Nicolette waived sheepishly as she realized all eyes were on her. She'd had no way of knowing that Samuel would have guests over. She wasn't as worried about Mercy because she was a pack mate it was the two strangers that had caught her off guard.

"Hi, I'm Nicolette Garza," she said "I didn't know you had guests, Samuel, I'll... I'll be back later on."

She started out but Samuel stopped her by grabbing her elbow a move that amused his younger brother, though only Samuel, Anna and, to an extent, Mercy realized that fact.

"Nicolette this is my brother Charles and his wife Anna"

"It's nice to meet you" she said her expression and scent still screaming of her embarrassment of finding herself in this predicament.

Nicolette had found that she was drawn to Samuel for reasons that had little do to with their similar professions, she liked the older wolf. He was different from the wolves she had known in the past, granted she had learned that he was a lot older than any wolf she had ever known. She noticed Samuel speaking to Charles and was soon invited to join them and things slowly became less and less awkward.

She was getting to hear stories about Samuel and Mercy that she would have never known before had she not gotten into this relaxed environment with them. She also found she learned a little more about Charles than she thought she would. She had heard of the Marrok's enforcer before, she had also heard Charles' name thrown around with that title but she had never met the man in person up until that day and she quickly realized he wasn't exactly what she had expected. Sure the tall native man in front of her was plenty daunting but she knew there had to be more to him than that, especially after having met his older brother. She wondered what Charles had to hide, had to lose of himself to become the legendary enforcer that she saw in front of her. Then mention of Charles and Anna's adopted daughter came up and Nicolette was certain there was more to the man in front of her than most wolves ever knew.

Charles watched how Samuel reacted to Nicolette's discomfort in the situation and began to wonder if he might have feelings for her. He became a little surer of his initial feeling as he watched her settle in. He figured this would be good for Samuel to have a mate that was a werewolf, a mate that wouldn't age and die before his eyes while he remained youthful. Sure she could never give him children as he desired but they could always adopt, he had found it plenty rewarding to take care of SeoHyun. She had rather recently changed to calling him 'Da' instead of Charles. He was doing his best to forget the events that led up to her calling him that but he wasn't going to make her stop calling him 'Da' as, to him, it just solidified his claim to her as her father and that she was not to be messed with, that she was under his protection, she was his child in every way that mattered. It had never been something he spoke to her about so it was wholly her decision to call him that and that made it mean more to him that she chose to call him Da.

Anna could see how stressed Nicolette was and reached out with her omega powers to help her settle down which drew her attention to her.

"You… how are you doing that?" Nicolette asked.

"She's an omega." Samuel said simply, "it's a complicated term to encompass the fact that she has all the protective instincts of an alpha and none of the aggressive tendencies. They are called wolf tamers or peace bringers because of their ability to soothe even the most dominant wolves. She is also outside of the pack hierarchy meaning she can choose if she wants to listen to the orders of the Alpha or ignore them depending on her mood."
Anna smiled at that description.

"He summed it up pretty well." Anna admitted with a smile, "if in a bit of a clunky way."

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Meanwhile: Mercy was sitting there listening to the conversations at hand; she was sometimes still shocked that Charles and Anna were taking care of a young werewolf. She had met the girl briefly when she joined the Marrok Pack. She had been stunned by how tiny the girl was and how skittish she was. She had learned from Bran that the girl, SeoHyun had begun to come out of her shell quite a bit since she joined the pack and was now good friends with Kara Beckworth. Kara was dominant so she kept close watch over SeoHyun who was submissive. She was a help to Charles when it came to keeping SeoHyun taken care of. Mercy had seen the girl more recently when they were both kidnapped by some rogue wolves affiliated with SeoHyun's former pack in San Diego, she had been stunned by how they treated her and was now unsurprised by the fact that SeoHyun had been so skittish when she first arrived in Aspen Creek. (A/N: this is in reference to the events of my story Snow Trouble. SeoHyun is introduced in my story Hidden Hearts.)

SeoHyun had made an impression on a lot of people especially since she began to open up and show that she was vibrant and hopeful for the future.
Mercy had nearly laughed out loud when she heard SeoHyun refer to Charles as Da, the way he and Samuel referred to the Marrok, under any other circumstances she would have. She had not expected that to happen, she didn't think SeoHyun would pick that term and she really didn't think Charles would accept the mantle even if she offered it up to him. He had been adamant that he didn't want her to feel that he was trying to take her biological father's place.

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Charles looked at Mercy, her pregnancy now obvious to anyone who gave a casual glance, and understood why his father had been so worried about her. Pregnancy by a werewolf was always a risky endeavor, but the fact that she was so far along mean that a lot of the issues weren't going to be a problem for her. There were still other issues that could arise but Charles had a good feeling that everything would be okay and he had learned long ago to listen to his instincts.

"Charles, why didn't you bring SeoHyun?" Samuel asked.

"She has school, I'll bring her during the next school holiday." He replied.

"Then who is looking after her?"

"Sage with some assistance from Da," Charles replied simply "Da would keep her himself but he's afraid Leah would crush her and we just got her self-esteem built back up."

"True, Sage is good for her on that front."

Charles excused himself and his mate and they went to the hotel for the night, they would be back in the morning to catch up privately and spend more time with Samuel.

Mercy also left, she had to get to bed early because she had a doctor's appointment the next morning.

"Take care, Mercy." Anna said embracing the other woman gently.

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After everyone left Samuel turned his attention to Nicolette who had her head down submissively.

"I shouldn't have come; I interrupted your time with your brother." She started to leave but Samuel stopped her again.

"No, it's okay, I'm glad you got to meet him in such a relaxed environment, most wolves don't ever get to see him like that." Samuel countered.

"Are you sure?" she asked

"Yes, and it isn't like this is the only day I get with him." Samuel replied.

Nicolette was shocked when he hugged her but returned the embrace her. He smelled good and, while she didn't quite understand why, she felt like, if she could stay in that spot forever, she would be extremely happy. There was a tiny part of her that thought frightened, what did it mean? She didn't take the time to sort through it just yet, that could wait, right now she wanted to bask in the feeling that was Samuel's embrace.

Samuel took a deep breath of Nicolette's scent and was more than slightly surprised when his wolf began to react as if it smelled its mate. It didn't make any sense at all, had his wolf already chosen Nicolette, sure he had feelings for her but he knew so little about her history, so little about what it would mean if they did become mates with her in the pack of a less dominant male than himself.

To Be Continued…