Rudi stared at the two wolves with a panic that was slowly rising and threatening to get out of hand.  What on earth was happening here?  He had fully expected Mandy to respond in the normal way any female wolf would when she met her mate for the first time.  She should be all over Tyler and no matter how unsettling it was for him to watch that happen to his little girl; they were shifters and finding your mate was one of the most precious things to happen, so he understood it completely.  So why was she behaving like Tyler was a threat?  He pushed away the thought that Tyler had either lied about Mandy being his or being mistaken about it.  He knew Tyler too well to even consider that.  It had to be something else; perhaps she was just emotionally stressed because of the circumstances.  Surely shifting in the middle of a fight and then killing your opponent would cause any wolf to stress out?

Alex was as clueless as Rudi.  And to top it off, he was unable to do what he would normally do in this kind of situation; to ask Tyler what the hell was happening.  Because right now, Tyler was way too occupied with the unusually large female wolf circling him and more than ready to attack.  And what really had his jaw almost hitting the ground was the fact that Tyler was so mighty pleased with the way Mandy was misbehaving right now.

If Alex had any idea how thrilled Tyler was he would be more than stunned because right now; Tyler was way past mighty pleased and merely thrilled.  He was ecstatic beyond belief.  This amazing creature before him had exceeded his wildest dreams and hopes.  And more than ever he was glad that the two parts of him were one because the extreme amount of joy rushing through him at this very moment was way too much for only the one part to cope with.

Tyler smirked internally when the she wolf growled a warning at him again.  With the initial shock all worn off; he could now appreciate the beauty of her movement; the fluid grace in which she drew ever closer as she circled him while the hazel eyes that belonged to Mandy glared back at him; their depths somehow reflecting both sides of her and immediately the only thing he wanted to do was to sweep her up in his arms and carry her far away from anything that might hurt her, because as sure as night was the opposite of day; there had to be some kind of reason that both he and Mandy were born into this time and it frightened him.  Dread threatened to overwhelm him; choke him and shut off his air supply but he held fast and shoved it from him forcefully so that he could live in the here and now; with his mate.

The smallest part of him took note that their fathers had backed off and their uncertainty was as clear as daylight to him.

[Don’t worry;] Tyler shot them a quick reassurance; [I should have expected this to happen.  To be able to stand by my side Mandy’s animal counterpart would have to be exceptional in her own way.]

The parents were both relieved at the reassurance; but both were still slightly concerned with her unusual behavior and Rudi especially felt a certain concern that Mandy could take this too far and get hurt.  Not that Tyler would cause her any unnecessary harm; it’s just that when wolves fought -and Mandy sure was headed straight towards a massive show down if she didn’t back down - they tended to get hurt.

For a small moment Tyler considered backing down; but the strange new knowledge inside swatted that idea right out of his mind.  Not only would backing away from her be a bad move on his part as it would indicate that he doubted his own ability; it would also not allow Mandy to reach her full potential.  She had not once stood up to her full height, she had been in a permanent crouch the whole time and she had been able to look at both their fathers at eye level.  Tyler was sure that when she stood upright, she would most likely end up at least a head and a half taller than his dad.  Quite unusual for a female wolf, he thought with pride as his eyes slid over her again as she closed the circle around him.

No, as much as he regretted the possibility that he might cause her some pain during their battle there was no way to avoid it.  It simply had to be done.  So; looking at his mate to measure the potential threat she presented he noticed that even though her body was more slender, streamlined, her legs were not as slender in proportion to her body as was the case with other females.  That would most likely make her movements during an actual fight a lot quicker than the bulky frame of a male would while at the same time still allowing her the strength and endurance in her legs for a longer and faster pursuit.  The only ‘design’ flaw she had was her slender neck.  It would be too easy for any opponent to get hold of her and bite her.

The sudden and overwhelmingly fierce urge to protect his mate the only way he knew how, bolted him upright out of his defensive crouch and had Mandy whine-growl ever so cute in surprise.  The possible scenario ran through his mind and he shook his head to clear away the image of him sinking his teeth into her scrumptious neck and marking her so that every single wolf would know how dangerous it would be to their health in attacking his mate.

