by Celia Kyle
Then the kids were off, Easton going on and on about “esplosions” while Weston told him how he was knocked down, went boom, and then bared his teeth. Harding hoped no one had been injured. Their chitter-chatter filled his ears as he followed Alex, who followed Maya, deeper into his home.
At hearing about being knocked down, Alex stilled and slowly turned around. “What about ‘boom’?”
Two identical mouths snapped shut for the barest of moments before the cubs pointed at each other. “He did it.”
Alex narrowed his eyes. “Maya!”
The click clack of the Prima’s heels reached him, telling Harding that the woman was raiding his kitchen. Maya stuck her head into the doorway, silver spoon in hand. “Huh? What?” Her attention briefly landed on her mate before turning to Harding. “Did you know you’re out of ice cream? Like, all out? What’s up with that? You totally should have stocked up before you brought her here. How can I torture your new ma— M-A-T-E without ice cream? It’s beyond comprehension.”
“Whatsa M-A—”
“Duh, stupid. It’s a-It’s a-It’s a. You’re a dummy-head and I hate your face.”
That brought on a shoving match, and Harding unceremoniously plopped them onto the ground before they got to what was to come. The minute four little feet touched the ground, they almost instantly became eight. Adorable little faces shifted and transformed into golden muzzles while pale fur emerged to coat their skin. Clothes and shoes weren’t a concern as the two lion cubs tussled and tangled in his entryway.
Somehow a soft gasp filtered through the growls and snarls and pulled his attention to the hallway. A fresh-faced—now dressed—Tess stood there, eyes wide and shock plainly written across her features. Part of him figured she deserved some sort of explanation, but he and his inner-beast couldn’t get past how beautiful she looked, and how right it felt to have her in his home.
The twins continued their fight, oblivious to the world around them. At least until their father grabbed and lifted them by the scruff until he could look them in the eyes. Little claws still reached for each other, the children unmindful of their new position, but they couldn’t ignore their father’s roar.
Even the steel reinforced walls—which had cost him an arm and a leg in order to get them completed before bringing Tess home—trembled with Alex’s volume. The cubs immediately stilled. Their golden eyes were wide as they first focused on one another and then their father.
Another look to Tess revealed that his sweet mate was now shaking, body trembling while she wrapped her arms around her stomach. Without hesitation, he left his Prime behind and strode to his woman. He tugged her into his arms, hugging her close while gently rubbing her back. “It’s okay. I’ve got you. You’re safe.”
Tess melted into him and the world outside the two of them vanished. It was just him and his mate that mattered. Not his Prime or Prima or their cubs. His entire future was wrapped up in this woman, and the rest could go to hell.
He nuzzled her, rubbing his cheek over the top of her head and brushing his lips over her temple. Her tremors eased, slowing until they came at sporadic intervals. She leaned into him, and he gladly took her weight. He might not be able to mate her and make her his, but he’d always take care of her. Always.
The click clack of Maya’s heels signaled the woman’s movement through his kitchen, and then the carpet muted her steps. Not long after, the thunk, thwack, and thump of her striking three heads reached him. First it was two whimpers and then a moan followed by an indignant “hey!”
Smiling, he turned, bringing Tess around with him. As he’d suspected, he found three O’Connell males all rubbing their heads. The cubs were using their paws, of course, but the move was unmistakable.
The Prima waved a spoon at Harding. “You hid the ice cream behind the rump roasts. Sneaky.” She slipped the spoon into her mouth and moaned around the bite. Once divested of the cold dessert, she pulled it from her mouth with a pop.
“Maya!”
“Yes, Oh Glorious Donor of Baby Making Material?”
Harding fought to remove his smile. Hard. He even kept quiet.
Tess did not. A low peep of laughter escaped her lips, and then she slapped her palm over her mouth, eyes wide and face stricken with fear. The trembles returned and he rubbed his palm along her arm.
Maya turned to them with a smile. “It used to be ‘Oh Glorious S-P-E-R-M Donor,’ but the twins started talking. Had to clean the language up.” The Prima stuck her spoon in her ice cream and came toward them, hand outstretched. “Heya, I’m Maya. Those three belong to me and at the moment, they’re Tweedle-Dum, Tweedle-Dee, and Tweedle-Not-Getting-Any.”
