Every Night Forever (24 page)

He and Manny joined the large table, and Dante sat next to Cairo and reached around him to stroke Alyssa’s shoulder.  She smiled at him, snagged his wrist and kissed his palm with a wink, and then went back to speaking to Kelli about what movie they were going to see.

Later that evening, as he carried his sleeping sweetheart upstairs to the bedroom and undressed her before tucking her into bed, he was certain that he’d never been happier in his life.

* * * * *

As he watched Alyssa help his mother pull weeds in her garden to get ready for spring planting, Cairo leaned back in the chair on the back porch and sipped at his coffee.  They were leaving tomorrow to head back to Dalton.  Next week, things were going to return to normal.  Each of them working different shifts, snagging precious moments with their sweetheart instead of reveling in her twenty-four hours a day as they had been these last two weeks.  Suddenly feeling depressed, he concentrated on watching her shapely butt as she bent over and pulled at a weed.

“Cairo?”  His cousin Orion’s voice broke through his lust-hazed thoughts.

Glancing up, he smiled at him and gestured to the empty chair next to him.  Orion was the eldest of his clan of three and they were unmated.  “What’s up, man?”

“I wanted to ask you a question.”  Orion was a few years younger than him, and Cairo studied his face, wondering why he looked nervous.

“Shoot.”  Cairo eased the front two legs of the handmade chair down onto the porch and turned to give his cousin his full attention.

“Me and the guys wanted to know if there was any room for us at your gym.”

Surprised, Cairo said, “To join, like members?”

Shaking his head, Orion ran his hand through his blond hair and said, “No, to work.  We’re all tired of living here on the outside of everything, Cai.  Our mates aren’t here in Gorge, and we just can’t face the thought of going through another winter without them.”

Confused, Cairo frowned.  “You keep saying ‘mates’?  Who are you talking about?”

Orion’s brows rose.  “All of us.  My clan and Nyte’s clan.”

Nyte and his brothers were Cairo’s other unmated cousins.  “All six of you want to leave Gorge and move to Dalton?  To work with us at the gym?”

Orion smiled and glanced towards Alyssa for a moment before returning his blue-green gaze to Cairo.  “Yeah.  I know you guys are hating being away from Alyssa like you are.  It would be cool if you guys worked the same shift, right?  With our two clans coming in to help you, we could take over the other shifts.  I’m not much for early mornings, but I am a night owl.  And maybe we’ll find ourselves a sweet rogue wolf or a human to complete our clans.  I went to college for accounting, and I could run the office.  Crux and Sterling like working out and could take classes to get certified.  And Nyte, Azrael, and Fade are willing to learn, too.”

Suddenly things weren’t looking so depressing after all.  “I need to talk to Dante, Mason, and Lys.”

Nodding eagerly, Orion stood up and brushed his hands down his jeans.  “We’d really love to join you guys.  Let me know.”

“You’re going to talk to me about what?”  Lys asked, drawing his attention from Orion to where she stood in front of him on the porch.

Keeping his hot coffee away, he pulled her into his lap with his free hand and kissed her neck, breathing in the sweet scent of her skin.  She giggled and wrapped her arms around his neck.  In between kisses, he told her what Orion had said.

Planting her hands on either side of his face, she looked as serious as he had ever seen her.  “Are you saying that we could actually have a semi-normal life if they came to work for you?”

“For us, baby.  The gym is yours, too.  All we have is yours,” he reminded her.

“I know, Cai.  I want that.”

“What, sweetheart?”

“For us to be together.  I’m dreading the separate hours and us all feeling stretched so thin trying to spend time together.”  She was the one stretched the most, he knew, as she tried to spend time with all of them equally.

“Then let’s go talk to Dante and Mason.”  Scooping her up in one arm, he walked into the house, deposited his mug on the counter, and carried her into the family room where Dante and Mason were talking to Fade, who was a talented graphics artist.

Dante glanced up and smiled as Cairo sat down on the couch next to them and settled Alyssa on his lap.  A sketchbook was open on the coffee table, and a sketch of what looked like a sign had been drawn in pencil.  On closer inspection, he realized it was a sign for their gym.

Mason leaned over and kissed Alyssa’s cheek.  “Fade’s going to redo the sign for the gym and work on some brochures and flyers for us.”

“Cool.”  Alyssa smiled approvingly.  “Fade, can you excuse us for a couple minutes?  I need to speak to my husbands.”

“You bet,” Fade said, leaving the sketchbook and walking out of the room.

“Yes, lovely?”  Dante settled back on the couch.

Cairo and Alyssa shared the news about the clans’ desire to join them in Dalton and work at the gym.  Mason stroked the top of Alyssa’s hand with his thumb and grinned.  “I absolutely want them to join us.  The ones who want to become trainers can take classes but still work at the gym, and we can shift around the other trainers we have and they can work the office and do other things around the gym until they’re ready.”

“I think we need to expand a bit, too, add some more offices,” Alyssa added.

“Good idea, baby.”  Dante nodded.

They spoke for a while longer about the two clans joining them in Dalton, and then they called their cousins to join them in the family room.

Dante cleared his throat.  “We’d like to welcome you to join our
baro
in Dalton.”

Nyte, oldest of his clan, looked surprised.  “You really want to start a new
baro
?”

