CHAPTER NINETEEN

CHAPTER NINETEEN

The next morning, Bailey woke tucked up against Deke’s back, her arm tossed over him, his fingers loosely curled around her hand. It was a rather abrupt awakening. Like a beeping alarm had pierced her dream.

She wanted to groan. It felt too early to be awake. Her thoughts were all sleep-cottony, and her body felt heavy and lethargic. Still, much as she felt tired, she didn’t feel sleepy.

She sluggishly rolled over, scooted closer to the nightstand, and weakly lifted her cell phone. 7:11am. Definitely too early, considering she wouldn’t be going to work.

She chucked her phone back on the nightstand and then let herself flop onto her back. Deke stirred with a tired grunt and rolled onto his own back.

Why her snake was in a wonderful mood, she had no clue. Didn’t even care. She needed more sleep, needed …

Her thoughts trailed off as she became aware of something. Something that made her pulse skitter and her mind clear fast.

Tensing, she slowly turned her head to look at Deke, only to see he was doing the same to her. They both stared at each other, shock parting their lips.

“Holy shit,” she breathed, because she was wearing his scent … and he was wearing hers.

Imprinting. They were imprinting on each other.

She mentally scrambled, her brain short-circuiting for a moment. Her heart began working overtime in her chest as her fight or flight instinct kicked in. She wanted to jump from the bed. Dress. Leave. Take time and space to process.

Camden’s words drifted to the forefront of her mind …

If he does offer you what you want, don’t panic. Think.

Bailey took in a fortifying breath, telling herself to calm her tits, striving to think through the riot of emotions in her system. Deke might not have done as Camden spoke of and verbally offered her what she wanted, but … Deke being in a mental space that had sparked imprinting to begin was a definite indication that he was prepared to do it.

Right?

Right.

Or maybe not.

She wasn’t sure. The imprinting process was too poorly understood. Just because they had the emotional potential to take things to a whole other level didn’t necessarily mean it was what he wanted.

Don’t backtrack. Don’t pull away. Don’t immediately assume it won’t work.

She should probably be annoyed that Camden had pretty much predicted how she’d react in such a scenario.

Her snake was having no such crisis. The serpent was completely relaxed, utterly content with the situation and finding Bailey weird for doubting that Deke would commit to them.

Really, the only way Bailey would know where his head was if she outright asked him. She cleared her throat and positioned herself on her side. “Okay. So. What do we do?”

Rolling to face her, he studied her expression. “Scared?” The question was whisper-soft.

“A little,” she admitted. “You want to find your true mate. You used to talk about it to people often.”

“I didn’t have you back then. Now I do.”

Hope whipped to life in her stomach. “You’re not upset about this?”

“Not even close.” He palmed her face, breezing his thumb over her lower lip. “Baby, I’m not the flight risk here. That’s you.” He searched her eyes, his focus so intent. “Do you love me?”

She sucked in a long breath. “Uh … well … I mean, it’s … I … Why are you smiling?”

“You love me,” he asserted, confident.

“What?”

“If you didn’t, you’d have just said no. That you’re all flustered means you do but you’re struggling to admit it.” He lightly flicked her bottom lip with his thumb. “Will it help if I tell you I love you first?”

She swallowed so hard it was audible. “Maybe.”

He nipped her chin. “I love the shit out of you, crazy though you make me. Now it’s your turn.”

Bailey nervously chewed on the inside of her cheek. “Iloveyou,” she blurted.

His smile widened. “Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way, let’s get back to the imprinting situation. What do you want to do?” he asked, throwing her own question back at her.

“Bite you really hard.”

He chuckled even as his eyes heated. “In other words, I don’t have to convince you not to fight this?”

“No, but your cat is another matter. Is he flipping his lid right now?”

Deke shook his head. “Tate was wrong in what he thought. My cat didn’t withdraw because he was angry at not having his true mate.”

“Then why?”

“He was pissed at himself, because he’d started to resent the people close to him. So many were mated and moving onto the next stage of their lives while he was alone. He was even mad at his true mate for eluding him, irrational as that may be. And … he was mad at you.”

“Me?”

“He wanted you from the beginning, but you disregarded his strength and authority,” Deke explained. “That changed recently, though. And you let me in. Started to trust me. You even played with him. Little by little, you made him feel less lonely, less bitter. More settled. Until he felt part of something; felt important to someone.”

She swallowed. “My snake would get lonely sometimes. Then she’d haughtily decide she didn’t need anybody. But the loneliness would trickle back in eventually, because all she’d really done was push it aside. You made it go away, and you earned her trust.”

