Authors: Maddy Barone
His smile was small, but real. She found herself smiling back more warmly than she’d expected to. Sky’s arm tightened. “Excuse us. We need to get my wife registered.”
The captain, face once again cold, lifted a finger and two other soldiers came forward and saluted. “Escort Mr. and Mrs. Wolfe and their friends to the registrar’s office.”
The two men saluted again and took up their positions, one in front of Sky, and the other falling back behind the others. The registrar’s office was through a door on the rear wall of the station. One soldier opened the door for them, waited for them to pass through, and then closed it. Rose wondered why the captain had the men walk all of one hundred steps across the station with them.
“That was a waste of their time,” she muttered to Sky.
He lifted one shoulder in its elegant blue suit coat. “It’s just a way of showing respect. I’ll take every scrap of it I can get. It tells other people I’m important. Appearances count here.”
The registrar was a beefy man with a red face who looked like he should be out plowing rather than riding a desk in an office. His coat was similar in cut and color to Sky’s, but he didn’t wear it nearly as well. Sky looked elegant. This man looked like an overfed ape in a suit. He shoved his thinning blond hair back and stood up to shake Sky’s hand with a toothy grin.
“Mr. Wolfe, how nice to see you. What can I do for you?”
Sky put his arm around her again and flashed a big, white smile. “Good afternoon, Barnes. I need to have my wife registered,” he said proudly.
Rose smiled too, thinking that Sky’s demeanor was similar to the one he showed to the Captain, yet subtly different. False. Did that mean Sky liked the icy-eyed captain but not the registrar? She filed that thought away to come back to later.
“And my cousins need visas for at least a month, possibly longer.” Sky waved at Paint and the other men from the den. “They’ll be staying with me for a while.”
Mr. Barnes was happy to help. Very happy to help. He called his assistants to issue the papers for Paint and the others, but waited on Sky personally. He took the marriage certificate that Ray Madison had created for them. Seeing it made Rose swallow. It was phony. Sky hadn‘t made vows to her and she hadn’t made vows to him, and they hadn’t slept together, so it was a fake. But as far as anyone in Omaha knew, she was Mrs. Sky Wolfe. It sent a thrill through her, but at the same time she felt vaguely sick.
The registrar carefully recorded the information on the certificate and handed it back. He filled out a separate paper and handed it to Sky. “There you go. Mrs. Wolfe’s identification papers.” He opened a drawer and pulled out a whistle that he handed to Sky. “And her whistle. You’ll explain to her the proper way to use it?”
“Certainly,” Sky murmured, passing the whistle on its leather thong to her. “We’ll get you a nicer chain for it, my dear. Gold, I think. It will go beautifully with your hair.”
The registrar’s grin grew as he looked her over like a rancher examining potential breeding stock. “I’d say congratulations are in order, Mr. Wolfe. She’s a fine looking gal.”
Rose ground her teeth. “She’s standing right here.”
Mr. Barnes laughed heartily. “And feisty too!”
Sky spoke quickly. “No need for you to be bored by our business talk, my dear. Why don’t you have a seat right there in the visitor chairs while we wait for the others to have their paperwork finished up?”
She did, because if she stayed there to listen to them talk she would probably say something she would regret. It took another ten minutes for Snow, the last of them, to be given his visa. Then Sky ushered her out of the office. They all walked across the station to a set of wide doors. They were manned by more of the soldiers, who carefully examined each set of papers before allowing them to leave.
“It’s like living under martial law,” Rose muttered as she followed Paint outside.
She stopped dead, amazed by the beauty of the square outside. It was framed on three sides by buildings, the train station behind them and two taller buildings on either side. The grass was like green velvet, intersected by white stone walkways bordered by crimson and gold chrysanthemums. In the center, a fountain flung water up to sparkle against the vivid blue sky. A few white stone benches invited her to sit and enjoy the fountain. What a beautiful park.
Sky gave her a gentle push to move her out of the doorway. “Nice, isn’t it?” He took her hand and tucked it into his crooked elbow. She’d never strolled along with a man touching her before. Rose considered how it felt to have Sky’s tall lean body moving beside her, the muscles in his arm moving beneath her fingers, and decided it felt nice. And he smelled so darned good, too.
Sky’s free arm lifted to indicate the yellow brick building. “That building there to our right is the Justice Hall. That’s where most trials are held, and the City Council meets upstairs in the legislative chambers. There’s a jail in the basement to hold those awaiting trial.”
