Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Fender
Tempest followed me into my room, and I tried really hard to silence the beast rumbling in my chest. The pleasure of it, though, of having her in my den rushed through me.
It was a full-body shock of pleasure and possessiveness, a need to protect this female with my life—and a hunger so fucking strong it flowed over me like a wave of heat that pooled at my groin.
My cock thickened instantly. My leg almost crumpled under me as the realization dawned.
How the fuck had I missed it?
Probably because I’d convinced myself that my head was all messed up and I didn’t know what I was feeling.
I’d told myself that her help with my healing had twisted things, and because of that I’d written off the strange sensations I’d been having around her, convinced they were tangled up with her help, her healing, and her kindness.
I’d been so wrong.
What I’d been feeling, I now realized, were burgeoning emotions unfurling inside me, and there was a good reason I couldn’t stop thinking about her the moment I left her and why I counted down the days, hours, fucking minutes until I could be with her again—the evidence was clear and pointed to one thing.
Tempest was my mate.
My fucking hand trembled as I placed the pies on the kitchen counter.
“This is bigger than I expected,” she said as she checked out my place. “Brick said the old quarters were made bigger when some of your brothers mated. I assumed these would be smaller.”
I swallowed thickly. Keep it the fuck together. “We decided it best to prepare for the future. Make them family-sized now so we won’t have to expand again later.”
“When you find your mate?” she asked as she continued to looked around my open-plan living and kitchen area.
“Yeah,” I said, and if she heard how fucked my voice now was, she didn’t let on. “You want to see the rest?”
She gave me that bright smile, flashing her pretty dimples. “Please.”
I showed her the bathroom, and thankfully I’d tossed the pile of towels that had been on the floor in the wash that morning.
Pushing the door open, I showed her the spare room next.
It was small but big enough for a bunk bed and room for a couple pups to play and hang out.
My gaze slid back to Tempest, and my cock throbbed.
Gritting my teeth, I fought down the lust as best as I could and strode to the end of the short hall and pushed the last door open.
“My room,” I said unnecessarily, then watched as she took in the space.
I followed her gaze to the bed, the dresser, the closet, trying to see it through her eyes for the first time.
Natural light came down from the edges of the walls, like the rest of the place.
We’d dug tunnels that allowed natural light and fresh air to filter into our rooms. This was a new thing.
Before Willow moved down here and had Violet, we hadn’t bothered, but that needed to change now that we had people born topside living in our dens.
“That’s a…a very impressive bed.”
“Yeah,” I said roughly. “Made it myself.”
She turned to me. “You did?”
“Hounds are big,” I said by way of explanation.
Her gaze slid down my front and back up. “Yes,” she said.
Fucking hell. That look wasn’t practiced.
She wasn’t trying to flirt or tease. She was just being her sweet, curious, and awkward self.
I dragged in another rough breath to steady myself and got a lungful of her scent instead.
“We should probably head back to the common room. The movie will start soon.”
She followed me back out to the living room. “What are these?” She’d spotted the books Wills had left for me. “They look incredibly old. I can feel residual magic on them.” She looked up, her eyes wide. “They belong to a witch.”
“They’re from Willow’s family library. War has me on the hunt for something, and I’m borrowing these while I look,” I said.
“What are you looking for?” she asked, brushing her fingers over the old tomes, then her gaze darted back up. “Sorry, you don’t have to tell me.”
“Weapons, old ones.” I didn’t see any harm in sharing that with her. From what Mags said, Tempest didn’t have many friends, and the ones she did have were from Willow’s own family.
Excitement filled her eyes. “Like a treasure hunt?”
My stomach clenched at the way her eyes lit up like that. I immediately reined it in. “Yeah, I guess so.”
She lit up even more. “I can help if you like? It’s kind of a hobby of mine.”
“You hunt treasure as a hobby?”
She laughed, the sound so surprising, so genuine that I rocked back. She smiled all the time, but I’d never heard her laugh. It was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard.
“No,” she said, her laugh dying down. “I do like to search for old things, and I like deciphering puzzles. I’m quite good at it.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded.