“So, to sum up, our animals are good with us imprinting. Also, we’re good with it. Yes?”

“Yup.”

Pure male satisfaction flooded Deke’s body. That, and a healthy dose of relief. He’d worried his skittish little mamba would flap on realizing they were wearing each other’s scent. He’d been braced for it, but she’d surprised him. His cat loved that he now wore her scent; was rolling around in it. “Then all that’s left to do now is celebrate it.”

Deke fisted her hair and brought his mouth crashing down on hers. He sank his tongue inside, seeking the taste of his mate. His mate. Their bond might not be alive and kicking yet, but she still belonged to him.

And she loved him.

It had been a hell of a shock upon waking to realize they were imprinting on each other, considering his cat’s issues and Bailey’s guardedness. But he hadn’t been shaken in a negative way. A bone-deep satisfaction had poured through him like warm syrup, filling every crevice, settling in good and proper, and making him face that he loved the goddamn bones of the woman now moaning into his mouth.

He shuffled closer to her, his cock so hard it hurt. Everything primitive in him urged him to take her, dominate her, own her so completely she’d see no way out.

Still feasting on her mouth, he pushed her onto her back and then lowered his body over hers, giving her his weight. The level of skin-to-skin contact tantalized his nerve-endings. He brushed his dick over her clit, making her gasp into his mouth.

She shook her head, tearing her lips free. “Don’t tease. Not now. Can’t take it.”

Neither could he. Nor did he have the patience for it. He needed to be in her. Right fucking there and then.

Deke hooked his hand behind her knee, hiked her leg up, and lined up the head of his cock with her entrance. He snared her gaze and held it tight. “Mine.” He snapped his hips forward, ramming his dick as deep as it could go, groaning through his teeth as her fluttering inner muscles clasped him tight. “You’re mine now, Bailey.”

She curled her free leg around his waist and gripped a tuft of his hair, her eyes blazing into his. “And you’re mine.”

The possessiveness in her tone made his lungs burn. “Yeah, I fucking am.” He rutted on her, unleashing the primal need to take; giving free reign to the carnal hunger that twisted his insides. “I won’t let you go.” Not for anyone, not even for his cat.

“Right back at you,” she said, scratching at his shoulders.

He groaned at the sting. “Harder.” He wanted her to break the skin. Mark him. And that was exactly what she did, causing the smell of his blood to blend with the drugging scent of her need.

Spitting out a curse, he quickened his thrusts, still slamming hard. Her pleasure-drunk gaze locked with his, completely unguarded, hiding nothing.

He licked at her pulse. “Once our bond snaps into place, I’m going to leave my claiming mark here.” It was tempting to do it right then, but it wouldn’t have been fair to her. Not when the bond wasn’t yet complete.

That didn’t mean he wasn’t going to mark her at all.

Bailey jolted as sharp teeth sank into the spot beneath the hollow of her ear. That he’d bitten her again was enough to feed the unbearable ache in her pussy, but then he sucked hard, his clear intent to leave a bruise … and the territorial act made pleasure burst over her in giant waves that dragged a scream from her throat.

He groaned into her ear, ramming harder, his cock throbbing against her rippling inner muscles that clamped down on him. Moments later, he exploded.

For a short while, they lay there, panting and trembling. When she finally emerged from her post-orgasm daze, she stroked his back. “I’d have been sad to part with your cock, so I’m glad it won’t come to that.”

His lips curved against her neck. “I think I’m jealous that you’re more emotionally attached to my dick than you are me.”

“Well, it’s a very nice appendage.”

Bracing his weight on his elbows, he released the leg he’d hiked up and then met her gaze, his own all warm and lazy and dark.

“What?” she asked when he kept staring.

“Nothing. Just taking a good, long look at my mate.”

She gave him a teasing smile. “I’m betting you would never have guessed the day we first met that you’d ever refer to me as your mate.”

No, he wouldn’t have. “You’d be lying if you said you saw it coming. I think maybe my mother might have believed it could happen, but that’s it.” He skimmed his nose along her jaw. “We’ll stop by my parents’ place later and tell them. They’ll give us a lump of shit if they find out through the grapevine.”

“We can visit them on our way to Havana and Tate’s house. We’re having a movie night there, remember?” Bailey always gathered with her girls on Halloween, which was one of her favorite days of the year. Now she had another reason to love it: It would be the anniversary of when she and Deke started imprinting.

Her lips thinned as she thought on how she just might come to loathe the day if they fucked this whole thing up somehow. “Disclaimer: if the bond doesn’t progress or it regresses and breaks, I’m going to haunt you like a living poltergeist.”

