by Belle Harper
“I tried, my dear.” I laid the English accent on thick, and I watched as her eyes lit up and her cheeks heated. She liked that. I had lost the accent many, many years ago. I had lived all over the world. But if it made her look at me like that, I was going to start using it more.
Ranger walked across the room towards me as he cracked his knuckles and stretched.
“Galen, you need to let a real man in the kitchen... old man.”
Oh great, I was waiting for someone to mention that. Not that he didn’t mention it before...more than once, but we just found out I was older than Lexi’s father. Only a few years, but trust Ranger to pick that to call me. As Ranger strolled into the kitchen, I found a stray piece of carrot and threw it at him. He caught it, he looked at it for a moment then chucked it into his mouth.
“Pizza is going to be awesome,” he said, winking at me and turning back to Lexi. He then rushed over to her, picking her up. She squeaked and let out a giggle as he swung her around before putting her back on the same spot and planted a quick kiss on her parted lips. She swayed lightly on the balls of her feet, then playfully slapped him.
“Hey, Ben. You into football?” Ranger jumped over the back of my sofa and turned the TV on. Ugh... I wanted to hit him over the head for doing that. But then, that would show I was an old man. I just really like the sofa and didn’t want it ruined because Ranger was too lazy to walk around. Ben walked over to the sofa, his hands still in fists, but he stretched them out and took a seat. He surprised me when he started talking to Ranger and Raff about football.
Maverick made his way over to me and took a seat on the stool. I watched as his eyes darted around the room, like he was waiting for someone to “out” him. He had already been outed, “that ship had sailed Maverick.” I wanted to tell him.
“You want a beer?” I opened the refrigerator and pulled up a bottle from the six-pack of Blue Moon and showed him. I wasn’t sure what they liked to drink. I must admit I didn’t pay attention to the beers they had last time and well... It sounded like a good beer for a wolf to drink. I smiled to myself. It was what I was thinking when I picked it, though.
“Sure.” I could see the start of a smile. “That would be nice.” I placed it in front of him and looked for a bottle opener that I never thought of needing so chances were... Maverick had the taken the cap off and was drinking the beer. I watched as his Adam's apple bobbed, my hand wanted to reach out and touch the smooth skin of his throat. He put the bottle down in front of him and nodded at me.
“Not bad,” he licked his lower lip. He looked at me. His lips wet and so kissable. I felt myself reacting strongly from that, heating my cold body from within. I wanted to lick that beer from his lips, I wanted to drink his kiss. That was it, I lost control.
I needed him.
Chapter Thirteen
Lexi
There was a clang of glass, Hazel, and I turned to the kitchen. My mouth dropped open at the sight. Holy fuck. Galen had his hand fisted in Maverick’s dark tee, and he had pulled him off the stool and over the kitchen counter. Maverick held his hands on the counter, his face only inches from Galen’s. What the hell happened? They just stared at each other, I could see them breathing deeply. It took a heartbeat, then Galen kissed him.
My hand went to my chest, as my chest swelled with happiness. I was beaming. Oh hell yeah, this was happening. Hazel bumped my shoulder. I didn’t want to look away, but I pried my eyes from my two mates and peered over to her. She mouthed “you lucky bitch.” And I laughed as she wiggled her brows at me. I nodded and looked back to see Maverick had his hand in Galen’s dark curls, and Galen’s hand was now at the nape of Maverick’s neck. It was as if they were both having a show of dominance... I couldn’t look away. My body thrummed and came to life. I could feel my body heating, wanting to join, but happy to watch just as much.
Maverick tugged on Galen’s hair, tilting his head further to the left. He tugged again and Galen dropped his hand from Mavericks neck and placed it on the countertop. Dang, that was hot... I couldn’t look away as Maverick now devoured Galen’s mouth.
A sharp knock at the door had the room's vibe shift. I looked over to the door. Ranger had jumped up. He glanced back at me and grinned. He titled his head to the now broken up make-out session and winked. I guess I wasn’t the only one watching and... wait. Ugh, he could smell my arousal. I could see by the way Maverick rearranged his junk that he was very happy with that kiss. Galen, too.
