Chapter 16
Just before dawn, Niko opened the front door of Jack’s house and walked inside.
Glancing around, he quickly remembered that the house was filled with females and children.
He made his way quietly to the kitchen and took out a bottle of water, cracked it open and guzzled it down.
His gaze traveled over to the area he knew Maeve had slept in the night before.
Comforted to see several females there, and knowing one of them was her, he took another bottle of water out of the fridge, then walked into the family room to check on Griffin.
He stood at the entrance of the room, and tried to determine which one was Griffin.
Canting his head slightly, he walked quietly into the family room and made his way through the kids sleeping in sleeping bags on the floor, hanging half off and half on the sofa, under the coffee table, and even on the floor in front of and beside the sofa.
But none of them was Griffin. He walked over to the back doors and looked out at the pool and the splash pad.
Both were well lit, and no one at all was outside other than the security that looked back at him from the distant tree line with eye shine that gave them away.
Boy gone, his Lion grumbled in his mind, and without another thought he turned and went back into the formal living room to find Maeve.
He took his time walking quietly between the women, leaning over here and there to be able to see a face.
Finally, one of them opened her eyes and looked at him.
“Who are you looking for?” she asked, clearly having been watching him the entire time and a little irritated at him for waking her up.
“Maeve and Griffin,” Niko said.
“They’re not here. They left,” the female said, before putting her head down and closing her eyes again.
“They left?!” he yelled. “What do you mean they left? Who said they could leave?”
“Alpha Jack and Reigna Bonnie. They gave permission for several of us to go.”
“When?” Niko demanded.
“Earlier this evening. The kids were tired and whiny and there wasn’t room for all of us here. She’s fine, I’m sure. She’s a resourceful female and knows how to take care of herself.”
“The fuck you say!” Niko yelled, then stomped off in the direction of Jack and Bonnie’s bedroom. He stopped only when he was right up against the bedroom door and began knocking — non-stop. And as his knocks grew faster, they grew louder until he was practically banging on the door.
The door was yanked open and Jack stood there, sleepy-eyed, and snarling.
“You sent Maeve and Griffin away?!” Niko demanded.
“Yes,” Jack snarled.
“What the hell were you thinking, sending them out on their own?!” Niko shouted.
“I was thinking that they might be more comfortable in a nice warm bed with plenty of room to relax and make themselves at home,” Jack yelled.
Niko’s angry expression morphed into surprise. “Maybe I should have started with ‘where did you send them?’.”
“You think?” Jack asked. “Or maybe you could have waited until we all wake up, sometime in another couple of hours?” Jack snapped.
“Hit him, Daddy,” Izzie said as she yawned and turned over, throwing an arm over Bonnie who was sitting up in bed glaring at Niko.
“We have had a miserable night. The kids are sleeping with us because we gave their rooms and yours, to the Variant so they could get some rest. It’s like sleeping with two cats fighting in a burlap sack!
We just managed to fall asleep a few hours ago, and you come in here at dawn demanding to know where a female and child are, and they aren’t even yours? ”
“I didn’t know the sleeping arrangements, and I didn’t know where they were and I was concerned!” Niko exclaimed. “Wait, you put somebody in my room?”
“I did. And if you piss me off any further, I’ll turn your room into a fucking walk-in closet for the girls!”
“Oh, come on, that’s not nice. I’m just worried about Maeve and Griffin.”
“Who aren’t even yours!”
“You don’t know that!” Niko said.
“You claim her?” Jack demanded.
“No.”
“You tell her you’re going to claim her?” Jack asked.
“No.”
“You planning on telling her you’re going to claim her?” Jack pressed.
“No, I am not claiming anybody!” Niko answered angrily.
“Then she’s not yours. She’s free to go wherever she wants, see whoever she wants, sleep with whoever she wants, get mated and have babies with whoever she wants, and right now she’s exploring being wherever she chose to be!
Griffin is free to call whoever she may choose as hers ‘Daddy’, and there’s not a fucking thing you can say about it! ” Jack slammed his bedroom door closed.
Niko winced at the force of the slammed door. “But, where is she?” he yelled through the closed door.
“Niko, go the fuck away!” Jack yelled.
“Daddy, you said a bad word. And you did not hit Niko like I asked,” Izzie said.
