Chapter 15
Piper
Another week went by. I tried to keep busy, to keep my mind off the waiting game we were playing. I cleaned the Lodge with Zin, despite his protests, helped Sullivan in the kitchen, and even worked with Akeno to come up with fun crafts for the cubs at school.
Riggs was busy as well, but he always made time for me, no matter what else was going on.
Alanna grew and was a generally happy baby.
I had more babysitters than I knew what to do with.
It wasn’t uncommon for me to have to hunt her down and figure out which bear had her for the day.
I was pretty sure they’d made some kind of Alanna rotation without telling me.
There had been arguments before about who got her, but after a few weeks, something had clearly changed, because they always knew who had her when.
Personally, I thought they should just post the schedule on my door or something. It would have made it easier to keep track of her. She never went without love or affection, that was for sure.
Riggs and I had several dates at home, which was why, when Taco started cracking up as he answered the door and then waved me over, I didn’t think anything of it.
I figured it was just another surprise from Riggs. Maybe flowers or something.
I was not expecting a cupid singing telegram.
I stared in horror at the bare white chest of the man in front of me. At least he was wearing a toga. Even if it gaped open at the chest, I was grateful he at least had something on.
I went beet red as he sang to me about violets, springtime, and lovers.
To be fair, he had a good voice, but that didn’t make the situation any better.
I still wanted to slap duct tape over his mouth and find him some proper clothing.
I gritted my teeth through three full verses about my magnificence, glaring at the Clan out of the corner of my eye as they kept laughing their heads off as the cupid went on and on and on.
Riggs came up behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, his breath warm against my ear. “Like it?” he murmured, his voice thick with barely restrained humor.
I wanted to turn and glare at him too, but the cupid had launched into a fourth verse, and I didn’t want him to have to start over because I wasn’t paying attention.
When he finally finished, I thanked him politely, then shut the door and turned to glare at my mate.
“That was mean.”
“I disagree,” Alistair said, still chortling in the living room with Drew, Taco, Matteo, and Mathan. “That was hilarious.”
“If it’s good for the Clan, it’s usually the right thing,” my mate said, a small smirk tugging at his mouth.
“Oh, really? I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Mate, why do you have an evil gleam in your eyes?”
“Oh, no reason.” I stepped closer, lowering my voice. “But whatever I do, you can be sure it will be good for the Clan.”
Two days later, my invitation had been sent, and I was waiting for him in the living room that had been set up like a fancy restaurant.
All of the other furniture had been cleared, candles were burning, the fireplace was going, soft music was playing, and a table was set with a linen tablecloth, glasses, and silverware.
The bouquet of flowers the cupid had given me was in a vase as the centerpiece.
I’d tried not to go too overboard with the setup, because I knew my true joy would come from the waiters I’d coerced into playing along with my scheme.
Riggs came down the stairs and into the living room like he expected a bunch of people to pop out behind the furniture and yell, surprise!
I laughed as he kissed me and pulled me into a hug, all the while glancing around uneasily.
He took a seat across from me, and when no one popped out to surprise or scare him, he turned his attention to me with a speculative expression.
“What is this?”
I played dumb. It should be noted that I was terrible at it, but I wasn’t really trying to trick him. I was trying to make him uncomfortable, uneasy, and ultimately come to appreciate my finely tuned sense of retribution.
“This is dinner,” I said, fighting to keep my expression placid. “I thought I’d set up the date this time.”
He relaxed a smidge, and I tried not to chortle evilly into my glass of ice water.
We talked for a bit about Alanna and how big she was getting, and also about his businesses and the Clan. We purposefully avoided discussing anything to do with Barrett.
Roarke came out of the kitchen dressed in a full tux and tails, with menus and our drinks. I didn’t drink, and neither did Riggs, so Roarke had made us mocktails. He refilled our ice water as well.
The whole time he was serving our table, Riggs stared at him.
“For appetizers, we have sweet dinner rolls with herb butter and lobster ravioli,” Roarke said, his tone hitting that perfect snooty blend of you are the gum beneath my shoe and pray order quickly before I’m tempted to flame you.
I bit my lip to hold my laugh in.
“Will that be acceptable to you both?”
