Authors: Quinn Loftis
"I don't want to know about this guy." Costin frowned. "He won't hold a candle to my kisses anyway."
And the hundred watt smile is back,
she thought to herself.
"Sally mine, sit down. Relax."
Sally was doing what he told her before she even realized it. She narrowed her eyes at him as she sat down.
"Why are you wolves so bossy?"
Costin stood up and walked over to her. He crouched down so he was eye level. Sally started to scoot back to put some space between them, but Costin stopped her by putting his hands on her waist. She froze. She didn't really know how to react to his touch. It made her nervous, but it also made her feel something she never had- desired.
"To keep our mates safe. To keep the pack safe," Costin answered, and gentleness laced his voice.
"How is telling me to sit down keeping me safe?"
"You were working yourself up into an unnecessary frenzy which could have led to a panic attack, thereby causing you to pass out and fall and hit your head." Costin smiled; triumph danced in his eyes.
Sally rolled her eyes and giggled. "That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard, Costin. Stretching it a little, don't you think?"
"Maybe a little bit," he conceded with a laugh.
Costin regained his serious tone, but his expression was softer.
"I won't force you into anything, Sally. I know this is all different to you. I've known all my life that I had one perfect mate out there for me. And when I look at you I'm in awe of what I've been given." Sally blushed as he paused. "I won't leave you unprotected, and allowing other males around you is something that neither I nor my wolf will be able to handle. Besides," he said, his eyes twinkling with mischief, "how could you not want to be around all this?"
Sally let out a snort. "You've been around Jen way too much."
"I don't know, she's quite educational."
"Yeah, I don’t think I really want you to be educated by her." Sally looked down and noticed she had begun fidgeting with Costin's sleeve. She found comfort in being free to touch him, so she pushed away any worry that maybe he didn't want her to. She raised her eyes to look into his hazel ones. "So, what are you saying exactly?"
"I'm saying let's talk and spend time together. Let me help you fall in love with me," Costin answered.
Sally's breath came out in a short gasp at the word “love”. She hadn't really considered if Costin loved her. She knew it would be easy for her to fall in love with him – she was already halfway there.
"Do you love me?" she asked cautiously.
Costin leaned forward and kissed her gently on her forehead. "Sally mine, you were made for me. I loved you before I knew you and love you more now. Yes, I love you. And you will love me."
"No self esteem issues, I see," Sally teased.
Costin smiled and leaned his forehead against hers. "It's late, my love. I should go."
Sally nodded her head against his, but made no move to back away. She grinned when he did first, then was caught by surprise when he leaned in quickly and touched his lips to hers.
He laughed at her shocked look and jumped back when she attempted to swat his arm.
"Your innocence is refreshing," he told her as he backed away, toward the door.
"Well, I'm so glad that my lack of experience is such a thrill for you." Sally narrowed her eyes at the grinning wolf.
"Ah, Sally, sweet Sally. Everything about you is a thrill for me." He chuckled as he watched her face turn red and blew her a kiss as he closed the door behind him.
Sally flung herself back on her bed, letting out a long breath. Then she began to giggle, unable to contain her joy. She had been worried he would demand she complete the bond the way Decebel had, but instead he had been understanding, playful, incredibly sweet, and yes, sexy. Darn those wolves and their appeal.
Despite their bossiness
, Sally thought to herself.
"How could I not fall in love with him?" she asked. And at the tail end of her words her bedroom door flew open and closed just as fast.
Jen bent over, panting as she looked up at Sally.
"Hey, girl. Who are we falling in love with?" Jen asked breathlessly.
"Jen, what's wrong?" Sally paused and then decided on a better question. "What have you done now?"
Jen stood up and, seeming to have caught her breath, spoke quickly.
"First off, I've changed my mind. I don't want you to name your first born after me -"
Sally interrupted, "Thank goodness for that."
"- I want you to name your entire freaking litter after me," Jen growled. "Do you know what I've been through? " Her arms were flinging around as she glared at Sally. "I did that little strip tease to try and keep things from escalating with the rest of the pack. Decebel was beyond pissed. I had to sneak out of the gathering room and make a run for it. I've been running through the freaking forest trying to throw him off by changing back and forth so I could place my clothes, which I carried in my freaking muzzle – CARRIED IN MY MUZZLE, SALLY! – and place them in different areas to throw off him off my scent."
Jen went over to Sally's window and seemed to be judging the danger of using it as an exit.
"Jen, he isn't going to hurt you." Sally said gently to her agitated friend. An agitated Jen was never a good thing.
Jen's swung around, piercing Sally with her blue eyes. "There are worse things than being hurt, Sally Morgan. You just wait until you are mated. Bossy, overbearing, controlling, possessive, mega hot, tasty, sexy -"
"Uh, Jen, I get it," Sally cut in before Jen could get even more explicit.
"What I'm saying, my little wall flower, is desire becomes your enemy when your mate is being a butt head, which Decebel is – in mega, super-sized butt head way. Do ya feel me? You see where I'm going with this or do I have to sit you down and have the birds and the bees conversation?"
"No, I'm good." Sally held up her hands to halt Jen's line of conversation. "Why exactly did you come to my room?" She looked at Jen and then at her door, just waiting for it to be flung off its hinges.
"I figured he wouldn't come here because he would think you and Costin were getting your groove on." Jen looked around, noticing for the first time that Costin was not there. "Speaking of the yummy, dimpled, endowed wolf, where is he?"
"He went back to his room. We talked. It was good."
Jen put her hands on her hips and pinned Sally with the famous “you're going to spit it out or I'm going to rip it out of you”.