He did a slow blink. “I guess it’s a good thing that it won’t come to that.”

“You sound very sure it won’t.”

“You and me … It wasn’t an easy road for us to get here. Several things had the potential to knock us off this path, but we kept moving forward. That’s not going to stop now. I’m all in. You’re all in. Our animals are all in. Nothing’s going to change that. So I’m not worried that the bond won’t fully form. Neither should you be.”

Funnily enough, she wasn’t worried. Wasn’t braced for it all to mess up. She simply wasn’t prepared to take for granted that it wouldn’t. She didn’t like taking anything for granted, particularly not the people who mattered to her.

Bailey danced her fingers along his nape, both she and her snake content in the knowledge that he had no intention of fighting that he was theirs. Okay, so he wasn’t theirs completely just yet—they needed the bond to solidify the whole thing. But they were mates all the same even now.

Bailey loosely hooked her thighs over his hips. “People are going to call you nuts, you know.”

He tilted his head. “Why?”

“Because time and time again people have told me that if anyone claims me as their mate it’ll mean they’re out of their mind. I don’t disagree.”

“Oh, I don’t doubt that I’m signing up for a lifetime of being psychologically toyed with. You wouldn’t be you if you weren’t testing my sanity. But I’ve told you before, I wouldn’t have you any other way.”

“Aw, that’s sweet. No one would ever believe you say such nice stuff to me. They’d accuse me of bullshitting.” She frowned. “They do that a lot.”

“Because you lie a lot.”

“Only when I’m bored. That doesn’t count.”

“It really does.”

She huffed. “At least I don’t build bombs anymore to keep me mentally occupied.”

“You used to build bombs when you were bored?”

“I don’t like having nothing to do. You know that.”

“I’m curious, did members of the Movement ever regret teaching you that skill?”

“No. But some did lament that they’d passed on their secret to making a homemade lethal poison. Not that I used it on any of the members. They were simply scared I would, what with mambas being vehicles of vengeance.”

Deke studied her for a long moment. “You’re far more deadly than most people will ever assume, aren’t you?”

“You say that with approval.”

He dipped his face to hers. “I like deadly.” He took her mouth, soft and slow … but the kiss quickly kicked up a notch, and soon enough he was fucking her like a savage all over again.

Life was a blessed, blessed thing.

Smiling at the cute little giggles coming from the nearby trick or treaters, Bailey rapped her knuckles on the Alphas’ front door. All the children walking from house to house appeared to be members of the pride—it wasn’t always easy to tell, since some wore masks.

Spotting Isaiah sitting on his own porch, Bailey gave him a quick wave. Chewing on what was most likely candy, he saluted her.

Havana swung open her front door and beamed at them. “Hey, guys. Come in, come in.” She stepped aside, excitement pouring off her, and then closed the door behind them. “Movie is ready. Snacks are laid out. Candy bowls are full for the trick or treaters and …” She trailed off, her nostrils flaring—no doubt sensing that Bailey and Deke now wore each other’s scent. Her eyes went wide. “Oh my freaking God! Aspen!”

Chewing on something, the bearcat walked out of the living room to join them in the hallway. “What, jeez?”

“Sniff up,” urged Havana, her smile bright.

Aspen looked from her to Bailey to Deke. “If one of you has farted—”

“No farts,” said the devil with an impatient flap of her hand. “Now sniff.”

“You’d better not be lying to me.” Aspen stepped closer and took a delicate sniff. Her eyes bulged. “Oh.” Then she was jumping up and down, her hands clasped in delight.

Bailey looked at Deke. “I’m not sure if they’re happy for me or just pleased they’ll have someone to help ensure I don’t destroy the world.”

He chuckled. “It might be a bit of both.”

“What’s going on?” asked Tate, coming down the stairs.

“Bailey and Deke are imprinting!” Havana replied.

The Alpha male’s brows winged up. “Yeah? Congrats.” He shook Deke’s hand and gave Bailey a smile. “I’d like to say I saw it coming, but I wasn’t sure how things would go. There’s nothing predictable about any situation that involves Bailey.”

She inclined her head, proudly conceding, “Too true.”

Right then, the doorbell rang.

Since Bailey was closest to the door, she pulled it open. Two couples and four children stood on the porch. Only the kids were dressed up.

