Leader of the Pack (57 page)

Aislinn was in the middle of a nice normal nightmare involving the mating ceremony and her having to fight her way through a crowd of men that Cullen didn’t care were touching her. Cullen undressed and pulled the blanket’s back to snuggle in behind her.

“Shh,” he whispered into her ear. He knew she was having a bad dream. He pulled her against his body. When she started to struggle he decided to wake her up. “Aislinn,” he said gently.
Aislinn.

As the dream faded out and she began to refocus she felt him in her mind and then against her body. She smiled and settled in against him. “What time is it,” she asked sleepily.

“Near three I think,” he said softly, waiting for her to be pissed at him. But she didn’t feel pissed.

“Should I be,” she asked to his unspoken thoughts.

“I had hoped not. This kind of thing’s going to be more regular than you might think or like. I suppose I’m a bit nervous about how you’re going to react to normal pack life.” He let his hands begin to roam over her body as he talked. He had missed her.

She kept her eyes closed and just felt his caresses on her skin. “Promise me that you’ll always find time to come to bed with me and I’ll promise you that I’ll manage to find a way to deal with the alpha part of you.”

He leaned down and kissed her neck, nibbling at it a bit before answering. “I promise. How did you get so understanding? Sarah talk you into it?”

“I had a couple days to dwell. If you had been here for the stuff Sarah told me about I probably wouldn’t have been this nice. But I’m tired. And you currently owe me two nights of pleasant dreams.” She wiggled her butt against his groin. “Get to work.”

Cullen felt his growing erection even through his exhaustion. He pushed it against her, feeling himself slide between her thighs. “Are you sure you don’t want to save it for the mating ceremony?” he suggested with a grin.

She growled at him. “Do you want to be sleeping on your couch?”

Cullen pulled her over and rolled her onto his chest.

“Hey,” she complained. “I was comfortable.” She smiled down at him as she straddled him. She wiggled a little in just the right way and she felt his hard cock slide into her. She closed her eyes and her head fell back against her shoulders as she moaned softly.

He watched her. “Tá tú hálainn. Tá grá agam duit.”

She rocked against him and looked down at him. She felt him inside her. In her mind and in her body. “Tá grá agam duit. Cullen.” She leaned down so that she could kiss him.

Cullen’s hands were in her hair. He ravaged her lips, sucking on one and then the other. Pressing his tongue into her mouth. He loved the taste of her. All the while she rocked slowly against him. The pace insistent as he moved inside her. When he finally allowed their lips to part she lay against his chest, listening to his heart beat and rocking against him.

Cullen wrapped his arms around her. He felt her cunt gently squeezing against him. The soft slow movements were more torturous than any of the times he had bent her over and fucked her so hard she couldn’t stand up. They moved together slowly just holding each other until they felt the build-up begin. It was as if their orgasms were being fed by each other as they gripped each other tightly and moaned their release. Aislinn didn’t manage to make it off of him. She lay her down on his chest and started purring softly. Cullen’s heart jumped a little as she began to purr and he hugged her closer, listening to her as he fell asleep.

* * * *

Aislinn awoke in what had quickly become her favorite position. Cullen was behind her with his arms wrapped tightly around her, his morning erection nudging hopefully at her backside, and his face buried in her hair. She sighed happily. He was already awake. In all the mornings they had together so far he had always been awake first. He hugged her and she wiggled against him. He growled into her hair.

“No time this morning,” he said as he threw the blankets off and moved to get out of bed.

“Oh no,” she argued playfully. “You started it.” She followed him out of bed and virtually tackled him. He let her pin him up against the wall and she nuzzled her face against his chest as she pressed the rest of her naked body up against him.

Cullen grabbed a fistful of hair and brought it to his nose. Sometimes he felt like he needed her to breathe when they got like this. “Mmm, hálainn, don’t tease. I have to deal with things this morning. Cadifor is here. And you my love need to play hostess to Makeda. She’s an important woman and currently Cadifor’s lover. All by itself that means a great deal.”

