Every Night Forever

by R. E. Butler

  “I shouldn’t be, but it’s cold in here.” She groaned softly and tried to scoot closer to him. Dante had opened the window last night to let in fresh air and had clearly forgotten to close it. The spring night had chilled the room, and wolves didn’t run as hot-blooded as hyenas did.

  “Sorry, baby.” He hugged her closer and pulled the blankets up further, covering her as much as he could.

  “I don’t want to get up.” She kissed his collarbone and yawned.

  “Then don’t. We can have an early lunch instead of breakfast, okay? This is our vacation, so we can do what we wish.”

  He felt her smile against his skin, take in a deep breath, and let it out slowly. After several minutes, her body relaxed against his warmth as she settled back to sleep. He held her close while she slept, marveling once more at the softness of her skin and the silky feel of her hair. When she woke an hour later, feeling more rested and apparently ready to face the day, he and Mason joined her in the shower, where they got clean, got dirty, and then got clean again.

  The rest of the day passed quickly. Their cousins were already packing up their things to prepare to come to Dalton, and he and his brothers spent time that afternoon with their fathers, working on a large chest. It wasn’t until he was tightening the large polished hinges on the lid that he realized what it was.

  “This is a hope chest, isn’t it, Dad?” he asked his father, Colin.

  Colin nodded. “It’s our wedding gift to you. Every hyena bride should have a hope chest that her mates helped to make.”

  Mason got a sappy look on his face. “She’ll love it. Thanks, guys.”

  Markus chucked Mason under the chin and hugged him. “We wish you would move home sometimes and rejoin the baro, but we’re so proud of you for the lives you’ve built for yourself. Starting a new baro and all that you suffered for each other and your bride just shows us the strong, capable males you’ve become. We’re really proud of you all.”

  Anthony nodded. “We all are.”

  When it was time to head home, they loaded up the hope chest in the back of the Escalade before they headed to the private airport where their charter plane was waiting. Alyssa had cried when she saw the hope chest, touched deeply by the work that went into it and the fact that all of them had helped to make it. Their mom had included a sachet made from her own wedding gown, and a framed photo from when their parents were first mated.

  Alyssa dozed against Dante’s shoulder as the plane ascended and he jotted notes down on a pad while Cairo relaxed with earbuds in his ears and heavy metal music blasting. Mason played electronic poker on his iPad.

  Dante waved his hand to catch Cairo’s attention, and he stopped the music and pulled the buds from his ears. Dante said with a low voice so he didn’t wake Lys, “I want to do a weekly dinner for the baro, maybe Sunday night? What do you think?”

  Mason straightened and paused his game. “At our house? That would be cool. I’m sure Lys would go for it.”

  “I just remember growing up and really loving having all our aunts and uncles around. Even though we’re all going to be working at different times, I still want to keep that feeling alive, to pass along to our future kids.”

  Mason got a wistful look on his face. “I can’t wait.”

  “For dinner or kids?” Dante teased.

  “Both.” Mason flashed a toothy smile and Dante chuckled.

  As the remainder of their vacation wound down and they soon found themselves preparing to go back to work, Cairo was bummed that their happy little bubble was about to burst with responsibility.

  On Monday morning, when Alyssa joined him in the shower so they could get ready for their shift, he handed her the shampoo bottle and said, “Just a few weeks, baby, and we’ll be able to all be together.”

  “I can’t wait,” she swore.

  He couldn’t wait either.

  Chapter 17

  *Four Months Later*

  Alyssa fanned herself as she sat in the remodeled breakroom at the gym and watched Mason put her lunch together. “I can fix my own lunch, Mase,” she reminded him, but he simply smiled at her over his broad shoulder and went back to arranging the food he’d brought.

  He turned and set a plate in front of her on the large round table with a crisp green salad topped with sliced grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, and chopped cucumbers. A cup of ranch dressing sat on the side. He placed a chilled bottle of water down in front of her and stood patiently, a large white horse-pill in between his finger and thumb.

  He looked at her with the patience of a man truly in love, and although she loathed the prenatal vitamins because they were so darn hard to swallow, she couldn’t deny him anything. Cracking open the water, she tossed the pill back and swallowed it, smiling when he lowered his head to kiss her mouth. He scooted his chair next to hers and sat down with his own plate, a similar salad, topped with double the chicken.

  She was three months pregnant and just barely showing. She’d been so thrilled when she tried to shift for the April full moon and felt a twinge in her side, the first sign that her wolf was going to settle until a few months after the baby was born so the strain of shifting didn’t hurt the baby. She was able to shift for April, but come May the full moon held no sway over her body, and she watched her husbands stalk each other around the fire pit along with their cousins, who had joined them in time to celebrate the moon with them.

