by Delta James
Will looked up at him. “Seriously? You see me as some kind of threat to your mate?”
“Don’t fuss at him, Will. He says it’s all instinctive and just a reaction to things as opposed to being something he does on purpose.”
“He does, does he?” Will teased.
“He does,” growled James. “Sorry. Truly.”
“You and I are going to have to sneak off and compare notes about our alpha.”
Shannon giggled. “I haven’t known him long enough to have notes.”
“But I suspect you know him far better than most. I thought I knew him, and then I find out he’s been a NATO operative for years and he’s developed this noble side... and now I have to have one. It’s most disconcerting.”
Shannon laughed out loud.
“Neither of you is being very amusing,” growled James.
“No, but people are wondering why the three of you are standing here talking in quiet voices. In case you missed it, this is Italy. We don’t do anything quietly,” said Tony as he joined them. “Mistress. I am Tony, beta to the Ravenscar pack.”
Shannon rolled her eyes and looked at Will. Both began to laugh.
“Did I miss something?” Tony asked, confused.
“Nothing of importance,” said James.
Shannon stood on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “So, what happens when the alpha of the pack misbehaves?”
Both Tony and Will began to smile, trying hard not to outright laugh at James’ irritation and how quickly it fled in response to her simple gesture.
“It depends. If he is lucky enough to be with his fated mate, she soothes his ire and lures him back to their bed.”
“Does she now,” Shannon said in a seductive purr. “I’ll have to remember that for future reference.” She reached up again and nipped his earlobe. “Or perhaps she just bites him to remind him to be nice.”
James looked down at her and grinned. “I like my idea better.”
“I’ll bet you do. Play your cards right and you might convince me you’re right.” She turned to Tony and linked her arm through his in a decidedly friendly, but not inappropriate manner. “So, I’ve never done Italian for breakfast. What’s good?”
“Everything. And there is plenty to choose from.”
Tony led her to the table that was generally reserved for their alpha or visiting friends. James and Will joined them.
“Why don’t you let me get both of you a sampling from the buffet table and then you can decide what you want to eat. I suspect after that run you are both hungry.”
“Famished,” Shannon admitted. As he left with Will, she smiled and turned to James. “I think you’re very good at picking ranked members.”
“I agree. Not only do I think they will function well as individuals, but they already seem to be forming a bond with each other and their mistress.”
“Pushing,” she admonished but not in an irritated tone.
“Not at all; merely making an observation.”
The rest of the meal went well. Tony had asked leave to meet with James and Will after breakfast to discuss pack business.
“Shea, would you like to join us?”
“I thought women weren’t included in business discussions,” she remarked with no true rancor in her tone.
“Depends on the pack,” admitted James. “But I have no intention of not involving you unless it means putting you in danger. And I don’t think we’re at that point yet.”
“He is right, Mistress. There is no danger yet, but there will be. And I’m glad to see that my alpha holds his mate in high regard and includes her in most things as does my oldest brother. Should we adjourn then to Marco’s study?”
They did so and left the dining room.
James sat down on the sofa and Shannon joined him there, tucking her legs up under her and sitting close to him.
“Are there those here that you don’t trust, Tony?” asked James.
“Not that are pack, but there are a few here I don’t know well enough to risk talking about you taking on your father.”
“I haven’t been all that subtle.”
“And you should be. Your father may not be a warrior, but he’s not a toothless old wolf either. It would be best if we could get you entrenched at Ravenscar before you challenge him. Will and I were talking earlier...”
“You know, while you were out gallivanting with your mate,” Will teased.
“We were not gallivanting,” said Shannon. “We went for a run.”
“We had our first date,” corrected James. “At least according to my mate. I was told murder and mayhem were not appropriate first-date subjects.”
Tony grinned from ear to ear. “Careful, Mistress or there will be those at Ravenscar who will call you Madonna as they do your sister.”
Shannon blushed but said nothing further.
Tony continued. “As I said, Will and I think the more quickly we get you to Ravenscar, the better. Will can only do so much reconnoitering. We believe your presence there is needed.”
“I don’t necessarily disagree with you. I’m just not inclined to leave Shannon at the moment.”
Will and Tony exchanged glances.
“Not just you, James,” Will said soothingly. “Both of you.”
“No,” said James adamantly. “I won’t have Shannon subjected to that kind of atmosphere or danger. There are those who will stand with my father. As you can guess, he will not go quietly and bloodshed is a very real possibility.”
Shannon shook her head. “This is my pack too... at least according to the three of you. And it makes sense. If you’re going to play the prodigal son, you’re going to need to come home with the mate your father had you purchase. I’d be an excellent cover. Will is your best friend and lost out on a mate so is trying to avoid his father. And Tony is Marco’s brother. We can tell them that he is with us at Marco’s insistence.”
“Your mate has a quick and keen mind,” said Tony with admiration and respect.
“Not to mention being a strategic thinker,” agreed Will.
“And afterwards, you may need a lawyer to help with those dissolutions. Better those women already know me,” said Shannon.
