Cora was looking at me indulgently. “I’ve never seen you this excited.”
I wrinkled my nose. “Too much?”
“Never.”
I looked across the room at Grayson and Dean, preparing dinner in the kitchen. They chatted amiably, their voices reassuring rumbles that drifted across the room. Bobby stepped out of the lift, and his face lit up when he saw us. He glanced at the kitchen and did a double- take.
Grayson looked up from seasoning the steaks, and Bobby froze, but then my gorgeous alpha mate grinned and jerked his head in my direction. “Go help your alpha put up the decorations.”
Bobby ducked his head and then hurried over. His eyes shone with excitement. “We have decorations?”
I indicated the many bags. “We certainly do. Wanna help us get the place kitted out before the rest of the pack comes back from patrol?”
“I’d love to.”
“I say we set the tree up first,” Cora said. She pointed at the fireplace with the electric fire and wide mantelpiece. “Over there.”
“We have a tree?” Bobby zeroed in on the box with an eight-foot, hinged tree in it, because like hell was I popping branches into color-coded slots. Grayson had let me choose whatever I wanted. He told me the pack didn’t usually stop to decorate. Christmas was a human holiday. But I was part human; at least my witchy side was. I needed this. No, I wanted this.
It only took ten minutes to get the tree up, but another thirty to get the lights on. I got tangled twice. Thank goodness for Bobby and his natural fairy light draping ability.
We were pulling bauble boxes out of bags when Eliza and Beth joined us, squealing at the sight of all the pretty baubles. Probably way too many, to be honest. I’d put my foot down when Grayson tried to pay, wanting to take full advantage of my Dominus bank account, but he’d insisted, so we’d compromised and gone halves.
“I love this one!” Eliza held up a crystal snowflake. It twirled on its string, glimmering in the fairy lights. “It’s beautiful.”
“Put it on the tree,” Cora said.
Eliza looked to me. “May I?”
“Of course. In fact, let’s all pick a favorite bauble that will be ours. Every year we’ll put that bauble on the tree, and when we take the tree down, that bauble stays with us until the tree goes up again.”
Beth pored over the baubles, her dark hair swinging forward to hide her face.
Cora picked a proud stag with gems embedded in its antlers. Bobby chose a kitten wearing a Santa hat.
The smell of sizzling steak filled the air, and my stomach grumbled. I’d opted out of the Italian meal, wanting to come home, to spend as much time bonding with my new pack as possible.
Speaking of the pack. The doors opened, and the rest of the Loup strode in, ruddy-cheeked and dusted with snow.
Bastian led the group. He looked toward the lounge and faltered at the sight of the partially dressed tree.
Cora cocked her hip and placed her hand on it. “You want to help?”
Bastian snorted, but a couple of the other Loup wandered over and began poking about in the boxes. Cora took charge handing out ornaments and instructions as to where to place them.
Bastian sighed and joined us. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
I arched my brow at him. “You don’t approve?”
He shrugged. “It’s different. But different isn’t always bad.”
Bastian, the Loup I’d butted heads with the most, was actually complying. We’d come a long way, but I suspected the majority of his mellow attitude was another recent addition to the pack.
The female Loup we’d rescued from the Crimson Pack chose that moment to step out of the lift. She was dressed in an oversized hoody, leggings, and fluffy socks. Bastian had fought for the right to claim her, and when it had come to fighting her, he’d simply scooped her gently up into his arms and taken her out of the arena.
Yeah, Bastian was a hard nut, but the monolith had a soft center, and she was walking toward us right now with eyes only for Bastian.
I swear the big guy had stopped breathing.
The doe-eyed Loup’s gaze flicked to me, and she bowed her head in submission.
“You don’t need to do that with me.” I touched her arm lightly. “I’m Fee, and this is Cora.”
“Meredith,” she said.
Her voice was husky and sexy, completely at odds with her wide-eyed, sweet look.
Bastian’s throat bobbed.
“May I help?” She eyed all the Christmas stuff hungrily. “We had Christmas when I was a child. My mother baked the most wonderful cookies.”
“Your mother?”
“Was human.” Her smile was wry. “My father claimed me when I turned eighteen.” She wandered farther into the lounge as if mesmerized. “May I?”
“Of course.”
“What happened to her, Bastian?” I kept my voice low, knowing Bastian would hear me.
