Page 44

However, the Lupine Alpha, seeming to have the strength of ten gods, released her and stepped back. He closed his eyes, and his face grew taut as if a war raged inside him. When he opened his lids, his eyes were clear blue once again.

“I want you, little bunny, but there is no time right now. I have pressing responsibilities I’ve allowed to linger for too long already. Let me dress. I’ll return to heal your hand.”

To heal me ?

Before she could respond, he walked down the hall to the right.

Don’t look at his ass. Don’t look at his fine, sexy, finely-chiseled ass and the thick thighs below. Too late .

Morlie snatched her gaze away from Chanin’s striking form. Now that she was no longer distracted by the domineering man who captured her focus, she looked at her surroundings.

She moved beyond the small foyer and into the great room.

There was a living room with two long couches and a loveseat, all surrounding a long coffee table.

The furniture was gray, but the table, lamps, and curtains were black—very masculine.

She walked beyond the living room to the kitchen area and saw various appliances installed for cooking, but Chanin’s kitchen table was long and seated ten people.

She wondered if other members of his Pack lived with him or if he held a lot of gatherings in his house.

The space differed in many ways from the Drahks’ way of living.

Most of their meals in the Mckenna suites were provided by Aodh’s attendant or taken in the great hall with others.

Even though Morlie knew some of the dragon-shifters’ dwellings had kitchens.

But Chanin’s place reminded her of the home she had with her parents before they died. Not in size, even their two-bedroom living quarters underground could only fit into Chanin’s living room, but it was where her mother cooked, and they sat as a family.

Family. Morlie didn’t know what that would look like with Chanin.

Kai had gotten pregnant, but did the wolf Alpha want children with her?

As she looked around, what fascinated her was his house’s walls. Chanin had a brick space, unlike the concrete structures of the Drahk buildings or the shabby sheet metal that patched holes in abandoned buildings in the Dispatch District.

For some reason, her mind chose that moment to recount a children’s story her mother would recite to her before bed about three little pigs and a big bad wolf.

Morlie recalled huffing and puffing from the wolf, but the house of bricks held firm, and the piglets were safe against his outside dominance.

So, what did it mean for her to be trapped inside the strong structure with the wolf?

“Alright, Morlie. Let me see your hands.” Chanin’s voice broke into her thoughts.

She turned and saw him walking out wearing well-worn, dark-blue jeans and an orange t-shirt.

His long, powerful strides ate up the space quickly as he crossed the room to her.

The ends of his long, blond hair flipped and fluttered on the current of wind his movements caused.

While they had been together in the woods, she didn’t have the chance to bury her hand in his hair and feel how it felt gliding through her fingers.

Her sore hands tingled from the fantasy.

“Come sit. You’ll be more comfortable.” He maneuvered with ease around the furniture and sat on the edge of the coffee table.

Morlie was impressed the table didn’t buckle under his weight. She moved toward him.

Chanin patted the couch cushion before him as his gaze beckoned her.

Once there, she hesitantly claimed the seat he indicated, feeling unsure about sitting in the space between his wide-spread knees. It placed Chanin way too close.

“Hands.” He held his empty palm out before her.

“Where are the supplies?” She glanced toward the table to see if she had missed him carrying something, but nothing was there.

“I have everything I need to heal you.” He waited for her to comply with his request.

Strange, but okay. Morlie slipped her hands into Chanin’s, fascinated to see what he would do. When she was younger and would fall and scrape a knee, her mother would blow on it and kiss it to make it better. However, she also used an antiseptic bandage to cover it, which was the real magic.

Chanin again assessed her hands as he turned them, rotating her wrist to inspect all the damage.

Then he bowed his head at the same time he lifted her hands closer to his face.

Before she knew what was happening, he slowly licked one of her hands from the tips of her fingers with the tiniest cuts to the deeper ones in her palms.

She choked on the air in her throat at his actions and tried to snatch her hand back, but he held fast.

His firm, manacle-like fingers around her wrist held her in place.

“Chanin, stop. What are you doing?”

However, he didn’t respond; he continued his ministrations as he switched to the other hand. He swirled his long, talented tongue around and between her fingers, as he glided over sensitive skin.

