Bree's Comments: In this case, it is at least 75% my fault. This is one of the scenes where we talk about the Math of Mating, which makes me laugh like the geek I am. The mating urge in the Southern Arcana universe is more science than magic, a mixture of instinct, chemistry, and pure physical attraction.
At one point I swore to Donna that Kat would have turned it into a formula, and we wrote a good portion of the book with a mathematically challenged but very funny (to us) math equation on my white board under the title "The Math of Mating." (It involved the limit of Derek's brain-processing power as chemistry approached infinity along with a few random variables.)
This is one of those silly little things that doesn't matter in the grand scheme of the book–but I loved it! In the long run, though, it wasn't really moving the book forward, so it had to go. CUT! (Cry!)
Set between chapters 3 & 4.
* * *
Derek had a key to Kat's apartment, but he knocked on the door before he remembered it. His cousin had given him a short list of circumstances under which he was allowed to use the key to gain uninvited access, most of them involving alien invasion and imminent death.
And I hope to God we're not dealing with either of those, he thought morbidly as he listened to Andrew's soft footsteps approaching inside the apartment.
Andrew took his time disengaging the deadbolt and chain, and he was yawning when he pulled open the door. "I thought you'd be hanging out at Nick's tonight."
"Guess it's more complicated than that. Kat still asleep?"
"Unconscious, but I don't know if you'd call it ‘sleep'." Andrew rubbed the back of his head as he stepped away from the doorway and waved Derek in. "She drank a lot."
"Yeah. I noticed." Kat's apartment was as messy as the last time he'd seen it, with electronics scattered on every surface and books cascading from her shelves onto the floor. Derek picked his way through the chaos and dropped into an overstuffed chair. "Did you even get her home before she passed out?"
His friend's vague frown deepened to a glower. "Barely. She still tried to climb in my pants, though."
Derek groaned and closed his eyes. "Okay, what the fuck? She's my baby cousin, Andrew. I practically raised her after her parents died. I never want to hear about her and your pants."
"I kept her out of them, if that makes you feel better."
"Can we change the subject yet?"
"Maybe." Andrew stretched out on the sofa and snagge
d a brightly-colored mug from the coffee table. "How close to Nick Peyton's pants did you get?""Her pants weren't really a question after her sister showed up." Derek rubbed his hands over his face. "I keep forgetting that Alec's only teaching me the practical shit about being a shifter, not the fucked up social stuff that comes with their crazy little world. And I can't forget that because Nick's the god damned werewolf princess."
"You don't aim low, that's for sure." Andrew sat silently for a moment. "Do you remember when she came to the hospital to visit you? It could have been more than a couple of days after the attack."
"Kat told me she came, but I don't really remember it. I really don't remember anything except for Alec showing up and dragging me out of there with the doctors screaming at him. And then..." A blurry week of pain and conflicting urges that had culminated in his first change. He'd come back to himself perfectly healed and drowning in a glut of sensory overload that had taken a month to adjust to. "Believe me, Andrew. I don't spend a lot of time trying to remember."
"I guess you wouldn't." Andrew's expression darkened again. "It was before she got rid of the entourage, so she showed up with these two gigantic bodyguards. She barely knew who you were, but she came to check on you anyway. So I get the feeling you're not far off the mark with the princess metaphor."
"It's the alpha thing. The responsibility. Alec's pretty much drowning in it." And now so am I.
He made a noncommittal noise and nodded his head toward Kat's bedroom door. "Want me to stay here after all, Derek? In case Nick needs you tonight?"
It seemed foolish to think anyone needed to be there at all, but it didn't stop him from nodding. "If you don't mind. At least until Kat's sober enough to move under her own power. She'll be pissed as hell when she gets up and finds us here, though, so you might want to run before that happens."
"Nah. I'm going to stick around and make breakfast, just to really annoy her."
"Yeah, well I'm leaving before you do that. You can get away with way more than I can." And if Kat was starry-eyed over Andrew making her breakfast, she'd be too distracted to get in the middle of Nick's mess. "I'm going to meet Nick tomorrow morning and see what I can do to help, anyway."
"Good." Andrew grimaced. "Who's getting executed?"
"Nick's sister's...bodyguard. Who I think might have knocked her up, even though apparently she's not allowed to have sex." Derek groaned. "What the fuck kind of culture makes up rules like this?"
Andrew stared at him in alarm. "You're not going to get shot for hooking up with Nick, are you?"
"Jesus, probably. Why the hell do you think she sent me home?" He planted his elbows on his knees and buried his face in his hands. "I'm a mutt. I'm one of the dirty infected masses."
He heard Andrew tapping his mug, something he often did while deep in thought. "Look, I know I've been pushing you to do something about this thing with Nick, but...are you sure you want to? I mean, I guess I didn't realize how much of a problem it could be. For both of you."
Derek kept his eyes shut and took a deep breath. "Alec told me this...thing, once. It wasn't long after the attack. Six months, maybe. He was trying to explain why there are all these myths and legends about werewolves and their mates. There's this thing that happens when you're a shapeshifter and you're really, really attracted to someone. If the physical chemistry is there, and the feelings..." He laughed hoarsely. "Kat called it the Math of Mating, and Alec thought it was so fucking hysterical he started calling it that too. There's this point you get to where if you like someone well enough, the magic or the instincts or...something... It just takes over. Common sense gets shot to hell, and you feel like you can't live without that person. And right now, I can't live without Nick."
"Jesus Christ." Andrew's mug hit the table with a thump. "I knew you were pining over her, but I didn't know you had this kind of crap going on."
He lifted his head and shot his partner a tired look. "I'm past the age where I sit around and pine. If it were simple, I would have gone after her a long time ago."
"Well, shit." His friend blinked and shook his head. "You're also past the age where getting your ass killed over a woman is romantic. So watch yourself, okay?"
"Yeah." He forced a smile. "You watch yourself with my cousin. I don't really care to hear about her antics involving your pants, but don't jerk her around, Andrew. She really likes you."
"I know. I get it."
"Do you?"
"Maybe better than you do, Derek." He sighed. "What if, on top of everything else with Nick, you had to worry about falling off of some huge pedestal? Like she was going to figure out who you really were and want nothing to do with you?"
It was so unexpected Derek laughed before he could stop himself. "Jesus, man. You're talking about an empath. Kat understands people. Hell, the girl understands Alec, for Christ's sake. I don't think she's got any great misconceptions about who you are."
Andrew looked almost grumpy. "Maybe. And maybe she has the same capacity for self-delusion as everyone else in the world."
"Okay, okay..." Derek held up both hands in a placating gesture as he slumped back into the chair. "God knows I'm in no position to be lecturing on love. Maybe we should let Jackson tell us all how it's done. Or not, since he got shot in the process."
"Exactly what you should avoid. I can't run our business by myself."
He gave Andrew a thumbs up. "Got it. No getting shot."
"Uh-huh." Andrew picked up his mug. "Nice hickey, by the way."
Derek was far too old to blush, so he settled for the second-best alternative. "Fuck you."
