Chapter 25

BUSINESS AS USUAL. THAT’S THE WAY EVERYONE PLAYED their roles as Sam organized the drinks in the dining room, Tom coordinated the side dishes, Jake managed the deliveries of the turkeys, while Lelandi, Carol, and Silva finished baking the pies. The aroma of roasted turkey and gravy filled the air, making Lelandi’s stomach rumble, although she didn’t think she’d be able to eat, she was so uptight.

Carol peered out the kitchen window where the table sat in an alcove. “Snow’s still falling. This will be the best ski season Silver Town’s had in five years.”

Silva cast a questioning look in Lelandi’s direction, but though she caught it, she didn’t acknowledge her concern. Everyone was wearing polite smiles, the conversations centering around the weather, a hunt, some whispered speculation about Sam and Silva, but nothing about the reason for the feast. Lelandi was sure the conversations about that had already been held behind closed doors.

Darien walked into the kitchen, stretched his arms above his head, and smiled at Lelandi.

Silva stammered some excuse and hurried out of the kitchen. Carol took longer before it sank in that the alpha leader needed a moment alone with his mate. Her face suddenly flushed and she quickly made her excuses and hurried after Silva, shutting the door behind her.

“Why didn’t you say something to me?” she scolded outside the kitchen.

Darien rested his hands on Lelandi’s shoulders. “You smell of cinnamon, apples, and brown sugar. Good enough to eat.” He kissed her lips, not waiting for her approval, slipping his tongue into her mouth. “Hmm, taste like brown sugar, apples, and cinnamon, too.”

She melted like the dabs of butter she’d spread on top of the lattice-work pie crusts. “Have… have you seen anyone with bite marks?”

He groaned. “Lelandi…” He shook his head. “I’m afraid either Angelina didn’t bite her attacker hard enough or the scar has already healed. No matter. We’ve got him where we want him. I’ve felt the distance between us when we’ve made love the last two days. I know you feel hurt that I wouldn’t tell you who I most suspect. But I have to do this my way, knowing you the way I do.”

She lifted her gaze from his chest to his eyes. “I love you, Darien, but I don’t want to be kept in the dark.”

He kissed her lips again, his fingers pushing a couple of buttons through the buttonholes on her silk blouse. He slipped his hands inside her blouse and fondled her breasts through the lacy bra.

“Ahh, Darien, you taste of apple cider, the good stuff.” She tangled her tongue with his for another spicy taste.

Voices drew nearer the kitchen, but suddenly stopped and footfalls moved discretely away. Lelandi suspected Silva and Carol were warding everyone away in lieu of a “Don’t Disturb” sign.

Darien tackled Lelandi’s belt, but she stilled his hands. “What are you doing?”

“I’m feeling testy.”

He captured her mouth with his, kissing her into submission and moved her hands away from her belt, then unbuckled it. “We’ll enjoy the meal more after we relieve some of the tension between us.”

She suspected there was more to his need to make love to her than he was admitting. She recognized his craving to prove she was his and couldn’t understand what had triggered it again. Unless it was to confirm to his gathered pack that he had claimed her. No, it seemed to run deeper, like when he felt his pack members were hitting on her at the tavern, and he had to show she was his and only his.

He rubbed his hand between her legs, his fingers pressing the jeans and satin panties between her feminine folds, stealing her thoughts, eliciting a soft moan from her.

“Say you want to wait and we will,” he whispered into her ear, his voice husky with desire. He leaned his hardened erection against her and rubbed. “Say you want me, Lelandi.”

She could no more resist him now than she could in her dreams. Seizing the buttons on his shirt, she nearly ripped them off in haste. She ran her hands over his bare chest, her fingernails flickering over his already pebbled nipples. With a groan, he yanked down her jeans and panties in one fell swoop. Leaning her against the kitchen table covered in flour, granules of brown sugar, and speckles of cinnamon, he shoved away mixing spoons and a sieve that clattered to the tile floor.

He dipped his hand in a bag of brown sugar, then sprinkled it on her bare breasts and stomach. Lelandi smiled. “You’re supposed to eat your meal, before you get dessert. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that?”

“I was more of a red meat kind of guy—although all of that’s changed.”

He shrugged out of his jeans and pushed her legs apart. But before he penetrated her woman’s core, he licked the sugar off her breasts and stomach, sending streaks of pleasure rifling through her. She needed this as much as he did. She wanted the closeness, the loving, the solidarity, before he had to fight. And if it gave him strength, all the better.