She tried to tell herself that the warmth dispersing up from her hands and up her arms, causing a frisson of heat down her spine, was because her skin was raw, not because of Chanin’s treatment of her hands.

And not because it brought memories back to her mind of his head between her thighs and his rapacious tongue gliding between another part of her body.

Liar .

Morlie ignored the tiny voice inside of her as she stopped resisting his avid attention to her injuries.

Once she was no longer fighting him, she realized there wasn’t only warmth and a tingling sting in her hands but a fiery sensation making her wince and hiss.

Something mysterious tugged at her palms, knitting the ripped flesh back together.

Tears popped from her ducts and filled her eyes, causing her to have an underwater-type view of Chanin.

Finally, it was over, and Chanin glanced up at her. He released her hands and lifted one of his to swipe an errant tear away. “Better?”

She glanced away from his mesmerizing eyes, noting that the orange of his shirt made the Nordic-blue more breathtaking. Looking down at her hands, she saw they were still red but healed. She flipped them over and then back again only to see the same thing: no more cuts. “How...?”

“Healing properties are in our saliva and wolf DNA. Once you change, you will be able to heal yourself.”

“When will I—?”

“Good, you’re home. So much is going on.” A short tornado of a person chattering a mile a minute breezed through the door.

“Runt—” Chanin attempted to get in a few words, but the person continued to rattle off information.

“Before you can ask, yes, I stayed at your parent’s house while you were gone—” The young woman, appearing around the same age as Morlie, stopped dead at the end of the couch and stared from Chanin to Morlie. “Well. Who’s this?”

Morlie met the young woman’s curious gaze as she wondered if she lived there and what the relationship was between the intruder and Chanin.

Chanin rose to his full impressive height, but even from a distance, he dwarfed the woman significantly. “Runt, this is Morlie. Morlie, this is Rudie, my assistant and all-around pest.”

The broad smile on Rudie’s face showed that she was not offended by his words. “Alpha, you should know better than to put me down in front of mixed...” Rudie’s nose wiggled as she sniffed the air, then leaned forward more and sniffed again.

Chanin growled at the short one’s action.

Morlie wanted to growl, too, anything to keep the heat from infusing her cheeks. She figured if she could smell the bright, floral yet earthy scent surrounding the other woman, then Rudie’s sense of smell would probably be ten times her ability if Rudie was a wolf.

“Your mate. Well, not fully.” If Rudie’s grin could get bigger, it did in that moment.

“Yes.” Chanin held a hand down to Morlie.

“Nice to meet you, Rudie.” Morlie gave a small wave. She slipped her hand into his, allowing him to pull her to her feet. Morlie was fascinated by how even the soreness was gone from her hands.

“You, too, Morlie. The Pack will be excited to hear our Alpha’s mate has finally arrived.”

‘Finally arrived.’ Morlie wondered if all the Omega Pack knew of the situation at the council meeting.

“I need to present her before the Pack,” Chanin declared.

Rudie glanced down at the clipboard in her hand.

“I can get the word out that you want everyone at the meeting grounds. But Valko.” She looked at Chanin.

“And as you ordered, most of the Pack is stuck close to central areas, but some are worried and won’t have clarity on the situation.

When the teams returned, Bleddyn sent a brief but informed everyone you would offer more when you returned. ”

Morlie wondered what introducing her to his Pack entailed. She also felt concerned about the growing situation and the Valko person.

“I’ll handle talking to the Pack before going to see Valko. He isn’t going anywhere.” Chanin still held her hand as he headed for the door.

Morlie had no choice but to follow where he led, so she went out the door behind him. Rudie took up the rear. Morlie realized how short the assistant was as she passed the other woman. She had her by a good two inches. If most of the Pack was Chanin’s size, Morlie wondered how Rudie got by.

The sun was on a steady ascent into the lavender sky as they walked out of Chanin’s house and started past other brick houses.

Rudie peeled off and went in another direction. Morlie was sure to handle the Alpha orders.

Morlie moved at Chanin’s expeditious pace and tried to see as much as she could around her as they passed.

“Later, I’ll take you around the central area of our territory so you’ll know the location of everything you may need.” He glanced over his shoulder and looked at her. “Right now, too much is happening, and I can’t take the time.”