36. Chapter 36

Chapter 36

I awoke in Greg's arms. ‘You've been spoiling me,' I said as I yawned awake.

If he hadn't been there, I would have rolled right over and gone back to sleep. ‘You've been staying in bed with me until all kinds of late hours.' I checked the time: it was 6am. I winced. Okay, maybe not so late.

As a werewolf, I required far less sleep than I had as a human, but that didn't mean I didn't like sleep. There was nothing like loafing around in bed, wallowing in cushions and duvets, and devouring a good book – or a fiancé if possible.

I yawned again; unusually for me, I still felt tired. We'd stayed up later than usual to ring our families and tell them the news. Greg's mum's response had been lukewarm, but she didn't know me yet. I'd win her over.

‘Hey, can I ask a favour?' I asked.

‘Always. '

‘Esme would like it if you stroked her a bit. I've been meaning to ask for a while, and I know it might be a bit weird but—'

He interrupted. ‘I'd like that very much.'

I shifted in an instant and Greg found himself in bed with more than a hundred kilos of enthusiastic canine. ‘Hey, Es,' he murmured, running a hand down our back.

If Esme had been a cat, she would have been purring.

I am not a cat. I do not know what your obsession with pussies is. You and Greg are always talking about pussies, and I'm telling you now – we're not having a cat.

I laughed so hard I nearly died. No cats, I finally managed to gasp. I could feel her satisfaction at my capitulation and that only made me laugh again.

Esme stretched out on the bed and Greg obligingly stroked her tummy. After five minutes of indulgent patting, I shifted back to human. ‘Thanks for that.'

‘No problem. I expect Red would like the same thing one day.'

‘Absolutely!' I slid him a sidelong glance. ‘You want to rub my belly now?'

He grinned. ‘It's not your belly you want me to rub.' He kissed my shoulder. ‘Much as I'd like us to indulge ourselves – again – we have unfinished business.'

I trailed my fingers up the contours of his muscular arm. ‘Good unfinished business?' I purred.

He grimaced. ‘Bad unfinished business. David is still on the loose and we can't allow that.'

The smile dropped from my face. He was right, but thinking about David just plain hurt. ‘Other than the mansion, I don't know where to start looking for him,' I confessed. ‘He lived and worked here.'

‘I know where to start,' Greg said grimly. ‘With Daniella.'

‘Good point.' At the wake I'd been pleased to see that Daniella wasn't being shunned because of David's actions; it wasn't her fault she'd dated a wrong 'un – we'd all been taken in by false lovers, and then some.

My ex, James, was the one who had inadvertently led me to the Other. With hindsight, I could even feel a bit grateful; my experiences had moulded me, made me the strong woman I was now. All of life's adversities make us who we are.

But Greg was right: we needed to find David. If only to maintain my sanity, I needed to look in his eyes and know why.

Greg and I showered and dressed together but kept things businesslike. I did get distracted a little in the shower when I caught sight of my new ring bling; Greg had done good and it was gorgeous.

A thought occurred to me. ‘Hey, had you really commissioned a ring when you told Timmy Krieg that one was being made?'

‘Yup.' He gave a rueful smile. ‘The truth slipped out in the heat of the moment.'

‘It has a way of doing that.'

Greg looped his fingers through mine and together we went down to the kitchen. Finley was alone, rolling little pieces of dough into croissants. ‘Nice,' I complimented him.

He smiled. ‘There'll be some ready for you in a few moments.' He busied himself making me a cup of tea, and that made my heart hurt for Xander. My smile faltered a little as Finley handed me the brew and he saw the wobble. ‘I know,' he murmured. ‘I miss him too.'

I nodded. Replying with words would definitely have made me cry, so I sipped my scorching hot tea instead. Better to burn than bawl; it felt like all I was doing lately was killing people and crying, and that wasn't the sort of vicious cycle I'd envisioned for myself. I'd always imagined something more food related, like bingeing unhealthily on doughnuts and ice cream and then running to make up for it .

Finley pulled some croissants out of the oven and placed them on cooling trays. The scent of the pastries pulled at me: the shift onto four always gave me an appetite, even if it was just a shift so that Greg could cuddle Esme. We waited impatiently for the croissants to cool – well, I waited impatiently while Greg looked as zen as ever.

Finally Greg pulled his open and smeared it with jam. I went with cheese and ham, Esme's preferred croissant topping. We wolfed down five of them each and the beast in my belly finally stopped growling.

Ben and Noah walked in, arm in arm and looking lovey-dovey. They pulled apart when they saw us sitting at the breakfast bar. ‘Don't stop canoodling on our account,' I said.

Ben's skin warmed. ‘You're so embarrassing,' he muttered, making me grin.

‘I think you will find that's my role in life as your little sister.'

His eyes softened. ‘Yeah.' He smiled tentatively and I smiled right back. I had no doubt that both of us were grateful that our relationship was moving closer to our usual normality.

‘What can I do?' Noah asked Finley.

‘Get stuck in with the croissants, please.'

Noah fired off a mock salute. ‘You can count on me. '

Finley gave him a smile. ‘Yeah, I can.' It was Noah's turn to blush.

‘Anyone know where Daniella ended up last night?' Greg asked, turning to business.

‘She crashed with Rissa and Seren,' Noah said. ‘She was feeling pretty shitty and she didn't want to be alone.'

‘Understandable.' Greg nodded. ‘What time do Marissa and Seren usually roll in for breakfast?'

Finley checked the clock. ‘Any minute now.'

‘We'll go and find them.' I slid off my chair. ‘Thanks for the croissants, Finley. Perfection, as always.'

‘Thanks, Alpha. I try.'

Greg and I made our way through the pack common room, a tricky manoeuvre because it was full. It looked like there'd been a small camp out. Some were sleeping in a pile, snuggled together in wolf form. I recognised Archie and Thea's wolves in the mix – Fred and Sophie – but I didn't recognise many others. I was betting they were Devon wolves.

A few feet away, Max, Toby and Harry were slumped together in human form. Max sat up and I knelt next to him. ‘How are you doing?' I whispered. ‘I heard things were pretty touch and go there for a while for you and Toby.'

Max nodded solemnly. ‘Yeah. It's a mind fuck. We nearly died, man,' he blinked. ‘Erm … woman.'

‘Alpha,' I supplied helpfully.

‘Right, yeah, my Alpha Queen.' He winced as the words tumbled out of his mouth.

I patted his hand. ‘Take it easy today, yeah? You may be out of the woods but you're still near the trees.'

‘I haven't heard that saying before.'

I winked. ‘I made it up but it totally works, right?'

He grinned. ‘Yeah. It works.'

To the side of us, Fred lifted his head and watched us from the pile of wolves. I inclined my head towards him and he lay back down. He was protecting them like an alpha would, and I wondered if he knew it.

I smiled inside and crept away.