The Lycan Hunter (The Gardinian World Series) (36 page)

“Yay,” she grinned. “I can’t wait.”

“Do you plan on going to work out still?”

“Nope. I’m going to take a nap.”

He laughed. “Must be nice. I have to plan a wedding, prepare to move, and make sure Ronan does something besides watch movies with Marcela.”

She snickered at the air quotes he made around watch movies. “I thought they were going to try abstinence until they get married.”

“I guess, but I had my doubts after the game room incident. Ronan
likes to remind me that there is a lot you can do between nothing and
everything.”

“Really?” she asked, batting her lashes. “You’ll have to show me one day.”

“You
’
ll never be innocent enough to bat your lashes at me,” he
laughed. “Besides, didn’t you just tell me you’re taking a nap?”

She covered a yawn with her hand. “I don’t feel tired anymore.”

“I’m sure you don
’
t.” He got up from the bed and went over to
his desk. “I would love to show you the spectrum of possibilities, but I have to work.”

“You suck, but okay.”

Alexis reclined on the bed, her hand unconsciously going to her stomach. She stroked the bulge absentmindedly as she watched TV,
making Kyran want to crawl into the bed next to her. He loved the
glow that she had, the mark of radiance that came from a woman
expecting. He wanted to relish in the feeling of his child growing in
his mate’s womb, but he stayed where he was. Alexis wasn’t the type
to appreciate anyone randomly touching her stomach, not even him. Besides, the wedding wouldn’t plan itself.

The wedding would take place in five days, with other rituals
and ceremonies to perform before the wedding. For humans, it
took
anywhere from six months to a year to plan everything. Lycans may be long living, but they were temperamental at best when it came to claiming what was theirs.

Kyran was no different. He wanted Alexis as his official wife. The
pack may acknowledge her as his, but the larger component missing
from their relationship that could only be accomplished with the binding
ceremony performed by Afri. Kyran wanted to be bound, for better,
worse, until their last days together in Gardas. She was his, and after Afri bound them, she would see how much he was truly hers.

He studied the finalized wedding plans. With the exception of a
few minor annoyances in the form of guests that he couldn’t avoid
inviting, the wedding would be flawless.

***

Alexis watched as Kyran began to write. She wanted to peek over
his shoulder and see what he was doing but resisted. He claimed their
wedding day was going to be special, of that she had no doubt. Nearly
every waking moment of Kyran’s day was spent on planning for an
occasion that she would have opted out of if he hadn
’
t explained eloping
wasn’t an option. Apparently all the pomp and stance was necessary
for a Gardinian wedding. So she sat back and let him do his job while
she watched.

She turned the channel to a cooking show. Since she had been
pregnant, she had gravitated toward the food channel. Alexis wasn’t
much of a cook. The only knife skills she possessed had nothing to do
with the kitchen, and while she could get water to boil, she didn’t know
what do with it once it started bubbling.

Her stomach growled, which forced her to turn her attention to
the orange that Lykil had given her. She was feeling a little lazy and didn’t want to be bothered with going to the kitchen.

“Kyran, I need your opinion.”

When Kyran looked over at her and his eyes landed on the orange
,
she explained what Lykil had told her earlier. She didn’t want to mak
e
that decision on her own. Besides, Kyran knew a hell of a lot more
about Gardas than she did.

“Personally, I say eat it. Lykil may be into a lot of things, but he wouldn’t trick you. It’s not his style.”

Alexis nodded, inspected the orange warily before she peeled it and began eating it. After the first bite, she forgot about it being from
Gardas. It tasted sweeter, but if she didn’t think about where it actually came from, she
’
d have assumed Lykil went to some fancy orange grove
and plucked it just for her. Did she really believe that she was that
special to Lykil? Not particularly, but Lykil did quirky things just for
her. His motives seemed relatively pure, for the God of Destruction
anyway, so she found herself dismissing his weirdness as a part of
his character.

Kyran sighed, breaking into her thoughts. “I
’
ll never tell him, but
I’m glad Lykil gave it to you. Maybe the baby will absorb some of Gardas
’
power from the orange.” Kyran smiled at her. “He can come into the world happy and healthy.”

She arched a brow at that. “He?”

“Just using a general term, not saying it
’
s a boy. I don
’
t know any
more than you do.”

After the shock of finding out that she was pregnant had worn off,
Alexis had asked for a barrage of tests to be performed. Unfortunately,
modern medical procedures couldn’t be used to check on the baby’s
development. Apparently, developing Lycans were extremely sensitive
and reacted harshly to most modern medical procedures. An ultrasound
was so unpleasant to their senses that Lycan mothers would lose their
babies after the procedure. The only information she’d been told was
that Lycans were born in singles, unlike their animal counterparts. The
magic required to create them took a lot of energy from the mother,
meaning she could only support the development of one child at a time.

 She looked at him for a minute. “Do you want a boy?”

“I honestly don’t care.”

“But every man wants a boy to carry their names.”

“
I’m neither that archaic nor that desperate to preserve something
as meaningless as a name. My legacy will live on in the character I try
to instill into my offspring. That’s all the legacy I need.”

She picked at her nails and let out a long exhale. “I think I agree with you.”

“About?”

She flopped ungracefully on the bed. “I’m getting a little annoyed
at the interference of gods in our lives.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I think Lykil is the only one not trying to get anything from you.”