Riggs was absolutely speechless, so I came to his rescue.
“Yes, thank you,” I said demurely, smoothing my linen napkin over my lap and sneaking looks at my mate’s gaping jaw beneath my eyelashes.
Roarke nodded and bustled back to the kitchen.
A moment later, Taco came out to bring our appetizers, again dressed in a tux and tails. If anything, Taco’s snooty voice was even funnier. I should have known he’d be excellent at getting into character.
“Your rolls and ravioli, sir and madam. Enjoy.”
When he’d gone back to the kitchen as well, Riggs turned slowly to look at me.
“Good for the Clan, huh?”
I shrugged, smiling. “Who doesn’t love razzing their boss every now and then? As for Roarke, I really couldn’t stop him. Once he found out what I was doing, he wanted in.” I peered at my mate. “Have you antagonized him lately?”
He laughed as he cut into a ravioli. “Believe it or not, I’ve actually gone out of my way not to antagonize one of the strongest shifters in the world. I’m very aware that he could crush me.”
“Well, then, he must just have a great sense of humor.”
He chuckled. “At my expense, yes, it appears that way.”
Looking up from buttering one of his rolls, he added, “Thank you, Piper. This is great. I can relax now that you’ve gotten back at me.”
He looked relieved, and I really couldn’t have that.
“Can you?”
His head came up. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, can you relax now? I don’t think you should.”
We stared at each other across the table for several long, charged moments before I finally cracked and smiled.
He laughed in relief. “You had me there for a minute. You have an insanely good poker face.”
I took a bite of my buttery roll. “Thank you. Maybe we can play poker at our next game night.”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “You’ll clean house, of course.”
“We’re mates, right?”
His head came up. “Yes.”
I took a sip of my mocktail. Tangy, with strong notes of lemon-lime, exactly what I loved. “So, what’s yours is mine?”
His eyebrow lifted. “And vice versa, mate. I feel that’s important to remind you.”
I shrugged. “I’m just preparing you for when we play. I think it’s polite to give a little advance warning.”
He chuckled and took another bite.
All through the meal, a different Clan member played the part of our waiter. In total, we had about ten of them.
Riggs almost spat out his drink when Alistair came out in a tux to bring us our desserts. I didn’t know how I’d talked him into it, but he was playing his character to the hilt.
“Our chef has made this chocolate mousse cake for your tasting pleasure,” he said as he delivered our plates and new silverware. “Will there be anything else you require, madam or sir?”
Again, my mate was speechless, so I stepped in.
“I think we’re fine, thank you.”
Alistair nodded and left us to our desserts.
“How—” Riggs laughed, shaking his head. “Did you drug him?”
“Of course I didn’t drug him! I just spun it as revenge against you, and the rest of the Clan spun it as a fun competition to see who could disturb you the most.” I peered at him over the rim of my glass with a small grin. “Who’s winning, by the way?”
He shivered, as though struck with the heebie-jeebies. “Roarke,” he said dryly. “One of the strongest, apex, mythological shifters on the planet should not be serving me drinks.”
Riggs grumbled under his breath about ungrateful Clan members as he took a bite of his dessert, and I followed suit, then had to pause for a full thirty seconds with my eyes closed to appreciate how amazing it was. It was the perfect mix of decadent chocolate and light creaminess.
Later, after we’d finished our meal, we sat around talking. Roarke had gone home to Emrie, and the rest of the Clan had left. We talked well into the morning, about everything and nothing. I told him about my time in MI, and he told me about his family and how he came to be the Alpha of the Clan.
As he walked me to my door and left me with a heated kiss, I realized, as I locked the door behind me, that I was no longer falling in love with my mate, I was fully there.
I think a part of me had loved him for weeks now, but it had happened so gradually that I hadn’t realized it...
I loved him.
Full, committed, mated love.
I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.
I stared at a blank wall for a few moments as I tried to wrap my head around this information.
Dazed, I moved to check on Alanna, nodding at her guards for the night, then got ready for bed. Snuggling into my sheets, I thought back just three months ago, and how much things had changed since then.
I fell asleep to the steady patter of spring rain on the window, with thoughts of my mate keeping me warm.