by Quinn Loftis
“Pipe down, bossy woman.” Zara walked into the room and took an offered cup from Jacque.
Bethany patted an empty seat beside her on the couch. She had her feet propped up on the coffee table, and Elle was sitting on the floor next to them. She touched Bethany’s foot, and the toenails suddenly turned green. “What about this?” Elle asked.
Zara grinned. Elle was painting Bethany’s toenails—fae style.
“Can you do them alternating red and green?” Bethany asked.
Elle rolled her eyes. “I already did that one and you said, ‘Can you do them all one color?’”
“I changed my mind.” Bethany smiled sweetly.
“This is the last time, Bethy,” Elle huffed. “And I’m only doing this because you can’t reach your freaking feet.”
“Why does she need her toenails painted if she can’t even see them?” Zara asked as she sat.
“Because she also needs a bikini wax and I refuse to do that.” Elle screwed her face up into a look of horror.
“I offered,” Jen said.
“Of course, you did.” Zara laughed.
“Drake intervened.” Jen sighed. “Stupid wolves and their possessiveness. I pointed out that I’m a chick. And he said I have a mate who can see inside my head. As if Dec would look at Bethany’s junk through my thoughts. There are just some things we don’t share with our furballs, amIright?” Her words slurred together, making it perfectly clear to Zara that Jen’s hot chocolate was a little more than chocolate.
“You’re totally right,” Rachel agreed. “It’s not like I leave my memories of helping deliver babies lying around in my mind for Gavril to get a glimpse of. He’d be scarred for life.”
“Stretched out vaginas.” Jen shuddered. “You’d never get him near yours again.”
“Holy crap, Jen. Time to lay off the special ‘sweetener’ in the hot chocolate.” Jacque moaned.
“At least she didn’t use the P word,” Sally pointed out. “So, she’s not as tipsy as she could be.”
“Yes,” Peri agreed, “but, for the sake of her mate’s sanity, let’s try to keep her from getting P word intoxicated.”
“Are y’all talking about pussies?” Jen asked.
“And there it is.” Bethany held up her drink and pointed at Jen.
“No,” Elle said emphatically, shaking her head as she moved to lean against the chair where Peri sat. “We are talking about…” Elle glanced around the room until her eyes landed on Zara, whose face had lit up with curiosity. “Zara. Remember, Jen? Zara needed an education and something about a book.”
Jen’s drink sloshed over the side as she whipped her legs around to sit on her butt. “That’s right.” She crammed the cookies, both of them, impressively, in her mouth. Then she tried to speak. Not impressive. “Sumfing’s urp wif you and Wadding,” she said, spewing crumbs all over Zara’s face.
“Dude, now we know where Thia gets it from.” Crina motioned to Jen. “I thought it was her age, but she’s just copying her mom.”
Jen shot Crina the finger, which made Zara snort. Crina didn’t seem bothered in the least. Jen finally swallowed. “I’m not going to interrogate you.”
“Yes, she is,” three voices said at once.
“But things between you and history boy seem tense. I’ve only seen Wadim tense a few times in the years I’ve known him,” Jen said.
Crina nodded. “He rarely gets worked up.”
Zara had been debating how much to say. She didn’t want to say something that would make Wadim upset—more upset—but she also needed to talk to someone. Although, maybe spilling her guts about their relationship to a room full of eight other women wasn’t exactly the best course of action.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to,” Jacque said. The female alpha sat on the floor with her back against Sally’s chair. Jacque’s eyes showed both concern and compassion. “We can just make fun of Jen and Peri all night long.”
“Me?” Peri’s eyes snapped up. “Why am I being dragged into this? I’ve been sitting over here minding my own business.”
“Which isn’t like you,” Jacque pointed out. “And that means you obviously need to be made fun of.”
“I fail to see the logic in your argument,” the high fae responded dryly.
“Who said anything about logic? It’s girls’ night. Were you expecting logic?”
“And you haven’t been minding your own business,” Jen piped up. “You said my child’s development was questionable.” Jen held up a hand. “Not that I’m disputing you. I’m just pointing out that your argument is false. You’ve indeed minded someone else’s business, namely mine.”
