Leader of the Pack (49 page)

“Some yes. Some no. Druids can be very enigmatic,” she said and grinned at him.

He grinned back and shook his head. Then leaned down and kissed her. His tongue slid over her lips, and she opened her mouth to let him in. It only took moments for the kiss to grow heated.
Let’s go back to our room,
he suggested.

Aislinn broke the kiss and nuzzled into his neck, biting him gently. “Okay,” she said, and they headed back up to the cabin.

* * * *

The next day was a great deal like the previous day, except that it involved saying goodbye to everyone diplomatically instead of saying hello. Cullen, Aislinn, Sarah, Drake, Keith, and Jaylyn, as well as the rest of the main group of betas from the den, were the last ones to leave that day. The plan was to arrive at the Madadh-Allaidh Saobhaidh, have dinner at the Taigh-O
è
sda, do the last of the mourning and then sleep. The next day would return everyone to business as usual.

The first thing Cullen said when they all got in the car was, “By all the Gods I’ll be glad when this is done. Now I remember why I worked so hard to stop this kind of crap.” Aislinn decided to save her discussion about Brinah’s warning for a later date. She sat uncomfortably throughout the car ride. His scent was getting to her more than usual. All she wanted was to be alone with him.

When they managed to walk into the penthouse without further incident, Cullen smiled and laughed wondering how long it would take for the next natural disaster to hit. Aislinn was torn between attacking Cullen and cleaning up. She finally decided that one would make the other more pleasant, so she started dropping clothes on the floor and walking toward the bathroom. She felt guilty that she had just come from a funeral, and all she could think of was sex. But she couldn’t help herself.

Cullen watched Aislinn undress and head for the shower. He could feel her upset over everything that had been happening. She’d been dwelling all day, in between thoughts about getting him naked and alone. More than willingly, he undressed and followed her.

Aislinn heard the curtain slide and then felt Cullen’s hands across her body. “Stop it,” he said.

She scoffed, “What? You got something against me showering?”

“I know what you’re thinking remember?”

“No you don’t. You said you only know what I’m feeling. I could be upset about anything.”

“Smart ass. I know why too. None of this is your fault. You didn’t bring it here. Rafe would have come looking for the stones whether I’d fallen in love with you or not. At least that’s what people keep telling me. If I can come to terms with it all so can you.” He took the soap from her and started rubbing her body in way that had nothing to do with cleaning. “Besides,” he said softly, “you’re worth it.”

Aislinn felt him slide his erection against her butt, and then he pressed her forward, away from him, and into the stream of water. His hand slid down the center of her back, along her spine, over her butt, and between her legs. Aislinn bent over and braced herself against the wall as water pounded on her back. Between the heat of the shower and the heat that Cullen was creating, she felt like she was on fire.

Cullen slid his fingers into her slit and felt her coat them. He growled his pleasure at that. She was always ready for him. He pulled his hand from her and listened to her whimper, wanting his fingers back. He chuckled and brought his fingers to his mouth. Suddenly his wolf roared into his mind and seized control of the situation.

Aislinn felt the rush and was more than a little shocked, when she felt him grab her roughly and force her out of the shower. Before she knew what was happening, she was on her hands and knees on the bathroom floor, and he was fucking her hard from behind. She tried to get away at first, but he was far too strong and determined. It took some time for the forceful thrusts to become pleasurable. Aislinn gave over to her cat, knowing that she’d be more capable of handling it that way.

As the cat took control, her confusion gave way to primal need. Aislinn began growling and pushing back into his thrusts. Cullen wasn’t concerned in the least with her pleasure this time. He was going to come inside her, and then he was going to do it again. He swelled inside her and forced himself as deep as he could into her sopping cunt. He came hard, and Aislinn shook with her own orgasm as she felt his seed fill her. She growled happily as they collapsed to the floor.

