“Hey! We’re back!”
The man’s eyebrows shot up as his eyes darted around the approaching faces. He lit up with recognition. “Ah yes! How could I forget?” A big smile spread.
“I was wondering if we’d see you again,” the female employee said. She served as witness and recorded the events as well. She flushed as Eli remarked on her new hairstyle.
Then he turned around and grabbed his wife. “Look baby. We left an impression. They remember us.”
Nathaniel snorted and entwined his fingers with Michelle’s. “Could have been us who left the impression. Take your ego down a notch.”
Eli grinned, his dimple deep. “Seriously? Are you serious right now?”
“This is not about you!” Darik shouted with mock-anger. Talia started laughing. His gaze landed on her. “This is our turn.”
“Well, let’s get started or Jonas here will need a tissue for the amount of snot that’s building up.” Dontae called out.
Everyone turned to look at Jonas who covered his face. “You’re a mean man!” he said through a stifled sob. He looked pretty freaking cute all dolled up like that with eyes matching his dress. “I just love a non-conventional wedding. Sue me!”
“Thank you for being here, Jonas,” Talia smiled. He nodded, unable to answer.
Darik took his bride-to-be by the hands and walked her to stand facing one another before the Clerk. The ceremony began and the formal words were spoken. When it was time to give the vows, the man knew better than to think they weren’t going to say their own. “Your turn,” he said, simply, with a friendly smile.
Darik took a moment to collect himself, his glance dropping to the floor. Unlike his friends, this was a moment he’d been planning for a long time. His wolf had finally found his forever mate and there was no need to search anymore.
“Talia,” he whispered. “I want you to know this isn’t impulsive. I have searched for you, and I have missed you. Every day you weren’t with me felt painful. I tried to ignore it and managed to have an okay life but it was never what it would be with you. It was never amazing. You are mine. I vow to protect you, stay by your side. Even when we’re not in the same room, I will be there in my heart. I vow to start my days with you, and to kiss you every night before we fall asleep. I vow to fuck the living daylights out of you…” The room burst into laughter and applause as Talia turned bright red. “…until you forget ever having been with another man, and long after that, too. I vow to listen, to spend time with you, to get to know who you are and to hold that woman in my heart until I die.”
She gazed up at him. Knowing it was her turn, she licked her lips and smiled. “I’m not as poetic as you are, Darik, but I vow to love you with everything I am until I die, as well. I vow to keep my eyes open to your greatness, to allow space for mistakes from both of us, and to always, always, always be loyal. I can’t wait to snuggle up with you every night and have coffee with you every day as we talk about what we’re going to do, knowing that when we’re apart, we’re still together. I am yours. Thank you for finding me.”
He started to lean in to kiss her, but Eli, Nate and Dontae shouted, “WAIT!”
Laughing, he looked at the Clerk but his gaze moved past him because he saw the female witness had tears in her eyes. He’d hold that over Eli later.
“By the power…” The Clerk stopped. “Oh. Wait. Do we have the rings?”
Jonas opened a silver purse. “I do! Oh no…I said it before they did.”
The Clerk patiently took the rings and handed them to Darik and Talia. “Do you Darik Greyson take Talia Nicole Irizarry as your lawfully wedded wife?”
“I do.” She slid the slender silver band on his ring finger. “God, do I.” She grinned at him.
“And do you Talia Nicole Irizarry take Darik Greyson to be your lawfully wedded husband?”
Talia held Darik’s eyes for a sweet pause. “I do.” He slipped the diamond ring he’d purchased over the weekend onto her finger, exhaling as it fit. She held it up with a slight, disbelieving shake of her head. “It’s beautiful, Darik.”
“It pales next to you.”
Jonas choked back a sob. They ignored him because the Clerk was already saying the words Darik couldn’t wait to hear. “Then by the power vested in me by the state of New York, I now pronounce you…husband and wife.”