“That’s only because someone needs to mind your business because you’re so busy minding everyone else’s,” Peri snapped.
Jen stared at the fae for a moment and then gave an exaggerated nod. “You’re not wrong.”
Zara couldn’t help but laugh. She’d never met a more ridiculous, though amazing, group of women. Her laughter brought everyone’s attention back to her. Great.
“You know,” Bethany said from beside her as she wiggled her now painted toes and smiled at them, “I came to Jen, Jacque, and Sally when I was dealing with some stuff with Drake. It helped.”
“Totally helped,” Jacque agreed.
“Just look at that stomach,” Sally added.
“One class with us and you’ll be prego in no time.” Jen smiled.
Zara’s eyes widened, and her mouth dropped open. “Ahh, I’m not, I mean, that’s not what…” She pointed at Bethany’s huge abdomen. “No. Just no.”
The room erupted into laughter. “You should see the look on your face.” Elle grabbed her own stomach. “You look like someone just told you Wadim is pregnant with a draheim baby.”
“Did not need that mental image.” Peri sighed, shaking her head as she took a sip of her drink, which Zara could tell from the glass was not hot chocolate or eggnog. “I’m going to have to do a lot of scrubbing to get rid of it.”
“Just picture your mate naked, in a tutu, with a tiara on his head,” Rachel offered.
Zara’s head, along with everyone else’s, turned to the healer who was leaning against the mantle by the fireplace.
Rachel shrugged. “When I’m angry at Gavril, it totally makes him growl when I picture that and let him see it through the bond. Also, it gets rid of any unwanted images in my brain because I’m too busy laughing at my mate’s horrified face.”
“Diabolical.” Jen lifted her cup to the healer in a toast. “You win the awesome, wicked mate award.”
“When did that become a thing?” Sally asked.
“Just now. Didn’t you hear me?” Jen’s eyebrows rose.
Sally shook her head. “Put more cookies in your mouth, please.”
There was more laughter, but Jen ignored it and turned back to Zara. “Don’t listen to them. Tell us what’s got you and history boy snarling at one another.”
Zara took a sip of her drink and then shut down the bond a little tighter. She could feel Wadim’s irritation. When she’d told him she was going to the girls’ night, he’d growled and said he was going on a run. He had pulled her into his arms and kissed her until she was breathing hard, but then he’d taken off like his butt was on fire.
“I told Wadim I was ready to complete the bond,” she finally said.
Everyone perked up, and they all suddenly leaned toward her. Zara sank further into the couch.
“Jacque, get the book,” Jen said without taking her eyes off Zara.
“We don’t need the damn book,” Jacque snapped.
“We totally need the book,” Jen retorted.
“I vote book.” Bethany raised her hand.
“You’re pregnant, which means you’re thinking with your hormones and dead brain cells. If there was a vote, which there isn’t, you would not get a vote.” Jacque’s eyes shifted to Bethany and then back to Zara.
“Why does pregnancy make your hormones
so out of whack?” Bethany sighed. “I’m as big as a whale, and yet I want to jump on my mate’s bone.”
Sally groaned as she closed her eyes and shook her head. “It’s jump my mate’s bones, Bethany, not jump on his bone.”
“Speak for yourself,” Bethany replied.
“Yet, another mental image I never wanted. Ever. Could have lived without that one for the rest of my long existence.” Peri huffed.
“Agreed,” Elle said.
“Okay, moving on. Sorry, Bethy, but you had your turn. We educated you. You seduced your man and got his bone. Now, it’s Zara’s turn, and she’s chomping at the bit for—”
“If you say history boy’s bone, I’m going to dump my wine on you,” Peri warned.
“I didn’t have to say it,” Jen replied. “You said it for me, Peri Fairy.”
Peri tipped her glass back and drained it. “I totally did. I need more to drink.”
“Maybe everyone should put their drinks down so we can be a little more clear-headed for Zara,” Crina suggested.
“Good plan, Stan,” Jacque agreed, and everyone sat their mugs and glasses down. “Okay, so you told Wadim that you were ready to proceed with your bond. You’ve still got to do the Blood Rites, correct?”
