hidden talents (25 page)

“I"m not the problem,” Rick objected. “He"s the one who treats this van like it"s girlfriend.”

“Guys,” Adam said. “Knock it off. The big bad is dead, we"re all alive, and our arrest record is through the roof. Try to remember life is good.”

“Yeah,” Tony seconded. “But Nate could sit on
my
lap if he wanted.”

“Do not go there,” Nate moaned, though he was laughing. “My acceptance of your lifestyle choice depends on you not daydreaming about me.”

The van turned before Adam expected. He twisted forward to see where they were. Rick was driving onto the giant parking lot for Pocket Foods.

“All
right
,” Nate said, his anger at Rick forgotten. “Time to stock up for the victory celebration. BBQ and beer.”

“I don"t know,” Adam said, remembering how shaky Ari had looked earlier.

She wasn"t going to be up for a party. “Maybe we could put this off until tomorrow.”

“It"s tradition,” Rick said, a tad stubbornly. “Everyone will be expecting it.

You can have sex with Ari later.”

“Dude.” Nate slapped Rick"s bicep with his uninjured hand.

Rick concentrated on parking. “Whatever. You know that"s why he doesn"t want to celebrate with us tonight.”

Nate shook his head at that. When Adam looked away from them, Carmine

was watching him. The older wolf kept watching until Rick got out and slammed the door. “He"s your beta,” he said quietly. “Sometimes they get possessive.”

Adam knew this. He"d just thought Rick would be happy for him. He wasn"t simply Adam"s second in command, he was his best friend.

“I"ll send him back for a chat,” Tony volunteered, then jumped out the back doors.

Adam climbed out on legs that felt a century old. Between changing early and the fight and healing that damned whipping, he was ready to drop where he stood. Tony must have been persuasive with his brother. Rick trotted back to him with no foot dragging.

“Sorry,” he said before Adam mustered the energy to start in on him. He rubbed the back of his neck, probably trying to coax his inner hackles to stop bristling. “Ari"s a nice girl. And I"m glad you"ve found your mate. It"s just weird to see you gaga over a female. You"ve always been casual about girls before.”

“I still love you,” Adam said, too tired to make it a joke.

“Jeez.” Embarrassed, Rick mopped one hand down his face.

Adam laughed at that, but there was one more thing Rick ought to know.

“She"s more than my mate. Ari helped me shut the portal.”

Rick"s eyes got big. “I assumed the faerie closed it.”

“Apparently they can"t do that unless they opened it the first place.”

“Wow. So Ari"s your twin flame. Like your parents were to each other.”

“Yes.”

“Wow.” Rick tossed his keys from one hand to the other, sorting this out in his head. “Well, your folks were great together. You and Ari should be happy.”

“I hope so.”

“You will be.” He shuffled his feet sheepishly. “Look, we could postpone the party. People would understand. Sometimes you ... gotta put your better half first.”

Adam considered, then shook his head. “Tired or not, Ari"s no weakling.

Might as well throw her in the deep end now.”

Hearing himself, he wished he didn"t sound so dour.

∞

Werewolf strength came in handy for carrying a vanload of food up three flights of steps. As the five of them went into his apartment, Ari was leaving the kitchen with a bottle of spring water. She looked surprised to see them but not angry. Without a second thought, Adam set down his boxes and went to her. Ari hugged him, and it was like
she’d
become his home; she felt that good to him. She laughed at the intensity of his squeeze, but she also buried her nose in his neck.

She smelled of his shampoo, which pleased him. The faint whiff of another male pleased him less, but of course she"d been around a lot of men today.

“Wait till you taste elf ale,” Tony crowed as he passed by their embrace with his towering load. “It"s the awesomest.”

“Don"t listen to him,” Nate countered, carrying his smaller load with one arm. “Faerie stout all the way.”

“Sorry,” Adam mumbled into her hair. “This party thing is a tradition.”

“That"s okay. You had a big win. You should celebrate.”

“I
was
hoping for a nap.”

She tipped her head back and waggled her brows. “I bet you were, big boy.”

This was when he realized he was getting hard. He cleared his throat,

knowing that sort of nap would have to wait. He"d never tell her, but she looked like hell. He wanted her to get eight solid hours of lights out. Then he"d lock her in his bedroom. A growl smoked from him at the thought. She laughed and patted his chest.