“Aw, baby…”
“Or Easton Benjamin O’Connell, Weston Jeremiah O’Connell and my mate Alex.” Maya leaned forward and whispered. “I call the kids Ben and Jerry when Alex isn’t around.”
“Maya!”
Maya rolled her eyes but didn’t slow. “All I asked for was one visit to meet my new best friend forevah without a fight and what happened?” She shook her head. “Anyway, welcome to the pride, yada yada,” Maya kept talking, despite Alex’s warning growl. The Prima had been skipping over Alex and accepting way too many shifters into the pride lately. Shifters who definitely were not lions. “So, you’re adorable and I think we should have a girl’s night out and you’re coming.” Maya looked to him. “I’m thinking Carly. I mean, how scary are bunnies?” The Prima’s attention shifted to Tess. “You’re not afraid of and-or eat bunnies, right? Little Bunny Foo-Foo?”
God, Harding could have kissed the Prima. Could have, but wouldn’t. He respectfully feared the Prime too much to push his luck. That, and his lion refused to get anywhere near another woman until he had Tess well and truly mated. Tess responded to Maya’s outstretched hand and shook her head, but the Prima apparently wasn’t settling for a mere handshake. Nope, she snared Tess in a big hug, squeezing her tight before releasing his mate back into his care.
“So, yeah,” Maya turned her attention to him. It was that giddy grin. Damn it. Had he mentioned he hated the woman when she was giddy? “You’re our chauffeur by the way. Wyatt’s, uh, visiting with his new friend, and I doubt you wanna be away from cuteness here. No weenies but your weenie. You can pick us up tonight at nine.” With that, she spun on her heal and waved toward her cubs and Alex with her spoon. “Let’s go, boys. Two of you are due for a time-out and one of you gets to spend some time on his knees.” She looked back and gave him a wink. “Begging, of course.”
Yeah, Harding just bet.
In a whirlwind, the O’Connell clan was gone, leaving a blessed silence in their wake.
“So, that was our Prime and Prima and their cubs.” Harding wasn’t sure what else to say. Other than a major case of the shakes, she seemed to have taken it all well.
“They’re so…nice. And I’m…” Awe tinged his mate’s voice. The idea that she was so surprised by the fact that Alex and Maya were nice made his heart break for her. He only imagined what her life had been like with dominant shifters who were a lot less than “nice.” Her burgeoning smile, blinding in its intensity, made him decide that no matter what, Tess’s life would be filled with “nice” from this moment forward.
“You’re my mate, and that’s all they care about.” He hugged her close once again.
“But, I’m—”
“My mate.” He cupped her cheek and forced her to tilt her head back so that he looked into her eyes. “I told them about Alistair, and Maya’s only gripe was that he was already dead so she couldn’t kill him for you. Then she bitched because Alex still hasn’t found a witch to bring people back from the dead. She would have taken a secondary murder as a consolation prize, but it’s not possible yet.” Alex had paled at Maya’s “yet.” More than anyone, Alex knew what kind of trouble his mate could get into when “yet” was tossed around.
“Really?” So much hope shone in her gaze.
“Really. You’re mine, Tess. This is our home. You�
�re safe.” He leaned down and brushed a chaste kiss across her lips. His lion battered at him, urged him to take it further, but he held onto his control. “And someday, I’ll tell you how much you’re loved.”
Chapter Seven
“Remember: you’re a gorgeous woman, and the whole world does revolve around you. Unless it revolves around me.” — Maya O’Connell, Prima of the Ridgeville Pride and woman who may share the world with Tess. But not all the time; you’d better get that straight right now.
Someday Tess would look back on her very first Girl’s Night Out and decide it was one of the most magical of her life.
At the moment, it was merely…interesting.
Right. Interesting was a good way to describe it. Bizarre beyond belief was another.
Maya, fruity drink in one hand and empty beer bottle in the other, leaned toward her and laid her head on Tess’s shoulder. “I just wanna let you know… I’m keeping you.” Hiccup. Lord, the Prima was drunk. From what Maya had told her earlier, the “fluffy factor” allowed some shifters to become shit-faced. It was the guys with all of the “muscley hotness” that had lack-o-drunkenness issues. And it “sucked to be them.”