Nope; there was no way she would appreciate that gesture right now.  Pushing all the unwanted images from his mind, he half growled half barked at her as he slouched into a lower crouch before jumping at her.  Mandy kicked her body sideways with her hind legs and the moment he touched down; she used her front paws to push against him while using her hind legs as leverage.  Doing a quick shuffle to stay upright he knew he was right in his previous assessment.  Her legs were definitely going to be one of her best advantages.  As they kept lunging at each other he noticed that she was using a lot of his mother’s favorite moves; she had definitely been paying attention during their training sessions in that she had not only learnt how to stay alive in a wolf to human fight but that she had also learned a few wolfish tricks.  He was satisfied that he could pick up the intensity of the battle and did so increasingly as she displayed that she was a fast learner indeed. Soon they were really tearing at each other with a viciousness that had the gathering crowd growing more and more concerned as the battle continued.

Pride washed through him as he thought again how perfectly she matched with him and was so distracted in that brief moment that Mandy managed to sink her teeth deeply into his side when he moved out of her way too slow.

The coppery taste of blood in her mouth brought Mandy back to her senses.  She had been so engrossed with matching and keeping up with Tyler that she had completely lost track of any thing else.  The fiercely satisfied inner wolf wanted badly to continue this battle to measure not only her own strength but that of her mate as well that the human side had a hard time breaking through to the surface.

‘I hurt him!’ was the main thought as she shifted to her human form without any consideration of the growing crowd and her resulting nudity.  Seeing the spreading blood stain on the huge wolf that was her mate had her whimpering in distress as she stumbled to her knees by his side while her hands brushed away the thick fur so that she could inspect the wound she had caused.

Tyler’s legs almost gave out underneath him when the strength of her concern shoved its way into his mind and he had the fight of his life to not change back and hold her tight.  Because if he did; they would be mated before evening; that was certain.  Only when he was able to control his ‘voice’, did he speak to her.

[Mandy; I am fine, it’s nothing more than a scratch.  Please don’t worry about it.]

“But I hurt you!”  She wailed as her hands tried to hold the edges of the wound close together so that it would heal faster.  Mandy did not even bat an eyelid when he growled a warning at her; she was that confident that he would never hurt her.  It was only when her dad gently dragged her that she noticed the crowd as well as the fact that she was but naked.

At a quick command from Tyler, Rudi whipped his shirt off and gave it to Mandy.  When she was too slow to put it on, he pulled it over her head before dragging her away from Tyler knowing that he would never forgive himself if he managed to get hold of Mandy now.  A low and dangerous growl made him hesitate for a small moment before pushing her in front of him, but being the stubborn girl she was, Mandy dug her heels in and refused to budge.  Picking his little girl up in his arms he made a beeline towards his home.  The further away he moved, the louder the growls and snarls became and he broke out into a trot; bouncing Mandy around as he took her home.

Over her father’s shoulder she could see that Alex and Shaun had taken up position in front of Tyler to stop him from coming after her and that the warning growls and snarls were directed at them.  When they stood their ground, Tyler slinked towards them and the growls became more threatening.

Quickly Mandy shifted in her father’s arms so that she was half leaning over his shoulder and she called out to him.  “Tyler!!!  If you hurt them I am going to be so pissed!”  The growls became less and less threatening until she could only hear soft whining from him.  When her father started going round a bend; she asked him to wait.  “Alex, Shaun; I want to see him!”

When they did not move she fought back an angry growl.  “Please!?”

The moment the two men stepped aside she could see Tyler lying down on the ground; his head on his paws as he watched her intently.  For a long moment she lost herself in his eyes and only broke out of her semi-trance when her father shifted on his feet.  “Take me to dinner tonight?”

Mandy felt like sinking into the ground when the hot sting of a blush covered her face.  This was the first time she had ever asked Tyler out.  Was it appropriate for her to do that?