The “vampire” Dillon and the ‘witch’ Emilia were the twin children of Alex’s sister, Mila, and her wolf-mate Dominic. The couple were part of the Phoenix Pack, as were the Betas with them, Jaime and Dante. Bailey hadn’t before seen the “angel” or “grim reaper” standing behind the twins, but she was guessing that they were the Betas’ offspring, given the resemblance.

“Trick or treat!” the little ones sang in chorus.

“Happy Halloween, kiddos,” said Bailey.

Havana sidled up to her, a bowl of candy in her hand. “Don’t you all look adorable!” She bent a little and held out the bowl, and the children pretty much descended on it.

Bailey and Havana exchanged brief greetings with the adults.

“How are you not a walking icicle?” Bailey asked Dante, who wore only a tee and jeans.

The huge hunk of a guy shrugged, replying, “It isn’t that cold.”

“Oh, it absolutely is,” said Jaime, huddling in her coat. “But Popeye here never seems to feel it. I worry there’s black magic at work.”

Havana snorted. “How come you guys decided to come trick or treating around these parts?” she asked the wolves. “Not that you aren’t welcome or anything.”

It was Mila who explained, “Dillon’s best friends with Bastien, and Emilia adores little Juliette, so they wanted to stay together. Since my monsters weren’t prepared to skip trick or treating, we all came as a group.”

Dominic plucked a piece of candy from his son’s pumpkin bag, earning himself a very adult growl. “You gotta learn to share, boy.”

“No, I don’t.” Dillon snatched it back and returned it to his bag.

Bastien, who’d pushed his way to the front, gazed up at Bailey. “You smell a bit like one of my pack mates, Savannah. She’s a viper shifter. What are you?”

“A demon straight from the bowels of hell,” she deadpanned.

Havana shot her a glare. “Bailey.”

She lifted her shoulders. “What? People have said that to me.”

Jaime laughed. “Bastien, get over here.”

Juliette did a little curtsy. “Thank you!” Then she scrambled off the porch with the other kids.

All the adults said their goodbyes, and then Havana closed the door.

Turning, Bailey realized that the others were no longer in the hallway. She tracked their voices into the living room, finding Tate and Deke standing near the patio doors while Camden sat on an armchair with Aspen on his lap.

The tiger shifter looked up at Bailey. “I hear a congrats is in order.”

After a few moments of silence, she asked, “Are you going to say congratulations?”

“Maybe later.” He grunted when Aspen playfully socked his arm.

“Okay,” began Havana, “someone needs to be on trick or treat duty.”

“I’ll do it,” Bailey volunteered.

The devil sighed. “Someone other than Bailey.”

Affronted, she frowned. “Why not me?”

“When unsupervised, you scare the kids and then eat the candy they would have taken.”

“It’ll otherwise go to waste.”

Aspen lifted a hand. “I’ll do candy duty.”

Havana smiled at her. “Thank you.”

“What are we watching?” asked Deke, striding across the room.

“First, Hocus Pocus,” Havana told him.“We have to watch it every Halloween. It’s the law. Before we get started, who wants drinks?” She took everyone’s order and then headed to the kitchen with Tate.

Deke dropped a kiss on Bailey’s mouth. “Need to answer a call of nature. I’ll be back in a sec.”

As he strolled out of the room, she sank onto the sofa and grabbed a chip from a bowl on the coffee table.

“I’m so happy,” Aspen told her, beaming.

Bailey blinked. “About what?”

The bearcat seemed to be fighting the urge to roll her eyes. “That you and Deke are imprinting on each other, dufus.”

“Oh.” Bailey tossed the chip in her mouth.

“Did you freak out when you first realized?” Camden asked her.

“No. I might have, but I followed your advice not to panic.” Bailey smiled. “You’d have been proud of me.”

He snorted. “Let’s not go that far.”

She only laughed.

Aspen looked at her mate. “Wait, you gave her advice?”

“You told me I’m supposed to repay any favors,” he reminded her. “She once did me a favor by giving me sound advice, so …”

Aspen’s face went all soft, and she gave him a quick kiss. “You know, not only can you be super sweet at times, you’re not as mean and rude as you used to be.”

Tate hollered Camden’s name. “Need help carrying these drinks!”

The tiger didn’t respond in any way, nor did he move.

The bearcat raised a brow. “You’re going to ignore him?”

“I don’t want to get up.”

Aspen sighed. “I take back the whole you-not-being-so-rude these days.” She slid off his lap. “Go help him.”

Rolling his eyes, Camden pushed to his feet and then left the room.

Aspen flopped into the chair and refocused on Bailey. “I thought there was a chance you and Deke would imprint, but I figured it wouldn’t happen for a long time—you’re just so cagey and stuff. He apparently smashed down your defenses, huh?”