There was a tight note in his voice that made Rose look at him. His face was smooth and false. She was beginning to able to identify his emotions, or at least when he was hiding something. She looked away from him to the building. It didn’t have many windows, and none on the bottom floors, but it looked like it was built in the last fifty years, and windows had been in short supply then. “Very stately. And the other building?”
“Omaha’s Cultural Center. There’s a museum and a library there, and a theater for plays.”
“A library!”
Behind her she could hear Paint and Snow grunt to smother their laughter. “What?” she demanded over her shoulder. “I like to read.”
“I know,” said Paint. “You’ve read every single book in Kearney’s library at least once.”
Snow added, “Maybe this library will have some different ones.”
Sky glanced down at her with a small smile and a thoughtful expression on his face.
“What?” she said again.
He shook his head. “I didn’t know you liked to read. There’s so much for us to learn about each other.” He changed the subject by gesturing to the fourth side of the square, which was open to a street. “We can hire a carriage on the next block to take us home.”
The street was busy, to Rose’s eyes. Pedestrians dodged around horses carrying riders and other horses pulling carts and wagons. But the thing that caught her eye was a box on wheels at the curb half a block past them. No, not a box. She stared, trying to identify the black thing. There was a window at the front end of the box. A windshield? Just as she turned her head to look up at Sky, a voice boomed.
“Sky!”
The man who’d shouted her mate’s name came toward them from the Justice Hall with a wide smile on his red face. His brown hair was graying, cut in a short style that didn’t hide his receding hairline or the fringe of hair’s tendency to curl. His brown suit was cut in the same sleek style as Sky’s, but he didn’t look nearly as elegant in it. His narrow shoulders sagged forward over a nearly hollow chest. His long neck and beak of a nose reminded Rose of a vulture.
Sky went to meet the man with an equally wide smile. “Tim, good to see you.”
They shook hands with warm vigor. “Where have you been, man? You missed the council meeting.”
“I know, I know,” Sky said apologetically. “Family issues came up that simply couldn’t be put off.”
“Really?” Tim’s gaze went past Sky to fix on Rose. “And who is this charming lady? I don’t believe we’ve met.”
Snow and Stone stepped up to flank Rose, and something in Tim’s face made her glad for their presence. He was probably less than sixty, well dressed and well groomed, but the way he licked his lips as he looked at her made her think he qualified for the title Dirty Old Man.
Sky came back to her to grab her arm and pull her forward, leaving Snow and Stone behind with a quick warning glance at them. “Tim, this is my wife, Rose Wolfe.” His tone was disturbingly obsequious. “My dear, this is Tim McGrath, the Mayor of Omaha.”
Her mouth dropped open as she stared at the well-dressed man. He shot a look of laughing surprise at Sky before reaching for her hand. “Family matters that couldn’t be put off, huh?”
The mayor caressed her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss. Rose froze, expecting Sky to attack the man who touched his mate. But Sky stood very still, a faint smile on his lips. The mayor’s mouth was warm on her fingers; she jumped when his tongue tickled her skin. A low rumble of growls sounded behind her. It was cut off by Sky’s sharp gesture.
“He’s a lucky young dog, but are you sure you want him?” McGrath straightened to his full height and put his shoulders back. “A man in my position can offer you so much more.”
“Hey!” Sky protested with a façade of good nature. “Don’t tease her. My wife is shy.”
Shy? No one who knew her would call her shy. But she followed his lead, ducking her head and smiling at the man responsible for the plight of Omaha’s women. “I’m honored to meet you,” she said in what she hoped was a shy tone.
“The honor is mine,” the mayor said gallantly.
Sky took her hand away from the mayor, who firmly retrieved it and held it in a warm grasp. “I’m just on my way home for supper. It’s only a quiet family meal, but why don’t you and your wife join me, Sky?”
Would it be rude to jerk her hand away? Behind her she could feel the men from the Pack bristling, but Sky laughed lightly.
“We’d be honored to join you and Mrs. McGrath for supper, but really, I have to insist on holding my wife’s hand myself.”
The mayor surrendered her hand with a laugh of his own. “Newlyweds,” he said in an indulgent tone. “When were you married?”
“Just a few days ago.”
