Sixty-One
SIXTY-ONE
Mia
THREE DAYS LATER, NAT and I played host to a mid-morning meeting between Zalen, Emiel, Shani, and two of Shani’s co-mates—all of us arrayed around the biggest table in the Elderflower Inn’s dining room with cups of coffee and piles of paperwork.
“That’s an interesting idea,” Shani said, after Zalen had laid out his proposal for a collaboration with the Hope Project. “I think the biggest question is how much ongoing support there would be from your organization’s end. I love it as a concept, but both of us would need to be aware of the possible challenges around dropping inexperienced kids into a kitchen run by an inexperienced head chef.”
“I can see what you’re saying, yes,” Zalen said. “I know we’re both stumbling into this idea blind, at least to an extent. I’ve reached out to some other organizations running similar programs in hopes of getting guidance from people who’ve already done it. Can I loop you in on those conversations?”
“Definitely.” Shani gave a decisive nod. “Like I said, I’m on board with the idea in principle. As long as we have a framework we can agree on for performance metrics, benchmarks, and the like, I’m comfortable moving forward with a working agreement.”
Shani’s pack alpha—a towering, ombre-skinned woman who looked like she could give Emiel a run for his money in the fighting ring—had been watching the exchange with focused interest.
“At this rate, odama , I’m starting to wonder if we shouldn’t kidnap you and put you on the board of directors for the construction company instead of buying you a restaurant,” she said, with thinly veiled amusement.
Her co-mate, a short, muscular male alpha with close-cropped pale blond hair and a sunburn, snorted. “Maybe if you enjoy sleeping on the couch, alef .”
“You can both blame Maleeka,” Shani said serenely. “Her business school lingo is rubbing off on me. Besides, you’ve been going on about diversifying the pack’s income streams for a decade, at least. So here I am, diversifying .”
“Can’t argue with that, can we?” said her pack leader, with a shrug.
An idea had been percolating in my head since Zalen had first floated his concept for the work experience program.
“Would you feel better about taking on these kids if I was the program liaison, Shani?” I asked.
Shani blinked. Next to me, a slow smile spread over Zalen’s face.
“Damn straight I would, boss,” Shani said. “Why didn’t you say so at the beginning?”
“Because we haven’t actually talked about it yet,” I said a bit sheepishly, throwing Zalen and Emiel an apologetic glance.
Zalen swept a hand out in a ‘yielding the floor’ gesture. “The job’s all yours if you want it. I sincerely doubt we’re going to have another applicant with more impressive qualifications.”
Shani and I shared a conspiratorial look, at the same time I felt another piece of the weight inside me that had been off-balance for a long time settling gently into place.
The meeting ran nearly a full two hours as the seven of us lobbed ideas back and forth. When we finally broke things off, it had more to do with the need to get ready for the restaurant’s lunchtime opening than anything else.
Before he left, Emiel took me aside for a moment. “Can you come up to my room tonight, after you get off work?” he asked. “Me and Luca have something to tell you.”
I wasn’t sure what my expression must have looked like, because he quickly added, “It’s nothing bad. Just, y’know, big . Important.”
“Sure,” I said. “I’ll see you then.”
On impulse, I stretched up and pressed a light kiss to his lips. He drew in a startled breath, but then his face stretched into a surprised smile.
“See you then,” he echoed.
I spent the rest of the day and evening resolutely not thinking about what they might want to tell me. I did have a suspicion or two, though. When Nat and I got home that night, I turned to him and hooked a finger in his open collar to pull him close.
“Emiel said he and Luca wanted to talk to me tonight,” I told him. “Will you be all right if I crash upstairs with them afterward?”
He hummed in easy agreement, spreading a little flush of warmth through me as I contemplated how far he and I had come when it came to trust and communication.
“Of course,” he said. “Nothing wrong, I hope?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. If I had to guess, it’s something about their mating. Luca said they’ve been doing joint counseling sessions for the last couple of weeks.”
“Oh, I hope that’s it,” Nat said. “They both deserve to know once and for all that there’s nothing wrong with them.” He yawned and stretched. “If you’re going to be otherwise occupied tonight, maybe I’ll go wake Byron up for sex.”
“Good idea,” I agreed, darting in for a filthy kiss, simply because I could . With my newly acquired sexual confidence, I boldly palmed Nat’s cock through his trousers, not letting up until he groaned into my mouth and started rutting shamelessly into my hand.
“Christ, woman,” he panted, after I pulled away with a sharp nip of his bottom lip. “Do you have any idea how much I love you?”
