Take Me (43 page)

“Are we getting mated or not?” No more beating around the bush for her. They’d done enough of that all week long.

He paused, not even bothering to turn around, just paused on his way to his desk. “Why?”

Not the answer she wanted. Her heart stopped beating. Oh god, she knew it. She knew something was wrong. It hurt to speak. “I’ve been asking you for a week now and I’m done playing games. You’re keeping something from me. I know it.” He turned around. “I want you to tell me what it is. No, I
need
you to tell me because if you’re going to break my heart then do it now.”

“It was supposed to be a surprise.”

She jerked, stunned. “What’s a surprise?”

A slow, devastating smile formed as he crossed his arms and sat on the corner of his desk. “I was planning the mating ceremony, flying in your mother, sending out invitations to only select people, though we can’t keep out people if they want to come and I was going to surprise you.” The smile he sent her was taunting and mocking.

She glared. “You need to work on that.”

“Work on what?”

“Hiding things from me.”

His smile slowly died. “It was a surprise, sweets, nothing more.”

“Yeah, but this sneaking around all week had me worried and getting more worried by the minute. I appreciate the surprise, I think, I mean, yes, I do. But you could have dropped some hint so I wouldn’t have been worried that this was going to end in a break up.”

He stood. “A break up?” he said slowly. He came towards her. “A break up?” he repeated. “You and I could never...break up. After all we’ve been through. After our failed attempt at mating before, everything we’ve been through since, you really think I’d let you go?”

“Just promise you’ll work on it.”

He bit her earlobe catching it with his teeth and tugging. “Promise. Do you have any idea how much I love you?” This he said while cupping her cheeks, his face closing in on hers.

“I have an idea,” she said, soft as a mouse.

The corner of his mouth turned up. “How about I show you.”

“That sounds great.”

His grin turned into a soft laugh as he did just that.

* * * * * * *

The crunch of tires over gravel brought Felicity’s head snapping up. She glanced down and saw Dom still asleep on top of her from where they’d had their rather vigorous lovemaking on the floor of his office. He was still inside her, still hard.

“Dom, get up! Someone’s coming!”

He grumbled something then snuggled deeper, planting his face in her neck.

Grunting and wheezing she pushed and squirmed under him trying to free herself. “Dominic, get up!”

“Sweets...no,” was all he said.

Half-laughing, half-freaking out, she heard the vehicle stop then the sound of a door slamming. “I’m telling you someone is here.”

“I know,” came his sleep-heavy voice again.

“What do you mean you know? If you know then get off of me.”

A low rumble came from his chest then he leisurely lifted himself up into a push-up just as the doorbell rang. Felicity pushed at his shoulders, laughing.

“Get off of me. I haven’t seen another living person in a week.”

He smiled. “Tired of looking at me already?”

“No,” she said in a soft voice.

“Fine,” he said leveraging himself off her. “It’s for you anyway.”

“For me?” She didn’t wait to hear his answer. She pulled on her clothes and raced for the front door, throwing it open. Her jaw dropped but she quickly clamped it shut. Then she wasted no time in slamming the door shut. However, the man on the other side simply stuck out his hand so the door bounced off. “Dom!”

“There’s no need to get all snippy with me now, darlin’. I mean, really, after all we’ve been through? I practically raised you.”

Felicity relaxed as she felt Dom’s presence at her shoulder. She cast him a glance and found his face set in stone.

“You didn’t raise me.” The words felt so ridiculous to say she nearly giggled. The alpha had to be crazy or something.

He rolled his eyes. “Semantics, syntax, whatever. If not for me you wouldn’t have this fine vampire at your side.” He leaned down and whispered. “Let me know if you ever get tired of his
taste
. I hear us
weres
are practically mouthwatering.”

“What are you doing here?” Dom said, his voice a growl.

Zeke stepped back, putting his hands in the air. “Hold on there, partner. No need to go all Dracula on me now. I just came by to have a little chat with you.”

“Go inside, Felicity.”

She snorted. “Like hell I’m gonna miss this.”

He sent her a warning glare but she just winked and wrapped her arm around his waist.

“What do you want, Zeke?” she asked.

