15. Voss

15

VOSS

The solstice celebration. Despite how much of a bastard my father was, he was right about one thing: solstice celebrations were the easiest day for an Alpha around here. With Dom barking orders to the entire pack outside, I laid there in bed staring up at the ceiling. I loved solstice days growing up. It was the one day that Dad wasn’t an absolute shithead of a drunk.

Well, at least until the evening celebrations.

“Merida! I need a head count on that wine!”

“Martha, how’s that venison coming along!?”

“Ronyn!”

Alpha, Ronyn growled into groupthink.

I grinned up at my ceiling. He just wants to know ? —

Dom’s booming voice outside interrupted things. “What troop is taking the shift in the woods tonight!?”

He seriously acts like we can’t talk here, Ronyn snarled.

Well, you could answer him, if you wanted, Merida said cheekily.

“Ronyn!” Dom barked.

Dom, Ronyn bit.

And finally, he dipped into groupthink. Ronyn, where the hell are ya, my guy? What troop is in the woods tonight?

C, is all Ronyn gave him.

They doing any switching out? Dom asked.

Only if we’re lucky, Merida said. I love watching those men come out of the woods.

I threw the covers off my body and planted my feet on the floor. Down, girl. You’ve still got wine to make.

Actually, she doesn’t, Dom said.

While at the same time, Merida said… Actually, I don’t, and you’d know that if you got out of bed, Alpha.

I chuckled as I walked over to my dresser. And if I already am, healer? Ronyn grumbled.

What’s got your boxers in a twist this morning? Dom asked.

While they continued to go at it, I readied myself for the day. The cool summer air finally gave way to a cool autumnal breeze, and it rushed across the compound as the grass swayed in the breeze. Despite the beautiful day, however, I drew the curtains closed. I locked them for good measure as well. I had plans for tonight. Plans to finally take my mate the way I deserved. The way we both deserved, really.

I couldn’t wait to get my fucking hands on those luscious hips of hers.

“Tonight, Voss,” I grumbled to myself as I stuck my hand down into my pants. “Right now, we have to focus.”

I went in search of Ronyn so he and I could talk face to face.

“Alpha,” he said with a nod as I walked up alongside him.

“Commander general,” I said, clasping my hands behind my back.

Ronyn peeked over at me with an unenthused look. “Did Dom send you?”

I slowly looked over at him. “Was Dom supposed to send me?”

Ronyn’s gaze slowly turned back toward the edge of the woods. “Dom wants names of who all’s gonna be in the woods tonight.”

“And?”

“I told him to fuck off.”

I chuckled. “Doesn’t shock me. You know how he is with solstice celebrations.”

“Yeah, and this fall one is his favorite.”

I shrugged. “Mine, too. I hate the sun.”

“Sun’s great,” he grumbled.

I turned away from the woods and gazed out over the compound. I watched Dom chase after the women setting up tables and chairs for the event. I watched the children of our packs running around in the meadow, playing tag and driving their parents wild with grass stains before the start of the ceremony. Despite the fact that nothing really kicked off until sundown, we partied hard through lunch and dinner. The music was scheduled to start in only two hours’ time, and pretty soon, no one would know the time, date, or place of things until tomorrow morning.

It was organized chaos.

And I lived for it.

“Anything?” I asked Ronyn.

He promptly shook his head. “No scent. No tracks. No trace.”

I nodded curtly before I moved away from him. “Keep me abreast if things change, commander general.”

“Of course, Alpha.”

“And Ronyn?”

“What?”

I didn’t even look back as I continued walking away from him. “Try not to kill Dom before the end of the day. That charisma talent of his is pretty useful at times.”

Ronyn chuckled beneath his breath. “No promises.”

I switched the groupthink, because if there was one thing I knew about Bexley, it was that she could lurk anywhere there was darkness.

And some days, it felt like we were surrounded by it.

What about our prisoner? I asked Ronyn in groupthink as I closed off the rest of the pack from our conversation.

Still alive, unfortunately, Ronyn grumbled.

Make sure it stays that way.

I still don’t know why you’re having mercy on the ? —

Make sure. It stays. That way, I practically snarled. Understood, commander general?

He didn’t hesitate. Understood, Alpha.

Good.

Then, I headed toward the bath house. I hadn’t seen Bexley all morning, which meant that Merida probably pulled her into the wooden lodge to get ready for today’s festivities.

I wanted to lay my eyes on the outfit I’d snatch off her body with my bare fucking teeth.