“You got a delivery. I stashed it in your bedroom closet. Don"t let your friends in there unless you want to be teased.”

He wasn"t really paying attention, more soaking her up through all his senses.

“How do you feel?”

“Better,” she said, her tired blue eyes locked to his. “I used your shower. As you can see, Maria loaned me another dress. And I think it"s finally sinking in for me that the Eunuch is dead.”

He stroked her pale hair around her head. She hadn"t put the spikes back in, and it was very soft. “She loaned you a party dress. I guess Rick was right.

Everyone really is expecting this.”

Ari laid her cheek above his heart. “I"m glad you"re here,” she said.

∞

The crowd at the party wasn"t one Ari would have predicted she"d ever hang out with. Adam"s roof deck was jam-packed with cops, former cops, cop"s wives and cop"s kids - most of them relatives. Maria"s husband Johnny was playing king of the grill station, with the meat tongs as his scepter. It took some insisting, but Ari finally convinced him that when she said she wanted her ribs well done, she didn"t mean half raw.

“Adam!” he cried in the laughing shout so many of the men seemed to use.

“You gotta teach your girl here some taste!”

Everyone assumed she and Adam were a couple. More unnerving, they

treated her as if she were a princess. Tony switched her chair out for one he thought was nicer, Rick - who"d struck her as a bit standoffish before tonight -

built her a plate heaped with cold salads, and Nate - whose right arm was now in a sling - poured her a little glass of his faerie stout so she could sample it. One boy of about fourteen asked if he could run and get her a sweater, because he knew humans weren"t as hot as werewolves. He"d blushed right after, which was cute, but the fussing still made her feel self-conscious.

Fortunately, the woman were acting normally. Ari was relieved when Maria plunked down next to her and sighed. Adam"s cousin was a pretty woman. Taller and bustier than Ari, she had long curly black hair and the same golden brown eyes as her two brothers. She was also one of the few guests Ari even sort of knew.

“Are they always like this?” she asked in an undertone.

“You mean because they"re waiting on you hand and foot? Absolutely not.”

Laughing, Maria tipped up her beer for a swallow. “You"re their heroine tonight.

Adam told them how brave you were.”

“He did?” she asked, a hint of dismay in it. Would they think she was more or less courageous if they knew what she"d sneaked upstairs to do? Tony had found her near the stairwell. Even he wasn"t aware how long she"d been out of the cellar.

“Girlfriend,” Maria said. “They hardly needed to be told. You faced down the Eunuch. And a frickin" proscribed demon. I know wolves who wouldn"t have done as much. Of course, they"re also seriously impressed with Adam. Even for an alpha, he kicked butt.”

“It was pretty cool the way he broke those warded handcuffs with his brute strength.” She"d spoken without thinking. Evidently, this was a big deal. Also evidently, Adam hadn"t been tooting his own horn.

“
No
,” Maria said, her elf ale pausing halfway to her lips. “Alphas are extra strong, but that"s the equivalent of you lifting a pickup truck. He must have been very motivated to get you out of there.”

“We both were,” she said uncomfortably.

Maybe Maria sensed this, because she fell silent. Adam was sitting a little ways off from them, surrounded by a group of laughing, mostly male admirers.

Strings of colored lights festooned the roof deck, increasing the festive air.

Perhaps because Ethan"s father was occupied with the grill, Ethan had crawled into Adam"s lap. The little boy wasn"t quite asleep, but Adam was rocking him there, patting his butt in time to what sounded like Gipsy Kings music. His wrists no longer bore the firebug tattoos. His change in form had erased them, just as it had snapped their moon bond. Neither loss appeared to trouble him. Adam looked tired but happy.

This isn’t so bad
, she thought. She liked seeing him happy.

Then he turned his head and caught her staring. His arms tightened subtly around his nephew, and the rocking momentarily stopped. Such yearning filled his expression that Ari lost her breath. The absence of the moon bond didn"t matter. She knew what he was thinking. It was written across his face. Even though she"d warned him taking care of herself was more than she could manage some days, he wanted to have kids with her.

When Adam said
I love you
, he didn"t mess around.

Her heart started knocking against her ribs. She guessed Maria heard the thumping with her wolf ears, because she looked at her.

“They"re not as hard as they look,” she said.

Ari tore her eyes from Adam. “What aren"t?”