Bastian’s mouth flattened. “Her father was Crimson Pack. Dirty fucking drunk,” he said. “He took her by force, kept her locked up for almost a year. He told her that her human mother was dead.”
“And is she?”
“I’m looking into it.”
I felt sick. “This has to stop, Bastian. We need to make this kind of thing stop. Every pack should be like our pack.”
His smile was warm. “I’m glad Grayson found you. I’m glad you chose us.”
“Me too. Me too.”
I traced my fingertips back and forth across Grayson’s chest, reveling in the silken taut sensation of his skin beneath the whorls of my fingerprints. We’d just finished making love, and my body was slick with perspiration from our bedroom acrobatics, but being sweaty didn’t stop cuddling. Grayson was a cuddler, and I loved it.
“I knew there were more female Loup out there,” Grayson said. “It just goes to show how bad things have gotten that they feel they have to run and hide.”
“I told them about our pack. They’ll come here if they need help.”
He smiled and looked down at me. “Our pack. I like it when you say that.”
I lifted my chin and kissed his jaw. “I like being here with you.”
His grip on me tightened. “I’ll miss you when you leave,” he said softly.
This thing between us was so new, so intense, so wonderful that I didn’t want it to end. But staying longer wasn’t an option, and it wasn’t only because of the Dominus duties I had on my plate. I missed Azazel and Mal. I missed Cyril and Iza. I missed the Underealm. It was a part of me, and its call was strong, but still…being here felt so right.
“I’ll miss you too.” I kissed his chest. “But I’ll come visit tons, and the weeks will fly by, and then we’ll have this again for a whole blissful week.”
“Just be careful when you come to Necro,” he said. “Hunter’s still out there.”
The mention of Hunter’s name didn’t provoke the same anxiety and aversion as it had before. Things between the dark Loup and I had changed.
“He won’t try to take me again.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“I just…I can.”
I hadn’t told Grayson everything when it came to Hunter’s pain. The rawness of his confession was something that needed to stay between him and me. Hunter had opened up. He’d accepted he made a mistake by kidnapping me, and he’d fought to save my life. Although his actions didn’t negate him kidnapping me in the first place, they were a step on the path to healing and redemption. His feelings, his turmoil were for him to speak of, not for me to relay.
“Petra will have answers,” Grayson said softly.
Ah, yes. The answers to why Hunter had a lake in the forest we’d created. “It’s almost ten p.m. When do you think she’ll be back?”
“Tonight sometime. Might be late, though.”
His phone rang on the bedside table. “No rest for the alpha.” He looked at the caller ID and sighed.
I propped myself up on my elbow. “Who is it?”
“Vi.” He sounded less than enthusiastic.
The Loup in me unsheathed her claws.
My mate.
But I pressed her back down.
I wasn’t that woman. “You should answer it, Grayson. It’s Vi.”
He looked torn. Was he worried I’d be upset if he spoke to her?
“I’m not the jealous type, and Vi is a part of your life. I don’t expect you to cut her out.”
He stroked my cheek and answered on the eighth ring. “Vi?”
“Oh. Hi, Grayson. I was just about to ummm hang up.”
She sounded nervous, and my heart went out to her despite what she’d done to me.
“What can I do for you, Vi?” Grayson asked.
“Well, um, I was hoping to speak to Fee, actually. Is she…Is she there?”
Grayson raised his brows at me. I nodded, and he handed me the phone.
“Hi, Vi.”
Silence.
“Vi?”
“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have called so late,” she said.
Crap. She’d probably realized we were in bed together.
“No, it’s fine. We were awake…chatting.” I winced. Shit, I was a crap liar.
She sighed. “I’ll make it quick. I wanted to apologize for what I did. I’m so fucking sorry. Please forgive me.” The words came out in a rush.
I’d never heard Vi so flustered before; she was usually the epitome of chic and calm.
Grayson sat up in bed beside me, his naked muscled chest way too much of a distraction. He swept my hair back over my shoulder and leaned in to kiss my neck before climbing out of bed. I ogled his butt as he padded across the bedroom and vanished into the bathroom, and I could finally give Vi my full attention.
“I know you’re pissed,” Vi continued. “You have every right to be. I was out of order. I didn’t stop to think of the consequences. I reacted out of jealousy.” Her voice choked off as if she was about to cry.