8

John

It took a massive amount of liquor for shifters to get and stay drunk, but that didn’t stop the O’Neil Clan from testing the limits. Pitchers of beer and jugs of homemade apple pie moonshine were passed around the picnic tables out front of the lodge. The far tables were laden with potluck casseroles and Shirley’s kitchen creations.

Young pups came running through the maze of adults, causing chaos as I searched the crowd, looking for Fallon. My mate. It still had a ribbon on the word. Shiny and fresh and new. My chest puffed out with pride when I saw her stepping from the trees and into the clearing where the O’Neil Pack gathered for the feast.

There she is. My beast wagged his tail.

If Fallon was a princess–like the pack rumors were spreading and I’d threatened death or dismemberment to make stop–then she was my pretty, gothic princess. Her raven black hair was stuck full of leaves and her dark red-lined lips smirked as Alice, Bryant’s niece, pulled her past the tables of food.

“You’ve been busy.” I arched a brow, feeling the lightness in my chest when I realized she’d lifted the mental barrier between us.

“It’s been an enlightening afternoon.” Fallon shooed Alice off, sending the pup chasing after her friends, but I didn’t imagine the hint of fondness in my Luna’s eyes.

One day she’ll carry our pups.

Not today though. Today the challenge was written all over her face.

“I take it you’ve heard the rumors.” I sighed.

“Which ones?” Fallon held her chin high as she crossed the clearing to take her place by my side. “Am I a gold digger? Spoiled city girl?”

“Pampered princess.” I smiled as I caught her hand and lifted it to my lips.

“Figures,” she scoffed. “I know we’re backwoods up here, but you’d think they’d at least read shifter news. I’ve never been called a princess in my life. And spoiled? I wish.”

A frown tugged my lips. “Am I not spoiling you enough?”

We’ll remedy that.

I set down my beer, fully intending to lift her off her feet and carry her back to the vacation resort so we could have more peace and quiet while I spoiled her rotten.

“Don’t you dare.” Fallon growled, turning once again to face the crowd, who put on a good show of pretending they weren’t talking behind our backs. “Let’s make the announcement of your mating and then mingle.”

*

Fallon was a better shifter than I’d ever be. Hell, she was also a better politician than I’d ever be. By the end of the night, she not only had Bryant doing keg stands and half the pack cheering for her to outdrink me, but she’d formed her own little bodyguard posse of younger pups, led by Alice, who kept hitting up the buffet table and tripping over each other to bring their Luna treats.

“Another.” Fallon slammed the glass down, wiping the foam from her lips and smearing red lipstick across her mouth.

How is she doing this?

She smiled bright as I squinted with one eye.

I was drunk and in love and getting carried away by the music playing and the nightlights twinkling from the branches above.

“Let’s get out of here,” I begged for what felt like the hundredth time.

“Not yet. They still don’t like me.” Fallon laughed as Bryant tipped forward, draping his arm over her shoulder and ignoring the possessive growl of my wolf.

“Who doesn’t like you?” He hiccupped.

“Get ahold of yourself, man.” I struggled to stand.

“Them.” Fallon hitched a thumb over her shoulder, motioning to Tim and his family who sat huddled together by the fire and mumbling among themselves.

“Don’t worry about the O’Malleys.” Rachel stage whispered as she took a seat at our table beside her mate Charlie. She was drunker than I’d ever seen her. Half of the pack was too. “It’s old drama.”

“Old drama?” Fallon raised her eyebrows in my direction.

“You don’t want to know,” I groaned.

“Don’t tell me Tim is bitter because he hoped you’d mate with Colleen and raise his status in the pack after you beat the old Alpha in the challenge.” Fallon took another sip of her beer.

“That was oddly specific.” I scratched my beard. “And correct. How did you know? Did Amber and Danielle say something?”

“Please don’t insult me.” Fallon rolled her eyes. “That’s like the basis for every cliché small-town romance story. It’s not that difficult to work out.”