[Nothing could keep me away.]

Tyler’s quick response reassured her and she gave him a small wave over her father’s shoulder before everybody disappeared from her view.

By the time Tyler got back to the pack house, the cousins that had gone with him to assist the Night River pack were all sitting in the kitchen with mugs of coffee and one of his mother’s BIG containers of cookies.  It was nearly half way empty.

“My mom is going to kill you all so dead when she sees that.”  He pointed to the container as he took a long sip of milk from the carton in the fridge.  As he was putting it back into the fridge, he got slapped on the back of his head.

“Hey!”

“I will kill them dead after I have dealt with you.”

Tyler winced as he turned around to face mother.  He should have known that it was her; she was the only one who would still dare slap his head like that.  Second thought, Mandy would also slap him.  Good grief; what was it with the women in his life?

“Sorry.”  He mumbled guiltily as he wiped his mouth.

His mom stared him down until he was shuffling his feet uncomfortably.  The animal side of his nature did not like backing down out of any situation and it was hard for him to lower his eyes; but he did eventually.  She still was his mother after all and he was in the wrong.  When his eyes landed on the floor, he noticed another pair of feet standing in the doorway and he flashed his eyes up to his dad’s face.

Alex had an indulgent smile on his face as he watched his mate stare down all the testosterone driven males in the room.  He felt Tyler’s eyes on him and gave him a wide grin; both of them thinking back to the times when they would sneak down to the kitchen together in the middle of the night to steal some cookies and drink the milk straight from the carton.  They both smiled at the memory and then snapped their attention back to the table at the sound of Cassy’s shocked voice.

“Don’t you dare do that!”

Tyler could not decide whether his mother was more outraged or disgusted as Connell attempted to put back a half eaten cookie.  Then his eyes caught the quick movement as Ricky bit off a piece of the untouched cookie in his hand.

Cassy shook her head while she struggled to keep a smile from creeping onto her face and turned to look at Alex.

“You know something?  I though your brothers were bad.  But these …” she waved her arms around at the young men in the kitchen; “these … hooligans are even worse!”  For effect she managed one last huff before she hurriedly escaped so that she could go and laugh somewhere else.

Their eyes followed Cassy until she was out of sight and then went to Alex where he was still standing in the door.  Mimicking Cassy, he shook his head at them.  “I am so disappointed with all of you.”  He took off after Cassy but half way through the door, he turned back and grabbed a handful of cookies and shoved one into his mouth.  The he marched out again only to turn back once more to say something with his mouth full of cookie crumbs.  “And by the way, none of you are getting any desert tonight.”

His exit was followed with loud protests.

“Gross dad!”

“That’s not fair!”

“I only had six!”

Their protests were stopped when he loudly interrupted them from what sounded like his study.  “No desert!”

Tyler sat down next to the sad looking Warren and Nathan.  He smirked at his cousins.  “I am having dinner with Mandy tonight; so I can have as much desert as I want.”

Ricky shook his head at his cousin, sighed and grabbed another cookie.  When the others looked at him as if he had lost his mind he just shrugged.  “What; we are already not getting any desert; we can at least make it worthwhile.”

The others thought about it for no more than a second before their hands dipped into the container as well.

“So Tyler,” Nathan asked after he had washed a cookie down with a mouthful of coffee, “where are you taking Mandy tonight?”

“I actually thought about doing a picnic at our tree.  We have got quite a few things we need to discuss without the chance of anybody overhearing.”  He reached to take a cookie but Ricky moved it out of his reach.

“Hey man; this is our desert.”  He shot Tyler a dirty look.  “But I don’t think a picnic is such a good idea.”

Tyler still had his hand stretched out in the air as he tried to process what Ricky had said.  “Why on earth would that not be a good idea?”

“You … and her … alone?  That is unless you planed on completing the mating tonight.”

A couple of times Tyler took a deep breath to say something, but he never did.  Then he rubbed his hand over his face.  “Where on earth do I take her to then where we can still be alone?”

