Page 35 of The Howling (Monsters of the Yeavering #2)

I think we’ve probably christened every part of Reavely’s castle. I have some idea why Bessie didn’t give me any underwear. It would be entirely pointless. I’d be out of it as much as I am in it.

“My son is an enthusiastic lover,” the spirit says to me as I drop the dress over my head.

This sudden invasion of a lot of ghosts into my life is in some ways interesting and in other ways totally, totally weird.

Especially when his mother, a tall, handsome female, insists on talking to me about our love making.

Sometimes she even has tips .

“That’s one way of describing it, Lorelei.” I smile politely. “But he did discuss with you about not being in the room when we…”

Lorelei flaps a spectral hand at me. “He mentioned it. But then you mate everywhere so…”

She has a broad grin on her slightly translucent face. I know she’s happy, but it still doesn’t make this any less weird.

It’s like the second Reavely and I did the deed, I got his spooky family. I’d like to say he’s sympathetic, but I know he sees me as an ally in the face of a ghostly army of his relatives.

A pack of once solid Barghest who are living their bodiless lives through him…and me in the case of his sisters and his mother.

“What is the situation with your womb?” she says suddenly in my ear, her see-through hand hovering over my stomach.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” I respond, like I do every time she asks the question, which so far has been five times in the last week.

It’s only Wednesday.

“When did you last have your moon blood?” she demands.

“We’ve discussed this,” I say evenly. “I wasn’t regular before I came to the Yeavering, and nothing’s changed.”

She narrows her eyes. “There are potions which can be used to assist,” she says.

I do my level best not to roll my eyes. Lorelei honestly means well. I know being a ghost frustrates her. I have tremendous sympathy for all the pack, but there is a point where I really need to draw a line.

“I don’t think potions are needed, and anyway, it’s not like we want to draw attention to ourselves,” I say.

She rubs her chin, and fortunately, before she can suggest anything else, the door opens and Reavely walks in, a wolfish grin on his face.

“Wynter, Mother.” He gives us both bows.

“Oh, there you are!” I fly at him, spinning him around and out of the door. “I wanted to talk to you about the Duegar!” I shove him as hard as I can to the spiral staircase.

Admittedly, I know the ghosts can all become completely transparent, but generally I can feel when they are around…unless I’m otherwise distracted.

“Your mother is…a bit much,” I hiss in my surprised Barghest’s ear.

“She always wanted to see me mated and my mate with pups.” He sighs.

“You could say that. She’s been watching us again. I think she’s taking notes.”

Reavely turns in the stairs, caging me up against the dressed sandstone wall, worn by centuries of passing Barghests.

His lips find mine in a deep, possessive kiss.

Once he releases me, he traces his clawed fingers through my hair, his stunning eyes roving over my face before his thumb comes to rest on my bottom lip.

I bite down, and an aroused rumble comes from his chest.

I love how easy it is to wind him up. His mother is entirely correct. Reavely is enthusiastic and eager and unstoppable. Plus, he always, always puts my pleasure first. Something I found lacking in my few lacklustre experiences beyond the veil.

“What notes did she have this time?” he asks.

“You mean she has been taking notes?”

He averts his head.

“She’s been taking notes and making suggestions,” he says quietly. “She wants pups and apparently I’m doing it wrong.”

“Look.” I put my hand on his cheek and pull his face back to mine. “If it’s going to happen, it will happen. She has to accept I am human, and perhaps we don’t work the same as Barghest.”

“Barghest have taken human mates in the past,” he says, as if repeating something he’s heard. “It was how our lines continued.”

“Lorelei?” I stare at him.

He nods.

“My mother is part human,” he dips his gaze. “She knows what is possible.”

“If she’s making you unhappy, then you need to say something,” I respond. “I get it she cares, I get it she’s invested. After all, she’s a ghost and you’re not, but she won’t want you to feel like you’re under pressure.”

Reavely’s brow creases. “But doesn’t it mean we can mate more?”

“Providing she’s not watching,” I respond. “And commenting.”

His brow increases. “I doubt I can stop her.”

I sigh. He’s right, and the sooner I get to grips with pack dynamics, the better. I give him a kiss and duck under his arm, heading down the stairs, where he soon catches up with me.

“She mentioned a potion…to help.”

Reavely shrugs. “I’m content to continue mating until it happens,” he says with what sounds like incredible restraint.

“I bet you are.” I spot his tail wagging behind him. “You’d mate me anywhere, wouldn’t you?”

We’re about to walk into the great hall, when I find myself pinned again.

“Anywhere,” Reavely rasps, his fangs scraping over the exposed skin of my neck, setting me on fire oh so easily. “And you’d let me.”

He’s not wrong, not at all.

Having gone from a Faerie captive to Reavely’s mate has to be a set of strange events, but I’m not complaining.

Even if my life is now spent dealing with spectral Barghests and one solid one who, if he’s not between my legs, he’s thinking about being between my legs.

“However,” he says as I shiver under his touch, still not sure why his fangs on my skin affect me so, “there is something else, something other than a potion which might help.”

“Is that us getting married?” I ask, my hands around his muscular waist. “Because your mother is very much planning all of that for us.”

A wedding…with ghosts. Unusual but then this is the Yeavering.

“My bite,” Reavely says. “My bite will solve everything.”