“Love you, too, Nat,” I told him with a smug smile. “I’ll enjoy the mental picture of you getting rammed over the back of Byron’s couch tonight, as punishment for interrupting his beauty sleep. Hmm.... maybe with one of his ties stuffed in your mouth? That way, you won’t wake up the household while we’re trying to sleep.”
Nat made a choked noise and pressed his palm against his rock-hard dick, as though he needed the pressure to keep from coming in his pants.
“Goodnight, dear,” I said sweetly.
“Goodnight, she-demon who’s apparently possessing my wife’s body,” Nat growled in response.
I swallowed silent laughter and headed upstairs.
Princess was on guard duty at the top of the stairway, greeting me with a friendly meow as I approached the landing.
“Emiel? Luca? It’s me,” I called softly, before mounting the final steps.
“Hi, Mia,” Emiel said, as Princess twined around my ankles, purring.
I had to hold in a spontaneous ‘ aww !’ of cuteness as I took in Luca, fast asleep and drooling in Emiel’s bed, his upper body curled into a trusting comma shape against the alpha’s broad chest.
At our voices, he stirred, blinking at me owlishly.
“Oh—hi, Mia,” he greeted in a sleep-rough voice. “Sorry, didn’t mean to fall asleep.”
“You need all the sleep, Mr. Insomniac,” I told him. “In fact, we both need all the sleep. Once the restaurant sells, let’s just sleep for, like, a solid week.”
“Kay,” he said groggily, pushing away from Emiel’s shoulder. I tried not to smile at the wet spot he’d left behind on the alpha’s worn T-shirt.
I set my bag aside and plopped down on the edge of the mattress, sitting sideways to look at them. “So, what’s up?”
Luca stretched, and I captured one of his bare feet on my lap—idly running my thumb over the sharp bones of his ankle. He hummed and wriggled, not trying to tug it away.
“Luca said he told you we started doing joint therapy sessions,” Emiel began, and I nodded.
“With my heat coming up next month, Dr. Mushimba thinks now would be a good time for us to mate,” Luca said. “Before my hormones start going wonky, and so we’ll have time to settle into it before then.”
He didn’t add, ‘ and time for me to get my mating gland surgically removed if it all goes horribly wrong, ’ but I heard it all the same. As brave as Luca was being, I knew how terrified he still was about this. Not so much because of Emiel, but because of himself .
“I think that’s amazing news,” was all I said aloud. “Thank you for telling me.”
“We want you to be there for it,” Emiel said, glancing away shyly. “If you want to, I mean.”
Surprise threaded through me. “You do?”
Emiel nodded, his dark eyes returning to mine. “Course we do. You’re part of this, Mia.”
Luca nodded as well. “It’s only happening at all because of you. And... well... we’re kind of ruining things by doing this on our own, instead of having it be a pack mating during our heats. If the two of us weren’t such fuck-ups—”
I pinched his big toe without warning, and he yelped in surprise.
“Not another word,” I threatened. “You do not get to insult my future mates to my face, Luca Doyle.”
Luca flushed, red staining his pale cheeks. “Right. Sorry.” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, we’re going to tell the others tomorrow. But we’ve talked about it with Dr. Mushimba, and we’ve decided to do the mating in a clinical setting, in case anything, you know...”
“Goes wrong,” Emiel finished for him. He, too, looked uncomfortable. “We were hoping you’d be there, but I don’t think it would be a good idea to have Byron or Zalen there. Or even Nat. I don’t know how I’m going to react.”
I dropped Luca’s foot and clambered over to kiss Emiel on the forehead. “You’re going to react by being an amazing mate,” I told him. “And of course I’ll be there. Just tell me where and when.”
The pair exchanged a look.
“We scheduled it for next Monday,” Emiel said. “So it wouldn’t interfere with your work schedule.”
“You could have scheduled it for the busiest day of the year, and I’d have put Shani in charge of the restaurant and come anyway.” I toed off my shoes, pulled off my work pants and shirt, then climbed into the bed on Emiel’s other side wearing my tank top and panties. “Now, can we go to sleep? I’m beat, and you two have to be up for work in a few hours.”
“It’ll be nice when we’re all on the same schedule,” Luca said sleepily, lowering himself back into Emiel’s embrace.
I pictured a future of waking up every morning in a comfortable tangle with this pack I’d come to love so dearly, ready for a day of combining my passion for cooking with a program to help make a difference for the kids Zalen and the others worked so hard to save.
“Yes,” I said, snuggling into Emiel’s shoulder. “It sure will.”