“That’s kind of a sad thought, isn’t it? The God of Destruction is the only one not trying to take advantage of me. Though I think that has more to do with Torin holding his TV hostage than any personal affection he has towards me.”

Kyran laughed. “That’s true. He does love that TV.”

Alexis stared up at the ceiling as Kyran refocused on the wedding
details. She popped up from the bed. She might as well do something
productive, and lying around
moaning a
bout the gods and their propensity
for meddling didn't qualify as being productive.

“I’m going to go see the seamstresses. Maybe they can distract me with
yards of fabric in colors to hang myself by.”

Kyran laughed but kept his eyes focused on the papers in front
of him. “There
’
s a lot of a color between black and white, you know.”

“That leaves khaki,” she laughed at his grimace. “I’m kidding. I
won’t ruin your perfect wedding day.”

“It
’
s your day, too,” he said with a snort. “I just get to do all the
work.”

“Isn’t that what human women say, but then they throw away all
the man’s opinions?”

“Well, there is that. Go get fitted. You
’
re distracting me, and I have
to pick out the napkins,” he said, his voice rising to an unflattering
falsetto.

“I’m leaving, but do me a favor.” She waited until his gaze met
hers. “Never use that voice again. Big turn off,” she said with a smile as she exited their room.

MOVING FROM THE CAVE
had been an exercise in forgetting the
laws of physics. Alexis had woken up under the weight of Lykil
’
s stare
while he sat like a stalker in Kyran
’
s office chair, watching them sleep
.
Now that she stood in her new bedroom, fully decorated without a box
to unpack, she was glad for the god
’
s help. Despite his creepy methods.

“Lykil, can you please move that chair over there?” she asked.

He was splayed across her bed, remote in hand, flipping randomly
through the channels.

“Do I look like a mover to you?”

“Considering what you did earlier this morning? Yeah.”

The ‘duh’ was left unsaid, but the smile that quirked across his
face told her that he heard it nonetheless.

“You and
your brother with the
unsaid ‘duhs’. It
’
s irritating as hell.”

“And yet you’re still here. Move the chair, pretty please.”

With the heavy sigh of a put out child, he moved the chair to whe
re she indicated.

“I didn’t take you for the decorating type.”

“Thanks, and I’m not.” She assessed the room for a few silent seconds
before she flopped onto the bed where Lykil had been. “The room is better to defend like this.”

“Good gods, you’re paranoid.”

She rolled
her eyes. “My
parents
–
along with the
rest
of the Hunters –
want me dead. Kyran is downstairs greeting other Lycan leaders, who
could easily mistake me for a regular Hunter and not his soon-to-be wife. It’s not paranoia that I’m suffering. It’s wisdom.”

“That’s just insulting.”

“To who?”

“Me.”

He echoed her earlier unspoken duh,
accented with a roll of his eyes
.

“How so?”

“I'm keeping you safe. I won’t let anything happen to you, and it
’
s insulting
that you’d think I would.”

She regarded him for a minute, searching for any sign that he was
joking. Alexis never knew with him.

“Tell me I didn’t hurt your feelings?”

He let out a small sniff. “Maybe.”

“Asshole,” she laughed. “And it
’
s not that I don
’
t trust you to keep
me safe. I trust Kyran, too, but I’m used to keeping myself safe. Relying
on others to do it only gets a person killed faster.”

“Well, nothing will happen to you while Im here. Okay?”

“You
’
re not always here, though sometimes it feels like it. Besides, I don
’
t know why you even bother. Torin holding your TV hostage again?”

“I do have a job to do, and other worlds to do it on, but I
’
m always
a call away.” He laughed. “The reason I bother is nothing that mundane.”

“Then what?”

“I find myself amused by the two of you. If I had known about
Torin before he died, I would have paid him that same attention.”

“Oh,” she put some disappointment in her tone. “
So it
’
s not about
sleeping with me?”

His hands flew to his pants, hooking his thumbs into his waistband
.

“I never said that wasn’t part of the motivation.”

“And if it ever becomes part of your motivation, I
’
ll rip off your
dick, watch it grow back, and repeat the process,” Kyran said with a growl from the doorway.

“Ah, my favorite Lycan, as if I didn’t hear you coming.”

“Favorite my ass.” He studied the room. “What did you do to the
room, Alexis?”

She glared at Lykil when he snorted. “Nothing.”

“It looks very…tactical.”

“And?”

Kyran laughed, shaking his head. “Tell me he at least moved stuff
around for you?”

“He did.”

“Good.” He waved her towards the door. “Come on. I have some
people for you to meet.”

“Friends, foes, or indifferent?”

“Most have a certain allegiance to Ronan.” He paused and told her
briefly that Rockys were a society built primarily on the loyalty they have to each other. “There is one that is simply tolerated.” He placed a hand in her lower back as he gently guided her down the hallway. “The ones I introduce you to first I like and know personally. They
are the other Talas and the Shiriki. Among those in the indifferent group
are the Shapa, Bao, Hafiz, and the Aleser. Nobody likes the Aleser. I wouldn’t call him a foe, though; just an irritant.”

She tried to commit the list to memory: wolf, coyote, tiger, panther,
leopard, and lion. She
’
d be lucky if it stuck with her, though. Her short
term memory seemed to take more time off with each passing day.
Apparently, that was a typical part of pregnancy, though many claimed
it was hitting her sooner than it did any of the other females they knew.