“Umm…”
“Because you’re adorable Tess… Tadorable.” Maya jerked away from her, slightly swaying as she raised her colorful glass high. “To Tadorable!”
“Tadorable!” Carly echoed Maya’s shout, joining in the salute…of sorts.
The bartender approached their table, sexy smile on his face and swagger in his steps. He slid a tray onto the polished wood. Half its surface was covered with snacks and the other half with another round of drinks. “Here you go ladies.”
They all watched the large man saunter away, and Tess reminded herself that she had a man even hotter sitting within twenty feet of them.
“Hey, Tess?” The Prima was back with a sigh, leaning against her once again. “Can we have a hedgehog bite you instead of Harding? I know the lion is the shit’s bananas, but I really want a hedgehog, and the bar owner, Honey, won’t let me borrow her mate, Blake—” A shout of “Damn straight!” came from the bar. “—And Blake won’t give me Katie because she’s part of his pack. So, we’ll make you one and I’ll be happy. I’ve got the most adorable cage…”
Suddenly Maya’s pink drink was snatched from her grasp by a whisker-clad Carly. “That’s enough for you, Missy. We are not turning Tess into a hedgehog just because you were denied a pet as a child.”
Maya growled and her whiskers came out to play. “Only because you and your brother got to my mom first.” The Prima turned back to Tess, sweet smile in place. “What if I promise not to let the twins eat you?”
“Umm…” Tess still wasn’t sure what to say. Hell, she hadn’t known what to say from the moment she and Harding had picked up the two women. Somehow she’d ended up with her lion—and she wasn’t touching the possessive side of herself with a ten-foot pole—a lioness and a rabbit. Really. No lie.
“Maya…” Carly half-growled, half-chittered at the Prima.
Maya blew a raspberry at her friend. “Don’t be a drag, just be a queen.” Then she pounded on the table with her fist. “Ohmahgawd! Remember when I tried to get Alex to put on some fishnets and heels like that video? Because, I mean, he’s massive hotness and the music video was kinda sexy…but he said no.”
Tess wasn’t going to laugh. Really. Not even snort.
Carly nudged a glass of something purple toward her. “Here, you’re not drunk enough yet.”
Tess caught the drink, the near-neon liquid sloshing over the side. She was totally in way over her head. She took a sip and let some of the sweet fluid flow over her tongue. “Mmm…”
“Good, right?”
She nodded and swallowed a bit more. Then some more. Conversation between Carly and Maya flowed around her, the women teasing and laughing out loud, their sounds drowning out those that came from the rest of the bar. A sweet fuzziness enveloped Tess, making her feel as if she floated on air. Hell, that hadn’t taken long. The glass was only half empty.
Carly leaned toward her, resting her head on Tess’s shoulder as the Prima had done not long ago. “Feeling good?”
“You got me drunk,” she accused.
“I did. We can’t start busting your balls until you’re giggly.” Carly’s smile was blinding.
She snorted. “I don’t have balls. Harding does though. I wanna see his balls. Balls is a fun word, isn’t it? Bbbbaaalllsss.”
Carly clapped twice. “Okay, we have achieved Tessious Drunkious.”
A round of “woo-hoos” surrounded her. Geez, even the bar patrons were happy about her fuzziness.
Then the advice began. God save her.
Maya was first. “Now, I know that you were afraid, you were petrified.”
“You kept thinking how you couldn’t get the fuck outta that hellhole.” Carly was right behind the lioness.
“Wait! I don’t think that’s how the song goes.” Maya’s brow was furrowed. “Maybe we should pick a different one.”
“There’s Respect. ‘Cause he needs to R-E-S-P-E-C-T her or he’s never gonna get it.” Carly paused. “And by ‘get it’ I mean bow-chicka-bow-bow. Just so we’re clear.”
“Did we just mix I Will Survive, Respect, and My Lovin’?” Maya’s gaze zeroed in on Carly. “We. Are. Awesome!”
“Well, it was more of a mix-ish. I think our song remembrance bits are broken.”
“Huh,” Maya tilted her head to the side. “Still awesome!”