“And how would you know that?” I took a real good look at my mate now that the alcohol was burning through my system. We were still getting to know each other, but she didn’t seem like the rom-com kind of girl.

“I read.” She shrugged.

As if that was an answer.

“Oh, no, Luna.” I pulled her to her feet, basking in the cheers from the surrounding members of my drunken pack as I pressed her to my chest. “What kind of books do you like?”

“None that you need to know about.” She tried to shake me off.

I let her go, plucking the phone from her back pocket as I did. “Is your Kindle library on here?”

“I swear on my life, I’ll kill you if…” Fallon cried out as I tossed her over my shoulder and smacked her ass with her phone still in my hand.

Finally. Let’s blow this joint.

“Excuse us.” I hoisted Fallon higher despite the cursing storm she spit behind my back. “It’s time to retire my princess for the night.”

*

“Don’t you dare start calling me princess.” Fallon growled as I dropped her on the bed. Her hair fanned out around her as she propped herself up on her elbows, distracting me as she pushed out her chest and let her knee fall open in invitation.

I shook my head. “How did you do it?”

“Do what?”

“One second everyone was talking shit. The next, they were eating out of the palm of your hand.”

“Not everyone,” she huffed.

“More than half the pack.” I started to unbutton my shirt, loving the hungry look in her eyes. “It was magic. Princess magic.”

“I’m serious.” She licked her bottom lip as I dropped my shirt to the ground. “Don’t call me that.”

“If you want me to stop, I’m going to need your passcode.”

Her fingers traced the neckline of her shirt. “Passcode? I prefer the light system for safe words. Green to keep going. Yellow means slow down. Red is–”

“Damn it, woman.” I groaned as I held my cock through my jeans with one hand and waved her phone with the other. “Your passcode.”

Her eyes narrowed. “Give that to me.”

“Are you hiding something?” I teased.

She better not be.

“It’s none of your business if I am.” A dismissive tilt of her chin had my beast growling.

“I think everything about you is my business.” I caught her by the ankle as she tried to scoot away on the bed. My thumb brushed her exposed skin as I tightened my grip, pulling her back. “You’re mine.”

The challenge that flashed in her eyes shouldn’t have excited me as much as it did. “No, you’re mine. But that doesn’t mean I have to share everything with you.”

“Doesn’t it though?” I pulled her leg higher and pressed my lips to her ankle. “Unless you want me to work to get your secrets.”

I reached down to unbutton her pants as she stared up at me from flat on her back.

“Why do you need my passcode?”

“You can tell a lot about a woman by the books she reads.” I peeled her tight pants off slowly, not breaking eye contact.

She frowned. “I’m not sharing my books with you.”

“I’ll get them out of you one way or the other, princess.” I smiled, kneeling so I could lower my face between her legs. The thought of dessert had me rock hard and nothing tasted sweeter than my mate.

“I told you not to call me princess.” She fisted her hand into my hair and growled, holding me back from my prize. “Speaking of which, did you go around threatening everyone to be nice to me?”

My forehead creased and she groaned at my confusion. “You did, didn’t you? That’s just great. Now I won’t know if I won them over or if it was because they all fear you.”

“Does it matter why?” My beast whined as Fallon kicked at my shoulder and scrambled away.

She grabbed the pants I’d just lovingly removed and shoved one foot back in. “You should know that it matters. We’re wolves. Not humans.”

Which is why I’ll always protect you…

“Don’t you dare give me those puppy eyes,” Fallon snapped as she buttoned her pants up. “If you don’t think I can handle myself as Luna then you shouldn’t have brought me here.”

“That’s not why…” I turned to follow her as she stormed out of the room.

The door slammed in my face.

Fix this, my wolf demanded. Don’t let her walk away.

I put a hand on the wall, breathing deep to calm down as an old insecurity tried to reemerge. The anger was blinding for a moment, but I knew where to put it. In the past where it belonged. Fallon was the future. And she wasn’t leaving. Not for good. It was only a fight. These things happened sometimes.

Everything would be okay.