Maurice looked hopeful.
Irritation flickered through Dante as his possessiveness rose to the forefront again, but he couldn't help but chuckle. He was feeling pretty damned cheerful himself and pumped with a sense of anticipation despite his weariness. He'd tried to tamp his enthusiasm, knowing he could be looking at serious disappointment, but there was no getting around the fact that he hadn't been able to tamp it by much. The relief he felt just knowing he had a green light was almost as profound as the excitement for the hunt pumping through him. He shook his head. “Food first, and then I'll lay out the ground rules."
Kane and Jessie exchanged a look and then studied Dante and Maurice speculatively. Looking cautiously optimistic, they settled at the kitchen counter and proceeded to help put away a dozen eggs, two pounds of bacon, a little better than half a loaf of bread and nearly a gallon of coffee.
Maurice glanced at his watch when they'd finished. “You going in today?"
Dante shook his head. “I was at it all night. You were right, though. The council doesn't exactly approve—pure blood and all that—but she's all ours ... except for the little matter of convincing her, I mean."
"You're serious?” Jessie asked sharply, his eyes lighting with anticipation.
"Absolutely. I'm going to be clear on a few points up front, though. I have priority breeding rights, per council law, and I mean to exercise that right.” He studied the faces of the three men around him while that sank in. None of them looked happy about it, but he could see they'd expected it. They curbed their disappointment. Maurice looked the most resentful, but he was pack beta and knew he had second rights and, although he looked for several moments as if he was considering an objection, he finally tamped his irritation, as well.
"Secondly, and this is a big one, she's human—usage limited to upper echelon, which means the four of us, period. You make damned sure everybody else gets that. If any of them even look at her cross-eyed, I'm going to nail their ass to the wall. Also, since she's human, she's frail—this isn't just an
appearance
of being a delicate little flower as it so often is with our females,
mes ami
. This is an absolute fact. Any one of you that forgets that answers to me. Clear?"
All three men shifted uncomfortably. Maurice seemed on the point of saying something, but apparently decided against it.
"You have a problem, Maurice? Spit it out."
Maurice shrugged. “I was just thinking that part's going to be tricky. Aside from the fact that none of us has ever actually copulated with a human female—or I haven't, anyway—there's the little matter of the effect she has on us. That's going to be hard to curb."
"Can you handle it or not?” Dante demanded tightly. “Because if there's any doubt in your mind, you might want to sit this dance out."
Maurice reddened, his face going taut with anger, but finally nodded.
Dante looked a question at Kane, waited until he'd nodded, and then Jessie. “I can handle it boss man,” Jessie assured him, grim faced with his own anxieties but determined.
Satisfied that he'd pounded home the necessity of being careful with Shilo, he outlined what he'd been able to determine about her background and pointed out that they couldn't afford to crowd her. “For now, old school rules. You'll be perfect gentlemen and make nice, but no encroaching. I'll initiate her myself—and I'm playing it by ear. You might as well get it through your thick skulls right now that it's going to be a fairly long wait. Since she's psychic, not an ordinary human and not lycan, we can't count on marking her in the usual way, and I'm not about to screw this up by taking the chance of scaring the shit out of her. I'd be all too happy to ignore her objections and fuck the hell out of her if I could be sure she was made when I was done with her. Since I can't, though, and she wouldn't handle that sort of aggression well if it didn't take, I'm not going to ruin my chances by trying it."
"What about your promise to her?"
Dante shrugged but finally grinned. “I never actually said I'd keep my hands off her, did I?"
"It was implied, though,” Jessie pointed out. “Women can be pretty obstinate about these things."
"I gave her my word I'd protect her. I fully intend to. And her concern was in being attacked—that's not going to happen. You'll charm her into your bed, or you won't get her at all,” Dante said grimly. “Being part of the upper echelon only gives you the right to try. There aren't any guarantees with this one."
A slow grin curled Jessie's lips. “I've never minded a challenge."
"You wouldn't,” Kane growled. “Next to Dante you're the biggest chick magnet here."
Maurice glared at him. “Says you?” he snarled.
"Says the chicks,” Kane snapped back at him. “You think I like that any better than you do?"
"So you'll have to work harder,” Dante said coolly. “Once I mark her, she'll be living here with us—no way in hell am I going to take any chances with her. That'll give everybody plenty of opportunities for seduction. I'm thinking she's a warm hearted little sole. If you run out of other options, try for pity sex."
