22. Mantle of Alpha Protector

CHAPTER22

Mantle of Alpha Protector

Wyn

Sabre sacrificed making his big entrance in order to be at his mother’s side, and we arrived downstairs to find Manon, Yves and Guillaume mingling with not only Jason, Clare and Natalya, but also Beau, his wife Katy, and their two sons, Julien and Louis.

And I knew Sabre had only been trying to keep the tone light, but it couldn’t be missed that he wasn’t wrong about how he looked, or how a certain member of our ensemble had blossomed.

Therefore, when we arrived, Nat took one look at the young man, who, if memory served, she last saw as a boy of sixteen, and that look took in all of him and lingered. And I glanced at a girl I last saw when she was thirteen, who then had pale skin, freckles, chubby cheeks and dark hair, but now was a dead ringer for Anne Hathaway.

And an iffy night got iffier.

Because not only did we have that to contend with, Julien and Louis were eyeing Manon in a way that Yves and Sabre appeared to want to shove their teeth down their throats.

And Colette had not arrived.

Then again, no one stole Colette’s thunder.

Not Sabre.

Definitely not me.

So as the adults became reacquainted, the young adults chose their battlegrounds, this even if Jules and Lou had always been thick as thieves with Sah and Yves, with Jules one year older than Sah, and Lou two years younger.

But Manon had grown up too.

And interestingly, it didn’t escape Sabre’s attention, Nat’s chosen position was to make an impossible attempt to become one with the cream walls and bloused damask of the draperies.

Which of course (although years had passed, a woman never forgets such things) signals the scent to a predator.

And Sabre had an excellent sense of smell.

On this thought, I wandered with the martini he had shaken for me back to Guillaume and asked sotto voce to my father-in-law, “Do they still duel at dawn in New Orleans?”

To my delight, in his genteel way, he burst out laughing.

“Ma chérie,” he started when he’d controlled his hilarity. “At least Sabre has a second if he should have to avenge Manon’s honor. Poor Jason will have to turn to Beau. And Beau will be caught between Jason and Remy.”

“Manon has a boyfriend,” I assured him.

“Is Sabre not taken?”

I shook my head.

“He’s about to be,” Guillaume remarked.

I took a sip and watched my son leave the protection of his sister to his younger brother so he could approach a wary beauty who had no clue she was beautiful, then watched that beauty nearly knock over an etched glass urn as she sought escape.

“His mother and I wanted Remy to be around people he’s comfortable with,” Guillaume murmured into his sidecar. “What a lovely added bonus to the evening’s entertainment.”

I slid my gaze to Remy, who was focused not on Sabre, but on Jules and Lou checking out his daughter, but he felt my attention and he looked to me.

He shook his head in fatherly resignation.

I stifled a giggle with a sip of my martini.

Guillaume made an odd noise beside me, so I turned to him.

And my heart squeezed.

When he caught my eyes on him, he said, “Suffice it to say, I’m utterly delighted that whatever issues you were having have been ironed out.”

“Suffice it to say, I would be delighted if my husband and his father did the same thing during this trip.”

My words surprised him so much, at first, he didn’t cover it.

Then he said, “We’re all here for Colette.”

“No,” I refuted quietly. “We’re all here for the both of you.”

“I’m sure he’s shared,” he noted just as quietly (my guess, referring to what happened at the breakfast table), before taking another sip of his drink and finishing, “And I must apologize for my behavior earlier. It was vulgar.” This definitely referred to him shouting at Colette.

“You’re allowed to be human,” I replied.

“Am I?” he again spoke into his drink.

Wow.

Damn.

Because…yes.

That was a good question.

One that surely every parent at some point in their lives asks themselves.

“I can’t speak for Remy,” I said carefully. “And he also doesn’t want me to, but what I will do is encourage you to think on things, Guillaume.”

He fixed his eyes on what I knew was nothing across the room and asked benignly, “And you don’t think I have, now doing this for decades?”