Zara nodded.
“And you still need to consummate the mating,” Jacque added.
Jen laughed suddenly. “Consummate. That word totally has a new meaning now that we’re werewolves with mates. It sounds like consume mate. Like we’re eating our mates. Only we’re chicks, so it would actually be the other way a—”
“Someone shove a cookie in her word hole. Quickly, please,” Jacque said.
Elle snapped her fingers, and suddenly an Oreo protruded from Jen’s mouth. Everyone froze as they looked from Jen to Elle.
“Why the hell have you two not been doing that all these years?” Sally asked Peri and Elle.
“No one asked us to,” Elle said.
“I don’t think that’s something that needs to be asked. It’s pretty freaking obvious this girl doesn’t need a working mouth,” Sally said.
“Pretty sure Decebel would be a bit angry with us if we caused her mouth to stop working,” Peri murmured.
“Bloody hell.” Jacque sighed. “It’s like I’m surrounded by drunk, eighteen-year-old dudes who’ve gotten stuck on the sex merry-go-round jokes.”
“And if we shoved a cookie in Jen’s mouth every time she said something inappropriate, she’d be three hundred pounds by next week.”
Jen swallowed hard. “Something else Dec probably wouldn’t appreciate. Keep your cookies to yourselves.”
“I haven’t mentioned a word about sex,” Rachel called out.
“No, you just put the image of Gavril in a tutu and tiara in our minds,” Sally said dryly. “Thank you, wise healer, for that.”
“All right, moving on,” Crina said, obviously trying to keep everyone focused. Zara couldn’t help but laugh. She’d never had friends like this. She’d never experienced the kind of comradery these women shared. Zara would be forever grateful to the Great Luna that the Romania pack had found her in the vampire coven and gotten her out.
“What did Wadim say?” Crina asked. “You guys haven’t exactly seemed kosher, so I’m guessing it didn’t go well?”
“He said he doesn’t think I’m ready.” Zara glanced down at her nearly empty mug of hot chocolate, though she didn’t even remember drinking it. Jen took it from her hands and replaced it with a full one.
“Don’t you love it when they do that? As if they know what you are and are not ready for?” Jen said.
“It’s very helpful,” Sally said, shaking her head at the same time.
“I, for one, love it,” Crina bit out. After a brief pause, she added, “No. I do not love it. No one loves it. In fact, it’s freaking annoying.”
“And your response was?” Peri asked, a freshly filled glass in her hand.
“I told him he didn’t get to tell me what I was or was not ready for,” Zara said, remembering the way he’d growled at her.
“Bet he loved that.” Bethany chuckled. “They love it when we tell them they aren’t in control.”
“Sorin rarely questions what I—” Elle started but Jen cut her off.
“You and Sorin are weirdos. Shut it!” Jen turned back to Zara. “The rest of us completely understand. The male Canis lupus sort of loses his ability to think rationally when his female doesn’t simply go with the flow of what he thinks is best, safe, yada, yada.”
Zara could only agree. Wadim had never responded to her so dominantly. In fact, she thought he’d have her clothes off before the words left her mouth. Instead, he’d immediately closed the bond and started listing off reasons why she couldn’t possibly be ready to take that next step. “He told me I hadn’t had time to process my trauma, and that if we moved too fast, I would wind up regretting it and could be traumatized more.”
Jen frowned. “What’s he planning on doing? Stringing you up with a sex swing while wielding a crop and telling you to count your spankings for not calling him sir?”
“I don’t want to know why you just said that or how you even know what a sex swing is, or about spankings and… I think I’m going to puke.” Sally’s words spilled out, and her face actually turned a little green.
“Oh, shut up, Felicia.” Jen huffed. “I’d give my right boob if you’d tell me honestly Costin hasn’t spanked you at least once. And I bet you even liked it.”
“Why’s it always the right boob?” Jacque tilted her head and looked at her friend.
Zara heard a coughing to her right and glanced over to see Rachel wiping hot chocolate from her mouth. The healer glanced at Zara, and her shoulders shook with silent laughter. Zara agreed, but she wasn’t sure if the trio was actually trying to be funny or if they genuinely meant what they said.
