~ CASIMIR ~
"Where have you been?" I asked abruptly as the other wolves settled and stepped back to allow Jesse to greet me first as was our tradition. She was my mate. She had first right to my attentions. But she didn't seem to realize it was an honor they bestowed upon her and she blinked nervously, glancing at them over her shoulder before turning back to me.
"We were… playing hide and seek, I suppose. I'm learning to sense others. I was using a group link to find them."
My heart rose sharply- she was linking? I was stunned.
"You can access the packmind without an aid?"
She shrugged, but a hint of that light returned to her eyes. "Not yet, but I'm getting there."
I frowned. That made no sense. Could she link with them or not?
But the way she was keeping her head down and no longer meeting my eyes… it made me grit my teeth again. And here we were in public, under the eyes of several females who were watching me with various degrees of caution.