She combed her fingers through his hair, luxuriating in the feel of the satiny strands and of his velvet tongue lapping at her skin. His fingers slipped down her stomach, tracing the slight swell in her belly, lower, to her short curly hairs, combing through them to discover the dewy opening between her thighs. Stroking her nub, he triggered flames of desire to sweep through her, a delicious torment, begging to be appeased.

She dug her fingers into his back, the toned muscles of the lupus garou tensing with her touch, and she prodded him to penetrate her. She listened to the soothing sound of the thunder of his heartbeat, his heavy lusty breath, and her heartbeat pounding beneath his.

Darien plunged deep inside of her, his stiff cock thrusting with feverish intent, his pelvis rubbing her mound until every nerve was ready to explode.

“I love you,” she mouthed against his lips, remembering the dreams when she couldn’t hear her words or his. For the first time since he’d made the announcement about having the feast, she felt one with him again. Then an earth-shattering release compelled her to cry out, her body trembling with satisfaction, but Darien muffled her voice with another erotic deep kiss, his tongue probing her mouth.

Groaning, he filled her with his seed, but thrust twice more until she’d milked him dry, the orgasm rippling through her.

He closed his eyes and rested on top of her. “You are something else, honey.”

“I could say the same about you.” She combed her fingers through his hair. “Now you’ll want a nap.”

Chuckling, he licked her lips. “Now I want a feast. And then dessert again.”

He rolled off her and a few granules of brown sugar sparkled on his chest. She licked them up, then he helped her off the table and wiped the flour from her back. “We’re a mess,” she whispered, her skin flushed with exertion.

He cast her a wolfish grin. “You got the brunt of it.” He brushed flour out of her hair and she groaned. “At least the granules of cinnamon disappear in the color of your hair.”

She gave him an annoyed look. “Next time, I’m on top.

You can be covered in flour, sugar, and cinnamon.”

Chuckling, he helped her into her clothes. “I’m game.”

He touched her belly. “I understand Carol believes we’ll have triplets.”

“Conjecture.”

“Right. But she won’t tell me what sex they are.”

Pleased that Carol thought she was pregnant, Lelandi still couldn’t believe Carol could really know such a thing. She shook more flour and sugar out of her hair.

He kissed her forehead. “I invited your brother and uncle and parents to the feast. They dragged Ural along.” Lelandi stared at Darien, then slapped his shoulder.

That’s why he had been so intent on making love to her. It had nothing to do with his pack but all to do with worrying she might want to return to her family.

He grinned. “I thought you’d be pleased.”

“You didn’t have to prove anything to them. I would have stayed with you.”

He took her hand and kissed it. “You’re an alpha pack leader’s mate, and you have the heart of a lion. Let’s get the feast under way.”

Lelandi was sure the fight would come first, but only after she dealt with her father, who wouldn’t like it that she hadn’t gotten his permission to mate Darien.

Darien escorted Lelandi into the sunroom where her parents were sitting, visiting with some of the members of his pack. Her brother and uncle were talking to Jake, and Ural sat in a corner looking unhappy. Probably still mad because of his incarceration and Darien’s people’s treatment of him. But he shouldn’t have hung around.

“We’ll leave you alone for a few minutes to get reacquainted,” Darien said to Lelandi. Everyone remained stiff and formal until Darien gave Lelandi a searing kiss on the mouth, grinned, and then winked at her. He squeezed her hand and reiterated, “The entertainment begins in a few minutes.”

The grays who were speaking with Lelandi’s family rapidly left the sunroom while Lelandi kissed her mother and father, then her brother, uncle, and cousin.

“Triplets,” her mother said, her face beaming. “I’ll stay with you during the last trimester.”

“Will… will you be living with Leidolf all the way out in Oregon?” Lelandi’s voice betrayed her sadness.

“Heaven’s no. Not with my grandkids coming and Hrothgar now in charge of the pack at Wildhaven.” Her mother patted Uncle Hrothgar’s arm. “Your father’s little brother is now in charge and our land is saved.” She glanced at Leidolf. “When are you going to give me some grandkids?”

Leidolf looked annoyed and folded his arms. “I need a mate and none are available, right now.”

Eleanor tugged at Uncle Hrothgar’s arm. “You’ll need a mate, too. I did see a red female in the house earlier. What is she doing in a gray pack?”

“Carol? A red from Bruin’s pack turned her. But she’s an only child now and has aging parents here so I don’t think she’s interested in leaving.”