“Absolutely,” Cairo said.  “We’re not planning to move back here to live, and starting our own
baro
with your clans will be a good way to join our families together.”

The plan would be for the clans to scout a private piece of land on their property in Dalton and build their own homes.  In the meantime, they could find apartments or homes to rent in Dalton.  Although they loved their cousins, they didn’t want six unmated males hanging around in their home.

Alyssa’s face beamed with happiness as she wiggled off Cairo’s lap to crawl across Mason and Dante so she could kiss them.  He hadn’t realized just how much she wanted to have them all together until the opportunity to do that presented itself with their cousins.  Now that the ability to be like a real family together and not constantly separated by shifts was within reach, Cairo realized just how much he wanted it, too.

It was still dark when Alyssa rolled over in bed and snuggled into his chest, shivering under the covers.  “Cold, sweetheart?” he said softly so he wouldn’t wake up Mason, who snored lightly on her other side.  Dante was up and talking to several of the cousins about moving to Dalton.  They’d spent all day yesterday discussing the gym and the changes that inviting the clans to join them would entail.  Both clans were happy with their shift choices, Nyte and his clan taking second shift and Orion and his clan taking the later shift.  Until training licenses were achieved for the two that wanted them, they’d handle spotting for the weight lifters and keeping an eye on the floor.  One member of each clan would man the phones and front desk during their shift and the other would handle office work.

“I shouldn’t be, but it’s cold in here.”  She groaned softly and tried to scoot closer to him.  Dante had opened the window last night to let in fresh air and had clearly forgotten to close it.  The spring night had chilled the room, and wolves didn’t run as hot-blooded as hyenas did.

“Sorry, baby.”  He hugged her closer and pulled the blankets up further, covering her as much as he could.

“I don’t want to get up.”  She kissed his collarbone and yawned.

“Then don’t.  We can have an early lunch instead of breakfast, okay?  This is our vacation, so we can do what we wish.”

He felt her smile against his skin, take in a deep breath, and let it out slowly.  After several minutes, her body relaxed against his warmth as she settled back to sleep.  He held her close while she slept, marveling once more at the softness of her skin and the silky feel of her hair.  When she woke an hour later, feeling more rested and apparently ready to face the day, he and Mason joined her in the shower, where they got clean, got dirty, and then got clean again.

The rest of the day passed quickly.  Their cousins were already packing up their things to prepare to come to Dalton, and he and his brothers spent time that afternoon with their fathers, working on a large chest.  It wasn’t until he was tightening the large polished hinges on the lid that he realized what it was.

“This is a hope chest, isn’t it, Dad?” he asked his father, Colin.

Colin nodded.  “It’s our wedding gift to you.  Every hyena bride should have a hope chest that her mates helped to make.”

Mason got a sappy look on his face.  “She’ll love it.  Thanks, guys.”

Markus chucked Mason under the chin and hugged him.  “We wish you would move home sometimes and rejoin the
baro
, but we’re so proud of you for the lives you’ve built for yourself.  Starting a new
baro
and all that you suffered for each other and your bride just shows us the strong, capable males you’ve become.  We’re really proud of you all.”

Anthony nodded.  “We all are.”

When it was time to head home, they loaded up the hope chest in the back of the Escalade before they headed to the private airport where their charter plane was waiting.  Alyssa had cried when she saw the hope chest, touched deeply by the work that went into it and the fact that all of them had helped to make it.  Their mom had included a sachet made from her own wedding gown, and a framed photo from when their parents were first mated.

Alyssa dozed against Dante’s shoulder as the plane ascended and he jotted notes down on a pad while Cairo relaxed with earbuds in his ears and heavy metal music blasting.  Mason played electronic poker on his iPad.

Dante waved his hand to catch Cairo’s attention, and he stopped the music and pulled the buds from his ears.  Dante said with a low voice so he didn’t wake Lys, “I want to do a weekly dinner for the
baro
, maybe Sunday night?  What do you think?”

Mason straightened and paused his game.  “At our house?  That would be cool.  I’m sure Lys would go for it.”

“I just remember growing up and really loving having all our aunts and uncles around.  Even though we’re all going to be working at different times, I still want to keep that feeling alive, to pass along to our future kids.”

Mason got a wistful look on his face.  “I can’t wait.”

“For dinner or kids?”  Dante teased.

“Both.”  Mason flashed a toothy smile and Dante chuckled.

As the remainder of their vacation wound down and they soon found themselves preparing to go back to work, Cairo was bummed that their happy little bubble was about to burst with responsibility.

On Monday morning, when Alyssa joined him in the shower so they could get ready for their shift, he handed her the shampoo bottle and said, “Just a few weeks, baby, and we’ll be able to all be together.”

“I can’t wait,” she swore.

He couldn’t wait either.

Chapter 17

*Four Months Later*

Alyssa fanned herself as she sat in the remodeled breakroom at the gym and watched Mason put her lunch together.  “I can fix my own lunch, Mase,” she reminded him, but he simply smiled at her over his broad shoulder and went back to arranging the food he’d brought.

He turned and set a plate in front of her on the large round table with a crisp green salad topped with sliced grilled chicken, cherry tomatoes, and chopped cucumbers.  A cup of ranch dressing sat on the side.  He placed a chilled bottle of water down in front of her and stood patiently, a large white horse-pill in between his finger and thumb.