Jasmine met him in the middle of the room with
a large smile. Unbound, her hair brushed against her cheeks before
she pulled loose strands behind her ear. Standing on her toes for a
kiss, her lips brushed against his.
“You’re late,”
she said.
“Sorry. But I’m here as ordered
.” He
chuckled thinking of the last message she sent strongly requesting
his presence.
Their lips touched too briefly and she turned
away. “Alright everyone, we’re going to open the gifts now. Damian
and Rese, pass the gifts to either Jacques or Rone, they’ll open
the boxes and give the presents to Rose or Mama.”
David tugged on his hand and then walked to an
empty spot on the sofa. Silas smiled and followed. Soon all four
kids sat on or next to him. Renee winked from across the room. He
offered her a smile. Baby steps with that one.
Silas tried to pay attention to the party.
Everyone seemed to be having a great time, making jokes at Rone and
Jacques expense. But his mind kept returning to the escalating
problem with the rebels and half-breeds. As long as rebel Alphas
lied and gave false information about him and his Alphas to the
breeds, Silas couldn’t retaliate against them in the swift, brutal
manner of the past.
First, he had to remind full-bloods of his
position as national Alpha and then explain that his care extended
to all wolves equally. He would remind them all that their mates
could be either full-blood or half-breed. That bit of information
should make some full-bloods hesitate before joining the rebels. He
wouldn’t muddy the water by adding explanations on human breeders,
not yet.
Next, he needed to introduce himself and the
Alphas to half-breeds who had no knowledge of him or the Wolf
Nation. Thank goodness he had Tyrone to assist with that daunting
task. Hawke and his team developed a program that would allow him
to accomplish both through a broadcast message without
interference. Unfortunately, they ran into a couple of glitches
during the testing stage. When he left the lab an hour ago, they
were still running tests.
“Daddy, I’m sleepy,” Jackie said leaning
against him and then yawning.
Jasmine looked over at them and nodded.
“
Take them to bed, they played hard today. If you need me, let
me know
.”
Pleased with the opportunity to spend time
alone with his pups, he gathered them together. “
I’ve got this,
I’ll be back once I have them changed and in bed
.”
“Come on guys, let’s get you in bed,” Silas
said softly to his pups. They all stood and headed toward the door,
staggering a bit.
Cameron stepped away from Lilly and picked up
Adam and Jackie. “I’ll carry these two.”
Silas picked up David and Renee and left the
room. They walked toward the nursery in silence. The nurses stood
near each bed waiting to take care of their small charges. Silas
assisted in brushing teeth, changing into pajamas and then tucking
each pup into bed with a kiss and night-time blessing. His heart
expanded as he looked at each of them lying peacefully in bed. Once
again he thanked the Goddess for her multiple blessings and
promised to protect them with his life.
Cameron waited for him by the door. Together
they left the room and headed back to the party.
“Think Rese and Danielle will be next?” Cameron
asked.
“Before you and Lilly, you mean?”
Cameron’s cheeks reddened. “No, Lilly doesn’t
believe she can have pups.” His jaw clenched as he exhaled. “When
she was eleven, a neighbor she baby-sat for, raped her. Messed her
up inside. The guy paid her mom off and they moved.” He shook his
head. “Rose doesn’t know. Lilly told me after we’d been mated six
months to explain why she didn’t get pregnant.”
“I’m sorry she suffered, would you like me to
see her?” Silas offered. “Maybe I can correct some of the
damage.”
Cameron shook his head. “Maybe later if she’s
open to the idea, right now she’s not.” He paused. “She wants to
adopt the three pups we rescued from the labs. No one ever claimed
them and they’ve been living with us all this time. She thinks of
them as hers now.”
“What do you think?” Concerned over Cameron’s
hesitancy, Silas stopped and focused on his godson.
“That’s just it, I don’t know. When I see Rose
and Tyrone, I think it’s cool to have my own pups in my den. But I
already have Mason, Theo and Amari. I love those pups.”
Silas sensed something else troubled Cameron
and spoke through their link. “
What is bothering
you?”
“Lilly wants to adopt more and to be honest
there are more pups without families thanks to the Liege stealing
them from everywhere. Most of the pups have been taken but a few
haven’t. These pups have physical challenges and one was mentally
abused and requires constant care. With everything going on with
the rebels and influx of breeds coming forward, we don’t have the
time to care for a special needs pup.
” He ran his hand through
his hair. “
That sounds so damn selfish but that’s how I
feel.”
Silas understood. As Alpha for West Virginia,
Cameron stayed busy, even with the additional help he received.
Some things required an Alpha’s personal attention.
“But Lilly believes it’s what we’re supposed
to do as leaders so others will follow. She plans to hire more
helpers but believes the pup will heal in the right environment, a
loving den
.” Cameron’s frustration bled through his
words.
“What’s most important to you
?” Silas
asked.
Cameron’s brows furrowed and then he after a
long moment, exhaled. “
My mate. Her happiness trumps
everything.
” He looked at Silas and shook his head. “
I guess
the Alpha house will be gaining four pups. Knowing my mate, they’re
already packed and waiting for me to come to my
senses
.”
Smiling, Silas slapped him on the back as they
walked the rest of the way to the party.
“Peace in your den is priceless, so is her
gratitude for you working hard to see how much this means to her.
Your mate’s perspective is a gift to you from the Goddess. No one
expects you to recognize every opportunity or conflict but the two
of you working together, side by side, even from different angles,
will gain more ground than pulling against the grain. Took me a
while to learn that, don’t make the same mistakes I
did.”
They entered the room and he met Jasmine’s warm
gaze. This time Silas took the seat next to her and held her
hand.