“Pizza is here,” a voice called from just outside the door. It was Saint. He came in holding ten boxes of pizza. I glanced to Hazel, and she smiled and shrugged.
“I was told shifters eat a lot, I wasn’t sure what a lot meant, so I wanted to make sure. There is a pepperoni for you in there, Lexi.” She skipped over and helped the boys while Galen grabbed out some plates and the smell of pizza wafted through the small house. There were a lot of grown men in here now with Saint as well.
I bounced over to Galen; he wrapped his hands around me, grabbing my ass, and pulled me into his very hard cock.
“I would ask if you were happy to see me, but I think that was all Maverick’s doing.” I heard a coughing sound and laughed. Looking back over to the guys, Maverick had a deep pink blush on his cheeks. Oh yeah, you did this.
Saint looked from Maverick to Galen and started backing up. He had a huge grin and winked at me.
“I take that as my cue to leave... have a great night.” When Maverick peered back at him, Saint give him two thumbs up. He was a good friend. Yeah, I liked him... now. He was one of those guys who had to grow on you. Probably still call him out for his shit, but he could ask Ada out if he wanted. I wouldn’t rip his balls off if he did. I didn’t think he would hurt her. I knew he liked her... at least enough to get jealous. Well now she had her eyes set on Huxley Moore, Saint was going to be in for a challenge.
It was nice getting to really meet Galen’s friend Ben. He was nice and everyone got along, Raff even was talking to Ben so freely, he was relaxed enough that he wasn’t shy or holding back. I guess they both lived in Russet, so they had things in common, and were talking about people who lived there.
Hazel and I may have spent most of the time together, chatting about movies and girl stuff. We knew they could hear us, but what are you going to do? I had learnt that nothing I said was private anymore. And that I had to kick them all out of the house when I wanted to do super-secret girl talk. But this wasn’t the time, I needed that with Ada when I see her. She texted to say she would be here today, but then something came up. I hope she wasn’t avoiding me.
My arms were on the kitchen counter and laid my head on them. I needed this tonight, after seeing the movie room, and learning about the shifters who died... died trying to protect me. I took a deep breath. Moving forward. That was what everyone told me. I was going to do that. I told Alaric I would go back to school next week, but Galen suggested I just apply to college with Ada and graduate. That didn’t go over well with Alaric. He said that he could pay for college, but it would all be online. The thing was, most of it wasn’t online. And the stuff that was, I wasn’t interested in doing. I wanted the real deal; I wanted the experience. Not this home school crap.
Ada needed to get into nursing school. She just had to. She was a natural. I was still trying to decide what I wanted to do, but I was also determined to get Alaric to speak to the bear shifters. That was what I was told by Lyell when he was cleaning. He surprised me by helping and actually apologised to me. I accepted because, “moving forward.”
Plus okay, he was nice to me when we first got here, he just was a little... odd. But in his own way. Not a bad thing. He just maybe didn’t like having the same thing thrown back at him, like the whole “test it out on Lexi,” with Galen’s compelling experiment in Alaric’s office. I chuckled to myself... Lyell chasing his tail was so funny.
Lyell was studying business I found out, the Kiba pack have a lot of businesses around the world and that was where the bulk of their
money came from. It trickled down into the whole pack, not just for the Alpha and the others in charge. I liked that, and that was where the money was coming from when Jack took me out shopping that first day here. Everyone in the pack was taken care of.
I yawned on the sofa. I was exhausted now that Ben and Hazel had gone home and it was just us. This felt so perfect, something we would have been doing before. And I was glad to have this little bit of normality.
We were all watching old football re-runs on the TV. I had zero interest, which wasn’t helping me keep my eyes open. And my eyes felt like sandpaper.
“Bed?” I asked Maverick as he looked up at me from my lap. He was half asleep with his head laying in my lap. I had been stroking his hair for a while now. It was so soft.