Kane reddened with indignation. “Like hell!"
"Suit yourself,” Dante said, shrugging and then rising and giving an all over stretch. “I'm for bed. Find out what you can about that rogue pack before you come in this evening, Maurice, but watch what you say around Shilo. The only thing holding her here at the moment is the threat they represent to her. I want that matter settled, pronto, but she's not to know about it."
Erotica/Romance. 74621 words long.
Chapter Eight
Rising around noon, Dante showered and dressed and then gave Julie a call.
"Can you talk?"
"She's in the backyard with the pups. I can see her from here, though. What's up?"
Dante looked down at the front of his jeans. Shoving his hand inside his waistband, he adjusted himself. “A couple of things.... “He gave her a brief outline of Shilo's background. “I'm counting on you to befriend her. She needs a friend, Julie."
"That won't be hard. I like her."
Some of the tension went out of him. “I'm glad to hear that.” He paused, wondering if he should just leave it at that, but time was something he didn't have a lot of. “I also need you to keep a close eye on her and mark her cycle for me."
"Her what?"
He explained it.
"Ok, this is getting way too fucking weird, even for me. Exactly why do you need this information?"
"Cut the crap, Julie! You know damned well why I want it,” he growled irritably.
"You going rogue on us, boss man?"
"It's sanctioned, Julie,” he ground out, irritated at having to explain himself. “I already checked."
"Poor baby! And she doesn't have a clue."
"I'm serious, damn it!"
There was a prolonged silence on the other end of the line. “You're in deep, aren't you?"
Dante reddened. “It's that obvious?"
"Maybe not to her—make that seriously doubtful. I know you, though. You could've knocked me over with a feather when I came down last night and caught you
cuddling
her! I never thought I'd see the day—Mr. cool, calm, and collected babe magnet—and why should I ever settle down?"
"Are you through yet?” Dante growled irritably.
Julie chuckled. “A word of advice?"
"Spill it."
"Stop looking at her like that if you don't want her to burn rubber getting out of here."
"Like what?” Dante demanded uncomfortably.
Julie fell silent again. “Look, Dante,” she said, her voice serious now. “I don't know how to tell you this, but ... the odds aren't in your favor on this one. Maybe you should consider cutting your losses?"
Dante felt a cold sweat pop from his pores. A wave of nausea followed it. “Did she say something?"
"Oh god, Dante. You've got it bad. Fell like a ton of bricks, didn't you?"
Feeling his face heat, Dante ground his teeth. “Did she say something that made you think she wouldn't consider it?"
"A lot, actually. I got her drunk last night. I just had this feeling about her, you know? Figured she needed to talk, and I could see she wasn't going to without a big push. Did she tell you her first encounter with a lycan the stupid rogue bastard nearly raped her?"
"I'd guessed that,” Dante said tightly.
"Well, she was just a kid—she'd never even been with a man at all—no boyfriends—no experience of any kind. They monitored them all the time in that stinking place she grew up in. This is deep down stuff, Dante, serious trust issues. She isn't going to get over this."
"I know. We can help her get past it, though."
"She thinks she already has. She went through a half a dozen ‘boyfriends', taking the ‘cure'. If you ask me, though, except for the fact that she did manage to get over her fear of being touched at all, they only made it worse. Didn't sound to me like one of them was worth hanging. She thinks its apples and oranges, though, and the oranges are worse."
"I got that impression, too,” Dante said wryly.
"And you're still going to pursue this?"
Dante swallowed a little sickly, feeling as if someone had punched him in the stomach. He'd already considered everything Julie had brought up, though, after he'd researched the night before. He wasn't going to tuck his tail and give up without giving it a hell of a good try. He wanted her way the hell too much to even consider that. “Yes."
Julie sighed. “I think there might be a ray of hope."
"You do?” He tried to keep the hopeful note out of his voice, but he was pretty sure he didn't manage it.
"She's curious—asked a lot of questions about the pack, customs and so forth. I thought she took it pretty well. Actually exceptionally well, considering she's human. Thing is, though, it's the way she grew up, I think. It wasn't like a normal human family. It was more like ours—a group thing—except without any tender loving care like we give our pups. But still...."
"That sounds promising,” Dante said thoughtfully.