“Go to sleep, Izzie. Now!” Jack said.
“Yes, sir. But you didn’t. Just saying.”
“Izzie!” Jack said, putting a little temper behind her name.
“I’m sleeping!” she said indignantly. “I would have stayed sleeping if Niko didn’t wake us up.”
“Izzie,” Bonnie said, a warning behind her tone.
“Yes, ma’am,” Izzie said, finally quieting down.
Niko stalked back out into the formal living room and stood there for a few seconds, looking over at the females sleeping there — or pretending to sleep after his interaction with Jack. He paced back and forth a few times before the same female that told him Maeve was gone sat up and looked at him.
“Do you know where they are?” he asked pitifully.
“Not exactly. But they left with the girl with the dark blonde hair. I don’t know her name. She said she had a house with plenty of room and Maeve said she and Griffin would like to stay with her, so they went.”
“Gotta be Alison,” Niko said.
“I don’t know. But I do know that she made the rice. It was really good. I enjoyed it.”
“Alison,” Niko said, jogging toward the front door. “Thank you,” he called over his shoulder as he rushed out of the house.
“You think Maeve really wants him to know where she is?” another of the females asked.
“I don’t know. But I know he won’t let any of us sleep until he finds her, and I know there’s security everywhere, and the girl who owns the house is one of their Pride and knows how to call for help if need be. Besides, Maeve can hold her own. She could give him what for if he pushes her too far.”
“True,” the other female said.
~~~
Niko arrived at Alison’s house as the sun was rising.
It was starting to warm up already, which indicated the day would be a scorcher.
He moved silently up on the porch, peeking through the windows, but wasn’t able to see anything but the stairs leading to the second floor, and a darkened dining room.
Still on the porch, tiptoeing to the opposite side of the house, he peered in through the sheer curtains, blowing gently against the window itself from what must have been the air conditioner.
He thought he saw movement on the sofa while the television flickered in the background in the still darkened room.
Adjusting his angle several times, he was finally able to decipher what he was seeing.
A female, on her back, her arms around a male who laid on top of her, his back arching as he…
“Oh, hell no!” Niko bellowed, leaving the scene playing out in front of him to charge the front door, pounding on it and kicking it as he yelled her name over and over again.
“Maaaaeeeeevvvvvvvve! Maeve! Open this fucking door right now!”
He never stopped knocking, but neither did anyone open the door.
“You motherfucker! Stop touching her! Get the fuck off my female right now you horny fucker!” Niko yelled.
“I’m’a kick your ass in about two fucking seconds if you don’t get off my woman!
” he threatened, still yelling at the top of his lungs as he started to throw himself, full-bodied against the front door.
Without warning the door opened wide, and Niko, right in the middle of hurling his body against it for the fifth time, went flying right into the foyer, landing on the bottom four stairs with a crash.
~~~
Alison made soft little grunting noises as she stretched her body and opened her eyes.
She sniffed a few times and looked down at the surface she was lying on.
Her brows bunched up as she tried to figure out what she was seeing.
A chest, clothed in a tight-fitted teeshirt. It was definitely a person.
“’Morning,” Feral said, his hands resting at the small of her back.
Recognizing his voice, and remembering falling asleep next to him, she raised her gaze to his as her cheeks pinked a bit from embarrassment. “’I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you.”
“You were tired. I’m glad you felt comfortable enough to fall asleep next to me.”
“Or on you. You didn’t have to lie here all night with me on you. You could have just woken me up and left.”
“Never. Best night of my life,” Feral said.
She kind of looked at him, not understanding fully. “I don’t think clearly in the morning. I am not a first thing in the morning kind of communicator.”
He grinned as he gently pushed a strand of her hair off her face. “Best night of my life because I spent it holding you.”
“Oh,” she said, looking away from him shyly.
“You didn’t fall asleep on me, you were just leaning on my shoulder. I stretched you out on top of me so we’d both fit on the sofa. I was sleeping as deeply as you in just a few minutes. It was no hardship, at all.”
“I should get up…” she put her hands on the sofa on either side of him and started to lift herself off of him.
“Please don’t.”
She looked at him again.
“You lying here, feeling your weight on me, having your scent all around me, you have no idea how calm it makes me.”