Chapter 177 Chapter 177
Stepping out from behind the tree, Blair glanced over to see Nichelle standing with Annamarie and Kasia. She was smiling and talking excitedly.
Jake came across the yard to him. His expression wasn’t as happy as the others. “No more first shift watch for me.” He said when he was closer. With his hands on his hips, he studied the younger girls for a moment. “At least with females.” He gave Blair a hard look, “what is with females and their first shift? Guys, they shift and run around scaring everything,” he shrugged, “or eat it.”
Blair chuckled, “she did good.”
“She’s fast,” Jake grumbled. “Felt like I was ancient and trying to keep up. I think we need to go for actual runs again. Patrol isn’t much of a work-out.”
Blair shrugged, “that’s a little hard to pull off right now.”
Noah came over to them. “She’s got guts.” He mumbled. “I don’t even like running through a puddle.” Crossing his arms over his chest, he studied the women all gathering. “You’re going to have one hell of a pack to contend with once they all shift.”
Blair smirked. It was true. If Kobie worked with all of them, hunting and tracking, not to mention speed, they would be a clan no one would mess with. “I think we need to establish some basics with the girls.”
Jake snorted. “Good luck with that.”
Nichelle turned around and spotted Blair, and ran toward him. He barely had time to brace himself when she launched herself at him.
She squeezed him tight, then jumped back. “That was—” she grinned, “I can’t even describe it.” She sobered quickly. “Sorry about the water…”
Blair rubbed his hand down her arm, “it’s okay, we should have discussed things before your shift,” he frowned, “why didn’t you tell me?”
She blew out a breath, “I didn’t know what was happening,” she waved a hand around, “and with everything else I didn’t want to bug,” she looked over at Torrey, “anyone.” She shrugged, “I thought it was because Uncle Niles was alive, you know?”
Leaning down, so he could make eye contact with her, he spoke in a soft tone. “I don’t care what’s going on or isn’t, you can always talk to me, got it?”
She nodded, then inhaled deeply and put her hand on her stomach. “I can’t believe I ate a bunny.” She smirked.
“I can’t believe how quickly you caught it.” He chuckled and then noticed the forlorn expression on Annamarie’s face. “Go in and grab a protein bar. You need to eat often and never let your body run on empty until you can control the shifts more.”
“Okay.” She backed up a step and then paused, “thanks, Blair. I was really freaking out until you got there.”
He winked at her. “You did great.”
She smiled and then spun around and jogged to the house.
Pulling his shirt over his head, he walked over toward Annamarie. “Are you okay?”
She huffed out a breath, “Yeah, fine.”
“Feeling gypped?”
She gave him a surprised look. “How did you know?”
Blair grinned and motioned for them to move away from the others. He rubbed a hand over his chest, “I remember when one of the others shifted first, and I was still on two feet.”
“I just thought—I’m oldest…”
“Age has nothing to do with it.” He stopped and looked down at her, “each cat is different, comes out when it’s their time, not yours.”
She nodded, even though the disappointed look was still in her eyes. “I guess.”
He grinned, “Being older when the first-time hits will help you be more in control.”
“Yeah?”
Blair chuckled, “Gary shifted young, younger than Nichelle and he was so out of control…”
Her eyes lit with humor. “Really? Think he’d mind if I asked him about it?”
Blair raised an eyebrow at her, “just keep the flirting out of it and I’m sure he’ll be fine talking about it.”
She blew out a breath. “He’s really cute…”
“And you’re off-limits.”
“I am?”
He nodded, “yeah, I have enough going on right now, I can’t even fathom any of you girls dating at this point.” He blew out a loud exaggerated breath, “so please, just…”
“I’ll behave. For now.” She whispered, “but I need to get out of the house before I lose my mind.”
“Deal. I’ll see if Beth wants a shopping partner.”
Her eyes went wide. “Really? That would be amazing.”
Blair put his arm around her shoulder and started to walk back, “go celebrate with Nichelle.”
“Did she really jump into the river?”
He glanced down at her, “yes and that’s a bad thing for a first shift.”
“But you saved her?”
Blair nodded, not saying anything.
“Of course you did. You’ve saved us all.” She hugged him briefly and then walked over to where Franki was standing with Kobie.
Rubbing his hand over his hair, he dropped his hands to his hips and stood there looking at them.
“Busy day?”
Blair glanced to see Calum standing there. “Yeah.”
“You did good, wrangling her.”
Blair snorted, “Which one?”
“Both. All.” Calum smirked, “I don’t think females are anything like men when they first shift.”
Rubbing his temples, Blair blew out a breath. “Nope. Nothing similar. Kelsey climbed a tree, Nichelle went for a swim…”
“Shae took down the corrupt Alpha in her clan.”
That made Blair pause, “really?”
Calum nodded slowly, “I was all set to fight him, and she struts through the crowd and takes him down the first time in her cat body.”
“Damn.” Blair looked back at the females grouping together and reveling in Nichelle’s first shift, “and I still have more to get through.”
Calum chuckled, “Noah said you dove in the water and hauled her out,” he gave Blair a serious look, “you’ve got this, Blair. You’ll be the best Alpha they need.”
“You think?” He turned and tracked Kobie with his eyes, “if I can ever get a moment with my mate, that might be closer to happening.”
Shaelan was walking toward them. “Too bad there are no pink shacks here.”
Calum chuckled.
“Pink what?” Blair looked from one to the other.
“Long story.” Calum hugged Shae against his side, “short version is you’ll never get closer to being mated if you don’t get her away from the clan of women she feels obligated to watch over.”
“We were sort of discussing that when Noah came running to tell us about Nichelle,” he motioned to where all the women were listening to Kobie, then turned his head slowly and looked at Calum, “how do I manage that?”
Before Calum could answer, Gage’s truck came up the drive. Blair went to go over when Kelsey hopped out of the driver’s door.
“Problem?” Shaelan asked quietly.
Blair studied Kelsey for a moment. “No.” He noticed her carrying something. “A pack.” He grinned, feeling some relief that it wasn’t something urgent. “She’s bringing Nichelle a run pack.” He blew out a breath. “I hadn’t even thought of that.”
Shaelan grinned up at him. “Good thing you have women around to cover what you forget.”
“Nine of ‘em,” Calum said with a big grin then guided Shae toward the others.
“Yeah. Nine of ‘em.” Blair said under his breath. “I am so far out of my league here.” He blew out a breath and followed them over.