Leader of the Pack (37 page)

“No, but we’ve built such a wonderful relationship on misunderstandings at this point. I’d hate to completely change the dynamic now,” Aislinn said sarcastically.

“Too late. It appears as though you will know each and every time I say something stupid, and what I actually meant. No more excuses.” He squeezed her tight.

She nuzzled against his arm. “So what happened to needing to set up a ceremony and now not being a good time?”

“Well, it kinda got away from me,” he said honestly. “Maybe I made my wolf wait too long. Or maybe I just wanted you so badly I couldn’t help myself.”

Aislinn could feel the truth in what he was saying and was near tears of happiness that he really wanted her that badly. He hugged her closer, and they lay there for a while just feeling how much they loved each other.

Cullen was still lodged firmly inside Aislinn when they heard the footsteps coming. He started growling a loud warning, praying that they wouldn’t get caught quite this red handed.

“I don’t think that’s going to work,” Aislinn said and felt Cullen’s confusion and ego. She giggled. “Are you really that full of yourself? What am I saying? I can feel that you’re that full of yourself.”

The footsteps were getting closer, and Cullen increased his volume.

“It’s Keith,” Aislinn said. “Last I checked, he didn’t care about your warnings. Why are you so concerned about it? Are we in that much trouble?”

Cullen grumbled. Now he was mostly annoyed at the interruption. “Trouble isn’t the right word. But the elders won’t be happy. Don’t worry. I’ll deal with it. How did you know it was Keith?”

“Yeah, how did you know it was me?” came a far too amused voice from directly behind them.

“Hard to explain. Go away,” she said, voicing Cullen’s feeling for the intrusion.

“I feel so unloved,” Keith said. “You do know what this looks like don’t you?” He walked around the two of them and then sat down on the toppled stone.

Aislinn growled at him and did her best to maneuver into a less exposed position.

“Hey,” Keith said in mock offense. “You’re just lucky I came looking for you myself instead of sending an omega. I at least have the common courtesy to ask if this is going to be announced, or if it’s going to be hushed up until more appropriate arrangements can be made. Then again, if I’m not wanted I can just head right back up to the cabin and-“

“Don’t bother to finish,” Cullen interrupted. “You’re such a pain.”

Keith smiled down at his friend. “Congratulations,” he said in the most earnest tone Aislinn had ever heard out of the man.

“You have to be the most impossible person I have ever met,” Aislinn said in exasperation. “You shift from bad standup comic, to overbearing know-it-all to sentimental all in one breath. Is there a persona you don’t make use of?”

Cullen started to laugh. “I was going to suggest that you get to know Sarah and Keith a bit better, but you certainly seem to have Keith pegged.”

Keith raised his eyebrows. “And here I was trying to be nice. I guess I’ve learned my lesson. Be warned, kitten, you’re fair game now.”

Aislinn grumbled. “Is this really the time and place and situation for friendly banter?”

Cullen could sense her annoyance at the intrusion on their moment. A look at Keith and his friend stood up to make a polite exit. At least he knew when each different persona was appropriate. “I just needed to see if we would be headed back to the den before the funeral. I have to point out that there are quite a few people still missing. And I really should establish if this is to be public knowledge.”

Cullen thought about it a moment. He didn’t want to offend Aislinn by suggesting that they keep it a secret, but he thought that as far as the pack went, with everything that had happened the day before this wasn’t the best way of handling his mating. Whatever his motivations had been, he was still the alpha and there was protocol to follow.

Aislinn nuzzled against him. “It’d probably be better to save the announcement for later,” she said for him.

Cullen smiled and hugged her. She had caught his entire thought process. “Just make sure that people stay clear of the stones for a couple hours would ya?” he said to Keith.

Keith nodded. He started to walk off again, but stopped. “I suppose I should offer to make it official for you, if you want.”

Aislinn’s mind drifted to the ‘acknowledgement’ part of the ceremony Rissa had mentioned and then to Cullen’s talk about lack of witnesses. He felt her unease at the suggestion. “No. Not yet. But thanks,” he said. With that, Keith headed back up to the cabin.

