by Jana Leigh
"Damn right," she muttered and waited.
"But, it's after hours, and now you're my mate, not my boss. I'm guarding you, yes, but you're still off the clock. I will treat my mate with the respect she deserves." Kade said simply and strapped himself into the seat.
She had been surprised in the first place that he had not wanted to drive at all today. She figured it bugged the shit out of him that she took the wheel all the time. He seemed to be relaxed when they drove, and didn't constantly tell her where to turn or to slow down. And never once did he grab the 'oh shit' handle, which was still installed in every shuttle to this day.
"Fine, but only after hours," she grumbled, and Kade smiled.
"So, what would you like for dinner? Ms. Praton said the kitchen was stocked, and the automeals maker had been serviced," Kade said.
For about the last fifty years, that was one of the newest and greatest inventions ever made. The Automeals. They were full and complete meals in a little tiny capsule. They came in a jar that was once used for medicines. There were hundreds, if not millions, of choices to choose from. Cuisine from all around the world was at your finger tips. Of course, the restaurants and diners still actually made fresh food, but for nights at home, the automeals were awesome.
Cherri and Rissa still liked to cook every once in a while. They would go to the local markets, get the ingredients and have a day of cooking. Calli loved sitting and watching them. She hated to cook. Her mother found it a flaw, since she refused to use her automeals unless she was desperate. That's why Calli hated to go home, she was constantly reminded what a terrible wife she would make. She wondered if Kade was going to expect her to cook.
"Take out?" she said hopefully, her favorite Greek place was just down the block from her place and could send the hover craft delivery right to the balcony.
He chuckled and said, "That's fine, but tomorrow we cook. I haven't had a good home-cooked meal in years; I can't wait to get into the kitchen. I missed it."
Calli looked at him sideways and said, "So you cook?"
"Sure, my favorite thing to relax," Kade said and wanted to laugh out loud when he saw the look on his mate's face. She obviously thought he was helpless, and would expect her to cook and clean. He hated to tell her the only thing he hated to do was bathrooms. That was from being in the military for so many years, they made each of the grunts clean the latrines, considering that was before the personal home cleaners were invented, that said a lot.
"How old are you exactly?" Calli asked. She had read his report, and knew about his parents. But she could never find a date of birth.
"How old do you think I am?" he teased. She looked at him and smiled. This easy rapport was better than the tense shit they had been doing all day. Maybe they could come to a common ground.
"I'm one hundred and thirty, and you can't be much older than me, maybe one hundred and fifty?" she said.
The magical beings all had a prolonged life, which pissed off the humans too, because when some young buck thought, he could change shit, he would die before he could actually do it. Calli thought it was humorous. The humans would never learn. Although in the last few decades, the human's lives were prolonged through technology. It was like throwing a bone to a starving dog. They jumped all over it.
"Nope, I am one hundred and forty three, but thanks for saying I still looked older," Kade teased.
"Compared to me; you're an old man. Hell, you should be arrested for robbing the cradle," she laughed.
They pulled up to the apartment building, and Kade looked around with interest. She wanted him to love the place. She, Rissa and Cherri put so much into the building. They had made sure the security was updated, even if was a little underhanded since Rissa wrote a back door program into the security agent's program. But they wanted to make sure their home was bullet proof, literally.
Calli jumped out of the shuttle and saw the two other shuttles had already arrived and were in the slots next to her's. She laughed to herself; the Enforcers were probably going to make her give them another case of beer, after they had been with her friends. Cheri talked nonstop, and Rissa was a terrible backseat driver when in the car.
Kiki was supposed to be in her old apartment waiting for them. "So this is it," she said and spread her arms. If she could only live on the parking top, she would be happy. The view was amazing. A three sixty view of the entire town with no obstructions. It was beautiful. Kade turned in a circle and smiled. She knew he felt the same way.
"Best view I have had since I arrived," he said and then followed her through to the elevator pads that would lead to her floor. The entire parking area had different pads, so no one would go to the wrong floor by accident. There was a code they had to enter in order to make the pad move.
"Ms. Praton gave me our code," Kade said, and Calli raised her eyebrow to him. The old dragon moved fast when she wanted to. Calli and her friends could get to the floor below, if they had the code. This was good, so they would not have to come back up.
Calli entered her code, and the pad moved slowly down; they didn't have that far to travel since they lived on the top floor, one of the things she loved about their apartment was they had access to the roof of the building. There was a small patio they set up with plants and shit, Cherri had insisted, but it was a nice place to go when she needed to be alone in the fresh air. No one else could access the roof either. It was their own little garden.
Calli explained the security as they moved. "Rissa hacked into the security. I'm sure she already included your new place." She stated.
"Our," he said firmly.
"Huh?" she said breaking her focus.
"You said your apartment, it's our apartment, as in you will be moving in there with me," Kade commented and looked around, not meeting her eyes until she didn't answer. His gaze swung to hers, and he challenged her with just a look.
Calli felt her hair bristle on her arms, really? So demanding already? She slowly spoke to him, so they were clear. "I understand that we have a few things to work out."
Kade grunted and stared at her intently, waiting for her to admit they were mates and going to live together.