“How often has she offered up her right boob is the better question,” Elle said.
Peri pointed her glass at her fae comrade. “What she said. Why would you want to be lopsided?”
“I think I remember the sex swing thing was in the book,” Bethany said, her finger tapping her chin.
“Told ya we should get the book,” Jen murmured.
Rachel walked over and took the empty seat on the other side of Zara. The healer’s lips turned up in a gentle smile. “They mean well, but focus isn’t their strong suit.”
Zara glanced around the room. “Yeah, I’m starting to figure that out.”
Rachel’s face sobered as she met Zara’s eyes. “How many days ago did this happen?”
“Six.”
“Have you two talked about it since then?” the healer asked.
“A few times, but he usually just shuts me down with ‘I’ve got lights to put up.’” Zara rolled her eyes. “Since our argument in the sitting room, the day that Jen called me out in the kitchen, he won’t stop to talk.” She paused and glanced at Jen. “Thanks for that.”
Jen raised her mug. “That’s what I’m here for.”
“We’ve just sort of been existing together. Small talk. How was your day, are you going to bed yet, can I get you something to eat? I think he’s hoping I’ll just forget.”
“Forget that you want to finish the mate bond?” Jacque asked. “The thing you two were literally created for?”
“Just because he’s the pack historian doesn’t make him a genius,” Crina pointed out.
“Good one,” Jen said, holding up her hand for Crina to high five it.
“You’ll probably just have to do what I did,” Bethany spoke up.
Jen’s mouth formed an O and she nodded. “Yes, that. You totally need to do that.”
“What?” Zara asked, not entirely sure if she should try anything that Jen was so excited about.
“Drake and I went through something similar. He decided he couldn’t be intimate with me because he was afraid of hurting me. But”—she held up a finger—“he had no problem kissing me and teasing me with seduction. So,
I decided to give him a taste of his own medicine. I stripped down naked and told him I was going to stay naked until he stopped being ridiculous.”
“She even answered the door naked.” Jen gave a proud grin. “If I didn’t know she had a vagina, because I literally know she has a vagina, I’d say this girl has a solid pair of balls.”
Peri held up a hand. “Can I just point out that ba—”
“No!” Sally and Jacque said at the same time.
“And it worked?” Zara asked. “You being naked proved to be too much of a temptation?”
Bethany shook her head. “No. Not at all. Dude wrapped me in a sheet and safety pinned it. Then let me waddle my naked ass here to the library for a girls’ night. But then I found out I was pregnant and suddenly he was here carrying me back to our suite and couldn’t keep his hands off me.”
“They like pregnant.” Jen nodded. “Totally gets them hot.”
“Like, seriously intense,” Jacque agreed.
“I can’t get pregnant if he won’t touch me,” Zara pointed out.
“But you can get naked,” Peri said. “In fact, I could work some magic where clothes literally won’t stay on your body. You put them on, and they just disintegrate away.”
Jen’s head whipped around so fast Zara was surprised it didn’t roll right off her shoulders. “I want that,” she pointed at Peri. “Why haven’t I had that?”
“Because you have no trouble keeping your clothes off.” Peri raised a brow at her.
Jacque nodded. “I’m pretty sure I’ve seen her naked more times than I’ve seen her clothed.”
“Don’t pretend you didn’t like it.” Jen grinned.
“It’s just better not to engage with her.” Sally sighed. “You know it just encourages her.”
“So, Z,” Peri looked at Zara, “you want me to make you naked?”
“That just sounded so wrong,” Crina said and then shoved a cookie in her mouth as if she was trying to keep from saying more.
Zara thought about it, like seriously considered it, but she didn’t think she could just strut around naked. Her body had too many scars, too many things she was already worried would turn her mate away from her once he saw her in the flesh, not just in her mind like she’d shown him when they’d first met. Finally, she shook her head. “No offense”—she glanced at Bethany—“but I don’t have the lady balls for that. Let’s just say that I didn’t leave the vampires with my female confidence intact.”