“There’s that tiny little place behind the mall; they have those secluded booths.”  Warren suggested as he stood up to grab some cookies.  Ricky was still holding them hostage.

“Too many interruptions by the waiters.”  Tyler objected.

Ricky laughed evilly.  “Then you can always take her to that seafood place with the red walls; their service sucks!”

Amidst loud laughter Tyler shook his head at his crazy cousins.  Perhaps his mother was right.  They were hooligans alright.

“You could take her to the drive in.”

Warren slapped Nathan for making the suggestion.  “You idiot!  Do you have any idea what happens at drive ins?”

With a big cheesy grin Nathan nodded.  “Hell yeah I do!”

Another round of laughter and Tyler was still no closer to an answer to his dilemma.

“Is that cute little roadhouse at the other side of town still open?”  Connell asked as he looked deeply into his empty mug.  “It’s the middle of the week; they should not be that busy.”

It was very quiet for a very long time before someone spoke.

“That is actually a pretty cool idea!”  Ricky thumped Connell on his back.  “They get to have the privacy of their own car and get to eat at the same time.  And their food is pretty good too.”

“Their deserts are pretty amazing too.”

At the speculative look in Warren’s eye Tyler gave him a stern look.  “If you guys are still here tomorrow; then we can all go; tonight is just me and Mandy.”  He left the kitchen to look for his father.  He had received some disturbing information while he was touching bases with the other packs in close vicinity to the Night River pack and he was hoping to discuss it with his dad before he took it up with the rest of his ‘team’.

He shared his concerns with his father and Alex said that he would see if he could reach Stan.  He was no longer a member of the council but he should still have access to some information they might need to make any further decisions.

After his meeting with his dad, he tried to see if he would be able to speak to Mandy through the pack link.

[Mandy?]

[Tyler?]

[Yeah; it’s me.]

Mandy shivered.  She could almost feel the soft caress of his voice.  [Are you busy with something?]

[No, not now.  I have just finished speaking with my dad.  I thought I would see if I could have a short nap before we left later on.]

Tyler heard her soft laughter of two levels now.  Through the pack link as well the normal crystal tinkles he got from her when she was happy and excited about something.

[My dad also told me to see if I could sleep.  He said you would not like it if I fell asleep on you during our date.]

[Definitely not!  Do you think you could be ready by about five?  I wanted to stop at the mall to get my mom a present for her birthday.  If I have to listen to one more hint about those books she wants I will go crazy.]

[You know that you are going to hear them until she opens her presents, don’t you?  And besides; you should get her something else; Tricia got her those almost three weeks ago.]

[Oh dear!  What do I get her now?]

[I am sure you will think of something.]

Tyler was quiet for a while before he spoke again.  [How about we leave now to go and look for something and then have dinner later?]

[Sounds good.]

Her voice was lazy and it made him shiver.  Ricky was definitely right about not being alone with her tonight.  She had never sounded so sultry before.  [Can you be ready in about an hour?]

[Sure; what should I wear?]

[Just something casual; we are not going anywhere fancy tonight.]

[Even better.  I am not exactly in the mood to dress up right now.  See you just now?]

[See ya squirt.]

She huffed at him.  [I am not a squirt anymore!]

[I know.]  Tyler reluctantly broke the connection and turned the taps on in his shower.  He dressed quickly after his shower and ran downstairs to the kitchen to find his mother in front of the stove preparing a crème caramel.  “Save me some.”  He asked as he kissed her on the side of her head.

She shot him an angry scowl.  “Have you forgotten already that you are not allowed any desert tonight?”

Tyler bit back a laugh when he noticed that his mother seemed to be a bit ticked off.  “What’s wrong?”

Cassy waved the wooden spoon in his face.  “Your father is what’s wrong!  There was not going to be any bloody desert in the first place!”

He kissed his mom on her cheek this time as the left the house and she heard him say quietly; “I have a very clever father indeed.”