The lunch was over, and our group moved to the area where towels waited for them.
Within a minute, they felt the scorching July heat on their skin. Werewolves are good when facing cold weather, but heat is their nemesis.
Guys suggested that they continue sitting at the tables because they will be in the shade of big umbrellas, but girls rejected the idea.
How can they enjoy the beach without relaxing on the towels that were spread on the soft sand?
The solution was obvious: remove umbrellas from the tables and stick them in the sand around the towels.
Everyone agreed that this was a brilliant idea.
That led to the current situation. Guys were busy relocating the umbrellas, Omegas were cleaning and removing the tables after lunch, and girls went to stand ankle-deep in the water while waiting for the shade to be ready.
It was only four umbrellas and if the girls went there also, they would get in the way.
With nothing better to do, the girls discussed the latest topic: Meg and Kai.
They started guessing how their lives will change, other than Meg moving to the Midnight Guardians pack.
"Does Meg have a big family?", Maya asked Kalina.
Unfortunately, Kalina herself was a new face and she saw Meg only twice so far, so she didn't know much.
"I know that her parents are not ranked members. Other than that... she went to the same school with Tony."
Similarly, Kai was from the Midnight Guardians pack, and no one was close to him.
They could ask Tony, Axel, or some of the other guys, but they were busy with their tasks and girls didn't want to disturb them for the sake of some light gossip.
With both Meg and Kai being unknown, their topic shifted.
"Ah, I still remember the rush when I saw Caden the first time.", Maya said dreamily.
When no one responded, Maya looked at the four faces around her, and saw that all of them were lost in thoughts.
Maya was the most experienced in terms of having a mate. Kalina and Tony were still fresh, Talia didn't know that Damon was her mate until a few days ago, Tatiana recognized her mate that same morning, and Mindy was still waiting for hers.
Maya thought it was funny. "Each of us has a different situation related to mates, and we are so close in age." She turned to Kalina. "Tell us about you meeting Tony for the first time."
Kalina was ready to talk about it. "He was dorky in an adorable way. I remember Tony walking toward me, and he tripped on the carpet. His arms waved wildly and in the last moment he put them in front of him, to save his face from meeting the floor." She giggled. "He ended up doing three pushups, before standing up coolly with his hands in his jeans' pockets, like that fall was on purpose."
All girls burst into laughter.
"I wish I was there to see that.", Tatiana said.
"What about you?", Talia asked.
Tatiana's laughter stopped abruptly when she realized that question was directed at her.
"What about me?"
"How did it feel when you met Max?", Talia asked.
Tatiana cleared her throat awkwardly. "You were there. You saw it."
Kalina clicked her tongue. "The only thing I saw was that you were eating his face. Tell us, how did it feel? Does he have a specific scent?"
"You didn't talk about it either.", Tatiana said in her defense.
"I said that he was adorable. As for what makes him special… chestnuts."
"Chestnuts?", Tatiana, Mindy, Talia, and Maya asked in unison.
Kalina nodded. "Roasted chestnuts. I love those. I could stuff myself with roasted chestnuts all day, every day."
Maya giggled. "Well, you got your wish. Tony is stuffing you with…"
"Don't!", Tatiana exclaimed. "We all know what you were about to say, but don't. She is my baby sister and the idea of Tony stuffing her with his…" she couldn't make herself say it. "I don't want to think about it."
"But you are thinking about it.", Maya said in a singing voice.
"Instead of thinking about me, you should think about your mate.", Kalina said to Tatiana.
"I am thinking about him.", Tatiana said irritably. She was not used to others poking their nose in her business.
"Oh? What are you thinking?", Talia asked. "I didn't see much progress during lunch."
Tatiana realized that Maya, Kalina, and Talia were eager for answers, and she looked at Mindy who was silent so far.
"Don't play with my brother.", Mindy said. "What Max did for you so far, he never did for any other. It should be that way because you are mates, but I fear that you might end up pushing him away. I don't know what else you expect from him before you accept him as your mate. He is an Alpha, not a clown."
Seeing that Tatiana's expression was frozen, Mindy wondered if she said too much. She always speaks her mind, and this time she had Maddox's best interest at heart. Mindy saw Maddox bending and twisting in order to get Tatiana's attention ever since they returned from their shopping trip, and Mindy was irked that Tatiana didn't react, not even a little bit.
"I am saying this as Max's sister.", Mindy said. "He wants to make it work and I hope you want the same. Don't dwell on what happened this morning because it might grow into something that can't be fixed. Both of you need to decide what's more important and I hope you will pick your mate because it's obvious that he picked you. Figure out what you need from him in order to get over it, and tell him. He was never good at guessing or waiting."
Tatiana didn't respond to Mindy's comment about Max because she didn't know what to say.
Mates should fall for each other immediately. They did that.
Mates should put each other first and their love should be unconditional. They failed at that.
How Tatiana saw it, if Maddox put her first, they wouldn't encounter a situation that morning where two she-wolves emerged from the bathroom. And if she loved him unconditionally, she would brush it away with, 'Don't let it happen again'… and everything would be perfect.
Both of them seem to be faulty at this mate-thing, and Tatiana was not sure how to resolve this knot that formed in her stomach.
Maya wanted to pull the group back to the cheery mood.
'PAK!'
Maya clapped loudly, startling the other four ladies out of their thoughts.
"What should we do first?", Maya asked enthusiastically while her eyes darted between Talia, Kalina, Tatiana, and Mindy, reminding them that they came to the beach to have fun.
Kalina patted her stomach. "I ate too much." Tony was feeding her relentlessly. "Let's not do something too physically taxing until I digest this a bit."
Talia was eyeing the big beach ball since the dessert. "How about we play with the beach ball in shallow water?" She really wanted to do that.
Seeing that no one objected, Maya announced, "Alright! Let's start, and guys can join us when they figure out the umbrellas."
The girls all looked at the scene of Tyler and Tony trying to stabilize one open umbrella that was wobbly, and Maddox jabbing the second umbrella in the ground with a lot of force.
The beach was sandy, but that was artificial. Under a few inches of fine sand, there was a hard surface made of tightly packed soil and clay. The sand was not sturdy enough to hold the umbrellas, while the hard soil was difficult to get into.
Maddox didn't want to have anything to do with those blasted umbrellas, but Tatiana said how shade would be nice, and there he was… trying to get the umbrella into the ground and wondering if he will succeed before he breaks the flimsy metallic rod that already started bending.
Caden, Paul, Nate, Axel, and Greg were discussing something while pointing at the remaining umbrellas, obviously coming up with a good layout.
Damon was observing the umbrella-related efforts from the side, like a boss who doesn't need to work.