“Mmm...” He murmured and shuffled off me and stood, holding his hand out for me to help me up. I took it and he pulled me to standing and I wrapped my arms around him and breathed him in. I let go as Galen stood, Maverick moved away towards the bedroom.
Galen hugged me to his chest. And I felt him stroking my hair down my back. It was soothing.
“Been a long day,” I mumbled, Galen grabbed my hand, and we walked into the darkened bedroom. It had to be like two in the morning. I was amazed I had made it that long. He kicked the door closed on Raff and Ranger. I felt his hands reach for me. He was warm, he had been drinking Whisky with Ben most of the night.
He took my chin in his hand and slowly pressed his lips to mine; his kiss was sweet.
“Sorry, I just... I had wanted to kiss you all night.” I smiled into the dark, my eyes still trying to focus on him. I kissed him and scruffed up his hair.
“Why would you be saying sorry? I want you to kiss me. All the time. I don’t care who is watching. I don’t care how old you are, what you eat or who you pray to. You are mine and I accept you and love you, just the way you are. Sweaters on hot days and all.” I felt his chest rumble at the last words. Yeah...
“Maybe I should call you Mr Hottie?” I teased when he didn’t say anything.
“You can call me anything you want... and I will call you mine.”
And from the dark behind me, I could hear Maverick shuffle on the bed... “Ours, Galen. Ours.”
I swayed on my feet before moving onto the bed, I needed this. Even though I slept so long yesterday. Sleep was good.
“Lexi, can I take you on a date tomorrow?” Maverick asked as he wrapped his arms around me.
“Mmm... yes.”
Chapter Fourteen
Lexi
Ranger had kissed me as soon as he got home from school. Then marked me. I practically had to shove him in the bathroom. He was all sweaty and gross. He needed a shower. I smoothed the wrinkles in my top; it wasn’t fancy, but it was nicer than a tank.
I chuckled to myself when I heard the knock at the front door. Maverick was taking this date so seriously and formal by knocking. I told him I didn’t have anything really nice to wear, but he just kissed me and said that I would look good in his tee and pulled it over his head in one move.
My lady parts tingled at the sight. Fuck, I had seen that in movies and stuff but when he did it. I was almost a panting hot mess. I couldn’t let him see that, not that he couldn’t already tell that I was worked up. So he left me to do my hair and make-up as he returned to his room back in the mansion to get changed. I didn’t use his tee, but I may have brought it to my nose a few times just to smell that deep woody scent of pine and male.
Raff had gone for a run with a few of the other Kiba boys, so I only saw him for a few moments. He kissed me briefly, and I laughed when he handed me his clothes. I watched as he ran naked across the Lovell’s lawn. His ass was fine. Oh, so fine. He had really opened up and come out of his shell in the last few days. It was great to see this carefree side to him, and not the hurt, wounded one he had when we first met.
Galen had brought my things over earlier before he left. Not that I had a lot, but it was like he moved me in without asking. Ah... well, he didn’t need to ask, I would have said yes. I prefer it here. At least I had some privacy, and it was nice us all being together.
I skipped over to the door when there was a knock again, I was a little bit giddy. A date was normal. We were leaving shit in the past and moving forward. I was glad, I didn’t like to dwell too much on things and my mind had been messed up enough. Overthinking everything already. I was done, and ready for this.
I opened the door, a huge grin on my face, and my heart flipped when I saw it wasn’t Maverick, but Ada. I had been dying to see her all day, she never messaged me back if she was coming over and I was worried. A lump formed in my throat as she smiled at me, I reached out and pulled her in for a huge hug as I choked out a sob. Her arms wrapping around me, I almost crumbled into a sobbing mess. My mascara was going to run so bad.
“Oh my god, Ada. I missed you. I’m so, so, so sorry. Fuck, that doesn’t even cut it. I just left you standing there. I have felt like such shit about it... was starting to think you hated me.” And that wasn’t a lie, I was starting to think she really decided it would be better to not be my friend. And I wouldn’t blame her.
“Oh my gosh, Lexi. Never, you’re my best friend. I just needed to see you in person after the day I had so I didn’t text I just came over straight from school.”