Darik looked over to his packmates. They comically rolled their eyes to the ceiling like they didn’t know what he was waiting for. Eli began to whistle. Rose burst out, “KISS HER!”
Then everybody screamed it. “KISS HER!!! KISS HER!!!!”
Darik kissed his grinning wife, pulling her off her feet and swinging her around. She started laughing but he wasn’t done. He kissed the laughter away and soon they were in a crushing embrace. He could feel her heartbeat against his chest and he thanked the powers that be for bringing her into this world, and into his life.
When the group left the room, everyone was talking. Plans were made for where to eat as they headed down the cavernous hallway past people they paid no mind to. Dontae shoved the double door open with a great big thrust and downtown New York stared back at them.
The second he breathed in the outside air, Darik said, “Guys. I need a rain-check on that meal.”
“What’s up?” Nathaniel asked, his arm around Michelle’s shoulders.
Darik shrugged and pulled Talia to him, slipping his arm around her waist. “I want to take my wife to her new home.”
Talia looked up at him with raised eyebrows. “Oh? I have a new home and I don’t know about it?”
“I thought you’d move in with me. Makes sense,” he shrugged casually. “Let’s get some movers.”
“Today?” Talia shook her head. “Okay. I have to put my foot down.”
The group was quiet. Darik realized he might have overstepped his bounds and he turned to her, his face serious. “I’m sorry, I…”
She covered his mouth. “No, silly. I want to move in with you. My place is too tiny. But this is a party and we have the rest of our lives. Let’s go get drunk.”
He burst out laughing and the group cheered.
“She can stay,” Dontae shouted.
Talia laughed and they started off. But only a few steps in, a phone rang in Jonas’s purse.
“Talia baby. It’s probably your momma,” he said.
She stopped walking and Darik stayed with her, telling the others. “You go on ahead. We’ll meet you there.” They nodded and headed off. Jonas stayed behind.
Talia looked at the phone. “That’s not my mom’s number.”
She answered it. “Hello? Oh, Janet? Hey what’s up?”
Darik could easily hear the conversation, so he eavesdropped.
“It’s Doris, Talia,” Janet said.
“Oh no… Is she gone?”
“What? No, no. The old bitty’s still crackling. But I wanted you to know her kids are here.”
Talia’s gaze shifted from the ground to Darik, then to Jonas as she told him, “Doris Williams has visitors. Her kids!”
Jonas gaped at her. Everyone knew she never had anyone come by. “No way!”
But then confusion hit Talia. “Why are you telling me this, Janet?”
Jonas whispered with heavy sarcasm, “Does she want to borrow money or eat your first born?”
Talia waved him silent. Darik didn’t know the history, but from the way this Janet person spoke, this call wasn’t easy for her to make. “I’m telling you because you’re the reason she called them. She apologized to them for being an asshole…and they flew in this morning.”
Darik heard Talia’s heart skip and tears jumped to her eyes. “Oh my God.”
“I just thought you should know. I…I uh… I’ve gotta go.” Janet hung up.
His wife’s hand fluttered to her heart as she stared at him, silently asking if he heard. He nodded and took the phone from her, handing it back to Jonas. “You okay?”
“Yeah. It’s redemption, Darik. She was willin
g to die just last week and I can’t believe she actually listened to me and took a chance. It’s just…it’s a miracle.”
Darik picked up her chin and gave her a little kiss. “Then that makes two today.” He took her hand, threw his other arm around Jonas and said, “Let’s go get drunk.”
They were very, very successful in doing just that.
Epilogue
PARIS, TWO MONTHS LATER
“Mr. Greyson, I’ll kindly ask you to stop pawing me in front of the Monet,” Talia purred into his ear, so low no one but a werewolf could hear it. He was standing behind her, his body pressed into hers pretending to admire the enormous painting before them, but his mind was naughtily elsewhere.