"A little. She was pretty horrified about the mating situation. Then again, this gal's got trust issues, like I said—which translates to commitment problems. I'm thinking she might actually be more inclined to accept
our
way easier than their way. It wouldn't give her that trapped feeling that scares her the most. I mean, the main reason she was so rattled last night wasn't actually because we're lycans—that was part of it, but not the root of it. It was because she doesn't really know how to deal with people one on one. She's used to being alone or a group type setting where she can blend into the back ground and the pups were crowding her."
Dante frowned thoughtfully. “Why don't you plan on a few extra guests for dinner tonight?"
"The Fab Four?"
"They've got a stake in this, too. If I left them, they'd just follow me."
"I almost envy her."
"No, you don't."
Julie laughed. “I said almost, didn't I? Just don't expect too much."
"I don't care if it's hamburgers. I'm coming to see Shilo."
"I was talking about Shilo, you single minded twit!
"Watch it, Jules!” Dante growled. “I'll put up with a lot of shit out of you, but remember who you're talking to."
"Sorry, boss,” Julie said contritely. “But you asked for my advice...."
"Actually, I didn't. You volunteered it."
"Fine. I'll back off. You know what you're doing. You always do."
Dante hung up. He wished the fuck he
did
know what the hell he was doing! The problem was,
this
was different. It was easy to be cool, calm, and collected when one didn't really give a shit what the outcome was, and he never had before. It was a hell of a lot harder to be any of the three when one: he did care—a lot, and two: there was no collecting his wits when he was in the woman's vicinity. “Playing it by ear, my ass,” he grumbled. “More like the seat of my pants, and I don't fucking like it. Not one little bit."
It scared the hell out of him that he couldn't count on marking her and knowing he could relax then in the certain knowledge that she was his.
* * * *
Shilo was standing in the back door when Julie hung up and turned around. It gave Julie a jolt. She studied the look on her guest's face uneasily. Dante was going to have her ass if Shilo had overheard any of the conversation, she thought uncomfortably, wishing she hadn't simply dismissed the sound of the door opening.
She'd figured it was one of the pups, though. They kept the door flapping.
It just went to show it was never a good idea to get so engrossed in a conversation
about
somebody that one ignored everything else. Ordinarily, she wouldn't have, but the thing with the big guy—well that was
seriously
fascinating.
She'd begun to think there wasn't a woman alive that could shake Dante up, even a little, let alone rattle his cage like this woman had. It boggled the mind to think he was thinking in terms of
breeding
. Speculation had been rife among the female population ever since he'd taken over the territory, but although he didn't mind sharing his favors he made damned sure he didn't linger long enough to give any female the idea that he was thinking about anything more permanent, and when it came breeding time, he steered clear of all of them. “Problem?"
"Oh no. No,” Shilo said quickly, then frowned. “Actually, uh ... Are they always this ... active?"
Julie laughed. “Young'uns usually are, lycan pups more than humans."
Shilo frowned. “It's hard to believe.... “She broke off and looked at Julie self-consciously. “I'm sorry."
Julie's lips flattened, but she brushed it off with an effort. “I'm sure it takes some getting used to,” she said, an edge to her voice she couldn't quite disguise.
Shilo reddened. A hurt look flickered in her eyes. “I'm just not used to children,” she said lamely. “I think they're really sweet, though."
They both knew Shilo hadn't meant anything of the kind, but Julie decided to pretend she believed her. “Thank you! I don't suppose you'll believe me since you aren't used to being around children, but they really are very well behaved. They're just full of energy and very bright, and that makes them curious. We're having company tonight,” she added to change the subject. “The guys let me persuade them to come over for dinner."
"Guys?” Shilo asked, trying not to look as uneasy as she felt.
"Dante, Maurice, Kane, and Jessie."
Shilo relaxed fractionally. “Oh.” She frowned. “Do you think, maybe, it's about the rogue problem?"
Julie shrugged easily. “I doubt they've resolved that issue yet. The rogues have been annoying the hell out of Dante for weeks now. I'm sure he'll take care of the problem as quickly as he can, but it isn't as if the rogues are bold enough to challenge him straight on—otherwise he would already have taken care of it."
"Taken care of it?” Shilo prompted.
Julie was tempted to just ignore that. Instead, she decided honesty was the best policy. If Shilo was going to be around—and Dante seemed pretty damned determined she would be, and he usually got his way—then she had to get used to the way things were done. “Dante's prime alpha here. That means he's the big boss—head of this entire territory—and he's the youngest we've ever had. He's only twenty seven. I know that probably doesn't mean much to you, but males don't get that high that fast unless they're one bad ass mother fucker, and smart as hell to boot. It takes more than brute strength—which he sure as hell has, and speed, and stamina.
