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I blinked at them. “Of course the feline kin’s kitchen would have five different sets for fine dining. Um… Let’s go with this one.” I tapped the one in the middle, simple and sleek. When in doubt, going with a less-is-more philosophy had served me well so far.
“Got it! I’ll grab the rest. And I think Aaron and West have settled on the plates.”
Kylie shot him an amused look as he left. “You’ve put all your men to work too, huh?”
“Oh, believe me, they insisted on pitching in however I’d let them. I had to give them jobs so that they weren’t following me around offering to take everything I’m doing off my hands.” But even as I said that, I smiled fondly. The whole parent thing was new to all of us. I couldn’t blame them for being nervous when I, well—
I pushed that thought away before it could completely solidify in my head and hustled the candles over to the tables. By the time Kylie and I had one in every holder, Aaron and West had arrived with the plates. I glanced at them and gave a thumbs up before motioning for them to help us set them out.
One of Marco’s attendants bustled into the room. “The French delivery is here!” she called. “Where do you want it?”
Oh, thank God. “Bring it here—no. Sorry. Have them take it to the kitchens.” The serving staff would bring around the wine. The feline kin weren’t much into buffet style dining.
The attendant nodded and darted away. I scanned the tables. “Glasses—we still need the glasses for putting that winein.”
“I think Marco was seeing about those,” Aaron said.
“Well, where is he then?” I muttered. “The dinner is supposed to be starting in an hour.”
West gave me a wry look. “I think an hour is plenty of time to set up a few glasses.”
“More like two hundred,” I said. “Oh, and I should check the sound system. Crap.”
“Hey.” Aaron came up behind me and rested his hands on my waist. “It’s all coming together. You’ve thought of everything important. And if anyone suggests anything else, Marco will bite their head off.”
My mouth twitched at the image that provoked. My shoulders came down as I exhaled slowly. “I know. But I want them to have a good time because I pulled it off, not because he bullied them into pretending to enjoy themselves.”
“If they complain about this set-up, then I don’t think even the queen of England could impress them,” West said, making a face.
“Is anything else bothering you?” Aaron asked quietly. “Everything you’ve been doing this week—it is a lot.”
I made a frustrated sound and turned to steal a quick kiss. “I just want everyone to have a great Christmas. Nothing so weird about that, is there? You don’t have to worry about me—I say for the hundredth time.”
Aaron wrapped his arms around me. “We wantyouto have a great Christmas too, you know.”
“I am,” I said firmly. “The last two days have been wonderful. So we’re going to make the next two amazing too.” And then the five of us could have our own little Christmas, before everything changed all over again.
I just had to make it through two more days without melting down from the stress along the way.
Marco came in at that moment with a few attendants in tow, all carrying platters of wine glasses. I gave a little cheer and jumped at the chance to get back to prep and away from conversations about my well-being.
The feline kin might have believed in being fashionable in most ways, but they weren’t fashionably late. About fifteen minutes before the time on the invitations, the first guests started to drift in. I was crouched by the sound system, just finishing tweaking the volume. Faint strains of classical music drifted out into the air.
I left the speakers to stand at my and my alphas’ table on the dais at the front of the room. As more and more feline kin arrived, I watched gleams of delight come into their eyes at the elegant styling. The highest families would get to sit with my mates and me at our table, but none of them had appeared yet. They wanted to make an entrance when enough of their kin were here to see.
A smile crossed my lips as our guests took their seats amid the glinting candles and glossy tablecloths. My hand stroked over my belly.This place will be part of your rule someday too, I thought to my daughter.Even if they like to act as if they don’t need you. That’s part of the reason why they do.
Chapter 7
Marco
The lightfrom the chandeliers glimmered over Ren’s dark hair as I spun her in a gentle circle in time with the music. All around us, my kin were dancing on the floor now cleared of dining tables, but I felt I could say without a doubt that not one of them compared to my mate.
I pulled her back to me and tucked my arm around her waist. We swayed with the graceful strains of violin and piano, the sort of refined classical piece that made even the snobbiest elitists among my kin perk up. Ren beamed at me, some of the strain I’d seen in her earlier gone from her face now.
She shouldn’t have been worried. In the past year and a half, she’d gotten to know my people and their whims awfully well. Every element she’d chosen for tonight had been perfectly tailored to their tastes. I’d heard their exclamations as the staff had brought out each of the dinner’s delicacies; I could see the pleasure they were taking in the party in every expression around me, even if some tried to keep a poker face.
Oh, my kin would be talking about the Christmas celebration that our dragon shifter had orchestrated for the whole rest of the year—while looking forward to the next one. It really couldn’t have turned out better.