Being touched by the mayor was uncomfortable, but having Sky’s hand close around hers caused a different kind of discomfort. Her heart sped up and her breath came fast. His hand wasn’t doing anything, just holding hers while his thumb stroked over the backs of her knuckles, but in her mind she imagined his thumb brushing over other portions of her anatomy. She knew when her body’s heated reaction to her imagination became evident to wolf senses, because Sky’s nostrils flared, and he looked down at her with an expression she’d never seen on a man’s face before. At least, not directed at her. Their gazes locked for a long breathless moment that was broken by the mayor’s chuckle.
“Yes,” he said, dragging the word out in three drawling syllables. “Newlyweds, indeed.”
Sky stopped Rose’s instinctive attempt to jerk her hand away by tightening his grip on her fingers. “You’ll have to forgive us, Tim. We’re still in the honeymoon stage of our marriage.”
“But you didn’t take time for a honeymoon?”
Sky shook his head. “I wanted to get back as soon as possible to find out about the hearings on the Women Acts.”
“Ah, of course.” The mayor nodded. “We can discuss that over supper. Send your men on to your place, and we’ll take my car to my house.”
Rose blinked while Sky turned and walked a few steps away to say a few words to Paint and the others. Her stare veered over to the black box-like thing at the curb. “Car?” she said to Mayor McGrath.
He visibly swelled with pride, his chest inflating almost like a balloon. “Yes, one of only three in the city.” He held out his hand. “Allow me to show you my pride and joy.”
Rose stared at his offered hand. One thing she knew: for a wolf’s mate to touch even the hand of another man would result in fur flying and blood spilling. Even Quill, the mildest and sweetest of the wolves in the den, turned into a growling monster if someone tried to touch Ellie. Back when Sky had first claimed her, he had tried to kill a man just for sitting beside her. She was still amazed at the self-control Sky showed a minute ago when McGrath first took her hand. Amazed, and…disappointed?
“Yes,” said Sky smoothly, coming up beside her and using his body to subtly block the mayor’s reach. He put an arm around her waist. “The car is a marvel. I’m thrilled to be invited to ride in it.”
The mayor laughed good-naturedly and dropped his hand. “Come along then.”
She glanced over her shoulder at the other men as Sky steered her toward the car. “Bye,” she mouthed at Snow, who was watching them with a snarl still on his lips while Paint and the others walked in the opposite direction. A lonesome yowl rose from the basket Paint still carried. Poor little Mitzi.
Chapter 7
Paint led the men from the den toward Sky’s house, listening to their grumbling as they walked. Other pedestrians, seeing them coming in a herd, made way for them.
Stone growled. “Did you see that man hold Rose’s hand? He kissed it! And Sky didn’t do anything.”
“Shoulda killed him,” Standing Bear agreed, almost viciously.
“And now they’re going off together as if they are best friends,” Snow snorted.
“Not friends,” Stone disagreed, sounding reluctant. “Sky didn’t smell like that man was a friend.”
Paint raised a hand. The other men fell silent, crowding close to hear him speak. He kept his pace steady and his voice to a murmur that the other wolf warriors could hear but strangers on the street wouldn’t. “When I lived here in Omaha a while back, I learned a little about how things work here. Sky needs to keep on the mayor’s good side. Attacking him for holding Rose’s hand would cause bad feelings.”
“Bah,” snorted Mike. “Why did Sky stop us? Taye expects us to keep Rose safe.”
Others growled agreement. Paint let them complain a while longer to get it out of their systems before speaking again. “Omaha is different. We all promised to obey Sky since he’s the alpha here. We protect Rose from any danger, but if Sky allows his mate to shake hands with a strange man, we don’t interfere.”
They snarled unhappy acquiescence, and let loose only occasional growls for the rest of the walk to Sky’s house.
Deep inside, Paint felt his wolf whine when Sky’s house came into sight. The sign on the fence read:
The Sky’s The Limit
A Gentlemen’s Club
Visiting Hours: 6:00pm to 11:00pm Tuesday through Thursday
6:00pm to 2:00am Fridays and Saturdays
Private Entertainment by Appointment Only
He didn’t blame the wolf; he didn’t like living here either. Two years ago he’d spent a few months as one of the bouncers in Sky’s House, and when he went home to the Clan he swore he’d never come back. But Rose needed him. When Taye asked if he’d be part of her escort he couldn’t refuse. So here he was, leading five other men of the Pack, all laden with Rose’s luggage, down the street to the gate in the stone fence around Sky’s house.