"You talked? Sally," she cleared her throat, "you have a mate. A guaranteed husband. A sure thing. Not to mention, he's hot, funny, sweet, and he has a
dimple. You
talked
?" This time, Jen's voice was skeptical.
Before Sally could defend herself, her door opened slowly, calculatingly.
"I know you weren't describing me, Jennifer. So who is this male that has caught your eye so descriptively? Please do tell so I can rip him to pieces." Decebel's power filled the room and Sally took an involuntary step away from the very angry Alpha.
Jen watched her mate cautiously. He was angry. Really angry. His eyes were glowing, revealing that his wolf was at the wheel. She knew that was her fault because she'd challenged him by running. She needed to calm him down, however, for the first time wasn't sure how to go about doing it. Usually her humor and sarcasm came to the rescue, but at the moment she felt like if she spoke at all he would go feral. Not that he would hurt her.
She opened her mind to him slowly. She had been blocking him in order to hide from him, not to hurt him. That's when she saw the flash in his eyes that showed her the feelings below the anger. With that knowledge she knew what to do.
"I was trying to help Sally, not hurt you. I wouldn't have taken off any more clothing than what I had. Everything was covered, Dec. Baby, please. You're scaring Sally."
Decebel took a slow step forward, but Jen held her ground. He was hers, she was his equal and she would not back down.
"Do you understand how crazy you make me?"
Decebel's voice was a growl in her mind.
"I imagine it's close or surpasses how crazy you make me,"
Jen answered his question, though she knew it was rhetorical.
Decebel shook his head and rubbed his hand down his face, trying to regain control.
"I love your spirit, but I'm designed to protect, possess, and my wolf doesn't understand your need to constantly push the boundaries. I need one thing, Jennifer, one thing that I won't compromise on. I think we've already discussed this, but I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt that you didn't understand."
Jen snorted a laugh as she spoke out loud. "Gee, thanks. So kind of you to just toss it off as me being a dumb ass."
Decebel chuckled and his eyes began to get lighter. "You will stop undressing in front of other people."
Jen put a hand on her hip as she tipped her head to the side. She narrowed her eyes at her mate and tapped her lip with a finger.
"Now, I'm going to need you clarify that." When Decebel didn't respond, just continued to stare at her, Jen rolled her eyes. "Clarify, elucidate, enlighten. Do. You. Understand. The. Words. That. Are -" she emphasized each word.
"Jennifer," Decebel growled.
"Comingoutofmymouth," Jen finished quickly, making Sally giggle.
"Only undress in our bedroom."
"Nope, na-ah, there's waaaay too many loopholes in that little decree. Seriously, Dec, you can do better than that." Jen raised a single eyebrow.
Decebel growled at the challenge in her words and at her tone of voice.
Damn, when am I going to learn not to poke the angry wolf?
The thought ran through her mind before she could censor it from a now wickedly smiling Alpha.
"I have to agree. Jen could run wild -" Sally began, but stopped abruptly when Decebel's head snapped around and he pinned her with his amber eyes.
"Sorry, shutting up now," Sally squeaked.
Decebel looked back at his mate, then glanced down briefly, trying to think of how to beat her at her own game.
"Okay." Decebel smiled smugly.
Jen did not like the look of that smile, one that said the cat had the mouse by the tail.
"You set the boundaries.
You
tell me exactly how to word that I don't want your clothes coming off in public."
Jen huffed and crossed her arms over her chest.
"Fine, Ricky," she blurted out in her best Lucy voice. "You want me to esplain it, then I will." She walked toward him and began slowly circling him as she spoke.
"I'm not to disrobe myself -" Decebel chuckled at her choice of words. "- in front of any person of the male persuasion, in any location, at any time, for any reason." She paused and looked at Sally. "Would you say that covers all the possible ways I could wiggle out of his decree?"
Sally thought for a moment. She knew Jen, knew how good she was at working around the rules. "'Any person'," Sally started. "That doesn't necessarily cover the Canis lupis species. It could be argued that they are indeed not persons because they are not human."
Decebel looked back and forth between the two best friends and ran a hand though his hair. "Did you two take a law class of some sort in school?"
Sally shook her head. "No, Jen has just learned over the years how to get around certain questionable details of any incident." Her eyes brightened as she continued eagerly, "Like this one time -" Sally stopped as she looked back at Jen, who was admittedly making a cutting motion with her hand, telling Sally to shut up.
Decebel looked back at Jen, who quickly put her hand on her chin as if she were thinking about Sally's words.
"I can agree with that." Jen nodded. "So we will change 'person' to 'species'."
Decebel took another step toward her so that he was standing only a breath away.
"I do, however -" h\He groaned in exasperation when she started speaking again. "- reserve the right of clemency if said species is unable to be determined as a male simply by sight alone."
"Uh-huh, yeah, I think that's fair," Sally said helpfully.
Jen looked around Decebel's large frame and winked at her. Sally was trying to laugh silently. She felt like she shouldn't watch the exchange between the two, but now that she had a mate, she was curious as how to deal with such a dominant person.
"Jennifer."
"Decebel."
"Sally." Sally spoke. She'd tried really hard not to add her nam,e but when they both said each other’s staccato style, she just jumped on the wagon.
Decebel turned and glared at Sally, who quickly made a zipping motion across her lips.
His glare didn't soften as he turned back to Jen.
"Are you finished?" he asked calmly.
"Hold on a sec, let me think."
He growled, then leaned down to whisper in her ear. She stepped back and gasped. Her eyes narrowed and her lips drew tight. She looked positively ticked off. Decebel, however, looked very smug.