She’d been pretending to fight him off for the past three days of their honeymoon here, but it was all an act. She couldn’t get enough of her new hubby’s advances. But a woman must always remember one thing: men—especially wolves—need to hunt. The chase is never over. If it leaves, the spark leaves with it.
Darik’s hands were clasping her middle and they tightened and gave her a hungry squeeze. In her ear, he growled sensually, “He’s dead. He doesn’t care if I push you up against his thick paint strokes and test if a little sweat will make them smear even more.” Darik ran his hands up her sides so slowly she felt as though she might faint from the electricity his touch sent through her veins. “And no one’s here except for that security guard…who could use a little entertainment.”
Talia laughed and swatted Darik away just as he tried to grab her breasts right there in the museum. She stepped forward and out of reach, moving to the next painting. Her eyes were on it as if it were the most captivating thing she’d ever witnessed. They drank in the pastel pinks, deep magentas, and smoky blues of Monet’s rendition of the bridge at his home in Giverny, France. It was something else, so beautiful, but it didn’t hold a candle to her man. In her periphery she heard him pause before he strolled over.
“Why are you making this hard for me?” he smirked, not really needing an answer. He took his place behind her again and held her close, her back to his chest. Resting his chin on her shoulder, they looked at the painting together.
“If you’d have taken me on a honeymoon right after we’d gotten married, you’d be getting more action.”
He laughed, the rumble vibrating her earlobe. “Funny.”
“What’s funny?” she asked, feigning innocence.
“You’re the one who couldn’t take time off work.”
“You mean the one who wouldn’t quit my job?” she teased, turning around. He loosened his arms and as soon as she was facing him, tightened them again, his nose inches from hers as he leaned down.
“Well, if we’re going to have kids, Talia…”
Her eyebrows flew up. “Finally! You admit it. You’re trying to knock me up.”
His eyes lost their humor and darkened slightly. This was new. Her smile vanished as she waited for him to sort through the emotions behind his somber expression. “I want you to have my children.”
Nervousness flashed through her in waves that bordered on nausea. She darted a self-conscious glance to the quiet but ever watchful profile of the security guard standing by the door. Taking her husband’s hand, she led him out of Musée Marmottan Monet and to charming, winding paths of the park just outside it on Avenue Raphael. Glancing over her shoulder to Darik, she motioned to a bench shaded by the gentle leaves and slender branches of the Linden trees that Paris was famous for.
“I feel like you’re going to give me bad news,” he sighed as they sat down.
She took his hands, looking down at them. “No, but I am going to tell you what I want.” Her eyelashes rose slowly as she steeled with self-confidence and a desire to hold her own no matter how much she loved him and was afraid of making him unhappy. “We just met. I love you. I am stunned by you, if I’m honest.” She smiled, and his eyes returned the smile, but his mouth did not. “Darik, I need some time for just us. We need a foundation built where our trust and friendship is solid before we bring children into our lives. If I were older, I might be saying something very different. But I’m not. And I want to love just you for a little while.”
He grinned at her and leaned in to press a tender kiss into her parted lips. Pulling away, he said, “I thought you were going to say you didn’t want children.”
A laugh burst out as she shook her head a little. “No! I want them. But you’ve met my mom. They had kids so quickly that it became all about us. And I grew up wondering why my parents didn’t kiss, or hold hands. Or even seem to love each other. I want them to see how crazy I am about you. If I had a baby now, I know I would love that little child so much that I would be distracted.”
Darik’s eyes clouded over and his spine straightened. It was clear the idea that the child might come first in her affections had never occurred to him. He frowned and glanced to the street, images dancing in his imagination. “We should wait.”
She stifled the laugh that time, and scooted closer to him. “Just a little while. Oh, and I’m not quitting my job. So let’s just drop that, too, for good.”
From the corners of his eyes, he scrutinized her and then a smile relaxed his features, the wolf she’d come to know well, retreating once more. He had a fiery temper this one. And she loved it.
“I want to take care of my wife.”
