Every Blissful Moment (Hyena Heat Book 4) (3 page)

He glanced at his brothers and saw they were concerned, especially when Bliss plastered a broad smile on her face as they walked into the reception.  Later, after the party, they’d talk to her about their future plans.  Right now, he’d stifle the urge to hunt her parents down and hurt them the way they’d hurt her.  If he ever saw her parents, though, he wasn’t sure he’d be able to contain the urge.

* * * * *

The next morning, as the four of them walked into the B&B’s dining room, Rome was surprised to see Mack and Kross sitting at the long table, drinking coffee and talking to the owners.

“Morning,” Mack said, lifting his coffee in salute.

Bliss froze, and Rome knew she expected bad news.  An alpha showing up unexpectedly made his hackles rise in warning as well.  He had a feeling that whatever Mack was going to say, Bliss was going to be hurt by it in some way.  That made him want to turn her around and take her back to the room right away.

 “Why don’t you grab something for breakfast and then we can chat,” Mack said.  His face was blank, almost pleasantly so, but his voice held a hint of guilt.

Bliss pulled a chair out noisily and plopped down.  “If it’s all the same to you, Mack, I’d rather just hear what you have to say.  You’ve known me my whole life.  Let’s not pretend you’re here because the B&B has amazing cinnamon rolls.”

Mack set his coffee mug down on the table, the corner of his mouth curving up into a rueful smile.  “All right, Bliss.”  The alpha waited while Rome and his brothers joined them.  They all nodded at Kross in greeting, but they were too tense to make any sort of small talk.

“Your parents moved away last night.  They were waiting at my house after the reception.  They asked to be removed as members of the pack.  I asked for an explanation, and they said that…” He stopped talking, his jaw working as he ground his teeth together.

“What?”  Bliss whispered hoarsely.

“They said that you were dead to them, and they never wanted to see or hear from you again.  Since they now have no family in Beyton, there’s no reason for them to stay in New Jersey.”  He reached out and covered her hand with his own.  “I’m sorry, Bliss.  I released them as members of the pack, and I forbade them from entering our territory again without my permission.  Kross witnessed, which is why I brought him along.  Someday my boys are going to take over the alpha position, and I want to make sure that your lousy excuse for parents never try to worm their way back into Beyton again.”

Mack’s words cut right through Rome.  After her parents had told Bliss they disowned her, Rome hadn’t expected any kind of loving greeting for her when they came to Beyton.  But to know they considered her dead, wanted nothing to do with her ever again, made his head swim.  He’d hoped, for Bliss’s sake, that they’d come around eventually, but it was clear now they had no intention of changing their minds.

Kross cleared his throat.  “They put their house up for sale and left.  Whisper said your things had been removed, but if you need to go inside, we can get the realtor to open it up.”

Bliss opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it once more before finally saying, “I don’t need anything from the house, thanks.”  She pushed her chair back and stood.  Her voice trembled and her hands were shaking as she said, “Thanks for coming to let me know.”

“You can stay in Beyton; you don’t have to leave because of them,” Kross pointed out.

She blinked rapidly and let out a quivering breath.  She glanced at her mates; Rome hated to see her eyes filling with tears.  “I know.  Right now, I just want to go lay down.”

She didn’t wait for them, disappearing quickly before any of them could join her.  Rome stood, and Memphis put his hand on his arm.  “I don’t think she wants company.”

He twisted his wrist out of his brother’s grasp.  “I’m not leaving her to deal with this alone.”

Memphis looked like he might protest, but then he nodded silently and Rome hurried out of the room toward the stairs.  With his sensitive hearing he could make out his brother talking to Mack about their plans for the future, but he tuned them out and concentrated on getting to their room to comfort Bliss.

He found her standing at the window, holding back the heavy drapes with one hand.  She stood rigidly, her body strung tight like a bow.  “Baby?”

She didn’t move.  Didn’t make any sign that she’d even heard him.  He didn’t know what was worse – seeing her cry, or seeing her numb like this.

He sat on the corner of the big bed, covered with a pink and white quilt, and let her have whatever time she needed.  He’d sit there until she was ready to talk or let him know what he could do to help her.

Time seemed to stretch as he looked at her.  She was so beautiful.  Her dark hair was straight and fell past her shoulders.  She was curved in all the right places, petite but perfect.  He remembered the first time they met, when they’d followed the sound of Whisper’s laughter through the woods.  They’d been so focused on finding Whisper that it wasn’t until Bliss had spoken, trying to intervene between Rome and his brothers and Whisper’s brothers, that they’d realized they were in the presence of their mate.  It was like being struck by lightning.  He’d just been existing, and then suddenly he was aware of everything about her.  His whole world had changed in a heartbeat.

He was crazy about her.  She was sweet and funny, beautiful from the inside out.  She wore her heart on her sleeve; he could always tell what she was feeling.  Even if she was trying to fool everyone into believing she was okay, he could sense when she wasn’t.  His beast felt her discontent in a way that wholly surprised him.  Even now, his beast demanded that Rome comfort her, but he knew he had to give her time to come to terms with what Mack had shared.  She was strong, but she’d been knocked over several times recently, and a person could only take so much before they couldn’t mask that hurt any longer.