Chapter 16

There are more things to alarm us than to harm us, and we suffer more often in apprehension than reality.

-Lucius Annaeus Seneca

Jenna walked down the stairs into what had been a basement wine cellar. Rafe had turned it into more of a dungeon torture chamber. She was considering having the place burned. It smelled of blood and terror. Along the wall where there had once been numerous wooden racks holding bottles of carefully chosen, rare vintage wines, there were now rows of naked, battered, whimpering women.

“Let them all go,” Jenna said, without emotion.

Large lycans circulated through the room pulling chains off of the tired, beaten, women. Jenna may have been a bitch, but even she saw some things as going too far. She’d have her revenge, but not like this. She still owed Cullen Arnauk for embarrassing her at their mating, and the idea that two men had wanted Aislinn over her had Jenna seething with jealousy. She felt like she still had something to prove, but kidnap and torture wasn’t her style.

The women were given clothes and ushered to the great room to wait for cars to take them back to the Madadh-Allaidh Saobhaidh.

“Mistress,” one large lycan said as he approached Jenna and nodded his head respectfully. Maon was burly, even for a lycan. He had a head full of dirty blond hair that he pulled into a loose pony tail. His eyes were wild green, and he always wore a suit coat. Jenna had considered mating with him, but her father had never approved. Still, that hadn’t stopped her from spending more than one long night in his bed. If she was to remain head of this pack, he was one of the ones she would need. “What about the cats that were left behind? We’ve got them locked up for now. Do you want anything in particular done to them?”

Jenna heard the innuendo in his voice. She smiled at him sweetly and reached up to stroke his stubbled chin. “Keep them locked up for now. I may need them later.” She walked back up the stairs, and he followed her. “Make sure that all of our people who Rafe mistreated are taken care of. I want everyone in this pack seeing me as a savior.” Maon nodded and left her side to deal with his orders.

Jenna ascended the main stairwell of her home. She headed straight for the room that Rafe had taken as his own. It had been her father’s room. On the one occasion that Rafe had brought her to his bed, she had noticed a mess of papers and things on her father’s desk, and she was curious to see if it was all still there.

She pushed the door open. The room reeked of Rafe, but there was still a hint of her father’s scent left. It brought a tear to her eye. She pushed the upset into anger and headed for the large mahogany desk. There were several scrolls laid out and a couple books. It was all written in Gaelic and would take some time for Jenna to wade through. She knew the language, but only barely. Her father had forced her to learn when she was a child.

Jenna flipped through the papers looking for something to tell her what they were. Rafe must have thought they were important, or he never would have kept them. The man had been very methodical.

* * * *

Cullen and Aislinn woke to the sound of a small animal shuffling in the bushes nearby. Aislinn stretched against him, and she felt his cock slide from her body. Cullen groaned in disappointment at the apparent end of their morning.

Aislinn lay there with her eyes closed for a moment. She felt as though the ground was pulsing beneath her. It was a pleasant sensation, kind of like a forgotten memory or something on the tip of her tongue. It felt familiar, but she couldn’t quite remember what it was and she didn’t know why. As she felt Cullen move next to her, she lay still and with her mind reached for the love and pleasure she had felt before. The strange sensation from the ground faded away, as Cullen seemed to fill her.

Aislinn turned in his arms and eagerly pushed him over onto his back. “If you’re upset,” she grinned wickedly, her eyes took on an amber sheen, and she straddled him where he was lying, “I’ m sure I could find a way to cheer you up.”

Cullen’s growl took on a needy sound, and Aislinn felt him harden beneath her. She moaned uncontrollably. She didn’t understand why she wanted him so badly when they had only just awakened from an incredibly intense round of love making no more than a couple hours earlier. His eyes were glowing already, but he curtailed his desire to take her again. “We don’t have time,” he growled with annoyance.