  Hyenas weren’t tied to the full moon the way that wolves were, but they weren’t about to let her go hunting on her own. They had decided that they would all go hunting with her every full moon, instead of going whenever they felt the urge, as they’d done before she came into their lives.

  She liked their cousins and having them help out at the gym. She and her men were all on the morning shift now, opening the gym at six and leaving at three, spending their evenings together instead of her trying to stay up to wait for them to come home.

  All of her husbands were extra attentive now that she was pregnant, worrying over her doing the slightest thing. She relished their protective natures.

  Dante strode in, reading something on his cell. “I kicked the air up a bit, baby. You can put your feet up in my office after lunch and I’ll turn the fan on for you.”

  Cairo opened the refrigerator door. “Are you sure you aren’t just trying to get her alone in your little love nest, brother?”

  Alyssa blushed. She and Dante had played more than once in his new office, and Cairo and Mason liked to tease them whenever the door was closed. “Be nice, Cai,” she chided him with a smile.

  Cairo plopped down on a chair next to her and tugged on her braid. “I’ll be very nice. Later.”

  Dante slid his cell into his pocket as he stopped behind her chair and leaned over, nuzzling under her ear and sliding one hand across her belly. “How’s my sweetheart and our strong son?”

  “We’re both fine.” She turned her face and kissed his cheek. “Just a little hot flash.”

  Mason said, “She’s having a cold lunch and drinking plenty of water. That’s what Mom said would help as her body adjusted to the extra heat that our son is generating.”

  Stella had been thrilled when they’d called to tell her about her first grandchild. Her advice had been freely given, and Alyssa called her once a week to chat about the baby and their life. If her child were more werewolf than hyena, he or she wouldn’t affect her body temperature at all. That she was having hot flashes from time to time suggested that the baby was leaning more towards being a hyena, and the odds were very good that her baby would be a boy because more hyena males were born than females. Alyssa was just glad that she wouldn’t be going through the last bit of the pregnancy during the heat of August. Already, the boys were talking about cutting her summer hours back so she could be home and resting. She didn’t want to rest, though; she was anxious to get the baby’s room done.

  Their weekly Sunday dinners with the two other clans in the baro reminded her of the monthly get-togethers tha
t her old wolf pack had enjoyed. At first it had made her feel a little homesick, but then she realized that she was looking back at her past with rose-colored glasses and that what she had now was so much better. There were wolves who loved pack-life, and maybe if Alyssa had grown up in a normal, loving home and not had such horrible self-esteem issues, she would have been content to settle down with a wolf and stay within the confines of the pack. But her life hadn’t gone that way, and what worked for some she-wolves didn’t work for her.

  If she’d never grown disillusioned with her place in the pack and the life she’d made for herself, she never would have struck out on her own and wound up mated to the three most wonderful males she’d ever known. She had her sister back, a niece and nephew to spoil rotten, and her in-laws, who loved her as fiercely as if she was their born-daughter.

  “Oh, why are you crying, sweetheart?” Mason said suddenly, swiping his thumb across her cheek.

  She hadn’t realized she’d teared up until he said something. Shaking her head, she hugged him tightly and sighed happily when she felt Cairo and Dante put their hands on her for support and comfort. “I’m just really happy.”

  After lunch, Dante insisted she put her feet up on the plush couch he’d put in the office just for her, and pointed the small desk fan towards her before settling into his leather desk chair and going back to work. She was hot, but she still had work to finish, so she opened her mini-laptop and worked on a supplies order.

  At dinner that night, when she insisted on cooking for them all, she was puzzled when Dante answered a phone call during the meal. They had one rule at dinner, and that was no calls. He returned ten minutes later and sat down, a troubled look on his face.

  “That was Marie’s alpha.”

  Alyssa’s heart leapt into her throat. “Is Marie okay?”

  “She’s fine, sweetheart,” Dante said as he gripped her hand across the table, “and so are the kids. The werewolf relocation group has alerted him to a she-wolf that’s in trouble and needs help. She’s in the mountains in Virginia. The group called him because she’s apparently distantly related to someone in his pack, but they can’t get her because they’re snowed in right now.”

  Alyssa pressed her hand against her stomach reflexively. Extracting a she-wolf was dangerous, especially if she had called for help. That meant that she wasn’t in a good situation and needed to be rescued, and her own pack wouldn’t help her. Either the alpha was the one that was abusing her, or the pack was old-school and didn’t allow their females to have a voice. Alyssa hadn’t grown up in a pack like that — hers had been fairly progressive when it came to she-wolf rights — but it wasn’t unheard of in packs that had older alphas running them, for the she-wolves to be seen as baby-makers and mates and not to have any real power or authority in the pack.

  “I’m scared,” she admitted. Dante looked at her in surprise and confusion, and then his face softened in understanding.