He’d been thinking about his feelings.  When they’d come back to their room after the reception, she’d been tipsy and exhausted, so they’d opted not to do anything physical.  He loved nothing more than making her scream out in pleasure, but none of them wanted to push her.  She’d been playing the part of happy maid of honor for hours, and needed a good rest.  She’d fallen asleep before they closed the bedroom door, and they’d stripped her and put her to bed.

None of them had spoken of love yet.  They were all feeling it, though.  It was hard not to, and it wasn’t just because she was their mate.  He’d never been in love before and he thought it was probably supposed to be that way with hyenas.  They should only love their mate.  A male should never have to say that his mate wasn’t the first one to hold his heart.

Bliss held every inch of his.

He opened his mouth to tell her just that when she said, “They probably went to my aunt’s pack in Mississippi.  My mom was from there, and met my dad at a multi-pack get-together when they were young.  My dad grew up in Beyton, but he went to college in Mississippi and went to the pack meeting hoping to find a mate.  I always wondered if they were really mates – like, destined to be together.”  She didn’t face him, continuing to stare out the window.

“Why do you think that?”

“Because I never saw any affection between them.  They were very strict with me; I was about as sheltered as a person could be without them locking me up in a room.  But I saw other couples in the pack who really loved each other.  My parents never showed each other affection, and I never really got any from them myself.”

He gripped the quilt, torn between wanting to comfort her and wanting to let her talk.  “You’re a capable, independent, compassionate woman, Bliss.  You’re not like your parents.”

“You never met them.”

With a soft snarl, he stood and closed the distance between them quickly.  He pushed her shoulder until she turned around and then he caged her against the window.  “I don’t need to have met them to know they’re insensitive assholes.  You would
never
disown your children for their romantic choices.  It shouldn’t matter to them if there are three of us or what we shift into.  They should be thrilled you found your mates, not closing the door in your face.”  He bent and kissed her forehead, inhaling her sweet scent.  “What can I do?  Tell me how to help you.”

She tipped her face up, her brown eyes clear and shining with unshed tears.  “Just love me, Rome, and don’t ever let me go.”

His heart cracked sharply at her plea, and the scent of her sorrow punctuated the air between them like bitter fruit.  Cupping her face with both hands, he gazed into her eyes and let her see the truth of his feelings for her.  “I do love you, Bliss.  I love everything about you, from the way you put on a brave face to the way you light up when you see us.  I even love how you snore.”  He wiggled his brows in jest, and she slapped his shoulder.

“I don’t snore!”

“A little bit, yeah.”

She closed her eyes and tears ran down her cheeks.  He kissed them away and folded her into his arms, pulling her close so her cheek rested against his heart.

“I love you, too, Rome.”

“Whatever else happens, baby, we’re here for you and we’re never letting you go.”

“Good.”  She pulled away from him and walked to the bed.  “You should probably call your brothers.”

“Oh?”

She turned to face him, whipping her shirt over her head and tossing it to the floor.  “Unless you want me all to yourself, that is.”

He growled, stalking to her and drawing her close.  “I’ll call them later.”

* * * * *

After Memphis and Lincoln had said goodbye to Mack and Kross, thanking them for the information on Bliss’s family, it hadn’t surprised Lincoln to go up to their room and find Rome and Bliss tangled together under the sheets.  It hadn’t taken long for the two of them to join the fun, and then they spent the rest of the day taking care of their mate.  Once night had fallen and Bliss was sound asleep, he and his brothers gathered in the bathroom to talk about their future.

“We need to ask her to marry us and get the ceremony done as soon as possible.  I don’t want her to have their last name any longer than necessary,” Rome said.

“It only takes seventy-two hours to get a marriage license in New Jersey,” Memphis said.  “We can go get it this week and then plan the marriage for whenever she’d like.”

“How do you know it only takes seventy-two hours?”  Rome asked.

Memphis grinned.  “I looked it up while you two were soaping our mate up in the shower and I was stuck waiting for room service.”

Lincoln glanced at the door as images of their mate dripping wet and flushed with passion passed through his mind.  He considered going to wake her up for another round, but he knew she needed her rest.  Having three mates was hard on a female, and they’d never purposely hurt her by being too aggressive with their attentions.

Rome blew out a breath.  “If we pick up rings tomorrow, we can take her out to dinner tomorrow night and ask her, and she can pick the date.  But I think the better question is, where are we going to live?  With her parents gone, Beyton isn’t off the table anymore.”

Memphis nodded.  “I think we should wait until after we ask her to marry us to broach the subject.  She just found out this morning that her parents moved away.”

Lincoln yawned and cracked his neck.  “I like Beyton.  It’s not as busy as Ocean City, but we’re still close enough to go visit our family.  Plus, honestly, I’m feeling pretty antsy since we’re not in a den yet.  I want to be wherever we’re going to be so we can settle in.”

His brothers nodded.  Hyenas denned-in every winter; it was something their ancestors had done and was a tradition still continued to this day.  In their homes, clans usually had a basement that they locked themselves in during the winter, leaving infrequently to tend to business and food.  In places where there were no basements, such as their parents’ home, the downstairs would be closed off – the windows and doors covered – so that the feeling of being locked away was still there.  He wanted to lock themselves up and take care of Bliss, shutting out all other distractions.