“Knock, knock,” I said as I eased the bath house door open. “Bexley? You in here?”

The sounds of giggling filtered through the crack in the door, and I had to step inside and close it behind me before the laughter ceased and the girls looked at me.

“Oh, God!” Bexley exclaimed before she clapped her hand over her mouth again.

“It’s Voss. Shit,” Merida snickered as she laughed so hard she wheezed.

My eyes volleyed between the two of them. “Someone’s having a little too much fun in here.”

Bexley’s face turned red with her laughter. “Oh God. My tummy. Stop. Merida, you can’t look at me like that.”

“It’s not my fault we were just?—”

“Sh!” Bexley hissed.

I furrowed my brow. “Anyway, Bexley. I was wondering if I could have a word.”

The girls stopped laughing and looked over at me before they spittled all over themselves busting out laughing again. I rolled my eyes as Bexley sat down in a chair in the corner, wiping away the sweat on her brow. Merida snorted with her laughter as she turned back to some kind of concoction she had going on at her science table set or whatever the fuck she used to create the potions she did.

“Merida,” I warned.

“I’m going, I’m going,” she said through her giggling as she wiped her hands off and turned to face me. “But, don’t be too long. I still have wine to finish.”

She took one last look at Bexley before the two of them roared with laughter.

“Gods,” I groaned as their cackling struck back up.

“I’ll just be outside,” Merida said through her laughter.

Bexley waved her hand in the air. “See you soon.”

And when Merida finally exited the bath house behind me, the smile Bexley graced me with stopped my heart in my chest. Her face was flushed with happiness. Her brown stare, sparkling like an amber twilight as sun poured through the windows of the bath house. Her lightly tanned skin became darker with each passing week beneath the sun with us, and the way Merida had her hair braided around a crown of wildflowers struck me with such beauty in my gut that my groin fucking hurt.

“Dog got your tongue?” Bexley asked.

Merida howled outside in laughter before I reached back and slammed my fist against the door, causing Merida to yelp and scurry off.

“Did you really have to do that?” Bexley asked before she curled her lips over her teeth.

I tilted my head to the side as I clasped my hands behind my back. “So. The two of you sounded like you were having a bit of fun.”

She smiled at me as she bit her tongue playfully between her teeth. I couldn’t wait to suck on that tongue after the celebration.

Then, she crossed her legs in the floral autumn dress they had her in and I swear to hell on high, it took every ounce of self-respect as an Alpha to not get down onto my knees and worship her like the dog I had become for her.

“Care to indulge an old man?” I asked.

She snickered and waved her hand in the air dismissively. “You’re hardly old, Voss.”

“The gray at my temples says otherwise.”

“And who said gray on any man is a bad thing?”

My cock twitched. “You look breathtaking, darling.”

Her cheeks flushed with my words before she unraveled her legs and stood. “You think so? I wasn’t sure the dress Merida let me borrow was going to fit. She’s a bit, you know… curvier in some areas than me.”

My eyes devour her. “And you fill it out perfectly.”

She walked up to me, sauntering those hips of hers that called to my dick. “You think so?”

I licked my lips as she closed the distance between our bodies. “I know so.”

She stood beneath me, gazing up into my face with those doe-eyed amber orbs of hers. I couldn’t stand it a second longer. I didn’t care what her makeup looked like. I didn’t care if I ruined her hair. I had to taste her. I had to feel her.

Just once.

“Goddamn it, darling,” I growled as I scooped her into my arms.

“Voss,” she gasped.

I covered her lips with mine as I drew my arms around her waist. I picked her up against me, feeling her feet leave the floor as our teeth clattered together with the force of our kiss. She moaned down the back of my throat. She draped her arms around my neck. And as I held her there against me, feeling her toned curves blanket my muscles, my cock shivered with need for her.

I released her lips long enough to press mine to the shell of her ear. “I can’t wait to get my hands on you tonight.”

Bexley shuddered in my grasp. “Oh, Voss.”

I pressed a warm, wet kiss to the crook of her neck. The moan it elicited shot electricity straight to the tip of my cock. If I didn’t release her, we’d never make it through the celebration. If I didn’t let go of her and put some space between us, I’d paint this entire compound with our scent before we even got to dinner.

“Remember,” I said as I backtracked toward the bath house door, “you’re mine tonight.”

When she looked over at me with a dazed and flushed expression, I tossed her a wink before I slipped out of the bath house.

Only to watch Merida slide back in before the girls started squawking again like a goddamn hen house.