After some time and some internal struggle, Cullen was able to force his wolf down. Aislinn had already returned to her human self. She could feel the soreness already starting. She stretched a bit. He was lodged inside her more solidly than usual. With a great deal of amusement, she wiggled her butt against him. They were still wet from the shower and sweat.

“I’m going to need another shower,” she said with a satisfied sigh.

Cullen wasn’t amused though. “I didn’t hurt you did I,” he asked.

She looked back over her shoulder. “My knees a little,” she chuckled. “But I’ll get over it. What’s wrong?”

Cullen cleared his throat. “You’re going into heat,” he said flatly. “By morning I’m not going to be able to stop.”

She could feel how serious he was. “How long will that last?”

“Couple days, a week? Hard to say.”

“You’re worried.”

“Yeah. I’ve got meetings scheduled. This isn’t going to look good, but judging from how I reacted to the preliminary, there isn’t going to be any fighting it once you really start. We’re not going to be able to go out into public.”

Aislinn giggled and cuddled against him. She felt his annoyance at her amusement. “I’m sorry. I kinda like the idea that you want me so badly that you literally can’t keep your hands off me.”

Cullen smiled smugly. “You do realize that I’m trying to get you pregnant right?”

That stopped the giggling. “Okay, so you want to have kids,” she realized suddenly.

“Now,” he said harshly. He could feel his wolf growling to take her again.

“On the bed,” Aislinn said, knowing there was no stopping him and unsure how she felt about being pregnant. “And the shower needs turned off,” she added.

* * * *

Terrick was in his room grousing. He was doing his best to sow seeds of doubt in everyone’s minds about Cullen. The new omegas being in love with Aislinn, was destroying that route. Every time he said anything against the missing couple someone else would come along and suggest that the problem was Terrick’s interpretation. He was getting frustrated with the fact that he seemed to have miss played the best chance he’d been giving for ousting Cullen in centuries.

No one even seemed to care that he had probably already mated with Aislinn and was lying about it. Ranaild, Elise, Celia, and Mack were the ones who were pointing out to people that they were expecting more of Cullen than themselves. At least a third of the pack had ‘accidentally’ skipped the dumb ceremony. If Cullen fell short on that one, well maybe he had earned a reprieve from their expectations. That mixed with the omegas spouting how wonderful Aislinn was and how dead half of them would be if she hadn’t talked Cullen down, had the pack pretty much over the whole situation.

Terrick only had a select few people on his side. Luckily the few he had were elders, and they agreed that Cullen shouldn’t be skipping protocol. More was expected of the alpha for a specific reason. And the elders certainly didn’t like being lied to. Terrick’s support was less than Cullen’s, but he still had some.

When his phone rang he answered it angrily, “What?”

“Hmm, something certainly does have you in a foul mood,” came the honey sweet voice of Jenna Tairneach.

“What do you want, Jenna?”

“The same thing I wanted last time, Terrick. I’m just trying to find out if you’re still stubbornly holding out against me,” she cooed.

“Remind me what you think our mating will accomplish?”

“Well, you would at very least get to be alpha with the Tairneach. Once you have a pack maybe then you can get what you truly want.”

“Jenna if I mate with you I’ll never get what I truly want. Although I may despise Cullen Arnauk, my loyalty to this pack is true. I want Cullen gone and the Arnauk hailing me as alpha. Your way won’t do that. I’ll not risk any of our own lives. There isn’t a single lycan here who would trust and follow me with real loyalty, if I left the pack only to start a war so that I could take it over. If I can’t beat Cullen in a one on one fight, it’s pointless. We’ve already had this discussion. So why the hell are you really calling?”

Jenna was annoyed. Even the Arnauk who wanted to get rid of Cullen were difficult to get to. She may have to have the druids teach her how Rafe played the mind games he did. “How about just making him look bad for now? Would you be interested in helping me with that?”

“I’m listening,” Terrick said, his tone less annoyed.

“The Pack Council is sending a message to him. There’s going to be a meeting. Just intercept the message,” she cooed. “The council will get mad, and he’ll look like a fool.”