"For now, we will be staying at your place. It remains to be seen if we are compatible enough to mate," she stated.
The pad arrived at that moment, and her words were echoed across the apartment. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to look at them with interest.
Cherri and Rissa were in the computer area, and Kiki was standing in the hallway with the three Enforcers about ready to enter the kitchen.
"Oh hell yeah, honey, if she doesn't take you, Kiki will. I would love to get my hands on that muscular ass, Hamm so firm," Kiki purred.
Calli felt her wolf get pissed, and she growled. Everyone in the room laughed because she had basically told Kiki she would defend her claim. Shit, shit, shit, why the fuck had they arrived right then?
"Come on," she grumbled and stepped into the apartment. She wanted to sigh and let her hair down. She was home, in her own world, even though it had been invaded by strangers. She could kick their asses here.
Kade smiled and followed her into the main area and listened as she explained the layout, since his place was the same pretty much. It was a large circular room. To their left was the common area with the television, and couches placed facing the curved eighty inch television that was built into the wall. Then, there was the dining area, which had a huge table; Cherri had insisted they needed it to entertain. They had never had more than three people over at once, so the twelve setting table held decorative fruit and some weird sculpture Cherri had found at the market.
The entrance to the kitchen was directly ahead of them. The kitchen was state of the art, and had a lot of gadgets she had no clue how to use, but apparently Kiki did because she was screaming like a chick over the appliances. Then, there was their office area. It held three desks and three computers, as well as a huge common screen.
The entrances to their
own personal quarters were situated between the sections and looked like closet doors.
She pointed out everyone's and then walked to hers and waited while Kade took in everything and then nodded and followed her. She held her breath as she opened her rooms. She had a strange taste in colors and wondered if her mate was going to hate it.
***
Holy shit, Kade thought as he looked around, this place is rockin'. When he entered Calli's personal suite, he really thought it would be dark and gloomy, but it wasn't. It was decorated in bright colors, dark purple, royal blue, and hot red. It could have looked trashy, but the way she had it made the rooms seem elegant and comforting. The walls were strange. They gave a glistening off-white glow, with the colorful pictures that adorned the walls it gave it a very warm feeling. Each of the pictures had the colors of the furniture in them. The couch was red, and had multi-colored pillows thrown across it. And the carpet was a deep blue. Several art pieces in the main colors were scattered around on the purple-tinted wood. Calli had accented the room with soft, billowing, sheer curtains that hung from ceiling to floor, ten panels in total, alternating purple, blue, and red. It was amazing the way everything seemed to come together.
As they walked through the sitting room into the bedroom, the theme continued with a deep, purple bedspread, with red and blue throw pillows. The furniture was the same stained purple color. He had no idea where she had gotten such a color, but it was beautiful. He could see the master bath and saw the colors just continued with multi-colored towels and other accessories.
Calli shifted nervously waiting for him to say something. He could feel her uncertainty, like this was a test for him. Well, it was one he intended to get an A on.
"Sugar, I love these rooms; I wonder if we could do our place downstairs with the same stuff? I can tell you that my taste is horrible, and so I'm going to leave it up to you to decorate, but I can tell you that if you used these colors, I would love it," Kade said honestly and looked at her in the eyes to make sure she knew he wasn't lying.
Calli beamed and then began throwing clothes into a bag. "I'll be ready in a minute, and we can take Kiki and her Enforcer downstairs to get settled. And stop saying 'our', we have not made that decision yet."
Kade nodded and walked back into the living area smiling. His mate was stubborn, but her let her have her privacy, and he snooped. He wanted to know what made his mate tick. She was such a contradiction. Her black clothes and skull and cross bone finger nails. He really thought he was going to walk into a metal head, styled room. This was a pleasant surprise. He had so much to learn about his mate; he just needed to get her to relax enough to talk to him.
He could hear her going into the bathroom and gathering things. Kade wished he could just demand everything be moved downstairs right now, but he knew that Calli would protest. Maybe if he suggested that they move this stuff downstairs it would make her feel more at home.
He was sure their new place was not decorated very well. Ms. Praton had said they were moving in stuff that was in storage. It had to be just basic stuff. He would make sure that tomorrow when they had time, he would ask Calli where she got this stuff and put in an order. He had money. For the first time, he had someone to spend it on.
A mate, he actually found his mate. He was still in shock, and so far, Kade had not had time to digest the whole thing. Coming to New York to work a new job had been enough. Finding his mate had been a bonus, and then the apartment and the rest of the shit that happened had been overwhelming. He was just getting his legs back underneath him. The mating heat was riding him also. He could scent her, and hated to be even an arm's length away from his mate at any time.
Calli was too independent for that, Brooks and Ms. Praton warned him of that. They actually were very helpful. Kade was surprised at the amount of details they knew about Calli, but in this day in age, nothing was sacred. The only thing they didn't have was her underwear size. He noticed it when they were in her bedroom, because he intended on buying out the lingerie store for her. Kade almost groaned out loud when he thought of the things he could dress her in. If she wore them under her clothes at work, man, the anticipation would kill him.