“Something like that,” said Bailey.

Aspen bit her lip. “Do you worry that, since imprint bonds can be broken, he’ll always have that ‘out’?”

“No. Because Deke doesn’t commit to anything half-heartedly, and neither do I.”

“That’s true. And he obviously means a lot to you if you were able to push past your panic and follow Camden’s advice.” Aspen paused. “I was clearly right in what I said not so long ago—you’re growing up.”

Bailey flicked her head to the side. “Huh?”

“You never used to follow anyone’s advice. I feel like you’re maturing.”

“I’m already mature.”

Aspen barked a laugh, looking like she expected Bailey to join in. But her smile faded when it didn’t happen. “Oh, you’re serious. Wow.”

Bailey paused with another chip halfway to her mouth. “You think I’m notmature?”

“I can see that you don’t so, honestly, I’m not certain the word means what you think it does.”

“So you disagree with my opinion, in other words.”

“Yep. Totally.”

Bailey shook her head hard. “You can be so mean.”

“You’re deflecting yet again.”

“I’d stop if I could.”

Aspen let out a snort. “No, no, you wouldn’t.”

“Correct. But who cares?”

“I care.”

“So?”

Aspen bared her teeth. “Do you want me to slap you again? Is that where this is going? Because I’m up for it.”

Bailey smirked. “Bring it, bitch.”

Deke exited the half-bath in the hallway to see Tate and Camden walking out of the kitchen, bottles of beer in hand. “Need help?”

“We’re good,” the Alpha told him. “But you may need it,” he added, his lips twitching.

“With what?”

“Bailey. That you’re now her mate won’t stop her from driving you crazy.”

Deke felt his lips curve. “At least she takes an interesting route.”

Tate snickered. “Do your parents know about the imprinting yet?”

“Yes. Me and Bailey stopped by to see them before coming here. My mother never would have forgiven me if she’d found out second hand.” The woman was beyond excited, and he was quite certain that she’d have made several calls by now, spreading the news.

“Are they good with this? With Bailey?” A careful question from Camden.

Deke felt his brow pinch. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

The tiger shrugged. “Some people make snap judgements about her and then don’t look beneath the surface. They brand her ‘trouble’ and write her off.”

Like Deke had once done, he thought with an inner frown. It would likely always make him feel like a complete asshole. “My parents like Bailey a lot. More, they like her for me.”

“So do I,” Tate cut in. “You need someone who’ll challenge you and not care that you’re an intolerable ass at times.”

Deke blinked. “Uh, thank you?”

A low, angry hiss came from the living room quickly followed by an animal yelp of pain.

Deke sighed, knowing what that meant. “Here we go again.” He entered the room, not whatsoever surprised to see Bailey’s mamba and Aspen’s bearcat having an ugly brawl. The lower half of the snake’s body was curled tight around the bearcat’s neck, and said bearcat was chewing on the mamba’s head.

Havana shrugged past Deke, growling. “You can’t go without fighting for this one night?”

The animals paused and looked up at their Alpha female.

“Let go of each other now!”

The bearcat released themamba’s head just as the snake began to uncurl her body from the other animal’s neck. But then the snake bitch-slapped Aspen’s animal with the end of her tail, and the bearcat pounced on her like a feral lion.

“I said stop!”

Finally, the animals broke apart and shifted back to their human forms. They began tugging on their clothes fast while Havana lectured them. A lecture that cut off when the doorbell rang again. Warning them not to resume fighting, the Alpha headed for the door.

Fastening her fly, Aspen looked at Deke. “I don’t know if you’re brave or stupid to take that on,” she began, jabbing a finger in his mate’s direction, “but you have both my admiration and sympathy all the same.”

Shoving an arm into the sleeve of her sweater, Bailey grinned at her. “You love me really.”

“In a manner of speaking,” said Aspen. “But when Z-Day arrives—”

“Oh, Lord,” muttered his mamba.

“—you’ll be the first person I eat when the food runs out.”

“And then you’ll carry a piece of me always, wherever you go. How sweet.”

“How fucked up,” Deke corrected. “Now come sit down.”

Bailey held up a finger. “One sec.” She hurried into the hallway.

Moments later, there was an almighty roar followed by terrified squeals.

“Bailey!” Havana yelled.

“Fear builds character,” said his mate.

Aspen exhaled heavily and slid her gaze back to Deke. “You sure you want to be bound to her for life?”

“I’m sure,” he said, smiling, knowing he’d never been more certain of anything.