Zeke smiled at her. “I like her. She’s got spunk and all that. Now, here I am, president of the council which you so sadly lost, Dom. Very regrettable. My sincerest apologies for kicking your ass at the polls and all that.”

“What the hell do you want, Zeke? Remember, you’re on my land now.”

Zeke rubbed a hand over his stomach as if he was petting a full belly. “See here I got a little problem, thought you might help. Philips wants to step down. That means we need another of your kind sitting on the council to even things out. I thought I’d be a nice fella and offer it to you.”

Felicity’s eyes widened. She smiled up at Dom, but he still looked like he was made from granite.

“What do you want in exchange?”

Zeke slowly grinned, his whole face softening. “I can’t tell you how good it makes me feel that you know me so well already, Dommy. Can I call you Dommy?”

“Not if you want to keep your teeth,” came the sharp reply.

Zeke laughed a deep, belly kind of laugh that made you want to join in. “Dom it is then. Listen, pal, all I want is for you to agree with me every now and then. My people want some big changes. They want to mate with other packs, having stronger pups and all that.”

“It’ll cause problems. The men won’t like it. It’ll be a war.”

Zeke shrugged. “It may, it may not. Fact is, we gotta keep our stock strong and mating with the same folks for years on end, well, you can see the problem. We need to spread our wings. Change things up. I have strong support in the
were
community.”

“From the men?”

Zeke laughed. “From enough of the men. The smarter ones.” He winked at Felicity like they shared some kind of secret. They didn’t.

Dom grew quiet. Felicity knew that look on his face—the deep, thinking one where he weighed the pros and cons of the entire situation before making a decision. After a minute, he nodded. “I’ll do it.”

Zeke rubbed his stomach again. “Sounds good, Dommy—I mean Dom.”

They shook hands then Zeke left shooting up gravel as he did.

Felicity turned to Dom. “That was my surprise?”

He grunted. “Hardly.”

Another car came down the drive passing Zeke on its way. Felicity squinted at it but didn’t recognize it. “Who’s coming now?”

He smiled. “Now that’s your surprise.”

“Dommy, what have you been up to?”

He pressed her up against the door, his face inches from her. In a dark voice he said, “What did you call me, sweets?”

She wet her lips at the dark glint in his eyes. “Dommy?”

She squeaked at his growl then his lips caught hers in a kiss that addled her mind like scrambled eggs. They were still kissing when someone cleared their throat. She tried pulling away, but he was much more reluctant. He kisses her on the lips, at the corner of her mouth up the line of her jaw to her neck.

Panting, she peered over his big shoulder and gasped. “Beth!” At the sight of her friend a rush of excitement burst inside her and she shoved Dom away and pulled her friend into her embrace. “Oh my god! What are you doing here? I’ve missed you so much.”

“It looks like I’m to be your ‘sort-of’ maid of honor again.” She grinned then winked up at Dom.

“You planned this?” Felicity asked Dom.

“This is nothing, and it’s only part of the surprise, sweets.”

Felicity jumped into his arms and of course he caught her and kissed her square on the mouth, licking his way inside to taste her. “Thank you.”

He shook his head. “You haven’t even gotten to the good part of the surprises and you’re already kissing me. I think from now on I’ll make it my duty to surprise you.”

“You might want to do that,” she said with a wink.

Beth grabbed her hand and pulled her back to her car. “Come on, you and I have fun stuff to do.”

“Like what?” She could barely contain her excitement. Dom got a job, they were getting mated, and now her best friend was here for part of her “surprise”. She couldn’t be happier.

Beth grinned at her from the other side of the car. “Shopping.”

Oh, hell yeah. With a final wave to Dom she peeled out.

Chapter 28

“Now, listen up,” Beth was saying, “I need to get you dressed, done up, and all that by midnight.” She pulled onto the highway and sped up. The girl had a lead foot.

“What happens at midnight?”

“Your fairy godmother comes by and turns you into a pumpkin, what do you think happens at midnight?” Beth said, her lips fighting a smile.

“I think, for one, that isn’t how that fairy tale goes, and for two I think I’m getting mated—tonight.” Just saying the words aloud made butterflies dance in her stomach. She pressed a hand over it to stifle them.