“You really think you can help me find these weapons?” I asked, already sold on the idea, anything to spend more time with her.
She licked her lips, and I nearly groaned. They were glossy and pink today. She rocked forward and said, “I mean, I can’t guarantee anything, but I’d like to try.”
“What was the last thing you found?” I asked, because I wanted to keep her talking. I liked seeing her like this, excited about something.
Her lashes fluttered, and she looked away from me. “Oh…um, some ingredients, mostly ancient flowers I needed for a potion.”
“And they were still good after all that time? The seeds?”
“Yes. It’s a plant thought to be extinct. Dried, it turns woody and preserves very well. It took me a while, but I found where it’d been hidden, secret stores of it buried centuries ago. The seeds were there as well, and I can use those to cultivate my own.”
“What kind of plant? What’s it used for?” I needed to keep her talking. Something had changed; the excitement washed from her eyes, and she’d closed down a little.
“Oh, nothing important,” she said, not meeting my gaze.
Nothing important? That was obviously a lie. A thought-to-be-extinct plant and secret stores? She obviously didn’t want to talk about it, though, so as much as I wanted to keep questioning her, I resisted. “Sounds like you know what you’re doing, Temp. I could definitely use your help.”
“Really?”
The excitement returned. She was practically bouncing now, and as soft and curvy as she was, that was not helping me get control over my dick. “Finding this stuff’s important. If you think you can help, then absolutely.”
“Excellent,” she said. “When should we start?”
“How about after the movie? We come back here, have some pie and look through these books. War’s organized a gathering up in the clubhouse later, but I have time before that.” I tried to act casual, but getting her back in my den later felt really fucking important.
She nodded, still beaming. “I’d like that.”
Not as much as me. I opened the door, and we headed back out.
I wanted to take her hand again but thought I should probably play it cool.
If I walked into the common room holding Temp’s hand, everyone would look.
I didn’t give a fuck about that—in fact, I wanted everyone to know she was mine—but I got the feeling Tempest would prefer not to have a whole lot of attention on her.
We’d kept up with movie nights even with how uncertain everything was at the moment.
It was a break from the constant training for a war that couldn’t be stopped.
It gave us a few hours to pretend the city, our city, wasn’t being ravaged by a mystery sickness and that the humans and our friends and family in the Silver Claw pack weren’t suffering and in pain.
I shoved those thoughts down. I didn’t want to bring all that with me tonight. Not when I had Tempest at my side.
When we walked into the common room, the lights had already been dimmed and everyone had found seats. There was a couch free in the back, and I directed her in the darkness. “Over here.”
Relic was up front with a bin of candy, tossing out what people were calling for.
“You want candy?” I asked her when she took her seat. “What do you like?”
“I’ve never really had much candy. I mean…my uh, grandma would make cakes and stuff but nothing that we hadn’t made ourselves.”
She really had lived isolated. “Yo, Relic, Red Vines and M&M’s.” He tossed them to me and I put them on her lap. “Time to remedy that.”
She nodded, blinking up at me, then looked back down. “What’s your favorite?”
I grabbed the M&M’s, opened the pack, and held it out.
She took one, placed it in her mouth and chewed. Her eyes went wide. “Oh yum, that’s delicious.”
I wanted to feed her all the candy just to keep her looking at me like that.
The movie started, flicking up on the wall from the projector and everyone cheered. The title came up on the screen.
The Princess Bride.
We’d seen it before, but it was a favorite.
I settled in to watch, and minutes in I was fucking mesmerized, not by the movie but by the little witch at my side.
She was glued to the screen as it played.
Temp laughed and cheered and called out with everyone else, fully immersed.
Then every now and then she’d pop a candy in her mouth and her delight would skyrocket.
I wanted to lift her off her seat and put her on my lap so badly my palms itched.
I wanted to feel her laughter as the vibrations moved through her sweet little body.
I wanted the soft warmth of her pressed against me so there was nothing between us.
I wanted so many things right then, and I had no idea how to go about getting any of them.