“I don’t like it,” James said grudgingly.
Shannon found herself nuzzling his neck in an effort to comfort him. “I know, but you know I’m right.”
“He will expect you to be sleeping with me.” James shook his head. “He’ll expect me to have already marked you and to take you into seclusion.”
They all fell silent and Tony suddenly brightened. “The mark we can manage and we can make the seclusion work for us.”
“I am not willing to mark Shannon without it being real and something she wants.”
“Of course not. I didn’t mean to imply that you would behave so dishonorably. But one of the girls here is a makeup artist. My guess is she can make something that will pass even the closest inspection. As for the seclusion, if you’re the bastard your father thinks you are, Shannon can remain safe in your room and you can join her often enough that he thinks you’re breeding her on a regular basis but going about your life as usual.”
“James, Tony is right. The worse he thinks you’re treating me, the better he’ll like it. He’ll think you are the son he always wanted you to be. Are the laws of our kind codified anywhere? If so, I can spend my time in our room getting up to speed on all the legal stuff so once we’ve pulled off our coup... what? My including myself as one of you?”
All three men grinned but said nothing.
“Jesus, the lot of you are about as subtle as a freight train. You were an undercover operative? That had to have been a major clusterfuck.”
James laughed. “Actually, I was quite good at it. Even fooled my best friend.”
“Who now looks back and wonders exactly how you pulled that off.”
“As I was saying, if I know what’s codified into law and what isn’t, we can use their own laws against the Ruling Counc
il to do what we want. James, please. I’d like to be a part of this... from the beginning.”
“It would be safer if you were here with Marco.”
“For who? Me? Perhaps. Certainly not for you. From what little you’ve said and what Tony has intimated, your father shouldn’t be underestimated. Your best bet to do this as easily as possible is to return to Ravenscar as the dutiful son with his captured mate in tow.”
“Let’s say for a moment that I agree with you. How do we explain our little sojourn here?”
“That’s easy,” replied Shannon. “You’re a smart boy. You knew that neither deMoncada nor your father wanted a war with the alpha of the DeMedici pack. And if he knows anything about Marco, he knows he wants Catherine happy. You brought me here to reassure him that I was unharmed. You might even intimate, with Tony’s help, that Marco isn’t quite what he appears and that he just needed you to go through the motions so Catherine would settle back down and he could go back to raising grapes and fucking my sister.”
James fell silent.
Shannon took his hand in hers. “You know I’m right.”
James growled low. “Yes, but I don’t like it.”
“I’ll be fine. I’ll be up in our room and you, Will, and Tony will be there as will those that we bring with us or who join us once we are in residence. Please, James. This is important to me. Your vision of helping the women of our pack, of locating and freeing those still being held... I want... no, I need to be a part of that.”
“You will keep yourself safe. You will do as I tell you and if the need arises you will do as Tony or Will tells you.”
“I can be an obedient she-wolf when I try.”
James rolled his eyes at her. “Yes, and I’m sure your sister tells that to Marco.”
“That’s true, she does. Every single time he puts her over his knee to punish her latest misbehavior,” laughed Tony.
“You are so not funny, beta,” said Shannon, trying not to laugh.
“I mean it, Shea. Fair warning, you disobey me before this is over, and fully claimed mate or not, you’ll find out firsthand what happens when you fail to do as ordered by your alpha and mate.”
She surprised herself by growling low and seductively. A sound up until now she had never made. “Yes, my alpha,” she purred.
James looked at the three of them and smiled. “I’m not sure I’ve ever assembled as good a team as I have now before me. Tony, you need to get that makeup artist working on the bite mark... we’ll need several looks in case she needs to be seen as it heals. Will, find someplace close to Ravenscar where we can quietly hide the men Tony indicates would like to join us. I want them within striking range if we need them. How many men are we talking about?”
“Five. Two of them have mates. Four of the five were in one branch or another of the military. Let me go get Martina and get her started. I wouldn’t think it would take her more than the rest of the day to get this done.”
“Then I think we plan to leave for Ravenscar this evening,” James said decisively.
“I agree, but I think it’s best you and I speak privately with Marco and Catherine.”
“Your sister is going to like this plan even less than I do,” grumbled James.
Tony grinned. “Marco can handle Catherine. She may well break more urns over his head, but he says the angrier she is the more enjoyment he gets from putting her back in her place.”
“And where might that be?” inquired Will.
“In their bed, on her back with her legs wrapped around him,” replied Tony with a grin.
Shannon shook her head. “Honestly, the lot of you are lucky that we put up with any of you. Skylar may have had the right idea all along... well, except for the no men part.”
“I’m grateful to hear that,” teased James.
“You ought to be. And for the record, this...” she said, circling her finger in front of her indicating the four of them, “really not appropriate first-date conversation.”
All three men laughed.
James leaned over and kissed her gently, not on the cheek as she had done with him, but on her lips. It surprised her that not only did he do it, but the seductive way in which his mouth coaxed hers to respond, which she found herself more than willing to do.