“Kids. Well, sometimes they are, but Adam will be a great dad. Just like my Johnny. You won"t go wrong with him.”

“Maria, Adam and I aren"t -”

The men suddenly lifted their bottles for a toast. “To Grant,” someone said.

“A true prince among gargoyles.”

Ari remembered they all thought Grant was dead. Guilt niggled at her, but she didn"t think she ought to enlighten them - not when they so obviously were gossips. Grant had said being weres was his people"s biggest secret. Ari wasn"t sure she even dared tell Adam.

“To Grant,” everyone chorused.

Rick rose from his seat awkwardly. “To Ari,” he said, gesturing his beer toward her. “May she come to love our pack as much as we"re certain to love her.”

Coming on top of Adam"s yearning, this was too much. Ari"s face and chest flashed hot. Maria wasn"t the only one jumping to conclusions. Adam"s pack seemed to think they were halfway down the aisle. Her mouth fished open and shut. She couldn"t deny their assumption. She"d embarrass Adam in front of his friends. Plus, she could see from his discomfort that he hadn"t expected Rick to do this.

“Okay,” he said, patting the air for quiet. “Let"s not rush Ari into anything.”

“A-ri,” someone started chanting - not a member of his pack. The wolf was immediately joined by a dozen more. “A-ri.
A-ri
.”

“Jesus,” Adam said. “Everyone shut up!”

Amazingly, everybody did.

“Ari wasn"t born here,” he said into the calm. “And she has the right to make her own decisions. Why don"t we let her do that?”

This was as good as declaring he wanted to marry her.

Of course, given the way her throat had clenched with emotion, if he"d asked her right that second, she"d probably have said
yes
.

∞

The party wound down soon after that. Though everyone insisted it was

getting late, Adam knew they"d felt awkward watching their host be publically rejected by his mate. He knew Ari hadn"t meant to hurt him. Nonetheless, most of his guests wouldn"t understand her hanging back.

Adam was alpha. And a catch. Why wouldn"t she want to marry him and be a part of his pack?

And have his children
, he reminded himself. Mustn"t forget that detail.

He caught her sneaking worried glances at him as they cleared up the trash with Maria, Rick and Tony. Maria"s husband Johnny had carried Ethan home, slung sleeping over his shoulder like a puppy who"d played too hard. Adam"s last glimpse of his nephew had been a poignant one. As clear as the memory was, it hadn"t left him in the mood to soothe Ari"s anxiety. He wasn"t going to yell at her.

She did have the right to her own choices. Just sue him if her choice tonight had left him a bit grumpy.

Finally, the Lupone siblings headed off for their own homes - Rick and Tony only having to walk downstairs. Once Adam and Ari were alone, Ari didn"t beat around the bush. “I really am sorry, Adam. Your friends" assumptions caught me off guard.”

“I guess mine did too,” he said sourly.

Her hands twisted together in front of Maria"s pretty flowered party dress, the picture of vulnerable femininity. Adam wanted to toss his mate"s little body over his shoulder and carry her to his cave. His stupid dick began to lengthen inside his jock, totally behind that idea. He couldn"t kid himself the cause was pre-full moon horniness. Ari just being Ari did this to him.

A knock sounded on the door. Thinking Tony or Rick must have forgotten

something, Adam swore and opened it.

Lord Grygir was waiting in the hall. A hot pink polo shirt with a sprite stitched on its breast in electrum thread draped his model-perfect torso. Dark gray slacks garbed his equally perfect legs. His black dress shoes shone like mirrors, as did his fingernails. He was either on his way somewhere more important, or he was attempting to appear somewhat respectful. Adam presumed his errand had to do with the dark red vacuum canister he was holding between his perfect hands.

“Forgive me for interrupting,” Grygir said stiffly. “I waited until your guests were gone.”

“How did you -” Adam stopped before he asked a stupid question. A little thing like a front door lock wouldn"t keep out a faerie. The idea of Grygir standing in the street, waiting for his guests to leave, was slightly mind boggling.

“Never mind. Please come in.”

“That won"t be necessary. I only came to give you this.” With a hint of belligerence, he thrust the canister at Adam. Adam took it dazedly. “I was able to recover some of my bodyguards" remains before they dissipated. If the Talent agrees to marry you, they"ll be useful.”