  “Not us, sweetheart, he didn’t ask for us to go and get this girl, he asked if one of the other clans would be willing to do it. The relocation group will set up the rescue with the female and the clan just has to meet her and take her away. When the snow clears in a few months, she can go live with them up in Alaska or she can go wherever she’d like. In the meantime, we can give her a job at the gym if she’d like and put her up in one of the spare bedrooms with one of the clans, if they’re comfortable having her there.”

  Relief swamped her. She was glad the female would get away from whatever she was fleeing and that her own men wouldn’t be asked to do it. When dinner was finished and she was sitting on the couch getting a foot rub from Cairo and a shoulder massage from Mason, Dante explained the situation to both clans and asked if they’d be willing to volunteer.

  Orion looked at his brothers and they both nodded. He said, “We’ll go. We’ve spent time in Virginia and hunted those mountains before, so we’re familiar with that area. I think I know the pack you’re referring to. If it’s the one I’m thinking of, their pack is like stone-ages old-school; the women have no rights at all, even in their choice of mates.”

  Dante smiled at his cousins. “Are you sure?”

  Crux rubbed his fingers against his stubbled jaw. “I hate packs like that. I have never understood what pleasure a male could take from oppressing someone they are supposed to love. It will be our honor to help her start her life over.”

  Sterling nodded silently. Alyssa was used to the largest of the three brothers being quiet. He was definitely the strong, silent type, but Alyssa liked him all the same.

  Fade said, “That’s cool. We’ll cover your shifts while you’re gone.”

  Azrael and Nyte agreed, and Dante thanked his family for their support. Alyssa looked up at Dante as he dialed the phone. He winked at her before he spoke to Marie’s alpha and promised the support of Orion’s clan. When the call was over, Dante said to Orion and his clan, “The relocation group is going to contact you directly by text sometime next week. When the call comes in, you’ll need to be ready to leave.”

  Orion, Crux and Sterling all nodded their understanding, and Crux said, “We’ll be ready, Dante, and we won’t fail.”

  The six males said their goodbyes and left.

  “I hope they’re successful,” Alyssa said, stifling a yawn.

  Cairo pushed her shirt up and kissed the slight swell of her belly. “They will be. Orion and his clan won’t tolerate a female being abused, hyena, werewolf, or other. No hyena male would stand for it. It will be their honor to help her escape whatever she is trying to escape from, and to help her start her life over again.”

  “Good.” Alyssa smiled at him, stroking the soft, short hair on the top of his head. “Take me to bed quick, before I fall asleep.”

  “Can’t have that.” Cairo smiled against her stomach before lifting her up into his arms and heading towards the stairs.

  She nuzzled his neck and nipped at his ear, smiling over his shoulder at Mason and Dante.

  “I don’t think she’s tired at all,” Mason snorted with a grin as he pulled his shirt over his head and they crossed into the master bedroom.

  “Maybe not now,” Dante said in a husky tone, “but she will be soon enough.”

  The End

  Contact the Author

  Blog: www.rebutler.wordpress.com

  Email: rebutlerauthor@gmail.com

  Twitter: @rebutlerauthor

  Facebook: www.facebook.com/R.E.ButlerAuthorPage

  * * * * * *

  Also from R.E. Butler

  Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series

  A Curve of Claw

  A Flash of Fang

  A Price for a Princess

  A Bond of Brothers

  A Bead of Blood

  The Wolf’s Mate Series

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 1: Jason & Cadence

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 2: Linus & The Angel

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 3: Callie & The Cats

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 4: Michael and Shyne

  The Necklace Chronicles

  The Tribe’s Bride

  The Gigolo’s Bride

  * * * * * *

  Coming in 2013 :

  The Wolf’s Mate Series

  The Wolf’s Mate Book 5: Bo & Reika

  Wiccan-Were-Bear Novella Series

  A Twitch of Tail (Melo’s Story)

  Hyena Heat Two: Every Dawn Forever

  * * * * * *

  Coming in 2013, Hyena Heat Two: Every Dawn Forever

  When Orion and his were-hyena clan rescued a she-wolf hiding in a bus station bathroom, they had no idea that they would be staring into the tear-filled, luminous blue eyes of their mate. But the skittish she-wolf was nowhere near ready to join their clan as their treasured bride. When a storm stranded the group in an isolated cabin in the mountains for several days, they discovered that close quarters were never so close as when three were-hyenas were trying hard not to show their growing attraction to the sweet, shy she-wolf.

>   Sydney Nichols never thought she would know what freedom felt like, until she found a way to escape her abusive mate through the Were-Animal Alliance. Three of the most gorgeous men she’d ever laid eyes on came to her rescue. But her mate had done something to her, and her inability to hide the effects of his tampering became evident when she’s forced into tight quarters with the men during a storm. When the truth comes out, will they forgive her for her past sins and embrace their future, or will she lose the only precious thing she’s ever had?