She laced her fingers into his ginger hair and pulled him in for a kiss. “You do.” He gave her one that she wouldn’t forget for a very long time, pulling her onto his lap, the sunlight dancing on their faces.
As he released her lips, he smiled and rose up, setting her standing on the grass. Entwining their fingers, they walked in a direction that had no goal, swinging their arms slightly and enjoying the warm air. After awhile, he surprised her. “I don’t really want you to quit. My wolf does. But I don’t. I think I’d lose respect for you.”
She made a shocked sound and swatted his chest with her free hand. He laughed and kissed her fingertips and they walked, their pace nice and languid.
He shrugged. “You love your job. You help people. You’re good at it. What are you going to do at our house, watch T.V. all day and wait for me to get home? That’d be hot for about a minute.”
“Well, when we have kids—”
“—Wolflings.”
She glanced over to him. She’d never get used the idea that she was going to have baby wolves. That they’d look like children first and then change at puberty was going to be absolutely bizarre. “Wolflings. Right. Well, when we have those, I will be taking time off, and then cutting my hours.”
“That’s different.”
“You know what, Darik?”
His glance was filled with amusement. “Yes?”
“Let’s stop talking about this stuff. It’s turning me off and I’m in Paris.”
He laughed so hard, he bent over a little. Straightening up with a huge grin on his face, he scanned the street.
“What are you looking for?”
“Shh…” he whispered, his eyes going hard. “Hurry.”
Her heartbeat jumped, and she let herself be pulled faster toward a row of connected homes, gorgeous buildings centuries old. Her eyes darted from him to the alley he was leading them to. It wasn’t the type that was straight where you could see all the way down it. It curved, the end nowhere in sight. He must have heard something there with his heightened senses, but why would he be dragging her into danger, she had no idea. Maybe someone needed saving and they had to get there as fast as they could. But there was no way he could use his supernatural speed in broad daylight. Still, he was moving fast. She broke into a jog to keep up.
“Come on,” he whispered, glancing left and right as they entered the narrow space. They veered left out of sight of the street and stopped. She looked around quickly, but there was no one there. Turning to him, her lips opened to question what they were doing. He advanced on her and took those lips as his own, kissing her with such heat that she felt i
t in her thighs and stomach as the desire burst between her shaking legs. His familiar fingers traveled quickly under her dress and slipped underneath the edge of her lacey panties as he groaned against her open lips. “God, you smell so good when you want me.”
Talia threw her arms around his shoulders and pulled his head down to her chest. Through the fabric, he kissed and bit her breasts as his fingers slipped inside her body and held there. Her breath hitched over and over as he teased her, moving only sometimes. She knew his ears were perked for intruders and that they were safe. For now. Unzipping his slacks, Darik bent down with them still hovering on his narrow, muscular hips. He lifted one of her thighs up and ripped her panties off with his teeth.
“Darik! You just bought me those.”
“And now you know why,” he rasped into her naked, shaved pussy right before he licked it. She moaned and threw her arms over her head. His tongue searched her and did all the things he knew she loved until he rose up and pulled out the cock she could never get enough of. Glancing to it with a fever, she caught his smirking stare and asked in a husky voice, “What?”
“I love how you look at me.”
She laughed lightly, “I wasn’t looking at your face.”
His eyes glowed light blue. “I know.” Darik took possession of her mouth, lifted her up by her thighs and wrapped her legs around him holding her up. She clasped her ankles and moaned in his ear as he entered her in a fierce burst. “Fuck, you feel so good, baby.” Their bodies moved on each other, an acute connection felt by both.
They were only a few months into the rest of their lives, but their future would surely be amazing.
WEREWOLVES OF N.Y.
More like contemporary romance with supernatural tendencies.
NATHANIEL
ELI
DARIK
DONTAE
Download the books on Amazon by clicking on the underlined titles.
Werewolves of New York: Darik Page 10