"The rogue has challenged Dante's right lead just by being here and causing trouble, but he's broken lycan law by doing it, and Dante isn't obliged to honor the challenge. He can simply have the rogue disposed of. Ordinarily, if someone wants to challenge him, all they have to do is face him and demand he prove his right to lead by beating him. Then the pack would be summoned as witness. It could be a challenge to the death, or just best man wins. Either way, if Dante lost, he wouldn't be alpha anymore. Not top dog, anyway. And if he was to lose, which ain't likely, then his second could challenge him—that would be Maurice.
"In other words, he could get bumped down the chain the same way he came up it."
Shilo stared at her white faced. “That's ... that's...."
"Brutal? Don't kid yourself. The entire world's brutal. We're just more straight up about it. Like I said, a contest isn't just about brute strength. It's about ... being a good judge of one's opponent, being smarter than they are—pretty much all the same qualities a leader needs to be a good leader. And it's proof that we can all respect. Dante's got more than respect, though. He's got charisma. He could charm the pants off.... “Julie broke off abruptly, chewing her lip.
Shilo stared at her for a long moment and finally moved to one of the kitchen chairs and sat down. She wasn't actually surprised to hear Dante was a favorite of the ladies. She would've been a lot more surprised if Julie had said he wasn't. “You love him?"
Julie turned scarlet. “I love him to death, but not like you're thinking. He's like a big brother to me. We're close, but we're just friends. That's all we've ever been.” There'd been a time when she'd hoped it could be more than that, but she'd had to accept that it just wasn't going to happen long before Shilo came on the scene.
Shilo frowned at the relief she felt. It shouldn't matter to her one way or the other, because it had nothing to do with her.
She
wasn't lycan. Even if she did think he was sexy as hell, and sweet, and he made her feel protected—something she'd never actually felt before and had discovered she found infinitely appealing—he was a lycan, for god's sake! And younger than her—lord! She hadn't thought he was so young. If he was a human man he wouldn't have any interest in a woman that was nearly forty—well, there was no sense in rushing things. She was almost thirty five, though, and considering how quickly it seemed she'd gotten there, she figured forty was probably going to hit her like a runaway train. She forced a smile. “You can't knock friendship,” she said a little wistfully. “I'd think friends with benefits would be the best sort of relationship."
"Great sex would be a great relationship, too,” Julie said, chuckling.
Shilo shrugged. “I suppose. I've never had great sex.” She thought it over and frowned. “Actually, I've never had good sex."
"Oh! Now that's just sad!"
Shilo laughed. “It is, isn't it? Maybe it's just me?"
Julie let out a huff. “Men always make women think that! It's not just you. You just haven't found the right guy."
"You think?"
"Hey! I've been there. Trust me. You get with the right guy, the sex will be great! It's not what they've got, or even how they look. It's how you feel about them."
Actually,
that
was the sad part, Shilo thought. She didn't have a chance in hell of getting with the right guy when she hardly dared stick her nose out of the safe little hole she'd dug out for herself. She thought that was what really drove her to take a chance and head for the city, the hopefulness that she'd stumble across somebody that would make her feel like she was living instead of just existing. Contrary thing that she was, she just couldn't be satisfied with being free of ‘the group'. She wanted more, but she was almost thirty five. She was just going to have to accept, sometime, that what she had was all there was ever going to be for her. It was just plain stupid to keep risking what she did have, her freedom, by taking these little excursions, even if they
were
rare, because sooner or later she was going to lose what she had. “Well, you don't miss what you've never had,” she said philosophically, even though she knew that was a lie. She
did
miss it. She wasn't sure she actually believed, anymore, that there was such a thing as great sex, but it was a damned tempting fantasy. “A companion would be nice, though, even if the sex was really bad,” she added chuckling.
Julie gave her a wry look. “If bad sex was the best you could manage, you'd be better off with none—get a female friend instead."
Shilo looked at her in surprise. “I'd never actually thought about that,” she said thoughtfully, then smiled wryly. “That might work, for a while, anyway. Then it would be
two
women wishing they had a man. I don't suppose anyone is ever happy or satisfied, whatever they have—not completely anyway."