“I think that the thoughts you’ve been centered on have blinded you to the fact your son is standing right there.”

His body gave a mild jolt and his focus shifted to me.

So I kept talking.

“I also think you know your son. So you know, if he didn’t care, not only would he be nowhere near here, his wife and his children wouldn’t either. And that, Guillaume, is what you should be thinking about.”

And with that, I moved closer, then in, kissed his cheek and walked away, catching my daughter’s eyes.

She read me, turned and said something to Yves, and they both immediately made their way to their grandfather.

I approached Clare and Katy, who had formed a small knot because Remy, Beau and Jason were in their own.

“I hate you for those legs,” Clare, who was petite, said.

“I hate her for that hair,” Katy, who had great hair, said.

“We have to set aside our hate, sisters, because there’s so much youthful testosterone flying around this room, things are bound to give, and someone might get their dress torn,” I joked in reply, instead of what I normally would do. Find some way to shift the genre of words out of jovial envy, which included negativity that didn’t hide talking yourself down, even if at the same time you were talking someone else up.

I had great legs and great hair.

Clare had a great ass, also great hair, and was sweet as sugar.

Katy had a great rack, further had great hair and an awesome edge.

We were all fabulous.

The word “hate” shouldn’t come into that in any way.

But even if I’d chosen what I thought was a playful conversational gambit, I’d said the wrong thing.

Clare gave Katy a look then smiled tightly at me. “I need another drink. Do you?”

I shook my head and didn’t point out her glass was half full.

She took off in the direction of Guillaume.

I turned to Katy. “Did I say something wrong?”

“Ah hell,” she replied.

I’d said something wrong.

“What did I say?” I asked.

She visibly engaged in a mental battle before she came closer and shared, “Not my place, and you didn’t know, and Clare gets that. You’ve also got great boys, but considering Sabre’s not attempting to hide he’s smitten, you need to know. Nat was assaulted.”

My throat closed.

“I’m sure you remember, she used to be really outgoing, a total extrovert. But unsurprisingly, men scare the shit out of her now,” Katy shared.

“Oh my God,” I whispered, because I did remember that. I just thought she grew up, Sabre grew up, and even if you were outgoing, you could get shy around someone you were attracted to.

“Yeah,” she agreed. “Jason lost his fucking mind. Beau had to sleep over at his house a couple of nights because Clare was worried he’d do something stupid. It was…a thing.”

“When did this happen?” I whispered.

“A year ago.”

“Does Remy know?”

She gave me a funny look, then it occurred to her Remy and I were not together a year ago, and she said, “I’m sure he does. Even if Remy is nearly a continent away, those guys act like they’re still in high school.”

Of course.

And in all that was happening, it wouldn’t be on Remy’s mind to say, “By the way, Nat was assaulted.”

My gaze wandered to Sabre. “I need to talk to my son.”

“I kinda think you don’t,” she said, and I looked back to her. “Sah’s a good kid. He’d never, not ever, and she needs to remember there are guys like that. She also needs to remember she’s beautiful and it’s okay for men to think she is, and they’re not all monsters. But more, for her to know there’s good attention to attract, and she’s funny and sweet and pretty, and it’s healthy to attract it. But I also think maybe you should, because if Jason clues in, the night could get testy. He tries to act like things are normal, but he’s always been protective.”

I nodded.

Her eyes went beyond me, and she murmured, “Oh boy, prepare to curtsy.”

I turned and watched Colette swan in wearing a forties style green dress with a keyhole neckline and dotted lace Dior kitten heels with the signature side ribbon.

It was simple, but as women like her were wont to do, she made it fabulous.

And then, it actually hurt to further watch no one give a damn she’d arrived.

On the one hand, you couldn’t act alternately queenly and cattily to everyone you knew for years and expect them to continue to kiss your feet. That kind of crown always got tarnished and people learned to avoid the strike of claws.