Beth tossed her head back laughing. “True enough and you’re absolutely right. So, right now we’re headed to the mall.”

Felicity glanced at the clock. “It’s almost ten, babe. They won’t be open.”

Beth sent her a knowing glance. “They’ll be open.”

“You know that because of your secret mind powers?”

“Nope, I know it because Dom arranged for you to have full access to all the clothing stores, shoe stores, and even that great makeup place I like to go to. Anything and everything you need to beautify yourself is at your disposal.”

Felicity’s heart beat a mile a minute and she couldn’t stop smiling. “Oh my god, this is too much. I spent all week unsure if he was even going to mate with me but instead he’d been planning all this to surprise me.”

Beth whistled. “Mmm, girl, he’s a keeper.”

“Speaking of keepers how’s your man?”

Beth hesitated. It was only a moment’s pause but in that look Felicity saw a fleeting look cross her face—pain. “He’s good. We’re good. He sends me flowers, and when it’s not flowers it’s these gift coupons for the spa. All day free massages, tans, which I don’t use, face masks, the whole she-bang.”

“So everything’s good?”

Beth smiled, a real one. “Everything’s good.”

They pulled up to the mall and sure enough a lone security guard unlocked the entrance door and let them in. For the next hour she and Beth ran around the mall from shop to shop like little kids in a candy shop.

“We need a shopping cart,” Beth said, her arms full of clothes for herself.

Felicity laugh. “I hear that.”

Beth tried to check her watch, which was hilarious to watch as she struggled to move the mountain of clothes in her arm to glance at her wrist. “Damn, we have to get rolling soon. Do you know what you want to wear? Personally, I thought that light pink dress with the ruffled material looked perfect on you.”

This was the crux of the problem and what Felicity had been avoiding since they got here. What the hell did she wear? Last time she’d worn an expensive and gorgeous red gown. Things hadn’t turned out so well though. Now, everything felt perfect and right. She wanted to do things her way.

“You know, I’m not gonna wear a dress.”

Beth blinked, looked down at the pretty pink dress, and then blinked again. “Why not?”

Felicity shrugged. “Give me a sec.”

Running back to an outfit she saw earlier, she grabbed the clothes, some shoes, a few pieces of jewelry, and then headed for the changing room. When she came out, a proud smile on her face and hands cocked on her hips, Beth caught one look at her and burst out laughing.

“You want to wear that?” She laughed harder, her eyes watering.

Felicity didn’t flinch, didn’t snicker, didn’t join in. She stood poised and ready. More ready to mate with Dom that she’d ever been. She wore a pair of gray athletic pants, the kind women wore to yoga classes, a black fitted tank top, and to top it all off she had on some cross-trainers.

“Are you going running or getting mated?” Beth sucked in deep breaths as she calmed herself down.

Felicity didn’t need to laugh though she understood she might look a bit silly to others. Fact is she felt comfortable and right in this. Besides, she knew without a doubt that nothing would keep Helena away tonight. Only now she was ready. She wasn’t going to wear some frou-frou gown that was non-conducive to fighting; no, she looked ready to fight and she was. Ready to fight for her man, the love of her life.

“Let’s go.”

Giving up, Beth shrugged. “Okay.”

Beth drove Felicity back to the hall she’d been at more than a week ago. The night was dark, the air a little muggy and warm. Reporters swarmed the area like bees to a honeycomb, each excited with their cameras flashing as they pulled up.

“Dom’s already here then?”

Beth nodded. “He said right at midnight and it’s five ‘til. You nervous?”

“Me, nervous?” She started to say that of course she was nervous, but then she quieted and took note of her emotions. “You know, I’m not. I’m ready to do this.”

“Good, let’s go.”

They walked through the press like  who were used to the attention, sparing a few small smiles and waves, ignoring the questions thrown at them, and entered the hall. Inside was excited chatter.

Felicity spotted Diane waiting at the entrance with bright eyes. She rushed forward. “What are you wearing?” It wasn’t quite admonishment, but close.

“I’m ready,” Felicity said.

“For what, dear?”

“Helena.”

Diane looked back over her shoulder as if checking for eavesdroppers. “How did you know she was here?”

Felicity shrugged. “I just knew.”