She had returned to school today, whereas the guys... well, they were going to be taking it in turns. On Alaric’s orders, one gets to stay with me here. Which was stupid. I was fine; I didn’t need them to babysit me. And I really wanted to go back to school. I hated just being here all day, and this was just one day. I cannot imagine being here all the time. I didn’t want to get behind in my studies. I didn’t care if Galen had messed with my scores so I passed; I wanted to earn them.
They were still doing patrols here in Kiba, so I felt safe. But it was Maverick’s turn first to be my knight in shining armor. As much as Ranger was upset with that, he grumpily agreed. But it was also Wednesday, middle of the week. I had wanted Galen to stay with me, but he was in Bardoul. They wanted to test his blood, my blood, and Tobias to see if what they suspected was true. That my mom was cured from her vampirism by angel blood. He had told me this morning before he left; he said he would stay here with me, but I could tell he wanted to know sooner. Plus, I was so curious to find out if that was what happened that I basically pushed him out the door.
Tobias had stopped by as well. To tell me he was waiting on this warlock guy to come meet me and help with my “smelling” issue. Which sounded so wrong when he said it like that, but I was excited to meet a real warlock. I hoped he would come soon. Did he like… do magic tricks? Can he teleport? Go invisible...
“Let’s go into Port Willow and go shopping, have some dinner, maybe at the diner there. You know, just like a girl’s night?” Ada asked, almost sounded as if she was pleading with me. It snapped me out of my runaway thoughts of warlocks. She was eyeing Maverick from over her shoulder. He had come back and was now standing close by. He would have heard everything. My eyes glanced to Maverick, I had promised him a date, and I wanted it so bad. But... Ada needed me too, and to be honest, I needed her too. Why was this so hard?
“I would love to... but—” I was cut off by Maverick.
“We were going to do the same thing together, but if it’s alright, can I tag along? I can drive you girls... hold your bags?” I arched a brow at Maverick, because... well. He was Maverick, and he wanted to hold our bags.
Ada gave a shy smile, “well I was hoping for a girls only, but I guess you can talk boys with us.”
I laughed as he shook his head and put his hands up and backed away. I was kinda glad she was okay with this, because I wouldn’t be able to go with just Ada, anyway. No way would the guys let me out of their sight.
“No boy talk from me, I will block that out. I don’t wanna know what girls talk about when they are together.”
“Okay... I will just grab my bag.” I ran back inside Galen’s house... well, our house. W
e were all living in it at the moment. He told me he would get us a bigger bed, because it was a little tight. But we did need a little more room. It was a cute house, but with four fully grown men and me... it was a little crowded.
I grabbed my purse and put it in my bag, not that I had much money to my name but Galen had given me his credit card before he had left. Told me to use it on anything. I had just rolled my eyes at him when he gave it to me but, yeah... I had ideas on things I wanted to buy.
Ranger chose then to walk out of the bathroom, a towel slung low around his waist. His skin was still glistening from the water, like he didn’t even bother to dry himself. Fuck, why does he look like he just walked out of some magazine. He really should look into modelling. But then other girls would see him... no, best he just stays locked up in the house and looks like that for me.
“Come here...” he ran his palm down his chest slowly, I watched as it slid over the hard plains of his abs... I swallowed. When his fingertips reached the towel, he hooked his thumb inside and tugged it a little lower, but he stopped when he heard Ada’s voice outside. My eyes quickly flashed back to his face. Dang...my heart was racing, I wanted to go to him and strip him naked, have my wicked way with him... lick him. When his nostrils flared, he could tell that too. I took a step back and shook my head.
“Nope, nope. I’m going out with Maverick and Ada.” He cocked his head and swung his hips at me. Ugh... “I will be back for all of—" I waved my hand up and down at his body, “—this.” He chuckled loudly.
“I should be offended that you’re only coming back for this,” he waved his hand over his chest and I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help the smile that spread across my face. “But I knew it, you only want me for my... personality” He winked at me as he stalked forward, my insides screaming to leave before I got distracted.