This time Tess didn’t hesitate to join in, the buzz of both the alcohol and being around people that accepted her for herself giving her an extra boost of confidence. She raised her glass, clicking it against the others.
Maya snared her free hand. Warmth from the other woman washed over her, the woman’s innate peace and purity of soul seeping into her. “Now we’ll mix a few more. ‘Cause, Tess? You are beautiful and if you want your future, you gotta forget all that bullshit in your past. And Harding isn’t a scrub—though I don’t know what the hell that is—and deserves your love. He’s not hanging out of the passenger side of his best friend’s ride. He has his own car. We rode in it.” Maya released her and raised her hand. “High five for throwing together Beautiful, Wannabe, and No Scrubs!”
“Well, throw-ish.” Carly sighed. “The Spice Girls really were an underappreciated group. I wanted to be Posh Spice when I grew up, but Victoria Beckham was too skinny. I kinda hate her for that.”
“It’s not good to hate.” Maya butted in. “Unless it’s skinny people and crazies.” The lioness turned to her. “No offense, but Alistair was one of the crazies. Just sayin’.”
That earned the woman a smack to the head from Carly. “We are supposed to be forgetting the crazy and focusing on getting Tess to ride Harding like a cowboy.” Carly sighed. “There’s nothing like riding a cowboy a time or two or fifteen.”
“God Bless the Gaian Moon!” The two women said it together and clinked glasses.
Tess finally lost it at that one. True, her knowledge of the moon had been gleaned second-hand, but she’d learned enough to know that the Gaian Moon was a night filled with hot sex with the intent on making babies. Other memories of those nights tried to fight through, but she shoved them back. Now wasn’t the time to let them free.
Carly stole her drink and set it aside before grabbing her hand. Their combined joy joined in with the muzziness from the alcohol, and peace settled over her.
“Tess?” Tess opened eyes she hadn’t realized she’d closed, and looked at Carly. “It’s gonna be okay.”
She would forever blame the tears on the burning in her eyes from the alcohol.
“Nothing from before you met Harding matters anymore. You’re part of this pride—” Carly’s words were low and gentle.
Maya raised her hand. “But don’t really, really say that in front of anyone until Alex does his mumbo jumbo. He gets annoyed when I do the whole ‘welcoming’ thing, and then I don’t get sex,
for like, a day. A whole day.” The two women snorted and Maya continued. “The point is: hold onto your past, but don’t let it destroy your future. That big scary guy over there—”
Tess cut off Maya and shook her head, looking toward Harding. “He’s not scary. Sweet. Caring. Gentle. Not scary.” When she looked back at her new friends, it was to find them gaping at her. “What?”
“Dude.” Carly threw her arms in the air. “We so weren’t needed. She loves him already.”
Love? Tess gulped and shook her head. Nope. She wasn’t risking her heart that way. Not ever.
“An-y-ways.” Maya rolled her eyes. “You need to accept that you aren’t your past. You aren’t some psycho waiting to crawl out of some evil cocoon—”
“I like that metaphor, very Aliens.” Carly took a gulp of Tess’s drink.
“—I know, right?” Maya grinned. “An-y-ways. You are you and he is him… Or whatever… The point is, quit being a baby. He’ll boink you, nosh on you, and then ta-da! We have a new BFF. Though I really wish you’d let a hedgie bite you. I have a freaking pride of lions. I need more variety.”
Tess wanted to accept Maya’s words. The worry over her past lessened with each passing moment, but it was the guilt over the other women that still gnawed on her soul.
As if reading her mind, Maya shook her head and squeezed her hand. “No. The women will get better every day. Maddy and Elise will work with them constantly. They don’t hate you. They know that while you didn’t suffer in the same way, you were still a victim.” Maya’s gaze drilled into her. “Let it go Tess, and let yourself live.”
Tess absorbed the words and turned her attention to the man sitting near them. Her mate. Her scarred warrior. He was a man who’d had a horrific past, the scars still decorating his body, yet he’d pushed beyond them to embrace a better life.
Could she do the same? Was it that easy?
“No. It’s not.” Carly pulled her attention from Harding. “It’s hard and it hurts and there are days you want to hide from the world… And then I look at Neal and realize that every second of pain was worth being in his arms. You’re a survivor, Tess.”