Terrick thought about it. Making Cullen look the part of the fool was always a good idea to him, but there was one thing bothering him. “What’s in it for you Jenna?”

She growled to herself. Terrick was a thoin, but he wasn’t stupid. “Time,” she said. “Just time.”

“For what?”

“That’s not your concern. Do it or not. I don’t care. I was just trying to be helpful.” With that, she hung up on Terrick.

* * * *

Keith and Sarah were pissed. They’d been running interference all week. “How much longer do you think she’s going to be in heat,” he asked angrily, as he slammed into Sarah’s office and sat down in the chair across from her desk.

Sarah shrugged and shook her head. “Terrick knows what’s going on. Most of the others are suspicious. That’s making Terrick’s stupidity easier for them to stomach. I’m tired of lying to everyone.”

Keith nodded in agreement. “He better name all the boys after me and all the girls after you,” he said only half joking.

“Speaking of names, do you and Jay know what you’re naming yours yet,” Sarah asked.

“No. I leave it to Jay. It’s her first litter. There’s only the two. Thank the Gods. She has a list a mile long to pick from. As long as she’s happy, and I’m finally allowed to touch her again, I don’t care what they’re named.”

Sarah smiled. She had been trying to have a litter with Drake for a while. It didn’t matter how much sex they had while she was in heat, she just wasn’t pregnant yet. It wasn’t uncommon for it to take years for a lycan to get pregnant. They went into heat so rarely. At least when they finally did get pregnant, they had several at once. Sarah didn’t mind at all when Keith interrupted her thoughts. She was more than a little jealous of Jaylyn at the moment.

“How are the arrangements for their mating coming along,” Keith asked.

“It’s set. We only need the couple to come out of hiding. Then we get to put up with them disappearing again,” she groused.

“Oh well,” he said, in resignation. “It’s not like he doesn’t deserve to get something good. At the moment there’s nothing pressing to stop it. I’ve got the retraining of the out of shape troops dealt with. You’ve got the new quasi-omegas relocated and assigned only semi-demeaning duties. Jenna’s been quiet, and there’s no new info on that front. Even the southern border’s quiet. Terrick’s the only problem, and he’s always been a problem.”

Sarah growled. “I don’t know. Terrick’s really pushing it this time. Cullen’s going to have a lot of explaining to do.”

The phone rang and Sarah grabbed it. “Sarah, what?”

“Cadifor,” the voice said. “Where’s Arnauk?”

Caoch,
Sarah swore to herself.
Muin Pack Council.
“He’s indisposed. Can I get him and have him call you back?”

“It better be soon,” came the angry voice. Then there was a click.

Keith raised his eyebrows. “Who could that have been that you would be willing to go get Cullen?”

“Pack council.”

“You’ve got to be kidding. That was too short for him to have told you what he wanted.”

Sarah nodded. “It must be important. He didn’t even offer to tell me. Obviously I’m not good enough to know what it was about.” She stared at the phone with concern. “You never should have said that we didn’t have any problems at the moment. You jinxed it.” Sarah stood up to head for the door.

Keith jumped to go with her. “I’m coming too. I’m suspicious. I think he’s dragging it out for the fun of it.”

“If he isn’t, there’s a chance we’ll get attacked,” Sarah said off handedly, as they walked down the hall for the elevator.

“Yeah, then it would be better if there’s two of us anyway. Don’t know about you, but last I checked I couldn’t take him one on one,” Keith said with a grin. There was more than one reason Cullen was the alpha. “He did manage to bring down a were-bear-lion-thing recently. I guess he’s been keeping up on his training, even if the rest of us weren’t overly concerned for it.”

Sarah nodded. “Well hopefully he worked out enough aggression that he’ll at least listen before attacking. Doesn’t matter,” she said as they walked into the elevator, and she inserted the key. “He’s got to know that Cadifor is looking for him. This isn’t one he can ignore until he’s done fucking Aislinn.”