“Hey! I didn’t insult you! But I will now!” Niko snapped.
“I’m just kidding,” Zev said as he snickered.
“Stop playing with me! I will whip your ass,” Niko said.
“You can try,” Zev taunted.
“Hey, you find Zev laid out in the middle of the damn yard, you’ll know why,” Niko said.
Rance brought the vehicle to a stop and jumped out, striding quickly for the front door, as was Jack.
“Slow!” Niko yelled, as Jack put his hand on his doorknob.
Jack hesitated, took a deep breath then looked at Rance standing immediately behind him. “Exercise patience, control. They need to trust us, not get upset all over again.”
Rance gave a single nod of his head.
Jack opened the door and stepped inside his home. His first glance told him Bonnie had done a hell of a job. There were kids in his family room lying on the sofa, on blankets on the carpet, and just generally piled on top of each other like it was a sleepover. Disney Channel played non-stop on the TV, and there were a few who were still awake, while most were sleeping. There were a few mothers mixed in with the kids, too. His formal living room, where he conducted business and received Pride members who’d requested a meeting with him, had pallets all over the floor, and there were women sleeping in there, too. As he walked further into the house, some of the women looked up at him nervously.
“Y’all good? Do you need anything?” he asked.
Findley popped her head out of the kitchen. “Jack!”
“Hey, Findley. Where’s Bonnie?”
“She’s upstairs getting some of the ladies set up so they can take showers and get cleaned up.”
“Where’s Gwen?” Rance asked, his voice so deep with pent up emotion he was practically growling.
“She’s up there, too.”
“Alpha? We have some food left if you’re hungry. We’ll be making a fresh lunch later on today,” Alison said.
“Thanks, Alison. Appreciate it,” Jack said. “I’m going up to see Bonnie first.”
“Maybe you should wait until she comes down. They’re all up there showering, probably some of them naked,” Alison said.
“Oh. Yeah, okay.”
“Hello, ladies. My name is Niko. If you need anything at all, or have any questions, please let me know. I live upstairs.” He made eye contact with everyone that looked his way. “Hey, how you doing? You have everything you need? You get enough to eat this morning?” one question after another fired off to any woman he walked past.
“Maybe he should be our welcoming committee,” Findley said.
Even Rance chuckled at that one.
Jack walked over to the stairway and stood on the bottom step, looking up toward the landing. “Bonnie? Baby? You up there?”
“It’s Jack!” he heard her say excitedly, then the sound of her footsteps could be heard moving closer. She came into view at the top of the staircase and smiled down at him. “Welcome home!” she said, grinning from ear-to-ear.
“How about a kiss?” he asked.
Bonnie bounded down the steps and threw herself into his arms, her lips pressed against his.
He kissed her slowly, letting her feel how much he missed her. “Now, that’s a welcome home.”
Bonnie smiled at him. “I missed you so much.”
“I missed you, too, baby. Everything okay?”