On the other hand, this was her home, her party, and the woman had cancer eating away her life.

So I shot a look to Sabre, but I should have known.

Before my son caught it, Remy was approaching his mom.

“I cannot tell you how glad we are that you guys are back together,” Katy said, and I tore my attention from my husband escorting his mother to her husband, grandchildren and the drinks cabinet. “And I mean no offense, Beau would be ticked if Remy came to town and he didn’t see him and all of you. And I missed you like crazy. It’s about time you all came back. But what gives with the formal invitation? We all knew it was just a matter of time before you guys sorted it out. Is it a thing with the older generation to throw a soiree when a couple is reunited?”

“First, Phoenix is lovely in December, the perfect place for a family Christmas away from home, where you also might attend the fabulous remarriage of your friends on Christmas Eve,” I hinted. She grinned, and then I gave her some more news. “But Remy has also been estranged from his parents, and they’re trying to make amends, so this is about them giving him a ‘comfortable’ night with his buds.”

“Only Colette would think to force me into a pair of heels as a ‘comfortable night’ with Remy’s buds.”

“She also has terminal cancer.”

“Holy shit,” Katy whispered, her gaze racing to Colette.

I nodded even as I lifted my martini to take a sip before I went on, “So I figure this is a kind of a last hurrah, though for her sake, I hope she has more of them before she gets…” I didn’t finish.

“Yeah,” Katy agreed.

Clare approached and immediately said, “I’m so sorry, Wyn, I made you feel weird. It’s just—”

“I shared, babe, it’s cool,” Katy muttered.

Clare looked relieved.

“I’m the one who needs to apologize. I put my foot right in my mouth,” I said.

“You didn’t know,” Clare replied.

“I didn’t, and you must know, I hate that for all of you,” I returned.

She nodded with a mumbled, “Thanks, sweets.”

“This reminds me, I need to have a word with my eldest,” I noted.

Clare caught my hand so I didn’t move away. “You really didn’t know. It’s just…”

“I have a daughter, honey, so I don’t know, but if anything happened…”

Neither of us concluded our statements.

Both of us got it.

And not only didn’t I want to think on it in regard to my daughter, I really didn’t want her to think on it any further in regard to hers. But more, I suspected she wanted to think on it much, much less.

I squeezed her hand, let it go, and even though I wanted to, I didn’t hug her or anything that might signal to Nat we were talking about it. Instead, I smiled at them both and then turned away and took another fortifying sip as I made my way to Sabre.

Apparently, during my discussion with Katy, a détente had formed, because he was chatting with Julien.

“Can I steal my son?” I asked Jules.

“Sure, Wyn,” Julien replied, then he took off in the direction of where Manon, Yves and Lou were now together and talking.

“You want me to save Dad from Grandma?” Sabre asked.

“I want you to steer clear of Natalya.”

It was then I realized with the way that got his back up, he really was smitten.

“She’s a friend, Mom.”

“You be absolutely appropriate with this information, Sabre,” I demanded quietly. “But she had some trouble a year ago and it’s made her timid around boys.”

“What kind of—?”

He blinked his eyes slowly before they moved through the room to land on Nat.

Then I watched, both proud and frustrated, as my son firmly shrugged on the mantle of alpha protector.

All right.

Maybe there were times when Remy had been too good of a teacher.

“Sabre,” I said warningly.

He jerked his attention to me.

“You mean some guy hurt her?” he demanded.

“It’s none of our business, you just need to—”

“She’s always been hilarious. Like one of the guys. She was fun to have around, even when she was a little kid. And tonight, she hasn’t said dick…to anybody.”

“Sah—”

“So some fuck fucked with her?” he growled.

Oh boy.

“Sabre,” I said low, but sharp.

“What are you guys whispering about?” Manon asked, bellying up to us, dragging her younger brother and her father with her.

I glanced and saw that Katy, Beau and Guillaume were now attending Colette.

