“Now shoo. I have a lunch date.” Belle waited patiently while Gina and company beat a hasty retreat.

Rick caught one glimpse of the dominant female’s face as she left, and his blood ran cold. He pulled outhis cell and called Ben.

“Ben here.”

“Keep an eye out for the females. Belle just put a verbal smack-down on Gina and the woman looks

like she might be out for blood.”

“Will do. Enjoy your lunch.”

Rick hung up and made his way over to his Luna, shaking his head at her antics.

“Ireally  don’t like her.”

He took her hand and led her to a seat. “Don’t worry. No one would ever be able to tell.”

Chapter Four

Belle stood there, shivering her ass off in the cold night air, and wondered what the hell was going on.

Rick, his arms crossed, stared at the gathered Pack intently. The Pack grunted, Rick nodded. Thenthere was silence as his gaze drifted over them.

Belle looked back and forth at the group of silent people, all of them eerily staring back at Rick. Shecould see the occasional person nodding, or in Gina’s case, sneering. Then Gina flinched and glared at Chela, who smiled smugly back.

What the fuck is going on?

She started tapping her foot, fidgeting the change in her pants pocket. She stared up, watching the starstwinkle through the break in the trees. She huffed out a bored breath.

“Belle?”

She turned to Rick, startled to see the Pack was gone.

“Aren’t you coming?”

“Coming where?”

He looked shocked. “We’re heading back to the Lodge for drinks, to celebrate our mating.”

“Um. We are?”

“Yes.”

“When was this decided?” Belle could feel her temper beginning to spike, and it felt good. She’d never

dared lose her temper in Halle for fear of losing her so-called friends.

And just look where that got me.

No, it definitely felt good to let go. Witness how Gina had gone out of her way to avoid her all day!

There were definite perks to this lack of anger management.

“Just now.” He looked genuinely confused, and a little concerned.

“You didn’t say anything.”

“I spoke to the Pack.”

Her eyebrows rose into her hair. “When?”

He stared at her intently for a moment, a look of shock passing over his face. “You didn’t hear me, didyou?”

“When?” She was moving beyond annoyed to seriously ticked.

Rick blew out a breath, running a hand through his hair. “C’mon. I’ll explain it on the way in.” He put ahand under her elbow and started walking. “I have a mental connection to every Pack member.”

“Yeah, so does every Alpha.”

“No. I mean, I can hear them, and they can hear me.”

“Of course they can.” She patted his arm soothingly.

“No, Belle. I mean, like telepathy.”

She stopped. “In their heads?”

“Yes.”

“Can you read my mind?”

“When I try to, or when you think something very loudly, yes.”

She growled.

He held out his hand commandingly. “Give me the air horn.”

Damn. She handed over the air horn with a frustrated sigh. “You never let me have any fun.”

His expression softened as she pouted up at him. “If I had known, I would have mentioned it earlier.

We’ve only been mated for a day.”

They started walking again. “So from now on the Pack meetings will be held verbally. Problem solved.”

“Problemnot  solved.”

“Why not?”

“Because I can’t hold the Pack meetings verbally.”

“Why not? Some ritualistic bonding thingie that you’re not going to explain because I’m a cat and I’d

never understand?”

“Ritualistic bonding thingie?”

The indulgent amusement in his voice grated on her rapidly fraying temper. “Rick.”

He snorted, a smile flirting around the corners of his mouth.

“Why can’t you hold Pack meetings verbally?”

“Tradition holds that all Pack functions held by the Alpha be done mentally.”

She let her mouth move into her sweetest smile, mentally crowing at the worried look that crossed hisface. “But I can’t hear you when you do that.”

“I know.” He patted her hand. “I’ll make sure to fill you in after the meetings.”

She could feel her teeth trying to grind together and did her best to relax. From his wince, she didn’tthink she’d succeeded. “How am I supposed to function as Luna if I can’t hear you?”

“I’m sure we’ll figure something out.”

They were almost at the Lodge. Belle smiled again, delighted when she felt him shiver under her hand.

“Yes. I’m certain we will.”

Belle felt insanely giddy as Rick carried her into their apartment after their mating party. The best part?

Gina and company had chosen to skip the event.

She was still humming “Little Red Riding Hood” as Rick took her straight into the bedroom. Dave wascompletely insane once you got a few mojitos into him. He’d actually gotten up on a table and begun tosing that. He’d been leering at Ben the whole time. He hadn’t stopped even when Ben turned his back onhim and walked away.

“You, my Luna, are plastered.”

She giggled and aimed a kiss at Rick’s mouth. She hit his chin. “Oh, scratchy.” She reached up andstroked a hand over his cheek, feeling his beard. It felt good against her palm. She spared a thought tohow it would feel on the flesh between her thighs.

Rick groaned. She wondered if he’d heard her thoughts. From the flush creeping up his face, she thoughthe might have.

She thought about it harder and felt herself getting wet.

“Bedtime, little kitty.”

Belle pouted as he put her on top of the comforter. “What if I’m not sleepy?” She shimmied a little bit,trying to entice him into the bed.

His eyes turned brown. “Belle…”

She sat up and slowly pulled off her sweater and dropped it to the floor. His gaze was glued to herfingers as she began slowly unbuttoning her blouse. She made sure to have her fingertips linger at herbreasts as she pulled the shirt away from her chest. The shoulders slipped down and hung on her elbows. She looked up at him from under her lashes and licked her lips.