“Fine,” she pouted, giving his cock one final stroke with a feathery touch as she walked away from him.

That earned her a growl which had her chuckling. “I missed you too,” he said a bit frustrated and went back to getting dressed. “Get dressed. I should have woken you up over an hour ago.”

“Why didn’t you,” she asked as she pulled her shirt on. Cullen watched her black bra disappear beneath the red sweater. Aislinn smiled at him. “You gonna make it through the morning,” she teased.

He growled at her again. “You were purring. And yes I’ll be fine.”

After some hey headed out of the penthouse. “So what’s on the agenda,” Aislinn asked as they walked down the hall toward his office.

“I have to find Keith. He never managed to get the info that I needed. I gotta get an update. I’ll introduce you to our guests and you can help Sarah by dealing with Makeda while Sarah finishes the arrangements I asked her to take care of. And I have some things to wrap up with Cadifor. Then we get to start waiting.” He closed his office door behind her and went to his desk for his phone. Cullen dialed and smiled at her as he waited for Keith to answer.

Aislinn waited patiently. They just stood there staring into each other’s eyes longingly while he waited for Keith to pick up the phone. Cullen couldn’t remember what life had felt like before Aislinn. As he stared at her and dwelled on how much he loved her she smiled back with a knowing glint in her eyes. Cullen had lost track of the rings.

This is why I’ll deal with the rest of the crap,
she thought to herself as she felt his obsessive thoughts about her. She closed her eyes and let herself drift in their bond for a moment. Cullen’s annoyance and concern brought her back to reality rather harshly. Aislinn looked at him questioningly.

Cullen put the phone down. “I don’t remember the last time that fool didn’t answer on the first ring.”

“Maybe something’s wrong. That seems to be the theme of late,” she suggested and Cullen growled. Then Aislinn smiled widely. “Or Jaylyn could be having the babies.”

Cullen nodded. “That’s entirely possible. It seems like she’s been pregnant forever.” He headed out of the office and Aislinn had to jump to follow him. He stopped at Sarah’s office and there was no one there. On the way back through the great room Cullen looked around for the usual group and didn’t see anyone. The two of them got in the elevator and headed for the beta floor.

Getting out of the elevator answered the mystery. Aislinn had to be right. The floor was far more active than usual. The beta common room was packed with excited people and there was an unusually large number of omegas walking back and forth from the living quarters.

Cullen and Aislinn headed down the hall toward Keith’s room. Aislinn grabbed Cullen’s arm. “Do you really think they need more people in there?”

Cullen looked over at her. He stopped momentarily and smiled at her.

“Don’t start,” she said, blocking his hopeful thoughts about her being pregnant out of her head.

Cullen grinned at her annoyance. “I’m just going to check in and then we’re going to go deal with Cadifor and Makeda. I don’t intend to stand around and watch. Jay would probably kill me.”

Aislinn followed him down the hall. “Are all male lycans this obsessive about getting their women pregnant,” she said softly to him.

“Like I said before, that’s what mating’s for,” he answered as he poked his head into the doorway of the front room. Keith’s room was set up similarly to his own, just smaller. There was a sitting room off the hallway. Sarah was holding Keith back from the bedroom door. Cullen smiled. He nodded at Sarah who gave him a frustrated eye roll.

Cullen ducked back out into the hall with a huge grin. “Yeah, she’s having the pups,” he said. “Come on. I put Cadifor and Makeda down the hall.”

“Pups,” Aislinn said contemplatively.

Cullen looked over at her concerned face and started laughing. “Or babies, whatever you want to call them.” He grabbed her hand and kissed it as they walked.

“Sure, babies would probably be a better term considering I’m a cat and you’re a dog. What exactly do you think we’ll have?”

Cullen shrugged. “Doesn’t matter as long as they’re yours and mine.” He looked so pleased by the idea that Aislinn couldn’t help but smile back at him.

Cullen knocked on Cadifor’s door. It opened almost immediately. Makeda stepped back from the door and waved them both in. “This must be the woman you turned me down for,” she said as she smiled at Aislinn and her eyes roamed over Aislinn’s body. “I don’t feel so offended now.”

