AllFreeNovel
Share Us
There are a million things we need to discuss, a million problems to solve now that the weight of the region is on our shoulders, and everything is changing on a day-by-day basis. But we made a deal when we got the house on the hill that work would never cross that door. When we’re here, we’re still just us. So I force it all from my mind with an exhale and turn around in his arms, smiling up at him.
“Dance with me?”
He has one hand on my waist and the other in mine before I finish the sentence, like he’d already been thinking the same thing. I laugh as he spins me around the kitchen, then we fall into an easy rhythm as I rest my head on his chest. It feels so much like a dream that I’m afraid to open them again. But after so many months of danger and uncertainty—a lifetime of it, if I’m being honest—a few months of peace feels like a fluke, not the new normal.
A soft tail winds around my ankles, and Reid chuckles as he tightens his arms around me to keep me from tripping.
I sigh as Pepper lets out one pitiful meow after another until Reid finally releases me and leans down to pick her up.
Jealous little furball. She curls up on her back, letting him hold her like a baby as he scratches her belly, and her eyes cut to me as if to sayha,purring like an engine all the while.
We met her the first day we came to the house—a stray who liked to hang out on the porch. Her all-black fur had her blending in with the night, and it wasn’t until she strut right to the door and waited for us to open it like she was expecting us that we even saw her.
No matter how many times we let her outside, she keeps coming back.
“So much for cats don’t like you,” I mutter.
Reid grins, his entire face lighting up as he looks at the cat. For someone who’d been so against keeping her—if I didn’t know better, I could have sworn he wasafraidof her at first—he sure switched his tune fast.
He got tired of me just calling her Cat, so he picked the name. I’m not convinced Bell Pepper—Pepper for short—is much of an upgrade. Though I have to admit, watching her sneak across the counter and steal all of the peppers the first time he cooked me dinner here was pretty cute.
At least this will occupy him for a while so the baby conversation won’t come up again.Thatisn’t happening for another few years, at least.
I try to hold on to my scowl, but the damn cat is adorable rubbing her face all over Reid, flopping around so much he can barely keep a hold on her. Finally, she climbs his arms and comes to sit across his shoulders.
“Looks like you two would like to be left alone,” I say. “I’m gonna go grab a shower.”
Reid catches my hand before I can go, pulling me in and pressing his lips firmly to mine. “I’ll join you,” he says.
“The cat cannot come,” I say flatly.
He smiles against my lips, then gently sets Pepper on the ground. Unperturbed, she sticks her tail straight up in the air as she struts to the front corner of the house where her food is.
I shake my head, watching as she walks away. Aren’t animals supposed to favor the people who feed them?I’mthe one who takes care of her, but she worships the ground Reid walks on.
Reid kisses the side of my neck again, his fingers loosening the tie on my robe.
“You can’t be jealous of the cat.” He pushes the robe from my shoulders until it pools at my feet.
“I’m not,” I insist as he kisses down the side of my throat, my shoulder.
I definitely am.
I’m almost tempted to suggest we get a second one, but ifthatone liked Reid more too, my poor ego couldn’t take it.
I turn in his arms and press my lips to his, not wanting to talk about the cat anymore. Not wanting to talk at all, in fact. He grins as he scoops me into his arms and heads for the stairs.
“I really do have to get ready,” I mumble between kisses. “I promised Daniel I’d help with his move up to the compound today.”
Everyone else has taken to calling it the Farley estate, but it feels too weird to say. But now with Cam taking over power, the other monarchs insisted he have a Marionette of his own, no matter how much he tried to protest.
Daniel’s partner died in the Auclair fire, so he offered, which Cam was slightly more open to since he wasn’t a complete stranger. Maybe him being a skinwalker feels close enough to a wolf to him, who knows?
It’s not that Daniel particularly needs my help, but I was planning to head to the compound anyway to take care of some business, and he and I haven’t had the chance to spend much time together since I “came back from the dead.”
Lots of members of the Carrington and Auclair estates have been relocating as we rebuild. It’s bittersweet. It’ll be weird not having Daniel in New York, but it’s not too far. A few hours by plane, and an easy enough distance to teleport if I’m not planning on using much more magic that day. There have been talks of adding a trainline too.
But I figured we’d lose Daniel to be closer to Leif anyway since, unsurprisingly, the wolves are sticking with Cam. Daniel would never say that’s the reason he’s going. I still can’t get a straight answer out of him whenever I ask about Leif, but he gets the most obvious goofy grin and blush on his face when I do. Which means Wes also decided to go, though I think that may have to do with needing some space after everything that happened with Beth.