Aislinn pouted as he grabbed her hips and pushed her over onto her back. He leaned down and kissed her. “Come on. Before Keith comes looking for me again.” He swatted her on the butt and got up.

Reaching out, Aislinn tugged at his hard-on as he tried to move away. Cullen growled, grabbed her again, and pulled her close. She could see and feel the amount of forced control that he had to use to stop from responding to her touch. Her own need mingled with his, and she started growling low in her throat, nuzzling against his neck.

Cullen took a deep breath and forced himself to release her. “I promise you, we will revisit this. But we need to take care of some loose ends first, piseagan.” He kissed her forehead. Even that was almost more than he could handle. He growled again. Holding her hands away from him, he picked up her shirt from where he had thrown it earlier and put it in her hands. The amount of overwhelming disappointment that emanated from her nearly changed his mind.

Aislinn looked over the mauled t-shirt, then pulled it over her head, knowing that there was no point in looking for her bra first. He had totally destroyed that. Smiling at the thought, she reached for her torn jeans and noticed that her hands were human. “Hey,” she said excitedly. “I look normal again.”

Looked up, Cullen saw her examining her arms and legs. He smiled, but had to look away. It was far too tempting a site.
I’m going to have to arrange the ceremony soon.
He knew he wasn’t going to be able to control his wolf’s need for her to the extent that he should.
Everyone is going to know,
he thought with concern.

“I heard that," Aislinn said. “How much trouble are we really in?”

“You heard that?” Cullen’s brow furrowed and he looked at her. He crossed his arms over his chest to remind himself to not touch her.

“Yeah,” Aislinn said haltingly. “I thought that was normal.”

“It is. When I intend for it. But I wasn’t projecting.” Cullen’s voice was overly serious.

“Is it a problem?” Aislinn asked. Her beast retreated into the back of her mind, grudgingly giving way to the serious conversation.

“Not a problem exactly. Just strange. Is it something druids do?” Cullen asked, trying to make his voice less serious.

“I don’t really know,” Aislinn said and her mind drifted toward her grandmother again.

Cullen sighed sympathetically and walked up to her. She had been through far too much lately, and he wasn’t helping. He could feel that the only thing keeping her smiling was the fact that she was completely ignoring everything that had happened the last couple days. “Mo piseagan,” he said softly as he wrapped his arms around her. “I’m sorry,” he said softly, hugging her close. “I wish I could give her back to you.”

She rubbed her tears on his shoulder and then pushed him away. “I’ll be okay. Eventually.” Cullen could feel that she didn’t want to think or talk about it, so he let it go. “Anyway,” she added, getting a grip on herself. “I guess if we can pick up on more than we should from each other we’ll just have to get used to it.”

Cullen was struck by how strong she could be when she wanted to be. He could feel how much pain she was in over her grandmother’s death, but that last statement didn’t hold a hint of it. “Don’t sound like it’s such a burden,” he teased.

She flashed him a visually convincing fake smile. If he couldn’t feel the turmoil from her, Cullen would have believed Aislinn to be happy and fine. “We’ll figure it out. When I was told ‘bond’ I didn’t really know what it meant, until now. You know, you and everyone else I’ve talked to have a nasty tendency to explain things to me with terms that you get and I don’t. I never know what to ask more about.”

They went back to trying to get their clothes on. Aislinn pulled up her jeans and fiddled with the destroyed button and zipper. That helped to improve her mood, as she thought about how he had torn her clothes off, literally. “Hey, you still didn’t tell me why I’m back to normal.”

“Okay, first,” he laughed, “you’re not back to ‘normal.’ You have three forms, all of which are ‘normal.’ Watch who you say that to, or you’ll start a fight,” he said in amusement. He was staring at his own jeans. The seams were pretty much gone. Really, he was holding some pieces of what used to be jeans. There’d be no wearing them. He desperately wanted to make a pretense of decorum, when he walked back into the cabin.
Oh well.
“I’m just going to have to take the pieces back. And as far as being in your human form right now, we had a quite pleasant nap.”