Aislinn looked over at Cullen questioningly. Aislinn didn’t think she had ever seen such a beautiful woman as the one standing there and undressing her with her eyes.

“Aislinn this is Makeda,” he said as if that was an excellent explanation.

Makeda’s eyes never left Aislinn. “Cadifor is still in the bathroom. What’s all the commotion?”

“Keith’s mate is having a litter. It’s been expected for some time now. There’s a lot of excitement. I have to apologize. I put you both up here because it’s usually more calm on this floor. The excitement is normally on the main common floor.”

Makeda’s smile sparkled at him, eliciting a growl from Aislinn. “No apologies. A litter is a blessing. I’d endure a great deal more noise and commotion for that reason.” She looked at Aislinn again. “I’ll not touch him without permission,” she smiled. Then walked up to Aislinn and ran a hand down her arm. “I’ll not make such promises about you, however.” She grinned deviously over her shoulder at Cullen.

Cadifor came out of the bathroom as he dried off. Cullen watched Aislinn’s eyes shift from Makeda to the naked blonde. Cadifor had scars all over his body from centuries of fighting. Aislinn looked over the unusually pale man.

“Careful,” Makeda said in fake confidentiality. “You’ll give Cadifor ideas if he feels your eyes caress him so freely.”

“Keda,” Cadifor said sharply. “I told you not to cause trouble.”

“And you know I take no orders from you,” she replied unconcerned as she walked across the room and ran a hand over Cadifor’s stomach, dangerously close to his cock before going over to lounge on the bed. She looked over the people in the room with pleasure. “This would be a fun group. I have no doubt.”

Cadifor didn’t seem at all phased by either the fact that he was naked in front of Aislinn or that Makeda was being so sexually aggressive. Aislinn looked over at Cullen, who didn’t seem affected by the situation either.
So what would you do if I took her up on her offer,
Aislinn thought at Cullen.

He looked over at her with raised eyebrows, amused at her unsure tone.
I didn’t know you were interested in that kind of thing,
he responded trying to not look like he was having a conversation.

Cadifor looked from one of them to the other and then raised his eyebrows at Cullen. “If Keith’s busy then I’ll assume it’s just you and I.” He started pulling his clothes on.

“Yeah, Aislinn’s going to show Makeda around. You and I will finish getting a hold of the people we need to talk with. I’m assuming that Malik is downstairs by now. They were all supposed to arrive by this morning. But with Jaylyn going into labor I haven’t been able to get any of the normal people in one spot to get the information. It’s still early.”

Cadifor smiled. “I always did like the fact that your pack is less rank and order and more family.”

Cullen didn’t know how to respond to the compliment. Cadifor looked Aislinn over briefly. “So this is the one with the visions. Pretty,” he said.

Aislinn nodded respectfully to Cadifor. Cullen stood patiently as his friend approached Aislinn and walked around her looking her over as if she were livestock at a fair. He leaned into her and smelled her hair deeply. Cullen took a deep breath, but dealt with it. He knew he’d have to cope with a lot of males checking Aislinn out soon enough.

Cadifor’s eyes shifted from the icy amber to a golden glow and he stepped away from Aislinn as if he’d been bitten. He looked over at Cullen. “I see,” he said and Cullen nodded in return. “We’d better get going,” Cadifor said. “But I have to admit, I won’t argue if Makeda talks her into some play.”

Cullen and Cadifor went to the door and headed out. Aislinn caught a look from Cullen as they left. He was leaving it up to her. When Aislinn looked back over at Makeda the woman was smiling broadly.

“You’re surprised,” Makeda said to her. “By what?”

“Sorry,” Aislinn sighed. “I’m still relatively new around here. I seem to run into something I find surprising on a daily basis. I was raised human. I’ve only been around here a little over a month. It’s been an adjustment to say the least.”

Makeda smiled at her wickedly. “Well, I’ve been around for a long time. And,” she got up from the bed and walked over to Aislinn. “I’d be more than happy to help you adjust.”