Lilly sat on a sofa with two heads in her lap
and a third asleep at her foot. She watched Cameron approach and
smiled as he picked up the boy from the floor. Together they
gathered their small brood, said their goodbyes and
left.
“Almost done. This is the last game
,”
Jasmine said.
He nodded and listened as Renee rattled off a
list of words she made from the letters in Tyrone and Rose’s
names.
Hawke entered the room and sat next to Asia.
Sarita and Damian had already left.
“I
believe we finally worked out the
problems with the disk
,” Hawke said, his excitement flowed
through their link.
“Have you run all of your tests
?” Silas
asked recalling the last failed demo.
“Yes, three times. Each
passed
.”
Silas glanced at Hawke and read the pride in
his gaze. “
Good, the sooner I communicate with full-bloods and
half-breeds the sooner we can fully go after the rebels. In a few
minutes, we’ll go below and test the device. If it passes, I’ll
coordinate a test run here, with Cameron and the twins. That way we
can fine tune any problems. We’ll fly to Maryland –
”
“Don’t make any other plans tonight, Silas.
You’re spending time with me
,” Jasmine said.
He looked at the determined glint in his mate’s
eyes and nodded. “
We’ll test the device in the morning
,”
Silas told Hawke.
A confused look crossed Hawke’s face and then
he smiled. “
Yes, Sir. Tomorrow’s better
.”
Silas leaned forward, inhaling Jasmine’s
natural scent, allowing it to fill him completely. She leaned back
into him while laughing at some comment her sister made. In case
Renee watched, he smiled at whatever his mate deemed
comical.
“Meeting’s cancelled, I am all yours
,”
he said through their link. “
Now what do you plan to do with me
I wonder?”
“Ride you like the cowgirl I am
.” She
giggled.
Silas smiled and looked around to see how many
glasses of wine she’d had. “
When did you become a
cowgirl?”
“Stop asking questions, Silas. You know I
was teasing
.”
He reached around and squeezed her breast. She
covered his hand and slid it down. “
Silas!”
“What?
” He looked around, no one paid
them any attention and then his gaze met Renee’s. She stared at
Jasmine with a shocked expression which smoothed into a
smile.
“This was fun but I’m sleepy and going to call
it a night,” Renee said standing. “Mama fell asleep already, you
need to put her to bed, Jacques.”
“It’s the pregnancy but she didn’t want to
leave early. She wanted to spend as much time with you as
possible,” he said.
Renee walked to her mother and placed a kiss on
her cheek. “G’night, Mama. I’ll see you in the morning. My flight
leaves around five this evening. Tyrese, are you and Danielle going
to take me to the airport tomorrow evening?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Danielle said.
“Good, on that note I’ll head to bed,” Renee
said.
Jasmine stood, wobbled and then straightened.
“We’re leaving too, plus you always get lost.” Jasmine reached back
for Silas’ hand, took it and wrapped his arm around her waist.
“Ready.”
Renee’s eyes filled with laughter but she held
it with a smile.
“Good night, Mom, Silas,” Tyrone said. “Thanks
for the party, we appreciate it.”
Jasmine waved her hand and leaned on
Silas.
“Yes, thank you Jasmine, we appreciate it as
well. Perhaps one day we can return the favor,” Jacques
said.
Neither Jasmine nor Silas responded as they
continued walking down the hall.
Renee chuckled and waited for Silas to enter
the passwords in the keypad. The door opened and he steered Jasmine
inside.
“What did you drink? And how much?” Renee asked
Jasmine as the elevator moved.
“White wine, tasted good, you didn’t have any?”
Jasmine stood in front of him and then leaned back, using his chest
as a pillow. He wrapped his arm around her waist to hold her
steady.
“No, I had the rum punch Danielle made. Tasted
like fruit juice.”
The door opened and they walked toward Renee’s
room, it was in the same section as Jacques and Angus’
suites.
“Good night you two, whatever you’re about to
do, have fun,” Renee said and closed her door.
Silas bent slightly, picked Jasmine up and
carried her to their private section. He kicked the front door
closed behind him and headed to their bedroom. Inside, he stopped
and looked at his mate. Eyelids half-mast but focused on
him.
“Once again I’m here as you ordered. What do
you want with me?” Deliberately he deepened his voice in the way he
knew got beneath her skin.
She shivered, wrapped her arms around his neck
and pulled his lips to hers. “Love you,” she said against his
mouth, the taste of her words fired his need.
“Love you too but if you don’t tell me what you
meant by spending time with you tonight I’m going to proceed with
my own interpretation.” He strode to the bed, knelt and placed her
in the middle.
Her hand shot up. “Wait. I want to do this. Sit
down over there.” She pointed to one of the upholstered chairs in
the nearby sitting area.
He nodded and followed her instructions.
Folding his hands over his lap he watched her rise from the
mattress with one leg thrown in the air, followed by the other. She
rolled to the side of the bed and looked at him through a curtain
of dark hair, her brown eyes glowed like dark marbles pinning him
to the chair.
“I’ve been thinking about this all day,” she
said in a wicked voice filled with promise. His dick twitched but
he remained still, waiting, watching as his Sweet Bitch slowly
pulled off each piece of clothing, leaving her thong and
heels.
Silas’ wolf growled, urging him to mate. But
this rare treat of her kinky side needed to be savored and he
refused to rush. No, his mate wanted to take him and he wouldn’t
interfere.
“All day? You should have told me,” he
murmured, his eyes glued to the movement of her darkish nipples and
full breasts.
“There’s always an emergency or something you
need to take care of –”
“Nothing and no one is more important to me
than you.” He took her hand and pulled her closer. “Don’t you know
that?”