He would absolutely buy the red and purple colors for her. Calli's skin tone would make them look delectable against her skin. Shit, he had to stop thinking about that or his raging erection would burst in his pants. Kade refused to embarrass himself that way.
Suddenly, as if knowing he was thinking about her, his mate appeared. She had changed out of her work clothes into a pair of sweats. He wanted to laugh at the cute kitty that was at the bottom of her pant leg, until she turned around, and he saw the wolf like creature baring its teeth in the cat's direction. He squinted to read what was written on the side of the leg.
'Don't be a Pussy'
Kade did laugh out loud at that, and Callie looked over her shoulder and grinned when she saw what he was looking at. "Should at least piss her off."
Kade shook his head and then walked to the door and held it open. When they entered the living area again, Kade realized the rooms were sound proof. The music was blaring and Kiki, Cherri and Rissa were dancing to an oldie's song. Holding hair brushes like microphones and belting out the song. I was absolutely stunned when his mate let out a huge 'whoop' and ran to the middle of the room and joined in. What the fuck? He thought as he watched the women moving around each other and laughing.
He stood off to the side with the other Enforcers, who stood with their mouths open from seeing their boss in such an open display of frivolity. He was certain none of them had seen Calli or the others like this. Kiki on the other hand, fit right in. The man, still dressed in his wild and wacky clothes, gyrated and moved with the girls like it was natural. And Kade could tell there was nothing natural about it. His erection went from hard to fucking rack hard as he watched his mate move.
She was gorgeous, and he was one lucky bastard. If he held out for more than three hours from throwing her on the bed and fucking her into the floor below them, he should be given a medal.
The Enforcer who was assigned to Kiki groaned and covered his face. He and Kade were the only males, and there was enough estrogen in the room to choke a horse. He could tell the other two Enforcers, who were females, were itching to join in, but they knew they were on duty.
Finally, the song came to a thundering end with Kiki and the females falling on the floor and gasping for air and laughing. Calli looked so care free and happy, he hated to say anything that might ruin the lighthearted mood the four created.
Calli popped up and said, "Sorry folks, we gotta get organized. Okay, so Sabrina, you're guarding Cherri, and Trina, you are guarding Rissa. That leaves Thomas guarding Kiki. Right?"
All the people in the room nodded, and then a round of actual introductions went around. Kade liked Thomas right off the bat; they seemed to be on the same page with security. And when Kiki called him Tommy, the Enforcer growled and frowned.
After much deliberation, Kiki, Thomas, and Calli walked to the transport pad. Kade was giving the other Enforcers instructions on how to contact them when Calli cleared her throat and smiled sweetly at him and said, "Kade, get your ass over here, my Enforcers know what they are doing."
Kade nodded and then said, "Our Enforcers need to have my contact information. Did you forget we are partners now?" Kade walked to the pad slowly, knowing that he was irritating her. But he was still feeling the after-effects of the show the girls had put on. His dick was not going down much, and his pants were getting uncomfortable. Kade just wanted to get into his relaxing sweats, so he could get a little freedom.
Calli remained silent, so he knew that he had scored a point, or she was waiting until they were alone so she could slice and dice him with her tongue. It may not be a bad way to start the mating, he mused; his wolf was demanding that she acknowledge him and his Alpha place, in the small Pack she clearly led.
Kade pushed in the buttons of the code Ms. Praton gave him before he left, a
nd the pad moved slowly downward. It only took a second for him to be able to see the windows of his new home; he was impressed with the patios that were about one hundred yards apart. He assumed they were for the different rooms, but he liked the idea of being about to get outside if he needed to.
The door opened as the pad slid into place, and he grinned. He couldn't help himself; this was his actual first home. He had never wanted to find a home base before, since he worked around the world, often he would sublet a place from another Enforcer, who was on duty. Now he had a mate and a home.
Kade allowed the others to exit first and put his hand on Calli's waist to guide her. She turned and rolled her eyes at his protective, yet polite gesture. Kade almost bumped into her when they were at the entrance of the apartment. She stopped abruptly and sucked in a deep breath. He had been looking down and around for the security panel, so he had not seen what had taken her breath away.
When he peered around her, he did. Ms. Praton had really outdone herself. The entire living area had been redone, and if he smelled correctly, repainted in the last few hours. Of course, this didn't take as long as it had in the past since their technology was so advanced, with a push of a button, little machines did all the work while obviously, the rest of the crew was busy doing other things. The room looked just like her bedroom. The same colors and furniture, although there was a lot more of it. The dining room table was awesome. It was huge like the girls, seating twelve people, but it was the stained purple and the place settings were in silver and white.
Kade pushed Calli gently further into the room and then watched her as her eyes widened. It was just the same. Kiki ran for the kitchen and exclaimed loudly that it was exactly the same as upstairs, and then began to open and shut the doors to the cabinets, giving them a running dialogue on what he found.
There was an office area set up with two desks and computers, and a shared worked space in the middle. He could see that they were already programmed with their stuff on it because each of the screens had their names on them, although he was sure Calli was gonna be pissed when she saw that someone had already changed her last name to his. Quickly stepping in front of her so it blocked that view, it was a battle he would have later. He pushed Calli toward the door that would lead to the first set of rooms.
