“No, that’s fine. I get it. I…um. I’m sorry I kissed you.”
“No.” He took a step toward me. “I’m not.”
Yeah, the heat in his silver eyes didn’t say he was sorry.
Yes, he wants to rut with you.
“Piss off.”
Azazel blinked, taken aback.
“No, not you. I wasn’t talking to you.”
He made an ‘o’ with his mouth. “The Loup?”
“Yeah, she can be super annoying.”
He cleared his throat. “Was she… when we…”
The beast chuckled. Every hot second.
“Nope. I don’t think so.”
He shook his head. “It’s fine. She’s a part of you.”
And he wants to have a part of himself inside you too.
I choked on my own saliva.
Thank goodness Grayson chose that moment to come back. His nostrils flared as he entered the room, and then his hands curled into fists at his sides.
Azazel turned to face him and crossed his arms. “Are you ready?”
Grayson’s jaw ticked. “Car’s here.”
It looked like it was time to go home with an alpha beast.
Chapter Four
I sat in the back of the BMW with Grayson. He hadn’t said a word to me since we’d left Azazel. But his knuckles were white as they sat on his taut thighs. He kept his gaze straight ahead. He was pissed about something.
“You’ll like it at the house,” Dean said from the driver’s seat.
His robin-blue eyes smiled at me from the rearview mirror. At least Grayson’s beta was happy to chat and defuse the tension.
“The others are looking forward to meeting you,” Dean continued in his gruff but friendly voice. “Eliza and Beth are especially excited to have another young female around. Petra wants to meet you, too.”
I had no idea who all these people were, but I smiled and nodded, just happy to have conversation to cover the knots that were forming in my stomach. I shot Grayson a side-look to find him with his chin tucked in, eyes closed. I flicked a glance to his hands and watched as his fists uncurled.
My gaze flicked up to the mirror again to find Dean watching Grayson with a frown, but then he caught my eye, and his frown melted.
“You’ll have your own chambers, of course,” Dean continued.
“No,” Grayson said. “She stays with me.”
I looked from Dean to Grayson, who still wouldn’t meet my eyes. “Excuse me? What do you mean?”
This time Grayson did turn his head to look at me, and I flinched at the darkness swirling in the depths of his husky eyes. This wasn’t the controlled alpha of a half hour ago, this was the beast looking back at me, and the Loup in me stretched and arched her back as if reveling in the attention, as if taunting him.
“You’ll stay in my chambers,” Grayson said. “You’ll be safest there.”
I flashed a look to the mirror to see that Dean’s frown was back. But he didn’t contradict his alpha. There was a hierarchy, after all. But I wasn’t part of that hierarchy.
Blood pounding in my ears, I locked gazes with Grayson. “Do you have a spare room in your chambers? A room with a door?”
He narrowed his eyes. “No.”
“Then, no. I won’t be sharing your chambers.”
“You’ll do as you’re told,” he gritted out.
I leaned in and narrowed my own eyes. “Let’s get one thing straight. I’m grateful for your sanctuary, but I’m not one of your Loup. You are not my alpha. I’m a fucking Dominus, and I don’t take orders. Not from anyone. Got it?”
Dean made a strangled sound in the front seat.
But I was too busy having an eye-off with Grayson. Long seconds ticked by, and then Grayson sat back with a growl.
“You’re safest in my chambers,” he said. “The room is warded. You can have my bed. I’ll sleep on the couch.”
“Safest? I thought I was safe with your pack.”
“We’re Loup, Fee.” Grayson no longer sounded angry. “Loup who are going to have a new female thrust into their midst—a mature woman exuding pheromones.” He said the last part tightly. “You stay close to me, and you’ll exude my scent. It’ll remind them to keep their claws to themselves.”
“They will eventually become accustomed to your scent,” Dean said. “You’ll become part of the pack.”
But I didn’t want to be part of their pack. I didn’t want to be part of any pack. But right now wasn’t the time to argue that out. Once my guys found Lucas, once the charges against me were dropped, I’d figure out the exit strategy.
I nodded. “Fine. I’ll stay in your chambers.”
Grayson relaxed against the leather of his seat with a small smile, making me wonder who’d just won this round.
And why was I thinking about it as a round?
“We’re here,” Dean said.
I looked out the window at this house he’d been talking about and bit back a gasp at the huge building standing before us.
“It was a firehouse once,” Dean said. “We bought it and converted it. Now the Regency Pack holds court here.” He cut the engine. “Welcome home, Fee.”
I didn’t have the heart to contradict him.
The inside of the converted firehouse was all high ceilings and windows. A cylindrical lift sat in the center of the vast open-plan room. A huge flat-screen TV hung on the wall surrounded by cushy sofas and bean bags. There was a game area with a pool table, fuzzball, darts, a pinball machine, and a jukebox. There was even a bar. They’d decorated the section with a neon sign that said The Claw. There was a kitchen area, too—neat, clean, and minimalistic—with an island. Overhead lighting and a huge dining table completed the eating area. Huge guys lounged about watching TV, eating at the dining table, or playing pool. Eyes drifted our way, settling on me as nostrils flared. Were they smelling me?
Oh, they smell us. They want us.
Instead of making myself smaller or shifting closer to Grayson and Dean, I stood taller, lifting my chin and allowing them to take me in.
Good girl. We do not cower.
The eyes on me dropped one by one.
“Loup enjoy socializing,” Dean explained. “This is where we lounge, eat, and play games.” He pointed to each section of the room to illustrate. “The upper floors have individual residences.”
The place was massive. “How many Loup are in the pack?”
“Fifteen live here,” Dean said. “Fifteen are the core pack, the rest live in Westside and come if called upon. We call them civies. They lead civilian lives but are affiliated to us and us to them.” He smiled down at me. “And now we have you.”
Dean was a big guy, as big as Grayson, if not bigger, dark to Grayson’s light. He was gruff and should have been intimidating, but I felt at ease with him. I could trust him. I returned his smile. The first smile since I’d been arrested. It felt good on my face.
“I’ll take it from here,” Grayson snapped, ruining the moment.
Annoyance flashed in Dean’s eyes, but it was gone too quick for me to be sure. He shrugged, smiled at me, and then walked off to join the Loup in the bar area. Grayson led me to the cylindrical lift that rose up in the center of the room, and then it clicked. This was where the fire pole would have been. Clever.