My attention rushed back to the second family huddle of the night when Sabre announced, “Some fuck attacked Nat.”

“Sabre,” I hissed. “What did I say about appropriate?”

“Oh my God,” Manon breathed.

“Are you shitting me?” Yves’s voice was kind of loud.

“Children,” I snapped.

“Shut it down. Immediately,” Remy rumbled, and as always happened when he used that tone, they shut it down. Immediately. “Sah, back off. Manon, you see to that. Yves, keep your brother in line. Now, we’re not whispering about this. Mingle.”

And with that, he took my hand and pulled me away.

“Did you know?” I asked out of the side of my mouth as we went.

“Beau told me. Jason lost it. Beau thought I might need to fly out. But Clare impressed on Jason that Nat needed her father, so he needed to get his head out of his ass. It didn’t happen to him, it happened to Nat. Honest to Christ, I don’t know how he did it because I felt his pain, but he got his head out of his ass.”

“How bad was it?” I asked.

“Bad,” he answered.

Damn.

I did not look at Natalya.

I watched Sabre and Yves huddle with the younger guys.

And then I watched Manon go for casual as she approached Natalya.

“You could have given us a heads up,” I chided.

“How could I know Sabre would be interested? She’s like a sister to him.”

“But she isn’t a sister. She’s a young woman who looks like Anne Hathaway.”

“She was pretty when she was little too, and he didn’t notice,” Remy pointed out.

“When a boy’s sixteen, and a girl is thirteen, you don’t notice. When a guy’s twenty-two and a young woman is nineteen, they notice.”

“My bad,” he grunted his concession because he knew all this even better than me.

“How’s your mom?”

“It was a blow when no one fainted at her beauty when she arrived, but she’s Mom. She survived it.”

“How are you?”

“I’d rather we were all in the courtyard at Bacchanal, drinking wine and shooting the shit with live music happening. But it’s good to see them however it happens.”

“Your mom and dad wanted you to have a comfortable night with friends.”

“Well, they delivered, if we can manage to stop Sah and Yves from rallying Jules and Lou to tear apart New Orleans to find the guy who did what he did to Nat. Bonus”—he looked down at me—“you in that dress.”

“You like?” I asked coquettishly, swishing my hips.

“I love everything I see.”

I frowned severely. “Stop. We can’t nip upstairs. You’d mess up my hair.”

“Not if I’m on my knees.”

That made my knees get weak, but I powered through it and retorted, “My intention was to be on mine.”

“Yeah,” he agreed. “That would mess up your hair.”

Indeed.

He was far too dominant when it came to, well…everything. Especially that. He’d find it impossible not to touch my head when I went down on him.

Though, as a challenge…

“Miss the guys,” he said, taking me from my intriguing thoughts. “Haven’t seen them since I met them for their fantasy football kickoff in Vegas a couple of years ago. But I hope this thing ends early.”

“It won’t,” I warned.

“Good you’re a night owl.”

“You are so lucky.”

“Don’t I know.”

God, I loved this man.

I tipped my head farther back.

And Remy accepted my invitation.

He lifted his head to Beau, who remarked, “Maybe we should take a break, babe. Get the magic back.”

Clearly, along with Katy, they’d gotten close while we were talking.

Remy stiffened at my side.

Katy slapped Beau in the gut. “God, you’re a dufus. And hello. They were always all over each other.” She looked to us. “Pardon my husband. He has the social skills of a panda. All play, no brain.”

“Why is it hot when she insults me?” Beau asked Remy.

“Because she’s right and a smart woman is attractive?” Remy asked Beau.

“Right, that’s why,” Beau muttered.

They laughed with each other.

Katy and I laughed with them.

But while I was doing it, my gaze wandered to Guillaume and Colette.

I wished it wouldn’t have.

Not because Guillaume looked content and even happy that his son was having a good time.

But because Colette did too.