"I'm happy most of the time. Happiness is a state of mind, you know. It isn't what you've got so much as being satisfied with what you have. If you don't spend all of your time worrying about what other people have, that you don't, then you can be a lot more content with your life."
"How old did you say you were?” Shilo asked with a chuckle.
Julie stuck her tongue out at her. “I didn't. Alright, I'm staring thirty in the face. I'm twenty seven."
"Oh I wish!” Shilo said glumly. “I'm staring forty in the face. I don't know why you're unhappy! I'd give anything to be twenty seven again!"
"There you go again! And I do
not
believe you're nearly forty!"
"Sweet child!” Shilo beamed at her. “I really am almost thirty five, though."
"Oh puhleese! Talk about jumping the gun! You're a glass half empty kind of person, aren't you?"
"And you're not?"
"No, I'm not! Twenty seven's closer to thirty than ‘almost’ thirty five is to forty."
"Yes, but thirty isn't nearly as depressing as forty."
Julie shook her head. “So,” she changed the subject, “you gonna help me cook and show off your domestic skills to the guys tonight?"
Shilo looked at her doubtfully. “I don't exactly
have
any domestic skills. You want me to give them food poisoning? I think I could manage that."
Julie nudged her shoulder. “These guys have cast iron stomachs, believe me. All they care about is quantity."
Shilo let out a huff. “Well, if that'll impress them, I could probably manage that ... out of your larder, of course ... unless you want to go to the grocery store and pick up something from the deli? I cook a mean deli meal."
Julie studied her. “You really don't know how to cook, do you?"
Shilo bit her lip. “Trial and error isn't actually the best way to learn. I did buy a couple of cookbooks, but I've never really gotten the hang of it. There never seemed much point in it when I'd just as soon have a can of soup or a microwaveable dinner."
"Then you're long overdue for some cooking lessons,” Julie said firmly.
Shilo didn't object. She figured any pointers she could pick up to improve her cooking skills were definitely to her benefit. Besides that she couldn't resist the suggestion that she impress the guys with her ‘womanly arts'. Whatever her doubts, they were a group of hunky males. How often did she get the chance to bask in male approval?
Never!
Unfortunately, Felicity woke from her afternoon nap just about the time they got supper underway. Since that coincided with the older children's hunger pains, Julie and Shilo prepared the meal under duress. Shilo had a blinding headache long before the food was done, but she didn't think it was a hunger headache. She was pretty certain it was nerves.
Completely aside from the fact that they had six children trooping back and forth through the kitchen asking them every five minutes if it was done yet, Shilo
was
anxious to show off her domestic skills, be they ever so humble. She wasn't completely hopeless in the kitchen, regardless of what she'd told Julie. She just wasn't a ‘great’ cook. She thought she might actually have managed to turn out something edible, though, if not for the constant distractions.
And the fact that she wanted to impress Dante.
She didn't spend a lot of time examining
why
she wanted to impress him, which was just as well because nothing turned out like she'd hoped. On top of that, she had a headache, and between the cooking and the children, she looked like a disaster area when Dante, Maurice, Kane, and Jessie arrived ... spit shinned, looking like a million bucks, and wreaking of a divine smelling aftershave, and/or cologne, potent enough to knock her socks off. She felt lightheaded just glancing at the four fabulous males and as jittery as a long tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs.
Julie took one look at Shilo and snatched the baby out of her arms. “Why don't you run upstairs and freshen up a little?” she hissed in a low whisper.
Shilo reddened and balked. There was ‘wanting to impress’ them and then there was being willing to make a fool out of herself. There was no way in hell she was going to do anything that damned obvious! Subtlety, she could handle because if it fell through they'd never know the difference. They could've been morons, which they weren't, and they'd still be able to figure out what was going through her head if she dashed upstairs the minute they arrived and began to primp. Shoving a stray lock of hair out of her face, she bared her teeth at Julie in as close an approximation of a smile as she could manage. “I'll set the table."
"We're serving buffet style."
"Then I'll help you fix the children's plates."
Julie studied her assessingly for a moment and finally shrugged. “Come and get it!” she bellowed.
Shilo winced, but the stampede into the kitchen distracted her from her headache for a little while. She didn't look at any of the men as they followed the children in at a more sedate pace, but thankfully, she was preoccupied with helping the children and didn't think it looked too obvious that she was trying to avoid the possibility of them getting a really good look at her.