“Duly noted,” he said as he relinquished her mouth. “I’ll try to do better on our second date.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
“No, God damn it! I won’t allow it,” shrieked Catherine in a rage.
“Catherine, mind your tongue,” admonished Marco.
“Mind my tongue? Are you fucking kidding me? I just get my sister back relatively safe and sound and then this asshole wants to whisk her off to the middle of nowhere Northern England and into the midst of what amounts to a hostile takeover of his birth pack?”
“Catherine, James and the boys have figured it out. I’ll be perfectly safe.”
“Bullshit,” her sister said, turning on her. “You haven’t seen wolves go at it. It isn’t pretty. And if this whole thing goes sideways, you’ll be stranded up there at that bastard’s mercy with pretty boy’s head on a pike.”
“Will and Tony will both be there. If anything even looks like it’s going wrong, we’ll get Shannon to safety immediately. I will not have her endangered.”
“Of course you will have her in danger, you’re wanting her to go with you.”
“Actually, Cat, it was my idea,” said Shannon soothingly. “It makes the most sense. My being there will help to sell the idea that James is being the good son and doing as he’s told. I am on strict orders to remain in our room.”
“And you expect me to believe you’re going to do that? Shea, I’ve known you my whole life. You’re even worse at doing what you’re told than I am.”
Marco chuckled and shook his head. “That’s not good, James. My Catherine is notoriously bad at doing as she’s told.”
Catherine whirled on her mate, stomping her foot. “Don’t start with me.”
“Enough, Catherine,” roared Marco. “Apparently last night when you assured me you could behave you were merely trying to mitigate my displeasure with your earlier behavior. You will settle down immediately or I will take you back up to our room where you can stand in the corner while I finish this discussion with James and your sister before I return to you to remind you why indulging your temper in this manner is not in your beautiful backside’s best interest.”
Catherine glared at him. She turned back to look and growl at James. Her growl was answered by one of Marco’s.
“She’s my sister.”
“She’s my mate. Her safety is more important to me than anything. I will ensure that she is kept out of danger and should anything change to indicate otherwise, I will have her brought back to you and Marco.”
“Excuse me,” interrupted Shannon, “but the subject of this disagreement between the two of you is standing right here. First of all, sister mine, you don’t get to dictate what I do. Got it? Secondly, pretty boy here—and he is gorgeous, isn’t he—is good at this sort of thing. Will and Tony appear to be more than able to back him up and both Tony and James have loyal men who will be close at hand. And in case you missed it, I’m a fucking wolf. I survived a year with that bastard deMoncada. I can bloody well take care of myself.”
“I just got you back,” Catherine whispered.
Shannon stepped forward and hugged her sister, who clung to her.
“It will be all right, Cat. Would you let Marco go and do this thing without you? If you could help, wouldn’t you insist he take you? And if he didn’t, would you listen?”
“He’s my mate, Shea.”
“Yeah... when this is over, we need to talk about that,” Shannon said with a resigned but happy sigh.
Her sister pulled back and looked at her and then to James. “Oh, really? What happened to ‘I’m not having any of this fated mate bullshit’?”
“As you said, annoying.” She turned to look at James. “I’m not
agreeing to anything.”
He shook his head with a wry smile playing at the corners of his mouth. “Of course not.”
“Jesus, Cat, are they always so arrogant?”
Her sister looked at Marco and then back to her. “Always, especially when they know they’re right. But I don’t like it and if he gets you hurt, he will answer to me.” She glanced over her shoulder and blew a kiss to her mate, who growled at her. “But you’re set on doing this?”
“I can be of help, not in the actual coup, but in the aftermath. James means to put things right for the women up there and to try and get those still caught in deMoncada’s web freed. I’ll be as safe as you would be in this situation.”
“Take no comfort in that, James,” said Marco. “My Catherine has shown a decidedly naughty streak where keeping herself safe is concerned.”
“Shea and I have already had that discussion. I will hold her accountable.”
Catherine and Shannon spent the rest of the day in each other’s company while James worked with Marco, Tony, and Will to ready the things they needed to take with them to Ravenscar as well as the things they meant to keep at the millhouse they had rented for their men close to it.
Tony had been right; Martina had proven more than capable of creating several makeup appliances that would pass even the closest inspection.
Shannon and Catherine spent several hours with Martina ensuring that Shannon was comfortable with applying the products that would mimic an alpha’s mark at various stages of healing. Martina had left the supplies with her that would be easily concealed in her makeup case.
“Listen, Shea, this is probably none of my business but I wanted you to know that I asked Martina if applying one of those things over a fresh mark would be harmful. She gave me these patches and said as long as you cover any open puncture marks there shouldn’t be any issues.”
“That’s not going to be a problem. He sure as hell isn’t going to bite me.”
Her sister laughed. “You do know I said all of those things to and about Marco. I am now Madonna to our pack and he blisters my ass whenever he feels it is needed. When he merely nipped me when we were making love, I pressed his mouth to my neck and wanted nothing more than to have him mark me. I’m just saying, take the damn things with you in case you need them.”
