you believe it?”

      “Twins!” I pressed my forehead to hers and grinned. “You are so lucky, Faith.”

      “Scott wants two boys, but I think one of each would be nice.” The babies, or at least one of them, fluttered beneath my hand again, and Faith went still so I could feel it better.

      “Alpha female, surely the Pack prospers because of you.” The words were traditional, but I’d never said them before. They felt strangely right to say to my cousin who was Alpha of my birth pack.

      “Someday I’ll say the same to you.” She seemed convinced, but I wasn’t. Hard to be Alpha without a bond mate.

      I twined my fingers with hers as Kathy began the ceremony.

      Halfway through I started to cry, thoughts of Murphy and Lauren and Jason tangled together in my head, impossible to sort out and laced with a bittersweet ache that tingled through my whole body.

      Scott Charest—my cousin’s bond mate, Kathy Manning’s Advisor, and my friend—wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me close. Faith kept hold of my hand. Alan Perrault, another friend from Mayflower, moved close behind me, his body warm against mine, his breath soft in my ear.

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